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“Dada! Dada!”
I was looking down on my feet, concentrating on stepping down from the plane without taking a tumble, when I heard the child’s cry. A toddler came running towards me. I looked around. I was the only one disembarking, why was there a child yelling “Dada!” at me?
With my feet firmly on the ground again, the cane giving me much needed stability, I dragged my eyes up. Tank was standing there, next to a Navigator. And next to him, Steph. My Babe. How I had missed her in those two and a half years I had been on assignment. Fighting, training soldiers, doing unspeakable things in the Middle East.
The child, barely two years old, finally stood in front of me, its arms outstretched, waiting for me to pick it up. I stared down at the child in wonderment. A little boy, startling blue eyes. A head full of dark curls. His skin tone a shade somewhere between Steph’s and mine. I was exhausted, my brain processing at barely half its usual speed, but I picked the child up on reflex.
“Dada!” and the boy slung his arms around my neck.
I looked at Steph, tears running down her cheeks. But she was smiling.
I made my way over to them, painstakingly slow, the boy clutched in my arm, balancing both of us on my cane, my duffle forgotten.
“Babe!” She came forward then, embracing me and the little boy in my arm. I leaned down to kiss her, trying to pour everything into this kiss. When I pulled back, Steph looked up at me.
“I’m so glad you’re finally back. Carlos, meet Matteo Carlos Manoso. We call him Matty for short.” My brain was whirring, slowly processing the fact that the child in my arms… “We’ve got a son?”
“Yes, Carlos, we’ve got a son.”
Tears started slowly sliding down my face, pooling at my chin before dropping down onto my threadbare shirt. We’ve got a son. The sentence kept repeating in my brain, slowly taking root.
We’ve got a son.
“Come on, boss, let’s get you home.” Tank helped me into the car and retrieved my duffle, while Steph strapped Matteo into his car seat.
Steph got into the back with Matteo, leaving me the shot gun position. I relaxed into my seat. Home. Tank to watch my back. We had barely left the tarmac, when I succumbed to my exhaustion.
I startled awake when Tank pulled to a stop in the parking garage.
“Easy, there. You are safe.”
I nodded. Safe. Back home. We’ve got a son.
“You’re offline until Bobby clears you. I’ve run RangeMan for the last two and a half years, I can manage for another week or two. Take all the time you need.”
“Thanks.” With a nod, Tank left us through the door to the stairwell.
“Come on Batman, let’s get you showered and into bed.”
“Dada?”
“Daddy is tired, Matty. We’ll have lunch and then it’s nap time for everyone.”
“Dada tired.”
Once in the elevator, I took the child from Steph again. A feeling of peace settled over me, enshrouding us in a cloud of love.
Steph ushered us into the apartment on seven. I set Matty down and he ran towards a door that hadn’t been there when I left.
“I had Luis do some renovations. Matty has his own room.”
“Ok.”
“Do you want to eat first or shower first?”
“Eat. I’m starving.”
“Ella prepared a beef stew. We didn’t know which condition you’d be in.”
“Stew’s fine.” Anything prepared by Ella would’ve been fine. Anything without the constant crunch of sand grains I had come to expect in the last months.
“Take a seat in the dining room, I’ll bring you a bowl.”
I did as told. The dining room had undergone some changes since I’d left. There was a toddler chair at the dining table, colorful books and toys on the sofa, a bookcase stuffed to the brims with colorful books next to the TV. Most noticeable of all, a small chair and table combo, the perfect size for a child.
While I waited for Steph to serve up lunch, Matty came running back and scrambled up into his chair.
“Dada!”
“Yes, Matteo?” I had no idea what he was trying to tell me.
“Dada home.”
“Yes, Matteo, Daddy is home,” came Steph’s reply.
My eyes were drooping and I was barely coherent enough to eat the two bowls of stew Steph pushed in front of me, one after the other. I’m sure it was delicious.
“Go and take a shower, I’ll join you once I’ve put Matty down for his nap.”
“Ok, Babe.”
I shuffled my way into the bathroom, dropping my dirty clothing into the hamper that was conveniently positioned next to the shower. Stepping into the shower, I adjusted the temperature to my liking, before sinking down onto the shower bench.
I let the water run over me, soothing me, taking away the grime of my last, my final assignment. I didn’t know how long I’d sat there when Steph stepped into the shower with me. She was beautiful, just like I remembered her. I couldn’t wait to reconnect with her on a deeper level. Right now, though, that would have to wait.
“Let me wash your hair.”
I nodded. She massaged her shampoo into my hair and I relaxed into her touch. She rinsed my hair and repeated the process. Afterwards, she took her loofah, loading it up with my Bulgari shower gel and started scrubbing me down. When she reached my feet, she rinsed me off, only to start all over.
On the second pass, she traced all my new scars. She lingered on the big, ugly one on my thigh.
“What happened?” She whispered, barely audible over the sound of the water running.
“I got too close to an explosive. I’m still rebuilding the muscle.”
“That the reason for the cane?”
