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Chapter 14

On Thursday morning Amy managed to get up with enough time to fit in a short workout and was showered and dressed when Lexi came downstairs.

"Morning baby girl, did you sleep good?" Amy asked her.

Lexi climbed onto a stool at the island in the kitchen and nodded as she rubbed her eyes. She had gotten herself dressed in a three-quarter sleeve purple tunic with black leggings. "Mom?"

"What baby?" Amy put a bowl of oatmeal in the microwave and turned to face Lexi.

"Did Carlos stay the night last night?"

Amy hesitated for a few seconds before answering. "Yeah baby, he did." She could tell that Lexi was thinking. "Does that bother you?"

Lexi tilted her head to one side, "No. I like him. Is he going to stay with us again tonight?"

Amy walked over to the island and rested down on her forearms. "Carlos is probably going to be staying with us almost every night." Amy paused to watch Lexi's reaction and to figure out just how much information she wanted to tell her. "He bought a big house in Princeton, and he's asked us to move up there with him when it's ready in about two months. Would you be okay with that?"

"So is he going to be my dad?"

The microwave beeped, so Amy turned to grab Lexi's breakfast out to cool down a bit. "Would you like it if he was your dad?"

Lexi smiled and nodded, "Carlos seems like he would be a good dad."

Amy couldn't help but smile back at Lexi. "I think he'll be a great dad." Amy turned to grab the cooling bowl of oatmeal, "Do you want some strawberries in your oatmeal?"

"And bananas?"

"Sure thing baby girl."

"Good morning ladies!" Ranger walked in the door from the garage dripping sweat from his morning run. "How are my girls this morning?"

Lexi looked a little bashful as Amy put her bowl of oatmeal in front of her. She didn't answer.

"We're great!" Amy held up her cup of hot tea, "I'm drinking my tea and getting ready to make some toast. What can I make you for breakfast?"

"I'll get my own breakfast after I shower, you just sit down and relax with yours." He dropped a quick kiss on Amy's cheek and winked at Lexi before heading upstairs.

"So what do you want me to do with your hair today?" Amy asked as she spread peanut butter on her toast.

"Can you just do a half French braid?"

"Yeah, right after I eat my toast." Amy knew that the two protein balls she'd eaten before she worked out that morning would only hold her over for so long.

Ranger was back in the kitchen less than ten minutes later dressed in his traditional black tactical cargo pants, black Rangeman t-shirt, and black socks. After quickly fixing himself a toasted English muffin and grabbing plain yogurt and banana he sat down next to Lexi to eat as Amy braided her hair.

"So Lex, have you thought about what you want to dress up as for Halloween?" Ranger asked her.

Amy had a sudden slight moment of panic because she had completely forgotten about Halloween coming up in a month, with everything else going on it had just completely slipped her mind.

"Well," Lexi started, "I kind of want to be Elsa from the movie Frozen but a lot of the girls in my class have already picked that, and I don't want to be dressed like everyone else. I kind of like Ariel but I don't know if they make those costumes."

"We can go look this weekend baby." Amy quickly reassured her. "We'll want to make sure we can find what you want in your size before it gets too late to order it if we need to. Or we can make it. We'll figure it out." She promised as she finished Lexi's braid. "Okay girlie, let's get you to school."

"I'll drive." Ranger said as he stood up to put his plate in the dishwasher.

Amy couldn't help but smile at him as he walked by her to the mudroom between the kitchen and the garage where he put on his black boots. This was their new normal routine, and she couldn't love it more.

At lunch Ranger took Amy back over to the OB's office for the repeat bloodwork. The lab tech promised she would call later that afternoon with the results and they would see her in a week for her ultrasound.

"What do you want for lunch?" Ranger asked as they pulled out of the parking lot.

"You basically force-fed me a banana and a cup of almonds about an hour ago. I'm not hungry right now Carlos. I love you, I really do," she threw him a look of annoyance before looking back out her window. "But I'm trying really hard not to slap you right now. I'd challenge you to a round in the ring but I know you'll never let me within a mile of the boxing ring right now. So slapping is all I've got." She sighed when he reached over and held her hand.

Ranger knew she was serious when she used his actual name, "I'm sorry Ames, I love you too. I know I'm being crazy and overprotective. Just cut me some slack here, this is all new for me." He gave her a somewhat sheepish smile, Amy could tell he wasn't used to feeling this way.

"I know. Honestly, that's the only thing that's saving you right now. But I would really appreciate it if you would maybe try to tone it down just a notch or two. You can ask me or remind me to eat, ask me if I've taken my vitamins, ask me if I need any water, but stop forcing it all on me. I'll be thirty in a little over a week, I think I can handle the basics of survival, like feeding myself and drinking enough fluids." Amy gave him a lop-sided smile and hoped that her hormones weren't overwhelming them both already.

"I know, I'm sorry." He brought her hand up to his mouth and kissed the back of it. "Speaking of your birthday, my mom wants us to go up to their place next Saturday to make you a special birthday dinner. I told her we didn't have any plans yet, I hope you don't mind spending it with them."

