A.N.: Hey everyone! This story will be a tart so if you're not a fan of Steph being with someone other than Joe or Ranger you might as well stop reading now! :) I don't currently have a BETA so any mistakes are entirely my own and only add to the uniqueness of the story. Please read and leave reviews!

Chapter 1 – A First Date…. Or Not

Joe leaned back into his chair and sat his spoon down on the table. He had just finished eating his chocolate gelato and now looked as if he wasn't looking forward two whatever came next. He looked up and me and said, "Cupcake, we need to talk."

Nothing good ever comes out of that sentence and I knew it. I should have been prepared, because ever since Joe picked me from my apartment tonight my spidey sense had been going crazy. Not only that, but we were actually eating at Rossini's.

Joe and I had been dating for almost a year and I could honestly say he had never once taken me out on a real date. Sure we would occasionally meet up a Pino's for a meatball sub or a pizza, but in all honesty those were more of a convenience then an actual planned date. For the most part, our relationship tended to revolve around sex.

Don't get me wrong. Sex with Joe has always been great but after we filled our initial need it seemed as if we would always find some way to pick an argument and move into our off-again stage. Lately, I'd been feeling as if something had been missing in our relationship and the more we fought the more I began to think that maybe the great sex just wasn't worth all the fighting our relationship seemed to bring.

Our main fight had always been about my job. It didn't seem to matter to him that I loved it and that I enjoyed the thrill of the chase and the mystery I had to solve to find my man or that my record spoke for itself. I was one of the few bounty hunters that could actually claim and 99% capture rate. Sure, I rolled around in garbage and other miscellaneous substances occasionally, but I was good at my job or maybe I was just lucky.

Another main point he always seemed to bring up was my relationship with my own personal batman, Ranger Manoso. Joe was positive that there was more than just friendship between the two of us. Truth be told, if sex with Joe was great then sex with Ranger was nothing short of amazing. Ranger and I had and unexplainable connection and even being in the same room with him made me warm me in places I'd rather not think about right now. But I had always been faithful to Joe, after my first marriage to the Dick I would never even think of cheating on anyone. That marriage had ended with me finding Dickie on my dining room table with my archnemisis Joyce Barnhardt.

There was no real way to explain the relationship I had with Ranger. He is my best friend. He understands me in a way that no one else does and gives me the ability to spread my wings and fly. He supports me unconditionally and is always there for me when I'm in trouble. While we do share an explainable connection to each other, Ranger has always been clear that there is no chance of a relationship between us. Although, on occasion he has mentioned that maybe someday there will be, but how long can a girl wait on a promise of someday?

When Joe had called me this morning to invite me to Rossini's for dinner I wasn't sure what to expect. My birthday was tomorrow so I thought that maybe it was an early celebration, but considering Joe had failed to remember any important day so far in our relationship, I thought him remembering my birthday was a stretch. The next thought that had crossed my mind was that maybe he was really going to propose again.

At one point in time, Joe and I had been briefly engaged but Joe had never technically asked me and had only told his family so that they would leave us alone. The thought of marriage had always given me hives and our engagement hadn't lasted long. Joe had always wanted the 'Burg ideal, which was the white picket fence with 2.5 kids and a dog, but the thought had never been what I wanted. I wasn't sure what I would say if Joe actually seriously asked me to marry him, but with the state of our relationship I couldn't see either of us being happily tied to one another forever.

I shook my head to clear my thoughts as I swallowed the last bit of my tiramisu and looked up at him, "Okay, what do we need to talk about?"

His eyes locked with mine and he asked, "If I asked you to marry me right now, what would you say?"

I gulped and I swear I saw three hives appear on my arm. Did I want to marry Joe? Could I even see myself growing old with him or ever wanting to have kids with him? Sadly, I knew I couldn't. The thought of a 40 year old Joe walking up to me and telling me the boys missed me made me want to be sick and the thought of planning a wedding and walking down the aisle with him terrified me.

He must have seen the terror on my face because he sighed and said, "That's what I thought. I know you love me in some way, but can you actually say that you're in love with me?"

