Author: Cutsycat
Spoilers/Warnings/Disclaimer:These are JE's characters. All data/information included in this fic I have made up. I have changed Joe's character and turned him into an underwear model.

Joe's Promise

"Hey, Cupcake," Joe says to me.

I slowly turn around, noticing Joe for the first time. I have been standing and staring at Joe's new apartment for the last couple of minutes. He has been living here for about a year, but this was my first time seeing it. "Hey, Joe"

"What are you doing down here, Cupcake? New York isn't your normal stomping ground."

"Well, one of my skips decided to skip town and I traced her to here. Seeing as how I made you that promise to visit, I decided to stop by and see how your new job is going."

"The job's great. I'm really enjoying it. It sure beats chasing criminals and seeing all the dead bodies you find."

"So you like showing off your ass, huh?"

"Well, everyone knows I have the best one in the world."

"In the world, Joe? I don't know about that I think Ric and his merry men all have pretty good asses, too. I'd be hard pressed to pick between all of you."

"Yeah, but they're not the ones who are underwear models. My job allows me greater conceit when it comes to things like that."

"Oh, it does, does it?" I ask, rolling my eyes.

"Yep. So are you actually licensed here in New York? Cause if you're not you may have some problems getting your skip back to Trenton."

"Of course I'm licensed, Joe. Do you really think I would be chasing a skip to New York if I wasn't licensed here?"

"I wouldn't put it past you, however, I believe you when you say you're licensed. How long have you been licensed? How did you end up getting licensed in New York?"

"Well to explain that you would have to know some of the background of the situation. How much have you heard from back home, since you moved here?"

"Very little. I know that you started working for Rangeman shortly after I left, but I never heard why or what has happened after that. When I ask my mom, she just tells me that you haven't gotten into any scrapes recently."

"Well, actually, I was working for Rangeman before you left, you just never realized it. Didn't you ever start to wonder why I was working so many surveillance jobs for Ranger? I told you I was just helping Ranger out, but the truth was he had hired me. "

"What? Boy I am I glad we're no longer dating. I would have completely flipped out back then, but since Ranger's no longer a threat to me, I don't have to worry about it."

"Yeah, well, anyway. After you left Ranger decided that my performance could be improved, so he had Tank, Lester, Bobby, Cal and some other Rangeman start teaching me self-defense and strategy. Once I have the skills, I would normally just spar with whoever's off duty, but since I was so far behind in the skills needed, they had to give me a crash course. As a final test of my abilities, Ranger made me take the tests to get licensed in about 5 different states and if I passed all of them then I passed the training."

"I take it you passed the training."

"Yep. I passed with flying colors."

"That's great, so you passed all your tests?"

"Yep, however, when I said I passed with flying colors, I meant that literally. Each license I have is a different color." I reach into my purse and start pulling out all the licenses. "See. I have a blue one, a green one, a yellow one, a white one, a black one, and a red one."

"Well, I recognize the blue one because that's New Jersey's and I know the yellow one is New York even though I haven't actually seen it, but what are all the other colors?"

"Well, Rhode Island is white, Pennsylvania is black, Delaware is red, and Connecticut is green. Then, of course, some of the Rangeman guys decided to throw me a congratulations party and decorated the conference room in red, black, white, blue, green, and yellow. Fortunately, they didn't use anything permanent or Ranger would have had their hide."

"Yeah, definitely doesn't sound like Ranger's thing. So who's the skip? Maybe I can help you locate her."

"Her name is Sharon Maleah. Do you know her?"

"Shit. Of course I know her. She's my girlfriend."

"Do you know what she got charged with?"

"Of course not. I thought she was just a sweet little thing. How was I supposed to know that she was wanted for something?"

"Have you really lost base with your cop friends that much Joe? Well, let me fill you in on your girlfriend. It says here that she was arrested for possession, carrying, and assaulting a police officer."

"Everyone carries, even my grandmother. What was she in possession of?"

"Says here she had about 2 kilos of marijuana on her person when she was arrested."

"What's the bit about assaulting a police officer?"

"Seems she was pulled over for unsafe driving and the officer saw the marijuana in her car and tried to arrest her and she didn't cooperate and assaulted him."

"Unfortunately that sounds like something she would do. Here let me talk to her for you. Then I'll set it up, so that you can take her back to Trenton and get her bonded out again. Does that sound good to you?

"That sounds great. You sure you won't need any help with her?"

"Yeah, I'm sure. Give me about 12 hours and I'll get back to you about the details."

"Ok. I'll see you later, Joe."

"Bye Steph. I'll give you a call when I get it worked out. Your number's still the same, right?"

"Yep."

"Ok." He says as he walks into his apartment closing the door behind him.

Walking back to my car, I pull out my cellphone and press speed dial #2. Speed dial #2 is the Rangeman control room. On the other end of the line, I hear, "Report."

"Steph reporting in, Bobby. I talked with Joe and it seems the skip is his girlfriend. Right now, I'm waiting to hear back from Joe about the best plan for picking her up and taking her back."

"That's great, Bombshell. Keep us posted." Click.

Climbing into the car, I think, "I'm glad I went ahead and had the boys book me a hotel. It looks like it's going to be awhile." I drive to the hotel happily enjoying the thought of getting some shut-eye before talking with Joe again.

Walking up to the front desk I tell the guy standing behind the desk in a smart looking black suit, "I have a reservation under Stephanie Plum."

"Let me check. It says here that suite 316 is yours."

"A suite? I thought it was just a single room. Can you tell me who changed the reservation?"

"Well, let me see." He pauses. " Hmmm. That's very interesting."

"What? What is it?"

"Well, according to the information here, a Mr. Lester Santos called and had it changed to a double room and then a Mr. Theodore Bear called and had it changed to a suite."

"Really? I wonder why? And who is Mr. Theodore Bear?"

"The other interesting thing is that it says they're both checked into your suite, right now."

"How odd. I guess I'm not going to get the rest I was hoping for, then."

"Well it just so happens that your original single room is still available if you would like to stay there."

"No, thanks. I think these arrangements will be fine for now, but I may change my mind after talking with the gentleman in my suite."

"Ok. Well, let us know if you need anything else." He hands me the keys to my room.