Chapter 47

Ranger looked down over at Stephine as he pushed her into the elevator. He hadn't been lying when he said that he wanted everything. Before Stephine, he was sure that he didn't want any of it. He wanted silence and to grow old without the stress of a woman. After the situation with Rachel, he thought that he would never be able to hold and keep a relationship. Then Stephanie had come barging into his life, causing chaos and mayhem. He could still remember the first time he saw her at the gun range. He had walked in and saw her with the wild curly hair, her giant grin and he had to pause. He just started at her, and he knew that he was full and well fucked. He had tried to do everything in his power to stay away. Had tried to walk away. Do mission after mission to get away, yet she had pushed her way right into his life, his thoughts and eventually his heart. Yet he still pushed her away, refusing to let her all the way in. Thinking it was too dangerous for her in his life, that he would never be able to make her happy. But she just kept pushing, caring, doing the little things that started to put the cracks in his wall.

Then she went missing after calling him upset and his world shattered. The wall that he had built was crushed when he couldn't find her. He had explained in general to her why he was upset when he found her, but he never told her everything.

He was mad because his wall was down, and he knew he wouldn't be able to live without her, he was mad because every plan he had to stay away had been destroyed. But mostly he was mad because the thought, the very belief that something could happen to her and he wouldn't be able to stop it, destroyed him… terrified him.

Now he looked down at her and his heart stumbled. She was everything, this chair that he was pushing around held his heart and soul. God forbid anyone who tried to take her away or hurt her again. When he had walked in on her in the building he had been equally, impressed, amused and slightly irritated. He knew that she was not weak, its one of the things he loved about her. The fierce strength and conviction. When she was cornered, she came out swinging…. And swinging hard from the looks around that room. Amused that she was angry at her secret being out… but he was also irritated because he had wanted to take that man and crush him, his blood lust had been at an all time high when he walked into the room. He would not have even shot him, he wanted to rip the man apart with his bare hands. But Stephanie had beat him to it, leaving him unconscious on the ground. He could take soleus in the fact that the Jim had woken up while they were on the way to the hospital and Hal and Cal had left him broken enough that he would not walk or talk for a while. If he couldn't give out the punishment he knew his men would happily give it. In fact, there had been an argument if they let Joe take Jim or if they were going to take Jim back to the building so each man could let Jim know how they felt about him taking Stephanie. Joe had won though when more cops had shown up to back him up. Joe had been nice enough to need to run back to the car for cuffs while Ranges men "took" care of Jim. Then Joe accidently tripped what was left of Jim on the way to the car. In fact, every single person that had been in the building had to be taken to the ER and the Doctors had laughed their asses off when they had been told that Stephanie had put them all there… a little birdy also said that the ER had run out of anesthetic before stiches and cleaning of wounds. The beast in Ranger was finally settling.

He looked down when Stephine shifted in her seat, it was like he was bound to her. Every time she moved, he moved. How did his Madre say it to him when he was talking to her…. magnets. You know that it is meant to be when you start to move like magnets. One moves left the other moves left, one moves right the other moves right. Its instinctual, he doesn't have to look at her, he just feels her move. He watched as she shifted in her seat again, knowing she had to be in pain after refusing all meds from the doctor because of the baby.

"Babe?" He asked her softly.

She smiled up at him, "Just sore." She said, she knew what he was asking.

The elevator stopped and dinged, and the doors slid open, Ranger pushed her out and down the hall towards Bobby's room. Of course, the first thing she demanded was to go see Bobby.

When he pushed her into Bobby's room, Stephanie gasped and stood up to limp to Bobby, "Hay you." She said brushing his hair off of his head, "How are you feeling?"

Bobby's eyes fluttered open, "Awesome." He muttered.

Stephanie looked down at him. He was bruised almost everywhere she looked, his leg was in a thick white cast. She looked down at his face and gave him a small smile, "Good… then I can kill you." She said softly.

Bobby opened one eye to look at her, "Why?" He mumbled, still not moving.

