Ranger blinked his eyes open, trying to figure what had woken him. He was alert when he realized it was an unfamiliar cell phone ringtone. It took his mind a few seconds longer than his body to respond and he relaxed himself when he remembered Stephanie had stayed the night. He could make out her thin frame under the duvet and her curly hair spilled over one of his pillows. He carefully reached over her and grabbed the phone; he was originally going to answer it because anyone willing to call at four in morning most likely had an emergency but the name flashing caught his eye and he hit 'ignore' instinctively. If Morelli was in any major trouble he most likely wouldn't be calling Stephanie for help unless it was sexual in relation.

The phone buzzed on again, its tone seeming to reflect the anger that must have been radiating from the Italian man on the other end. He contemplated ignoring it again when a blue eye popped open and the woman beside him groaned inaudibly. She reached blindly for the phone, hand inching across his nightstand. Ranger watched in amusement as she seemed to suddenly realize she wasn't in her apartment. She jumped from the bed when she realized Ranger was beside her and stood next to it, one hand resting on her heart.

"Babe." Ranger said, amusement lacing his tone. She glared at him and opened her mouth to retort when he pushed the still-ringing phone into her hand, hitting the speaker button as he did so. Her glare seemed to darken even more when she saw the name and she hit the talk button with a force that made her nearly drop the phone.

"It's the middle of the damn night, this better be fan-fucking-tastic!" she hissed into the phone as she sat back onto the bed and grabbed the blankets back over her, the thousand plus thread count sheets covering her bare legs. Ranger watched through dark eyes as Stephanie irritably listened to Morelli speak.

"I woke up and realized Bob misses you cupcake." Ranger raised an eyebrow at Stephanie, mouthing the words back to her. She bit her lip and glared at him, silently telling him she would deal with it. Ranger simply couldn't believe that the man had the audacity to call a woman in the middle of the night and then use his dog as disguise for the obvious booty-call.

"Bob or your penis?" she replied sardonically, glaring at the darkened wall in front of her.

"Both, I woke up and realized that I missed having you to give me a reason to not go back to sleep and thought I'd call, of course I can always go to your apartment if you don't want to drive." Ranger nearly laughed at that; did Morelli really think he was being charming? He supposed the normal women who surrounded themselves around Morelli would swoon over that but the normal quality of women around Morelli were also paid by the hour. Stephanie simply rolled her eyes, silently giving the phone an Italian gesture.

"Gee, Morelli such a sweet invite, but I'm not home. Spending the night at a friend's," Ranger smirked at that, wrapping an arm around the woman. He would be all too willing to jump into the conversation if it allowed. He would love to rile Morelli up while he still had a grasp on Stephanie. Stephanie smiled up at him, snuggling into his warm body in response.

"With who?" Morelli demanded. Ranger could hear the inherent ownership that laced his voice and apparently so could Stephanie because she swelled up indignantly and practically hissed her words into the phone.

"None of your concern, we're broken up and you have no control over who I spend my nights with." She told him angrily. Ranger could admit to being proud of Stephanie. He figured that Stephanie wouldn't put up with some of Morelli's crap like the forced marriage issue and the hatred of her job but he also figured that Morelli had at least a semblance of control over Stephanie, something that made her always come back. He didn't hear any of it in her voice and wondered if the breakup was bigger than he thought. Had Stephanie ever actually told him that it had been about her job again? No, but he had seen them arguing at one of the recent accident sites and had assumed.

"Is it fucking MaƱoso? You are sleeping with that bastard over me?" Stephanie didn't say anything, allowing Morelli to come to his own conclusions on his assumption. When he did, Ranger was ready to rip his vocal cords straight out of his throat. "You are, aren't you? You dirty whore! After all I've done for you, you are choosing that thug over me? We love each other and belong together but you are fucking it up by sleeping with him!" Morelli was in full rant now and Ranger could see the sudden change in Stephanie. Gone was the self-assuredness, the anger; in its place was an emotion Ranger never wanted to see on her face, hurt and guilt.

