As always, I don't own anything and so on. I'm sorry that it took me so long but I have much to do at school. Blame my teachers.
Joy and Pain
Chapter 13: Lie
Wednesday 18th July, 11 o'clock:
Dr. Meek turned towards us. "Okay, so the baby is all right and since you feel all right, too, you can go celebrate your mother's birthday."
I smiled and Ranger kissed my hand.
"But please, be careful. I want you to lie down as much as you can, or at least sit. No dancing, no playing with your nieces and no standing or going around much, okay?"
I nodded eagerly.
"Okay, you're in week 10 now. Soon you will gain weight so it would be good if you buy comfortable clothes. You don't need clothes for pregnancy, yet, but if you want, too, you can of course buy them."
I smiled and Ranger groaned. "Shopping, again."
"Yeah, but not too soon. Wait until next Monday or so. If you're feeling well then you can go but not for long and please try not to get shot this time, okay?"
We laughed and stood up.
My next appointment would be Friday 11th August.
I was happy that everything was okay.
Randy was looking through the RangeMan computers, trying to find a hint. I had hope again. Hope that everything would end soon. Hope that everything would turn out right.
Friday 20th July, 5 o'clock in the evening:
"Happy birthday, mom." My mother smiled and hugged me. "Thank you Stephanie."
"Happy birthday, Mrs. Plum." My mother took the flowers from Ranger and, to my surprise, hugged him, too. "Call me Ellen, Ranger. You're family, now."
I smiled at them and felt my eyes water. Shit, damn hormones.
Ranger chuckled and wrapped one arm around me.
We stepped into the living room.
"Ah, there you are son." Carlos was sitting in an armchair next to my father's, while Marta was looking at shots of, groan, me when I was a baby, with my grandmother.
"Stephanie, darling, how are you feeling?" Ranger's mother gave the album to my grandmother and hugged me.
"Fine, thanks."
"Is the arm better?" My grandmother asked.
I nodded. "Yes it is. It doesn't hurt as much as before and I get the cast off on Monday."
"Oh, that's wonderful."
"And how's the baby."
"Everything's okay with the baby, too."
"That's wonderful."
"Son, I have to talk to you." Carlos stepped aside Ranger after hugging me. I looked at Ranger uneasily. He just smiled and nodded towards his father. "I'll hurry, babe." With that he kissed me softly and followed his father outside. I looked at Marta and she just shrugged.
"Honey, come sit here." My father pointed at his lap.
I smiled. "I'm a little bit to old for that, dad." But I sat down anyway, relaxing into his embrance.
"For me you'll always be my honey and soon there will be another little honey to love. Can I feel?" He gestured towards my belly.
I smiled and nodded. "But I'm only in week eleven. You won't feel anything."
He nodded. "And you cannot see anything yet, too."
I nodded. "I'm wearing comfortable clothes but I won't need pregnancy-clothes until week 18 or later. And the baby will start to move soon but I will probably not really notice it until much later."
He nodded and kissed my forehead. I could see tears in his eyes. "Dad?"
He smiled. "I'm just so happy for you. You're the best girl a dad can wish for." I kissed him and leaned my head against his shoulder.
"Is Ranger treating you right? Marta said there had been some problems."
"We're okay. The problem she's talking about is solved."
"That's good. Is there anything new about Torner?"
"Nothing that I haven't already told you."
"You shouldn't have to worry about such things. You're pregnant. The only thing you should worry about is your and your baby's health." He was so angry that he even got louder. My dad didn't talk very often, at least not when strangers were around, and he certainly didn't get louder then.
My mother came into the living room and my grandmother and Marta stopped looking at my pictures.
"I'm doing okay, dad."
He pulled me close again. "I know. You're a very strong and brave woman." He said proudly.
I looked up and saw Ranger and his dad standing in the doorway. For a second I thought Ranger looked worried but then he smiled and everything was okay. He probably thought that I was arguing with my dad.
Friday 11th August:
Dr. Meek looked very content as she looked at the monitor.
"Everything is perfectly normal. The baby grew and is now six centimeters big. Here you can see that the head still is pretty big. And everything is developed the right way, too."
She put the equipment away and gave me a towel to clean my belly.
"Right now your baby is developing its equilibrium sense, because of your movements. You can take walks and maybe swim again, too. Just no work and try to stay out of the biggest heat. But since you're over three months now there's no danger of a miscarriage any more."
I smiled and looked at Ranger. He gave me a kiss.
"I'm going to check your blood pressure and take some blood but I don't think that we'll have to meet again until in two weeks."
While we waited for her to return, I got dressed and sat down in Ranger's lap so we could snuggle a little bit.
"Okay, here I am again. Everything's okay. Ella's obviously checking what you eat." I nodded. Ella was an angel. I had become a pretty decent cook. I now could do nearly every dish of the Italian Cooking-book. Soon I would learn something else. Cooking with a recipe was pretty easy.
"Okay, we'll make the next appointment at the 25th August. But you can call me whenever you need me." We thanked her, shook hands and went outside.
There hadn't been an incident with Torner during the last weeks. I didn't really know if I should be happy or if I should be afraid. It felt as if he was planning something big. Ranger was working pretty much. He told me that he had a few new jobs that he had to handle and they were searching for a new program Randy said, he would need. He said he found something but couldn't trace it.
As planned, I had lost my cast a while ago and my arm was okay again.
Ranger's brother, Rayn wasn't living with us anymore, although I had liked him and didn't want him to leave, because he didn't want to disturb the little private time, Ranegr and me had. I had told him that he didn't disturb us but he moved to his parent's house anyway.
In the evening Ranger and me were lying in the living room. I was lying in Ranger's arms and we were watching "Pirates of the Caribbean". You just have to love Jack Sparrow. I was just drying my eyes, I had cried form laughing, when Ranger's cell rang. He moved me aside gently and excused himself.
Five minuted later he came back, looking very nervous.
"What's up?"
"My father got shot, while walking Mary. He's at the private hospital we talked about, yesterday."
I immediately got up to get dressed while Ranger called Tank and his sisters.
Then we drove to the hospital. Ranger had told me that he would like it if I gave birth here. It was a private hospital with very good doctors and since it belonged to Dr. Meeks brother-in-law she could be there without a problem. I had told him that I would take a look at it. I just had hoped I would have a little more time and the occasion would be another one.
Twenty minutes later Ranger was asking to see his father.
"Are you family?" he nodded. "And you are his wife?" The nurse asked me. "No", I said. "Not yet", Ranger said.
"Then I'm afraid you have to wait here. I cannot let you in."
Ranger narrowed his eyes but I put my hand on his cheek and forced him to look at me.
"It's okay. I won't be in danger. You need to look after your father." His eyes softened and he gave me a soft kiss.
Just as he turned around to follow the nurse, Rayn ran into the room.
"Where is he? I cannot believe that he got shot. We should have put him under security after he got the letters. We were wrong to think that he wouldn't hurt him."
I was thinking "letters?" But Rayn and Ranger already followed the nurse in and I didn't want to hold them back. I sat down in a chair and put my head in my hands.
Now I knew why Ranger had worked so much during the last time. And I knew what they had talked about when we had been at my mother's house. He hadn't been worried because he had thought I had had a fight with my father. He had kept a secret from me, again. And this time it even concerned me.
I looked outside only to see an old man struggling with the steps up to the entrance. I stood up and went outside.
"Sir, do you need help?"
The old man didn't look up, still concentrating on climbing the stairs, but nodded.
I moved beside him and linked my arm with his. The next thing I felt was darkness pulling me down.
I hope you like it.
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