Chapter 30-
Stephanie took a step back, "What are you talking about?" She asked as calmly as she could.
Bobby rolled his eyes at her, "You are the worst actor ever!" He said loudly.
Stephine looked behind him at the door, then back at him; "Well it's a good thing I don't have to act!"
Bobby gave her a SURE look with one eyebrow raised, "Yea and I am a famous rapper."
Stephine shrugged her shoulders, "I didn't know that, any music I would know about!" she exclaimed a little too loudly.
"Stephine cut the crap I know you are pregnant!" He said.
Stephanie rushed over and covered his mouth with her hand, "Are you crazy? Saying that in this building! You will start a rumor!" She exclaimed pushing him away from the door to the corner of the room.
He pushed her hand off his mouth, "Please I knew you were up to something the moment you smiled your crazy smile at me!" He said back.
Stephine crossed her arms, "What crazy look?" She asked quickly.
"The one where you were like... Ohhhh yep sooo negative, everything is awesome! Crazy look." He mimicked her in a high voice.
She slapped him across the upper arm, "I do not sound like that!" She exclaimed quietly, "I am not pregnant."
Bobby raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms now, "I had an extra box, I used the pee you left in the cup on the counter!" He huffed, "Come on really, for someone trying to hide something you are not good at it!"
Stephanie growled at him, "You violated the Pee I left on the counter?" She whisper yelled.
Bobby shrugged, "You should have dumped it out... and not looked completely crazy when you were lying to me!" He whisper yelled back.
Immediately Stephanie's lip begin to quiver and her eyes began to water, "I am not pregnant!" She whispered.
Bobby immediately felt bad, "It's OK if you are, we can help you."
Stephanie shook her head, "I'm scared... besides I refuse to believe I'm pregnant until I go to the doctor. I've had false positives before." She whispered.
Bobby wrapped his arms around her, "OK calm down, one step at a time." He rubbed his hands up and down her back trying to get her to stop crying. "Calm down ... Calm down... Do you have someone you want to go see or do you want me to find you a doctor?" He asked softly.
"I found someone and made an appointment for next Friday." She said softly still sniffling, "Can you help me get out of the building without anyone knowing why?"
Bobby looked up to the celling with a grimace, "You know Ranger is going to kill me if he finds out I helped you hide this, right?" He stated.
"Only if he finds out, I don't want to tell him until I know... whether I'm pregnant or not. I am still processing it. No point in freaking him out until we know." She tightened her hug, "Plus I will tell him, either way after the doctor... that's my job not yours."
Bobby nodded, "That works for me, he is far less likely to kill you." He said softly. Bobby's head snapped over to the door when Hector opened it.
Hector looked at them with a raised eyebrow, but Bobby shook his head gently at him for to stay silent.
"I swear I won't tell anyone until you find out and talk to Ranger, ok." He whispered softly into her ear.
"Thanks." She whispered back.
"Hector just walked in." Bobby said softly.
Stephanie looked over her shoulder to see Hector waiting at the door. She quickly wiped her eyes before turning to face Hector with a big smile.
Hector just raised an eyebrow.
"What?" asked Stephanie.
Bobby leaned over to whisper in her ear, "Your smile is manic again, between the crazy smile and the tears he knows somethings wrong."
Stephanie rolled her eyes at him, "Whatever, both of you can kiss my ass." She said loudly. "I'm going upstairs to get some work done."
She walked over and grab her bag off the table and as she passed Hector, she gave him a gentle bump with her shoulder. "Want to get breakfast tomorrow with me." She whispered so Bobby couldn't hear.
She gave him a real smile when he nodded down at her. As she walked back into the hall she quickly made her way to the elevator not looking anyone in the face. She knew her face was a mess with redness and tear tracks.
Now the question was how was she going to make it until next Friday without spilling the beans or losing her mind.
-/-
Stephanie made it upstairs and spread out all the paperwork on the table. She was going to distract herself no matter what, even if it meant dying inside of paperwork.
