Life in Chains is a series of shorts following my previous story, Unbreakable Bonds.

These should make sense without reading the longer story as long as you take as a given that Ranger, Tank, and Steph are in a newly established, if slightly unconventional, relationship. --Standard disclaimer: The characters and world are not mine. I'm playing in Janet Evanovich's world, with her characters and not making any money. ---Life in Chains - 01 - Oops!? (Approximately four weeks after their first dinner with Stephanies parents.) The alarm blared and Stephanie swatted at it enough to hit the snooze as Tank chuckled. Her stomach churned. She swallowed convulsively and tried to hold still, hoping not to throw up with both men still here. The previous two mornings, she had slept later than them and had privacy to vomit, brush her teeth and cautiously eat breakfast. Before that it had just been queasiness. She would feel better after she ate. Stephanie sat up slowly. "You okay, Babe?" Ranger asked. Tank rubbed her back gently. Stephanie swallowed again and tried to breathe past the unrest in her belly. "I will not throw up on my shoes or anyone else's," she muttered very softly to herself like a mantra. Ranger's eyes narrowed as he watched her. Julie's mother had looked almost exactly like Stephanie while dealing with morning sickness through her pregnancy. "Feeling sick?" Tank asked. "I can handle the client meeting at ten myself," he assured her when she nodded slightly to him. "You go back to sleep." She nodded again, still swallowing repeatedly as her stomach came closer to rebellion. The movement of her head ended up being too much. She bolted towards the bathroom. Tank handed her a damp washcloth for her face once she finished dry heaving. Im okay, she assured him, trying to smile. Can I have a minute? Im okay, she assured him. Can I have a minute? She tried to smile for him, hide the sick dread that was making the queasiness more intense so he would give her a minute to make her other discomfort stop. She couldn't remember when her last period had been. Her birth control was known for lightening or stopping menstruation so she hadn't been worried at first but she had been feeling vaguely queasy for a while now. With the start of actual vomiting the last few days, she was terrified that it was something worse than just a virus or something she had eaten. Tank didn't like what he saw when he looked her over but he stepped out of the bathroom and closed the door. He could hear Ranger on the phone in the living room, demanding that Bobby get up here now. He put a hand on Ranger's shoulder as he finished the brief call.

"She didn't have really much of anything in her stomach," Tank told him when Ranger disconnected. "But she's really shaky and pale." "You let her in there alone?" Ranger growled. "She had to use the toilet, man. You know how she gets in the morning. Wants in there right away." "Shit," Ranger said softly. Tank raised an eyebrow and Ranger explained, "I was hoping she would wait for Bobby." "She doesn't need help to pee," Tank observed. "And then she can be comfortable while Bobby pokes at her and gives her something for the virus." "I'm worried that she's not sick," Ranger replied. Tank stared at him blankly for a moment before he understood. His feelings swirled behind the blank face mask that he slammed down. There was fear, yes. His life was barely a place for a committed relationship and certainly no place for a child. Stephanie had said that she didn't want children. A small part of him was hopeful though, wondering what Bombshell's child would be like. They could adjust their lives for that. Learn. It might be a good enough reason for all of them to change their lifestyle. Stephanie emptied her bladder, dry heaved a few more times, brushed her teeth and was gathering the courage to leave the bathroom when the pounding on the door began. She emerged just as Bobby let himself in. He wore only a pair of sweat pants and a gray T-shirt that said, "I used to care but now I take a pill for that." It clung to him damply, as if he had thrown it on without taking the time to dry himself after his shower. He carried the backpack that he used as a medical bag. "I hear that you're not feeling well," he told her, setting the backpack on the counter and digging in it for a moment and pulling out a device. "Can I take your temperature?" Ranger glared at him, wanting Bobby to do whatever was necessary to figure out what was wrong with Stephanie but Tank relaxed, glad that Bobby wasn't demanding. Stephanie never responded well to that. She was smiling at him now and sitting on a kitchen stool to let him run the device over her forehead. It beeped and Bobby looked at the reading. "Just a tiny bit high, Bomber," he told her. "I think it would be much higher if you had a serious virus. How are you feeling now?" "Just a little nauseous," she replied. "And hungry," she added as an afterthought. "Will someone call Ella please?"

