Chapter 2, enjoy!

Not Mine...whatever...

Pandora's Box

Range lifted the child up from inside the metal box, while Jeanne went off to get towels, so they could wipe the infant off. The baby was still crying, squirming in his arms as they cried.

"Here we go," Jeanne said, coming back with several towels, "Now let's wipe down your child!"

"And how did this become my child?" Ranger asked, as Jeanne gently wiped down the infant, who was slowly calming down.

"Well, the Suits did leave you in charge of the box, and what was inside of the box, so it's your baby," Jeanne said, taking the child from Ranger's arms and wrapping it in a soft bed sheet, "So, is it a girl or boy?"

"Check, Jeanne, I don't know," Ranger said, watching Jeanne pull the covers off the infant, "So?"

"You have a daughter," Jeanne said, smiling and giving Ranger the baby, "Here, you stay here with the baby, and I'll go out and get baby stuff, she'll be hungry soon."

Jeanne rummaged through her purse and asked, "How much money do you have on you, I don't want to use my credit card, the government might be monitoring it."

"I have 800 on me," Ranger said as Jeanne pulled his wallet out his pants pockets, "Don't go crazy, Jeanne, buy only the essentials."

"Yeah, yeah, buy all the good shit, I heard you," Jeanne said pulling a wad of cash from her purse, "I'll be back quickly, I'll bring the baby formula and then I can go back out and get all the cute girly shit!"

Ranger shook his head, as Jeanne ran out the hotel room with a squeal, who knew Jeanne was a baby woman?

(~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~)

"The package has been deposited," A soft voice said to the person standing in front a window, overlooking a busy city, "Experiment 089 is where she should be."

The person lifted their head and said, "Good, thank you, this will make capturing her easier."

The woman who delivered the message ran her eyes over the person standing by the window, "Do you think it was wise to let the Agency know what was going on in the US government."

"It had to be done," The person said softly, "The government was getting too head strong, believing that 089 would be their weapon of mass destruction, no, 089, she has a higher calling, and I'll be damned if the US stops us."

"Now that she is awake again, others will be after her too; do you think the man watching over her will be strong enough?"

"He has allies, and yes, I do believe he will be strong enough," The person said softly, a smile on their face, "He will have to be, if he plans on keeping 089 from me."

The person looked down at their wrist which had a symbol on it. The symbol was enclosed in circle that had been woven from thorns and flowers. There was a cross in the middle of the circle that had been woven with flowers and thorns as well. A body in the shape of a woman was attached to the cross, head bent, covered in thorns and flowers.

"And so, you live again….."

(~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~)

"Of course, you have to watch over the child, Carlos," The woman with soft grey eyes said with a smile, looking down at the sleeping baby, "We told you to look over the package, and the metal box was protecting the package, she is your responsibility now."

Ranger looked down at the sleeping infant, wrapped in a soft pink blanket. He had contacted the Suits, telling them that the metal box had held a child in it. they had arrived seconds after Ranger made the call, to look at the baby. There had been hush whispering and talking. Jeanne had hidden the book she had stolen from the lab, so the Suits wouldn't find it. it was now tucked neatly in the baby carrier she had bought.

"Why was she in the metal box to begin with?" Jeanne asked, walking over to Ranger with a baby bottle, "What's going on?"

"That metal box was a transporter," The man with brown eyes said, looking over to the box, "They were going to transfer the child to a place where even we could not reach. The child was still incubating so they had to place her in a portable incubator to prevent her from dying."

"You mean to tell us that she was created in the lab," Ranger said, earning a nod, "Impossible."

"Look at her torso, you'll notice something missing from her." The woman with glasses said softly, from her spot near the metal box.

Ranger pulled the blanket off the infant, and look. It was Jeanne who spotted it out, "She has no belly button."

"Which meant, she was never born or created from a sperm or egg," The man said solemnly, "She is the product of advance technology, years and years ahead of its time."

"Are we allowed to know about this technology?" Ranger asked, earning a head shake from the Suits, "How long am I supposed to look after this child?"

"It all depends," The woman said before she turned to the other Suits and said, "IT's time we leave, we will take the box, Carlos, Jeanne, you two are free to leave, you will be safe from persecution."

