I do not own JE's characters. I just like playing with them.

A/N: My muse fluctuates and this story came out of me trying a twist. I wish I could do this, but I guess I will just make it good for Steph and Ranger.

This fic is a little slow moving as is their relationship. Sometimes, the buildup is better. I am trying to show a new Ranger and a new Steph. Your patience is rewarded in this chapter.

Bear with me and my silly sense of humor. The rating is earned for some language and sex.

Thanks for your messages! Please read and review.

Stephanie POV

It is Friday again and I am still laughing at what happened yesterday. Morelli had a mishap at the laundromat and somehow managed to shrink his clothes and make one batch into tie dye. This was evident on his shirts. His suits he took to the cleaners. My absolute favorite part was the rant his mother gave him outside Pino's. She really let into him. Gram filmed it. I will just watch it again on Youtube.

The scene shows Joe Morelli coming out of Pino's with a large pizza and a six pack of beer balanced on top. Suddenly, his mother walks up to him pokes him in the chest.

"Joseph Anthony Morelli! How could you embarrass me like this?! I thought you knew how to do your laundry and I know I taught you better! You look ridiculous with a half pink half blue shirt! Why didn't you just admit you cannot do it instead of ruining all of your clothes? What is this beer on a Thursday to drink it all alone?! This is why I will have no grandbabies. No woman will want you with the small privates and a beer gut! Go home and take off these clothes at once!"

I know it is small of me, but I cannot help but notice the look on his face while she is publicly berating him. He looks a little sad, a little betrayed and a little mad. My shoulder angel tells me to be nice and my shoulder badass pimp slaps her and tells me that he did it to himself and that is what he gets. I really had nothing to do with this little episode, but that does not stop me from enjoying it.

Since we are off tomorrow, the guys agreed to have a paintball war. There will be a skeletal crew here and some contract workers. Tank said he is not playing because he has a date tomorrow night, so he will be in charge if Carlos stays on call for the night shift.

Carlos said he wanted the same deal for tonight which is poker night. Tank wants to play, but Carlos is not into gambling. Good. After he is finished his shift tonight, I will help him to totally relax. I am ready.

Meanwhile, I am supposed to get dressed. I put on my khaki cargo skirt and dark brown stockings with my dark brown boots. I like these garters and so does Carlos. His eyes look so sexy when he undresses me. I put my hair into a bun and button my chocolate brown dress shirt that still says Rangeman on the breast. It is a silky material and I pair it with a khaki jacket that has ruffles on the back. I love Ella.

I grab Hector's bribery pie and leave my apartment. Carlos had looked at me funny when I said I was coming to my apartment. I had made the filling after work yesterday so I could bake it fresh this morning.

I let Max follow me and I stopped at Hector's cubicle with the pie. I looked behind me and there was a line of guys staring at me. I sighed and handed the bag with two more pies in it to the nearest Rangeman who happened to be Grifter.

"Here. Go buy yourself something nice." He stands there petrified as the mob closes in on him. I feel the tingle. I turn and Ranger is here. I say that because he is in his black uniform and he is dressed in SWAT gear.

"Gentlemen, is there a problem?" No one says anything. Hector hid his pie in the overhead storage area to his cubicle and he has a blank face. I try not to make eye contact.

Hector whispers to me. "Chica, do the distraction." He takes out my hair clip and puts it into my hand. Fine! I take a deep breath, shake my hair, and walk up to Carlos.

"What time is the take down for Rollings and Ford, Ranger?" He looks at me and the guys disperse quickly. I notice that the crowd carries poor Grifter away.

Ranger POV

I know what she is doing, but I am still captivated by her beauty. Now I know what she meant when she said she had to get ready in her apartment this morning. Pie. I missed shower sex for pies. Well, shower oral sex. I love it and I wanted it today.

She knows I have to work late tonight and I have to be on call tomorrow night. Hell, Mama might even succeed in getting Babe to agree to Sunday dinner. She is standing so close to me that I can smell the scent she uses.

Damn, I want her and that skirt is not helping. My hands itch to touch her and slide my hands over her body and check to see if she is wearing those stockings with garters and what kind of tiny excuse for panties she has on her sexy little ass.

