(Stephanie)

April 2nd 2010

Last night I didn't sleep a wink. All I kept thinking of was that in a matter of hours, I was going to go in and have an MRI done and I was terrified. I kept seeing myself slide into that tube and not be able to get out or call for help, As I got ready to go, I got to thinking maybe Bobby staying away right now was a bad idea because right now id love for him to hold me. Ever since he was hurt and our little tiff, he has slept over at RangeMan. He was very sore and every movement caused him pain and the stitching to pull t the skin. I knew that if he slept with me, I was a cuddler and me all over him with him sleeping primarily on his stomach wasn't such a good idea.

Looking at myself in the mirror, I just wasn't motivated to look dressed up. Once my hair was dried I just brushed it all up into a pony tail and slipped on my well worn jeans and tugged on a t-shirt. Swiping on several coats of mascara I was ready for my death uh I mean my MRI.

When I had an hour to go until my appointment with doom, Bobby and Lester came over. Since Bobby could barely move and Lester wasn't in so much pain anymore and his eye was healing, Bobby brought him along because he knew that I trusted him the most and was closest to him, he also brought him along so that Lester could do the grunt work, I.E. strap me in and drive.

"Hey Baby" Bobby greeted me with a hug and a kiss when I opened the door

"Hi"

"Hey Beautiful. I get the same right?" Les asked standing at me puckering up. Bobby glared at him

"Injured or not ill still kick your ass Santos"

"Ok ok flower boy don't get your panties in a bunch"

I squinted my brows together trying to figure out why Lester would call Bobby flower boy. As I was thinking on it, Bobby came to my rescue and whispered "our bath" into my ear. Having the bath brought up made me smile but I couldn't understand what Lester had to do with it.

"It was scented" he said and I thought

"OHHHH my lavender bath oil"

"Yes and I was called in… to a battle"

"Oh. OHHH I'm so sorry" I said realizing he had left here and went to the take down. I guess some of the guys must be teasing him about smelling like lavender, especially Les.

"That's ok whoever is teasing you is just jealous because it wasn't them naked in a hot steamy bath with me, making me scream their name" I said hearing Les choke on his water that he had stole from my fridge

Bobby grinned and kissed me again "thank you" he said as we pulled apart

"Ok beautiful let's get you geared up. You will have to go soon since they want you there thirty minutes early" Les said as he went over to my couch

I reluctantly left the saftyness of Bobby's arms and sat down on my couch. Taking my socks I slipped them on and then took my shoe and tied it onto my left foot. When I stood up, Lester knelt down on his knees in front of me and opened the boot. Sliding my foot in he started to strap me in.

"Make sure my pant leg is down if it's not it just doesn't feel right" I told him and felt Lester's hands on my knee and travel down

"Now I know why Bobby would like doing this. Great view and you get a chance to feel you up" he said looking up at me giving me a wink

Lester continued to strap me into my boot. When he had me almost done I reminded him to put the pads in where the boot cut my skin that one time and at the place where it gouges a little into my shin. Putting them where I told him, Lester Velcro's the last strap on the boot. Watching him as he stood up right in front of me, making me suck in a breath, he placed his hand onto the back of my head and kissed my forehead.

"You're going to be just fine" he said as I let out the breath I held

"I hope so"

"You will, you'll see" Lester said his eyes locking on mine

"Back off Santos" I heard a growl behind me. Looking over my shoulder, Bobby stood large with his arms across his chest, glaring at Lester. Giving me a lopsided smirk he took a few steps back.

"I'll go wait in the truck. I think you're in good hands here"

"The best" I said smiling over at Bobby

When Lester left I felt my bravery slipping. I was trying very hard not to allow what I truly felt inside, out. Inside I was shaking and I wanted to cry but on the outside I didn't want to because to me it feels like lately that's all I've been doing. While I was inside myself trying to keep myself calm, I felt something surround me like a warm winter's coat. It had that comfort feel to it, soft, warm, and made to make you feel secure. Coming out of my haze, I found two large arms holding me in a bear hug.

"Where did you go?" I heard Bobby's voice ask me

"Truth land" I said giving a non humorous laugh. Everyone knew I spent a lot of my time living in denial land

"Tell me. Don't hide it Steph"

"I'm trying very hard here, I really am it's just…" I said feeling the lump form in my throat "I'm really scared I said my voice hitching a little

"Tell me what I can do to help you"

I laid back into Bobby's chest and laced my fingers with his. He moved his hands a little so that he was holding mine and then he began to give me soft kisses up and down my neck. I closed my eyes enjoying the feel of it and soon forgot all about that stupid MRI.

"This helping?" he asked

"Yea" I moaned out

"Good"

Bobby continued to reign kisses along my neck. My mind flashed back to our time on the couch when id confessed to being scared the first time. I remembered what we were going to do before being interrupted and then what we did finally in my bath tub. Knowing how relaxed I felt afterwards a thought formed into my head. Placing my hand onto one of Bobby's, I slid it down my stomach so that the tips of his fingers were inside my pants. Well he did ask me how he could help.