"No, not at all. I'd love to spend my birthday with your parents." Amy took a deep breath and decided to just let go of her frustration, Ranger really can't help but be overprotective, it's in his nature. "Who else is going to be there?"

"Knowing my mom I'm sure that most of the Manoso relatives in the tri-state area will be there. It'll be a good time." He reassures her, even though she's met over half of the Manoso's at the last dinner she went to. "She wants to know what your favorite foods are, I told her that I knew you liked Italian but I didn't give her any specific dishes. I wasn't sure if you were having any pregnancy cravings yet. I didn't tell her that part!" he added when her eyes got a little big.

"Your mom could make anything she wants to and I'd eat it." Amy admitted it, Ranger smiled at her. "If she wants to make some Italian food, I wouldn't tell her No. I don't want her to think she has to cook any special dishes for me though. And for the record, I haven't noticed any pregnancy cravings yet. Maybe that'll come in the second trimester. Right now I'm starting to battle the nausea more."

"You didn't seem that bad this morning."

"It's not just the mornings. I walked in to the lounge yesterday and one of the guys had warmed up a burrito or something and I had to very quickly walk back out. I didn't throw up, but it was close. And thankfully no one saw me practically sprinting out of there."

"Hopefully you can make it until after the wedding without us needing to make excuses for any weird behaviors or hormonal changes you might have." Ranger squeezed her hand. They were about five minutes from Rangeman. "Are you sure you don't want me to pick you up anything for later before we get back?"

"No," Amy smiled at him. "Ella promised me she would keep your fridge upstairs stocked with my favorite lunches. She's offered to basically be my short-order cook for the rest of the pregnancy but I told her that it wasn't necessary."

"I need to give her a raise." Ranger said on a laugh, although he was actually kind of serious.

Sitting at her desk, Amy glanced at the clock on her computer when her cell phone rang. It had been a couple hours since her bloodwork, so it was probably the lab, the look on her caller ID confirmed that. Always the multi-tasking busy body she shot a quick email to Ranger as she slid her finger over the screen of her phone to answer the call.

"This is Amy," she said as if she were answering her office phone.

"Hi Amy! This is Trish with the lab. I just wanted to call you to let you know that your HCG numbers are excellent, today they are 3629. Your HCG should at least double every 48 hours so yours definitely meets that. Your iron is pretty low though so Dr. Sayre wants you to start taking an iron supplement in addition to your prenatal. You can call her nurse if you have any questions."

"Thank You!" Amy was all smiles as she ended the call and Ranger walked in.

"Well?" he asked as he sat down in one of the chairs in front of her desk. Finding a stray paper clip he picked it up and started bending it.

"3629 today, so it more than doubled which is a really good sign."

Ranger smiled. "Is it bad that I really just want to carry you upstairs right now and spend the afternoon in bed with you?"

Amy flushed and playfully slapped at his hands. "Work, Mr. Manoso." She teased. "Lex is staying at a friend's house Saturday night, so we'll get to have lots of alone time then." Amy reminded him.

"I almost forgot, now I can't wait for Saturday night." he sat back in the chair. "And speaking of forgetting things…John called me yesterday." He said referring to his lawyer.

"And?"

"He needs official copies of yours and Lexi's birth certificates and your social security numbers. He reminded me we need to get Lexi in with a therapist, I told him we have an appointment with a family therapist next week since that was the soonest we could get in. I also told John that we just found out that you're pregnant, but that we aren't actually telling anyone yet. He said that will make the possibility of a trial a bit more complicated, since it could possibly be months before a trial would take place so you most likely won't be able to travel to Florida for that."

"He's not putting the pregnancy into any of the paperwork is he?" Amy got a little freaked out about that.

"No Sweetie, he's not. As of right now, there isn't any reason for him to do so. I told him that I would let him know once we've made that announcement official. But he needs to know that your pregnant, as the stress of this whole thing on you has the potential to affect the pregnancy as well." Ranger grabbed both of her hands in his reassuringly.

Amy nodded, "I just really don't want anyone knowing yet, especially Troy." Amy sighed, "So now Bobby, Ella, and John know that we're pregnant."

"And John's assistant because she was in his office, and he's probably told your lawyer too."

Amy's shoulder's dropped. "Now I feel bad that so many other people know but Lexi doesn't, and your parents don't, and my dad and Carrie don't."

"We can tell them whenever you want. My mom of all people will understand you wanting to wait a little while before telling everyone. So she won't be upset or offended that we didn't tell them right away."

"Lexi can't keep a secret to save her life," Amy quipped making Ranger chuckle. "I'm still not quite ready to tell people yet though. We'll probably be at your parents every Sunday for lunch from now on, won't we?"

Ranger nodded, "Unless something else comes up, I think my mom will expect us to be there."

"Okay," Amy paused, "So maybe after we get past the 8 or 9 week mark we'll tell your parents. We'll just tell them that we aren't telling anyone yet. Do you think they could keep it a secret for a few weeks?"

"I think they could manage to keep that secret for a little while." Ranger agreed.

"So we have a lot going on next week. I have girls night with Lex on Wednesday, the family therapist on Thursday afternoon, Lex has ballet class Thursday night, and my doctor's appointment Friday. We are quickly turning into very busy people."

