Ranger and Stephanie, and any familiar events, belong to Janet. Everyone else is mine, along with any typos.
"This reminds me of when I made the call to tell you I was about to have Olive."
"As the recipient of that particular call, Babe, I assure you this is a completely different feeling."
"What ... you weren't excited about our daughter being born?"
"I was excited, grateful, happy, and extremely proud of you, but I wasn't far off from what Kane is going through. I can take a few bullets, at the same time I'm putting far more into someone, without blinking or flinching, but having to see you in any type of pain, even the kind that gave us Olivia, was excruciating. If you'll remember, I broke into a woman's home and put a gun to her head, fully intending to pull the trigger if she didn't help me find where Con had taken you. It takes a lot for men like Kane and I to love someone, but when we do ... it's an in-your-face, for-life commitment."
"It took me awhile to get that, since unconditional love was a foreign concept to me, but both Harper and I married the men we love and need. You are overprotective, but I don't want you ever changing who you are or what you need to do. I'm sure Harp feels the same. And as the one who went through those labor pains you mentioned, I can say they were excruciating until the epidural kicked in. You hide your worry way better than Kane's managing to, because I didn't see anything except your eyes holding mine when I had to push and the smile you gave me when we heard Olive's 'WTF?' first-cry."
"As I told Kane, you weren't going to see me sweat. I couldn't take your pain away, so my job became not adding to it. When you tumbled out of that overhead cabinet and into my arms when I rescued you, you only saw my relief that you were alive …"
"Yeah, you said 'please' and everything that night."
"A subtle indicator of the storm that was raging within. But my men were the ones who suffered the brunt and physical force of my terror that you had been kidnapped and possibly already killed, not you. You had more than enough to process."
"Yup, I was the only one covered in sweat … back then at Spiro's hidey-hole and when I was having Olive. Do you think there's a way to get Kane to the calculated zen-place you'd reached?" She asked.
"I'd put my money on him being whatever Harper needs. He's terrified of losing the family he never believed he'd have, but he'll pull through for them. He doesn't have a choice. The possibility of not being there when Harp and Angel need him the most will un-fuck his head a little."
"Or is it the fear that you will go all-Ranger on him if he doesn't calm down?"
I cut my eyes to the side and gave her a small grin. "That likely didn't hurt."
She smiled back. "Not yet anyway. Hey, how do you know where we're going? I didn't hear you ask Kane what hospital they're in."
"I make it my business to know things."
She snorted. "More like your business is built around knowing everything."
I stopped at a light and picked up her hand, pressing a kiss to the back of it. "That, too," I agreed.
Stephanie was almost vibrating with enthusiasm when we made it to the Labor and Delivery floor of the hospital twelve miles from the Cole home. I texted Kane that I was on the premises and then accepted a hug from his mother. Another difference between this birth and Olivia's, is both Kane and Harper's families are camped-out, desperate for any news.
When Steph was in labor, the men who knew where we were and why, broke speed records getting to the hospital. And my parents were there as quickly as they could make it in from Newark. But as another way to spare Steph any more pain, her family was only notified after Olivia had been born.
"Harp's fully dilated," Kane dashed out to say. "It's go-time."
"You hanging in there?" Steph asked him.
"I'm trying. If I need a tranq dart to the ass ... my wife reminded me that she will never let me forget it. She already has this meltdown to bring up in any future argument we have, I can't give her any more ammunition to use against me. She's got a fully-stocked armory as it is."
"I told you you'd be able to handle this," I added.
"Noooo. You threatened me with a beating if I didn't start acting like the man my wife deserves."
I shrugged. "Same thing. Now get back in there and don't pass out. If Harper can live it, you can survive watching it."
"I can take it. It can't get worse."
"Oh ... you poor, unsuspecting, naive, guy," Steph said with genuine sympathy. "It's gonna get worse before it gets better. Even our big, tough Cal passed out seeing what happens when my niece was ready to cut cords with Val, but if you stick it out ... you'll get to greet a daughter who will completely change your life and make you forget what it was like before you had her."
"I'm already there," he replied. "I wasn't really living until I met Harp. Our Angel just reinforces the 'They're the reason I'm still here' feeling. Thanks for coming. I just needed a kick in the ass to stop acting like one. I'll be back when we've bumped our family up from a two-person one to three."
In the hours we waited, Steph and I got to know Harper's family better, exchanged small talk with Kenzie and then Raphael and Aubrey when they all arrived, and I got caught up on the Coles' recent activities, hearing how excited Kane's mother is to partner-up with my organization for the birthday project Kane and my men had gifted me. We missed having more time with our own daughter, but I can't complain about sitting here with Stephanie being able to just relax into me. I dropped my arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer as we waited for another update.
