FADE TO BLACK

Disclaimer: As usual, all character's are the property of JE. Unfortunately she won't even let me borrow Ranger for a day or two. I am making no money yada, yada, yada.

WARNING: This story is VERY Un-Morelli friendly. If you are a Cupcake then you will absolutely hate my story. Joe is a very bad guy in this story. I'm a total Babe and it shows. It's actually extremely unkind to Mrs. Plum too. There will be adult language, violence, and situations so don't even bother reading any more if this will offend you.

PREVIOUSLY:

Stalker POV

Well, I guess I got off lucky today. The bomb I placed under the Porsche wasn't supposed to go off until they got to Point Pleasant. Explosives were never my strong suit. I perfer to kill someone up close and personal. If it hadn't been for that stupid bitch's sweet tooth, my plan would have ended way too soon. I definately want Ranger and Stephanie Plum dead, but I intend to have some fun with them first. I want to make sure that Ranger suffers the way he's made me suffer. I watch him with that bitch, and it disgusts me.

After all I have gone through because of him, it doesn't even bother him. It was his fault that my sister, Alexi, was dead and he was just going about his life like she never even mattered. I can't even express the hatred that I feel for that man. I spent the first twenty years of my life doing everything to keep my sister safe. I kept my mother's 'boyfriends' away from her by letting them have their way with me. That darkness only touched her life one time, and she almost didn't survive it, but I got her through it. She graduated from college and was starting an amazing career with the FBI, until Ricardo Manoso was dropped in her path. All my years of sacrfice and hard work were undone in less than a year.

I have waited for years to have this opportunity. I've silently watched him, waiting for him to find someone he cared about half as much as I cared for my sister, and it finally happened. I never thought it would be the bumbling idiot known as the Bombshell Bounty Hunter, but I didn't care who it was. I just wanted to make sure he suffered her loss before I killed him.

CHAPTER 14

RPOV

I woke at my normal time, but decided to lay in bed and watch Stephanie sleep. Waking up with her this week had been perfect. I didn't even want to think of going back to waking up alone. While I watched her sleep, I thought about the bomb. How had the bomber known here to find us? I guess Steph had told most of her friends and family where we were going so that meant the entire 'Burg knew. Tank had called about the time we got to the house to let us know that the preliminary report was in on the explosion, and that a timer had been used. If it weren't for Steph's sweet tooth, we would have been in the car when it blew. The fact that she had felt something off before we got in the car just amazed me. I knew that with the proper physical training, she would be unstoppable. Her instincts were incredible. I just needed to get her to trust them.

I was pissed that I hadn't kept my Babe safe. I couldn't understand why the alarms on the Porsche weren't triggered when the bomb was put in place. I knew that Morelli hadn't actually placed the bomb, but for some reason, I felt like he had something to do with it. If he were, that would mean he had an accomplice.

After he made bail, I had my guys look into anyone in Morelli's life that might help him hurt Steph. Even though nothing had happened, I didn't want to take a chance. All the results pointed to either his cousin, Mooch, or his brother, Anthony. I had trackers placed on each of their cell phones and cars so I could be aware of their locations. I had Tank check where both signals were at the time Steph and I were in the doctor's office, because I figured that was the only time the bomb could have been placed. They were both at work, and Tank had been able to verify that with numerous witnesses, so it basically left us with nothing.

I felt Steph start to wake up in my arms.

"Morning, Babe."

"Morning, Batman."

I chuckled at the nickname. It was flattering, but also a little daunting. Steph snuggled closer in my arms and kissed my neck. She pulled away and started to get up, but I stopped her. She looked up at me and smiled.

"Let me up. I've gotta go to the little girl's room."

I let go of her and watched her walk into the bathroom, snagging a scarf for her head along the way. I knew she was extremely self-conscious about her hair, or lack thereof, but I honestly still thought she was the most beautiful woman in the world. I climbed out of bed and grabbed a pair of sweats and some shorts for Steph to put on. I had changed her into one of my t-shirts last night, but I wasn't about to let the guys see how incredibly sexy she looked in just a t-shirt and panties.

When she came back into the bedroom, I handed her the shorts. She looked at me a little strange.

"I told you before I don't share. I need Lester and Bobby here to keep us safe. It would be very inconvenient if I had to kill them for looking at your sexy little ass."

