Chapter 33

STEPHANIE

Holy fucking ouch. My eyes were screwed so tightly shut, I could actually see tiny pinpoints of light. It feels like they're ripping my insides out of my body right now. Well, yeah, that's pretty much what they're doing to you. I was only catching bits and pieces of the conversation.

…dose of Pitocin… squeeze my hand, Beautiful… Babe… blood bank… placenta in pieces…

Shit.

I focused on the pain, excruciating as it was, and tried to focus in on a single voice. Lester's was the closest to my ear, so I turned my head towards him and willed my eyes to open and focus.

"Les?"

"She's almost done," he said, green eyes locked on mine. "You're doing great."

"Ouch." I barely managed to get the word past my lips.

"Ranger's changing his first dirty diaper," Lester continued as if the doctor wasn't elbow deep inside me, presumably disemboweling me at that exact moment. "I've got Debra taking photos."

A new nurse walked up to Dr. Lund at the foot of the bed holding an honest to God giant metal spoon like the lunch ladies use to serve jello. Holy fucking shit.

"Eyes on me, Beautiful," Les said urgently. "Trust me."

But before I could fully comprehend what the doctor was about to do to me, a tiny cry came from across the room, drawing my attention.

"Hey little man, cut me a break," Ranger said. "I'm doing my best here."

"Ranger?" his name came out like a question, though I hadn't meant it as such.

"We're coming, Babe. Just getting this thing strapped on."

I heard nurse Debra quietly praising Ranger, so I guess he did ok with the first diaper change. And when I opened my eyes again Ranger and our son's faces were right next to mine.

"God, ouch!" I couldn't help myself when I felt something literally scrape along my insides. Jesus Christ on a hammock, that spoon was in my uterus.

"I'm never letting you and your cock near me again," I muttered. To my left, Lester guffawed. Ranger grimaced.

"Babe."

Finally, after what seemed like hours, Dr. Lund scooted back from the bed and ripped off her bloody gloves.

"Let's hit her with 4 of morphine, please. Steph," she said, turning her attention to me. "Your placenta didn't detach as normal after baby was born. This caused you to hemorrhage, while your body tried to flush it out. I used my hand and tools to manually remove the placenta, but unfortunately it came out in pieces. That's why things took so long and why it was so painful for you. I'm so sorry. I've given you something for the pain, so you'll sleep for a bit, but everything should be just fine now. Congratulations. I'll be around in a couple hours to look in on you, but don't hesitate to use your call button if you need anything at all."

In a flurry of activity, the extra dozen or so people who had been in the room assisting were gone, and I vaguely heard Ranger saying they had to move us to the postpartum floor. I felt like I'd had half a dozen tequila shots on an empty stomach, and I couldn't stop thinking about how great a bacon cheeseburger would taste. Finally, I gave up trying to stay awake and let the darkness take me under.

RANGER

I sat staring into my second favorite set of blue eyes. My son's skin was just slightly lighter than my mocha latte complexion, but his dark blue eyes were definitely from his mama. His hair was the same dark as mine, but he'd definitely had a little curl to it. The perfect combination of Stephanie and me.

"Yo," said a soft voice from the door. Steph stirred in bed but didn't wake.

"I got the cheeseburger and a milkshake too," Lester said, poking his head around the privacy curtain that hung in front of the door to the private room.

"Come on in," I said, shifting in the rocking recliner beside the hospital bed. "The nurse said the meds should wear off soon and she should wake up. Baby boy here is going to need to eat soon."

"You doing ok?" he asked, giving my shoulder a squeeze. "I half figured I'd have to restrain you when she started screaming like that."

"You know, if I hadn't had the baby in my arms, you probably would have," he admitted. "But something about holding him calmed me down."

"Fatherhood looks good on you like this," he said.

"I think so too," Steph said, startling the 3 of us. The baby immediately turned his head toward her and let out a screeching cry, that actually wasn't as loud as I'd expected it to be. I guess that came with age.

