***Bonus Chapter for the Day***

This is a little bonus before the Wedding chapters start. I won't leave you hanging long, but wanted to get a little bit of Ranger's POV in there before the wedding. Keep up the reviews, and messages- they have absolutely cracked me up. I think it is amazing to read all the funny wedding stories. Next chapter coming as quick as I can :)

xoxo-Brit*

PS: If you want to take a look at the dress that semi-inspired Stephanie's wedding dress, the link is on my profile page ;)

**These Characters belong to Janet Evanovich, I make no money, all mistakes are mine.**

SPOV

Bachelorette Spa Night

After work,the girls met me at the house, and it had already been transformed into a Zen paradise. Calm music, massage tables, the works. We all headed off to change into our given robes, and settled in to enjoy our evening of relaxation.

I was more than ready to get into the relaxation portion of this whole wedding shindig. After the crazy week I had, I felt...off. I guess stressing yourself out to the max, being hooked to enough benedryl via IV to bring down an army, and the steroid shot had taken its toll.

I was on the massage table next to Mary Lou who was more than excited to induct me into the Married Mommy's Club... something she never thought she would see after my marriage to the Dick, and disaster of a "relationship" with the once Detective Morelli.

I was enjoying my peace, and silence (something that Mary-Lou, and Val can understand) when my cell phone started ringing with the Bibbidi- Bobbidi Boo ringtone sounding on my phone. Good Lord, my kid is insane. She insists on changing the ringtones on our phones when we aren't looking. Without looking, I know it is Ella... Julie's Cinder-ella, hence the ringtone. My Jules... she cracks me up.

I answered the phone giggling, having to explain to Ella the story of the ringtone. She seriously eats it up. She has no grandkids, and Carlos, and I are like her own, so she dotes over Julie, and Angie like to the point of having to interfere as a parent, otherwise they are going to be spoiled brats.

Ella had called to let me know that Julie, and Angie had made it to RangeMan, and were about to indulge in their chocolate facials. I gave my love, and thanked her for letting me know my baby was safe and sound. Ever since the whole Helen/Morelli stuff started, I always have anxiety until I know she is safe.

By the time I hung up the phone, the girls were giving me looks about the Cinderella Ringtone, so I had to repeat the story of Julie's Cinderella, and laughed with them about the time that she had changed Carlos' ringtone for me on his phone while he wasn't "being aware of his surroundings."

He was in a meeting with his former C.O about a few of the guys that were still taking missions, and I called to leave him a voicemail about having a last minute meeting with the seamstress, and I would be late for dinner. Apparently, he keeps his ringtones for myself, and Julie active even during meetings to be safe, and when I called, Sisqo's "The Thong Song" started playing at full volume.

I was completely stunned when he actually answered the phone, and sounded out of breath... when I told him that I was going to leave a voicemail, there was no reason to answer, he told me that our daughter had hacked his password encrypted phone, and changed my ringtone to "The Thong Song." He said he didn't know whether to be more furious that she embarrassed him, or impressed with her hacking skills. I just giggled, left him the message, and left him to explain to his CO why his teenage daughter a) knows who Sisqo is, and b) how she got the one-up on her former Mercenary father.

In the end, Julie told us she had gotten ahold of Uncle Lester's iPod, and copied all the songs to her computer. Uncle Lester got monitor duty, and a week of 5 am Mat-time with Tank for exposing our child to raunchy music, and Julie got her song library thinned out, and grounded for a week. Carlos, however will always be taunted with the fact that his CO witnessed his daughter catch him flat footed.

The girls absolutely lost it. Not often does Carlos Manoso get embarrassed, and everyone knows it. Pretty funny stuff.

After massages, facials, and a fair amount of wine, and pizza we retired to the lounge area to talk, and spend some rare girl time together.

Everyone's life is going well, and Lula, and Connie have even enrolled in Community College. Connie is studying Business Management, and Lula will be studying Cosmetology. I have to say, we haven't had a ton of contact in the months since I got Julie, but the contact after that first showdown, I have been impressed.

Lula had told me during that original Spa Day before Carlos proposed, that she was really ready to step-up, and change her life, and I have to say- she is well on her way. About 3 weeks ago, she quit the Bond's office, and started as a shampoo girl at the Clip'N'Curl. Grandma Mazur put in a good word for her.

