A/N Same disclaimer as before and Thanks to Kathy, Heather and Lisa but I need to say something about this chapter. Please don't hate me, or him too much. I promise, this is a Babe...eventually and there is still a lot of story left. There is no disputing this is really bad but bear with me. I am trying to answer the question, how much evidence would it take to make you believe the worst in someone?

~Chapter 12

***May 12

The morning comes and I'm woken by the sound of my alarm. Usually I turn it off and roll back over but today is a big day and I can't. It's 7:00am and I decide to text Ranger to set up the meeting to drop the bomb. I guess that gives new meaning to my nickname Bomber. I can't help but smile at that.

I arrive at the Bonds Office a little after 8:00am with donuts in hand. I need the distraction that the donuts will provide. Connie is sitting at her desk and I have to work to pretend my world hasn't just tilted on its axis.

"Hey, how was your trip?" Connie asks as I offer her a donut. She peers in and chooses chocolate glazed. I grab a Boston Crème and sit down on the couch.

"Good. Relaxing, I needed that." I tell her, focusing on the truthful parts of my impromptu vacation. Telling the truth will help cover my anxiety over everything that has happened in the last three days.

"I've been thinking Con, I have to find another job. I can't keep doing this." I decided on that angle versus blurting out the real reason I can't do this job.

"What? Oh Steph, Vinnie's gonna freak," she says and I use this opportunity to distract.

"Okay but I must point out there are way too many opportunities to use Vinnie and the word freak in the same sentence." I say and Connie snorts.

"True."

"I'm just so tired of rolling in garbage, getting bet on and just being thought of as a disaster. And to top it off, I barely make any money. Last week, I only got 200 dollars but I had to replace my shoes. Do you know how much those boots cost? That doesn't even include the number of cars I've totaled. If I keep this up, I'll be paying Vinnie to work."

"I hear ya Steph. I don't know why you get targeted. I know it's not just because they're low bond skips and they're crazy. Everyone seems to find it entertaining when they tag you with their food or torch your car."

We sit and chat for another hour until Lula wanders in. "Hey girls," she says, making a beeline for the donuts. "Whatcha talkin' about?"

"Just Burg gossip, Steph's vacation and her wanting to find a new job." Connie replies.

"Whhhhaaaat?" Lula exclaims. I share with her the concerns I told Connie. I'm trying to lay the foundation to make a low key exit. I don't want to breathe a word that I CAN'T do this job so I have to make it more about that I don't WANT to do this job.

"That's great and all but what am I supposed to do, file?" Lula huffs. Connie and I share confused looks.

I start to feel the need to escape and I plan on going with the 'I have laundry to do' excuse when Connie hands me a stack of files.

"Here, we've been busy," she says and I take them trying to blank the worried look on my face. How am I supposed to handle these? I can't bring them in, I think as I glance through the names. I settle on Mooner's file and relief washes over me. I can pick up Mooner. He's perfectly safe. The rest, I'll ask Ranger to help. I know as much as he didn't want any more kids, he'll step up to help. He certainly won't want anything to happen to me or his kid.

"I'll get Mooner today and worry about the rest tomorrow." I tell her."Plus, I have to catch up on my laundry. I've had to throw away a lot of clothes recently and haven't had the chance to replace them."

"Check out the want-ads too." Connie suggest.

"Yeah, that too." I reply and wave bye as I head out the door, files in hand.

I decide it's too early to get Mooner so I swing by my apartment to get my laundry basket. While I'm there I decide to get a snack and take a little cat nap. I can't go after Mooner until closer to noon and I don't want to spend that much time with my Mother even though I'll get lunch out of the deal. I would rather have a peanut butter sandwich and not have to listen to her rants about my job or my single status. Plus, I know my Mom and Grandma have radar that tells them I'm home but do they have radar that tells them that I'm pregnant? A shiver travels through me.

Armed with my dirty clothes I leave my house at 12:30. I had planned on going to Mom's house first but I don't want to get in trouble by picking up my Grandma. She'll definitely want to go with me to get Mooner, and I have to keep those two away from each other. There was a brownie incident that I'm still not allowed to speak of. I change directions and head directly to Mooner's house. He lives in a single family bungalow that's seen better days. He spends most of his waking hours stoned so this is no surprise. I pull up and notice the TV is on in the living room. It's so big, everyone on the block can watch TV Land. I walk up his steps and see that I'm in for at least an hour of watching Bewitched. Good, Bewitched is one of the good ones. I wish I could just wiggle my nose and make everything better. That's not how it works and it usually causes more issues but it certainly has appeal in certain circumstances. I think of those circumstances while waiting for Mooner to answer my knock.

