Disclaimer: Don't own the usual suspects. =)

The last chapter. :'(

Enjoy!

Steph's POV

My eyes widened as I realized who it was. Astro's son. Shit. I thought he got arrested.

"They were looking for me, but I got away," he said. Did I say that out loud? He nodded.

"What do you want?" I asked, wishing I had my gun on me. I didn't think I would need it, since I was hanging out with all the Merry Men.

"Stephanie, Stephanie, Stephanie," he clucked, waving the gun around. "You should know."

"But I don't." He sighed.

"You ruined my business with my idiot father." He reached behind him and pulled his dad up from behind him. Astro was gagged and bound. I gasped as I saw that he had a black eye.

"My poor father put up a pitiful fight," Jr. said with a shake of his head. He clucked his tongue a couple times to show he was disgusted and unimpressed. He then grabbed something from behind him again. This time he dragged a little girl, who couldn't have been older than four or five years old. My eyes widened as I took in her frightened state. Her mouth was gagged and her hands and feet were bound.

"You see this pretty thing," Jr. asked. "She was in most of the movies and she's only four."

"Let her go," I demanded, reaching for the girl.

"Tsk, tsk Stephanie, you don't want this poor girl to get hurt any more than she has to, do you?" he asked in a sickening voice. I shook my head.

"Her name's Molly and her mother was hooked on the coke my family sold her. As payment, I was given her." That was just awful. This poor, sweet, innocent girl traded for drugs and used in porn. Yet, she stood there, eyes wide, not crying.

"If, you can be brave, I promise I'll get you out of here," I told her, not knowing if she understood what I was saying.

"Don't make promises you can't keep," Jr. scolded. I looked her in the eye and I might have imagined it, but I saw her nod. My phone started ringing and I reached to pick up when Jr. shouted, "No! You will not answer the phone." It rang a couple more times before the machine picked it up. "Hey Steph, you should be home by now, but I guess you're not. I was just calling to say that the PD didn't get the Salvadors, so be alert. Love you and I'll see you tomorrow." I could tell it was Ranger from the voice. A little late though, hopefully he would know that I was in trouble. Oh, please let him figure out I'm in trouble.

"Ah, I see your little friend doesn't suspect a thing."

Ranger's POV

I called Steph's apartment and she didn't pick up, which was odd. She should have been home by then. I wasn't sure if she was asleep or not, but usually she'd answer. I sighed as I debated about what to do. I didn't want to come off as a stalker if she was fine, but if she wasn't I'd never live with myself. I called again, and she didn't answer. I didn't bother leaving a message. I tried her cell phone but it went to voice mail. I noticed she didn't have her gun on her earlier, so she would be unprotected. I raced out of the apartment and down to the garage. I jumped into the Turbo and hit the pedal. I sped to Steph's apartment and left the car running as I jumped out. I took the stairs three at a time and stopped when got close to the door. I pulled my gun out and crept along. She'd better be okay. I pushed the door with the toe of my boot and it opened, I pushed it open further before going in farther. No one was in sight but I heard voices from the bedroom. My heart started to beat faster as I crept along. Her being with another man fluttered through my mind, but it was gone almost as soon as it had came. I knew she would never do that to me. The door was shut and I heard Steph's voice. "Please don't kill us." I kicked the door open and when with a surprise attack. I raised the gun quickly at my target. It looked like the door had hit him when I kicked it open.

"Ranger!" Steph cried in relief.

"One sec, Babe." I lifted Astro Salvador Jr. up and put cuffs on him. I saw his lip was bleeding but I didn't care. I punched him again for good measure. I went over to Steph and cut her loose. She wrapped her arms around me and I felt her tears.

"It's okay Babe. I have you." I felt her smile against me.

"You'd think that I'd be used to this sort of thing by now," she joked. I laughed as she pulled back.

"Well, you do get in more sticky situations than anyone else I know, but you do know how to get out of them."

