Everything familiar belongs to Janet. The mistakes are mine. Warnings for language.
Ranger's POV
I don't need this shit. And for sure, Stephanie doesn't. I just received a call from my guy at the TPD saying that Frank was gunning for Morelli. A 'worried' Helen Plum had called the station trying to pinpoint Joe's location. Since Helen knows the dispatcher's wife, it wasn't long before an alert was put out to intercept Frank. I don't see why. Frank has every right to beat the shit out of Joe, even if it took him years to finally man up and do it.
Steph was spending the day with her grandmother and Ella at Rangeman, and I was currently five minutes away from the station. I immediately turned towards the TPD and had the control room patch me through to Stephanie. As much as I'd like to make this go away for her, I knew she'd be beyond pissed if I didn't tell her about a situation that directly involves her.
Morelli may enjoy being a Helen Plum clone, but I sure as hell will never be one. Stephanie has been rebuilding her self-confidence, as well as her life, and I'm not going to do one fucking thing to cause her to revert back to the woman they'd tried to guilt or bully her into being.
"Ranger? What's going on?" Steph asked. Just the sound of her voice brought instant heat to my blood and blood to my dick."I thought you were on your way home?"
I'd like to shoot both her father and Joe for making me have to ruin her day. Maybe I'll hang back when I get to the station and let them kick each other's asses for a few minutes before I step in.
"Change in plans," I told her.
"Uh-oh."
"Yeah. Your father is probably going to try to kill Morelli and I assumed you'd want to try to stop him."
I heard a very distinct "fuck" over the line and I grinned. If they were lucky, both Joe and Frank would be out cold before Steph could get her hands on them.
"I personally wish your father luck," I continued,"but I figured you'd have a different opinion on the matter."
"You're damn right I do," Steph said."What happened?"
"It seems that the Burg has been put on notice to keep your father away from Morelli. Dedrick down at the station called me in case I wanted to try to stop Frank. Your mother played the concerned wife and contacted the dispatcher."
Steph didn't say anything, but I could hear the change in her breathing. Maybe when I'm sure Frank won't get himself arrested, I could lock him and Joe in a cell together and leave them there until they figure out a way to stop hurting Stephanie ... or I was going to hurt them.
"Shit. This is about what I said to him at Pino's," Steph told me."My mother must have finally told him about what went on in the Morelli's garage."
This is going to be bad.
"I can almost guarantee it happened right after my mother left," I told her."She said Frank was angry and having a hard time hiding it."
"I still can't believe your mother took on Helen Plum," she said to me.
"She's faced scarier people, Babe, and has come out on top. If your mother doesn't do an about-face, then there's probably no chance she will."
"I know. And I'm not going to waste energy caring anymore. I just want her and my dad to get their shit together and stop using me to attack each other."
"This isn't your fault, Stephanie," I said, pulling up to the building that housed the courthouse and police station."This is about two people who don't want to take responsibility for how they've lived. And, at the moment, one of them is confronting another reality-denier. I'm in the lot of the PD and I'm looking at your father's Buick."
"Crap. Okay, I just got away from Grandma and Ella and I'm on my way to the garage. Do what you can to keep my dad out of trouble."
"No worries, Babe. I'll get them under control. Drive carefully. Do not get yourself pulled over or injured because of them."
I could practically see her smile."No worries," she repeated. And the line went dead.
I would have preferred staying on the phone with her or, better yet, be settled inside our apartment with her, but I know business comes before pleasure. This could be pleasurable for me if I were free to take a few shots at Morelli myself. It's only out of respect for Stephanie that Joe's still breathing. That, and I was afraid Stephanie would want to take Bob if Morelli 'accidentally' died on the job. Depending on how today goes, I'll have to line up Santos as that garbage disposal's caretaker just in case.
