Chapter 6

The next day started much the same as the previous with the exception of her alarm sounding at seven o'clock on the dot. She'd had the forethought this time around, as she was getting ready for bed, to turn off the alarm and allow herself to simply sleep until she rested and woke up naturally, something that hadn't happened very often in the last six years. Her well-rested bubble of contentment was popped, however, as she rolled onto her back to stretch out and her stomach continued rolling.

She made a mad dash for the bathroom, making it just in time to drop to the floor in front of the toilet before her dinner and the chocolate cake Lester had been kind enough to seek out for her for dessert last night came back up.

Just like the day before, she waited a few minutes be sure she was done before dragging herself up in front of the sink to brush her teeth and remove the taste of bile from her mouth. Her eyes slid to the box she'd set on the counter last night during her genius forethought session and sighed. She couldn't put it off. She had to know. It was either that, or she was quite ill and should let Bobby take her to see a doctor.

Determination straightening her spine and bolstering her resolve, she spat the toothpaste foam, rinsed her mouth and met her own vivid blue eyes in the mirror. "Time to pee on a stick," she told herself, dropping the toothbrush into the cup on the counter and picking up the box. "You'll be okay. Two months without a period, and this nausea that clears up as morning progresses into afternoon, you know it's a definite possibility."

She punctuated her pep talk but ripping open the packaging, getting on with the task before she found a way to talk herself out of it again, because she knew it would be all too easy. As much as she tried to trick herself into being brave, she was scared shitless. This hadn't been in the plan.

None of this had been in the plan.

She did her business, capped the stick, and set it down on the counter, staring at it for several seconds before turning on her heel and marching herself back out of the bathroom. A watched pot never boils, she reminded herself. Staring at the test would only prolong her anxiety. And besides, she needed to set a timer to know when the results would show.

Three minutes felt like an eternity with everything running through her mind as she paced the width of her bedroom, but eventually the phone in her hand chimed and her wait was over. She took a deep breath, pivoted to face the ensuite door she'd closed to prevent her from peering in at the test while it processed, squared her shoulders and marched forward to learn her fate.

Positive.

Shit.

She stared down at he little plus symbol on the stick, a new bout of nausea sweeping through her head spun, vision edged in a black fog. Plopping down on the lid of the toilet before she had a chance to pass out, she dropped her head between her knees and took some more deep breaths, trying to calm down. She could do this. Hadn't she just told herself a few minutes ago that she could do this? She'd be okay. They could do this.

They.

Ranger.

Shit.

A sob escaped her as she realised that she'd need to tell Ranger sooner or later. And it didn't matter if he regained his memories or not. This was all such a mess. Why couldn't anything in her life go according to plan?

She had her head buried in her hands, pressing her fingers into her eyes while her thoughts spun out of control trying to find a way through this when there was a knock on her bedroom door.

"Steph?" Lester's voice carried through to her. "Wakey wakey! We're leaving in twenty. If you want a shower, you need to be quick!"

Her body jerked into the upright position, suddenly remembering that Lester and Bobby were just on the other side of that door, ready to take her to visit her amnesiac husband. And she was a mess. They'd know something was wrong the second they laid eyes on her. She couldn't go. She needed time to process, to come to terms with it, to figure out the next step.

"I have some work calls to make this morning," she lied loud enough for Lester to hear. "You guys go ahead. I'll catch up with Ranger this afternoon instead."

There was a pause as Lester relayed the information to Bobby, and then, "Are you sure?"

She gulped, her eyes skimming the bathroom to land on the pregnancy test. "Positive," she called.

"Okay then," Lester called. "We'll bring lunch back. How does pizza sound?"

Her stomach protested at the mere mention of one of her favourite, greasy foods, but she tried to infuse a decent amount of enthusiasm into her voice as she replied, "Sounds great!" And thankfully, that was the end of the conversation as Lester walked away to finish getting ready for the day, unchanged and unconcerned.