Ranger found her 3 hours later still hunched over the table. She jumped when she felt his hand brush down her back, "Babe?" He asked.
"Sorry Ranger, you scared me." She waved her hand across the table over the paperwork, "This stuff really isn't that difficult, you guys have just fucked it up so badly, it's making it a pain in the ass." She huffed.
He looked over her piles, "You are doing it completely different than we are." He stated.
She looked at him and rolled her eyes, "Of course I am. You guys make it 10 times harder than it needs to be."
Ranger raise an eyebrow at her.
"What, don't give me that look. You guys really have made it way more difficult than it needs to be." She stated starting to gather up her piles, while trying to keep them in order.
Ranger said nothing as he walked over to the fridge. When he came back around he leaned against the counter, "So do we need to talk more?" He asked.
She looked up at him with a question in her eyes. After a moment question registered in her mind and she answered, "Yes about me storing stuff here and me going out with friends. We need to know boundaries. Then we will have less confusion." She finished making piles then grinned, "Besides you owe me a dinner out."
She walked past him into the bedroom and right into the closet.
Ranger followed her in, "We could stay in." He said with a grin.
She popped her head out of the closet and gave him a look, "Nice try, I am starving and I want food. Get dressed."
She swore she could hear Ranger grumble as he walked over to his dresser to pull out clean clothes and she gave a giggle.
Another hour later had them seated at a restaurant, as they sat down she saw Ranger look at her and smiled.
"What?" she asked voice light and a smile crossing her face.
He looked at her for a moment before standing up to walk around the table to kneel in front of her. She looked at him in surprise and a little fear. "Ranger, what are you doing."
He gave her a grin before leaning in to kiss her, "Nothing I just wanted to kiss you and you were all the way around the table."
She narrowed her eyes at him for a moment, "Why do I think that you had alternative reasons?"
He gave her one of his wicked grins, "Because I did…. Joe is sitting over at another table with his family… wanted to let them all know that you are mine." He said with a dark chuckle.
She looked at him a moment before breaking into a huge smile and laugh, "God you are such an ass. Do you know that?" She leaned down and kissed him, "I cannot even be mad at you though because if you had an Ex I would have done the same thing." She pushed him back so he had to stand or fall on his ass. "Now go sit down while I go tell him hi." She went to stand before pausing for a second not looking over her shoulder. "Wait….is his grandma there?"
Ranger laughed out loud at her so others around them looked over "Scared babe?"
She narrowed her eyes at him again, "Is that a yes?" she said sitting back down when she saw him nod, "Not afraid …... cautiously smart." She pulled her napkin over her lap sitting straight up. "I really think that everyone needs to realize that woman is the devil and she will curse you… not worth the risk."
She watched him laugh at her again, "You would be sad if I died from a crazy weird disease…. Then who would be sorry for laughing." But even as she said it her lips twitched at the warmth of his laughter covering her very real fear of the old lady.
She rolled her eyes when he gave her a small nod, "I would be very sad if her curse killed you… I would then have to kill an old lady." He said eyebrows raising trying to keep a straight face.
"Ass." She whispered under her voice looking down into her menu so he would not see her smile. She had to pull a straight face as his finger pushed down her menu so he could look her in the eyes.
"I love you babe…... I love you so much." He whispered, but he didn't look away until she gave him a small smile and whispered back, "I love you too… Ass." The last part making him laugh out loud agine.
"A light in the darkness Babe… my light and laughter." And he watched as her grin turned into a soft smile that shown out of her eyes. "I love you to… more than anything else in this world… I hope that you know that." She said reaching out to take his hand.
The words had the effect that she wanted when his eyes went even softer and his smile shown, "I know." He whispered back at her.
"Now feed me." She whispered to him getting the second look she wanted when he gave her the 1000 watt smile that could kill a passing lady… which it almost did when a lady walked into a table trying to look at him.
She rolled her eyes at him and his grin, "Ass…" she whispered pulling the menu back up.
