Thanks for all the positive reviews so far! I'll bounce between Steph and Ranger in this one, it should be easy to figure out who's POV it's from though. I do want to address the guest reviewers comment about contraception- no, Joe didn't sabotage her. Every friend I have had who married a military man ended up popping out babies like that around deployments. I believe there's a term for it, but two of my friends got pregnant twice EACH on both the shot and condom - using both. I myself got pregnant twice on birth control. This is more young and dumb and careless, frenzied lovemaking (or what she thought was lovemaking anyway)

Chapter Two

When I told Stephanie I was going to take care of it, I meant it. I had no respect for a man who could neglect his kids the way Morelli was. It was simply unconscionable to me. I wasn't in Julie's life, I never really had been but I loved Julie nonetheless. I provided for her, even though it was not my legal responsibility. I dug into Morelli's background and found that he had had a decent service record for the Navy, but all of his superiors comments were along the lines of could focus more, or needs to stop paying attention to women instead of his job. He had a few write ups for inappropriately touching the women he served with, but those were only written up after the women found out he was married. I wondered if Stephanie knew, and decided probably not or she would have kicked him in the ass a long time ago.

I learned that he was upside down on his mortgage, and that Stephanie's name was still attached to the loan despite the fact they were divorced and he was granted full ownership of the home. When that happened, he should have provided necessary documentation to the bank and the loan would fall only under his name. Right now, Stephanie was liable if he missed a payment.

In the six months they had been divorced, he had incurred a lot of debt to provide for Trixie and Princess. Who names their kid Princess? I pulled up some photos of Trixie and found her to be severely lacking in the looks department. Middle age crisis must have hit Morelli early, because if I had Stephanie I wouldn't have been tapping that washed up looking practical baby.

He had numerous citations against him for not adhering to the visitation agreement he had with Stephanie, and for not making his child support and alimony payments. I grimaced when I saw pictures of the house Stephanie was renting, because it was way too small for her family and it was basically a shithole. She was trying to be able to do this all by herself. Joe was ordered to pay 1200$ a month in child support and $400 in alimony and hadn't made a single payment in six months? He was over $7k in back child support owed and almost $2500 in alimony, and he was about to be garnished for over $4000 a month instead of the $1600 he was supposed to pay.

I decided to pay him a little visit, man to man. I don't know why I wanted to protect Stephanie so much, except she was very attractive and funny and sweet. I had worked with Morelli in the past. He hadn't had his wife or his kids pictured on his desk, and he had never once mentioned her to me. In fact, no one had.

I grabbed my keys and holstered my gun, and took the stairs to the garage. When I showed up at Morelli's house, Stephanie was there, visibly clenching her jaw so she didn't say something she would regret in front of her kids. They were all probably thinking it anyway, but I could tell she was the kind of mother who would always try to show respect to the person she had created her kids with. Even when he was being so disrespectful to her. I had parked a few houses down, and I saw the bimbo hanging out the door to yell at Joe, her tits practically falling out of her shirt. She was definitely not breastfeeding, and those were very definitely fake.

Stephanie was really a million times more beautiful. She had curly brown hair that hung halfway down her back, and big blue eyes. She had the body of a woman, all curves and angles and planes, soft but firm, too. Not one of those silicone and bone bodies like the bimbo there. Even Stephanie's face appeared younger, although even from where I was I could see the frown marring her face and the stress in her eyes. I wanted to take Morelli out for making her feel that way and I didn't even know the guy well.

Joe had chocolate brown eyes and wavy dark brown hair, and his skin was a few shades lighter than mine. He wasn't an unattractive man, and yes, I have swung that way in the past, but I couldn't think of any reason why anyone would be attracted to him with the slimeball attitude he put forth to begin with. The kids looked like they were mostly Stephanie feature wise, with some Joe thrown in here and there color wise. The closest to a Morelli look alike was Theodore and he had Stephanie's eyes.

Steph drove off in her mini van and I got out of my car. The second Trixie saw me I could see the dollar signs flashing in her eyes and the drool going down her chin. Fat chance. I liked my women old enough to know what to do with my cock, and able to have a conversation every once in awhile that extended past the latest reality shows.

"Ranger. What do you want? Did Stephanie fuck up already? I told her she couldn't handle working there."

"Actually, she does a great job. I needed to talk to you."

I pulled him out to the backyard, opening the fence gate on my way. It was a shit lock. I pushed Joe up into the back of the house, and held him there with one hand on his chest, gripping his shirt. I pulled out my gun with my other hand and pointed it at his forehead.

"Here's how this is going to work. I am going to buy your loan out from under you for this house. You are going to sign a contract stating that you will begin paying me back eight hundred dollars a month in exactly one years time. I will catch you up on your child support and alimony, and that will be added to the eight hundred dollars for a total of one thousand dollars a month. If you decide not to pay this back, I will have your badge taken, and the remainder of your Navy benefits stripped away. They can legally be transported over to your dependents, and I can guarantee you Princess will not count. You will begin immediately paying Stephanie every single penny you owe her every single month. You will vacate the premises of this house, because you do not belong here, and neither does the trash you currently have living in it."

He started to protest, and I fired off a shot into the ground by his feet. He shut up right quick.

"You will make every single visitation you have set up with your other children barring a work emergency. I will know. If you do not do these things, again, I will have your badge taken. Do not doubt my influence and my connections. You had a great woman, who you just belittled, and you lost her because you couldn't keep your dick in your pants. And when the trash you are currently banging gets a better offer, she will jump ship. Are you even sure that kid is yours? I can see the doubt in your eyes, Morelli. It would serve you right to be on the birth certificate of a kid who doesn't even have your DNA. I'll have the paperwork ready for you in forty eight hours. Be ready to get out then."

"But- but- but where am I supposed to move to?" he blustered at me.

"How about the hellhole your ex-wife and kids live in. It'll be just like a house swap, only for her, it's permanent."

I fished my bullet out of the ground, and I let Morelli go.

Two days later I had the paperwork all signed, and I gave Stephanie the deed to her house. I had paid it in full, because she needed one less thing to worry about. I also gave her a stack of paperwork she would need to fill out, one for a salary increase, one for security clearance, one for permission to install hardware into her home to make it more secure both electronically and physically, and one for her childrens medical needs. I had better insurance than the police department and the military's dependent coverage. It was always offered free of charge to children of employees, and I was guessing Tank had known her kids were insured already.

"What's all this?" she was understandably confused, which in my opinion made her all the more adorable.

"It's for you. I took care of the problem. I even had my housekeeper and two of my sisters pack up your stuff to move it into your home. You didn't deserve the treatment you got and I am so sorry about the violation of your privacy, but it is so important to me that you are safe and happy."

"Why, Ranger?"

I shrugged. I honestly didn't know, except for the attraction I felt for her. It wasn't just for her body, I was attracted to her entire self. I even liked the two kids of hers I had met, despite my brusque greeting to Theo.

"I care about you, babe, as a person. As a woman, too, but I think it prudent to state I like who you are as a person, from what I know so far. And when life isn't so complicated, I would love to take you out on a date."

Her mouth opened and closed before she gave one short nod.

Glad that was all settled.