None of the characters are mine. JE gets and deserves all the credit.

Jenn (perfectmanhattan) once again your super-beta skills save the day. I'm telling you that cape is making more sense with every chapter.

Chapter 21 – A Little Banged Up

Woody lifted himself from the couch as soon as Liddy and Bobby sat me up. "Dad, you know nothing about Stephanie and me."

"That's right I don't. If she meant anything to you, I think we would have heard about her before finding out that you're engaged and she's pregnant." Woody's father said in a condescending tone. "Jesus boy, has it been that long since you'd been with a woman that you had to fall in with the first thing that threw herself at you?"

I was about to say something letting his father know that I didn't care for the way he was talking about me and to clarify that I didn't throw myself at anybody. At least I didn't think I did. Hell, I didn't even remember that night. For all I knew I may have thrown myself at Woody. Maybe I should be quiet and let Woody handle his father on his own.

"No," Woody interrupted my thoughts and his father's next sentence. "I didn't say anything to you because I refused to let you ruin the first thing that had been precious to me in a long time. I didn't want to hear your critical comments and your holier than thou speech about yet another choice I'd made that you didn't approve of."

"So instead you chose to hide her away?" His dad jumped in. "Say what you want, but it looks like you were ashamed of something."

"I am," Woody replied with his voice softening only slightly. "I was ashamed to let Stephanie see the kind of judgmental family I came from. I didn't want my future wife to know the kind of people that she would be gaining for in-laws."

"So you're trying to put this all on us?" His father asked building up to a full head of steam.

"I'm not trying to do anything; I'm just telling it the way it is." Woody answered. "Stephanie and I are starting a family; we are going to get married, and you can be a part of that by stopping the constant criticism or you can go home."

"What makes you think you are capable of caring for a wife and a child? Boy, you can hardly take care of yourself." His father interjected refusing to let go of the spotlight.

I had heard enough. If he insulted Woody or his choices one more time I was going to blow. As it was I barely contained the fury I felt in my voice. "I can answer that," I began talking as stood up. "Your son is a good man, and honorable man, and the only person that I want by my side. He has cared for me here and back in Jersey and he has cared for and protected a team of men across the world. I have seen him defend the innocent and care for those who need it with great tenderness. I don't know what you see when you look at your son, but when I look at him I see a man with no equal and someone I consider myself honored and blessed to spend my life with."

My words had the effect of forcing Woody's father to stop attacking his son, but it only caused him to swing his temper in my direction. "And what gives you the right to lecture me about what kind of man you think my son is. How long have you known him? How long had you dated before you realized he had a little money and you decided to try and get your claws into that for yourself? What do you know about what it takes to protect people who are innocent?"

I didn't even have time to react before Woody had moved to within inches of his father's face to say through clenched teeth, "She knows plenty about protecting the innocent. Who do you think kept those men from getting to you and mom? Who do you think put herself in harms way to keep you out of the line of fire. Not that you deserve to know, but I've known Steph for three years and during that time, not once had my bank balance come up. She is too good for me, and after meeting you I wouldn't blame her if she ran back to Trenton and refused to speak to me ever again."

I'd had enough. I had known through the example of my own mother that there were some people you could talk to until you were blue in the face and it wouldn't do a thing to change their minds. I decided to put my breath to better use and spoke directly to Woody. "The only way I'm running back to Trenton is if you are going too. I don't give a shit about your money, but I do care about you. We're in this together, not because we have to be, but because we realize that we need each other and we want to be. You are the only person I can picture myself waking up with each morning. And you are definitely the only man that I could see by my side for this adventure." As I spoke I drew closer and closer to Woody so that my hands were on his chest by the last words and his arms went reflexively around my back.

"You and me, Darlin'," He replied. "We're in this together forever." With that declaration he leaned down and kissed me. It wasn't a hot passion filled kiss; his tongue barely entered my mouth. But it was a rich kiss that promised a lifetime of love and devotion. With that single connection any concerns I had about marriage vanished and I began to feel an urgency to become his wife.

When we pulled back he looked in my eyes searching for something. "What happened?" He finally asked giving up on using ESP to figure it out.

"I'm ready," I explained. "Anytime, anywhere, the sooner the better," I couldn't help but smile at the expression that came over his face.

"Really?" He asked as though I'd just given him a gift too good to be true. "You really want to marry me now? You don't want to wait until after the baby comes?"

