As always thank you to my wonderful Beta Heather (Txbabefan)

Chapter 17

Smut and Angst

Carlos POV:

Steph opened the envelope, pulling out the paper. Her eyes scanned it before locking with mine. "The baby is yours," she said softly. Setting the paper and envelope down, she moved towards me. I pulled her into my lap.

"Let me hold you," I whispered against her neck.

She nuzzled into me, letting me hold her. I was trying to keep myself calm. I was pissed; I was pissed that this had happened, pissed that this could destroy what I built with Steph.

I kissed her temple. "I just want to go to bed, Steph."

"Let's go." she said softly. She tried to climb from my lap, but I tightened my arms around her and stood. I stripped us both of our clothes and pulled on my boxers, Steph pulled on my shirt. We climbed into bed and Mag climbed in with us. He laid his head on Steph's hip looking at me.

I rubbed his head, and he nuzzled my hand. Steph wrapped her arms around me, and I laid my head on her chest. Her fingers combed through my hair, soothing me.

"I don't know what to do," I told her softly. "I didn't expect this; this wasn't part of the plan."

"What was your plan, Carlos?"

"Before you, I was just going to stay in the military and maybe open the business with the guys." I smiled. "After you, though, I wanted it all. I wanted you by my side for the rest of my life. I thought about marriage, but I knew the both of us just thought of it as a piece of paper, since we were already loyal to each other. We've talked about kids and said maybe in the future."

"Carlos," she said, making me look up at her. "We can still have all of those things. We can get married if we want to, we can have more kids if we want to. You better believe that any child of yours, I'll treat like my own. Even if it does come from this fucked up situation. It's not this baby's fault. We know that, and once it's born, we have to make the best of a fucked-up situation."

"I know. What am I going to do with a daughter?" I asked. She smiled gently at me.

"We'll figure it out. I've never raised a baby, either, but we can go and get books and take classes."

"What about Rachel?" I asked her. She sighed.

"Does she have somewhere safe to live? For her and the baby?"

I shook my head.

"We can offer to move her in here..."

"No," I broke in. "I will not have her in our home. The baby will always be welcome, but not her. I can get her a condo."

"We, Carlos, we. We're in this together," she said, smiling again at me.

"Babe, I can't let you pay for my fuck up."

"Carlos, do you understand that this situation wasn't your fault?" she asked, in an unbelieving tone. "You were drugged and raped. A mind-altering drug and she used you. She might not have been the one to drug you, but you were taken advantage of and used for someone else's pleasure."

"It is my fault; I should have kept my drink from being drugged. I'm responsible."

Steph pushed me over onto my back and straddled me, looking down at me. "When I was seventeen, my friends and I snuck into a bar. Fake ID, the whole nine yards. I was drugged by a thirty-year old man; he drug me into the closet and tried to rape me. Luckily, one of my friends went looking for me and beat the shit out of the guy. He took me home with him, his mother and sister helped clean me up and the next morning I went home to my mother and got bereted, and grounded. Was that my fault Carlos? Was it my fault that he drugged me and took advantage of me?"

"No! Of course not, Babe."

"It's the same as your situation. You didn't know you were drugged, and you were taken advantage of."

"I'm a guy."

She rolled her eyes. "That doesn't mean shit when someone drugs you. It can happy to anybody, Carlos."

I sighed. "I know what you're saying, Babe, but it's hard for me to accept this."

"I know," she said with a sad smile. Her hand raked through my hair, and she kissed the tip of my nose. I rolled her onto her side and pressed my front to her back.

"Do you want get a bedroom ready for the baby?" she asked.

"Here?"

"Well, this is where we live. Any court is going to give you visitation. The baby deserves to have a room here too."

I kissed her under the ear. "You're such a good woman, Babe," I whispered. "I'll see if Rachel will sit down and talk to us."

She nodded. I held her tight to me, as I fell asleep.

XXXXXX

The next day we sat across from Rachel. She glared at Steph. "Rachel, Steph isn't going anywhere, you need to understand that. For the sake of the baby, I would like for you to be okay with that, but either way she's going to be a permanent fixture in my life and then in the baby's."

"I don't understand why you want to be with her," she huffed.

"I'm in love with her; I need you to understand that."

She rolled her eyes but nodded. I knew she was still plotting on some way to get rid of Steph, but we would take care of that when she tried something.

"Do you have any ultrasound pictures?" I asked. She nodded, sliding a handful over to me.

"These are for you."

I showed them to Steph. She smiled at me when I grinned at her. Rachel rolled her eyes.

"Rachel, we want to move you into a condo that's closer to us so we can help. We want to be nearby if you need anything. We want you to choose, so when you have time, we've found a few we would like you to see. I plan on paying child support; my accountant will take care of that. He will be setting up an account that the money will go into, and you'll have a card with access to it. I want visitation. My lawyer will draw up a agreement for the two of us."

The main reason why he was setting up an account for her, would be so that we could track what she was spending the money on. If she spent it on herself, or on the baby, we would know. I didn't think she would be a good mother and neither did Steph. It wasn't in her make-up; she was a party girl, and all the baby was going to do was slow her down.

"Good. I don't plan on breast feeding her for longer than I have to. She can spend time with you when I'm busy," she said. Rachel dug through her purse and found a stick of gum, popping it in her mouth. I felt Steph squeeze my hand.

"That's your decision," I said. "Have you found a pediatrician?"

"Yes." She said.

"Can you give me their info?" I asked.

She rolled her eyes but nodded. "Whatever you want."

"Have you started thinking about names?" Steph asked. Rachel shook her head.

"That's okay," She smiled gently. "I can get some lists or send you some links to mommy websites. Would you mind if Carlos and I threw some suggestions in?"