"Dudette, have you come to take me to court?" he asks, on the happy side of his breakfast brownies.

"Nope, you missed it. I've come to get you rebonded." I reply.

"Shit. I can't believe I missed another one," he says, shaking his head.

"I can." I mutter as he steps aside to let me in. He waits at the door for a few minutes before closing it.

"You okay?" I ask.

"Fine, just thought I had a customer. No worries, he drove past," he says. "Want to watch Samantha turn Darrin's boss into a chicken? This is a good one."

"Sure. I got time." I tell him and settle in on his couch. I decline anything homemade and opt for a prepackaged snack. I can see me showing up at Rangeman high to tell Ranger he's gonna be a father again. I smile. I couldn't get into the episode or the next one so I stand and tell Mooner it's time to go. I place a quick text to Connie asking her to meet us at the cop shop.

Mooner sat up front with me and I pull away from the curb. I don't make my regulars sit in the back. I notice a car pulling out behind me and Mooner notices too. He gets nervous and pulls out a joint.

"No way Mooner. Put that away." I say sternly. I can't have a contact buzz going to the police station. Mooner nervously turns to look behind us.

"There's a car following us and it's not good," he says and I glance in the rearview mirror. Sure enough, there is an older model car with gang graffiti painted on it and it's close, really close. So close, I can't see its headlights.

"What the hell?" I ask him.

"I don't know." Mooner responds. "I don't have any unhappy customers and I'm not encroaching on anybody's turf. I'm happy with what I have. I'm not interested in pissing off the gangs," he says, as he stays turned around in his seat watching. His unlit joint is temporarily forgotten.

I continue to drive and feel a small tap at my back fender. I start to panic and so does Mooner. I speed up and the car speeds up too. I cut down a side street and the jackass cut me off. I barely maintain a foot of distance between our cars. I try to fish my phone out of my bag but I drop it.

"Call the police." I yell at Mooner and he fishes in his pockets pulling out a bag of weed in the process. "Crap Mooner, you're going to the police station. Don't you think you could have left that shit at home?" I ask incredulously. He ignores me and keeps searching. I concentrate on my driving and blow through a stop sign. We aren't far from the station but a quick glance in the rearview mirror shows a tatted up driver with a gun in his hands holding the steering wheel. I decide not to let Mooner in on this recent development. I see there's a few parking spaces available on the side of the street and I plan to whip my car in and stop. When the goons breeze by, I'll turn around and hopefully gain a few seconds to duck into a side street. We're in the Burg and I know these streets like the back of my hand.

When we approach, I yell to Mooner to hold on a moment before I whip the car in, slamming on the brakes. What happens next was surprising and totally not my fault. The assholes in the car sideswipes me and pushes me onto the curb and up onto the sidewalk, taking out the signpost along the way. The asshole in the passenger seat shoots my rear window, breaking it and throws a Molotov cocktail in my backseat. They speed off, leaving us thankfully with no new bullet holes but a burning car.

Mooner, being the idiot he is, throws his bags, plural, of weed into my burning laundry basket, all while the flames were growing higher and higher. I couldn't open my door and had to push Mooner through his and follow him out. As we emerge, a woman who had been watering a patch of newly growing grass is standing there with her mouth open. She seems catatonic. I grab her hose and began to douse the flames that have totally gutted my backseat. Fucking fantastic.

If I thought this day couldn't get any worse, I was wrong. Dead wrong. The police show up in plenty of time to smell the burning, soggy pot. The fire trucks arrive a moment later sirens wailing. I take in the chaos. I watch as the smoky pot car is doused again with water to ensure that the car fire won't morph into a car explosion. The woman is still standing in practically the same position minus the hose. Mooner has collapsed on the sidewalk with his arms around his legs, rocking back and forth. What is with these people? Haven't they ever seen a car fire before? I snort. I guess not. I'm the lucky one to be unaffected in this situation. I shake my head at that. I see an ambulance approach and I roll my eyes. The fire truck and the ambulance were a bit much! I had the fire under control and Mooner and the lady will be fine once the initial shock wears off. I feel fine. I'm not even stressed. I can feel the adrenaline coursing through my veins and I love it. Maybe I'll crash later but I don't think so. Not this time. I notice the officers approach. I don't recognize either of them. Thank goodness. I'm glad to not have to deal with the smirks and knowing looks and not so secret calls to Joe.

