All the characters are a result of the creative genius of JE.

Fredda (Rangergirl1234), thank you so much for agreeing to work with me as the Beta on this story, and for being willing to handle such a delicate and emotional story.

Chapter 1 – Something's Wrong

Stephanie's POV

"Stephanie," the young girl called my name and I stood and dutifully and followed her back to the exam room in the doctor's office.

She smiled at me as though everything in her life was perfect and I swallowed hard to try and resist the resentment that was building in response to her perky outlook.

"Step up on the scales and we'll get the hard part out of the way," she joked, as though my weight were the thing I feared most in going to the doctor's office.

"139," she announced and then winked at me and said, "You're in long pants and boots, so I'll write 137."

"Thanks," my Burg manners wouldn't allow me to tell her what I really thought about her favor in reducing my overall weight, so I smiled and followed her down the hall.

I washed my hands after using the bathing room and then picked up the little cup with the required sample she requested and handed it to her. I wondered if I needed to wash my hands again after handling the cup once more, but I pushed that thought away and continued down the narrow hall to a small exam room.

The world's perkiest nurse took the required vitals and wrote everything down, only commenting that my blood pressure was on the high side of normal. "Are you nervous?" She asked as though it were possible for me to answer 'no, I love coming to the doctor first thing in the morning.'

Then Nurse Happy produced a thin cotton gown and a paper sheet along with the instructions, "Put the ties in the front, cover up with the sheet and relax. The doctor will be with you in a few minutes."

I nodded and waited until the door shut tightly to hop down and follow her instructions. I had barely gotten the sheet tucked in around my legs hoping to have everything covered when the door opened and a man I didn't recognize walked in with his face pointing at my chart as though my medical history were the most interesting reading in the world.

"Miss Plum," he began speaking without looking up. "What brings you in to see me today?"

"Actually, I thought I was going to see Dr. Meyer," I corrected, still unsure who this was.

Finally he looked up and introduced himself, "I'm Dr. Peters and I'm the new partner in the practice. Dr. Meyer is pulling back his hours and I'm picking up the slack." Wow, I got the newbie and I'm slack. I'm not sure which one is more insulting. "So what brings you in to see me today?" He asked once more.

Realizing I was here now and I may as well have something to show for it, I began, "I thought I might have felt something on my chest and wanted to know if it was normal." I knew my face was at least three different shades of red and wondered if I would be able to spill all the necessary details to the man that looked no more than twenty-five, who had now looked back down at my chart once more.

Finally, he sat the paperwork on the counter and walked over to the table where I was sitting. "Any pain or tenderness?" He asked with his hands in his white coat pockets. I nodded, but said nothing, wondering if I could make myself admit to what brought me in.

I had finally captured Jason Jenkins after trying for nearly two weeks. He wasn't violent, so I was given his file, but he was crafty and the bond was fairly high. I'd tried just about every angle to get him but had failed every time. Finally, I convinced Grandma Mazur to help me and she knocked on his front door announcing herself as a bond enforcement agent. He quietly walked to his back door to sneak away where I was waiting with my stun gun at the ready. I didn't think he'd hurt me but my pride told me I had to get him today before the bail was forfeited.

Once I had him in cuffs the effects of the voltage I gave him began to wear off and when he woke up Grandma was smiling at him. "Who are you?" he asked, confused about what happened.

"I told you I was here to take you to the police station but you seemed to think you needed to run, so I had to get a little rough." She said with a straight face, as though she had single handedly knocked him out.

His face was a little green at the idea so I decided to help him out. "Mr. Jenkins we need to get you back to the police station. I am Stephanie Plum and I'll be glad to take you in if you'd like."

He looked between us and nodded quickly. As much as tough guys hated being taken in by a woman I could tell that being taken in by a thirty three year old woman versus someone in her eighties was clearly a better option, so he allowed me to walk him to my car. Grandma's friend Ethel was waiting at the curb and she drove away laughing about how much more fun it was to hang out with me than her daughter. I smiled, thinking how lucky I was to have such a crazy relative. I knew she wasn't exactly the typical grandmother, but compared to her I felt closer to normal.

At the station Jenkins walked in easily and I got my receipt and left with a smile on my face. It had just gotten my first big bond and I wasn't even covered in garbage. My life was pretty good. I decided to celebrate and called in an order at Pino's to carry home and share with Rex.

When I got to the counter Tony behind the register saw me and waved that my sub was ready. I looked down to pull out my wallet from my pocketbook and ran into the back of the person in line ahead of me. I began apologizing profusely, embarrassed to have not been looking where I was going.

"Cupcake," came the friendly voice of Joe Morelli, telling me I hadn't done any harm. "Dinner?" He asked, pointing to the bag on the counter and I nodded.

"I was going to celebrate bringing in Jenkins with no hiccups," I confessed.

