They're still not mine; so sadly, I'm not making any money.

CHAPTER 7

A few hours after my goodbye to Ranger and the guys, I found myself flying out of bed and into the bathroom to experience a 'joy' of pregnancy. I stayed crouched over the toilet for a few minutes before sinking to the cool tile floor. Lying there, I reevaluated my decision to be a part of Ranger's life, and realized that was still what I wanted. Now the question was, how do I convince him that opening his life to relationships won't stop him from being Batman? And if I manage that, how do I convince him to bring a baby into the mix?

Hauling myself up, off the floor, I sighed in exasperation. I had finally figured out what I want and who I want it with, I just hoped it wasn't too late. Could I go back to seeing Ranger only as one of my best friends? Probably…if it was the only way to keep him in my life, but I had to try for more.

With those cheery thoughts, I got myself ready for the day and took the elevator down to work. As the day drug on, I constantly caught myself worrying about Ranger and the guys. I just had to remember that they're good at whatever they were doing, they did it before I knew them, before I cared for them, and they could do it now.

At lunch time, I stood from my chair, sighing and stretched before heading to the break-room. I grabbed a turkey sandwich on wheat and was digging in the refrigerator for a bottle of water, when I felt someone behind me. Spinning quickly, I found Hector standing very close.

"Hola," he said calmly.

"Oh, hi, Hector," I stammered, not sure what to make of this. He still made me sort of nervous and I wasn't completely sure of his English abilities. The only English I had ever heard from him was 'bang,' and that wasn't very reassuring.

"Boss want that I teach you gun."

"Ranger wants you to give me lessons with my gun?" I asked, just to be clear.

"Si."

"Okaaayy…Um, when do you want to start?"

"Next week. Then do like Lester."

"Meet three time a week?" I questioned, assuming that was what he meant.

"Si."

"Alright. Just let me know when."

"Bien. Adios," he replied, before slipping away as silently as he appeared.

So, I guess Hector's my new instructor. I wonder if he's as…enthusiastic, as Lester about guns. I mean, I love Lester dearly, but I can only get so excited over Glock's and Beretta's and automatic vs. semiautomatic, etc.

With these musings, I made my way back to my desk to enjoy my sandwich and cursed softly when I noticed my pile of searches had increased in the fifteen minutes I was away. I swear these guys sit, waiting for me to leave my desk to drop the things off. It's like they're afraid I'll bite their heads off or maybe they're just messing with me. I don't know.

Later that evening, I was feeling lonely up on the 7th floor, when I decided I had better call Ella for dinner. When she came up she took one look at me and the empty apartment before herding me to her apartment to have dinner with her and Luis. After dinner, I went back to 7, dropped a few grapes into Rex's cage, watched some TV and had a chat with my baby. When I felt tired I got ready for bed, pulling one of Ranger's black t-shirts over my head and snuggling into the covers.

My days quickly fell into a pattern of morning sickness, work, dinner with Ella, busying myself for the evening, chat with baby and bed.

XOXOXOX

I was sitting at my desk one day, about a week after the guys left, and found myself with an empty in-box. Since this is a very rare occurrence, I decided to seize the opportunity and do something productive.

I opened up Google, and did some searches on pregnancy. By my calculations, I was now six weeks pregnant and according to the info online, I should be finding a doctor and beginning check-ups. I don't know any baby doctors, so I started hunting for my phone to call Mare and get her input. She'd done this a few times.

I was still digging through my purse when my light was suddenly blocked. I had come to associate this with a Rangeman entering my cubicle so I looked up and found a slightly nervous looking Hal. Now, Hal is roughly the size of two normal men, so the idea that I can make him nervous never ceases to amuse me.

"What's up Hal?"

"Ummm, well, the Boss made you a doctor's appointment before he left and said someone should take you if he wasn't back," spit out Hal at warp speed.