"You did great, Beautiful," Lester said. "I brought you a double bacon cheeseburger and a chocolate shake." He gestured to a take out bag sitting on the table next to my bed. Steph burst into tears.

"I'm sorry!" he said quickly. "I'll get rid of it!"

"No!" Steph swiped at the tears coming out of her eyes. "No, I mean, thank you! I'm so hungry. I was having the best dream about a cheeseburger."

"Yeah," I said. "You weren't dreaming. You were talking about it. So I sent Les to get one for you."

She let out a shaky breath. "I didn't think my emotions would still be so all over the place."

We both smiled knowingly at her.

"You're doing great, Babe."

The baby let us know, a little more impatiently this time, that he was done waiting for his meal. Les dropped a kiss on Steph's head and headed towards the door.

"I'll just let the waiting room know it will be a little while before you're ready for visitors," he said, letting himself out the door.

For the next hour, I sat on the bed beside my wife while she and my son both learned how to breastfeed. I'm only slightly ashamed to admit that I was both in awe of the process and a little bit turned on too.

"You look jealous," Steph said with a smile.

"Can you blame me?"

She laughed, and my phone beeped. I checked the message and saw the message from Les.

Lester: Talked the group into going to dinner. Guys want to know if they can come meet him afterwards, or if we should come back tomorrow.

"Tell them to come back in an hour," Steph said, never taking her eyes off the baby and proving our ESP was growing by the day.

When Steph finally tucked away her breast, I noticed the little pee line on the diaper was blue again. I guess he needed another change. She hadn't said anything, but from the way she was moving, I knew she'd need more pain meds. I pressed the button to call the nurse while scooping up the baby and heading to the rolling bassinet beside her bed where the nurse had showed me the extra diapers and wipes were stored. I freed his tiny legs from the zippered sleeper and made quick work of the wet diaper. I was reaching for a wipe when a warm liquid hit me square in the chest.

"Oh fuck!"

Stephanie was rolling in laughter.

"Shit. Fuck. How's he still pissing?!"

"Help me out here, Babe," I said, pulling off my shirt and tossing it to the floor. "I don't have a lot of domestic instincts."

"If his penis is erect, he's going to urinate on you," the no-nonsense, 60-something nurse said casually as she walked into the room, seemingly unbothered by my lack of shirt. "Best to have an extra diaper handy to catch the stream." She walked over to Steph, scanned her hospital bracelet and then handed her a small cup with 2 capsules inside. "These won't affect your milk, sweetheart."

Steph nodded and took the pills while I got a fresh diaper on our son. Exactly an hour after Lester had texted, a tentative knock sounded at the door.

"Come in," I called, walking over to pull back the curtain.

I'd expected when Les said the group he'd meant the Core Team and maybe a few others. I was a little shocked to see nearly half the Miami Rangeman crew in the hall behind the Core Team all holding balloons, flowers, and stuffed animals. The noise level grew steadily as each person made his way in and waited for a turn to approach the bed to greet Steph and see the baby. Tank, Hal, Cal, Bobby, Hector, Ace (with a bandage on his nose), Kane, and the line just kept on going. I marveled at the fact that while my men had always been loyal before, it was Babe coming in that changed things to this Rangeman Family we now had. And I was here for it. I knew if anything ever happened to me that without a doubt, any of these men would step up and be there for my boy.

Finally, after everyone had gotten a hug and passed my son around the room at least twice, the men crammed in all fell silent, and I realized what they were all waiting on.

'This is our son," I began. "All 8 pounds 7 oz of him."

"He looks tall, too," Tank said.

"22 inches," Steph said, smiling as I placed him in her arms. She glanced up at me, the question clear on her face. I nodded and smiled encouragingly.

"Gentlemen," Steph said. "I'd like you all to be the first to meet our son. Lorenzo Carlos Manoso."

"Enzo," I said.

An immediate chorus of "Hey, Enzo!"

"Yo! Enzo, my man!"

"Enzo's the shit!"

And all sorts of greetings I couldn't even make out rose around the room.

"Welcome to Rangeman, Enzo," Babe said.