Steele My Baby
by Mary Alice

Disclaimer
: The characters of Remington Steele, Laura Holt, etc., are used without permission. I make no attempt to copyright these characters, and I am not making any money from them. This is purely for entertainment and personal purposes. PLEASE don't sue me!


"I need to talk to Laura," he thought as he dialed their number, again. The hairs on his neck had been standing on end all morning. No answer. He slammed the phone down in frustration and muttered, "Where on earth is she?"
Suddenly, as if in response, the door to his office opened and Laura entered.
She was visibly shaken and almost without forethought quickly circled his desk and flew into his arms.
Remington held her tightly at first and then drawing back so that he could see her face asked, "Where have you been?"
Laura couldn't help but see the concern in his eyes as she looked up at him and started to cry. " I ran into." she stopped and tried to compose herself.
Remington held her closer and started to rub her back, whispering into her ear, "Laura it's alright sweetheart, calm down." He led her over to the conference area and pulled her down on his lap where she buried her face into his shoulder. He held her to him with one hand resting on her swollen abdomen and the other rubbing her back until he could hear the sniffles that meant she had cried herself out. He was definitely concerned as to what brought her to such a state especially in her condition. Laura was 8 months pregnant with their first child and more emotional than he had ever seen her.
He handed her his handkerchief as she sat up and he looked into her red rimmed eyes and quietly asked, "can you tell me what has gotten you so upset Darling?"

She took a deep breath and began, " I am sorry for my outburst Remington, but I just got so scared that when I finally made it here, my emotions got the better of me."
He shook his head, indicating that he understood, but still wanting more, he muttered "scared?"
Laura didn't wait for him to finish his thought. She went on in a huff. "Some guy followed me all around town this morning. At first, I didn't think much of it when I noticed him coming out of our Dr.'s office and then I thought it to be just a coincidence when I seen him at the bank. But when I noticed the same man looking at me over some racks in the baby dept. and again at the pharmacy, I started to get nervous. I tried calling you, but your line was tied up and Mildred must have been out. He continued to follow me out to the parking lot and I thought of confronting him there, but that thought passed quickly as I considered my predicament," her eyes dropped down to her obvious state of pregnancy as her hand covered his.
She looked back up at him, she could see his mixed look of concern and agitation. He had a frown on his face and his eyes were narrowed as he continued to listen intently.
She took another deep breath and continued, "So, I quickly got in my car. The next thing I knew he was following me down the canyon road. I sped up as much as I could. He bumped me from behind, then he quickly moved around and tried to pass me. An oncoming truck kept him from being able to do that. Luckily I was in the Rabbit so I was able to out maneuver him. When I was pretty sure I had lost him, I drove straight over here, parked down stairs in the garage and ran up here."

Remington was visibly angry now and struggling to maintain control of his emotions. His voice cracked a little as he began to speak. "He could have killed you," and then almost in an afterthought " and our baby." He helped her to her feet as he rose himself, "did you recognize him at all, Laura?" he said starting to dial the phone.

"No", she said thoughtfully, "although there seemed to be something familiar about him, I am sure I don't know him". Her voice was steady as she continued to describe him to Remington: "he was approximately your height and weight, around 30 I'd say, blond hair, green eyes and a scar across his nose" she gestured a line with her finger across the bridge of her nose. Laura went quiet and then said in a low quivering voice, " I don't know why he would want to harm me, or the baby. I haven't been doing anything except paperwork for a few months now."