I shook my head no. "I definitely don't want to wait that long." I confessed.

Bobby came over, perhaps trying to insure Woody's father didn't have time to ramp up the emotional interaction again and said, "You guys have plenty of time to figure this out. Right now, just this once, I want you to go upstairs and get some rest. All of this isn't good for Stephanie or the babies and I've got to check on the guys that are still outside."

Woody looked at me and raised an eyebrow asking if I wanted to take Bobby's advice. I wasn't exactly ready for sleep but I did feel like I'd been through an emotional wringer so escaping the mood of the family room was pretty high on my priority list.

Liddy came over in response to my hesitation, "It's probably is a good idea to go stretch out for a while. I'll talk to Dad and the family and when you come back down we can start over from scratch."

"I'd like that," I replied feeling horrible about the way I'd started off with Woody's father.

We had to walk past his parents to get to the stairs and as we did his mother grabbed my hand. It brought a fresh wave of pain that went shooting from my hand to my elbow. With the more urgent knife sticking out of my side, and then the fight between Woody and his father I'd almost forgotten about the injury from Bertucci's rough handling of my wrist.

I didn't want to react to her innocent attempt to get my attention, but I couldn't stop the hiss that escaped from my lips. It was a much milder reaction than what my body wanted since there were currently spots appearing before my eyes. I was proud I was able to hang onto my grip with consciousness and not pass out from it.

Woody didn't miss my reaction and knelt in front of me when I bent over at the waist. Liddy was instantly beside me as well, both assuming there was a problem with the baby. I took a few deep breaths and then straightened back up to say, "I'm fine." I held up my injured hand and pulled the stretchy material of the long sleeve up to my elbow revealing a nasty looking blue and purple wrist and lower arm. "Bertucci," I offered as explanation.

Woody's mother looked horrified realizing she had caused the pain that I was reacting to, but she seemed afraid to admit to it since I don't think anyone saw her try to reach for me. I looked at her when I spoke, "I'm sorry to leave so abruptly, but I need to have Bobby take a look at my wrist too. I promise I'll come back down in a few hours and maybe we can try getting to know each other then." My words seemed to help her as she offered me a small smile in return.

Woody's father turned around and sat down without comment or reaction. If anything he seemed irritated at the interruption the events of the day so far had caused to his routine. I knew Woody had to put up with a lot between my meddling mother and my embarrassing Grandmother, but I hoped neither of them caused the stress that Woody's dad had introduced in only a couple of hours of knowing him.

Woody put a protective arm around me and began to slowly lead me away again. As soon as we got to the base of the stairs he swept me off my feet and carried me to our bedroom. Slamming the door closed with his boot he then laid me gently on the bed much like our first night here. I watched as he called Bobby and told him I had an additional injury for him to take a look at when he could. He listened for a few minutes and then disconnected.

"Is everybody alright?" I asked hoping none of the contract workers had been injured because of me.

I saw his jaw clench which instantly put me on edge that something was wrong. "Bones took a bullet high in the shoulder which Bobby can handle."

That answered my question, but it didn't explain the tension that was practically radiating from him. "What else?" I pressed, sitting up so that he would know I wasn't going to let this go until he spilled what was wrong.

Woody ran his hand up and down my leg almost as a comfort to himself more than to me and said, "Bobby said that a couple of the guys think Bertucci and his cousin made it to the house because someone helped them. We were at the fence within minutes of the alarm going off and they weren't there. It's like we had a false alarm that pushed us to the wrong side of the property as a false trail. Then Tony knew exactly where to go to get to the house even though he was traveling across the property in the dark. Either he is one hell of an Italian mob boy scout or he had help. There is a limited number of people that could have offered that kind of information so I'm a little on edge that one of the guys betrayed us."

I knew that loyalty was valued above all else with these guys. The fact that I defended them around the Burg spoke volumes and when I refused to leave them, even in dangerous situations only served to cement their opinion of me. To think that we had brought a Judas with us made my blood run cold. "How do we figure out who it was?"

"I need to talk to everybody to debrief the mission before they are released to return to Trenton. I'd like you to be in on that discussion to see if your instincts pick up on anything. I can't come out and accuse anybody without some proof." He told me.

"When can we talk to them?" I asked ready to get started. If there was somebody on the property that wanted to see me hurt then I was anxious to find out who it was before they succeeded.

