All recognizable characters belong to Janet Evanovich, I'm just playing.
Chapter 3
RPOV
Watching Steph move about the floor was a distraction I hadn't counted on when she agreed to come to work with me. As soon as we came back married, the guys started asking if she'd be working here. If anyone thought it was a bad idea, no one said spoke up. Nor did anyone question why she would continue working for the insurance agency for another month.
The plan was to have her work there until she really started showing, probably another couple weeks or so. But the work started drying up and rather than sit around, Babe came down on a Monday morning, fired up the computer in "her" cubicle, and began whittling away at the searches that had accumulated. The next day, she rode with Vince to do a walk-through of a client's house before helping Bobby with inventory down in the infirmary. Wednesday, she waded into the evidence we'd collected on a corporate security breach. By Thursday, the men stopped paying attention to what she was working on and accepted her presence here. I continue to watch as she hands off a folder to Binkie, laughing at whatever he says before moving on to Zero.
You have to know it's there, but her stomach "popped" about a week ago. She refers to it as her "Jiffy Pop magic trick." She went to bed with a mostly flat stomach and woke up to me cradling the little bump that held our child.
Our child. Palming the little protrusion in my hand, tangible evidence that we were growing a life inside of her, hit me like a sledgehammer. Hearing the heartbeat and seeing the little bean on the ultrasound...every step makes it more real, but the holding and rubbing of the bump have affected me the most.
She's eighteen weeks along and we'll be announcing the pregnancy at the staff meeting this afternoon. We weren't hiding her condition in the building, just enjoying our time alone with the knowledge before we had to answer the inevitable questions that would come along with the announcement. She's taking her health seriously and genetics are on her side; with the right shirt, you still can't tell she's pregnant.
Ella has known about the baby for a couple months; the only other people that know are the Core Team and my parents, whom we told last night. They were shocked but pleased. They'd met Steph on a few occasions and both Les and I have mentioned her numerous times over the years, so she wasn't an unknown entity when I brought her home after the wedding. I caught a stray glance at her stomach a time or two over lunch, but no one commented beyond my dad whispering that he was happy I found my "one". If they did the math after last night's announcement and came up with the right answer of baby so soon, they never said anything. Maybe they could tell that this time was different.
Everyone is in place as the staff meeting starts. Steph is sitting next to me, fidgeting and playing with a paper clip. She's nervous about how the guys will react to the news. For the most part, they've accepted her presence here and welcome her involvement in searches, walk-throughs and sales calls. Since she's not in the field for patrols or the skip tracing we do for the feds, there's been no push-back for her not carrying or being able to pass the physical evaluation.
Steph admitted she missed some of the excitement of working at Vinnie's, but not the danger or the messes. I try and make sure she has opportunities to get out of the office to counter the boredom of the searches. She admitted she didn't know if she wanted to go back after the baby was born, and the idea of her bounty hunting again terrifies me. I got out of the "you're not chasing skips while pregnant!" conversation pretty easy; something tells me I won't have it as easy when it comes to the "going back to work after the baby's born" conversation. I'll support whatever she decides whether it's continuing to work here or doing something else, but I'm really hoping it's not going back to chasing skips with no one but Lula for back-up.
"Last item on the agenda. Later this year a new employee will be joining Rangeman. The core team has begun shuffling some responsibilities in preparation, which could cause some changes in job descriptions and some lateral moves. You'll all be given the opportunity to provide input and requests at your annual employee evaluation."
No one says anything until Hal asks, "Is there a reason the new employee won't start for a few more months? Are they still active duty?"
Steph dips her head to hide her smirk as I answer. "Not as such. Stephanie and I are having a baby and I'll be scaling back my time and stepping back from some of the CEO duties for a while."
There is dead silence for nearly a minute before hoots and hollers ring out. When it starts to quiet a bit, we hear "This is going to be awesome! Fifty bucks says girl, born after the due date."
We all turn to look at Binkie at the end of the table. He starts to wilt under the weight of our stares until Bobby counters with, "Bullshit. Girl, a week early."
It takes less than 30 seconds for the meeting to degenerate into a free-for-all with guesses bandied about. Steph is wide-eyed, taking it all in. I guess that answers how the men will take the news. Tank lets out an ear-piercing whistle that, without training, would have had several of the men covering their ears.
Steph looks at me, but I can't tell if the idea of betting on the baby's stats bothers her, so I'm not stepping into that shit show. The room is quiet as a tomb, waiting for her to react. She hasn't been prone to outbursts, hormonal or otherwise, but she hates how the cops bet on her, so this could go either way. Finally, she sighs and says, "Fine. Ranger sets the buy in. Gender, name, date, time, weight, and length. Sliding points scale, person with the most points wins, but half the pot goes to either March of Dimes or St. Jude's. Deal?"
The tension ratchets back down as most of the men smile and take Steph's deal. We leave them to it, heading upstairs to seven for Steph to take a nap. Her energy levels are still good, but when it goes, it goes. She's been splitting her day up, starting a little earlier and working a little later to make up for the afternoon nap. Once she's curled up in bed, I head back downstairs to get a few more hours of work in before facing a tour of duty in hell.
