OoooOoooOoooOoooO

My name's Stephanie Plum; 32, single, decent body, smaller than I'd prefer chest and killer blue eyes. Oh and I'm also a walking disaster; I have blown up more cars and had my apartment firebombed more times than I could remember. Although, I knew there were people keeping track and putting money on how long before my next major disaster took place. At least that was the way it used to be during my bounty hunting days; I had unfortunately been fired from that gig. Well, I suppose it was more of a threat that if I wasn't fired severe punishment would be afflicted upon my weasel of a cousin, Vinnie. I was sure I wasn't supposed to know about the fact that Vinnie was forced to fire me; but I refused to accept his lame excuses for firing me. Sure I wasn't the best bounty hunter ever- but Lord knows I wasn't the worst! Besides, we were family so I threatened to blackmail him if he didn't tell me what the real reason was for being fired. There was only one word of explaining I needed: Ranger.

Ranger was also a bounty hunter for Vinnie, but only brought in the top-dollar FTA's. On a regular basis though he was the CEO of RangeMan security and dealt with a lot more dangerous things on daily basis than a simple FTA. Ranger had actually been my mentor when I started doing the whole bounty hunter thing; and over time also became my lover. Things became pretty hot and heavy after things ended ((for good)) with Joe Morelli. And for a while; everything was perfect. I was able to be independent and do what I pleased; I was chasing down skips and actually managed not to end up rolling in trash every day of the week (just a couple of them). Not only that I was free to have guilt-free amazing sex with Ranger and for a little while it was like we were in a relationship. It was perfect- but suddenly everything changed.

About a dozen pregnancy tests told me that I was going to be a mom; and that Ranger was going to be a dad. Telling him was just about the most terrifying moment forever, but I was convinced that things would be okay. I didn't want a marriage proposal or even a huge commitment; I just wanted to know he was going to be there. Boy was I wrong! Okay- that's not fair he was there—financially. But after I told him after about a two week period of not hearing from him; he finally made an appearance. As difficult as it was to give him time to think and digest the information, I figured once he came back everything was going to be okay. Until he told me that it was best for us to end whatever relationship we did have and just arrange a way for us to co-parent.

After listening to his entire spiel I realized—I was nothing more than Rachel and Julie were to him. Me and my unborn growing baby were always going to have financial security (like I cared about the money) and would always have some sort of protection. But he wasn't going to give me the one thing I really wanted: him. It was then that he told me I needed to quit chasing after skips, especially while I was pregnant. Now I was no dummy—I knew all too well that chasing after skips during my pregnancy was going to be put on hold. Risking my own life on a daily basis was nothing new for me; but it wasn't just me anymore. But having someone tell me what to do was pretty much guaranteeing I would do just the opposite.

A week later Vinnie told me I was fired; and no one other than Ranger and me knew about my pregnancy. So I demanded a reason; that was when Vinnie let it slip out that Ranger had threatened to cause him severe pain if I wasn't fired. Needless to say I was furious and my anger helped me realize that Ranger and I were now simply going to only talk when it came to our child. Thankfully, I found a job at a nice restaurant that at first I was bummed to always work the night shift as a waitress. That was when I realized that was prime time for the high rollers to spend big and better yet- tip big.

I am many things—and nosy is definitely one of them; but it also made me very personable and liked as a waitress. After a while many started requesting a table in my area and the bigger my stomach grew; the more tips I got. Money was good and I even found a two bedroom apartment that had never been firebombed and none of the previous people that might have any need to retaliate; knew where I was living. By the time I hit my third trimester a large sum of money began appearing into my account and I knew there was only one way it arrived. When I confronted Ranger he simply said it was child support; I tried to remind him that there is no child yet to support. But of course that didn't stop him from putting it in there every month, and since I was making decent money at the restaurant and from tips I began putting the money in a savings account for Baby Plum/Manoso. Now, I'm sure Julie was receiving quite a bit of money from her dad every month; but something told me it wasn't as much as what we received. Part of that I believed was because Ranger was also supporting me; but what did I know!

Suddenly though Ranger started taking more out-of-state jobs and visiting other offices more than usual. When I went into labor I called and told him, but asked him not to come to the hospital. I knew it was going to be an emotional time and the last thing I wanted was to fall in love with the image of Ranger, me and our baby together- only to have it change when we left the hospital. So after forgoing knowing the sex of my child throughout the pregnancy so after 18 hours of labor I gave birth to the most beautiful baby girl I had ever seen. I named her Estella Abigail Plum, and I immediately knew I was in love.

As time progressed my Stella became even more adorable and was easily the most important person to a lot of people. Even with Ranger gone all of the Merry Men loved Stella and still took great care of me. During my pregnancy there was also an unexpected friendship that formed between Ranger's sister Celia and myself. She had introduced me to the rest of the family and they were all so great to Stella and me; but Celia had quickly became one of my best friends. And I was especially thankful for this when Ranger was in town and asked to see Stella. Sure we talked over email mostly, on rare occasions we'd talk over the phone but I hadn't seen him since my pregnancy. Celia could sense that I wasn't ready for a face-to-face to Ranger; so we had it set up where Ranger would visit with his daughter, at his sister's house.

