Bold section from Chapter 19

"There are many factors at play here, Ms. Plum, but I'd have to say that the one particular factor that probably played the largest role is that ..."

The front door opened, and I heard the men yelling "Down on the ground! Freeze, asshole! Hands where I can see 'em!" There were several loud thuds and the sound of heavy footsteps as one of the teams ran out to secure Morelli's truck.

"…you're pregnant. Congratulations!"

Chapter 20

Ranger's POV

I was stunned. There was no other word for it. This whole baby situation had been a rollercoaster from the beginning. When Steph first thought she might be pregnant, I was upset about it. Not that I didn't want to have a baby with her, I just didn't think this was the right time for me to have any more kids. And Steph had been an absolute nervous wreck at even the thought of having a baby. Once we'd both gotten used to the idea, the test had been negative. She wasn't pregnant. Now she was? I rubbed my hand across my face.

I could hear her talking to the doctor in a confused voice. "But I just took a test a few days ago. It was negative. And I got my period. Oh, God! Does that mean that something's wrong? Was I having a miscarriage?"

The doctor answered in a reassuring voice. "Many women continue to have some light spotting during pregnancy, especially in the beginning. Some even have heavy periods the first few months. Your bloodwork is still showing that you're pregnant, so I think it's unlikely that you were having a miscarriage. But we're going to take you down to ultrasound now just to check everything out. As far as the home test goes, those often give a false negative, especially in the early stages of pregnancy."

There was silence on the other end of the line. I could picture Stephanie trying to digest all of the information she had just learned. "Babe?" I spoke up.

"I'm here." She replied in a dazed voice.

"Morelli's here. We have him in custody. I'm headed back now, OK? I'll be there in a couple of hours."

Lester laughed. "She nodded. I think she's in shock right now."

I didn't blame her. I knew I was!

"I love you, Babe. I'll see you in a few hours."

"I love you, too." She replied softly.

I ended the call and headed out to the front room. My plan was to load Morelli into the back of one of the pick-up trucks and head for the airport, but when I saw him, I was consumed with rage. I flew across the room and grabbed him out of Tank's grip. I picked him up under the arms and threw him into the wall. Aiming my boot at his stomach, I drew back and kicked as hard as I could.

He doubled over in pain and groaned, "What the fuck, man?"

I leaned down and picked him up, shoving his back against the wall. I used my forearm to hold his neck to the wall, and he struggled to breathe. Tank took a step closer, but with one look from me, he froze.

I leaned down and growled in Morelli's face. "You took my woman. My pregnant woman! And locked her in a closet on Stark Street. A closet filled with roaches and garbage. And that was after you had drawn vial after vial of blood out of her arm. You had better pray that nothing you did hurt her or my baby!"

He gasped for air, his eyes growing wide, and I moved my arm back just a fraction of an inch. "I didn't know she was pregnant." He rasped.

I narrowed my eyes. "It doesn't matter, you dumb fucker." I grit out. "It wouldn't have been OK to treat her like that even if she wasn't pregnant."

He nodded.

"I told you that the next time you laid a hand on her I would kill you."

His eyes got even wider, and he began to struggle against my grip in earnest.

I gave him a cold sneer. "Give it up, Morelli. If I choose to kill you, you're not going to get away from me."

I shoved him onto the floor, and he scrambled to his feet.

I advanced towards him. "Maybe I should treat you the same way you treated Steph. Smack you around, leave handprints all over your body, draw vials of blood out of your arm."

He paled at that and backed towards the door.

I lunged at him and took him down easily, landing punch after punch in his face, in his stomach. Tank finally pulled me off of him, and Morelli rolled over on his side in a fetal position. He started coughing and finally spit out a mouthful of blood and a couple of teeth. I was breathing heavily and struggling against the bear hug that Tank had me in, my arms pinned against my sides.

Bobby was standing next to me with a needle. I knew what was in it. A sedative. I glared at him. "I don't need that!"

