They don't belong to me. I am just borrowing them for a while. A sequel to Christmas Eve Visitor and Starting Our Life Together. This story is fiction, any people, places or events that happen are not actually real or factual. Enjoy and please review.

Holy Matrimony, Batman!
By JayCee08

Chapter 14
Aftermath

We dove to the ground. Ricky started screaming. I was frantically trying to get Ricky unstrapped from the carrier. I finally managed it and pull Ricky under me. Ranger was then on top of me. More shots were being fired. I knew Ranger was trying to get a location. I couldn't see where Joe was.

Two black SUV's pulled into the parking lot and headed over to us. They formed a barrier around us. Like covered wagons forming a ring. Men in black got out with guns drawn. Tank got out and came over to us. The shooting stopped.

"Are you O.K? Anyone hurt?" He asked.

Ranger got off of me and scanned me as he did. I looked Ricky over to see if he was hurt. He was still crying. He look O.K. I am sure he was shook up. I looked at Ranger and he looked fine. I looked for Joe. I didn't see him. Just then I heard a whistle.

"Wow." Lester said. He was holding the carrier. There was a bullet hole in it. Right where Ricky's head would have been. I had just stood up and immediately felt my knees go weak. Ranger caught me before I hit the ground.

"I guess it's time to upgrade to a different car seat." I said before I started to cry. Ranger pulled Ricky and me into his arms.

I heard someone calling for an ambulance. I was just about to say I didn't need one when I remembered Joe. We move out from the barrier of SUV's and found Joe lying on the ground. Hal was there putting pressure on Joe's chest. Bobby was on his cell phone calling it in.

"Oh my God!" I cried out. "Joe!"

I heard the sound of sirens as they raced to the scene. The first there was a blue and white. Carl and Big Dog got out and came over to us. They saw Joe on the ground.

"Shit, Steph." Carl said. "Did you shoot him or did Ranger?"

"Neither. We just came out from having lunch together when it became open season on us." I said.

Lester came over with the carrier and showed it to Carl and Big Dog. "Shit." Carl said again. He got on his phone and called in for more back up.

Soon the parking lot was crowded again with blue and whites, ambulances, more black SUV's. An EMT came over to check us out to make sure we weren't hit. They checked Ricky over to make sure. They didn't say it but they knew that had Ricky been in that carrier there wouldn't have been any chance of him surviving. I tried not to think of it but I held on tight to my baby.

They loaded Joe into the ambulance and headed out to St. Francis Hospital. I turned to Ranger and he nodded his head knowing that I wanted to go to the hospital too. We turned to go to where my SUV was parked when I stopped and turned.

"Um, hey guys. How did you know to come back here?" I asked.

"We had just left when you were leaving the restaurant. We heard the gun shots from your wire." Lester said.

"Oh." Was all I could say. I had forgotten I had it on. I climbed into the SUV holding Ricky. I know it was wrong but I wasn't going to use the carrier with the gaping hole in it. Besides the police were keeping it as evidence. I looked around and noticed police combing the area for clues and more evidence. A shiver went down my spine when I think about what might have happened.

I reached into my shirt and pulled the wire out. I turned it off and handed it to Ranger. He slipped it into his pocket. We pulled into the hospital parking lot and went into the ER. I saw Eddie Gazarra and Robin Russell and went over to them.

"Have you heard anything yet?" I asked.

"No other than they rushed him to the OR. He has a bullet wound to his chest and it hit his lung. Other than that I don't know." Eddie said.

"What happened?" Robin asked.

"We were having lunch together. The three, I mean four of us. We were just leaving the restaurant and walking to our cars when someone started shooting. We hit the deck. I got Ricky unstrapped from his carrier and covered him. Ranger's men showed up and surrounded us, shielding us from the shooter with their SUV's. The shooting stopped. And Joe was hit and the carrier that Ricky was in has a big gaping hole right where his head would be." I didn't tell them why we were having lunch together or what we talked about.

"Fuck." Eddie said. "Is Ricky all right?"

"Yeah. I think he was scared with the noise and everything. But he wasn't hurt." I said as I bounced Ricky in my arms.

"Thank God." Robin said.

