Disclaimer: I do not own anything but the words. The characters are the work of the literary goddess JE. All will be returned with the tags still

attached. I know what you're thinking. That's crazy, return Ranger?! Don't worry, he'll be worn and washed. Doesn't that violate store

policy? Hmmm… J Enjoy!

Rated: PG-13 - Suggested for Mature Audiences/Parental discretion advised. Lots of cursing.

Spoilers: Takes place after Lean Mean Thirteen.

Category: Babe

Previously, on Hell Bent Fourteen:

"Get out," I demanded. Ranger closed the space between us quickly, pinning me against the wall in the living room. He kissed me and I pulled away quickly. "Fuck you."

He kissed me again, hard and passionately. I immediately forgot I was mad at him and melted into him. One hand was fisted in his hair and the other, his shirt when he pulled away right when I wanted more.

"I'm not leaving." Ranger growled.

Oh shit…

Hell Bent Fourteen:

-Chapter Two-

Normally in a situation like this I would pretend to get angry and stalk around before I lock myself in my bedroom and wait for Ranger to leave, but he had me pinned against the wall. So I stood there trying to decide what to do, because obviously I couldn't be trusted alone with him. I thought I saw movement in front of the open door but decided to pay more attention on how to get out of this situation. Bad idea…

"Manoso… Remove yourself from my girlfriend," I heard Joe say with a controlled voice. Joe was in my foyer with an overnight bag and he didn't look happy.

"When she wants me removed, Morelli," Ranger said without looking away from me.

"Cupcake?" Joe said angrily. I was doing a perfect impression of a fish while trying to find words. Any words.

"Give us a minute?" I said. Ugh, wrong words. Joe ran a hand over his face and looked positively pissed. I went to push Ranger away but he didn't budge. He leaned in close to my ear and I for a moment I thought he was going to start what we were doing before Joe found us.

"One day, Stephanie. One day you'll have to make a choice," he whispered softly. He gave me a kiss on the temple before pushing off of the wall and walking out of my apartment. As he passed Joe he made a small pause and gave a nod in his direction then went on about his way.

I gave Joe a small smile that was not returned. He dropped his bag in the foyer and made his way to the kitchen to grab a beer.

"Staying tonight?" I said lightly, hoping that there wouldn't be a fight.

"Business," Joe said casually. Alright, maybe he was going to pretend like what happened didn't just happen. I liked that plan. "I have to go underground for a while."

"How long is a while?"

"Dunno." He twisted the cap off and tossed it into the trash. "Looks like three weeks, could be longer if there's a snag." He ran a hand through his hair and leaned against my kitchen counter, taking a swig from the bottle. "Think you can manage?"

"Manage what, exactly?" I said haughtily, thinking Joe was talking about my job again.

"Keeping your hands off him," Joe said and looked at me like he had just asked me how the weather was.

"Morelli-"

"Stephanie, don't. I'm tired and I don't have time. I just came by to tell you I was leaving. But it doesn't look like you'll be sore for company." With that he set the bottle down on the counter harder than necessary, grabbed his bag and started to walk.

"So what is this?" I asked, confused. He usually ignored the relationship between Ranger and me. It wasn't like him to make smart remarks or address the situation.

"This is me telling you I'll call you when I get back."

I felt like he'd hit me with a brick. I'm assuming he noticed my face because his softened a bit. He stopped in front of me and slung an arm around my neck, pulling me to him.

"He's right ya know, one day you'll have to choose." He lowered his mouth to mine and the kiss was sweet and slow. He broke the kiss and held me a few seconds longer before letting me go and then he left.

I watched as Joe left and thought, "Yeah, but Ranger could be talking about me deciding if one day I'm going to take it into the bedroom…"

So here's how I thought this out. I had two options. Option A: I could analyze what just happened and try to figure out my love life or Option B: I could lose myself in sleep and denial.

Option B won out.

I awoke to the sound of my cell-phone chirping and looked at the clock. 9:28 am. I was half asleep and pissy because I hated it when someone tried to fuck with me in the morning. Everyone who knows me knows better than to call before noon. I grabbed my phone and flipped it open.

"Someone better be dead…" I said thick with sleep.

"Hey Sweetheart. We gotta lead on Gonzalez. Boss-man thought your pretty face would want the info." Ugh, Lester. Figures. The guys knew Lester was usually the only one that could call in the morning and I wouldn't kill. Probably had something to do with him constantly referring to me as a goddess…

"I'll be there."

