Posting this chapter early as I'll be in Tennessee all weekend starting today...

As always thank you to my wonderful beta Heather (txbabefan) for helping me get these chapters pounded out.

Chapter 18

Steph POV:

I felt Carlos's shudder. We turned to see Jeanne Ellen walking towards us with a smirk on her face.

"Jeanne Ellen, what the hell are you doing here?" Carlos asked.

"I came to see if you were over this bitch?" she purred, raking her eyes over him.

I stepped in front of Carlos. "Doesn't look like he'll ever be over me."

She rolled her eyes. "Just a stepping-stone. You really think he wants to be with you? You're too vanilla for him."

"She's a lot more than vanilla," Carlos said, wrapping his arm around my waist and pulling me back against his chest. "I don't want you, I'm never gonna leave her for you."

"You're saying that for now," she purred at him. She sent me a glare and walked away. I sighed, Carlos kissed me above the temple and turned me to look at him.

"I'm so sorry about all of this, Babe," he sighed.

I brushed a kiss across the front of his throat. "It's okay."

"No, Babe, it's not. This is a lot. Normal couples don't go through this. I'm trying my best to make sure this doesn't take a toll on our relationship."

"It won't if we don't let it," I said. I pressed a soft kiss to his lips. "We need to relax and get away. How about we got out to the bay and invite the guys and just have fun?"

He nodded. "Sounds like a good idea. We all need to relax."

"Especially since Rangeman opens next week." I smiled. He chuckled.

"Let's go get the guys rounded up."

"First we need to pack a beach bag and grab Mag."

"Is there a dog-friendly beach on the island?" he asked as we walked to his Jeep. I nodded. He opened my door and buckled me in. He kissed me softly before walking around.

XXXXXX

Tank POV:

Ric and I sat in our beach chairs watching Bobby, Steph, and Les. They were in the water taking turns playing with Mag. Ric glanced at me.

"I need some advice," he said, sitting back.

"Is this about Rachel?" I asked. He nodded.

The whole situation pissed me off. If Rachel wasn't pregnant, I would ring her neck. but I was definitely going to ring Jeanne Ellen's.

"Steph, she's being really accepting of this," he said, running a hand through his hair.

"What did you think she would do?" I asked him.

"I thought she would leave me, after she found out. Not just about the baby but about what Rachel did to me, what Jeanne Ellen did."

"You thought she would leave you because you were drugged and used?" I asked, ludicrously shocked.

"I was stupid," he said. I nodded my agreement.

"Look, man. The situation is fucked up. It's really fucked up, but I think she's in for the long run."

"I'm a lucky man."

"You are," I agreed.

"She offered to move Rachel and the baby into our condo," he said.

"Damn," I grunted. "She's going to let your baby mama and your baby move in."

"I told her no. I didn't want Rachel's attitude in our home," he told me. I nodded my understanding. "Instead, I'm buying her a condo."

"Are you going to court?"

"If I can avoid it, but if she pushes me, yeah. The accountant has set up a special account for the child support so we can track what she buys. Steph and I are going to change one of the bedrooms at the condo into a nursery for when the baby comes over. Rachel said she's not going to breastfeed past what she has to so we can take the baby more."

"Do you think Rachel is going to settle down and be a mom?" I asked him.

"Honestly?" he asked. "No, I don't. I think this is going to go sideways."

He sighed rubbing a hand over his face. I saw Steph approaching. She sat in his lap and frowned. "You're supposed to be relaxing." she said, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"I'm trying," he said. She sighed.

"Carlos, you're going to make your hair go gray," she told him. She stood and pulled him up. He followed her, with a small smile. Les and Bobby returned to their chairs as Steph pulled him into the ocean with her. Mag jumped around them. Carlos grabbed his bumper toy and threw it; Mag went after it.

"Did you talk to Carlos about Rachel?" Les asked. I nodded.

"How's he doing?"

"He's more worried about him and Steph," I answered. "He doesn't want this shit to mess them up. I don't doubt that they'll both love the baby, but he wasn't prepared for this. He's trying to do what's best for the baby and keep Steph by his side."

"Do you think she's going to leave him?" Bobby asked.

Les slapped him upside the back of his head.

"Damn man, what was that for?" Bobby asked, rubbing his head.

"Do you see the two of them, they're in love. They can hardly be apart." I said.

"A baby, especially with another woman, changes things." Bobby said.

"He didn't cheat on her. If he had cheated on her you can bet it would be a different situation," I told him. "When they sat down and talked, Steph flat out told him that if he married Rachel, she wouldn't be the sidechick. She left it up to him what he wanted to do, saying she would support him in whatever he chose."