She said she wanted away from the crap, and wanted to start from the very bottom, and hopefully earn a chair cutting hair, and doing makeup there one day. She finally found a place that embraces her creativity in changing her hair color, and is thriving. She is around a lot of gossip at the Clip'N'Curl, but she says none of which is centered around me. Helen, however has been raked over hot coals. I can't say I'm sad about that.

Connie is loving the business classes, and really happy to be learning how to operate a business that isn't a glorified barnyard porn shop. At the moment, she is working at the College in the main office getting some experience of her own, and she doesn't even have to bathe in hand sanitizer anytime she touches anything in her office.

As for the Bond's office? From what I hear, Lucille is running the front office, and Vinny is chasing skips. Oh, sweet revenge. I would give anything to see Vinnie after chasing down Punky.

Celia came in for pizza, and a massage, but ended up having to leave because Arabella spiked a fever with the babysitter, and she had to hot-foot it home, and take care of the little one. I love being able to hang out with her, I hate it that she had to leave.

Val, and Albert have been trying to work out their problems for the better part of 3 months. Carlos, and I have tried to help out when possible to try to give them the privacy, and opportunities to re-claim some intimacy back, but I am starting to fear that it's not going to happen.

Val is thriving at the front desk at RangeMan. She takes calls, and has organized the whole front of the house in impressive time. Tank has even started to delegate some of the scheduling to her, setting up meetings, and re-decorating the whole bottom level, and conference rooms.

I am beyond glad that my relationship with Val has evolved into something really special. I have never seen her with such a sense of Independence, and she finally feels like she has a place in the world that isn't barefoot, pregnant, and in front of a pot roast. I couldn't be prouder.

Unfortunately, as Val told us when she had some wine in her, the fighting with Albert hasn't stopped. His law practice never really picked up, and he is starting to resent the fact that Val has become the bread-winner in the family. There has been talk about a trial separation during fall break to see how life can function with some space. Hopefully, it will bring them closer together once they have some space to breathe, and re-evaluate. Only time will tell.

Mary-Lou is living her Burg-style fantasy life, but loves that I have found my wings. Out of all the people out here, even if it isn't for her, she has supported me, and been my partner-in-crime. I think she just likes to live vicariously through me, then go home to her safe existence. In my days as a bounty hunter, I can't say I blame her. My life was insane.

We talked for hours, and retired fairly early so I wouldn't have dark circles for my walk down the isle. I made it up the stairs to get ready for bed, and received a text message from Carlos telling me good night, he loved me more than life, and couldn't wait for me to become . Swoon.

I took a hot shower, careful not to wet my hair that apparently had to be dirty tomorrow to be fixed? Whatever works, I guess... Throughout the evening, I still felt absolutely horrible, but really appreciated the girl time, and spa treatments. The stress has really been getting to me, and I think I need a month of sleep to recover from the craziness.

I got into bed around 11:30 pm, and closed my eyes to attempt to sleep. About 30 minutes into my fitted slumber, I knew something was seriously going on. Something wasn't right, and I am supposed to get married tomorrow evening. Now is not the time to be sick for the first time in 3 years.

I went to the bathroom, and wretched for about 20 minutes, when the door cracked, and Val peeked her head in. She saw the state of my head being plastered to the porcelain, and wiped me off with a wash cloth, and fixed my hair back. Finally she got me into bed, and I felt like the whole room was swirling. Val went in the next room, and got Mary-Lou up to come in the bedroom to attempt to tend to me.

I sat in the center of my bed with some ginger-ale, and crackers cursing the stupid Pino's pizza that I consumed today, and chewed on the crackers that Val, and Mary-Lou were forcing on me.

Mary-Lou spoke first...

"Steph, I think we need to call Carlos, you are seriously sick. Maybe he, and Bobby can come here, and get you some fluids, or something. You are looking really pale. I know you want to ignore it all, so you can get married tomorrow, but maybe we can get this straightened out tonight, and you can rest until walking down the isle. You need to take care of yourself. You may have the nasty stomach flu. Mikey had it last week, and it was going around his school, maybe during your conference you picked it up. Regardless, you need to be seen, I don't want you dehydrated."

