Disclaimer: I own nothing. All characters belong to JE, I'm just playing with them.

If you read my previous story this is not a squeal to it. I have had many ask to do one, so I am considering it. I hope you enjoy this story. I'm going to try my hand at a controlling Ranger.

It Takes Two

Chapter 1

My name is Stephanie Plum. That's the only easy thing in my life right now. About three weeks ago I couldn't button my jeans anymore. I've been wearing black stretch and sweatpants to work. I shouldn't have to worry about that this soon, but in my life nothing is easy.

Let's start at the top. I'm 33 years old, and I live with my hamster Rex in an apartment that people seem to think has revolving door. The biggest problem with that is when people come over they usually leave unwanted presents, or trash my place. Luckily for me that hasn't happened in 5 months.

I have two men in my life. One is a six foot tall HOT Italian cop named Joe. He has the best ass in all of Trenton. He's my ex-boyfriend. We broke up about 5 months ago. I guess it was right after my last stalker was caught breaking into my apartment while I was sleeping. The guy had a enough explosives in his car to put on Trenton's Fourth of July show. That brings me to Ranger. He's the one who caught my stalker.

Ranger is a six foot two, 200 pound all muscle Cuban god. He's a mercenary, a bounty hunter, a business man, my best friend, my two time lover and my babies father. Oh yeah I'll get to that. My life is always complicated, but that seems to top anything that has ever happened.

You see after my last stalker I gave up bounty hunting. I know, it doesn't seem like a job a Italian/Hungarian five foot seven girl from the burg should have. Of course that's what my mother and Joe always told me. Ranger never told me that, but he had to save me more times than I can count.

I work doing computer searches and distractions for Rangeman. Rangeman is Rangers security company. The pay is good, I don't have to wear pantyhose, and I work with the most amazing eye candy. Now don't get me wrong Ranger is the best looking man I have ever seen, but all of the ex-military men that work for him are good looking. They could make millions doing a pin-up calendar.

The fireman have nothing on these guys.

After Joe and I broke up Ranger and I got a lot friendlier. He used to steal kisses in the alley outside of the bonds office, but with me working for him the kisses became much more frequent. Let's just say he would kiss me in the elevator, in his office, in my cubical, in the copy room, in his apartment, and in my apartment. OK I guess we'd shared kisses in those places before, but it became a daily thing. Actually it happened multiple times a day.

That brings me to how I've gotten myself into my latest predicament. About three months ago Ranger asked me to have dinner with him in his apartment. After I finished for the day I turned off my computer and headed upstairs. Ranger has a serene apartment on the seventh floor of Rangeman.

When I arrived Ranger handed me a glass of wine. Ella his housekeeper had made us dinner and it smelled heavenly. I drank the glass of wine nervously. I had slept with Ranger once before, and I wasn't sure if my heart could handle a second time. Don't get me wrong, that night was magical. I never realized having sex could feel like that. I felt completed when I was with him, and then he sent me back to Joe.

Joe is a great guy and fabulous in bed, but he's not Ranger. I love Joe, but I'm in love with Ranger. Ranger told me he doesn't do relationships. He also told me that he loves me, but it's not the kind of love that comes with a ring, but a condom.

I drank half of the bottle of wine with dinner. After dinner Ranger told me had to leave for a couple of months to train some new Army Rangers. He said he would try to call me when could. After that one thing led to another and we shared a passionate night. The next day we spent together. Ranger took me out to the movies and dinner. I spent the night with him again. He left the next morning.

He calls me about once every other week. He will hopefully be back in another week or so. I haven't told him what is going on, and no of course I don't know how I'm going to tell him.

Joe has been a great friend since we broke up. He's the only other person besides my doctor that knows I'm pregnant. At first we avoided each other when possible. He was at Pino's the night I found out I was pregnant. It was six weeks after Ranger left. I walked in after work to pick up a meatball sub for dinner. Joe was sitting at the counter and smiled at me when I walked in. The minute the pizza smells hit me I ran back out the door.

I managed to hide in the bushes while I lost my lunch. Joe found me their. He took me home, and asked what was wrong. At that time I had no idea I was pregnant, but Joe knew. I told him I had my period twice since we broke up. That's when his eyebrow lifted in question. "Steph we've been broken up for almost four months." he told me.

Joe was great. He actually took me to my OBGYN appointment. They confirmed that I was six weeks pregnant. That was six weeks ago. Joe has called or come over every night since. He makes sure I'm taking my prenatal vitamins, and that I'm eating.

I don't think any of the guys at work know, or at least they haven't let on that they know. I can't drink coffee because the caffeine is bad for the baby. I found herbal tea in the break room that I've been drinking. I also found packages of saltines, and I hid a couple in my top desk drawer so they're close if I'm feeling nausea. I've only gotten sick at work three times, and I was able to play it off.

