Jps1926: I agree; Kim has a crazy life. I'm glad you're enjoying the crossover, and I'll explain some of the dynamics of the characters of the crossover in my A/N so you and anyone else who doesn't know the Stephanie Plum series can sort of follow and understand who the characters are. I'll also be including a character list in this chapter that will include all the Stephanie Plum characters so you can refer to that when you come across a character you don't know.

Gigletrig: Yeah, now their cousin's a ranger. Family business, I guess.

Slytherin-Angel44: Yeah, and Ranger and his men tend to be protective of Stephanie, so you'll kinda see them getting all protective of Kim in this chapter, too.

Aiwin: I'm glad you enjoyed Rainbow so much. Hopefully, you'll feel the same about this one, too.

DarkenedRoseThorn: Stephanie has all these men around her because she is a walking time bomb. Joe Morelli is her boyfriend, but Ranger is her mentor/friend/bodyguard. The other guys around her are Ranger's Merry Men, and they stay around her for two reasons: Ranger tells them to, and they all love Stephanie.

Kimtom4eva: I'm glad you're enjoying the story. I actually didn't write Rainbow just before the Power Morphicon convention. Or maybe I did and just didn't realize it. I started it last spring and finished in the fall right before I started Pink Road.

MagCat: It's OK that you've been gone for so long; so have I, really. I'm just glad to see you again! Yeah, everyone else's family does seem normal compared to Kim and Billy's. And I'm glad that you recognize I'm trying to keep everyone's personalities intact.

In this world live all worlds: I have to admit; the use of the word "cupcake" does not belong to me; I took it from Janet Evanovich, who is the creator of Stephanie Plum and her merry little world. But I agree: no one ever uses it anymore. As for the happy ending: we shall see. I have a couple ideas, but this story still has several more chapters to go before I have to put any of them into practice.

A/N: OK, I know I threw a lot of you for a loop when I introduced the Stephanie Plum series, so I just want to clear a few things up about the new characters. Stephanie Plum is a bounty hunter; she works for her cousin Vinnie Plum who owns a bond office. When the bondee fails to appear (FTA) for court, her job is to find them and bring them in. She has two men after her: Joe Morelli, a cop that she's known all her life; and Ranger, another bounty hunter that has been teaching her the ropes of the business. Ranger owns a security company and has a lot of heavily-armed men working for him. All the new characters are listed below, with short histories of each. If you have trouble keeping track of the new characters, go ahead and refer to the character list so you can get a feel for who they are. If we come across a character that you don't recognize and, for some reason, I forgot to list them here, then feel free to email me if you need clarification. Thanks! Desiree

Characters in the Stephanie Plum Series:

Stephanie Plum: A bounty hunter from Trenton, NJ. She fell into the job when she lost her job as a lingerie buyer three years ago, and has had a love/hate relationship with it ever since. She's not exactly a great bounty hunter; she's more lucky than anything else. She has bad karma with cars: they all get blown up or stolen or squashed or graffitied when she's around. Her apartment has been bombed and she's been shot, kidnapped, threatened, had psycho stalkers, and had a street gang try to rape her, and she's always come out relatively unscathed. She tried quitting once when she was tired of all the psychos chasing after her, but they didn't stop coming, so she went back to the job. A newspaper dubbed her the "Bombshell Bounty Hunter", and all Ranger's men have nicknamed her "Bombshell" and "Bomber" in deference to all the cars she has sent up to car heaven. She has an on-again off-again boyfriend – Joe Morelli, who calls her Cupcake – but also has another man in her life: Ranger, who calls her Babe. Her favorite food is Pineapple Upside-Down Cake. She has a pet hamster named Rex. She has an ex-husband who she caught cheating on her with her worst enemy on her brand-new dining room table.

Detective Joseph Morelli: A Vice cop with the Trenton Police Department who sometimes switches to Homicide. Has a long history with Stephanie: when he was 8 and she was 6, he led her into his father's garage to play "choo-choo" with her; he stole her virginity when she was 16; she ran him over and broke his leg two years later; he was her first capture when she became a bounty hunter; and has been in and out of her life and bed ever since. He hates her job and uses every disaster that happens to tell her that she's no good at it and should quit, marry him, and become a housewife. He has a pet dog named Bob.

