Chapter 16

Dad, Lester and Bobby were waiting for us at the private airport, each of them drove a Rangeman SUV. Tank, Carlos and I got into Lester's SUV closely followed by Bobby. Manny, Binkie and the girls went with Dad, leaving the rest to take the final SUV. I listened as Carlos told Lester and Bobby about his mission. Bobby promised to watch over me. "Honestly Bobby, I'll be fine. Manny already promised him." I was getting a bit frustrated.

"I know Honey, but it will make Ranger's mission go smoother knowing his men are watching over you," he gently told me.

"Okay Bobby, I understand." I entwined my fingers with Carlos' and rubbed his thumb gently with mine. An electric pulse moved from my hand into his. He raised our joined hands and kiss the back of my hand. I was willing to do anything possible to make his mission easier. Having my Merry Men invade my privacy over the next few weeks was a very small price to pay.

As I accurately predicted, Ella and the men arranged a huge reception in the largest conference room. Gifts for us were piled on top of the table in the back corner. A matching table on the opposite of the room was piled with gifts for Vince and Valerie. Ella gave me a hug. I whispered my thanks before kissing her cheek. She gave Valerie a hug too. From the expression on her face, I knew Valerie thanked her and asked her to adopt us. "I already consider you and Stephanie as my daughters," she said loud enough for me to hear.

We sat at the tables to eat our late lunch. Carlos and I wanted to spend time alone before he had to leave at midnight. Maybe... just maybe I'll get pregnant before he leaves. There's less than a five percent chance of it happening, but we were still willing to try. With how many times we've had sex in the last few weeks, maybe my metabolism and hormones burned off the birth control early.

Carlos and I opened our gifts before conducting an impromptu staff meeting. Ella promised to bring them to our apartment. She piled our gifts onto one cart and Valerie's on another. Luis helped her maneuver the carts to the elevator.

"I have an announcement," Carlos commanded the room. All the men focused their attention on him. "I'm leaving tonight for a mission. Lester, Tank, Junior and Ram are on my team." I noticed they all nodded in agreement. Most of these men were contracted to assist Carlos when required. Their contracts will end when my husband's ends, or they could sign a new contract at that time.

"Team Beta?" Binkie asked.

"Bobby, Vince, Cal, Hal and Binkie," Ranger stated. Valerie's face went pale. I moved to sit next to her.

"Val, team beta will only be deployed if team alpha requires assistance," I explained.

"What does that mean?" she asked as tears streamed down her pretty face.

"Rescue mission," Vince said as he pulled her into his lap. "Don't worry about it right now Darling." He kissed away her tears and held her tight.

I made my way back to my husband and sat on his lap. His arms wrapped around me as he continued to talk. "While I'm gone, Stephanie is in charge. She'll be acting as Rangeman's CEO. Manny, I'm appointing you as her second in command." After finalizing the arrangements and signing the required documents provided by Henry Sanderson. I added my signature to begin my temporary role.

"I'll notify the other offices," Tank announced. Carlos finished conducting the meeting and dismissed everyone. He stood up, lifting me with him and went straight to the elevator.

We arrived inside our apartment within a few minutes. He closed the door and carried me to bed. His hands moved along my body as he quickly removed my clothes. I felt him suck my nipple into his mouth as his fingers dipped into me. He pumped his fingers into me as his thumb pressed against my clit. A strong orgasm ripped through my body. Carlos kissed down my body and replaced his fingers with his tongue, drawing another orgasm from me. He kept up this assault until I came no less than five times before pushing his erection into my body.

After what felt like hours later, we lay in each other's arms completely sated. He placed his hand on flat stomach and whispered, "I hope we made our child today."

"Me too Batman, me too." I shifted onto my side to face him. We remained in that position staring into each other's eyes, silently saying everything we couldn't say out loud. I raised my hand to stroke his hair and face. His eyes closed as I touched his eyebrows. If he was a cat, he'd be purring right now. I felt him laugh beside me, indicating I said my thoughts aloud.

