Stephanie
"That was fun" said Gabriella as we leave RangeMan
"it was"
we get into the car and head to the bonds office. Lula spider since must be perking up because she is outside the office waiting for us.
"Aunt Lula" said Gabriella getting out of the car
"there's my baby"
they hugged
"let's go inside" I said opening the door for them.
"Hello there" said Connie standing up
"I'm Connie"
"I'm Gabriella"
she knelt down in front of Gabriella
"I know I heard a lot about you"
"you work with Stephanie?"
"Sure do sweetie"
"is he in?" I ask
"no he is at court"
I nod
"okay then" I say sitting on the couch
"so anything new?"
"No one has skipped bail yet"
I sigh, it's been a slow week though now that I have my daughter I should be happy about it.
"Mr fine ass cop is coming" said Lula looking out the window
"oh god hide me" I groan
"who's that?" asked Gabriella "no one sweetie" I say. Morelli enters the office.
"Hey" he says smiling.
I still want to punch him in the face after what he said about my daughter.
"You must be Gabriella" he said kneeling down to her
"you look like your mommy"
"thanks" she says leaning against my leg
"can we talk?" he asks me.
I nod
"stay here sweetie" I follow him out of the bonds office
"is there something you forgot to say to me?"
he sighed
"I'm sorry I never should have said that"
"no you shouldn't have"
"why didn't you tell me?"
"What would have happened Joe?"
"we could have kept her"
"what is done is done we can't keep looking to the past, I need to focus on my life and my daughter"
"agreed you need another job"
"I will be able to support my daughter just fine" I snapped
"you need something stable"
"okay this is none of your business anymore"
I walk away from him
"what?"
he grabs my arm
"we can't keep doing this off and on again I need to be there for my daughter"
"we can raise her together"
"do you honestly want to raise someone else's kid?"
"she's your daughter she is a part of your life and I love you"
I sigh
"I love you too but we are not good for each other, we are toxic for each other we are either extremely in love or at each other's throats and she does not deserve to go through that Joe, I am going to give her the best child I can by myself"
he looks me over
"good luck"
and walks away with that. I am so sick of having this fight with him. I hope he stays away this time.
"Well that was awkward" I say walking back into the office.
"yeah it didn't look too good" said Lula
"Yeah it was a bad angle I couldn't reach your lips" said Connie,
I roll my eyes at them
"So if there isn't any work Gabriella do you want to come with me to my house?"
"Sure that would be great"
She hops off the coach
"we need to go to the store first though and get a few things"
I also need to throw out the olives in my house. We get into the car and head to the store.
"Is that you Stephanie Plum?" said some old man.
"Do I know you?"
"No your grandmother and I do she has shown me your picture a few times names Walter Wilkson"
I nod and walk past him to get into the store
"Do you want to sit in the cart?"
She nods so I lift her in it.
"What would you like for lunch?"
"I do not know how about soup?"
"Chicken noodle or vegetable?"
"Chicken noodle please"
I also grab more bread and peanut butter and head to the cashier. We paid for the groceries and loaded them into the car to head to my small apartment on the edge of the Burg. I grab the bags and Gabriella follows me into the elevator. We get to my floor and enter my apartment.
"Home sweet home, I want you to meet someone. Rex, Rex Gabriella"
I introduce her to my hamster.
"awwe he is so cute"
"let's give him some food"
I put some food in his cage and changed his water.
"Okay you can go watch TV and make us some food"
she smiles goes into the living room
"I know Rex remember when she was in my stomach"
I rub my stomach sadly. Sigh no point dwelling on the past. I make us ham sandwiches and the chicken noodle soup. I put them in bowels and head into the living room
"Careful the soup is hot" I say putting the bowel on the coffee table
"Am I going to live here now?"
"well you will be living with me but not here we need a bigger"
She smiles and eater her sandwich. I eat my soup, we end up watching two back to back Star Trek episodes before Gabriella falls asleep. I smile and touch her head. I should put her in my bed. I carefully pick her up and carry her to my bed so she can sleep better.
I watch her for a little bit and then go back into the living room. So this is mother hood. I decide to let her sleep for two more hours before waking her up. My phone rings just when I am going to wake her up.
