Author's Note
Lol first of all I have to clear something up from the last chapter. The bell boy named Carlos was a complete accident. He definitely is not Ranger.
Steph and the merry men are getting close to the bottom of it all, but we are not quite there yet.
Thank you all for you reviews and we are at 55 favorites and 167 followers. I am stoked. Thank you all.
Hope all of u were visited by the Easter bunny!
Stay tuned :)
Steph's POV
The drive to the hospital is silent and I am angry. It just sunk in. Caroline used all of us, to steal from us. I am angry at myself that I ignored my spidery senses. I always listened to them and this time I didn't and look what happened.
As we park Bobby engages the locks of the SUV. "Spill" is all he says with a look on his face that tells me I am not going to get around talking to him.
I sigh and with a small 'thud' my head comes to a rest on the headrest of my seat. "I am angry at myself. I shouldn't have ignored my spidery senses. I always listened to them and this time I didn't and all the people I came to like from my yoga class were robbed. And Caroline deceived me." I close my eyes and try to calm myself down. I don't want to be in a bad mood when I go in, to see my son.
"You couldn't have known. And we take the blame. If we had done a more thorough background search, maybe all of this wouldn't have happened. But there is no need to point the finger now. As crappy as it sounds, thankfully we were able to prevent the robbery's that would have taken place on Rangemen secured properties" Bobby dis-engages the locks and smiles at me. "We will find them and they will go to prison for a long while!"
I nod and take one last deep breath, before exciting the car. As we step into the hospital my bad mood has been replaced by excitement of seeing my son.
I called my mom and Evita earlier to tell them to come and meet their grandson. They will be here in a couple of hours, which gives me plenty of alone time with Alejandro.
We scrub our hands as we enter NICU and then I pull up a chair next to his incubator. He is so tiny. I know they don't grow a lot within a day, but I just wished he would miraculously experience grow spurt.
First thing I do after I said 'hello' to him is go and extract some more breast milk. After that I take my place next to his incubator again and tell him about everything and nothing.
Elisa, the nurse who talked to me a couple of days ago, comes to sit next to me a while later. "He is doing well. There have been no issues and he is very quiet."
"He must have that from his dad. I am a loud person. One half Italian and one half Hungarian." I tell her, as if she is supposed to know what that means.
"My husband's family is Italian. There is never a quiet moment at the dinner table, holiday season is even worse." Apparently she knows what it means. I grin at her and look back at my son. He is sleeping at the moment and since I am not allowed to touch him I just sit and watch.
"You want to help me to change his diaper later on?" Elisa asks.
"Is that safe? I mean I don't know what to do and he is so fragile!" Panic arises within me. I don't want to do it wrong and injure him.
Elisa places a calming hand on my own and grins at me. "Don't worry. It is safe and I will show you how to do it. We will do it together a bunch of times, before you tackle it on your own, okay?"
I nod and she flashes me another grin before she gets up and leaves.
Around midday Bobby comes in with Evita and Ricardo as well as my parents and Valerie. Thankfully she left the girls at home. And where has Bobby been anyways? I haven't seen him since we came here.
After they sanitized their hands, I get a hug from everybody and then lead them to Alejandro.
"Well this is him; Carlos Alejandro Manoso." I tell them and my sister wants to immediately touch him. I slap her hand away and shoot her a glare. "Don't! He is sleeping and we can't disturb him."
She glares at me, but moves her hand away. My mom and Evita have tears in their eyes and my dad and Ricardo just swallow hard.
"Why did you give him that name?" My sister questions.
"Carlos means strong and our little guy has to be strong now. It is also Ranger's first name. Alejandro, because it means protector of mankind. So strong protector of mankind fits, because I am sure he will turn out just like Ranger, always saving the world." I smile and look at my son. "And I couldn't find any Italian or Hungarian names that I liked or seemed fit so I went with that.