Stephanie grinned down at him, her eyes watering. "You told Ranger my secrete…." She whispered.

He looked slightly confused, "I did?" He tried to lift his hand and grab hers, "I don't remember." He whispered. Then he grinned all of a sudden, "They got me on some good drugs." He said closing his eyes.

Stephanie grinned down at him, "Well then, why don't you share." She said kissing his forehead again.

Bobby grinned with his eyes closed, "Cause its not good for babies." He whispered.

Stephanie rolled her eyes, "Spoil sport, you always take all the fun out of all the things that I want to do."

Bobby shrugged, "You remember what I said, I am here to help you. Make sure you stay healthy and run away with you when Ranger finds out."

Stephanie snickered, "Well that ship has passed, Ranger already knows… remember? We just talked about this."

Bobby opened one eye again, "Shit, do we have to run away? Where is Hector. He will have to drive… but I am not changing all the diapers." He said closing his eye again.

Stephanie started laughing as the tears slid down her face, "We are good Ranger is happy." She said softly, kissing his forehead again. "Thank you for trying though, even in your drugged up, pain induced half sleep you are taking care of me."

Bobby snorted, then whispered yelled, "Well that's because you're my favorite…. Shhhhh don't tell anyone though. You know how the other men get…. All whinny and crabby…... and honestly a little bitchy. They are like woman."

Stephanie sat back laughing, "I am a woman, dude."

Bobby shrugged dreamily with his eyes still closed, "Yes but you are not a girl…. Girl."

Stephone snorted, "Is that a compliment?" She asked.

"Yep, cause you are a sexy woman…. And all of the men around you are girly men." Bobby said. He sighed and tried to shift before hissing, "All of them whine when they have to come see me. Do you know how many of them are afraid of shots?" He opened one dilated eye to look at her, "They have tattoos, but getting a shot from me is like death." He rolled his one eye making Stephine burst out laughing.

"I have a fit when you have to give me a shot." She said sitting on the side of his bed.

Bobby shrugged even more dramatically, "Yea, but you don't have any tattoos. You really don't like needles… you are not being selective." He said.

Stephanie laughed again, "Fine, true statement. You need to sleep, Meg is coming to see you and I am going to go home to rest. I am sure that I am going to feel most of this tomorrow."

Bobby snorted, "I am feeling it all now."

Stephine leaned down to kiss his forehead, "Shhhhh you can't tell anyone, but you are my favorite also." She waited till he smiled and squeezed her hand, "You always give me the best drugs and take care of me."

Bobby frowned, "Is that all?"

She laughed as she sat back, "Plus you always make me laugh….and feel better."

He smiled his drugged-up smile at her, "I am a joker… now can I sleep?" He asked softly.

"Of course." She whispered, kissing his head one more time.

She stood up and waked over to Ranger and the wheel chair, she smiled when he raised an eyebrow, "What?" She said sitting down carefully.

"That was a lot of kisses." He said pushing her out of the room.

She shrugged, "Kisses make owies better. Besides, I think it was more for me then for him." She took a deep breath, "He was so hurt when I had to leave him Ranger. Yet all he kept asking was if I was ok, if I was the one who needed anything and when they tried to take me, he was … he." She paused starting to cry.

Ranger stopped pushing and walked around to squat in front of her, "Hay now, he is going to be ok." He whispered. "We are a tough lot to kill you know that."

But it didn't have the desired effect he wanted when she started to cry harder, "That's the point, he…you… all of you have enough on your plate without adding me to it. I just make things worse and put you in more danger.''

Ranger burst out laughing, which only confused Stephanie more, "Babe you do realize that the reason that I pushed you away for so long was because I didn't want to put you in danger with what's on my plate, right?"

Stephanie smiled at him softly, "What a pair we make." She whispered as she leaned forward to kiss his cheek.

He smiled at her for a moment then frowned, "What was all of that talk about you running away with Hector and Bobby?" he asked softly.