While Remington was impatiently waiting for the person on the other end to answer he starred off into space. He was mentally checking the case list for any insights as to who could be capable of an act so hideous that would threaten to wipe out his entire world. He looked over at Laura, his blue eyes full of the love he felt for her. He couldn't imagine his life without her, he loved her and the baby, our baby he thought. Breaking his reverie off intentionally, he sent a private prayer of thanks for keeping them safe. He motioned for her to come to him with his free hand and she quickly moved to his side. Standing on her toes, she softly started kissing his cheek and then moved down to his jaw line. His arm wrapped tightly around her shoulders as he asked to speak to Lt. Jarvis. She listened intently to his end of the conversation in which he recanted the events and the description that she had just given him. His eyes filled with unshed tears never left hers. She was smiling up at him and he squeezed her shoulders, letting her know she was safe again. He returned her smile full measure, as he released her to return the phone to the desk. He told her that Jarvis was going to do some research and would be dropping by the house later to discuss it further.
He spun around so that he could face her as he spoke in an authoritative voice. "In the meantime Laura, I would prefer that you complete the rest of your errands on some other day and spend the rest of this afternoon with me." Remington stiffened, as she looked over at him her eyes flashing. He was bracing himself for the "I can take care of myself" speech, but was delighted and a little relieved when her features softened and she settled herself in his arms. With her lips close to his ear she whispered, "what exactly do you have in mind Mr. Steele?" Her soft voice sent shivers down his spine as he bent his head to claim her lips in a long passionate kiss. He reluctantly broke the kiss, but not the embrace and quietly suggested that they call it a day and go home. She nodded her head and went over to pick up her hat and purse to join him in the outer office.
Laura leaned against the desk and listened contently as Remington filled Mildred in on the events of the day and informed her that he and Laura would be at home if needed. "Laura", Remington said as he turned around, thinking she was right behind him, but stopped in mid sentence noting to his surprise that she was on the phone. Laura was in process of ordering some vegetable eggroles from their favorite Chinese restaurant to be picked up on their way home. Remington laughed as he realized what she was up to. He turned to Mildred whispering "she will probably want some ice cream to go with that." Mildred winced at the thought of eggroles and ice cream together. Laura hung up the phone, laughing at the look on Mildred's face. She indicated that she was now ready to go. Mildred smiled as she watched them exit through the glass doors, the last thing she heard was Laura asking Mr. Steele if they could stop for ice cream too.

Remington unlocked the door and stood back letting Laura precede him into their Malibu home. They were both laden with packages. Laura juggling her food purchases along with the selected "Notorious" video that Remington had picked out at the local Video Haven flopped down on the couch. Meanwhile, Remington carried her earlier purchases into the bedroom and dropped them unceremoniously into the corner chair, unaware that their cat, Nero was already curled up there. Hearing all of the commotion, Laura flew into the bedroom to see Remington sitting on the floor, packages strewed all over and Nero standing at full attention hissing at his intruder. Laura was laughing at Remington, he in turn not finding any amusement in it gave her a look of disbelief. But, Laura could see the humor begin to creep up into his eyes as she bent over to help him up. In a swift movement he pulled her down across his lap. Cradling her, he began kissing her cheeks, eyes and eventually moving to her soft lips. Breaking the kiss he was still looking down at her, as he reached over and held up a pair of tiny bunny slippers, "These are cute sweetheart, are they for anyone we know?"
Laughing, she reached up and grabbed them clutching them to her chest, "stop teasing me or I won't show you your surprise."

"Laura," he was laughing, his blue eyes sparkling, "would I tease a poor," he kissed her nose, "defenseless" he kissed her eyebrows, "pregnant" he bent down millimeters from her mouth, "beautiful".

Laura opened her eyes real wide, "Yes you would," she said as she gently pushed him back not giving into his intended kiss.

Still laughing he put a hand over his heart, "Oh my dear, you've wounded me!"

Suddenly Laura pushed him onto his back and lying on top of him began to kiss him deeply and passionately until she herself rolled over onto her back in breathless laughter. Remington quickly following her lead, rolled over above her holding her head between his hands while resting on his elbows and knees so as not to crush her. He gave her a long passionate kiss of his own. Pulling back he looked down on her his face full of total adoration "Do you know how much I love you Mrs. Steele?" He whispered.
She reached up and put her arms around his neck pulling his head back down, "about half as much as I love you Mr. Steele," and she continued to kiss him.
Remington reluctantly broke the kiss, " as much as I would love to continue this Mrs. Steele," he arose to his feet and pulled her up with him, "I have some work to do." He gave her a quick kiss and turned to leave the room.
She quickly reached out and grabbed his hand, "we have some work to do Mr. Steele." They smiled at each other as they walked out into the living room.