"Yes, but I am your ass." He whispered back at her.
She set her menu back down and with a straight face she said in a light voice, "That's right you are." She looked at the waiter when he walked over to order, "Now for dinner, ASS." She said with a grin. She watched as Ranger just shook his head and ordered.
They talked about nothing and everything for the next 30 min while they ate their appetizers. Anyone looking over at them would see a happy relaxed couple that only had eyes for each other. The women looking at Ranger wishing they had a man to look at them the way he looked at Stephine. The men looked over at Stephine wishing they had someone holding onto every word they spook the way she did at Ranger. It was like they were completely alone in a room full of people.
The couple paused when Joe walked over to say hello on his way out.
"Hay cupcake." Joe said with a small smile at her, he nodded over at Ranger who just raised an eyebrow at him.
Stephine rolled her eyes at him and stood up to hug Joe, "Hay how are you doing." She asked as she pulled back.
He gave her a wry grin, "Well I out to dinner with my family so how well could it really be."
Stephine gave a loud laugh and grin, "Karma for all those times you made me go with…. Now you have to go alone." She said giving him a light push, "Hay do you mind if we change our dinner to lunch on Monday?"
Joe looked over at Ranger who still said nothing then back at Stephine. "Sure, that would work fine for me." Joe said quickly.
Stephine beamed at him, "Great I go back to work Monday morning and it will be nice to have a break in the middle." She had her back to Ranger so she missed his eyes narrow but Joe didn't.
"Are you sure about Monday?" He asked her carefully.
"Yes, it will be a great first day back to work. I am as lazy as the next person but you can only sit around for so long." She said with a grin. "I am not doing too much, just going into the new office and getting a few of my regulars. Plus, now that we are doing lunch I am can take a nice long break in the middle to talk to you." She gave him a sly grin, "I heard something interesting about you."
At this Joe turned to look at her with narrowed eyes, "What did you hear?" He said quietly looking around.
She gave him a grin shaking her head, "Not saying until Monday." She went to laugh but stopped to take a step back when Joes grandma Bella walked up looking at her with a dirty look.
"Well, well, well if it isn't the little harlot." She said looking at Stephine with hate, "I see you already moved into a new bed." She spat.
"Gama." Joe said looking at Stephine with apologetic eyes, "I told you that we broke up mutually. That we agreed that we were not good for each other. So please be nice to her."
At her words, Ranger had stood up to stand behind Stephine, hands on her arms gently, "Joe I have never threatened an old lady before…." He paused eyes narrowed at him, "I hope tonight won't be the first night that I have to."
Joe nodded at them, "I understand, Gama, you have to be nice to people." He started to pull her away from the table, "See you Monday Steph." He said quickly rolling his eyes at her making her give a small smile in thanks.
But Bella was not done, pulling away from Joe to walk back over to Stephine to slap her across the face and whisper to her in a deadly soft voice for her ears only, "You will pay for the hurt you caused him. It will die…. You will lose what you just found…. You will feel that pain, then he will feel the pain of losing you both." She said pointing at Ranger
Stephine's stomach dropped into her feet at Bella's words, there was only one thing she just found out about… her hand coming to rest on her stomach. She watched as Joe grabbed his grandmother and began to pull her away as she was still cursing Stephine under her breath. He looked over at her saying sorry over and over again, regret on his face.
Ranger turned Stephine to look at him, pulling her face up so he could look at her cheek, "Are you all right?" He asked her softly brushing a thumb over her cheekbone.
All Stephine could do was nod reaching up to hold onto his hand turning to look over at Joe and Bella walking out the front door. She turned to sit back down in the chair, mind still in shook from what Bella had said to her.
How could she know, how could she possibly know? She just found out and Bobby was the only other one who knew. He would not have told anyone, she would have bet everything she had on that. So how did Bella know and what did she mean. Stephine looked over at Ranger who was just sitting back down in his chair and she had to know.
