OK so I'm a sucker for everyone's kind comments and the requests from reviewers wanting to know what happened to Joe and Ranger... hopefully this will suffice. I will be away for a couple for weeks so this is definitely the last chapter to this extended one shot.

Thanks again everyone for your encouragement and kind words, and thanks to JE for creating such wonderful characters for us to enjoy.

Kate.


Joe's POV

Not only won't Cupcake return my calls, she's also had a restraining order placed on me. After holding me at gun point she made good on her threat and reported my book making activities to Chief Juniak. I can't believe she's reacting like this, she's even returned the few belongings that I left at her apartment. The neighbours found it very entertaining, she just pulled up, pitched them out of the window onto the foot path and took off. Fuckers just laughed and took photos.

Juniak has confiscated my book and now has the names of everyone in the TPD who has placed a bet on Cupcake in the last three years. I swear it was just some harmless fun, but he's ordered everyone involved to undergo Sensitivity Training and also to complete community service. 40 hours each, but 80 hours for me since I was the one running the book. And it gets worse, he's asked Cupcake to nominate the areas of service, and which charity she would like the confiscated pool money donated to. If we don't agree to his terms we will be busted down to the lowest job possible and put on probation for Conduct Unbecoming.

Knowing Cupcake she'll have us all handing out information at the local STD clinic, just to give the Burg something to talk about.


Ranger's POV.

Stephanie's been avoiding me ever since she discovered Joe was the one running the book on her at the TPD. The woman has some serious righteous anger and damn it's a turn on. Not only has she kicked Morelli to the curb but she's also held me to account for some of my previous dumb ass remarks, telling me to find someone else for amusement.

I need her to listen to me, to take me seriously, to forgive me for all the stupid things I said in the past. She's the most intriguing, exciting, bewitching woman I have ever met and I'm done trying to resist her. She had every right to doubt and dismiss me, so I would have to do something different, something out of the box that she would never expect, to prove the sincerity of my feelings.

The plan was simple and straight forward, now I just had to execute it. Timing was everything and I hoped it would work. I was about to do something I hadn't done since high school, and I never thought I would be doing again. I was going to ask a woman, hopefully my woman, on a date. I knocked on the door at precisely 7 minutes to six. The door was opened by Babe's grandmother, a woman in her seventies who struck fear in the hearts of my men due to her wandering hands.

"Good evening Mrs Mazur, I'm sorry for the untimely intrusion. I don't want to hold you from dinner, but I was wondering if I could have a quick word with Stephanie?"

Babe's grandmother looked me up and down with a sly smile on her face and insisted I step inside.

I followed her to the living room where Frank Plum was parked in his favourite chair. Mrs Plum was bustling around in the dining room, placing dishes on the table for the evening meal. She stopped what she was doing immediately when she laid eyes on me, mouth hanging open. It took her a minute to regain her composure and for her Burg manners to kick in.

"Why, Mr Manoso …" she seemed flummoxed "we were about to have dinner, would you care to join us?"

At that moment my Babe came out of the kitchen and caught sight of us all in the lounge room. She couldn't hide the surprise and curiosity on her face and slowly entered the room, watching the interaction between me and her mother with well-founded suspicion.

"Please, call me Carlos Mrs Plum, and thank you for the offer but I don't want to intrude. I knew Stephanie would be here tonight and I just wanted to give her these flowers and ask if she would go on a date with me this Friday night. Perhaps to Rossini's and then some dancing at the Country Club?" The last part was directed at Stephanie whose eyes had narrowed in recognition of my tactics to procure her mother as an ally. Rossini's was the best restaurant in the Burg and access to the Trenton Country Club was considered a distinct privilege to only the most respectable and influential residents of Trenton.

Mrs Plum didn't know what to say, looking hopefully between her daughter and myself. I had stacked the deck in my favour. There was no evidence of Ranger the "street thug" or mercenary. I was dressed in a charcoal grey Armani suit with silk shirt and tie, and bought Babe a bouquet of white daisies and yellow tiger lilies, her favourite flowers.

"Babe, Stephanie, would you do me the honour of going out on a date with me this Friday?" I asked, handing her the bouquet.

She paused a moment to enjoy the scent of the tiger lilies before answering. Mrs Plum was fidgeting and nearly bursting at the seams. I got the distinct impression that corporate Carlos, as Stephanie referred to this persona, met with Mrs Plum's approval and that if Stephanie didn't say yes there would be no pineapple upside down cake in the foreseeable future.

Stephanie nodded in reply. "Thank you Carlos. That would be lovely." I gave her one of my best smiles and kissed her on the cheek.

"You've made me a very happy man. I'll pick you up at 6?" She nodded again, speechless it seems, and possibly still a little sceptical.

"Mr Manoso, … Carlos, please, you must stay for dinner." Mrs Plum was going to give herself a brain aneurism with the speed in which her eyes flicked between Babe and myself.

"Carlos? It would be lovely if you would join us." Babe asked, waiting for me to make an excuse and bolt.

I simply smiled and accepted, enjoying the surprise reflected in Babe's eyes. She took my hand as we followed a beaming Mrs Plum to the dining room and were seated for what would be the first of many family meals together in the years to come.


Finis... and HEA definitely ensued.