Chapter 39

Stephanie walked off the elevator the next morning at 9am, she was proud of herself. She was actually up, dressed and ready to go before she said she would be. It was a major feat for her. She walked over to the conference room and could hear the men talking about what steps they were taking today. She stood outside the door going back and forth on if she should interrupt them when the door swung open.

She jumped as she saw Hector standing there looking at her, and behind him the entire room had stopped to look at her. So, she smiled and waved while walking over to sit down next to Ranger, the only seat open at the table.

Ranger looked at her and gave her a faint smile before he turned back to the group. "So, I will go with Tank to the police station to interview the men we captured last night, Bobby and Hector are with Stephanie today. Lester, I want you and Hal going through all of the information we have on these people with Timmy. See if the photos match up with what we saw and what Timmy saw when he was with them. I want to know who we got last night and how many more are left. Lester you create teams with the rest of the men to go over everything. I don't want anything missed or forgotten. We will meet back here at 1400 to go over any new leads or information we have gathered." Ranger looked around to room to see everyone nodding the affirmative.

The men began to stand up and walk out the door until all that was left was Hector, Bobby, Tank, Ranger and Stephine in the room.

"So where are you three off to?" Ranger asked Stephanie as he leaned down to give her a quick kiss, "It must be good for you to be up and out and bed and ready to go already."

Stephanie laughed, "It is, we are going to breakfast together and then to the mall for a few things I have been needing but putting off." She said leaning into his side.

Tank raised an eyebrow at them, "You are taking today to go to the mall?" he said gruffly.

Stephanie shrugged her shoulders, "If I keep needing to do errands the I need to do, I will never get there. We always have something going on, someone trying to kill us, explosions…...want me to go on."

Tank shook his head with a grin, "Nope, point taken…. with you there is never a good time."

Stephanie rolled her eyes, "You guys cause some of the trouble." but grinned when they all laughed at her. "Ok fine, at least I keep you guys on your toes…. Its real-life training with me every day." She said with a grin.

Bobby laughed, "I think we have more real-world injuries with you also."

"Hay." Stephanie said but it wasn't as upset as she wanted it to be when she laughed. "You are probably right, but you also get more entertainment with me." She shrugged.

She turned to Bobby and Hector, "Ready amigos?" She asked them.

When they both nodded at her she leaned over to give Ranger one last kiss, "See you after lunch Babe." She said with a little snark and a smirk.

Ranger kissed her back whispering, "Bye Babe. Text me?"

She gave him a grin, "If I remember, I always seem to forget." She said walking to the door with Bobby and Hector. She laughed as she watched him narrow his eyes at her as she walked to the elevator.

Stephine won the debate on what was for breakfast and they ended up at McDonalds, with Stephanie ordering almost one of everything before they found a seat in the back.

"So why are we going to the mall?" asked Bobby as he dug into his Sausage muffin.

Stephine looked at his pile of food and it was almost as big as hers was, "I told you I need a photo album. One I can put all the photos I have stolen from Rangers desk in and I am going to get an ultra sound done tomorrow and Meg is going to print one for me to put in the back." She said looking down at her food. Now that she had it all the smell was starting to turn her stomach. Hector was sitting watching her with a yogurt and a cup of fruit.

"Herminia?" He asked her softly looking at her face closely. She looked up at him with a frown, her face paling until she looked like a ghost. Both men stood as she jumped up and ran to the bathroom, the men followed her listening to the sounds of her emptying her already empty stomach. After a few moments she came out looking pale and a little shaky. She leaned against the wall, wiping her mouth with a napkin.

"Stephanie have you been throwing up a lot?" Bobby asked her, grabbing her wrist to take her pulse.

"NO, just every single morning….and every single time I see any kind of food that I love." She whispered taking deep breaths, the smell in the restaurant still making her stomach churn. "Can we leave, I know that you guys are not done eating but the smell is too much for me."

Bobby nodded at Hector, "Take her outside and I will grab the food." He told him. Hector walked her to the door and out by the car. "That bad chica?" he whispered as he rubbed her back.

Stephine leaned down to take deep breaths, "All of my favorite food makes me sick. Any sugar or grease smells and my stomach starts turning…. I really wanted that hash brown!" she mumbled.

Hector laughed at her, "We will go to a place that I know for breakfast." He said still rubbing her back. "There is no smell, and everything is fresh." Hector looked up to see Bobby walking out with Bags of food and shook his head no at him. Bobby looked down at the bags and frowned, he also wanted his hash brown. But he threw it in the trash can as he walked over.

Stephanie looked up at him, "Where is the food?" she asked him still deep breathing.

Bobby raised an eyebrow, "Did you want the smell in the car?" he asked chuckling.

Her faced turned green and she threw up on Hector shoes.

Twenty minutes later they pulled up to a small smoothie shop that had Stephine looking at Hector like he was crazy. He shrugged his shoulders and grinned.