I beeped my truck locked and headed into the police station. I could hear Frank as soon as I opened the door. I must have pulled in only minutes behind him. Joe had a small cut on his cheek, and Frank had two officers holding his arms. I mentally applauded what had to have been a sucker punch, but still thought Frank was decades too late. If someone touched, or treated, Julie the same way Joe had Stephanie, there wouldn't be enough left of him to bury. It has taken every ounce of training I've been through to keep myself from killing Morelli at various times, so I did have to cut Frank a little slack since some of this information is new to him.
I walked over to where they were standing, but decided not to interfere unless Morelli chose to be an asshole again. I leaned against the wall within grabbing distance of Frank, and hoped that they'd be done dicking around before Stephanie got here.
"If I would have known about the sick game you subjected my daughter to, I damn sure would've had your ass locked up years ago for statutory rape when she was sixteen ... you son of a bitch."
"What the hell is going on out here?" Steph's friend Gazarra asked.
"I'll tell you what the hell is going on," Frank said to Eddie."This piece of crap cop who has sworn to uphold the law, has broken two of them with my daughter. And I want to see his predatory ass behind bars!"
Stephanie hasn't mentioned her father having any medical issues, but judging by the color flooding his face, he could stroke out or have a heart attack if he didn't calm down soon.
I saw Eddie's head whip towards Morelli."This is about Stephanie? What the fuck did you do to her now?"
What the hell is with this town? Everyone has to take their fucking blinders off all at the same time? Now every guy who claims to love Steph wants to step up to protect her, while the man who loves her more than his own life has to protect those stupid fucks from a judge and Stephanie.
"Go ahead and answer him, Officer Morelli," Frank bit out.
I pushed away from the wall. Frank could curse Morelli out up and down Hamilton, beat him unconscious, or do whatever the hell else he wanted to do to Joe, but I refuse to have Stephanie's business shouted out across the whole fucking station.
"Eddie, grab Morell," I ordered Gazarra."Frank follow me."
Someone needs to take point here until Steph arrives and rips them all a new one. I led them to the office Juniak still has here in the building. I know Juniak's out of town, and I also know he wouldn't mind. Not that I gave two shits if he did. As expected, Morelli wouldn't shut his mouth long enough to make it there. If he kept it up, I'd fill it with my fist and apologize to Stephanie later.
"I didn't rape anyone!" Joe said, rivaling Frank for stroke potential."The age of consent is sixteen in New Jersey, and Stephanie was sixteen at the time. In fact, according to New Jersey law, thirteen-year-olds can legally engage in sexual activities if the person they're with is less than four years older than they are."
"I bet you had that law memorized long before you entered the police academy. You probably had Stephanie's sixteenth birthday marked on your calendar just to make sure your ass was covered. And if playing that despicable game - and what you convinced Stephanie to do in the bakery - wasn't bad enough, you had to humiliate her even further by telling the whole fucking city about it? Did it make you feel like a man to continue to torture her? Is that why you came back around? Every ten years or so you have to screw up her life again?"
"I love Stephanie!" Joe said.
"You've had a strange fucking way of showing it, Morelli," I added.
They all seem to have forgotten that Stephanie is my wife, and if anyone has the right to crack heads, it's me.
"Fuck off, Manoso," Joe told me.
"Once a dick always a dick. Right, Morelli?" I said, goading him.
"Can someone fill me in on what happened?" Eddie asked."I know about the bakery thing, and Joe being a douchebag about it. But, Frank, you seem to be angry about something other than that."
"I passed angry fifteen minutes ago," Frank told him."Your cop buddy had his dirty hands on Stephanie long before she was old enough to know what was going on."
"How old are we talking?" Eddie asked.
"Frank," I told him,"choose your words carefully. You don't want to violate Stephanie all over again."
"I. Didn't. Violate. Anyone," Morelli said.
"You knew what you were doing," I told him."Stephanie didn't. That makes you the one responsible. You're lucky Helen sided with you and kept your secret, or Frank might have made sure you didn't live long enough to touch Stephanie again."
"Mrs. Plum knew something happened to Stephanie, but didn't do anything about it?" Eddie asked me.
"Welcome to Stephanie's childhood," I said to Eddie.