Ricardo Carlos "Ranger" Manoso: Security expert and bounty hunter extraordinaire. When Steph became a bounty hunter, he came in to show her the ropes. He owns a security company, RangeMan LLC, and does the higher-bond FTAs that are out of Stephanie's league. Occasionally he employs her at RangeMan. She does distraction (luring an FTA out of an establishment – usually a bar – with her feminine charms) and runs internet searches and background checks for him. He's told Stephanie he loves her, but he always tacks on a qualifier, such as "in my own way" or "my love comes with a condom, not a ring". He slept with her once, when she was in an off-phase of her relationship with Morelli, but sort of tricked her into it by saying he'd help her with one of her FTAs if she spent the night with him. It's assumed that his nickname Ranger comes from the time he spent as an Army Ranger in the Special Forces. He has an ex-wife and a daughter, but not many people know that other than Stephanie and his men. Steph calls his men the "Merry Men". Stephanie calls him "Batman" because he dresses all in black, can get any information he wants, has the newest and latest in security and defense devices, and has an endless supply of expensive cars and an equally endless supply of properties. He keeps black SUVs for his men, and his personal cars include a Porsche Turbo 911, a Porsche Cayenne, a Mercedes, a BMW, and a Ford F-150, all black.

Grandma (Edna) Mazur: A 70-something woman who acts like a 20-something. She has skin like a soup chicken and short silver hair that she has permed every week. Occasionally she'll add a rinse and come out of the salon with apricot-colored hair. She's always referring to Ranger as the "bounty hunter with the nice package", and has a new "stud-muffin" almost every week. She carries around a .45 in her purse. Has a bad track record with weapons: when Steph first became a bounty hunter, she was looking at Steph's new gun and accidentally shot the roast chicken in the ass; another time, she was looking at Steph's new stun gun and stunned Steph's father, Frank; she had to move in with Steph for a few days when she embedded a knife in Frank's head.

Frank and Ellen Plum: Stephanie's parents. Frank is a retired mail worker who drives a taxi part-time to get away from his mother-in-law (Grandma Mazur). Ellen is the perfect 'Burg housewife. She hates Stephanie's job and always compares her to other 'Burg daughters, usually preceded by crossing herself and saying "why me?"

Albert and Valerie Kloughn: (Pronounced Clown) Valerie is Steph's perfect older sister. She was married just out of high school and moved to California and had two kids, Angie and Mary Alice. Angie is 10 and acts 30. Mary Alice is 8 and thinks she's a horse. Val's husband, Steven, left her for the babysitter and she moved back to New Jersey, where she got a job with a lawyer, Albert Kloughn. They had a baby, Lisa, and about six months later were married.

Vincent Plum: Vinnie is Stephanie's cousin on her father's side. He owns a bond office, Vincent Plum Bail Bonds. He is married to the only daughter of a mob boss, Harry the Hammer. He has a fetish for barnyard animals; it was rumored he was once in love with a duck.

Connie Rosolli and Lula: Connie is Vinnie's office manager. She also has mob connections, but it is uncertain how exactly they are related to her. Lula was a 'ho before she was beat up by a John and left to die on Stephanie's fire escape. She cleaned up her act and is now working as a file clerk in the bonds office. Sometimes she rides along when Stephanie goes after her skips.

Mary Lou Stankovic: Stephanie's best friend since they were children. Married to Lenny Stankovic. Has four children and a dog, all names are unknown.

Louis and Ella Guzman: Louis is the manager of the Trenton RangeMan building. His wife, Ella, is Ranger's housekeeper. Ranger keeps an apartment on the top floor of the Trenton RangeMan office that Ella takes care of. She cooks his meals, cleans the apartment, and does his laundry. She also takes care of the fourth floor, where there are studio apartments available for RangeMan employees. Louis takes care of the rest of the building.

The Merry Men: Stephanie's nickname for Ranger's men. Their names are listed below. Tank, Bobby, and Lester make up Ranger's "A Team" – men he was in the Special Forces with and trusts implicitly with his life. Bobby and Lester are the only two with known last names, and Tank's real name is Pierre.

Tank

Bobby Brown

Lester Santos

Hal

Cal

Al

Hector

Woody

Junior

Zero

Ram

Vince

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Kimberly awoke at 4:30 the next morning and shut off her phone, which she had used as an alarm. She headed to the bathroom to take care of business and splash water on her face, then she swept her hair up into a messy ponytail and changed into black jogging pants with pink stripes down the side and a black t-shirt. She placed the spare key Steph had given her in her pocket, pulled on her sneakers, grabbed the matching jacket to her pants, and left the apartment at exactly 4:50.

She decided to forego the elevator and take the stairs down to the ground floor. Once she stepped off the last stair, she ran smack dab into Ranger, who steadied her while she regained her footing. He was dressed in black sweatpants and a black hoodie sweatshirt.