Bobby raised an eyebrow at me, obviously doubting my ability to control myself.

I broke out of Tank's hold and struggled to regulate my breathing. Cal and Hal stood in between me and Morelli, forming a wall to stop me from going after him again. Ram was still outside, watching the road in.

Tank held his hands up, palms out, showing me that he wasn't a threat as he advanced towards me. "Look, man. You said you wanted to bring him back alive. You said it would be a worse punishment if he had to stand trial and go to prison. If you want to kill him here and now, by all means, have at it. You know that I am sure as fuck not gonna stop you. But make your decision with a clear head. Cuz once you kill him, we can't undo that."

I nodded. I knew what he was saying. When Tank and I had talked, I had told him that I wanted Morelli brought back to New Jersey alive. Stephanie wanted him alive. She wanted him to get up on the stand and admit what he had done to her. She wanted him to be sentenced and go to prison. She wanted the Burg to know that I was innocent and he was guilty. If I killed him now, I'd feel good. Really good in fact. For a little while. But it wasn't what Steph wanted. And really, it wasn't what I wanted either. I wanted him to suffer, and I didn't have enough time right now to enjoy killing him slowly. It would be much better to take him back to Trenton and let the criminals in jail do the job for me. Cops never lasted long in jail. And I was sure that Morelli wouldn't be the exception to that rule.

I looked at Tank. "Toss him in a truck and let's get out of here."

Tank nodded and lifted him up. We all marched out to the two pick-ups and loaded our gear. I purposely didn't ride in Morelli's truck, not trusting myself to leave him alive if I was within reach of his throat. Instead, he rode with Ram, Cal, and Hal.

I let Tank drive, and I rode shotgun, Bobby in the small backseat behind us. The drive to the airstrip was silent, and I calmed myself with thoughts of my Babe growing round with my baby. A beautiful baby girl with dark skin, blue eyes, and wild curly hair.

Tank finally broke the silence, looking over at me out of the corner of his eye. "So Bomber's really pregnant?"

I give a slight nod. "That's what the ER doctor says."

Bobby leaned forward, concerned. "Why's she in the ER?"

I scrubbed my hands across my face. "Lester said she was dizzy all day today. She passed out once and was wobbly two other times. He took her to St. Francis to get checked out."

Bobby nodded. "They think it was cuz she's pregnant?"

I growled. "Partially. They said that the blood loss from Morelli's dumbass move yesterday didn't help. Plus she has low blood pressure to begin with."

Bobby let out a low whistle. "Yeah, that combination would cause you to be dizzy alright."

We pulled into the airport and got ready to climb out of the truck. I turned to Tank. "Keep him out of my sight and out of my reach, or I'll fucking kill him."

Tank nodded. "No problem, man."

He jumped out of the truck and strode over to Morelli's ride. He hauled him out, none too gently, and got him secured in the plane before walking over to me. "He's in the front of the plane, handcuffed, shackled, and gagged. You go sit in the back bedroom and make some calls. See how Bomber is."

I bumped his fist in thanks and climbed into the plane. I headed for the bedroom in the very back without even looking at Morelli. I was afraid that if I saw him, I would charge straight towards him. And I didn't want to kill him on my plane. It would be a pain in the ass to get the blood out of the carpet and the leather seats.

Steph's POV

I was sitting on the bed several hours later, still in shock from the news of my pregnancy, when I heard Carlos's voice. "Where is she? Is she OK?"

I heard Hector, the guard outside my door, reassure him that I was just fine and motion him into my exam room. He rushed over to the bed, and I launched myself into his arms.

"You were right, Babe." He whispered, stroking my hair and back.

I pulled back, confused. "I was right about what?"

"You said you were sure you were pregnant. That you had been almost positive. You were right."

I smiled and nodded. Yeah, I had been! Go me!

He raised an eyebrow at me. "So when can we get you out of here?"