"Damn straight!" She grinned and hugged me again. She then went over to a little girl I hadn't noticed before. I cut her ties and Steph carefully peeled away the tape.

"It's okay Molly, you're safe now," Steph told her. She wrapped her arms around Molly in a hug.

"I have a couple of Tasty Cakes in the drawer if you want one." Molly nodded, a tear sliding down her face. I wasn't sure how Molly would know what a Tasty Cake was but, if she was agreeing with Steph, who was I to argue?

"Can you help me get Astro Sr. loose?" she asked turning to the man who was passed out on the floor. I nodded. I got out my Swiss Army knife and cut him loose as Steph got a Tasty Cake for Molly. She opened the wrapper and gave a piece to her. Molly smiled as she ate it. Astro's eyes opened as I got the last of the tape off of him.

"Thank you. I'm sorry about my son Stephanie."

"It's alright Astro. Are you okay?" she asked her eyes showing her concern.

"Nothing a good night sleep won't cure," he responded with a wink. "I suppose we should call the police, should we not?" I nodded.

"Yeah, let me make the call." Steph wrapped her arm around me as I made the call.

Steph's POV

I was so relieved when Ranger got here. I had been in scary situations before, and luckily I had always gotten out of them. This time, I thought I was done for. It reminded me of the first case I ever worked. Except this time my gun was in the cookie jar and not my purse, and there was a little girl I needed to think about. Having her there made me think of the Scrog incident. I was actually surprised when he didn't shoot me right away. I was lucky Ranger got there when he did, or I would have been dead. I hugged Ranger tighter as the cops came through and hauled Jr. off to jail. Astro had to give his statement and they were letting me come in tomorrow. Eddie took Molly and told me he'd keep her for the night before child services came to take her. I nodded and gave Molly a hug goodbye. After my apartment was empty Ranger grabbed my hand.

"You're going to stay with me tonight," he told me. I nodded. He wrapped his arms around me and took me down to his car. I zoned out as he drove to Haywood. He carried me all the way to his apartment. I got into one of his shirts and we crawled into bed together. With his arms wrapped around me I fell asleep.

RS*RS*RS

I woke up to a sensation down south. I saw that Carlos was working his magic down there. I moaned as he tongue darted out and tasted me. His eyes met mine and I could see the merriment in them. He used a hand and I was writhing in pleasure.

"Please," I breathed, ready for him to be in me.

"Please what?" he asked, loving torturing me. He pumped in and out with his fingers. My hips bucked.

"Please, I need you in...inside me." I heard the rip of a condom packet. My eyes opened and I saw him smile at me. He took one mighty thrust and I came with a scream. Not letting me come down from that high he took me again and again until we came together. He rolled over and had me laying on top of him.

"I love you Babe," he said brushing my damp hair out of my eyes. I sighed and snuggled into his chest.

"I love you too Carlos." He murmured Spanish in my ear and I drifted back to sleep.

RS*RS*RS

When I woke up again Carlos was drawing patterns with his fingers on my bare lower back.

"Good morning Sleeping Beauty," he greeted with a soft smile. I sighed and stretched.

"Morning, what time is it?" I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes.

"A little after nine." My mouth opened in shock.

"You slept in?" He put a finger under my chin and closed my mouth.

"I was hoping we could take a shower together, eat breakfast, and have you take a pregnancy test," he told me. I jumped up.

"Okay, let's go!" And go we did. We took a long hot shower, making sure to get all those hard to reach places for each other. I'm sure the guys downstairs could probably hear me, as loud as I was. I put on Carlos' robe and he put on a pair of sweats. He called Ella for some breakfast and we sat talking at the counter. Ella came up and placed scrambled eggs, French toast, syrup, and hash browns down in front of us.

"Mmm, Ella this looks so good! Thank you!" I said, digging right in.

"Thank you Ella," Carlos said.