He told Tony to put my dinner on his bill and paid for us both. "It looks like we had the same idea. I was just going home to watch the game and kick back. Do you want to hang out for a little while?"

I agreed quickly thinking it would be nice to have a little company. Joe and I had officially called it quits three months ago and after the first few awkward weeks we had shared the occasional game and had lunch a few times, allowing us to rebuild the friendship that was now solid and in its appropriate place in our lives.

We sat on his sofa eating and yelling at the television as though our opinions would sway the referees. After we were done and Bob, Morelli's dog, had finished the scraps of bread and the wax paper the subs had been wrapped in, I found myself leaning against Joe's side with his arm around my shoulder.

I told him about my capture of Jenkins and he laughed at Grandma's Mazur's role, agreeing any man alive would gladly take a ride to the station with me if they had the option of escaping being in a confined space with my grandmother. We laughed and I was glad I came over to have someone to share the night with.

As I was thinking that, we both grew quiet and that familiar feeling of being drawn to Joe came over me. We leaned to each other at the same time and when our mouths touched it felt comfortable, like going back to the same vacation spot you'd been to your whole life. It was fun and predictable, and it felt good to feel wanted so I put my hand on the back of his neck and opened my mouth to his advances.

We kissed for a few minutes before Joe ruined the moment by moving down my neck and saying, "Cupcake, the boys have certainly missed you."

I decided to overlook his comment in the hope of his mouth finding something better to do than engage in conversation. His free hand landed on my thigh and then moved up across my hip to graze my ribs and land on my left breast. He squeezed it gently and I moaned thinking how much I wished he would move his hand to under my shirt and do that again just a little harder.

As if responding to my unspoken thought, he moved his hand to my bare skin and retraced his path to my bra. He began to massage my breast just as I'd hoped he would, but when his fingers dug into the side I sucked in a breath because it felt tender and painful. Joe had never hurt me before so I knew he wasn't touching me that hard. My response didn't make sense. Of course he noticed my reaction and pulled back, immediately moving away from me and running his hand through his hair.

"Steph, I'm sorry…" He stumbled out. "I didn't mean to do that. I know we're just friends, but some habits are hard to break."

I cut him off, knowing I was just as much to blame. "No worries, Joe. I was just as guilty, but I don't think we should do this again." I hoped he understood I meant we shouldn't make out again and I definitely enjoyed his company before that. It felt awkward and neither of us knew what to say, so I stood up and looked around for my purse. "I've got to go, but I appreciate dinner." I said, trying to remember my manners.

He walked me to the door and grabbed my hand as I tried to slip past him. "Steph, I'm really sorry. Are we okay?"

I smiled at my friend. "Yea, we're good." I promised him, hoping it was true. "I'll see you around Joe." I called as I made my way out to my car.

When I got home I jumped in the shower and tried to wash off what almost happened. It's not that Joe was a bad guy; I loved him in a lot of ways. But I knew I didn't love him in the way that counted so what almost happened tonight would have been a huge mistake and I wanted to forget about it.

While I was soaping up I ran my hand over my breast where it had been painful. It seemed fine now, but when I pressed on it there was something small that my fingers slid over. It was like a tiny frozen pea buried in the tissue where my breast met my under arm. I checked the other side, assuming it was probably something I had always had and never noticed, but I couldn't find anything like that on the right no matter now hard I pressed.

I worried about it all night and after not sleeping at all I woke up Friday morning and called the doctor's office to see if I could be seen. I kept telling myself it was nothing and just wanted a doctor to confirm it so that I could relax. But, until I had that confirmation I was going to be on edge. The receptionist was kind enough to get me an appointment first thing Monday morning and as much as I hated dragging myself out of bed for an 8:00 visit to the doctor, I accepted it. Of course now that I was here I was convinced this was all in my head and I just wished for a way to magically disappear to never have to face Dr. Peters again.

The doctor spoke again bringing my attention back to the present. "Let's take a look." He began and instructed me to lie back and assume the position with my arm bent at the elbow and my hand under my head. He untied the bow I had carefully made to keep the gown closed and I began my careful examination of the ceiling tiles while his surprisingly warm hands began to rub little circles on my breast and into my arm pit.

I was thankful I decided to shave with a new razor this morning so I knew there was no stubble there to be embarrassed about. He switched from one side to the other and then went back to the left once more. All the while he sported a blank face that would have made my friends at RangeMan proud.

He finally grunted, pulled the gown closed by overlapping the sides and ignoring the ties and then stepped away to scribble in my chart. I waited as patiently as I possibly could but I finally couldn't take it anymore and said, "Is everything okay?"

He finished his current note before responding, "There is a small abnormality that warrants further testing before I can answer that definitively." He said as though he were describing a stock's performance on Wall Street instead of my body.

Then he picked up a prescription pad and started writing once more. "Take this to the front desk and have them schedule a mammogram. The results from that will give us a lot more to go on and we will decide what our next steps should be then.