Just then Mrs. Morelli and Grandma Bella arrived. They saw me and ignored me. I handed Ricky to Ranger and walked over to them.

"Mrs. Morelli, Grandma Bella. I am sorry about Joe." I said. I was sorry in more ways than one.

"Do you know what happened?" Mrs. Morelli asked.

"We were having lunch together. Me, Carlos, Ricky and Joe. We were just walking to our cars when someone started shooting. Joe got hit and is in surgery right now. He was hit in the chest and it punctured his lung. That is all I know."

"You were having lunch with my Joey? You little slut. You hurt my Joey." Grandma Bella said.

"We were having a friendly lunch together. Joe and I are still friends. I am sorry things didn't work out for Joe and me. But we still want to be friends."

"You teased my Joey into thinking that you would marry him. Then you run off with some other man and then have a child out of wedlock. You are a jezebel." Grandma Bella accused.

"Stop. Stephanie did the right thing. If she didn't love Joseph then she was right to tell him so and leave him. It would have been wrong for him to marry her when she didn't love him. Just leave it alone Bella." Mrs. Morelli said defending Stephanie.

"I just want to you to know that I care about Joe. I wouldn't be here if I didn't. But I don't love him. And I am sorry if I hurt him." I turned and walked back to Ranger and took Ricky from him. He put his arm around me.

Just then the surgeon came out. He went up to Mrs. Morelli and Grandma Bella. We all walked a little closer so we could hear also.

"Mrs. Morelli? I am Dr. Anderson. Your son is going to be alright. We removed the bullet. And fixed his lung. He is being moved to ICU for the night. You can go and see him but only for a few minutes." Dr. Anderson said.

"Thank you, doctor." Mrs. Morelli said. The doctor walked away.

Ranger walked up to Joe's mother. "Mrs. Morelli? I'm Carlos Manoso. I own RangeMan Inc. which is a security company. I have reason to believe that someone is trying to hurt your son. I would like your permission to post guards outside his door to prevent any unauthorized people from entering."

"Why do you think someone is trying to hurt my son?" Mrs. Morelli asked.

"I'll tell you who hurt my son. The jezebel that you are now sleeping with." Grandma Bella said.

"It is the reason we were having lunch today. We think it has to do with a case your son is working on. Someone doesn't want him to find out something or thinks he already knows something. He was asking me for some help." Ranger said. It might not have been totally true. Especially about Joe asking for his help. But someone tried to kill him today. I think that Ranger is right and that guards are needed.

"I don't know." Mrs. Morelli said.

"Mrs. Morelli. Joe's life is in danger. If putting guards at his door prevents something bad from happening I think you should allow it. At least until Joe comes around and can make the decision himself." I said.

"Alright. Only until Joe can decide for himself." Mrs. Morelli conceded. "Thank you Mr. Manoso." She turned to Grandma Bella and they headed for the ICU.

Ranger got on his phone and called Tank. "I need two guards posted at Morelli hospital room. Round the clock. Six hour shifts."

Eddie and Robin came over to us. "What the hell is going on?" Eddie asked. "Why does Joe need to have guards. And RangeMan guards at that."

I looked at Ranger and he nodded his head telling me to go ahead and let them in on what we suspect. "We think that someone is after Joe. The night he came to our house and took Ricky and me to the hospital, he was lured there by someone who said she was me. I wasn't suppose to be home that night. I was supposed to be with Ranger in Boston, but stayed home because Ricky was getting sick. We think that he would have been ambushed while waiting for the gate to open. It was just luck or what have you that I was there and opened the gate for him to enter."

"Holy shit." Eddie said.

"Do you happen to know what case he is working on?" Ranger asked.

Eddie shook his head. "He doesn't tell us anything. But I do know that he has been working with the Feds on something. And if the Feds are involved it could be mob related."

Ranger nodded his head.

"So you and he weren't having an affair?" Robin asked.

I shook my head.

"But then why is everyone saying that they heard from Joe that you were?" She asked.

"I think Joe wanted people to think that, so he didn't deny it when people asked. I think he might have realized he was set up when I opened the door and he saw how surprised I was when I saw him there. I was expecting Tank because I called him. But when I saw Joe, all I was thinking of was getting Ricky to the hospital as fast as I could and knew Joe had his Kojak light. He wasn't expecting to have to rush a baby to the hospital."

