This is an AU story; Stephanie met some of the guys before they enlisted and before Rangeman was a thing. Yes, Rangeman exists now, but she had a relationship with someone before everyone else knew her. WARNING: if you do NOT read anything other than Babe stories, this is not for you. As you will see in my FF Profile, while I do prefer Babes over Cupcakes, I DO tend to do Tarts over Babes. You have been warned. Also, so you know ahead of time ... ANY nasty, foul-mouthed reviews will be deleted. If you don't like my story, no one is forcing you to read it, and there is a back button for a reason. If you are still here after reading all that, then please ... read on and I hope you enjoy.

She walked into the Rangeman lobby with her long black coat fastened, winter hat pulled down over her ears, and thick gloves on her hands. Looking at the desk, she stepped up and smiled at the man with short blonde hair and green eyes. He was not one she knew, and for that, she was grateful.

"May I help you?" he asked.

Glancing around, she tugged her coat a little tighter and replied, "Is Lester Santos in? I need to speak with him."

"Do you have an appointment?"

"No, but if you can call him, I'm sure he'll agree to see me. Just tell him it's Stephanie." She looked in the corner and hoped whoever was on monitors didn't recognize her with her hat pulled down. She wasn't ready to face all the guys just yet.

The man picked up the phone and pressed a button. A few seconds later she heard, "Hey, there is some woman down here that is asking to speak to you." He looked at her and then said, "She said her name is Stephanie." He pulled the phone away from his ear, looked at it, and placed it to his ear again, "Les?" Placing the phone on the hook, he looked at her and said, "Sorry, he hung up."

"Thank you for trying," she whispered as she turned to walk out with her shoulders slumped. She knew she was taking a chance, but really didn't think Lester would turn her away like that. She knew she had messed up and most likely upset everyone, but she still had hoped to have Lester on her side. As she reached for the door, she heard the stairwell door slam open.

"STEPH!," Lester yelled. "Is it really you?" He ran over to her and reached to pull her into a hug.

"Not here," she said as she stepped back. "Can we please go somewhere to talk? Somewhere private?"

Lester looked at her, "Are you okay? Are you injured?" She shook her head. "Are you being followed?" Another shake. "Then what's going on? Why not come up to the floor?"

"Les, please! I'm begging you. Can we go somewhere private? And before the other guys come down here. I need to talk to you … alone."

Looking at the front desk, Les spoke, "Viper if anyone asks, I'm offline until I'm not. I'll let Tank know." Viper nodded and watched as Les and Stephanie made their way to the elevator. Lester used his fob so the elevator wouldn't stop anywhere other than the fourth floor. Once they were there, he escorted Stephanie to his apartment.

Standing inside the entrance way, Stephanie let out a deep breath and started to relax. "Thank you, Les. I'll explain everything in a few moments."

Les locked his door and then turned to take Steph's coat off. After he hung it on the coat rack, he turned to face her and froze in his spot. He couldn't believe what he was seeing but immediately understood why she didn't want to stay in the lobby.

"How? When?" He tried hard to form a complete sentence, but at the moment he seemed to have forgotten how.

"Can we sit down? I really want to tell you the story." They walked to the living room and sat on the couch. Lester couldn't pull his eyes away; partly afraid that if he looked away, she would disappear like it was all a dream.

Before she could start to talk, there was a knock at Les's door. "Please, I can't see anyone yet. I barely made it here to talk to you without turning around. I can't, Les. Not yet."

"It's fine. I'll get rid of whoever it is. Give me just a minute. Why don't you go in my room and shut the door." Stephanie stood up and walked to Lester's bedroom. She pushed the door behind her, but kept it cracked so she could hear.

She heard Tank in the other room, "Where is she? Is it really her? How is she?"

"It's her. She's okay but hasn't told me anything yet. She was about to, but you knocked, and she got spooked. She's not ready to see anyone else yet."

"Where has she been? Does she know how worried we've been?" Tank asked as he looked towards the hallway in the apartment. He was hoping that if Steph heard him, she'd come out and greet him.

"I can't answer any of that and if you don't leave, I won't be able to ask. Just keep everyone from coming down here and bothering us. If, and when she's ready, I'll bring her up. For now, I think she just wants and needs to talk."