"Hey guys." I greet them. I'm startled when the first guy draws his weapon on me. "What the hell?" I ask, for the second time today.

"Put your hands in the air!"

I raise my hands in the air and look around. The EMT's are over checking on Mooner and the hose lady. They still aren't talking. I turn back around to the officers when I see a black SUV pull up and I relax. I've never been more glad to have back up in this fucked up situation. The officer not holding the gun on me, cuffs my hands behind my back and frisks me for weapons. I don't have any thank goodness. I'd probably have been attacked. I still can't wrap my head around what is going on. The officer still holding his gun on me asks if I have any weapons in the car.

"I'm a bounty hunter. The man sitting on the sidewalk.." I begin and am interrupted.

"Shut up," he says, not lowering his gun. I look nervously over to the Rangeman vehicle. I can't tell who's in the truck but neither get out. That's odd. Mooner starts rambling some nonsense and he's lifted to walk back to the EMS vehicle. The lady thankfully is starting to come out of her fog and asks if I'm okay.

The cops ignore her and start reading me my rights. Fuck. I'm going to be arrested for what? Getting pushed into a road sign and damaging some grass?

"What's the charge?" I ask, unable to hide my irritation.

"Under the influence, possession of drugs, failure to control your vehicle, property damage. Probably more." The officer who cuffed me pulls me to the backseat of his car and finally the lady starts toward us.

"It's not her fault," the lady begins. Several others have gathered and are closing in. "Do you know who this is?" someone in the crowd asks.

"She's the Bombshell Bounty Hunter. Her cars just catch on fire," someone else adds.

"I saw the whole thing. Two thugs were chasing her in a gang car and she tried to swing into this space along here," he says, motioning to where my car should have been parked. "When the car side swiped her, it pushed her up on the curb. Then, they broke her back window and threw a Molotov cocktail in her backseat. She pushed that guy over there out of the car and took the hose to put out the fire. She isn't responsible for the accident and that looks like Mooner. She was probably taking him in on a drug charge because he forgot to show up to court. This is old news officers. You guys don't know any of this?" he asks and others reinforce what the man said.

"That's exactly what happened. You can't arrest her. She didn't do anything wrong." The hose-lady, whose name is Marybeth, says.

The cops look skeptical and one of them walks away making a call. When he returns, his face is a little red and he releases me from the handcuffs. Mooner is starting to come around and he also corroborates my story. The clean up was pretty easy and I was surprisingly able to drive my car. Marybeth assured me that her husband would fix the turfed lawn and the police officers called the city to come and repair the damaged sign. All the emergency vehicles leave and I thank the crowd, many by name, for stepping in. I had recognized more than a few of these people. They're all good, hardworking people. Their only flaw is that they live for gossip. I guess that benefitted me today. Without their knowledge of me and my escapades, I would have ended up in lock up.

I drove to the station with Mooner and passed him off to Connie. She said she'd have my check tomorrow. I went home to mentally prepare myself for the bomb dropping I have scheduled for later tonight. I look at my watch. I have over four hours. I'm starting to question my life choices. WTF.

It's 6:30. Almost time to head over to Haywood. I'm so nervous. I've already slept away my earlier drama. I'm now fully ensconced in the pregnancy drama. I really don't have any idea how this happened. I know there's a decent chance that it's my fault. Maybe I heard the doctor wrong and we were supposed to wait longer. My thoughts shift to how he's going to react. At the very least, he'll support me, come on, it's Ranger. He has always supported me. What if he thinks I was being careless. Ugh! I have to stop the what if's. If I keep this up, I'll have a nervous breakdown and lose the baby. Shit. I don't want to be another Rachel. What I want is for him to say, 'it's okay Babe, we'll figure this out. I know you're scared but don't worry, I'll be here every step of the way'. I really can't see him saying that but hey, the heart wants what it wants. What if he doesn't want anything to do with it? Us? Is there going to be an us? The prospect of motherhood is terrifying but the prospect of getting rid of it is unimaginable. Shit! I can't think about this. I need Ranger! I can't deal with this anymore. I grab my bag and head to the parking lot. I know I'm early but I can't stay here any longer. I have to get this over with.