Stephine held her breath as they walked in the front door but there was no smell other than fresh herbs. Stephine looked at him and smiled, she was finally hungry and not nauseous.

"What is this place?" She asked walking up to the counter.

The lady behind it smiled, "We are a fresh eatery, we make everything with fresh herbs and spices, most we grow ourselves. We do healthy but yummy eating options. Since this is your first time here I will ask you a few questions then give you a recommendation?"

Stephanie nodded looking over all the ingredients on the counter.

"Breakfast or lunch?" the lady asked.

Stephanie thought for a moment, "Either, I don't mind."

She nodded at her, "Two favorite things in the world."

Stephanie laughed, "Sugar and grease? ….. No? How about Mac and cheese and lasagna?"

The lady looked around and nodded again, "Hot or cold?"

Stephanie thought about it again, "Both."

The Lady smiled, "Do you trust me to make you something that I choose? Or do you want more of a say?"

Stephine looked at Hector who shrugged, "Well all in I guess, surprise me."

The lady looked at Hector who just nodded at her, Bobby told her to surprise me also and she started moving around the counter while they watched. 10 minutes later the lady was plating up three trays. Stephine looked at it with a mixture of interest and distrust. She took a sniff and was surprise when It smelled good and didn't turn her stomach.

The lady smiled at her, "It is a mac and cheese made with clothbound cheddar from England, very light and a little plain, no smell, but still a good flavor made with organic thick shell noodles. And a smoothie with French vanilla yogurt, spinach, strawberries, bananas a touch of fresh mint and honey."

Stephine looked up and smiles, she got her sweet and her creamy and both smelled great and her stomach was settling. "Thank you this looks great and smells great to! There is something that I am smelling but can't place, what is it?" Stephanie asked.

The lady smiled, "When I was pregnant the smell of ginger always helped my stomach settle. Mint and ginger, that's what I put in the smoothie."

Stephanie's eyes got wide, "I am not pregnant, I have just been sick a little."

The lady smiled at her, "If you are pregnant or not is not my business, either way the ginger and mint help soothe any nausea. Please tell me if you don't like anything and I will re-make it."

Stephanie smiled and took the tray to go sit down, when she saw Hector and Bobby follow they had completely different trays. Hector had some kind of salad with a water and Bobby had a sandwich with a green smoothie. She looked down at her plate again, took a deep breath and took a bite. It was different then she was used to with Mac and cheese but still good, and better yet her stomach loved it. No rolling or nausea of any kind. She dug into her plate with more excitement then she had with anything else in days.

"Oh my GOD this is so so sooo good Hector. I didn't even realize how hungry I was!" She said with a mouth full of food. The guys looked at her with grins, they knew how much she loved her food and when she couldn't eat it worried them.

"So after this we will go to the bonds office, see if there are any new skips? Then I have to stop at the apartment to pick something up. Then the mall." Stephanie said between bites.

Bobby raised an eyebrow, "That is more stops than we talked about."

Stephine shrugged her shoulders, "Now that I am getting food in me and feeling a little better I was thinking I could do more of the errands I wanted to finish. I was going to do some tomorrow, but every single day is different. If I feel like shit tomorrow I will be glad that I did the errands today. DO you need to go back to the office?" She asked finishing her Mac and Cheese.

Bobby shook his head no, "No we can get it done today, add anything you want on the list. You got us all day. What are your plans for tomorrow if you feel good again?" He asked as he was also finishing up his food.

Stephine thought about it for a moment, "Well I am going to grab my skip files." She started.

Bobby cut her off, "You cannot bounty hunt while pregnant." He said eyes narrowing.

She looked at him and then Hector who was waiting for her to say something with his eyes thoughtful. She gave him a smile, knowing he was waiting for her to finish her thoughts.

"I know that smarty pants. If you had waited I was going to say I need to get my skip files and see if I can get them on my own, like Mooner. Or if I will have to pass them to you guys. I only planed on getting my no-violent regulars." She said with a smirk, "I was going to grab the files and do the leg work and searching. Then ask one of you to actually pick them up…. Does that work for you, smart ass?"

Bobby rolled his eyes at her, "Yes smart ass. We will help you pick up your skips for the next 9 months."

Stephanie smiled an evil smile, "I will only except help from the guys who are willing to take the money from the skip." She said slippering her smoothie.

Bobby grinned at her, "Fine, good luck with that. No one is going to take your money."

She grinned right back at him, "Fine then I will go myself."

He scowled at her, "Fine I will help you…but you have to take at least half. The searching and computer work is 90% of the work….and I fucking hate it."

She nodded and grinned, "Deal because the searches ARE more than half of the work…and I hate them just as much as you" She said emphasizing the word are. She stood up with a smile, "Alright let's go get as much as we can do before I feel sick again!"

