As always, I don't own anything and so on.

Ps: For the one who asked, I have no idea who Ranger called. He's the man of mistery, how should I know?

Joy and Pain

Chapter 9: Parents Nr. 2a

It was Friday afternoon and I was sitting in my cubicle doing a research on a granny that reminded me of my Grandma Mazur. She had been grabbed for indecent behavior. She had taken a bath in the fountain of a mall, in the afternoon, naked. You're probably asking yourself why she was given to RangeMan. Well that's because her son's not only a son but a Son. He belongs not only to her family but to The Family, too. And he had sworn to protect his grandma. Again no bad thoughts from my side. I would have done the same.

The past days had been as uneventful as my days could be. Means, no photographs or shots in any other way.

The bad thing was that Torner was untraceable both to RangeMan and the TPD.

Since Sunday not only my family, Ranger, Tank and Ella know about the baby but Lula and Connie, too.

It had been a concert of screams. I had invited them over to RangeMan. They screamed when they learned that they were in Ranger's appartment, again when they heard that I lived together with him, again when they heard that we're together and they just completely lost it when I told them about the baby. After that we had eaten donuts and they grilled me about every detail. They promised not to tell anyone. They stayed until 7 in the evening when Ranger came home.

Well not really home. We would start to search for a home the next week.

I printed the information on The Family Granny and turned the computer off. Ranger had forbidden me to work longer than 3 hours without break.

So now I worked from 8 to 11 , then I took a walk with Ella, then I had lunch together with Ranger or somebody else if he had an appointment, than I slept until 2 and then I worked from 2 to 5.

And I knew that every moment Ranger would stand in my door and see if I really stopped working.

We hadn't told the other emlpoyees that I was pregnant, yet. We wanted to tell Ranger's family first.

And we would tomorrow.

My stomach fluttered at the thought of it and I sighed.

"What's up, babe?" I jumped up.

"Ranger! I told you to stop sneaking up to me." I put one arm around my stomach but it was more a gesture to protect my baby than anything else.

He walked up to me and pulled me into his arms. "I'm sorry, babe. I didn't want to. You were so deep in thoughts that you didn't hear me."

I snuggled into him. "You're right. I'm sorry, too. I didn't want to be snappy."

"You weren't. What were you thinking about?"

I looked down at my shoes and he sighed. "Not my family again." I nodded.

He kissed me softly. "I told you that you don't have to worry, they'll love you."

"I know, but…"

"But what?"

I looked up at him. "What if they think that I want to trap you with my pregnancy or that I only want you because of your money."

He chuckled. "They won't, babe."

"How can you be so sure about that?" I was starting to become angry. He didn't take me seriously.

He immediately sensed my mood change and became serious. He sat down in my chair and pulled me onto his lap.

"I'm sure because I have already told them about you a long time ago. They know that you're special to me and my parents know that I love you. Besides Julie told them much about you."

"Really?"

He nodded. "I always talk to my parents about my problems and Julie's truly crazy about you."

"I was a problem for you?"

He nodded. "Yes, because I was afraid you would be hurt if I got too close but I couldn't seem to keep my distance. You're like a magnet babe."

I smiled and snuggled into him.

"Feelin' better now?"

I nodded.

"Good. Did you rest enough?"

"Yes, why?"

He grinned at me. "Because I'm free for today and the whole weekend and I want to go swimming with you as Dr.Meek instructed."

I grinned back. "Really?" He nodded.

That was wonderful.

"Where are we going swimming, Ranger?"

"You will see. Do you have swim-wear here?"

I nodded. During the last days I had moved more of my things into the appartment. By now my bedroom and my bathroom in the old appartment were empty. My lease would end in August.

"Okay, then lets go and change."

An hour later I watched Ranger do the crawl through the water. I was leaning on the edge, kicking the water.

We were in a house that belonged to a friend of Ranger who moved to Britain but kept the house because he was raised in it. The house was huge and everything looked pretty expensive.

Ranger moved towards me, put his arms around my waist and pulled me to him.

I smiled and kissed him.

"Are you tired?" I shook my head. "No, just enjoyed watching you." He grinned and pulled me with him. "Come on, you need exercise."

I scowled at him but swam.

We talked about Lula and Tank, who had parted and were both miserable now, and laughed because, just like us, they didn't seem to realize that they belonged together.

After half an hour I became tired so we dried off and dressed.

"Can I come here more often? It's too hot to walk at 12 even when Ella and me walk through the forest."

"Of course you can, babe."

"That's good."

I fell asleep during the drive home and, once again, Ranger carried me up. He let me sleep until 8 then he woke me up and we ate dinner

Saturday, 12 o'clock:

Ranger parked in front of a nice little town house. The area looked neat and save. A complete contrast to the area where Ranger grew up.

Ranger had told me that his family had moved here when he had been 16. At this time his grandmother, his father's mother, had died and left his father a decent amount of money. He had used it to build up a practice and made much more money than he had when he worked at the emergency room.

The only ones that still lived in the poor area was his grandmother and his grandfather, his mother's parents. But they lived in a part that was mostly save because there lived mostly old people and they were respected.

His mother had grown up there, too. She was a nurse and that had been how she had gotten to know his father, who had moved from Florida to Trenton to work here.

Both of his grandparents had grown up in Cuba and had moved to the USA when they got married.

So, as I already said, now we're sitting in the BMW in front of their house.

I looked to my left. Huh, no Ranger. I heard someone chuckle and looked to my right. Ranger was smiling at me. He had opened my door and was leaning down.

He kissed me and took my hand.

"Come on,babe. We don't want to be late."

"You didn't tell me who would be here yet."

"My parents and a few others."

"A few others?" Okay, so I sounded a little panicked but hey, we are talking bat-family here.