"What might the next steps be?" I asked, trying to contain my panic.

"It's too soon to say for sure; it may be perfectly normal or benign, so until you have the test there is no benefit in speculating." I began to relax thinking he would have said something if he thought it might be serious. "Just tell the associate at the front desk to schedule it as soon as possible." That last comment took away any measure of comfort he might have previously given. If it were harmless why was there such a rush to get it done?

I nodded mutely and took the paper he offered. "Once your results are back I'll have someone give you a call to let you know if you need to come back in." He concluded, before extending his hand to shake mine and then walking out.

When the door closed I sat there for a minute trying to figure out what just happened. Fortunately, a feeling of numbness spread over me as I realized I still knew absolutely nothing. Methodically I removed the gown and jumped down from the table to redress. Just before I walked out I turned back and carefully folded the gown and the sheet. I don't know why I did it; I knew it had to be thrown into a bin of dirty linens but I still felt the need to leave the room as neat as I found it. As if I needed further evidence something was wrong, now I was voluntarily cleaning things.

I gripped the little square of paper and walked to the lady at the check-out desk. She smiled kindly and took the paper before typing away madly. Then she picked up the phone and told the person on the other end that she needed to schedule a mammogram for their earliest possible appointment. She paused and waited, continuing to type away.

Finally she held up a card that said, "Tuesday, 7:45 AM" and raised her eyebrows in tandem, apparently asking if that was alright with me. I tried to hold back my internal cringe at having to be up and functional at 7:45 tomorrow morning but I nodded and she provided all the necessary information to secure the appointment on my behalf.

Then she told me, "I'll call your insurance company to confirm the referral from our office for the test so you don't have anything to worry about."

I smiled and thanked her just trying to keep putting one foot in front of the other to make it out to my car. I started it up and began driving without thinking and found myself at RangeMan in the garage. A knock on my window made me jump and scream. I put my hand over my heart as though that simple action could in fact slow my heart rate and then turned off the car and stepped out to a rowdy bunch of Merry Men.

"I know it's early, but you do realize that you have to actually get out of the car and go upstairs for it to count as hours worked," Lester teased.

I smiled and rolled my eyes as a response, which only encouraged him to keep talking as we rode in mass to the fifth floor offices. Based on how the guys were dressed I assumed there had been an alarm at a client. The fact they were so happy probably meant there was a break in of some sort that they were able to interrupt. Strange how using their guns and threatening the bad guys always brought out the playful side of my coworkers.

I walked to my cubicle and sat down, staring at the inbox which had magically refilled itself since I was last in the office. I knew I'd missed a few days but that pile of paperwork was ridiculous. I was just about to turn on my computer when a thought crossed my mind, forcing me to jump up and go to Tank's office.

I knew he was there since he rode up with us in the elevator. I knocked a few times and waited for him to bark, "Enter," before pushing the door open and barging in.

Tank's POV

"Hey little girl, what can I do for you?" I asked when Stephanie opened the door to my office. She stood there for a brief second before moving forward and sitting on the edge of the guest chair across the desk from me. Everything about her was off. She was quiet, slightly dazed, and she looked edgy, like she was not comfortable in her own skin. I didn't want to push her but I needed to know what was wrong.

Finally my patience paid off as she asked, "Do I still have insurance through RangeMan?"

"Yea," I assured her. "The Bossman has kept it on you because of the time you spend doing searches for us, and the risk involved in some of the skips we go after. He didn't want you to ever be without coverage, so you're covered under us." I hoped that explanation was enough to help her relax but it didn't seem to make a difference.

"If someone here were to have a really expensive test run, would it make the cost for everybody go up?" She asked quietly.

I had no idea where this was going but I hated every single possibility my mind was coming up with. "Because of what we do, the policies here are already rated as highly as an insurance carrier can make them. They can't raise the rates any more than they already are, no matter what, so we tell everybody to take advantage of that and let their doctors go test crazy if they need to." I didn't know if the shit I was shoveling was true or not but I hoped she would buy it. She would definitely sacrifice her own health to try and protect RangeMan if she thought it would make a difference.

She nodded as though what I said had been heard but I didn't feel like she was really listening to me. Her eyes were still glazed over and had no sparkle. I stood up and walked around her to shut the door before sitting in the chair next to hers. "Are you going to tell me what's going on?" I asked, hoping she would trust me enough to confide in me.

My words snapped her out of whatever place she'd escaped to and she shook her head no, plastered on a fake smile and said, "No, nothing's wrong. I just needed a little information and knew you were the man with all the answers."

She toyed with the hem of the shirt she was wearing before smoothing it out quickly.

"I don't meant to overstep here, but I think that's bullshit." I confronted her. This might be one of those situations that needed to be handled carefully and delicately, but that was never my strong suit. I just decided to call it like I saw it and I knew she was lying.

