Disclaimer: not mine

AN: Thank you once again for your wonderful reviews. I hope you enjoy this update, it hasn't been seen by my beta because I just finished writing it.

Warning for language!

Ranger's POV

My life has been one huge clusterfuck since Valentine's Day. It was supposed to be the day I asked my Babe to finally marry me like we planned in college. I mean I know I screwed up; maybe I should've apologized to her that first day. I talked about having regrets but I didn't open up like I should've. I love her more than I thought it was possible to love another person. I spent the last three months looking for her and now that I finally found her I got here as soon as I could, only to miss her by a few hours. Un-be-live-able.

I arrived at the airport in Newark and we had gotten clearance to take off only to then have it called off because there was a tornado warning. My flight was delayed for three hours. We finally got clearance to leave for the second time, arriving in Key West at dinner time. I tried to get a rental car and shockingly there wasn't one available. A tropical storm had moved in with a possible hurricane to follow. Most tourists were driving to the main land. I finally got a cab to the resort and my Babe wasn't there. According to the front desk she had checked out earlier that day.

I was now stuck at the resort until the hurricane passed. I always hated idle hands so I pitched in with boarding up windows. I got the resort owner, Laszlo Kamer, to open up and he admitted to being Grandma Mazur's nephew; her brother's son. He said she stayed to get her head on straight and helped with the redecorating and computer systems. I'm not surprised, Stephanie is brilliant.

I wish she was here with me, I wouldn't have minded being stuck during a storm with her. But alone, it would be a long two days and more thinking than I cared to do.

Stephanie's POV

I awoke the next morning to a ringing cell phone. I'd turned it back on figuring the guys on monitors told Ric I was back. Only it wasn't Ric. It was my uncle. The conversation started bad and quickly became worse.

"What the hell were you thinking Stephanie to run off for three months? You were completely off the grid. No one knew where you were, if you were even alive?"

I was shocked, "Uncle Mark… I … I… I was upset. Ric was so mad I just had to get away. Then…" I began to cry.

"No excuses Steffie girl. You let that poor boy worry, he's devastated. I know he was upset and said some things he shouldn't have but you're the only person who can fluster the best Army Ranger we ever had. He loves you more than even he knows. It's not just Ranger who worried. It was your parents, grandmother, sister, his family and men, your friends and me. It was selfish of you. I could understand a couple days but three months?"

"You have no right Uncle Mark. You weren't around when I was growing up, now you're taking Ric's side in the argument. You have no idea what he really put me through," I yelled.

Uncle Mark sighed and continued, "Yeah I do sweetie. He told us about Hope. You have no idea how guilty he feels about that. You weren't there when Rachel, Julie and Emilio died. The guilt over not being there for his wife and child was overwhelming. He didn't love Rachel but he felt responsible. When he found out what Emilio had done it helped marginally and his anger was directed at Emilio and not inward anymore. He was devastated when he found out about Hope - it was worse than when Rachel and Julie died. He knows this time it was all on him. Give him a chance to make it up to you. Don't waste time like the two of you have in the past. You love each other too much to waste more time. I know better than anyone your time together may be limited and not by choice."

It was my turn to sigh, "I know I came back to talk to him. That is if he'll speak to me."

Uncle Mark chuckled, "He'll speak to you honey. He adores you."

The call ended a few minutes later. I slid out of bed and walked downstairs, making my way to the kitchen. I started a pot of tea and made a Summer Breakfast Quinoa Bowl (recipe on skinnytimes dot com ). It was something that Ric had turned me on to and it seemed the baby liked it much more than my normal breakfast of Boston Cream donuts.

After I finished eating my breakfast, I went back upstairs and showered. I wrangled my hair into a French braid so it was not a wild mess and put on light make up with three coats of waterproof mascara for courage. I dressed carefully in a pair of black cargo capri pants, a white sleeveless button up blouse and flat black sandals. She looked at herself in the full length mirror hanging in her dressing room. She thought to herself she looked perfect. Not showing too much cleavage or leg, no distractions for Ric when she spoke to him.

I gathered my handbag, walked to my car in the garage and made my way to Rangeman. It was time to face Ric and have that talk we should've had a long time ago. I need to tell him about my pregnancy. I'll also need to make an appointment with an obstetrician. I hadn't had any prenatal care yet but had started taking prenatal vitamins.

All too soon I pulled into the Rangeman garage. I parked in my assigned spot; the sign was still there so I was still welcome and still had a job, right? I stepped into the elevator and began to feel nervous. When I stepped out on the fifth floor all noise stopped. Lester came over and gave me a hug while he whispered in my ear, "He's not here, Beautiful. Let's go to Tank's office."

We made our way into Tank's office and I said, "So, where is he?"

Tank responded, "Key West. What the hell was going through your mind Stephanie? He's spent a fortune and we've worked tons of overtime not to mention got our asses whopped because he was in a bad mood because he couldn't find you."

I felt the tears well in my eyes, I was emotional due to the pregnancy hormones and I felt the tears spill out. "I'm so sorry guys. I couldn't handle him being upset with me and I had to get away. I didn't mean to be gone so long but then I couldn't come back. I was scared he wouldn't want me any… anymore," I sniffed.

I heard Tank sigh as Lester pulled me into his arms and let me soak the front of his t-shirt with my tears. Tank softly said, "I'm sorry Stephanie but he's put us through hell for the last three months. He feels real bad about what happened between the two of you. You guys need to get your shit straight."

I lifted my head from Lester's chest and nodded at Tank. Once I got myself under control I made my way to my office and saw it was clean. I had no files. I booted up my computer and began checking my e-mail. I thought about the fact Ranger was in Key West. He was looking for me, I picked up my cell and it went straight to voice mail. I spent several hours going through my emails and signed off on payroll. I began working on the schedule for next week. The automated PTO request system had made this so much easier. Once that task was completed and the schedule emailed to the staff I looked at the supply inventory. Good thing I had plenty of stock on hand when I left because no one had ordered anything since. I sent a supply order off to WB Mason and they'd deliver tomorrow.

I had a pile of search requests delivered to my desk and placed in my in box. I began to work on them after grabbing lunch from the break room. I had a bottle of water with a small grilled chicken salad and a small fruit salad. I knew I had to eat healthy for the baby. I left the door of my office open and heard the low hum of chatter drop off. That could only mean one thing…

I slowly stood and walked out of the office and saw him standing by the monitor station with Tank. He looked amazing, god he was gorgeous. He looked up at me and I heard him say, "Babe."