"I hope she sticks to that."

"She's a woman of her word," Les said. I nodded.

Carlos POV:

Steph sat between my legs. We sat in a circle around the fire with the guys. I nuzzled her neck and kissed under her ear. She sighed and leaned back against me.

The guys were making smores and passing them around. Mag rested his head on our thighs and went back to sleep.

"Can we talk?" Steph asked all of us. We nodded.

"You all know the situation with Rachel, and we all know what Jeanne Ellen did," she said. We all nodded.

"She admitted it to us when Rachel came to tell us she was pregnant. What if we could get her to admit it again?" she asked. "This time we record it and hand it over to someone who will take care of the problem. Would it be something we can do? I would love to get her out of our lives."

I rubbed a hand over her thigh. "It might work, but the only one of us she's going to let get close enough to her is me."

I felt Steph stiffen before letting out a breath. "Let's get Rangeman up and running and keep this op in mind."

"We need to keep in consideration that if this becomes public, it will be horrible PR for the company," I said. "I personally don't want anybody outside of this group knowing, and I sure as hell don't want my daughter knowing. I would press charges but I can't we have no proof now. The drugs were never recorded as being in my system. I can't prove that Rachel knew I was under the influence of anything besides alcohol and I can't prove that Jeanne Ellen drugged me. So for now we wait and bide our time."

"There isn't much we can do without proof anyway. If we made accusations without proof then it would be an even worse situation. I feel violated, and I can't believe this happened to me, but I can't continue to let this weigh on me. We'll figure this out and get revenge that's all we can do. As far as we know Rachel didn't know I was drugged, and Jeanne Ellen did it trying to get me home with her." I paused and Steph squeezed my hand when I sighed. "The only reason I'm giving Rachel a condo and the money she'll have access to is to keep an eye on her. Not to mention if that is my child I don't want her anywhere that isn't safe. I couldn't do that to my own flesh and blood."

We all nodded. I kissed Steph's temple and she wrapped her hand around mine that rested on her stomach. We got home at almost two in the morning. I got in the shower, while Steph said she was going to grab a snack from the kitchen.

I came out of the bathroom, and she wasn't in the room. Mag laid on the bed, waiting for her. I frowned and pulled on a pair of my boxers.

I went looking for her. Not finding her in the kitchen, I looked down the hall, seeing one of the lights on. I walked past the foyer to the front bedroom and found her sitting in the middle of the floor in one of the spare rooms. She was looking at the walls.

"Babe?" I asked.

"Hmm?"

"What're you doing?" I asked her from the doorway.

"Thinking?"

"About?" I asked. She looked over her shoulder at me and patted the floor next to her. I sat on the floor next to her.

"What do you think about making this the nursery?"

"It's close to our room." I said. She nodded.

"I thought this one would be the best. Maybe some lavender purples? I didn't think you would like pink. White wood furniture, maybe some dark purple and black accents?" she asked.

I smiled and kissed her forehead. "Should we hire a contractor, or do you want to invite the guys over and we can get this project under construction?"

"Well, we need to get a timeline. You don't want all the furniture in the way while we're trying to paint. Good thing is, I think these dark hard wood floors are going to look wonderful with the paint color I have in mind. Tomorrow we can go and pick out paint and furniture," she said. I smiled at her.

"Sounds like a plan."

"Oh shit, I forgot." She groaned.

"What?"

"The lease on my car is up. I've got to take it back to the dealership."

"We can do that, get you a new car, and then go to Home Depot," I suggested. She nodded. "We can pick out furniture if we have time; if not, we can do it the day after."

She smiled up at me. "Now let's go to bed," she said. I grinned and picked her up. She kissed me and I carried her to the doorway. She hit the lights and we walked upstairs.

XXXXXX

I watched as Steph walked around the lot. "Do you want to sign another lease, or do you want to buy this time, Ms. Plum?" David, the dealer, asked.

"I think I'll buy this time. But I want to order one," she said.

He nodded. "Do you want to look at the floor models?"

"You know what I've had my eye on," she said with a smile. "The DBS Coupe."

"Do you want to sit down and design it?" he asked her. She nodded and squeezed my hand.

Over the next hour, Steph sat picking and designing the car, asking my opinion on it. It would be in, in six weeks. They gave her a rental DBS until her's came in.

"What do you think?" she asked as we climbed in.

"It's nice." I told her, looking around the car. She had gotten the coupe model to sit five people.

"Do you think I should get a SUV for the Baby?" I asked her.

"It might be a good idea," she said. "I took it into consideration when I decided to get the DBS. Julie would be able to sit in the back seat with no issue in the car seat."

I looked at her in awe. "You're taking this incredibly well," I told her.