*o*

Four hours later Steph sat in her dark blue SUV in the parking lot of her OB/GYN's office back in Trenton. Her head was resting on the steering wheel. The speakers were blasting a sad rock song that had not yet managed to identify itself in her brain. It was in turmoil. She now had confirmation that she was, indeed, pregnant. Seven weeks. She'd been pregnant for two weeks before Ranger had been called away by the government. A mission he was never meant to be drafted for. His contract had ended six years ago. Done and dusted. No questions asked.

Then, the government fucked up. And the only people they could think of with a chance in hell of fixing their bungle, was Ricardo Carlos Manoso.

He'd told them no. Told them he was retired. Told them he was right where ne needed to be. That they could find another way to fix what they'd done this time around. He wasn't leaving his family to that uncertainty again. He was too old for that shit.

But the solution the government found was unacceptable. There was no way that their so called 'second choice' was capable of getting in, getting it done and also getting out alive. He hadn't wanted to, but Ranger saw himself with no choice but to dust off his cape and pull on his superhero tights one last time. On the plus side, the government was so desperate to get him on side that they would have agreed to just about any terms he set. So in addition to hand selecting his team, he'd managed to secure generous compensation for all three of them, no matter the outcome.

All of this, he'd told Steph in the quiet of his office, apologising that it had come to the point where he felt like he had no choice in the matter, but Steph had understood. He'd gone away before, countless times, and come back stronger and more determined than ever. She didn't like it, but she could live with it, knowing that if it wasn't him innocent men would essentially be sent to their deaths in his place.

Now, faced with raising a baby either alone, or with a man who didn't remember their rich and loving history, she wished she'd had the wherewithal to beg him to stay, to put her foot down and insist that she didn't care what the government said they'd do if he didn't agree, he wasn't leaving her alone again.

He wasn't leaving them alone.

The music cut off suddenly, replaced by a piercing trill as her phone connected to the Bluetooth to announce that she had a call coming through. She lifted her head, squinting at the name on the screen as she jabbed the volume down before answering.

Bobby.

She'd been found out.

"Hello?" she answered.

"Steph." Bobby's relief was audible, crackling down the line to add guilt to the mix of emotions filling her to the brim. "Where did you go?"

She glanced to the doctors' office, then back to the screen in the console where the medic's name was still displayed. "Home," she said. Close enough.

"Home as in Trenton?" he checked, just in case there was somewhere else she could have gone and called it home. "Did something come up that needed your attention back at Rangeman? You should have called us, we could have given you a lift to the station."

"Sorry," she sighed. "I got a bit of tunnel vision. Eye on the prize, you know? I promise I'm okay, though."

"What about Rang-" Bobby started to ask a question, but cut off when Lester's voice called his name in the background. "What, Les?" he responded irritably. "I'm on the phone to Steph."

Rather than comment with relief and ask how she was and where she was like Steph expected Lester to do, she heard just a single word: "Look."

That on it's own wasn't enough to clue her in to what was going on back in the hotel room in DC, but Bobby's reaction to it gave her a good idea of what had just been brought his attention. "Oh, Steph," he murmured, his usually mild tone softening further, confirming her suspicions. They'd found the pregnancy test.

"I couldn't face him," she told him, her eyes stinging as tears threatened to break the dams. "Not yet. I couldn't. I can't. He doesn't know."

"I know, Steph, I know," he soothed. "God, my heart aches for you. This is the worst timing."

She sniffed back her tears. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you I was leaving," she said, determined not to give in to the despair welling up inside her. "I didn't mean to scare you."

"It's okay," he assured her. "I understand." He paused a moment. "Have you had time to come up with a plan?"

A snort bubbled up, bursting out inelegantly. A plan. She wished she had the brain capacity to set her anxiety and worry aside and just come up with a plan. "Eat ice cream, watch Ghostbusters, cry, take a nap, and hope Ranger regains his memories sooner rather than later."

He chuckled softly. "It's a start, I guess," he said. "Remember to keep drinking water. And would it kill you to throw a vegetable into your system from time to time?"

"It might," she hedged, feeling better for being able to joke with one of her best friends. "But I'll give it a go just for you."

"That's all I ask," Bobby said. "I'll let you get started on those plans. Lester's says he's sending hugs."

She smiled lightly. Maybe it would be all right. After all, Ranger wasn't the type to turn his back on family, and she had a whole company of Merry Men that would have their back every step of the way. "Thanks guys."