"FINALLY!" Jeanne said, running into the bedroom to grab her things, "I'm getting the fuck out of here!"

Ranger slid the infant into the carrier Jeanne picked out for her, and made to get up, but the man with brown eyes, grabbed his elbow and said in a grave voice, "Protect this infant with your life, Manoso, only let those you trust around her."

The Suit let go of Ranger and then the three of them left with a soft puff of smoke. Jeanne walked up to Ranger and said, "They were serious, what's so important about this baby?"

Ranger looked over to the sleeping infant and said, "I don't know, but I'll do what they told me to do, protect her with my life."

"I'll help out too, since I know your pants with babies, but I just love babies!" Jeanne cooed, lifting the carrier up and looking down at the sleeping baby, "So, are you going to tell curly top and the blond ape?"

"If you mean Diesel and Stephanie, then yes, they are a part of my lies too, Jeanne," Ranger said, as he went to pack his stuff, "I'll call Tank to pick us up at the airport."

"What are you going to call her, you just can't call her baby, or it, or girl," Jeanne said, watching the baby open her amber eyes, "She's so fucking cute."

Ranger had to agree with Jeanne, this was a beautiful baby, with downy soft black hair and milk chocolate skin. She had cute chubby baby cheeks, and small amber eyes that were strangely focus, taking in everything around her. she had yet to make a sound, but she did move and wiggle.

"I don't know what to call her," Ranger admitted, looking at the baby, "I didn't think I'd be in charge of her."

"Well, I'll name her then!" Jeanne said, her eyes bright, "Let's call her….Heidi, since her skin reminds me of Swiss chocolates, and she's so cute! Heidi is a cute name!"

"Fine, we'll name her Heidi," Ranger said, with a roll of his eyes, Stephanie was rubbing off on him, "Now, let's go and get back to Trenton."

(~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~)

Stephanie groaned as a heavy body jumped on her bed, "Diesel….get out, it's too early for your mess.."

"It's never too early for my mess!" Diesel said sitting up and shaking Stephanie, "Wake up woman, you have to make money and pay your bills!"

Damn it, Diesel had a point. Stephanie let out a groan and sat up in her bed, glaring at Diesel, who held a bag of doughnuts up in his hand, "Well, at least you were smart enough to get junk food."

"I know how to handle a waking Stephanie Plum," Diesel said, his voice serious, "You feed them sugary sweets and give them strong coffee."

"Indeed," Stephanie said, grabbing the bag and digging out a doughnut, "mmm, doughnuts!"

Diesel got up and said, "Coffee's waiting for you, hurry up and get dressed, we have to leave!"

Stephanie finished her pastry and got up to take a quick shower. She pulled her hair up in a ponytail and then slipped on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, it was going to be a hot May day. Stephanie walked out the bedroom and paused seeing Ranger Jeanne and Diesel in there, with a baby carrier in between them.

"Holy shit, she's fucking cute!" Diesel cooed, leaning into the carrier, "Hey baby, it's your uncle Diesel!"

"Ugh, you fucking ape," Jeanne said, pushing Diesel's face away, "Stop it, you'll give her nightmares."

"Children, behave," Ranger said before he looked up and said, "Babe, having a good morning?"

"Uh…what's going on here?" Stephanie asked, looking at the three, "Why is Jeanne here? And why do you have a baby with you?"

"Well, Plum," Jeanne said with a smile, "Ranger here is a father!" pulling a pink bundle from the carrier, "Plum, meet Heidi, Heidi meet Plum."

Stephanie gave Jeanne a look, but went over to look at baby who was moving in Jeanne's arms. Stephanie looked down and said, "She's cute, but….when did you have time to have a baby."

"It's a long story, and I'm really glad that you're calm about this," Ranger said, looking over to Stephanie who shrugged her shoulders.

"I have to assume she's not Jeanne's or yours she's a dark colored baby, and Jeanne's a lesbian," Stephanie said earning a soft, "Babe," from Ranger.

"Well, if ya have to know, Plum, she was rescued during a mission, and Ranger's watching over her." Jeanne said, inspecting the baby in her arms, "Is it just me, or has she gotten bigger since last night?"

Ranger looked down at Heidi, who turned her eyes to him, watching him. She had grown, she was infant sized last night on the plane ride home, but now she looked bigger, like a six month old, Jeanne had placed a one piece on her, and now it looked as though she was straining in it.