I saw Frank flinch, but I didn't care. Stephanie has had to deal with more than just the truth.
"I need to have a word with Morelli," Eddie said to us."Alone."
I know Stephanie and Eddie were close growing up, and he must be playing catch up right now along with Frank.
"No, you don't," Steph said, coming into the office.
She calmly crossed the room to me and pressed a kiss to my mouth before fitting her back to my chest and giving the entire room a look that would scare even Morelli's Grandma Bella.
"Dad, what are you doing?" She asked Frank.
"Righting an old wrong."
"I appreciate the sentiment, but there's no going back. That was my point. We can't change the past, we just have to make sure we don't repeat it."
I lowered my head and whispered in Steph's ear.
"Did you get that from my mother or Ella?" I asked her.
She angled her head to the side and smiled up at me."That one is all Ella. It's true, though. And I don't think she'd mind me stealing it. It seemed to have taken me forever to assure her and Grandma that I could handle this without them."
"You really should have brought Ella, Babe. I would have paid big money to see Ella put Morelli in an ear hold."
My gut tightened when her smile turned into an outright grin. Even standing in the middle of a fucking reality show, Steph wasn't letting it get to her.
"You should have told me that on the phone," Steph said."One word from you, and Ella would have called shotgun."
I dropped a kiss on the tip of her nose and noticed that Morelli was watching us. His jaw was tight and his eyes flat. Frank could accuse him of anything and Joe wouldn't be as affected as seeing Stephanie love me.
"I think Joe is safer with your father, Babe," I told her.
"Yeah. Ella can be scary if she's fired up about something," she said, before turning back to the pissed off group.
"So ... you all decided to talk about what happened to me without me actually being present?" She asked them.
"Your mother finally told me what Morelli did to you?" Frank told her.
"And you thought punching Joe in the middle of a police station was the best thing to do after hearing about it?"
"Yes," Frank said to her."And I would have done it again if I would've had use of my arms. Moe and Larry were holding onto me, with Curly hovering nearby."
"What did you expect? That you'd be able to assault a police officer in front of other officers and not be restrained?"
"Considering that 'officer'," Frank said, pointing at Morelli,"assaulted my own daughter ... yes."
"While I understand why you wanted to, I don't need you to fight my battles anymore. You wanted an example of where you and Mom went wrong, Dad, and I gave you one. But hitting Joe isn't going to solve anything. Did you ask Mom why she didn't tell you? Did you ask yourself why I never shared what happened with you? Did you and Mom talk at all about what Ranger's mom said to her before the conversation turned back to me?"
Frank was quiet for a few seconds before spitting out a single word.
"No."
"Let me guess, you jumped on Mom to tell you what I was referring to, and then you took off to confront Joe instead of confronting Mom for keeping it from everyone ... you, Joe's parents, all the other parents in the neighborhood."
"Joe is the one who took advantage of you," Frank told her, proving that he hasn't been listening.
"Yeah, he did. Shut up, Joe," she said, when Morelli opened his mouth to speak."I'm done shoveling blame. Joe was a pig, I was monumentally stupid where he was concerned over the years, and you and Mom have screwed up a lot, but I don't care about any of that now. What I do care about is you and Mom continuing to use me to distract yourselves from what's wrong between you. You two need to decide what the hell you're doing and leave me out of it, because I'm not going to be around forever to be your fallguy."
"Proud of you, Babe," I said against her temple.
"Thank you, but I'm not done."
"Go for the kill shot, Steph," I told her, tightening my arms around her waist.
"Gladly. I'm getting really sick of this crap."
I am, too. My thoughts lately have been straying more and more to taking Stephanie as far away from Trenton as she'd go, but I was waiting patiently for her to bring it up first. Looks like today might be the day she does.
"Joe, you've been like a recurring punishment in my life. From that time in your parents' garage ..."
"What garage? None of you will come out and say exactly what Morelli did," Eddie said,"and I really don't like where my imagination is going."
"The details aren't important, Eddie" she told him.
