Chapter 5, enjoy guys!

Joe is a douche! Cuteness overload, sorry guys, but this is one cute baby! *SQUEE*

not mine...*depressed*

The Proposal

Joe Morelli was surprised when he got a call from the US Military. He wasn't anyone important, like that fucking Manoso. He had done a couple years in the Navy and then left to go work in California. He was even more surprised when some important general requested a meeting with him. What had he done to gain the attention of some hot shot official? Joe told the general that he would love to meet him, packed an overnight bag, and went right to DC, where the meeting would take place. As he made his way to Washington, all he had on his mind was Stephanie Plum.

That bitch…

He had been chasing her around since she was a wide eyed innocent child. He took her cherry behind the tasty pastry, before he left for the navy and now he wanted her more than ever. She was supposed to be his damn it! but no, that fucking Manoso had to show up in her life, poaching on her, making her question what Stephanie and Joe had, and now, she didn't want him, she wanted fucking Manoso….pa-fucking- thetic. He would give all the money in the world to get rid of him, so Stephanie would be forced to go back to him, and have his children, to cook his meals and keep house. No one said no to Joe Morelli, no one. He would make sure Stephanie paid the price for saying no, and then he would make her into a perfect 'Burg housewife. Of course he would still have several ladies on the side, he was a morelli man, he couldn't be content with just one woman! Stephanie might whine and bitch about it, but a few slaps would keep her quiet. Her mother would be more than happy to have him as her son in law. It didn't help that he had had a few rounds with Helen Plum too, for an older woman, she sure as hell had a killer body, and she knew what to do too, not like those younger bitches. Joe would still enjoy what all the Plum women had to give him.

He had made it to Washington, got a hotel room, and waited for the meeting inside the hotel room, masturbating to porn. The meeting would take place in the hotel room, at five in the afternoon. He hoped he wasn't in any trouble, he was able to get the incident with the 16 year old girl covered up, but it must be something big, if the military was looking into him.

Joe had cleaned up his mess, and turned the TV off, when three sharp knocks resounded on the hotel door. Joe quickly made his way over and opened the door to reveal General Smith, in all his uniformed glory. Joe gave the general a quick salute, and said, "Sir, you wanted to meet with me sir."

"Stand down son, this is an important meeting, and it will be a short one too," General Smith said, entering the hotel room, closing the door behind him and locking it, "I need you to partake in a mission, Detective Morelli, you will be paid handsomely."

Joe sat down in a chair and asked, "What kind of mission, sir?"

"Do you know, Captain Carlos Manoso?" General Smith asked, watching with glee, as Morelli's face darkened with rage.

"Oh yes, I do know that son of a bitch," Joe growled, before he could help himself, "I'm sorry General, for what I said."

"No, you're fine," General Smith said, before he sat down in the other chair, "I need you to do something, and I don't think you'll like it; I need for you to get rid of Manoso."

Joe perked up at the statement, "Get rid of him, like…kill him?"

"Yes, I want you to kill Captain Manoso, you will be protected from any arrests and prosecution," General Smith said watching Joe's face light up, as though Christmas came early, "Of course, you don't have to accept this mission…."

"No! I'll do it, I'll kill Manoso for you," Joe said with a smile, "Though, why do you want him dead?"

"That's classified information," General Smith said solemnly, "But, I can tell you, he took something from us, and we would like it back."

"How much am I getting paid?" Joe asked, watching the Genral smile at the question.

"As we speak, 500,000 dollars is being wired into your account, another 500,000 will be wired into it, once you get rid of Manoso, and the item we want is in our possession," General Smith said getting up, "There is no deadline for this mission, though it is recommended that you finish this job quickly."

"I sure will, General," Joe said saluting the general, "Thank you for the mission, you don't know how long I wanted Manoso gone."

"Just get the job done, son, and then have yourself a nice drink," General Smith said with a smile, before he left the hotel room.

Joe could hardly believe it, this golden opportunity fell right into his lap, he was going to kill Manoso, and get away with it, god he fucking loved his country. Manoso would be one dead piece of shit.

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

"Look Heidi, it's the baby sheep and goats!" Lester said, lifting Heidi up as he walked into the petting zoo pen, "And the duckies and the llamas!"

Heidi pointed to the ducks in the water, and then at the white ducks on her shirt. She began to grunt and twist in Lester's arms, before he let her down, so she could slowly make her way over to the ducks, turning her small head back to Lester, and then to Ranger, who stood on the other side of the petting zoo pen with Stephanie.

"Go on Quedria, go see the ducks," Ranger said, and that was all Heidi needed to hear, before she ran as fast she could over to the small pond, Lester following her.

