Disclaimer: Please see previous chapters. For Tara, who needs RL to cut her some slack; for Kym - Please God, watch over her and make her well; the ladies at BB for the wonderfully encouraging crazy loons they are, and my hero Jenny, for the awesome beta job as well as the fantastic support. Thank you so much everyone!

Locked Up & Pissed Off – pt 26

Lester's POV

WHEN MY WIFE WALKED down the stairs and nodded affirmatively, I was filled with a huge sense of relief. If I was reading her right, and let's face it, I always read her right; we no longer had to worry about Bomber and Ric. I was feeling pretty damn proud of myself for thinking of calling in Mari. Hell, I should get a medal and combat pay for the tab I'm running up with my wife. Besides, they didn't have any better suggestions on how to help get those two to see what had been in front of their faces all this time!

As for Ric, I was gonna make sure he remembered this lucrative idea of mine every time he gave me shit about the pranks I pulled on the guys. He's reaping the benefits of my 'sacrifice' here, and we really needed the humor that entailed to deal with the garbage we encountered every day. I like to think I'm pretty damn good at lightening the mood around the office, even if I do say so myself!

I pulled my wife into my arms as she moved to my side, noticing Bomber slowly making her way down the rest of the stairs. I kept my eye on her as Mari pulled me over to the sofa to join my daughter, Bobby and Marcus in watching the movie Mia had picked out. Mari was insistent that I leave them alone, but I really wanted to see how things were going. After all, the guys and I had a lot riding on the outcome. Like our sanity.

Mari pulled my head around towards the TV, whispering in my ear "give them some privacy", and for the most part, I did. Well, as far as she could tell. I could see out the corner of my eye as Ric waited for Bomber to hesitantly walk up to him though, and I kept watching until he reached out and folded her into his arms. I wasn't about to miss what came next, because I knew damn well I'd be harassed for details the minute I got back to Rangeman. Tank and Ram would be pulling out the gloves if I didn't have any tidbits to share. Those two are such girls sometimes, gossiping like they do!

They stood there for what seemed like hours, just holding each other without even speaking. I got bored, so I turned to watch the movie. I figured I wouldn't be missing much, since they didn't seem to be talking. It was probably five or ten minutes later when I chanced a peek over Mari's head and noticed they were gone. Damn! Looks like I missed the getaway. Tank was gonna kill me!

I was tempted to head upstairs and eavesdrop outside Ric's bedroom door, but I really wanted to sleep with my wife tonight, and didn't relish being in the doghouse for the next month or so. That would be the least of my worries if she caught me sneaking a listen to what might be happening up there. I'd have to risk the guys' wrath for the lack of details though, because there was no way I was gonna cross my lovely wife tonight. She was already running a tab on me, and always managed rather creative ways to collect. Some of them I really enjoyed...

I turned back to the TV, catching Bobby's eye in the process. He was grinning like the cat that ate the canary, and I assumed he'd seen the same thing I did. Then I noticed Marcus smirking, although he had his eyes diligently turned towards the animated characters that filled the screen. Chump! It would be poetic justice to sic the guys on my cousin, instead of letting them hang me up for the particulars; an idea that gained more appeal by the moment. I still owed him for that family dinner a few months ago where he blabbed to Abuela about Steph when Ric and I skipped out early to deal with a stalker threat to Bomber. Abuela had smacked me on the head when I saw her next, and proceeded to read me the riot act since I hadn't seen fit to keep her in the loop. She counted on me to spill Ric's secrets when she couldn't pry them out of him herself. Like that was gonna happen!

It was a given that Ric wouldn't tell her about a woman he was interested in, since he was known for keeping the personal details of his life a closely guarded secret. Especially a woman who happened to be involved with someone else at the time. As for me, everything about my life was an open book to the family. At least, as far as they knew.

I'd met and married my wife when we were both very young, shortly before Ric had met Rachel, as a matter of fact, and we all know how that turned out. Guess we shouldn't have gotten him so drunk that night, although I know none of us would wish Julie hadn't come along. We'd all gotten a lot closer to Ric's daughter ever since the Scrog incident, and thankfully she seemed to be a lot more interested in getting to know her father since then too. She really liked Steph, and now it looked like she had a chance to get to know Bomber as much more than just a fellow victim of a Ranger-wannabe psychotic kidnapper.

