Disclaimer: Still not mine

Thank you all for the reviews! I'm glad that you all are happy to see our Les back. This chapter is full of mushy goodness and a little smut at the end. I hope you enjoy!

Chapter 25

LPOV

"Don't give up on us, Beautiful." As I spoke those six words to her, I literally felt her fall apart in my arms. Her little body shook with sobs and my shirt got soaked from her tears. My heart broke again from the pain that I caused her. I continued to hold her as she cried, and tried to calm her down by running my hand up and down her back, soothingly.

She finally got herself calmed down a little bit and was able to lift her head to look into my eyes. My breath caught in my throat seeing the pain and fear behind her beautiful blue eyes. I placed a gentle kiss on her nose and then her lips, trying to let her know that everything was going to be okay.

"What are you doing here?" I barely heard the whispered question as she turned away from me and walked to the bed. I watched her climb in and bury herself under the covers. I didn't answer her right away because I wasn't sure on what to say exactly. She took my silence the wrong way.

"Just get the rest of your things and leave Les, please." Shit. Her voice broke and I knew she was crying again. I hated what I'd done to her. I walked to the bed and pulled the covers back and sat down beside her. My back was resting against the headboard and she was curled up with her back to me. I gently picked her up and pulled her into my lap. Once again, I wrapped my arms around her as she cried.

"Why are you doing this to me?" She choked the question out between sobs. "Please just leave, so that I can try to get my life back together." I held her tighter and finally found my voice.

"I'm not leaving you, Beautiful." My voice was rough and full of emotion. I cleared my throat and tried to talk again. "I think we need to have a conversation. Can you calm down enough to do that?" I felt her nod against my chest and then let her pull away so that she could reach a box of Kleenex. She wiped her eyes and nose and then climbed out of my lap. She sat beside me with her back against the headboard and rested her head against my shoulder. I heard her release a long sigh and knew that she was as composed as she was going to get. I knew that there would be fresh tears later.

"Are you ready to talk?" I felt her nod again and chuckled. "You realize that you have to use your voice for us to talk."

"Yes. I just wasn't sure if it was going to work right now." Her voice was gruff and I smiled and kissed her curls.

"Can you tell me what happened that night with Mark?" I figured I better just get right to the heart of the matter. No sense beating around the bush. I felt her sigh and listened as she told me the story of that night. My stomach turned when she talked about waking up the next morning with him in bed with her. I pushed through the feeling of puking and waited for her to explain everything that she could.

"I'm so sorry, Les. Tank warned me about letting him stay here, but I thought that he was a friend and that I could trust him. I don't remember anything that happened that night. I would never cheat on you. I love you so much and never wanted to hurt you." She started crying again and I pulled her back into my lap again. I wanted to look into her eyes as we talked. Her legs wrapped around my waist as I held her and since her stomach was bigger than before, it was pressed between us snugly. I felt something kick against my stomach and pulled back and looked down. Steph looked down too and laughed through her tears.

"I guess the baby was saying hi or maybe it was telling us that we were squashing it." I laughed and pressed my hand on the spot where the baby kicked. I felt it move again and my eyes filled with tears. At that moment, I didn't care if it was my baby or not. I loved Stephanie, so I would love her baby.

"Do you want to hear why I think this baby is yours?" I looked into her eyes and nodded my head.

"A few days before the incident with Mark, I was nauseous in the mornings. I never threw up, but it was enough for me to realize that something wasn't right. I thought I caught the flu. That's the reason that I didn't drink much that night. I didn't feel good, but kept it well hidden from the guys." She paused and wiped a few tears off her face.

"When I found out that I was pregnant, I did some math in my head and decided that I more than likely conceived the week before you left on your mission. When the ultrasound tech told me another conception date, I was so confused. Her date matched what Mark claimed and I KNOW that nothing happened. I can't explain my feelings, but something is wrong and I know that Mark is behind it." I kissed her gently on the lips. I trusted her instincts and knew that she was telling the truth about what happened. Stephanie couldn't lie; not to me at least.

"I believe you." At my words, her eyes filled with tears and she looked at me bewildered.

"What?" Her broken voice was so weak and full of doubt that it broke my heart all over again.

"I said that I believe you." I kissed her lips again and decided that it was time for me to start groveling. "I'm so sorry that I didn't let you tell me all this when I first got back. I'm sorry that I said such hurtful things to you. I'm sorry that I treated you so horribly. Can you ever forgive me, Stephanie?" I looked into her eyes. A small smile graced her gorgeous face and she threw herself into me. She wrapped her arms around my neck and hugged me into her.

"God, Les, can you ever forgive me? I deserved everything you said to me so you don't need to ap..." I refused to let her finish that sentence.

