I've gotten really used to doctors. I really have. In my experience, they're usually amused and amusing. They're also usually around fifty and grey haired and male. That is until I met Ranger's family. Celia is female and thirty-three. Rafe is male and he's only thirty-six, but he doesn't have grey hair. And of course none of the triplets have grey hair and they're all female.

When I walked into the waiting room at Celia's offices, or the offices of Jones, Chambers, Dickens, and Schulman. I was immediately put at ease. The offices were beautiful, friendly and inviting. There was comfortable seating and a complete enclosed play area for children. I suppose there are a lot of repeat customers there. That's a good thing.

I approached the receptionist with a smile and she looked up with a smile on her face that immediately changed to shock and then faltered to a trembling attempt at a smile with the beginnings of a hunk trance and a tiny bit of drool. Somewhere in my mind I was now referring to it as the 'Rangeman Effect', you know like the Butterfly Effect but easier to prove.

"I'm Stephanie Manoso, I have an appointment."

"Celia's sister-in-law," she said automatically taking the insurance card I offered her.

"Right," I nodded.

"Your husband," she nodded toward Ranger who was standing behind me.

"Yes," I nodded.

"And the others," she craned around me and blinked again and again.

I turned around to see six other men standing behind Ranger. I turned back with a slight smile and a sigh, "they're employees of my husbands and friends of mine. They're a little over protective."

"I see," she said and handed me a clipboard. "If you'll just fill all of these forms out we'll call you in a few minutes. Don't forget to sign the HIPPA agreement. Today is your first appointment so you'll have a brief consult with Dr. Jones because she handled you in the hospital and then you'll meet your OBGYN Dr. Dickens and continue from there."

I nodded, "thank you." I walked over to sit in the waiting room to fill out the forms. I was almost finished with them when I realized that there was a curious hush over the room. I looked up to see dozens of pairs of feminine eyes, and quite a few children's wide gazes, all focused on the men with me. I shook my head with a smile. One thing is for sure, touring with this entourage was always an adventure.

I glanced over at the men and found Woody shifting in his chair. "What's wrong?"

"They're staring at us," Woody hissed.

"Yep…you should be used to that," I said signing my name at the bottom of the form.

"They're all pregnant," he hissed again.

I looked around the room and grinned. "Well, you know what Gabe said about pregnancy hormones?"

He blinked and turned to the other guys. They all had this 'oh shit' expression on their faces. Yea, I was laughing on the inside.

I took the forms up to the desk and retrieved my card and paid my co-pay. I didn't even get to walk back to my seat before they called my name.

Ranger got to his feet and followed and the other guys got up as well.

The nurse held up her hand and laughed, "Gentlemen, only the father gets to come back here."

The shuffled back to their seats and sat down and looked down at their hands. Yea, I laughed inside some more.

The nurse led us to an open office and stopped in front of the door, "Mr. and Mrs. Manoso are here."

"Great," Celia rushed forward and pulled me into her hug. "Well, you look none the worse for wear. How is the morning sickness?"

"It's pretty much confined to when I just get up for the moment," I smiled. "After a few days of all day morning sickness, this isn't so bad."

"Good," she nodded and reached for Ranger, "Ricardo…you look better. How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine," he nodded.

"I don't believe you little brother," she shook her head, "but I'll let it go. Dr. Riley keeps me up on your antics."

"Great," he shook his head.

"Well Stephanie, this is Dr. Dickson," she said turning me to face a young woman.

"Hi," I held my hand out to her. In my head I was already mentally assessing her as a future mate for one of the guys I knew. She was attractive with long red hair pulled back from her face at the nape of her neck and dark blue eyes. I couldn't tell much about her body under her white doctor's coat, but she was pretty. She was a little shorter than me and she had legs. They looked like good legs. I'm not much of a judge of that. She smiled and raised a single brow at me easily. Wow, she was good.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Mrs. Manoso. Now before you get me married off, let's check you out."

"You're one of those mind readers," I said with narrowing eyes.

"It's not so much that as much as your face is very expressive," she grinned. "You can see just what you're thinking."

"I usually say it out loud," I admitted with some chagrin. "I don't mean to. I have verbal diarrhea."

"There's no cure for that. You have to live with it. God knows I've learned to."

I laughed. "I like you."

"Come on," she smiled. "Thank you Celia. I've got this."

"How old is she," Ranger hissed behind us.

"Don't worry about him," I shook my head.

"I wasn't," she said. She handed me a cup with a lid. "You know the drill. The bathroom is right there."

I nodded and went into the bathroom and peed into the cup and put it through the little window. I washed my hands and left the little room. When I exited she was waiting for me and Ranger was just joining her.

"Okay…scales first."

I groaned. "Is this really necessary?"