"Steph's still sleeping," Kim mentioned, grinning up at the bounty hunter.

The corners of Ranger's mouth tilted up imperceptibly. "I'm not here to see Stephanie," he said. "But thanks for letting me know she's OK. Tank and I came to pick you up to go running. Bobby and Lester are getting your brother and will meet us at the park."

Kim's eyebrows rose in surprise as she shook her head and stepped around him. "What?" he demanded, coming up beside her. They left the building and, with Tank, began jogging toward the park.

"Steph told me you rarely speak, and when you do, it's usually one-word sentences."

Tank snorted, but kept the pace up. Ranger grinned. "If you and Billy will be here for a few days, do you mind company on your morning runs?" he asked, changing the subject.

"No," she replied, setting a slightly more rapid pace than they had been keeping. "But why the interest in our company in the morning? You barely know us."

"Running alone in the dark in Trenton is not a good idea. My guys always run in pairs, and I don't like the idea of you two on your own."

She gave him a lopsided smile before turning her attention back to her running. "Thanks, but we don't need babysitters."

"Christ, you sound just like Bomber," Tank announced.

"Bomber?" Kim asked, glancing at the tall black man beside her. "What's a Bomber?"

"It's a nickname my guys gave to Stephanie after she was dubbed the 'Bombshell Bounty Hunter' in the newspapers," Ranger explained, turning down a side street that would take them to the park.

"Ah," Kim replied, nodding between gasps. "No wonder Bobby called her 'Bombshell' at the hospital last night."

They entered the park then and spotted Billy, Bobby, and Lester, so they stopped talking and started pacing. They paired off as they entered the jogging path: Billy and Lester, Bobby and Tank, and Ranger and Kim. The pairs paced themselves to match their partners, and the running was completed in relative silence.

The jogging path circled the park and was exactly one mile around. Kim and Ranger, running faster than the other four, were on their fifth and final lap when Kim felt her legs knocked out from under her. Reflexively, she tucked her knees up, held her arms out, and turned it into a back flip. She landed and continued running, to see Billy and Lester grinning back at her. She and Ranger had just lapped them for the third time, but apparently they had sped up enough to catch her off guard.

"Are you OK?" Ranger asked, glancing over at her.

"I'm fine," Kim replied, smiling wryly. "No permanent damage."

"Santos is a dead man," Ranger growled.

"It wasn't Lester; it was Billy," Kim corrected, bending at the waist as they finished their five miles. "He always finds some way to trip me up when we run together; it's his idea of a joke."

"Your brother may have a habit of it, but I saw this trip up, and it was most definitely Santos."

"Since Billy and Lester have at least another two laps to go," Kim began, changing the subject. "Would you mind being my sparring partner, at least until they get finished?"

"I'm not willing to hit a pregnant woman; especially if she's a cousin of Steph's," Ranger countered.

"I'll let you know if it gets to be too tough for me," Kim replied sardonically, tugging off the jacket of her jogging suit. She slipped into a fighting stance and raised her eyebrows at the mercenary, who shook his head amusedly and took his stance. "Besides," Kim continued, blocking his first punch and kicking him lightly in the side, "Stephanie always describes you as an opportunist."

Twenty minutes later, Lester, Billy, Tank, and Bobby finished their five miles together and headed to where Ranger and Kimberly had an intense sparring match going. Ranger swept Kim's feet out from under her, but she used it to her advantage to flip over his head, landing behind him. She executed a side-kick, but he grabbed her leg and flipped it up. She back flipped and landed again in time to catch Ranger's right fist in her right hand and then his left fist in her right hand. Both were panting and sweating heavily at this point, but neither was willing to back down.

"Yo Boss, Rocket, ease up," Bobby demanded, stepping between the two and prying their hands apart.

"You call your boss 'Rocket'?" Billy asked, his head tilted to the side. "Why do you do that?"

"No," Tank cut in, "he was calling your sister 'Rocket'. She just ran five miles in less than twenty minutes, then went another twenty minutes sparring with Ranger. Kimberly's the only person we've ever seen who can keep up with Ranger when he's running at his full speed, and she never even tried to slow down. Bobby and I were watching and decided that we'd nickname her the Rocketeer, and call her Rocket for short."

"Rocket," Lester tried the name out. "Rocketeer. I like it! Now we have a Bombshell and a Rocketeer!"

"Joy," Kimberly rolled her eyes, stretching to cool herself down.

"It suits you," Billy smirked.

"Wiseass," she muttered.

