Author's Note: Here's 22! Hope you enjoy. I started out in Ranger's POV because I didn't want you to think he was being an overprotective ass. Read and review

Not mine.

Chapter 22: Results

Ranger's POV

"You're looking happy today. Someone get some last night?" Bobby asked me.

"Shut up, Brown."

"You do have a nice afterglow…" Tank chimed in.

Asses. I work with asses.

I turned to Tank. "I told Steph last night."

"About your father?" I nodded. "What did she say?"

"That I would make a great dad."

Both Bobby and Tank snorted. "You would, man." Tank said, almost with a straight face.

"Can we just concentrate on the skip now?"

"You don't think…" Bobby said from the back seat.

"What?"

"That she's already pregnant?"

"She can't be. We were careful."

"You were careful with Rachel."

"That was different."

We all sat there. Okay, so that was a lie. Other than the fact that I loved Stephanie more than I had loved anyone.

"Let's go. There's our guy."

We grabbed the skip and on the way to the station, I thought about it. What if she was pregnant? Why wouldn't she tell me? I started calling her phone, but she didn't pick up. I tried again. Voicemail.

"Babe, call me."

When she didn't call me I got worried. It seemed longer to get back to Haywood and when I got out of the car, I didn't stop running until I got to her. Thank god she was just sitting on the toilet with her birth control.

Oh, God.

When she told me that she was late, my mind went to a million different places. The one that crossed the most was that Stephanie could be pregnant. I had thought about her growing big and beautiful with our child ever since Grandma Rosa had told her our children would be beautiful, not that I didn't already know that.

I knew the next few months were crucial, so I kept her as safe as I could without going overboard. I didn't want anything to happen to that baby or Stephanie. Apparently I had, because soon she was spending more time at her apartment. I couldn't sleep without her or knowing she was there without any protection. Not that she didn't since the guys were volunteering to take shifts and watch the place.

And then the day came where we would find out. Whatever the outcome, I was going to stand by my Babe.

Stephanie's POV

"I can't…I can't..."

"Babe."

"I need to be alone." I got up and walked to the bedroom. Once I had stripped, I sighed into the a billion count sheets that Ella had pilfered for me. I just wanted to be alone to process.

Ranger came in sometime later to lay with me. We didn't say anything. No words were needed. I didn't know what to say to him.

"Babe, it was negative."

"I know."

"Then why are you hiding from me?"

"Because I'm not sure that's what I wanted."

"What?"

"I don't which I wanted more. To be pregnant or not to be."

"Stephanie, do you want to try for a baby?"

I shrugged my shoulders. I closed my eyes. I didn't want to talk about this anymore. I was hoping that I was just having another vivid dream.

But I wasn't.

Ranger sensed that I didn't want to talk any more so he just cuddled me into him and I soaked up some of his strength.

Over the next few weeks, everything returned to an almost normalcy. A few days after the test, I got my period. I knew for sure that I wasn't pregnant. Ranger stopped being as protective and I went back to Haywood. I think he did it so I wouldn't have the urge to bolt. We didn't bring up the baby thing and avoided all topics that would eventually lead to that. With every passing day, the relationship continued to suffer.

Just like every Sunday before, we had dinner at the Manoso household. It let us relax around each other because we weren't forced to be together. Its not that I didn't want to be around him, it was just I was constantly reminded of what almost happened. I was sitting in the kitchen, drying dishes with Maria and Celia. Elena was sitting with her youngest, Manny.

"Here, sit down, Stephanie. You look tired." She held out Manny for me to take.

"Elena." Ranger scolded. He had come in for a refill of beers.

"Its okay, Carlos, I don't mind." I cradled Manny into my arms and he looked at me for a moment before falling back to sleep.

"Look, she's a natural." Elena said, nudging Ranger. Both Celia and Maria turned to look at me for a moment. Ranger had this look on his face between pain and adoration. "It's a miracle. I couldn't get him to stop fussing for more than a second."

I looked down at the sleeping form of Manny. He had the Cuban skin color, hair and eyes with the mix of Anglo from his father in his cheekbones. If I thought about it, I could have been holding our child instead of Elena's.

I couldn't tear my eyes away from him. He was so perfect just lying there, sleeping. I looked up at Ranger and saw that his features had softened tremendously, as if reading my thoughts. I could feel Maria's eyes flickering between us, but still having no idea what was going on.

Soon he started to stir in my arms.

"Uh-oh, I guess that was the calm before the storm."

He squirmed a little and then continued to hold my gaze.

"Amazing." Celia said. "I've never seen him this quiet."

I held Manny until Ranger and I decided to leave.

The car ride was quiet as usual. I didn't know what to say. I had all these feelings churning around inside of me. Did I want to have a baby? Did I want to be pregnant already? Was my biological clock ticking or was it just from what had happened lately. After that day and today, I still wasn't sure.

Or was I?

Ranger had told me that he would give me whatever he could and try his damnedest to get everything he didn't have already. I knew he was ready to be a father again. That's why he was so protective. He wanted children and he wanted them with me.

When we got back to the apartment, he instinctively went to the kitchen. Each time we came home from his mother's, he would give me enough time in the bedroom to make sure I was ready, in bed and already asleep before he joined me. Or so he thought. I was always awake, just in case. I followed him into the kitchen and grabbed his hand. He raised an eyebrow at me.

"Come on," I said.

"Babe."

"Carlos, you haven't made love to me in weeks."

"Sure I have." He said. I gave him a look. "I was giving you space."

"Now, I don't want any. Come on." This time he gave into me. I brought him into the bedroom and pulled him on top of me. He kissed me and it seemed like our clothes just melted off. He started to reach for the nightstand and I stopped him. I hadn't gotten a new month of birth control and I decided not to bother.

"Babe?"

"We don't need that." I tried to kiss him, but he pulled away still looking confused. Then it dawned on him

"Babe, are you…"

"Carlos, I want to have a baby." I said smiling and with tears starting to form in my eyes.

Okay, I hope you guys liked it (I figured it was a nice middle since everyone wanted to see her pregnant and I wasn't ready to write that just yet).