"Go ahead," she said, rolling her eyes.

I felt more than heard Steph sigh. I squeezed her hand and she smiled softly at me.

"You'll let us know if you need anything?" Steph asked.

Rachel smirked but nodded. "Let us know when you're ready to look at the condos." I paid the bill and stood. Steph followed me, and we walked out.

I sighed and Steph squeezed me. "We'll get through this. You attorney is reviewing the laws. If Rachel tries anything we'll be ready," she said. I nodded.

"Let's relax today," she suggested. "Do you want to go to the spa?"

"Are you going to be my masseuse?" I asked. She smiled.

"I can be. We can use the massage oils and get you a stress relieving rub down." She grinned, her voice sexy.

"Mmm, my fiancé has wonderful ideas." I grinned, leaning down to kiss her.

XXXXXX

I laid on our bed in the condo, Steph straddled my hips, using the warming massage oils on me. Leaving my skin tingling, my muscles relaxed, less tense. I moaned as she pushed another knot out of my shoulder.

"Have you ever had a massage before?" she asked me.

I shook my head as she started to rub another one. I knew she was smiling. "I can't let you get this tense again," she said.

She moved down my body, working on my legs. Working She massaged the pain out of them and loosened the muscles. "God, Babe! I need one of these every time I work out," I groaned. She laughed.

"Sure, but I'm not getting up early in the morning to do it." She chuckled. Her phone rang and she wiped her hand off and picked it up. She put it on speaker putting it next to us.

"Hello."

"Steph, it's Carl."

"What's up, Carl?"

"We're out here at your store in Tampa. We're having problems getting the windows and sheetrock."

"What kind of issues?"

"The manufactures lost the shipment."

Steph sighed. "You can't be serious."
"I am."

"Can you get them on the phone? Do I need to call them?"

"I'm trying to get our rep on the phone."

"Let me know and I'll call tomorrow, if I need too."
"Will do," Carl said. Steph hung up and went back to rubbing my calves.

"Steph, how about I do you know?" I grinned.

"I'm not done," she said, kissing the back of my knee. Her hands found my feet and she worked her fingers into the arch of my foot. I groaned. Who was I to argue with her?

Steph eventually rolled me over onto my back. She kissed up the front of my legs and pulled them apart, settling between my thighs. "Babe..."

She licked the head of my cock, making me gasp. "You don't have to-" I started.

"I want to," she said. I let my head fall back as she worked her mouth over me. She didn't stop until she was all the way down. Slowly, she worked her mouth head up and down, taking me deep. and Every time she pulled off, her tongue roamed over the head, flicking the slit. One of my hands found her hair, the other tangling in the bed.

"Steph," I moaned. I couldn't help but watch her. Working her mouth over me, her teeth drug over me, causing me to buck up. She moaned and I instantly backed off.

She pulled off and looked at me. "Don't hold back your pleasure," she told me. Taking me again she moved quicker, speeding up, I tried to hold my hips still, but she moaned every time I thrust up against her.

"Babe, I'm going to come!" I moaned and she moved faster, taking me deeper and swallowing around the head of my cock.

I couldn't hold back anymore. Spilling into her mouth, she swallowed everything. Eventually, she pulled off and brought herself over me. She leaned down and kissed me. I could taste myself on her mouth and I had to admit it was sexy as hell.

"I love you." She smiled against my lips.

"I love you too, Babe." I wrapped my arms around her and rolled us. Her legs wrapping around my waist. I kissed her again.

"Your turn, Babe." I grinned, nipping at her lip.

XXXXXX

Rachel walked through the third condo we had taken her to. It had a gorgeous view of the beach, an almost professional kitchen, three bedrooms, two full bathrooms, two huge walk-ins in the master. She looked around.

"It's okay, I guess." She shrugged.

Steph rubbed the back of her neck. "Rachel, this is the best one on the list. We're buying this condo for you. You're only paying the bills. You've got access to child support to help with bills. Is this really not good enough?" Steph asked.

"Well, you live in a penthouse apartment," she said, snidely.

"I own my own business with multiple stores, and I sell internationally. I bought my own condo and paid for it myself. Accept our help, Rachel. We want what is best for you and the baby," Steph said.

"You're only doing this for Carlos," Rachel growled at her.

"Believe it or not, there is no way I can turn my back on something that is part of Carlos," Steph said. She wasn't going back down from Rachel and she wasn't going to let her disrespect either of us.

"This one is fine," Rachel muttered.

"We'll take care of it then," I told her. She nodded.

"I've decided on a couple of names," Rachel said as we walked to the elevator.

"What are they?" I asked.

"Julie Rose, Nicki Elizabeth, Brittany Nicole, Shelby Lynn." Rachel said.

"I like Julie Rose." Steph and I said at once. Rachel nodded.

"That's my favorite too." Rachel said.

"About her last name..." I started.

"Do you want her to have yours?" she asked. Her voice was a little timid, like she was unsure.

"If at all possible."

She nodded. "Let me know when I can move in."

"Rachel," I said. She turned to look over her shoulder at me.

"Yeah?"

"Have you told your parents?"

She shook her head.

"You need to tell them."

"I will," she said.

We watched her walk away. As we were walking towards Steph's car a voice rang out, chilling me to the bone. "Ricky, have you missed me? You tired of this curly haired bitch yet?"

Don't hate me just yet ;)

Some people have pointed out that they shouldn't trust the sample Rachel gave to the doctor, there is a procedure done that involves taking a sample of amniotic fluid. There is no way to alter said sample. Then once the sample is taken it is sent to a DNA lab, where then the father in question submits a sample to be compared directly to the fluid.