"I know your going to refuse, but as your boss, fiance, and the father of the babies you've got growing in there," he pointed to her stomach, "I have to tell you that if you need to take some time off it's not a problem."

"If you tell me that one more time, I'm going to spray bleach on all of your clothes." Considering ninety-nine percent of Ranger's wardrobe was black, that would be a problem.

Ranger just laughed. "Okay Sweetie, I'm sorry. I just want to make sure that you know that work comes last. If something needs to be changed or dropped, let me know and we can lighten your load at Rangeman."

"Your sweet, I really appreciate that. But we're still fine. Jeeze, do we need to add on a padded room for you at the new house?" Amy rolled her eyes.

"Maybe a bubble for you for the rest of the pregnancy." Ranger teased back with a smirk and a wink.

The next week flew by all too quickly and before she knew it, Amy was sitting in the waiting room of the family therapist for their initial interview/session. Dr. Shannon Ross specialized in helping families who had been split up because one parents was an addict and/or criminal. After talking with Amy and getting all of the paperwork from her lawyers, Dr. Ross sat down with Lexi. Amy was given the option of sitting in on the session but after talking it over with Dr. Ross and Ranger they decided that allowing Lexi to talk without Amy present would show that Amy isn't afraid of anything Lexi might say or do. Amy didn't have anything to hide and she wanted that established from the beginning.

Amy sat in the waiting room with Ranger, waiting very impatiently.

"Stop." Ranger put a comforting hand on Amy's shaking knee.

"I can't. I know there isn't anything that she could possibly say. But my baby is in that room without me, being asked questions about a man that she doesn't even know." Amy just couldn't seem to stop making some kind of nervous movement. Since Ranger had his hand on her knee she started popping her knuckles.

Ranger moved his hand from her knee to her hands. "Sweetheart, you just said exactly why you shouldn't be worried. Lexi doesn't know Troy. Do you walk around the house talking bad about him?"

Amy knew what he was doing, "No, I don't."

"So all that the doctor is going to find out is that Lexi doesn't know anything about her dad, I don't know that it'll immensely help your case but it certainly won't hurt it. She does know he exists, so it's not like you've kept anything from her."

"I've never really talked about Troy at all. The few times she's asked me about him, I've just told her that she can't see him because he got into really big trouble and hurt some people and the police took him away so he couldn't hurt anyone else."

"That can only help you. You've been honest with her, telling her as much as she can handle at this age." Ranger squeezed her hands. "Sweetie, please try to relax. If not for Lexi or yourself, do it for me because all of your nervous energy is making my nerves go crazy."

Amy chuckled at that, Ranger was known for his epic sense of calm. "You're never nervous."

"This whole thing makes me nervous, and your shaking and knuckle cracking is making me want to jiggle my leg." Ranger was kind of teasing her to try to help calm her down, but truth be told he was a little nervous for all of them.

Twenty minutes after Amy had left Lexi in Dr. Ross's office the doctor's assistant called them back. Once they were seated once again in Dr. Ross's office, reunited with Lexi who looked no different than when they'd left her twenty minutes earlier, Amy finally started to calm down.

"Well," Dr. Ross twined her fingers together in front of her on her desk. "Miss Lexi and I had a wonderful conversation. I want you to know that I can clearly tell that Lexi has been provided with a very loving and caring home. She seems to be a typical six-year old and definitely has a love of dance and playing with her friends." Dr. Ross smiled as she talked. "My initial report for the lawyers will be that she is an average kid. We spoke briefly about her dad. It seems to me that given the situation and how young she was Troy was put in prison, I wouldn't expect things to be much different. She doesn't know that much about Troy, good, bad or otherwise. She knows who he is, but she also knows why she can't see him. I've got to say , I'm extremely impressed with how you've handled this situation. A parent in your position could have easily been telling your child a lot of not so nice things, true or not, but you didn't. I'll be honest, my initial thoughts were that you must have talked with her and told her exactly what to say. But six-year olds aren't that good at lying, they usually end up faltering. Lexi gave me different versions of the same answer every time I asked the question in a different way."

Amy's knee finally stopped bouncing. "I feel bad, because I don't talk about Troy." Lexi squeezed Amy's hand. "That part of my life was so hard for me. The reason why I left Miami was to try to put all of that behind me."

"Please Ms. Kendrick."

"You can call me Amy."

Dr. Ross smiled, "Amy, with all due respect, you've done well. I would like to meet with Lexi again next week. Before you start to panic, the only reason I would like to keep seeing her is because this legal battle is about Lexi. I just want to keep chatting with her to see how it's all affecting her. And as things progress, I may bring you and Carlos in more as well. I want you guys to know that you are absolutely allowed to dislike this situation. I only ask that you continue as you've been doing. Explain things clearly so that Lexi understands, and keep things neutral."

Amy nodded, "We can handle that. Thank You so much Dr. Ross."

"My pleasure, truly. Lexi is a very sweet girl, you've done a great job with her. Make an appointment with my assistant before you leave. I'll see you all next week."

