I'm soooooooo sorry that it took so long, but it was very stressful at school and I didn't have the time to go on. But I'll try to finish this during the holidays.
As always: I don't own anything (beside the family and a few other persons...) and I'm not making any profit.
Thanks for all the nice reviews, I love them.
Joy and Pain
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.
Chapter 14: Calm
I slowly struggled through the darkness, searching for a light to ease my pain and the fear for me and my baby.
The first thing I noticed were voices talking.
"The baby is okay. As far as I see there's no problem but I want her to stay here, so we can check on her constantly." Dr. Meeks soft voice accomplished to ease at least one of my fears. The baby was okay.
"Okay, that won't be a problem. She'll stay her, thank you very much doctor." Ranger's voice was hoarse. He sounded tired and worried.
I slowly fought my eyes open and had to blink against the bright light, although it wasn't as bad as normal.
Yeah, so I often wake up in a hospital, you have a problem with that?
Well, I have. I should have a private parking space.
Right now, I'm pretty pissed of, I can tell you! But I'm also still very sleepy.
But I actually liked this hospital. Well, maybe not exactly LIKE, but it wasn't as bad as the others. The walls were painted a soft yellow and my bedclothes looked like "bassetti". Huh, I wondered how they cleaned them.
"Babe."
Ranger sat down on the side of my bed and took my hand.
"How are you feeling?"
"Wonderful, just peachy." I wanted to sound angry, but I guess my quiet, tired voice ruined the impression.
Dr.Meek stepped to the head of my bed.
"Stephanie, you will be pleased to hear, that the baby is okay. But you should be careful or the baby will get used to the action and you'll have your hands full when it's born." She joked.
Ranger stroked my head. "We'll have that problem anyway."
Dr.Meek looked at me. "You could be right with that."
I was too tired to be offended and closed my eyes.
"I'm going to get Dr. Acus."
My eyes snapped open and I looked at Ranger. "You're not going to let a man called "acus" near me, are you?"
He smiled but the smile didn't reach his eyes. He looked completely broken. His eyes were red and he had dark circles beneath them.
"What happened?"
He took a deep breath and looked at my hand. "The old man you wanted to help was Torner's accomlice. He stun gunned you and wanted to grab you but you fell down the stairs and Tank and Lula just arrived. He tried to run away but Tank got him while Lula stayed with you. His name is Dormad and right now Morelli's interviewing him."
"Why aren't you with him?"
"Because I'm with you, babe." He kissed my hand and still refused to look at me.
"And?"
"You have a slight concussion and a few cuts and bruises."
"And?"
He looked at me and smiled. He knew that I sensed that something was wrong with him.
"And it's my fault."
Aha, now we're getting to the real problem.
"Why?"
"Why? Because I left you alone, of course."
He stood up and went to the window, watching the sun rise. Huh, I must have slept pretty long.
"Ranger, I'm tired so lets make this quick okay?" He didn't react.
"Look at me." He slowly turned around and leaned against the big window.
"It isn't your fault. I was in a hospital with security staff and you had to go see your father. I should have stayed inside."
He shook his head and came back to sit at my side.
"This was the second time you got hurt because I didn't look after you."
"Ranger, I'm an adult and capable of looking after myself and you're only human. You already do more than any other person would."
He stroked my cheek.
"I'm sorry."
I sighed. „I thought we just covered that!"
"Not for that babe." Huh, he could tell that somebody else. "I'm sorry for lying."
Everything came back to me and I looked away. He hadn't told me thyt his father had been reciving letters. That had been the reason for Ryan to move out. And it had been the reason why Ranger had worked so much during the last time.
"Babe, please, look at me."
I closed my eyes, still facing away from him.
"I'm tired, Ranger."
He didn't say anything else and I fell asleep, my eyelids hiding the tears I was keeping from falling.
-000-
When I woke up again it was 12 o'clock and Ella was sitting beside me. Lester was leaning against the window, smiling at me, when I looked at him.
"Hey, bomshell, how are you?"
I smiled back. "Fine, thanks."
I looked around the room, searching for Ranger and felt a pang of dissapointment when I couldn't find him.
"He had to go, Stephanie." Ella took my hand. "Dormad lead them to Torner's appartment outside of Trenton."
I nodded. "Anything new?"
"Not yet." Lester explained. „But Tank's going to come, soon. He will know something." I nodded again.
Then I quickly sat up. "Oh my god. How's Carlos. I forgot to ask about him. How terrible!"