"Listen to me, you didn't deserve the way I treated you and I'm going to apologize to you every day until I think that I've earned your forgiveness. Even if what I thought happened was true, that didn't give me the right to say such hateful things to you. I was just so hurt that I let my mouth run without thinking." She held me tighter as I talked to her. "As for me forgiving you. There's nothing to forgive. I trust you that nothing happened between you and Mark. Hearing your story makes me want to kill the S.O.B." I pulled her away from my neck, so that I could see her face.

"I love you, Stephanie. I promised that I was going to come back and marry you and I intend to keep that promise, that is if you'll still marry me." She smiled her full smile at me.

"Damn straight you're going to marry me, but we're going to have to wait until after our baby is born." Our baby...I finally accepted at that moment that the baby was, in fact, mine. I bent my head down and placed a kiss on her swollen stomach. When I looked back into her eyes, they sparkled with tears. I gently kissed the tears away from her eyes then brushed my lips across hers.

"Can we lay down together? My back is bothering me and I want to be in your arms." She whispered her request, and I saw nothing wrong with granting it. We positioned ourselves on our sides facing each other, our arms wrapped around the other along with our legs, and our faces were a breath away.

"What do we do now Les?" The close proximity of our bodies and the quietness of the room meant that talking was not needed. Whispered words were loud enough for us to hear.

"Well, we still have some things to talk about. I need to tell you what I stupidly did a few nights ago, but I'm so scared that you won't forgive me. I'm so scared that this will be too much for you to overlook." She looked worried, but didn't pull away from me. I decided to just get this over with. She needed to know the truth.

"First, I want you to know that I never once stopped loving you. When I saw that you were pregnant, all of my dreams came true and I have never been happier. When I saw the pictures and realized that not only were my dreams not coming true, but they were getting stomped on and kicked out the window. I was so hurt and angry." I let out a deep sigh and pulled our bodies closer. Telling her what I'd done was going to be hard.

"When I saw you and Mark in the garage, I jumped to conclusions and thought it was intimate and it only infuriated me more. I felt sick with myself about what I said to you. I would have died if anything happened to you or the baby." She kissed a tear away from my face that I was unaware had even fallen.

"It's okay, Les." She kissed another tear away. I realized that she thought that was the worse thing I did that night. I hated that I had to tell her about the girl from the club.

"It's not okay, Steph. I left RangeMan hurt, confused, scared, and pissed off. Those aren't a good combination for me. I was still hopped up from the mission and I was horny as hell." She looked into my eyes and I saw as the understanding hit her.

"Who was she?" I lowered my head, ashamed, but she lifted it back up to look into my eyes again.

"No one. She was a stupid girl in a club. She was everything that you aren't. Short, blonde, surgically enhanced boobs, with no personality and no brains. She wasn't you and that was what I thought I wanted. We danced and then went to the back alley." I watched her closely as I spoke and my heart broke when her eyes filled with tears.

"Did you fuck her?" Her voice broke and I heard the pain from earlier come back.

I let out a sigh and wiped her tears away. "I came close. I was ready, she was ready, but then I realized that she wasn't what I really wanted. I wanted you, and it hurt to think that you didn't want me anymore. I stopped it before we ever started and left her standing, very unsatisfied and pissed off. I was so mad at you, but I was even angrier at myself. I'm so sorry, Stephanie." She rolled over away from me so I couldn't see her face, but I saw the tears trace down her cheeks and drop onto the bed. I knew what was coming.

"It's okay, Les. I know that everything that happened that day was just a big ole giant mess and I forgive you for everything." She rolled back over and placed her forehead against mine. I closed my eyes, praying that it wasn't a dream. "I'm sorry for the part that I played in making you so angry. I had every intention of telling you about Mark and the baby. I didn't know that he sent pictures." I quieted her with a tender kiss and stroked the hair away from her face.

I made sure to keep my voice whisper soft when I next spoke. "It's okay, my Love. Can you really look past everything that happened and forgive me, Steph?"

She didn't hesitate to answer at all. "Yes, because I love you and I always will. Does it hurt? Sure, but what does our song say? To miss the pain, I would have to miss the dance...and I refuse to miss this dance, Baby. Having your love makes everything that we've been through worth it." I never felt so relieved in my entire life. Hearing her words made my heart swell with love and pride for my woman.

"God, I love you so much." I kissed her lips gently again and rolled her onto her back. I made sure to position myself to the side of her so that I wasn't smashing the baby. The kiss intensified and turned from gentle to hungry in a second. I pulled away before we went to far. Bobby made me promise before seeing her that I wouldn't upset her too much. He also banned me from making love with her. I heard her groan when my lips left hers.

"As much as I would love to continue this, Beautiful; Bobby doesn't think you need to get that excited. He would kill me if I didn't follow his rules." She smiled at me before snuggling back into my embrace.

"Bobby's been like my protector since you've been gone. He, Tank, and Hector have done everything they can to make me comfortable and support me. I'm not sure if I would have survived without them." I smiled remembering the punch that Tank gave me. She must have worked herself into his heart as well as Bobby's.