"It's one of the many things I love about you Babe." I continued touching every inch of his body. When he couldn't maintain his control any longer, he rolled me onto my back and we made love again.

The remaining hours flew by. After a very sexy shower, he dressed in dark clothes void of the Rangeman logo. He looked completely badass as he prepared his travel duffle. I entered the walk in closet and watched him lock away his wedding band. "Please wear these," he passed me a chunky silver chain with his old tags.

"Okay," I said watching him pull his newer ones over his head. "Won't those give you away?"

"No. They will be locked away in a secure location when I arrive at my destination." He explained there was a military base located several miles away from the compound where he'll be stationed. "The men will be monitoring the compound."

I had to ask, "If you already have a team monitoring the situation, why arrange team beta?"

"To protect the base. Uncle Sam knows we have a base in Columbia, but they don't want the local government to know," he patiently explained. That makes sense. With special ops missions, it would be dangerous to alert the country you were seated among their citizens carefully watching their every move. "According to Uncle Sam, my mission doesn't exist."

"Is that true of all your special ops missions?" He lifted and lowered his chin, nodding in agreement.

"I'm good at my job Babe. Promise me you'll stay in the building as much as possible."

I would likely go stir crazy, but still said, "I promise Batman. Now lets get you to the roof for your fun helicopter ride." It was time to say goodbye. We held hands as we silently walked up the flight of stairs to the roof. Carlos turned me to face him and gave me a panty destroying kiss. "Don't get shot," I whispered.

"Don't go crazy," he said before giving me a final kiss to my lips. Lester, Tank, Junior and Ram gave me a perfunctory hug before boarding the chopper. None of us wanted to prolong this moment. I stood inside the doorway and waved goodbye to my family, waiting for them to be out of sight before succumbing to my tears. Team beta would be deployed if alpha misses 2 check ins.

Dad wrapped his arms around me. "He'll come back home Pumpkin."

"I know he will Daddy. I'm worried about the village girls. They're the same age as Angie and Mary Alice."

"You've always had such a big heart. Does Val know the details?" he wondered.

"No. Only me, Tank, Junior, Lester, Ram and Carlos. We didn't want to say anything to Val," I replied.

"We'll keep this information to ourselves." I couldn't agree more. If Valerie knew young girls were kidnapped from their family and sold as sex slaves, she would practically lock her girls away. While my man was away on this dreadful mission, I planned to add men to the girls' security detail. You never know if one of the bad guys will uncover this type of information. Carlos is using his undercover name, but I still want them protected. He taught me well... always have a contingency plan and even more back up plans.

I went to my doctor's appointment a few weeks after I originally scheduled. The receptionist called to remind me I was several weeks late for my birth control injection. I explained I wasn't receiving my injection this quarter and scheduled a new appointment for few weeks later. Carlos has been away for nearly 3 weeks now.

When I arrived for my new appointment, I was led to an examination room and asked to remove my clothes. "Dr Portman will be here in a few minutes. Strip down and put on the paper gown with the opening in front," Lily Andrews said. I dressed in the paper gown provided with the opening at the front as instructed. Dr Portman must be new. I wonder what happened to my usual doctor. Ugh… these gowns are so uncomfortable. A few minutes later, the doctor announced her arrival and entered the room.

"Hi Mrs Manoso. My name is Dr Annie Portman. Call me Dr Annie. Dr Mallory Telford relocated to Oregon." She didn't offer me any further explanation.

"Please call me Steph or Stephanie." I told her my husband and I were trying to have a baby so I need to stop the birth control shots. Dr Annie patiently explained it may take a while for me to get pregnant.

