After dropping in on Amelia and telling her my news – she was ecstatic, and I think somewhat relieved. It was the first day that she hadn't been babysitting, and she had been a little sad. It would have been hard for her, however, to look after three babies under the age of two, and with her baby and my baby being so close together she would have been looking after a demanding toddler and two newborns, and that would have been daunting for anyone. I was thankful, again, that Tracy didn't mind the thought of having two babies to take care of. She had told me that, when she was a teenager, she had cared for a toddler and newborn triplets for two hours after school so that the mother could have a nap. She said it was the best job that she had ever had, and was why she went into being a labor and delivery nurse. What I hadn't known was that she was also a pediatric nurse, and she got her designation in both so that she'd be able to do any role on the maternity floor. That explained, I thought, why she had been so good at looking after Tia and me when we'd been in distress after the kidnapping. I was grateful again that Tracy had been looking for a change at the same time as we needed another caregiver.

I headed up to our apartment and walked in. Tia was giggling at something Tracy was saying, and she was clapping her hands in joy. Tracy was laughing equally as much. I grinned to see them having so much fun together. As I walked into the room, Tracy's face was glowing with happiness. Tia saw me, yelled 'mama', and power-crawled over to me. She pulled on my pants. "Upa", she said.

I looked at her in shock. "You learned a new word, peanut!" I grinned and picked her up. "I am so proud of you." Tia stuck a finger in her nose and grinned with pleasure. I kissed her on her cheek and carefully pulled her finger out of her nose, and she leaned over and kissed me. "Mommy's going to have a nap, and take off these pants. I would really like to be in something more forgiving."

Tracy laughed. "Are you feeling better about the pregnancy now that you've had some time to think about it?"

I sighed. "I think so? I had been very worried about your reaction, but you seem to be happy and not intimidated at all about looking after two babies. I had been worried about Julie's reaction, but she was so happy that she started to cry on the computer when we did our e-meeting, and she was grinning more than I had ever seen her. She asked if she could do kangaroo care again and her only disappointment was that the baby was due in November and she wouldn't be here to meet her. She even, the studious one, said that she would be happy to take a week off school and come up to meet her sibling when he or she was born. In fact, everybody was happy. Ranger and I had an e-meeting with his family last night, and again they were ecstatic. His parents and grandmother started to cry, and his sisters were thrilled. They all suggested that the baby, if it was a girl, could be named after them. My parents were also thrilled. They promised not to tell Val or Grandma until we gave them the nod to do so. My grandmother, when she finds out, will be angling hard for us to name the baby after her. But honestly? I don't particularly like the name Edna."

Tracy laughed. "Edie is cute though. And at least it's not a name like Caca. I remember one new mother who was new to the English language. She named her daughter Caca because she thought it sounded pretty. I always figured that the girl would be a candidate for a name change when she turned old enough."

"There was always the child whose parents refused to name them, and left the naming of the child to the child. They wanted the child to pick since it was to be their name. I think the child was about fourteen before he chose. I want to know what the parents called the child in the meantime. 'Hey you, dinner's ready?'"

Tracy laughed again. "Have you thought of names at all?"

"Not even in the slightest", I said.

Tracy smiled. "It takes some time. Do you have your obstetrician's appointment booked?"

"Ranger was making one for me today."

"Good."

I looked down at Tia. She had stuck her thumb in her mouth and had laid her head on my shoulder. "Hey, peanut, are you getting tired?"

Tracy smiled. "Do you want me to read her stories so that you can go to bed? You look a little tired yourself."

"Bless you." I gave Tia a kiss and handed her over gratefully.

Tracy gave me a hug. "Sleep well", she said.

I smiled in gratitude at her and left her to get Tia ready for sleep, and I escaped into my bedroom. I changed into yoga pants and a tank top and climbed into bed, and I was asleep almost instantaneously. However, I was only asleep for just less than an hour. I had a nightmare about being in labor with twins and, when I showed up at the hospital, Dr. Oscapi was the attending doctor. He pulled his switchblade out of his pocket and said that I needed a C-section. I woke up screaming just as he was starting to make the first cut.

Tracy came running into the room. "Are you okay, Steph?" she said as she saw that I was awake. Shaking and sobbing, but awake. She sat on the bed and pulled me into a hug. "It's okay, sweetie. It was just a bad dream."

"I had twins."

"That's not a big deal. It just means your family will grow a little more quickly than planned."

I snorted. "That wasn't the nightmare part although maybe it should have been. No, I went into labor and when I went to the hospital Dr. Oscapi was the attending doctor, and to deliver the babies he pulled out his switchblade. I hadn't had an epidural, but I woke up as he was starting to make his first cut." I shuddered in a breath. "Saying he's an asshole isn't a strong enough term to describe his vileness. I don't know what is a strong enough term."

