Everybody and anything familiar is Janet's. Mistakes are solely mine.

"What's with the getup?" Lester asked me, after only one glance in my direction.

I looked down at the white lace dress I'd gone home to change into after leaving my parents' house. Sure, its sweetheart neckline, form fitting top, and flowy to the knee skirt, is a bit ... much for a 'normal' day, but I'm never subtle when I'm trying to make a point.

"I'm about to go punch Morelli in the nose and I wanted to give off an 'I'm innocent' vibe if I find myself standing in front of a judge. I stopped by to see if anyone wants to ride shotgun."

He shrugged. "I'm not doing anything, I can tag along."

"What you can do is take Hal's shift tomorrow night for admitting that you're not pulling your weight, Santos," Ranger said, materializing like smoke behind us. "Now sit your ass down. You're not going anywhere."

This is probably the first time in at least a month that I didn't see a grin tugging at Lester's face. Being denied a good time doesn't make any of the guys happy. And judging by Ranger's barking tone, I'd guess he's not real happy either. I plastered a smile on my face and pivoted on the toes of my nude D'orsay pumps in order to face him.

"Batman! You're back! I thought you weren't getting home until tonight. How's Julie?"

He crossed his arms over his chest, and I'm equal parts nervous and turned on. Ranger has the market cornered on muscles, and the ones in his arms suddenly testing the seams of his sleeves is distracting me from how concerned I should be at the energy he's giving off.

"She's doing well. Are you here because you thought I wouldn't be?" He asked, dropping the temperature in the control room by a good fifty degrees.

"Of course not. I'm here because I intend to pummel Morelli and you told me before you left to 'take a guy with me if I intend to do something illegal'."

"I was kidding."

"You never kid," I reminded him. "Since you're back early, and just grounded Lester, you can do the ride along … if you want to."

"My office. Now," he said, and turned knowing I'd follow.

"Stephanie's in trouble," Lester sang purposely off tune, most likely just to annoy Ranger more.

"You can take over the monitors for Vinnie on Thursday too," Ranger told him, not even needing to raise his voice to be heard loud and clear. "You wanna keep being a smartass? I'm sure the men will appreciate you for it."

Lester mumbled something, but luckily no one could hear what it was this time. I trailed behind Ranger and tried hard not to stare at his behind as I brought up the rear. I really, really missed him. He stood by the door as I passed through it into his office, and then he pointedly closed it after him.

"Ummm, is everything really okay in Miami?" I asked, not sure why he seems so pissed off. "Nothing happened that shouldn't have?"

"I didn't bring you in here to talk about me …"

"No, you sorta ordered me. That isn't like you when there isn't a weapon being pointed at me, so you've got me worried."

He leaned his hips back against his desk in a pose that should've appeared relaxed, but he reminded me too much of a rattler about to strike to let down my guard for even a second.

"I came home hoping to ask you to dinner and then pick up where we left off when we'd said goodbye before I left town. But I return to find you coming into my building, but dressed up to go talk to another man. Do you think I'd be pleased?"

"You should be! Or did you miss the part about me wanting to deck the jerk?"

"I heard everything," he informed me. "But to be that angry at him, you had to have been near him. And that does not make me happy."

"Clearly," I muttered under my breath.

"Babe."

"What? I'm mad and you're underestimating his assholiness. I don't need to actually see Joe for him to totally screw with my life. And FYI, I'm not too happy about this homecoming either. I was expecting a little dinner, and a lot of making out, when you got back. You didn't exactly tell me you were coming home earlier than I expected so I could adjust my plans, which means I should be the cranky one."

I didn't have a chance to decide if I was stupid or really smart to wave a red flag in front of a Bat-bull. He curled all five fingers around my wrist and pulled until my body almost bounced back off of him. While my mouth was still open in surprise, he covered it with his and quickly had me forgetting everything … even my own name. Anger is definitely not what I'm feeling right now.

When he wound the kiss down and then let my lips go, one word was all I had the ability to form. "Wow."

I took a moment to regroup and smoothed out the wrinkles I made when I'd double-fisted his black button down while he was kissing me. I'd ask why he's in corporate wear, but he'd explained that before he left for Miami, kicking down the last wall I'd been holding between us in the process.