I'm twelve weeks pregnant now, and I just got back from my appointment. I called Tank and told him I needed the rest of the day off to take my grandmother somewhere. Tank is Ranger's right hand man, and he's in charge when Ranger is out. I knew he wouldn't say anything about my grandmother because she scares him.

Who would of thought a black six foot three man that is built like a tank and all muscle would be afraid of a little old grandma. It must have been that time when she grabbed his package and told him she could give him a run for his money, or the time when he saw her grab Hal's butt, or the time when she, well you get my point.

Grandma Mazur is seventy-five, and she is one feisty lady. Gravity hasn't been nice to her body, but she still tries to wear things that a teenager would. She likes to grab at all of Ranger's men. She's a little outrageous, but I love her just the same.

I don't actually have to take grandma anywhere, but I needed to go home. I grabbed some Ben and Jerry's on the way home, and I'm sitting on the couch crying while eating it.

"Cupcake are you OK?" Joe asked me as he came through the door and saw me crying. He knew I had an appointment today, and said he'd stop over tonight with dinner.

"Steph is everything alright?" He asked. "Is the baby OK?"

I looked up and gave him a week smile. "The babies are fine Joe."

"Gosh Cupcake you scared me. Wait did you say babies?"

I nodded crying. "I got to hear the heartbeat today." I sobbed "Both of them."

I was full out crying. Joe sat next to me and pulled me into his arms. "It's going to be OK Cupcake. Shh. It will be OK. Shit, I hate when you cry."

It made me laugh. He never new what to do when I cried.

"I'm going to get you some tissues." Joe said as he got up and headed toward the bathroom.

Someone sat down on the coffee table in front of me, and took both my hands in his. I thought it was Joe. I looked up and saw Ranger staring at me his face full of emotion. "Babe." Ranger said, and I started bawling.

Ranger sat down next me and put his arm around me. I snuggled into his chest. Joe came back out of the bathroom.

"I put the tissues on the coffee table. I'm going to go. Call me if you need anything Steph."

Ranger waited for Joe to leave and scooped me up so I was sitting on his lap. He had one arm around me, and used the other to take my face in his hand. "Tell me what's wrong."

I cried even harder. "Do you have a stalker?" I shook my head no. "Did Joe do something?" I shook my head no again and tried to get up, but Ranger wouldn't let me. "Did I do something?" He asked. I had started to get myself under control, but when he asked that I started sobbing again.

"Stephanie please tell me." Ranger said.

I instinctively put hand over my belly and looked up into face. "I'm" sob "Pregnant." I cried. Ranger's blank face fell into place, which of course made me cry harder. This was definitely not the way I imagined I would tell him. I had no idea how I was going to raise one child, but now I can't even fathom how I'm going to raise twins.

"Morelli." He said. I shook my head no.

"I'm tw-tw-elve we-weeks preg-nant." I told him. I could tell he was trying to figure the math out. Once he did it took a couple of minutes before he spoke. He handed me a couple tissues, and I wiped my eyes, and blew my nose.

"Have you been to the doctor?" He asked. I shook my head yes.

"Is that where you were today?" I shook my head yes again.

"Is everything OK with the baby?" I shook my head yes again. "Babies." I whispered.

"Stephanie what did you say?" He asked and he didn't sound too happy.

"The babies are fine. I got to hear the the heart beat today, but instead of hearing one there was two. They told me I'm having twins. I have an ultrasound scheduled in two days to confirm it." I managed to say.

I tried to get up, but Ranger was still holding me in place. "Bathroom." I said, and he released his hold on me. I went to the bathroom, washed my hands and looked in the mirror. I had mascara running down my face, and my hair was a mess. I washed off all of the make-up, and brushed my hair putting it up in a ponytail. Ranger was standing in my kitchen on his phone when I came out of the bathroom. He finished up his call.

"Let's go Babe." He said grabbing my purse while he took my arm to escort me out.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"Home." He said.

We got into his turbo and I closed my eyes. This was not how I wanted him to find out. I could tell that he wasn't happy. I was lost in thought when we pulled into the garage at Rangeman. Ranger got out and opened my door. I followed him into the elevator, neither of saying anything. We went straight up to seven.

Ranger walked over to the intercom and pressed it. "Ella can you bring dinner up for two?"

"I'll be up in fifteen minutes." She replied.

I went over and sat on the sofa. Ranger came up and sat down next to me.

"Who knows." he asked.

"Only you and Joe." I told him.

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" I could hear the sadness in his voice when he asked.

"I didn't want to tell you over the phone." I said.

"But you told Joe." His voice was getting louder. I've never heard him raise his voice.

I explained how I went to Pino's and Joe found me in the bushes getting sick. Ranger didn't seem as upset after that.

Luckily I was saved by Ella bringing in dinner. She looked over at me and smiled. "I brought some ice cream for desert Stephanie. I'll put it in the freezer."

