AU of Takedown 20, contains canon plot points and some dialogue.

Chapter Thirty-Seven

I was all wrapped up in warm, hard Ranger when I woke the next morning. One of his hands on my belly, the other curled around my breast. Normally I would have also been naked, but things hadn't worked out quite that well last night. We'd tried. A few times in fact. But every time I should have gotten somewhere, I just didn't. Which had tested Ranger's incredible control, because he had refused to leave me behind. His lips brushed the back of my neck. "We could try again."

"I don't know if that's a good idea."

"Not interested?"

"It's not that. I'm always interested, and I mean always. It's the rest of me that's not cooperating. I think it's because of the eye."

"The eye?"

"Don't laugh at me, this is serious! Bella put the whammy on me, and it was a big one."

"Did she say what it was supposed to do?"

"She wanted me to stop hunting Sunny."

"And that affects our sex life because…"

"She was also mad about Morelli and the baby. She said no more slutting."

"You're exclusive with the father of your child. That's nowhere near the realm of 'slutting'."

"But exclusive isn't committed, and Morelli was sort of my boyfriend when I conceived. What does that make me if not a slut?"

"Babe, if you were a slut I'd have been in and out of your bed since the day we met."

"That's not helping with my... wait, really?"

"Oh yeah. Smoking hot and full of defiant fire? I was definitely turned on. But you're not the slutting type, so I kept it to myself."

"It didn't stay to yourself."

His hand slid down from my belly and under my waistband again, caressing me. "Some temptations are harder to resist than others."

Oh god, that felt good. His mouth on my neck, his hands in my clothes. He kissed my shoulder while he inched my underwear down. Giving me plenty of time to melt into a puddle. He licked my earlobe. "You wanna try again?"

"Yes."

He smiled before he grazed my ear with his teeth and wrapped my leg around his waist to fill me from behind. The sensations woke up every nerve with delicious pleasure. He moved like he was reading my body. Instinctively searching for my sweet spot. He knew when he found it and I leaned in, trying to get a hold of it the way he had a hold of me. Until my leg started cramping. I bit my lip, desperate to ignore it.

Ranger paused. Again. "Babe?"

"It's just a leg cramp. I'm fine, I swear."

"You're not fine."

"Just go. It's okay. There's no sense in both of us being frustrated."

Ranger let out a breath and pulled away, rolling me onto my back so he could see my eyes. "Steph, I don't make love to you just for an orgasm. The orgasms are great," he said when I frowned, "but if we're not sharing the experience I'm as good as taking advantage."

"But what if it's like this until the baby comes?"

"Then we'll find a work around," he said. He kissed me, and then moved down. Kissing every inch. It took only a tug to get my underwear off that time. Tossed over his shoulder to the floor. His kisses turned intimate right when my phone rang. "Don't answer it."

"What if it's important?"

"Can you hold a conversation while I'm doing this? Because I'm not stopping."

I bit my lip, but the stupid phone wouldn't stop ringing. I cursed and answered it. Saw a hint of wicked in Ranger's smile. "Hello?"

"Notice how calm I am?" Morelli said. "I'm not yelling, right?"

Oh boy. I couldn't be sure, but at the sound of Morelli's voice I might have swore Ranger's attention doubled. "Right," I agreed, trying not to go cross eyed.

"You should know it's costing me. I can feel myself getting a double hernia from keeping it in."

"You know, this isn't a great time."

"No shit. Only that didn't stop the news from spreading just short of CNN. What the hell happened last night?"

"What are we talking about?"

"Sunny. I heard that you caught him taking the garbage out for Rita and you filled him full of buckshot."

"Actually, Rita was the one who shot Sunny. She was trying to shoot me, but got him by mistake."

"That doesn't make me feel better."

"How is he?"

"He'll live. My mother said he got a few pellets in his leg and his ass."

"Your mother said 'ass'?"

"She said 'buttock,' but I feel stupid saying 'buttock.' My crazy grandmother is on the warpath. She's saying you're going to hell. Like she might send you there sooner rather than later. That doesn't work for me to have you dead and my grandmother behind bars."

"Do you really think she'd shoot me?"

"No. She's sicillian, she'd poison you. Get you with a meatball. Just a heads up."

"Thanks." I said goodbye and hung up. "Morelli's grandmother is going to poison me."

"Probably best to steer clear of meatballs for a while."

"This isn't funny!"

Ranger did something insanely clever with his tongue and I forgot what I was mad about. I was too busy grabbing fistfuls of sheet. "Don't worry, Babe. This'll all be over soon enough."