"They are, Steph," I told Stephanie, not wanting Morelli let off the hook.
Who knows how many other little girls saw the inside of that garage.
"Okay, they are important, but not to this conversation or my life now. I'm through being everyone's escape ... from the truth, from life, or from reality. Dad, you don't know how to go about fixing your marriage, so I'm a handy distraction. Joe, you claim you still love me, but really, you only love the fact that I was so convenient, and you don't want to put in the effort it'd take to find someone else. My mother doesn't want to change her thinking or her way of life, so she shifts the focus to me and what I've done wrong.
She paused and took a breath before continuing.
"I'm sorry your lives aren't perfect," Steph told them,"but that's not my problem. I'm happy ... with Ranger, with the people who care about me at Rangeman, and with the Manosos. After all the crap and criticism I've had to listen to over the years, it seems like you are all the ones who have stuff to work on. Except for you, Eddie. You just need to enroll your kids into some type of obedience class."
It was slow in coming, but Eddie's laugh lessened the tension in the room.
"The boys have missed you, Steph," Eddie said.
Steph looked at Joe and I came frighteningly close to ripping his throat out at her words.
"Where have I heard that before?" She said to Joe.
I'd gladly cut off his boys to make sure he could never say that to her again.
"I am sorry, Cupcake," Morelli said, after a few jaw clenches.
"For what, Joe? For introducing me to the choo-choo game? Sweet talking me into ditching my virginity? For messing with my head years later?"
"Our relationship wasn't all my fault, Steph," Morelli said.
I tried to take a step forward, but Stephanie was right there stopping any forward progress. I wanted to take him out for the relationship comment alone. The rest of the shit he's done deserved an ass kicking, too, but I still hated the idea of them together.
"You're right, Joe," Steph said to him,"but I've taken responsibility for the things I screwed up. And I also ended it so you could move on. It's not my fault that you can't or won't. I married the guy who's right for me, and I refuse to apologize for it."
"You don't owe him anything, Babe, least of all an apology. Morelli is big enough to shoulder his share of the fuckups."
"Fuck you, Manoso," Joe told me.
"Back at you, Morelli."
"What the hell is wrong with everyone?" Steph asked the room."My mom won't do the right thing, even to save face. My father who never talks is hitting police officers. Eddie, I can tell you're going to end up in trouble for getting in Joe's face once we leave ..."
"He can try, Cupcake. Your father deserved a free punch. Gazarra doesn't."
"I've been Stephanie's friend longer than you've known her," Eddie told Joe."And if you've hurt her at all, today, yesterday, or twenty five years ago, you're going to pay for it."
Stephanie and I are surrounded by fucking morons. And to think, these are the people who believe Steph and I are the hot heads.
"I can't believe I have to remind the three of you that this is about Stephanie, not any of you," I told them.
The jail cell idea held real appeal. Maybe being contained in a 6x8 foot cell would make things suddenly a little clearer. I'd have Tank pick up Helen, too, and have her join them. Steph has been doing everything she can to create the life she wants, and the people who are acting in her name are the ones fucking it up now.
"Ranger, it's okay," Steph said, turning in my arms.
I pulled her tight to me, and kissed her curls.
"No, it's not, Babe. You're the one who had to live through all this shit and then move past it. You shouldn't have to go toe to toe with your past every fucking time someone wants to rehash it. You've come a long way, and it's clear that you've left everyone behind you. Maybe that's something we need to think about."
Turns out, I won't be waiting for her to mention leaving after all.
"What are you saying?" She asked me.
"That you might not have just outgrown the Burg, but Trenton, too."
"What the hell does that mean?" Joe asked."You're not talking about moving, are you? Away from here? No fucking way."
"That's not your decision, Morelli," I told him,"or your business, so shut the hell up or I'll make you. Just give me a reason."
"Your mother doesn't waste any time, does she?" Frank asked me.
Steph looked back at her father before meeting my eyes again."What does your mother have to do with us moving?"