“No, busted my ankle in another incident. There’s still metal in there that needs to be taken out in the future.”
“Ok.”
I was relieved she didn’t pester me for details right that second. We would need to talk about what had happened since I’d left, but there would be time later.
Steph stepped out of the shower first, making sure I was steady, before toweling me down.
She handed me a pair of silk boxers. “Matty will probably get into bed with us at some point. Go ahead, I’ll only be a few.”
I nodded and shuffled into the bedroom. Boxers on, I gratefully sank into bed. Our bed. The scent of Steph enveloped me and I relaxed into sleep.
I fought my way out of leaden weariness to sweet giggling and whispering right beside me. Turning towards the sounds, I opened my eyes, blinking against the bright light flooding our bedroom. Steph was propped up against the headboard, hugging Matty to her, reading him a book.
I reached out to them, letting my hand rest on Steph’s leg. Her eyes whipped up from the book, meeting mine.
“Look who’s awake, Matty.”
“Dada!”
“That’s right, Daddy is awake.” Matty wriggled out of her embrace and wrapped his little arms around me instead.
“Hey, Matty.” I was still trying to wrap my head around the fact that not only had Steph been waiting for me, but she’d gifted me with a son. “What time is it, Babe?”
“It’s 9 am on Wednesday. We got you into bed around noon, Tuesday. You’ve been asleep for close to twenty-one hours and you got up once to use the bathroom.”
I didn’t remember the trip to the bathroom. Sleeping for twenty-one hours straight explained why I felt so much better, though.
Mulling that over, my thoughts turned back to the fact that she’d raised Matty on her own, while I’d been off, trying to make the world a safer place.
“I’m so sorry, Babe.”
“Whatever for?”
“Leaving you alone to deal with everything.”
“Hold that thought. Ella is going to be up in a few minutes to bring breakfast. She’ll take Matty, so we can talk. You stay in bed.”
“Ok.”
She scooped up our precious son. “Let’s get ready for a day with Tia Ella, Matty.”
While I was still tired, it wasn’t the bone-tired exhaustion from before. I made my way into the bathroom, taking care of urgent business, and brushed my teeth. When I made it back to bed, Steph entered the bedroom, bringing with her a tray full of food. The aroma of freshly brewed coffee preceded her.
She placed the tray over my lap, before climbing into bed with me. She sat down cross-legged, the tray between us. She’d brought granola, fresh fruit and orange juice, pancakes and scrambled eggs.
“Ask away, Carlos. You must be bursting with questions.” She started on her own bowl of granola, topped with yoghurt and fruit.
“How?”
“Matty? I had a bladder infection before you left. The prescribed antibiotics interfered with my birth control. By the doctor’s calculations, our farewell got me pregnant.”
“I’m so sorry, Babe.”
“Why? Yes, I’m sorry that you were not here to see Matty born, to celebrate all the milestones with us. But I’m not sorry that we’ve got Matty.”
“I left you to deal with all of it on your own.”
“No, Carlos. You didn’t know when you left. I didn’t know, when you left. On the contrary, you left me with a part of you, to love until you got back to me.”
“Babe.” I longed to pull her into my arms, so I set the tray down beside the bed. I took the bowl out of her hands as well and then pulled her to me.
“I’m serious, Carlos. I missed you like crazy while you were away, ensuring our freedom. But Matty kept me going, waiting for you to come back.”
“How did you manage on your own?” We had talked about her moving in with me before I had had to leave. From the looks of it, she’d made the seventh floor her home in the interim.
“Well, turns out you puke your guts out in front of Bobby once, he has you pee on a stick before you know what’s happening.”
I had to chuckle. “Babe.”
“Yeah. So we found out when I was seven weeks along. I’d been feeling under the weather, but I attributed that to you leaving. The nausea wasn’t too bad at first, but the donuts Cal brought in sent me puking.”
“I’m sorry you had such a rough time.”
“Meh, it wasn’t too bad. Once we figured out that the Peanut preferred rabbit food, Ella took charge of my meals. Tank used the chance to enforce the ‘no junk on the control floor’-rule.” It was Steph’s turn to snicker.
“When did you move in here?”
“As soon as the pregnancy test was positive, Bobby dragged me off to the best ob/gyn in the area. She’d heard of me and took the bounty hunting right out of the Bombshell Bounty Hunter. I was on desk duty, before she’d even printed the first ultrasound picture.”
At that, Steph clambered off my lap and scooted into the walk-in closet. She came back only a minute later, a large, light blue box in her hands. She handed it over and sat down next to me again.
“I collected all the little bits and pieces, from the first pregnancy test to Matty’s foot prints they did at the hospital.”
She started rummaging through the box, pulling out a grainy ultrasound picture.
“That’s the first one she took. Had me up in stirrups to take it and everything.” She shuddered. “But I loved Peanut from the second I saw its little heart beating on the screen for the first time.”
“So you were benched. You’re not one to sit around doing nothing. What did you do?”