"Nice to have you back Carlos and you too Stephanie. It is always a pleasure to cook for you. Call me if you need me." And with that she left the apartment. Carlos picked up a fork and ate some of the eggs.

"You're eating this? Not your twigs and bark?" I asked with a teasing smile. He grinned.

"I do eat food like this occasionally." I poured syrup on my French toast and then cut it.

"So, what's the occasion?" I asked, forking some into my mouth. I moaned at the taste. Mom move out of the way, Ella's taking over. Carlos laughed, like I had never seen him laugh like that before. He gave me a kiss.

"Babe, that's priceless."

"I said it out loud, didn't I?" I asked with a small smile. He nodded.

"It's not my fault Ella can cook better than my mother," I explained. He just grinned. We finished the rest of our breakfast in silence. I was both dreading and excited about taking the pregnancy test. On one hand, I didn't want to be a mother because I wasn't sure how I would do. On the other hand, I would be raising this baby with Carlos. I bit my lip as we piled the dishes on the tray for Ella to get later. He grabbed my hand. He grabbed the box of pregnancy tests and opened it. He handed one to me.

"I guess I'll go...pee," I said awkwardly. He pulled me into a hug.

"Steph, no matter what, we'll be together. If we don't have a baby, that's fine. If we do then, I'll be here. We'll do it together," he whispered in my ear, making me feel tons better. I nodded. I then went and did my business. I came back out after I peed on it and it was blank. I put it down on napkin then set down on the coffee table.

"How long does it say it'll take for us to know?" I asked him, grabbing for the box. He moved it out of the way before I could reach it.

"One to three minutes." I started pacing and a couple seconds later when he had enough of it, he gripped my upper arms, but not enough to hurt me.

"I know you're nervous, but I think I know a way to take your mind off of it," he said, leaving a trail of kisses down my neck. I melted into him and wrapped my arms around his neck. He picked me up getting ready to lay me on the couch when my cell phone rang from on the coffee table. Carlos groaned. "You better get that." I nodded as he handed me the phone.

"Hello?" I answered, slightly out of breath.

"Steph, are you okay?" Eddie asked. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just had to find run for the phone," I lied, not wanting him to know what I was just doing.

"Okay, well, I was wondering if you could come down to the station, there's people here, who would like to talk to you," Eddie explained. "And, we need your statement."

"Who wants to talk to me?" I asked, wondering who would be wanting to talk to me.

"You'll have to come see," Eddie said leaving me with a mystery. He knew that I was so curious that I'd come down right away.

"Alright, I just need to get dressed, and I'll be over."

"See you soon Steph. Tell Ranger hi for me," Eddie said with a chuckle right before he hung up. I shook my head, how he knew I was at Ranger's surprised me.

"I need to get down to the station and I need to get dressed!" I told Ranger, rushing into his bedroom. Inside I found a bunch of my RangeMan uniforms and almost no Ranger clothes. Since Tank didn't know Ranger was alive, he didn't think he needed any of his clothes. I pulled out a uniform and put it on. I slipped on my shoes and went back to were Ranger...no Carlos was sitting. I was still getting used to calling him Carlos. He was holding the pregnancy test, the one I had forgotten all about.

"What does it say?" I asked, too afraid to look. He looked at me. With a bittersweet smile.

"Negative. You're not pregnant," he told me. He got up and hugged me. That was a lot of news. While, I didn't know if I was or not, it was only slightly disappointing to find out I wasn't.

"It's okay Steph. We have enough to worry about as it is. Let me get a shirt, and we'll go to the station together." I nodded. He came back a moment later.

We got to the station ten minutes later and I hopped out of the car. I got to the station and inside Eddie was sitting next to Molly and another man. Molly was smiling, which made me happy. Eddie got up quickly, a piece of paper in his hand.

"Steph, first the kids wanted me to give you this," he said handing me the paper. The kids? I unfolded it and inside was a picture drawn in crayon of happy kids was inside. Then at the bottom, there was the words, 'Thank you for helping safe us!'. Tears came to my eyes. Ranger wrapped an arm around me.

