OK guys I am so so so so so so sorry about the long absence. I got writers block and I couldn't seem to finish it…BUTTTTTT I have great news!
I finished the entire story! So I will be putting up a new chapter every 2/3 days until it is all up!
Happy reading-
Chapter 38
Stephine and Lester pulled into the garage with a car full of McDonalds over an hour later.
"You know that he is going to be pissed, he texted me 6 times to make sure you were alive and tell us to hurry up." Lester said with a frown.
Stephanie laughed at him, "And how do you know he's mad, saying hurry up does not mean mad." She said getting out of the car and opening the truck.
Lester followed her to grab bags out and said, "Because his last text said, and I quote Where the FUCK- all capital letters are you? I am going to kick your ass if you are not back in 5 seconds." Lester just looked at her as she laughed, "He sent that one 20 minuets ago. The texts got worse since then. Why didn't he just call you?" he said leaning down to pull out bag of food.
Stephine started pulling out Drink trays and setting them on the truck of the car next to them, "Because my phone died, and I still haven't bought a car charger since my last one was blown up before."
They both tuned to look at the elevator when it dinged and looked to see who was coming out. Bobby and Hector strolled out with raised eyebrows and grins as they took in the piles of food and sugary drinks, but they full on laughed as they saw her pull out boxes of donuts.
"Now we know why she was late." Bobby said
Hector grinned, "Ranger esta molesto."
Bobby laughed, "No, he's beyond mad and right into pissed off. His normally sweet disposition is gone and he's all prickly. Yelling at everyone and we were being sent to go and get you."
Stephanie laughed, "Normally sweet?" she questioned. "We don't know the same man then."
Bobby walked over to help her grab some of the drinks, "Well his sweet…which is not everyone else's sweet…...which should tell you how angry he is."
Stephone shrugged, "He's often mad at me, won't be the first or the last time."
Bobby shook his head as Stephine stacked drink trays on his arms, "Not at you…. He knows that you are a lost cause. He is pissed at Lester. Said he should know better and make you get a move on. That was his job."
Stephine rolled her eye at him as she started filling up Hectors arms first with boxes of donuts and then McDonalds bags on top of those. "Ranger should know by now that no one makes me do anything that I don't want to do and that no one can make me hurry up if I don't want to." Stephanie puled the last of the bags out of the trunk and started walking to the elevator, "He should also know that I will not let anyone get in trouble for me."
When they got to five they saw men still running around and Ranger barking that there was going to be a meeting in 2 minutes in the conference room. When he looked at the elevator and saw her and then all of the food his eyes narrowed into slits. She gave him a giant grin and then whispered to the men in the elevator with her, "Stay behind me, I will take care of this."
Bobby laughed at her then laughed hard when he saw Lester shift all the way to the back knowing he was going to be in the most trouble. As they walked towards the conference room, men turned to follow the smell of grease, sugar and they could swear they smelled the carbs. Stephanie walked right up to Ranger, arms full of bags and leaned over to give him a kiss. She handed him some of the bags and then slipped her arm into his and pulled him into the room.
"Babe?" Ranger said in an amused voice.
She gave him another quick grin, "I was starving so I figured that everyone was, and you told me to bring it here and I wasn't going to eat in front of everyone and I wasn't going to make Ella cook at 2 am and." Ranger cut her off with small chuckle, "Stop Babe, you sold it."
She watched him turn to find Lester and she gave him a dirty look, "Leave Lester alone…. He kept telling me to hurry but we could only go as fast as they cooked."
Ranger sighed, actually sighed and Stephine burst out laughing, "I will make it up to you later." She whispered as she leaned over to kiss him again.
Tank walked in and gave Stephine and Ranger a raised eyebrow, "You allowed this?" He asked Ranger.
Stephine cut Ranger off before he could talk, "I brought you, your favorite. A double quarter pounder with a large fry and coke." She told Tank with a smile.
Tank gave a grin, "With.."