"Are we still talking about Sunny?"

That time I was sure of Ranger's wicked grin. At least in that way, the over was indeed soon, and definitely enough.

ooo

The mood in the office was tense when I walked in.

"I'm not chasin' Sunny with you anymore," Lula said. "Everytime I go somewhere with you people shoot at us."

"Not every time. And it wasn't my idea to get out of the car."

"That's true. That was your granny. I love your granny, but she's a loose cannon."

Like Lula was one to talk.

Vinnie stuck his head out of his office. "Way to go, cuz. I hear there's a contract out on you for shooting up Uncle Sunny."

"I didn't shoot Sunny. Rita shot Sunny."

"I don't give a rat's ass who shot Sunny," Vinnie said. "Bottom line is he's still out there, and I'm in the red for a lot of money. And you know what happens when I'm in the red? Harry gets nervous, and when Harry gets nervous he relieves the tension by smashing things… like finger and knees and private parts I'm fond of. So get out there and make a freaking capture. The guy's full of buckshot for christsake, it's not like he's moving fast."

"Sunny's not my problem anymore. I'm letting Tank have him."

"Finally! Maybe this thing'll get resolved with a real professional on it."

"Hey! I am a real professional."

"Not like Tank. Only thing better than Tank is Ranger. I mean, I thought for sure Ranger'd help you out, seeing as he knocked you up already."

"You're scum, Vinnie."

"Yeah yeah."

The front door to the bail bonds office crashed open behind me and I whipped around to see Bella pointing her bony finger at me. "You! Devil woman. You shoot my nephew. Now I shoot you." She pulled out an ancient six-shooter out of her purse, aimed, and fired. The shot went wide. I rushed her before she could get off another.

"Cuffs!" I yelled, wrestling the gun from Bella. "Someone cuff her!"

Connie peeked out from behind her desk and tossed me a pair. I ratcheted them onto Bella's wrists. Lula and Connie came out of their hiding spots while Vinnie gaped from his office. I put Bella in one of the cheap lobby chairs and called Morelli.

"You know your meatball theory?" I asked him. "You were wrong. Your grandmother is here with a revolver. You need to come get her."

"Was anyone hurt?"

"No, but I think Vinnie messed his pants."

It took Morelli fifteen minutes to get across town. He looked at his handcuffed grandmother, the hole in the far wall, and the revolver on Connie's vacated desk. She and Lula were in the storage room trying to avoid getting the eye. Morelli frowned. "You're right. That's no meatball."

"She's the devil," Bella said. "She shoot your godfather, a good man. And she do this to a granny. She have no respect. Look how she treat a poor old lady."

"Where'd you get the gun?" Morelli asked her.

"An old lady got to protect herself."

Morelli blew out a sigh. "Thanks for the phone call. Are you planning to press charges?"

"No one was hurt. And she is your grandmother."

"I appreciate that. Family's family. Even if they are crazy."

He unlocked Bella's cuffs and gave them back to me, ushering her toward the door. She turned enough to flip me the bird before she left. Vinnie opened his office door a crack, Lula and Connie peeking out of the back room. "Is she gone?" Vinnie asked.

"Yeah."

Connie made the sign of the cross. "We might need to have this place blessed."

"Blessed nothin'," Lula said. "This place needs an exorcism and a box of donuts. I say we get outta here. I bought some lettuce to feed Kevin and I don't want it to wilt."

"What's your plan?" I wanted to know. "Drive around 15th until you see him and throw it out the window?"

"Why, you got something better to do?"

Sigh. "No. Let's go."

ooo

Lula and I took my Mercedes down 15th Street on our way to Freeman. Slowing a little as we passed the Chestnut Social Club. Lula thought that was the best place to dump the lettuce, since it was the last place Kevin had been seen. It was a nice day. Warm sunshine, cloudless sky. The kind of day that makes you feel like things are going to be okay. Lula had her eyes peeled as we searched the grid. There wasn't any sign of Kevin. "He's gotta be out here. Where else would he go?"

"Maybe he had a late night and he's sleeping it off somewhere."

"Where do you think a giraffe could be sleepin' out here?"

"Maybe whoever lost him finally came back for him."

"I hope not. The kinda person irresponsible enough to lose a giraffe shouldn't have no giraffe, that's all I'm sayin'. You gotta be a special kinda person to connect with a giraffe. They need love and affection."

"Please tell me you're not trying to adopt the giraffe."