Dinner with the Plums is always a crapshoot. I've survived a handful of them, but overall, I'd be content to avoid them. Steph had started leaning that way even before she was pregnant, choosing to avoid her parents' table and thereby avoiding her mother's meddling. While the news of our wedding was accepted easier than we anticipated, Helen's disapproval still simmered below the surface. I wasn't from the neighborhood, and I was taking Steph further away rather than bringing her back to the fold. Frank's biggest concern seemed to be whether or not I'd ever have to move us in with him. Once he was assured that that would not be happening, we got along just fine.
Steph's stomach issues have mostly abated, but I see her carefully choosing from the offerings. I have to give Helen credit; tonight's meal is a roasted chicken and seasoned potatoes rather than something swimming in gravy. We're past the gravy nightmare stage, thank fuck, but Steph still refuses to eat any sauce of any sort.
The meal is surprisingly calm, with Edna only trying to grab me once and no one shooting anything. When we're settled with dessert, pineapple upside down cake that Steph is thankfully keeping down, my wife squeezes my thigh to let me know it's time. Taking her hand for support, I let her take the lead.
"There's actually something Ranger and I wanted to tell you."
Edna is sharp and observant, traits that she passed down to her granddaughter. Based on the way she's been cutting her eyes between Steph's plate and her stomach; I doubt our news will be a surprise. Ever the polite hostess, Helen puts her fork down and gives us her full attention while Frank pauses his eating.
"Ranger and I are expecting a baby."
Edna's reaction is immediate, her "hot damn!" ringing through the room. It takes Frank thirty-eight seconds, and Helen forty-three seconds, to respond. No doubt both of them are counting back how many months we've been married. For their sake, they better choose their next words carefully.
Helen takes a drink of her wine. "So, you got married because-"
"We love each other and are committed to our future together. I was already looking at rings and thinking ahead when we got the news. Don't make this into something it's not or say something you can't take back."
The silence that follows is stilted but I make no move to apologize. Steph squeezes my hand and goes back to eating her cake. Frank catches my eye and dips his head. He and I'll have no problems as long as Steph is happy.
Helen toys with her fork. "Congratulations, then. When are you due?"
"Around mid-December."
Helen does more mental math, realizing how far along Steph truly is, and how long we waited to tell her. I can tell she's not happy with that, but at my stare she moves on. "A new baby for Christmas will be exciting. Will you be looking for a house?"
Steph jumps in before me. "No, we like living in the penthouse and we're going to expand into some of the storage space on the floor."
Helen's lips turn down as she ponders that. "Don't you want a backyard for them to play in?"
Steph's eyes swing in the direction of the miniscule backyard of the Plum family home. "There's an outdoor area at Rangeman, plus a park down the street. There'll be plenty of room to play." It's the same thing Steph told me when I asked if she wanted to move. From a safety standpoint, I'd rather we stay where we are; if she's good at Haywood, then that's where we're staying.
Steph looks at me before looking back at her family. "We're trying to keep this quiet, in case anyone is still mad about me taking them back in when I was bounty hunting. I'd like you to keep it quiet until it's impossible to hide anymore."
Frank nods while Helen hems and haws before conceding to following our lead. Edna simply makes a zipper motion across her lips and mimes throwing away the key. Gossip is in their DNA, so I give it a week before they break and tell someone. It's the main reason we waited as long as possible to tell them. The rest of the visit is brief, Steph electing to take our leave when Helen begins discussing labor and delivery options.
We actually get two weeks of calm before the shit hits the fan. We're at the station turning in a police report on our way home from another prenatal appointment. Steph visits with her friends before excusing herself to use the bathroom and I'm heading to wait by the intake door when Morelli comes barreling down the hall, loaded for bear.
"Didn't learn anything from your past mistake, did you Manoso. How long after this one's born are you going to cut and run?"
The room is silent, and my fist is itching to bury itself in his face and wipe away the smirk. Julie was unexpected, a surprise, but I've never thought of her as a mistake, and this baby isn't, either. And he's truly delusional if he thinks I'd ever walk away from Steph and this baby-for any reason. This is the shit that Steph was trying to avoid by delaying the announcement of her pregnancy. Unfortunately, she made me promise to not give him any reason to arrest me, so punching him is off the list of responses.
Instead, I cross my arms and smirk at him, making him wonder what he's missing. The stupid fuck is all ego and bluster outside the job, ridiculously easy to mess with when I'm so inclined. The Italian temper that he could never quite tame, the temper that eventually chased Steph away, is fighting to come out and he's grinding his teeth into dust. He's popped up a few times since the ice cream shop; I've expected a confrontation before now, just not in the middle of the police station. Scanning the room, I can see that everyone is watching and waiting for the fight they figure will follow.
"Walking a thin line, Morelli."
"Not even going to deny it, are you?"