But Stephanie cut Tank off this time, "With extra pickles, mustered and onions. And Yes, I got your packets of mayo and sweet and sour for your fries." She said watching him about to cut in and ask. "I know you my friend. I know you."
Tank gave her a full grin and a smacking kiss, "I love you." He said and went over to the bags.
Stephine laughed and began to name off the different things she got for different people. Each one different and something special and as Ranger watched he realized two things. Number one, his men had very gross and very unhealthy habits. And two, she knew each and every one of them and what they liked. She had taken the time to notice what they liked and commit it to memory. She took the time to make sure each man had what he loved. He also finally noticed that there were Wendy's bags mixed in with the McDonalds bags. Stephine handed out two of those to Hector and one of the newer guys that went on the mission.
She noticed Ranger looking at her with a smile, "What?" She demanded, "They don't like McDonalds." She said with a shrug. Then she reached over and grabbed him a bag from the deli section at the grocery store. It was his favorite grape and feta salad. He pulled her in his arms and gave her a bone melting kiss, filled with all of the emotions he was feeling.
When he finally let go he watched as she slowly opened her eyes and grin, "I am going to bring you a salad every single day if I get one of those." She said with a grin. Ranger gave her another quick kiss, "It was for more then the salad… it was for all of the thought and love you put into making sure we were taken care of." He said softly.
They both looked over to Tank as he yelled at them, "Go get a room after the meeting." Stephanie laughed when she saw that he had mustered on his face. She looked around and saw that all the men had congregated around the table and were in varies phases eating. Some finished and reaching for the donuts and some just starting. She still had two bags in her hands.
"I will be right back." She said to the men, "Start without me." They all watched as she turned and left the room with two bags and a tray of drinks. Ranger walked over to the front of the room and pulled open his salad, he would give the men a few minutes to eat and he wouldn't admit this but he was also hungry. They all looked at Stephanie when she walked back in a few moments later, hands empty this time. She walked over to sit next to Ranger and leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes.
"Where is your food Babe?" Ranger asked her quietly.
She shrugged her shoulders and said softly, "Not really hungry anymore."
Ranger paused and turned to look at her, "Not hungry?"
Stephine gave him a smile, "I can be not hungry."
Ranger snorted, "Sure…. But you never even bought yourself food?" He asked with narrowed eyes when Stephine just shrugged but gave no verbal answer.
Still looking at her Ranger barked, "Santos. Did Stephanie buy herself food?"
Lester looked up from his burger, "Yep, she got cheese burgers and fries. Plus, a giant coke. Why."
Ranger raised an eyebrow at her but said nothing. She sighed this time, "I didn't know you still had so much extra staff helping here. I wasn't going to let them go without food." She said softly.
But she wasn't soft enough when the men closest to them turned to look at her with a frown. But they didn't say anything to her, just began pushing food in her direction. A half-eaten burger, a pile of fries, a few chicken nuggets. Within seconds she had a pile of the most random food in front of her. The only ones who didn't bother to share were Ranger who knew she wouldn't touch the feta and Tank who knew she wouldn't want the extra mustered.
She just gave them all a smile and started to dig in. Ranger finished his salad and then stood up to start the meeting. "So, we were able to capture 6 men tonight. All were shooting to kill, so it is safe to say that they are not trying to take Timmy alive. The question that we need answered is one of the men we caught the one calling the shots?" He said looking around. "We need to look into exactly who each of these men are and where they stand in the equation. If we didn't get the person in charge, then Stephine and Timmy are still in danger."
Tank stood up, "We got identities on 4 of the 6 so far, they seem to all be low level helpers. The other 2 have been harder to trace, no finger prints in the system and no id on them. According to the detective with them, they are refusing to give any identification or name except a high-powered lawyer they have requested."
Everyone however was looking at Tank's shirt and not his face, he finally noticed when Stephine gave a giggle and pointed down to the mustered spot that was on his shirt. He gave them all a dirty look as he wiped off the spot and ate it. "Like I was saying, right now we have a chance of one of these two being who are looking for. We are having the detective send us photos for Timmy to look at and see If he can ID him as one of them men that hired him. We should get them in the morning."
