I put on a pair of ecru cargo pedal pushers and a pink tank top after showering alone and getting absolutely no Ranger affection. The afternoon meeting had run long and once again our dinner reservation was for six o'clock. He had to call Trenton to respond to some enquiries and voice mails before he could do anything. Besides, it takes me twice as long as him to do anything. So we had to hurry, and that meant no afternoon delight. Damn it!

We didn't have a lot of time, but we also didn't have as far to go. That was a good thing since I needed every second I had to make my hair behave before giving up and pulling it into a pony tail of tragic proportions.

Ranger sat down beside me on the sofa and leaned over to pull the strap of his sandal tight. "Are you ready?"

"I'm ready," I nodded.

"Are you disappointed," he sighed.

"Honey…we're not always going to have time. We have other people and a reservation to think of."

"That didn't answer my question," he said quietly.

"Yes, I was disappointed, but I'm trying to be a grown up here."

"I'll make it up to you," he promised and kissed my temple.

"Or you could let me make it up to you," I grinned up at him.

"I may not survive that," he laughed and got to his feet and pulled me up. "I love you."

"I love you too," I smiled up at him.

He leaned down to give me a kiss that made my toes curl and my doo-dah dampen and released me reluctantly as his cargo shorts started to twitch. "Damn it."

"I know…if this was our honeymoon we could just go back to bed," I pulled away and danced out of his reach.

"Babe," he groaned and followed me out the door.

Padma and Gabe were just exiting their room when we passed it.

"Just in time," Padma said breathlessly.

"We'd have waited," I laughed. "You're more pregnant than I am."

"Yea," she rubbed her rounded belly.

"We'll walk slowly," Ranger grinned.

"I studied the map," I grinned. "I know the way," I said seriously.

"Good girl," he nodded. "Let's head to the monorail."

We took our seats in the car and found we were the sole riders again. There obviously wasn't a lot of traffic from the Contemporary to the Magic Kingdom via the monorail.

"Is the heat getting to you," I said to Padma sympathetically.

"Not too bad. I'm dressing right for the season. I've been told that it will be worse in the last six weeks or so, but right now I'm fine. I'm still moving pretty good and not waddling as much as I thought I would be."

"She still works out," Gabe said proudly. "I mean she's not doing the same exercises, but she still works out."

"It's better for the birth process if you're fit," she said confidently. "We're going with natural childbirth, so I want to be as fit as possible. First babies are notoriously difficult. I want as many odds on my side as possible."

"How are you working out," I asked.

"I'm taking yoga and pilates for pregnant women," she nodded.

"Oh good idea," I said nodding. "I want to do natural childbirth too."

"What do you want Ricardo," she grinned at him.

"He wants the stork to bring the baby," I rolled my eyes.

He laughed, "I'm not that bad, but pretty close."

"Natural is better for the baby and for the mother. The fewer drugs we can introduce into our systems the better off we are."

"Who's your OBGYN," Ranger asked.

"That's the funny thing," she grinned, "Kate is."

"Really," I beamed, "she's mine too."

"She's going to end up being our corporate OBGYN," Padma laughed. "She's pretty cool."

"I know. I liked her right away. Ranger thought she was too young."

"I didn't think she was… Okay, yea, I thought she was too young. Do you blame me? She looks like she's barely out of high school. When she told us she was twenty-nine I thought she was lying at first," he chuckled.

"Yea, he inspired confidence in her for us," I rolled my eyes again.

"Babe," he grinned.

"I know, you got better," I admitted.

"When did you start showing Padma," Ranger asked as the monorail stopped at our station.

"I was almost four months before I had a pooch or anything," she said seriously. "Then it just kind of exploded from there or so it seems to me. Now I feel enormous. Then I remind myself that I have two and a half months to go and I realize I have no idea what enormous is."

"Yikes," I groaned.

"But it's okay. He's a good baby."

"You feel good," I asked.

"I feel good most of the time. I can tell when I'm not eating right or getting enough sleep, because I just feel exhausted."

"I felt like that the first couple of weeks, now I feel great," I admitted as we walked toward the entrance. "I'm sometimes a little nauseous in the morning, but most of the time I wouldn't even know that I was pregnant except that I can't eat as much…but I want to eat more often."

"Yea…our stomachs have shrunk ironically," she grinned.

"That is ironic," I nodded.

"Lead the way Babe," Ranger said once we got into the park. You know where you're going."

"I do," I agreed. We walked toward Main Street and I stopped for a moment and looked around and sighed.

"What is it," he frowned.

"I can just see why she loved it here. I can see why she'd want to find a place to park it and just watch the world go by," I said softly.

The other three looked around.

"Standing right here, I bet people from all over the world will pass us in a day. That's pretty amazing," I sighed.

"Yea it is," Ranger caught my hand. "Come on, let's go eat."

"Are you hungry again," I blinked up at him.

"I think I'm eating for you," he sighed and rubbed his flat stomach.

"Right," Padma rolled her eyes. "Gabe tries that stuff on me too. It doesn't work."

