All the usual disclaimers apply

Chapter 10 – Joe's POV

It's been a month since that awful day I was forced to attend a meeting at Rangeman. I haven't been able to find anything on Manoso. How can he be clean? The cars are all legit, his finances are clean, no evidence in the Abruzzi suicide and I can't get into his military file. That guy has 3 Purple Hearts; he kills people and gets rewarded. Why do they think so highly for him? I had to spend 3 days getting a psych eval and they have the nerve to say that I have an obsession with my Cupcake. They say I have an alcohol problem and I'm borderline psychotic. I'm not obsessed with Cupcake, I love her and I always have since I was 8. I took her virginity to stake my claim. Everyone understood that except Dickie Orr but Joyce took care of that, I didn't have to do anything. Now Manoso can't understand that she's mine, if I can't find anything to get his ass in jail something else needs to be done.

STEPH'S POV

Val's been working here for a month and she's fitting in really well. She's helped Ranger get a lot of his paperwork cleared up and the guys love having someone do their typing. She works for 5 hours a day while the girls are in school and Mom loves having Lisa for a few hours. Val and Albert are having an easier time financially now as well. Mary Alice and Angie come over on Saturday mornings for swim lessons with Cal and Bobby and they are having fun. The guys still spoil them but nowhere near how they did that first weekend. Val put her foot down when they started talking about building a playroom for them on four. Lisa's still very attached to Ranger and every Sunday when we go to dinner she runs to him and wants him to hold her the whole time. She refuses to go to anyone, even Val. It's so cute to see him holding her when she's in her little pink outfits. He's gotten better about wearing regular clothes and they aren't even black when we go to dinner.

I had my appointment with the gynecologist two weeks ago and she called to say all the blood work looked good and my pap was negative. Ranger and I decided that I wouldn't get another shot and we would let nature take its course. If and when I get pregnant we'll deal with it and if I don't we can always adopt. Of course we have been making love at every opportunity we can. It's been an amazing ride since that night my car blew up and apartment building burned down. I haven't seen Morelli since that night at Pino's. The TPD advised our attorney that Morelli is obsessed with me so Ranger won't let me leave without two men for protection.

We decided to go to Shorty's for lunch one day and it was me, Ranger, Val, Hal, Bobby, Lester, Cal and Tank. Val was a little freaked out but she knew she'd be safe with the men. We had ordered our food and we had pitchers of soda on the table. We had been laughing at one of the pranks Lester pulled on Binky and Ram when Morelli walked in. "Cupcake are you ready to come home where you belong?" a drunken Morelli yelled.

Everyone in Shorty's tensed, this was a Rangeman hangout and it was known around town that Morelli had been causing problems for us. I said "Ranger he's drunk again I want to ignore him."

"Babe, he's not going to allow us to do that, look at his stance. He's looking for a fight." Ranger took out his phone and called TPD to report violation of the restraining order and Tank was busy calling our attorney.

Joe pulled out a gun and Hal pushed Val down under the table to protect her. "Cupcake I asked you a question and I deserve an answer. If you don't answer I'll shoot someone."

I was amazingly calm at this point, I knew the police were on their way and Val was safe under the table. I replied "Joe put the gun down. You know that I'm married to Ranger I live with him and that is my home."

"Wrong answer Cupcake" and Joe shot Ranger who was sitting next to me in the shoulder. Someone screamed, I think it was me but Val was under the table crying.

"Oh my God, Ranger are you ok?" I asked. I could see the blood seeping through his shirt in the shoulder area. "Joe are you crazy? You can't just shoot him" I yelled.

"Cupcake that's not something you should say to me." He now pointed the gun at me while Bobby applied pressure to Ranger's wound. Ranger was holding my hand and squeezed it when Joe pointed the gun at me. "Cupcake, once I get rid of him we can be together."

"No Joe, I'll never be with you again. I'll never forgive you if you kill Ranger." I yelled back at him.

"Well Cupcake I'll have to kill you too then" Joe calmly said.

The door opened again and members of TPD entered and Big Dog yelled "Put the gun down Morelli, don't make us do something you won't like."

