Author's note
Thank you for all your comments. I intended to split the 'Welcome home' chapter in just two parts, but unfortunately my fingers decided to keep typing past a certain word count so now I have to make it three parts.
I will post the last part in a couple of day :)
If there are any mistakes in here regarding premature babies, I am sorry. I got most of my Information for this chapter from the internet.
Enjoy and Stay tuned!
Lester's POV (still the day before Ranger comes home)
"Lester…Lester" Someone is calling my name, but I really don't want to wake up. I just want to stay asleep.
"WAKE UP SANTOS" My eyes fly open and I jump up, wanting to salute who ever just used that voice. Two big hands are pushing me down again, but I try to fight them off.
"Calm down Soldier" suddenly I realize it is Tank who is talking to me and I calm down. I look at him and he looks tiered.
"Good you are awake. Your were gone pretty far." Tank says and takes seat in the chair next to my bed. "You have a concussion and I need to wake you every couple of hours."
"S'okay" That certainly would explain the headache. And then it comes all back to me. The yoga studio, me being hit over the head and Steph screaming. "How is she?" I am desperate for information, since the doctors earlier wouldn't tell me a thing.
"She is good. It's a baby boy named Carlos Alejandro." Tank shoots me a small smile.
"Have you seen them?" I ask.
"Nah. Bobby is with her. Said she needs a few hours rest. Bobby won't let anyone past her door or the NICU'S door until tomorrow" He answers.
"I want to come with you." I lean my head back onto the pillow. This is bad. I really hope the baby will make it. If I had been more aware of my surroundings, Steph wouldn't be in this situation right now.
"It is not your fault" Tank says, obviously reading my mind. Sometimes I wish we all wouldn't be this close and not know everything about the other three. In moments like this my brothers are a real pain in the ass, because they can read me so well.
"Ranger is going to have my ass on the mats for a long time, if he doesn't send me to Siberia. I should pack as soon as I get back to Rangemen" I close my eyes and try to forget that I endangered Steph and the Baby like that.
"It is a surprise they didn't shoot you on sight. So quit blaming yourself." Tank replies in his commander voice. No surprise Soldiers tend to stand a little straighter when he speaks up.
I take the painkillers Tank hands me without me asking for them. I can't help and think that I forgot something important. I try to concentrate on the events from yesterday, but nothing before me being hit over the head comes to mind.
Suddenly I am very tiered. I close my eyes again and sleep overtakes me just a couple of seconds later.
Steph's POV (a couple of hours later)
I wake up and find my room empty. There is a chair close to my bed, so I assume that someone has been here. The door is open and I can see Junior and Zip standing outside my room. There are almost no noises coming from the hall way, except a pair of squeaking shoes and some voices I can't make out.
My hands go to my stomach and tears are gathering in my eyes as the events from earlier today coming back to me.
It was too early. Our son shouldn't have been born yet. I read that babies born pre-mature have great chances to survive, but there are great health risks.
I get out of bed and walk with my IV slowly into the bathroom. God, I hate hospitals. I really would love to be at home in the comforts of Rangemen right now.
I do my business and as I walk out Bobby is sitting in the chair.
"Can we go now and see my son?" I ask as I come to sit back on the bed. No need to beat around the bush. I just want to see him and touch him. To make sure this all isn't a dream and I am really a mom now.
"Sure, but maybe you want to get changed first?" Bobby asks and drops a bag onto my bed. "Maybe even eat something? Ella brought some food around for you."
"No…I will just get changed and then we can go" I tell him. He gets up and walks out of my room, closing the door softly behind himself.
I get changed as best as I can, but stop at my jumper. "BOBBY?" I call out and he comes in. "Can't put on a jumper with this thing!" I state annoyed and hold up the hand with the IV drip.
"Sorry Steph, I forgot. You won't need that anymore!" He tells me and removes it. I quickly pull the jumper over my head.
"Let's go" I tell him as I slip into my shoes and he guides me out of the door. I give Junior and Zip a finger wave in passing and they nod at me in return.
We take the elevator one floor up to the NICU. As we enter we sanitize our hands and then Bobby leads me to one of the incubators.
"Steph meet your son! Carlos Alejandro meet your mom" Bobby says and my eyes tear up again. My son looks so tiny and I am instantly in love "He was born 900 g and is 38 cm tall."
