Disclaimer: I do not own Janet's characters, although I'd love the extra income, I do not profit from them. Damn!
A/N: Sorry it took so long to update, but things have been a little crazy lately. Between the end of the year school projects for the kids, scouts, dance, house sitting for my parents, a ddeath in the family and tending to accident prone dogs, my life has felt like a soap opera. And that's only what has happened in the last 3 1/2 weeks! Crap! I need a vacation. Any way, hope you enjoy.
Chapter 20:
The feeling of freedom made my spirit soar, even with the threat of the stalker crowding a large portion of my concentration. My eyes constantly scanned the horizon searching for anything that seemed out of the ordinary. Evan, Chase, Wolf, Manny and I stayed close enough to the house to see the rest of the men scurrying about like ants, yet far enough away to feel free of the bonds of being constantly under watch.
Using the back of my forearm, I wiped sweat out of my eyes, "Baby?"
"Hmm?" He turned his gorgeous green eyes to mine and smiled.
"You think the stalker is really crazy enough to try something at the wedding?" I asked, trying not to seem to freaked out with the thought of my wedding going up in flames.
"Angel. I hope not. But you know that Ranger and the guys will do everything possible to stop him." His arm spanned the distance between us, his hand rested on my thigh, giving it a reassuring squeeze.
My head fell into my hands and after a groan, I lamented. "Lord help us!" Both Manny and Chase chuckled under their breaths.
"Adhezi, things will work out for the best. You will see." Wolf appeased me, flashing me a dazzling rare smile.
"If you say so." I sighed and suddenly my hand flew to the back of my neck, trying to smooth down the hair that was desperately trying to stand up. "Uh, Baby!" My voice quivered slightly, fear clear as day on my face.
"Angel? What's wrong?" Evan stopped and began to scan the horizon again.
"I think we're being watched. We need to get back to the house, we're too exposed out here." I spurred Comfort on and lead him back towards the barns at a fast clip. The boys following right after me, keeping a close watch on our six. Pulling Comfort to a stop in the horse barn, made the boys come running, with Ranger in the lead.
"Babe?" He was the master of one word conversations.
"I felt like someone was watching us. The hair actually stood up on the back of my neck, it creeps me out." I replied as I dismounted and began to unfasten the buckles on Comfort's saddle. My hands were shaking so badly, Ranger rested his hand on my shoulder, and I stopped trying to unfasten the cinch.
"Tank, take a group of men and scout out the area. Scorch, assume you position, cover the team." Ranger's hands rested on mine. "Babe, leave it. Wolf can take care of Comfort." I sighed and tried not to tear up, but it was really, really hard fighting the pregnancy hormones. "Ram. Take into the house and try to calm her down." The next thing I knew, I was in Evan's arms being carried to the house, surrounded by a large silent contingent of my boys.
Laying me down on the sofa in the parlor, Evan knelt down to look me in the eyes. "Angel. You okay?"
I had turned my face into the back of the sofa and nodded my head. Evan with my voice muffled, Evan could hear me. "Just peachy. Any chance of us relaxing watching a movie?" I rolled over and stared into his face, giving him a pouty lip. "Pweeze?"
Evan's lighthearted chuckle made me feel a little better. "Only if Bobby can give you a quick once over." I rolled my eyes, but nodded my head.
After Bobby had given me a stern talking to about my blood pressure, I was allowed to resume life as normal, which for me was total chaos. I wandered out of the parlor to find somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 boys crammed into the great room, waiting for me to return. "What in the world?" I watched as the boys all stopped fidgeting and talking to look at me.
"Babe. You said you wanted to watch a movie, Santos said he wanted in."
I watched as Les gave me a heart stopping lopsided grin. He pointed to Hal and Cal, "They piped up and wanted in, too!"
Hal rolled his eyes almost as good as I do. "Well, then Tank, Wolf, Chase, Binky, Silvio and a bunch of the other guys wanted in, too. It just kinda morphed from there." I shook my head and grinned.
"So, if I let you all in on my movie, do I still get to pick what I want to watch?" I had to emphasize the fact I had been the one who wanted to watch in the first place, when I stated that it was my movie.
