Chapter 31 It's a Wonderful Life
Tank POV
"You can do this. Don't be embarrassed. It's just Stephanie." I was talking to myself but I couldn't help it. I was nervous as hell.
I knocked on Stephanie's office door and waited for her permission to enter.
"Hi Big Guy, what can I do for you?" She was busy clicking away on her computer and hadn't looked up at me yet she knew who I was. I don't know how she always knew was there but her and Ranger shared that weird ability.
"Um nevermind you look like you're busy I'll yeah nevermind." I made a move to leave but then she looked up staring at me with those big blue eyes.
"Stop." I stopped. "Sit" I sat. "Good, now tell me why you look like Cal whenever he sees blood." Her prompt made me laugh, loosening some of the tension I was feeling in my chest.
"Well you know Christmas is soon and I'm having trouble."
"What kind of trouble, Tank? Like bail you out of jail or take you to get some donuts?"
"Um, it's stupid you're gonna think I'm dumb."
"I could never think that now I'll spill or I'll use my taser." She patted the taser on her hip.
"Well I've been trying for weeks to come up with the perfect gifts for Lula, Sarah, and Sammy but I can't think of anything! For the last 33 years I've only had to buy presents for my siblings, parents, and cats. I don't know what to get a wife or kids. I'm not like the other guys here, they always know what to get."
She just stared at me without saying anything then she started laughing, full belly laughing. I gave her my best intimidating stare but she still didn't calm down. A few minutes later she took a sip of her water and managed to get some words out. "That's what you were so worried to talk to me about? Tank, your like the 12th Merry Man to ask me what they should get as christmas gifts. I even have a protocol." She walked back over to her desk and dug underneath and pulled out a sheet of fancy paper that had little snowmen and reindeer decorating the border. She handed it to me to look over.
Looking for help with presents for your loved ones this holiday Season?
Well Stephanie is more than willing to help you but first you must follow the following protocol.
1. Donate one toy or $20 to the Rangeman Toys for Tots drive
once for every person Steph helps you brainstorm gift ideas for
Donation bin located on the first floor by the check in desk
Cash or Checks acceptable can be given to Stephanie directly.
2. Reply to one letter to Santa from a local New Jersey kid and bring it to the front desk to mail out, unopened letters and supplies can be found in the breakroom.
once for every person Steph helps you brainstorm gift ideas for
Don't forget to sign the letter from Santa!
3. Eat one christmas cookie. Cookies are also located in the breakroom.
Ranger has been instructed not to assign mat time unless you consume more than 5 cookies in one day.
If choose not to eat the cookie you can do thirty minutes on the treadmill
Don't think I won't know if you complete this protocol before coming back to see me. When you have completed the items come back to my office and we will brainstorm the gift ideas.
If a gift can not be found within 25 ideas and you can reasonably come up with a reason why it's not a good idea, you may ask for a refund in the form of one get out of Mat time card or one Junk Food on duty card. Non-Transferable and only given at discretion of Ranger.
Happy Holidays! ~ Stephanie Manoso
I finished reading and looked up at her. "All 12 of the men who asked before me really did this?"
"Yep and there's 4 more that are working on it so you better get going cause my time is limited and Christmas is only a few weeks away and you may need to order things."
I nodded my head and got up to go to the break room. I looked at the plate of cookies and the sign next to it stating Ranger couldn't give out mat time if you ate one. I picked out a chocolate peanut butter blossom and a sugar cookie with sprinkles to take back with me to my office. There was also a red box with tinsel, fuzzy white balls, and little golden bells on it randomly glued all over, Jamie must have decorated it. Inside was a stack of letters from children. I'm not sure where Steph got them all but I wouldn't be surprised if she and Lula had the kids at the youth center or local schools write them. I picked up five letters, feeling in a giving spirit today, and some stationary to write them back. Stephanie had put out instruction sheets on what to do with the letters as well so I took one of those.
I made my way back to my office byway of the cubicles and other offices. Sure enough Fish, Cal, Lester, and Woody were at their desks writing letters. I cleared a place at my desk and put down the items. I decided to start with the cookies. I'm definitely against sweets like Ranger is but it wasn't often something I got to enjoy at work so even though it only took me one or two bites I savored the taste of each cookie. Then I cleaned off my hands on the napkin and looked at the letters and instructions.
The instructions told me that each letter should have a full name and address. I needed to find the spreadsheet that Stephanie emailed all of us and fill out on the spreadsheet the name, address, and what the child asked for. Then I would need to reply to each kid. I must keep it realistic and sign the letter from Santa before sealing the letter and addressing it to the kid before dropping it off at the desk. After I finished reading I pulled up the spreadsheet and saw that almost 100 kids were already listed on the sheet.
