Chapter 36:

Epilogue

I do not own nor do I profit from this work. Everything recognisable belongs to JE, I'm just playing with her kiddos for a while.

EPOV

Never in my life, did I ever think my life would move in the direction it has. I was now married to the most beautiful woman I had ever laid eyes on, I was an expectant father, had a wonderful extended family and an awesome career. And to think, it was only a few years ago that my life changed forever. I met and fell in love with Stephanie, my Angel. Our future together was bright, even though what life held for us was uncertain. The decisions we had to make regarding the end of my contract, were worrying me, to a degree.

A small, soft sigh, brought me out of my musings. Without even thinking about it, my finger gently traced down her jaw, settling her with a simple touch. It was almost unbelieveable that I had such a loving, caring and passionate person as my soulmate. To think that she was now carrying our child, our baby in her belly, made my heart swell with pride and love. I could only imagine what our Peanut would look like, be like, sound like. Hopefully Peanut would take after Angel, having her bright blue eyes and her perfect curly hair.

A faint know on the door pulled me away from my love and I made my way across the carpet soundlessly. The door closed behind me with a quiet 'snick' as I greeted my visitor. "What's up?" I whispered, trying to keep the noise to a minimum.

"Dude, we have a problem. The Generall's office just called back. They want you on the phone now."

"What the fuck?" Pissed, could not even begin to describe how I felt at the moment. What in Sam Hill, were they thinking? He passed me the handset and I frowned at it for half a second before answering. "Ramsey."

After I hit the end button, I was sick to my stomach. Just plain old fashioned sick to my stomach. Knowing that I had to tell my brand new bride that I was not going to finish out my contract out of country, was killing me. The General informed me in no uncertain terms that the mission plan had been changed and I was now going to be stationed here in CONTUS trying to surveil and possibly take out a splinter cell from ISIS. My whole body shuddered, knowing how voilently Angel reacted to the different options from before. If she said it hurt, I was absolutely certain it was going to be bad. Now, how in Hades do I tell her I ship out not on November 1st like originally planned, but in less than 48 hours?

"Evan?" My Angel's soft voice, still thick with sleep, cut through my thoughts. "Everything alright? Who was on the phone?"

Trying to deflect her questions, I asked her a few of my own. "Why are awake?" I asked, kissing her nose gently. "Go change into your pj's and I'll be in to snuggle with you in a few minutes. I just need to check in with Ranger. Okay?" She nodded, still more asleep than awake and returned back into our room.

The two minutes it took me to walk out of the house and to the bunk house provided me enough time to come up with a plan to take care of Angel while I was gone for the estimated six weeks the mission plan called for. Bones sat on the doorstoop, stripping and cleaning his field weapon as I strode over. "Ranger inside?" A small almost imperceptable nod was all I needed to know. He seemed to sense something was wrong and cleared the doorway without a sound.

""Ram?" Ranger looked up from the stack of papers he was currently flipping through, Tank at his side, as always.

"General called. Mission changed. It's not good." I chewed my bottom lip in frustration, a little habit I had picked up from my Angel.

"What does Babe say about it?" He asked, eyebrow raised, waiting for my answer.

"She doesn't know yet." I sighed, rubbing my eyes with the heels of my hands. "I just got off the phone with the General. Six weeks with a 38% estimated mortality rate."

"You better tell her, Ram. Babygirl will worry her pretty little head off if you tell her last minute. She needs you to reassure her. When do you leave?"

After glancing at my watch, I cringed knowing my time was slowly ticking away. "47 hours 42 minutes."

"Get you ass in there and tell her now. I don't care if you wake the entire house. Get in there and tell Bomber." Bobby ordered me, pointing his finger in the general vicinity of the house.

Turning to Lester I indicated for him to join me with a subtle head nod, he acquiesed, falling in behind me as I left the bunkhouse. "She's going to flip, you know that, right?"

"Yeah." The long sufferable sigh that escaped my lips sounded ominous, even to me.

LPOV

Let's just say, that telling Beautiful the bad news about Ram's deployment did not go over well. It took three guys to hold her down while Bobby sedated her with a pregnancy approved sedative. Her heartwrenching screams and agonising cries pierced the air, giving the men chills. It sounded almost as if she were being told that she was now a widow. I guess in her eyes, she very well may be. As she nodded off under the calming powers of the sedative, she rambled on and on about how bad her neck hurt and her spidey sense was off the charts. It worried me to no end. I never want to see her in this amount of distress ever again in my life. We were all fearful about Peanut, Beautiful and her blood pressure. If she was this worried, I knew something was wrong. Something with Ram's mission.

I called my handler and inquired about the impending mission, but was told, I didn't hold a high enough clearance to access those files. With that little nugget of info, I pulled my cousin aside. "Ranger, they won't let me see the files. It's gotta be bad. Last time I got that answer, your mission was bungled and you ended up in China for over six months. What the fuck is going on this time?"