"Give me a second, I have to go ask Joe something," She said at Ranger watching the surprise in his eyes as she stood and turned to run to the front door where Joe was trying to get his grandmother into the car. She ran over eyes frantic and voice unsteady.
"What did you mean, when you said that I would lose what I just found?" She asked her desperately hands reaching out to grab Bella's arms and shake her. Joe stood to the side trying to figure out what was going on.
Bella gave her an evil smile, "You know… I can see it in your eyes… you know what you will lose." She said in a strong voice.
Stephine shook her head, "How do you even know…...no one knows. HOW DO YOU KNOW?" Stephine yelled at her giving her a strong shake.
This time Joe pulled Stephine off of Bella whispering in her ear, "You know that she is just saying crazy stuff Steph. Don't listen to her, you are not going to lose anything…..." But his voice paused when he looked down and saw the real fear in her eyes. "Stephine, you are going to be fine." He said softly pulling her into a hug.
"No, she won't…... before she didn't want it… she was scared of it…now that she knows that she will lose it…... she is terrified." Bella looked over at Stephine again, "You will be in the same pain of losing what you love, just like my Joey was." With her last parting words, she got into the car and closed the door with an evil grin.
Ranger walked out to see Stephine in Joes arms and hesitated for a second until he saw her face and the terror in her eyes. He ran over and when he touched her back she jumped in surprise not hearing him. Ranger looked at Joe who shook his head in confusion. Joe thought he knew what was worrying her and whispered loud enough for Ranger to hear, "She is just a crazy old lady Steph, Ranger is fine… he's right here." He turned her so she could see Ranger and the instant she met his eyes she flew into his arms. "She is just a crazy old lady Steph…...Ranger is fine and will be."
She nodded into Ranger's chest knowing that she could not say what she was really afraid of pulling him closer… tighter if it was possible.
"I am so sorry Steph…. I know that she can be scary…. But she is harmless." Joe said gently.
She knew that she had to act, that she had to make them think that she was ok. She took a deep breath and let go of Ranger to turn around and give Joe a small smile, "I know but for some reason today she got to me." She reached over and gave Joe a hug, "I am so sorry for the pain I caused you." She whispered into his ear.
"I am too, I know that I was part of the problem…. We were not meant to be… you did nothing wrong." He whispered back at her while giving her a tight hug. "Now you better go back to your new guy because he looks like he is ready to kill me."
She gave a watery smile and small giggle, "He won't kill you…. hurt you a little bit... but not kill." She said as she walked back over and slid her arms around Rangers middle.
Joe gave her a small smile and wave, "See you Monday ok."
"Yep, ok." She said waving back. She watched as he pulled away then took a deep breath knowing Ranger was going to ask her what happened. She smiled up at him and then pulled him into another tight hug.
Ranger pulled her close knowing that she needed this hug more than his questions right now. He knew that she was not ok even though she gave him the smile. So instead he asked her, "Hay Babe, want to take the rest of our dinner to go?" He felt her nod into his chest before she took another deep breath and leaned back with a soft smile.
"Yep, I am ok but I don't want to go back in there right now. Not after that scene." She said rolling her eyes trying to look like she was ok even though she was shaking inside. "Can you go get it while I go to the car?" she asked softly.
Ranger shook his head, "I am not leaving you alone outside." He said carefully not wanting to make her more upset with his refusal to let her be alone.
She gave him a small shake of her head and a soft smirk, "Of course… how about I use the wash room while you get the food then we can go?"
Ranger pulled her close to his side as they walked back into the restaurant, "Sounds good." He watched as she turned in the entry and walked into the ladies' room. She was not ok but he knew if he pushed she would close off everything, so he would wait until she came to him.
