This is a Babe story and a neutral Cupcake story.

I don't think of Morelli as a bad guy. He's just a regular guy who makes the mistakes most of our own men do. My stories are darker with some angst. The JE characters are dear to me but seem to never move along and don't have real emotions. Stephanie gets out of every scrape and the triangle never ends. Not real. I like to introduce new characters too. Read my story to the end as difficult as it may be. The endings are happy and the story line however painful has real meaning. Be kind I'm a new writer.

Warning-Mature content, a couple laughs, some tears, happy ending. Characters mostly not my own.

I have a new beta and I want to thank her for all her help with cleaning up my stories. You're the best mandyh!

Note-You might want to read Chapter 12 again if you read this story early. I took suggestions and made suttle changes throughout the story. Read it again before the sequel.

Lost and Found

Chapter 1

My alarm clock buzzed a little before eight and I rubbed my eyes and stared at the ceiling. Lately when I woke up and the morning fog cleared in my head, I wasn't bouncing right out of bed to start my day; I was rolling over and wanting to pull a pillow over my head and go back to sleep. This was my version of depressed. I had things I needed to work out for me for a long time. I had procrastinated myself into a flat, not going anywhere lifestyle. Kind of like an out-of-date Tastykake.

I rolled out of bed and padded to the kitchen and started the coffee pot. Then I turned around and looked at the calendar on the fridge. It was almost fall and my birthday was coming up. I was in my 30's now and time kept going but I wasn't. Yep, I was stale and I wasn't feeling good about myself lately.

While in the shower I was thinking about my current situation. I was on again with Joe Morelli. Joe had been in my life since I was in grade school. He had tricked me into playing a naughty version of choo-choo when I was six, relieved me of my virginity when I was in high school and had been my on-again, off-again boyfriend for the last few years.

Joe was good to me and safe and he was a playful and satisfying lover. Then there was the other man in my life, Ranger. He had begun as my bounty hunter mentor, became a good friend and graduated to a magical lover. He was mysterious like Batman; he had relationship and personal issues and cared about me very much. He was like my superhero guardian angel and maybe has even killed for me in the past. My big problem was that I loved both men.

A few minutes later I was shrugging on some jeans and a t-shirt. I headed for the kitchen and looked in the fridge and cabinets for food. There was nothing but Rex food in the house. I fed Rex, my hamster, a kibble, poured some coffee in a go cup and headed for the Tasty Bakery. That's the place where Morelli coaxed me out of my virginity behind the cannoli case. I picked out an assorted dozen and headed to Vinnie's bonds office.

Vinnie is my pervy cousin. He's married but has a thing for ducks and maybe other animals too but he's a pretty good bail bondsman. I walked in and Connie looked up at me. We had gone to school together and she was Vinnie's long time office manager and she didn't take any shit from him. "Hey girl", she said. "What you got there, the good stuff?"

"That I do. I'll trade you for something that will turn into a paycheck. I got rent due."

"I got one for you. I don't know what it is about fall but we always fall off this time of year. It's like the quiet before the Christmas rush," Connie said. "Here you go, Antonio Aulisi, known as 'the Vet'. He's an old ex-Mafioso type, old extortion charges. The bond amount is pretty good and he's 78 years old. How bad could he be?"

I looked at Connie cross-eyed. My apprehension record was excellent but painful; I was getting better at it, however getting whacked was not on my bucket list. Then I thought about my rent and my current state of mind and sighed. "Okay, give it here," I said.

About that time Lula blew in. "Hey girlfriends, I'm a little late cause my baby was actin' up this mornin'."

"What's wrong with your Firebird," I said.

"Oh, it ain't my car; it was my Pro Peter Deluxe vibrator. Musta' burned it out again or somethin."

"Oh Jeez", I said. And I was feeling sorry for myself this morning. My eye was twitching trying to block visuals from coming through.

"Don't judge me skinny bitch, it's like my mornin' coffee, gets me goin'. I don't have two hot hunks takin' care of me right now you know."

Connie said, "You're gonna' make me yak up my doughnut and it was good one."

Lula said, "Gimme one of them doughnuts, that's the other thing that gets me goin'. I'm stressed, I need some sugar."

"Lula, how do you feel about going after a geriatric Mafioso with me?"

"Those old fuckers are mean and they got guns!"

"Yeah, but his bond is 100k and I need rent money. What about you?"

"Ack, on the doughnut. Grab that box and let's go." I currently owned a used Mazda 6 and it was the nicest car that I had owned in a while. I held my breath every time I went after a skip (person who fails to appear in court) because my cars had a habit of getting exploded or burned to a crisp. We jumped in it and headed to Aulisi's home address.

Lula said, "We got a plan?"

"Yes, don't get shot or killed or blown up," I said.

"Sounds good to me. You got your gun?"

"Nope. Stun gun and pepper spray and my cuffs."

We pulled up to a big house at the Mercerville address.

I looked at Lula. "Ready?" I said.

She shook her head no. That wasn't the answer I was hoping for.

I said, "Okay, How about we go get him and then we go get some chicken, not be the chickens."

That did it. She went to open the door and started clucking like a chicken.

