I do not own these characters. They belong to Janet Evanovich. Please don't hate me. 

Chapter 12

Stephanie's POV

If you had told me three months ago, when I was on my way to New Orleans, that I would be living a life of domestic bliss with Batman, I probably would have shot you. But here I was, three months after my fateful trip down south and Ranger and I were living a very happy, domesticated life. And I was loving every minute of it.

I got my excitement during the day with Lester. We still hadn't heard anything from Tony, so I was assigned a bodyguard 24-7. But as far as company goes, I couldn't have asked for anyone better than Lester. We had become very good friend. We had been through a lot over our time as partners, and besides Ranger, he was probably the person I was closet to.

Ranger had been on assignment for a week now. When he told me he had to leave, I didn't ask questions. He had been so open with me, that I figured when he kept something from me, there was a reason. That was a big step for me. I must admit how proud I was of myself. I had done a lot of growing up lately. As the days dragged on I was missing him more. I especially missed him last night, after Lester and I had had a very bad day.

When we picked up our files, Connie was smiling and told us we should do the one on top first, so she could have the rest of the afternoon free. I opened the file and laughed. Mooner had missed another court date.

We pulled up to Mooner's house and knocked. He came to the door looking very pale and sweaty. When he saw me, his face dropped.

"Dude, did I miss another one. Damn." He slowly shoved his feet into his slippers and walked to the SUV.

"You aren't looking too good Mooner. Are you feeling ok?" I was concerned. Mooner was never tan, but his color today looked ghostly.

"Yeah, I think I might have ate some bad Chinese last night. I think it was last night." He stepped into the car and we headed towards the station.

About three blocks from our destination, I heard Mooner mutter, "Dude" and then he proceeded to throw up in the back seat. I looked at Lester and we both immediately rolled down the windows. We got him to the station and passed him off, telling him that Connie would be there soon to bail him out again.

Lester and I walked back to the SUV and looked at each other. Neither of us wanted to have to deal with what was in there.

"We could call Tank and tell him it broke down and let him deal with it." Lester looked at me like that was a viable option. I liked Tank too much to leave him with this.

"We can be mature about this. Let's just take it to a carwash, hose it out and then buy massive amount of beer for later."

Lester shrugged his shoulders and we got in, driving the five blocks to the car wash with our heads out the windows.

It took us an hour and a half to get everything cleaned up. We then went to pick up pizza and beer because we determined that we had put up with enough for the day. Unfortunately when we got back to seven, we realized that it wasn't bad Chinese that Mooner had had, but it was the stomach flu. It hit Lester first and I called Bobby to come and take him back to his apartment on four.

"How are you feeling?" Bobby asked me after checking on Lester who was praying to the porcelain God.

"I'm tired and kind of sick to my stomach, but I've been that way for a few days. Maybe I gave it to Lester and not Mooner." I heard Lester get sick again and cringed.

"Well then fuck you both." I heard him weakly yell from the bathroom.

"I'll come and check on you in the morning. Get some sleep. Plan on staying in the building tomorrow, okay?" Bobby would have been a great MD, but he craved the excitement too much. He got the best of both worlds being the Rangeman Medic.

Bobby and Lester left and Ella came in to freshen up things for me. She then brought me some soup and saltines. I was lying on the couch and I must have fallen asleep because her kissing me gently on the forehead woke me.
"I'm leaving now Stephanie. Why don't you go to bed and get some good rest. If you need anything, please just call." She was such a sweet woman.

I smiled up at her. "I will Ella, thank you for everything." I slowly rose to a sitting position as she left. That was when it hit me. I was running to the bathroom. And that was where I stayed all night.

I must have fallen asleep on the floor because I woke with a start to Bobby calling my name.

"I'm in here." I called. As soon as I sat up, the nausea hit me again. Bobby came in and placed a cool cloth on my neck. When I was done, he handed me a glass of water and when I had taken a few sips he carried me to bed.

"I have to go and get a few things Bomber. Stay right here, I'll be right back." He ran out of the room and I must have dosed off again while he was gone, because his cool hand on my cheek woke me again with a start.

"Shh. You're fine. You aren't running a temperature. That's good. How are you feeling?" He was kneeling beside the bed, trying to assess my state of being.

"I'm just so tired. I have been for a few days, but I thought it was just because Ranger was gone and I haven't been sleeping as well. And every time I move my stomach does flip flops." Just then I heard the door open the smell of bacon and eggs came floating into the bedroom. My stomach lurched into my throat and I feebly ran to the bathroom to throw up the little bit of water I had just had.

Bobby was right behind me, comforting me. "Make that smell go away. Please." I begged.

