Ch. 2

I was sitting up in bed, in the dark, when I heard Joe come in downstairs. I waited patiently while I heard him take Bob out, then give him a little snack when they returned. It was late. I was tired, but I could tell by the tone in Joe's voice when he called from the station earlier that he was worried about something, and that it was about more than just a standard case. I couldn't sleep until I found out what it was. When I finally heard his footsteps on the stairs, I turned on the light.

"Hey Cupcake, what are you still doing awake?"

"I was waiting for you. After your phone call I got a little worried." OK, a lot worried but I didn't like sounding like a nag.

A disgruntled look crossed Joe's tired face. "I specifically used my 'Don't worry' voice."

"Yeah, I know. That's why I was worried."

Shaking his head at me, a small smile erupting on his lips, he came over and joined me on the bed. "Being married to you is more complicated than I thought it would be."

I enlisted my fake pout. "Are you regretting it?"

Joe planted a light kiss on my pout. "Not at all."

"So, are you going to tell me what's going on now or do I have to torture it out of you."

A carnal look emerged in Joe's eyes, and I was sure he was pondering a myriad of sexual torture techniques I could use on him. Then he blinked, the look disappeared and I knew whatever he had to tell me wasn't going to be good.

"A few months ago, I busted a drug pusher who also had a side business selling arms to local punks."

"I remember. His trial just ended and he got put away for a really long time." I reached out, wrapped my arms around his neck, and placed a small kiss on Joe's cheek. "My sexy husband ridding Trenton of the bad guys," I said proudly. "So, what's the problem?"

Joe placed his hands on my arms and stared at me. His intense scrutiny was a bit unnerving, almost as if he was looking at me for the last time. Now I was getting worried.

"The problem is the guy's father is seeking retribution for the loss of his son. He thinks I took something precious from him and now he wants to do the same to me. He's been sending notes to the station for a couple weeks now stating ideas to that effect." Joe closed his eyes and tightened his grip on my arm. I waited quietly until he was ready to finish. I sensed there was more, and that I wasn't going to like it in the least. Finally, Joe opened his eyes and met mine again, a tense frown in his expression. "I just found out about it today. They were trying to keep it from me."

The tone in Joe's voice, the edge of temper there, told me exactly where this conversation was going before Joe even had to say the words. But I waited to hear them anyway. Joe moved his hands from my arms to cradle my face. Softening his voice, Joe continued, "Steph, I'm afraid that what he wants is you. You're the most precious thing I have." My heart melted at Joe's sentiment, but at the same time, a familiar tingle of fear crept up my spine and my gut told me Joe was right about my being a target. Still, in an effort to prove myself wrong, I asked, "Is that what the notes said?"

Joe's thumbs smoothed over my skin, and I drew some comfort from his loving touch. "Steph, they didn't have to say that. You're smart enough to know that." Joe lowered his eyes, struggling to keep his emotions in check. That's always an effort for him when I'm involved. I've come to accept that, and actually, I've come to love that about him as well.

"Honey, I don't want to scare you, but I want you to understand that the danger here is very real. I remember this guy. He was a constant presence in the courtroom throughout his son's entire trial--with the exception of a couple times when he was removed for causing a disturbance. He's capable of being very dangerous. And until we can get a bead on this guy…" Joe's voice faltered and he still wouldn't meet my gaze.

"And until you can…what Joe? What are you thinking?"

"You have to go stay with Ranger, Steph."

"No," I said on a whisper. Then, thinking that would do nothing to win this argument, I raised my voice to the opposite extreme and shouted, "I am not going to stay at Ranger's. How can you even think I would do that?"

"Steph," Joe said in a tone that implied a warning.

Me! He's warning me? Uh-Uh. No way. "I thought when we got married that we agreed to be a team, you know, equal partners in everything. I assumed that meant doing things together from now on." I was still shouting.

Joe released my face and paced away from the bed. "Come on, Steph. We're partners. It's just that we make better partners in some places than in others. Turning back to me, the right corner of his mouth kicking up in a seductive grin, he added, "For instance, we're great bed partners."