"I'm glad that they were here for you. Tank was one that helped me get my head out of my ass." She traced her finger down the dark bruise on my cheek.

"Who else do I have to thank?" Her finger traced the bruise on my chin and I shuddered.

"Ranger." My voice was husky.

"Ranger? I figured he, of all people, would be on your side. He's your cousin and you guys have been like brothers for years." She sounded shocked and I had to chuckle.

"He told me a whole lot of things, but the one thing that stuck with me is something that his dad told my mom many years ago. He said that when two people are meant for each other, no time is too long, no distance is too far, and no one can ever tear them apart." Her eyes filled with tears again and I kissed them away before they fell. "Those words are true and we are meant for each other. I always thought it was luck that lead me to that diner the day I met you. Ranger was supposed to go, but something came up and he sent me. I thought I was lucky to be the one to meet you first, but he told me that luck had nothing to do with it. Fate brought me to that diner and fate brought you to me." I pulled her close to me and could see the exhaustion on her face. She was already weak and the emotional discussion didn't help.

"Sleep, Beautiful, I'll be here when you wake up and we'll talk more." I kissed her lips again and tucked her into my side.

"I love you, Les." I kissed her curls and whispered back to her. "I love you too." I felt her breathing even out and knew that she was sleeping. I let the relief and calmness wash over me and before long, I succumbed to sleep, too.

I woke up the next morning wrapped in heaven. I was curled around the love of my life and my hand was resting on her swollen belly. The baby was awake and active,too. It was kicking up a storm and I moved my hand around to feel it move. I heard Stephanie giggle and knew that she must have been awake the entire time.

"Good morning." Her voice was husky and she still sounded tired. "I need to go to the bathroom. This baby is killing my bladder." I laughed and let her go so she could stand up.

Watching her waddle to the bathroom, I had to smile. I knew we were going to be just fine. Everything that happened would just end up being a bump in our road of life. But, we wouldn't let it stop us because we would continue walking it together and be just fine.

I heard the shower start in the bathroom and a picture of what she was doing filled my mind. Thinking about a naked Stephanie in the shower woke up my sleeping giant, so I jumped off the bed and joined her in the shower...Bobby's rules be damned. It had been too damn long since I'd been intimate with my fiancé and it was time for us to get reacquainted. Stripping off my clothes, I stepped into the shower and took in the sight in front of me.

"Took you long enough, Sexy. I thought I was going to have to use the shower massager." Her eyes were dark with lust as she reached for me. Our lips met in a hungry frantic meeting of two starving people. I tried to be gentle, but she wasn't having it. Her teeth bit into my lip and down my jaw. Her nails scraped across my nipples and I let out a moan.

"Les, I know that you're worried about hurting me but please...just bend me over and fuck me. I need to feel you inside me again. I need this." She grabbed my throbbing erection as she said her last words. She guided me around so that she was in front of me. She bent forward and rested her hands on the bench seat along the back wall of the shower.

Her perfect ass was right where she wanted it and she shook it at me. I growled and bit one of her cheeks before inserting a finger into her. I wanted to make sure that she was ready for me. She was beyond ready, and I couldn't help the moan as I felt her silky walls around my cock as I slid home.

I paused a second to let her adjust and to gather some control. I didn't want to blow it so early. It had been too damn long and she felt better than I remembered. She had enough of the waiting because she began to move herself on me. I grabbed her hips and joined her rhythm. I tried to keep it slow and gentle, but her passion overcame mine and her bucking hips increased the speed before I knew what was happening. Her moans and panting only encouraged me more. I could feel her walls contracting around me and I knew that I was close.

"Come with me, Beautiful. Let me feel you come around me." I reached around and flicked her clit sending her over the edge. Hearing her scream my name and feeling her walls tighten around me sent me into my orgasm and we both flew apart together.

I pulled out of her, turned her around in my arms and kissed her senseless. She sighed when my lips left hers, and sat down on the bench. I laughed at her very satisfied expression on her face.

"Let's get cleaned up, Beautiful, and then I'll make you breakfast." Her stomach growled at that moment sending her into a fit of laughter.

"I think baby wants waffles this morning." She said between laughs. I smiled and helped her stand up into the running water.

"Then waffles it is. I not only have a Queen to satisfy, I have a Prince or Princess to spoil too." She smiled and kissed me again.

We spent the morning eating and enjoying each other more. I had no idea what the future held for us and I prayed that the worst of it was over, but I had a feeling that we would face some more challenges. I prayed that whatever happens later, that our love was strong enough to survive. Looking at the woman sitting beside me on the couch, I knew that I would do anything to keep her happy and with me. I would kill for her and I would die for her. I'm pretty sure most of the guys at RangeMan felt the same way. I just prayed that it never came to that.