Bold section from Chapter 12

Tom ended the call, shaking his head, and turned to face us. "That was the TPD," he started.

I sucked in a deep breath and clung to Ranger's hand. Please don't let them be charging Ranger with something. Please don't let them be charging Ranger with something.

"Detective Morelli has dropped all charges." He finished.

I could feel my eyebrows draw together in confusion. "I don't understand. Why would he do that?"

Ranger's face looked tense. "Because you asked him to."

My eyes widened. "But I didn't really think he'd do it!" I shook my head. "Why even take me in if he was just going to drop the charges?"

Ranger stood still, his mouth set in a grim line. "I don't know, Babe, but we'll figure it out."

I looked up at Tom. "So what do we do now?"

Tom shrugged. "Well, for now, we just sit tight. I'll keep records of all of the evidence that we have here, including your statements and the photographs. If Detective Morelli decides to reopen the charges at a later date, we have everything we need. Hopefully, though, this will be the end of it."

I nodded. I hoped so, too.

Tom shook hands all around and headed out of the conference room.

Chapter 13

Two weeks later…

Over the past two weeks, Lester and I had checked with every business anywhere near the intersection of Market and Elm, whether they were Rangeman clients or not. We were hoping that someone's security system had recorded the traffic stop. As Lester had suspected, most of them were focused on the front of the building – the door and front windows. A few ranged out into the street, but the angle was wrong.

One of the businesses was perfect. The owner had a brand new Jag that he parked on the street in front of his store, and he wanted the camera to cover his car as well as the storefront. Unfortunately, Joe's car had blocked us from the camera's view.

I wouldn't be deterred, though. I left business cards with everyone, hoping that even bits and pieces of the footage could be put together to show what had happened. Several people had promised to review their tapes and get back to me if anything at all showed up – even a partial recording of the stop.

Hector and Hal had tried hacking in to various traffic cameras in the area with little success. A few were red light cameras, so they were only activated when someone ran the light. They found evidence of me running the light that had caused the stop, but the camera shut off immediately after that. The other cameras that were within range were at the wrong angle. They downloaded all of the footage anyhow, thinking that maybe it could be pieced together with security footage, like a puzzle, to show the whole scene.

I was grateful that they were all so willing to work on this for me. Especially since a lot of it was on their own time.

Truthfully, the guys had been exceptional the past two weeks. Well, exceptional, but maybe just a tiny bit overprotective. Alright, they had been downright pains in the ass!

Rumors of my possible pregnancy had flown around Rangeman like wildfire, further fueling my belief that these ex-military men were even worse than the old ladies at the Clip 'n Curl. Once the news was out, I was under constant scrutiny. The guys insisted that I quit working for Vinnie immediately, just in case. I quickly gave in to that demand, agreeing that it wasn't safe for me to continue. That, however, was the last of their demands that I gave in to with good grace. The rest of them were just ridiculous.

The first one to get my death glare was Cal. He had been on monitors and had seen me pull in to the parking garage and start to unload a few bags from the grocery store. Instead of calling one of the guys to come down and give me a hand, Cal had come barreling down the stairs, screaming for me to put them down. I felt like a criminal being yelled at by the FBI to drop my weapons and lay down on the ground. He scared the shit out of me! I screamed and threw my bags up in the air, causing a can of Coke to explode and shoot all over the Turbo.

When I finally realized that Cal's objective had been to stop me from carrying anything too heavy, I forgave him. But I still made him tell Ranger about the Turbo. After all, it was his fault!

From that day forward, the unofficial rule at Rangeman was that I couldn't lift anything heavier than a stapler without permission. I hated to break it to them, but on any given day my purse could weigh anywhere from 10 to 20 pounds. It mostly depended on whether or not I had my gun in my purse. And whether said gun was loaded or unloaded.

The next ridiculous decree was handed down by Tank who decided that I shouldn't be driving anymore. This ridiculous decision was all Hal's fault. Apparently while skimming the newspaper, he had seen an article where a pregnant woman was killed in a car crash. The article had mentioned that the air bags deployed and had caused some trauma to the baby. What Hal had failed to notice in the second half of the article was that the cause of death was due to internal bleeding caused by the side impact of the crash.

You know the saying a little knowledge is a dangerous thing? Yeah, well Hal got the idea that the air bags had killed her because she was pregnant, and he ran with it. Literally. He ran straight to Tank and demanded that I have my driving privileges revoked. Not only that, but I wasn't even allowed to sit in the front passenger seat. Oh, no! I had to sit in the back like a little kid so that the big scary air bags couldn't get me. Gah!

Next on my shit list was Bobby. Once he found out that I might be pregnant, he had gone crazy researching anything to do with pregnancy. One afternoon he popped around the wall of my cubicle and yelled, "Hey, Bomber!" Then he proceeded to take my blood pressure and yell at me because it was high. Well, no shit, Sherlock! You just jumped out at me! What are the odds that my heart rate and blood pressure sped up? Geesh! I was ready to tackle him to the ground, but I figured if I did the Merry Men would mutiny and super glue my ass to my chair so that I couldn't get too physical!

Up to that point I had been able to deal with most of what was thrown at me. Until two days ago when Ranger and Ella sat down with me to plan out menus that they thought included healthier options of all of my favorite foods. Although I wouldn't admit it, most of the food was pretty good. Instead, I informed them that I was on the warpath and that I considered them both traitors. Ella caved and snuck me a piece of pineapple upside down cake, so she was forgiven. Ranger, however, continued to monitor my intake of sugar and caffeine. If it weren't for the fact that he was more than happy to take care of my excess sugar hormones, I would have stabbed him to death with a toothpick by now!

