Thank you all for the great feedback. I hope you continue to enjoy.

I am not a doctor, nor do I play one on television, and I've never stayed at a Holiday Inn Express. Any medical information is strictly made up. This is fiction. Consider it "artistic" license (and I do use that term loosely).

As always, all the characters you recognize belong to JE and I'm just having fun with them.

Previously:

He ignored my question and continued speaking softly. "You saved your mommy's life today. Mommy got out of the SUV and ran between some parked cars. That helped shield her from the explosion. Having you inside is making your mom a little sick, but that's okay. She's safe now and you're okay and I won't let anything happen to either of you. I promise."

Ranger pressed a kiss to my belly and then looked up at me. I was speechless. I was crying again and there were tears in Ranger's eyes as well.

"I meant what I said, Babe. I love you. I couldn't stand to lose you now that we are finally together. You'll let me protect you and the baby, right? Please, babe?"

I sighed. I hate being on lock down. "I can't promise I won't get bitchy about it," I smiled at Ranger, "but I have too much to lose now, too. I won't fight you about this."

I was so tired and everything seemed to catch up with me at once. I let out a huge yawn.

"Sleep, Babe. I'll be right here." Ranger kissed my lips lightly.

And so I slept.

2 Days Later

I was on the floor of the bathroom in my hospital room, leaning against the wall, too exhausted to move. My morning sickness was getting worse. I had finally sent Ranger home last night to get some rest. I knew he would be back this morning and I really wanted to get cleaned up. I was scheduled to be released today and I didn't want anything fucking it up. Morning sickness is normal, right? I finally managed to haul myself to my feet, brushed my teeth, and washed my face. I'd wait until I got home to take a shower. Did I just refer to Ranger's apartment as home?

Twenty minutes later I was pacing back and forth across my hospital room. Ranger had two newer guys stationed outside my room so I couldn't ask them to come inside and entertain me like I could with Bobby or Lester. I hate hospitals! Some sadistic lab bastard had showed up in my room at 5 am to draw blood, waking me up from an erotic dream just as Ranger's tongue was making it's way to the Promised Land, and then said lab bastard proceeded to jab me about 10 times before he actually managed to get any blood. He was so damn lucky Ranger wasn't there and I was still debating whether I would tell on him or not. There goes my (im)maturity rearing it's ugly head again! Of course, I was trapped in bed while the guy was jabbing me and my bladder was screaming. By the time he finished, I leaped out of bed to race to the bathroom, which of course triggered the dizziness and morning sickness. Crap! All in all, I was a cranky Jersey girl and I wanted out of this place.

I grabbed my cell phone and called Ranger.

"Yo."

"Ranger, where are you? I'm going crazy here."

"I'm on my way, Babe. I have to make a quick stop. Has the doctor been in yet?"

"No. I'm still waiting."

"I'll be there in 10 minutes. Hang in there, okay?"

I tossed my cell phone on the bed in frustration. I opened the door and peered out into the hallway. No nurses or doctors to be seen. I said hello to the two Rangemen stationed outside and got a polite "ma'am" in response. Ma'am? What the fuck?

I was back to pacing my room when a few minutes later the door opened and Ranger strolled in. He was carrying a small white bag that I recognized immediately. I launched myself at him and those legendary reflexes of his didn't let me down as he caught me easily and I wrapped my legs around his waist and my arms around his neck.

"You brought me Boston Creams!" I said.

Ranger laughed. "Looking a little crazed there, Babe. I think you need the sugar this morning." His arms were wrapped around me and he gave me a bone melting kiss before lowering me to the floor. I flounced happily on the bed and attacked the bag of sugary goodness.

Two Boston Creams later I was feeling much more mellow. I think it was the doughnuts, but it could have had something to do with the delivery boy, who was currently lying on my bed with me wrapped in his arms, peppering me with kisses on every inch of available skin. Since I was wearing short shorts and a tank top, there was plenty of ground to cover. I must have dozed off a bit, because next thing I knew I heard Ranger talking with Dr. Gordon. I stretched and yawned and looked over at Ranger.

"Sorry, I guess I fell asleep," I said.

"That's okay, Babe. My ego can take it." Ranger came over to the bed and gave me a hug and kissed the top of my head.

I looked over at Dr. Gordon. "So, what's the verdict? Can I go home today?"

"As far as I'm concerned, you're a free woman, but you'll need to be released by the trauma service as well."

I groaned in frustration and Ranger sat on the bed next to me and rubbed my back.

"Don't worry," Dr. Gordon said. "I saw the trauma team making rounds down the hall. I'm sure they'll be in here soon. I wanted to speak to you about a few things before you leave anyway. Can we speak privately?"

Ranger looked at me and then back at Dr. Gordon. "Is everything okay," he asked?

Dr. Gordon started to reply, but I interrupted. "It's okay, Dr. Gordon. Ranger knows what's going on with the timing of my pregnancy and the possibility that my ex-boyfriend might be the father. I don't have any secrets from him. He also has my medical proxy, so even if I'm not available, you can discuss anything with him."

