Ranger POV
The driver dropped me off in front of the RangeMan building. It was just after 3:00 am and all seemed to be quiet. I hobbled along with my crutches towards the front door. My bag was strapped across my back and my key fob was in it. When I'd left the hospital, I had on a pair of basketball shorts and a sweatshirt. I hadn't thought ahead about getting into the building with my key. I was after comfort with the cast and bandages.
I used my crutch to bang on the door and got the attention to the man at the desk. He looked up in surprise and ran around the desk to open the door. "Oh my god Ranger, you're home," he said. I gave him a confused look and asked him for the elevator. I told him not to announce my arrival to anyone yet. All I wanted to do was go up to my apartment and drop in bed for a few hours. Then, I was going to let Tank know I was back and then go find Steph. He helped me inside and pushed the button for me to get to the top floor. When the elevator opened, I hobbled out and looked at my apartment door. There was a wreath of blue flowers hanging on the door. "What the hell?" I thought.
I leaned on one crutch and turned the doorknob. I shuffled inside and using my crutch, closed the door behind me. I made my way over to the couch and noticed someone sleeping on it. Bobby. What the hell was going on?
I shrugged off my bag and let it drop on the floor with a loud thud. Bobby jumped up, gun drawn, and looked right at me. "Oh my god, you're alive", he said, pulling me into a big hug. "What the hell is going on here Brown?" I asked. "Oh, you're going to love this, just follow me. He led me towards my bedroom before I noticed a couple of new doors that wasn't there when I left. Looking around, I noticed more things had changed. There were new framed photos on the walls and the bookshelves seemed to be full of knick-knacks, including journal that I had kept during my mission. My duffel, which had the journal in it, had been stolen out of the rental car before it got to the impound lot. Someone must have found it and turned it over to the Army. It must have made it somehow to Tank and he put it up here instead of giving it to Steph.
I turned towards the first new door and found a full bathroom, complete with a tub and shower. What the hell was going on? Who decided to remodel my apartment? I closed that door and kept following Bobby. We walked the few steps to the other new door. Bobby motioned for me to open it and I slowly turned the knob. I pushed opened the door slightly and noticed a soft light coming from a dresser in the far corner of the room. I pushed the door open the rest of the way and what I saw stopped my heart for a moment. The love of my life, my babe, was sitting in a rocking chair gently rocking a baby, who looked to be a newborn, and was dressed in black footed pajamas that had the batman symbol all of them and then I noticed the baby's hair. Curly and silky black hair, combined with a skin tone that was a bit lighter than mine, meant that this was my baby. I couldn't believe it. My babe had our baby while I was gone. Bobby dropped a hand on my shoulder and gave it a squeeze. Leaning into me, he said softly, "I'm going back to the couch. I'm here to help her if she needs it. Go meet your son."
She didn't notice the door open and she was nursing the baby and softly talking to the baby. I stood silently and listened to her. "My sweet baby boy. You're growing so fast. I wish your daddy was here to see you and hold you. I know he'll love you, just like he loves me. He'd be so proud of us, knowing that we kept going on after he left. Everyone thinks he's gone, but I don't feel it. I know he'll come home one day, hopefully soon."
I shifted on my crutches and the noise that had Steph turning around. She looked at me and let out a gasp. "Babe." She stopped rocking and the baby started to fuss. He'd lost his latch to her nipple and was rooting around trying to get back on to continue eating. "Carlos? Are you real or am I dreaming again?"
"Babe, it's me, I'm not a dream. I'm finally home. Who do you have there with you?"
She stared at me and a short cry from the baby seemed to jolt back to the present time. She adjusted the baby and he latched back on and started eating again. "Carlos?" I shuffled over to her and reached out a hand to touch her face. She sighed and leaned into my hand, giving it a kiss. She looked at me and I saw the tears streaming down her face. I reached down and wiped her tears and the noticed the baby had his eyes open and while still nursing, was staring at me. Bright blue eyes staring at me with a somewhat blank face. I leaned more on my crutches and reached my hand from Steph to the baby. "Babe?"
She looked down at my hand and laughed. "Oh my god, you're home. Are you okay? What happened to your leg?" "Babe, we can talk about my leg later. Tell me who you've got in your arms."
"Carlos, meet your son, Alejandro Carlos Manoso. Alex, meet your daddy." Alex had stopped nursing and was just staring. She shifted the baby onto her shoulder and gently rubbed his back. She stood up and ushered me to sit in the rocking chair. She put Alex into my arms and leaned my crutches up against the wall. I rocked Alex and just stared at him. Steph stood next to us with tears streaming down her face and with my other hand, I reached out to her and pulled her onto my lap too. She wrapped her arms around my neck and pulled me in for a kiss. I got lost momentarily in her kiss and then Alex decided he was being neglected and started to fuss. We both laughed and I reached down to move him up to my shoulder. Steph leaned in and kissed him. She got up and let me rock him to sleep. It didn't take long for him to fall asleep and then Steph took him and put him gently in his crib. She came back over to me and helped me stand up and handed me my crutches. She led me out of the room and quietly closed the door to Alex's room.
We headed to the bedroom and there were a few changes in here as well. I'd look the apartment over better in the morning, but for now, I just wanted to get into bed and hold Steph. She helped me into the bathroom and then over to the bed. I sat down and swung my leg with the cast into bed. She set the crutches down and then climbed into bed next to me. She turned the baby monitor on and then curled up into me. She wrapped her arms around me and I kissed her until we were both breathless. "Carlos, I have so many questions for you, and I'm sure you have a lot of questions for me, but you look like you could sleep for days. We'll talk about it all in the morning, okay? Alex will sleep for only about two hours before he wakes up again for another feeding. Let's sleep for now. Let me hold you and just sleep. I love you and am so happy you came home to us."