Her eyes got bigger and when she looked at me they began to fill with tears before she looked up to the ceiling to try and blink them away. I reached out for her hand, holding its small form between my much larger ones. "You know any man here would give anything to think he might be able to help you in some way, right?"

She nodded, "I know that." She put her free hand on top of mine and I looked at the pile of limbs in her lap and smiled.

Most people would be terrified to even be alone with me, much less have me touching them this closely, but not our Stephanie. It was that thought that made me press a little more. "Can you tell me now what's bugging you?"

I had expected her to deny anything was wrong so when a sob came out of her mouth I was caught off guard and suddenly wished I hadn't opened my big trap and insisted she open up to me. I had expected a story about a guy, not tears. What in the hell was I supposed to do with tears?

I looked around as though the white walls of my office might contain an answer. She leaned over and put her forehead on top of our joined hands and I couldn't bear it anymore. "Come here, little girl," I told her, pulling her into my lap and cradling her against my chest. Thank God Ranger wasn't here or he'd call me to the mats. Although whether he would be attempting to kick my ass for making her cry or holding her so closely, I wasn't sure. Of course if he were here she'd be in his lap so this whole scenario wouldn't be an issue.

I was never good with words so I just stayed quiet and held her tightly. When she began to settle down she tried apologizing for wetting my shirt. Honestly, I hadn't noticed so I blew it off and interrupted her request for forgiveness. "Can you tell me what's going on?"

She shook her head no and said, "I can't talk about it yet. It's probably nothing because I tend to overreact, but thank you for letting me fall apart here." Her hands began to dry her face. "I think I'm going to head back home and maybe come back in the morning…"

She stopped talking then and shook her head before starting again, "I guess I'll be here in the afternoon. I have a morning appointment so I'll be late tomorrow." Then she jumped up and walked to my door. With her hand on the door knob she said, "Thank you Tank. I needed that," and then she was gone.

I sat in my chair trying to figure out what just happened. What did she need and what did I do that she was thanking me for? I ran back through the few words she said and tried to piece together the possibilities. My best guess was that she had a doctor's appointment in the morning and whatever the reason, she was totally freaked out about it.

I jumped up and hit a familiar extension waiting to hear, "Brown," before speaking. "My office, just you."

I sat back down at my desk and waited for him to appear. "Shut the door," I instructed, and waited to hear it click shut before speaking.

"Something's wrong with Stephanie." I began, realizing I had nothing else to offer.

"What?" Bobby followed up, showing how prematurely I'd brought this up.

"I don't know. She came in my office asking about the effect on our health insurance premiums if she had an expensive medical test run and then when I pressed her on it she burst into tears but wouldn't tell me any details." I summed up.

"Shit," he commented, letting out a breath. "That doesn't sound like her."

"She said she has an appointment in the morning that's going to make her late for work so I'm betting it has something to do with this insurance question. Is there anyway to find out what's going on?" I asked, hoping he knew something I didn't.

"There's not a legal way to know. Insurance companies don't disclose medical information to employers. Do you know who her doctor is?" Bobby asked.

"Negative," I replied, coming up empty once more.

"Then we'll just have to wait and see if she acts any differently after her test. A lot of doctors overreact and order tests that aren't necessary. She's probably fine." He tried assuring me but the look on his face told me he didn't believe it any more than I did.

"Should we call Ranger?" he finally asked, breaking the silence.

"Not yet. There's nothing to report and she didn't give me permission to share our discussion with anyone." I didn't doubt for a minute that Bobby would keep this discussion just between us. He might only be a medic but that guy understood client doctor privilege and would die before betraying someone's confidence in a medical matter.

He stood up and froze at the door just like Stephanie had. "You'll let me know if you learn anything else though, right?"

"Affirmative," I confirmed, giving him permission to leave. That was a discussion I could handle. No tears; just facts, and silent understandings.

There was nothing I could do about it so I threw myself into the pile of paperwork that always swamped me when Ranger was away on a mission. Despite having plenty to occupy my mind I kept worrying about Stephanie and realized by the end of the day I had accomplished very little. I finally shut down my computer and headed down to the gym to work out. I may not be able to understand women, but I understood the need to beat the shit out of something and there was a punching bag down there just waiting for me.

A/N: My mother has been diagnosed with a terminal form of cancer. I wanted to write a story that would help to capture some of the struggles she's had through the process as a tribute to her strength and determination. Stephanie's story will have a happy ending both emotionally and physically, but to all those who endure what Stephanie will and do not get the good news at the end of this story, my heart goes out to you. This story is completely fiction and the medical portions are not meant as factual medical advice, they are there to move the story along. I see this is as an emotional story of friendship and love and I hope we can enjoy the journey together. Thanks for reading along and giving me the chance to write something very different from my typical story.