While he was with the hostess getting their food and settling their bill she was panicking in the bathroom. She stood in front of the mirror thinking about Bella said to her, was she really pregnant and was she going to lose the baby. Her hand went to lay on her stomach. Hours ago..…hell minuets ago she would have said that she was not even pregnant… let alone wanting the baby. But know that Bella said she was going to lose it …. her world had shifted. And what did Bella mean when she said Ranger would lose her. Stephine always had a slight fear of Bella but when she knew something that no one else did today it made all the small fear turn into an overwhelming tidal wave of anxiety. She tried to calm down but she couldn't get the fear out of her head.
She fumbled into her purse that Ranger handed her outside and grabbed her cell phone out. She went through her contacts until she found the one she was looking for and hit the name. She put the phone to her ear listening to the rings until she heard her name being called.
"Stephine?" She heard called but it sounded like it came from a long tunnel where she was still trying to figure out what was going on. "Stephine are you ok... I am going to call Ranger."
It was Ranger's name that brought her back and she whispered into the phone, "No…no I am fine... I just have a question." Her voice shook, "Bobby …. can anything happen to the baby?"
Bobby paused to walk away from the guys he was standing by to a corner, "Did something happen… are you ok?" he said urgently. He knew for her to even say the word baby something was going on.
She shook her head as she spoke, "No I am fine, nothing happened….at least not physically… look it's a long story … I just need to know if anything can happen to the baby."
Bobby knew that he had to be honest with her or she would never trust him again, "Look Stephine the likelihood of anything happening is slim… you are young and healthy ok."
"So something could happen?" She asked softly.
Bobby tried to use his strongest and most gentle voice, "The odds are so low Steph …. I know that you have an appointment for next Friday but I have a friend that may be able to see to sooner. I will ask if she can see you as soon as possible…. so, you can see everything is ok."
Stephine jumped when she heard a knock on the door, "Babe." She heard Ranger call, "Are you ok?"
Stephine took another deep breath leaning her head against the wall, "Yep…be right out." She called out to him. She whispered back into her phone, "Thank you Bobby… As soon as she can… tomorrow even…. I need to know." A tear sliding down her cheek.
"Steph listen to me, you are fine and so is that baby ok. Just take a breath because stressing is not good for either of you." He said softly, "I am going to call her right now at home, ok?"
She gave a small sigh, "Ok, Thank you Bobby…For everything. I love you." She whispered.
Bobby felt his heart stutter, "That is the first time you have ever said that to me." He said softly.
She smiled, "I love all of you…the best brothers and family I could ever ask for."
He smiled into the phone, "You too little sister… you are going to be fine. Just breath and relax ok."
She thanked him again and hung up, she looked over at the mirror and sighed again. She was a mess, she threw some water on her face before walking over to the door and opening it to see Ranger. She knew he was worried but she also couldn't say anything right now without freaking out even more. So she gave him a smile and reached out for his hand, "I will tell you later ok."
She watched as he nodded at her then give her a smirk, "No worries until then we can talk about how you think you are going back to work Monday." He said wrapping an arm around her to steer her out the door to the car that had been pulled up. It had the desired effect he wanted when she gave a soft laugh and a real smile.
"Hay I forgot to tell you that I was going to work Monday." She said tilting her head onto his shoulder.
"Ohh you did?" He said kissing the top of her head. "I wonder how you forgot that?"
She tilted her head back to look him in the face, "Well to be truthful it was more I didn't want to tell you until I had to so you had less time to freak out." She said with a grin.
He gave her a small smile knowing he had to let this go for now, that she was still not ok from whatever just happened, "I guess then we will have to come to a compromise." He said pulling her door open.
She paused in front of her open door raising her eyebrows, "Compromise?" She questioned.
He gave her a light kiss, "I can't keep you in a cage and you need to be able to do what you want…so we compromise... I thought that was the plan?" He asked with one eyebrow raised.
She just looked at him trying to see what was going on in his head, she bit her lip eyes narrowing. He waited patiently knowing that she need to see that he meant it and there was no trick. He watched as the love began to pour out of her eyes at him, "We are going to be ok." She said softly leaning forward to kiss him on the lips tenderly.
He kissed her back, "Yes we are."