Laura sat on the couch with her feet tucked under her eating an eggrole and some ice cream. She was looking at Remington who was sitting opposite her in a chair looking through some agency files. "I know Descoine and his daughter are still in prison," he said continuing to thumb through more files.
She held her dish up and asked, "are you sure you don't want some of this? I would be more than happy to share it with you Mr. Steele!"
He raised his head and winced at the thought, "no thanks! I will be glad though, when your eating habits return to normal Laura. I can't believe that stuff is any good for you" nodding his head at her food.
As she opened her mouth to say something back the doorbell rang, "must be Jarvis." he quipped as he jumped up looking at her with an amusing grin, holding out his hand indicating for her to stay seated, "don't bother I'll get it!"

Remington opened the door to a disgruntled Lt. Jarvis leaning on the doorframe. Behind him were two uniformed policemen with a quietly subdued green eyed, blond haired man in handcuffs being held between them. "Good evening Jimmy," he said nonchalantly. His eyes locked on the man, his eyebrows knitted together as he nodded in the direction of the strange man. "What or whom shall I say do we have here?"
Remington was unaware that Laura had approached from behind, until he heard her gasp "oh my Lord!" He quickly slid his arm around her waist, his concern evident as he tightened his hold and pulled her closer to him.
"Who?" was all she could manage to say before she went crashing against him. Jarvis seeing her swoon quickly stepped forward and on bent knee tried to help Remington catch Laura before she slid to the floor.
"Laura!" He frantically called out as he scooped her up into his arms. Remington carried her back into the living room and gently laid her on the couch. He began to tap her lightly on one cheek and than the other, "Laura, honey wake up."
"Sweetheart it's okay, you're ok!" he said as her eyes blinked letting him know she was coming back to reality.
Jimmy Jarvis was standing behind the couch leaning over it trying to assess the situation. "Steele, you want me to call for an ambulance?"
"No" Laura said in a low voice. "I'll be fine," she said pointedly to Remington who helped her up into a sitting position. Remington stood up, his eyes full of concern looking down at Laura as he spoke to Jarvis. "Who is your guest Jimmy?"
Laura turned to look at Jimmy waiting for his answer but instead he said "are you sure you're ok Laura? It would be no trouble at all to get an ambulance out here."
Laura looked up at him, "Thanks but, I'm fine Jimmy. Right now I am more interested in your answer to Remingtons' question."
He sighed and continued, "one of your neighbors called in a complaint, stating that she noticed this guy circling your house, looking in all the windows. She said she didn't think that anyone was home, but was afraid that he was trying to break in. Well, I was down at the front desk when the call came in and recognizing the address and with the description being similar to the one you gave me this afternoon I decided to tag along."
Just then one of the uniformed officers appeared in the doorway, "Lieutenant, we are going to take this guy downtown. The cats' got his tongue and he doesn't have any I.D. on him. We need to book him."
"Go ahead, I will be there shortly as well. I have a few questions for our mystery man." He turned to Remington, "Steele, are you interested in coming with me?"
Remington looked down at Laura as she started to rise from the couch, "Yes I am. But, I will meet you down there Jimmy. I want to take my car so that I won't have to impose on you later to bring me back."
Jarvis already heading for the door turned around with a wave, "ok! But don't be to long Steele. See you later Laura, I hope you are feeling better."
Remington, noticing Laura's anger, moved quickly in front of her and embraced her. Laura was opening her mouth to protest when he placed his finger over her lips and then replaced them with his lips for a long passionate kiss. When he pulled back he lifted her face with his finger under her chin so that their eyes met. "Laura, I think you should stay here and rest. I am going to call Mildred to see if she can come over and stay with you. After that episode, pointing to the front door I would feel better about leaving you if you weren't alone."
Laura was about to protest when she looked up at him and searched his face. She could see the concern and love in his eyes and after all she had to confess she was a bit concerned about her own reaction and if the truth was known, she wasn't feeling all that good either. Her stomach was starting to churn and given what she had just ate well, staying behind might just be for the best. "I hate to admit it but, you are probably right. I agree that staying here is in my, our best interest as she pointed to her stomach. However, Remington I do not need Mildred to come all the way out here just to watch me sleep. I will quietly watch some TV and take a nap, nothing strenuous I assure you. So please go, I will be all right. If I have any problems of any kind I promise to call you, ok?"
Remington still holding her in his arms pulled her closer for a short kiss. "Ok love, if you're sure. I promise I won't be long " and with a short wave he was out the door.