She shrugged. "I love you, I would do anything for you. Yeah, I'm pissed that this happened, but I don't hate the baby," she said.

I grinned and kissed the back of her hand. "I'm an incredibly lucky man."

She laughed softly. "That you are," she said.

I rolled my eyes.

XXXXXX

Steph and I stood in the paint section of Home Depot, looking at the different shades of lavender. "This one?" I asked her. She smiled.

"I like it," she said.

Bringing it over to the paint mixer, we got a gallon can, rollers, brushes, plastic, painter's tape, and paint thinner. Loading it all in the trunk we had enough time to run to the the furniture store.

Walking in, I was overloaded with everything. Steph drug me to the baby section. She pulled out a list and I raised an eyebrow.

"I googled what we would need."

"Damn, Babe. You're going to be better at this than me," I grunted.

She smiled. "Don't worry I ordered some baby books; they are in our mailbox." She grinned at me.

I chuckled and watched as she narrowed down what things she thought would look nice and getting my opinion on the items. We scheduled to have them delivered next week.

Walking outside I wrapped an arm around Steph. "I love you Steph. I hope you know that," I said, kissing her forehead.

"I know it," she smiled. "But I'll never tire of hearing you say it."

I grinned down at her and kissed her. I opened the door for her, and she slid in. I walked around as she fired up the car.

Steph POV:

It was a new day, and we were painting the nursery today. The furniture was delivered early so Lester and Bobby were in the living room putting it together. Tank, Carlos, and I were in the bedroom, laying down the plastic and using the painter's tape to protect the trim.

I poured the paint into the roller pan. We were going to do the first coat, go help the guys in the living room, and then do a second. Carlos's phone rang and I watched him pick it up. Tank splashed me with paint trying to dip his roller. He laughed when it splattered across my face.

I glared at him and dipped my brush in the can flinging paint at him. His laughing stopped when he was splattered with paint. Carlos smiled at the two of us but whoever was on the other end of the phone wasn't making him happy. He hung up and sighed.

"Rachel wants us to paint and furnish the nursery in her condo."

"You gave her a budget and a contractor?" Tank asked.

I nodded. "She says the contractor doesn't want to do anything she wants done."

I sighed. "Let me handle her," I told him. I stood walking over to him. I kissed him softly. "I'll go talk to her and help her get it planned out. I'll figure something out to get her out of the condo one day this week so they can get it done."

"You don't have to. I'll figure something out," Carlos said. I kissed him again with a smile.

"Might as well learn to be civil with her. I'm not going anywhere. You and the guys get this done. I'll call you when I get her under control."

"Thank you, you really shouldn't have to do this. Thank you, though, Babe."

"No thanks needed," I said.

I slipped on my shoes by the front door, waved to Bobby and Lester, picked up my purse, and took the elevator down. Five minutes later I parked in front of the building Rachel's condo was in. I rode the elevator up and knocked on her door. She opened it and glared at me.

"He sent you?" She asked, obviously it was inconvenient for her.

"No, I volunteered to come," I answered. She let me in watching me suspiciously.

"Have you decided what color you want the nursery to be?" I asked.

"Pink," she said. I almost winced.

I walked in looking at the bright pink swatches that had been painted on the walls. Rachel followed me in slightly out of breath. "Are you okay?"

She waved me off. I pulled up one of the chairs in the room and motioned for her to sit. "Are y'all doing lavender?" she asked. I knew I had paint on me.

"Yes. We went and picked everything out a few days ago."

She groaned. "I haven't picked anything."

"Well first let's pick a color. Are you really set on pink?"

"Yes."

"How about a pastel pink? That way you can throw in hot pink accents, maybe some mint green, blacks and whites," I suggested.

"What about furniture?"

"A light color wood would be nice or you could do black."

She nodded. "If I pull up the website, will you take a look?"

I smiled softly. "Sure."

I followed her into the living room, and she passed me her laptop. Finding a few things, I tossed them into the cart. "Carlos and I talked, we need to get some things for the baby. I was going to go shopping tomorrow, would you like to go, also?"

"Why are you being so nice to me?" she blurted.

I raised an eyebrow. "Well, Rachel there's no way to change the past. What's done is done. You're having his baby. I'm going to support him, help with the baby, and love the baby. Maybe some women would be petty, but I'm not."

She watched me. "Fine. That'll be fine."

I nodded and put in the card info to the account Carlos had set up for her. They would be here in a week. Tomorrow the crew would come in to finish.

"I'll pick you up at eight," I said, standing.

She nodded. "Okay."

I walked out and sighed. Driving home I couldn't help but wonder what the hell I had just gotten myself into.