You guys know she owns them. This is her fan fiction site, right. You know I'm not getting paid. Let's leave it at that.
It was a little after nine o'clock when the loudest banging on our outer door could be heard.
Ranger grunted and tugged me closer.
I shook my head and pulled away from him and headed for the door pulling his tee shirt on over my naked ass.
"This better be important," I growled as I flung the door open.
Lula fell on me enveloping me in a hug with Tank right behind her and soon wrapping around both of us.
Ranger appeared in the bedroom door in his shorts and bed head and a not so sweet expression on his face. "What in the hell is going on?"
"We're gonna have a baby," Lula squalled.
I blinked in shock. "You are? You're pregnant."
"No…not specifically," she wailed.
"Tank," I looked up at him in confusion with a pleading look on my face.
"Stephanie Plum Manoso," Ranger growled and stalked across the room and pulled me out of Lula's arms. "Go put some damn clothes on."
"What," I blinked up at him.
"I can see your ass. If I can see your ass Tank will be able to see your ass," he pulled the shirt down. "Change…now!"
"Grouch," I stuck my tongue out at him and walked carefully back to the bedroom.
Connie and Woody appeared in the doorway behind Tank and Lula.
"They told you," Connie asked.
"Told me what," Ranger frowned.
"You better wait for me," I yelled from the other room.
"You heard the lady," Connie grinned as Kate and Brian joined them.
By the time I emerged from the bedroom with shorts and a tee shirt on and my wild hair pulled up in a pony tail, our whole crowd was in the room.
"What is going on," I blinked.
"Connie has offered to carry a child for us," Lula said tearfully. She barely managed to get the words out before wrapping her arms around Connie and bawling some more.
"Oh honey, that's great," I said tearfully and went to hug both women and rub Lula's back gently. "What does that entail?"
"That entails getting Lula on some fertility shots, and then we'll harvest some of her eggs," Kate said with a grin. "Then the big guy gets to make a nice contribution into a cup."
"How romantic," Ranger cracked.
"Shut up asshole," Tank grinned.
Kate laughed, "Then we'll put the egg and the contribution together. If they fertilize, we'll implant Connie. Now Connie will have to take some shots for a while too. That will make it more likely to take. But Lula, you have to understand this almost never happens on the first try. The average successful embryo implant takes more than once and up to four times if…if it's going to be successful at all. Connie's already a patient of mine and her alkali is good. She's healthy. She's under 35, there's a good chance it will take the first or second time if we get on it quickly."
"Better hurry Kate," Connie sighed. "I'm 34 this year."
"We'll start the treatment as soon as we get back to Trenton, on both of you."
I walked over and sank down on Ranger's knee. He was sitting at the dining table just taking it all in.
"You need to think about this too Connie," I said with a smile. "You and Woody talked about making it official soon. If you wait too long people will think you two put the cart before the horse. Your daddy won't appreciate that. He may think less of Woody for it."
"Oh Jesus," Connie groaned.
"We can go to Vegas baby," Woody grinned. "Just put that ring on my finger."
She laughed.
"Or you could do it here, like we discussed. I mean, we could get your families here pretty quickly, couldn't we?" I looked back at Ranger when I finished my sentence.
"Hell yeah," he grinned. "We can do this."
"Or," Jack smiled from the doorway, "you could allow us to help."
"Hey Jack," Ranger grinned.
"Hey Ranger," Jack laughed. He turned to Connie and Woody, "want to do it?"
Woody glanced at Connie, "oh yeah. We want to do it."
He pulled his phone out, "I need a wedding planner in the Manoso suite immediately."
Connie's mouth dropped open.
"It's on," Natalie said gleefully.
The wedding planner that they called wasn't just any old wedding planner. She was the chief wedding planner. Jack's boss really appreciated how we'd handled everything and told him to give us anything we wanted. Cost did not matter. He didn't know Connie, but it didn't matter anyway. She didn't go crazy.
A travel coordinator also showed up to help get the list of guests that would need transportation to the resort and in the thick of it all was our liaison Karen doing her thing to make sure everything went smoothly and everyone worked together.
It was a whirlwind. By seven o'clock that night, the wedding invitations had been emailed. Connie had been fitted for a dress. Lula, Natalie and I had been fitted for dresses. Woody, Tank and Ranger had been fitted for tuxes and Manny had been measured in Trenton and the tux was being prepared. The flowers were ordered. The cake was ordered. The dinner was settled on. The guest list was finalized and the seating chart completed. I'm telling you, if I was getting married again (and I'm not) I would call this woman to do the planning. She was a whirlwind.
The most minute details were being considered and all Connie or Woody had to do was point at a picture, and it was done. It was kind of Weddings for Dummies, but with a Disney theme. Connie and Woody didn't mind. Doing it this way meant there wasn't the typical back and forth arguing between the families on how to do things. And in Connie and Woody's case, there was less arguing than ever since his family was coming in from Oklahoma and they wouldn't expect anything too fancy to begin with. Connie appreciated it because her mother and her aunts always argued about anything to do with her. She was an only child and spoiled…by everyone.