I have been hot for her since I saw her do a take down on Lester in the gym today. She calls my name and I concentrate on what she is saying. She has fixed her hair again and I lament over my missed chance to play with the wild curly mass.

"The takedown is set for thirty minutes." She bites her lip and looks at me.

"Carlos, please wear a vest and a jacket and be careful. Park your cars far away from the house. They like to throw Molotov cocktails." I nod and agree to take her advice.

"Do not turn your back on any of them, even the girlfriends." I walk her to her office. Once the door closes, I pull her close and kiss her.

"Babe, please calm down. Thank you for your advice, especially about the girlfriends. I will make sure Tank and Les and Bobby suit up as well. Don't go crazy while I am gone, and I want my own pie tonight, Babe." She shudders and kisses me.

"Tonight I think we should practice rule number 8, Carlos. Let's practice it all night, okay? Have a good takedown and if you let my boyfriend get hurt, no pie for you." She expects me to be able to think right now? I meant I wanted her to bake me a pie, but damn. I kiss her again and leave before I bend her over something.

Helen POV

I like this time of morning. It is after breakfast but before lunch. Today I am using this time to think. Valerie called me and begged me to sign some forms for her and I agreed. That took a couple of hours at the bank. When I asked her what was going on, she said she was just doing some planning. I decided that I trust her judgment; after all she is my success story.

Now I have some new thoughts. I drank my coffee and mulled it over. Ever since Stephanie got out of St. Francis', people have been talking about Joseph Morelli. I really thought he would have been a good addition to our family, but now I am not so sure.

I mean he is a police Detective but I heard he did not want to give a safety talk to the kids at the middle school. Betty Lupelli told me that Shirley Gazzara told her that Joseph said he was too important to talk to them. That plus the way he has been so angry all of the time. He made such a scene at Givenchy's and poor Maria was just trying to have a sale in his honor.

Maybe I was wrong about him. Mother came over today and showed me how Angie Morelli had to tell him off in public. He did not look his best at all and I am thinking that if he drinks that much now, then he will only drink more later. He is a Morelli. He really seemed like he had beat their family curse. I sigh and look at the bottles in my pantry. Am I that bad? I definitely do not want to be on Youtube. I slowly pour all of them out and throw them away, just to be on the safe side.

Shirley also told me about those nice boys from Rangeman talking to the kids and that they clapped for a long time. Mrs. Brestler told Karen Thompson who told me all about how even more of the nice boys from Rangeman took her and her friends to bingo and helped them at the grocery store. Maybe Stephanie does work for a good company after all.

I heard from mother that she and her friends watch the bonds office for an hour every day and that Vincent is behaving like a real businessman these days. All of my gossip is second hand, but I think it is true. The big one is that Stephanie is dating that Mr. Manoso that came over here with her. She said he was an army ranger. That means he is good at what he does. What if that is true? Did that make me wrong? I don't know how I feel about that. I need to think.

Ranger POV

Why me? I look at Tank, Lester, and Bobby and they tell me with their eyes that this is all on me. I nod at them and they start securing the FTAs. The takedown was going fine until we had outside interference and everything went FUBAR. There were shots fired, a car exploded, and people got hurt.

It is a mob scene here and I am telling you this is not my fault. I thought about what Babe told me and how Lester is being friendly with Gazzara and I decided to let the police Chief know of our dangerous takedowns so they could give us the space to do what we needed to do.

I emailed the particulars to Chief Buchannan this morning and he sent back a thank you for the professional courtesy. That is why we were so shocked to see Detective Morelli and some uniformed cop named Pickey approaching as we were securing the perps. We had both of them down and we were removing their weapons, when Morelli tried to muscle in and make it his arrest.

We asked him politely to back off. Meanwhile, they had a girlfriend and she came running out of the house with a gun and started shooting wildly. The cop fell down and broke his arm, Morelli got shot in the ass and his car took bullets to the gas tank and went up like the fourth of July. Bobby was able to knock the gun out of the woman's hand and he subdued her.

