The next few months went by quickly. There was a lot of teasing done at Ranger for fainting, but he took it all in stride. Steph wouldn't let him punish the guys and because her morning sickness was worse than with Rosie, he agreed so he wouldn't upset her. Julie was glad that she didn't live in the apartment with them anymore because Steph was so sick. She did help take care of Rosie, but with her starting preschool for half days, most of what she helped with was transporting her to and from preschool.
She settled into her new role in the office quickly and soon became a favorite contact from a lot of the customers. Her relationship with Ram was progressing well, but as she got busier at work, she didn't have much time to spend with him. They took advantage of whatever small amount of time they could get together. They didn't tell anyone about their relationship, especially Ranger. They didn't advertise that they spent time outside of work together and at the office, they acted like coworkers, joking with each other like she did with the rest of the guys.
He was exceptionally patient with her and while she could tell that he wanted things to progress further between them sexually, she wasn't ready to go that far. She was 23 years old now and while she had dated in the past, she had never had sex with anyone. She knew that she wanted to with Ram, but she wanted to do it when she was ready. She had talked to him about it one night when things got heated at her house between them, but she stopped it before things could get too far. He stood up and walked out the room, leaving Julie behind on the couch. She called out to him, "Ram?" "Just give me a minute Julie." She wiped at tears that were silently falling down her face, pulled her legs up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. Ram walked back in the room and saw that she was crying and knelt down on the floor in front of her.
"Hey, please don't cry. I'm sorry." He wiped her tears and cupped her cheeks with both hands. Julie gave a half smile and said, "No, I'm sorry. I don't know what keeps stopping me. I want to do this with you, but I'm scared, I guess." He sat on the couch and pulled her into his lap. "You don't have to be scared kiddo. We can wait longer if that's what you want, there's no rush." She shook her head, "It's not fair to you that I'm holding back." He tipped her chin up and said, "I think that part of the problem is that we are hiding our relationship from everyone. I want to tell everyone at work." She looked at him, but said nothing, so he continued. "Don't you want to get it out in the open? We've been hiding our relationship for almost a year and it's getting tiresome." She stood up and started pacing around the living room. She was mumbling to herself and Ram just sat back and watched. He'd seen her do this before when she was working through problems. Eventually she stopped and came back to stand in front of him. "Ok, I'll talk to Steph and see what she suggests we do." Ram agreed and pulled her back into his lap and gave her a long kiss. "Okay, talk to Steph and we'll go from there." He left soon after that and headed back to his RangeMan apartment.
The next few days were busy for Julie, but once she had a couple of hours free in the afternoon, she asked Stephanie if she wanted to go out to lunch. Steph was in her fifth month of this pregnancy and was finally feeling good. She was larger than she had been with Rosie, but she did have two babies this time, plus once she got her appetite back, it seemed like some days she ate non-stop. They sat in the booth at Pino's and after their order was placed, Steph looked at Julie and said, "What do you want to talk about?" Julie cleared her throat and said, "I wanted your advice on something." Steph nodded and waved her hand in the air for Julie to continue. "Well, you see…the thing is…." Steph said, "Julie, just spit it out." Julie sighed and said, "I've been dating someone for a while and wanted to let you and my dads know without it causing any problems." Steph sat back stunned at what Julie had just told her. "You've been dating someone for a while? How long is a while? Why don't I know about it?" Julie smiled and said, "Yes, I've been dating someone for almost a year, I guess. I must be better at hiding things than I thought. I guess we didn't want to tell anyone yet and have decided that now is the time to do spill the beans." Steph's eyes grew big and she said, "You're not pregnant, are you?" Julie laughed and said, "That would be a miracle if it were true." Steph looked at her for a minute and said, "You mean you and he have never…" Julie shook her head, "Nope, because I've never…" Steph smiled and said, "Well sweetie, when the time is right, you'll know. As far as you telling everyone, if that's what you want to do, then do it. Bring your guy to supper some night at the house and introduce him to your dads. Let him know to expect an interrogation and probably background checks before you let him meet your dads. I'd say Ranger was an issue, but Ron has gotten just as bad since he moved to Trenton and started working with us." Julie agreed and they finished their lunch. As they were walking out of Pino's, Steph stopped and turned around to face Julie. "Hey, you never told me if I know him or his name." Julie stared her in the eyes and said, "Oh, you know him. His name is Ramsey."
