A/N: You may want to check out "A silent Observer" It's not absolutely necessary to read this story first, as this one pretty much stands alone, but it might make some things clearer. Enjoy.

The beginning is a bit angsty, wasn't planned that way, sorry. I don't own the characters you recognize.

Marisa's first day of school

by Katrin

Tank's POV

It was finally time for my godchild to start school. Five years after her birth the big day had finally come.

It had been five eventful years. Steph and Ranger had another kid, this one a boy, and he'd had a hard start at it. When Marisa was about two years old, Steph had gotten pregnant again. She had gotten sick during her pregnancy, and before she even knew she had been carrying twins, one of them had died.

Because they were identical twins, they couldn't remove the dead fetus without harming the other one, so Steph had been forced to carry around a dead baby all through her pregnancy. Brandon though had been born premature and had to spend six weeks in hospital until they finally released him into the care of his parents.

By that time, Angel, the twin, had already been buried and mourned over. When Brandon got home, he was a healthy baby and Marisa was over-thrilled to have a little brother.

When Brandon started crawling the two of them couldn't be left unsupervised for even a minute. The tended to get into more trouble than a bunch of fucking recruits could, but they taught us some really valuable lessons.

By the time Brandon was born Lula and I had gotten married too, and we were expecting as well. Luckily for us, her pregnancy went off without a hitch and I now am the proud Daddy of a little girl, Susanna, myself.

But today was a happy day. Marisa started school today, and after long discussions between Lula and Steph, Steph and Ranger, Lula and Ranger,... you get the idea, it was finally determined that our kids would go to public schools. We wanted them to have as normal a life as possible.

Ranger had been hell bent on sending our kids to private schools, thinking that they'd be safer there, but in the end he relented.

So now we were all dressed up to be Marisa's entourage. She'd relented after long discussions with her mom, that it might be nice to wear a dress for this special day Initially, she's wanted to go wearing her Batman costume. Saying this girl is a tomb boy would be the understatement of the century, but even she wanted to be pretty.

I have no idea how Steph got her to give in though, as you could clearly see who this kid got her genes from. She's the spitting image of her mom, save her skin tone.

We were on our way to the school now. It was a beautiful fall day, a crisp morning, but the sun was slowly managing to drive the cold away and warm up the air. It was promising to be a beautiful day.

Marisa, Ranger, Brandon and a very pregnant Steph were in the Cayenne, while Lula, Susanna, Bobby, Lester and I were following in a Bronco. The guys were teasing Lula and Susanna as I slipped into my driving zone.

The drive only took a few minutes, but when we got there I'd have loved to go right back to Haywood. Steph's parents were already waiting for us, as well as Grandma Mazur, decked out in what would have made Lula proud a few years ago.

Edna was wearing bright yellow spandex pants, a hot pink tube top sans bra and matching sneakers. Somebody give me brain bleach, please. Bobby and Lester were groaning with me. Let's just hope she'll keep her hands to herself.

We got out and assembled around the Plums. Marisa was bouncing on her feet, excited to start a new episode in her life. Ranger on the other hand didn't look too good.

"How're you doin', man?"

"Ungh."

"She's growing up. You gotta except that."

"I know, but I don't have to like it. And before you say anything I'll remind you when Susanna starts school, so keep your smart ass comments to yourself."

I chuckled and looked around. There weren't any familiar faces there, for me at least, but Mrs. Plum was busily chatting away with a woman who seemed to be a few years younger than Steph. Not that I cared though.

Instead I kept scanning the crowd for possible threats. With Steph as pregnant as she was, Ranger just wasn't taking chances with her safety. That's why we took Lester and Bobby along.

Sure, they wanted to see the firstborn Rangegirl start school too, but they were also there for safety purposes.

"Tankie?" Only Marisa was allowed to call me that. Come to think of it, she was allowed a lot of stuff with me that would get other people in a whole lot of trouble.

"Yes?"

"When do they start?" She was whining, and much as I hated that, I was wondering about the same thing.

They did eventually start and when all the organizing stuff was finished, Marisa was smiling as big as I've ever seen her. Unlike Steph. She was sitting in her appointed chair, looking pale and there was sweat on her forehead.

Ranger was rubbing her back, and she was holding onto his hands with a death grip. Brandon, like the good boy he was, sat in Bobby's lap, playing with Bobby's fingers looking like he didn't have a care in the world.

Their daughter came skipping over to them. "What's wrong, Mom? Aren't you happy that I get to go to school now?"

"Really happy, baby. Are you ready to go now?" She nodded and before Steph could say anything else, she was doubled over. Fuck. Good thing she had her bag packed and stashed in the Cayenne.

I pulled out my cell, calling 911 and requested an ambulance to the school. Looked like Marisa's first day of school might also become her new sibling's birthday.

While Ranger was talking Steph through the contractions, I herded the rest of our little party into the car. Destination hospital. Why did that seem so fucking familiar? Bobby stayed with them, just in case. He had taken a refresher course on delivering a baby when Steph had been pregnant the first time and with every pregnancy of the Rangeman family, he took another one. Gotta be a pro now. We pulled out of the parking lot as the ambulance pulled in.

Marisa spoke up from the back. "Tankie, why does Mom have to do this today? That's my special day." She sounded on the verge of tears.

"Shh, calm down sweetie. She doesn't do it on purpose, it's just how God wants it to be."

"But what about cake? Mom promised me cake!"

Lester spoke up. "You'll get your cake, but you'll get a sibling too. Now come on." I was just pulling into the hospital parking lot, so Lester pulled her out and into his arms. I scooped up Brandon and we were on our way to maternity. Lester had called ahead, so they knew we were coming. Steph and Ranger had been in to preregister a few days ago so she'd be brought right up.

We did have to wait longer than I anticipated, but when they finally came in, Steph was all smiles already and Ranger looked really relaxed.

"Huh?"

The nurse went to get Steph settled in her room and Ranger stayed with us for a moment to update us.

"How's she doing?"

"Oh, the two of them are fine."

"Two? Didn't she just go into labor?"

"Uh huh. Apparently she's been having contractions throughout the morning but didn't tell me because she didn't want to spoil Marisa's big day." He looked at his daughter. "So when the ambulance showed up she was just about ready to push. Bobby delivered the baby on the way over." Ranger was grinning and scooped up his kids, whirling them around.

The nurse stepped into the hall again. "You can visit them now."

The whole group got up to welcome the newest member of the Rangeman family.