Stella was 14 months old now and I couldn't help but smile as I watched her eat the cheerios on the tray in front of her. She was so beautiful which I suppose wasn't really a surprise; her father was the most attractive man I have ever seen. Stella had his skin tone and black hair, with my curls and bright blue eyes and she had easily inherited Ranger's 200-watt smile.

"Moma, ba ba!" Stella called out to me and I gave her, her sippy cup filled with milk. Her bright smile lit up as she reached out with excitement for the milk. I sat down at the kitchen table and ate my Boston Crème donut that was leftover from my visit to Tasty Pastry yesterday. There was a knock at the front door and my eyes darted to the clock above the stove—it was only 8:30 and visitors at this hour was usually non-existent.

"Be right back, Stella Bee."

When I reached the front door I peeked through the eyehole on the door I saw a large grin morphed by the tiny hole I was peering through. But the big emerald green eyes made me smile; this was a visitor I was always happy to have around at this hour. I pulled the door open and Lester Santos' smile only got wider as he pulled me in for a big hug.

"Morning Beautiful, where's my little cutie?"

"Eating breakfast, what are you doing here?" He was already headed into the kitchen to go see his favorite cousin, I knew he had reached her when she started yelling "Es, Es!"

Lester was leaning over her high chair tray and Stella placed a cheerio into his mouth. He smiled and gave her a kiss on the top of her head before turning back to me.

"So, I got a little news for you."

"Okay, what kind of news?" Les paused to accept another cheerio from a squawking Stella.

"About Ranger." I could feel the beat of my heart pause momentarily as the thought of all that could go wrong with him hit me.

"Is he alright?"

"Oh yeah, it's nothing like that." Stella was still squawking for him; but this time her arms indicated she wanted nothing more than him to hold her. And if there was one woman on this entire planet Lester Santos couldn't say no to—it was my Stella. He pulled her out of her high chair, tossing her in the air causing a fit of giggles to escape the both of them. Whenever him and the rest of the guys at RangeMan did this it always gave me a mini heart attack, but of course they always caught her without trouble. Les grabbed her sippy cup off the tray and walked over to my couch and sat cuddling her onto his lap.

"Then what is it, Les?" His eyes met mine and I was sure he was trying to relay whatever message to me through telepathy—but that was a skill I still hadn't picked up on. "Santos—you can't leave me hanging."

"Well you know he's been at the Miami office for a while now?" I nodded my head and stood with my arms crossed, waiting for him to continue. "It looks like business there has slowed; while it has really picked up here. So he's moving back and he'll be here on Monday." My jaw dropped as I stared at him and then I immediately began pacing back and forth in front of the couch.

"Say something, Beautiful." I glanced at the clock- I had been pacing back and forth now for a full five minutes. Which definitely wasn't my record; whenever it came to news about Ranger I frequently spent that time pacing since I had no other idea what to do.

"It's Friday, Les—there is no way you're talking about this upcoming, Monday."

"I am actually." I shook my head—okay, I needed another donut.

"Why is this the first I'm hearing about it?"

Les just shrugged his shoulders apologetically. "It wasn't a for sure thing until a couple hours ago; and I didn't want to get you worked up if it didn't end up happening." My legs couldn't handle the constant pacing anymore so I sank down on the couch next to Les and he wasted no time pulling me into his side.

"It'll be okay, you know that right?"

"I don't know Les, I haven't seen him since I was pregnant. Celia and I had this whole thing worked out so when Ranger was in town he could see Stella. But that was I didn't have to see him."

"You don't want to see him?" Lester asked, his emerald eyes stared at me telling me he knew better than to believe that.

"Well, I don't know—I was always able to avoid him before. I'm assuming with him living here and the little fact that I am the mother of his child—doesn't tell me that I'm going to be able to keep up the avoiding charade."

"It won't be so bad, Steph, and I promise you don't have to see him until you're ready." I heard what he said, but my mind was elsewhere trying to work this information out in my head.

"You know, I shouldn't worry. I mean it's not like I'm the first woman he's had to deal with when a child was involved. Ranger and Rachel have a very good relationship with no tension and she is nothing more than his kid's mother."

"Beautiful?"

"Yeah?"

"You're not Rachel."

"You're right, I'm sure especially with him living in Miami he's been able to see Julie more. Plus, I'm sure Rachel and his relationship has grown as parents." Les let out a single laugh and rubbed his hand over the top of my head, messing up my hair.

"That's not exactly what I meant."

"Well what then?"

Lester shot me a dubious look; waiting for me to admit that I did actually know what he was saying. "Ranger was never in love with Rachel; he's just a responsible man and not about to leave his child with nothing."

"Well, he still gives child support to me every month for Stella Bee."