"When?"

"Jesus Lester, eight minutes and thirty-two seconds…" I said irritated. "Soon." He chuckled and disconnected.

I threw the covers back with a grunt and stumbled into the bathroom to take care of my business. I threw my hair into a half-assed pony tail, freshened up as good as it was gonna get, threw on a coat of mascara and called it good. There is never any variation in the summertime weather in Trenton. It's just always hot. So, I threw on a pair of jean shorts and a fitted t-shirt. I almost wore flip-flops before I realized I could possibly be running someone down today. "Running shoes it is then," I thought.

I made my way to my parking lot and hopped into the Rangeman issued SUV that every employee has rights to. So basically, Ranger was letting me use another one of his cars.

Two weeks back, I was parked on Stark Street, walking the street to get information on a skip, when one of the "working gals" decided to break into it and use it as her headquarters. I was really torn between getting it back or letting her just take it, considering she'd had it for two days when I found it. Do you know how many cooties were probably in that car by then? But I didn't have to worry about it because while I was arguing with her on her corner, her boyfriend chose that moment to drive by and discover that she was not, in fact, a dental assistant. Ten minutes and an aluminum baseball bat later, her boyfriend had reduced my cat to smithereens and then set it on fire. Big Dog won the bet on that one.

Lost in my memory of last week, I drove on auto pilot and before I knew it, I was turning on to Haywood. I parked in the Rangeman garage, gave the camera a little finger wave and made my way to the elevator, but stopped when it opened and Ranger walked out. He looked delicious in his "Business Ranger" attire. He was wearing a suit, which I assume was more expensive than what I pay for rent in a year, he had his hair back into a pony tail and one diamond earring stud in. There was five feet of space between us and I could smell his Bulgari shower gel. I started thinking about a naked Ranger when he interrupted my thoughts.

"Serious thoughts, Babe?" He did the one eyebrow thing.

"No. Yes, where are you going?"

"Meeting," he said casually. I decided to give him a taste of his own medicine and throw some one word sentences back at him.

"Ok," I said cheerfully and headed into the elevator. He caught my hand as I bounced by him and pulled me into his chest.

"We need to talk."

"We're talking now, Ranger."

"Lunch," he said more as a question that a command.

"Depends, rabbit food, or lunch?" I let him pull me closer.

"Are you in the mood for something else?" He said, kissing my neck.

"Lunch it is." I pulled myself free from him as I got inside the elevator. I crossed my arms and looked at Ranger trying to look like I was unaffected by him until the doors closed and I gripped the railing for support while I fanned myself. "Good god, what that man can do to me…" I said out loud.

The day passed slowly after my briefing on Gonzalez. His girlfriend tipped us off that on Thursday he was going to be at Club Vibe, a fairly new club outside of the Stark Street neighborhood. He does all his drug business there and he planned on making a drop. Apparently he let it slip when they were having "I'm sorry I beat you 'til you were almost dead" make-up sex. But she's stepping in the right direction by tipping us off, so she must not be too interested in keeping him around.

I filled the time before lunch with Ranger by running background checks and putting together profiles from my inbox. By the time noon came around, I had been done for half an hour and was enjoying my sixth game of FreeCell when I felt someone hovering over me. I tilted my head back to see Ranger in his Rangeman uniform.

"Where'd "Business Ranger" go?"

"The closet."

"How many other Rangers' do you have in there?"

"Enough."

I nodded and realized that was all I was gonna get. Ranger took my hand and led me to the seventh floor to his apartment and into his kitchen. Ella had prepared lasagna for me and a salad for Ranger. I remembered when I was little and didn't want to eat something Mom had prepared and she always told me, "I'm not a restaurant, Stephanie. I'm not making four different things for dinner. You have to eat what I cook." Obviously, Mom didn't know about Ella's superhero cooking skills.

We made idle chit-chat as we ate, enjoying the comfortable silence between us when it was there. Finally, Ranger leaned back in his chair and folded his arms, getting to business. The talk. I hope this wasn't the talk I knew he wanted to have last night. I leaned back in my own chair and crossed my arms, mimicking Ranger.

"Ok, let's have the talk." I had been avoiding this talk for a month now and I was tired of running from it. Bring it on. Ranger smiled and shook his head indicating that's not what he wanted to talk about. Whew.

"I want you to come to Miami with me."

There I go, doing the fish impersonation again…