Disclaimer: I love the Stephanie Plum series, but I don't own them and I don't make anything off of them.

Thanks to everyone for your reviews on the first entry to this story. It took a while, but I finally figured out what should come next thanks to Amanda (Knab). You're awesome girl. Jenio1 this one's for you.

I hope you all enjoy the next installment of Ella Embroiders.

Previously…

"You know what this is about. We don't need to explain how this works so lets get this started." Tank announced. "Every single man here in Trenton has signed up to take you on."

I only nod my head in acceptance and make my way to the locker room and get ready to get my ass kicked, for the second time in two days. It wasn't a pretty sight; they wiped the floor with me. The Miami guys were tough, but this staff was the best, they also had something to prove to me and no one was holding back. It wasn't until seven am the next morning that they were done with me and I made my way up to my seventh floor apartment. I was still no closer to an answer for how to make it up to my Babe, but the guys had proved their loyalty to their Bombshell. I had received similar lectures that I had received from the guys in Miami, but there was one distinct difference. They threatened to kill me and move in on her if I ever hurt her again. The message was received loud and clear.

XXXXXX

(Steph's POV After the Takedown)

I sat in the parking lot laughing uncontrollably, but felt bad for Ranger. I know exactly what it felt like to be the butt of everyone's jokes and it NEVER felt good, I had been the butt of many, some even at the hands of Ranger. When he flew out of the parking lot I was shocked. I guess someone else was going to be taking me home tonight.

Thank goodness for Lester. He drove me to my apartment and checked it for crazies as per usual and when he declared it safe he turned to me and said, "Hey Beautiful, don't worry about Ranger, he'll get over it before you know it. It was just a joke." He kissed me on the forehead before heading out and reminding me to lock up behind him.

XXXXXX

(One week after the Takedown)

I'd been leaving messages on Ranger's voice mail for two days and he hadn't returned my phone calls. The Merry Men were furious with him for his behavior and the more I thought about it the more I was getting angry myself. I understood how he felt in the moment, I had been there many times, but his reaction was not something that I had expected. I had never run from the situation, instead I get angry. He just left.

I had talked to Julie the other day when she called, but didn't say anything to her about what had happened. She didn't need to know what was going on with her father unless he wanted to tell her. It wasn't my place. We talked about her school, my skips and hoped to get together over the summer sometime.

Think about it for the last week, I was beginning to think that Ranger was blaming me for what happened that night and I was starting to get angry. Going into work at Rangeman one day I noticed that Tank, Lester and Bobby were talking in a corner. After they broke up their little pow wow, I walked into Tank's office to see if they had heard anything. Knocking I heard his 'enter' and opened the door and walked in. I noticed Lester was sitting on the couch quietly reading a report of some kind.

"Hey, have you heard anything from him?" I asked Tank.

"Nothing, and he won't take any of our calls either. This whole situation if ridiculous. The man needs to learn to take a joke." Tank commented clearly irritated.

Lester decided to have his say so as well, "You know that he has to be in control at all times. When he's not he acts like a spoiled child. The thing is the only time this seems to happen is when Beautiful here is involved. He loses all sense of control when it comes to her."

"Hey, I had nothing to do with this and you know it. I was just as surprised as you were Lester. Don't put this on me. I've been the butt of the joke enough to know never to do it to someone else intentionally. It hurts like hell, and I know exactly how he feels. I'm pissed that he's not talking to me either. I can only assume that he thinks that I had something to do with this and doesn't trust me. I had nothing to do with it!" I was yelling at the end because I was so frustrated with the whole situation.

"Now hold on a second Bombshell, you may not have had anything to do with this particular incident, but you haven't exactly been Miss Perfect in this situation. You were the cause of the problem to begin with." Tank commented.

I stared at him doing my impression of a fish. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. "What are you taking about? I didn't ask for you to play a joke on him. How can I be responsible? Normally I would be the first person to accept responsibility and you know it, but I didn't know about this, and I sure as hell never would have agreed to it."

"Come on Beautiful, you can't tell me that haven't been playing with Ranger and his feelings for you. This game you have of back and forth between you and the cop, while having Ranger on the side? Did you think he wouldn't be affected by that?" Lester asked.

"What do you mean? He sent me back to Morelli after our one night together. He left without so much as a backwards glance. He told me that he 'didn't do relationships', 'his love came with a condom not a ring', he loves me 'in his own way'. He qualifies everything he says to me. He doesn't want anything more than to play with me and then throw me back. How do you think that makes me feel? The only reason I put up with it is because I don't know what I would do if I didn't have him in my life. I'm in love with him and he doesn't want me, so I take what I can get from him emotionally, which is a few kisses in the alley behind the bonds office and the odd distraction job he asks me to do." I said angrily.