Lester just laughed and stood up; throwing a restless Stella in the air again. "You're impossible! Now, I was supposed to ask what you plan to do with Stella while you're at work today."

Since Stella was quickly the most popular child in all of Trenton there were so many people that wanted to take her while I was at work. Originally I had her enrolled in daycare full time—but she was never there that much and I ended up paying way more than I wanted to for it. So I dropped it down to part time but other times Stella was with my parents, Mary Lou, Celia, Ranger's other sisters, Ella and many many more. There were days I was being woken up at 7 in the morning with requests to watch Stella Bee while I was at work. I told Stella that I was going to make her start waking up and field the many phone calls of people dying for her attention. Of course since she didn't really know what I said but used a funny voice she still cracked up laughing.

"No idea yet; I don't work until noon and I'm off at 9."

"Ella wants to know if she could watch Stella today; I guess Ranger put in a request to have his penthouse baby proofed and Ella figures it'd be nice to have Stella there to help her out."

"Why does he want it baby-proofed?"

"I'm assuming for the baby, Steph." He said with a smile.

"Well, duh—but I mean he hasn't even told me he's coming back yet. Now he's having his apartment on 7 set up for her?"

"I'm sure he'll tell you, and I'm sure you guys will talk. You know Ranger though, he likes to be over prepared for everything."

Hmph, do I really know Ranger anymore? The man used to be my best friend, among other things, and I used to know him very well. Well—atleast as well as he let me, but now everything was different. It had been about a year and half since I last saw him, we were nothing more than Stella's parents now and other than our emails—we never talked.

"Yeah, I guess she can go spend the day with Ella."

"Yay!" Les said swinging Stella's arms around like a little cheerleader. "If you go get her ready I will just take her back with me to RangeMan. Give you a little time to stress out and pace a little bit more." He winked at me.

"Ha ha." I muttered out before going into Stella's room to prepare her stuff for her day with the boys. Because even though I'm sure Ella really did want to spend time with Stella, the truth was the Merry Men spent most of the day with her. Ella always had every intention to watch Stella all day, but periodically the guys would go and take Stella around RangeMan for fun. Once I walked in to pick up Stella and froze in my spot when I saw her sitting on Tank's desk and her giggling at his game of peek-a-boo. It melted my heart to see how important my baby girl was to them; and I was sure it had nothing to do with her being Ranger's daughter.

"Hey Les, do you have your car seat for her?" I yelled out from Stella's room, and I could practically hear Lester's eyes rolling at my question.

"Do you really have to ask?"

"I guess not."

One day the guys' surprised me with their own car seat for Stella; top of the line, and black of course. I tried to pay back whoever it was that had dished out the money I could only imagine they had spent on that thing. They of course refused and told me the car seat was paid for out of company funds because it was a justifiable expense. And truthfully, I was quite jealous of Stella's car seat—it was like the Lay-z-boy of car seats; and she absolutely loved it.

I packed up Stella and said goodbye to them both before they left. Once they were gone I waited about 2.5 seconds before called Celia.

"What's up, darling?" Her too-casual demeanor told me she didn't know anything about her brother's moving plans.

"Your brother is moving back on Monday."

"You're shitting me!"

"Nope, Les just left here and told me the news. Apparently they just made the decision earlier this morning."

"Damn girl, I don't even know what to say—other than it's going to be a lot harder to avoid seeing him now." I dropped my face into my hands and let out a large sigh.

"Yeah, I was thinking the same thing."

"Well do you work this weekend?"

"Nope, I worked last weekend so I have this one off."

"Let me take Stella tomorrow night for you. You go out and have fun, blow off some steam—have a few drinks. Just take the time to de-stress."

"Are you sure, Celia?"
"Hell yeah- I'm not working this weekend and I would love to spend more time with my niece before my brother comes home and monopolizes all her time." I couldn't help but laugh, and admit it was a nice thought that Ranger would want to see her that much.

"Okay, well- if you're sure."

"I'm sure."

"All right, well I'll call you tomorrow afternoon and we can work out a time for you to bring her over."

"Okay sounds good, love you Celia!"

"Love you too girl, and don't pace so much. You're gonna create an indent in that nice wood floor of yours." I couldn't help but laugh as I realized I had been pacing—and just how well she knew me.

I quickly thought about what it was I wanted to do tomorrow night and knew there was only one thing I wanted to do. So I created a text message on my phone and began typing away.

Celia's watching Stella Bee tomorrow- you and the boys better not be picking up any skips. I want to go to the bar and enjoy a few drinks with my boys!

A minute later Lester responded to my text.

You're on, Beautiful!

Author's Note: Hope you enjoyed! Anyways, just a heads up- I do know that Ranger has 5 sisters and one brother. I know Celia is one of them, as for the others- they will be in the story later but I am not sure of their names. If there are specific names for the rest of his family- feel free to let me know, otherwise I'll just give them names as I come to them in the story.