Mitch was driving like a madman and I was on the floorboard of the SUV praying that I wouldn't lose my dinner. I'd waited for a long time for that pizza. It needed to stay in my belly. Even more important than that, the baby needed to stay in there safe as well. Ranger's arms were around me protectively and his big body protected me completely from anything that might happen. All Rangeman vehicles have bullet proof glass these days, but he wasn't taking any chances with me or with the bean.

Minutes later, the SUV skid to a stop and I heard shouting and the squeal of tires as I assume our assailant fled.

"Steph…are you okay? How's the bean," Ranger whispered.

"We're fine," I sighed. "The pizza may be crushed though."

He laughed, "Mike…Mitch, are you guys okay?"

"We're good," Mitch frowned. "You two need to come up and put your hands up."

"Oh shit," I grunted. "Are you okay Ranger?"

"Fine," he said getting off me and raising up. "We're in the parking lot of TPD?"

"It seemed the safest place," Mitch said smiling at the cops.

"It doesn't feel safe right now," Mike said between gritted teeth.

"It will once they see Stephanie," Mitch said as the doors were jerked open and weapons were leveled on us.

"Shit Steph," Eddie Gazzara grunted.

"Hey Eddie," I smiled tremulously. "How are Shirley and the kids?"

"You're kidding right," he shook his head.

"Let me guess," Big Dog said leaning into the SUV. "You didn't see anything?"

"No…Ranger and I were on the floor of the backseat."

"You got a ride home," he asked.

"Mitch is our ride home," I sighed. "We just left Pinos. We were going to drop Mike at his place and pow," I shrugged.

"You okay Steph," Carl Costanza stuck his head in the SUV.

"Yea," I sighed.

"How did you get in trouble so fast? You just left Pinos."

"I know," I sighed. "We were taking Mike home."

"Mike Stone," Carl turned to look in the front seat. "Shit Stone, I thought we couldn't find anything on you."

"Maybe you better look again," Mitch suggested.

"Maybe so," Carl sighed. "Come on inside, let's get some statements. We're going to have to impound the truck for evidence. Sign off on it and you'll get it back a lot faster. We can take you home."

"We'll call someone," Ranger sighed. "Will this take long? Stephanie needs her rest."

"Oh…sure," Carl frowned. "Why does Stephanie need her rest?"

"Oh you know," Ranger said and shrugged.

Carl studied me and his eyes went down to Ranger's hand protective on my belly. "Shit…you're pregnant. Morrelli doesn't know, does he?"

"Why should he," I said raising my chin. "It's not his baby."

"Right," Carl stepped back.

Eddie came back around, "the paramedics are on their way. Ranger needs to be checked out. After last week, we don't want to take any chances."

"Stephanie needs to be checked as well," Carl said calmly. "Neither of you saw anything?"

"Nothing," Ranger shook his head.

"Go on to the hospital. If we have any questions, we know where to find you."

"I'll get Tank to bring me another vehicle and I'll pick you up there," Mitch assured us.

Ranger nodded, "tell Tank to sign off on the permissions and make sure Mike gets home safely and that someone is posted there at all times."

"You got it," Mitch turned back to the police officer as the ambulance pulled into the parking lot.

"Do we really have to do this," I sighed.

"We can't take any chances."

"Dr. Funny Bone is not going to be happy."

"We were taking his advice. We were having pizza with friends," he said as the EMT approached us.

"Somehow, I doubt he'll see it that way."

Fortunately for us, Dr. Riley wasn't on call that night so we had Dr. Friedman. He smiled when he saw us, but after he peeked into our charts he didn't smile quite as widely. He sent Ranger for X-Rays and ordered an Ultrasound machine for me.

Ranger had just returned from his X-Rays when the tech arrived with the ultrasound machine and greased me up.

"Do you have any pain," the tech asked.

"No," I shook my head.

"Okay, let's get a look then." He moved the thing around on my belly after the liberal application of the cold gel. His expression didn't change at any time while he was looking and I even got a look at the bean and so did Ranger. "I'll share these with your doctor and he'll let you know."

"Okay," I nodded.

"But you didn't see anything wrong," Ranger asked clutching my hand.

"I'm not allowed to say. But," he smiled, "don't worry."

Ranger nodded.

"It's okay," I said quietly. "The bean is fine."

"The bean better be fine," he said with a scowl. "But I tell you this much, when I get my hands on whoever is responsible for this…they won't be fine."

"Ranger," I said gently and touched his chin, "you're going to be a father again. This time you're going to be a father all the way through. You can't go around beating the shit out of everyone on the planet. It's not a good idea to teach our child that violence is the answer."