"Bombshell, have you paid attention to anything that he has given you? Yes, he says stupid things, but have you ever given him reason to think that if he offered you more that you would accept? He gives you anything you need, cars and protection, a place to stay when you needed it, you name it he does it without question. Not to say that anyone of us here wouldn't do the same thing, but have you ever thought about what he gives you? We know that you don't ask for it, but he gives it anyway." Tank replies matter of factly.

"How could I open up to him and tell him I love him when he says things like that. It would get thrown right back in my face you guys. I couldn't handle that. Not only would it break my heart completely, but I would lose the best friend that I've ever had, I couldn't risk my heart like that." I say in frustration.

"Beautiful, don't you think that he may have the same fears? I know you think he's Batman, but he's just a man after all. And if he sent you back to Morelli, nothing said you had to go back. When have you EVER done anything you were TOLD to do?" Lester explained softly.

I just stared at him. I couldn't say a thing to either of them for a few minutes. Tears of sadness and anger were swimming in my eyes. How could they think that I was playing around with Ranger? They weren't there when he said those things to me. I couldn't listen to them anymore. I needed to get out of here for a while.

"I'm going to the bonds office to see if there are any skips for me. I'll be back later." I said flatly.

As I turned my back to them I heard Tank's voice, "Jesus, neither of them is willing to deal with their issues. Ranger's not the only one acting like a child in this situation." Hearing that renewed my anger, who did he think he was calling me a child? I headed down to the garage and headed out of Rangeman, I really needed to get out of here NOW.

XXXXXX

Walking in the bonds office Lula and Connie looked up at me, both wearing looks of surprise. Well I guess that could be caused by that fact that I didn't bring doughnuts, but too bad I was too angry to think that far ahead. I just knew I needed to get out of there.

"Hey, where the doughnuts? You always bring doughnuts! We're hungry." Lula complained from her spot on the couch.

"Well, if you're that hungry go get your own doughnuts. I came to see if you had any files for me." I said shortly. Connie stopped applying her nail polish at my comment.

Lula gaped at me before she replied, "Who shoved the stick up your skinny white ass this morning? No need to take our heads off, we didn't do anything to you."

I slumped on the couch deflated. "Sorry, I just had a talk with Tank and Lester, and it made me so angry that I just needed to get out of there. So I came here hoping I could get some skips and get some of the anger worked off."

"What did they say that pissed you off so much?" asked Connie still staring at me.

I took a deep breath and "They basically told me that I was playing with Ranger this whole time while I was with Morelli on and off, and that I'm at least partially to blame for him running and then leaving for Miami even though I had nothing to do with the joke. How can they think that? I've never come on to him; I've never asked him for anything. Yeah, Morelli and I were on and off, but Ranger never wanted me for any kind of relationship." I said sadly.

"Steph, I hate to point this out to you, but they're right. You may not want to hear it, but from the outsider looking in, that's what we see too." Connie said.

I gaped at her. How could she think that?

"Think about it, if you were looking at the situation from the outside, you would think exactly the same thing, and would be the first person to stand up and put that person in their place. How can you not see that? Ranger is there to support you no matter what, Morelli yells at you every chance he gets when something blows up, or you're hurt. Ranger offers you help to succeed, Morelli wants you to change. Ranger gives you cars to blow up and his men who get shot and leave with broken limbs, Morelli gives you a headache, sore throat from yelling and high blood pressure from your anger." Lula commented.

"You guys, Ranger tells me he 'doesn't do relationships', 'a condom but no ring'. Why would I allow myself to tell him how I feel when it would just get thrown back in my face and then I would have nothing? I didn't want to be alone, so I went back to Morelli when he told me to, because I couldn't be alone. I've been there before and I can't do that again." I explained with frustration.

"Actions speak louder than words. And everyone can see that the two of you love each other, but the two of you. It's clear as day to everyone, even to Morelli when you were with him." Connie said.

"Yeah? Well how about the fact that he sent me back to Morelli's with his name on my panties and caused the final breakup with Morelli?" I asked.

The next thing Vinnie's office door opened and the slime ball stepped out, "Get back to work; I'm not paying you to chit chat. And you," pointing right at me, "If your that stupid to think that that man isn't in love with you then your more screwed up than I am. The fucking electricity that comes off of the two of you when you're in the same room is unbelievable. Any idiot can see how he looks at you. And you better not have run off my best bounty hunter because you're too stupid to get your head out of your ass. This office will be out of business and you'll all be out of a job then." Vinnie yells.

"Shut the fuck up Vinnie. Go back to your animals!" The three of us yelled at him together.

"I hate to say it, but Vinnie has a point. You need to get your head out of your ass Steph. You've been playing with that man for a long time. You better make up your mind, or you may just lose your chance at something that would be really good for both of you. As far as the panties, you didn't have to wear them, but it was about time for you and Morelli to be over with. You weren't good for each other anyways." With that said Connie hands me my files and I walk out the door.

Could they really be right? Have I been playing with Ranger just as much as he had been playing me? Only I had been doing it longer? Could this really all have been avoided if I wasn't such a chicken?

So what did you think? More to come soon.