"Eddie do you think you can get us the phone records of the calls to Morelli's phone and see if we can get a tape of the conversation? Joe was going to that when he got back to the station."

"I don't know. I am just a street cop not a detective. But I'll see what I can do. What day are we looking at?"

"March 5. He said the call came in around 8:00 a.m. It was a woman. She said she was Stephanie."

"He didn't recognize the voice?" Robin asked.

"He said it was low. Like the person didn't want anyone overhearing. He thought that Stephanie didn't want me or anyone to over hear her setting up a rendevous." Ranger answered.

"And it wasn't you." Eddie said looking at me.

I shook my head. "No, I was busy packing for our trip."

"O.K. I'll let you know if I find anything." Eddie turned to leave.

"Eddie. Try and keep this quiet. We don't want to the Burg to find out and the person responsible for shooting Morelli to get away." Ranger said. Eddie nodded and he and Robin left.

"Come on Babe. There isn't much we can do here. Let's go home." Ranger said taking my hand as we walked to the elevator.

_______________

Later that night Eddie called with the phone number. "Hey, Steph. Ranger around? I think we got a phone number from our mystery woman."

"Yeah Eddie. Let me get him." I put my had over the mouth piece. "Carlos, Eddie says he has the phone number." I passed the phone to Ranger.

Ranger's POV

"Yo." Ranger said using his usual greeting.

"Ranger. I think we got a phone number."

"O.K. Give it to me."

"555-9865"

"I hope we can get something on it. Did you have anyone run it at the station?"

"No you said to keep it quiet. I thought I'd let you run it and then if it's something that needs to be passed to my superiors, you'd let me know."

"I'll keep you posted." Ranger hung up. And quickly dialed again.

"Yo." Ram answered.

"Ram. I need you to run a phone number."

"Isn't this usually Steph's job?"

"Yes, normally. But she is on a leave of absence for a few days."

"O.K. Hit me." Ram said.

Ranger repeated the number. "Let me know the minute you got anything."

"Got it." Ram hung up.

Steph looked at Ranger. "I'm on a leave of absence? Since when?"

"Yes. Since today."

"Why?"

"Until I know what is going on and how you are somehow tied to it, you are on a leave of absence."

"Carlos, I work in a secure building. If you think I am staying here by myself you are crazy. They were going to use your home and your property for something. I would think you would want me with you so you can keep an eye on me."

"You're right. I guess I was thinking that it was secure here."

Early, Hector came out to check the security system on the house. He found where someone had tampered with the cameras and motion detectors in the far back corner. They somehow rigged it so that it kept playing on a loop the same scene over and over again. A tree had blown over and was leaning up against the fence making it easy to climb over. Ranger ordered the tree to be cut down and made sure there were no trees within twenty feet of the fence. Hector fixed the cameras and motion detectors. But I still wasn't going to stay at the house by myself until this individual or individuals were caught.

Just then the phone rang again. It was Ram.

"Talk." Ranger said.

"Got a fix on that number. It belongs to a Carmela Santini. We ran a search on her. She is the girlfriend of Fredrico Astiago."

"Shit. What do we know about Astiago?"

"Not a nice guy. Is involved in a lot of different things. Mainly drugs and stolen merchandise like cars. Word is he uses the stolen cars and hides the drugs inside. Inside the doors, seats, wheels. He has been going across state lines but has now moved to over the border into Canada. Which is probably why the Feds are involved."

"And if he is crossing the border, Homeland Security is involved. Got an address for Ms. Santini?"

"Yep. 4524 Prospect Avenue."

"Send someone over there to check thing out. I'll meet them there." Ranger hung up.

"We got a lead. I need to go and check it out."

"You aren't leaving me alone here. I used to think this was a safe haven. But not anymore."

"I can take you to RangeMan. You can stay there until I get back."

"Sounds good. Let me pack some things for Ricky." I ran up the stairs and started to gather stuff for Ricky. Thirty minutes later we were headed out the door.

TBC Chapter 15 - At The Hospital 2