The cops and fire trucks came and all I could do was stand there and glare at Morelli. The chief himself came over to me to find out what happened. I explained to him that I did not know why Detective Morelli tried to intercede in our takedown, but that we had our FTAs and the woman on the ground is the one who shot Morelli and blew up his car. He nodded and I gave another statement to Carl Costanza.

Throughout this ordeal, Morelli has been yelling to anyone who would listen that we were thugs and that people called him because it seemed like we were invading the neighborhood and he was just doing his job. No one cares about his story, but I know the guys are filming this. Hell, we filmed all of our takedowns. I am sure Hector will put this on Youtube after he gives a copy to Gazzara. I just sigh. My phone rings and I know it is Babe.

"Yo." She sighs.

"Yo yourself. Carlos, are you alright? Do you need me to bring you anything?" I love this woman.

"I am fine, Babe. What happened was not our fault." She snorts.

"We took your advice, but a car still blew up and someone got shot." She gasps.

"Who got shot, Carlos?" I grin.

"Babe, Officer Morelli was shot during a scuffle and his car blew up as well." It is quiet for a few seconds and then she laughs loudly.

"I love you, Carlos. Next time there are shots fired, please call me so I know you are okay. This police band thingy does not give out enough information." I smile.

"I promise, Babe. I will be back to change within thirty minutes. I love you back." I had moved away from the crowd to take her call. The guys had cleared out and Tank was waiting for me at the car. I nodded at Costanza and he waved me off. Good.

In the car, Tank howls laughing. I smile. "That man is an ass. Why would he come to our takedown, Ric?"

I looked at him sideways.

"Pierre, you know why he showed up. He wants to make us look bad and if he was able to do that takedown with one green officer, he would be the man. His hubris got him shot in the ass for his troubles. This will not endear him to the Chief." Tank laughs again.

"He needs to just give it up. Whew. His car blew up, man and it was his own fault. It is like he has bad luck or something. Oh well. All's well that ends well. I have a date with the lovely Nurse Jenna tomorrow and I am glad we did not get shot, man." Me too.

It was just past noon when we got back to the office and I headed straight to my apartment to shower and change. That was close. When that chick started shooting, we all ducked like normal people. Morelli had tried to wrestle with her. She was clearly high on something because she was not even aiming. I shudder to think that Babe could have been after some crazies like that with Morelli being his own version of the Keystone Cops.

I get out of the shower and dress in the khaki version of my uniform. Tia Ella must be bored. I hear a bark and I see Max.

"Well, hello. Where is Babe?" He runs into the other room and I follow him.

Steph is sitting on the sofa with Chinese food waiting for me. She crosses her legs slowly and I follow the movement. Oh, Babe, stop teasing me.

"Hey there. I ordered us lunch. I had to get enough for the guys, too. I made them get broccoli, so do not take them to the mats." I pulled her to her feet and kissed her passionately. She runs her hands all over me and I want to say screw it to the rest of the day. I am sure I can pay someone to take my shift. I catch her hands.

"Babe, stop that! Wait until later, please." She blushes.

"I was checking you for injuries, and I guess I got a little carried away." You almost got carried into the bedroom, Stephanie.

"Thank you, Babe. I am hungry. Let's sit down and eat and you can get the gossip I know you want about Morelli." She bounces in her seat.

I kiss her gently and we eat and I tell my story complete with voices and sound effects and she falls all over laughing. At one point I thought she was going to pass out. She loved when the car blew up. My girlfriend is adorable. I smile all the way back to my office.

Stephanie POV

This is the best day ever. I am so fucking giddy. Morelli got shot in the ass and his car blew up! I dance in my chair as I review files. Today's takedown could have been a lot differently. I am glad the ass did not get killed. He deserves to suffer. No quick death for him. Wow. I sound kind of morbid. Nope. He needs to be cured of his obsession with me.

Oh well. I make calls to Mary Lou, Gram and Connie and tell them the scoop and that it will be on Youtube later. I breeze through my work and give it to Lester. It was 5:30pm when I went to my apartment. I needed my lingerie. Tonight was the night.