“Bobby took me back to RangeMan and called a core team meeting. He told Tank and Les that I was to be off fieldwork stat. They convinced me to move into your apartment, so they could keep an eye on me. I’d been staying here most nights anyway, because I felt closer to you.”
“Oh, Babe.” I wrapped an arm over her shoulder, pulling her into my side.
“Yeah. And Tank convinced me to take on the role as office manager. He was drowning in paper work. We revised some workflows and automated some stuff. And I took over research again.”
“Thank you, Babe.”
“Of course. The guys were looking out for me. Especially when things turned sour with Mom.”
“What happened?”
I felt her shudder against me. “She was convinced you’d left me to be with your mistress, now that I was pregnant.”
“What the hell?”
“Yeah. She got it in her head that you’d cheated on me and it would be in my best interest to marry Morelli, before he decided to marry someone else and I started showing. She even invited him to Sunday dinner where he proposed to me.” A bitter laugh escaped her. “I told them to rot in hell and had Daddy drive me back to RangeMan.”
“Do you need me to go and set her straight?”
“Thanks, Carlos, but that’s not necessary. I haven’t talked to her since.”
“What about Morelli?”
“Well, he tried and corner me alone. The Merry Men kept track of his advances and finally took it to the chief. I took out a restraining order against him. The chief was not amused that he was stalking the woman he was supposedly loving. Busted him down a paygrade and when the chance arose, Morelli was transferred to Ohio.”
“I could still hunt him down? No?” I was looking down at her, hopeful she’s let me adjust his attitude for him.
“Hector sent him off in style. Morelli’s learned his lesson and even his mom and grandma have kept their distance. Grandma Bella tried to put the eye on me, but Grandma Mazur got her right back. They’ve reached a stalemate and ignore each other.”
I chuckled. I’d have to ask Hector what kind of farewell he imparted. Knowing him, it would have been quite memorable.
“How did your Dad and Grandma take your news?”
“They were supportive, right from the start. Dad crowed when I offered my apartment to Grandma.” She snickered.
“Babe?”
“Morelli didn’t know I’d moved out, so he broke in and snuggled into bed, thinking he was cuddling up to me. He didn’t realize it was Grandma until she tried to kiss him and he noticed the missing teeth.”
She dissolved into a fit of giggles and I had to chuckle as well. When she calmed down, she took up the tale again.
“Grandma was the star at the Cut’n’Curl with her kissing Joe. He was the butt of quite a few jokes after that. Served him right. The chief counted that as a violation of the restraining order and the judge agreed. That’s when he was transferred infinitely.”
“How did your Dad take the news of the pregnancy?”
“He was happy. Somehow, someone had already been by to see him about his blessing for a marriage?” She tried to raise her brow at me. Just like before I left, she scrunched up her forehead in her attempt.
I smiled down at her indulgently. “Yeah. I even showed him the ring.”
“See, that’s why I didn’t bother naming Matty a Plum when sooner rather than later, we’d both become Manosos anyway.”
“Babe.”
“Dad was over the moon when the doctor determined that Peanut would most likely be a boy. He and Grandma come over once a week and we have dinner here. Bobby, Tank and Lester join us, whenever they’ve got the time.”
“They willingly spend time with Grandma Mazur?”
“Yeah. I impressed on her that I expected her to treat the men with the same respect she expects of them. If she were not able to do that, we couldn’t have meals with all of them.”
“That’s all it took?”
“Amazingly enough, yeah.”
We sat in silence for a while. I mulled over what she’d just told me. Steph cuddled into me, her head in my lap and I tunneled my hands through her silky curls.
“I’m so glad you’re back.”
“I’m so happy to be back. Sometimes, the urge to come back to you was all that kept me going. Coming back to you and to Matty was more than I ever hoped for.”
“I bet it was quite a surprise.”
I chuckled. “You could say that. But I was so tired, I could barely grasp my thoughts and then I had a child in my arms before I’d even realized what was going on.”
The vibrations of her quiet laughter traveled through me. “Everyone made sure Matty knew you. Your parents and the Merry Men have been telling him stories from the moment I brought him home from the hospital. They showed him pictures and videos.”
“That why he recognized me yesterday?”
“Yeah. And Tank spent the drive hyping him up that we were going to pick up Daddy.”
I scooted down the bed, until I could cradle her to me, face to face, heart to heart.
“I’m so proud of you. I’m sure it was hard to keep going, but on top of it all, you made sure that my son knows me. That was the best welcome home present you could have given me.”
She sniffled against my chest and I pulled her closer.
“What do you say, Babe. We take a nap and then take a drip down to the courthouse later? Got to make sure, you’ve got the same name as your son?”
The sniffling intensified.
“Yes, Carlos, I’ll marry you. Let’s apply for the marriage license today. But let’s wait to get married for a few weeks. This gives you enough time to be more like yourself again and Ella will have enough time to pull a small reception together. And I need a dress. And lingerie.”
“Especially lingerie.”
I couldn’t wait to get married to Stephanie, my Babe. But first, I needed another nap.