The eyebrow-raise pisses him off just as much as it does Steph. My continued silence isn't doing much for his stress level, either.
"Trying to keep the fact that you knocked her up hush-hush, making it easier to dump her later on. I knew that had to be the reason you got her to marry you!"
His shit isn't even making sense, but that never stopped him before. The eyes of the cops around us have gotten bigger, finally catching on to what Morelli is implying. You can see the wheels turning, putting together the timeline of her getting married, quitting Vinnie's and now a maybe-baby.
I can't imagine it was one of my guys that leaked the news, so I'm guessing that it was Frank, Helen or Edna. Since it's Morelli, my money's on Helen. In the end it doesn't matter where he got the information, just that he's spreading it. Tuning out the muttering going on in front of me while he works his way through his assessment of my character, I start thinking about the new safety protocol I'm going to have to implement now that word is out. I'd hoped that we could keep the news to family just a little longer, but Helen's probable slip, and the cop's public meltdown, have made that impossible.
I can see Steph coming up behind him, phone in hand. Between that, the look on her face, and the way she takes in the two of us having a pissing match in the police station, it's no stretch that she's already figured out the issue. And even though I know it'll probably land me in the doghouse, I have to lean in and quietly needle the prick a little.
"She always used two forms of birth control with you, but not with me. That should tell you something about where her head was at concerning you, babies, and marriage." Babe had let me in on that nugget of intel that first night while we were laying together.
The cop's face twists into a mask of fury. "You knocked her up on purpose to keep her from coming back to me!"
"My wife and I have been together for the better part of a year, Morelli. I can assure you that with the exception of commenting that I would shoot you if showed up in Hawaii this time, you haven't factored into a single one of our plans, thoughts, or conversations."
Hearing me refer to Steph as 'my wife' never fails to get that vein in his temple throbbing. It's petty, but the amusement it provides me is immeasurable. He had four years' worth of chances and, luckily for me, fucked them all up. I got the girl, and he continues to make himself look like a fool.
"There was never any chance of me coming back to you, Joe. I ended things because I couldn't stomach the idea of a lifetime of you telling me what a screw-up I was, regardless of the situation. How many times am I going to have to explain that?"
The dick's eyes get bigger, wondering how long Steph's had a front row seat to his stupidity this time. Turning to face her, his face turns to stone. She wiggles her phone as she gets closer while giving Morelli the stink-eye.
"My mother just called to tell me that she 'accidentally' let the news slip to your mother. I'm guessing she turned around and called you, although I'm not sure why. You have nothing to do with my family, my marriage or my pregnancy."
With that dagger, she leans against me, letting my arm rest on her shoulder while her arms circle my waist.
If Morelli was a cartoon character, steam would be coming out of his head, and he'd be levitating off the ground. In reality, his eyes are bulging, and his hands are clenched into fists. "What the hell, Cupcake! For years you told me you didn't want marriage and kids!"
I watch as Steph's eyes narrow. "I've repeatedly asked you not to call me that. And I don't mean to be flip, but it turns out that I just didn't want marriage and kids with you. You, standing here in the police station, running your mouth and spreading news that wasn't yours to share, is just making me glad that I got away from you when I did. Now that you've pointed a big, neon arrow at my stomach, is there any other shit you'd like to sling at us? Maybe point out how stupid I am again? Haven't heard that one for a while."
That stops him in his tracks. Looking around at the audience he's drawn, at the frowns from the cops that are Steph's friends, he dials it back a notch. His "congratulations" comes out bitter, and he can't leave it at that. "Good luck when he gets tired of playing house and moves on."
A saccharine sweet smile forms on Steph's face and she shrugs. "Don't worry about me; if he gets tired of playing house, I'll take him for everything he's worth and buy myself a bigger house to play in."
There are a couple chuckles from the guys still hanging around for the show, and Joe grinds his teeth before shaking his head and stalking off. Steph offers a genuine smile at my head shake before Eddie is there giving her a hug.
When I finally pry her away from the well-wishers, I steer her back toward the Cayenne. After she's safely belted in and I'm pulling out, I ask, "You're going to take me to the cleaners, huh?"
"Are you planning to leave us?"
"You know better than that."
"Then your fortune is safe. I'd say I can't believe Joe outed us having a baby in the middle of the police station, but I totally believe it. Jerk."
We probably should have seen it coming. We'll have to be a little more careful when she goes out, but we always knew it was only a matter of time. "Does the baby have any cravings before we head back to work?"
"Jiffy Pop doesn't, but I do." She says it with a blush and a smirk. At my raised eyebrow, she crosses her arm across her chest. "What? I warned you this was going to happen. Do I need to worry about you getting old and not keeping up?"
"Babe." With that one shot over the bow, she's guaranteed she going to get what she wants before I head back to work. And just like she warned me she was probably going to want sex non-stop, I was honest when I said it was a turn-on. We're at the halfway mark of the pregnancy and I can honestly say I wouldn't want to do this with anyone but Steph.