Unexpected Sanity

Illiandyanndra

Illiandyanndra

Stephanie Plum

Pairings: Stephanie/Ranger, Tank/Lula

Rating: Eventually NC-17

Spoilers: Anything & everything up through Sizzling Sixteen is fair game…I can never remember what book what stuff happens in.

Disclaimer: Not mine Stephanie and her world belong to Janet Evanovich, which if you are reading the fanfiction…you probably already knew.

^^Thoughts^^

^Spoken Aloud Thoughts^

"Speech"

"Spanish Speech"

AN: Thanks so much to all the Reviewers, esp. Margaret Fowler, FairTaxGirl, Avid Reader 59, Angela Mueller, at8c, RangerKate, Sam's-lurker-droid, and Barb4psu for your continued reviews and great ideas.

I apologize for the long wait, I'm trying to get back to heavy duty ficcing…I'm really trying.

Chapter 14

Ranger PoV

I only allowed Lester and Hector in the listening van as we monitored Babe's conversation with Joe Morelli. I trust my men, especially Tank with any of my Babe's secrets which might be revealed in that room, and I knew that she did as well. However, it is mu place as their commanding officer to make sure that my men are protected, even sometimes from themselves. It doesn't take me long to be certain that I had made the right decision. I am protective of Stephanie Plum in the way a wolf protects its mate…my men protect Stephanie as a litter mate or a papa bear protects its cub. Tank would have stormed that hospital room after the first answer, Bobby and Cal may have made it to the third and none of my men would have lasted much past that. Lester and Hector, I can count on to listen quietly. Granted I am a bit concerned as to what either of them may decide to do after all of this is over, but they were currently quietly seething as we listened in. I knew that neither of them would ever allow Morelli's body to be found if they decided to end his wretched life.

When Stephanie walked out of the hospital, I was waiting for her. Despite her strong words and the fact that she was done with Morelli, she must have been hurt to find that someone she thought cared about her had lied to her for years. After sharing the moment of pride with her, I retrieved her wire, leaving her with the extra tracker and walked her to the Rangeman vehicle I had managed to convince her to borrow. "You dressed?"

She glanced down at her body. Despite my rigid control, my own eyes couldn't help but follow. Down over the gentle swell of her breasts, the flat plane of her belly, the flare of her hips and the denim encased length of her long legs. "Yup…been dressing myself since I was three. You can tell I'm good at it because I've never been arrested for indecent exposure."

"Unlike your grandmother, and cousin." I said and allowed myself a small grin.

"Enh family, what you gonna do?" she shrugged playfully. "I'm not carrying, no. They tend to frown on carrying in hospitals now in days."

"Babe." I raised an eyebrow. I spend considerable amounts of time in hospitals, and I've never had any problems carrying.

"I'm not super, black clad, uber-military, I can kill you in twenty three ways with a common paper clip guy…me they'd hassle." I let it go at that; however, she needed to remember her weapon. Before I could turn to signal Hector or Lester for the extra 38 most of us keep in our service vehicles, she smiled. "Besides, there's one of 'my special' glocks in every one of the fleet…and an extra clip just in case I actually take mine out of the cookie jar with only one bullet."

I gave her a wry look. "Gotta make sure you have what you need." I said simply.

She smiled so bright and beautifully, I almost forgot for a moment the emotional hell she'd just walked away from. "You always do, Batman…you're better than a utility belt."

I gave her a kiss to silence the superhero metaphors that often drip from her sexy lips. I helped her into her car, and whispered our own personal I love yous. "Don't go crazy."

"Don't get shot." She returned in the same tone.

I stood for a minute watching her pull out and leave the parking lot. With a gesture to Tank where he stood just outside my Babe's sight, I turned and headed into the hospital. My brother on my six as always.

Morelli PoV

'Why the hell am I saying all this shit?' I asked myself for the millionth time since Edna Mazur had 'cursed' me. I can't even credit that shit…curses. Those things aren't real. And if they are I'm sure that my Grandma Bella must have put some kind of protection on me. No way in hell has that crazy old Hungarian bitch got any kind of curse that is stronger than Bella Morelli's. Though, Grandma is still berating me for the incident that got me chucked off the force. Can't believe she sided with Gazarra…ranted and raved the whole time I was there. And to think I'd gone over there just to let her know that the case was done with and I was out without her having to risk her house.

I was thinking through all the things I'd said to Cupcake. What does it matter if I don't love her? Love is bullshit. She's mine because I said so. She should be happy and honored that I want her. Goodness knows her tits aren't big enough for most of the guys in the 'Burg. Then there is the fact that everyone knows she's a complete menace in the kitchen. Oh…but the ass on her makes up for it. First thing I'm gonna do when I get her back under me where she belongs is fuck the dog shit out of her sexy little ass.

I'd drifted into thoughts of all the different ways I'd eventually bend Stephanie Plum to my will when the bane of my very existence walked into the room. "Oh great…she sent you in to kill me?" I blurted out.