Hunh, he must think I'm gonna get mad. I thought about it, but decided I was just glad Ranger had thought to schedule the appointment. Mostly, I was just ticked that he was able to ESP what I needed days in advance and have it taken care of while he's…where ever he is.

"Did you draw the short straw?" I asked smiling.

"Um, yeah," Hal replied, looking relieved that I was taking this so well.

"Okay, when do we go and who are we going to see?"

"Tomorrow at three and Dr. Emma Cooper."

"Sounds good."

"Okay," said a very confused looking Hal, as he wandered away.

That settled, I decided to look up my new doctor online. Just typing in her name got me a few thousand hits and it didn't take me long to find that she's the leading obstetrician in the Trenton area. Trust Ranger to find the best and get me an appointment, but there was no way I could afford her. Just out of curiosity, though, I brought up the Rangeman website and went to the employment section to check out my medical benefits. Yep, there it is, full pre-natal care coverage…and people think Ranger's not a good guy.

Since I still didn't have any searches, I decided to take my lunch. Wandering into the break room, I grabbed a freshly made grilled chicken salad and headed for the elevator. I'd eat up on the 7th floor and spend the rest of my lunch break napping. No one tells you how tired this pregnancy stuff makes you.

Once I was finished with my salad, I grabbed a blanket and curled up in a ball on the couch, not wanting to mess up the bed that Ella so neatly made. Forty minutes later, the alarm on my phone went off, dragging me from sleep. I glanced at the time and saw I had ten minutes to be back to my desk, so I ran to the bathroom and peed for about the millionth time today and fixed my hair before taking the elevator back downstairs.

Just as I expected, my in-box had filled, so I settled myself in for a few more fun-filled hours of online bad-guy hunting. They passed quickly, and before logging out I brought up and few news sites, like I did every day this past week. I did a quick scan of the headlines for any major political upheavals, third world jungle invasions, or South African coups…anything that could give me a clue as to where Ranger and the guys were…but like always, there was nothing of use.

Later that evening, after dinner with Ella and the rest of my night-time routine, I crawled into bed and opened the big book of fairytales to where I had left off. I'd bought the book over the weekend, during the cheer-me-up shopping trip Mare, Connie and Lula had arranged in honor of Joe getting married. I had seen it and realized I was seriously lacking in fairytale knowledge, I needed to brush up if I was gonna be a mommy. Some nights I practiced reading out loud, but tonight I was enjoying the silence.

The next thing I knew, I was trying to sit up and something was sticking to my face. Opening my eyes, I saw it was one of the glossy pages of my book, so I peeled it free. A glance to the clock told me it was just about time to get up, so I grabbed a few of the soda crackers I keep in the nightstand, and headed for the bathroom while munching.

Hopping into the shower, I wondered if Ranger remembered to pack some Bulgari, but decided I didn't like the idea of him off somewhere smelling all sexy. I preferred to think he had to pick up some normal-person soap at a drug store…if they have drug stores where ever he is.

Grabbing Ranger's robe, I slipped it on as I towel dried my hair and ran some gel through it. After that, I got dressed and started the makeup.

"Okay, if you're a boy, disregard this, if you're a girl pay close attention," I told my stomach. "Now, normally you start with foundation, but according to Ella it's you giving my skin this wonderful glow, so we can skip that. We've been over mascara, so today we're going to do eye-shadow…" and so the lesson went on.

Once I was ready I headed down to the 5th floor. In the elevator, it hit me that I had only been giving the baby, girl type lessons. I should probably figure out what sort of stuff to tell it for boy lessons. Lucky me, I work in a building where the testosterone level is through the roof.

"Hey, guys," I said to Woody and Junior as I swung into a chair in the control room and watched as images from a jewelry store panned across the screen. Momentarily distracted, I forgot what I came in for.

"What's up, Bombshell?" asked Woody.

"Oh, yeah. Um, what kind of things do little boys need to know?"

"Huh," they both asked.

"I've been telling the baby things like how to put on make-up and girl stuff, but I don't know boy stuff to tell it. You guys were little boys…help!"