"I want Julie to know that she's important to me and worth dressing up for," he'd told me.

Likely knowing my thoughts even when I hadn't voiced them, Ranger finally gave me his signature hundred-watt smile. "There's more where that came from … after you tell me what the dick detective did now."

I raised my eyebrows at his make out-condition, but couldn't stop myself from wrapping my hands as much as I could around his biceps. Even I can see that it was a pathetic attempt to put a little distance between us. I need to touch him even when I should be keeping my hands to myself.

"Now who's talking about other men?" I asked Batman.

In a move so fast I couldn't anticipate it, he spun and sat me on his desk, standing between my legs while he caged in my hips with his wrists.

"What. Did. He. Do?" I was asked again.

"You know, when you make a big deal outta stuff, it makes me have to take a step back and consider that I maaaay be overreacting too."

"Stephanie …"

I blew out a breath. "Fine. He still needs to suffer. Joe told my mother that he'll be taking me to his brother's vow renewal-thing. First off, no woman deserves Anthony, and his wife should be bailing instead of committing to that POS again. And second … I threatened to disembowel Morelli the last time I saw him. I sure as hell am not about to go out celebrating his family with him. So I've decided to equally 'surprise' him with a broken nose courtesy of his never-again 'date'. Are you with me?"

"Always, Babe. But Detective Morelli may need something more concrete in order to accept that you're off limits to him."

"I think a swollen face will accomplish that. Don't you?"

"Not when it comes to you. He'll see that as foreplay."

"That's sick," I said, almost gagging at the thought.

"So is he. Let's go."

"Where?"

"To the Burg, like you planned. That asshole does need reminding that you aren't his to control."

It actually hurt how fast my spine snapped straight. "I'm not anyone's to control."

My Ranger finally surfaced fully. "Thank God you finally understand that."

"Hey, I may require a bit more evidence, but once I know better … I become better."

He nodded as he leaned into me. "I know. It's part of why I love - and have trusted - you so much."

Despite being bossy sometimes, he always knows exactly what to say to make my boundaries crumble. I wrapped my arms around him and held on tight. "I've missed you," I told him.

I felt the kiss he dropped on my head clear down to my newly pink-painted toes. "I've only been gone two-and-a-half days."

"Yeah, but those thirty-six-hundred minutes of my life weren't as good as they could've been with you here."

"It'll be the last time you miss me, Babe. Julie and I agreed that you're coming to Miami with me next time."

My mouth dropped open again and I'm pretty sure I'd be in danger of having rug burn on my chin if I moved. "You want me to come with you to see Julie?"

"Yes, but it was also a direct request from her. I try hard not to disappoint my daughter, and when it comes to you … I couldn't agree with her more. We're already a family whether you both see it or not."

I didn't know what to say to that, but he was too busy tugging me out of his office for me to come up with a proper reply anyway.

"Hey, Steph!" Cal called. "Wait up a sec."

Ranger brought us to a stop, and we stood there waiting to see what Cal wanted.

"The guys filled me in on what you're planning on doin'," he said when he reached us, "and I want you to borrow this to get the job done right."

For a self-proclaimed unemotional person, these guys are yanking feelings out of me right and left today. Cal placed the helmet-wearing-skull ring - that I know had belonged to his father - in my hand and closed my fingers around it. Ranger doesn't allow jewelry to be worn on the job except for watches and probably wedding rings when they become a factor, so Cal keeps this in his desk or on his person until his shift ends and it goes right back on, appropriately, his middle finger.

"That'll leave a mark and make my Dad proud at the same time," Cal said into the silence, since I'd been rendered speechless for the second time in ten minutes. "He had a real problem with guys like Morelli and he was the first to volunteer to knock some sense into them."

"Thank you?" I said, but it came out as more of a question.

You're not supposed to thank someone for helping you achieve a more painful punch, are you?

"Dude," Woody told Cal. "The Boss is going with her. If she can't cause enough damage, she'll just let Ranger take over."

I cut my eyes to the big Boss. "And people call me bloodthirsty."

"For good reason, Babe."

"I didn't think this all the way through," I admitted when we were getting into the elevator. "I don't even know where the a-hole is. At work, home, the deli ..."

"I can have Vince locate him."