"Nothing really," I told her."She's been dropping hints and saying she wishes we lived closer to them. I have a feeling she'll be bringing it up to you when we have dinner with everyone next week."
"Oh boy," Steph said, trying to hide a smile."Marisol told my mother off and then said she wanted us to move to Newark?"
"Apparently," I told her.
"Mrs. Manoso didn't hold back," Frank said."I only spoke to her for a minute or two, and she pretty much told us that your mother and I don't deserve to be parents, and that she'd be happy to show you how it's done."
Stephanie rested her forehead against my chest, hiding her face from the room, her shoulders shaking.
"Steph?" Eddie said, coming over to us."Are you alright?"
"Cupcake?"
"Stephanie? It's okay," Frank added."She was right."
They really don't know Stephanie at all.
"Stop laughing, Babe," I said, bending my head to hers,"or they'll be throwing punches again."
She picked her head up off me and I wiped the tears from her eyes.
"Okay. I'm better now," she told me."God, I love your mother. I don't know what I'd do without her, Ella, and Grandma. Marisol just became my new hero."
"I've been replaced, Steph?" I asked, playing a little to keep that look in her eyes.
"Nope. There's no replacing or topping, you, Batman, but Batmom is right up there on my list of favorite people on earth."
"Stephanie, are you thinking about moving?" Frank asked.
"We've only talked about it briefly. Boy, I'd have loved to have seen Mom's face when your mom said that."
"You're a little bloodthirsty, aren't you, Steph?" I asked, brushing a curl out of her eyes.
"No. I don't need to see any actual blood," she said, nodding her head in the direction of Morelli's cheek."That's a guy thing."
Stephanie is correct on that. Men need to act out physically if someone they love is threatened. Joe would be missing a body part for each thing he's done wrong to Stephanie if I knew she wouldn't be upset at me for removing them.
"Your mother looked like she saw a ghost," Frank said to Stephanie."And I'm sure my face went white when Mrs. Manoso laid into us."
"You can't seriously be thinking of leaving?" Joe asked her."This is your home."
"No. Rangeman is my home. Or I should say ... Ranger is. And both of them are mobile."
"You are serious, aren't you?" Eddie said to her.
"Yeah," she said, turning to face the room again."If Ranger and I decide that's what we want to do. As I said, we haven't really talked about it. But after today, we might just be having a lengthy discussion soon."
"I had to do something, Stephanie," Frank told her."I couldn't let Morelli get away with it."
"He already has," Steph said to him."Mom let him. I let him. And one cut cheek isn't going to make everything suddenly better."
"Cupcake, I was an idiot, but I wasn't intentionally trying to hurt you."
"Save the crap, Joe. You can go with the argument kids will be kids when we were little, but telling the town what we did ten years later was done for no other reason than to hurt me. Not one other person you've slept with had the honor of being mentioned in the sub shop bathroom or on the stadium wall."
"Have you changed your mind about letting me teach him a lesson for that, Steph?" I asked."I can make sure Morelli doesn't do something like that again."
"How? By cutting his fingers off?"
I shrugged in answer. It could be done. Easily, too. Unfortunately, Steph wants to continue being a better person than either me or Morelli.
"No, Ranger."
I shrugged again. I had to try.
"I've always had a thing for you, Steph," Morelli said."You know that."
Steph's hands covered mine and squeezed, our rings touching. She knew I was ready to make Morelli stop talking. Permanently.
"So you proved it by embarrassing me every chance you got? Either by telling everyone our business, screaming at me publicly every time I had to call the police for help, or maybe you thought I'd find you constantly telling me how immature I am endearing?"
"Didn't you know, Babe? That's how boys act when they like a girl," I said to her."They throw dirt, call the girl names, and act immaturely themselves while accusing others of being childlike. Real men respect the women they love."
"Yep, they do," she said."Another thing you've shown me."
"I'm a mentor in all areas of life, Steph."
"I know that now."
"You're an asshole, Manoso," Joe said.
"Yeah, but I'm an asshole who can sleep at night. Tell me, Morelli, how have your nights been lately?"
