It had been three weeks since we'd had dinner with my in-laws and really wasn't looking forward to the next time. So far, we'd been able to put off going, but I know the time is coming. Maybe there will be an emergency that night and we'll have to cancel at the last minute… whenever that night comes.

I was sitting on the couch surfing channels when Steph came into the room looking lost and a little upset. Not knowing what I'd done, I patted the spot next to me. She sat down and buried her head in my shoulder as I wrapped an arm around her, "What's the matter?"

I felt her catch her breath before she softly said, "Something I thought was going to happen isn't."

Huh? What was she wanting to happen? "You know I'll do whatever I can for you and make any of your dreams come true if I have the ability."

She sat up a little and offered me a sad smile, "I know. I guess I wasn't sure this was a dream I wanted to come true until I thought it was happening. Now that I know it isn't, I guess I'm just a little sad."

"Honey, tell me what's going on. What dream did you think was happening?" I asked as I ran my fingers through her hair.

"Well, I know we never really discussed it, but for a few weeks I thought we were going to expand our family soon."

Oh, okay. So she thought we were expanding. But, wait… I didn't know Ranger had plans to expand the RangeMan Fami…. oh fucking hell! Dumb ass Matthew, that's so not what she was talking about. She thought we...she…we. Oh hell and she's not!

I wrapped my arms around her and held her tight while she softly cried on me. When she was done, she reached for the kleenex, "I'm sorry," she whispered.

"Sorry for what?"

"For not telling you I thought I was pregnant. For getting so upset that I'm not. For crying all over you."

"Steph, look at me," I told her has I placed a finger under her chin and turned her head my way, "there is nothing for you to be sorry about. I assume that you kept it to yourself so that, when you found out for sure, you could surprise me." She nodded. "I bet you are upset because, once you really thought about a baby, you realized you really DO want to be a mom." Another nod. Yes, I'm on the right track so far! "As for crying all over me… that's what I'm here for."

I kissed her softly and felt her melt against me. I thought back to the night we were at her parents house for dinner, "Steph… how long have you thought you were pregnant?"

"For about a month now. I just wasn't sure if I was late because of all the stress and excitement that has been going on or if I was really pregnant. I was going to wait until I was a few more weeks late and then take a test." Looking down, she whispered, "I was trying to come up with a great way to tell you. Guess I can forget that for now."

"You know, if you really want to, we can always try," I told her with a wink.

"I know. I'd love to try right now, but I'm hurting too much."

I may not know much about the female hormones and crap like that, but I remember when I was little there were times that my mom would be on the couch and Pop would go get her a heating pad and a bottle of Motrin. So, I stood up and started to walk down the hall.

"Where are you going?" Steph asked.

"I'll be right back, Honey. I just want to grab something real quick." In the hall closet, I grabbed the heating pad and bottle of Motrin. As I started to return to the living room, I remembered I had an old blanket that Steph liked, so I stopped in the bedroom and dug it out of the bottom dresser drawer.

When I returned to the living room, I handed her two Motrin and her bottle of water from the table, "Here, take these while I plug this in." After plugging in the heating pad, I handed it to her, and she placed it where she needed it most as I covered her up with my blanket.

"Thank you, Matthew," she said as I leaned down to kiss her.

"Can I get you anything else?" She shook her head as she closed her eyes. "Okay, I'm going to go take a shower and get ready for work. If you need anything, call me."

When I was finished with my shower, she was asleep on the couch. I kissed her forehead and quietly left the apartment. Reaching the fifth floor, I noticed it was a quiet night. No real noise on the floor and the l lights were dimmed. I hate working nights!

Grabbing a cup of coffee, I hit the monitor room and saw Chase and Hal sitting there bored out of their minds. I knew midnights was boring as hell, but really? Can't they make it look fun? Walking in, Hal turned to me, "How's it going?"

"It's going," I replied as I waited for Chase to stand up so I could have his seat.

"How's my sis?" Chase asked.

"Sleeping."

I was supposed to be working with Cal, so imagine my surprise when Ranger walked in, "Gentlemen."

"Sir," was my automatic reply as I snapped to attention. Damn it, why the hell do I always do that? He's not my fucking CO in the Army.

"At ease," he said with a smirk. "Cal has the flu tonight, so I'll be covering him. Chase and Hal, you two can go."

I've never seen those two move as fast as they did then. You'd think they were scared that Ranger and I couldn't be in the same room. Nonsense! As I sat down, I felt his eyes on me. "Problem?"

"That's my seat when I'm on monitors," he replied and crossed his arms over his chest.

Well hell, I didn't know we had assigned seating. I moved over to the second seat and sat down. Oh man, this was going to be a long night. At least with Cal, we'd talk while watching the monitors. With Ranger, you better not even breathe too loud!

About three in the morning, I heard the elevator doors. Who the hell is up at this hour? I didn't have to wait long for my answer as I saw my wife walking towards the monitors. What is she up for? She was sound asleep when I left her. I wanted to stand up and go to her, but I knew Ranger would have my ass for that, so I forced myself to sit still.

Just as I was about to chance a glance, I felt the arms slide around my neck and super warm lips on my ear, "I woke up and you were gone. I forgot you had to work."

"How are you feeling?" I asked as she slid around my chair and started to sit on my lap. I could hear Ranger begin growling, but didn't really pay attention to him.

"A little better. Still upset, but I'll get over it."

"Why are you upset, Babe?" Ranger asked without taking his eyes off the monitor. "Did someone hurt you?"

I knew he was hoping that she'd say yes, but he needs to learn that I'd never hurt my wife. I'd rather cut my dick off than hurt her.

"No, Ranger. No one hurt me. It's just something personal."

When she said that, she sounded really down and on the verge of tears. I really wanted to take her downstairs and curl up in bed with her. I hadn't wanted to leave her earlier, but I had work to do.

Ranger must have sensed that something was really wrong, "Babe, why don't you take Binkie and go downstairs. It's a quiet night and I can handle the monitors. If I need a second, I'll call Tank or Les. It looks like you need Binkie more than I do."

Holy shit, knock me over with a fucking feather! He's actually going to let me leave monitor duty and leave him alone? Alert the press, Hell has frozen over! But, I'm not going to say anything. Nope, not me. I stand Steph up, stand up myself, grab her hand, and walk off, "Thanks, Ranger."