I opened the first letter from a little girl named Kayla who was seven and wanted a pony. I wrote back and told her that she would need her parents permission for a real pony but I could bring her a pony for her dolls. The second letter was from a three year old boy named Tyler who wanted a red fire truck and a blue plane. I wrote that Santa would bring him both. I answered two others going to an 8 year old girl who wanted some paint supplies so she could paint like her mom and a 5 year old boy who wanted a play kitchen. The last letter really got to me though. It was from a 15 year old boy, Peter, who just wanted some winter jackets for his three siblings because his single mom couldn't afford new ones for them. He knew that Santa wasn't real but his teacher told him to write it letter because there were good people in the world who like to grant miracles this time of year. I wrote back telling him that his wish was granted. Then I wrote in the wishes from the boy in the spreadsheet noting the sizes needed. I also added that I would like to help with this one so they could be given more than just the coats.
With the letters done I quickly ran down the stairs to give the letters to Frank Plum who was filling in at the desk this morning since we had a lot of men out on vacation still. Once that was done I went back up to Steph's office. I gave her $200 in cash and then sat down to brainstorm gift ideas.
It was amazing how quickly Stephanie figured out the perfect gifts. I wasn't there for more than 20 minutes. After a few questions I decided I was going to get Lula real Louboutins since she loved Stephanie's so much, A new diamond necklace, and a weekend spa retreat. For Sarah I would get her some new Winne the Pooh toys that were all the rage these days and her favorite character was Piglet. For Sammy she came up with one of those motorized toy trucks he could drive around the yard. I would also be getting both of them bikes with training wheels since both of them had already outgrown their trikes from last year.
I thanked Stephanie for her help and then headed back to the breakroom. I was gonna get more letters and cookies, I mean I was probably due mat time with Ranger anyways.
Lester POV
Three days until Christmas and I've been in this foul mood for over a week. The men have been staying away from me afraid I'll lash out after I took Zero to the mats a few days ago and broke his nose. Bobby isn't much better and has been spending a lot of time running.
So why the foul moods? Well it's been over a month and we still haven't heard back from the adoption agency. I was really hoping that the response would come quicker than this. They told us it would take at least a month but now it's been two and I'm starting to get discouraged. On paper you'd think we would be a really easy approval. I mean we were both well over seven figures,, we both had stable jobs, we had a huge house, and we both really wanted a child. So I just can't figure out why it's taking so long except this is New Jersey and we are a gay couple.
I decided to go down to the gym at lunch to hit the punching bags and get some aggression out before the Rangeman Christmas party this afternoon. Okay so it wasn't so much my decision as it was Ranger telling me to come down here because if I ruined Stephanie's party he'd take me to the mats for the next month. The only person here was Bobby and he was 6 miles into his run according to his treadmill. He had his headphones on so I didn't think it was a good idea to disturb him so I went about my own business.
About 30 minutes into my workout I heard a crash and looked around the bag to see Bobby on the ground behind the treadmill with his hand over his face. I ran over to check if he was injured and what happened. I took his hands in mine and lowered them from his face. He had a large gash from where his head hit the back of the treadmill when he fell but other than that he seemed to be okay. I assessed the gash and noted that Bones would need to put a few stitches in but I wanted to know what was going through his mind before I brought him upstairs.
"What's wrong sweetheart?" I rubbed his upper thigh and moved so his head could rest on my shoulder as I held gauze to it.
"I'm just so frustrated. You want a child so much and I wanted so badly to give this to you. Everything I've read said it shouldn't be taking this long and I haven't been able to find a answer and well when I fell I got so worked up I started to believe that they rejected us and any day now were gonna get a letter saying so and then what we remain the fun uncles when all our friends are off having fun with their kids teaching them how to play ball and dropping them off at college?"
"Bobby. I love you and as long as I have you that is all I will ever need. No matter if we get rejected or approved or if one of our friends dies and we inherit their kids as long as I have you it will be okay."
"I love you too" Then we sat in silence for a few minutes.
"So let's put our anger and sadness away and go upstairs and get your head stitched up and then let's enjoy the party with our friends. Then when we get home we can go back to our crappy mood."
"Okay" We got up from the ground and I helped him up to the third floor so Bones could work his magic. Once his head was wrapped in a bandage we all went down to the first floor where Stephanie had set up the party. The room lights had been covered with an opaque cover giving off a warm glow making the sterile conference room feel like a warm home. There was a christmas tree in the corner decorated with various homemade and store bought ornaments. Christmas lights, garland, popcorn chains, tinsel, and wreaths covered the walls.
There was a feast enough for 100 normal people or 40 hungry Rangemen. The Cookie table has every type of cookie you could think of with a sign that said unlimited cookies and not mat time. Steph even had Ranger sign the bottom so we knew it wasn't a joke. There was also some gingerbread houses for the competition later, a karaoke machine, and all the presents for the secret santa gift exchange were under the tree.
"Oh my gosh Bobby what happened to your head?!" Stephanie said when we made our way over to the table she was sitting at helping Jamie make his own ornament.
"Treadmill accident I'll be okay" Steph nodded accepting his answer but still looked over at Ranger having some sort of silent conversation with him.