"Now we kind of need to rush across town to get Lexi to her ballet class." Amy said as Ranger backed out of his parking spot.

"She won't be late, I promise." Ranger said as he gunned the engine and barely made it through a yellow light. He winked at her as Lexi giggled in the back seat. "Lex, we're going to go grab some supper while your at dance class, what would you like tonight?"

"Chinese!" Lexi cheered.

Amy chuckled, "I could've told you that," she whispered.

"Chinese it is then."

"I usually stay and watch her dance." Amy said to Ranger.

"I can grab the food then." Ranger offered.

"Mom," Lexi groaned. "You don't have to stay. No one else's moms stay. It's just practice."

Ranger gave Lexi a quick glance and a wink in the rearview mirror. "Look's like your with me sweetheart."

An hour later they were leaving the dance studio with Lexi the ballerina and Chinese takeout for supper. Amy just kept looking over at Ranger and smiling, she couldn't quit smiling. She had honestly never dreamed that she would ever find a guy who would fit so seamlessly into the life and routine that she and Lexi had established over the last five years.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Ranger asked her a few blocks from the house.

"Oh I think it's a bit more than a penny, don't forget about inflation." Amy teased.

"Any time I'm trying to get information out of you, I feel like I'm pulling teeth."

"I'm just happy." Amy shrugged her shoulders slightly. "When I left Florida I just hoped to be able to give Lexi a stable home. I never imagined that I would ever find someone who would care so much about me and Lexi."

Ranger reached over and grabbed Amy's hand, bringing it up to his mouth and kissing the back of it. "Amy, I love you and Lexi so much. I never realized what I was missing out on by not having my own family. I've always filled my time with work. But having you and Lex to come home to the last week and a half has been so amazing."

Amy knew if she cried that Lex would know something was up, so she just kept her smile in place and nodded her head once at Ranger.

"Well ladies," Ranger said as he pulled in the driveway and pushed the button on the visor to open the garage door. "Home sweet home. Let's go in and eat our dinner before it gets cold."

Lexi practically sprinted into the house leaving Ranger and Amy still sitting in the car.

"I love you Carlos, you are everything I ever could have hoped and wished for."

"I love you to Amaya, but you are more than anything I ever could have hoped or wished for. Thanksgiving can't get here soon enough, I am so excited for us to be a family. And I never thought I would ever say that or feel this way, but I do. I just love you so damn much." He leaned over the center console and pulled Amy to him in a quick but firm kiss.

Amy pulled back after a few seconds, "We really should get in the house before Lexi comes back out here looking for us."

Ranger nodded, "I've got the food."

"So Lexi," Ranger smiled as Lexi enthusiastically ate her sesame chicken and fried rice. "What would you think about your mom and I getting married?"

Amy's fork stopped halfway to her mouth and her jaw dropped. She looked from Ranger to Lexi, waiting to see what her reaction would be.

Lexi tilted her head to one side and was quiet for just a few seconds before speaking. "So would you be my dad then?"

Ranger's face went from curious to his signature smirk, "I would like to be your dad. Would you like that?"

Lexi smiled as she nodded her head, "I think it would be cool to finally have a dad. Plus your nice."

Ranger gave her a smile before looking at Amy, "What do you think sweetheart?"

Amy still couldn't seem to talk. Her jaw was still hanging open, she was blinking furiously, and all of a sudden she wasn't so sure she could breath. "Wh…wh…I mean," she stopped to take a deep breath and try to get her brain to form an actual sentence. "Are you serious? You're proposing, now?"

"Well, I'm not actually proposing…yet. But I did want to see what Lexi's opinion was before I do." He winked at Lexi and turned back to Amy, who was now scowling at him. "What?"

Amy shook her head at him, "That's cheating."

"How?"

"I thought you were proposing, like for real. Do you even have a ring yet?"

Ranger lifted a shoulder and took a bite of his green bean chicken, "Maybe, maybe not."

"Are you getting married?" Lexi asked her mom.

"I don't know yet baby, we might be."

"Does that mean I'll get to go shopping for a new dress?"

Ranger actually laughed at that, "Yes Lexi, you'll get to shop for a new dress. I get the feeling you and your mom are going to have no problems filling up the new house."

Lexi smiled proudly and nodded, while Amy was still scowling.

Ranger leaned over to whisper to Amy, "Careful, if you keep making that face it'll stay that way."

She couldn't quite stop the smile from forming, "Shush you." She teased before taking another bite of low mein.

"You can shush me all you want, later in our room," he whispered before straightening and returning to his dinner.

"So tomorrow," Ranger said as he lightly skimmed his fingers over Amy's stomach.

Amy looked down and watched his hand as they were lying in bed. She had quickly gotten used to going to bed next to a certain smoking hot Cuban every night, the sex definitely helped.

"Tomorrow." Amy smiled.

"Do you think there's more than two?"

"I don't know. I still haven't quite gotten over the shock of finding out that I'm pregnant. I have no feelings or hormonal intuitions about how many or what genders it/they may be." Amy took a deep breath and closed her eyes as Ranger started rubbing her stomach.