Ranger Manoso looked at me like I was something he scraped off the bottom of his shoe. "Morelli, if I wanted you dead…actually you know what I do want you dead. I want you dead and buried in an unmarked grave where only your genital lice can mourn you." He said and gave me a look that chilled my soul. "Luckily for you, Babe thinks you should live." I knew Cupcake loved me. I guess he saw me brighten. Because his next words definitely shot my thought to hell. "Yeah, she says that she can't do that to your Grandmother. Apparently your grandmother had a nice talk with My Babe not long ago. Bella Morelli must have all the brains in your family. She knew that you and Stephanie were toxic for each other. She knew that someone needed to explain to my Babe what love really is, before Babe finally let you and her mother browbeat her into something that would have inevitably led to your death."

"If you won't kill me now, why should I believe that you would widow Cupcake?" I asked with a smirk. Idiot, he probably didn't realize the problem with his logic.

He answered with a nasty smirk of his own. "I have killed to protect her once. I took no pleasure in it…only a grim satisfaction. You, I would enjoy. You, who would try to dim everything bright and wonderful about her just to make yourself shine brighter. You, who would belittle and deride her all while claiming to love her. You, who would use her body just to hide your real proclivities…you I would kill in ways I'm sure would surprise even the most hardened and sick of serial killers."

Something about the way he said it, his voice calm and deeply dangerous, told me that he meant every single word he said. "She should be like the other girls in the 'Burg." I defended staunchly. "If she weren't so fucking different, I wouldn't need to make her act like them."

"And if you really loved her you wouldn't want her to be anything other than what she is. Since you have to tell the truth, I have a few questions of my own for you Morelli. Do you want any of the other girls from the 'Burg?"

"No, bunch of boring bitches." I heard myself say, and I almost passed out from shock. I was even more surprised that I kept talking. "All they do is gossip and bitch and complain and pop out kids. God would it kill them to do something real with their fucking lives?"

If I thought Ranger's earlier smirk was nasty, it had nothing on this one. "So you want to force my Babe to become a 'Burg girl, so that you can find her boring enough to become just like all the other Morelli men. You have to be the world's dumbest cunt."

"I don't want her for that. I want her to prove to all those old 'Burg bitches that this Morelli is just as good as their sons and husbands. That I'm somebody." I shouted.

He laughed, a cruel taunting sound. "You aren't somebody, Morelli. You are a nobody. You were a good cop. You could have really been somebody…but you pissed all that away and for what? To try to prove something to a neighborhood that saw you and your mother and your sibling suffering and did nothing but talk about you and belittle you. How fucked up is that?"

"Very." I admitted for the first time even to myself that everything I did was motivated by an unrelenting desire to prove my worth to a bunch of people who didn't really give a damn about me beyond my entertainment value. "You know what's even more fucked up. I was out. I could have left this fucking town behind, instead I fucked it up."

"I heard. You have a real thing for underaged girls Morelli." Ranger's voice was calm once more.

"Flat chests and great asses." I murmured and hoped that he wouldn't hear me.

"Hell man, come the fuck out of the closet and stop sabotaging your life." He growled.

I shook my head. "Why are you even here?"

His eyes narrowed and for a moment I feared for my life. "I'm here because whether she knows it or not, I owe your grandmother a debt. I do not like owing debts, especially to people I'm not sure if I can trust. Therefore I'm going to pull your head out of your ass before you do something that makes me have to kill you. Now Joe, have you been faithful to My Babe while you were in a relationship with her?"

Damnit why did he have to ask that. I'd been so grateful that Cupcake hadn't asked me that since I don't seem capable of lying or even just not answering. "Hell no. There are plenty of 'Burg bitches unsatisfied with their 'perfect' lives. Not to mention that Terry will let me bust off in her ass whenever I want to." I said with brutal honesty. Then I just kept digging my grave. "There were a couple of barely legals I'd pick up in clubs when I was on assignments out of town. Basically if a snatch will spread her legs, I'm good to be between them." He gave me a look of disgust that made me defensive. "Oh like I'm supposed to believe that you haven't fucked anyone else since you met Cupcake?"

"Whether I have or haven't is none of your concern. See, there is a rather large difference that you are refusing to acknowledge…I wasn't in a relationship with my Babe. Not a romantic one, until very recently. Therefore if I did or did not sleep with someone, it was not betraying her trust. It was not possibly harmful to her. Did you at least use a condom with your whores?"

"Not all of them were whores," I laughed. "I have a real knack for culling out virgins. You know the ones who think their ass is too big and their chests too flat so they end up not seeing the guys around them who would give them the world. A few of the right words and I have another cherry for my collection. And if the words don't work…there are ways around that. Get them drunk and high enough and I can have all their virginities."

"You are truly a sick fuck Morelli." He growled. "Did you protect my Babe when you were making a whore of yourself?"

