Chapter 9, enjoy! I think this is chapter nine, or 8, who knows, just enjoy! ;D

Warning: none

Disclaimer in chapter 1!

ENJOY!


The Mercenary's Daughter

Chapter 8 or 9

Adventurer


"This is the car you drive?" Carlos asked Stephanie, as she got out a red Miata, "This is a sports car."

"Yeah, but she's my baby," Stephanie said, walking over to Carlos and taking Heidi from him, "Hello, Heidi, we are all smiles today, you're so adorable!"

Carlos pulled his phone out and made a quick call to Tank. He turned to Stephanie and said, "You're getting a new car, a Miata isn't a car for a nanny and her charge, I have one on the way for you."

"You don't have to get me a car," Stephanie said, bouncing Heidi in her arms, "I mean…my car isn't that bad?"

"No, but you'll be carrying a baby around with her things and you'll be carrying a lot of things," Carlos said turning to look at the house he bought yesterday, "It's a company car, it's not yours so don't feel guilty about driving it around."

"Okay," Stephanie said, looking up at the house, "I can't believe you bought a house, yesterday, furnished it and did it all before 9 in the morning…what are you, a wizard?"

"I could be," Carlos said, leading Stephanie to the front porch of the house, "Here we are, home sweet home."

Carlos gave Stephanie a key saying, "Here's your key, you're free to come and go as you please," opening the door to the house, "Welcome to Casa De Manoso."

Stephanie let out a sound as they entered the house. It was a beautiful home, the foyer was massive, and two stories tall, with a low hanging chandelier and a flight of stairs that led up to the second floor. Dark wood ran through the house and the walls were a soft cream color with white molding. The foyer led into a long hallway which went off into a large private office, a dining room, a family room, a kitchen and a sitting area. There was a doorway that led down into a basement, large areas of storage space, a mud room and custom built play area, beside the kitchen. The kitchen had dark cabinets and silver appliances and white quartz counters. It looked modern and spacious and it made Stephanie want to go in there and learn how to cook a meal. The best part about this nice new house was that it was fully furnished with new things that Ella picked out, there were even pictures hanging on the wall. It was as though a team came in a decorated the home over night.

Stephanie turned to Carlos and she said, with a smile, "It's beautiful, Carlos, it's such a nice home to raise Heidi."

"You haven't seen your room yet," Carlos said, leading Stephanie upstairs, "I think you'll love it."

There were five bedrooms upstairs, two of them master suites. Carlos led Stephanie past a pink and white door that had Heidi's name written on it and over to the door next to it. Carlos opened the door and revealed a large room, with a sitting area,. There was a large four poster canopy bed with cream colored sheets on them along with a fluffy feather down comforter. The furniture contrasted the cream colored walls by being a dark wood and the carpet in the room was the same creamy color. A door led into a huge walk in closet that would easily fit Stephanie's clothes. Another door led into aensuite bathroom that had a walk in shower and a whirlpool tub and a nice size toilet room. Stephanie smiled and said, "This is too much, Carlos, this is my room? Nannies don't have such nice rooms!"

"This one does," Carlos said, watching Stephanie bounce Heidi in her arms, "I'm glad you like it, Babe, Ella knew what to pick out for you, and if you want to change it, come find me and we'll get people in here to fix it up for you."

"Thank you, Carlos," Stephanie said, as Heidi began to fuss in her arms, "Oh, time to go be nanny, it looks like she's hungry…."

"Speaking of hungry, did you have breakfast?" Carlos asked Stephanie, watching her carry Heidi out the room, "I can make us some breakfast, I can make a mean Spanish omelet."

"That sounds like a delicious breakfast, let's go feed Heidi and then you can make me a mean omelet," Stephanie said, carrying Heidi down the stairs.

(~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~)

"Look at this, while you were shacking up with the sexy single father, I was making your panties!" Lula said, holding up a pink bag, "I got some spandex and some fake fabric, so let's take a look at what I made you."