"She grew during the night." Stephanie commented, watching Heidi splash in the water, "She looks like she's almost two now, is it just me, or do you think she grows at night in her sleep."

"I think the same thing Babe," Ranger said, his eyes never leaving Heidi's small form, "She is growing in her sleep, is it because of how she was created, or is it because of something else."

Stephanie let out soft sound, watching Heidi chase the ducks, "Maybe it's soething else, something that can't be explained, like Diesel, there are some things that are over people's head, you know, you can't know everything."

"True, but I get this nagging feeling that I want to know what Heidi is," Ranger said softly turning to Stephanie, his eyes soft, "I get these weird paternal feelings when she's around me."

Stephanie stiffened at the look Ranger gave her, "I don't care if you get them, Ranger, but I don't get them, so no funny business mister!"

Ranger laughed and said, "Babe…" grabbing her and kissing her softly, "No funny business, I promise."

"Oh, look at that father and daughter, they look so cute!" A woman gushed beside Stephanie and Ranger, "Aww, isn't that the sweetest thing you've ever seen?"

Ranger and Stephanie turned, seeing Lester sitting in the hay with Heidi in his lap, petting a duckling that sat in Lester's hand. She had a content smile on her face, that seemed to light the whole petting zoo up. Ranger smiled and turned to the woman, "That's not her father that would be her Uncle Lester, he's great with children."

"Oh, you two made such a pretty child!" The woman gushed to Stephanie and Ranger, her smile wide, "She's so cute!"

Stephanie blushed began to sputter, but Ranger beat her to answering by saying, "My wife, she gets so flustered when our baby gets compliments, she's so proud of our daughter."

"What happened to no funny business?!" Stephanie asked, turning to Ranger who smiled at her, his head tilted to the side, "Don't you smile at me, you jack ass!"

"I couldn't help it, Babe," Ranger said, before he turned seeing Heidi make her way over to the little candy machine that dispensed animal feed, "Besides, I don't mind being called Heidi's father."

Stephanie turned to Heidi as well, watching as Lester put some money in the machine and turned the knob, and grabbing a handful of animal feed, "She is a pretty great baby, even though she doesn't talk. And she's always smiling."

"Yeah, I hope our children turn out like Heidi," Ranger said, before he entered the petting zoo pen to join Heidi and Lester.

Stephanie blushed her eyes wide, "What?!"
(~~~~~~~~~~~~~~)

Scarlet let out a satisfied purr, rolling away from Jeanne who lay on her back, her eyes half closed.

"Oh yes, that was the cookie I wanted," Scarlet said with a smile, getting out of the ornate bed in her master bedroom, "It's been so long since you've seen your mommy, Jeanne."

"Talk to me later, you wore me out, woman," Jeanne said before she threw an arm over her face, "Go out there and talk to your guests."

"Oh, I intend to," Scarlet said leaning over and kissing Jeanne's lips, "Stay put, you're not leaving this bed for a few days."

"I don't think I can move," Jeanne said, lifting her arm to look at the small Asian woman, "I'll be waiting."

Scarlet pulled her robe on her nude body and said, "I'll be back soon," before she left the room, and made her way into the living room, where, Stephanie, Ranger, and Diesel sat. Heidi was fast asleep resting on the couch.

"I hope I didn't keep you waiting too long," Scarlet said, watching Stephanie blush at her words, "Jeanne is such a wild cat."

"Please, as much as I would love to hear about what you and Jeanne did," Diesel said, with honesty, "We need to worry more about the baby, tell me later."

Scarlet smiled and walked over to Heidi, looking down at her. She ran her hazel eyes up and down the small body and said, "She's cute! Now wake her up."

Ranger lifted Heidi up by her armpits, making her open her eyes slowly, yawning and rubbing her eyes as she woke. Heidi looked up at Scarlet and blinked, before she looked around. Scarlet smiled and said, "Now, let's take a look at you, sweetpea!"

Scarlet did a lot of poking and prodding, noting the fact that Heidi didn't have a belly button. She rose an eyebrow, when Ranger told her that Heidi had been born four days ago.

"Four days you say?" Scarlet said, looking into Heidi's eyes, "I daresay, she is the right size for a one and half year old. I'm going to take a sample of blood, Diesel, give her a cookie."

"We're trying to watch what she eats," Ranger started but went silent at the look Scarlet gave him.

Diesel smiled and held the cookie out for Heidi to take, which she promptly did, and began to chew on contently. She didn't even bat an eyelid, too focused on the cookie, as Scarlet took a baby needle connected to a medical tube and took blood from her arm. Scarlet smiled and said, "All the answers are in this small tube, it'll take me a bit, but I can analyze this, I shall call you when I'm done, okay?"