"I know. Do you know how it went at the courthouse today?"

"Bail was set high and he approached Vinnie to cover the money needed. I don't know what happened after that. Joe came to Rangeman for lunch and to arrest one of my employees."

"What happened?"

"She decided that she wouldn't mind being the other woman for Ranger, and during lunch she went into his office, undressed, and lay on his conference table. When Ranger and I showed up for lunch she had arranged herself sexily on the table and was ready to seduce him."

Tracy looked at me, her mouth hanging open. "What did Ranger do?"

I smiled. "He put on a pair of cuffs, made her stand up and stay naked, and had me call Joe. Tank came in just to see Joe's face when he walked in. And then we started eating our lunch and let her stand there in her birthday suit. When she finally realized that Ranger truly wasn't interested in her, she propositioned Tank. He laughed at her and said he had the hottest woman in the world upstairs, so why would he want a roll in the sack with someone inferior. When Joe came in, his mouth dropped open. She tried propositioning him and he laughed. He said he had the most perfect woman in the world to go home to and he would never be interested in someone else. Then he sat down and calmly ate his lunch as well. When she told him that it was illegal to take him into the police station without clothes on, we reminisced about all the people that we had done that to in the past. She told Ranger that he was a hard-assed prick, and he said that he had been called worse and, in his career, he had to be."

I didn't tell Tracy that, when everyone left, I had told Ranger that Vicky had been right. He was a hard-assed prick. Through his dedicated exercising, his ass was so hard you could bounce a quarter off it. And I loved his prick. I asked him never to change. He had looked at his desk and sighed. "Unfortunately, I can't have a hooky and nooky session this afternoon. However, if your stomach is steady enough tonight…"

I grinned just thinking about it, and Tracy smiled. "I would have loved to see Joe's reaction to having to take a naked woman into the station."

"Yeah, well hopefully he put some newspaper or something down on the seat before she sat there, or I'd be suggesting that you use a bleach wipe on the leather before you sit there next."

"Ugh", said Tracy. "I didn't think of that."

Tia woke up and started to babble, and Tracy gave me another hug before standing. "What do you want to do? Do you want to take Tia for a walk? Some gentle exercise would be a good thing for you to do."

I smiled. Getting some distance from the nightmare would be good.

I got out of bed and used the facilities and realized that I was having to pee a lot more frequently than I had. I wondered how I had missed the signs.

I added a hoody to my outfit and walked out of the room. Tracy was changing Tia and putting warm clothes on her, and I smiled as I saw the joy on Tia's face when she saw me. "Tay-Tay", she said as she pointed to Tracy.

"That's right. That's Tracy", I said with a grin. I was pleased that language was starting to come to her. It was an exciting time, and I loved seeing her develop.

"Mama", she said, pointing to me.

"That's right", I said.

She pointed to herself. "Te."

I grinned. "You are so smart, peanut. That's right. You are Tia."

She laughed. "Dada?"

"Daddy's at work, but he will be home soon. I wonder what he is making for dinner?"

Tracy stood her up, and she bounced a couple of times. "Ju?"

"Julie is coming this weekend. She is looking forward to seeing you." I thought that I would have to mention that Tia wanted to see her and that she had learned her name when I sent my email to Julie that evening. I was lucky that Julie was the kind of person that she was. Tia adored her, and Julie was a good role model. I was thrilled with the close relationship that they were developing.

She grinned.

"Do you want to go for a walk?"

"Yeah." She bounced in excitement.

"Hey, that's another new word!" I grinned in pride.

"Yeah." When Tracy and I started to laugh, so did Tia.

I turned to Tracy. "Did you want to come with us, or do you want to go home? I'm good either way."

Tracy looked at her watch. "In that case, do you mind if I go home? I could make Joe a special dinner to celebrate my first day." She gave me a hug. "I had a ball today. Thank you so much for letting me look after Tia."

I laughed. "Trust me, we are happier than you about it. We are thrilled that you were looking for a change at the same time as we needed someone. You are the perfect person to look after Tia."

Tracy smiled again, but she had tears in her eyes. She gave Tia a hug. "Love you, baby girl." Tia gave her a hug and a smacking kiss. Tracy hugged her tight again, then handed the baby to me, patted me on the arm, and left the room.

I followed her, texted Ranger to let him know where we would be, and got Tia and me ready to go out. I plopped Tia in her stroller, grabbed my key card, and rode the elevator with Tracy down to the main floor of the building. I gave Tracy another hug, left her to go down to the parking level, and pushed the stroller out of the elevator.