Firmly he took the phone from her hand and with a steadying voice, spoke to Morelli, "I'd appreciate if you did not call my apartment in the middle of the night to verbally abuse your ex. She needed a place to stay and I gave it to her. I didn't sleep with her and she isn't a whore, if you truly loved her you would never say things like that." He hung the phone up before Morelli could get his side in and turned it off once it started ringing angrily again.

"Babe." He spoke evenly, softly, as he firmly pushed her chin up to see her. Her blue eyes were rimmed with bright, unshed tears and Ranger growled lowly. "Morelli's a bastard," simple, factual, and laced with a quiet anger that hinted at death. Stephanie gave a shaky laugh and wiped her eyes.

"But right. We've only been broken up a week and here I am sleeping in another man's bed. I'm a hypocrite and a whore." Ranger shook his head at her and hugged her body to his.

"We slept in the same bed babe, it's not the same. You aren't a whore and you deserve someone who isn't going to treat you like that," he left the words that he would treat her better unsaid. Even if he would never dream of speaking to her like Morelli did, he was no better for her than him. His lifestyle left his daughter possibly orphaned every time he walked through his door, he couldn't imagine what it would do to a woman who was already a target herself.

"Thank you Ranger," Stephanie smiled, wiping the tears and looking at the clock. She groaned and threw herself back onto the bed. "It's four-thirty. Even if we were still dating I would tell that bastard to use his hand." She muttered and wrapped herself back in the blankets. Ranger couldn't help himself. He pulled her close into him, pressing his entire body against her as he whispered sensually in her ear:

"Is that what you would tell me Babe?" He asked her teasingly; softly nibbling her ear, his hand pressing roughly against her hip, bunching his shirt that was the only major article of clothing separating him from her. Stephanie moaned softly in response before biting a retort.

"Yes, but I'd expect you to actually follow it." The teasing feeling was gone in the air as Ranger figured the meaning behind her words. The realization hit him hard and he pulled back.

"He cheated on you?" The words were deceivingly calm, the sharpness of the poison laced into the softness of his voice. Dimly Stephanie nodded and her eyes swam with tears.

"With Joyce Barnhardt; I was so happy, I thought I had fantastic news to tell him but when I went into his apartment he was knees to knees with Joyce and just whaling away. It was disgusting." The tone in her voice showed how much she despised Morelli and Joyce and Ranger finally understood why her tone of voice had been so firmly final with Morelli. Stephanie could and would put up with a lot of Morelli's underhanded and borderline abusive antics but infidelity would never be something Stephanie would deal with. That left one question for him; well maybe two but he doubted he would take no for an answer on whether or not it was an option to kill Morelli.

"What was the news?" Silence had never been something he had to deal with Stephanie and it was unnerving. He wrapped his arms tighter, "Babe?" he goaded. Stephanie's eyes swam with tears and one hand gently rested almost protectively against her abdomen.

"I'm sorry for getting you and Julie involved in my life Ranger," she told him, trying to pull his arms away from her, so she could stand. "Morelli's right, I'm just a stupid whore." With those words the dam finally broke as Stephanie truly realized her predicament. Despite the fact that she obviously believed he would rid himself from her, Ranger held her until the dawn light hit the bed, comforting her as she cried for her suddenly complicated life.

Ranger knew that in that single, defining moment, he had allowed Stephanie into his life and it would never be the same. He might not be able to keep her safe from everything and he couldn't reverse the damage Morelli had done but he was unable to let her go. The batcave was forever, no matter the circumstances


So, umm, yeah. There's that. Don't hate me? I honestly have no idea where the (excuse the language) hell that ending came from but you know, plot right? Anyways and onto safer topics that won't get me cyber-killed for my weird twists and horrible plot pieces, I want to thank everyone for telling me about thread counts, I'm too lazy to fix it in the old chapter but I did change it here, I hope you like the chapter. I will assure you now, Morelli will be in it often now and Julie will be back, I just couldn't fit her in this chapter conceivably. Don't hate me, I honestly did not expect to write that, I guess you can say my stories plan themselves? AT LEAST give me credit for not having premeditation, that should get me at least a little of the hook, it works in court systems! Anyway, I thank you all for reading this and the new chapter should be up soon, I'm just not quite sure where to go from here.