Okay, it's been a few days, but here you go! Hope you enjoy! Good stuff coming up soon!


Ranger POV

Christ, could anything else go wrong tonight? I looked at Stephanie who suddenly got up and ran for the bathroom. I looked at Diesel who was still a little green, "pop into the guest bathroom. I'll be there in a minute." He nodded and popped away. I used the sheet to wipe off my chest and called Ella as I walked into the bathroom. "Ella I'm sorry to bother you but I've got both Steph and Diesel up here throwing up. Would you mind helping me out?" I heard puking behind me and turned to see Julie looking at me with wide eyes. "Make that Steph, Julie and Diesel." I hung up and went to Julie, "Baby are you okay?"

"I threw up on your floor."

"I see that." I took her hand and led her into the bathroom. Stephanie was sitting with her back against the wall looking like hell. I got them both water and Julie sunk down next to Stephanie. "I'll be right back okay?" I jogged to the guest bath to talk to Diesel, "What's going on?"

"I think we got food poisoning."

"I'm not sick; we all ate the same thing."

"You didn't eat dessert." Diesel said and hung his head. Huh. He's right. I hadn't eaten dessert, and this time it seemed to have paid off.

"Wait, Steph didn't eat dessert either," I reminded him.

"Erm…Steph might've eaten a piece while you were in the bathroom…"

I sighed, of course she had. Only Steph could gobble down a whole dessert in the minute I'd been gone. "You okay man? I need to go check on the girls."

"Yeah, go."

Ella came in as I was walking past the elevator. "Hey, Diesel's in there, the girls are in my bathroom. Can you check on Diesel?" Ella nodded and when I got to the bathroom I found Stephanie throwing up again.

I grabbed my cell phone and called Bobby. "Hey man, can you come on up? The girls are both sick and so is Diesel. He thinks they have food poisoning." I hung up and grabbed a wash cloth and cleaned myself up as good as I could without a shower.

"Babe did you eat that mousse at dinner?" Steph turned her head to look at me.

"Nope."

"Liar." I gave her a drink of water. Bobby came in and took a look at the girls. He said Julie would be fine but that we should take Stephanie in to the hospital. He was worried about dehydration and her blood pressure.

"I don't want to go to the hospital." Stephanie whined. I gave her a bowl and scooped her up. Ella was going to stay with Julie and Diesel while we went to get Stephanie checked out. Bobby drove while I sat next to Stephanie, stroking her hair. She was murmuring to the babies as we drove and rubbing her beautiful stomach. "Ouch! That was a hard kick, someone is unhappy." She pulled up her shirt and I could see the movement under her skin. I pressed my hand to her stomach and grinned as one of my little girls kicked me. "They're gonna be fighters like their daddy." Steph said with a big smile.

We got to the hospital and a nurse took us to a room, she clucked as she took Stephanie's blood pressure. Not a good sign. She took some blood and then hooked Stephanie up to a fetal monitor. Dr. Jacobson came in, looking like we'd woke her up.

"Hi Stephanie, Carlos. What seems to be the problem tonight?"

"Stephanie ate some mousse that had raw eggs in it, as did my daughter and our friend, now they're all sick," I said.

"Ah. Okay, here's what going on. You're dehydrated, that's easy enough to fix. However, you have preeclampsia, which is what we've been hoping wouldn't happen. We're going to keep you on the fetal monitor for a while. Both babies seem to be doing fine right now. No need to panic okay?" Both Stephanie and I nodded.

They transferred Stephanie to the maternity floor and put her on an IV to give her fluids. She was exhausted and fell into a deep sleep after only a few minutes.

Stephanie's POV

When I woke up the sun was shining through the hospital window, I patted my belly and turned my head to look for Ranger.

"Good morning babe, babies." He stood up and came to press his lips to mine. A nurse bustled in just then all cheerful and smiley. She looked at my monitors and made a few notes on my charts. She left and a few minutes later Dr. Jacobson came in.

"Alright Stephanie, you are at 26 weeks right now, you've got gestational diabetes and preeclampsia. We're going to keep you in the hospital for at least a couple of weeks. If you hit week 28 with no problems you get to leave."

I looked worriedly at Ranger and then back to Dr. Jacobson, "No, I can't be in the hospital for two weeks!"

"Stephanie if you go into premature labor now each of your babies has less than a 50 change of survival. Every week, every day you can give them increases their chances."

Well when she said it like that. Ugh. "Okay. Of course." I looked at my stomach and stroked it. "You hear that? You two need to behave so mommy doesn't go crazy in here." Ranger chuckled.

Our days fell into a boring pattern of sitting and Jell-O. I was allowed up for short walks and bathroom breaks. Julie came to the hospital every day after school, everyone else visited me at random times, trying to keep me entertained.

My blood pressure stayed a little on the high side but after two weeks of nothing happening it was decided that I could go home. The morning of my release dawned bright and early and I couldn't have been more excited. I'd been stuck in this bed for so long that my back was hurting. I moved a little and my stomach tightened. Ranger talked to me for a little while and then the nurse came in. She looked at my fetal monitors and then looked at me.

"Honey are you feeling okay?" She asked.

"Yeah…why?" I looked at Ranger and he shrugged. The nurse smiled and said she would be right back. "Ranger! What's wrong?"

"I don't know babe, she didn't seem worried. I'm sure everything is fine." Ranger bent down and laid a kiss on my lips.

I heard the door open and Dr. Jacobson chuckled, "Still at it I see." I grinned and looked at her. She went to look at the outputs from the fetal monitor. "Stephanie are you sore anywhere? Any tightness?" She asked.

"Uh, my back hurts? My stomach was kind of tight earlier for a moment? What's wrong?"

"Stephanie you've had a few contractions. They're not regular and you are not in labor yet. This could be nothing but I want to transfer you to the birth center and keep you there."

"Keep me there for how long?"

"Until you give birth," She said with an apologetic smile.

I nodded, not in the mood to argue. If this is what was best for the babies then this is what we would do. They gave me some type of medication and when they were sure I wasn't going to have anymore contractions I was transferred to the birthing center in Manhattan.

After another week of bed rest I was quite literally going insane. Ranger was in Trenton doing some business stuff and Tank was here keeping me entertained. One of the girls was pushing against my stomach; I could see my PJ top moving a little. I pulled it up, "Hey Tank look!"

He glanced down at the perfect outline of a teeny tiny foot pressing against my stomach. "Holy Hell." And then Tank fell over backwards.


Soon we get to the good stuff!