Disclaimer: we don't own any of the plumverse.

A/N: I've had this for a while... its justI haven't had time to put it up. Joz is super busy with school work and I'm busy with work.

Reviews are appreciated.

Enjoy.

Chapter 3: Pino's

Tal's POV

Yay! I was doing a happy dance in my head. We were going to find Rangeman. Rangeman! Yes, yes! I continued to do a happy dance in my head.

While I was dancing my head, I was also thinking about Joz's behavior towards Bubba. Bubba was a really nice guy and he gave us a ride! Half the time she was giving me that what's wrong with you look and the other half she was giving him the I know you're a psycho look. Interesting eh?

In this situation I'm the naïve one and she's the paranoid one. We switch depending on who's being which. It's one of those balancing acts we carry on. Mostly, I play the naïve one. So I was playing my part and was being naïve. And anyway, Bubba really was a nice guy… I wasn't getting a psycho vibe and that's good enough for me.

Thanks to him we were standing in a sleazy motel off of Route 1 right at the edge of Trenton. Possibly The Motel… the one that Steph has caught Morelli at. How excited am I? This is like a dream come true. The only thing that would make this any better would be if the characters were real. sigh

We stepped out of the lobby into the hot air and watched as a SUV pulled into the shabby parking lot. A very hot guy stepped out. Black hair, dark eyes, tanned skin; just generally Italian looking. Hot!

There was a definite bulge at his side that announced the presence of a gun and I saw a flash of light bouncing off of something. A badge! Yes! A Badge! A cop! Not the Mafia!

I poked Joz in the arm.

"Are you planning on giving me a new bruise?" Joz asked me.

"Hunh?" I looked down at her arm where she was rubbing it. "Oh… sorry." I'm not suppose to poke her. "Anyway, look." I pointed at the hot Italian cop who got out of the SUV. "Kinda hot."

"Hmm… yes, yes he is."

"That's how I imagine Morelli."

She looked at me and frowned. "If that's how Morelli looks then I completely understand why Steph's with him, and I can't accept that."

"Don't forget the sex, he's supposed to have a tongue like a lizard's, that's the real reason she's with him."

We quieted down as he walked past us into the lobby.

I poked Joz again and she gave me a glare, which I ignored. "You think it's the real him?"

"Tal, its fiction."

"But… eh! Hmph!"

A tow-truck entered the parking-lot and parked in front of Prongs. The guy got out of the truck.

"Hallo." I said mustering up all my cheeriness (which isn't all that much).

"This the car?" He asked all business and I nodded.

He asked for the keys and I gave them to him and he loaded up the car and left. He took the keys with him. (hmm… I think he just stole my lightening struck car.)

"Let's go call a cab."

We walked back into the lobby as hot Italian cop walked out with a key in his hand.

"Yo, Jake, call us a cab will ya." I called to the guy behind the desk.

"My name's not Jake."

"Whatever, call a cab"

He picked up the phone with a disgruntled face and muttered something to the person at the other end. He hung up and looked at us.

"Well?" I asked.

"It'll be here in 30." He said and quietly added, "I can't wait."

We walked back outside. "What's wrong with him?" I asked rhetorically. I expected Joz to shrug but she just slapped me up side the head.

"Why do you have to be so rude to people!"

"Hunh?"

"You called the guy Jake."

"Uhhh…"

"That's not his name Tal." Joz said it slow for me. I didn't see the problem here.. I think Joz gave up on trying to explain why I was wrong, too bad too, 'cause I generally find that part of our arguments amusing. Anyway, we stood around and waited for the cab. When it finally came, we were both so relieved that we forgot everything that happened.

We got in the back of the cab and thanked the gods for the invention of air conditioning. The cabby turned in his seat and looked at us. "Where to?" he asked, his voice low and quiet.

"Al's-" I said at the same time as Joz said "Food."

"Hunh?" I asked.

"I'm hungry."

"I know but we have to pay the tow trucker and see to the car, it won't take long. I've done this before."

"Fine."

My stomach gave a loud grumble and Joz smirked. "Al's Auto Body." I said turning to the cab driver. "Do you know where that is? I know its along Route 1."

"Yea." He replied and turned back to face the front.

I looked down to where his license was displayed. Frank Plum…. You got to be kidding me! I elbowed Joz and pointed at the license.

"It's only a coincidence Taliya, it's fiction remember?"