"Angel. You can watch anything you want." Evan grinned, knowing I was going to tease them by choosing a really sappy chick-flick before I cave and tell them I really want an action flick. I attempted to pick my way through the boys, but with how tightly packed they had crammed themselves on the floor, it was impossible. Before I could react, I was picked up and hoisted into the air. I felt multiple hands shifting and passing me along towards the over-sized easy-chair in the middle of the room, crowd surfing my way back to the chair where Evan was waiting for me. Settling into the chair, surrounded by my boys, I felt safer than ever and I sighed contently.
"So, Bomber. What's it going to be?" One of the boys from Boston asked, pointing to the huge TV screen.
I scrunched up my face, pretending to think, desperately trying not to die of laughter. "Well... I was thinking about either Princess Bride or Muriel's Wedding." A huge groan erupted from the crowd and I giggled. "What? You all think I love watching war movies constantly? Guess again!"
"Angel." Evan chuckled letting me know that the guys were getting ready to bail on the movie if I didn't 'change' my mind soon.
"Fine! No chick flicks." I watched the boys all grin and breathe a sigh of relief. "I want to watch a superhero movie."
The guy from Boston nodded and read the available titles out loud. "There's Batman, The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises, Batman & Robin, Batman Beyond, X-Men, X-men 2, X-Men The Last Stand, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, X-Men First Class, Spiderman 1, 2, and 3, Superman 1, 2, 3, 4, Superman Returns, Thor, The Incredible Hulk, Ironman 1 and 2, Captain America and finally The Green Lantern."
"Holy Shit! How many superhero movies do you need?" Hal exclaimed, slapping his forehead with the palm of his hand in disbelief.
"Hey, Pinhead. Those are my movies. You haven't even started in on Junior's or Justin's yet." Evan challenged Hal with a chuckle.
"Shit. You really needed all these?" Cal asked a little over whelmed.
"What? When it's twenty below and I can't make it into Bozeman to go to the theater, it's the next best thing." Evan turned slightly to me and asked, "So, Angel. What's it going to be?"
"I know you all expect me to pick either a Superman or Batman movie, huh?" The boys nodded and I giggled. "Too bad. Green Lantern! I love Ryan Reynolds! Besides... I get to see him run around in his tidy-whitys!" My giggles were met with a couple of groans and a 'sheesh!'. I stuck out my tongue and shouted "Green Lantern! Or I'll pick a chick flick." Before I could raise my eyebrow at the boys, the DVD was in the player.
114 minutes later, I was giddy and ready for another movie when Ranger popped off with, "Tank, maybe we should start calling you Kilowog. Damn, you two could pass for twins." My mouth fell open and I began to giggle uncontrollably.
"Funny, Rangeman. Real, funny. Maybe I should start calling you a Poozer." Of course Ranger's reaction was one of silence and a raised eyebrow. Woody's chuckle escaped before he could stop it and Ranger's head whipped around to look him in the eyes.
"Barn 0500 Woody." Woody looked as if he had just crapped his pants and I began to laugh harder. I was slapping the arm of the chair and gasping for breath by the time Ranger's gaze fell upon me. "Babe." He sighed and rolled his eyes.
"What?" I managed to squeak out between the laughter. "I think it's funny." I tried to deepen my voice as low as it could go, "Poozer." The room erupted in laughter and Ranger rolled his eyes and sat in his chair trying to ignore the joke. "Aww... it's okay Batman. I still think you could kick Green Lantern's ass."
The corners of his mouth turned up ever so slightly, knowing he was in a better mood I went in for the kill. "But I still think Superman would kick you ass in a heartbeat."
He feigned heartbreak by placing his hand over his heart. "Babe. You wound me."
"Wuss." I grinned and threw a pillow at him.
Momma chose that moment to walk into the great room and holler over the chatter. "Excuse me. But Evan has a phone call." She handed the cordless handset to Scorch, who handed it off to other men as it made it's way to him. "I'll be in the kitchen. Supper's in about an hour." I nodded and plucked the receiver out of Hal's hand, giving it to Evan.
"Hello?" Evan answered a with a voice of authority In an instant, his body went rigid and I watched his whole demeanor change. I had only one thought, it had to do with his Government contract. "General, Sir." The guys around me went dead silent and turned to listen to Evan's responses. "Opt out early?" My jaw dropped. OMG! "How Sir?" We all sat in silence waiting to hear Evans side of the conversation.
"Yes, Sir, it's this Saturday. As long as things go as planned." He replied as I tried not to get nervous. "How can I opt out early?"