On my way over, I try not to think about what I was about to do. My thoughts went to this afternoon's disaster. I still don't know what happened. I know I saw Ramon and Zip there. They did eventually get out of the car. Why didn't they come closer? Why didn't Ranger show up? I can't believe I almost got arrested. Damn rookie officers. What assholes. You can clearly see that I was side swiped. I also have no drug history and his claim that I was high is ridiculous. Joe wasn't there either. I heard he was suspended but I haven't heard any details. I'm glad for his absence. Just when I was finishing that thought, I press my fob to open the door to the garage. It doesn't open. I try again and still nothing. I reverse and pull into the visitor parking area and park in the closest spot. There aren't any other cars here but I wouldn't expect it. It's pretty late for normal business hours. I will have to go through the lobby but that's no big deal. The distraction of my fob not working has kept my mind occupied while I was parking and I was glad. I wouldn't want to have a panic attack on camera.

I get out of my car and wave to the security camera. Still battling nerves, I get in the elevator and press the button to seven a few times. Nothing happens. I press my fob again. Maybe it needs a new battery? I was just about to get out to ask whoever is manning the desk to send me up when Zero gets in with me. He has his blank face on and presses the button on the elevator again. This time it lights up and we start the assent.

"Hi" is all I manage since it is taking a great deal of effort not to have a panic attack right now. He doesn't respond and I'm glad - I don't have it in me to keep up mundane chatter.

Once we arrive on Seven, I have the strange thought that I am being escorted up which momentarily distracts me from my current thoughts and I quickly dismiss it. My nausea is trying to return with a vengeance. The last thing I need is to puke on the floor.

The door opens and I see Ranger and Zero exchange a glance that had apparently meant something. I wish I could ESP that conversation. Wouldn't that be great, I think longingly. I finally look at Ranger and my Spidey sense soars off the charts. He looks mad. His face isn't blank and he has a glass of alcohol in his hand. I don't have any idea what kind of alcohol it is but I could smell the strong scent. When I take in the whole picture, everything is off. He knows and he's pissed. Fuck. This is going to be bad. I know it. Little did I know how bad it was going to be. I'm mentally preparing myself for this discussion. It really isn't my fault. At least it probably isn't my fault. I'm a screw up and this is a big deal but accidents happen. I take a deep breath and just blurt it out. "I'm pregnant." I really want to get this over with so I can proceed to the crying part of the evening. Hopefully I'll make it back to my apartment before I break down. I just know I'm going to hear the 'morning after' speech and I hope I don't cry in front of him. I wonder if it'll be the same as Rachel's? My thoughts are interrupted when he starts speaking. It is then that I get my first clue that I wasn't prepared at all for this confrontation.

"I know," he states. "I'm just waiting to see if you are going to try to pass off the baby as mine."

What? What is he talking about? I stand there silently, trying to figure out why he would think that. The silence must have been too long as he begins speaking again.

"I've taken the liberty to have my offer drawn up in the event that you are going to try to convince me the baby is mine," he says, as he walks over to the table, drink in hand. He picks up a stack of papers and walks over to me. "I assume you will have demands but this is not a negotiation, I will agree to nothing. Here, I had put everything in writing." He shoves papers at me. "Option # 1: take care of it," he says with slight venom. "Option # 2: have the baby and sign over your parental rights to me. I want full custody and you will give up any future custody rights. As long as you follow the stipulations in the contract and DNA tests PROVE it's mine, you will receive one million dollars upon delivery. Congratulations Stephanie. You'll be a rich woman."

"Wh-What? No. Ranger, this is wrong. I don't...I didn't mean." I stammer out. I feel as if I can't process all of this quickly enough. I can't even get past the fact that Ranger is drinking hard liquor and the venom in his voice has me paralyzed. I shake my head to try to loosen the fog.

"This is not up for negotiations. What did you think was going to happen? How did you think I was going to react to your pregnancy? You learned from Kelsey that you actually had to get pregnant. Did you honestly expect me to be happy about this? Did you think I would say, sure let's get married and have a baby? Buy a house in the suburbs? I didn't take you as a fool. My only question is if the baby is really mine?" He pauses and drains his liquor. "Well Stephanie... aren't you going to try to convince me the baby is mine?"

Something inside me snapped. The initial shock is gone and my anger flares. I stand up to him toe to toe. "Fuck. You. Ranger." I say to him. His eyes had taken on a cold, empty look now give way to fire. He's ready for a fight and I'm momentarily stunned as to what to do next.

"No thanks, that's what got me into this mess," he says with a sneer.