A nurse brought us some chairs and we all sit around the incubator. Thankfully not many parents are here at the moment. "I like the name pumpkin" My dad tells me and shoots me a smile.
"My son is going to be surprised when he comes home" Ricardo says also with a small smile on his lips.
"Well he was surprised" I say and Evita's head snaps around to look at me.
"Mi hijo se casa? (My son is home?)" She asks and then ads "Se merece la manifestación inferior, Para que no me llama de inmediato ( he deserves his bottom smacked for not calling me right away)!"
I laugh and put a hand on my mouth to muffle it. I don't want to wake the babies. Tears are running down my face, as I am imagining how grown up Carlos is getting is bottom smacked by his mother.
Bobby smiles and translates for my parents and Valerie and they laugh too.
"Evita, I sort of sprung this on him and I was released the next day. I really should have made him call you, lo siento ( I am sorry)" I say as I finally calm down.
"It is not your fault. A son should remember to call his mother, when he comes home from parts unknown. Any more bullet holes?" She replies with a small smile. She is such a great woman and mother. She rules the family with a loving but yet iron fist. What mamá says goes.
"Thankfully not" My family has been quiet during our exchange and their eyes grew wider as Evita asked the last question.
Evita nods and turns back to her grandson.
"How are you feeling, Stephanie?" My mother asks and pats my hand.
"I am good, especially now that Ranger is back" I turn my head to face her. "But I would be better if we could take our son home."
"Couple of months you said on the phone, right?" Mom questions and I nod.
Mine and Ranger's parents stay for a couple of hours before they leave. I look at the clock and see that it is already three PM and my stomach demands food. Bobby left again, so I have to find my own way to the cafeteria.
I wave at Diego, who is manning the door of the NICU today and make a mental note to bring him something to eat as well.
Ranger's POV
1300 hours
"Ready?" I ask Tank as I recheck all my weapons and my vest.
"Let's go" He replies and we make our way down the stairs to the garage. Hal, Woody, Lester, Cal Manny and Hector are already waiting for us there.
Both SUVs are loaded and we pile in.
Donnelly and his companion are hiding in a house on Laurel Ave Alley. Caesar and Binkie are staking out the place out right now. They have been following them since they left the warehouse yesterday.
The drive to the meeting point is silent. We are all excited to see some action and hope they make a wrong move so we have reason to at least rough them up a bit or maybe even shoot them. Either way is fine by me.
Unfortunately for us, fortunately for them they made it pretty easy.
After we arrived at the meeting point, the people who are sitting outside move back into their houses as they spot us. My reputation does come in handy most of the time.
Caesar will take the POS; they did the stake out with, and drive it to the front of the house, where we know Donnelly is currently hiding in. Woody, Hal and Cal will take the back, Tank, Hector and I the front. Manny and Binkie will take the side street to make sure they don't flee out of the ground floor windows.
"Team A in position" I call through the radio and the other two reply in the same manner. "On three…two…GO!"
We kick in the doors simultaneously, to throw them off after that we move into the house silently. Even though it is light outside, inside it is black as night. Our flashlights are the only ones providing some light.
We check every room on the ground floor and then we meet up in the kitchen. There are stairs going up to the second floor and stairs going down to the cellar. I motion for Team B to take the stairs up and they silently make their way up.
My team takes the stairs down. The cellar also has multiple rooms and again we clear one by one, guns still drawn and pointed straight ahead.
I hear movement from behind the last door and I motion for Tank to open it. Hector and I stay back, guns pointed at the door. Tank counts silently from three down with his fingers before he opens the door.
I nearly laugh at the sight in front of us and as I look at my best friend, I see that he has a small smile playing on his lips.
Donnelly is kneeling on the ground, desperately trying to click his ammunition into the gun. He hasn't even heard the door opening.
"Donnelly, you won't need that anymore" Tank barks and the man on the ground jumps. His eyes travel from Tank to me and then to Hector and finally back to me. His eyes grow wide in shock and he backs away a little.