His pause made me hold my breath, "Am I to assume that I will be leaving after my wedding?" Evan asked, a worried look on his face.
Yes, Sir. I understand, November 1st, 0600." Evan quickly ended the phone call, the guys scrambled out of his way as he stomped out of the room and out the front door. I sat in the chair speechless, staring openly at the door Evan had just walked through.
"Beautiful?" I turned my head to see Les and the boys staring at me, pained expressions on their faces. Rushing out of the chair and into Les's arms, tears streamed down my face. I buried my face into his shoulder and tried to pray for the best.
"Shh... Beautiful. It'll be okay." The tingle on the back of my neck, told me that I was being passed off to Ranger.
"Babe. Let's not jump to conclusions. It could be as simple as a month long assignment at Camp Lejuene running the Sniper school as a guest instructor. We don't know Babe. Keep the faith." My head nodded in agreement, although I felt as if something was going to go horribly wrong.
The room remained silent for the next twenty minutes until Evan walked back in. The grim look on his face seemed to mirror my own, and it did nothing to put my fears to rest. "Angel. I think we need to talk." I sighed and dragged myself out of Rangers lap.
Gripping my hand in his, we made our way out of the house and to his truck. He lifted me into the backseat and slid in next to me, his face blank. Biting my bottom lip, I sat in silence, staring at my clasped hands laying in my lap. "Angel. I have two options. I can either do one mission out of the country for three to four months, or I can do two in country missions and they would only last a few weeks each." He sighed and held my hands in his. "Angel. I won't lie to you, both have some degree of risk. But I wanted to talk it through it with you first."
"Baby. What are you thinking?" I asked, my gaze still locked on our joined hands.
"Angel. Honestly, I think that the mission out of country is our best option. I don't want to be away from you, but at least the out of country is just one mission." The tingle on the back of my neck was somewhat concerning. "But if I chose the in country option, it would be almost two months total. But they would be substantially less in risk." I shook my head violently as I felt the sharp pain from the intense tingle I felt on the back of my neck when he mentioned less risk.
"Don't do the in country. I have a really bad feeling about it. Please!" I gripped his shoulders and stared into his eyes, pleading. "Please, tell me you won't take that option. Promise me." The look of concern and another emotion I wasn't too sure about flashed across his eyes before his blank face slammed down. "My spidey sense is telling me that the in country would be bad, really, really bad. The tingle hurt. That's the first time it's ever been that bad. Please tell me you'll listen to me."
"Angel. I promise. I guess, I'll have to call the General in the morning with our decision." I leaned forward and placed my forehead onto his well muscled chest. He pulled me into his lap and hugged me close. "I love you Angel. I promise, I'll come back to you." Upon hearing his words, I sobbed into his chest, my heart ached already.
Knowing that Evan would be deployed on a dangerous mission for months during my pregnancy, made my stomach churn. I scrambled out of the truck and around the door to the barn moments before I lost everything I still had in my stomach. Holding onto the door for balance, the first wave of black spots swam across my vision. "Evan..." The last thing I remembered was falling to the ground as the blackness took over.
The feeling of being watched forced me to open my eyes and I groaned to find eight sets of eyes focused on me. "What?" I asked, as I attempted to sit up on the sofa.
"Bomber, you gotta stop scaring us like that." Bobby helped me sit up slowly and handed me a glass of orange juice. "Sip this slowly. It'll bring your sugars back up."
"Angel. You passed out again. You scared the shit out of us again." Evan rubbed his massive hands over his face in frustration.
"Sorry." I gripped my glass of juice like it was a lifeline. "I didn't mean to." I pouted, trying not to make the situation any worse.
At that moment, Momma came to my rescue. "Well, back off you pack of Jackals! My Darlin' needs some air." She waved her hands at the boys, forcing them to back away from me. "Darlin' you don't need to apologize to these neanderthals. Let's get you into the kitchen, supper is ready." She helped me to my feet and walked me to my seat at the table. She dished up my plate and set it in front of me as the guys all waited to fill their own. As the filled theirs they assumed their seats and waited patiently for the others to finish.
As the table finally filled to capacity, we bowed our heads for grace. Pop made it short and sweet, and we all dug in. "Darlin' Evan told me he's going to work on his project tomorrow morning after Bear gets here with the bone lady. You have any plans for what you want to do while he's busy?"
