Hi Everyone! This is a Joint story written by me, Ashley (AshleyNicole86) and Cara (Girliegirl1179). We hope you enjoy the story!

We don't own any of the charcters, they belong to Ms. Evanovich.

Many thanks to our wonderful beta!

I love my daughter, but seeing her crying on my front porch on Christmas Eve struck terror in my heart. Julie was a Manoso. The Manosos only cried for three reasons: Births, deaths and unintended pregnancies.

No one in our family had given birth recently and I knew that Rachel and Ron were most definitely alive. That left only option number 3. Shit. I'd seen Julie just four months ago on her 16th birthday. I would've bet my company that she hadn't been having sex. What the hell had changed? Maybe I had it wrong. Sure, Julie was a Manoso but she was also Rachel's daughter and Rachel cried over everything.

"Julie, what's wrong? How did you get here?" I listened to my daughter say "I'm pregnant." At the same time I heard my wife shout from the bathroom, "We're going to have another baby!" I stood staring opened mouthed at the door for a few seconds until I felt a tug on my pants.

I looked down to see my son, Ricky, "Daddy. My new puppy pooped on the floor." I patted him on the head absentmindedly.

"Ricky, go tell your mama I need her okay?" He ran off yelling for Steph and I stared at my daughter. The sounds of Jingle Bells filled the air as a pack of carolers turned into our driveway.

Stephanie walked up behind me, "Julie? Why are you crying? Carlos why is she still outside? I swear…what did you do?" She fired off the long list of question and I turned to look at her as the carolers walked up the steps.

"What did I DO? I didn't do anything! I opened the damn door! That's what I did!" The carolers stopped singing and stared at us slack jawed as Steph pushed past me to hug Julie.

"I'm sorry Mom! Don't be mad!" Julie wailed. I turned to see the carolers still standing there.

"What the hell are you doing? GO AWAY!" I shouted. The guy in front threw down his little caroling packet.

"That's it! I'm tired of this! We try to bring a little Christmas cheer and happiness and we get yelled at. What is your problem asshole?" He shouted back at me.

I don't know what came over me but one second I was standing there and the next I was on top of the guy and my fist was smashing into his mouth. What a prick! I felt myself being pulled off of him and then more screams ensued. Sirens blared in the distance.

Big Dog and Carl got out of the cop car and I breathed a sigh of relief. They loved Steph and they liked me. Maybe I wouldn't have to go to jail tonight.

"Steph what did you do now?" Carl asked with a grin.

"Me?! I didn't do anything! Yeash!" Steph huffed off and took a now dazed looking Julie with her. Ricky had wandered out and was making a snow angel. "Ricky!" Steph called and he took off inside, slamming the door behind him.

"You carrying Manoso?" Carl asked me. I grinned and he shook his head. "Okay so what happened?" I explained quickly, including the part about Julie's and Steph's pregnancies and the dog pooping on the floor.

Big Dog had sidled up to us and heard a good amount of my explanation, "Jeez no wonder you hit the annoying little twerp." He looked at Carl and then me, "I convinced him not to press charges, but he wants you to apologize to his carolers for yelling, and he said it would be a nice gesture to pay for their hot cocoa break.

I sighed and apologized to the whole group. I pulled a $100 bill out of my wallet and handed it over. I turned and went back inside without another word and found Stephanie sitting with Julie in the living room. Julie was crying hysterically again.

"Stop crying!" I ordered, not really expecting it to work. She took one more deep breath, hiccupped and stopped crying. "You're sure you're pregnant?" I asked. Stephanie took in a sharp breath. Oh yeah, she hadn't heard that part.

Julie nodded, "Mom said I was sc-sc-screwing up my life like she did. She said I ha-a-ad to get an abortion!" I looked sharply at Stephanie who looked completely astounded.

"Honey your mom was just surprised. I'm sure she didn't mean any of that. Does she know you're here?" I asked. My voice was calm and I was wearing my blank face. I was barely keeping it together. My little girl was pregnant. Julie shook her head vigorously. "I'm calling your mom." I took out my cell phone and dialed Rachel as I walked into the kitchen.

"Hello?" There was Christmas music in the background and Rachel sounded much too happy. It pissed me off.

"You didn't think you should tell me? You thought you could just tell her to have an abortion and everything would be okay? Not okay Rachel. She's my daughter! Jesus Christ. She's staying here. End of story. Have fun at your party." I slammed the phone shut and stalked back into the living room. "Who's the father? Why isn't he here?" I asked.

There was silence for a moment and then Julie looked up at me sadly, "Jason James Smith. I'm sure you can look him up. He deployed to Iraq three weeks ago."

The heavy silence in the room got heavier. I could see Steph's eyes fill with even more sympathy for our daughter. I sighed. "You're staying here. When are you…due…" I asked through clenched teeth.

"August fourth," She said. I nodded and paced a little.

I looked at Stephanie and stopped dead, "Holy shit. You're pregnant?" I asked suddenly. I'd heard the words, but I hadn't processed until now. I was gonna be a daddy again. And a grandpa. At thirty-six years old. Christ. Stephanie nodded and smiled at me.

I sighed and looked at my daughter, "You'll finish the school year here. You'll have the baby, go back to school and then go to college. You'll work at Rangeman to earn money. We'll help you in anyway we can, but this is your baby and you will raise it. Understood?" I asked.

Julie nodded. Damn right. Don't mess with Ranger.

I felt something warm on my leg and looked down. The puppy was peeing on me.

Hope you enjoyed it! Reviews are appreciated!