*o*

Half of the to do list she'd detailed to Bobby was completed by mid-afternoon. She'd eaten a carton of Ben and Jerry's, watched Ghostbusters from the comfort of her living room and was on to crying, curled up on the couch she and Ranger had picked out together upon buying the house when the front door slammed open, footsteps pounding down the hallway toward the stairs. When they paused and doubled back toward the living room, Steph hastily wiped her tears away on the corner of the cushion pillowing her head and sat up.

The face that stared at her from the doorway was wide and full of concern as she did her best to pat down her hair and straighten the oversized t-shirt she'd put on when she got home.

"Mama?" he questioned, hurrying over to climb onto the couch beside her. "Why are you crying? Are you sad?"

The smile that spread her lips as she pulled her son into her arms was watery at best, but she knew she needed to put on a brave face for him. "I'm just missing Daddy," she assured him, squeezing tight. "There's so many things that I want to share with him, like-" She paused, pulling back to gaze down at the him with an appraising eye. "Nicky, did you grow while I was away?" Her hand settled on top of his curly head and dragged over until it rested against her chest, testing his height even though they were both sitting. "I swear, every time I turn around you're taller."

Nicholas Diego Manoso preened at his mother's praise, straightening his spine to make himself taller still even as he cuddled into her side. "Uncle Tank said Daddy's safe," he told her, proving he was every bit his father's son by not letting her distract him from the problem. "So, you shouldn't worry. He'll be home as soon as Gotham is safe again."

"Gotham?" she question indulgently, stroking his hair in that way that had always managed to sooth them both in times of stress. "Because he's Batman?"

"Mmhmm," Nicky confirmed, nodding against her shoulder. "And Uncle Bobby and Uncle Lester are like Robin and… and… and Alfred!"

Steph's laughter surprised her as much as her son's words had. "Alfred?" she chuckled. "The butler?"

Nicky nodded again, sitting up to face her again. "Yeah!" he enthused. "Robin and Alfred always make sure Batman is okay."

That made sense, she realised. Although, realistically if anyone was Alfred in their group it was Tank. She lowered her voice, spearing Nicky with a serious look in her eye, like she needed him to know that what she was about to say was important. "Who's who?" she asked.

Grinning from ear to ear, the young boy jumped from the couch only to lean in closer to his mother's ear. "Uncle Lester is Robin," he whispered. "And Uncle Bobby is Alfred."

"Why's that?" Steph whispered back, watching as he picked up a plastic dinosaur that had been left on the coffee table and started walking it across her leg.

He shrugged. "I don't know. They just are."

"Good enough reasoning for me," she said drinking in the carefree way he moved from reassuring her, to talking about superheroes, to playing without so much as blinking an eye. She wished she had that. She could have used that energy this morning when that little plus sign appeared on the test. How would things have played out if she'd taken the news in her stride and carried on with her day as planned? She'd never know, she guessed, but at least- Her gaze caught on the uniform Nicky wore and slid over to the clock on the mantle. "Nicky, shouldn't you be a soccer practice?" she questioned.

His head snapped up, eyes wide – definitely more of an expression he'd learned from her than his father. "I forgot my boots!" he cried and ran off to retrieve them before she could say anything else.

Steph was on her feet, scrambling to collect her purse and keys and stuffing her feet into the first pair of shoes she found in the hall closet before she remembered that Nicky hadn't made it all the way from school to home by himself. Someone must have driven him. All it took was a glance to the porch to find out who.

"You're not supposed to be home," Tank pointed out coolly.

She shook her head. Lester and Bobby realised she was gone hours ago. There's no way they hadn't let him know she was back in town. "Don't pretend you didn't know I was here," she quipped, flipping a curl out of her face as she hitched her handbag higher on her shoulder. "Do you want me to take him to practice?"

Tank laughed as Nicky raced passed him and down the stairs to the black SUV waiting in the driveway. "I'm assuming you haven't looked in the mirror," he said, swiping a thumb under her eye. "I'll take Nicky. Why don't you have a nap and a soak, and we'll meet at Shorty's for dinner later?"