"She has gotten bigger," Ranger said, turning to Jeanne, who shrugged her shoulders, "She was just born last night."

"Wait a minute…." Diesel said, looking at the two, "She was 'born' last night? She looks like a six month old!"

Ranger nodded to Diesel and said, "Sit down you two, I have a tale to tell you both."

(~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~)

"You sent one of our best man to destroy our own military base," General Smith said softly, looking at the three people in front of him, "Do you have any idea how much cover up I had to do!"

"Enough, but know this, if you should try to end Mr. Manoso's life, we will make sure you feel the wrath of the Agency," The man with brown eyes said, his mouth tight with fury, "How dare you break the moral boundary we've set up, you have opened Pandora's box, and we shall all face the outcome of it, due to your desire for a weapon of mass destruction!"

"Are you talking about the DNA replicator? The machine that can create any living being from a strand of mitochondrial DNA?" General Smith asked, looking at the three Suits in front of him.

"No," The grey eyed woman said softly, looking at the man, "we're talking about experiment 089, the child that was successfully created without any problems, we know where you got the DNA from and who gave it to you."

"Have you ever seen civilizations fall in seconds, millions of people dead in a blink of an eye?" The woman with glasses asked, looking at General Smith, "No, you haven't, but we've have, and now that Experiment 089 has been created, we shall see the fall of mankind, if the child were to fall into the wrong hands."

"The price you pay to play a god, is the fall of mankind" The grey eyed woman said, before the three Suits left in a soft puff of smoke

(~~~~~~~~~~~~~~)

Stephanie could hardly believe what Ranger and Jeanne had told her. she was driving down to the bail bond office, to pick up skip files and to chat with Connie and Lula. The US government, preforming experiments on humans? Turning them into creatures? Heidi wasn't born, but created from something else? This sounded so farfetched, like something from a sci-fi movie, but from the looks Jeanne and Ranger gave her, she had to believe them.

Stephanie pulled her 97' civic into the empty parking spot that was two spots away from the bail bonds office. She slid out the car and made her into the office, letting out a soft sigh as the air from the cooling unit brushed against her heated skin. Lula was sitting close by, filing her nails and reading a magazine. Connie was at her desk, reading a magazine as well.

"Hey Lula, hey Connie, any files today?" Stephanie asked, walking over to Connie's desk, looking at the woman.

"Just a few today, Mooner and a bunch of old people," Connie said, pulling some files out of the tray, "Where's Diesel, he's usually with you."

"Yeah, I like him, he's a great white guy," Lula said looking up from filing her nails. "He's pretty fine too, but he doesn't compare to my Tankie Wankie."

"Diesel had to go out and do some stuff," Stephanie said, picking up the files, "I could use a side kick today, wanna join Lula?"

Lula looked up from her magazine and said, "Nah, it's too hot out there today, my curls might fall out, this here cost me a fortune to get done."

"Okay, I'll see you soon," Stephanie said giving the two a finger wave, "I might bring back some lunch."

She left the bails bond office making her way over to her POS car. She decided to go after the old people first, they had been arrested for expired parking tickets that hadn't paid yet, quick and easy money. They must have forgotten their court date. Mooner was always easy, as long as you caught him on the non-paranoid days, and this warm may weather, well Mooner shouldn't be paranoid.

(~~~~~~~~~~~~~~)

"Whoa….burn baby burn," Mooner said, sitting beside Stephanie, watching as her 97' Civic went up in flames, "Who knew Honda Civics were so flammable?"

"All cars are flammable, if they have gas in them, Mooner," Stephanie sighed, earning a blank look from Mooner.

"Are they? Whoa, blow my mind; you learn something new every day." Mooner said, thoughtfully, making Stephanie hit her forehead.

"Great, just what I needed, Cops, they bring fucking Morelli.." Stephanie said with a sigh watching several cop cars and fire trucks arrive at the scene.

Sure enough moments later Joe Morelli was hopping out a POS crown Victoria, stomping over to where Stephanie sat. Joe was a handsome, albeit, hairy Italian. With his rugged looks, and olive toned features, he could have any woman he wanted. Hell, even at one point, Stephanie wanted him too. He had taken her virginity behind the Tasty Pastry counter, she had broken his leg with Big Blue. Their relationship was a bit morbid, and frankly, after the talk she had with Diesel, she was sick of it, it was time she moved on with her life.

