Alright so I know it has been WAY over do, and I'm so very sorry for that but as you know, life can sometimes get in the way. And I don't necessarily mean I was too busy to work on my stories—though for the most part I was—but rather I found I was not in the right state of mind to be writing for these stories. I want to have my undivided attention when I work on these stories, but even with the down time I did have, my mind was occupied elsewhere. Lot's of changes have occurred of late so please excuse the huge delay. Once again I'm sorry for not posting regularly, hope you can understand.

So with that pitiful form of an excuse out of the way, I'd first like to give you some info on this next chapter. There are two parts to it, mainly because it was just soooo long! Also if you are familiar with my other stories, especially Honeymoon Over?, you should know that I've had some special guest characters pop in to intensify the plot. As I got to brainstorming for this story, I had a revelation. Thus, I decided to incorporate these "guest characters" into this story. I know it may seem I'm pawning off my other story idea, but in all honesty I really like what I came up with—it works with this story, and I figured it's my story anyway right? Oh and one last surprise; this chapter in part II—FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER—is in Ranger's point of view! Okay, well enough babble, hope you enjoy!

IHOM ch. 25

I woke up the next morning alone and wasn't surprised to find Ranger's side of the bed empty, and unmoved. Which means Ranger did not come to bed last night pulling another all nighter working on this case. I knew I was enduring a stressful pregnancy carrying twins at 8 months and counting but this is absurd being kept in the dark like this. Today I was going to get some answers and we are going to solve this once and for all and move on!

So with that new spurt of motivation in mind, I got dressed and headed towards the door in search for Ranger. Of course I didn't get that far before something, or rather someone got in my way. I had just reached the door when a voice boomed from behind me.

"Where you headed there Ms. Plum."

It was Cal. My bodyguard for the day.

I turned around and placed my hands on my hips, probably looking ridiculous rather than intimidating with the preggers stomach. "I'm not leaving the building, so no need to get your panties in a bunch." I replied sounding like a snobby teenager. "Oh and it's Stephanie or bombshell, or whatever, just not Ms. Plum it makes me sound old and proper."

Cal rose from his seat and crossed his arms. "For what reason to you need to leave?" he asked. I tried real hard not to stare at his skull tattoo displayed across his forehead.

I let out a you-got-to-be-kidding-me sigh and rolled my eyes. "I need to get out of this apartment so I figured I'd run some searches."

Mentally I was crossing my fingers, hoping he wouldn't catch my bluff. He narrowed his eyes looking cautious. "Okay. But I'm to escort you down."

I threw up my hands. "Whatever."

Cal followed in behind me, making sure I didn't leave his site. Which is ridiculous seeing how I'm kinda hard to miss being the size of a whale and all.

I made it to my cubicle and booted up my computer, trying to look studious. I turned to Cal as I lowered myself down to my office chair. Cal grabbed onto my arm to assist me.

"Thanks," I said.

He gave a single nod then straightened to stand at attention.

"Cal, I'm on the main office floor, you don't need to supervise me."

He looked apprehensive. "Uh, well Ranger hasn't given any protocol about this. Alls he said was to keep to you like glue."

I rolled my eyes at Ranger's extreme measures. I love him, but he needs to seriously take a chill pill. "This is a secure building Cal. I'm aware of the situation and I would never endanger my unborn babies. So rest assured that you will not need to baby-sit me from leaving."

Cal started to fidget, looking unsure. "Uh, well…I dono if that's a…"

"Cal! You're putting stress on me and I can't handle this right now."

His eyes widened in panic. I felt bad making him think he was putting more strain on my pregnancy, but there was no other way to rid of him. He's a sweet guy but man oh man is he a pain in the butt sometimes.

Once the coast was clear I looked around the office. The control room was bustling like always but no sign of any core team members such as Tank, Lester, Bobby, and Hal. I noticed that conference room A was occupied so I figured Ranger was giving the team a run down of some sort. Perhaps this meeting had to pertain to my stalker and what has been going on.

Wanting to have some answers I figured I could weasel my way into the conference. I knew Ranger may oppose at first but I'm sure he'd give in eventually. I heaved myself up from my chair and waddled on over to the conference room. I heard voices, mainly Tank's deep voice, but I couldn't make out what was being said.

I placed my hand on the knob, took a deep breath and pushed on threw…

To say I was surprised once I entered the room was an understatement. I was completely thrown off guard at what, or rather who I found. Yes, I was correct when I predicted the core team was in a meeting, but what I didn't expect was the presence of a few others—uniformed unknowns. All eyes turned to me as I stood in the doorway, but my eyes only caught one pair; Ranger's. He looked surprised, as surprised as Ranger can be, but recovered quickly by standing up from his place as head chair.

"Stephanie," he called, not really a greeting of approval, but more of a surprised acknowledgement.

I took a moment to take in my surroundings, finding Tank to his left followed by Lester, Bobby and Hal. Then opposite of them sat an older man with pepper-grey hair, and an exotic women sitting alongside him. Sitting on her other side was a rather attractive man who wasn't afraid to give me a sly once over.

Uh hello! Can he not see I'm pregnant?

I shook out of my stupor and looked back over at Ranger. "Uh…I'm sorry. I didn't mean…"

"Everyone," Ranger began. "This is my fiancé Stephanie. Stephanie, this is NCIS with Special Agent Gibbs and his team with Mossad officer Ziva David and Agent Tony DiNozzo."

They all nodded their head in acknowledgement, while this DiNozzo character winked.

"Hey there," Agent DiNozzo greeted.

Ranger must have noticed this slight flirtatious gesture for he came around the conference table and leaned in towards me, wrapping a possessive arm around me.

"Everything okay?" He whispered into my ear, rubbing my lower back in a soothing gesture.

I looked up at him and smiled. "Yeah, everything is fine. I'm sorry I intruded, I just wanted to touch base with you."

He stared down intently at me, trying to get a feel for my real reasoning for coming down here. He gave a small smile then, his eyes warm as he looked down at me. "Okay. Where's Cal?"

Seriously? Instead of rolling my eyes I placed a fake smile on my face. "Oh he was hovering over me so I told him to go chill in the corner as I worked on some searches".

Ranger gave an inquiring look, but didn't probe on like I knew he wanted to. If it weren't for the guest I'm sure he'd be hunting Cal down. "You've been on your feet long? Maybe you should get some rest?"

I held back a sigh and instead waved his suggestion away. "Oh honey, you're over-reacting here. I just woke up and I'm not putting myself through any excess strain. I'll just get back to running those searches…"

I turned to make my way out, when Ranger called out from behind me. "Babe".

He knew why I was here; being my usual snoopy self. He was calling me out on it without being obvious to everyone else. Nothing gets by him.

Okay well part II is going to be posted VERY soon, like later today in fact. Please let me know what you think!