She shrugged, "When I first found out I was freaking out…. so bad. I mean we haven't been together that long and it took you forever to admit that you even wanted me. Then I add a baby on top of that?" She said. "So, Bobby and Hector said that they would run away with me if you were not happy and help me raise the baby with them."

Ranger's eyebrows shot up, "You were going to run away with my child with Hector and Bobby?" he said.

Stephanie grinned, "Well only if you were unhappy and didn't want us…. Plus, they were going to do 75% of the diapers… I argued that it shouldn't be 50% me when there were two of them. It should be 33.333333% but then I also argued that because I have to feed the baby and carry the baby, my percent should go to pee diapers only at 25%." She said with a shrug.

She thought a moment tapping her chin, "In fact, it might be worth running away with them unless you can give me such a good deal."

Ranger grinned, "Well first of all…if you did run, I would track you down and bring you home. Second, I can do 25%, you do 25% we will farm out 40% to all of the men and I am sure between your family and mine they will cover the last 10%."

This time it had the desired effect when she burst out laughing, "Sounds like a deal…." She said.

Ranger stood up and walked around to the back of the chair, "And for the record, I may have just gotten off my ass and made you all mine, but I have loved you for years." He whispered into her ear when he leaned down. "You were never going anywhere before you were having my baby…... now that you are pregnant, you are well and truly fucked … I mean stuck."

Stephanie burst out laughing again.

-/-/-/-/-/-

It took three days for everything to be cleared and put right, well at least 2 of the 4 people that Stephanie took down were finally realized from the hospital after three days. They were all awaiting trial and Timmy and Stephanie were finally safe. Timmy had had a long talk with Ranger, Tank and Stephanie now that he was able to leave if he wanted. He opted to stay and get more training from Rangeman, and work with Hector. He was still on probation, but Stephanie was excited that they even letting him stay at all. Baby steps. Hector had finally admitted that he told Ranger about the baby and Ranger told the team. After she yelled at him in Spanish for a few minutes, much to his dismay and everyone else's amusement, she forgave him. She didn't like it, but she understood, he was trying to make sure she and the baby were safe. But she did say that he owed her free babysitting for a month and had to teach the babies Spanish, so they were fluent. He said of course, she laughed when he still didn't realize there were two of them. He was going to find out when everyone else did and not a moment before, another small punishment she gave him. She never could stay mad at him though, and within a few moments she was asking him if he wanted to go get lunch at the new place they just tired. She was craving the mac and cheese she had gotten.

Bobby came home after 2 days and without the hard drugs the doctor had given him much to his dismay. But he was attempting to hobble on two crutches through the building. The men had taken to pushing his wheel chair after him because he refused to use it. Yet they were wanting to take care of him the way he always took care of them. When he thought no one was looking he would sit in the chair and take a breath. They of course didn't know that he had called them all babies, so there was that. Ranger had forbidden him to come to work, work for at least a week. Which drove him crazy, but it did force him to sleep because he had nothing else to do.

Stephanie went to talk to her mom after everything, and they actually had a very civil and relaxed conversation. Evidently her mother had never known all of the ways she made Stephanie feel like she wasn't good enough. She said the letter made her so upset but she was happy that Stephanie had written it. Her mother agreed that if Stephanie was happy, in the end, that was all that mattered. Stephanie had to reassure her over and over again that she was happy, but she was sure it was probably that her face looked like a black and purple punching bag again. Her mother had actually offered Hector and Lester some cake and coffee while they were there with her. Stephanie had snorted back a laugh when her mother had called Hector sir and complimented him on his tear drop tattoos.