Laura did as she told Remington that she would. She was flipping through the stations until she found a show that was having some kind of tribute to late night shows in prime time. The announcer was giving the lineup for the show and Dick Cavett caught her attention and she laid on the couch to watch and take her mind off the green-eyed stranger at the door. She fell asleep before the first commercial and stayed there until she heard a noise coming from the kitchen. She checked her watch, it had only been an hour and a half since Remington left and she was sure he wouldn't be home yet. She lay there a few more minutes until she heard the noise again. Thinking that Nero must have gotten into something she started for the kitchen. She pushed the door open and there standing in the middle of her kitchen was a man yielding a knife in one hand and a gun in the other. She quickly started to back up as he approached her. His eyes were wide and sparked terror and his hands trembled. "I won't hurt you," he kept saying as Laura froze in her retreat. She was trying to form a plan on how she could get out of here unharmed.
The pain in her stomach had increased and she was frightened as tears threatened to fall. "What do you want? Take anything, just please don't hurt me."
Just then the phone began to ring and they both starred at it for a second as Laura tried to quickly move towards it.
"Don't answer that," he shouted at her. She spun around to look at him, lost her balance and fell onto the couch.

"That's odd," Remington said thoughtfully looking up at Jarvis as he placed the phone back into its cradle.

"What's' that?" Jarvis asked in a puzzled tone.

"I just tried to call Laura and there is no answer. I know she wouldn't go anywhere without having called me here first. I don't like it, either she is sick, or something is wrong. My instincts tell me the latter is likely. Didn't our friend Mr. Abbott," he pointed to the back room, "talk about an accomplice back there? If he is into a baby theft ring, then Laura is ripe for the picking and I'm afraid," he didn't finish his thought as he jolted upright and started to run for the door.
He turned to look over his shoulder. Jarvis was right behind him.

"I'll call the Malibu police from my car Steele, let's get going."

Laura caught the movement of someone on the patio out of the corner of her eye. She thought she saw a glimpse of a police uniform or was she just wishful thinking. The drug he made her inhale was overtaking her senses and her wrists were starting to burn from the ropes he tightened around her. "I love you Remington," she whispered as she drifted into unconsciousness.

Remington looked through the bay window, his fists doubled in anger as he could see Laura's limp body on the couch and her assailant leaning over her, his gun in one hand and stroking her cheek with his other. He could hardly contain himself as Jarvis pulled him back reminding him to wait till everyone was in place. "If you just rush in there, he could kill her." Just as he said that they heard a motor vehicle pull up behind them as they instinctively ducked behind the bushes. It was an unofficial looking ambulance. They looked at each other in amazement as they both came to the same conclusion. This must be how they transported their victims and what the guy inside was waiting for. They continued to watch and motioned for the other police officers to hold back.
Two scruffy looking men jumped out of the front seat and went around the back to remove the stretcher and bring it in to the now opened front door.

"Now what?" Remington whispered to Jarvis. "I am not letting them take her anywhere," he said starting to rise out of their hiding spot.
Jarvis jerked Steels' arm to pull him back down. "Steele, we can take them here and let their superiors go, or we can follow them back to their headquarters and get the entire lot!"