Her entire face turned red at the thought, and it made me instantly hard. There was something about her when she blushed, and every time, it made me want to throw her over my shoulder and take her to bed for a week. Actually, pretty much everything she did made me want to do that. Those thoughts were on hold for the time being, but I did want to talk to her about us this weekend.

I grabbed her hand and headed downstairs, knowing that the guys were already cooking breakfast. I had asked them to make some of her favorites, since we didn't end up picking anything up at the Tasty Pastry.

"Hey, Bomber, how are you this morning? Did you get a good night's sleep?" Bobby asked.

"Yes, thanks. Now, where's the coffee?"

Bobby chuckled and handed her a cup of coffee and a plate of Belgium waffles. All the men knew she hated mornings. I saw my Babe's eyes glaze over, then she smiled. She was so easy to please.

"So what do you want to do this weekend, Babe?" I asked her.

"Nothing specific. I just want to relax. You know I still get tired easily, so I don't want to do too much. A walk on the beach would be nice. It's not that cold yet."

"A walk on the beach it is then. When you're done with breakfast, go take a shower and get ready."

She nodded and resumed eating. Lately she'd been trying to control her moaning in front of me while she ate. It bothered me before today, but now, I was grateful. I hated the looks the guys got on their faces when she ate.

"Yum. That was delicious. Who cooked?"she asked.

"I did, Bomber. I actually enjoy cooking when I have the time," Bobby told her.

"Well, I'll let you cook for me anytime you want if it's always that tasty," she told him, before she headed upstairs to shower.

As soon as she was gone, I turned to the guys. "Report!"

"Not much to tell. A high-grade explosive was used, but nothing that isn't pretty easy to obtain if you know the right people. You already knew it was on a timer, but it looks like it might have malfunctioned. Al is trying to figure out how the bomber got past his alarms. We've gone through all of Morelli's known associates, but no one stands out, which is a good thing, I guess, but no one else seems like a likely suspect, either. No FTAs were recently released that had a grudge with you or Steph. No one from any of your past missions are raising any red flags, either. I know you don't want to hear this, but we basically have nothing," Lester told me.

"Fuck! Well, keep looking. There has to be something. We're just missing it."

"I know, Boss. We'll keep looking. How close do you want us for your beach stroll?" Lester grinned at me.

"Close enough to keep us safe, but not close enough for you to eavesdrop."

Lester was a bigger gossip than Grandma Mazur. I glared at him, but he just laughed and walked off. Sometimes I wished he wasn't my cousin. It would be so much easier to make him disappear. I went upstairs to change clothes and wait for Steph.

We headed out to the beach, holding hands. I decided this would be a good time to talk to Steph about us, and I was suddenly totally freaked out. It wasn't as if I was asking her to marry me. I just wanted to see if she wanted to have a relationship, but the thought that she might say no had me scared shitless.

"Ranger, is something wrong?"

Of course she'd notice.

"No, Babe. Everything is fine. I just wanted to talk to you about some things, and was trying to figure out what to say."

She stilled and looked up at me like I was about to break her heart. I knew she was thinking I was going to tell her something along the lines of I didn't want to see her anymore, or maybe give her another ridiculous line like 'my life doesn't lend itself to relationships.' I pulled on her arm, getting her to start walking down the beach again. I needed to walk to help cover up my nervousness.

"It's nothing bad, Babe. At least, I hope you won't think it is. I've been doing a lot of thinking these past few weeks. After you came back from the beach and talked to me about the changes you wanted to make in your life, I thought about some of the changes I wanted to make, too. In about a month and a half, my contract is up with the government. I decided not to renew." She started to say something but I stopped her. "Let me get this out, then you can ask me any questions you want."

"Okay," she agreed.

"I also decided to take a step back from the business. Nothing drastic. I just want to give some of the other guys more responsibility so I can have more time to myself.

""I once told you 'my life doesn't lend itself to relationships', and it's true." I felt her stiffen, and stopped to wrap my arms around her. I needed to look at her when I said this. "My life doesn't lend itself to relationships, but neither does yours. I once told you 'I loved you but in my own way'. That's true, too, but I love you the only way I know how. I love you with all my heart. I know being in a relationship with me won't be easy, but I would like nothing more than to have a chance at a relationship with you. There is still a chance that an enemy from my past could use you against me, but if you are willing to work with me, I think we could keep you safe. I just want to be with you and see where we go from here. I love you, and can't imagine my life without you in it. If we're honest with each other, we already have a relationship. I just want to make it official."