Angelique Josie Cole joined the world at two-fifty-eight AM, weighing five-point-seven pounds. She was immediately saddled with a hundred-and-ninety-five pounds of protective-Daddy, but luckily offset by an incredibly caring but equally strong mother.
When we were allowed to meet the newest Cole, Harper looked exhausted but also happier than we've ever seen her.
"How are Mom and Baby doing?" Steph asked her.
"I'm okay, just really tired ... yet too excited to sleep. They're still calling Angelique a 'late preterm baby', but thank God she isn't having the breathing issues we were warned about. We're still working on how much she eats, though. She takes after me. I have trouble getting anything down when I'm not feeling a hundred-percent."
"Which is something we're still going to be working on," Kane butted in, with a gentle glare aimed at his wife.
"Are they keeping Angelique here until she gains more weight?" I asked them.
"Yeah. I wish I could've kept her in me and protected from the world just a little bit longer, but our Angel is living up to her name and isn't letting being early slow her down," Harper concluded, barely able to take her eyes off her daughter. "Thanks for once again coming to the rescue. Normally I can handle Kane, but I had a few things going on and couldn't focus fully on him." She then glanced up at me. "You can get through to him even when I can't ... thank you for giving him back to me. I was worried he'd end up tossing the doctor out before she could banish him."
"As those around me have learned, once I enter your life ... I remain in it."
"Did you hear that, Angel?" Harper asked their newborn, pressing a kiss to the tiny, white, bow-adorned hat that was helping Angelique stay warm. "Uncle Ranger and Aunt Stephanie are going to be your personal Guardian Angels."
"Uh ... speaking of that," Steph said, digging around her shoulder bag, "Ranger and I got this for Angel."
She handed Kane the pink and white box that unfolded into a keepsake page where they could add another copy of Angel's hand/footprints, birth information, plus it had a couple of small pockets for a first haircut curl and baby tooth further on down the line. Inside the page's pop-up crib, which was dead center in the middle of the page, Steph had tucked in a charm bracelet similar to the one we're still adding to for Olivia.
The small gold-link chain looked completely absurd dangling from two of Kane's calloused and scarred fingers, but both Cole parents were clearly moved by it and the little 'Angel of Love' charm - complete with a diamond heart - that we'd already hooked onto the bracelet.
"It's beautiful," Harper said. "Saying thank you doesn't seem like nearly enough for what you two have done for us."
"It's plenty," I assured her.
"If you tack on a quick baby-hold for each of us," Steph added, already anxious to steal their baby ... at least for a minute or two.
Harper obliged, and five minutes later Stephanie was hesitant in passing the dark-haired, dark-eyed, entirely-innocent combination of Kane and his wife, to me. I could see why when Angel yawned and then blinked as if she had accomplished what she'd set out to do and now could rest. It'll be weeks before she's running on more than just fumes, but knowing her parents ... she'll power through and surprise everyone with how well she bounces back.
"Okay, give her back now," Kane suddenly said to me.
Not one to take orders, I kept possession of the pink-swaddled bundle. "You're going to have to let her out of your sight at some point," I warned him, having some experience with that one.
"Hell, I'm not being clingy here. I'm trying to save your ass. Your wife is looking at you holding Angel the same way Harp was eyeing me when I met your Petite Princess at our wedding. You're currently cuddling the product of that look, so I suggest you hand her back before you're welcoming girl-number-three next year."
Steph glared at him, but being high on that new baby smell, she managed to stop herself from shoving him.
"Just between the two of us, what do you see in him?" She asked Harper. "Aside from he obviously co-creates beautiful babies."
"Kane's pretty cute himself. As many rough edges as he may have ... I never had to question who he is, or what he could change into years into knowing him. What I saw on day one is who I was going to get on day three-thousand. He never gave me a reason to worry that when I finally let myself trust him ... I'd find out why I shouldn't have. He's a little hot-headed and really impulsive, but only when it comes to the people and things he feels passionately about. My guy is a genuinely GOOD guy. Even my always-present distrust, paranoia, and fear, never questioned that."
My wife nodded in understanding. "Never having to doubt someone's love for you, or their motives regarding you, is one hell of a turn-on. It can make a woman do all kinds of crazy things ... like marry the guy and have his baby. Sometimes not in that order, when you're given a gift you weren't expecting but wouldn't change."
