The clock on his bedroom table read 5:30, officially half an hour since he should have been up but he couldn't risk waking the woman still clutched tightly to his chest. Stephanie had sobbed herself to sleep maybe half an hour after Morelli's call but Ranger had stayed awake, gently stroking her hair and thinking silently. Stephanie was a mess; with one phone call Morelli had changed her into a shadow of the woman she had been, watching television with his young daughter. And he had messed with her, he had made the mistake Ranger did years ago, but as opposed to marrying her, he had slept with another woman and then blamed Stephanie.

The lack of human consideration made Ranger ill and he tightly held Stephanie as if it would make the pain and suffering go away. He knew that the right thing would be for that child to grow up alongside his or her father but, much like with Julie and Rachel, he wouldn't want that man anywhere near the child. It wasn't his choice, Stephanie was the mother and had all over-all say, but he assumed that Stephanie would feel the same. She wouldn't want a Morelli anywhere near her child, unborn or born, father or not, after what he did and especially after all the rumors of Morelli men that ran through the Burg.

Ranger was surprised to find that he still very much loved Stephanie as he did when they laid down together, he had expected a quiet sense of severance when he heard the news but when the tears started falling he was compelled by an even stronger sense of emotion to hold her close and whisper it would be alright. It wouldn't – single parenthood was hard, worse when the other parent was not involved in anyway – but then again, did she have to be alone? Ranger could be there, maybe not relationship wise for even he could see that Stephanie was currently too unstable to maintain a healthy relationship, but as a friend, as someone who had gone through something similar.

He could be whatever Stephanie wanted as long as he could be a part of the child's life somehow. The guilty feelings of simply endangering yet another life were squashed by the over-powering protective feelings over Stephanie. He didn't care if that child was half-Morelli, his babe was having a baby and as for as he was concerned, that was all that mattered. He would be there if she wanted, more so than he was in Julie's first year of life.

Six o'clock rolled by and he heard the dim, groggy sounds of Julie slowly awakening. He knew that Julie would soon come to see why he wasn't up but even as the time ticked by; he couldn't pull Stephanie away from him. He couldn't help but thinking that if he left for a moment, she would be gone from his life, and back to the father of her baby. Julie cautiously opened his door at 6:30 and Ranger looked up at his daughter.

Julie had the right mind in staying silent, merely cocking her head in confusion and curiosity at the sight of the rather intimate position. Stephanie was curled into his chest so her tear-stained face was thankfully unseen by his daughter. Ranger figured that Stephanie was most likely unready for other people to know of her condition so he gestured for his daughter to close his door without saying anything. Once it was closed silently, Ranger slipped out from the bed. Stephanie groaned a little from the loss of warmth and curled into his vacant spot but didn't awaken.

Ranger's eyes were momentarily drawn to her stomach. It was still flat, but he knew that if she truly was pregnant, it would slowly begin to swell to encompass the baby. Ranger had always thought pregnant woman were beautiful; there was a simple vivacious glow to them that was unparalleled by anyone, even with those like Rachel whose child wasn't born from love. He knew that Stephanie would have an even stronger allure to him because he already loved her; but in the same field, he knew that it would never be, the baby wasn't his and he had no right to feel so protective of it.

That didn't stop him from gently resting a hand on Stephanie's stomach and whispering softly in Spanish, softness in his eyes he would never let anyone see but in the dead of night. He was tied to the child like he was tied to its mother, irrevocably. He wanted to be there for the child, a feeling he didn't expect to have. He let out an almost silent sigh at the thoughts of an impossibility; it was nonsense to believe he could be there for Stephanie and her child, he could barely be there for his own and his lifestyle didn't even lend enough for that one person safely.

He dressed quickly and wrote a simple note for Stephanie, telling her where he and Julie had gone and told her to stay in his apartment. He didn't think that Morelli would hurt her physically but the man had a temper large enough that it was a possibility Ranger didn't want to ignore. He met Julie in the hallway, a bagel held in one hand and her bag in the other. "Let's go." He told her quietly and led her out of the building and into his Porsche Turbo. They drove silently which was uncharacteristic of his young daughter and Ranger was almost worried by the time he parked in front of her school.

"What was wrong with Stephanie? I heard the phone ring last night and then I heard her cry for a long time, what happened?" there was worry written in the depths of her dark eyes but her voice was steady and her face was blank. Anyone on the outside would assume they were speaking of something mundane, like a test she had to take that day, or a homework assignment due. Ranger had to hand it to his daughter; sometimes her observance skills surprised him.

"Let's not talk about it here," he told her. She nodded in agreement, kissed him on the cheek and left the car for the steps of her elementary school. Ranger waited until she rounded the corner before backing out of the lot. He thought of Stephanie all the way home; did she know for sure? If she had only taken a drug store test chances would be that it was inconclusive and she might not be pregnant at all. He thought on ways of addressing it with her as he fobbed himself into the apartment. Stephanie sat staring at the wall unseeingly, fresh tears making the journey down her beautiful face.

"Babe." He whispered softly and wrapped his arms around her. "For sure?" He asked quietly, warm breath gently tickling her ear and the back of her neck. After a pause Stephanie shook her head.

"The test I took with Mary Lou was positive but I had a doctor's appointment made out of town to confirm it. Once I found Morelli and Joyce I cancelled it, I didn't want to know." Ranger nodded in understanding; when Rachel called to tell him she was pregnant it had taken three cancelled appointments before he could finally get her to take the test. "I'm such an idiot." She whispered again, clutching at him, "and now I brought you and Julie into this stupid mess."Ranger just clutched her tighter.

"You didn't bring us into anything." He told her shortly before taking up a more practical note, "I only have simple paramedics at the office but I know a discreet doctor who can confirm." Ranger informed her. Stephanie stiffened but nodded slowly. Ranger understood the fear well, an unexpected child was a terrifying experience for a woman. "We'll stop by your apartment to get clothes." She nodded and Ranger grabbed her purse for her, slipping in a Smith and Wesson's .38 when he realized hers wasn't there. Stephanie blanched at the sight of the smooth metal in her purse but it was a testament to the seriousness of her predicament that she didn't argue it.

The drive to her apartment was silent; the unspoken agreement between them was the only noise in either's ears. Stephanie would have normally filled the quietude with inane chatter but with the grave prospect of motherhood looming in front of her, conversation fell short. The elevator was empty when they got on it to the second floor. Ranger would have preferred the stairs than to the rickety elevator but he didn't want to push Stephanie any further.

The grave calmness that surrounded them, however, was broken by the sight before them. Ranger growled lowly as he stepped protectively in front of Stephanie, staring surprisingly calmly at the man before him. Morelli's angry eyes answered his steadily as he leveled the barrel even to Ranger's chest.


I hope you liked this chapter because it nearly killed me trying to write it. I have somehow contracted an illness and am quarantined into my room to avoid giving it to my little cousins. My major headache is back but whatever I liked the chapter. Sorry for the cliffhanger but it had to happen, I wanted the drama factor in it.