Ok a LOT has happened in RL and I am so sorry for the long wait! We got dad home and he's doing better but now my mom is back in the hospital with congestive heart failure so I've been pretty time poor but I finally gave my muse a swift kick in the Six so hopefully we can move on to the fun stuff! Thanks for hanging with me!

Chapter 25

I came out of the bathroom and ran into a wall of Cuban muscle. "Whoa easy Babe" Carlos said as he grabbed my shoulders to steady the both of us.

"Sorry Carlos, I wasn't expecting you to be standing here waiting on me" I said breathlessly. I reached out and stuffed my lavender thong into his pants pocket and watched his eyes narrow with lust when he realized what it was.

"Babe you really took them off for me" he said in awe.

"Well you asked me to and you know I almost always do what you ask" I said with a coy smile as I walked back towards the living room.

"Babe" he said as he walked up behind me and grabbed me around the waist. I felt him stick his hand in his pocket and growl. Score one for the Bombshell Bounty Hunter.

As we came back into the living room I saw Harm and Mac looking at some papers and grinning from ear to ear.

"I take it your guy in DC sent some good Intel" I said, proud of my use of a military term. It's hard to not be intimidated by all of the military presence in this room.

"Oh yeah Bud came thru like a bandit" Harm said with a laugh.

"Yeah it seems that Mr. Randolph has been not only a bad boy but a busy one at that. He has a wife and 2 kids in Alexandria and another wife and 1.5 kids in a small town in rural Georgia. I wonder if Mrs. Lucinda Hoskins Randolph of the Leesburg, VA Randolph's is aware of Mrs. Cindy Lou Connors Randolph of the Lakeside Mobile Home Park Connors in Jessup, GA?" Mac said trying to hold the laughter in.

"OMG he's a bigamist?" I asked between gasps of breath.

"It appears so. I can't wait to make this call. I'll put it on speaker so we can all enjoy it" Harm said as he picked up the phone and dialed a number for the Secretary of the Army for the United States.

Damn I bet they don't give that number out to just anybody.

I heard snickering and looked at Carlos and said "oops" guess I said that out loud.

"Yep Babe you said it out loud" Carlos informed me as a voice came on the line welcoming us to the office of the Secretary of the US Army. Whoa!

"Hello this is Captain Harmon Rabb Jr, USN retired. I'd like to speak to Secretary Atwood please. Tell him it's in regards to Colonel Manoso" Harm spoke in a very authoritative voice. I shivered just hearing it.

"One moment Captain I'll see if Secretary Atwood is available" a female voice informed us.

As she put us on hold, very low key elevator music began to play. I rolled my eyes and commented on the government's taste in music. This got a laugh from all of those in the room as well as an amused male on the phone.

"I agree with you little lady the on hold music does suck but it's free so I guess I shouldn't complain" spoke the as yet unidentified man on the phone.

I saw the other 3 people in the room's spines stiffen and I figured this must be the dude we were calling, Secretary Atwood. Hmmm wonder If I should salute or something.

I heard a roaring laugh come thru the phone and saw almost smiles all Carlos, Mac and Harm.

"Harm who is this charming woman that is making my day, no make that my year?" he asked while laughing.

"Mr. Secretary that would be Stephanie Plum very soon to be Manoso" Harm told him with a grin at Carlos.

"Don't tell me the Mighty Manoso has finally got his head out of his Six and has told his woman how he feels" Secretary Atwood asked with a chuckle.

"It appears that way sir" Mac said with a grin.

Sheesh does the whole freakin country know about Carlos and I?

"Pretty much Babe" Carlos told me with his mega watt smile. Yum!

"Carlos it's good to hear from you son, what can I do for you today" asked the Secretary.

"Well sir my contract with the Army Special Ops is up and I chose not to renew so Stephanie and I could lead a somewhat normal life and well my Handler Howard Randolph hasn't taken it very well and he's causing some issues for Stephanie and I. We are planning on getting married on Saturday and he's really trying to screw with my life and I'm not at all happy about it. Never mind how he's upset Steph. I came to Harm and Mac to ask for some help in eliminating the problem and we ran across some information we thought you'd be interested in Sir" Carlos told him while holding my hand and caressing it.

With a sigh worthy of any Burg mother, Secretary Atwood told asked us what Howard had done now. "He's not the brightest crayon in the box so I'm almost afraid to ask what you found out".

"Well it seems that Lucinda Randolph isn't the only Mrs. Howard Randolph. There is a Cindy Lou Randolph in Jessup, GA that is pregnant with his 2nd child and is sporting a huge rock and a marriage license stating that she is his wife. It's dated 21, November 2009. They were married by a JP right there in Jessup" Harm told him reading from the papers that Bud had sent.

"Oh hell I almost pity the idiot when Lucinda finds out about this. Actually she'll be a picnic compared to her daddy and Uncle John. They are gonna skin him alive" Secretary Atwood told us with a chuckle.

"What I don't get is how he's able to be with both women without them being suspicious. I mean if my husband was gone for long, unexplained periods, I'd have a PI on his ass so quick it'd make his head spin" I piped up before realizing who we were speaking to.

"Ummm sorry about that Mr. Secretary I tend to speak before thinking" I said as I turned beet red in embarrassment.

