I was listening to the song "Light Up The Sky" by Yellowcard when I got the idea for this one-shot. The song is on youtube if any one wants to check it out. All familiar characters belong to Janet Evanovich. Any mistakes are mine. Warning for language.

I was out the door three seconds after the call went out. I had her cell already ringing before I hit the bottom of the stairwell. No answer. Fuck! I knew her car was on fire somewhere near Stark, but I didn't know if anyone was hurt. Car fires are nothing new to Stephanie Plum. And she usually walked away from them without getting badly hurt. But one of these days her luck was going to run out. I just prayed that today wasn't that day.

I screeched out of the garage and got to the accident sight in under five minutes. There's a reason why my cars were always new and always fast. I scanned the area as I got out of the Turbo and spotted Steph. Her eyes were fixed on the ball of fire that used to be her car so she didn't notice me right away. She must really be upset if the tingling she claimed to feel along her neck telling her that I was near wasn't getting a reaction. I wasted no time crossing the lot to where she was standing. She had her arms wrapped around herself and looked like she was seconds away from crying. I was pulling her into my arms before I even realized what I was doing. I could feel her hands at my back, her fingers clutching my T-shirt like it was a life line. Maybe for her it was. We were standing locked together, not bothering to acknowledge the activity around us when an angry Italian voice interrupted.

"What the hell happened now, Cupcake?"

I felt Stephanie stiffen in my arms at the sound of his voice. She took a deep breath, lifted her head from where it had been tucked into my chest, and let her arms drop. I instantly felt the loss as she turned and faced Morelli.

"I'm okay, Joe," she said."Thanks for asking."

I couldn't keep the grin off my face at that answer. I still couldn't figure out why she chose to listen to his constant tirades. I know that I've been accused of not saying enough, but that has to better than listening to the crap that flew out of Morelli's mouth every time Steph found herself in the middle of something. I wanted to kick my own ass for ever saying that he was better for her than I was. I made a mistake. One that I couldn't fix it since they'd been mostly together ever since. I could see that Morelli was working up a good head of steam now, and it wouldn't be long before it all came rushing out. Maybe he'd shoot himself in the foot here and I'd have the chance I've been waiting for.

"I had just walked into the station when they told that me your car got bombed. Again. Would you like to tell me why?"

"Not especially, no."

"Why can't you just face the fact that you can't do this?" Morelli asked her."You end up spending more time with the police than the people you try to bring in do. Why can't you find something you're good at instead of being stubborn and sticking with this job when clearly you can't do it?"

I could see his temper flare and hear his voice start to rise, so I decided to step in before he made the situation worse. I wasn't doing for him, but Steph has had a hell of a night and he didn't need to make it worse.

"Are you free to leave, Babe?" I asked her."Or do you still need to talk to the police first?"

Joe wasn't smart enough to back off."I am the police, Manoso, remember?"

Steph answered before I could say anything to him."You are, Joe, but maybe I don't want to talk to you. Did you ever think of that?" Steph asked him."You don't even bother to ask how I am anymore before you start in on me. Did it ever occur to you to ask yourself why?"

"Now is not the time for this, Cupcake," Morelli said.

"I think it's the perfect time," Steph said."These days, you don't seem to care at all about my well being unless it has something directly to do with yours. Well I'm done! I'm not putting up with it anymore!"

"Stephanie, you don't know what you're saying," Morelli said, shaking his head."Come on, I'll take you home. And after you get some sleep we can discuss this rationally."

Steph's hands went to her hips and I knew Morelli was just about to have his balls handed to him. I took a step back and just enjoyed the show.

"You're not listening to me! I'm not going anywhere with you. Tonight, tomorrow, or the day after. And I'm not talking to you, either. I mean it. This passive aggressive thing we have going is over. I almost didn't make it out of that," she said, gesturing to the burning pile of metal,"and it made me realize a few things. One of them being that I don't think we should waste anymore of each others' time. I mean look at you right now. You're not even concerned about the fact that I came close to dying tonight!"

Hearing her say that made the fear I'd put aside come racing back to the forefront of my mind.

"That's not true, Steph," Morelli said."I was just worried, that's all. You can understand that, can't you? Let's just go home and we can talk about this."

I could see that Stephanie was close to her breaking point. It looked to me like she'd said what she needed to and was now going to collapse under the stress of it.

"I'll see that she gets home," I told Morelli.

"Nice of you to offer, Manoso," Morelli said, not even trying to keep the sarcasm from his voice,"but she's coming with me."

"You want to bet on that?" I asked him. Stephanie's eyes flicked back and forth between the two of us sensing trouble.