"That is so tiny" More tears are running down my face and Bobby hands me a tissue. Carlos Alejandro's skin is a little lighter than Ranger's and he has a few strands of black hair. "Can I touch him?"
"Yes" Bobby answers. "But touch him firmly, not like a father."
I nod and put my hands though the holes. His skin is so soft and I cry even more. How am I going to be a good Mom when I couldn't protect him from being born this early? From having to endure this at such an early stage?
I am not sure how long I sit there, with my finger in my son's tiny hand, before an elderly nurse takes a seat in the chair next to me.
"Miss Plum?" I take my eyes of my baby and focus them on the nurse.
"It's Steph" I tell her and she nods.
"Steph I am Elisa, I am one of the main nurses her in the NICU and I'd like to speak to you about your baby." She tells me and I nod again.
I look around and see Bobby talking to a Doctor. As he sees me looking around he excuses himself and with a few quick steps he is at my side.
"Dr. Brown" Elisa says and nods at Bobby, who nods in return. "I was just about to talk to Steph about Carlos Alejandro."
"Sure go ahead" Bobby says and also pulls up a chair.
My finger is still resting in the firm grip of my son.
"Your son was born 900 g and 38 cm tall. Unfortunately since he was born this premature, his lungs haven't matured enough for him to breathe on his own. He will need to stay on the CPAP for a while. The CPAP is a gentler breathing machine called continuous positive airway pressure. This is perfectly normal for premature babies.
We haven't detected any other health problems, but we will monitor him closely in order to catch anything that comes up. In that case you will be notified immediately.
We cannot feet your son breast milk just yet. As you can see he has a drip that leads into his vein, through which we feed him a solution of sugar, salts and water. Once he is strong enough he will get your breast milk." Elisa pauses and hands me a breast pump. I stay quiet. I want to hear every little important thing that will help my son to survive.
"Which brings me to the next thing...We want you to express your breast milk as soon as possible. We will label and freeze it for you, until your baby can take it. We have a spare room in the back, where you can do it" Elisa motions to the back of the NICU, where a woman is just stepping out of a room with a couple of bottles of milk.
"Now a few basic rules! You can touch your baby, but if it is sleeping please don't wake it. Your son needs all the rest and sleep it can get. I know it will be hard to leave them in our care and that is a typical new-parent instinct but your son needs a time out once in a while.
Please give the other babies their privacy. You can bring visitor in here but two at a time maximum and tell them to not go anywhere near the other babies, except from when their parents ask them to.
We will get you familiar with all these machines and the schedule in the NICU, but I think for today you have enough information. Please do not hesitate to ask any questions." Elisa concludes and then looks at the chart, she is holding, to check if she forgot anything.
I look back at my son still holding my finger. He hasn't opened his eyes yet and I am dying to know if he has mine or Rangers eye colour.
"Can I stay here for a while?" I ask quietly, never taking my eyes of Carlos Alejandro.
"Yes. You can stay here for a couple of more hours." Elisa replies.
"Ok…before I go I will get you some breast milk" Out of my provisional vision I see that Elisa nods and gets up.
"Are you okay Steph?" Bobby asks as he takes a seat on Elisa's chair.
"My God…Bobby. I couldn't protect him… He should have never been born this early. And it's all my fault…I shouldn't have agitated Donnelly…" New tears are running down my cheek. I feel so weak and defeated right now, and a great panic sets in.
"This isn't your fault Steph! Donnelly shouldn't have punched you in the stomach…and believe me, he won't live to see another day. Hector will make damn sure of that!" Bobby whispers harshly.
"I want dips" I surprise myself with those words. I may wasn't able to protect my Baby accordingly, but at least I can make sure that the guy, who also shares some blame for all of this, gets what he deserves.
"Steph… I think you should concentrate on little Alejo here. We will handle Donnelly and his band of misfits." Bobby rubs my back gently and hands me another tissue.
"Just lock him in the basement and let me have first dips Bobby. Then you can do whatever you want to him. I just want him to know that NO one fucks with me or my child and gets away with it!" I tell him harshly and my voice is rising.
Bobby holds up his hands in surrender. "Okay…I will let Hector know, to not use his freshly sharpened blades. How is that?"
