Thanks for all the nice reviews, I really love them.
As always: I don't own anything and I'm not making any profit.
PS: Special thanks to Karen!
Joy and Pain
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?
Chapter 15: Halloween
Nearly 3 months later:
Tuesday, 24th October:
I drove into the garage, happily singing "Don't you worry about a thing" by John Legend.
Life was good. I just came home from a shopping trip with Lula. I had bought new clothes and finally found the perfect costume for Halloween. I was going as a ….pumpkin.
Hey, don't laugh! It was cute and it hid my belly. Besides, did I already say that I looked cute?
I was in week 24, now. The baby was healthy. I was getting bigger and bigger and although I seemed to be one of the lucky women who only got a belly, I moaned non-stop about it.
In week 18 we found out that we were going to have a girl. I was happy about this and Ranger was even happier. He admitted that he had wished for a girl. He said that our next child could be a boy but first he wanted a "little princess". Besides, he said, he was really good with girls.
Well, I couldn't argue with that.
Yesterday had been the first day of our Lamaze class. And Ranger was taking it VERY seriously. He looked at me sternly when I laughed during the first panting exercise. He practiced with Ella so now nobody could change a diaper faster than him. I thought it was sweet.
And another perfect thing is that we've finally found the perfect house. You would never think that Ranger and I would live in such a house but it was perfect. Big, Victorian, comfortable. I loved it. We would close on the 30th October and then start a few renovations. We want to move in before Christmas.
I parked the car and got out. I opened the trunk and started to grab my bags when I was interrupted by a voice behind me.
"Don't you dare touch that!"
I groaned. "Lester, there are only clothes in here. Nothing heavy."
Bobby softly pushed me aside and Lester took the bags.
That's another sweet but also annoying thing. I discovered that the Merrymen were pretty protective of me. I wasn't allowed to even lift a paper. During the summer-festival last month they surrounded me as if I was a celebrity and they were my bodyguards. Nobody was allowed to get near me. Ranger thought it was amusing, I didn't. But it was kind of sweet.
Two minutes later I thought: Scratch that!
Apparently the elevator didn't work and Bobby decided that the stairs were too much for me and picked me up. That was what made me angry, what made me furious was his comment: "Oh gosh, you're really heavy."
I was having some kind of break down, because I really did not want to get fat and I knew that it would get worse. So I started screaming about what an ass men were in general and he, in particular. And that we women were the ones with the burdens: We had our period, we were the ones for whom sex could be painful and we couldn't count on having an orgasm every time. And when we were pregnant we gained weight and looked like beached whales, only to have the men, the MEN, complain about it! And last but not least we were the ones who would be SCREAMING IN FUCKING PAIN DURING CHILDBIRTH!
By the end of my tirade I was so furious I was crying so you can guess what Ranger's reaction was when Bobby ran into his office with me in his arms.
He jumped up and ran towards us.
"Babe, what happened? What happened to her? I swear if any of you did something to her…" He wanted to pull me into his arms but I wasn't finished yet.
"DON'T you DARE touch me. It's your fault that I'm looking like a whale! You're no better than any of them!"
With that I turned around and stormed into the kitchen. Ranger's men were jumping out of my way, while I stormed straight towards the fridge. I opened it and found…..nothing but fruit.
I sank to the floor and began to cry.
A minute later I heard Ella talking in the distance.
"You guys are just crazy. You're fine abandoned in the middle of a third-world jungle but when a woman starts crying your knees start shaking."
I had to laugh and looked up just as Ella pushed through the door.
"Hey Steph, breakdown over?"
I nodded.
"Okay, then you won't need this, right?"
She held a box of Ben&Jerry's up and you can't imagine how fast I was standing in front of her.
She laughed and put it on the table. She reached for two spoons and handed one to me.
When the ice cream was gone I looked up and had to laugh.
Tank, Lester and Bobby were standing in the doorway, ready to make a bolt for it and looking at me as if I was a volcano about to erupt.
Ranger was sitting at the table but his chair was pushed back and he seemed tense.
I stood up and walked over to him, scaring Tank, Lester and Bobby by doing a fake sob when I passed them and sat down in Ranger's lap.
He wrapped his arms around me and kissed me.
"Everything okay again?"
I nodded.
"You should be happy that she had this breakdown, because now you had some practice for the actual childbirth." Ella snickered.
All four men looked panicked.
-000-
31st October: Halloween:
I looked into the mirror and checked myself out.
I was looking…cute.
Yep, I would have liked to look sexy but I guess that would be difficult because the only time I felt sexy now was when I was in bed with Ranger.
I had to smile.
He was really cute, although I would never tell him that. He always told me how sexy I was and boy he had a way of convincing me.
And I had a lot of power over him. I giggled, remembering how I got him to wear a costume. I didn't get him to go as Batman but I guess Zorro wasn't that bad.
How did I persuade him to wear a costume? Huh, let's just say it involved strawberries and chocolate, and it wasn't G-rated.
So now I was wearing my pumpkin costume, looking cute, and I was waiting for Ranger to step out of the bathroom in his Zorro costume, looking sexy.
"Come on, Ranger, what are you doing in there? Doing your make-up?"
"Babe," he said and the door opened.
I was speechless. Sexy didn't do him justice.
He looked unsure so I took a few steps back until I fell onto the bed. I opened my arms and screamed. "Take me, I'm yours."
He laughed and came to sit down beside me. He leaned over me and kissed me.
"You're looking cute, Babe."
I sighed. "I know. And you're looking very, very sexy. And I guess every woman will pant at the sight of you tonight so I would rather look sexy, too."
He kissed me again, longer this time.
"You're looking very, very sexy. Every man will want to have you so I'm lucky that I have my sword right with me."
I laughed, imagining Ranger running towards me and unsheathing his sword.
"Are you laughing at me, woman?" Ranger growled playfully, whiyh made me laugh even more.
He stood up. "Come on, we have to leave or we'll be late!"
I was wiping my eyes and stood up.
Well, I tried to. I just rolled back because of the costume and had to laugh again.
Ranger picked me up and we walked to the door together.
"Let's go, little rascal."
-000-
The Halloween party at the police station was wonderful.
I had just reached my first goal.
Tank and Lula were dancing.
Both of them had been very unhappy after they parted and so I wanted to bring them back together.
I saw Tank softly kissing her and sighed.
A pair of arms wrapped around me and I leaned back into Ranger. Well, as far as I could because the costume was kind of in my way.
"Hey, little matchmaker, any luck?"
I nodded towards Lula and Tank, now leaving the room in a hurry. "Obviously, yes."
He chuckled. "And I don't think that Morelli will need your help." He turned us around so that I could see Morelli laughing at a little blond woman. She seemed a little owerwhelmed but cute.
"Who is she?"
"A new nurse at St. Francis. She took care of Hal, when he broke his arm last month. She seemed very nice."
I sighed again.
He kissed my neck, well as far as he could reach it.
"I have to talk to a few people, okay?"
I nodded. "I will be with MaryLou."
He kissed me again and went towards a group of men I didn't know.
I was off to search for MaryLou. I couldn't find her but I found Grandma Mazur. She was dancing cheek-to-cheek with a former police officer.
"Hey Grandma, have you seen MaryLou?"
She looked at me, her eyes gleaming happily.
"Yes, she went to her car to get something."
I thanked her and she went back to her dancing.
I went out to the lot. It was pretty cold and I rubbed my arms.
I was just passing a black truck when I felt a familiar sting.
The world around me became blurry, then everything went black.
A picture of what the house looks like: http://www.usaferien.ch/usa/images/picsl/vt1.jpg
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