The guys nodded at her and followed her to the door, "Just text Ranger and let him know that we will probably be out longer." Bobby said as he climbed into the truck.

"Fine." She grumbled at them, "He knows that I am with you two…. That poor man needs to stop stressing so much. It is not good for his heart."

Bobby snorted as they pulled out and headed towards the bonds office, "You and I both know that we are all stressed out by you…...and we will all likely have heart attacks because of you…..and if it is not because of you, it will probably be because of your child …. if it is anything like you." He said with a grin.

Hector and Bobby both just laughed when she flipped him the bird.

After a quick stop at the bonds office that was almost finished being re-built to pick up the files, they went to the bank and then to the utilities office. Evidently even when you are not living in your apartment it still has electricity, gas and water bills. At least they were ¼ of what they normally were since it was empty. Then they decided to brave the mall next since it was lunch time. One Stephanie hoped that the crowds would be down because everyone was eating and two she wanted to get a mall pretzel because she was hungry again.

She strolled between the two boys around Macys looking for the home department. She always went to clothes and shoes, so it was new territory for her.

"Chica, Tu mama?" Hector asked her.

She shrugged her shoulders at him and said, "nope." Without looking at him.

"Por que?" He asked arms crossing over his chest.

She shook her head again, indicating she didn't want to talk about it. But Bobby jumped on the band wagon and started to ask her questions. "What's going on with your mother?"

Stephanie rolled her eyes, "Do you mean the fact that she is batshit crazy? Or that she is rude to all of you? Or the fact that she thinks that she is allowed to have all the say over my life even if I don't want what she wants?" She said finally turning down the aisle with photo frames.

Bobby shrugged his shoulders and started looking through the frames with her, "Pick any of the questions to answer." He said picking up a baby frame and showing her.

She shook her head no, "I want a regular album, maybe one that says family? I want to add photos of me and Ranger. Some with you guys and Ranger, and you guys and me. I am going to make the last photo in the album the ultrasound picture." She said turning back to the albums looking for a black one.

The men waited a few minutes knowing she was thinking her thoughts out before she spoke. Finally, she took a deep breath and turned to the guys leaning on the shelf. "She just drives me crazy, loca."" She said turning to Hector. "Mi mama is loca!" she exclaimed loudly breathing out in a rush. "I mean just talking about her makes me frustrated. She never listens to what I say that I want or things that make me happy. She has this idea in HER mind of what MY life should be." She threw her hands up in the air, "I mean I love her, I do. But I just don't know how to talk to her and get her to see that my wants and needs are different from hers….and that's ok. We can still love each other and have a relationship."

She turned back to look through the albums some more, "Any way Hector suggested that I write her a letter, since she doesn't really listen when I talk BUT I can't seem to figure out what I want to write. Every time I start I get stuck because I am either being too mean…. Because it made me angry even thinking about it. OR I start writing and it sounds like a jumbled mess." She pulled out a red album to show the guys but put it back when they both shook their heads no.

Bobby pulled out a green one that Stephanie made a face at before putting it back, "Why don't you write just what you told us. That wasn't mean, and it had everything that I think you want to say."

Stephanie shook her head she went through a bottom shelf, "I don't even know what I just said." She said with a sigh. "It all just came out in a rush."

Hector walked over and handed her an 8 x 10 black leather photo album with the word Forever sewn in with a deeper black at the bottom. "I will help you write it when we get back (in Spanish)" he said with a smile.

Stephanie jumped up and smiled wide, "This is prefect!" she exclaimed, looking at it carefully. Then she looked up at him still smiling, "You will?" she asked him.

He nodded at her with a smirk back. Then he threw his arm over her shoulder and started walking towards the check out. But both men stopped when she veered off towards the left, "Stephanie." Bobby called out to her, "Check out is this way."

She grinned at them over her shoulder, "Yes, but shoes are this way…. why would we waste time coming back later when we area already here?" She said walking away.

The men rolled their eyes and followed her. An hour later and 5 bags later, they were all sitting in the back corner of the food court eating pretzels when Stephine's phone rang.

"Yello," She answered in a muffled voice, mouth full of bread.

"Babe… where are you?" Ranger asked tightly.

"I am at the mall with Hector and Bobby, why what's up?" She asked after she swallowed.

"We finished question the men in custody, they wouldn't talk until we offered a deal. Even then only one took it. Their boss and his girlfriend are still loose. We got their address and the police are going there now." He said quickly.

"I guess it was too much to hope that we would get them all at once." She said with a sigh. "Where are you now?"

"I am heading to the site now, I am hoping to get a positive ID on them. I know you have seen the woman, I will send you a photo for you to ID, ok?" he asked.

"Sure, I can do that. She is tall and thin, short brown hair…. very pretty but cold." She said taking another bite of her pretzel, "Do you need me to come back in?"