Woody smiled at my initiative and pushed some loose hair away from my face. "Hector is in the control room running through the tape to see if there is anything there. It would be best if we could enter the meeting with a little back-up for our suspicions. Once he's done we'll figure out what out next step should be."

I leaned back into the pillows realizing that could take some time. I used my good hand to pull Woody closer. After all that had happened over the last few hours I didn't want him to leave my side.

He must have picked up on how I felt, because he moved to the exact spot I wanted him to be and then spoke, "I'm so sorry I left you here to face Bertucci alone. At the time I thought you would be safe in the panic room and if I could find him first then I could end this whole nightmare for you. I swear I had no idea that my family was going to show up. As much as I hated the idea of you out of that room when you reported in, I have to admit there was a piece of me that was relieved that you weren't locking yourself in a small space with my father. I'm so sorry for how he spoke to you."

I sat back up suddenly feeling energized to have this conversation. "You listen to me Woodrow," I began, and saw his head practically snap with the speed he looked up at me when I said his full name. "You did the right thing in putting me somewhere safe and telling me to stay put. I'm the one that went off on my own and got myself hurt. As for your family, I of all people understand that you are not the image of your parents. Their opinions are not yours. You spoke so beautifully about us and about me. I've never had someone defend me like that. If anything, I'm sorry about the way he talked to you. I was getting more and more furious with every word and every condescending phrase he said."

"Yea, now you see why I felt the need to leave Texas. It is a big state, but it isn't big enough for the both of us," He admitted sadly.

"Your sisters and mother seem nice, though," I pointed out, looking for a bright side.

"They are, but they're a gossipy group and I'm sure the news of our relationship from Stella is why they showed up unannounced." He explained before adding, "And as a lesson in keeping her mouth shut, I'm going to have Hector play the audio of Dad's words so she can hear what you had to endure and know that she is to blame for you being exposed to that."

"No," I quickly interrupted. "You can't blame her for what happened downstairs. She was just trying to defend you by sharing that when everybody left you alone you found someone you are happy with and you are planning a future in your own way. She never meant for this to happen."

"That's the point. How many mothers do I need? She should have followed Liddy's example and kept her mouth shut to give me the chance to introduce you when I thought it was best." He complained.

"And when was that going to be?" I asked still stinging from his father's comment that if I was that important to Woody he would have said something to his family sooner.

Woody shrugged, "Maybe when our kids were graduating from high school." My eyes got bigger at his off handed manner so he kept talking. "Understand that isn't because I would want to hide you or our relationship, but because I feel the need to protect you and our children from my family. I hated the constant criticism I grew up with and I swore my own kids would never have to put up with it. Not from me and most certainly not from him."

When I looked at the silence for what it was and realized that he was trying to protect me and our children I was no longer offended and hurt, I felt loved. I was going to have to learn to trust Woody more. Joe never minded telling me how embarrassing he found some of my antics and how he wanted me to change in order to make his life easier. This was quite the switch and not jumping to the worst possible possibility was going to take some getting used to.

I didn't know how to explain this to Woody so I settled for putting my hand against his face and scooting closer to him. I felt my stitches pull as I moved alerting me to the fact that the local Bobby used was wearing off. Once I was close enough I leaned my face to his and kissed him softly. As I pulled back an inch I whispered, "I love you."

He let out a long breath and said, "I love you too." We stayed still for a few minutes with our mouths within inches of each other, but neither of us moving to close that space. Instead we just the tension and desire begin to build until it was a tangible need to press my lips against his. Just as I was beginning to move Woody jerked around and had his gun aimed at the door in the time it took me to blink. Bobby walked in and stopped short when his eyes saw Woody's Glock aimed at his chest.

"Man, you called me, remember?" Bobby asked, causing Woody to engage the safety and return the gun to his back. As Bobby walked over to my side Woody stood up allowing him access.

Bobby lifted the remnants of my shirt so that he could see the bandage and stitches on my side. I made a mental note to change clothes as soon as he left. Satisfied that I hadn't done any damage he said he would leave the bandage off so that I could take a shower when he left but told me I should keep the site covered for a couple of days at least so I needed to let Woody replace the gauze and tape once it was dry. I nodded that I understood his instructions and was relieved to know there could be a shower in my immediate future.

"Now, what brings me to see you this afternoon?" Bobby asked in a teasing tone.