Joe pivots while still holding the gun and there are 6 officers with guns pointed at him. It was like slow motion Ranger pushed me down and the officers fired on Morelli. When the shooting stopped and we got up Joe was laying on the floor in a pool of blood. He had multiple gunshot wounds and Costanza checked for a pulse. It was clear that Joe was dead. Costanza shook his head and the EMT's entered. Bobby got out of the booth and so did Ranger so they could check his shoulder. I was frozen in shock. Val came over to me "Steph snap out of it. They're taking Carlos to the hospital."

I looked at her and nodded. I followed them out to the ambulance and got in with Ranger. "Babe, talk to me."

I looked up at him and began to cry. "Oh my god, he was going to kill us. I didn't want him to die. What the hell happened to him? The Joe I knew wouldn't have done that."

Ranger put his good arm around me "Babe he was sick and he had a drinking problem. He turned into someone else. Remember him as he was, your friend."

"I'm so sorry he shot you honey. I love you Carlos and you got shot again because of me. How can you love me?" I whined.

"Babe I've always loved you and I always will. I don't blame you for Morelli shooting me. I'm just glad it wasn't you he shot" Ranger said as we pulled into the Emergency Dept. of St. Francis. We were followed by three black SUV's containing the guys and Val. Val had called Mom and she was running up to us with Lisa and Grandma Mazur. Lisa began to cry when she saw Ranger and he turned and took her with his good arm and walked in to be checked out. I followed close behind. The nurse said he couldn't take Lisa with him and Val came over and took her. Lisa began to cry again and Ranger spoke to her in Spanish and she calmed before he walked into the treatment area.

Angie and Bella Morelli ran into the ER and started screaming at me. "This is your fault, if you hadn't married that thug this wouldn't have happened" screamed Angie. Bella threw in "I'll put the eye on you; you're nothing but a trollop." Angie then screamed at a nurse "where's my son."

Captain Targa came in and walked over to the Morelli women and spoke "I'm sorry to tell you Detective Joseph Morelli was shot and killed this afternoon at Shorty's after shooting Mr. Manoso and threatening to kill Mr. and Mrs. Manoso. He was drunk and when an officer asked him to drop his weapon and Det. Morelli turned and pointed the gun at the officers and they fired. He received multiple gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene. The Manoso's did nothing to provoke this attack; Det. Morelli was sick and refused treatment." Captain Targa then turned to me "Mrs. Manoso how's your husband?"

I looked up and said "Joe shot him in the shoulder because I wouldn't leave with him. He's in the treatment area right now and I'm waiting to hear more."

Captain Targa replied "I'm very sorry Mrs. Manoso for what happened, was anyone else injured?"

"No, Captain. I'd like to go check on my husband now." I said.

Mrs. Morelli couldn't resist one last jab "I hope you're happy Stephanie. You've done nothing but cause trouble for Joseph since you took that bounty hunting job."

I looked her in the eye and said "Joe was cleared of murder charges because of me. That was not causing him trouble. I wouldn't have made him happy, you know it and I know it. I'm happy with Carlos and I'm in love with him. I never loved Joe like I love my husband. It wouldn't have been fair for me to marry Joe knowing I was in love with Carlos. Hate me if it makes you feel better but I didn't kill him, he killed himself." With that I turned on my heel and strode into the treatment area.

RANGER'S POV

They were stitching me up, the bullet went straight through and it missed anything vital. I was worried about my Babe she wasn't handling this well. She was going to blame herself and pull away from me and I couldn't let that happen. The nurse was giving me my discharge information and tried to give me pain medication. I said to "This isn't the first time I've been shot. I don't need the medication I'' take some Tylenol."

"Carlos take the pain medication. Stop being a bad-ass I know you're in pain" Babe said as she walked into my treatment area.

I looked up at her and smiled "Babe."

The nurse looked like she'd been stunned and Babe shook her head "Turn it off Ranger and stop making the staff senseless. Are you ready to blow this popsicle stand?"

"Yes Babe, I want to go home and spend the night holding you. I almost lost you today."