Lester swallowed a mouth full of food, "Are any of them talking?"
Tank shook his head, "Nope, even the ones that have been identified are keeping silent until the lawyer goes in."
Stephanie cleared her throat, "No sighting of the woman that met me at Pino's?"
Ranger shook his head, "No woman sighted or found. We are waiting for more information based on the description." Ranger gave a few more instructions out and then brought the meeting to a close, "I want everyone on site at 0500 tomorrow to start going through information we have."
Stephine snarked a giggle under her breath which made Ranger look at her with a raised eyebrow, "Something to say Babe?"
She gave him a smile, "I think maybe 9 am would be better? It is almost close to 3 am and even you guys need sleep if you want to be at your best."
Ranger frowned, "Fine 0800."
Stephine gave another smile, "10 am then? Its 3am now, even if they go straight up and shower it will take a bit and if you want them down at 10 am then they will have to get up at the latest 9:30 to get dressed and shaved and eat. That's not even 6 hours of sleep…. they could make mistakes from exhaustion"
Ranger rolled his eyes down at her so only she could see it, "Fine 0900."
Stephine looked out at the guys who gave her a grin, "9 am, sounds good…. I will still see you guys at 10 or 11 am. I need at least 8 hours of sleep." She said with a smart-ass grin. The men all laughed at her.
She stood up and began picking up the table, while Ranger walked over to talk to the core team. She waited until they had begun to walk out of the conference room when she called Bobby. When he looked at her she pointed down and mouthed "your office?" and held up a hand that said 5 minutes.
She watched him nod at her and then follow out the rest of the team.
Stephine knew she was exhausted and she knew that she wanted to go upstairs, climb on top of Ranger and sleep for twenty years. But she had to go talk to Bobby before she went to bed. She walked out of the conference room and over to the elevator while the men had gone into Ranger's office to talk more. She slipped in and pushed for the medical floor and the doors slid closed right as the men started coming out of the office. She wandered into Bobby's office and jumped up on to the table to wait for him.
He found her sleeping ten minutes later, "Steph wake up." He whispered as he shook her.
She opened her eyes slowly and sat up, "Hay." She said rubbing her eyes. "You took forever."
Bobby laughed her, "Not really…. You are just exhausted from being up all day, the adrenalin rushes and oh ya being pregnant." Bobby reached over and pushed her back down when she went to hop up. "Let me check your vitals first. It has been a stressful day."
Stephine sat still thinking while he took her blood pressure and temperature. When he was finished he began to take her pulse. "Bobby." She said still thinking.
"Hummmm." He mumbled back.
"Are you sure that Ranger is going to be happy?" She asked him eyes beginning to close again, her body just wanting to sleep.
Bobby looked up and smiled at her, "I think so…after he is over the shock. So tomorrow I have to take you to the store?' He asked her writing down her vitals in her new chart.
Stephanie looked up at him, eyes at half-mast. "Yep I know how I am going to tell Ranger about the baby. We have to go back to see Meg on Wednesday, I am going to get an ultrasound photo. I was going to make him a scrap book with all of our photos and put the ultrasound last."
Bobby smiled at her, "That sounds like the prefect ideal. Well you seem to be healthy, what time do you want to go out tomorrow?"
Stephanie leaned her head back, "Well I owe Hector breakfast, how about you guys go to morning meeting and then I will meet you for a quick breakfast and mall shopping. You guys should be done about 9:30 so we can go from 9:30-12. Then come back so you guys can work some more and I will go to the bods office. And do some errands paying bills."
Bobby gave her a look, so she said, "I was going to see if Lula wanted to go out with me. Its been a while since we got to spend some time together."
Bobby still shook his head at her, "You know you need more then Lula until we figure this out."