"My grandparents and 3 of my sisters. Maria, Rita and Carleen. Carleen studies in Yale but is home for 2 months right now. Celia is in Australia with her children because it's safe there."

"Do they have kids?" I asked while Ranger opened the trunk to take out a few presents. He gave me the vine I had picked out for his father and the cake my mother had baked. She had told me to invite Ranger's parents over for dinner soon. I hoped I could postpone it as long as I could. My parents and my grandma could be a little….well…embarassing. But I loved them anyway.

He laid one arm around me and walked me to the door.

"Maria has a son and a daughter. Alejandro is 12 and Ana is 6. Her husband is currently in China. Rita has twins, David and Pedro. They're 4. Her husband, Jake, should be here tonight,too. He's an estate agent and I want to ask him to help us with our house."

He rang the bell and we heard a dog bark.

"That's my father's dog. Mary is a German shepherd, she's a nice dog."

We heard someone sent the dog back into the garden. Then the door was opened by an old man. The resemblance with Ranger wasn't obvious. It was the kind of resemblance you only notice when two persons are close to each other.

"Ah, mi nieto. Oh, y una qué mujer hermosa."(+) He grabbed my hand and kissed it. "I'm Ricardo's grandfather, Carlo."

I smiled. "Hands off, abuelo.(+)" Ranger narrowed his eyes at his grandfather but he was smiling. "She's mine."

His grandfather laughed. "Then look out for her. I'm sure your father would just live to steal her from you."

"Steal whom?" Came a voice from behind him.

"Your son's woman."

"No, I wouldn't." Ranger's father appeared next to Carlo. He looked at me and grinned. "Well, maybe I would."

Everyone laughed.

"Padre, that's Stephanie. Babe, that's my father Carlos."

We shook hands. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Manoso."

"It's completely my pleasure, honey. And call me Carlos, please."

I smiled at him.

"Carlos, where are your manners. Why don't you invite them in?" A female voice asked.

Ranger's grandfather turned towards his son-in-law, smiling. "Yes, Carlos, where are your manners?"

Ranger chuckled and we went into the house.

It looked as neat as the outside had promised. And it looked friendly. Welcoming.

The hall was painted in a soft yellow. A bouquet of sunflowers was standing on top of an antique looking commode. In the middle of the hall a little woman stood, hands on her waist. She had to be Ranger's mother. They had the same eyes.

She smiled as soon as she saw me and came towards me.

"Ah, Stephanie. It's so nice to finaly meet you. I'm Marta, Ricardo's mother." She took the cake and the bottle out of my hands and hugged me.

"Come on, you need something cool to drink. It's just too hot this sommer, don't you think? Was your drive okay?"

I had to smile. Ranger's mother was a talker, who would have thought?

She steered me into a beautiful kitchen.

"What's under the foil?"

"A cake my mother made and this is Italian vine. I hope you'll like it."

"Oh, that's very nice. I'm sure we will. Come on lets drink a little bit champagne."

Ranger interfered. "No alcohol for Stephanie." He pured some water into a glass and gave it too me.

"¿Es ella católica?"( +) An older woman asked. I jumped because I hadn't heard her coming into the room.

"Si, abuela."( +) He wrapped one arm around me. "Babe that's my grandmother Rosa."

She looked me over, nodded satisfied and went back into what seemed to be the living room.

"Come on, I'll introduce you to the others." Ranger's mother said and took my hand. She pulled me into the living room, which was filled with people.

Ranger's mother clapped her hands. "Listen everyone, this is Ricardo's girlfriend Stephanie."

"Stephanie, that's my daughter Maria, her son Alejandro and her daughter Ana." She pointed to a woman that looked just like her younger version. She was pretty with her black curly hair and her body looked as if it had been created by an artist. She smiled at me and shook my hand. Two children were standing on either side of her. Ana was a little girl that looked like her mother except for her brown straight hair and I knew she would break hearts sooner than her mother would want her to. Alejandro looked like an angel. He had inherited his mother's face structure but I guess the rest was his father. His hair was blond and curly and his eyes sparkled s if he knew something but he wouldn't tell.

"This is my daughter Rita, her husband Jake and my grandchildren David and Pedro."

Rita hugged me. "Welcome." Her husband just smiled at me because he had his sons sitting on either side of his waist. They were looking like tomboys. Both of them wore a cowboy hat and they had guns in their hands. I smiled at them and they grinned back.

"Where's Carleen?" Ranger asked.

Just as his mother wanted to answer somebody screamed behind Ranger. "Ric!"

A pretty girl flew into his arms. He laughed and spinned her around.

I noticed that she had to be the prettiest human being I had ever laid eyes on. She was pure perfection.

She seemed very young, maybe 20 so that meant she was the pet of the family.

Ranger finally released her. He pulled her towards me and put an arm around me.

"Babe, that's Carleen. Bebé (+) , that's my woman."

Carleen eyeballed me. She looked at my white skirt and the blue top that matched my eyes. It wasn't Armani as her clothes looked like but I liked it. Aparently she didn't because I saw a look of disgust cross her face. She noticed her femily looking at her and forced a small smile. "Hello" I smiled back but I knew the smile didn't reach my eyes.

Hmm, no love lost here. Nobody else seemed to notice and so we took our seat. I was seated next to Rita and Ranger. On his other side sat Carleen.

Ranger's family questioned me about my life and my family. They were very nice and welcoming.

Tarnslated by babelfish, I'm sorry if there're faults.

(+)Ah, my grandson. Oh, and a what a bautiful woman.

(+)grandpa

(+)Is she catholic?

(+)Yes, grandma.

(+)Baby

I hope you like it. More coming soon.

Review please.