"I kind of want it to be twins, a boy and a girl. But I feel like no matter what I think it is, I'll end up being wrong." Ranger leaned down and kissed her stomach just below her belly button. "I'll take whatever is in there. I'm just happy to be starting our family."

Amy nodded but couldn't bring herself to open her eyes. Pregnancy hormones combined with the stress and anxiety leading up to their first meeting with the family therapist had her feeling a little more tired than usual.

"Are you falling asleep on me?" He asked quietly.

"Mmmhmm," Amy mumbled as she nodded her head once.

Ranger chuckled and crawled up to his spot next to her before pulling the sheet and quilt up over both of them, tucking Amy in. He pulled her toward him, gently turning her so that she was on her side facing away from her so they could spoon. He wrapped his top arm around her waist with his hand resting on her stomach and nuzzled into her neck. She sighed and was out like a light.

"I can't wait to see our babies tomorrow." He whispered in her ear just before closing his eyes and falling asleep.

Ranger was surprised to find Amy awake and in the shower when he got back from his early morning run at six-thirty Friday morning. He quickly stripped and quietly walked in behind her. He was just about to put his hands on her hips when Amy smirked at him over her shoulder.

"Did you have a good run?" Amy asked as she turned around rinsed the conditioner out of her hair.

"It was great. Early fall mornings are my favorite running conditions." Ranger waited until Amy tried to step around him before wrapping his arms around her waist. "Where do you think your going?" He growled as he started kissing her neck.

"We don't have a lot of time before Lexi will be up." Amy suddenly groaned as one hand trailed down her stomach to the apex of her thighs and the other found her breast.

"We have just enough time." He whispered as he pushed her against the tiled shower wall. Ranger grabbed one of her legs and Amy brought the other leg up to wrap them around his waist. He wasted no time positioning himself at her entrance, waiting only a moment before thrusting up and pulling her down at the same time.

"Oh my…" Amy gasped before Ranger crushed his mouth against hers.

He kept a quick pace, bringing them both to climax in a few minutes. He kept Amy pressed against the wall, still inside of her, as they both tried to slow their breathing. After another couple of minutes Amy finally let her legs fall to the floor and she pushed him back.

"I'd better get out of here before Lexi comes looking for me. What do you want for breakfast?"

"Don't worry about it sweetie, I'll get it myself. You worry about feeding those babies." He went back to showering as Amy wrapped herself in a towel.

Amy was just heading into the closet attached to her bathroom when she heard a knock on the bathroom door.

"Mom." Lexi's muffled little voice came through the door.

"I'll be down in a little bit baby. Turn on your cartoons, I should be done in about twenty minutes."

"Okay."

"There's no way you'll be done in twenty minutes." Ranger said as he stepped out of the shower.

"How the fuck did you shower so damn fast?" Amy wrapped a towel around her hair and continued on her way to the closet.

"I'm a guy. I don't shave my legs, I can wash and rinse my hair in less than a minute, and washing my body takes about two minutes. So that's about a three minute shower, give or take." He followed right behind her and started getting dressed before she'd even picked her outfit.

Amy rolled her eyes. "Guys have it so much easier." She grumbled. None the less she grabbed some turquoise lacy boyshort underwear and a matching lace underwire bra. Next she pulled on a pair of black dress pants and was surprised when the waist was just a bit more snug than usual. "It's definitely gotta be twins." Amy put a finger in the waistband to show Ranger the fit.

Having already pulled on his black cargo pants, black Rangeman t-shirt and black socks he walked over to her. He put his hands on her waist and looked down at her still flat stomach before looking into her eyes and smiling. "I'd be lying if I said that part of me wasn't excited to see you with a big pregnant belly."

Amy rolled her eyes and sighed, "It's a macho guy thing, you just can't wait to be able to tell everyone that your responsible for me looking like a whale."

"You will not look like a whale." Ranger insisted. He dropped a quick but firm kiss on her slightly pouty lips then stepped back. "Your running out of time."

Amy turned and grabbed a black v-neck Rangeman t-shirt that had her name embroidered in Navy Blue. She had asked for hot pink but Ranger said No, no surprise there. She pulled the towel from her hair then put on her shirt and walked back to the bathroom. She'd never been a huge fan of makeup, so after brushing some powder all over her face and then putting on eyeliner she was done. Her hair was next, which when it air-dried her natural waves looked good. So after she quickly combed through it she was walking into the bedroom where Ranger was sitting on a chair by the window lacing up his black Bates boots.

"Oh, shoes." She said more to herself as she went back to her closet and grabbed a pair of black ballet flats. When she walked out of the closet Ranger was already gone. Amy was a little surprised to find him in the kitchen making Lexi peanut butter toast while she ate an apple. All Amy could do was smile.

Ranger drove, as he did most days now that they lived together. After dropping Lexi off they headed to Rangeman. Amy's ultrasound appointment wasn't until eleven-thirty, she was pretty sure she wouldn't get any actual work done today because she would be so distracted by the upcoming appointment. After he parked Ranger walked with her to the elevator with a hand on the small of her back.

"So do you have any pressing or urgent appointments this morning?" Ranger asked as the elevator climbed to their floor.