I crossed my arms across my chest and blew out a huffy breath. "I've been wondering the same thing!"

A few minutes later, Bobby came in with a stack of papers. "You ready to hit the road, Bomber?" he asked teasingly.

I rolled my eyes at him. "You have no idea!"

He motioned for Hector to come in, and he did. Pushing a wheelchair. Oh, hell no!

I glared at Bobby. "I am not riding in that thing. I am perfectly fine."

Bobby shrugged. "It's hospital policy."

I stuck my tongue out at him. "They bend every other damn rule for RangeMan! Why can't they bend this one?"

Carlos broke out in a full fledged grin. "Babe! Are you using my name to get special treatment around here?"

I blushed a bright red. "No! Well, Lester might have. But just to get us some blankets from the warmer and the red Jell-O instead of the yellow kind."

He let out a bark of laughter and shook his head. Picking me up, he turned around and sat down in the wheelchair, holding me on his lap. "There. She's in the wheelchair. Now everybody will be happy." He leaned down and nipped my ear. "Is this good enough for you, Babe? We bending the rules enough?"

I punched him lightly on the arm. "Smartass!"

Hector wheeled us out to the curb where Tank was waiting. Behind him there were three more black SUVs.

"Are we leading a freakin' parade or what?" I asked in amazement.

Carlos just shook his head. "Everyone wanted to check on their Bombshell."

I smiled. "Aww! My Merry Men are so sweet!"

Carlos just smirked. "Don't let them hear you calling them that, Babe."

"What? Merry Men? I call them that all the time!"

"No, sweet."

I pressed my lips against his throat. "I thought you liked it when I called you sweet."

He groaned. "Only in bed, Babe." He replied huskily.

My eyes twinkled. Good to know!

I looked up as the doors opened on all four of the SUVs. The Merry Men piled out and formed a semi-circle around us. Carlos cleared his throat and looked down at me. "There's actually another reason all of the guys are here, Babe."

I looked up at him, confused. "There is?"

He smiled and nodded. "The plane is fueled up and ready to go, and we were all hoping that you'd want to take a trip with us."

I wrinkled my forehead. "A trip? To where?"

"Las Vegas."

"Is there a skip out there or something?"

Carlos smiled and shook his head no.

"Then what…"

He took my hands and looked deep into my eyes. "Stephanie, a month ago you chose me. Over Joe. Over any other guy. And I wanted you to know that I have made the same choice. I choose you. Forever. For always." He pulled out a ring box, and I pressed my hands to my mouth.

"I know we haven't really talked about marriage, but I love you, Stephanie, and I'll love you forever."

He paused and searched my face, trying to gauge my reaction. "The plane is ready to go. We can be in Vegas in hours and get married tonight. Or we can just go out there to celebrate our engagement with the guys and get married later. Or never. We can just be engaged forever. Whatever you want. As long as we're together. What do you say?"

I shook my head slightly, trying to reorganize my thoughts. "You want to fly out to Vegas tonight with all the guys and get married?" I asked, incredulously.

He nodded.

What had happened to Ranger? The guy who kept his private life private and didn't advertise it to the guys? The guy who didn't do relationships, period. I smiled. I guess he had become Carlos. My fiancé. Wow.

He looked at me nervously. "Well?"

I threw my arms around his neck and kissed him hungrily. The guys laughed and whistled. I flipped them off with one hand while the other tangled in Carlos's silky hair.

He stood up and carried me over to the SUV, gently placing me in the back seat.

Six short hours later, Carlos was again scooping me up and carrying me towards a car, but this time it was a stretch limo, and we were heading towards our honeymoon suite, where we planned on celebrating our marriage again and again and again…

Thanks to everyone who has read and reviewed this story! Your encouragement means more than I can say! At some point I may do a sequel to this story, but most likely not any time soon. The "focus" of this story was Steph and Carlos choosing each other, so I think this was the best way to end it. At least for now. ;)