"Many women who stop taking birth control don't get pregnant immediately. Most don't get pregnant at until least 6 months after they stop using protection," she said hoping I wouldn't be disappointed. It wasn't something I didn't already know. As a precaution, she took a blood sample and had me pee in a collection cup. I watched her divide the urine sample before labeling one to be processed in the lab. She used an eye dropper type device to place a few drops onto a plastic test strip. A litmus paper strip was placed in the sample and removed after a few seconds. Dr Annie continued her examination as we waited for the results.

"No proteins, sugars or blood in your urine. It's light yellow which means you're not dehydrated or fighting an infection." She looked at the other litmus test on the plastic strip. "Congratulations, you're pregnant." What the hell? So soon? Sure we wanted a baby, but I was expecting it would take longer.

"Seriously? So soon?" I was completely shocked.

"Yes, Mrs Manoso, I mean Stephanie. The blood test will confirm the urine test. Would you like an ultrasound? The embryo will be small, but I could still detect it using a transvaginal ultrasound wand." I nodded because I needed to see proof of my pregnancy. "Scoot your bottom down the table until you hit my hand."

I moved as directed and stopped when I felt my butt touch her gloved hand. She moved the stirrups so I could place my feet in them. "Just relax and spread your knees." I had my feet placed in the stirrups, but my knees were touching. Relaxing my legs, they spread wide for her to examine me. She covered the ultrasound wand with a plastic condom like cover before applying lube. "This may be a little uncomfortable. Relax and look at this sonogram screen." She pointed to the screen beside us as she gently guided the wand into me. It was smaller than my husband, so it wasn't too uncomfortable. I just wish Carlos was here with me.

"Is that?" I started to ask. A small blob was showing on the screen.

"Yes, that's your baby. This is your other one," she announced pointing to the second small blob beside the first one. "You're around 5 weeks pregnant. That's why they are so tiny and look like tadpoles."

"Two?" I was excited. If we had both a boy and a girl, I would only need to go through one pregnancy to complete our family. Carlos and I already discussed what we wanted to have. He wants a little girl who looks just like me, I want a boy who looks just like him. However, we'll settle if the boy resembles me and the girl resembles him. We want no more than 3 children. It depends what we get from each pregnancy. "I'll have the Rangeman medic Bobby Brown contact you. He has my permission to receive my medical records," I told Annie.

She printed off a few pictures for me to take home. "Have him contact the office. I'll schedule a time to release the records." I was confused since she could fax him the documents. "Are you married to Ricardo Carlos Manoso?" I nodded. "Faxes and emails can be intercepted," she added.

"Were you ever in the military?" I had to ask because her distrust for electronic records was a bit suspicious. She must have served in the Army if she knew my husband.

"I was honourably discharged almost a year ago." As I cleaned up and redressed she told me her story. "I completed my specialty a few months ago and took over Dr Telford's practice." I couldn't help noticing her beautiful alabaster skin. Her amber eyes were bright and full of mischief... reminding me of my favourite medic.

"If you have time, I could ask Bobby to come over right now?" I really wanted them to meet. Her handwriting was very familiar and I had the sudden urge to know if I was right.

"Sure. I have another patient to see, then I'll be free for 15 minutes." She took my prescription for prenatal vitamins to the front desk and instructed the receptionist to schedule monthly appointments. I sent Bobby a text asking him to meet me at the clinic. He arrived within a few minutes.

"I was in the area," he announced. Dr Annie Portman happened to come into the reception area when Bobby arrived. He stared at Dr Portman as though he knew she was important. "Doctor..." he looked at her name tag and smiled. "Portman, you have beautiful eyes."

She gasped before replying, "I've seen you before. Why didn't you introduce yourself earlier?" His eyes opened wide as he rubbed the mark above his stomach. Her eyes followed the motion.

"Ummm... Dr Annie... why don't you take Bobby to your office. You know to... confirm?" I suggested. She nodded and grabbed Bobby's hand to lead the way. I waited while Lily photocopied my medical records for Bobby. He returned to the reception area 15 minutes later looking more ruffled than earlier. I smiled knowingly.