Chapter 10! Enjoy

Warning: None

Disclaimer in chapter one

Please Review? owo

A Mommy For Papi and Me

Chapter 10

"I was wondering why it's so silent in the shop," Stephanie said, as she and Ranger put the last of the stenciling up on the window, "She's fast asleep."

Ranger turned to the couch that Heidi had claimed as her territory and smiled. Heidi lay sprawled across the couch, her coloring book underneath her head and a few crayons in her hands, the remains of her dinner, Chinese take out, on the floor beside her. Ranger looked down at his watch and said, "Well, no wonder why she's fast asleep, it's 10:30,"

"Oh my goodness, I didn't know it would take that long for us to do both these windows!" Stephanie said with a look of horror, "And she has school in the morning and everything."

"Oh, she doesn't have school tomorrow, the school she goes to only has school four days a weeks," Ranger said putting down his tools and looking at the work they finished, "I have to admit, Stephanie it's looking good."

Stephanie nodded and said, "Thanks, Ranger, for you know, staying here and helping me with this."

"No problem," Ranger said getting their tools together and placing them in the box, "It's the least I can do, I did replaced your already decorated windows."

"That you did," Stephanie said with a smile, picking up their dinner mess, "Do you have anywhere to go? Would like some coffee or tea, maybe?"

"I would love a cup of tea, Stephanie," Ranger said, walking over to Heidi's sleeping form and picking up her crayons and her coloring book, "You go make it, and I'll clean up her mess."

They settled on the couch, with Heidi laying in between them, her feet on Ranger's legs and her head resting on Stephanie's thigh. Stephanie ran a hand through Heidi's locks and said, "I like it when she quotes things that a person in boot camp would state, let me guess, you were in the Army."

"I was, I enlisted when I was 16, well, I was force to enlist, my father told me it was enlist or go to juive, I choose to enlist," Ranger said with a chuckle, watching Stephanie's eyes widen, "Yup, I was in the army for about 16 years, I still am, but I don't see combat, I mostly consult now, I'm a Colonel, in a few more years, I'll be a general, the youngest one in history."

"Get out of here," Stephanie said with a gasp, "I should be the one saluting you! Wow, good for you, that must mean you're in a special branch, then."

"I am, I used to lead highly classified missions, I can't speak of them, Stephanie, but, yes, Special Ops, in a branch within the Special Ops."

"Oh, well, then I won't ask anymore then," Stephanie said, sipping her tea, "So, after you ranked up, you got to opt out of those missions?"

"No, I was forced out, they decided to make me a consultant, I only go out to train," Ranger said placing a hand on Heidi's foot, "Which is good, because I have a child to look after."

"So, when you go out to train these men, who watches Heidi?" Stephanie asked, earning a chuckle from Ranger.

"Her grandfather," Ranger said, with a causal shrug, "He spoils her rotten, and when I come back, it takes forever to de-spoil her."

"De-spoil her?" Stephanie asked with a chuckle, "Your father can't be that bad!"

"Not my father, her mother's father," Ranger said with a soft smile, "He loves her to pieces, sometimes, I have to fight Heidi to get her to come home from her grandfather's house."

Stephanie wouldn't ask Ranger what happened to Heidi's mother, but, it's nice to know that Heidi and Ranger have a good relationship with Heidi's grandfather, "Well that's good, wow, you and Heidi have a colorful life."

"What about you, Stephanie?" Ranger asked, sipping his tea, "I'm sure you have a colorful life."

"Oh, please, I'm not colorful, I was born and raised in an area in Trenton called Chambersburg, or the 'Burg. My mom was a house wife and my father worked in a post office. I have an older sister and I went to college. I got married to a piece of shit, got divorce from said piece of shit, had a great lawyer, fyi, if you ever have any legal problem, hire Brittany, she's an excellent lawyer. I got bored, sitting around and working for a failing company and so, I opened my own shop last year, and have never looked back."

Ranger shook his head and said, "Bull, tell me about your parents, I know your mother has it in for you, you told me so."

Stephanie sighed and said, "She thinks that a woman should be happy making a house and popping out babies, She thinks I have a defect and that me being a business woman is ludicrous," leaning back in the couch, "She put in me etiquette classes, cooking classes, sewing classes, things need to be a perfect housewife. I nearly burned down the community center boiling water!"

Ranger chuckled and said, "Well, there's nothing wrong with having problems with cooking, tell you what, if you still want to learn how to cook, I'll teach you, and I'll have you know, this little one loves Cuban, but not as much as Chinese."

"There must be a reason why she likes Chinese food, let me guess, Papi loves it too," Stephanie said, earning a chuckle and a nod from Ranger, "I knew it! You know, children tend to emulate their parents."