"Babe"
"Ranger"
"I have a few places I want to show you if you two are up for it?"
"sure Gabriella just having a nap but I am getting her up now"
"I will be there in ten minutes"
"okay see you soon"
I hang up the phone. I try shaking her but she doesn't wake up.
"Come on sleepy head Ranger is coming" I say hoping that will perk her up.
It does she groans as she rolls over
"okay"
I laugh I am the same way getting up. I walk into the living room and Ranger is already there
"I thought you said ten minutes?"
"You have been in there for fifteen minutes"
"oh"
"Ranger!"
Gabriella hugs his leg tightly
"Hello"
I smile
"okay so where are we looking?"
"Well I have a few places that fit you two perfectly fine"
He scoops Gabriella up.
"Okay"
We walk down to the parking lot and I am surprised to see he has a normal SUV. I look at him and point to the car
"given your history with my cars I decided to go with this car"
I nod and climb in.
"First place is a three bedroom, two bathroom house in the Burg"
"I didn't know anyone in the Burg was renting out their home"
I can see a small smile on his face.
"What?"
he didn't answer me. We arrive at the house, it looks like Morelli's but it does look extremely homie.
"Okay let's look"
I help Gabriella out of the car and head into the house.
"It also has a good size back yard and a basement"
I nod and look around
"all this furniture looks new"
"yes I believe it is and the furniture does come with the house"
I nod
"how much are they asking for?"
"Nothing"
"What?"
Then it clicked
"You bought this house?"
he nodded
"you bought me a house?"
"I bought a house it is up to you if you want it or not"
"and if I do not want it?"
he shrugged
"then one of my employees would probably want to use this house"
I should of seen this coming
"and the other two places you wish to show me?"
"Come lets go to the next one"
he takes Gabriella's hand
"Ranger!"
he ignores me.
"Okay the second place we are seeing is a two bedroom apartment near the Vinnie's"
We park in the parking lot. It is a brick building, doesn't look that different then my own.
"You would be on the fifth floor" he says getting into the elevator.
We get off the elevator
"You would be this one 55E"
I nod as he unlocks the door. We walk in, it is a big apartment, and it is also decorated extremely modern.
"There are two bathrooms"
I nod
"this is the master bedroom and this would be Gabriella's room"
"It's nice"
"and I have one more place to show you"
We head back to the car and drive
"RangeMan?" I ask as we pull up the building
"As you know one of my floors is just apartments for the employees and I have a two bedroom available for you"
"live here?"
he nodded
"high security"
"I really think you missed your calling as a real estate agent"
he ignored me
"you would be between Hector and Tank's apartment"
"I thought Tank has a house?"
"He uses this when he cannot go home"
I nod walking to apartment. It looks the same as the one we just looked at, the furniture is the same.
"There is an extra feature, I told them not too but when they heard you may move in they didn't listen to me"
I raised an eyebrow at him. He stopped at one of the doors and opened.
"wow" I say looking around.
They made the perfect little girl's room. The walls are white and so is all the furniture. A cute little white vanity and stuff animals on the bed, which is a white canopy bed with a bright yellow bed spread.
"This is really nice"
"I love it!" Said Gabriella jumping on the bed,
we leave her in the room.
"I guess we have a winner"
"it would be easier to have you live here while you work plus you would get a lot of free babysitting"
I laugh.
"It would be interesting"
"you don't want to live here?"
"No I think this is the best place for us, but I do want to pay rent"
"why you work here?"
"I know but I am an independent person"
"you will not pay rent, use the extra money you would save on rent to start a college fund"
I nod
"I have one for my daughter we should get you a meeting with my financial advisor"
I laugh
"let's not get ahead of ourselves, how soon can we move in?"
"now"
" I should go to my moms and get her stuff, plus I have all her RangeMan clothes at my place, same with all my clothes"
"Babe I will send some people over to get you stuff and get Rex"
"Can you watch her while I go talk to my mother"
he nods
"of course"
"Gabriella" I yell
"we are moving in here"
"yay"
she comes running out
"Thank you"
I pat her head
"No problem sweetie I need to get a few things from Grandma's so be good for Ranger"
"okay"
I kiss her forehead
"see you soon"