I held up my wrist and pulled my shirt sleeve up to reveal the bruising and swelling. I watched Bobby's blank face slam down to cover up his anger. "How did I miss this?" He asked under his breath.

I answered the rhetorical question, "You were a little preoccupied by the knife sticking out of my side."

Bobby lifted my arm and moved my wrist as gently as possible but nearly every movement caused some pain. I was trying as hard as I could to cover up how badly it hurt, but he stopped in the middle of his exam and apologized for hurting me. "My guess is that something is broken, but without x-rays it's impossible to tell. I know you are probably against an x-ray, but in this case it's going to be necessary. If there is just a small fracture then they can immobilize it and you'll be fine in a matter of weeks, but based on the amount of swelling and bruising already I'm afraid it might be more complicated than that. A break to any of the bones in the wrist can require surgery because they dislocate so easily. We're going to need an orthopedic specialist if the x-ray shows any movement in the bones."

I felt a single tear fall from my eyes. I knew that pregnancy and x-rays didn't usually go together. It's not that I'd read that much information on my condition, but that every time I'd gone to the ER the technician would ask if there was any chance I was pregnant before strapping the lead vest over my torso. I was trying to keep the babies safe and now it looked like I needed to put them in harms way because I chose to bait the crazy guy instead of just following what he wanted me to do.

Of course Bobby saw the moisture as it rolled down my cheek. "Shhh," Bobby prompted wiping it away with the back of his knuckle. "I'll go with you and will be sure they take care of you and the babies."

Woody came over from the opposite side of the bed and stretched out next to me. He pulled me into his side and moved his magic fingers to my neck and began to soothe me in his secret way. I relaxed instantly in his arms and shut my eyes and heard the guys discuss transporting me to the hospital as I began to drift off to sleep.

When I woke up I was aware of someone wrapping my wrist. It was tender, so without opening my eyes to see what was going on I said, "Ouch, go away." I heard both Woody and Bobby respond with laughter.

"Not this time, Darlin'," Woody replied. "We need to get you up and fed, then you have a special appointment with an orthopedist in the next county."

I opened my eyes and asked, "Why is the appointment special?" while stretching like a cat.

Bobby answered this time, "We got you in with an orthopedic surgeon that Ranger knows from his Army days. He is opening his office just to see you so that we can handle the security of getting you there undetected."

"Why do I need special security?" I asked now fully awake. "If Bertucci is gone and his family is going to leave me alone then what danger am I being protected from?"

The guys looked back and forth before Woody spoke up, "We are now sure that Bertucci had help from one of the guys we brought with us from Trenton, so until we isolate who was helping him and why, you might still be in danger."

"Okay," I relented. I was still full of questions, but I decided I was just going to let this one go. Clearly the guys were more worked up about my wrist so I would just go with the flow until they came back to the subject.

Bobby stopped wrapping my wrist and announced I was ready to go so I sat up gently and sat still for a few minutes waiting to see if the babies would object. I felt fine so I decided to risk a walk to the bathroom to freshen up and get ready for a drive. I splashed some water on my face with one hand and tried to run a brush through my hair, but realized pretty quickly that it was hopeless so I turned around and found Woody leaning against the doorframe watching me. "Want to help?" I asked hopeful.

Woody stepped behind me and ran his fingers through my hair gathering it into a low ponytail at the base of my neck. Then he put the band around it to hold it captive and pulled the hair through a couple of times to make it tight enough. When he was finished he put his hands on my shoulders and pressed his front to my back holding me to him.

"It's alright Steph, I'll be with you every step of the way." Woody promised and I believed him with everything that was in me.

Woody's family was no where to be found when we came downstairs. As if he sensed my thought Woody explained, "I had Stella open up her home to our family since she made the call that brought them here." I narrowed my eyes watching him, wondering if he had blamed her for what happened earlier. "Don't worry, I didn't make her listen to the tapes, but I did tell her Dad was less than welcoming and she understood." I figured that was probably the best he could do to honor my request that he leave Stella alone.

We were a few steps from the waiting Explorer when I felt that hinky feeling of being watched. I froze on the spot causing Woody to run into me. "What is it?" He asked.

I turned around and hugged him in order to speak without being observed and told him, "I feel like someone is watching me. Not in a protective shadow way, but in a harmful evil way."