"Oh do they?" Ranger asked, looking down at Heidi, who let out a little snort, "Well, I'll have you know, I get up at the crack of dawn, but this one, I you let her, she'll sleep all day long."

"Well, I didn't say all things are emulated, but I think it's cute she has some of your traits," Stephanie said with a giggle, looking down at Heidi, "So, another emulated trait….she's very observant, she must have gotten it from you."

"How can you tell?" Ranger asked, raising an eyebrow and looking at Stephanie who smiled coyly and shrug her shoulders.

"She likes to watch you, Ranger, to gauge your feelings, I've caught her staring at you several times tonight, just watching you move and talk, her actions are the results of your actions. If you're feeling down, she'll try to say something to you to cheer you up, if you're happy, she's happy and doesn't feel the need to make you any happier. If you're mad she tends to be quiet, because she doesn't want to make you angrier. She's extremely observant."

Huh, Ranger hadn't thought about that about Heidi. He looked down at his child and said with a smile, "You're very good at reading people, Stephanie, that's a very good gift to have."

"My father can do the same thing as well," Stephanie said with a smile, crossing her ankles, "He's pretty cool, you know, when I was a kid, he used to encourage me to do anything I want, and so, I wanted to fly, and so, I climbed on the roof of the neighbor's garage and jumped off it, trying to fly. I feel and broke my arm!"

Ranger chuckled and said, "What did your father say?"

"He told me that I should have flapped my arms a little harder, maybe I would have stayed in the air a little longer," Stephanie giggled madly, earning a chuckle from Ranger, "But, I can say this, with a straight face, Daddy has always been there for me, I mean, when he found out that Joe Morelli took my virginity behind the counter of the Tasty Pastry, he found him and beat him black and blue for me."

"Oh no, there will be no boy trying to snatch away my child's virtue, do they still make chastity belts?"

"Ranger!" Stephanie gasped, slapping the man on the chest, a smile on her face, "Come on now, it's not that bad! You have a ways to go before she hits those years, enjoy what you have now, because I'm not going to lie to you, she'll hit 13, and go through changes."

"Oh Dios," Ranger groaned, before he said, "Let's wait for all that, if it were up to me, she'd be four for all of eternity."

"Oh, don't say that, Ranger," Stephanie said softly, leaning forward, "Then you'll be missing the first lost tooth, first grade jitters, Heidi coming home crying because the little boy crushing on her pulled her pig tail, no, growing up is a part of life, but the journey through it all, it makes it worth it."

Ranger gave Stephanie a look and said, "I don't care what your mother says, you'd make a great mother,just because you can't cook, or you don't want to be a housewife means nothing."

Stephanie smiled and said, "Thank you Ranger, oh, your cup is empty, would like a refill?"

"Oh, that would be nice, thank you."

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

"That's all you did?!" Lula asked, looking at Stephanie, "You just spent time talking to one another?!"

"Yes," Stephanie said, making Lula and Brittany groan in disappointment, "What?!"

"Talk, what happened to macking, I mean, Stephanie, that man is hot and you had alone time with him!" Brittany sighed, looking over to Stephanie, "I mean, if I were you I would have been doing less chatting and more kissing."

"It was nice," Stephanie said with a smile, looking down at her cup of coffee, "And he opened up to me and everything, he told me about his career, some of his childhood, and I told him about the same things too. It was….actually, better than any date I've ever been on before."

"So romantic," Lula sighed, fanning herself, before rounding on Brittany, "Hey! You went out with that fine man, how was he?"

"Oh, Lester, he's nice, went out to a pub for lunch, got kicked out, the works," Brittany said with a shrug, ignoring the looks thrown at her, "We found the prize machine and well, I'm a sucker for prize machines, I won the grand prize and then got kicked out."

"Oh, well, at least you some action from your date," Lula said before she sighed and said, "Hmm, where's Valarie? Is she still tagging inventory?"

"Must be," Stephanie said looking down at her cup of coffee, "So, less than 24 hours before the re-opening party, Lula, are you ready?"

"Girl, I was born ready, the caterers will be here at 10 in the morning, the door buster prizes have been made and the merchandise is tagged and racked," Lula said, leaning back, "We are so ready!"

"Prizes?!" Brittany said, getting up and running over to where Stephanie pointed to, and taking a small 'Peek a Boo,' tote bag, "Oh! Nice! Oh camisole and panties and a 10 dollar off coupon?! I want one!"

"No, you can't!" Stephanie said, making Brittany pout and then sulk back to her seat, "You can buy your panties at full price!"

"And you can buy your legal services at full price too!" Brittany hissed, but buried her head in her arms, "Whatever, I'll go to Nordstorm."