Speaking of taking care of my excess sugar hormones, let's just say that Ranger was more than willing to do the job. Over and over and over and over again! I spent half the day feeling like a coiled spring waiting to explode and the other half of the day relaxed into a puddle of goo. Life was pretty good! While addressing the sugar hormones, Ranger and I had decided to use condoms. Just in case. We were waiting to find out whether or not I was already pregnant. If I wasn't, then Bobby had birth control shots waiting for me downstairs. If I was, then the birth control shots would be put on the shelf for the next nine months.

After giving ourselves a few days to think about the possibility of my being pregnant, Ranger and I had had another serious talk about children. We both agreed that the timing wasn't great, but we were committed to continuing the pregnancy. If there was one. I secretly believed that I was pregnant. Further than that, I was pretty sure that the baby was a little boy because every night when I closed my eyes, I saw a beautiful miniature version of Carlos wrapped in a blue blanket. He would smile and coo at me, and I woke up with a big smile on my face almost every morning.

Today was the day. My period should have started by now. I was a couple of days late. While this wasn't unusual, especially with the stress I'd been under lately, I still thought it was time to check. Ella had graciously offered to pick a test up at the store for me so that the already crazy Burg grapevine didn't have one more Stephanie Plum rumor to add to it.

The box was sitting on the bathroom counter, just waiting for me to open it. I hadn't gotten my period yet, and I was 98% sure that I was pregnant with Carlos's baby. I never thought that I would be OK with being pregnant, but over the past few weeks I had come to accept the idea. Carlos had been wonderful. Except for being a Food Nazi, he was spoiling me rotten, and it was easy to picture him helping me with a miniature version of himself.

I opened the box and used the test. I set it on the counter and washed my hands, glancing over at it nervously. My mind began to wander, and I pictured my beautiful baby boy with dark eyes and straight, silky hair like his daddy. He grinned at me, and I looked up in the mirror to see a loving expression on my face. I was in love with my imaginary baby!

I looked down at the test and watched as the results began to show. One line. Wait a minute. Didn't one line mean…. I looked at the box. One line meant not pregnant. But I was sure that I was. Wasn't I? This time, the expression I saw in the mirror looked crushed.

Carlos knocked on the door. "Babe? Everything OK?" he asked quietly.

Was it OK? This was what we'd wanted, right? We hadn't wanted to have a baby so soon. We'd both agreed that the timing was off. It was too soon. We weren't ready. We hadn't had time for just us, to grow our own relationship. So then why did I feel like someone had punched me in the stomach?

"Babe?" Carlos called again. This time he sounded a little worried.

If I didn't answer him pretty soon, he'd probably rip the door off the hinges. Or at least pick the lock. But what did I say to him? I sank to my knees and buried my face in my hands.

Carlos knocked on the door. "Babe?" Now he sounded panicked. "Please open the door."

I wanted to open the door for him. I really did. But I just couldn't make myself move. It was like I was in shock.

I heard Carlos fiddling with the knob, and a few seconds later the lock popped open. Carlos pushed the door open and rushed into the room. When he saw me kneeling on the floor, he crossed the large room in one big step and knelt beside me. He took in my big eyes, tear stained cheeks, and quivering lower lip. He folded me into his arms and rocked me back and forth. "Shhh, Babe. It'll be OK. We can hire a nanny. And you don't have to quit working, I promise! We'll do whatever you want!"

I drew in a shuddering breath and began to cry harder. He thought I was upset because the test was positive! He thought I didn't want to be pregnant!

I leaned back, and he cupped my face with his large hands. "I promise I'll be there for you, Babe, every step of the way. Please don't be scared or upset!" His eyes begged me to agree.

I shook my head no as the tears ran down my cheeks. "No, Carlos…"

He looked pained. "Stephanie…" he choked out. "I thought you wanted to have my baby!"

I held up the test. "It's negative." I whispered. "I'm not pregnant."

He looked stunned for a minute and then he wrapped his arms around me again, rubbing my back. "Oh, Babe!" he whispered over and over.

We stayed on the floor like that for a long while, him holding me and comforting me. Finally I drew a deep shuddering breath and pulled back. "Sorry," I said with a weak smile. "I know this is the result we wanted. I guess I had just gotten kind of used to the idea of a mini Carlos running around."

Carlos leaned down and kissed my nose. "I was hoping for a girl." He stated. "One with wild, curly hair and big blue eyes like her mommy."

I bit my lip as my eyes filled up with tears again.

His hands were buried in my curls. "We can try next month if you want, Babe." He offered.

I shook my head. "No. I think we need to wait a while. I know this is a good thing. It just hurts a little right now. I guess I had gotten more used to the idea than I realized."

He pulled me back into his arms. "Me too, Babe." he whispered.

We spent the rest of the evening curled up on the couch just holding each other while we watched movies and ate popcorn. There was nothing sexual about it, but it was very intimate. I felt loved. Cherished even.

When the second movie ended, I got up and stretched. I put our bowls in the sink and headed into the bathroom to get ready for bed. When I sat down on the toilet, I noticed the bright red stain in my panties. I guess that made the test official. I started crying again for the imaginary baby that had never existed.

I finished up in the bathroom and crawled into bed. Carlos wrapped his arms around me and pulled my back against his front. "You OK, Babe?"

"I got my period." I whispered.

His arms wrapped around me tighter. "Someday, Babe. Someday."

I nodded. "I know." I managed in a voice thick with tears.

He held me tight and whispered Spanish softly into my hair as I fell into a restless sleep.

TBC