I set my fork down and thought for a minute before I answered. "I have no idea. I guess I could help you prep for supper."
She grinned and nodded. "I'd appreciate the help. Carlos, Dear. Do you think you could spare me a couple of your boys to help us womenfolk?"
Ranger nodded, "I think Cal, Hal and Becker. They've all had experience in the mess kitchens or worked in a restaurant in their previous lives."
"Aww, Boss. I'd be honored to work with these fine ladies." Cal grinned and winked at Momma.
"I'd love to have you Calvin. Halton are you up for it?" Momma asked, as she buttered a roll.
"Yes, Ma'am." Hal smiled and stabbed another slab of ham with gusto.
"Backer? Is he from the Trenton office?" Momma asked before she bit into her roll.
"No Ma'am. He's from Atlanta. He worked the kitchens in the Corp. He can make something edible out of limited available supplies." Tank answered with a light heart.
"Sounds like my kind of boy, Pierre."
"Yes, Ma'am." Tank nodded and forked another chunk of potato into his mouth.
"So, is anyone going to help me think of a way to tell my parents about the whole stalker situation?" For a group of bad ass mercenaries, they seemed awfully scared at the mention on my parents. "What no one will help me?" I asked, offended.
"Beautiful, don't take this the wrong way, but your mother is a drama queen, you father is intimidating, and you grandmother is just down right scary."
"Chickens! You're all just a bunch of Chicken Shits! Pansies! Wusses!" I glanced at Momma and apologized, "Sorry Momma for my language. But your all just a bunch of Pussies!" I jumped up out of my seat and barreled out of the kitchen, up the stairs, into the bedroom and locked the door. I slid the desk in front of the door and then slid the bed in front of the desk, finally falling onto the bed.
I lay there trying to think of horrible, evil ways of exacting revenge on the group of scared men sitting at the kitchen table. A few minutes later a knock on the door pulled me out of my musings. "What!" I shouted, still extremely pissed.
"Babe. Open the door."
"No."
"No?"
"Nope. No Pussies allowed." I shouted and threw Evan's pillow at the door. "Fuck off. I need time to cool down and I can't do it if I keep having Assholes bugging me."
"Babe. Please." Usually I caved in an instant when he used please on me, but I wasn't going to cave this time. Nope, Nada, no. Shit! I soon found myself moving the furniture out of the way of the door. Shit, shit, shit! I said to myself. I unlocked the door and opened it a crack.
"What?" I tried to keep my voice as icy as possible.
"We're sorry, Babe." He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. "We really don't like dealing with family issues."
"Too bad. I really thought we were family. Maybe I was wrong." I made to close the door on him, but he slid his hand into the doorway.
"Babe. You are my family. We're all your family. You know we are. But we've never really had experience dealing with situations like this all that often."
"You usually left that job to me." He nodded silently. "For once, I'd like to have backup when I tell them. You all are getting on me about keeping my blood pressure down, and now that I ask for a little help with that you all try to bail on me. Well, Fuck you all. I'm tired, Carlos. For once... for once, I would love to have a special event in my life to go as planned. And even now, my wedding won't go as planned, I already know it. How sad is that? I'll probably be in the hospital when Evan and I are supposed to be married. How will you feel then? Huh? I can't tell them by myself. I just can't." I sunk down to my knees on the floor, my head leaned against the door frame, tears streaking down my face.
"Babe. We'll be there for you. Both of you."
"Angel?" Evan stood at the door, I watched his boots and legs through watery eyes. "May I come in?"
"No. I need to be alone. Give me an hour and then come in." I pleaded.
"Alright. One hour, then we're coming in."
"Deal." I shut the door and collapsed on the bed in my thinking position. What was I going to say to my father? Shit! What was I going to tell my mother? I groaned and covered my eyes with one of my arms. I was never going to get pineapple upside down cake ever again. NEVER EVER AGAIN! Shit! I am sooo dead.
A/N: So I know the listing of the superhero movies was extensive, but it's really like that at my house. What? I like superheros. Besides, my son loves the movies, too. I will try to have another chapter posted by the end of this weekend. Cross your fingers! Please read and review, they are the peanut butter to my jelly, the Yin to my yang, the red to my neck! Ha that was funny. Sorry, I wandered off there for a second. Please leave your reviews, I miss them and they honestly make my day. Thanks all. -Tiff