Stephanie and Mooner stood up as Joe walked over to them. Stephanie braced herself for the shit storm that was sure to follow, she wasn't disappointed."

"Jesus fuckng Christ, Cupcake," Joe snapped waving his arms and looking at Stephanie, "Can you not go one fucking day without embarrassing me?"

"I don't see how my car getting blown up is any of your business, Joe, we're not even together!" Stephanie snapped, hands on her hips, "Besides, this time, it wasn't even my fault! Some woman thought that this was her husband's car and blew it up!"

Joe got red in the face, ran a hand through his hair and snapped, "I don't care whose fault it is! All I know is that I'm getting sick and fucking tired of hearing about you blowing up cars, chasing down fucking old lunatics and gallivanting with thugs! You need to listen to your mother and marry me and have my babies!"

"Dude…." Mooner said, walking in between Stephanie and Joe, "Dude…you need to calm down, stop yelling at the dudedette, she didn't do anything, anything at all, so why don't we all head to a car and ride up to the shop to take me to get rebounded."

"Get out the way you stupid pothead!" Joe snapped, making a grab for Mooner, but a Mocha Latter colored hand grabbed his wrist, and Ranger said in a low voice, "Get the fuck out of here, Morelli, you're making an ass out of yourself."

Joe faltered, seeing the rage in those brown eyes. he took a step back, looked around at everyone and then said to Stephanie, "You and I haven't finished our conversation," before he was off, stomping away angrily.

"Babe, did her hurt you," Ranger asked, checking Stephanie out, "You seem a bit shaken."

"If you mean shaking mad, then yeah! That bastard!" Stephanie snapped, glaring at the POS car Joe drove, "Piece of shit, hey, what are you doing here, you should be with Heidi."

"Heidi's with Ella and Jeanne, the moment the tracker in your car went out, I had to see if you're alright," Ranger said, with a soft smile, "I can see everything's fine here, but you could use a car, I see."

"Oh, I can go and get Big Blue-" Stephanie started, but Ranger dropped a set of keys in her hand.

"Here, take the SUV " Ranger said before he said, "I have to go and check on the baby, come over to Rangeman when you're done."

"Okay," Stephanie said, trying to put up a fight, but she really couldn't, "I'll see you soon."

"Babe," and just like that, Ranger was gone. Stephaie had to place a hand over heart to still it. that was such a handsome man!

"Uh…can we go to jail now?" Mooner asked, looking at Stephanie, "A star trek marathon starts soon."

(~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~)

Ella smiled softly down at the small body in her arms, she had fallen in love with Heidi the moment she had saw her. she wiggled like a worm, but she was so quiet, Ella could hardly see her breath. Not only was she quiet, Ella could see deep in those amber eyes that Heidi was well aware of her surroundings, babies her age should not be so in tune to their surroundings.

Jeanne walked over to the two and said, "shit, she's grown again, at this rate, I'll have to keep buying clothes for her!"

"She's so quiet," Ella commented, looking over to Jeanne, as the woman made a bottle for Heidi, "She must be a water baby, water babies are so quiet."

Jeanne frowned and said, "Well, I guess you can call her a water baby," giving Ella the bottle she made, "The only time she made a sound was when she was born, there might be something wrong with her."

Heidi latched onto the nipple of the bottle sucking greedily, her eyes staring up at Ella and then at Jeanne. She made quick work of the bottle and then turned her head to look outside the window of the penthouse that sat on the seventh floor of Rangerman.

"She's always staring outside," Jeanne commented, watching Ella place her in the baby bouncer that faced the window, looking east, "What is she looking at?"

"Something that only babies can see, I supposed," Ella said with a smile, patting Jeanne's cheek, "Babies can see things grownups can't see."

Jeanne made a sound as Ella left, she settled herself on the couch to watch some TV, waiting for Diesel and Ranger to come back.

Heidi smiled a toothless smile, lifting her hands up from the bouncer as if to catch something. If one were to see what Heidi saw, they would have seen a white leaves, falling through the windows and walls, only to disappear as they touched the floor.

TBC…

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