"No it doesn't. The bigger I get, the less it's gonna work too," I said seriously.

"Totally," she nodded.

"Are they ganging up on us," Gabe frowned at Ranger.

"Sure sounds like it," Ranger grinned.

The Crystal Palace is right off Main Street and to the left past Casey's Hot Dog stand. We walked it in no time at all and checked in right on time. By the time we were seated it was five minutes after six. We were seated and directed toward the buffet after our drink orders were taken.

I filled my first plate with peel and eat shrimp, Mediterranean Pasta Salad with a bowl of Smoked Corn Chowder. We just started to dig into our food when Piglet came by and flirted with the boys. I thought Piglet was a boy, so I was a little bit concerned. Ranger said he didn't do pork and Piglet was aghast. Gabe held his arms out and it ran right to him. I snapped lots of pictures and Ranger took one with me and Piglet. At the last second Piglet hugged Ranger and I got a great picture of that before the little pink character ran off.

"Great."

"The bean will love it," I showed him the photo on the digital camera. "Remind me to forward these to Jules."

"Right," he nodded and turned back to his couscous tofu and vegetable salad. Ick!

"I'm excited to hear about your venture with Mike," Padma grinned nibbling on her own salad with some kind of papaya in it. "I hope it wasn't supposed to be a secret?"

"No," Ranger chuckled. "We've already talked to Mike and we hired this girl Melissa Jennings to start scouting locations. She's concentrating on the restaurant right now, but later she's going to help Fenton with other projects. Her specialty is commercial real estate."

"Where are you going in first?"

"We're hoping for Norfolk or San Diego. We sent her to scout those areas first. Fenton's crunching the numbers to see if the market will bear another restaurant in the area. We're hoping it will work out."

"It's a great idea," she said seriously. "I don't know why it wouldn't work out."

"Thanks," he nodded.

"I know you intend to diversify and I was wondering how much you intend to do that."

"What do you mean?"

"Well," she bit her lip. "It's like this. My father started a publishing company in Newark when he came to this country. It's small, but it has a good reputation. He only had two children…both daughters. I'm not interested in running it and neither is Sari. She's married to an attorney and lives in Chicago. She's working as a nurse and raising kids and she's just… Well, you know what I mean. My father wants to sell the business."

"What do they publish?"

"All sorts of things," she shrugged. "They publish magazines and some church bulletins. He tells me that real estate in Newark is getting so high; he really wants to sell the business and get out. You know how it is with taxes and all. He loves it, but he's tired."

"He really wants to sell?"

"Yea," she nodded.

"Do you think it would be a serious issue to move it to Trenton?"

"Not really. One of the reasons he's retiring is because most of his employees are as old as he is. They all pretty much want to retire. That's also the downfall of purchasing the business. There would be very few employees remaining after the sale."

"That's both good and bad," Ranger nodded. "If we move it to Trenton I wouldn't have to relocate many people if they wanted to stay. I also wouldn't be left with very many people who knew the business."

"My father's new plant manager Jefferson Witt would probably stay. He's from Trenton. He's also single and shouldn't have a problem with the move. As long as he agreed to stay on, you'd be golden."

He nodded.

"And…you could do it on recycled paper," I said quietly. "I mean to go with our new green theme. You could re-launch the company as being green. It would be a good start up company for that launch."

"I'll get Fenton on it," he nodded. "Get your father to give Fenton a call."

"Are you sure," she blinked.

"I'm not making any promises, but we'll sure look into it. We do want to diversify. And Stephanie is right; it would be an excellent way to launch our green campaign."

"I'll tell Daddy," she nodded. "Okay, now that's out of the way. I'm curious about something."

"What," Ranger asked.

"This girl…why was she so reclusive? I mean she's gorgeous according to every picture I've seen. She was nice. People liked her. Why was she reclusive?"

"That's the sixty-four thousand dollar question," I said with a nod.

She leaned over the table, "I've been thinking…"

"Here's Tigger," Gabe said lightly as the large character joined us by wrapping his arms around me.

I giggled. "You're tickling Tigger."

Ranger grabbed the camera with a grin and began snapping pictures. Tigger picked up my left hand, and pretended to weep. He glared at Ranger.

"Dude…I got there first," Ranger shook his head. "And keep the paws off. I don't share."

Tigger pouted and then hugged him anyway. He blinked at Padma's belly and pointed at Gabe in accusation. Gabe preened for him and we got a great picture with Tigger and both Gabe and Padma. Tigger moved on after a few moments and we went on to the buffet and our next plate.

I filled up on garlic redskin smashed potatoes, broccoli, mac and cheese and some fire roasted prime rib. Ranger had vegetables of various types and roasted turkey. Padma had wild mushroom and chicken pasta with bail asiago cream sauce. Gabe rounded us out with salmon and vegetables. Gosh those guys eat healthy.