"Stop it," Steph said to us both."As you just said, we don't need to rehash everything today. I'm with you, Ranger, and you have the wedding ring to prove it."
"You were with me long before the ring, Babe."
She smiled."Yeah, I was. So you can put your weapons away."
Steph could be referring to my words or my attitude. I've found that both can be just as effective as my Glock.
"I always remain armed, Steph. You know that."
"I do, but you don't need to be armed here," she told me."All I want is everybody to be content with their lives. That doesn't seem like too big of a request."
"It is if they don't want to do the work it takes to accomplish that," I told her.
I'd rather dig out my own organs with a dull knife than get introspective, but Stephanie seems to draw it out of me. The only fault she has in my eyes.
"Yeah, you're right," Steph told me, before addressing the other men in the room."Dad, you need to decide what you want to do with Mom and stop using me as a way to avoid facing your own problems. I have my own life now separate from yours, and it's time you all focus on yourselves for a change. You can ignore that, Eddie. You've got a pretty good life, even if you are married to Shirley and have devil children."
"There's the Steph I know and love," Eddie told her."I was afraid you'd gone all Oprah-y on me. Sooo ... now that you and Ranger are an official married couple, care to try out family life? Shirley really wants to go out Saturday night and we need a babysitter."
Steph didn't even have to ask me. She gave Eddie the same answer I would have given him.
"We have plans," she told Eddie.
We do now. I'd make sure of it.
"Yeah, right," Eddie said.
"We have reservations for dinner in Manhattan," I said to Eddie, backing Stephanie up.
It will be true by the time we get home. Steph will need a night out before dealing with my family anyway. She likes them all almost as much as they like her, but the six of us - plus my parents and possibly my grandmother - qualify for hazard pay. Dinner at a five-star restaurant is the least Stephanie deserves for being put through a Manoso family dinner.
"See, I wouldn't lie just to get out of babysitting your little monsters," Steph said to Eddie.
I'll protect Stephanie from psychos and babysitting hell alike. They both pose a threat to her body and sanity, and that's not something I allow no matter the age or size of her tormentor.
"We all know you'd lie through your teeth to get out of watching my kids, but I don't mind this time as long as you're happy."
"I am," Steph told him, giving him a shoulder squeeze."Thanks, Eddie."
"Morelli, this isn't over," Eddie told him, purposely knocking his shoulder into Joe as he was leaving.
"Yep, the world is going freakin' insane," Stephanie said.
"Not the entire world, Steph," I told her,"just this corner of it. We'll head back to reality in a few minutes."
"Who knew Rangeman would ever be considered the sane place?" She said.
"The men are tested monthly, Babe. I have it in writing that they are all sane. I just have to keep a close eye on Junior and Hector."
"They're both saner than I am," she told me.
"I don't agree with that, especially not after today," I told her."Things could have gone real bad, real fast, if you hadn't shoved your foot up all their asses. You just single-handedly dismantled three detonated testosterone bombs."
"You have to stop, Ranger," she whispered, leaning her head back against my shoulder, a teasing glint in her blue eyes as she looked up into my face,"you know what talking about ass kicking and explosives does to me."
"You can tell me again when your father and Morelli aren't three feet away from us."
"It's a date," she told me.
"Can't you two keep your hands off each other for one fucking minute?" Morelli asked, his dick side coming out to play.
"No," I told him."And we aren't the ones who need to watch where our hands go. You obviously haven't changed from that little dickhead who thought he could have everything he wants with no consequences. You may still be a dickhead, but you aren't in control of things anymore. You and Helen could save yourselves, and everyone around you, a shitload of problems if you'd come to terms with that and take control of your own lives and stay the fuck out of ours. You ready to go, Babe?"
"Yes. I don't need to add anything to that. Dad, let's go," she said, lacing her fingers through mine before moving towards the door. She paused with her hand on the handle and looked past me to Morelli."Joe, I was really hoping that with a little time, what you say you feel for me would help you get over your anger towards Ranger, but I guess you never will. If nothing else, today made me see that I'm not a victim anymore ... as a child or as an adult. Maybe someday you'll be able to stop acting like one, too."
