Thank you all for reading!
They're still not mine and I'm not making any money…
CHAPTER 21
Today's the day I'd been dreading, the day Isa had to go home. Ranger, the guys and I took her to the airport and I have no idea how Ranger had the heart to put her on the plane after seeing the tears that were streaming down her face. She'd hugged and kissed all of us. I'd nearly broken into tears myself when she kissed my belly, and then whispered 'I love you Steph, I'm going to miss you' into my ear.
"I can't keep doing this," Ranger said into my hair from his position behind me as we watched her plane climb into the sky.
"I don't know how you do it at all," I whispered, too afraid my voice wouldn't work if I tried to talk.
"I'm going to talk to my lawyers tomorrow and get their opinions on suing for custody again. I'm done with all my government work; maybe something will be different this time."
"Do that," I agreed. "And could I talk to one of your lawyers too?"
"Of course, Babe. What's up?" he said, sounding puzzeled.
"Can I tell you on the way home?" I asked. Home was still the Batcave. We'd grown to like living there and decided to stay. The commute to the office was only about fifteen minutes and it was more comfortable than the 7th floor.
"Yeah, Babe," he agreed. "Let's get going. Standing around here isn't doing us any good."
With one last look at the tiny plane, we made our way out to the parking deck, followed by the guys. I swear I could hear the airport security sighing in relief as we left. I wonder if I could convince Ranger to add some color to the Rangeman wardrobe. Then people would realize they're the good guys.
In the parking garage, Ranger helped me up into the Bronco and I released a resigned sigh. We had discovered last week that I couldn't get in and out of Ranger's sporty cars without assistance any more and the bucket seats just weren't a comfortable fit.
"So, Babe, what'd you want to talk to a lawyer about?" Ranger asked once he'd joined me in the Bronco.
"Umm, Isa and I ran into Joe and his wife the other day,"
"And," prompted Ranger, visibly trying to relax the sudden tightness in his jaw.
"And he was looking at my belly funny once he realized I really was pregnant. I want to find out more about custody rights and stuff… just in case."
"Do you think he's going to cause trouble, Babe?" asked Ranger, concerned now.
"Not yet. I just want to see if there's anything I can do now that can prevent him making trouble at some point in the future."
"Good thinking, Babe. Do you want me to have paperwork started that can have him give over complete custody to you? All he'd have to do is sign."
"You can do that?" I asked, surprised. I hadn't expected anything that easy.
"Custody is easy, Babe, as long as you can get the other person to agree." Hmm, that could be the hard part if Joe went all stubborn.
"Can you have the paperwork done?"
"Yeah, and I'll have them send it to him as soon as possible."
"Thank you," I whispered, leaning over to kiss his neck.
"Babe," Ranger, growled. "Not a smart thing to do while I'm driving."
"Oops," I giggled, sitting back into my seat.
After that, Ranger went into his driving zone and I thought of how easy the legal stuff I'd worried about was. I didn't think Morelli would refuse to sign. He seemed to be really happy in his relationship with Jenn and she probably wouldn't want him fighting for his ex's kid. Also, I would bet Mrs. Morelli and Grandma Bella would press him to stay away just to keep me away from Joe.
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A week later, Ranger's Super Lawyers had gotten my paper work through, sent it to Joe and he'd actually signed with little difficulty. I now had complete, permanent, undisputable custody of my baby. I was incredibly relieved not to have to worry about that, especially considering his reaction to receiving the papers.
I had gotten an irate phone call from him the other day, demanding the meaning of 'this.'
Before I could stop myself, I asked "And what would 'this' be?" Probably, I shouldn't be baiting him.
"Paperwork on the transfer of custody of the child you're carrying into your sole custody."
"Yeah, that," I said, wondering how he was taking it. He didn't sound particularly mad. I could definitely recognize that tone.
"Why did you have it sent to me?" he asked.
Okay, now I'm confused. "So you can sign."
"Shouldn't Manoso be doing that?"
Still confused. "Ranger?"
"Yeah, it's no secret you moved in with him days after we ended things."
He still doesn't want to admit he fathered my child, I thought, fuming. Taking a deep breath, I willed myself to calm down. Getting angry and starting a fight would not help me out here.
"If you're convinced it's not yours then there's no harm signing the papers," I said, hoping he'd just sign.
"Fine," he said, and I could hear the scratching of a pen in the background. "But when you have that kid, and see that it's Manoso's, I want this paperwork retracted."
"Sure, Joe," I said, seeing there was no point in arguing further. I'd gotten what I wanted. "I'll let you know when the baby's born." Then I hung up.
The paper work had arrived at Ranger's lawyer's office a few days later signed and initialed in all the appropriate places.
Ranger, on the other hand, was not as happy with his legal efforts. It seems his lawyers still didn't think he had a good enough case to get custody of Isa. At best, they thought they could get him more visitation. Right now, his visitation was completely at Eva's discretion, which was definitely not a good thing.