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At 5:45, Kim re-entered the apartment, tossing her jacket on the sofa as she made her way to the bathroom. She stopped in the bedroom to check that Steph was still sleeping, then peeled out of her jogging clothes and stepped into the shower. Forty-five minutes later and she was showered and dressed in a pair of black jeans with pink roses embroidered on them and a pale pink blouse with a black blazer. She picked up her keys and purse, clipped her phone to her belt, and left the apartment again.

She steered the Expedition in the direction of Giovichinni's Deli and Meat Market and picked up a half pound of roast beef, a half pound of turkey, a quarter pound of swiss, a quarter pound of provolone, some ground beef, breakfast sausages, Italian hot sausages, a few steaks, some Atlantic Salmon, a dozen eggs, a half gallon of nonfat milk, some boneless chicken breasts, a pound of jumbo shrimp, a pound of bay shrimp, and a couple King crab legs. Then she headed for the nearest Asian market to grab some ginger, garlic, scallions, tofu, a variety of jarred sauces, some peanut oil, some chili sauce, sprouts, peanuts, rice noodles, rice, coconut milk, curry powders, limes, and chili flakes. She had decided that she would make Thai food for dinner tonight, since she had a sudden craving for it. A last stop to the supermarket to pick up some fresh fruit, vegetables, flour, sugar, yeast, baking powder, baking soda, Bisquick, coffee grounds, coffee filters, soda, bottled water, beer, Ben & Jerry's Phish Food and Karamel Sutra, toilet paper, paper towels, and dish soap rounded out her shopping list.

She re-entered the parking lot in time to see Ranger angle out of his Porsche Turbo and head toward her car. After she picked up the four paper bags from her storage compartment, he grabbed the ten plastic ones and they entered the building. Kim didn't ask what he was doing there; she figured he was probably checking on her cousin. Steph had mentioned that Ranger had a thing about protecting her. As they exited the elevator on the second floor, Kim froze.

Ranger noticed why she had stopped and motioned her to stay behind him. The door was wide open. He carefully set the plastic bags he was carrying on the floor near the wall and drew his gun. The two approached the door, then froze again as they heard arguing coming from the apartment.

"Cupcake, you need to quit your job. You almost got yourself killed yesterday!" Joe's voice blared out. Kim felt Ranger stiffen next to her. She caught his eye and shook her head slowly. It wouldn't do any good to get involved; Steph wouldn't take that well. He got the message and nodded imperceptibly.

"Joe, I like my job. I enjoy the freedom it gives me," Steph's voice sounded tired and…resigned.

"You're not trained for it; in fact, you're pretty fucking horrible at it!" Joe retorted. "What you need to do is quit your job and marry me. If you loved me the way I love you, that's what you'd be doing."

"Do you love me, Joe?" Stephanie asked, her voice angrier now. You go, Steph! Kim thought to herself. Glancing at Ranger, she could almost see the pride in his countenance, too. "Because I gotta tell ya, it doesn't really seem like it! You say you love me, but you don't support my decisions. You say you want me, but what you really want is a woman to stay at home, barefoot and pregnant for the next ten years. If you loved me, you'd accept the way I am and not try to mold me into what you want me to be. If you cared about me, you wouldn't use work as an excuse to get away from my family. Kimberly and Billy must think you're a real asshole; you did nothing but glare at them the entire night, Billy especially!"

"The guy's a jerk, Steph. Did you see the way he was looking at you?" Joe spit out. Kimberly felt her back stiffen and noticed Ranger glaring in the general vicinity of the kitchen.

"What?" Stephanie demanded. "I don't fucking believe you just implied that my cousin was hitting on me last night! What kind of a sick bastard are you?"

"I call it like I see it," he replied calmly.

"Speaking of calls," she turned back to him, "what were you doing with Teri Gilman at the Roadside Inn two nights ago? You have a lot of nerve accusing others when you can't keep it in your pants, Joe Morelli!"

"Oh, for pity's sake, that again? I told you, Cupcake: Teri and I work together. There's nothing going on, which is more than I can say for you and Manoso!"

Kim and Ranger heard Steph gasp. "Ranger is my friend, Joe. I'm with you, why can't you trust me?"

"Doesn't mean he stops wanting to get you into bed, Steph."

"You know what," Steph squeaked, "What if he does want to get me into bed: does that automatically mean that he will? There's generally a two-way decision on things of that nature, and despite what you may think, Ranger would never force me to do anything I didn't want to do. He's not you, Joe."

