All familiar events and characters belong to Janet. Mistakes are solely mine.

Chapter 2

Nothing was said on the drive to the Trenton PD. I thought leaving Lylo uncuffed and letting her ride shotgun would have thawed her out a little, but she's proving to be worse than I am when it comes to accepting help and opening up to those providing it.

"Are you still in there?" I finally asked, turning into the police station's parking lot.

I figure it'd be better for her if she lashes out at me instead of mouthing off to any of the officers inside.

"What do you care?" She replied, clearly not impressed with my skip-saving abilities.

"You'd be surprised at how many times caring too much almost got me killed."

"Well, I don't have the interest or the energy to kill you. I'm just waiting for this part to be over so I can be left on my own again."

Little does she know, she's likely about to be released into my people's custody. And I'm not planning on leaving her alone until it's safe to. Showing me that he can in fact read minds, Ranger was at my door before I had a chance to open it. Lester had my passenger and her door covered.

"How do you always beat me to wherever we're supposed to meet?" I asked my guy, allowing a little of my nerves to show by holding onto him for a beat after getting a brief but still yummy 'hello' kiss.

"It's those superpowers you're always talking about. Nichols went directly to the courthouse," Ranger informed me. "He'll work his magic there."

I smiled up at him. "Thanks. I knew I was in over my head with this one. Lylo, stop eye-threatening Lester and come meet the guy who's going to give you your life back."

"Like I want it," she told me. "Move muscle man."

That order was clearly directed at Lester. Both Ranger and I hid our smiles, anticipating the fireworks coming.

"Lylo, this is Ranger … aka Carlos Manoso … aka Batman …"

"Babe."

"Fine. Ranger meet Lylo. She wants to die and I'm trying to show her why she should stick around."

"Why would anyone wanna leave this world when someone like me is living in it?" Lester asked her, spreading his arms wide so she could supposedly appreciate him in all his Rangeman uniform-covered glory.

I felt her accusitory gaze land like a bomb on me. "This is the jackass you thought would make me laugh?"

"Yup. Give him a minute, he's just warming up. How about you focus on this guy instead of that one for a minute?"

I could hear and feel the exact moment her eyes settled on Ranger. "Wow …" she whispered, like I still do every time I see him.

"See?" I said. "I'm not bullshitting you with anything I've said. Ranger is too hot to be captured on camera, and he knows people who will get your record sealed or cleared and you on a better path."

"Does he have a magic wand hidden in all that?" She asked me, waving her hand towards Ranger's utility belt.

"Say one word, Santos," Ranger warned, "and I'll make Gazarra put you in the drunk tank for the night. You'll be scrubbing the smell of vomit and urine off you for weeks if I make that happen."

I appreciated his threat because it's wrong to make inappropriate comments about Ranger's 'wand', especially in front of someone Rangeman hasn't officially adopted yet, but as the woman occupying Ranger's bed every night, I have to say … every part of Batman is pretty freakin' magical.

"Looks like your balls are in someone else's hands," Lylo pointed out in case Lester didn't catch the warning.

"Play your cards right, and they could be in yours," Lester replied.

"Dial it back, Santos," the Boss ordered, "or I'll do it for you."

"She started it."

"Very mature," Lylo told him. "Just another guy who relies solely on cockiness and his dick to get anywhere in life."

"Be nice," I told her. "You haven't seen Lester rescue an abandoned kitten from a Dumpster or snuggle an hours-old baby who was left for dead inside a crack house. He's a mushy marshmallow under all those pretty muscles."

"I'll buy you a dozen doughnuts in the morning if you stop 'helping' me, Steph."

"Like you have a shot at getting anything but a knee in the nuts from me," Lylo fired back.

I admit, the smile I gave her was fueled solely by pride. "Stop making me like you so much," I told her.

"She just threatened the goods," Lester whined in dramatic fashion, "and you're supporting her?"

"Yeah. What do you expect? She's clearly familiar with my go-to move. How can I not root for her in this particular fight?"

"The only fight I'm interested in," Lylo told us, "is getting myself outta here."

"Ranger's guy is good, really good, but even he'll need longer than five minutes," I reminded her. "Come on, we'll get started by getting you off the TPD's Failure To Appear list."

"What's with the bookends?" She asked me, as we walked away from my car and neared the police station's entrance.

Ranger and Lester had moved to cage me in, with Ranger walking slightly ahead of me and Lester slightly behind so no one could approach me without going through them first.

"My ex is a homicide detective here and he never lets a visit pass without crawling out from under his rock to insult me again. I'm used to it, but the guys don't much care for it or him."

"No one should get to be that big of a douche and still be breathing," Lester told me.

Ah … I sensed a little less heat in the glare Lylo shot him.

"Why do you care?" She asked him now.

She's giving me another glimpse into her childhood with the 'Why?' questions. She seems to always need a solid reason why someone would give a shit about … anything.

"Stephanie's my boss' and my friend's woman, and she's become a close friend of mine despite that. Plus, the detective makes all men look bad. I won't get laid if women come across someone like him before meeting me."

"Stop being a dick, Lester," I told him. "We all know that's not the only thing you think with. Lylo can smell bullshit a mile away. If you're trying to put distance between the two of you because I was right in knowing you'd like each other, you'll have to find another way. I've learned wanting to befriend her appears to be a way to immediately accomplish that."

"For a bounty hunter, you get offended easy," she told me.

"I'm actually worried that you're about to see how thick my skin really is."