He sighed, "I know. You're right. I'll work on it in therapy. Oh yea, I forgot to tell you, I have an appointment with Dr. Addison tomorrow. He says he's really looking forward to meeting me."

"I bet," I snorted.

"What do you mean by that?"

"He's heard me talking about you for how long now? You know he wants to get a look at you."

"Great," he sighed. "Anyway…I'm going."

"Thank you," I nodded.

"You're welcome," he smiled slightly.

Dr. Friedman came through a few moments later and he was smiling. "All right, we've got good news all around. You're both in good shape considering all that you've been through. I see a notation in your charts that Dr. Riley has requested that you both take it easy and stay out of trouble." He laughed, "He's new here, but he should know better."

"We were trying," I said defensively.

"We were at Pinos having dinner with friends," Ranger sighed. "We weren't up to anything. We weren't searching for a madman. We just were."

He grinned and leaned forward to say softly, "look, as soon as he's been here for a while he'll realize that in Trenton…anything is possible." He straightened. "Try to keep out of trouble."

"We'll try," I sighed.

"Yea," Ranger frowned.

"You know the drill from here," he saluted and left us.

I sat up and eased my legs off the side of the bed. "Let's go check out of here."

"We have to wait for Mitch. There's no telling how long he'll be," he said with a sigh.

"Do we really have to wait for him? Can't we take a cab or something?"

"Babe," he shook his head.

"This is not my idea of a good time Ranger," I sighed.

He opened his phone, "status?" He paused, "see you in ten." He turned to me, "he'll be here in ten minutes. Is that okay?"

"That's fine, let's check out."

Mitch arrived just as we were walking out of the emergency room. I climbed into the backseat and Ranger got in beside me.

I raised a brow at him.

"Just in case we run into any more shooters," he said seriously.

"So not gonna happen," I crossed my arms and glared.

His lips twitched as he put on his seat belt. "Did you learn anything?"

"Nothing we didn't already know," Mitch said. "Whoever is doing this is professional."

"He's got a professional hit man on his ass," Ranger said incredulously.

"It looks that way. The car that was used was stolen. The owner didn't even know it was missing yet. The gun was a glock. There were two men wearing black indistinguishable."

"None of ours," Ranger asked.

"No," Mitch smirked, "we're all accounted for."

"What's so funny," I frowned.

"That Carl asked me that too," Mitch shook his head.

"Yea, we'd be after one of our own," Ranger sighed. "If we wanted to erase one of our own, we'd be a lot neater about it."

"No shit," Mitch frowned.

"What," Ranger said.

"I'm just starting to wonder if Stephanie's on to something."

"Come on Mitch," Ranger shook his head. "Mike was better than a choir boy in Afghanistan."

"This was professional. What on God's earth could Mike have done in Afghanistan that pissed off someone who had money enough to hire a professional? Let's be real here Ranger. He was right. If they were coming after someone, it would be you, Tank, Lester, Bobby or me…it sure as hell wouldn't be Mike. There's something here that we're missing."

Ranger sat back with a sigh, "man, this is not a good time for us to become embroiled in an international incident with our asses on the line."

"When is it ever a good time," I said casually looking out the window.

Mitch laughed, "Good point."

"I just meant that I have other things I need to be concentrating on and not this crap," Ranger said seriously and squeezed my hand lightly.

I turned to smile at him, "thank you. But this is the suck zone. You have no choice but to solve the mystery. It's what you do."

"It's what you do," he said grimly. "I just keep you safe and clean up the mess afterwards and during."

I sighed, "Yea, well as much as you don't like the idea of being involved in an international incident with our asses on the line…I like it about a million times less."

"You know, I think I'm really starting to look forward to my session with Dr. Addison tomorrow," Ranger said with a huge sigh. "I have a lot to talk to him about."

"Just remember that he's not there to help you solve murders, unless it's to prevent you from doing one. He's there to help you through your emotional issues."

"My emotional issues," he said taking a deep breath.

"I know you don't need him to help you know how you feel. You need him to help you deal with those feelings and to learn to express them to me."

"I got it," he nodded.

"I hope so."

"And of course, I'll have to get with Tank and dig through this latest mess we're in or Mike's in or whoever the hell is in and fix it."

"Just be careful doing it," I said softly. "The bean needs her Daddy."

His expression softened and he tugged me lightly against him. "I'll be careful, I promise."

"You better."

"And I'll keep you safe as well."

"Good luck with that," I snorted again.

"You're my priority Stephanie," he said seriously. "I'll keep you and the bean safe. Please trust me to do that."

"I do," I said quietly. It was the one thing I trusted him with completely.