Sorry, it's been a little longer than I had planned for this update, but between trying not to vomit, trying to stay awake long enough to get out of bed, a sore wrist AND writer's block things have been a little off lately, so, as soon as this chapter came to me I pulled my laptop out and got to. It took a total of ten minutes to type up and I'm not into editing at the moment, so I apologise for any mistakes. Thanks to all those who reviewed. Enjoy!

Chapter 14

I wasn't entirely sure how long I had been lying awake in the tangle of sheets staring at the ceiling and listening to the chatter floating up from the kitchen, but it was bliss. The father of my child was not dying, I was getting married and had experienced the best act of love imaginable. I think I should remind him he's not dying more often if that is how he's gonna react. I was trying to make out what the two of them were jabbering on about down stairs, but it was impossible over the ticking of the clock on the wall and the drip from the tap next door and I think the dishwasher was on.

All of a sudden the chatter stopped. I strained my ears, listening for any sign of movement or communication, but the house was silent, (with the exception of the clock, the tap and the dishwasher). The next thing I knew there was a body landing on my stomach. If that weren't bad enough the body was emitting a high pitched squeal in the process. As I tried to gather up the wind Laura had knocked out of me I felt the bed dip and the kid was dragged off me. She was squirming and giggling and the bed was bouncing up and down, and I was just starting to breathe again when she managed to squirm away from Ranger and crawled on top of me again.

"It's time to wake up!" she squealed as a pair of mocha latte hands came around her waist and pulled her back away. "Mummy! Help me!"

As I pulled myself into a sitting position, giving a slight cough as my lungs protested, I saw not Ranger on the bed with me and Laura, but Lester. Cripes! I scrambled to gather the sheet up to cover my nakedness and they both laughed. "LESTER!" I yelled, backing away from them. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING UP HERE?!"

Wiping his eyes of the tears that had come with his laughter he managed to stutter out something about breakfast and Ranger and the kitchen. Thankfully, he had the common courtesy to avert his eyes, while keeping a tight grip on my daughter. They both could not stop giggling and I was having a hard time finding my voice when, for the second time this morning the house went silent. I felt a familiar tingling down my spine and turned to face my fiancé. He had his 200-wat smile in place as I stared at him in open mouthed horror. "Morning Babe," he said simply.

"Ricardo Carlos Manoso!" I screamed at him, jumping from the bed and wrapping the sheet around me toga style. "At what point in your thought process did you feel it was appropriate to send your brother up here with my daughter to wake me, knowing full and well that I would be completely, buck, stark naked?"

"Our daughter," he corrected me, taking a step forward as I stormed toward him.

"Mummy, why is you nakey?" came Laura's innocent voice from behind me as I prepared to lay a harsh hand to Ranger's gorgeous face. I groaned inwardly, knowing that Lester's laughter had just doubled in intensity. "Daddy was nakey when I waked him up 'smorning too." This time I groaned allowed and Lester gave a huge guffaw. I snapped my head around to glare at him, but it was useless, he was rolling about the bed in fits of giggles.

I sighed and laid my head on Ranger's shoulder. He was laughing too, I knew from the way his shoulder kept bouncing slightly. "We got hot last night, that's all Loza."

Another loud burst of laughter emitted from Lester at this comment and I could have sworn I heard him mutter, "Oh so hot!"

"I'm going for a shower," I told them all and stalked from the room trailing the sheet behind me.

When I arrived in the kitchen half an hour later I found bacon, eggs and toast on a plate waiting for me. I sank into a seat next to Ranger and practically drooled. There was a glass of orange juice next to my plate, with all the pulp strained out of it, I hate the pulp. Ranger put a hand on my thigh, tracing small circles with his thumb and I slowly dragged my drooling face away from the delicious food sitting in front of me. When my eyes reached Ranger's however, I found myself drooling even more. He grinned and swiped away the small line that had made its way out of my mouth and down my chin. "Are you gonna eat or sit there drooling?" he asked, amusement clear in his voice.

"Eat," I half whispered dazedly. He grinned and gently pushed my head so that I was staring at my plate again.

"Last I checked, Bomber, to eat you actually had to pick it up, rather than sit there staring," Lester chuckled from across the table. My eyes flickered to him for a brief moment before I picked up my cutlery and devoured the whole delicious offering. As I chewed my last bite Laura climbed up on my lap, straddling my thighs so that we were face to face.

"Daddy said that you and I are going for drives today. To visit people," she stated.

I shot a glance at Ranger who nodded and held up a wad of envelopes. "What are they?" I questioned suspiciously.

"You said you wanted an engagement party, Babe. I took the pleasure of organising it this morning with the Squirt."

"Did you really?" I asked, looking from my daughter to her father and back. "Do I get to know when it is or am I just gonna be surprised like you did this morning with Waldo's Wake-Up Call?" I jabbed my thumb in the direction of Lester as I said it and they all laughed.

"No, Babe, you'll know by the time your first visit is over," he told me, leaning over to place a tender kiss on my lips before pecking Laura's forehead as well.

"You're not gonna tell me yourself?" I pleaded, making puppy dog eyes at him.

Chuckling a bit, he tweaked my nose. "Nope, you'll just have to steal the invitation from the first person and read it, or you could ask."

Ten minutes later Laura was strapped into her booster seat in the back with Flipsey strapped into the seat beside her. Her backpack was in the unused foot space and the envelopes we stacked on the front passenger's seat just taunting me. "Do you know when it is?" I asked my little girl as I turned onto the street. In the rear view mirror I saw her make a locking motion on her lips. "Sworn to secrecy, huh?" She nodded enthusiastically and giggled when I shook my head in despair. "Do you want to have a McHappy meal for lunch?" Again she nodded enthusiastically. "If you tell me when and where it is I get you a Happy meal. Would you like that?"

At that moment my cell phone rang. I pulled to the side of the road, doing the responsible thing, and answered. "Yellow?"

"Don't bribe the child, Babe, it looks bad," Ranger told me.

I glared at the phone for a moment. "How?" It was all I needed to say, he knew exactly what I was asking.

"Barrette, Babe."

Hanging up I shot a hateful glance at the pretty hair-slide Ranger had fastened in Laura's hair this morning.

"Its on Saturday," Laura told me before bursting out in giggles.

The phone rang again, and I noted Ranger's number on the display. "It may look bad, but it works," I chuckled.

"Put the squirt on the phone," he deadpanned.

Still chuckling I held the phone out to Laura, "Daddy wants to talk to you."

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