I've never been prouder of her. Stephanie is smarter, tougher, and more mature than these assholes ever gave her credit for.
The shit didn't end there, though, since we had to pass through a hallway full curious cops who heard, or heard about, Frank when he first got here.
"Steph? Are you okay?" Carl asked her."There's talk going around that Morelli did something again."
"Do you need us to rough him up?" Big Dog asked.
"I get first crack at him," Eddie said to them, clearly not quick to forgive no matter what Stephanie told him.
"If I keep telling Ranger he can't pummel Joe," Steph told Eddie,"then you don't get to, either."
I'd rip Joe apart in seconds if she'd give me the go ahead. Eddie, Carl, and Big Dog can scrape up what's left of him the day that happens.
"Something needs to be done to him," Eddie said to Stephanie,"after all the shit he's pulled you into."
"I can take care of myself, Eddie," she said."And Joe has his own problems."
"Tough shit. He should have problems. And he'll have a lot more if I have a say."
"Let it go, Eddie," Steph told him."I have. Everything Joe's done has been done to me, so I should be the one to decide how he's dealt with. Plus, you guys work with him everyday. You don't need to be coming to blows at crime scenes. There is more at stake here than my reputation."
"Let us worry about our jobs, Steph," Carl said,"and Morelli. He won't bother you again."
"No, he won't," she said to him,"because Joe doesn't have the power to anymore. Just do your jobs and don't listen to the rumors. Don't be like everyone else and use me to start unproductive fights."
"We wouldn't be using you, Steph," Eddie told her."We'd be making sure justice is served."
"Which would also be completely disregarding Stephanie's wishes," I told them."If she wants Morelli to pay, I will be the one taking care of it."
And few things I'd enjoy more.
"No one's taking care of anything," Steph said, cutting her eyes to me, right in assuming I'm the biggest threat to Morelli's life."We're all adults here." She looked at Carl then Big Dog."Well, some of us are, and we should all act like it. Everything between me and Morelli is in the past. And that's where I want to keep it."
All heads turned as Morelli came out of Juniak's office, his cell to his ear. Every male near Stephanie stared holes into him as he walked by, but Morelli didn't notice. His eyes were on Stephanie. Her lack of expression would have made every man at Rangeman proud. She didn't look away from Joe, and she didn't give him the satisfaction of showing emotion one way or another.
The final blow to Morelli's ego was when she refused to say a word to him, instead Steph turned back to me and smiled. The air crackled with tension as I let go of her hand to wrap my arm around her shoulders. And as I found out not long after meeting Stephanie, she fit perfectly there ... against my body and under my protection.
"Dad," Steph said,"come on. I'm not leaving you here."
Frank didn't move.
"You heard Stephanie, Frank. Move," I told him, my voice cold, making him aware that I'd have no issues moving him if he chose to ignore his daughter.
He's done that enough in her life.
Frank finally stomped out of the station, and Steph's arms circled my waist as we followed him out. Morelli will have to watch his back now instead of ours. Joe is now the criminal in the eyes of his coworkers, and they'd treat him accordingly. Not the ending I'd choose for this chapter of Stephanie's life, but it's not an altogether bad one.
Frank was just standing next to his car, staring at something only he could see, when we exited the building.
"I know that look," Steph said to me."He doesn't know where to go. I used to sit in my car and run through my options - just like my dad is probably doing now - after getting into a fight with Morelli and not being able to go back to my apartment because of a new threat to me or my place."
"What did you do?" I asked, just to hear her say it, since I know exactly what Stephanie used to do.
Which is why I made sure she always had a key fob on her.
"I went to Rangeman. To you," she told me."And that's my dad's problem. He doesn't have someone like you to turn to."
"Frank could have you if he'd figure out what he wants to do with his life."
"I don't think my dad knows what he wants yet. It took me years after having that particular look to finally do something about it."