"No," Amy shook her head. "I'm sure I'll just have the usual flood of troubleshooting calls and some new client software packages to get ready for installation."

"Do you have any on-site installations to do today?" He asked just as the elevator stopped and the doors opened.

Amy looked at him curiously then stepped off the elevator and went straight to the lounge. He followed along with her. "No. I don't usually do on-site installations any more unless it's a high profile or large volume client. You know that. Pete does about ninety-five percent of the installations these days." She got herself a bottle of water from the fridge and grabbed a banana off the counter for her morning snack later. She also had some of Ella's amazing pickles stashed in Ranger's fridge upstairs that she was planning to eat later as well.

"I know you don't do too many installations but I don't know your schedule so I wasn't sure."

"Why?"

"I was just wondering what your schedule was like today. I have a couple of meetings this morning. But I'm kind of hoping that we can take off after our appointment and go have lunch then maybe just go home. I would try to talk you into staying at the new house but Bobby e-mailed me yesterday and said they have the formal living room completely stripped and ready to be stained." Ranger followed her out of the lounge and to her office, talking the whole way. "They've gotten all of the old carpet in the bedrooms upstairs pulled, but they want to do the flooring all at once so after the formal living room is re-stained and sealed they'll tear up the wood laminate on the main floor."

Amy nodded and made sounds of agreement now and then until they arrived at her office. "He still thinks they can have it ready in six weeks?" She sat down behind her desk and started up her computer and turned her chair to face Ranger who had sat in one of the chairs in front of her desk.

"He seems confident. They're bringing in the painters to paint the upstairs bedrooms, they don't really have to worry about spills since the carpet is gone and the new flooring hasn't gone down yet. They haven't started on the theater room yet. I think they're planning to start on the apartment after most of the main house is done. I told him it isn't as important to have that done by Thanksgiving but it would be nice if it were so that your dad and Stepmom can stay there for the weekend."

"Are we going to have a full house that weekend? I hadn't even thought about just having some family stay with us." Amy leaned back in her chair.

"Well we'll definitely have the room. My parents won't have to stay at the house since they don't live far. I would offer but I know they would refuse anyways. Your parents can have the apartment. I'll have to talk to Elisa and see if she and Peter and the kids would rather stay with mom and dad or with us. Even if they do stay, they'll only need two rooms so that leaves three other rooms. I'll have to talk to my parents and see who might need or want a place to stay. After the dinner invites go out that is. Do you have any other extended family that will need a place to stay? How many of your sibling do you think will come?"

"I honestly don't have a clue. I'm sure that dad and Carrie will come. If they do Callie, my little half sister, can share Lexi's room. My brother Jackson and his wife might want to stay, I'll have to check with him on that. The other kids are anybodies guess. If they do stay I'd be willing to be that they'll just crash in the living room of the apartment. They're all college kids, or close to college-age, so they can sleep just about anywhere."

"What about your mom?"

Amy gave a forced short laugh, "If you can find her address we can send her an invite but she won't have the money to come anyways. And to be honest, I'd rather she didn't know where we'll be living. She has my cell phone number if she ever needs to contact me, that's as much of my personal information as I want her to have."

Ranger nodded, "Fair enough." He stood finally as his cell phone vibrated in his pocket. "I'm guessing my eight-thirty is here." He pulled out his phone and answered, "Yo." He was silent for a minute before responding, "Give me two minutes." And then he hung up.

"Be ready to leave a little before eleven." He said as he leaned over her desk and kissed her. It was just meant to be a quick kiss, but he couldn't always seem to manage that with her. Two minutes later his phone started to vibrate again. He growled but gave her one last short kiss before leaving.

Amy kept busy most of the morning until ten, that's when she hit a lull and didn't have much to do. She ate her banana, but the pickles upstairs in Ranger's fridge seemed to be calling her name. So she went to the elevator and headed up to the apartment. She made a quick trip to the bathroom before heading back to the kitchen. She was just reaching into the fridge when she felt that all too familiar sense of someone watching her. Without hesitating she grabbed the jar of pickles and went to the island, pretending not to notice Ranger standing just outside the kitchen doorway. After grabbing a small plate out of the cabinet she opened the jar and pulled out a few pickle spears.

"Do you want one?" Amy asked without looking at him just before she picked up a spear and took a bite.

"How long did you know I was standing here?" He asked as he walked in and snagged a spear out of the jar before screwing the lid on and putting it back in the fridge.

"Right after I opened the fridge door." Amy finished the first spear and moved on to her second. "How long had you been standing there?"

Ranger's eyebrows furrowed slightly, "I walked in just before you opened the fridge door." He shook his head in disbelief. "How in the world do you always know I'm there?"

"I don't know," Amy shrugged. "I just get this feeling, like I'm being watched."

"So there weren't any pickles in the lounge fridge?"

"They don't last long down there, so I've been keeping them hidden up here." Amy admitted a tad guiltily.

That had Ranger laughing, "You can't even share your pickles?"

"Hey, I'm pregnant! I don't have to share my pickles!"

Ranger walked up behind her and pulled her back against his chest. How has your morning been?"