"I'll see what I can do. It does sound completely off." He whipped out his satalite phone and placed a call to Washington.

Ram and Beautiful have been holed up in their room since we sedated her yesterday, only opening the door for Bobby and for sustinece. He had less than 24 hours to go and it didn't look good for him. Ranger had contacted his handler and they managed to get a hold of the mission plan before the clearance level was upped again, making access to the file, now impossible. What they found in the report, made me blanch. Ram was supposed to observe and report on suspicious activities by a small group of muslim extremists that were a faction of ISIS. They were trying to manufacture some type of biological weapon along the lines of ebola, but were trying to plan an attack on a major US city that involved said type of biological weapon.

Once Ram is able to identify the plan and the key players, he has full authority to take out and eliminate the targets. Problem is, he is a huge white guy with blond hair and green eyes trying to fit into a very close knit, small population of brown haired, brown eyed persons who will see him as a threat and outsider from the moment they lay their eyes on him. Even if he did dye hir hair and wear contacts, he does not look like he is of middle eastern descent. On the contrary, he looks like the very people, the targets are hoping to kill. This plan was originally given a 38% failure rate/mortality rate, but since it had been updated recently, it was given a nearly 89% mortality rate. He's royally fucked!

Looking out the upstairs window in the hall, I watched the sun slowly creep over the top of the prairie, giving it an erie pinkish hue. Most of the men, including the core team stayed awake last night, unable to sleep, knowing the pain and torture Beautiful was enduring. Ranger had set up a flight for the core team and a small contingent of our regular staff to join us on a flight back to Trenton. Ram was due to leave for Washington this evening. After we get home, Ram and Beautiful would only have another few hours together before he has to leave. We wanted to ensure they had enough time together before that time came.

The mood around the house was somber. Melancholy really. No one spoke much, no one ate much either, even though Momma was cooking and baking up a storm. In all honesty, she used cooking and baking as a coping mechanism. Mrs. Plum and Mrs. Mazur were besides themselves, unsure of what they could do for Beautiful. In the end, they ended up taking some scrap rags Momma had set aside and began braiding them together so that Mrs. Mazur could stitch them into a rug by hand. Frank, Pops and the boys ended up quietly tuning up the tractors and cobine. It was nothing really but busy-work, it worked to keep their minds off of the upcoming events. All of Rangeman seemed to return to the days before Beautiful graced us with her presence. Quiet, efficient and boring.

We men, had the equipment packed and ready to load into the vehicles, in less than two hours. A few of the men, took it upon themselves to finish up any forgotten tasks from before the wedding. Chaz and Wingnut gave all the roofs of the buildings one last inspection, deeming them good for another five years or so. Hector and Spark upgraded Momma and Pops computer, making it almost as fast as the ones we used at the office. Tank's nimble fingers were able to knit a couple of pairs of baby booties in an extremely soft black yarn. They were adorned with little embroidered handcuffs in a thin silver yarn, making them gleam in the light. It was well known that Tank knitted, but honestly, who would tease him about it.

The sound of the door to the bedroom opening made me spin in place, staring in shock. There standing in her rangeman black with a badass look on her face was the Bombshell Bounty Hunter, Stephanie Ramsey. "Les, I'm going to need you through this." The slight shake in her voice belied her steady demeanor.

"I'm at your every beck and call, Beautiful." I lightly kissed her cheek, secretly enjoying the softness of her skin. "I'll help you through whatever you need."

Her curt nod with a stern look on her face, indicated she was trying to hold herself together, despite her true feelings on the subject. Ram appeared behind her right shoulder. "Are you ready for this Angel?" He looked as if he had made peace with the fact he was leaving his new bride behind.

"I have to be. I can't sit by and cry all day. I need to be out there doing what needs to be done and not moping around. The time for feeling sorry for myself is over. It's time to go to work. I have a husband to send off." She brushed past me headed for the stairs with a stunned Ram and I looking on.

Holy Shit!

A/N: I know it's kind of a crappy place to stop, but if I go any further, I'm into the storyline for the next in series. I promise I will get that one up and running as soon as I get The Rain Hid My Tears finished, or at least part way done.

Yes, I know. It's been over two years since I have posted the last chapter in BSW. I take full responsibility for my lack of diligence. I know I let quite a few readers down with my absence. I do have a good reason though. Using a computer as a shot put is not something I would recommend to anyone, let alone tantrum prone husbands. Needless to say, I got my first broken computer back up and running just two days before my hubby (who is now in anger managment therapy) decided that the best way to get my attention was to hike my newly repaired computer across the room. Now, with that said, I finally have a working computer, even though it's a piece of crap. I'm still working on getting internet, our finances have been a bit tight lately and I just couldn't justify paying for internet when we so desperately needed food on our table. But now that I'm getting a promotion at work and moving up the ladder, I will now be able to get it soon. Yay! : )

I thank you for your patience and your support. It's been a fun ride and I can't wait to see where Ram, Steph and the guys take us next.

-Tiff