"That's so sweet," I said with a smile. Molly got up and jumped into my arms.

"Seph, tank ou," she said hugging me. I wrapped my arms around her and swung her around.

"Anytime Molly," I told her. Eddie cleared his throat.

"Steph, there's one more thing," he said. "One of the kids found was reported missing. There was a reward for whoever found her. Since we got the information from you, the money goes to you." I held Molly on my hip and looked over at the guy in a nice suit. He smiled.

"I'm Mr. Alexander and you helped find my daughter, Jessica. Here is a check for finding her," he said. "Thank you so much. She means the world to me." He handed me a check.

"No problem, Mr. Alexander. I actually remember hearing about the kidnapping. I am so sorry you had to go through that," I said, patting his arm.

"Thank you again, but I'm going to go spend time with my daughter." I nodded and he walked away.

"Steph, I'm going to have to take Molly. She's going into foster care until we can find a place for her." I looked over at Ranger and he knew what I was thinking. He turned to Eddie.

"We'll contact you later about it."

"I'll see you later Molly," I said, giving her a kiss on the forehead.

"Bye, bye," she said, waving her hand.

"Bye, bye." I said with a smile. Eddie gave me a hug.

"See ya Steph. We'll get your statement sometime, but not right now." I nodded and Ranger wrapped an arm around me. We walked out and got in the car.

"So, how much is the check for?" he asked as he started the car.

"Let me see," I said, taking the check out from my pocket. I unfolded it and my eyes bugged out.

"Babe?" he asked looking over at me.

"This must be wrong!" His brow furrowed.

"Let me see it," he grabbed it and took in the amount.

"Holy shit! He gave you this for finding his kid?" he asked handing it back. I nodded.

"One million dollars," Ranger stated before letting out a low whistle. I looked over at Ranger.

"I know what I'm going to do with it," I told him. He looked over.

"What?"

"I'm going to build and start an orphanage. So, foster kids don't have to go from family to family. I could see what some of the social workers think. I could hire nurses, cooks, and adults to look after the children. And it will be the one all the kids will want to live in," I said with a smile. "That way the kids we just rescued, the ones that don't have families can live there. And any other kids who don't have homes." Ranger grabbed my hand.

"Proud of you Babe. That's a great idea," he said as he pulled into the underground garage. "You know, if it takes more money than you have. I will invest in it too."

"Ranger, you don't have to." I didn't want him spending his money on a project that he might not even want a part in.

"Listen to me Babe, this is a wonderful idea. I will gladly be a part of it and I'm sure all of the guys will be as well. Some of the guys were foster kids and they know what it was like," Ranger said, grabbing my hand. "You have a big heart Stephanie Plum and I would do anything for you. And for the record, call me Carlos, Babe, Carlos." He then kissed me for all he was worth.

"You know, if it was okay with you, we could make it part of RangeMan," I said, breaking the kiss. He grinned.

"That's a great idea Babe. Let's go draw up the plans."

Epilogue

One Year Later

"Molly Amber Manoso! You're going to miss the bus!" I yelled up the stairs to my adoptive daughter.

"I'm coming Mommy!" she shouted back. I heard her little feet tapping against the wooden floors. She had learned a lot since I adopted her, she still needed work on some words, but she was getting good at talking. She ran down the stairs.

"Careful!" I warned, seeing the speed that she was coming down at. She slowed down, but not much.

"Can you put my bow in for my first day of kindergarten?" she asked, handing me her purple bow. I nodded and clipped her brown hair back. We looked alike except she had green eyes.

"You ready?" I asked, grabbing her hand in one hand and her backpack in the other. She nodded. I slipped her backpack on and I resumed holding her hand. I walked her out to the end of the driveway.

"Where's Daddy?" she asked, looking around for Carlos. I smoothed her hair back as I crouched down to her height.