Stephanie let out a grunt and adjusted Heidi in her little chair and said, "I'm not shacking up with Mr. Manoso, I'm his child's nanny!"

"Mr. Manoso," Lula echoed, pulling out some of the panties she created, "I feel like I'm watching an episode of The Nanny but you don't have big hair and an annoying New York accent…"

"It's New Jersey and it's more tolerable," Brittany said, as Stephanie combed her hair, "Ouch! Be gentle, Stephanie, my scalp is tender."

"Sorry," Stephanie said, brushing out soft curly locks, and looking over to Heidi, who let out a squeal and pumped her fists in the air, "I know, Heidi, Lula and Brittany are hilarious!"

"I am not," Lula said, holding her finished product, "See, how do they look, I spent most of the week doing this!"

"Wow, these are good," Stephanie said, as Lula held up a pair of black silky panties with mesh siding, "These are sexy, wow!"

"I know," Lula said, with pride, watching Stephanie braided Brittany's hair, "I think I'm going to make a lot more of them, different styles too, so you can look at them and see which ones you like."

"Yeah, this is so cool, your shop is going to be awesome, Stephanie!" Brittany said, as Stephanie finished her hair, "Thanks for doing my hair, Stephanie, I look wonderful!"

Stephanie smiled and walked over to Heidi and picked her up saying, "Brittany always looks wonderful, doesn't she Heidi!"

Heidi gurgled in Stephanie's arms and gave her a big smile. Lula put down the panties, sat down in the hospital bed and said, "So, first real day as a nanny, how do you find it?"

"It's good!" Stephanie said, taking out a bottle for Heidi, "Heidi rarely cries, and she's a nice baby, Plus, Mister Manoso made me breakfast…did I tell you about the kitchen he has, it's amazing, I saw it and I wanted to cook something!

"Well, at least you're happy," Lula said, as Stephanie fed Heidi, "And soon, you'll have enough money to open your shop up soon."

"Yeah, Mister Manoso pays wells, I think he's spoiling me," Stephanie said, as Heidi finished her bottle, "I have a nice room, he gave me a company car, a freaking Porsche Cayenne, and he's feeding me, plus his daughter is adorable….I sometimes think that this isn't real that I'm going to wake up soon and be in my condo…"

"Well, when you see him naked, tell us," Lula said, earning a squawk from Stephanie, "What, he's hot!"

"Bleh, whatever," Brittany said, with a shrug, giving Lula a look, "I've seen him naked, and it's not that good…I guess, he's like my brother, so, whatever…"

Stephanie blushed at Brittany and said, "Damn it, you two are the worse! Aren't they Heidi?"

(~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~)

"Where's Heidi?" Tank asked, walking into Carlos's office, "She's usually here, in her bouncer."

"She's with her nanny," Carlos said, with a shrug, shifting through important papers from his accountant, "She's safe and sound too, so don't worry about her."

I'm not worried, but they do have trackers on, the Porsche has one, Stephanie has one in her purse and on her clothes, Heidi has one on her, her car seat has one, and the baby bag has one, so I'm not too worried," Carlos said, as he looked up from his paperwork, "Man, I can't believe this…Brittany was right, I do spend too much on child support…"

Tank let out a whistle and said, "It's about damn time you got your head out of your ass, It only took you a year of Brittany's harping to get you in gear! I've been telling you this for the past 8 years. I mean come on, why in the hell did a 2 year old need 10k a month?!"

Carlos ran a hand through his hair and said, "I know, Rachel's bleeding me dry, I've been calculating this all, Tank, 10k a month for one year is 120k, times that by 7 years…840k! And she demanded more money, twice the amount, for 3 years….I gave this woman over one million dollars, and I have no idea how she spends it…and Brittany's going to kill this woman in court over this."

Tank nodded his head and said, "She is, once she gets out the hospital, what spurred this revelation on?"

"I got a nasty call from Rachel, during lunch, her lawyer got the motion from Ben, the lawyer Brittany gave us," Carlos said, looking over to Tank, who hissed through his teeth, "I know, anyways, she pretty much threatened me about it, how her lawyer would make sure I'd pay double what I'm paying now, How I would pay for what I did to her all those years ago."

