Chapter 2: Destiny

Stephanie got back to her apartment and saw Morelli there waiting for her. Stephanie released a sigh. "When is he going to get the message?" she mumbled.

She got out of her Jeep and walked up to the entrance of the building. "Forget it, Joe. You are not getting anything. You did not get a thing in high school, and you will not get anything now," Stephanie told him.

"Come on, cupcake, just a little something," Morelli said as he moved closer to Stephanie.

"Not a chance, Morelli. Now leave," she demanded.

Morelli turned away and said, "Rats, turned down again. What do I have to do to make her realize that I am the one she should be with?"

Stephanie just shook her head and said, "All Morelli wants is one thing. This Ranger guy, though, is completely different from Morelli. I want to get to know Ranger a little bit better.

Who knows where this may lead to?" Stephanie walked into her building and entered her apartment. She saw her Hampster, Rex, outside of his can that was in his cage.

"Rex, if only I could meet somebody that would like to get to know me for who I am and not just for sex." The hamster looked at her for two minutes and then decided to go on his wheel.

Just then, her cell phone rang. "Perfect timing. Hi, mom. Yes, I will be at dinner on Friday night. It's okay, mom. I like to bring a friend for dinner?"

"Did you finally meet somebody, or are you and Morelli finally dating?" Helen hoped that Stephanie and Joseph Morelli would start to date. She wanted someone who was full Italian to date Stephanie.

"Mom, I am not dating Morelli. Why are you so obsessed with me dating Morelli? I did meet somebody that I am interested in dating. But it is not Morelli. Can you please get that out of your head once and for all?" Stephanie yelled at her mom and then hung up on her.

Stephanie looked at her cell phone, surprised she had hung up on her mother.

At Rangeman

"Hey, boss," Tank said.

"I want to talk to you. My penthouse," Ranger told his right-hand man. Ranger went up to his penthouse on the seventh floor.

Once inside, he thought, "Can I open myself up to Stephanie after all the pain Rachel caused me?" Ranger went to his fridge and took out some bottled water. He took a couple of sips when there was a knock on his penthouse door.

"Who is it?" He knew who it was, but he wanted to make sure it was Tank.

"It's Tank, boss."

"It's open," Ranger said.

Tank looked at his boss and knew there was something different about him, but he wasn't quite sure what it was.

"Tank, you know I have been helping Stephanie, the new Bond Agent working at Vinnie's Bond office?" Ranger asked.

"Yeah, boss. How's it going anyway?" Tank wanted to know how he was doing with that situation.

"Well, I took her out to dinner just to help her celebrate the fact that she ended up catching Morelli all on her own. We got to know each other. I think I could like her. The fact that Rachel almost took everything from me, I'm nervous about letting someone new into my life. I'm not sure I can do it. There's something different about Stephanie. I can't put my finger on it."

"Maybe Rachel was not the one. I mean, look at what she did to you. She cheated on you with this Ron guy and then stuck you with child support payments. You just told me there was something different about this Stephanie Plum girl. Boss, not all girls are after money only. I suggest you should get to know her a little bit better. She could help you in more ways than one if you let her in." Tank told him, leaning against the penthouse door. Tank turned around and left Ranger to give some serious thought as to what Tank said.