Keep R&R'ing. You're so making my day - thanks for your wonderful comments. xx
"Where's my girl?" Lula bellowed, storming into the bedroom later that afternoon. Steph had managed to get her head round all the things her mother had told her and somehow things did not seem so bleak. She knew Ranger had Hector with him and despite his scary appearance, she knew he was the best at what he did. During the Brewster incident he'd blown the house up so carefully that it looked like a gazelle kneeling in submission with a tiger on its back.
Hector would keep her fiancé safe or would die trying... Not something she wanted to think about.
Ellen was in the kitchen with Ella discussing menu options for the impending Manoso invasion the following week when Lula came crashing in. Before Ella had a chance to go and tell her to calm down, Ellen had hold of her to prevent her from moving. "She's just what the doctor ordered, wait and see" she whispered.
Sure enough, a few minutes later a very subdued Steph was up and about.
"...Two things, white girl" Lula said as she pushed into the kitchen to get Steph a cup of coffee "A, you got a wedding to finish organising and B you ain't finished your love puzzle yet." She turned round and presented a mug and the puzzle to her friend and pushed her back out into the lounge.
"For starters, we ain't finalised the cakes yet. Do you want chocolate, walnut, coffee, lemon or vanilla for yours? What shape? How many layers – you gotta have layers..."
Lula continued to harass Steph for the rest of the afternoon, bit by bit forcing her to focus on the real world. Even if Steph had given up on the idea of a joint wedding, Lula hadn't and Steph realised that she needed her blind faith.
They agreed the last of the arrangements by 5 o'clock with the additional help of Ellen and Ella and called Tank and Louis up to give them a list of outstanding jobs that would add the finishing touches to their roof top wedding.
Ella called Pinos for a pizza delivery. "Desperate measures for desperate times" she said by way of an explanation as the numbers in the apartment swelled with Ranger's men, all of whom loved his woman in their own way too and wanted to show their support. Admittedly, some wanted to sleep with her, others to be allowed to fall in love with her, a few just wanted to be her friend. But all wanted to be there for her in her darkest hours.
Everyone except Lula left at about 10.30 and the darkness and the silence were all too much.
"Lula, I need to get out of here."
"Sure thing, Sweetie." Came a sleepy reply from the couch.
"See you later" Steph whispered as she picked up her coat, handbag and keys and headed for 5.
She took the stairs just to give her legs something to do and opened the door quietly into a very calm control room. "Hey, Ram" she said as she approached the monitors.
"Steph" he said, warily. He knew what was going on, Hell the whole of Rangeman did. Luis Manoso had wanted to leave the Miami office to run itself just to be with her but Tank had talked him out of it. He didn't want her to get spooked anymore than was necessary by what was going on. They'd deal with it if the shit hit the fan, until then, everyone was going to live in Denial Land. None of them knew what they would do if Ranger or Hector didn't come back. It was something no one wanted to even consider.
"Ram, I need to go out for a while, is there anyone free to take me? I'm not sure I'm up to driving at the mo."
"If its junk food you're after I'll ring out for it for you..."
"No, I need to visit..."
"Sit yourself down, Bombshell. I'll sort you out a chauffeur." He butted in, using his hand as a stop sign and picking his phone up.
Five minutes later Tank appeared. "Where to, my lady?" he said, sweeping his arm out gallantly before gesturing to the lift doors.
"I want to go to Church, I hope that's ok with you..." she looked up guiltily to guage his reaction.
His banter forgotten, Tank coughed nervously to clear his throat and pulled her into his embrace. "Anything, Bomber, anything at all."
"Even India?" she said smiling cheekily.
He pulled back and grimaced at her.
"Be careful what you promise, I'm feeling vulnerable at the moment, big fella ..."
"I'll phone Morelli." Tank offered carefully.
Steph grinned sadly "My spidey senses tell me he's off the market plus I prefer men with very long dark hair these days" she said quietly as she turned back towards the lift.
o0o0o0o0o0o
"...and if you don't bring him back to me I'll make your life hell when I finally get to meet you. And I've been told I'm very unreasonable and stubborn, especially when angry." Steph threatened as she knelt in one of the pews, clasping her hands in front of her.
The serenity of the church had soothed her frayed nerves and some of her Burg attitude had returned. Steph hadn't meant to threaten her Maker, but he'd made her so cross! Just when she thought her life had been coming together nicely she'd been shat on from a great height. "I mean, look at that rat bastard Orr..." she humphed out.
It was bad enough when her skips got her covered in rubbish, she thought, but between the Holy Father, the God of the Dumpster and all the other Gods that had let her down over the years she was feeling cheated. She mentally crossed her arms as she continued with her rant. .. "and I still haven't unravelled my love puzzle yet..." Something compelled her to pick up her handbag and root round in it. She didn't know what she was looking for so sat back up on the wooden bench and carefully put its contents beside her. Pepper spray, nail varnish, hair brush, purse, till receipts, broken pen... nothing! She put everything back except the receipts. Might as well check them through so that she could bin them she thought so looked at the first one – Pinos: 1 x sub, 1 x pizza, 2 x diet cokes. The second one was for some new handcuffs. The third was for the 7-11: 4 x Tastycakes, 2 x krimpets, 1 x box of tampons..., the next one... was blank except for some writing on it. She recognised its owner immediately – Carlos. It said "how do you normally open them? Babe, if you understand this clue you'll win the prize. R xxx"
She quickly went through the other pieces of paper but the rest were just receipts ready to be recycled.