Joe's eyes narrowed and for one moment I willed him to take a swing at me. I wouldn't mind beating some sense into him, but I could tell Steph didn't need anything else to happen tonight.

"Ranger can take me home," she said to Morelli.

Joe zeroed in on her."Be very careful what you say, Stephanie, because if you leave with him right now, there's no fucking way I'll ever take you back."

Steph turned to me."Ready?" she asked me. If I was a different kind of man, everyone in Jersey would know how happy that one word made me.

The differences between Morelli and I couldn't have been more obvious than they were tonight. He was ready to go off into another self indulgent tantrum, and I just wanted to take Steph back to Rangeman and go over every inch of her to convince myself that she really was okay.

After one more glare at Steph and I, Morelli stalked off. I had to know if she was serious about leaving with me. "Are you sure about this, Babe? He looked like he meant it this time."

"You know what, Ranger? I think he did mean it. And so did I."

I hoped it was true, but I've seen this happen over and over again. They'd get mad. They'd break up. And then they'd get back together a week later. At least, I'd have tonight with her before they did. Although it wasn't ideal; because I wanted her for more than a night, I'd accept it.

I wrapped my arm around her waist and moved her towards my Turbo. I didn't bother asking her where she wanted to go. I just put the car in drive and headed to Rangeman.

She was sitting in the passenger seat with her head leaning against the window, her eyes closed. That wasn't something I was worried about. What I was worried about, was the fact that she had been absolutely silent during the ten minute drive. Now I know why she always found my 'driving zone' frustrating. She's had a lot of close calls up till tonight, but she always bounced back. Often making jokes about how she got to be in the situation to begin with. Tonight was different. And I had to say that she was making me uneasy.

I pulled into the underground garage below Rangeman and shut the car off."Come on, Babe, you've had a rough night," I waited for her to slide out of the car, and put my arm back around as we headed towards the elevator.

"Do you want to talk about it?" I asked her after we walked into my apartment. I didn't want to hear her say she was going to forgive and forget what had happened with Morelli, but I wanted her to know I was here for her no matter what.

"Not right now. Tomorrow okay?"

"Whatever you want, Babe."

She went to take a shower, and since she didn't have any clothes here other than her uniforms, I left out one of my T-shirts to sleep in. Ella had noticed a few of them were missing and I was pretty sure I knew where they went. The thought of her sleeping in my clothes, even though she wasn't technically with me, filled me with a sense of satisfaction that I wasn't prepared for.

After twenty minutes I could hear the shower still running. I knew Steph really liked my shower, but this was excessive even for her. Plus, I suddenly had a strong feeling that she needed me. I forced myself to try opening the door first by the handle instead of just breaking it down like I wanted to. She had left it unlocked which was surprising. We both knew it wasn't safe to tempt each here, since there was no one around to stop us if we started anything. I looked towards the shower and saw her sitting on the floor of it, her arms holding her knees close to her chest, obviously sobbing.

I've been sent out on suicide missions. I've been tortured on more than one occasion. And I've killed more than I'm comfortable with some days, but I couldn't take the sight of Stephanie Plum crying. I opened the glass door and turned the water off. She finally picked her head up to look at me.

"You can do a lot of things in my shower, Babe," I said to her,"but crying isn't one of them." I pulled her out of the shower, and quickly wrapped a towel around her.

"I'm all right," she finally said."I just lost it there for a minute. It's been a long day."

"I know it has," I said to her."That's why I brought you here, so you could deal with it without being disturbed by anyone."

I brought my T-shirt and a pair of her embroidered Rangeman panties into the bathroom for her, and closed the door behind me so she could get dressed. If a T-shirt and panties could be considered dressed. Of course, if Stephanie was the one wearing them I'd argue that, and say that she was over-dressed.

I let her get settled into bed before I changed into my silk boxers and climbed in behind her. I wasn't going to try anything, but I wanted her to know that she wasn't alone. I held her until she finally fell asleep. I wasn't as lucky in the sleeping department. Having her in my arms was causing a predictable response. But more than that, I didn't like the idea that she was that heartbroken over another man. Even if it was the man that I had pushed her back to. I closed my eyes and just concentrated on the sound of her breathing.

Steph was still lying in my arms a few hours later, her head pillowed on my chest, and I felt the moment she came awake. I could tell without looking at the clock that it was around three in the morning. I wasn't sure if she was going to say something or go right back to sleep. I heard her sigh and knew she was finally ready to talk. I tightened my arms around her, letting her know that I was awake.

"I'm sorry about tonight," she said to me."I don't know what got into me. I've been through worse than someone trying to blow my car up with me in it. You'd think I'd be numb to it now."

"Believe me, Babe, you don't want want to become numb to anything. I know from experience that you miss out on too much that way."