"Course not. I'm just saying Kevin could do worse than someone like me. I'd love him, brush him, take care of him…"

"He's eighteen feet tall! Where would you keep him, you're walkin closet?"

"See, that would just be silly. You're clearly not a giraffe person."

My Bluetooth started ringing. Ranger's number in the display. I answered. "Yeah?"

"Babe, I thought we agreed Tank was handling Sunny."

"We did."

"Then why are you driving circles around Sunny's neighborhood?"

I opened my mouth to tell him, but hesitated. It suddenly seemed embarrassing to tell Ranger we were combing downtown Trenton looking for a giraffe. Then I remembered the Chestnut Social Club. "Are you still having control monitor my audio?"

"Not since yesterday. Why? Should that change?"

"Nope. I was just checking. Lula bought some food for her friend Kevin. We were just trying to find him so we could deliver it."

He was quiet a moment. Like he might be pinching the bridge of his nose to ward off a migraine. "Are you sure there's nothing you want to tell me?"

"I'm sure. This has nothing to do with Sunny. Just Kevin."

"I've got control monitoring your movements."

"Roger that."

Pretty sure I heard him smile. Ranger thought I was amusing.

"I'm not seeing any sign of him and I'm getting' worried," Lula said when Ranger disconnected. "I think we should park and try it on foot. Maybe we can pick up his scent."

"I don't know how to pick up a scent."

"It's real easy. You just gotta sniff at the air until you find something that smells like giraffe."

I had my doubts, but we were far enough away from 15th that I thought the chances of trouble were low, and Lula was right, I didn't have anything better to do and the exercise might do me some good. Plus there was a part of me that really wanted to see a giraffe up close. Even if just to make sure it was real. I parked next to a deli and we got out.

It was mid morning. The sun shining just warm enough to add a blush to the pleasant breeze. It was still Sunny's neighborhood, so it was lousy with wiseguys, but it was free of street gangs and petty crime. We walked a few blocks, listening for whatever sound Kevin was supposed to make while Lula breathed in the late summer air.

"This is nice," Lula said. "I bet we already worked off those donuts with all this walking. Wait. I think I mighta caught a whiff of giraffe."

"How can you tell?"

"Kevin and I are finely tuned. I can practically hear his thoughts."

"Like you could with the Tiki?"

She shushed me. Taking another sniff. "Yep, that's giraffe all right. It's comin' from up ahead. I bet he's heading for Freeman Street."

"Freeman and 15th is ground zero for Sunny Land. I don't think we should go down that block."

"Yeah, but Kevin might be going after his lettuce. He'll be real disappointed if he don't get to see who left him all that delicious food."

"He'll be even more disappointed if the food stops showing up because Sunny's goons drilled you full of bullet holes."

"Hey, I didn't shoot Uncle Sunny. I was just a innocent bystander."

"So was I!"

"Yeah, but the world don't know that. Fact, even if they did they might wanna shoot at you anyway. People are always shootin' at you. I think 'cause you're a bounty hunter."

"I need a new job."

"You say that, but I don't see you makin' any changes. What do you wanna do besides bounty hunting? You got a plan? You got life skills? Course I guess you could always marry Ranger and be a stay at home mama. Get you one of them minivans."

"Jeez this conversation is depressing. I'm tired. I'm going back to the car. I'll meet you there in half an hour."

"You want my gun?"

"No! I'll be fine." I probably couldn't use it anyway with the splint on my jammed finger. "Just hurry."

"Sure thing," she said. We parted ways and I turned down Morgan, heading back to the Mercedes. It really was a beautiful day. The streets were clean and well maintained. No rats scurrying around the gutters. No burnt out crack houses. No runners loitering on front stoops or on the street corners. Some of the stoops even had potted plants. By all accounts, it was a pretty safe neighborhood, once you got past the part about the wiseguys.

I didn't see a lot of people walking the street with me. Traffic was sparse. Not unusual for a Thursday morning. I was thinking about stopping in at the deli for a sandwich when a black SUV parked behind my Mercedes. Two guys got out, guns drawn. I backed away and turned as casually as I could, trying not to be noticed. Fumbled my phone out of my pocket to call Ranger. I searched the street for a business to hide in, but it was all residential. There weren't even any apartment building doors I could run into. I pressed Ranger's speedial with a shaky thumb and lifted the phone to my ear. The ringing secondary to the black Lincoln that pulled to a stop in front of me. Moe and Shorty got out, eyes anchored to me. Moe held his gun, Shorty a stun gun. The line opened in my ear. "He—"

And then a pair of prongs touched the back of my neck and the world turned black.