"Please don't be embarrassed Ms. Plum I was thinking the same thing. Come to think of it I'm pretty sure Lucinda has had someone looking into things from some of the scuttlebutt I've heard around town" Secretary Atwood told us with a chuckle.

"How would you kids like to help bring ol Howie to his knees" asked the Secretary.

"Oh hell yeah"

"Yes Sir"

"With pleasure Sir"

"It would be my pleasure Sir"

So we spent the next half hour plotting and scheming how to take down Howard Randolph and his group of helpers. Mac also informed the Secretary that there seemed to be some CIA agents working within the US border which is a BIG no no.

"So just to recap I'll handle notifying Lucinda's dad and uncle of Howard's little indiscretion and you 4 will be handling the CIA if you find them tonight" Secretary Atwood spoke.

"I think notifying Howard at his father-in-laws big fund raising dinner that his "other" wife has gone into labor in Georgia should stir up some trouble for him" Harm said between of peals of laughter.

"I'd love to be a fly on that wall when his wife hears his wife is in labor in Georgia. Kinda hard to explain that one to the little woman" I said with tears streaming down my face.

"Carlos please contact me day or night if you have any more issues with anybody and by all means the next time you and your lovely bride are in DC please give me a call so we can go out to dinner. I want to meet the woman who has captured your heart. Stephanie I hope you are able to put this matter behind you and enjoy your wedding day. Congratulations to the both of you. Please keep in touch" Secretary Atwood said.

"Thank you sir it would be our pleasure to dine with you the next time we are all in DC at the same time" Carlos told him with a grin towards me.

"Thank you so much for your help and your kind words sir. Carlos and I will enjoy our day and I too look forward to seeing you when we are in DC" I told him as I squeezed Carlos' hand.

"Ok troops carry on and keep me informed. I'll do the same" Secretary Atwood said as he disconnected the call.

"Well that was certainly interesting. I don't think I ever in my wildest dreams thought I'd be speaking to the Secretary of the US Army in my lifetime" I told the group in a stunned voice.

"Babe with the way you make friends with anybody and everybody it doesn't surprise me a bit. I'm sure if you put your mind to it you could talk your way into anyplace, even The White House" Carlos told me with a loving caress to my cheek.

Well if she can't talk her way in to The White House I'm sure you would have no problem getting her a behind the scenes tour Grunt" Harm commented.

"And if that doesn't work out Harm and I do have a standing invitation we could all use" Mac said with a loving smile towards Harm

"You have a standing invitation to The White House? How in the world did that happen?" I asked trying to process the information overload I was experiencing.

Before Mac or Harm could answer McKenzie came into the room reciting a story I'm sure she has heard many times "Because mommy and daddy met in the Rose Garden at the White House and they almost got married there before mommy decided they should get married at The Naval Academy cause that's where daddy gragadated from and Nanna and Papa Rabb got married there a long time ago before Nanna and Pappy Frank got married cause Papa Rabb died when daddy was a little like me" she said before taking a breath.

"Wow McKenzie that is quite the romantic story. I would love to hear more about it but right now Uncle Carlos and I have to get back to the office and do some work so we can go shopping this afternoon" I said the last part as I picked her up and spun her around.

"Oh I can't wait Aunt Stephie. I've wanted to be a flower girl forever" she said squeezing my neck in a big hug.

"Sweetheart I'm glad I get to help you fulfill your dream because you're Uncle Carlos has definitely fulfilled mine" I whispered the last part in her ear.

"Can I tell you a secret Aunt Stephie" she whisper shouted in my ear.

"Go ahead baby" I told her with a smile

"You make Uncle Carlos happy. Now he always smiles when he talks about you and I can see on his face when he looks at you that he's happy and I'm glad cause sometimes before he looked sad when he talked about you having a boyfriend" she told me.

I smiled at her through my tears "you are a smart little girl McKenzie. Uncle Carlos and I both made each other sad before sometimes but we are both happy now and we are going to get married and live happily ever after" I told her with a hug.

Carlos walked up and engulfed us both in a warm hug "Aunt Stephie is right Princess we are both very happy and we are going to live very happily ever after" he said while giving us both a kiss on the head.

"Ok well now that all the mushy stuff is over we better let you two get back to work so these lovely ladies can get on with their shopping this afternoon" Harm said as he took McKenzie from me.

We hugged everybody and headed towards the garage.

"I really liked your friends Carlos. They look so happy together and well what can I say about the Princess except I want one sooner rather than later" I told him looking over to see his reaction.

"So do I Babe. You are going to make a fantastic mother and I can't wait to see your body changing with our baby growing inside of you" he said as he wrapped his arms around be from behind and pulled me back to him while caressing my belly.

"I'd like to have some time with you Carlos but I don't want to wait years to have kids either" I told him as I wrapped my arms behind me and around his neck.

"I agree Babe. I'd like some time just the two of us but I don't want to wait too long either" He said hugging me tighter.

"How about we start trying on our First Anniversary" I told him. "We can go away just the two of us and let the baby making begin" I got out before he spun me around and kissed me like there was no tomorrow.

"It's a deal Babe. A Baby Deal" he told me as the elevator opened to the garage.

A/N Bonus points for those JAG fans that recognize a major plot piece from the show. I can't thank you guys enough for sticking with me on this story. I'm ready to move on to the wedding and the honeymoon and well I'm thinking that "The Baby Deal" may be a sequel to this story. Who knows!