Tank nodded and turned to the door, "Offline unless it's an emergency?" Les nodded and opened the door for Tank. "I hope she'll talk to you and eventually the rest of us. Tell her she has been missed."

Les could see the hurt in Tank's face as he walked out; he knew Tank really wanted to see Steph for himself and he hoped she'd allow all the guys to see her and see for themselves that she is okay. Once he secured the lock on the door, he hollered, "He's gone, Steph. Just us now."

Stephanie walked back out to the living room and smiled when Les' eyes landed back on her. He walked over to her and looked down, "Can I?"

Stepanie undid a strap and reached to pull her son out of the baby carrier she was wearing. She handed him to Lester and smiled when he kissed the baby's head. Looking up at her, he only asked, "Care to share this story? Is this why you disappeared?"

"Let's sit. I'll tell you everything." She took off the baby carrier and sat it on the table in front of the couch while Lester sat down holding the tiny baby. She hadn't realized how small her son was until she saw him in Lester's arms.

"Did he know?"

"No, he didn't. Hell, I didn't know until two days before I left." Stephanie stood up and started pacing. "He shouldn't have been on that chopper. He should have been home with me. If he had been with me, he wouldn't have been in the position to have his life ended." She fought back the tears and tried to keep talking so her throat didn't close up.

"I still don't know how it happened. I know he was there to help, but he should have been on the ground not in the chopper. Anyway, the night we got word he'd died, part of me died too. You know how sick I was; how I wasn't able to eat or drink anything." Les nodded his head and waited. He knew if he said something, she'd stop talking and he wanted her to get it all out.

"Anyway, after the shock wore off, I was feeling worse. I was falling into a deep depression; ready to join him. Thinking of ways to end my life and see him again. But I knew he wouldn't want that for me. That he'd want me to live. I decided to go to a doctor outside of Trenton and see what advice they had. Honestly, I expected him to admit me to a psych hospital.

"The doctor listened to what my symptoms were and asked about being pregnant. I told him that I doubted I was as there was only one or two times we didn't use protection; he ran the bloodwork and this little guy is the result."

"Why run? Why not stay and let us all help you?"

She knew this was going to be the hard part to admit but she promised herself she was going to be honest about it all. "I left because I knew if I stayed here, you all would help me and encourage me to follow through with the pregnancy. Honestly, I wasn't sure I wanted to keep the baby. I had to get out of town to be able to make the decision fully on my own."

"You thought about ending the pregnancy?" Les asked with a shocked expression.

"Yes. I was going to do it. You know I never wanted to be a mother. He and I had talked, and he wasn't sure he wanted to be a father. I wasn't sure I'd know how to take care of a baby. Hell, I could hardly take care of myself! Anyway, I looked up a center and found their phone number. I pulled out my phone to call and make the appointment, but I couldn't dial the number. I don't know why, but my fingers just wouldn't make the connection with the phone.

"Then I felt like a failure for even thinking of calling and making the appointment to end my pregnancy. The more I thought of it, I realized if I did that, I'd be getting rid of part of him. When I thought of it like that, I cried. I cried myself to sleep that night and when I woke up in the morning, I realized I was keeping the baby and I'd always have a part of him with me."

"So why not come back after you made that realization? We would have helped you emotionally, financially, physically, all of it. One of us could have been in the room with you when you gave birth. We could have taken you to your doctor appointments."

Stephanie paced the room some more, wringing her hands as she moved, "I know any of you would have done that, and I appreciate that. I guess at the time, I felt alone and felt like I needed to be alone. I know it doesn't make sense; it's just the way it was. I'd just lost the love of my life and wasn't sure what way was up. I knew coming back here would hold a ton of memories; memories I wasn't ready to face. So, I stayed gone and went to Detroit for the pregnancy."

Stephanie sat down next to Lester and rubbed her hands over her son's head. "How old is he?" Les asked.

"Seven weeks."

Looking at the baby that was starting to squirm in his hands. He was the perfect mixture of his parents … not too light yet not too dark. He had black hair, and it was slightly curly. Les asked one more question, "What's his name?"

"I call him RJ." Stephanie looked at RJ in Les's arms and smiled. "How do I tell everyone else?"

Without taking his eyes off the baby, "Same way you told me. You show them. We can get all the guys into the conference room, and you just show up with him." Finally taking his eyes off RJ, he smiled at Steph, "they will love him."