Unfortunately, I was right. Lylo got a front row seat to a douchebag demonstration as Joe appeared seconds after we entered the police station. That I'm here with Ranger had his claws already out, ready to locate a vein to slice open on me.

"Are you here today as criminals or as BEAs?" Joe asked.

"As if either would be any of your business, Morelli," Ranger told him. His tone is one he's never used on me, but it's become the only one I hear whenever Joe's around. "You heard the Chief, one more incident and you'll be facing harassment charges. Leave while you still have a job and some semblance of a respectable reputation."

"Big talk from a known killer."

Ranger and Lester crossed their arms over their chests, a threatening pose if you're smart enough to pay attention. But Joe has never acted rationally when Ranger's name or person came up.

"Something's not a crime just because you believe I've committed one, with no evidence to back up the accusations," Ranger fired back.

"Just go back to your office, Joe," I told the dick detective. "For someone who can list a million things wrong with me and Ranger, you can't seem to stay away from us."

"If I don't tell the world what you are, who will?"

I suddenly realized that Lylo was onto something with her line of questioning, so I stole it.

"Why would you care what anyone thinks of me, unless you still care? I've heard lots of rumors about you, and do you see me chasing you down to have a heart-to-heart about each one? No, because I don't give a crap what you do with your life as long as it's not spent stalking Ranger or bugging me."

"I don't give a shit about you, Cupcake. Never did."

That should hurt, because at one point I thought I loved who he pretended to be, but I was pleased to find out that his words didn't affect me at all. Guess I'm not just talking when I say he doesn't matter at all to me anymore.

I smiled at him. "Glad to hear it, so there's no real reason to hang around then, is there? Bye."

"You got her fighting your battles for you now?" Morelli asked Ranger. "It's not enough that you got her in bed … not that that's hard to do."

Shit. I glanced at Lester and didn't feel reassured at how his eyes reflected the same concern I'm suddenly feeling. Ranger doesn't snap unless someone he loves is in the crosshairs of a psycho. He loves me, and it appears Morelli has taken a few more steps towards psycho-ville, so I have every right to be worried.

"Ranger, don't let him fuck with your head," Lester told him. "Even you would have a hard time getting away with killing a detective in the middle of a fucking police station."

That sounds all nice and reasonable, but I know Ranger maybe even better than Lester does, and he's too filled with rage to hear anything logical right now. I had to act fast. I grabbed Ranger's right arm and wrapped my entire upper body around it, curling my hands over the fist he'd already made in anticipation of ramming it multiple times into Joe's face.

"Let go, Babe."

"Not if you're going to give the jerk exactly what he wants, which is a reaction if you hit him and a reason to arrest you."

He didn't argue with me, so I relaxed for a second before I remembered that Ranger being an Army Ranger combined with Batman, he can flatten someone with his left arm just as well as he can with his right. I let go of his arm briefly so I could slide my body in front of his, my back to his front, and then I laced my fingers through all ten of his, pulling both beefy arms across my chest to secure both of us.

"Are you sure you wanna let go of me to touch him?" I asked Ranger, tipping my head back to look up at him. "The threat of catching something incurable is high, given the supposedly confidential medical records Carny Gioli gave me on the last skank he 'dated'. I've been called a lot of things, but no one would ever accuse me of being easy. Don't let him provoke you with something that isn't remotely true. Even I can't give that insult a second thought, but feel free to demonstrate that I'm only 'easy' for you."

I felt him lower his head and his lips brushed my ear. "You're not easy, even for me, but you are worth every ounce of effort I put into loving you."

Just like that, I forgot all about Joe. "Right back at you, Batman."

I'd bet anything that the look on my face, which Ranger's words inspired, is what made Joe make a hasty retreat. If there's anything a Morelli can't stand … it's being ignored, followed closely by choosing someone other than them to have sex with regularly.

But two beats later, the spell between Ranger and I was broken when it dawned on me the reason we're here in the first place. Lylo! I glanced back to where she'd been standing when Morelli came out to stick his crooked nose in our business, but I didn't see her … or Lester either. I know Ranger's not about to let Joe's comments or appearance go without some form of painful retaliation carried out somewhere away from this building, but I can only handle one crisis at a time so I promised myself I'd worry about that later.

I spun back around, ready to tell Ranger that I lost my skip in the middle of a friggin' police station, but he was pointing towards a corner near the front door.

"She's right there. And she's okay," he assured me.

She doesn't look okay. I can tell she's crying from what little I can see of her between Lester's arm muscles.

"I swear I'm going to kill Morelli if the Joe Show triggered and upset her," I bit out, already pointing myself in Lylo's direction, knowing Ranger will be right by my side. "She's had too much crap to deal with lately for a freakin' officer of the law to show up and make things worse."

"You just warned me not to harm the detective, inside the station at least, and you're issuing death threats a minute later?"

"Yes. If he just undid all of my hard work, I'll gladly serve my time for offing him. What happened? And who do I need to hurt for making her cry?" I asked Lester, when we'd reached the pair.

"I guess that'd be me. I took her by surprise and turned serious to say the three magic words," Lester told me.

That confused me. Sure, Lylo is cute and funny in a totally snarky way, but he did just meet her. "I love you?" I asked, referring to the 'three magic words' he was talking about.

"No," he said to answer me and also stop Lylo. He cupped the back of her head in one big hand and applied a little pressure so she'll stay where she is after she'd made a move to inch her face away from his chest. "'Are you okay?' is what everyone like us needs to be asked."