"Every time you come in, they're going to weigh you. It's not weight watchers. You won't be judged. We're just assessing how well you're eating and whether the baby is probably getting the right nutrients."

I sighed and stepped on the scales. I watched the little numbers move until they stopped at 108. I blinked. No way. I haven't weighed 108 since college. And I probably weighed less since I was fully clothed.

"What are you worried about anyway," she shook her head. "If anything you're a little thin."

"That's what I keep saying," Ranger nodded.

I rolled my eyes.

"You're going to have to gain some weight for your baby."

"I know," I sighed and followed her down the hall. "I just don't want to balloon up. My sister gained almost seventy pounds with her last one."

"Do you think you're likely to do that," she asked as we entered an examination room.

"No," I shook my head. "But I've never been pregnant before, so I can't be sure."

"All right, we'll monitor it. Why don't you go ahead and strip down to the lovely paper gown we've provided for you and we'll get this exam under way. I suppose Mr. Manoso will be attending throughout?"

I raised a brow at Ranger and he nodded.

"I'd say that's a yes," she smiled. "All right, I'll be back in about ten minutes. Have a seat on the table and cover up with the lovely paper blanket."

"I think your opinion of the paper clothing is a little unrealistic," I said seriously.

"Its how I get my jollies," she grinned and left us alone.

"How old is she," Ranger hissed as soon as she left.

"I don't know," I shook my head and pulled my long sleeved tee shirt over my head. "I don't care as long as she delivers the bean without any problems. We all start somewhere, besides your sister trusts her to deliver our baby.

"My sister owes me for some crap I did to her when I was a kid," he said pointedly.

"She won't take it out on me."

"No," he bit the inside of his mouth, "probably not."

"Stop it," I shook my head and tossed him my jeans. "Make yourself useful."

When she returned in exactly ten minutes I was on the table and Ranger was sitting to the side in a chair looking a little bit uncomfortable.

"Okay, Mr. Manoso, have you ever been in the room during a pelvic exam before?"

He swallowed, "no."

"Well, then this is going to be an adventure for you. This is how it's going to happen. We're going to drop the top half of your wife's gown and I'm basically gonna feel her up. I'm looking for any abnormalities in the breast tissue. Then we're going to cover that half up and I'm going to press on her belly a little bit. Then we're going to uncover some of the bottom half. Then I'm going to take this," she held up a rather large object that was rounded on either side with tong like attributes, "and put it inside your wife's vagina and have a look see. Are you going to be okay with that?"

He looked a little pale, but he nodded to the affirmative.

"All right," she smiled. "Let's get this party started."

After she checked me out, a nurse took me to the lab and they drew some blood. They also drew some of Ranger's blood. They wanted to check the RH factors or something. Then the nurse took us back to Dr. Dickens's office and left us there to wait. Ranger saw her diploma on the wall and studied it.

"I'm twenty-nine," she said from the doorway. "I graduated top of my premed class at Vanderbilt when I was nineteen. I finished my degree at Johns Hopkins where I was still at top of my class. I know what I'm doing Mr. Manoso. Your wife is in capable hands. I've delivered several hundred babies so far."

He offered her his hand, "I'm Ricardo."

She smiled and took it. "I understand your concern. This is your wife and your child. You should be careful. I'd worry if you didn't care."

He nodded and took his seat.

"Okay," she walked around and sat on the edge of her desk in front of us. "Stephanie's electrolytes are a little off. She needs more fluids. I realize that you've been sick a lot, but you have to keep trying to drink the water. I recommend that you stay away from soft drinks if you can. Also, you should cut back on the caffeine. Can you stand decaf?"

I groaned.

"It's best for the baby," she laughed. "You can have one serving of caffeine a day. I don't care if it's one soda or one cup of coffee. You need to drink milk. Can you do that?"

"It's hard because of…"

"I know, but you said your nausea was confined to the am now. So you need to drink milk. You can make it milk shakes, cheese, ice cream, whatever dairy you want to get it from, you need six to eight servings a day. This baby is going to leech calcium and iron off of you big time. So get plenty of dairy and plenty of iron. That could be liver," she laughed at the expression on my face, "well; you could do it with broccoli."

"That would work," I nodded.

"And of course you need plenty of rest. You should continue to exercise. You're in good shape and you'll have an easier delivery if you continue to exercise. I'll prescribe prenatal vitamins. Just live your life and if the nausea gets bad again, try eating several small meals instead of three large ones. You know…graze."

"I can graze," I assured her.

She grinned, "Yea…most of us can. Drink lots of water. Oh…and as far as sex goes," she grinned and her eyes twinkled, "you can continue to have sex as long as you feel comfortable and it doesn't cause you any pain. And no…the baby won't see it."