"Does that mean we can leave?" Stephanie asked, perking up, earning a nod from Scarlet, "Great! well, we'll be heading off, there are things to do, people to see, we don't want to know about what you and Jeanne are about to do, so…later!"

Stephanie jumped up and raced out the living room. Ranger shook his head and said, "We'll be expecting a call from you soon."

Ranger stood up, holding Heidi close to him and then walked off, following Stephanie. Diesel smiled at Scarlet, who smiled back at him, "Don't leave us waiting too long, sweetie, oh, and do make sure Jeanne comes back to us in one piece, please."

"She will, though she'll be walking with a limp for a while," Scarlet said with a wink, before Diesel chuckled and walked out the living room, exiting the unit with Ranger and Stephanie.

Scarlet clutched the vial of blood close to her chest and then walked out the living room and down a long hallway. She passed several doors, before she stood in front of a set of metal doors, which led to her lab. Scarlet leaned forward, and used the retinal scanner to enter the laboratory. After a quick blast of UV lights to kill any germs, she made her way to a computer that sat on a C shaped unit. In the unit lay the tattered book that Diesel had given her. she didn't need the computer's help to translate it, she knew what it said, she understood the language very well. Scarlet sat down in front of the computer and placed the vial of blood into a small compartment built into the unit. The unit hummed to life and then the screen to the computer lit up.

"Computer, please show me a microscopic viewing of Experiment 089's blood," Scarlet said, watching as the screen went black and then red covered the screen. She watched as blood cells, magnified to fit the screen multiplied and regenerate at an alarming rate. Scarlet sighed and ran a hand over her chin, a nervous habit she could never break. So it's true, very true now, she had seen her, she had taken her blood. She was alive now; after 2000 years, she was alive.

Scarlet pulled the sleeve of her robes down to reveal a symbol on the inside of her wrist it was a circle of thorns woven together. Inside the circle of thorns was a cross covered in thorns and flowers and on the cross was a woman with her head bent, tied to the cross with thorns and flowers. She ran her fingers over the mark and then she leaned forward to look at the computer screen.

"I've failed you once, and the world paid the price, I will not fail you again; I will protect you from him." Scarlet said softly, placing her free hand on the symbol, "His betrayal will not be seen again."

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

"She's so fucking cute," Lester gushed, watching Heidi walk up to the play pen that held a group of kittens, "It makes me want a baby, as long as they're like Heidi."

Tank grunted, trying his best not to smile and agree with Lester. Heidi was a cute child, and quite curious too. Even if she didn't talk or made much noise, she made up for it with being curious and very intelligent. She understood things that no one and a half year old should know. She would be a handful when she reached childhood. Right now, everyone at Rangeman was enjoying the antics the baby did. Right now, she was exploring the play pen full of kittens that Tank had rescued from a storm drain on his way to work. He may be built like a tank, but that doesn't mean he had a soft spot, and kittens that were helpless were one of his weaknesses. Babies were also one of his soft spots, they were so cute and loved to babble and give kisses. With Ranger dealing with clients, and Stephanie off to catch some skips, Heidi fell to Lester, who happily took up the task. Everyone on the fifth floor had fallen in love with the baby, it wasn't hard to do so either all she had to do was freaking smile, and they were putty in her tiny hands.

Tank looked up from his paper work hearing soft mews coming from the play pen. He watched as Heidi leaned down, her nose touching the mesh that covered the play pen. One kitten had come up to the side of the play pen and was now sniffing Heidi's face. It let loose a string of mews rubbing it's face against Heidi's nose. Heidi clapped her hands and smiled, turning to Tank. She pointed to the kittens and then to herself, opened her mouth and said, "Mew!"

Scratch what Tank had said about Heidi being a cute child, she was a fucking ultra-mega adorable baby.

"Holy shit! If she gets any cuter than this, I'm going to explode with flowers and all things cute!" Lester said his eyes bright, watching Heidi from the open doorway, "I'll be a pile of rainbows and sunshine."

"Go explode at your desk," Tank grunted, as he went back to his paper work, "Just because there's a baby toddling around, doesn't mean you get to slack off, no off you go solider!"

Lester groaned but left Heidi with Tank, knowing full well that Tank would watch her like a mother cat; even If he would deny it.

When Lester left the office, Tank looked back to Heidi and smiled at her, making her smile brightly and say, "Mew!" before she was preoccupied with the kittens again.

Tank would protect this child with his life, that was one thing he was certain of. Heidi need not worry about bad guys, spiders or boogey men and the dark. Uncle Tank would protect her from everything.

TBC…

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