We finished those plates with little conversation and went for dessert. At least some of us did. Ranger got shrimp and some cheese. Gabe at least picked up a slice of key lime pie. Padma went for the Tiramisu. I got chocolate chip cookies, brownies and be-still-my-heart pineapple upside down cake.

I was in heaven.

I pushed the plate away with half my dessert left with a groan. "I've become such a friggin light weight."

Ranger smiled and rubbed my back. "Padma, what were you saying about Sandy."

"Well…I've been in the business since I was sixteen and I've seen girls get that haunted look and draw back from people before. Sometimes it's because of drugs, but usually it's because they've been raped."

"Raped," Ranger blinked.

"Yea…there are things that don't fit though," she frowned thoughtfully toying with the remaining dessert on my plate. "You said there were two donors, right?"

"Right," he nodded.

"If he's a repeat rapist… What if she told him she was going to report him or something like that?"

"He might kill her."

"That makes sense in a way," I said quietly. "Jake bought the ring. He was ready to commit to Sandy. If she had any kind of inkling where his head was and she felt the same way…and I think she did, she'd do what she could to get away from this person."

"But she was clearly afraid of him," Padma said leaning closer. "It almost has to be someone in authority or someone bigger and scary."

"I think it's time to start eliminating suspects," Ranger said seriously. "We can eliminate all the women. We can eliminate men of small stature. We can eliminate the old."

"That leaves young men or men in positions of authority."

"Who's her direct supervisor," Gabe asked.

"Ralph Watkins," Ranger said.

"We should talk to him," he said.

"He's a waste of your time," Padma smiled.

"Why," Ranger frowned.

"He's gay," she laughed. "I mean he's flaming gay."

"Could it be a front?"

"My gaydar isn't that far off. I'm telling you this guy is completely comfortable with who he is. He's great. You'd love him Steph. He's a shoe guy."

"Oh man," I sighed.

"Well…who's his boss," Gabe rolled his eyes.

"We'll have to find out," Ranger said quietly. "I need coffee."

The waitress appeared at our table, "did you say you needed coffee sir?"

"Please," he nodded, "Black please."

"Sure," she agreed, "Anyone else?"

"Yea," Gabe nodded. "Padma…do you need anything else?"

"God no," she groaned and sat back rubbing her belly.

He laughed.

"Babe," Ranger's brow went up.

"I'm good," I smiled.

"Gabe, are you sure that monitors are really going to be your thing?"

Gabe laughed, "Yea, it pretty much is. I know it seems boring and mundane, but there's something about it…finding a way to be the most effective or something that just makes me think. It reminds me of being on post duty," he shrugged. "I never mind stakeouts either. It's the same thing. You're always just looking for that thing that's slightly off, you know."

"It's a challenge to you," he said.

"Yea," he nodded. "Being the most effective is my goal. I'm always trying to perfect the way we scan the locations we monitor visually for better ways."

"As long as you're happy," Ranger shook his head. "What about you Padma? What's the shelf life for a model?"

She laughed, "Not that long. Especially lingerie models," she winced. "My shelf life is about done. I'm thinking about going back to school and getting involved in something else. But I'm not really sure what."

"Are you thinking about taking some time after the baby is born," I said with a smile.

"Yea, I already told Natalie that Henry needed his mommy till he was at least six months old. If something big comes up, I'll take the time and take him with me. But…I'd like some time."

"I love that name," I sighed.

"Have you guys thought about names," Gabe asked Ranger.

"No," Ranger laughed. "Stephanie is only about seven weeks pregnant. It's hard to think about names."

"I don't want Edna, Ellen, Helen, or Louisa or any other family name for her," I sighed. "I want her to have her own identity. She needs to be able to fit into her own mold and not some antiquated burg mold."

"SHE will have a hard time doing that locked in her room till she's forty," Ranger said calmly. "Babe…it could be a boy."

"Right," I rolled my eyes. "God wouldn't go that easy on you Ric. You must atone for your sins."

"Babe…we should be prepared with boy names," he said patiently.

"Do you have any ideas," I asked sweetly.

"How about Sam," he asked.

"Fine," I nodded. "If it's a boy, we'll name him Sam."

His eyes narrowed as he studied me, "you're that sure it's a girl or you really like the name Sam?"

"Both," I smiled up at him.

"Shit," he groaned.

"Dude…her theory is a good one. I'm really glad I wasn't the hound dog you were in my youth. There is totally a downside or two to having a hot wife."

"Tell me about it," Ranger said darkly. "For instance, all of your unattached friends flirt with her."

"Yea," Gabe growled. "And…there's a good chance that any daughters you have will be smokin hot."

Ranger groaned.

"I'm glad we're having a boy," Gabe sighed and looked adoringly at his wife.

"We'll have other babies," Padma said softly.

Gabe's face fell. "Are you sure?"

She nodded.

"Will the tower be big enough for my daughter too," Gabe asked Ranger.

"We'll build an addition. It will make Fort Knox look like the local Seven Eleven."

"Sweet," Gabe sighed.

"Yea…sweet," Ranger raised a brow at me.

I just smiled.