I grin at him and nod and Bobby rolls his eyes in responds. He has been doing that a lot lately, especially at my food.
A couple of hours later I grudgingly leave my baby in the NICU behind and Bobby leads me back to my room. Junior and Zip were replaced by Ram and Hal. They both hug and congratulate me, before I get as comfortable in my hospital bed as I can.
"Hey Bobby?" I look at him sitting on the chair next to my bed.
"Yes Bomber?" He responds.
"Thank you…you know for everything. I couldn't have done the past six month without you and the rest of the merry men." I shoot him a small smile.
"There is nothing to thank me for, it was my pleasure." He smiles back at me.
"Can you do one last favour for me?" I ask.
"Shoot" Bobby leans a little forward, as if I am about to tell him a state secret.
"Can you get my camera from the apartment on seven? I want to take a picture of Alejandro tomorrow" That will be another picture for my scrap book. Who knows when Ranger will be home and I want to show him how tiny our son used to be.
"I can do that for you. I will let Tank or Hector know" Bobby gets up and ads "I will be back in a while. I want to check on Lester."
Shit I totally forgot about him. Poor Lester, I hope he is ok. Bobby must have read my mind again because he comes closer and takes my hand. "He is fine Steph. Nothing to worry about. He has a small concussion, but he will be fine. I will bring him up tomorrow. I will be back soon. Now go to sleep!" He leans down and kisses my forehead, before heading out of the door.
Sleep overtakes me not long after.
The next morning
Before I even open my eyes my neck tingles and an all too familiar hand is holding mine. My eyes fly open and there he is. Sitting in the chair next to my bed is my man in black, my love, my best friend, my batman; he is finally back!
"Carlos" I breathe and drink him in. His hair is long again and tied up with a hair tie. He must have been somewhere where the Sun was shining a lot, since he got a little darker. Ranger is still dressed in his army issued pants, which are tugged into his combat boots and he is wearing a tight black shirt.
Tears are forming in my eyes, but I cannot hold them at bay. Suddenly he comes to sit on the bed, drawing me into his arms.
"Babe" He whispers and hugs me even tighter, which makes me loose it completely. All the pressure and the worrying since he has been gone, finally overtakes me and I break down.
I am not sure how long we are sitting there like that; him holding me and me soaking his shirt with my tears.
"I have missed you so much" I sniffle as I draw back from his embrace. Next thing I know his lips crush on mine and he kisses me as if there is no tomorrow. As the need for air becomes too much we pull apart. "Can I assume that you missed me just as much?" I ask with a small smile.
"Yeah I did." He gives me another small kiss. He isn't wearing his blank face and I can see it in his eyes just how much he missed me. His eyes are almost black with desire.
"Have they told you anything?" I ask but he shakes his head.
"No they haven't. They told me you would explain." His jaw twitches, which indicates that he is pretty angry at the fact that his employees didn't divulge any information.
"Uhm…let me go and shower quickly and then I have to show you something" I tell him and hop out of bed.
"Do you want me to join you?" Ranger shoots me his wolf grin.
"I won't be long…I promise." I kiss him quickly and then lock myself into the bathroom. I deeply breathe in and out. How am I going to explain to him this mess? What if he rejects me? What if he doesn't want to be part of Alejandro's and my life?
I shake my head and strip down to shower. It doesn't matter what his reaction will be, I will manage whatever is thrown my way.
As promised I don't take long. Few minutes later I walk out of the shower in a fresh set of clothes and wet hair. Ranger is talking to Hector and Cal, who are now guarding my door.
"Tell Bobby we are upstairs, if he comes by" I tell them and they nod at me, blank faces firmly in place.
I guide Ranger through the hospital halls and up the stairs to NICU. Not one word is spoken until we are standing in front of the NICU doors.
"Babe?" Ranger asks but I ignore the unspoken question.
"Before we go in, I just want to tell you I am sorry that you had to find out this way." I tell him as I sanitize my hands. And ranger does the same.
We enter and I walk straight to Alejandro's incubator.
"Carlos I like you to meet your son, Carlos Alejandro Manoso." I avoid looking at him by looking at our son. I don't want to see how angry he is about all of this. I don't want to see him rejecting us. I just want to live in denial land for a little longer. A denial land, where we are going to a family.
I sit down in the chair next to the incubator and Ranger takes a seat next to me.