"Baby I would if we had more time"

"No come on please" I asked not caring that I was whining

"Steph we can't" Bobby said just as his phone rang

Bobby released me and grabbed his phone. I heard him tell the caller that we were on our way down and knew it had to be Lester. Knowing my time was up, I huffed my way over to the door. Before I could open it, Bobby spun me around, pinned me to the door, with his massive arms, and stared at me with black eyes.

"After your appointment I will pick up where you started" he said capturing me mouth in a deep kiss

Lester, Bobby, and I arrived on time to the North Trenton Radiology. We walked in and on a small desk to my right was a sign in sheet where I signed in. A lady in one of the cubicles called my name and when thru everything that I had when I came in the first time. We all then went and sat in the waiting area for my name to be called as I signed and filled out the exact same forms I did with my first x-rays.

"God I don't want to be here" I said to the two men on either side of me.

"STEPHANIE PLUM" a woman called and I stood up

"You'll do fine Beautiful. It'll be over before you know it" Les said hugging me

"You know if I could id go in with you" Bobby told me

"I know and I wished you could too"

"I love you"

"I love you to" I told him hugging him and then went off with the tech

The walk down the hall was about the same as it was when I did my first x-rays. The tech tried to make small talk and asked me how I was getting along with wearing my boot. I answered her and found out that some time ago she had to wear one too. She led me into the same small rooms, where I took off my bra and everything that could possibly have metal in it. I know I could have just gone without a bra and give Bobby a thrill but with us is the king of flirts and sex and I wasn't about to challenge Les. Putting my belongings in a locker, I locked it and was led to a section of the place that was new to me. The Tech told me to sit that they would be with me soon, picking up the latest celeb gossip magazine; I read it to keep my mind from running away with me. Twenty minutes later a pudgy man with a beard came out and told me to use the bathroom because once we start we couldn't stop. Running into the rest room, I relieved myself and willed my heart to stop beating out of my chest.

"Remove your shoe and boot" the man told me

"Ok" I said sitting in a hard chair removing said items

"These are ear plugs for you to wear; it gets quite loud during the test"

"Oh" I said taking the plugs and placing them in my ears

I stood there and watched as this man lowered the bed that slides into the tube. I got to thinking how rude this man seemed and thought dealing with sick and injured people he needs to be nicer.

"The right one is the injured one?" he asked as he guided me to lie down on my back on the hard plastic table

"Yes"

The man took my foot and placed it into this foam brace. He strapped me down and then positioned my good foot to be bent at the knee. Writing something down on the counter he came back and handed me a grey ball with a line hanging from it.

"This is your panic button. If you squeeze it we will stop the test"

"Ok good" I said relief that there was an out if I needed it

"Don't move when the machine is beating and banging, when it stops you can. I'm going to put you in up to your waist only" he said and pushed the button for the bed to move "ready?" he asked from his safety room.

"Yea" I called out doing an inside happy dance. I only have to go in up to my waist.

The machine began to shake and vibrate. The noise it made was deafening even with the ear plugs in. I laid there and my mind began imagining things. I imagined you could see the sound waves and the lasers going into my ankle because I could feel weird tingly vibrations on it. I looked up at the ceiling tiles and tried to make out shapes or faces to pass the time but nothing seemed to jump out at me. I looked ahead at the MRI machine and read the name on it and inwardly laughed at the name Siemens, that name made me think of bad things. What really kept me sane as I laid there was I began to think of this guy I had seen on a TV show I loved to watch. Early on he was on crutches because he had injured his knee. I got to thinking he probably had to have an MRI just like me. I don't know why I thought of him, since we don't know each other but somehow it calmed me. While I laid there thinking a cough came out of me and then I couldn't stop coughing. The machine turned off and the man came into me.

"If you don't stop coughing ill send you home" he said

"I'm sorry, it just happened" I told him feeling like I was a three year old being scolded

"You messed that set up. Your gonna have to re- do that one"

"OK"

"Can we continue?" he asked

"Yes"

I laid back and as he redid the one that I messed up, I vowed never to do this again. I also was going to complain to the desk about how rude I was treated. Wait till Bobby and Lester finds out. It wasn't but a few minutes that my MRI was over and I was pissed. The man came back into me.

"You did it, I didn't think you would. You were looking kinda green" he said helping me up and out

"Yea" I said tossing my ear plugs into the trash can and grabbed my shoe and boot

"Ut uh put the boot on, your doctor wants it on" he said so I sat down and put it on

I was led back over to where the lockers were. After I told the lady in there that I needed a copy of the MRI, I got my things and put them back on. I sat for a few minutes until the girl told me I was ready to go.

"Good luck and get well soon" she said as I was leaving

"Thank you" I called back

I made my way thru the maze to the waiting room. I couldn't wait to see Bobby; I wanted collapse in his arms and him to hug me for the rest of the day, the night, forever. Opening the door that said lobby, I kept my head down and walked over in the direction of where we had sat. Grabbing my bag out of the chair, I threw it over my shoulder.

"Steph" I heard

"I want to go, let's go now. I need out of here" I said turning around finally looking up. What I saw made my eyes go wide.

(End of Stephanie)