Chapter 11.

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Steph POV

I was certain that I was sleeping. I got to be that way. This wasn't real, I told myself. Fake, fake, fake as Joyce. As fake as Joe's love was. Fake as Dickie's secretary's hair colour. Real fake.

In the dream I was in Ranger's apartment, laying on the bed. Alone. I glanced at the watch, 2.31 AM but someone was at the door. I stood up and realized that I was wearing a evening gown, long and blue. It showed a lot of cleavage and had a open back. But the weird part was that I was pregnant. I couldn't see my feet so I assumed that it was the last weeks of pregnancy. I wobbled to the door and opened it.

Grandma was behind the door, wearing a hot pink bathing suit. She looked at me and walked into the apartment.

"Grandma?" I asked and wobbled after her. She walked to the bed and climbed into it and fell asleep. I stood there puzzling over this weird scenario as the door to the bathroom was opened and an old man stepped into the bedroom. He was darker than my grandpa had been and taller. He seemed to notice me, standing by the door.

"Danielle? What are you standing there for?" he asked me and shook his head. "You shouldn't be walking around with the baby."

Danielle? What was going on? This dream was very weird and it got weirder by the minute.

"Who are you?" I asked the man. He laughed at my question.

"I'm your father, Danielle."

I frowned at him.

"No, my name is Stephanie, not Danielle."

"That's your mother's name, silly. Your name's Danielle Manoso, daughter to Stephanie and Carlos Manoso. Daughter to us." He pointed at himself and Grandma.

What the..? I turned around to look at a mirror. The whole living room wall was covered in mirrors.

A small pregnant woman stared back at me. She was older than I was but had my hair and body shape, and her eyes was definitely Carlos'. The skin colour was a little darker too. She was more beautiful than I had ever seen, she outshone even him.

...

Man, I got to tell Bobby never to give me this medicine again.


My dream changed. This time I was back in the garage but Pierre was gone, instead it was Joe who was picking knives. The funny thing was that Joe was dressed in a clown costume. He had multicoloured pants that were at least three sizes to big for him and a pink, curly wig. His shoes were in bright blue and they too were too large for him. For shirt he had a tiny t-shirt and the text "marry me" was written in large, bold letters.

As if this wasn't weird enough, I saw that there was a large teddy bear in the corner. I recognized it to be the bear Joe had won in a amusement park two years ago. It looked at me with it's hollow eyes.

"You have to marry me, Stephanie!" It whispered to me and I swear it was Lester's voice.

I glanced back at Joe but he had disappeared and the room started to fill with engagement rings. The noise was enormous ant the rings kept on coming. Soon I had to gasp for air as they started to weight me down. Lester's voice was ringing in my ears.

"Marry me, marry me, marry mee..."

With the last effort I emerged from the sea of rings.

Now I was laying in a hospital bed. The room was painted in light blue and a painting by Claude Monet was hanging from the opposite wall. A small bed was positioned underneath a large window and Carlos was sleeping on it. He was dressed in work clothes and had his shoes on. This puzzled me more than anything.

The bed I was laying in was surprisingly comfortable and soft. The sheets were clean with the exception of red stains that I didn't even want to think about. An irritating noise was heard from a monitor besides me and I had one of those very annoying tubes up my nose. I tried to lift my arm to take it away but couldn't find the strength to do so. This was way to painful to be a dream. I sighed.

"Babe?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't want to wake you."

"Don't be, I'm glad to be awake with you." he said to me and moved to the chair. He looked tired and hadn't shaved for what looked like few days. He had slept in his clothes so they were wrinkly and his hair was all over the place but I liked it.

"What happened? How long have I been asleep? What happens now? Where's Pierre? Are everybody alright?"

"Babe, slow down." he said to me with a chuckle. He took a deep breath.

"We rescued you from Pierre yesterday, so you've been out for about 24 hours. Pierre is held in the basement for further... events, everybody are fine just worried about you. Now, all you have to do is to get better."

I let the information sink in for a while.

"How bad is it?"

"You have got a lot of injuries, most of them in your feet. Bobby said earlier that he didn't think it would be wise for you to be walking any time soon. Your soles are sown back together. You have also a lot of cuts in your thighs, abdomen and.. breast's." He struggled to talk and I could see that he was shaken up, to say the least. I reached for his hand and squeezed it gently.

"It's going to be fine." As he started to disagree, I stopped him. "Eventually... As cliche as it sounds all that matters is you and the fact that we're together in this mess. I mean if that's what you want..."

I looked away from him, as I thought about the possibility of him not agreeing with me. The thought alone was crushing and I blinked away some tears. I felt his hand on my cheek, forcing me to look at him.

"Babe, my world was nothing before that day I saw you at Vinnie's. You lit up my day's and made me want you in every way night that wee shared was so amazing, different form anything I have ever experienced. I love you Stephanie and the thought of leaving you is impossible! It pains my heart that you think that I don't want you, I want you, all of you. My greatest fear is that you leave me. Yesterday was the most difficult day in my life, the thought of never seeing you again crushed me totally! The relief to know that you're going to be okay again brought me to my knees. You are the best thing that's happened to me, don't you ever doubt it Stephanie Plum! I love you and I'm going to keep on saying that to you every day."

I blinked away my tears. The tone of his voice was new to me, it had a new layer of love and passion. And I believed him. No second thoughts, no questions. I loved him too.

"I love you Carlos with all of my heart and that won't never change. My life too was changed the day I saw you. All my memories that involved you, our memories, kept me alive. My every thought is about you and when we are apart I can't think anymore. I love you. I love you."

He smiled at me and then, finally, he kissed me. It started of as soft and sweet but deepened towards the end. He leaned his forehead against mine and sighed. It was a happy sigh.

We talked for a while and when I began to feel tired he moved his bed so that we laid together, our hands still inter twined.


Reviews? :) What do you think? And most importantly, what should I do with Pierre?

PS. The shower gel smelled like heaven, I couldn't wipe away my idiot smile after that. :)