"It might also take your father years," I told her.
"I know. In the meantime, though, I don't want to play referee every time my parents decide to talk about something 'important'. They need to discuss their marriage now, not my childhood."
"Unfortunately, Babe, you can't make them."
"Nope, I can't," she said, and tugged me with her towards her dad's Buick.
"Dad? Where are you planning to go?" Steph asked him.
Frank looked confused."I don't know. I really don't want to see your mother right now."
"You're going to have to figure out your marriage eventually," Stephanie told him."And as someone who keeps getting sucked into it, I vote for now."
"Mrs. Manoso seems to have a similar opinion," Frank said."She thinks you should stay away from your mother and I. And I think she's determined to get the two of you to move away from us."
"My mother doesn't make anyone do anything," I told him."She said something along those lines because she would like us closer to her, but she also hoped to get you and Helen to really think about what you're both doing, and losing, by not getting over yourselves and the past."
"Ranger's right, Dad. You and Mom can't fix things that have already happened. And you can't wipe the slate clean by singling out one event, or person, to tackle. What I need for you to do is figure out what you want and need now, so you'll have a place you want to go home to at night. But for now, would you like to come back to Rangeman with us?"
"No," Frank said."I've already messed up your day enough. I'll just head over to the lodge for a little while."
"You're sure?" She asked.
"Yes."
He unlocked his car and opened the door.
"Frank," I said, before he slid inside.
"Yeah?"
"That was a pretty solid punch," I told him.
Frank smiled."And it felt really good, too," Frank told me.
"Men!" Stephanie said, glaring at both of us.
"Morelli had it coming, Babe. Be thankful that it was your father's fist, because Morelli would have gone down and stayed down if I'd hit him."
"I should have waited then, and just held him still for you," Frank said, before closing the driver's door.
"Great, my father has suddenly turned into a street fighter," she said, watching his car as he drove away.
"He doesn't have the stomach for street fighting, Steph. But you have to give him points for not caring about the repercussions for hitting a detective."
"I'm surprised Joe didn't press charges against him," Steph said, as we made our way over to her Cayenne.
"He wouldn't, Babe."
Because that I definitely would have taken care for her, making sure the charges never got filed, but Stephanie didn't need to know that I would have fucked with the law a little to accomplish that.
"Why?" She asked.
"What would you think of the guy who had your father locked up?" I asked her.
"I'd think he's an asshole."
"What's your opinion of Joe?"
"He's an ass and a jerk."
"Do you think he'd want the woman he's still in love with to take him out of the jerk category and move him into the asshole one?"
"Probably not."
"Try definitely not, Steph. Why do you think he hasn't come after me?"
"Because he can't find anything on you?"
"Besides that. You would never forgive Morelli for locking me up, or trying to fuck up my business."
"You bet your ass I wouldn't forgive him."
I pulled Stephanie to me and kissed her for saying that. I could feel eyes on us so I pulled back before I was really ready to end the kiss. Joe was heading to his truck, and Eddie and Carl had been tracking his progress.
"I've gone from living in a fishbowl to living under a microscope," Steph said, looking over my shoulder at the three idiots behind us.
"Ignore them, Steph."
"Believe me, I am."
"Do you want to come home with me in the truck? I can have your car picked up later. Or would you rather take the Cayenne and have me follow you?"
"There's no reason to make any of the guys come out just for that," Steph said, once again thinking of someone other than herself."And you'll be right behind me, so it's guaranteed that I'll be fine getting home."
"I will be right behind you, Babe. Always."
A/N: I changed the wording a little for Morelli, but this is the actual statement off the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services website. "In New Jersey, the age of consent is 16, but individuals who are at least 13 years of age can legally engage in sexual activities if the defendant is less than 4 years older than the victim." As for the choo-choo game, most things I've read say it's more of a parental matter than a police one. This is one excerpt from the psychology today website: "Children and adolescents often times play "doctor." As long as they are of comparable age and development, each displaying the same curiosities and insecurities, such exploration is acceptable."