She turned over the piece of paper Ranger had written on to see if there was anything else on the back but it was blank. She knelt back down again, whispering out loud. "Thank you, Lord for giving me this time with my fiancé and his confounded love puzzle, now please give me the rest back, Ricardo Carlos Manoso. Remember him, tall, dark, smoulderingly handsome and great in bed? Should I be telling you that bit? Ah, but you're omnipotent aren't you?" She blushed slightly. "Please bring him back to me," she continued more softly, "preferably in one piece, and let us grow old together, and if you can't do that, can you at least have let him get me pregnant? I really need something of him in my life to love forever."
Not long after that she got up and left with Tank trailing behind her, she hadn't noticed, but he'd been praying just as hard as she had. He dropped her back to 7 and picked Lula up and took her home.
Next morning Steph's visit to the bathroom included her feeling slightly queasy. She ignored the sensation and it soon passed, putting it down to nerves.
The next day she threw up big time.
o0o0o0o0o0o
"Bobby?"
"Bomber, you OK?" he asked cautiously as he popped his head into her bedroom. She was a remarkable woman, he thought, less than a week ago her man went off on a potential suicide mission and here she was, functioning and even offering support to some of those around her, including Tank and himself. Her upbeat attitude since she'd been to Church astounded him. She must have had a really good conversation with the Man upstairs.
"Er, in here, Bobby." He followed the voice into the bathroom where he found Steph draped round the toilet bowl.
He quickly stepped into the room and smelt her vomit. "Steph, are you OK?" he asked, kneeling at her side and stroking her hair.
"Yeah, never been better" she replied grimly as another wave of nausea hit her and she heaved into the bowl.
Bobby stood up to go and find her a flannel and noticed one already positioned within reach. Hmmm.
"Bobby, any chance you have a pregnancy test in your first aid equipment?" she asked as she leant over and heaved again. He wiped her forehead and neck for her.
"Coming right up." He answered quickly, turning to leave.
"Bobby?"
"Can we keep this a secret, please?" she asked as she felt the bile rise again.
"Sure, Bomber" he said as he left to go retrieve his kit, leaving her to do what she had to do.
Steph knelt back and flushed the toilet then stood up tentatively, wiping her mouth with the cold flannel. "Please, God. I know I said I hoped I was pregnant, but I really need the baby's father to be here to look after it with me" she whispered, looking heavenward, a single tear worked its way out and ran down her cheek. She took a big gulp of air, squared her shoulders and went into the kitchen to wait for Bobby.
o0o0o0o0o0o
Connie was sitting at her desk, filing her nails when Lula walked in, bagged up donuts and MacDonalds breakfast things in hand. "Couldn't decide what to have, I need grease AND sugar this mornin'" she said as she plonked herself down on the couch. Connie stood up and went to get coffees for both of them. The mood in the office had been sombre for the last few days as the news of Ranger's mission sank in.
"We need a distraction" said Connie as she took a large sip from her cup and Routed around in the McDonalds bag. "You have everything ready for your wedding but we haven't planned a hen night yet." She said triumphantly. "It's what we all need right now." She quickly picked up her phone and dialled a number "Hi, table for 12 please, uh huh. Wednesday? Great."
She put the phone down and looked over at Lula. "All sorted. We're going sharking" she said smiling.
"Starking? I ain't going anywhere near Stark Street for my hen night, girl. You outta your tiny mind?"
"Not Starking! Sharking! We're on the hunt for some men to have some fun with. Thought we'd invite all the women attending the wedding, should break the ice a bit."
"So, where are we going for this 'sharking'?" Lula asked dubiously.
"Club Tequila."
Lula groaned, Connie laughed and the door opened to reveal Zero.
"Hello, ladies" he purred as he walked to Connie's desk. Connie blushed slightly and pointed to the stack of files on her desk. "Any for Bomber?" he continued.
"Three, they're at the top."
"What you all smirking for?" he asked, checking his flies to make sure they were done up. They were.
"Hen night is booked for next Wednesday." Lula started "We're going 'sharking' at Club Tequila" she said, putting air quotes round the word sharking. "I hope my Tankie doesn't mind. After all, he don't want me blowing him over for some other man." She said seriously.
Zero mentally smiled although his face showed nothing of the emotion he was showing. His self control was almost as good as Ranger's which was handy as otherwise his dick would be waving, full mast, at Connie. Wow! He thought she was looking gooood this morning. He quickly turned as left as some of his control started to slip.
"Ladies." He nodded as he turned and walked out. So, Club Tequila, eh? He opened his phone "Santos?"
...
"Yeah, Stag do. Club Tequila, next Wednesday. The girls will be on Lula and Steph's hen do there."
...
"Yeah I thought so too." He finished the call, got into his SUV and motored out of the car park.