Literally, calling Carlos, and ruining his last night of freedom was the last thing I wanted to do. I should have been listening to my body telling me I was exhausted the last little bit, but I figured it was the home-stretch, and I could push through. Obviously it isn't food poisoning considering the rest of the girls ate the same thing, and are passed out with the exception of Mary-Lou, and Val. Stupid stomach virus.

The whole time, Val sat on the other side of the bed chewing her lip, looking like she wanted to say something but didn't want me to have an absolute meltdown. She had better not have had the flu, and not told me. I will kill her.

I looked at her, and raised my eyebrow...

"Uhm. Steph, I'm not quite sure how to say this, but I really don't think you have the flu. You don't have a temperature, and you have been in serious bitch mode this week. I really really recognize the symptoms. Are you pregnant?"

.

Meanwhile...

RPOV

RangeMan Bachelor Night

After finishing up for the day, and giving my Babe a lingering kiss goodbye, I headed up to the Penthouse to shower, and get in more comfortable clothes. I was completely opposed to having a so-called "Bachelor Party." In all seriousness, I love hanging out with the guys some, but being away from Stephanie, and Julie for a whole night makes me feel like I am missing a part of me. Not really conductive to the whole Celebration vibe they are planning for me.

About 20 minutes after getting settled in the Penthouse, the guys started filing in. We decided to go upstairs to the roof, and have some cigars, and drink a little whiskey.

The guys had already set up the roof with some music, chairs, and a fire pit, so we all sat around drinking, and talking. Frank, and Louis stopped by for about an hour, and I realized how lucky I am to have a father-in-law that is former Military, and is a complete natural around the guys. Truthfully, they love him. He has been a really good addition to the RangeMan family. Since moving in, he has taken over some searches for the research department when he isn't driving the cab. It's pretty remarkable, my Babe gets her intuition from her Dad. He runs a search that is only secondary to my lovely fiancé... which is pretty damn amazing.

I was really enjoying spending quality time with my wayward brother, it had been a really long time since we had any time at all together. He hangs out with Lester pretty often picking up women, and I'm clearly far past that portion of my life. Their stories once Louis, and Frank left were pretty damn hilarious.

My brother accidently started dating sisters at the same time. He ended up with a knee to the balls, and a shiner from the other sister. He decided to be a little more careful after that incident.

Lester tried hitting on an older woman at a bar, and soon found out that it was one of his previous conquests Mother's once she woman recognized him from a picture on her daughters Facebook page. His night clearly didn't end with a happy ending. Much to his displeasure, my brother was playing wing-man to him that night, and watched the whole crash, and burn go down. I doubt they will ever grow up.

I looked down at my phone, and saw it was starting to get late, and I knew my Babe would want to go to sleep early so she was well rested for the day. I shot her a text message telling her how much I love her, and can't wait to be married, and she immediately texted back to me "I love you, and can't wait to be Stephanie Michelle Manoso in less than 24 hours."

When I looked up from my phone, I guess I had a goofy smile on my face. My brother rolled his eyes, and laughed at how whipped I am. Whatever he wants to call me is fine- I have the love of a woman that is nothing short of perfection in my eyes, a beautiful daughter, and I am getting married tomorrow. I'm not even trying to hide my happiness. They are just jealous.

I sat smoking my cigar, listening to a few more stories before calling it a night, and showering, then putting myself to bed. I was having a horrible time sleeping since I have slept with my Babe in my arms every night since I returned. It feels wrong to be alone in this bed.

I laid, and worried for the longest time about Steph. She has run herself ragged in the past few months, and has had a horrible week. When I kissed her good-bye, I could see the exhaustion on her beautiful face. Thank goodness all this wedding crap will be over very soon, and this time tomorrow, we will be married, and on our way to Jamaica for a week.

Stephanie deserves a break after having so much thrust at her in such a short amount of time. I hope she can muscle through this last lap, and then she can have a week of complete, and total relaxation, and alone time. Ahhh... alone time. I have dreamed of this week off ever since she said yes. One more day, I keep telling myself.

My last thoughts before sleep finally took me to dream-land was of my beautiful soon to be wife, and the light of our lives, Julie.