I already had my cell in my hand. "No, I have an even faster way." I tapped Mary Lou's face and had her on the line a beat later. "Where is he?"

"Listen, I know you're pissed, Steph," my BFF told me, "but don't do anything stupid. Joe's a cop. Him being an arrogant ass could get you into serious trouble."

"I'll be fine. Ranger got back from Miami early and he's with me. Say 'Hi' to Mary Lou so she'll know I'm not lying and can stop worrying."

The slight crinkling at the corners of his eyes let me know that he's genuinely amused by my life.

"Hi, Mary Lou," he said by my ear so she'd hear him. "Don't worry. I'll take good care of Stephanie."

"You'd better," she warned.

"Hmmm, someone's real brave when she isn't face to face with the Man of Mystery," I pointed out.

"Ranger is friggin' scary, but the thought of you going to jail is even more frightening."

"That won't happen. Now where is the asshole?"

"At his house. He has the day off today."

"Perfect. There'll be no witnesses."

"Steph ..."

"Gotta go, Mare. I'll call you later."

"To the Burg, Batman," I told Ranger. "He's at home according to my source."

"Are you sure I can't just handle him myself?"

"No. He needs to know I'm serious. You won't always be with me, and he has to understand that my hating him is a personal decision, not something I'm doing just to make you happy."

"Being a bodyguard is my job," he reminded me. "For you, I'll be happy to make it a full-time one ... with no charge or strings."

"Thanks, but no. We're trying my way first."

We got into his Porsche and he pulled up in front of the house Morelli inherited from his Aunt fifteen minutes later. I was halfway out of his car before Ranger had his Turbo completely stopped.

"Wait for me or you'll be sitting this one out," Ranger warned me.

I know he isn't kidding, so I waited for him by the front bumper and we walked to Morelli's front door together. Well Ranger walked, I stomped. I banged on the door and changed my mind on two things when I saw Joe's stupid smirk as he unwisely left the safety of his house. I did wanna channel Cal's Dad after all, so I slipped on the ring that has to be made from a solid pound of silver. I also changed my target. If I break Joe's nose or give him a matching eyebrow scar, he'll be shoveling sympathy away just to be able to move. So I went with a gut shot ... and I didn't pull my punch.

"You are never to tell my mother - or anyone else - that we are together, that we're going out somewhere, or even that we're friends. Because we aren't - and will never be - together, on a date with each other, or anything resembling friends. Do you hear me?"

"Astronauts in space can hear you, Cupcake," he said on a groan.

"That's another thing. No more calling me that. If you get the urge again, haul your ass to the bakery and order one ... or I'll let Ranger have his way and he'll be paying you a visit without me. I don't suggest that, since he said something about me being his means he gets to protect me in any way he sees fit."

"I thought you were purposely ignoring that comment," Ranger said to me, treating Morelli like the insignificant pest he is.

Batman is clearly enjoying himself. Watching me defend myself, insult Morelli, and admit that I'm all his, likely just made his day.

I looked over at my guy. "I wasn't ignoring you, I was just filing that comment away until the right moment came along where I could pull it out and use it."

He slung an arm around me and then curled it back towards him, bringing me with it. "Good plan," he told me, pressing a kiss to my temple.

Once Morelli subtly checked his midsection for signs that something could be cracked - I hope to hell he at least has a skull-shaped bruise to remember me by - his one working brain cell kicked in and he took in our appearance with an audible grinding of his molars.

"Why do you two look like a wedding cake topper?"

I gave him the smile that is supposed to look harmless, but instead I've been told it appears a tad evil.

"We'll never tell," I told Joe. I wrapped my arm around Ranger's waist, and we started to head back to his Porsche. Two steps in, I glanced back over my shoulder. "Scratch that. It's just you we won't tell."

I was feeling pretty proud of myself as Ranger opened the passenger's side door for me.

"The guy's an idiot, but his fear makes for a decent plan. There's still time for us to hit the courthouse and put this wedding garb to good use."

I didn't care that Joe's still in his doorway watching us, all I could think about is the man who's always been by my side and continues to have my back. My heels put me almost even with Ranger's lips so I only had to tilt my head up an inch to fit my mouth to his. Before I got totally carried away with how much I did miss him, I drew back and made a promise I fully intend to keep.

"Someday, Batman. Someday real soon."