"Sometimes. If a chick looked clean and smelled good…there were a few times I didn't have anything, and I sure as hell wasn't gonna stop." I admitted. "That shit always costs me in the end. I've had to pay for six abortions, and that's just in the last couple of years."

"You're catholic Morelli." Ranger voice and face were a blank slate.

"Yeah, I'm not the one having the abortion." I defended. "The chicks did that. Besides, I saw what Cupcake did to Orr…no way in hell was I gonna have some stupid bitch who was too dumb to take care of herself ruin my chances to be somebody important."

"You are going to bust hell wide open in gasoline drawers." He taunted. He has always taunted me. "What is it you feel about me, Morelli?"

"I don't know if I want to be you, or if I want to fuck you." I gritted out. "You're too fucking handsome, you're almost pretty…you and that Santos guy. But at least he keeps his hair short. You come sauntering into my town, a fucking thug, but everybody respects you. What the fuck have you ever done to deserve that shit?"

"I earned it. I didn't just whine and bitch and moan about my life…I did something with it. I served my country with distinction. I don't go around raping young women. I don't go around throwing my weight around with nothing to back it up. I don't belittle others to make myself feel important. I certainly don't go around spreading my seed to the four winds and then forcing the female to bear all the responsibility for my bad choices. I have never tried to force anyone to be something they aren't just to cater to my own delusion of adequacy. How much of Helen Plum's problems with Stephanie have you created?" he growled menacingly.

"None. That bitch is her own brand of crazy. If your daughter came home and said the neighborhood mini-hoodlum had touched her, who would you punish? I have some issues, but I'd kill any kid who touched my six year old like I touched Cupcake…even if they were the exact same age." I admitted.

He nodded. "I'm going to say two last things, and then I will consider my debt to your grandmother fulfilled. One, love is not changing everything about a person to make them some warped vision of what you think you want, love is full embracing who that person is. Two, if you bother my Babe again your life will be measurable in hours. Were I you, I would move away; far, far away." With that he left the room as silently as he entered.

His big shadow entered as soon as he left. He was grinning in a way that made me shiver. "I don't know exactly what went on in this room earlier and I don't particularly give a flying fuck. What I do know is that if you do anything to even remotely cause pain to Stephanie Michelle Plum ever again in your miserable excuse for a life…you'd better hope and pray that I get to you before he does. Oh, and you have five days to confess to the rape of that underaged girl that got Glianiakis dishonorably discharged, or else…well I don't have to spell it out for you. You might be a sick, deluded son of a bitch…but you aren't entirely stupid."

I finally found myself alone it my hospital room with a lot to think about.

Frank's PoV

It didn't take long for the 'Burg to spread the word about my 'wife's' interactions with our daughters. I started to confront her. I have never believed in fighting in front of the children. Over the years, I've had several verbal altercations with Helen over how she treats our girls, the things she advises them to do. It has always been late at night behind closed doors. Perhaps I should have been more verbal in the moment, but I was raised that one didn't let children see parental discord. I was also raised to believe that 'til death do us part' was a literal promise. But at this point I had to end my marriage before I ended Helen's life myself.

That's why I was seated across from my son-in-law in his small law office down from a Laundromat. "I want you to start divorce proceedings. I am ending my marriage."

Klougn's throat worked furiously. Finally he quietly asked, "Are you sure Mr. Plum? You have been married for almost forty years."

"I'm sure that at this point if I don't divorce her, I will kill her. I can no longer sit back as she torments my daughters. I spent far too long letting her berate one and convince the other to turn off her damn fine brain. I'll be damn if I will sit back and watch her try to do it to the girls too." I told him my feeling of rage and anger hidden behind a mask I'd perfected years before he was born. "The first offer is fifty percent of my pension; I keep the house and pay seventy-five percent of her rent and utilities in an apartment building of my choosing. Edna has the choice of staying in the house with me or going with Helen. Though I believe she will soon have other arrangements. Helen is welcome to spend holidays with the family and, of course, the girls are free to invite her to their homes as they desire. Every time she argues for the house, decrease the amount of my assistance with her bills by ten percent."

Albert took comprehensive notes. He and I hammered out a few other details, and then I started the conversation I was sure would lead to the biggest fight of the day. "I've looked it up, I'm gonna pay you the going rate…two fifty an hour." I said firmly.

He puffed up, as I knew he would. "No sir, you will not. You are family. I will let you pay the filing fees and court costs, but I will not take a dime from my wife's father for helping him become happy."

We argued for over an hour. Damn it was fun. Strange to see the boy have a backbone…but he had one that day. Eventually I was able to get him to take seventy five bucks an hour. I thought I had a victory under my belt, until a few weeks later when Val thanked me for setting us trust funds for the girls. Who knew the Pillsbury dough son-in-law was so wily?

Thank you to all of you who are sticking with me. I am writing, I'm even typing...it is just very hard to find the time to get things completed right now.

Please continue to read and review.

Have a great day,

Illiandyandra