She stared into my eyes for what seemed like hours. It was probably closer to a few seconds, but I had just laid my heart on the line, and the silence seemed deafening. Then she smiled. As soon as I saw the smile, I knew she wanted me, too.

"I love you, too, Ranger. I finally admitted it the last time I was here, but I've known since Scrog. The last time I was here, I made those lists up, trying to decide what I wanted in my life. When I made the ones for my personal life, I realized you already gave me everything I wanted in my personal life. Actually, you pretty much gave me everything I wanted in my professional life, too. I want nothing more than to be with you. I love you, Carlos."

Dios! Hearing my name on her lips about pushed me over the edge. It was all I could do not to drag her back to the house and make love to her all day and all night, but she hadn't recovered enough for that. I settled for crashing my lips down on hers and kissing her with all the emotion I felt. When I ended the kiss, we were both gasping for air. I leaned down to kiss her again, but we were interrupted by Lester.

"Let the girl breathe, Ranger. She's still recovering from major surgery. Give her a break."

I turned to glare at him, and noticed Bobby's eyes were about to pop out of his head. He was looking at Lester like he'd lost his mind. Before I could say or do anything, Steph slipped out of my arms, walked over to Lester, and smacked him upside the head.

"Mind your own damn business, Santos." she told him.

Lester was rubbing his head where she'd hit him. Bobby and I were both trying not to laugh.

"Geez, Beautiful, I was just trying to protect you," Lester scoffed.

My Babe gave him her famous 'Burg eye roll and walked back to me. She took my hand and looked back over her shoulder at Lester.

"I can't believe out of 10,000 sperm, you were the quickest."

As soon as she said it, I busted out laughing. Bobby about fell over, he was laughing so hard. The look on Lester's face was priceless. It took a minute, but I finally got myself under control.

"Only you, Babe. Only you."

She just shrugged her shoulders and started walking again. We were quiet for a while after that, just enjoying the peacefulness of the beach. I was thinking about the fact that I hadn't been this happy in my life. I was still lost in thought when I felt Steph tug on my hand.

"Ranger, I'm feeling a little tired. Do you mind if we head back?" she asked.

"No, Babe, not at all. I'm sorry... I shouldn't have had you out this long. Do you want me to have Lester go get the car?"

"No, I'm fine. I wanted to talk to you about something anyway." I nodded, telling her to go on. "I know I haven't recovered enough yet, but I wanted you to know I still plan on doing all the things we spoke about in terms of training and work. Actually, what happened makes me even more determined to do it. Are you still willing to help me?"

"Of course I will. I wanted to ask you about it anyway. That was one of the things I was referring to when I mentioned keeping you safe. I have already spoken to Tank, Lester, and Bobby, and they have all agreed to help with your training. There is one thing I want you to be aware of. I'm hoping that my contract will just end without any more missions, but it's much more likely that I will be called on one last mission. I hope it doesn't happen, but I want you to be prepared for the possibility."

"Okay, I will be," she nodded. We had made it back to the house and were on the porch, when Steph stopped me. "Thank you, Ranger."

I raised my eyebrow, trying to figure out what she was talking about. "For what?"

"For telling me you might have another mission. I'm glad you gave me a warning so I could be prepared, rather than just finding out one day you had to leave. I'll pray that you don't have to go, but if you do, I promise I will be careful and try to follow all of the Merry Men's rules," she told me with a grin. "Just remember, I said I'd try, not that I would follow all their orders. Following orders isn't my strong suit."

"That's good enough for me, Babe. You wouldn't be the woman I know and love if you just obeyed everyone's commands."

We went inside and decided to order pizza for dinner.

Sunday was pretty much the same. Steph was tired, so we stayed near the house. I enjoyed every second I spent with her. I never thought I'd enjoy doing nothing, but as long as my Babe was beside me, I was happy.

My men still didn't have any more leads on the bomber, and I was getting extremely pissed at their lack of progress. Al was positive that no one could have gotten around his bells an whistles without inside knowledge, but even that revelation didn't give us any solid leads. We headed back to Trenton Sunday evening. I had spoken to Steph about keeping a man with her when she left the office. She didn't argue with me, reminding me that the doctor said she couldn't be alone anyway, and she still wasn't feeling entirely steady on her feet, so arguing about it seemed pointless. I was surprised, but relieved, that she had agreed. With one less thing to worry about, I spent the next week focusing on finding our bomber.

TBC...

Shout out to Connie and Jenny for all their brilliant idea's and amazing editing!