They served us dinner outside in the rose garden that night and we were in place for the fireworks. While the fireworks went off I looked around and took stock of our little group. Connie and Woody were nuzzling. Tank and Lula were practically making out. Natalie and Cal were in awe of the fireworks. Ali and Mitch were leaning against the rail side by side pointing things out and grinning at each other. Padma and Gabe were nearby. Gabe leaned against a light post with Padma against him and his hands on his wife's burgeoning belly. Manuel and Jenna were nowhere to be found, which I found highly amusing. But what broke my heart was Kate chatting with the caterer while the fireworks went off and Brian sitting at a table by the water alone just staring at the dark water.
I sighed.
"What," Ranger asked.
I pointed.
"Cheer him up, don't run off with him."
"Ass," I stuck my tongue out at him.
He swatted at my ass as I walked away. He was sure of me. It was good.
I dropped into the chair by Brian, "hey."
"Hey," he said not looking at me.
"What's up? You not into fireworks," I said with a smile.
He shrugged.
I sighed and leaned against his arm. "You know, I know that you're an incredible man. You're hot. You're successful and you're really good in bed."
He snorted.
"That's how I know that soon…very soon the right girl is going to come along and sweep you off your feet and it will be all over."
"I thought you were going to be the right girl," he said quietly.
"Then you know it wasn't Kate," I said with a smile. "She's your rebound girl. Besides, she doesn't appreciate you. There's something wrong with her if she doesn't appreciate you." I linked my arm through his.
"Is he okay with this," he nodded toward Ranger.
"He told me not to run off with you," I grinned.
"I had my chance," he sighed.
"You probably really didn't," I said seriously.
"I know," he smiled and kissed my head.
"But if it makes you feel any better, you're still the only man he feels threatened by."
"Actually," he grinned at me, "it does."
I laughed. "The right girl will come along Brian. I meant what I said about how great you are. If you need me give her references, just let me know. I'll tell her all about how talented your tongue is."
"Oh dear God," he blushed and looked up to see Ranger scowl at him. He tugged his arm away from me, "are you trying to get me killed?"
"No, I'm trying to make you understand that she's not good enough for you."
He looked at me in surprise.
"If she doesn't see you…you and accept you as you are, she doesn't deserve you and she has really unrealistic expectations about men because baby, you're cream of the crop," I grinned.
He relaxed in the chair for a second, "thanks Steph. You're a good friend."
"I know," I beamed up at him.
"Come on," he got to his feet and hauled me up. "Let's go hang out with Ranger. If we're all three together I'm less likely to die."
I laughed and linked my arm through his, "we'll see."
"Such a bluebird of happiness," he sighed.
We joined Ranger at the rail and he tugged me into his arms and winked at Brian over my head. I don't know if he meant for me to see it or not, but I did and I was grateful.
When the fireworks were over I grinned up at Brian.
"What," he frowned.
"I have another cousin, on the Mazur side."
"Full Hungarian," he raised a brow.
"Hungarian and French," I waggled a brow. "She's gorgeous with long black curling hair and big blue eyes…like mine. She's way curvier and when she walks into the room men begin to pant."
"Yea," he rolled his eyes. "That's just the kind of woman I usually attract."
"Don't sell yourself short. I'm pretty good at this matchmaker thing. The only one I've failed with so far is Mitch and as you know I had a head injury at the time. Look around cowboy, I hooked quite a few of these couples up in one way or another."
Brian looked around and then back at Ranger and raised a brow.
Ranger grinned lecherously, "Her name is Katarina. She's smokin'."
"I will beat your ass," I growled up at him.
He grinned and Brian laughed.
"Fine, introduce us."
"Fine," I glared at Ranger one more time before turning back to him, "I will. I think a dinner party would be good. We'll invite couples and Katarina and it will be love at first sight for both of you. She'll be in town later on this summer."
"I shall look forward to it," he winked at me and strolled off whistling.
"Good job," Ranger said tugging me to his side as we strolled toward the entrance and our room. "What happened with Kate?"
"I'm not a hundred percent sure," I said with a sigh. "I guess in spite of everything, she just wasn't that into him."
"When did you find out?"
"She told me last night."
"Shows what I know," he said with a shake of his head. "I thought she was really into him?"
"Me too," I frowned. "She seemed disappointed that he'd decided to leave the FBI. Maybe she prefers G-men or maybe she thinks he couldn't cut it or I don't know. But if she can't see how great he is, then screw her. He can find someone who deserves him more."
"Babe…it's a good thing I know you love me."
"Is it," I smiled.
"Yes, a lesser man…a less confident man would be pretty upset by your relationships with all these men."
"I have relationships with women too."
"And yet I never get to watch," he sighed heavily.
I elbowed him in the side. "You used to be so silent and mysterious."
He laughed, "Then you unleashed the real Ricardo Carlos Manoso. Be careful what you wish for Babe, you just might get it. I find that I don't even like being called Ranger that much anymore. I think I want people to call me Ricardo."
"Probably not gonna happen," I grinned.
"Probably not," he grinned back. "But you don't always call me Ranger."
"Nope," I agreed and wrapped my arms around his waist. "My family calls you Ricardo. Natalie calls you Ricardo. Your family calls you Ricardo. You're off to a good start."
"And soon I'll have a new permanent name."
"Yeah?"
"Daddy," he grinned.
"Yeah," I smiled. "You will."
"I'm going to like that one a lot," he smiled.
"I am too," I sighed and leaned against him. "It's my favorite."