She thought about it but still wasn't sure. "Can you call Tank down? I want him to meet RJ like you did … in private."

While Lester called Tank, she took RJ into Les' room and placed him in the middle of the bed. She heard Tanks thunderous knock and headed back to the living room.

Standing there, she smiled when Tank walked in. Stepping into his open arms, she hugged him tight, then stepped back, "I'm sorry for leaving, but I hope you'll understand why and forgive me."

Tank looked at her and softened his expression, "There is nothing to forgive. You came back."

"Will you wait a moment before you say that? I have something that may change your mind." She walked into Lester's room and picked up her son. Kissing his head, she took a deep breath and walked back out. She knew the moment Tank registered what she was holding.

A huge smile spread across his face as he held out his hands, "Who is this?"

Handing her son over she thought he looked even smaller in Tank's hands, "This is RJ, my son."

Tank sat down with him and listened as Steph told the story again. He, like Lester, was surprised to hear she thought of ending the pregnancy but was so glad she didn't. He knew that Steph had the ability to be a wonderful mother. He wished he'd been around to help her through the tough times and the birth.

When she told him of wanting to tell the rest of the guys at once, he agreed to take over the monitors for the quick meeting. He would go tell all the guys to meet in the conference room, he'd watch the monitors while she went in the room to get all the hellos and hugs out of the way. Once the guys were settled down, Lester would step in and give her the baby to introduce.

Tank went upstairs and tried to keep a blank face, but he wasn't sure how well he succeeded; he was happy that Steph was back and that there was a little baby in the building.

"Attention!" he bellowed, "I need all personnel in conference room three right now. There is an important all-hand meeting. I'll be covering monitors. Go!" Watching the guys snap to attention and file into the room, Tank allowed a small smile to grace his face; he couldn't wait to hear their reactions. Sitting down in the chair, he focused on the monitors but wished he were a fly on the wall.

The guys all filed in the conference room wondering what was going on. They knew Ranger was still in Miami, so it wasn't him calling the meeting. "Well," started Vince, "I heard Steph was back. Maybe this is to tell us why she left and where she's been."

Just as Zip was about to respond, the door opened. Stephanie walked in and stood there waiting to see how the reception would be. "Hi guys," she said with a small smile and wave. She tried to keep her voice even, but knew it quivered and there were tears threatening to leak out of her eyes.

Manny, who had been keeping an eye on Steph before she left, was the first to stand up and walk to her. Pulling her in for a hug he kissed her head, "Welcome back, Steph. Are you okay?"

She could hear real concern in his voice, and she nodded. "I finally am."

Manny sat back down and smiled as, one by one, most of the guys hugged her and welcomed her back. A few of the men were hurt that she left and weren't ready to forgive her … Vince and Ram being the leaders on that front. They mostly blamed themselves as they were her invisible shadows most of the time and they had no clue where she'd gone.

"So, I wanted to let you all know why I took off. Some of the reason was because I didn't know how to deal with being told my life partner was dead. He was, and still is, the love of my life. We were together for eight years and I thought we'd have eternity."

Most of the guys knew his death hit her hard. They were all worried about her and how she'd handle things. When she took off, they all tried to find her, but she had learned well about hiding. They never had a credit card hit, never had a hit on her name, and never had any indication as to what direction she had taken off.

Ram spoke up, "You know we'd have helped you through everything. All you had to do was allow us. Yet, you took off without a backwards glance. It was like we meant nothing to you. Now, you decided to come back and, what? Expect us to just forgive you and pick up where we all left off?"

Looking down, she took a deep breath and squared her shoulders. "Ram, Vince," she said as she looked at each of them, "I know I owe you two an apology and you'll get it in private. But I hope you'll understand why I thought I was doing the right thing for me.

"The other reason I left was because I'd learned something else. Something I wasn't sure how to handle." Without saying another word, she turned and opened the door. Reaching out, she took the baby from Les and let him walk in the room before she turned back around. When the guys saw what she was holding, there wasn't a sound in the room.

Manny and Zip stood up and raked over to her. They took turns hugging and congratulating her. Zip took the baby and smiled at him, "What's his name?"

"This is Robert Anthony Brown, Jr. but I call him RJ. He's seven weeks old."