Ranger tilted his head back and laughed. "Anytime babe but as much as I'd like to keep discussing this, I believe I owe you some payback."

Stephanie shivered in his arms, took a deep breath, then prepared to get exactly what she deserved.

Chapter 22

3 Weeks Before Stephanie's Due Date…

"Move it Stephanie. We're going to be late." Joseph Morelli yelled from the living room of Stephanie's apartment.

Moments later a very pregnant and very moody Stephanie Plum waddled from the bedroom. Ranger, with her shoes in tow, followed behind her.

"Keep your pants on Joe. I'm moving as fast as I can." she grumbled.

"How is she?" Joe said as he flashed Ranger a smile.

"Long night." Ranger replied revealing a note of exhaustion in his voice.

"I can hear you." Stephanie complained. "I'm pregnant, not deaf. Now which one of you wise guys are going to help me with my shoes?"

Beating Ranger to the punch, Joe spoke up. "I'll go start the car." He said as he swept from the room.

"Chicken." Ranger mumbled.

"I've not been that bad have I?" whined Stephanie.

"Babe." Was Ranger's only reply as he dropped to his knees to tie her shoes.

Thirty minutes later, with Ranger holding one hand and Joe holding the other, Stephanie watched the baby inside of her squirm as the doctor preformed the ultrasound.

"Last chance to find out the sex before the big day?" The doctor asked the three faces smiling back at her.

Stephanie looked from Ranger, to Joe then back to Ranger. "No. We'll wait." She answered.

"Very well." The doctor said as she began putting away the equipment. When she was finished she took a seat on a nearby stool and began looking over Stephanie's file.

"Ok, Stephanie. I have a few details to go over with you." She glanced at the file once again. "All of your tests look normal. Your blood pressure looks good and I have no reason to think you won't have anything but a smooth labor. But since we're getting close to your due date I'd like to see you ever other day for one more week. Then every day after that until the baby is born."

"And that's normal?" Stephanie asked.

"Completely normal. Everything looks terrific Stephanie. You've had a very healthy pregnancy and I don't foresee in any major problems during the delivery." The doctor explained.

"Thank god." Stephanie replied.

The doctor gave her a reassuring wink before continuing. "Did you finish your Lamaze classes?"

"Yeah, last night was our last one."

"Good. Keep practicing your breathing and it'll come naturally once your labor begins. Now during these last couple of weeks I want you to take it easy. Sleep late, lounge around on the couch and just try to get as much rest as you possibly can. Trust me, you'll thank me once the baby arrives. Now if you don't have any questions for me I would like to speak to Stephanie alone for a moment."

Joe and Ranger both exchanged glances. Stephanie spoke up before either of them could argue. "That will be fine doctor. You guys go wait for me in the lobby."

Joe and Ranger shrugged, smiled to the doctor and not-so-happily headed towards the waiting room.

"Is everything ok?" Stephanie asked, suddenly frightened.

The doctor dropped a hand to Steph's knee. "Oh yes. Everything is fine. I just wanted to discuss something with you without… the boys."

Stephanie laughed. "Alright."

"Now Stephanie, I'm talking to you now more as a friend than as a doctor. We go way back, all the way to elementary school if my memory serves me. So I hope you understand that I'm only thinking of your well-being."

"Ok." Stephanie said, trying to hide her confusion.

"This is about Joe and Ranger. I know they've been great sports through all the doctor visits. They've kept it civil while here and that's great. I've even heard some of the nurses at the hospital talking about both of them accompanying you to the Lamaze classes."

"That's true. They did."

"And I think that's great. But I want you to make sure you want them both in the delivery room with you. I know you have requested it but I just want to make sure that's the best decision for you and your baby. Things can get intense in there once the action starts and I'm going to need you to be 100 focused. So if there's any chance they could disrupt things then you might want to reconsider it." The doctor explained.

Stephanie blew out a breath before she spoke. "Five months ago if someone had told me I would have wanted both Ranger and Joe to be there with me I would have called them crazy. But they've changed. Hell, even I've changed. But if it makes you feel better, I give you permission to kick them both out at the first sign of trouble."

The doctor laughed then gave Stephanie a hug. "I just wanted to make sure you were sure about this."

Stephanie hugged back. "I've never been more sure about anything."

As the doctor helped her off the examining table she smiled at her old friend. "Stephanie, one last thing. I don't know what that Manaso guy has done to you, but you sure look happy."

Stephanie beamed back. "I am happy." And just before she walked through the door she turned back and said, "And yes Dr. Ayers. He really is as good as they say."

And Stephanie joined Joe and Ranger in the lobby they could hear the shouts coming from the examining room. "You go girl!"

As Joe neared the Rangeman garage, Ranger keyed the gates open.

"I'll just drop you guys off at the door." Joe said.

Ranger smiled at Stephanie then replied. "If you've got some time, we were hoping you would come up and have lunch with us."

Joe tried to cover his surprise but failed. "Um. Sure, that'd be great." He said.

They rode up the elevator in silence. As soon as they entered the apartment, Stephanie flopped on the couch and Ranger grabbed the phone to call Ella."

"Hi. Lunch for three please."

"Well don't just stand there Joe. Sit down." Stephanie said as she lifted her legs to allow a space for Ranger to join her on the couch. And when he did he placed her feet in his lap and began working his magic on her aching, swollen toes."