"Busy until about fifteen minutes ago. Then I remembered I had stashed a jar of pickles up here." Amy finished up her second pickle and started on the third. "What about you?"

"I had a meeting this morning, nothing important. I left today kind of light since we have the ultrasound. I already told Tank that I you and I would be having lunch together and taking off the rest of the afternoon."

Amy nodded, "Did he ask why?"

"No, well I think he's just surprised by everything that's changed in the last five weeks since we started dating. Really in the last three months since he realized I was going to ask you out. Finally."

Amy had to laugh. They had definitely already gone a long way in the five weeks they'd been dating. And they would make even bigger changes in the next six or seven weeks.

Ranger watched and smiled as she popped the last of the pickle in her mouth. "What now?"

Amy shrugged. "Back to my office I guess."

"You know," Ranger grabbed Amy's hand and started slowly walking backwards toward the bedroom. "I can think of something we could do for the next thirty or so minutes." He winked just as the crossed the threshold into the bedroom.

"But what would we do with the other twenty-five minutes?" Amy teased, knowing that would rile him. She barely had time to take a breath before he pulled her quickly to him and fell backwards onto the bed then rolled so he was hovering over her.

"Five minutes huh?" He stood back up and was just starting to pull his shirt up when his cell phone buzzed. "Sonuva…" He gripped his phone and acted like he was going to chuck it across the room before he finally answered. "What?" He looked up at the ceiling and rolled his eyes then stepped further back from the bed and crooked his finger at Amy, telling her to stand up. "Uh hu," he said as he led the way out of the bedroom and went straight for Amy's phone on the kitchen counter and handed it to her. He then went straight on to the apartment door and waited for Amy to catch up as she unlocked her phone and was surprised to see three missed calls from the control room. "We'll be in the conference room in a minute."

"What in the world is going on?" Amy asked Ranger as the elevator doors closed and started to descend.

"Someone has been trying to hack into the security system of Vanderfleet's and at first we thought they had been unsuccessful. But their on-site network security officer has found something. He's saying that it's a defect in our programming, and that because of that defect their main office was broken into last night."

"Fucking bullshit." Amy blurt out.

"It's not a defect in our programming. I know because all of our programs are thoroughly tested before we implement them. So now we, well mainly you, have to figure out what happened. But Tank and I have to go onsite and figure out how in the world the systems many fail safe features and alarms were all completely knocked out."

The elevator doors opened and before Ranger could rush out Amy put a hand on his arm. "The ultrasound."

"We're going to have to meet there. Vanderfleet's is just half a dozen or so blocks from Dr. Sayre's office. I have to go and if I don't talk to him face to face he'll pull their contract." He tilted his head and made a kind of sour face, "I'm sorry, I really am. But I won't miss the ultrasound."

"Okay. Hurry please!" She said as they walked out of the elevator and went to the conference room. Tank and Ranger gave everyone a very quick three minute briefing then left, which meant that Amy was in charge. She had her two main programmers pass all of their current cases off to lower level minions and they all went back to her office to start running the remote analysis on the Vanderfleet system.

At eleven Amy apologized to everyone and excused herself but told them all she would be back by 1. She grabbed her purse out of her desk and then remembered she had ridden in with Ranger that morning and groaned. She walked down the hallway and stepped in the control room to ask what fleet vehicles were available when Hal held up a car and a note.

"For you boss."

"I'm not the boss."

"You are when Ranger and Tank are gone. Ranger left this for you."

"Thanks." Amy gave him a half smile then headed to the elevator. After she stepped on she unfolded the piece of paper.

Take my car, I'll probably have to go back

to Vanderfleet's when we're done.

-R

When the doors opened in the garage Amy remotely unlocked the Cayenne and made her way across town. She had just checked in when Ranger walked in. After a fifteen minute wait, during which they were both furiously responding to and sending text messages and e-mails, Amy was called back.

Gina the ultrasound tech greeted them and handed Amy a sheet and gave her the same instructions as before.

"Can't I just get one of the non-invasive ultrasounds?" Amy was dreading the ultrasound process even though she really wanted to get definitive answers.

Gina smiled reluctantly, "Sorry, this is still the best way to get a clear picture. But I promise that as long as everything looks good today, your next ultrasound will be better and easier. I'll just step out and let you get ready."

Amy groaned but as soon as the door closed she stripped from the waist down and laid on the exam table with the sheet over her legs and lower stomach. A minute later Gina was back and starting the ultrasound.

"Okay, let's see what we can see today." She was pushing buttons and moving the probe around as she spoke. "How have you been feeling?"

"Not too bad. A little queasy now and then, but thankfully my amazing fiance here practically shoves some fruit or some other healthy food in my face every couple hours so the nausea hasn't been bad at all. I'm trying to workout, when I can manage to drag my tired butt out of bed before seven."

"That'll all pass once you get to the second trimester." She smiled at Amy then looked back to the screen. "Ah here we go. So here's baby A, not too much bigger than the last time you saw him but he measures right on. Oh and I just say him or he because saying 'it' seems too weird for me. It is way too soon to be able to tell the gender now."

"Thanks for the warning." Amy was still transfixed by the little bean-shaped baby wiggling on the screen.