We were lounging on the couch one night and Ranger was telling me about this latest update from his legal team. He was just about to have the lawyers to go with what they had, thinking that seeing Isa on a regular basis would be better than what he had now, when I had an idea.
"Let's get married," I blurted.
"Babe, I asked and you agreed, remember? That's why you have that ring on your finger."
"Yeah, but let's get married soon, like before the baby's born," I said, getting excited now.
"Babe?" Ranger asked, clearly not seeing where I was going with this.
"If you're married, it will increase your chances of getting custody, right?" I asked.
"Yeah, but Babe, we can't get married just to help me get custody. We can sue for custody again once we're married."
"But why wait. Marriage is the result of engagement and we're not going to change our minds, so why draw it out? Why put Isa through everything twice? Also, I'll want the baby to be Manoso, not Plum, so if we get married before it's born, we won't have to worry about changing it," I argued.
I could tell Ranger was thinking it through. That's one of the things I love about him, he'll always give an idea consideration. I knew just when he'd accepted the idea, because the almost smile lifted the corners of his mouth and grew as he continued thinking.
"Okay, Babe, let's get married," he finally said. "When do you want to do this and how?"
"How about in three weeks?" I said after a minute of thinking. "That's four weeks from my due date, so we should be safe there. That's also enough time for your lawyers to get everything organized and for us to arrange a wedding. I think I want it to be a surprise."
"A surprise? You want to elope?"
"No, everyone was too excited when we told them we were engaged. I couldn't do that. Let's invite people and have them think it's an engagement party or some sort of get-together and have it be the wedding."
"Alright. Where?"
"I don't know. I did the church thing before and it was just too formal, but I really don't want to be married by a justice of the peace. And my mom would never stop ironing, yours wouldn't like it either."
"Yeah," Ranger agreed. "They'd never forgive us. It'll have to be a priest, but I don't want it in a church either. Three weeks is the middle of May, so it'll be warm. Do you want to have it on the beach?"
"The beach?" I asked, considering the idea.
"The beach," Ranger confirmed, "right before sunset."
"I love it," I said, pressing my lips to his.
"Okay, so three weeks from now, we have a date on the beach. Who else are we inviting?"
"My wedding to the Dick was massive and I hated it. The entire Burg was there watching."
"Eva insisted on over 300 guests, and I didn't like the huge wedding either. So we want to go small."
"Yeah. How about immediate family and close friends?"
"Sounds great, Babe," Ranger said, kissing my nose. "And people say planning a wedding is hard. We just did it in fifteen minutes."
"We're not normal," I said giggling and kissing him back.
"No, we're not," he agreed.
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The next day, Ranger and I bought invitations and sent them out. They only asked that the receiver join us on the evening of May 17 at 7 PM at the Sea Breeze Inn. We decided to tell anyone who asked that we were celebrating our engagement and treating them to dinner. And we did order a reception dinner for after the service.
After that, we made arrangements with a local priest to do the service. He didn't know either of our mothers, so we figured he was safe and couldn't let it slip. Also, he loved the idea of a surprise wedding and promised not to tell a soul. The important stuff done, all that was left was a dress. We agreed that we'd go to New York to pick one out the day before the wedding since there was no telling how much I'd expand between now and then.
With all of that out of the way, I thought I was experiencing nervous energy, but Bobby said it was the nesting effect. He was still getting all his info from Dr. Cooper, or I guess she was just Emma now that she was hanging around and had been to dinner and such.
Apparently, this energy was supposed to be put into getting ready for the baby. That's when I realized I was in no way prepared to bring a baby to the house. I didn't have any 'baby stuff' yet or even have a nursery picked out. Needless to say, I panicked a bit, but Ranger came to the rescue like always.
We picked the room next to ours as the nursery. The guys came one day and painted it in shades of greens and blues. I have to admit, I was nervous since they wouldn't let me help because of the paint fumes and they wouldn't tell me what they were doing. The end result was really nice and relaxing though, and I loved it.
Right now, I was sitting in my new rocking chair, cuddling a giant teddy bear Ranger had bought, while watching Tank and Lester attempt to assemble the crib.
"This piece is obviously a spare," declared Tank after they'd tried it from every angle they could come up with.
"I didn't even think of that," said Lester, apparently agreeing. Probably I should be worried.
"Do you guys want the directions?" I asked sweetly, holding the paper out to them.
"I can disarm nuclear warheads, that means I can put a crib together without problem," growled Lester.
I just laughed as they continued to swear at the pieces.
Half an hour later, Tank broke down and took the directions I was still holding. After that, it took then no time at all to put the crib together with no pieces to spare. I resisted an 'I told you so' but had to leave the room when they started on the changing table and tossed the directions on the floor without looking at them.
Heading for the kitchen, I met Bobby as he came in through the front door. He was carrying yet another stuffed animal. At the rate the guys were going, I was going to have a plush zoo.
"Bobby, you guys have got to stop," I protested as he gave me the animal and a kiss on the cheek.