When Ric got Rachel pregnant, we'd all been on leave together down in Miami. We knew about him getting married even before our parents did, and when his daughter Julie was born, we became Uncles. We were all pretty glad when he divorced Rachel; she didn't like any of us much anyway, and didn't even try to get along with any of our family. It hit Ric pretty hard when she told him she wanted her new husband to adopt Julie, but just as he's always done, he buried his feelings and signed the papers, saying it was the best thing for Julie. No Manoso name to track her back to him, and she'd have a real Dad, not just an absentee birth father. I'd tried to talk him out of giving her up, but since he wasn't in love with Rachel, I guess he figured he wouldn't miss his daughter either. Right!

The whole Scrog fiasco was a prime example. Now I know Ric tries to say that if he hadn't been visiting Julie, Scrog would never have found and kidnapped her, and Bomber wouldn't have offered to help and end up getting taken either. The truth is, he loves that little girl so much it kills him every time he has to leave Miami and Julie behind. It has for years. That's probably why it's taken him so long to own up to his feelings about Bomber, and even longer for him to tell her. Guess he figured if she didn't know how he felt about her, he wouldn't get hurt. Turns out he got hurt every time he saw her, 'cause it seemed like she was always putting Morelli between them, even when they had supposedly broken up. Thank fuck that won't be happening any more! I hate it when he gets all tied up in knots 'cause she's gone back to the cop. I usually have to go without sex with my wife for a whole week, since I'm too sore to do much more than…okay, probably more information than anyone needs to know about me anyway.

The movie ended a short time later, without Ric or Steph making an appearance, and since Mia was still up, we decided to forgo any conversations that might have to do with Bomber and Ric, especially any speculation as to what we thought may be happening upstairs between the two. Let's face it, we're all adults, and we knew damn well what they were doing!

We stuck Marcus in with Bobby and put Mia on the pull-out sofa in the living room, while Mari and I went to bed in the remaining guest room. I spent several hours showing her how much I appreciated her efforts on Ric's behalf, and ours, before curling myself around her body and dropping off into a sound and peaceful sleep.

The next morning, I woke up feeling a little groggy but mostly relaxed. Mari had spent a considerable amount of time and effort last night collecting on a portion of my 'debt', and although we hadn't gotten much sleep, I'd enjoyed every moment of it. I was still amazed after all these years how much she turned me on. I may flirt a lot and give the impression I'm an insatiable horn dog, but the truth is, I'm a one-woman man, and I've got my woman!

I let Mari sleep in while I went into the kitchen to start breakfast. Mia was up watching TV with Bobby and Marcus, who wandered in to watch as I took out the ingredients for omelets. I didn't expect to see Ric and Steph for a while. I figured they were probably still sleeping or 'something'. I know I would be!

I put Marcus to work chopping the green peppers and tomatoes while I grated cheese and readied the skillet. I was in the process of breaking the eggs into a bowl when I heard a cell phone ringing. I looked over at the counter, smirking when I noticed Ric had left his phone downstairs. I wasn't so happy when I noticed who was calling, though. Bomber's dad.

I picked up the phone and answered, hearing a hesitation on the other end of the line. He was probably wondering who was answering, so I identified myself, tamping down the feeling of foreboding I suddenly felt. I doubt he'd be calling if it was good news.

"Lester, I've got some new information to pass along. Is Ranger available?" I could hear the curiosity in his voice when he inquired about Ric.

Now, I'm not one to kiss and tell, especially when it comes to Ric's privacy. I sure as hell wasn't going to tell him that his little girl was doing the nasty with my boss and cousin! "Uh, he's kinda tied up right now. Is this something I can pass along to him? I'd really hate to disturb him right now." I've never had to speak with a dad like this, especially someone I liked and respected. Not when he's a pending member of the family anyway!

He must've picked up on my reluctance to explain, because he continued on blithely. "This is something he needs to hear before my daughter does. He'll need to prepare her for the news; it's not good." That little voice that told me bad news was incoming gave me a poke and I sighed. What now?

I cleared my throat, resigning myself to the prospect of more smelly brown stuff hitting the fan. "This is something I'm not gonna want to tell either one of them, isn't it?" I sighed again as he murmured a "yes". "Okay, do you want to hold, or can I have him call you right back? It might be a few minutes." I sooo didn't want to have to wake up Ric and tell him about the call, but from the sound of Frank Plum's voice, it was definitely the lesser of the two evils. Bwock bwock!

He chuckled and went on, his voice reflecting humor at my expense. "Have him call me back. I'm guessing he's with Steph right now, so I understand your reluctance to elaborate. Just stress the urgency; I get the feeling all hell's gonna break loose really soon now." All trace of humor was gone with that last sentence, and as I disconnected the call with that little voice quacking in my head, I decided to get it over with as soon as possible. And everything was going so well up until now!