"Little white girl gonna' get my fine ass shot off and I'm not wearin' my best thong today either."

We went to the door and rang the bell. A big beefy guy answered the door.

"Hello, is Mr. Antonio Aulisi here?" I asked.

"Who wants to know?"

"Ah, Stephanie and Lula," I said.

Lula belched out. "We got one of them singin' gram things for him. Send him out so we can give it to him"

He smiled, "If you're gonna' strip too, come on in."

"No need, it's a good surprise all you have to do is send him out," I said.

He looked a little wary, but I guess we looked like harmless goof balls so he told us he'd be right back.

I said to Lula, "Singing gram? What exactly is our plan?"

Lula said, "When he gets out here just follow me and then we snatch his old ass and tell him we're takin' him to a club or somethin'. But not the cop club."

"Oh shit, we are gonna' die today," I said.

An elderly man walked out to the front porch smiling and he wasn't small. Lula and I looked at each other.

I said, "Are you Mr. Antonio Aulisi?"

"You got something for me ladies?" he smiled.

Lula started bustin' a move and with what sounded more like caterwauling than singing, "Give it to me baby, Give it to me baby. You're pretty fly for a big white guy…you just come with us and we'll show you a good time"…

Oh jeez, I hope nobody I knew was hanging out in this neighborhood. I started wiggling my butt and trying to keep up with Lula.

I got one of Aulisi's arms and started moving him off the porch and to the car.

I kept looking behind me and when I thought I saw the big guy inside I started moving him faster. I whipped open the door and pushed him in the front seat.

Lula chucked herself in the back and I slammed on the gas.

Mr. Aulisi's face started to change and he said, "Where the hell are you taking me?"

"Boy somebody really likes you, they got you us and a singing gram and we're not done yet, "I said. Then he grinned at me.

Right then my phone rang. "Lo?"

"Babe, who's in your car?"

"Oh yeah, Mr. Aulisi? We're taking good care of him," I said.

"Babe, they call him "the Vet" because he chokes guard dogs with his bare hands. Look at his hands."

Gulp, I looked down and 78 years old or not those hands were big, real big.

Ranger said, "Lester sent me a video from his phone. Did you trick "the Vet" into getting into your car?"

"Maybe", I said

"Is he cuffed?" Ranger asked.

"Nope," I said.

"Do you have your stun gun because when you get near the cop shop he is going to choke you," Ranger said. You have a tail and if I wasn't afraid for you right now I would have to laugh at this whole ridiculous situation. Have I taught you nothing that sticks?"

"Yes I have it and not much," I said.

"Lester is following you too and he'll take care of the tail. I'll meet you at the station." He hung up.

I reached into my bag and put my hand on my stun gun and I pointed out Aulisi's side of the window. "Look over there at the cute dog." I winced and I pitched the gun back to Lula. Then I said, "Get ready Lula, We are going to have such a good time with Mr. Aulisi."

I was racing as fast as I could toward the police station. I was trying to lose the tail and trying not to get pulled over too. Lula was talking to Aulisi and keeping him occupied and that was helping me because I was terrified. I just didn't want him to notice that I was terrified. The only good thing was that maybe he didn't have a gun on him.

When I turned the corner and headed into the station he looked at me with realization in his eyes. I begged, "Please Mr. Aulisi if you don't hurt us, we won't hurt you. We do fugitive apprehension and you missed your court date. We brought you to get you bonded again and if it hadn't been us to come get you some bigger and meaner guys would have."

Then he shocked me and he started laughing. He said, "You're bounty hunters? You gals got some fucking balls on you, I'll give you that."

Ranger had walked up to the car and opened Aulisi's door. He said, "I need to cuff you before I take you inside Mr. Aulisi. Do we have a problem?"

Mr. Aulisi winked at me and got out of the car. I walked in with Ranger and got my paperwork and I told Mr. Aulisi I was really sorry. He just grinned at me.

We walked back outside and Ranger started to open his mouth, closed it and just said, "Babe." Then he grinned at me, too. He kissed me at my temple and got in his truck and left.

Lula was back in the front when I got in the car. She said, "Girlfriend I'm a wreck, we almost got killed. Take us to Cluck-in-a-Bucket now. I'm gonna pass out if I don't get some chicken. I'm gettin' weak."

When I got ready to start the car, I looked up at the door and out came a guy from Virginia I hadn't seen in a long time. I called out, "Nash is that you?" He walked up to the car.

"Hey there little darlin'. Fancy seeing you here! I was thinking about looking you up while I was in town. Would you like to have dinner with a lonely guy that's got nothing to do tonight?" he said.

"Sure, I don't have any plans tonight. Where are you staying?" I asked.

"Marriott Downtown, How about 7PM. You pick the place and I'll pay," he said.

"I'll meet you in the lobby of the Marriott," I said. He winked and walked away.

I looked over at Lula, "What?"

"Little white girl got three fine ass men now and there ain't nothin' goin' on in my neck of the woods. You gonna' haveta' start sharin!"

We went to get chicken and drove back to the bond office to present Connie with our papers so we could get our checks. We were pretty proud we didn't get shot at or rolled in the mud or get food on us and decided to reward ourselves and go shopping the next day.

TBC