All characters belong to JE and warning, spoilers from the end of book twelve.

"Do you want to follow them to the hospital?" Morelli asked.

I nodded again.

Morelli buckled me in and ran around to the driver's side. 'He might be okay' Morelli said.

Just as the words came out of his mouth the phone rang. He felt Steph tense next to him anticipating what the person on the other end of the call might say.

"Yeah" Joe said flipping the phone open to answer the call. It was Eddie Gazarra on the other end.

"He didn't make it" Eddie said.

Shit! Joe hung up the phone without saying anything and looked over at Steph.

"Its bad news isn't it?" She whispered

"Steph I'm so sorry... Ranger died in the ambulance"

All Steph could do was stare out the window. Tears streamed down her face.

"Please take me to the hospital... I want to say good bye"

"Of course, we'll be there soon"

Joe's heart was breaking just looking at her, she was so sad. But there was not much he could do at the moment. He would be there to comfort her when they arrived at the hospital.

Steph couldn't believe what was happening. Ranger was dead. It didn't seem real to her, like she was living a nightmare and she would wake up soon and everything would be ok. She vaguely heard Joe's voice next to her but she wasn't really listening. There was a strange emotion sitting in her heart that she couldn't quite understand yet.

"Steph? Do you want me to come with you?" Joe asked softly in ear.

She nodded. She didn't know what she was doing or what she was feeling but she knew that she didn't want Joe to leave her side... ever.

Joe took Steph's hand and gently led her towards Ranger's room. He stopped at the door.

"Are you sure you want to do this?"

She nodded again.

Ranger was just lying there, almost like he was sleeping, but he wasn't. He was covered in blood. You couldn't see it really because the hospital sheet was over him but it had started to seep through. His eyes were shut and when Steph touched his hand, he felt cold. While Steph was standing there, the same emotion trickled through her heart, just lightly, so she could only just feel it but she knew it was there. Steph stood there holding Ranger's hand while she could feel Joe's presence next to her; finally she felt as though she couldn't stand there anything longer. She bent down and kissed him softly on his forehead.

"Good bye" she whispered softly and let one single tear drop onto his cheek. Then she turned and buried herself into Joe's arms and he took her back out into the waiting room so she could calm down.

When the tears streaming from Steph's eyes ceased, she suddenly felt trapped in this hospital and it was making her feel sick.

"I want to go home" she said to Joe.

Joe nodded and led her out to his car.

"Cupcake, where do you want to go?" he asked, he wasn't sure that she'd want to go to his house after the events of tonight but she surprised him anyway.

"To your house" she said and stayed quiet for the rest of the ride home.

When they arrived at Joe took Steph upstairs and helped her undress and get into bed. Once she was under the covers, Joe undressed himself and got into bed next to her. Steph immediately rolled into Joe and put her head on his shoulder. Joe put his arms around her and pulled her close. Steph cried herself to sleep.

2 weeks later, Ranger's Funeral

Steph looked beautiful in her black dress as she stared at herself in the mirror. The last two weeks had been hell for her, but luckily she'd had Joe by her side the whole time. The pain was starting to ease slightly and she was sleeping through the night now.

"Cupcake, are you ready to go?" Joe asked softly from behind her.

"Yeah, I'll be right out" Steph replied, turning around to see Joe looking unbelievably sexy in his police uniform.

Joe kissed her on the cheek and whispered in her ear "It's going to be all right... you look beautiful by the way"

Steph smiled into the mirror. It was the first smile Joe had seen in 2 weeks. His heart pumped hard in his chest and he was hoping that this was the beginning of Steph getting better.

When they arrived at the funeral, there were lots of people around in different uniforms. Some Steph knew, some she didn't. Steph saw Tank standing with Lula in the front row and she went over to see them, Joe followed behind her, nodded to people he knew.

"Hey sweetie, how are you holding up?" Lula asked when they reached her. Tank and Joe shook hands.

"I'm ok" Steph answered and for the first time since the event she felt a little better.

The four took their seats as the service started and Joe took Steph's hand and she squeezed it back to show that she was appreciated his support.

Steph cried throughout the funeral, but at the end she felt strangely free, she knew that Ranger wouldn't want her to keep moping around and she felt that she owed it to him to make something of herself.

10 Days later

"Vinnie you can't stop me, I've already made my decision, I quit."

"What am I going to do?" Vinnie yelled, "Who's going to catch those stupid skips?"

"I don't know, hire someone else, but I'm done" Steph said finally and walked out of Vinnie's office, she smiled and high-fived Connie on her way out. When Steph stepped out on the sidewalk she felt happy and she thought to herself; I'm going to make something of my life, and I love Joe. She laughed and got in her car. Before she could take off her phone rang. It was Joe.

"Hey sexy, what's up?" She asked cheerfully.

"Oh nothing I thought we could grab some lunch but due to how you answered the phone I'm considering just taking you home" he said with a husky voice.

Steph laughed and said "Nah, lunch sounds good, I have some great news for you anyway"

"Great I'll see you in 20"

Seeing as they didn't actually say where they were meeting Steph assumed it was Pino's, which didn't bother her at all. So she headed on over and took their usual seat by the window.

When Joe walked in he spotted her straight away and kissed her a bit harder then normally accepted in public.

"So" he said "What's this good news?"

"I quit Vinnie's"

Joe stared open mouthed, "So you're not a bounty hunter anymore?"

"Nope" Steph replied with a smile

"I can't say I'm not relieved but are you sure this is what you want to do?"

"I'm sure"

Joe took Steph's hand from across the table and gently kissed it.

"I'm starting a new life, doing what I want to do, not something I have to do for money"

I'm trying to decide whether i should continue this story or leave it as a one shot, please review and let me know what you think.