Stephanie hopped off the table, "I know, I was going to ask Ranger who he could spare in the afternoon, since I am stealing you and Hector in the morning." She said walking to the door. Bobby gave her an approving nod, "So am I healthy doc?" She said opening the door.
Bobby rolled his eyes at her, "Body I would so, ok…just need rest…mentally I don't think I can help you."
She laughed all the way to the elevator.
When the elevator door to 7 opened she saw Ranger getting ready to get on, but he paused when he saw her. "Where were you." He asked leaning on the open frame.
Stephanie smiled, "Nosey body…I was with Bobby." She said walking past him.
He turned to follow her on eyebrow raised, "Bobby?" He questioned as they made it through the front door.
She turned and smiled at him as she walked backwards towards the bedroom, "Yep, I have to run some errand in the morning. So I was seeing if he and Hector could help me for a few hours before lunch, after your morning meeting."
Ranger tilted his head to the side, "You could have asked me." He said following her through the bedroom door.
She grinned, "You and I both know, you have a list twenty miles long of things you want to get done tomorrow. I also knew you would be happier if I took some of the core team until we figure out what's going on.
Ranger just looked at her, his face paused in a look of wonder. "What?" She asked him raising her eyebrows.
"You," He said to her softly, "Just you."
Stephine looked confused, "What about me?" She asked him coming to brush her hands down his chest.
"You are prefect, just everything I could ever want." He said his hand trailing down he cheek. "You always think to what I need and want. You are always looking at the men around you and loving them and taking care of them. You are just…. You." He said softly as his lips brushed hers.
She slipped her arms around his waist and trailed her lips down his chin and neck, making his head fall back with his eyes closed. "You are pretty prefect for me to." She whispered against his throat.
Ranger moved so fast she didn't have time to think, his arms wrapping around her in a tight grip, puling her into every curve and dip of his body. His lips coming to claim hers almost violently. But she jumped into the kiss with both feet, her hands roaming over his body, feeling and making sure that he was ok. Every emotion from hours ago rushing back and over her. The fear, the pain, the terror….. the not knowing what happened and thinking the worst. The relief and joy of seeing him ok, the calm as he had wrapped his arms around her. It hit her all at once and tears started to slip from her eyes. When Ranger felt one on his cheek he paused, but he understood because he was feeling most of the overwhelming emotions. Her care, her love washing over him like a tidal wave.
"Babe." He whispered over her lips. "Don't leave me." His hands pulling up her shirt and then sliding down her ribs then around to cup her back, pushing her tighter to him.
"As long as you don't leave me." She whispered back her hands pulling on his shirt until it was also gone.
Ranger walked her back to the bed and fell down with her, carful to keep most of his weight off of her, "Never." He said as he pushed her pants down and slipped his fingers into her. "Never." He whispered against her ear fiercely as he felt her arch into him and her moan draw out like a musical note.
"Carlos…" She whispered her hands holding onto his shoulders tightly, "Please…"
He kissed down her neck to grab one of her nipples with his teeth, "What babe?" He said as he blew cold air over it.
"Please…." She begged, her eyes closed, and head thrown back, "PLEASE." She whispered thickly.
Ranger moved his fingers faster as he licked, bit and blew across her chest, "Please…..what Babe?" He asked, lips paused over her nipple again.
Stephanie took charge pulling his face up to hers and looking into his eyes, "Please come to me, slide into me….. Take me over." She said against his lips before she pulled him down for a deep kiss that they both got lost in. When he slid into her she lost control of her neck and it fell against the pillow, he rose over her looking down at her perfection.
He hair fanned out against the pillow, eyes closed tight, lips parted and gasping. Her cheeks pink and lips bruised and full from his deep kissing. When she ached up into him, her nipples brushing his chest, making then both moan with the sensation.
"Babe look at me." He whispered, still moving in her and he watched as her eyes fluttered open, when their eyes locked he whispered to her, "Cum with me."
One stroke…. two strokes, and then he watched the moment she fell over the edge and with one more push he followed her into heaven.