Joe took a seat in a nearby chair and watched their comfortable interaction. It still wasn't easy for him to watch the ease of their relationship but these past few months had lessened the pain slightly. He could see that Ranger made her happy, and now as her ex-husband, that's all he could hope for.

The sound of Stephanie's voice brought him out of his daze. "Joe, Ranger has something he'd like to ask you. Just do me a favor and hear him about before you make your decision."

"Ok." Joe said uneasily.

Ranger continued to massage Steph's feet as he started to talk. "Steph and I have been talking a lot about family lately. Having Eva and Kat staying here while Daniel is away has shown me how important it is for kids to have both parents around. I've missed so much of Kat's life and I know I don't want to miss anymore. I don't want to see the same mistakes to be made with this baby." Ranger said as he moved his hands to cup Steph's belly.

Suddenly everything seemed clear to Joe. He jumped out of the chair in a fit of anger and yelled, "I am NOT letting you take my child from me!"

Ranger and Stephanie froze from the shock of Joe's outburst.

"I won't let you adopt my child. I won't let you keep him from me!" Joe screamed.

"What the hell are you talking about Joe?" Stephanie yelled in turn.

Joe threw his arms in the direction of Ranger. "This! I'm talking about this! Do you think I don't see what you're doing here? Talking about how children need both parents. You're going to try and get me to hand over the rights to my child to Ranger. Well, I'm not going to do it."

Stephanie put her hands on her hips, walked towards Joe until she stood toe to toe with him and proceeded to rip him a new one. "For your information Joe, Ranger was doing nothing of the kind. What hewas going to do was offer you an apartment in the building so you could be closer to us when the baby is born." Stephanie poked a finger in Joe's chest before she continued. "He was also going to give you a pager so we can get in touch with you when I go into labor." She poked him once more. "And finally, I was going to try to persuade you to ask my doctor on a date since it's so obvious she has goo-goo eyes for you."

Joe stood there stunned as Stephanie rattled off the list to him. And when she was finished the only thing he could say was, "Huh?" And after a few deep breathes he was able to add, "You were going to give me an apartment?"

The corner of Ranger's mouth turned and he tried to fight back a laugh. "I know it sounds crazy. Everyone use to think I was such a hard-ass but now I just keep giving people shit."

Joe swallowed his pride and flopped back into the chair. "Jesus. I don't know what to say. You're really not going to try and take my child from me?"

Stephanie stepped to Joe once again but inside of smacking him like he deserved, she shocked everyone in the room by laying her hand in his. "Did you really think that after all this time of letting you go to the doctor and Lamaze classes that we'd really do that to you?"

Joe dropped his head then said, "It's nothing I don't deserve cupcake. I was shit to you."

"Yeah you were Joe. But that doesn't mean I can't forgive you. You're not the same man you were a year ago."

Joe laughed. "Thank god for that."

Ranger snorted then walked to the kitchen counter where he retrieved an envelope. When he returned to the living room he handed it over to Joe.

"Like she said, there's a pager in there, keys to an apartment one floor down and an additional key fob that will let you access the rest of the building including the parking garage."

Joe took the envelop and stared at Ranger as if he had never seen him before. "I don't know what to say."

Ranger gave him a hearty swat on the back. "You don't need to say anything. It will be payment enough to be able to call you to come up and do the 4am diaper change."

Joe suddenly went pale. "I figured Stephanie would take care of that."

Stephanie laughed. "Yeah right buddy. You want to be in this baby's life, then that means you have to take the good times with the shitty times. No pun intended."

"I need a drink." Was the last thing said before Ella arrived with their lunch.

Later that evening Ranger and Stephanie sat on the balcony overlooking Trenton. The sun was setting in the sky and smeared bright pink clouds all across the horizon.

"Can I ask you something?" Stephanie said as she rolled her head over to look at Ranger lounging in the chair beside of her.

He didn't drop the book he was reading as he replied. "No babe. I've decided you talk to much and I will no longer answer your meaningless questions."

"Har-har.. Funny man." Stephanie said as she threw a pillow at his head.

He lowered the book as he jerked his head back to avoid the pillow. "What is it babe?"

"Are you happy?"

His eyebrows pitched forward when he realized she was being serious. He placed the book on the table between them and swung his legs over to the side of the lounge chair. "Of course I'm happy. What would make you ask?"

Stephanie rolled her head back to the side and gazed at the fading sunset as she spoke. "You've given up a lot to be with me. You're life as done a 360 in the last year. I just don't want you to have any regrets."

Ranger stood up, walked to her, and nudged her shoulder with his knee. She leaned forward, giving him room to slide in behind her. With his legs on either side of her, she leaned her body against his chest and snuggled into the warmth of his body heat.

He placed a light kiss on her shoulder just before he whispered into her ear. "No regrets, no doubts, and no desires to change one thing about our life. Yeah it's changed a lot in the past year, but I wouldn't want it any other way."

Stephanie shifted so she could look into his eyes. "But what about Rangeman? It use to mean everything to you and now you hardly work a full week."

"Babe, it meant everything to mean when I thought I had nothing else to live for. Now, I know better."

They remained wrapped in each other's comfort as the night faded to black. When he heard her breathing slow he gently nudged her awake and guided her into the bedroom. Then he began working on a plan that would ensure she would never again doubt what it was that he treasured most.

To Be Continued…

Only one more chapter to go…..