"I've heard enough of this. Either quit your job and end your acquaintance with Manoso, or you and I are over," came Joe's ultimatum.

Kim had heard enough. Whether Stephanie would appreciate the butt-in or not was now irrelevant; she was putting a stop to this abuse. She pushed her way past Ranger and entered the apartment angrily. She slammed her four bags of groceries down on the counter and turned an icy stare on Morelli. "I think you should leave now, Detective," she issued coldly.

"Or you'll what, little girl?" he sneered. "Tell on me to your Auntie Ellen? Go back to your playpen; you're in way over your head here."

"I wouldn't talk like that to Dr. Cranston if I were you, Morelli," Ranger's voice came from the doorway, where he had picked up his grocery bags and entered the apartment. Setting his bags on the counter, he continued his thought. "She's done more with her life in the past fifteen years than you ever will do with yours."

"Joe, just go," Steph sighed. "I'm tired of having the same arguments with you; you don't want me, you want a slave. Get out and don't come back."

"You'll change your mind, Cupcake; you always do," Joe replied confidently, striding out the front door.

"I've got a meeting in an hour; I'll see you ladies later," Ranger announced once he was sure Morelli had gone. He glanced at Kim as he turned around.

Kim got the message he was conveying and nodded imperceptibly. Steph noticed the exchange and sighed. "Damn ESP," she mumbled. "How the hell do you guys do that, by the way?"

"Oh, and Dr. Cranston, you can inform your brother that I have an empty studio apartment at RangeMan whenever he needs a place to stay," Ranger announced, ignoring Steph's question.

Kim nodded and Stephanie glanced between the two. "Can't Billy do the ESP thing, too?"

Ranger chuckled as he left the apartment. Kim grinned at her cousin. "You're going to have to ask him that; I don't speak for Billy," she replied, sifting through the bags of groceries. Stephanie finally noticed the bags of food and glared at Kim.

"What the hell did you buy, Kim?"

"Don't complain, Steph; your cupboards and refrigerator were empty. Can you start a pot of coffee?" she asked, handing over the coffee canister and the filters.

"Can you drink coffee in your condition?" Stephanie countered, gesturing to Kim's still-flat tummy. "Isn't caffeine bad for the baby?"

Kim shrugged. "Too much of anything is bad for anyone. My doctors assure me that one cup of coffee a day won't hurt the baby, though."

Steph nodded and started the pot while Kim got the perishables into the refrigerator and freezer, and the items she was planning to make for breakfast sorted out.

Half an hour later, the two women were setting the table with a steaming breakfast of pancakes, bacon, eggs, and coffee. And Kimberly also had a glass of orange juice and some sliced melon. Just as they were about to sit down, a knock came to the door.

"Huh…wonder who that is," Steph wondered aloud, standing up to answer it. "Most people that want into my apartment just break in." Kim shook her head in amusement as Stephanie peered through the peep hole and opened the door, revealing Billy.

"Hey guys, am I too late for breakfast?" Billy asked hopefully, sending a desperate glance Kim's way.

"Nope…just in time," Kim grinned, jumping up to fetch another cup of coffee and plate for Billy. She filled a glass of orange juice for him as well, and sat back down in her seat.

"Was Grandma so hard on you last night that you decided you had to get out of Dodge before she took another shot at you?" Steph asked, grinning slyly at her cousin.

Billy rolled his eyes. "No, but I just couldn't take any more of Aunt Ellen's bitching and moaning about Kim being unmarried and pregnant and what the 'Burg would think. Who cares what they'd think? Kim doesn't live here; she never has."

"Unfortunately, though, since I'm the child of a 'Burger, then I'm one by default, Billy. So are you," Kim pointed out. "Better get used to it; I've never seen a neighborhood take such an active interest in the lives of its residents than this one."

"But if you really want out of my mom's house, Ranger was just here a little bit ago and said that there's a studio at his office that you can use. Just need to call him," Steph offered.

Billy and Kim stared at each other quietly for a moment before Billy nodded. "I think I might take him up on that," he finally answered.

"I knew it!" Steph announced triumphantly. Kim grinned into her coffee cup while Billy glanced between his cousin and his sister before finally shaking his head at the mysteries of women and taking another bite of his pancakes.

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A/N: OK, so this chapter went absolutely not the way I had intended, but I guess it kinda sets the groundwork. You'll be seeing a lot of Ranger and his men, and a little bit more of Morelli in the next few chapters. Sorry it took so long to get this one out; I am in the process of switching jobs and also switching schedules so my life is a little hectic. The next one should be out soon, though.