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

"Where's Joe?" I asked Eddie.

Coming to the police station probably isn't my smartest idea, but everyone should know by now that if you tell me I can't do something, you're gonna find out the hard way that … Yes, I freakin' can!

"Don't tell me you got back together with Morelli?" He said back. "The thirtieth time is not the charm, Steph."

I shuddered before I could stop myself. "I know, and no … Joe and I are whatever is even more than completely dead, buried, and built over with something even better."

"Clearly that's why you're bringing the guy food then. Shit, it's not poisoned, is it? We've been over this, Stephanie. Me, Carl, Big Dog, and Juniak love you, but if you kill a guy … especially a cop in our own precinct, we might not be able to do much to help you."

"You worry too much. I'm not going to kill the jerk … yet."

"Steph … I …" he tried again, but I waved him off and started down the hall, leaving a pretty damn tempting scent trail of cheese and tomato in my wake.

"Knock, knock!" I shouted, before I used my elbow to widen the space between Joe's partially open door and its jamb.

Morelli jerked his head up in surprise before he covered his shock with a cocky grin thrown at a young officer I don't recognize.

"Well … look who's here. You finally came to your senses, Cupcake."

The asshole didn't even make that sound like a question. He went all-ass and just assumed I'm here to beg him to put up with me again. That was his reconciliation prediction, not what I would ever consider saying to him.

"Yep," I told him, not letting him in on the real reason behind this visit, "I definitely came to my senses."

"And you brought lunch. Good. This day is finally looking up. If you'll excuse us, Murley," he said to preschool-cop, "Stephanie and I have some making up to do."

I ordered my skin to stop squirming because I promised it I wouldn't let him anywhere near us, and then I tried to work my mouth up into a polite smile.

"Officer Murley, is it?" I asked. "You can stick around. This will only take a second."

For the second time in five minutes, Morelli's face appeared totally confused. He was slower to hide it this time around. "A second? So, this is just an 'I'm sorry' drop off?"

I glanced down at the glass baking dish in my hands. It'll get colder the longer I'm here, so I tried to wrap up my mission quickly.

"First off, I'm not sorry for anything except the time I wasted on you. And second, my food is leaving with me. I came here to say stop harassing my family before I ask someone to make you, and also to remind you that you said I couldn't cook a meal to save my life, but guess what? I can and I did. FYI, it's better than your mom's and Joyce's lasagnas combined."

I'm not lying either. It has perfectly cooked pasta - if I do say so myself - ricotta plus a few other cheeses, along with a 'Tomato Sauce for Dummies' recipe included in the ingredient list. I wouldn't be me without taste-testing a cheesy carb dish ... before, during, and after making it.

The jerk doesn't need to know that one of the reasons I did something in my kitchen besides eat ... is that my niece, Mary Alice, challenged me to attempt a recipe that had apparently gone viral because 'anyone' could do it, even me.

"You can eat your heart out because you're not getting any of this," was my closing remark to Morelli.

He can decide for himself if I mean my food or my body. Both are true and both are already spoken for.

"What the fuck, Stephanie?"

"I made this food for Ranger. He's more of a complex carb-lover, but he loves me and appreciates everything I do, especially if it's intended for him. And he'll happily dig into this just to make me happy. Enjoy your tasteless take-out."

I turned to leave, but Joe grabbed my arm. "Cupcake, you know I …"

I yanked it out of his reach. "Yeah, I know you're a skeezy jerk who never liked me, let alone loved me. And that's all I need to know. I didn't like who you tried to force me to be, so I've embraced who I actually am. Guess what? That's who Ranger loves, and I realized how much I love him for not expecting me to change as a way of earning his affection. I'm not giving him or that up because you keep telling everybody I know that you'll marry me next time. There will be NO next time, and the only man I'd ever consider marrying is Ranger."

"I love you, Cupcake."

My head was already shaking before he'd finished speaking. "Yeah, right. You loved the idea of manipulating me. I'll say a prayer for your next victim because this is the last reminder you get that it'll never be me again. Bye."

I could already hear the lecture Ranger would give me for not paying attention to my surroundings. I almost bounced right off Eddie's chest. I hadn't noticed that he'd be so concerned, he'd followed me down here.

"Jeez, Eddie. Make a noise, will ya?" I grumbled, yet I was secretly happy that he continues to protect me even when I don't need it.

"Sorry, but you had me worried."

"I'm good. Now," I said, glancing over my shoulder towards Morelli.

Joe will only believe what he wants to, but that's not my problem anymore.