"Not so confident now that you have three men instead of 20 pregnant women in front of you, huh?" I say and take the gun and ammunition out of his hands. "Where is your friend?" I growl and hand Hector the gun.
In the same moment Hal's voice comes through the headset. "We have the other one in custody boss!"
"Copy that" I reply and pick Donnelly up from the ground. He seems like the smallest person around, even though he is taller than Hector.
We load Donnelly and his friend into the SUV's and shut the doors.
"This was too easy" Hector pouts, which makes me smile.
"Don't worry hermano, you will get your chance with at least one of them" I say and slap him on the shoulder.
We all pile back into the SUV and head back to Rangemen. Once we drive into the garage, I scramble the cameras and we put our two guests into holding cells in the basement.
I turn around and look at Hal and Cal. "You two are responsible for them" I point to the holding cell and the two of them nod. "No one touches them until Steph and I are back, understood?"
"Yes, Sir" They reply in unison.
The rest of us walk back up the stairs on to the fifth floor. "I will go and see Steph at the hospital. Anything goes wrong call me" I tell Tank, who nods and I continue up to the seventh floor.
I smile as I enter our apartment. A lot has changed and yet not much. I strip out of my clothes on the way into the bathroom and then step into the shower. These new massage settings are amazing and I will definitely try them out with Steph in here.
I pick up my shower gel and find it empty. I shake my head and open the shower door and grab one out of the cupboard under the sink.
As I stand under the spray I find myself thinking about what they told me this morning. I could see it on Steph's face how pissed off she was. When I find that couple, I will make sure they will spend the rest of their lives in a cell.
I turn off the shower and dry myself. I look in the mirror and see that I need to shave. My head as well as my three day stubble, it is getting a little long for my liking. But all of that can wait.
I get dressed quickly and five minutes later I point the Cayenne towards the hospital.
I nod at Diego as I enter the NICU, sanitize my hands and then walk over to my son. I can't see Steph anywhere, but I will take this moment to spend some alone time with my son.
His eyes are open and I can finally see that he has blue eyes like Steph. "Hola hijo (Hello son)" I say and move my finger into the incubator. My son immediately garbs it with his small hands. "Usted tiene que obtener rápidamente más fuerte, para las mamás bien. No le gusta que le dejan detrás, y tampoco me.
Tenemos que mantener su madre en la gracia en la medida de lo posible. Los años de la adolescencia va a ser lo suficientemente duro para ella, si va a venir después de mí!"
(You have to quickly get stronger, for your mom's sake. She doesn't like to leave you behind, and neither do I.
We have to keep your mother in our good graces as long as possible. Your teenage years are going to be hard enough for her, if you are coming after me!)
He wiggles his feet a little and which makes me think that he understood me.
"Are you two conspiring against me?" My babe asks as she comes closer. I felt her entering the NICU, but she didn't step any closer until I was finished talking.
"Us two?" I ask and put on my 'I am innocent face'.
Steph giggles and comes to sit on my lap. Other parts of my anatomy stir immediately as she wiggles to get comfortable.
"Babe" I growl and this time she spots the innocent face. I kiss her and then look back at our son. "He is beautiful, babe."
"Not before long girls will be walking into walls looking at him" She says with a grin.
Not sure how long we are sitting there talking and looking at our son, but soon a nurse comes over to kick us out. "Time to give the little ones some rest" She says in a drill sergeants tone.
We leave the hospital hand in hand. Each one of us spotting a smile. On top of everything we got to hold our baby for the first time for a few minutes after Elisa, the drill sergeant nurse, showed us how to change the diaper, with all the tubes hanging off him.
Steph and I took a lot of pictures and Elisa took one of the three of us, which I will print out and hang it up. One will go in my office and one in the scrapbook.
I am not a fool to think that we will always be this happy for the rest of our lives, but if it is anything close to this moment, I will die a happy man.