Part 10
The stay in Trenton went well, which surprised Steph. After they left the Plum house, they drove to RangeMan. The Manoso family stayed in one of the open apartments at the RangeMan building and while it was tight fit for the family of 4 in a 1 bedroom apartment, Steph loved it. She loved being back in the building with all of the guys and the babies were so loved by the guys.
When they pulled into the garage, Lester was waiting for them. Lester kissed her on the cheek and then helped grab their bags. They all piled into the elevator and stopped at the 4th floor and went down the hall to the apartment they were staying in for their time in Trenton. Lester had opened the door and they were happy to see that there were two portable cribs set up in the living room. Lester told them that he went out and bought them and he hoped they were the right things. "You know there is a lot of baby stuff out there!"
Lester played with the babies while Ranger and Steph unpacked. She unloaded the small cooler with their bottles and after a quick diaper change, they had the babies set on the floor, with their bibs on while Steph and Ranger fed them a quick snack. After a clean-up and another diaper change, they all headed up to the control room. Lester got out the elevator first and called the guys to attention. When Ranger and Steph walked out holding the babies, the floor was silent. Steph looked at Ranger and said, "I think we broke them." Samuel let out a loud screech and clapped his hands. That seemed to pull the guys out of their stupor and then all came over to see the babies. They were passed around between the men and both the babies seemed to be intrigued with the visible tattoos on some of the guys, Cal's especially. Ranger and Steph were hugged and eventually the babies made their way back to them. Steph announced the information about the babies and that they were comfortably living in Iowa, which shocked some of the men. Ranger then announced that pizza and beer after shift were on him at Pino's. That got a roar from the guys, which made the babies yell too.
The men in black descended upon Pino's and ended up shutting the place down for the night. Ranger made sure that Mr. Pino knew that he would take care of the tab for everything and if it wasn't enough to cover closing down the rest of the restaurant for the night, just tell him the difference and Ranger would take care of it. Pizza and beer were flowing all evening. Steph's family showed up about an hour into the party and eventually some of the Trenton PD showed up, as well as Mary Lou, Lula and Connie. They were all surprised to see the babies, but once Steph's story came out, they agreed she did what was needed. To say they were shocked to hear that most of the gang had moved to the Midwest was an understatement. Lula couldn't decide what was more surprising – Steph living on a farm or that she had the babies. Everyone wanted to hear about their new lives and see pictures.
The twins fell asleep about two hours into the party and Mr. Pino set up an area behind the counter for them to be laid down on blankets. By the end of the evening, most of the Rangemen had left, going back to their apartments or reporting for their next shift of work. Ranger knew that he'd have a hard time keep staff in Trenton now that they all knew about the babies. Maybe he'd have to start a rotation that would move guys from all of the offices around so they could experience all of the locations.
There were just a few people left at Pino's when the door opened and in walked Joe Morelli. Ranger glanced over and saw him before letting out a big sigh. The sigh caught Steph's attention, and she followed his line of sight. She also let out a big sigh and walked over to see Joe. "Joe." "Hey Steph, I heard chatter in the office that you were back in town. Where have you been?" he asked. Steph chuckled and said, "It's a long story. Want any pizza and beer? We can go sit down and talk." She walked over behind the counter to check on the babies, who were both still asleep. Ranger walked over to her and asked, "Are you okay with this?" She nodded and said, "I knew I would have to face him eventually, but with you and the guys here, it should go okay." She gave him a brief kiss and walked over to where Joe had sat down and sitting down across from him, she started to talk. Before she could get too far into the story, she heard "mamamamamamama". She smiled and before she could get up, she caught the blur of movement coming across the floor. Samuel had crawled over to her and was trying to pull himself up, using her leg to hold onto.
Joe looked at her with wide eyes and watched as she pulled Samuel up and sat him on the table in front of her. Samuel reached out and grabbed her face and proceeded to "kiss" her, the whole time saying "mamamamamama". She kissed him and turned him around so Joe could see him. "Joe, meet my son, Samuel. Sammy, this is mama's friend Joe." Sam looked at him and said, "ohohohohoh". Steph kissed the top of his head and said, "What a big boy you are saying Joe's name." He giggled and reached out his arms to Joe. Joe looked at Steph and she said, "Do you want to hold him?" He nodded and she put Samuel into his arms. Sam reached up and started to play with his hair. Steph laughed and said, "He's fascinated with hair all of a sudden." Steph continued on with her story while Joe was sitting there holding Samuel. Before she got to the part where Ranger came back, she heard another sound from across the room. Sera was awake now too and was looking around for someone to get her. Before Steph could get up, Ranger was on his way over and picked up his baby girl. She smiled and "kissed" his face and snuggled into him, just like Steph liked to do. Ranger walked over to the table and Steph moved over so he could sit down. "Morelli." Joe nodded and said, "Manoso." Sammy looked at Ranger and said, "dadadadadadada" and reached out to Ranger. Steph tried to take Sera, but she wouldn't let go of her daddy. Ranger ended up with both of the babies in his arms. Joe sat staring at them, and couldn't believe what he was seeing. "Joe, meet our daughter Seraphina. Sera, this is mama's friend Joe." Sera wasn't as outgoing to strangers as her brother and just hid her face in Ranger's chest. Steph smiled and said to Joe, "She's a little shy around strangers. Give her some time and she'll be messing up your hair too." Joe said, "I think you should finish your story." Steph finished her story and by the time she was done, Joe was nodding. "You did the right thing Steph. The burg wouldn't have been easy on you if you would have stayed. I'm glad you found somewhere safe to go and you are doing well." He looked at his watch and said, "I need to get going. I have to be on shift in a few hours. How long are you staying?" Steph looked at Ranger, who raised an eyebrow at her. "I don't know, we haven't talked about it yet. We just got here today. I'll call you and try to stop by to see Bob before we head back. I'm sure the kids would love him."