I nodded, I guess she's right. It's only fiction. But I looked at the guy anyway, he did look Italian and he looked to be older… hmm.

We were dropped off at this yucky little garage and the cab driver said he'd wait for us.

In reality I would never deal with people like this, you know the shady kind, but eh… fictionally this guy is supposed to be good. Right?

The lot as completely ; the tow truck and my car were just sitting in the middle of it all. Only one of the bays was open so we walked straight there and called in.

"Hello?" I wasn't actually going to step in, this seemed the type of place a chainsaw friendly murder would go crazy in.

"Yea." This guy popped out of no where and I gave a little shriek while holding to my chest. Joz was behind me, I think silently laughing.

"You Al?"

"You the owner of the car?"

"Yes… how is Prongs? Have you taken a look at him yet?" I was honestly concerned. Prongs has been with me for a while now and I get very attached to inanimate objects.

"She means the car." Joz explained to Al who was giving me a weird look.

"Right. I found some burnt wires. What happened to it?"

"Struck by lightening." Joz told him and I only frowned.

He gave us another strange look. "Well then, you're circuits are probably fried too. I'll need some time."

"Right, makes sense. Where's the tow trucker dude?"

"Jimmy!" Al yelled in.

"Yea!" Jimmy grunted walking out of the bay.

"How much do I owe you?" I asked cringing at the thought of actually having to give up some money.

We worked it out, I wrote a check, grabbed all our stuff and got back into the cab. I was really hungry now and I was pretty sure Joz was too.

"Where do you want to go now?"

"Anywhere we can get food." Joz said.

"Pino's!" I almost yelled.

"Taliya! That place is fiction." She told me and then turned back to Frank. "Ignore her, we'll go to the nearest McDonalds."

"You sure you don't want to go to Pino's, they have the best pizza."

I got excited. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. "We'll go there!"

I think Joz was dumbstruck, 'cause she wasn't saying anything, just kind of staring.

Joz POV

Okay so now this is a little weird. The cabb name is Frank Plum, ut that could totally be coincidentalI'm sure there are other people named Plum in the world. I don't know any of them and never heard of them before, but it could happen.

I have to focus. I'm in this strange cab in Trenton, New Jersey. We're going to have pizza at Pino's and we have no independent transportation. All things that I need to worry about. Plus the obsessed fan at my side who will probably pull out a camera at any moment and start clicking.

"I wish I had my camera."

"I know."

Frank gives Tal a strange look in the rearview. Sometimes I forget that most people aren't around photographers (or former photographers who never stop talking about photography) and therefore such statements seem weird. Also, probably not a ton of people lining up to take pictures of the Italian suburbs of Trenton.

"Look when we get to Pino's I say we eat. e call the moms and tell them there is a good chance we're going to have to borrow an intense amount of money from them in a short amount of time."

"I don't think it'll be that much."

I shake my head. Oh naïve little Tal.

"You're right. I'm sure it won't take that much to fix the car. Now the amount of money it cost to actually fix that car and the amount of money we wind up forking over are two different things."

Tal rolls her eyes at me. "You always think some one is trying to rip us off."

I gasp, "Well…yes."

"You know there is something wrong in the world when I'm more optimistic than you Joz."

I agree. Maybe I am taking this all too seriously. Maybe I need to revel in the wackiness that is being stranded in a town that I feel like I already know but have never actually set foot in.

Okay so f being optimistic. We just pulled into Pino's and there is a powder blue Buick in the parking lot. I am now officially freaked the fuck out. I need—

"Look! It's a Buick. It's a blue Buick."

There goes that damn pinching again. I swear she has just one more time doing that.

Frank chooses now to chime in: "Yeah it's a beauty ain't it. My daughter borrowed it from my mother-in-law, who got it from one of her brothers who passed….God rest his soul." He crosses himself.

His daughter. His daughter just happens to own this powder blue monstrosity. Don't get me wrong. I love big classic cars. Great things to look at, not sure I would own one of them though.

More pinching. I swear that girl. I totally don't feel bad about pinching her back.

"Ow. That one kind of hurt." Tal complained.

"Sorry."

We got out of the cab, paid Frank, and walked into Pino's. I ordered a pepperoni pizza. Tal ordered a pineapple and Canadian bacon. We looked around..

Not Stephanie. Not Stephanie. All these women definitely don't look like my imaginary Plum.