Woody's arms tightened around me noticeably. "What direction?"

I didn't know how to answer his question. It's not like I could pinpoint it. I wasn't a psychic, I just knew someone was watching me and I didn't like it. But I tried to concentrate and see if I could pinpoint it any better. "To our right," I offered. "But I can't be any more specific than that."

He nodded, placed a kiss on my head and then motioned for us for to move to the waiting SUV. When we got in he made a call on his cell phone requesting to know who was scheduled to patrol the northern quadrant of the property tonight. He hung up and told Hector to roll.

"Who was there?" I asked.

"Smith," Was his succinct reply. Seeing I wasn't satisfied with his answer he gave me a little more to wrap my head around. "He is the most recent addition to the contract team. He still does a lot of work for the government so his ability to come with us was unexpected because he is often out of the county. The direction you mentioned was scheduled as his area to secure and patrol, but that doesn't mean he was doing anything other than observing our departure to insure there were no problems." I could tell he was trying to convince himself of this as much as he was me, but the way his hand was balled up in a fist told me he wasn't buying it either.

It was dark again as we left the house so I still didn't have the ability to see anything outside the tinted windows about the outlaying areas where his house was located. I felt the truck going around curves and up and down hills or mountains but I couldn't really tell anything more than that.

Just as I was about to fall asleep again, Hector put the turn signal on and we pulled into a medical complex that was mostly dark. Bobby jumped out and entered the building alone before returning ten minutes later with a man in casual pants and a button up shirt beside him. Woody jumped out and shook hands with the man I assumed was the doctor before they all walked to my door and Bobby opened it.

"Stephanie, I'm Doctor Murray and I understand you need to have a few x-rays taken." The man standing in front of me said as an introduction. He had a kind face and from my first impression I decided to trust him. It helped that I knew long before I was brought here he had been fully vetted by someone at RangeMan.

I jumped out and we went into the building following him up a stairwell to the second floor where he stopped at the x-ray room. I was fitted front and back with a led apron and a special blanket went over my midriff to protect the babies. He explained, "Because there is no one else here I'll just take one shot and then we'll look at it to see if any others are necessary. I don't want to expose you to anymore radiation if it isn't required." I appreciated his explanation and his manner or addressing my concerns.

It took about five minutes for him to return and flip on a large flat screen monitor with an electronic x-ray on it. He pointed to two areas in my wrist and said, "Bobby, you were right, it is definitely broken, but I don't see any movement in the alignment so I think a cast is all that is necessary right now. We can cast it and have her come back next week to reexamine. If everything is staying put then the cast alone should be sufficient, but if there is any new movement we can address that then."

Bobby seemed pleased with Dr. Murray's explanation and I sat back under the led weight that still hadn't been removed while they debated the merits of various cast types. When they finally came to a conclusion Bobby turned around to look at me and then gave me a Burg worthy eye roll. "I'm sorry Steph, we should have taken these off," He apologized as he began to undo the straps of Velcro holding on my protective coverings.

Dr. Murray then explained the cast they were going to use was actually a steel shanked brace that could be removed if needed so that I could shower or adjust the fit as the swelling went down. But he cautioned me against taking it off for the first week unless it was absolutely necessary.

It didn't take him long to get a fit he was pleased with and he announced I was ready to go. Bobby stayed behind for a few minutes to work out the details of my next appointment. I assumed that meant I would be staying in Virginia for at least another week.

By the time we left, I was exhausted and my wrist was beginning to throb from the manipulations Dr. Murray had done. I was really looking forward to getting back home and going to bed. For once I just wanted to lie down next to Woody and actually sleep. Maybe the day had shaken me up more than I thought if my hormones were even picking up their head at the thought of being in bed with Woody.

As I pondered my exhaustion as compared to my hormones, Woody pulled me across the seat so that I could put my head in his lap much the way we traveled here from Trenton just a few days ago. Snuggling against him I shut my eyes and let his hands relax me as he rubbed my back and shoulder. I was lost in how he knew just the right way to touch me so that it never tickled. Then he pulled the scrunchie out of my ponytail and ran his fingers through my curls. Somehow he avoided pulling my hair even though I know it had to be a tangled mess.

But when his hand settled at the base of my neck and his thumb began to make those hypnotic circles my hormones began to take notice. And when my vocal chords allowed a moan of appreciation to escape, I felt his hormones take notice too.