"And buy from the enemy, no way!" Lula said, huffing at Brittany, "Now be quiet and order us some lunch, I'm starving."

"Well, you're right about that, you guys want some Mexican, I could go for a burrito."

"Amen," Lula said, just as the front door opened and in came Grandma Mazur, Stephanie's grandmother, "Uh oh, it's the wild one, Grandma Mazur! How you doing?!"

"Hello Ladies!" Grandma Mazur said, walking over to the three of them, "I just wanted to come by and see my grandbaby," patting Stephanie's cheek, "So, have you thought about my business proposition?"

"Uh….geriatric intimate wear is uh…um," Stephanie said, looking over to Lula and Brittany, her eyes wide, "It's um…."

"It's a radical idea, Grandma Mazur," Brittany said quickly, earning two head nods, "You see, this is the 'Burg, right? Well, they could exile Stephanie for being too damn radical, you know how much strife she gets from her mother, it'll be 200 times worse than what she gets now."

"Well, you are right," Grandma Mazur said, sighing deeply, "Oh, well, thongs that can hold all this loose skin in would be a godsend…."

The three women let out noises of horror, before Stephanie turned to Grandma Mazur saying, "How are things at my parent's house, Grandma?"

"Oh, your mother is still acting like a stick in the mud," Grandma Mazur said, sitting on the last empty stool, "She told me that she couldn't believe her children were working in such a dirty place, and I told her to go find that whiskey of hers and shut up, she's much better when she's not sober."

"That's not nice," Stephanie said, looking at her grandmother, "Valarie's in the back, if you want to see her."

"Nah, I wanna talk about men and sex, who's getting it in?" Grandma Mazur asked, making everyone cringe.

"Well, Stephanie's got a new man, he's a father too, and he's fucking fine!" Lula said with a sigh, "Ranger, mmm, fine as he can be!"

"Oh!" Grandma Mazur said with a smile, "So, did you see his package, I bet it's big…"

"I'm not talking about this with you, Grandma," Stephanie said sliding off the stool, "At least not without nachos and burritos, I'm starving!"

"I hear you, order me that 2 pound burrito with extra beef and chicken," Lula said standing up, "I'll go get us some drinks."

"And I'll sit here and look cute," Brittany said with a smile, leaning back on her stool, "But, I want four beef tacos and four chicken tacos, extra meat on mine too!"

"Now this sounds like meal to me, I'll have what Lula's having," Grandma Mazur said, with a smile.

"Well, she's not going home with me tonight," Stephanie said, grabbing her purse, "They can deal with her gas."

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

Ranger liked Stephanie Plum, and that was a rarity for him. He never really enjoyed female company before. Women tend to throw themselves on him and only wanted one thing, sex. Sex and money, okay they wanted two things out of him. Stephanie hadn't given out those vibes and she was honestly a good person to talk to. He couldn't believe it, Ranger wanted to hang out, willingly, with a woman!

"Papi, the phone's ringing!" Heidi's voice drifted into his thoughts, "Are you gonna get it?"

Ranger let out a sound and then got up, going over to his cell phone and answering it with a quick, "Yo."

"Mr. Manoso, it's me, Maxim!" Ranger let out a sound shaking his head in wonder.

"How'd you get my number?" Ranger asked the man, earning a chuckle.

"The school's directory," Maxim said making Ranger roll his eyes, "Say, what are you and Heidi doing right now?"

Ranger looked around the house, Heidi was parked in front of the TV, watching a movie, in her PJs. Ranger himself wore a pair of sweats and an old army sweater. Living with a four year old had taught Ranger it was better to throw something on, when you had the chance.

"We're doing nothing," Ranger confessed, earning a hum from Maxim.

"Well, it's almost Halloween, yes? You should come out with Diesel and me to the pumpkin patch and pick out a pumpkin with us, it will be fun for the children," Maxim said, making Ranger thoughtful.

Heidi would like that, she had been begging for a trip to the pumpkin patch for a while now, since she saw that cartoon. Plus, it would be good for them all to get out of the house for the afternoon.

"Alright, we'll go out with you both," Ranger said standing up, "Give me the address to the patch and we'll be there soon."

"It's that little farm on Rt. One, you can't miss it, it'll have a huge sign up," Maxim said with a chuckle, "I'll see you two soon, Ja?"

"Ja," Ranger said, hanging the phone up, "Heidi, let's go get dressed, we're going to the pumpkin patch."

"OH BOY! I want to see the Great Pumpkin!" Heidi said, scrambling to get up, "Let's hurry up, Papi! We might miss him!"

TBC….

I wonder how this little trip is going to turn out for Ranger? Oh well, we'll see...Please leave a review, they tend to make me write faster...hint...