"What do you mean?" She asked.

I didn't want to get into that until I knew how long the Morelli split was going to last."What happened tonight?" I asked, getting back to the conversation.

"The same thing that always happens to me." She gave a small laugh."I brought in Gabriel Ruelard yesterday morning. It was a good capture, too. He was young and not too bright. I was able to convince him without too much effort to come back to the station with me. Unfortunately, Vinnie didn't bond him out again; said he wasn't worth the money. So later on, when I was staking out another FTA near Stark Street, his brother decided to show how unhappy he was with me for getting his little brother locked up again. He threw a Molotov cocktail at my car. I made it out a minute or so before the gas tank caught. He must have been close by when I picked up Gabriel to know what car I was driving."

She sounded matter of fact now, but I remembered how she looked when I arrived. And I knew she had been more scared than she let on."And the brother?" I asked.

"I told the police about Martin, Gabriel's brother, being the one that blew up my car. I'm assuming they have him in custody by now. He's not hard to find, and he has a big mouth. He's probably already told half of Trenton about what he'd done."

"That's an exciting night even for you," I said to her, brushing a kiss to the top of her head."And then you had a fight with Morelli on top of it." I caught one of her curls between my fingers and was testing the elasticity of it, not thinking that I had given anything away with my comment, when she tipped her head back and looked up at me. In any other relationship this would appear completely fucked-up. Stephanie wearing my shirt, sleeping in my bed, comfortable in my arms, while talking about her relationship with another man. Well, my mother had always said that I never chose the easy path in anything that I did. I guess she was right once again.

"I wasn't crying over Morelli," she said."If anything, I feel relieved that we've finally ended it. We love each other, but we're not right for each other. I've never had the backbone to do it before, but I finally figured out what I want in my life. And it wasn't what I had with Joe. What I was crying about was that even though I know exactly what I want, I probably won't ever get it. And realizing that I could really die at any moment just brought that point home to me."

I didn't know what to say. That sounded promising, but she didn't come right out and say that I was what she wanted. Fuck it! Maybe it was time that I man up and just tell her what she means to me. I wasn't as hesitant as I thought I would be at the thought. It somehow seemed easier to admit to what I was feeling in the darkness of the bedroom. I had the woman that I craved in my arms where she belonged, and the knowledge that whatever I said tonight wouldn't leave this room when the sun came up. I felt free to finally give in to what I had been denying for years.

"You know that I want you, Babe. That I have wanted you. But it doesn't stop there."

"What are you saying?" She asked me.

"I'm saying that if you and Morelli are over for good, and you have no plans on going back to him, I want to give the two of us a chance. I've been to a lot of places, and I've had contact with many different types of people, but I've never been faced with someone quite like you. Do you know how rare it is for a man like me to come across a person like you? Someone who doesn't want to use me for my reputation. Who respects me, but not out of any sense of fear. You see more of the man that I am over the image I project. You're not impressed by the money that I've made; in fact you seem to be more embarrassed by it. And now that I've become a part of your life, I don't want to ever lose what we have. But I also want to add to it. I need more than just sex from you. I want equal parts of every aspect of your life."

"Are you saying you want a relationship with me?"

"Babe, we're already in one," I said to her."I just want to have clearer perimeters around it."

"Hmm ..."

"It's not going to be easy, Babe," I said to her, giving her more time to digest what I had just said."You'll need to have more protection around you at all times. You're going to have to deal with more crap than you and Joe had ever produced. And your mother and Morelli will make your life hell if you let them. Are you up for that?"

"For the first time, I think I'm one step ahead of you, Ranger," she said."I've already thought about all of those things, and I'm willing to deal with any security, gossip, and family if you are."

"Be very, very, sure, Babe," I said to her, serious,"because if you start something with me there is no walking away for either one of us. I've never settled for half of anything until I met you. And I plan on rectifying that. If I do have you, I want every part. No more excuses about potential danger or differences in lifestyles. If you want me in the same way that I want you, than the only thing that will separate us is death. That's how committed I am to what we could have together. Does that scare you?"

"Nope," she said.

That's all I get? I finally say what I've been keeping from everyone, including myself, for years and all I get is a nope? I don't think so. I grabbed her shoulders and slid her the rest of the way up the bed so that her head was on the pillow facing me.

She had a big smile on her face, and I was momentarily distracted from what I was about to say.

"I'm up for anything you want to throw at me," she said to me, closing the small distance between us again."And from the feel of it you're up for anything, too."

Seconds later, my boxers hit the floor along with her T-shirt and my last wall of defense against her.

The sun was making it's way into the sky, but neither of us noticed. We were busy making our own light.