"Do you have a plate or bowl or something handy?" I asked Eddie, when we'd made it back to the TPD entrance.

"Why?"

"Because you earned a piece of this. Don't worry. I tried it when it came out of the oven, almost burnt the roof of my mouth off too, and I'm still alive. Ranger won't mind there being a chunk missing since you were watching out for me."

"Are you giving away what's mine, Babe?" I heard from behind me.

"No. I'm just rewarding good behavior. Did you track me here?"

When he reached me, he lowered his head and gave me a kiss that left no doubt in anyone's mind, especially mine, that I'm his … and always have been.

"You would be on Rangeman's radar," he informed me, when he let my lips go, "and likely would've produced a call to me from the control room, but Eddie contacted me himself to tell me that you're here."

I whipped my head around and narrowed my eyes at one of my best friends.

He held his hands up in surrender. "I didn't know what was going on and I wasn't taking any chances. If you weren't here to make nice, Ranger needed to be notified in case you were here to make trouble in the form of a pool of Joe's blood."

My shoulders dropped from their defensive position. I really wanted to be mad at him, but Eddie knows me well. If Joe had been a bigger a-hole, I may have done something more ... dramatic ... then beaming him with a Buick, which probably would require Ranger's legal team. I'm not proud that I have that kind of temper, but it's true … so I can't be angry that both Eddie and Ranger were worried about it being triggered. I just wanted to put a once-and-for-all end to Joe's interest in me, so he'd stop 'accidentally' bumping into my mom, Val, or Mary Lou and grilling them about me.

"So … you want lunch or not?" I asked Eddie. "The cheese is congealing as we speak."

"You're speaking my language, Plum," he said, and went to find something that would hold a sizable helping of pasta.

I spooned out an entire corner acre for him, for once thankful that my mother is delusional enough to believe I'd need a three-pack of covered casserole dishes at some point in my life.

"This is surprisingly good," he told me, a bite or five later.

"It is. And you're welcome. If you're all set and are back to being unworried about me, Ranger and I have a lunch date to get started on."

Eddie ignored me while he tucked in his elbows and did his best to polish off everything in his Styrofoam bowl in as few bites as possible.

"Alright then," I said to the side of Gazarra's head. "I'm gonna take the silence as a compliment. I'll talk to you later."

Ranger took the glass baking dish out of my hands and gestured for me to go out the front door ahead of him. He beeped his Cayenne unlocked and put my pasta pan on the backseat before opening the passenger's door for me.

"My car …" I started to say, but he and Hal were one step ahead of me.

Woody slid out of Hal's ride as I got comfortable in Ranger's. I wasn't gonna ask how Woody got keys that unlocked and then started my latest POS. Some things are best not knowing.

"I was fine," I assured Ranger, once he slid behind the wheel of his Porsche.

"Yes, you were. But even when I know my men have a situation under control, I'll show up just so they know I'm there to support them."

I turned my head towards him. "So, you weren't at all worried about me being in close proximity to Morelli?"

"I wasn't concerned that you'd suddenly miss the mind-fucks he's put you through, but I was concerned how you'd react to him trying out a new one. People get desperate when they realize they've just lost it all."

I smiled. "You must've been worried about him then, because I haven't lost anything. I've gained a whole hell of a lot though."

"I'm relieved to hear that you think so. Considering what he's done to you in the past, I wasn't leaving his reaction up to chance."

Something in his tone stood out to me. "You do get that I love you, right? Only you."

"So you've said."

Crap. This could only happen to me. I had to convince one guy that I've never loved him and then turn right around and try to prove to another that I've never loved anyone except him.

"Ricardo Carlos 'Ranger' Manoso, I love you … the man, the myth, and my legend, plus the guy inside you that you only let me see. Morelli was nothing but a twisted-up trauma bond. You, however, are a lifetime partner/love of my life/forever-bond. I know who I am now and exactly what I want right now. You're my present and everything I want for my future. When I close my eyes, you're all I see. Well, you … and cake when I'm hungry."

I could see his lips twitch at the corners. "Are you hungry now?"

"No. I had enough forkfuls of pasta to hold me for at least an hour. But, Ranger, you're why I tried to cook in the first place. It wasn't just the dare. Grandma Mazur always says she shows her love through food, so even if I hated it, I'd do it again just to prove to you that you're worth the effort."

"I don't need effort, Babe. I only need you."

It isn't the muscles, the missions, or the money that set Ranger apart … it's how honestly and unapologetically he lives his life, and how completely he loves those he lets into it, that make him extraordinary.