Ya'll get an extra surprise today. The last chapter was a boring but necessary piece of the story so I thought I'd give you another chapter. I would recommend Disturbed-"Get Psycho" for when Stephanie's chasing hr FTA and ZZtop- "Bad to the Bone" for when they pull up on their accessories.

They were all sitting in the parking lot of the bail bonds office. Stephanie was mentally trying to prepare herself for whatever situation she was about to walk into and the girls were getting restless. "Boss." Ax tapped on her window and brought her back to real world. "lets go."

They were giving each other the appraising glares that girls always give when entering a room with other women in it. Especially when it's best friends meeting the other best friends. Then suddenly…

"Eeeh! Oh my god! I totally love your boa!" Tina jumped over to Lula. "Pleas tell me that's leopard print." Ax said while crossing over to Connie. Nothing could have prepared her for the amount of squealing that went on afterward.

"Got any skips for me Connie?" She said when there was a lull in the very loud conversations. She handed her a file and she looked it over. She'd already been through the stack before and tossed out the ones that would earn her less than a grand. She didn't work for chump change anymore. But she didn't want to move in on Ranger's turf either so she kept it under fifteen thousand also. James Stelone, wanted for armed robbery, first time offender, and it would earn her seven grand. She grabbed another from the stack and they were off.

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She chucked the folder on their laps. "Think you can handle this one?" She was only being courteous. Of course they could. Ax was the daughter of a murdering psycho and Tina was ex military. "Fifteen hundred? Hun, chump change. Why do we get the boring one?" Tina crossed her arms over her chest. "Because Ranger takes all the cases over fifteen grand here and I'm the boss." They looked at each other. "We wanna watch you first." She sighed and shoved her earring forward with a finger. "You're both like little kids." There was a camera in it. They grinned and high fived each other.

They got out and moved to their car, a silver firebird with smokey black accents. She watched hem pull out, back to the Rangeman office to watch the show.

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Ranger's POV

He was sitting in the control room watching their guests hook up a video cam to their tv system. "Just watch! You'll all love it! She's so great at her job." They bounced around giddily. They'd called everyone in here to watch Stephanie in action. Neither he nor his men knew what the big deal was. They'd seen her on the job before.

They finished putting wires together and sound came on. "Steph, you there?"

"Yeah I'm here. Bitch lives on the third floor. I hate stairs." She complained. He smiled this was definitely his Babe. And sure enough the camera showed motion up a flight of steps. "Good news is, no elevator. He can't get away that way." Knock, knock. "James Stelone?" she enquired. "Who's askin'?" he shot back venom. "Stephanie Plum. I work with your bail bonds company and…" Slam!

She sighed exaperatedly. "Why do they always run?" He figured it was a rhetorical question, but Tina answered anyways. "That's what makes it fun Boss." She kicked the door down and noticed James' fat ass hanging halfway out the window. "No way I'm gonna let some bitch take me in." She laughed sarcastically. "Mmm…well how about a woman willing to kill?" His eyes got big and he shot the rest of the way out the window. She followed him out onto the fire escape and leapt over at the second story.

She landed right in front of him, just as he was turning. "Boo! Run." She stated coolly. The men laughed at his terrified face. He used her advice and took off. She calmly followed after him. He noticed that she was in no rush. She knew she would get her prey. Lester and Bobby snorted when he fell over an empty box in the alley. He picked himself up off the ground, but he wasn't fast enough. He only stumbled a little farther, before Stephanie caught him by the scruff and through him down again. "What's the matter? Are you scared of a little old girl like me?"

He grabbed the nearest thing he could find which just happened to be a pipe, probably fell off the side of the old building. He swung at her but she caught his wrist and snapped a cuff on him. She pulled the same twirly thing that she'd pulled on him that morning and had his other hand behind his back in a second. Snap. She spoke in an icy voice, "You robbed a man, put a gun to his head and stole the money from his cash register. That could have been all the money he had in the world. You shot a hole in the window and shattered the glass. That could have hurt someone not to mention how much repair will cost. Then you proceeded to steal a poor old lady's car. Do you have any idea how scary it is the first time a gun's pointed at you? It's terrifying. Now, you're going to court one way or another. Don't make this hard on yourself." With that, she lifted him higher and tugged him over the fence back to the car.

Everyone in the room stood stunned…except for the girls. They were shrieking like to teenyboppers who'd just seen there favorite boy band. "She is so kickass! I don't know how she does it! Usually one of us has to flirt with him to draw him out and then we jump him together. But she…she instills fear in the bad guys. She does all that and always looks good doing it. She's like freakin' Wonder Woman." They high-fived.

No. This was definitely not the old Babe.

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Stephanie's POV

Stephanie had a problem. She was sitting in the station's parking lot, but …she couldn't go in. Morelli would be in there. She just tackled a 6 foot criminal but she couldn't face an old friend. Okay well…more than an old friend. He was her ex lover, fiancé, boyfriend, and father of her child. Most likely a very pissed off father…who could be very scary when yelling and screaming. "Unh, I am such a dope!"

She drew in all the courage she had, grabbed the guy by the wrist, and walked hm through the doors. Thankfully, the desk clerk was ne so he didn't recognize her. She smiled. Hmm…maybe this will be easier than she thought it would. She jinxed it. Carl Castanza walked around the corner and stared right in her face. "Steph?" He speed walked over to her and scooped her into a bear hug. "Where've you been? How've you been? Why'd you…" He stopped short and stared at something over her shoulder.

"Morelli."

"Cupcake. We have to talk." He responded and latched on to her elbow. They ended up in his office. He stood still for awhile, flexing his jaw, and staring at her. "Where've you been? No. You know what? Scratch that. Where's the baby?"

"Morelli. She's mine."

"No, Stephanie! She's ours! I should be part of her life! This isn't how it should be! We should be married! You quit your stupid job so why not be with me? Huh! What's stopping you? Manoso? Is that what this is fucking about? Cause let me tell you. He's not gonna love the kid more than I can and he definitely won't be there for her or him or…Christ! I don't even know if it's a boy or a girl! Shit Stephanie! Two fucking years! The baby's mine too!" He ranted.

She waited until he paused. "Are you finished?" He got another angry look in his eyes so she started talking before he went off again. "Yes, Morelli. She's your little girl too. I shouldn't have taken her from you, but there was no other way. I would have left her with you, had I any choice. And we can't get married, Joe. Ranger has nothing to do with it. I did quit my job, but only for a more dangerous one. I got better at what I do and I can protect the two of us. I'm never going to be a burg wife. I'll never be the girl you want Joe and you deserve that. You deserve someone who will stay at home and cook dinner for you. I'm just not it. You deserve a woman who's everything I'm not, just like I deserve a man who supports me. Someone who loves me for me, because I'm never going to 'settle down'. It just isn't me. Plus it's been us women on our own for awhile. I kind of like it. I don't need a guy to help with Abre, but I do want her dad to be in her life."

He looked worn down, tired. "I love you Cupcake." He sighed.

"I love you too Morelli."

He smiled a little. "Can I see her?"

"Yeah, sure we'll be at McDonalds around 5?"

He grinned. "What? Abre likes the play area . 'And I like the French fries." She thought to herself. He laughed out loud.