"He had a problem at work, but he wanted me to tell you that he wanted to be here," I said giving her a kiss on the cheek. Suddenly we both heard the roar of the only Turbo in our neighborhood. She squealed and jumped up and down.

"Daddy! Daddy!" He parked and got out. He strode over and picked Molly up.

"You ready for your first day?" he asked with a smile. Carlos was surprisingly good with Molly and the kids at the orphanage.

"Yep! I got my Scooby-Doo backpack and lunch box!" she said with a smile. He grinned. The bus started coming up and Carlos set Molly down. We each took a hold of her hands. The bus came to a stop and I hugged her tight and gave her a kiss before she got on the bus. A tear slid down my cheek and Carlos wrapped an arm around me. He gave me a kiss and when the bus was out of sight we went inside.

"A couple is coming to the orphanage today," I informed him as I got a cup of coffee.

"That's great!"

"Yeah, we'll have more openings. I'm going over right now."

"You always do," he said wrapping his arms around me.

"You coming with me?" I asked turning to look at him.

"Seeing as Les is in charge of the Trenton RangeMan office, yes, I'm coming." I smiled. We walked out the door and got in his car. He drove to the orphanage. It was on one hundred acres of land. A lot to take care of, but it was worth it. It was a huge building, but we chose not to build up, but out. It was three stories and it stretched far. The right wing is the boys, and the left the girls, in between is the adult staff. There's also a nursery on the second floor and it's in the middle with the adults. The older kids get the higher floors and the littler ones, the bottom. There is a gym on the third floor. The kitchen and living rooms are on the first floor. Outside going around the whole perimeter is a track and there's a smaller one inside. There's a playground out back, a trampoline, basketball court, baseball field, and a couple tree houses. There is a chain link fence going around the perimeter after the brick wall in the front, to make sure that no one trespasses and so everyone knows where the property ends. Out back there is also a building that the little kids go to during the day for pre-school. Each room has a counselor to look out for the kids. I'm happy to say it's all full too. RangeMan does security, of course.

We drove down the long driveway and we passed under the sign that says 'Range-Orphanage Open to All Kids'. The kids all have their own bus to the public schools, since there are so many of them. Carlos looked over at me and smiled.

"You did a great thing babe," Carlos said grabbed my hand and brushing his thumb across the top.

"We did a great thing. It couldn't have been accomplished without you," I responded with a smile as he parked in the parking lot we had in front. We got out and walked up.

"Yo, Mr and Mrs. M, what's up?" Ryan asked, holding a basketball. I smiled.

"Hey, Ryan, Molly started her first day of kindergarten today. And you know Tank and Lula, her baby is due any day now. So, why aren't you in school?" I asked him. He shrugged.

"I didn't feel to good earlier," he told me. "I was throwing up, but I feel fine now. I'm actually going to shoot some hoops since my fever went down."

"Riiiiight, okay," I said letting it slide as I smiled at him.

"I mean it, you can ask Jim, he's the one who called the school to get my homework," Ryan explained.

"I believe you, really. Have fun!" He nodded and walked off. Carlos put his arm around me and we walked into the building. We walked through and into the kitchen, where my mom, and Ella among others were working on lunch for the kids who weren't old enough for school. My dad was the coach for the orphanage baseball team.

"Molly get off to school alright?" Mom asked as she cut up some bread.

"Yeah, we're going to meet her at the bus stop later."

"She's gotten taller," Ella commented. "Are you bringing her here after school?"

"Of course." Carlos rubbed my back.

"Babe, I love you." I smiled.

"Love you too, Batman." He then kissed me, in front of my mother, not that she minded anymore.

A/N: It's done! What'd you think? I had no idea about the orphanage before I wrote it. It was a surprise for me too, a great one. =) I hope you all enjoyed reading the story, I have really enjoyed writing it. Thank you for all the reviews that I have gotten, you guys kept me going. I'm sorry I couldn't respond individually, but I'll try this time. Thank you all for reading!