"Aw, Bombshell, it's not all the time we get to be uncles again," he protested.
Knowing there was no way I was going to win, I just shook my head.
"Where are the guys?" he asked.
"Ranger is in the security room, hooking up baby monitoring surveillance gear and Lester and Tank are upstairs fighting a changing table."
"Fighting?"
"Uh huh," I said, nodding.
"I think I'll go help Ranger then…" Bobby said, heading for the security room. That was probably a good choice.
Letting the guys do their things, I got my snack then headed for the room beside the nursery. That was where we were keeping all the 'baby stuff' until the nursery was finished. Mary Lou had taken me shopping for all of the necessities the other day and I was astounded by the amount of stuff she had thrown in my cart. I didn't even know what half of it was.
Being the queen of denial, I was putting off worrying about what to do with most of it for now. Now I was folding baby clothes and putting them in the cute dresser the guys had built yesterday. I'm pretty sure that the baby had more clothes than I did and that was just from the unisex stuff everyone was buying. I laughed as I folded a pair of tiny black cargo pants that the guys had found and the little black t-shirts they had to go with them. They wouldn't fit the baby for awhile, but I didn't need to tell the guys that. I'm pretty sure they knew less about babies than I did. I just liked picturing them shopping for baby stuff.
You'd think they'd be embarrassed or uncomfortable baby shopping, but they weren't. Every time they showed up to the house they had some new toy or stuffed animal or outfit. It was adorable.
Once done with the clothes, I found the book on 'You and Your Baby' I had thrown in the cart yesterday. Sighing, I figured it was probably time to find out how to take care of a baby. Somehow I figured it was going to be a bit more complex than being a hamster mommy…
Twenty minutes later, I was in tears, dialing Ella.
"I can't do it," I sobbed into the phone, as soon as she answered.
"Steph? What's wrong dear?"
"I can't take care of a baby. I'm reading a book, trying to learn what to do and I can't learn it before the baby gets here."
"Now, Dear, calm down. Most of that book is probably nonsense if you ask me. I'll come over, if you want and teach you the basics of baby care and the rest you can pick up once you have the baby. They're not as breakable as you think."
"Basics?" I sniffed, calming down a bit.
"Yes. Diapering, burping, how to support the head, mixing a bottle… And anything else think up."
"Please," I said, suddenly relieved.
"Alright. I'll be there in about half an hour," Ella responded, sounding amused.
Once we hung up, I put the evil, fear-inspiring book in the bottom drawer of the dresser so I wouldn't have to look at it again. Hearing a rather loud curse from next door, I went downstairs to wait on Ella. It didn't sound like the guys were having a good time with the changing table.
Ella showed up right on time and the first thing she did was commandeer one of the baby-sized stuffed animals the guys had brought. Using it as a model, she taught me how to do up a diaper, made me practice holding it and burping it. Then we went into the kitchen and she whipped out a can of formula mix and had me make a bottle. Once I mastered that, she made me do it holding the stuffed animal in one arm and bouncing it like a fussing baby. That was tricky. After that, we went through all of the stuff Mare had thrown in my cart and Ella told me what it all was and what to do with it. By the time Ella left, I felt confident in what she taught me and like I really could learn how to do this.
"Feeling better Babe?" Ranger asked, coming up behind me and startling me. I'd been practicing holding the stuffed animal's head and felt a little silly.
"Uh yeah," I responded.
"Show me," Ranger said, nodding at the stuffed animal.
"Huh?" I asked, confused.
"Show me how to hold the baby," he said.
Still confused, I picked up the stuffed animal and supported it's head and rocked it a bit. After watching for a minute, Ranger took it from my arms and did just what I did.
"Good, Babe?" he asked.
"Yeah," I said, suddenly understanding that he had wanted to learn some of the stuff Ella showed me. "How'd you miss baby holding 101 with Isa and all your brother and sisters kids?"
"I was out of the country while Isa was a baby, and I missed it with the kids the same way you missed it with your nieces."
"Oh," I said, not really paying attention as he held the stuffed animal. He looked good like that. He looked good pretty much all the time, I amended. Damn pregnancy hormones, I thought as I felt myself getting all hot.
"Babe," he said, lifting his head and seeing the look in my eyes.
Before I knew it, he'd put the stuffed animal down and pulled me to him. As soon as he sealed his lips to mine and I was lost. But there was something niggling at the back of my mind…
"Ranger the guys," I said, pulling my lips from his.
"Left before Ella," he replied, pulling my mouth back to his.
Oh boy.
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A/N: Let me know what you think, I love feedback, so Please Review! Hope the scene with Joe lived up to expectation. I wasn't sure what to do. I didn't want him to decided he wanted in the baby's life because I couldn't see Steph completely denying him if he was sincere and I didn't think Joe would just ignore the whole situation. Sorry about the rambling, I was in quite a conundrum… Oh well, tell me what you thought. Thanks for reading!
P.S. Sorry if the custody thing is blatantly wrong, I just made that up, I have no idea if it would really work like that.