As Tank made the call, Bobby pulled out another device and snapped on a pair of exam gloves. He gave her a soft explanation and pricked her finger, expertly collecting the drop of blood and feeding it to the machine. Ranger hovered anxiously and Stephanie reached over to take his hand. Bobby frowned at the machine's read out. "You're blood sugar is really low. Sometimes people get upset stomachs when their blood sugar is too low." Tank moved past them into the kitchen and opened the refridgerator. He held up a pint container of berries. Bobby nodded and passed them over to Stephanie who took a few and ate them cautiously as Bobby continued. "Low blood sugar is why pregnant women get morning sickness." "I can't get pregnant!" she protested loudly. "You know that. You give me the shots yourself every three months," she continued more calmly, glaring at Bobby. "Birth control isn't perfect," Bobby reminded her. "The shot you're on has a failure rate of around 3-5 pregnancies per thousand women. Those are good odds but it's you Bomber. Anything is possible." Stephanie glared at Bobby then glanced to Ranger. He was wearing his blank face. Tank was too. It was the thing she feared and she couldn't tell how they felt about the possibility. Ella brought food and Stephanie started her breakfast hungrily. The men watched her for a minute and then exchanged glances. It was clear that Stephanie wanted to stay in denial land but if she was pregnant, they needed to know no matter what she decided to do about it and knowing early gave her the most possible options. "When was your last period, Steph?" Tank asked gently. "The shot can stop periods entirely," Stephanie replied, glancing from her food up to Bobby. "It's a known side effect." "Babe." Stephanie looked up at him. "I don't know. Okay? Check my phone. There's an app for that." "There's an app for everything," Bobby replied, allowing her to distract him into showing her the cool medic targeted apps in his phone. Ranger retrieved Stephanie's phone and with some searching, found the app but had to bring it to her to open up because there was a password on it. She checked it and read off the date reluctantly. Bobby downloaded an app that he'd never had any need for and plugged in the date. "So if you are pregnant, you'd be 6 weeks and three days along," he told her.

"Conception would have been about four weeks ago. Luckily that means one of these guys and not Morelli, right?" Ranger and Tank exchanged dark looks. They would have been willing to be there for Stephanie and love her child no matter who the father was but the possibility of it being Morelli made them feel extremely jealous and protective of her. They were relieved that if this was happening, it was one of them. "Right," Stephanie agreed with Bobby in a soft voice. Bobby dug in his bag for a specimen cup and handed it to Steph. "You know what to do with this. Then we'll know." "I don't have to go," she told him. "I went right before you got here." Ranger sighed. He hadn't been fast enough to prevent that but Bobby didn't seem too concerned. He dug out a needle, hub, tourniquet, and vaccutainer tube. "Blood test is more accurate anyway," Bobby replied. "It will just take a few hours." "You were prepared for this," Ranger accused him as Stephanie stuck out her arm and continued to plow through her breakfast, all nausea apparently gone. Bobby's hands were steady on his tools as he did the stick to take the required blood. His voice was calm. "You trust me to take care of her medically," Bobby reminded Ranger. "This is one of the things I have to be ready for to take care of a female, especially when we all know the three of you have been fucking like bunnies." "Watch it." The warning was a low growl and came unexpectedly from Tank. "If this is positive and she decides to continue the pregnancy," Bobby continued blandly, holding up the tube with one hand and pressing a square of gauze on the inside of Stephanie's elbow with the other. "I'll be the one who has to go take an OB refresher just in case. Even though I hope you'll find a regular midwife or OB that you trust for regular things, I know you'll expect me to manage in an emergency even though it's definitely not my field of expertise so I'll make sure I'm ready." Ranger thanked Bobby for coming up as Bobby wrapped Stephanie's arm and packed up his things and asked when he expected the results. Bobby glanced at his watch and explained that he had to send it out to a lab so even with a STAT request, they couldn't expect the results until between 1100 and 1200 hours. "Around lunchtime," Ranger translated for Stephanie.