"Jarvis, I can't risk Laura and the baby's lives like that, what if something goes wrong and" Jarvis cut him off in mid sentence, "we're just going to have to make sure nothing goes wrong, won't we?"
Remington sighed, his eyes moist and filled with concern and fear, he hung his head and stated in a low voice, "okay Jarvis, we will do this your way but my first concern is Laura not your investigation, understand?"
Jarvis just shook his head, sure he understood after all it is his wife and child being used as decoys, but he also knew that Laura would say yes if she could.
They continued watching as they brought Laura out on the stretcher and loaded it into the ambulance. Jarvis nudged Remington and motioned with his head for him to follow his lead to move and get into the car. Jarvis held up his radio to the other police officers alerting them that he would be communicating with them on the radio. They nodded in understanding and started to back off to retrieve their hidden vehicles.

They stayed some distance behind but was able to keep up with them. While they were in route Jarvis and Steele made their plan and called in for extra backup relaying their plan to them as well. They turned into this abandoned hospital on the west side of L.A. and they watched as they opened the doors and the three of them accompanied Laura still unconscious into the back of the building. Before exiting their car, Jarvis called for an ambulance to arrive telling them not to use their siren when approaching the address.
When Remington looked at him and was about to speak, Jarvis shrugged his shoulders and simply said, "just in case."
The police spread out surrounding the building as Jarvis and Steele were trying to enter the same back door that they had watched them take Laura through 10 minutes earlier.
Remington pulled out his lock picks, and looking at Jarvis grinning he mouthed the word "later" as he effortlessly opened the door. Taking out a crème-like substance that he had in his pocket, Remington placed it in the lock to prevent the door from latching as they entered.
Jarvis looked at the lock and then back at Steele, "silly putty?"
Steele smiled, "handy" he simply said.
They held their guns steady with both hands as they maneuvered through the corridors looking around corners and into empty rooms. Finally they heard voices and moved on in that direction. They peered into the windows of the doors to what looked like an old operating room. In the middle of the room was Laura, she was hooked up to some kind of a machine and had an I.V. in her arm. 3 people dressed in surgical garb were milling around her.
Just as they were about to enter the room they were grabbed from behind and forced through the doors. Steele and Jarvis began to fight with their surprised attackers as the 3 medical people tried to get away. Steele managed to render his assailant unconscious and go after them.
He leapt and tackled the biggest one, whipping off his surgical mask in the process. "Dr. McCollum" he said in a shocked voice. There stood Laura's' doctor in front of him.
"How could you? She trusted you. I trusted you. Women and their families from all over this city trusted you. You've been using your position to keep these fellows supplied with babies. Babies that they turned around and sold to the highest bidder. You're despicable, please just take him away." Remington handed him over to a police officer that was standing nearest to him, then ran back to the room where Laura was beginning to wake up.
"Remington", she whispered her voice hoarse and her eyes narrowed and searching.
"Yes love, I'm right here" he came up beside her. Taking her hand he laced his fingers through hers and bent over to kiss her gently. She started to rise but a wave of dizziness came over her and she lay back quickly. Remington looking down at her noticed how she looked so small and frightened. She suddenly grabbed her stomach, her eyes wide with fright "something is wrong Remington."
Just then the machine that Laura was hooked up to started to beep. He looked over at it and the graph was going wild. Laura reached up for Remington with her free hand only to have it fall back to her as she passed out. Jarvis eyeing the scene before him was already speaking into his radio telling the ambulance attendants to get up here.
"Laura, hang in there love. Help is on its way. You're both going to be fine." Remington whispering into her ear with more confidence then he felt. He continued to hold her hand, while his other massaged her stomach. "I love you sweetheart," he kept speaking to her as if she could hear every word.
Suddenly he was being pushed aside by two eager ambulance attendants and their gurney. "Sorry Sir, but we have orders." Remington helped them place her on the stretcher and turned to follow them as Jarvis spoke up. "Steele, stay close to her. I don't think we know all of the players in this game yet!"
Remington nodded in his direction indicating that he understood.
"And please keep me informed," Jarvis continued in a concerned voice pointing to Laura as they started to wheel her out the door.
"I will and thanks Jimmy," his voice full of emotion as he shook Jarvis' hand and turned to follow Laura.

To be continued...

My elements were; Nero, film "Notorious", Silly Putty, bunny slippers, eggrolls, Dick Cavett

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