Could I? I knew that I did love Joe, but the more I thought about it the more I realized that I was in love with him because of our history. Joe was the first boy I'd ever had a crush on, he'd fingered me playing choo-choo when I was six, and taken my virginity when I was sixteen.

I felt the tears well up in my eyes as I replied, "No. I'm sorry, Joe. I guess it should say something that I can't even picture us together growing old."

Joe nodded as if he had expected this answer, "I got a promotion. I'm going to be leading a new task force for the Baltimore PD. I'm going this weekend to find a place to live and I'll be moving at the end of the month."

Suddenly I understood why he'd taken me out tonight, it wasn't our first date but instead he was actually breaking up with me. "We're done then?"

He flagged a waitress down and handed her his credit card to pay for our meal. "I'd like to stay friends, but after I tell you this you may not want that."

He was silent for a minute and I felt my stomach fall. I wasn't sure what he was about to tell me but I knew that I wouldn't like it.

"Terry is going with me." He paused again and then continued, "She's pregnant, and with her family ties we couldn't stay here unless I quit working as a cop."

My mind was whirling. Terry was pregnant? Wait. She was going with him, as in she was with him? "The baby is yours?" He nodded. "How far along is she?"

He looked away from my gaze, "Twelve weeks. She got pregnant while working with me on the case I had to go to Newark for."

I remembered the case vaguely, but I also knew for a fact that we had been in one of our on-again phases while he was gone. I'd always wondered about the relationship between Terry and Joe. At one point in time I had thought they were cheating, but according to Joe they had only been working a case together. Now I wasn't so sure that was the truth.

I felt numb. Was there something wrong with me for two of the guys I'd had relationships with to feel as if they had to find someone else on the side? I needed to get out of here. I could already feel myself wanting to fall apart and I'd really like to be at home with a pint of Ben & Jerry's before I did that.

"Can you take me home?"

Joe gazed at me for a moment as if he wanted to keep talking, but he must have noticed something in my face because instead he just stood up and led me to the car without speaking.

The ride home was awkward at best. When we finally pulled up to my apartment complex I was ready to pull my hair out at the tension in the car. Instead I just opened the door and looked back at him. I didn't want to know, but I had to ask. "How long?"

He looked as if he didn't want to answer and at first I thought he might not, but I guess he decided I had the right to know. "Six months. I'm really sorry, Steph. I never meant to hurt you."

I could see in his eyes that he was honestly telling me the truth, but how did he think that I wouldn't be hurt by him having a second relationship behind my back for six months? Instead of replying I got out of the car and made my way up to my apartment.

I went straight to the freezer and dug into the back where I kept my emergency pint of Half Baked and then made my way to my bed, kicked my shoes off, and pulled my dress over my head before digging in.

Tomorrow I would be 31 and what did I have to say for my life? I had an ex-husband who cheated on me before the ink was dry on our marriage certificate and an ex-boyfriend who cheated on me for half of our relationship. I lived paycheck to paycheck in an apartment that a two year old could break into and while I love my job, I'm constantly getting injured or stalked.

Was this what I wanted for the rest of my life? The worst part was that I didn't even feel sad about the ending of my relationship with Joe. I sighed and finished the last bite of my ice cream. I may not be sure if I ever want to be married again or have children, but I knew that I wanted a relationship with someone I truly loved and who loved me for who I am.

That had never been Joe, he had always been with me but always expected that eventually I'd become tired of being a bounty hunter and give it up to become the ideal 'Burg housewife for him. He never seemed to understand that doing that would slowly kill me.

Then there was Ranger. I know I love Ranger, but I can't be sure that I'm in love with him either. I have an undeniable attraction to him, but to be in love with someone you really need to know them. I can list on one hand the number of things I know about Ranger's past and most of those things I've figured out along the way. He has never willingly opened up to me about his past.

I need to make some changes in my life, and I'm going to start with my love life. Then I was going to get serious about my job. I know I'm good, but I could be better. It's not normal to be out run by 80 year old men. I sighed and closed my eyes as I began to drift off. Tomorrow it was time to grow up and in order to do that I needed sleep.