I looked over at Marcus, the grin on his face disappearing when he noticed the look on my face. "I gather that wasn't good news, huh?" I shook my head and ran my hands over my face. I was gonna have to go up there and break up their happy little reunion party, quashing down the only little bit of happiness Bomber's had for quite a long while. Ric's too. I felt like shit.

I indicated the ingredients spread out on the counter. "You wanna take over? I gotta go wake up Ric. I just hope Steph is still sleeping. She's not gonna like it if she hears me tell Ric he needs to call her dad without finding out why, so it's probably best if I can get him the message without her knowing. Knowing her, she'll insist on calling him herself, and I don't think that's what he has in mind. Frank said we should prepare her for the news, so I'd much rather just tell Ric he needs to call him and get out of there. He thinks she'll take it pretty hard." At his nod of agreement, I headed upstairs, Ric's cell phone clutched in my hand.

A soft knock on the bedroom door brought a muffled response of "Hold on a sec." I stood there waiting, grin fixed firmly on my face as I envisioned the scene in the bedroom. I kept the smile on my face, just in case it was Steph who answered even as the door opened to a very unhappy Ric, clad only in a pair of black boxers. He gave me a nasty look at the intrusion, his look saying I'd be paying for this later…with prejudice.

I raised an eyebrow in question (Steph really hates when we do that!), and at his reassuring nod I went on, keeping my voice low just in case she woke up while we talked. I held up his cell phone. "I hate to bother you, but Frank Plum called. He said he had some bad news that we'd need to prepare Steph for, and he'd rather talk to you about it." I went to hand him his phone, but he pushed it back into my hand. Guess he decided to return the call when he was out of Steph's earshot. At his nod, I started down, hearing him coming down the stairs behind me just as I reached the kitchen. He was barefoot and shirtless, only wearing a pair of sweats he'd hurriedly thrown on. I wordlessly handed him the phone, then turned to help Marcus finish up breakfast.

I didn't bother trying to hear what was being said. Ric never says much on the phone anyway, and even less when getting bad news. I shot a look at him over my shoulder when I heard him curse softly, then apologize for the expletive. At my inquiring look he held up a finger, so I nodded in acquiescence. I heard him thank Steph's dad, then snap his phone shut, a quiet "fuck" escaping before he could hold it back. He indicated I should follow him, barking out a sharp "Marcus! Brown!" as we left the kitchen and passed the entrance to the living room on the way to his office.

Marcus turned off the stove and followed us, a quizzical look on his face. Ric rarely showed emotion when he was pissed, and even though this was his brother, it had been a long time since he'd heard him use profanity. He was always so circumspect around his family, or at the least the immediate ones.

We all crowded into the office, Bobby closing the door at Ric's indication and dropped down to sprawl on the sofa. I watched Ric run a hand through his hair, then sigh as he evidently decided to just spit it out.

"Morelli may be escalating, at least according to Frank Plum. He shot Bob, his and Steph's dog yesterday, saying the dog attacked him." He waited for a moment while we vented with a few choice expletives, then continued. "Eddie says he's put in for sick leave, which he says isn't normal. He thinks Morelli's up to something, and I think he's right. This is gonna hit Steph hard, since Bob used to be hers, so I'm calling Brian to see what the status of the indictment is. Lester, I want you to call Tank and fill him in so he can increase security. I want everyone to be extra careful. The cop knows how she feels about all of us and might try to draw her out by targeting one of us. Bobby?" He looked over at our now tense friend and co-worker. He wasn't sprawled on the sofa anymore. He reminded me of a coiled spring, waiting for the command to unleash.

"That sedative we talked about?" At Bobby's hesitant nod, he went on. "Her dad thinks it may be necessary as a back-up. Keep it handy. I also think it's best if no one leaves here until we know how soon Brian can get a grand jury together and get Morelli into custody." He looked at me apologetically. "Sorry, man." I just nodded and pulled out my phone. My daughter would be upset, but my wife would understand and support the decision. Mari was a mercenary's dream wife when it came to safety precautions, among other things…

I called Tank and filled him in, passing on Ric's instructions about the increased security and precautions. I also suggested he call Eddie and let him know he'd have eyes on him, just in case. Tank agreed. Eddie and Steph were close, and if Morelli was willing to take out the dog, her cousin would be a logical step up, next to the rest of her family. I'm pretty sure Mr. Plum had already thought of that possibility and was taking his own precautions.

Clusterfuck didn't even come close to describing the situation now!

tbc