"Eat a little bit every hour or two," Bobby advised Stephanie. "It will keep your blood sugar up and keep you from getting sick." "I'm not pregnant," Stephanie insisted firmly from denial land now that she was feeling better. "But your blood sugar WAS dangerously low," Bobby replied. "You need to take better care of yourself." "We'll take care of it," Ranger assured Bobby. "Thanks man," Tank told him as the door shut. He was hunched over with his elbows on the counter, his back to Stephanie and Ranger. They needed to talk about this. "If you were pregnant," Tank asked, "will you kill the baby?" "I'm not pregnant," Stephanie insisted again but there was a note of doubt in her voice. "If you ever become pregnant?" Tank pushed. "I don't know," she replied. "I wouldn't make a good mother. My life doesn't lend itself to the family thing." Then she considered the way he had phrased that question. "Do you want kids?" "Not on purpose," Tank explained. "I don't have any right to bring a child into the danger that is my life. Our lives. But if it happened, maybe we could make some changes, make it work. That would be our responsibility to the baby." "What about you Ranger?" Stephanie asked, somewhat surprised by Tank's response. "Do you want more children?" "I already have one child that I can't see for fear that being associated with me will put her in danger. It has put her in danger despite that. I wouldn't want to put another child in danger. It would be better not to have them." Stephanie felt like her chest was being squeezed by a tight band. She couldn't get a deep breath. "And if she is pregnant already?" Tank asked him. "I'm here," he replied. "I'm not going anywhere. If she wants to continue the pregnancy, I'll still be right here. We'll figure out what is necessary and take every precaution." The pressure eased from Stephanie's chest. He was staying. He wouldn't be pissed at her or try to stay away from her again for her own good. Maybe that relief was too soon because Ranger was asking her, "What about you, Babe? Feeling maternal urges?" "I wouldn't want to get pregnant on purpose," she assured him. "You're both right about that and during the pregnancy at least, I'd have to make a lot more adjustments and changes than

you would. If it's already happened, I don't know. I guess we'll have to talk about that if the test is positive and decide. I don't think it's a decision you can make until it becomes necessary to make it. You can think you know but until you face it, how can you be sure?" "Okay, Babe," Ranger assured her. "Maybe we can be more careful in the future?" he suggested, "Regardless of what the test says this time? Since none of us want to be parents." "I'm taking the shots," she reminded them. "Other than surgical sterilization, which is a major surgery for a woman or an IUD, which they don't recommend for women with physical jobs because of the risk of uterine perforation, the shot has the best success rate." "I was thinking we could be significantly more careful about condom use," Ranger replied. Stephanie made a face. "At least until I can get a vasectomy." "Shit," Tank muttered. "Come on," Ranger urged him. "We're in this together." "If we make the changes for one baby, why not have a second one?" Tank countered, thinking that while he would love Ranger and Stephanie's child, if they had to make the changes for a child, a second one couldn't be that much trouble to give him a chance to have a child of his own blood too. Stephanie considered that. Would she want the baby to be a perfect mix of her and Ranger? Or of her and Tank? If she were intending to get pregnant, would she want a specific father? Definitely not. She'd want both of them to be the father if possible. She knew they'd both behave as the father. Since she couldn't have a baby with both of them the father, one baby of each would be perfect. She didn't want there to be any children at all but if she was going to be forced to be a mother, she wanted two children. "Lets wait for the test results before you schedule vasectomies," Stephanie agreed with Tank. Everyone showered together. It was a tight squeeze but they needed to touch each other as they all worried about the test results, to stay connected. Afterwards, Ranger partnered with Binkie in the field. Tank and Stephanie visited the client, who was wary of Tank but absolutely loved talking to Stephanie. He was giving them more business because of it too. They met back at the office before lunch, all anxiously crowding into Bobby's medical suite at Haywood, waiting for the lab to fax over the test results. The beta HCG test was negative. No pregnancy. Ranger, Tank, and Stephanie cheered and hugged until Bobby cleared his throat. "If you're not pregnant but you're still having blood sugar issues, we need to do a few more tests," Bobby explained to Stephanie. The mood in the room immediately sobered as he drew a few more vials of blood. "We'll get it figured out," he promised her.

And well be right here, Tank assured her as Ranger hugged her from behind, wordlessly making the same promise.

--A/N - My muse is very prolific at the moment but she has ADD so I'm jumping between projects. I'm on top of the world until until I lose my balance (and I inevitably will, either I'll crash or I'll soar too far up and lose functionality). Help a girl out. Give me the emotional high of a review to ride. If you dont want to admit that youre reading, log out and post anonymously. :-)