"Thanks Ella."

We got up and and went to the table to eat. Ranger kept staring at me which made me very nervous. I kept my head down. The food was great. Ella made Chicken, rice and steamed vegetables. I ate all of my vegetables and half of the chicken and rice. I can't eat as much in one sitting or I'll get sick, so I eat a lot of small meals. Oh and I crave vegetables. I guess that's another cue that baby, I mean babies take after Ranger.

Ranger got up and left after we ate. He didn't say anything to me, he just left. I decided to see what would happen if I tried to leave. I know I was playing with fire, but I really don't know what else to do. I opened the door to the apartment, Manny and Brett were standing on each side of the door.

"Do you need something honey?" Manny asked. He always been very sweet to me after I had pretended to be his wife when he was shot.

"I was just going to go to the store." I told him in the most innocent voice I could muster.

"Sorry, but we can't let you leave the apartment. I can have one of the guys go out and pick up anything you need." He smiled at me. Damn he had me and he knew it.

"That's OK, I'm just going to lay down." I went back into the apartment and sat down on the couch. Damn Ranger! I can't even get out of the apartment. I tried calling him on cell phone, but it went to voice-mail.

I called Lula, but she didn't answer her phone either. I called the bond's office next.

"Hey Connie it's Steph. Is Lula there?" Connie is the one of the burg's biggest gossips.

"She got a call about ten minutes ago. It was real weird. She answered, but then got real serious and walked outside to talk. When she came back in she said she had to go and took off." Hmm

"Thanks for the info Connie. I gotta go."

I hung up with Connie and called Joe.

"Steph?" Joe answered.

"Yeah Joe it's me. I'm at Rangeman. Can you come pick me up?" I asked him.

"You and Ranger need to work this out." He told me.

"Please Joe. I'm upstairs in his apartment. I can't get out. He has two men on the door."

"I don't know if he's insane or brilliant locking you up. You need to figure this out with him."

He hung up on me. Now who could I call. Lula's the only one that would have been up for breaking me out without asking to many questions. If I call anyone else I'll get the Spanish inquisition.

I called Ranger again.

"Yo" He answered.

"You locked me in your apartment."

"Babe." He said and hung up on me.

I am drained. My emotions are all over the place. I don't know what I want from Ranger. I just know I don't want to be a girl he sends a check to every month like Rachel. I need to think. Of course I can't use my normal thinking position anymore. I usually lay sprawled out on my stomach. I went to the bathroom and laid down on Ranger's bed.

Hmm. I guess if I'm here I could change. I grabbed one of Rangers t-shirts and changed into it. I slid in between the sheets. I don't know why but I always feel better when I lay in Ranger's bed. His thousand count sheets feel heavenly. The only thing that could be better was if Ranger was holding me. I shouldn't have thought of that, because it started my crying episode again.

I woke up to Ranger sliding into bed. "Go back to sleep it's late." He pulled me close to him, and put his arm around me cradling my stomach. I cried myself back to sleep.

I woke up and the sun was streaming through the window. I could hear voices out in the living room. I went to take a shower. I really don't want to face anyone. I looked in the dressing room to see if I could find anything that fit, so I could go down to work. To say I was shocked is an understatement. All of my clothes from my apartment were hanging up on one side, and all of Ranger's things was on the other. I sat down on the bench. I am so not going to cry I kept telling myself.

After some deep breathing to get myself under control I found some black sweats and a Rangeman shirt. I needed a bra and underwear. I went over to Ranger's dresser. One side was filled with my stuff. I grabbed a bra, a pair of underwear, and black socks quickly. I so do not want to think about all my stuff being here.

I walked into the kitchen. Ella had left a nice pot of tea for me, some oatmeal and fruit. I guess Ranger told her no sweets. I sat down at the counter to eat. I knew Ranger was in the other room watching me, but I couldn't dare look at him.

I finished eating and rinsed my dishes to put in the dishwasher. I walked towards the door to go down to work. I felt Ranger come up behind me.

"Where are you going?" He asked.

It's Thursday, I was going to work if that's OK with you." I spat out. I know I shouldn't bait him like this, but he pissed me off.

"No you need to wait. Your personal bodyguard should be here in a few minutes." Wait hold the phone, did he just say bodyguard?

I spun around to yell at him. He and backed me into the wall. His body was barely skimming mine. I was pissed off and turned on at the same time. Ranger lowered his head and whispered in my ear.

"You will not go anywhere without a bodyguard, and if you try to lose her you will be sorry." What did he say. He kissed me and any coherent thought I had was lost. We were interrupted by a knock on the door. I was happy because my body was betraying me. Hey I haven't had sex in three months, I have raging pregnancy hormones, and Ranger is irresistible.

Ranger opened the door and if I wasn't leaning against the wall I would have fallen down. Standing there in an all black Rangeman uniform was none other than Lula.