Ranger laughed.

"Do you have any other questions?"

"I don't think so," I shook my head.

"Okay," she handed Ranger the script for the vitamins. "Get some fluids into her."

"Will do," he nodded.

"I want to see you back here in one month. Stop at the desk on the way out and they'll fix the appointment for you. If you have any questions at all, don't hesitate to call, but it will be easier if you email them to me unless it's an emergency." She handed Ranger her card, "my email address is there. I'll get back to you pretty quickly. Now, we just have a couple of more things to discuss," she walked around her desk and sat down. "Have you thought about the delivery?"

"Yes, I want to do it naturally," I said adamantly.

"And will you be in the delivery room Ricardo?"

He swallowed, "yes."

She laughed, "You don't seem too sure of that. Is she making you be in the delivery room?"

He winced and took a deep breath, "I'll be there."

She nodded. "And will you want to know the sex of your baby at any time before delivery," she asked.

"I don't," I bit my lip. "I would like to be surprised."

"Yes," Ranger smiled at me and took my hand, "we want to be surprised."

"Good," she nodded. "And will you be breast feeding?"

"I'd like to," I nodded.

"And if it's a boy, will it be circumcised," she said and her gaze shifted to Ranger.

"Yes," he nodded.

"Okay…I see you're both Catholic so the question of a Bris is out," she closed the chart. "You should choose a pediatrician as soon as possible. Meet with him or her and make sure they agree with your basic philosophy of child rearing. Give them my number and I'll communicate with them when your expected due date is and what we're expecting at the point of delivery. If you'd like some recommendations, I'd be happy to give you some, but Ricardo you've got a family full of doctors, you may prefer to ask them."

"I'd rather have all the information and not just the biased," he smiled.

"Good answer," she agreed. "I'll email you some of my choices. I'll see you in a month and if you have questions…"

"Email you," Ranger nodded.

"Do you feel comfortable going forward with me as the OBGYN or would you prefer someone else. I will not take it personally."

"No…I like you," I said adamantly. "Can't I stay with you?"

Ranger laughed, "We're fine with you Dr. Dickson."

"Thank you," she smiled. "My name is Kate."

"Thank you Kate," he smiled. "I feel like Stephanie is in good hands."

"Thank you," she smiled. "Okay…go live your lives."

I laughed and got to my feet and shook her hand. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," she said. "Just follow the green arrows. They'll take you out of here."

"Thanks," I nodded and we headed out following those arrows. "We're gonna need these at the new Rangeman tunnel system," I grinned at Ranger. "That way we'll know what tunnel we're in without putting signs up…you know if something happens."

"That's good," he nodded and walked past reception and pulled out his phone while I made my return appointment.

"Mrs. Manoso," the reception whispered.

"Yes," I smiled.

"Do you mind if I ask you something," she dashed a quick look toward the guys and then leaned forward.

"Of course not, what would you like to know?"

"Will they always be with you," she cast her eyes toward the men in black in the waiting room. "I mean, I know your husband probably will be. But will they be with you?"

"Them or some like them," I nodded fighting the urge to giggle.

"Oh," she blinked. "Why?"

"They like to think they're my body guards," I grinned. "They're protecting me. They're very protective."

"Oh," she nodded.

"Do they make you uncomfortable?"

"Oh no," she blushed. "I just thought I might wear some lip gloss or something next time."

I grinned, "You do that."

The parade of men in black gathered around Ranger and I and we left the medical offices. I was put into the back of the SUV and Ranger climbed in beside me.

"What's so funny?"

"The receptionist wanted to know if there would always be men with me," I laughed.

"What did you say," he asked.

"I said yes," I grinned. "She's going to wear lip gloss next time."

He burst out laughing. "Good for her."

"Yea," I nodded. "You looked a little green during my pelvic. Are you okay?"

"You know Stephanie…I've thought about using objects on you before, but somehow in my mind, it wasn't like that."

I laughed so hard that I would have wet my pants if I had not just gone.

"It's not that funny," he said dryly.

"Oh yea it is," I giggled gasping for air.

"I tell ya," Mitch said glancing into the rear view mirror, "the two of you make it easy for a man to choose to NOT get involved with a woman. I mean, is what you have a normal marriage?"

"It's normal for us," I shrugged. "You'll have one that's normal for you."

"I can't wait," he said sarcastically.

"Aw come on Mitch, we're just getting to the good part."

"Right," he said turning onto the busy road in front of the hospital, "your idea of the good part and mine…they're two different things."

"You never know," I smiled up at my husband. "It could be the same thing and you just don't know it yet."

"Yea…it could be," Ranger said softly and leaned over to kiss me.

Mitch just shook his head.

I understand it. At one time I didn't understand what the good part was either. But now I do.