"You're an asshole. I can't believe you think that I would... I can't believe... " I can't even finish saying the words. I'm back to being stunned. This can't be real. How can I be experiencing these extreme emotions so quickly? Changing back and forth so fast like I'm on a roller coaster. I take a deep breath and repeat in my head. This is just a misunderstanding. This is Ranger and he loves me. He can't really mean these things.

I begin again trying a different route. "Please Ranger, this isn't my fault. I'm scared too. I'm scared that I'm going to be a terrible mom..."

He lets out a snort. It was such an odd sound coming from him. I've never seen this side of him. There has to be some sort of misunderstanding. Why is he blaming me? I didn't get to follow that line of thinking for long.

"Of course you're going to make a terrible mother," he says with the most venom I have ever heard from anyone and that's saying something. "Why do you think I don't want you to have anything to do with the baby? Even if it's Morelli's, I'll help him take it from you."

I can't think of anything more horrible that he can say to me. I can't think, I just sink to the floor. I put my hands over my face and cry. All the doubts and fears are true. The one person who believed in me thinks I'll be a bad mom. I can't focus on anything at the moment. I don't know how long I sit there on the floor crying but I know I have to pull it together. First Joe and now Ranger. What am I going to do? I'm going to be an awful mom! I push those horrible realizations down for the moment and try to focus on what he's saying.

"...stipulations you will work at Rangeman full time. You will stay in your apartment. Healthy food will be delivered and deducted from your paycheck. All of your calls and movements will be monitored. There are a few more but you'll have time to go through it on your own. You have one week to decide. Oh and if you try to keep the baby, I'll sue you and with your history of being the disastrous bombshell bounty hunter, you'll never get custody. I will fight you with everything I have."

The more I listen the more I want to scream at him. Fight him, but I don't. I just want to get out of here, away from him. I never want to see him again. He is not the person I thought he was. I have to figure out what I'm going to do. On. My. Own. Never again will I depend on a man to help me. Never again will I fall in love. Men are assholes, pure and simple. I take a deep breath and get up. I don't even look at him as I make my way to the door. He's yelling something about taking the paperwork but I keep going. I'm out in the foyer and reach to press the button for the elevator. It opens to reveal Tank. He starts to speak but I silence him with a "No". I'm done talking to assholes. I ride it down to the garage.

There are several Merry Men lining the way to my car. They all look mean. I guess I'll need a new name for them. Merry Assholes or Asshole Men. It's a toss-up right now, I think, as I get back in my piece of shit car and pull out of Rangeman for the last time. I don't even look back. I wasn't prepared for this part of my life to have the door slammed shut but I'll survive. I can do this. I can do this. I chant in my head.

I go home and lock myself in my apartment. I use the floor bolt and put the stick in the window. Thankfully Dillon was able to install it. I'm finally secure. I snort, thinking why I hadn't used the floor bolt before today. As much as I wanted to keep the crazies out, I didn't want to keep Ranger out. "Not anymore." I say out loud. I will not be allowing any asshole men access to me. "Never again" I say with more anger.

***May 13

My mother calls and leaves a message."What is this I hear you're pregnant again and..." I turn off my phone. I cry until I drop from exhaustion. I can't eat. I feel awful. I start to get sick from not eating. I spend two days like this. On the second day, I hear a knock at my door. I ignore it. I don't want to talk to anyone yet. They go away.

I really don't understand how we got to this point. Ranger believes that I'm trying to trap him into fatherhood, with Joe's kid. That he made perfectly clear. What I don't understand is how could he think that? How could he not consider the many times we've had sex in the last several months. I also don't understand why he didn't even consider that maybe this was an accident. Maybe I heard the instructions wrong and somehow I got pregnant. What if I ate something that made the shot ineffective? I know antibiotics do that, maybe something else does too? I would assume he would be more understanding if he thought I didn't mean for this to happen. No, with his reaction, he's pretty convinced I did this with the sole purpose to get pregnant. But how in the world does he think this baby may be Joes? I haven't even had a civil conversation with him since the article.

I drive myself crazy trying to figure out how the hell this happened. I give up. It doesn't matter. I need a plan. I have no choice but to make some decisions for myself and this tiny thing growing inside me. I know the truth and that's enough. Finally, I hit rock bottom. I'm done with shock. I'm done with anger. I'm at the "what am I going to do phase?" I focus all of my time on this.

When I'm awake I keep going over what my options are. If I try to keep the baby, Ranger will fight me for it. I can't compete with him financially and my reputation, well it sucks. There's only one thing I can do.

I finally make a decision, the only one I can live with. I make an appointment with the clinic for the 17th. I know what I have to do.