"If Brittany was mobile she'd have a fucking field day with this mess," Tank chuckled, watching Carlos nod his head, "What's going on now?"

"Ben moved fast, the courts got in contact with Ben, told him that I didn't have to pay anything else, since the amount already paid was more than enough to raise a child. The judge believed that Rachel was using the money on the other children when that money is solely for Julie's wellbeing. I won't have to pay for anything until after the court hearings."

Tank sat down across from Carlos and said, "You seem real serious about this, what bought this on?"

"Heidi, that's what," Carlos said, with a smile, "She's my child, she's going to need support, She…I did wrong with Julie, I'm not doing wrong with Heidi, she doesn't have anyone but me."

Tank nodded his head and said, "That's a good thing then, your baby girl is changing your life,"

Carlos smiled and looked down at the picture on his desk. He got photos of Heidi the other day, and she had been nothing but smiles. Carlos felt his heart tug at the picture and he said, "Yes, Heidi is changing my life, but not my image, let's go check out on some of our clients, Lester came to me a while back, one of our accounts almost got broken in, and we caught some culprits."

(~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~)

"Okay, Heidi," Stephanie said, placing the infant in her highchair, "Let's get you a bottle and then I'll make us some lunch, I bet you're-"

Stephanie paused as she lifted Heidi up from her car seat. She sniffed at Heidi's bottom and said, "Eh….you stink, you smell like shit, let's go get a diaper change and then I'll feed you."

Heidi gave Stephanie a loud laugh and smiled up at her, as Stephanie carried her up to her nursery. Stephanie entered the soft pink and brown room, laid Heidi on the changing table and said, "Okay…Carlos did this early this morning, it shouldn't be too hard, right?"

Stephanie undid the one piece Heidi wore and then she pulled off the diaper Heidi wore, gagging at the smell.

"Gross, you just eat formula, what in the fuck do you eat!?" Stephanie gagged as she cleaned Heidi up with the wipes, "Gross, gross, you need ten wipes!"

Heidi let out another laugh, looking up at Stephanie, with a smile on her face. Stephanie put a new diaper on Heidi and then buttoned her one piece up. Stephanie tossed the diaper into the diaper genie and said, "All nice and sweet smelling now and now, let's go eat some food and have a nice long nap before-"

THUD! Stephanie jumped in shocked as she heard a loud thump downstairs. Stephanie lifted Heidi up in her arms and said, "What in the hell was that?!"

Stephanie made her way down the stairs, with Heidi in her arms. She made her way into the hallway and jumped again as she heard another loud thud that came from the kitchen. Stephanie opened the broom closet and took out a mop, shuffling into the kitchen, holding Heidi close to her. Carlos wasn't due home for an hour so that meant robbers.

"We've got this, Heidi," Stephanie said, looking through the kitchen, and gluping as she heard a loud thud again, this time coming from the sliding door that rested in the kitchen, "It's a robber, we've got this!"

Stephanie slid over to the side door of the kitchen and looked out at the and stopped short, looking at the sight before her, a look of pure confusion on her face.

A little boy, who looked to be no older than three was standing up on his feet, looking disoriented, wearing a helmet. He shook his head and then roared, "CHARGE!" before hitting the side door again with his helmet covered head, causing him to fall on the porch with a thunk, moaning softly. Stephanie wrenched the door open and said, "What in the world are you doing?!"

The little boy groaned and sat up saying, "I'm an adventurer and I gotta find the treasure!"

Stephanie tightened her arm around Heidi's small body and said, "So…kid, are you hungry or something, what's your name?"

"Diesel, and yes, I wanna eat some food," the boy said, taking off his helmet to reveal blond hair, "Food, food, food! Adventurer is hungry!"

Stephanie frowned and placed her free hand on her hips but said, "Alright, kid, I think we have some peanut butter and jelly, let's go eat."

"Yum!"

TBC…


Here comes Diesel! Please review! :D