"Let's have a quick listen to the heartbeat." Amy and Ranger both smiled when the quick reassuring thud sounded loud and strong. "Perfect. Now let's see about Baby B." Gina moved the probe a bit and suddenly there was another little wiggling bean on the screen. "Here's Baby B. He's measuring a day behind Baby A, which doesn't mean much." She pushed a couple of buttons and the room filled with the loud thudding sound of the baby's heartbeat. "Perfect!" She smiled at Amy and Ranger then pushed some buttons to zoom out and get both babies in one frame. "I printed pictures of each baby individually but here's a couple of both babies in the same frame."

"Oh my God, so it's really twins?" Amy asked incredulously.

"Oh yeah, definitely. I'm going to call in Dr. Sayre, there's nothing wrong but she asked me to call her before I finished your ultrasound."

A couple minutes later Dr. Sayre walked in and saw that Gina had both babies on the screen. "So it's twins!" She tapped Gina's shoulder and had her move so she could take over. "Have you checked for more?"

Gina shook her head but before she could say anything Amy screetched, "MORE?!"

Dr. Sayre patted her leg and smiled. "We just like to make sure we don't miss one. As absurd as it sounds, it happens." Dr. Sayre looked all around and stopped on a small bubble close to Baby B. "At six weeks it's still possible to not see a baby, but my guess is that this is an empty sac."

"What does that mean?" Amy asked as Ranger's grip on her hand tightened.

"It could mean a myriad of things. There could have been three babies and one didn't make it. Sometimes there's just an empty sac, which is called a blighted ovum, and that means that the egg implanted but a baby never formed. There is still a chance that there's a viable baby. Either way there's nothing to be done, we'll just keep an eye on you." She removed the wand and helped Amy sit up. "So, we now know there's twins for sure. I'm going to write you a prescription for a prenatal vitamin. With twins you'll need more folic acid and since your already taking extra Iron I want you to double the amount you've been taking. I want to see you again in two weeks. You'll be eight weeks then. We'll go from there after we see if it's just the two or if there's three."

"I don't want to sound bad, but he's already been paranoid and overprotective knowing that there might be two. If there's three, he'll have me living in a bubble. Are you sure you can't tell if there's three right now?"

Dr. Sayre smiled as she chuckled, "Not definitively, no. You'll just have to live in suspense for the next two weeks."

Amy looked to the ceiling then smiled at Dr. Sayre. "Thank You so much. Gina said something about pictures?"

"Oh!" Gina grabbed the little black and white pictures and handed them to Amy. "Now you have some pictures to share with family and friends."

"I don't think we're telling anyone yet. But I will be looking at these a lot." Amy passed them on to Ranger after she had looked through them all. "Thank You so much."

"My pleasure," Dr. Sayre stood up, "Make an appointment for two weeks from now, tell them it'll be another ultrasound. But you'll get the full regular workup then. We usually do most first appointments at about ten weeks. Since we already know your having twins at least, doing yours at eight weeks works out for the better. Do you guys have any questions?"

Amy shook her head. Not surprisingly Ranger had a couple questions. "I'm sure everyone asks this, but are we still okay to have sex?"

Amy covered her face with both hands in shock, "Ranger!"

Dr. Sayre chuckled, "For now there's no restrictions. With multiples I'll warn you that may change as you get closer to your due date. For now your fine."

Ranger nodded, "Amy has been eating about every two hours or so, are there any foods she should avoid or any foods she should eat more of?"

"As long as your eating a balanced diet you'll be fine. I'll have my nurse Abby bring you some reading materials on all of that. Anything else?"

"No." Amy answered before Ranger could come up with some other insane questions. "We really have some work to get back to anyways."

"I'll see you in two weeks."

Amy nodded, but as soon as the door closed behind Dr. Sayre she slapped Ranger's shoulder. "You seriously asked about sex?!"

"What?" He put his hands out reflexively when Amy made to slap at him again. "I was curious."

Amy shook her head as she pulled her pants back on. "Your not allowed to ask questions any more."

They walked out to the desk and made the next appointment then headed out to the parking lot.

"I left Tank at Vanderfleet's. Go have some lunch and then I'll see you at home whenever we finish."

"I told Brent and Tess I would be back by one to help them."

"Oh, you really don't have to go back to Rangeman."

"I know, but this is a big client and it's a pretty big breach so I feel better helping them with it."

"The breach is not our fault." Ranger was obviously still mad about it. "I know you know that. But I just don't want you to feel any guilt over this. Tank and I are guessing it's an inside job."

"It has to be. None of our software packages go out to the client until they've been rigorously tested. But I want to have the proof to show Mr. Vincent that it wasn't us."

"I get that." Ranger agreed and stopped at the Cayenne. "Well, your free to go home whenever you want to. I can't make any promises but I would like to be home about five."

"Sounds good."

Ranger leaned down and gave Amy a light kiss. "Bye sweetheart."

"Bye." Amy smiled at Ranger as he closed her door for her and waited for her to back out of her spot and pull away before he headed to the black Rangeman Suburban across the parking lot. There went their afternoon playing hooky.