News of her pregnancy spread through the building like wild fire, each man not saying anything to her face because they wanted to let her make an announcement but doing things like making sure she always had a water bottle, crackers. A new fan had been put by the cubical she hadn't used. They followed her asking her if she needed anything, and god forbid she attempted to pick up anything heavier then her purse. Yesterday she tried to pick up a box with a few flies and 5 men descend on her, yelling that they could do it for her. She just snickered and wanting to test her theory moaned that she would kill for some French fries. Low and behold, 16 minutes later there was a bag full of fresh hot McDonalds French fries placed in front of her. Cal said nothing as he walked by, just set them down and kept walking. She was both thrilled to have some many people loving and caring for her, but never having a second alone was driving her a little crazy. Last night she had gone upstairs to go pee because if she did it downstairs the men would hover by the door, making sure she didn't fall in. She thought she was safe in the apartment, but when she walked out Ranger and Ella were standing there "discussing dinner plans for the week". Stephanie had rolled her eyes and went back downstairs with a smile. This morning she had written a note to Ranger while he was at the Gym and left it on the counter that she was going to see the girls.

She had not made it to her car when her phone started ringing, so she sent a text to Hal that she would be back in a while. Within 3 minutes she had gotten 12 texts offering to do her errands, go with her and her favorite was the guilt trip from Bobby that said he needed her help to get something off the top shelf because he couldn't stand. She sent out a text to all 12 saying she was going to see her friends and would be back at lunch, she had her trackers on, had her panic button and no one better follow her. Ranger was actually being the calmest out of all of them, waiting until he got back from the gym (she knew he knew that she was gone), took a shower and was going downstairs to call her.

She was sitting with Lula digging into another donut now that it was past her hours of vomiting when her phone rang.

"Ranger." Stephanie said with a grin.

Lula grinned, "Welllll, I have to give him credit that he waited this long."

Stephanie rolled her eyes but smiled, "ello." She said eating around the filling which was making her re-think the vomit hours…. but she was NOT giving up this donut.

"Babe." He said.

"Ranger." She said into the phone with a grin.

"Nice note." He said.

"Yep, I know. What you doing?" he asked.

Stephanie could hear the ding of the elevator in the phone, "Sitting with Lula eating donuts and gossiping. What you doing?" She asked.

"Going down to work." He said, "Still want to make the announcement this afternoon?"

She nodded, "Yep, I am grabbing something from Meg and then I am on the way." She said pushing the donuts away, dang babies were killing her eating vibe.

"Stay safe." He said this time to her.

She grinned into the phone, "Don't go crazy." She said back, making him chuckle into the phone.

"Love you Babe." He whispered.

"Love you too Carlos…. See you at lunch." She said hanging up.

"Aright let's go, I have been called home and I still have another stop." Stephanie said to Lula, "Lets take the rest to Connie in the new office."

Two hours later and two stops and she was standing back in the building in front of her new office. Her new office was already more than halfway done. The walls had been torn down and put back up, the walls painted a pale blue she had requested. They had stuck some new windows in her office, so she could have some of the sun shine into the room. The thicker carpet put down in both her office and into Rangers, where the wall was 90% glass with sliding doors. A wall of cabinets hid the filing cabinets, office supplies and a million other things. Now all they were waiting on was office furniture she had picked out yesterday. Her office was light and open, and she was excited as she stood in the door way.

Ranger walked up behind her sliding his arms around her, "Does it look ok?" He whispered in her ear.

She leaned her head back with a sigh, "Yea." She said softly.

Ranger frowned slightly, "Hay, what's wrong?"

He waited knowing she was gathering her thoughts, after a moment she tilted her head all the way back, so she could looked up at him, "I am nervous…. of failing, messing up, of disappointing you… all of you." She whispered, but when he went to speak she shook her head at him, "I know." She said, "That you don't think that I will do any of those things. I know that you believe in me…I know this because all of you have told me this over and over again…. But this little piece of me is waiting for the failure because I fail at a lot of things." She turned back to the room, "My last real job, my first marriage…."

She sighed and turned and slid her arms around his waist, "I love you." She said looking up into his face.

He raised an eyebrow at her, so she smiled. "For believing in me, even when I struggle to do it sometimes, for always loving me even when I drive you crazy. For building me up when I tear myself down." She whispered.