She smiled at both of us, "Good. That makes things easier. I called down to the lab and got the results of your HCG test. Your numbers look good and have slightly more than doubled from 2 days ago. The rest of your lab values all look good as well. Have you decided what you are going to do about the pregnancy?"

I looked over at Ranger and he leaned in and gave me a gentle kiss. I looked back at Dr. Gordon. "We want the baby."

Dr. Gordon reached into her coat pocket and pulled out a few pamphlets. "Take these and read them over. Call my office if you have any questions. These are some options we have for paternity testing, both before and after the baby is born."

She handed the pamphlets to me. "We haven't had a chance to discuss it, yet, but I think I'd like to find out as soon as possible," I told her.

Ranger was nodding his head in agreement. "It can be done safely?" He asked.

"Yes. I believe the risks are minimal and either way, I think that knowing the paternity will make the pregnancy less stressful. Even if you don't get the outcome you hope for, for most women, the uncertainty is even worse." Dr. Gordon answered. She continued, "As I said, read over the pamphlets and when you are certain, call my office. We'll set everything up."

There was a knock on the door and one of the trauma doctors came into the room, followed by a pack of interns and medical students. He picked up my chart. "Ms. Plum. I'm Dr. Scott. If you don't mind, I'm rounding with students today." Ranger was up in an instant. "I'm sorry, doctor, but I'm Ms. Plum's medical proxy and I mind." The doctor started to say something, but took one look at Ranger's face and changed his mind. The students and interns filed back out of the room, actually looking a little bit relieved.

Dr. Gordon chuckled and reached out to shake my hand. "Stephanie, I'll be talking to you soon." She turned and shook Ranger's hand as well. "Call me if you have any questions."

She left the room and Dr. Scott continued studying my chart. "Well, Ms. Plum. You haven't had any signs of bleeding in the brain. Your lung sounds have remained clear. I am going to go ahead and release you. You do need to take it easy for a few days, please. You were very lucky not to end up with broken ribs, and the residual soreness that you feel should diminish quickly over the next few days. I'll just step outside and the paperwork started. The nurses will let you know when everything is set."

"Thank you, doctor!" I said, turning and beaming at Ranger as the doctor left the room. "Can we stop and see Les before we leave?"

"Anything you want, Babe. He'll be glad to see you. I spoke to his doctor this morning and he'll be released tomorrow or the next day. He had quite a severe concussion and still has a lot of ringing in his ears from the blast. He also has some really deep lacerations, but those will heal up. He's been anxious to see you, too."

We stopped to see Lester and I knew he would be fine when he kissed me on the lips and asked me to run away with him when he was released from the hospital. I love Lester! We made our way back to RangeMan and Ranger wasted no time in getting me up to the seventh floor and settled on the couch.

"So, what are the rules going to be?" I asked Ranger.

"Rules?" He lifted an eyebrow at me.

"You know. Don't leave the building, always have a man with me, wear a tracker, yada, yada, yada. Rules! I promised to let you protect me and I will. I just want to know what that means exactly."

"Don't get crazy, Babe. You just got home from the hospital," Ranger said, looking like I amused him.

Did Ranger just refer to his apartment as my "home" too? Oh my God!

"You need to take it easy for a few days anyway, and I can use your help on the searches we're running on William Conti. You'll be helping us catch the bastard. Will that help make you feel better about staying inside?" Ranger gave me a sexy grin.

"Cheater! You know I can't get mad when you put it that way, Ranger." I laughed back at him.

"Good. That's settled then. Today you'll rest up and tomorrow you can get started with the searches. I want you to go back over everything we've already done and then try a few new search programs that we've been trying out at RangeMan Miami."

Ranger dialed up Ella and asked that lunch be brought about 12:30 and then settled on the couch with me to go over the pamphlets that we'd gotten from the doctor. We read through them all and decided to go with prenatal paternity testing. The earliest we could get a DNA sample from the baby would be when I was between 10 and 12 weeks pregnant. Ranger, Joe, and I would get simple cheek swabs to collect our DNA. It would take 72 hours to get the results.

"Babe, have you thought about when you're going to tell Morelli what's going on?" Ranger asked.

"I don't suppose we could just stun him and take his sample while he's out cold? I asked hopefully.

"Babe."

"Ranger." Hey, I can do one word answers, too!

"Babe."

Sigh. "Okay, okay. I'll talk to Joe soon."

Ranger looked at me like he knew I was mentally packing my bags for Denial Land.

"Babe."

"Ranger."

"Babe."

"You shouldn't pick on a pregnant lady, you know. It's not nice!" I said as I gave Ranger my best Jersey Girl death glare. Ranger looked like he was thinking about smiling.

Sigh. I wasn't going to win this battle. "Tomorrow." I said. "We can call Dr. Gordon's office tomorrow to set up the test. Once we have the date, I'll call Morelli. Okay?"

"Proud of you Babe."

Ranger scooped me up and took me to the bedroom. I was definitely running on empty, energy wise. He gently undressed me, slipped one of his t-shirts over my head, and tucked me into bed. I held out my hand and he climbed in next to me. I cuddled into Ranger's chest and he wrapped his arms around me. I closed my eyes and drifted to sleep, knowing that tomorrow would come soon enough.