Ella smiled. „You had enough to think about. He's okay. He was hit into the shoulder. He's more concerned about you than about himself right now." She assured me and softly pushed me back into a lying position.
I smiled. "He's a wonderful man."
"He sure will be happy to hear that." Ranger's mother, Marta, stepped into the room, smiling.
"I see that you are feeling better. You have to stop scaring us like this, Stephanie." She said sternly but you could see the relief on her face.
I smiled. "I'm trying." She smiled back and sat on the side of my bed.
"Did you and Ranger talk?"
My smile vanished and I shook my head.
"It wasn't right that he lied to you, Stephanie, but he meant well."
I opened my mouth to complain, but she interrupted me. "Yes, he did. He knew that you were unhappy because of the problems and he didn't want you to worry. I'm not trying to say that his actions were justified but try to understand him, okay?"
I thought about it and nodded.
The door opened and Tank stepped in. He was looking very tired and I felt a pang of guilt.
I looked behind him, but he was alone.
"He went to your appartment to pack a few things for you."
Tank smiled at me and rushed to my side. He softly kissed my cheek.
"How are you, bombshell?"
"Fine, thanks, what did you find out?"
"Torner led us to an appartment outside of Trenton, where Torner lived. He already left, but we have his computer and we know that he worked as a bouncer at a disco."
I felt both excited and disappointed. Excited, because we finally had important leads and disappointed, because I had hoped they would capture him and verything would be over.
"What's with the computer?"
"Randy's looking over it. He was pretty disappointed that his last lead was wrong and now he has something to do again."
I smiled. "That's good."
Tank nodded. "Ranger's actually thinking about giving him a job."
I nodded, not smiling anymore. Another thing he didn't tell me.
"Stephanie, that's business, not private. It is nothing to you." I looked down and nodded. He was right.
"I guess I'm still angry because he didn't tell me about the letters Carlos recieved!"
Tank stroked my cheek and stood up. "And you have every right to be angry! I'm quickly going to get a cup of coffee."
With that he left the room and I closed my eyes again.
Hopefully, everything would be over, soon!
-000-
When I opened my eyes again. I could hear my mother and my grandmother arguing softly.
"He should have told her." Gandma said.
"He did the right thing. He didn't want to upset her and he wanted to protect her." My mother answered. Huh, she really liked Ranger.
Ranger interrupted them. "My intention was good, but what I did was wrong anyway. I would want her to tell me everything, too."
"So why didn't you tell her, then?" My father sounded angry.
"It's new for me to open up so much and although it's easy with Stephanie, it's still a problem for me. You don't just abandon a habbit that easily. And believe me, I'm trying really hard."
"So, do you trust her?" Right question, dad, I'd like to know that, too.
"Completely. But I also love her and want to protect her and my child not only from physical but from mental harm."
"Okay." And, for my father, the issue was closed.
I smiled and opened my eyes.
Ranger and my father were sitting on the one side of my bed, Grandma Mazur and my mother on the other side.
Ranger, of course, was the first one to notice that I was awake.
He smiled, but it didn't look as self-confidant as usual.
I smiled back, showing him that I wasn't angry with him anymore.
"Hey."
He leaned down and kissed me softly.
"Hey, babe."
"Stephanie, I told you to be careful. You're pregnant. You shouldn't get hurt."
"Tell that to the old man I was trying to help up the stairs, mom."
That shut her up.
"Was he looking good?" Grandma asked and everyone laughed.
Ranger took my hand in his and put the other on my belly.
I looked at him. "We still need to talk."
He nodded and gave me another kiss.
13 days later:
"Okay, the baby is doing great." Dr.Meek gave me the ultrasound-picture. "How about you?"
"I'm doing good, too. I'm not that tired anymore and the morning sickness seems to be over."
"That's wonderful. So, instructions: First, don't lift heavy things. Second, your belly is growing pretty fast now, so rub it to prevent stretch marks and thirdly, if you have the desire to eat anything funny, like pickles and pizza at 11 o'clock at night, do it!"
Ranger started to laugh, probably remembering me dipping sausages into chocolat-ice-cream last night.
Our relationship has gotten even better. He told me much about his past, with the exception of his former girlfriend but I'm working on this, and was more open. He even seemed to enjoy telling me everything.
And Torner? Well, that's the only bad thing. We just can't find him. But he hasn't done anything during the last time, so that's good, right?
I hope you enjoyed it. More coming, soon. I promise.
Review, please-