He hurried out of the room and I heard the door open again and then the smell of air freshener overpowered the other scents. He led me back to bed. He was looking at me, pursing his lips. "I think if you don't mind, I'm going to take some blood and make sure you aren't anemic." Ranger had been putting a lot of equipment into the clinic here in the building.

I nodded my head and Bobby opened a case that looked a lot like a tackle box. I looked way as he searched for a vein. Not that I'm a wimp or anything, I just didn't want to be sick again. Bobby was a master, it didn't hurt at all, and he said he was done before I even knew he had finished. He then went into the kitchen and grabbed a large bowl. He sat it on my nightstand. "Just in case, so you don't have to run to the bathroom. If you still can't keep anything down when I come back, I'd like to put in an IV. You look a little dehydrated." He then grabbed my hand and squeezed it. "I'll be back in a little while. Get some sleep." And I was before I even heard the door close behind him.

When I woke again, I heard whispering in the living room. I slowly got up, put on my robe and went to see who it was.

Lester and Bobby were standing close together, arguing. I couldn't hear what they were saying, but they stopped abruptly when they saw me.

"What are you doing out of bed Beautiful?" Lester still looked a little pale, but better than yesterday.

"I should be asking you the same thing." I took a step forward, but my stomach lurched again. There was nothing left for my body to get rid of, but I ran to the bathroom anyway. This time it was Lester who carried me back to bed. Bobby had set up a stand with an IV bag attached next to the bed.

"So how did my blood look? Am I running on Leaded or Unleaded?" I smiled and neither of them made a sound. Bobby quickly put the IV in my arm and started the fluids.

He then sat on the side of my bed and held my hand. Lester positioned himself at the foot of my bed, one hand rubbing my feet through the covers.

"You guys are scaring me. What's going on? Oh God is something wrong with Carlos?" Tears started to form in my eyes.

"No. Ranger is fine." Bobby took a deep breath and then squeezed my hand again. "You are a little anemic, but not enough to worry about. Stephanie," he paused, closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He opened them and smiled at me. "You're pregnant."

I looked to Lester who was smiling at me now too. I was happy. I didn't think I was ready, but as soon as I heard the words come out of Bobby's mouth I was ecstatic that I had Carlos' child growing inside me. But then I started to panic. Ranger and I had talked about this. We wanted this, but not this quickly. My eyes closed and I started to sob. All I could think was how mad he was going to be. I worried that he would think I did this on purpose.

"He's going to hate me." I sobbed out.

Lester moved to the other side of me on the bed. He started running his hands through my hair. "No Steph. He loves you. I have known Ric all my life. We have the same blood running through us. There is no way that the knowledge that you are carrying his child will make him feel anything but overjoyed."

I quickly looked at Bobby. "I've been taking my birth control pills this whole time. They wouldn't have an effect on the baby would they?"

Bobby smiled at me. "Where are they? I'll take them down to the clinic and pull up the specs on them to make sure, but I am sure it's fine." I pointed to the bathroom and Bobby went to retrieve them. He was gone for a few minutes and when he came back he had his blank face on. "Get some sleep Steph. I'll be up to check on you later. Santos can I talk to you outside for a minute?"

Lester gave me a kiss on the forehead and followed Bobby out of the room, closing the door behind them.

I didn't expect to have this reaction when I found out I was going to have a baby. But I think it was the fact that Ranger was the father, well that made it seem right.

Ranger POV

The mission itself had only taken me two days. Simple witness transport, but I had been stuck in debriefings for the rest of the week. I had just finished my last meeting when my phone rang.

"Talk."

"Ric?" Bobby had an edge of panic in his voice.

"Bobby what's wrong? Steph, is she okay?"

"Yeah," he paused. "She's okay. It's Alverez. He wasn't as far off the grid as we thought."

"What do you mean? Did he show up in Trenton?" Of course I was stuck here listening to bloated Generals congratulating themselves and Babe was in danger.

"Do you remember that package that was delivered for Bomber two months ago?"

"Yeah. The one from the online pharmacy right?" What was he getting at?

"They were from Alverez. He had substituted a placebo for Steph's meds. I pulled out the blister pack from the case and he wrote on the back, 'Be careful what you wish for Ric'." He stopped then my mind took a second to catch up.

"Did Steph find it?"

"No."

"Then how did you…..Oh God." Before I knew what I was doing, I was running through the halls of Pentagon to get to my car. "Don't let her know. Let her just think this was an accident. I'll act like you never told me. Just don't let her be alone. I'm on my way."

That sick son of a bitch. We had been taught to inflict maximum damage in the military. It wasn't enough for him to go after the woman I loved. He wanted to raise the stakes.

But all he really did was give me even more reason eliminate him. As painfully as possible.