Ranger brought his hands up to cup her cheeks, "Your welcome…. But then I have to say. Thank you for loving me, even when I don't feel like I deserve it…. For praying for me when I am gone. For being here and loving all of us, treating all of like we matter…. because we do matter to you." He kissed her softly. "Now I am throwing you to the wolves, it is time for your announcement and it is all you Babe."

Stephanie pulled back with a laugh, "Alright lead the way."

"Wait watch this." Ranger said pulling out his phone, he typed and sent a quick text and Stephine could hear all the dings in the room. Then there was a stamped of all the men running to the conference room.

"Let me see that." She said grabbing his phone. She read out loud, "Stephanie is finally giving her major announcement in 5 minutes in the conference room. We will not wait for you." She turned to look at him with her eyes wide and laughter falling up her lips, "Ranger!"

He grinned, "What it made them move."

She pushed him away laughing and walked through her office into his, grabbing the box she had started just a week ago. "Well alright, lets tell them." She said rolling her eyes.

She came up right as Bobby was hobbling out of the elevator, "What happened to you not standing?" She asked him with a grin.

He grinned and shrugged at her, "I figured it out when you left me all alone to fend for myself." When she laughed at him he snickered, "Have you told anyone else?" He asked her.

She shook her head, "Nope you and me are it right now." She said with a grin, knowing she was peaking Rangers interest again.

"Sweet, at least I win that." He said hobbling ahead of her to grab a seat they had left empty for him.

"Babe?" Ranger asked her outside the door.

"You will see in a second." She said with a grin, "Are you sure you ready for us?" Pointing at herself and the babies.

Ranger smiled, "The two are everything." He kissed her but got confused when she grinned and winked at him, "Aright then let's go."

She walked to the front of the room and held up her hand, "Sooo I was going to tell Ranger this first on Wednesday. However, in true Stephanie fashion, I was kidnaped and you all found out on your own." When they started shaking their heads she rolled her eyes, "Bullll, you guys gossip worst then the Burg. I know that you all know that I am pregnant. Because I know that the few people Ranger told, told everyone else." She was interrupted by the loud applause and cheering around the room. It was vibrating the walls and tables. She gave them a few minutes before holding out her hand. "Ok here is the gift I had made for Ranger."

She handed Ranger the box and watched as he set it down in front of the room on the desk.

He pulled the top off of the box and set it to the side, He pulled out the first small box and pulled open the paper, inside was her pregnancy test with bright pink lines. "I had to help her find that when she hid it in a box of cereal." Bobby called out. The room looked on in horrified silence.

"Ohhhh come on, it was an empty box and it knew you wouldn't find it in there if any of you went to my apartment." She said rolling her eyes.

Ranger looked over at her with a grin, "Only you Babe." He reached in and pulled out the photo album. He slowly opened it to the first page and saw the photo of Stephanie and himself. He slowly turned page after page. Showing the guys the ones that they were in and looking at the ones of the two of them closely. He turned to her, "This is where they where they were going." He said looking up at her.

She shrugged, "I needed to fill up your album." She said with a smile.

He finally made it to the second to last page and saw a photo of the entire team grinning into the camera. It had been a while since the photo was taken. When Ranger held it up he could see all of them men fall silent as they realized they had all made it into the family album.

Stephanie held her breath as Ranger opened up to the last page to see the enlarged sonogram photo she had picked up today. She waited for Ranger to say something as he looked at it, but he was silent. She started to bite her lip in worry. When he finally looked up at her with a question in his eyes, she nodded at him. The new sonogram had the two sacks clearly marked, Baby A and Baby B.

"Two?" he whispered…. "Two babies? Twins?" He asked.

Stephanie grinned at him and nodded as the room erupted in chaos again., "Two." She whispered.

The End.

I want to thank all of you have went on this journey with me. I am sorry it took so long, I had such a block about half way through. However, I have loved every step of this story. And while this one has ended here, it hasn't in my mind. I may add an epilogue and one shots along the way of Stephanie's Pregnancy and her and Ranger and all the Merryman raising the babies. Thanks again to all the people who have followed, loved and written comments to me.

Melissa