Ranger chuckled in surprise, "You must love me to offer that…... what else do you have to do?" he asked.

She laughed at him, "I was going to stop at Walgreens for a few things and then again at my apartment to grab a few things there and last I was gonna grab Mooner and re-bond him before he gets in trouble. Today is his last day." She said.

Ranger sighed, "That's fine, just stay with Bobby and Hector, ok. I will call you when I know more. Can you let them know what's going on?" He finished.

"Sure, I will text you every half hour too, so you don't worry too much." She said, "Love you."

"Thanks Babe, Love you." He said and hung up.

Stephanie looked over at the guys, "So they are trying to round up the boss and his psycho girlfriend. I guess they got one of the guys to flip and give an address. I told him we were going to make a few more stops. He said ok, since I was with you guys." She stood up and reached for the bags, "Come on. We will go to Walgreens quick, so I can grab the photos I had printed up. Then go get Mooner, he is always quick. Then the apartment and then home?"

The guys nodded and followed her out of the mall talking about the different ways that they were going to finally spend the weekend coming up if they had a day off. They made it to Walgreens and re-bonded Mooner in less than an hour. They were walking up to Stephanie's apartment laughing when Hector stopped and pushed Stephanie behind him pulling out his gun. Her door was cracked open and the hall was silent as Bobby pushed her back behind him and also pulled out his gun.

"Stay behind me." He whispered at her as they watched Hector push the door open carefully with his gun and slowly slip inside the apartment. Bobby pushed Stephanie into the corner of the hallway his body standing in front of hers in case anyone came out of the apartment. She gripped his shirt from the back as she looked over his shoulder to see the door.

"Maybe you should go in with him." She whispered to Bobby, "What if he needs help?"

Bobby shook his head at her before softly replying, "I am not leaving you out here alone. If he needs help he will let me know."

They both waited tensely for what felt like another hour, but it was only probably a few moments when Hector came back out of the apartment shaking his head at them.

Bobby put away his gun and put Stephanie in front of him as they moved to go into the apartment. He pushed the door closed and pulled out his phone. Stephine was looking around in a state of shock. Her apartment looked like a tornado had went through it. The furniture was cut up and ripped apart. The cabinets had been pulled out and everything in them had been thrown everywhere. She turned to the kitchen in a panic and ran. The entire reason for coming to the apartment was in the half empty cereal box that was now thrown on the floor. The men turned and followed her drawing out their guns but looked in confusion when they saw her looking through the mess that was across the floor.

"My test." She said looking at Bobby who put the phone back to his ear.

"No, she's fine, the apartment is just a massive mess." Bobby said into the phone, "Hold on, here." He squatted down to hand Stephanie the phone.

She put it to her ear with one hand, while still moving the food around looking. "Hello." She murmured not focusing.

"Babe are you ok." Ranger asked her an edge to his voice.

Stephanie sighed, "Yes I am fine and everything that mattered I took out of here last week. I am just looking at this massive mess that will have to be cleaned up."

"Don't worry about the mess Babe. In fact, don't touch anything. I am going to send a team over to sweep to see if we can find anything. "He sighed, "Just come home, ok…. I need to know you are in a safe place."

She grinned when she saw Hector hold up her pregnancy test gingerly with the tips of his two fingers far away from his body, "I take it you didn't find them?" she asked.

"No. this was definitely their home base but the two we wanted were not here when we got here. We did get a few more of their guys though. The police are taking them in now to question them." He said.

"Ok, I will go back to the building right now. I got everything I wanted to get done. I will stay in and finish the paper work that I told Tank I would finish." She said taking the test from Hector and sliding it into her purse.

"Thanks Babe, let me know when you get in the building please." He said.

"I will, love you." She said walking to the front door behind Bobby with Hector behind her.

"I love you to." He said softly, "Let me talk to Bobby again."

Stephanie handed Bobby the phone as they walked down the stairs. She listened to Bobby's half of the conversation. AS they climbed into the truck Bobby hung up and turned to Stephanie. "Ranger said if you are good and don't need anything out of the apartment he will have a cleaning crew come get everything after the investigation."

She nodded as they pulled out on their way back to the building. "I don't need anything from in the apartment. He can throw it all. I got the last thing I left there that I wanted." She said.

"The pee stick?" he asked with a grin.

"Yes, I am going to wrap it and have him open after he looks through the album. Then we will find out if we are in this together or if we are running away together Bobby." She said the last part a little worry creeping into her voice.

"No worries Beautiful. I am 99% sure he is going to be happy…. even if a little shocked. And if it's the 1% we run away together. Hector said he is coming with us though." He said with a grin at Hector who looked at Stephanie and gave her a grin.

"Well either you will be changing diapers here or wherever we run off too. So, either way I am good." She said laughing. Bobby and Hector booth looked at her with a mixture of disgust and frowns.