Carlos comes into his apartment at 8pm and I watch him strip on his way to the shower.

"Nice show there, Ricardo." He stops and turns to see me handcuffed to the bed wearing a white bustier, white silk French cut panties and matching stockings and garters. I even have my shoes still on. I got Hal to tell me when Carlos was coming and to watch Max overnight. He will be scarred for life if he witnesses what we were going to do tonight. Hal agreed for a dozen large chocolate chip cookies. I told him tomorrow and we had a deal.

"Babe." I know this time it means, you are about to be attacked. He was standing there in just his boxers and he was breathing hard like he had been in a race.

"Do you need to talk to me about anything, Carlos?" I use my seductive voice. Yes, I have a seductive voice.

He steps towards me and sits next to my legs which are stretched out in front of me and slightly open. I watch as he gently runs his hand up my leg from my ankle, which he kisses to the apex of my thigh. I know I whimper.

"Babe, I need you to tell me what is off limits. I need to know so I do not go too far." He switches legs and repeats his earlier action.

"Carlos." He meets my stare.

"Nothing is off limits. Life is too short to hold back. I love you and I trust you. I also do not mind dirty talk. I am on the shots, so I want nothing between us. Take me, Carlos."

I am barely finished my little prepared speech when he rips off my panties and goes for dessert. Oh, yes, he is so good at that. I writhe in the handcuffs and I cum hard screaming his name.

"Si, Babe. You are so beautiful and amazing. Te amo, Babe." He takes off my stockings and shoes and slowly enters me. I wrap my legs around his back. Oh, yes, I can feel him stretching me. He finally seats himself fully and waits for me to adjust to his size. I moan and tighten my muscles on him. He moans and bites my neck.

"You are so fucking tight, Babe. Stop that before I cum already." I just give him a wicked look.

"As long as you cum in me, I don't care, Carlos. Do it. Make it yours." He moans again and thrusts slowly in and out over and over setting a rhythm that was the best! I tilt my head back and watch as he makes love to me. Mmmm. My man is a sex god! Every time I cum, he licks my nipples or kisses my lips. His hands are everywhere. The buildup is amazing.

"Oh, yes, yes, yes!" I black out.

At some point, we eat and shower and go back to bed, but I have too much energy, so I dress in a sports bra and tiny shorts and put some music on. I shut the door so Carlos could sleep. I should have known he would get up.

"Babe, we have a rule about leaving me alone in bed." I smile. He looks all sleepy.

"Carlos, I did not leave the apartment." He just stares at me.

"Nope. Now you have broken a rule. Defend yourself." I open my mouth to speak and I am pinned to the floor in seconds.

"Carlos, I love you and I had too much energy. I was going to work out a little to make myself sleepy." He kisses me.

"I see I was to gentle with you, my love. I will remember that for next time. I forgive you." I smile and shove him.

"Thank you. Now get off me, I am not finished my workout." He kisses my neck.

"Yes the fuck you are." He pulls my shorts off and plunges into me making me thankful the music is playing so my scream is camouflaged.

"Oh, baby!" He continues thrusting into me.

"Just take it. Take me. I love you. You are so beautiful. So sweet. So special. You make me so happy. Girl, don't ever leave me." Wow.

"Never, baby. Never. We are forever." I bend my legs back to touch the carpet behind me and he growls.

Bad Stephanie is a freak so she gives me some things to say. "Harder, lover. Cum for me, Ricky. Spray that nut all over me. Mark me as yours, Carlos." He roars and pinches my clit making me cum hard.

He pulls out and cums in my hair on my face my breasts and my pussy. I dip my fingers in it and lick it off. When did I turn into such a freak?

Carlos likes it. "You are my nasty bitch aren't you?" I shudder and nod.

"All yours baby. Whatever you need. We are taking vitamins tonight."

"Si, Estefania. You nympho." I glare at him.

"You attacked me, Carlos." He smiles at me.

"That was Ricky. He is always horny." I laugh and kiss him. We race to the bedroom and hit the shower. I fall asleep with my man cuddled next to me and his breath in my ears.