"Probably, you should just nap on the couch and turn on ESPN," offered Junior.

"I like to talk to the baby," I said, like this was the most normal thing in the world.

Since I'm pretty sure it's impossible to shock a Rangeman, neither of them showed any sign that they didn't think this is normal. Instead they looked thoughtful.

"You could try telling it how to throw a baseball," said Junior.

"Talk to it about cars, girl or boy won't matter. It'll be a kind of a vehicular sensitivity training to prevent the rugrat having your luck with cars," offered Woody.

I gave that one a big eye roll. This poor kid was going to catch a lot of slack when it came to learning to drive.

"Thanks guys," I said, deciding they weren't much help, before standing and swinging off towards my cubicle.

Four searches later, I looked up to find Hector standing by my desk.

"Hola, Nena."

"Hi, Hector."

"Practice early today, because you go to the doctor."

"Okay, do you want to go now?"

"Si."

Standing, I linked my arm through Hector's and we headed for the lift. It still surprised me how gentle he is, considering how scary he looks. Today would be our third session, but it had only taken about fifteen minutes into the first one for me to get over my fear of him.

Once in the range, he handed me a gun and pointed at the target.

"Hit the paper man. How do you say 'paper man'?" he asked, immediately quizzing me on the Spanish he had taught me during our last lesson. After I had automatically corrected his grammar and he had said if I got to teach him English he would teach me Spanish. Since Ranger and the guys tended to speak Spanish around me, I thought this was a good deal.

"Umm, hombre de papel," I said, before unloading the clip at the paper man.

"Bien," Hector said, referring to my translation and shooting. "Reload gun."

"Reload the gun," I corrected.

"Reload the gun," he repeated. "Say 'I have blue eyes'."

"Tengo ojos auzeles."

"Close. Tengo ojos azules. Shoot again."

And that's how our lessons went. Hector expected me to work the entire hour, but had quickly learned that I work better if I'm not thinking about how much I hate practicing with my gun. So, the whole time I worked, he kept my mind on my Spanish lessons rather than the physical task I was doing.

Back upstairs, I saw it was lunch time, so I headed for the break-room where I found Hal alternately taking a bite of and glaring at a turkey sandwich.

"What did that poor sandwich do to deserve a look like that?" I asked.

"It's not a big, juicy, greasy double cheeseburger," he said.

Laughing, I thought about the chances of anyone finding something as unhealthy as a cheeseburger in this building. Then my stomach started clenching at the very idea. To combat the feeling, I grabbed a spinach salad and some fat free French dressing.

"So, what time are we leaving?" I asked, changing the subject.

"We need to leave at about 2:15."

"Okay, I'll meet you in the garage then."

"See you in an hour," he said, before sitting his plate in the sink and heading back to the control room.

We have to leave in an hour…that gives me about time to do a few searches and then get ready to go, or take a nap and then get ready to go. Decisions, decisions. Right…and a nap it is.

Fifty minutes later, I was rushing around the apartment trying to finish getting ready. I hadn't realized what a dilemma it would be finding something to wear. What does one wear to meet the person that will be delivering their baby? Exactly. In the end, I settled on loose jeans, a nice blouse and low heels. I was trying to look responsible, like I could handle being a mother.

I was just grabbing a jacket and my purse to head out the door when I heard my phone go off. It was playing the 'Robin Hood: Men in Tights' theme song, so I knew it was one of the Merry Men…I have to remember to change that before one of them notices it.

"Hello," I answered.

"Bombshell," said Hal. "Where are you?"

"I'm in the elevator, on my way down. Have some patience, sheesh." Then I hung up, figuring if Ranger could do it, so could I.

Looking at the time on my phone, I saw I was only two minutes late. Again I'll say it, sheesh.

"Well, let's get this show on the road," I said, climbing out of the elevator and into the Bronco, Hal was standing by.

Nena: Little one

XOXOXOXOX

A/N: Hope you're enjoying the story…tell me what you think!