We moved over and said hi to the other members of the core team and then got some food. We were just finishing up our rendition of Rudolph the red nosed reindeer when Steph took the microphone away from us and announced it was time for secret santa. Most of the men had received topshelf liquor, new wallets, or collectable shoes from their secret Santa's so I was surprised when Jamie ran over to give me a large flat envelope with both mine and Bobby's name on it.
There was a card on top so I opened that first after nudging Bobby to pay attention to what I was opening. It was a note from Stephanie and Ranger.
Dearest Lester and Bobby,
We hope this gift will bring you a little Christmas cheer.
Love your Secret Santa's, Stephanie and Ranger
I opened the manilla envelope and slipped out a few pieces of paper. On the top of the first page was a letter with the official state seal. I read down the the first paragraph and then I saw it.
Congratulations Bobby Brown and Lester Santos you have been approved for domestic adoption of a child, any gender, up to 16 years old pending the completion and approval of your home study scheduled for December 28th.
"No way!" I got up and pulled Bobby to his feet into a hug spinning him around, giving him kisses, and jumping up and down. Then I went over to Stephanie and did the same thing but Ranger stopped me before I tried any of that with him.
"I don't understand Beautiful, how did you make this happen?"
"Well turns out a certain senator really likes me and when Carlos joined me in my request to have the application status looked into you can make pretty much anything happen. So with Senator Juniaks help we found out that the agent assigned to your review was a little homophobic so she was purposefully keeping yours and several other couples' applications from the courts. She was immediately fired and a judge approved all of the open approvals, within reason, yesterday. I asked my uncle if I could be the one to deliver the good news to you two. But just so you know we did get you actual gifts too, that's what the other papers are."
Sure enough the other papers had gift certificates for some local children's stores and one for a travel agency.
"Thank you Stephanie" I gave her a hug and kissed her forehead before switching places with Bobby who was thanking Ranger.
"Thanks Ranger." We did our normal handshake but I couldn't help but pull him in for a hug at the end.
Afterwards we finished out secret santa with Tank getting the largest gift under the tree, a brand new 5 tier Cat tree for his feline friends. Life was truly wonderful today. In fact me and Bobby were in such a good mood that we even won the gingerbread house competition.
Ranger POV
I walked into my apartment at lunch to find Stephanie curled up in the bed. Bob and Rosa were curled up on the floor next to her since they never left her side anymore. We haven't told anyone she's pregnant yet but we knew it was only a matter of time before they started to figure it out. I noticed she was holding the Batman notebook as I slipped in behind her cuddling her into my arms. She began to stir a few minutes later.
"Hey Batman. Long time no see"
"Babe. It's only been two hours"
"Yeah and that's like 14 hours in dog time so it's been a long time!" She joked.
"Haha what are you doing with this?" I asked taking the notebook from her arms.
"Oh I found it while I was up here. I have been wondering where I put it. It's amazing I think this is the first time I've ever completed the majority of my new year's resolutions!"
"What didn't you do?" I asked. She reached over and opened the notebook to the first page. She had crossed out; get better at my job, get in better shape and eat healthier, buy a new furry friend, and figure out my love life. She had left try 3 new hobbies and Believe in myself and FLY. I turned to the next page to read the details and stopped at the hobbies she had crossed out cooking and painting but not ballroom dancing. She didn't have a detailed page for her last resolution so I put it down.
"Babe. We went ballroom dancing for our first date."
"I know but I didn't pick it up as a hobby."
"Well I would still say you completed this one you got better at shooting and self defense. Plus you became a parent this year. I think those are all worth crossing off that resolution."
"You think?" I nodded so she picked up the pen on the nightstand and wrote in those items on the page and then crossed them off. Then she flipped back to the first page and crossed off her hobbies resolution as well. She was about to close but I stopped her.
"Babe."
"What?"
I raised my eyebrow to her.
"Do you really not believe in yourself?"
"Well I guess I do but I well what if this year was fluke what if I did all of this just for all my bad luck to return on January first?"
"Stephanie Michelle Manoso." She gulped when I said her full name. "Ugh, fine no more doubting. I believe in myself." Then she took the pen and scribbled out her last resolution for the year. "Wow what am I gonna do now I finished all my goals."
I flipped to the next blank page and took the pen from her. I wrote next year's year at the top just as she had done last year. "We" I paused to emphasize that these would now be our resolutions "Will make new ones." Then I leaned down and gave her a kiss.
Stephanie POV
It's amazing how life can change so quickly. A year ago I was getting ready to go to the club to drown out the fact that my life was at a standstill and unfulfilling. Today I have the perfect job, the best friends a girl could ask for, a supportive family, and I am currently sitting in my living room watching the countdown in New York on TV with the love of my life, two kids with another on the way.
"10..9..8…7…6…5…4…3…2…1... Happy New Years!" We all shouted.
I leaned over and kissed Carlos.
"Happy New Year's Babe. I love you."
"Happy New Year's Carlos. I love you too and may this year be even better than last year."