I clenched my fists as my eyes lasered a death glare at Morelli. "I can't BELIEVE you just said that."

Joe executed a casual shrug. "Old habits die hard." Morelli flashed me his sexiest smile and my attitude softened. But I wasn't going to let Joe know that.

"They're not the only thing that'll die hard if you don't break those old habits," I grumbled with as much conviction as I could muster under the spell of Joe's smile.

Joe walked back to the bed and kneeled down in front of me, taking my hands in his. "Look, I'm sorry. You know I didn't mean that. We are partners in every way." Joe released one hand and placed a finger under my chin, holding my attention. "We are. But this is different Cupcake. This is my ballgame. Please understand. It was bad enough when I worried sick about you when you were putting your own self in danger. But now if anything happened to you it would be my fault and I can't live with that, couldn't live with myself if you were hurt—or worse."

Joe's temper was rising again. Now I placed my palm on his cheek, hoping I could calm that temper enough that he would surrender his plan to send me to Ranger's. "It wouldn't be your fault Joe. You were just doing your job when you put that low-life away. A job, by the way, that makes me so proud of you. You can't control, or be held responsible for, the actions of his crazy father now."

"Regardless, Steph." Joe shook his head. "Let me ask you something. How did you feel when I was shot by the Slayers?"

A while back, I had gotten into some trouble with a local gang going by the name of the Slayers. They had said they were going to take out a cop before they came after me. As it turned out, that cop had been Joe. The one good thing to come from it was the realization that I wanted to be with Joe forever and we finally got married. But right after he had gotten shot had been the worst fear I had ever known. I had been petrified that Joe and I wouldn't make it to the point that we're at now. I bit my lower lip to stop myself from answering a question that was most likely rhetorical anyway. Because, I hated to admit now under the circumstances, I had also felt guilty that it was a likely possibility they had shot Joe because of his association with me.

"Exactly," Joe responded even though I hadn't said a word, as if all my thoughts had been written plainly on my face. "Steph, I don't want to feel that way. We've finally made it. I don't want to lose you now. Hell, I can't lose you now."

I felt like I was losing this argument. Joe looked so vulnerable kneeling on the floor, those warm brown eyes staring up at me, I could feel myself relenting. The best thing to do would be to get away from that imploring gaze of his. I got up from the bed and started to pace the room.

"You know, this is one of the things I was afraid of before we got married. I never wanted to become one of those clingy, needy wives. But the fact of the matter is we only recently got married and I don't want to be separated from you." I stopped pacing behind Joe. I turned Joe to me and met his eyes. "I'd miss you Morelli. And don't think for a minute that I don't worry about you too."

"Don't! I'm good at what I do."

The male ego never fails to astound me. "Good doesn't make you invincible."

"You have to trust me Steph. I'm a good cop. I can do my job."

"Of course I trust you. This isn't about trust." I hesitated. "Unless, maybe this is about trust. Maybe you simply don't trust me not to do something stupid that will hurt your case."

"That's not it at all. I do trust you Steph. But remember that Leslie doesn't appear to be after me, just something I hold valuable. This is simply about wanting to keep you safe while I do my job and find this guy."

"There's nothing simple about this," I groaned. But I was caving. I could feel it. It was Joe's eyes, and the tone in his voice. I needed to do this for him. I opened my mouth to say something and Joe put up his hand, stalling my words.

"Look Steph, I know you don't like when I pull this macho stuff with you. You're independent and determined, and just plain stubborn. But this guy means business, and it would be a lot easier for me to focus on catching him if I didn't have to worry about you every minute of the day." Joe turned away from me then, concealing the emotion I knew was riding closer to the surface than he was comfortable with.

"Fine."

"Fine?" Joe spun around so fast it took a moment before his eyes caught up with the rest of his head. But when they did, they looked relieved, a little less stressed. I did that with just one word. I felt good about my decision, even if it meant living the next couple weeks away from home.

"Yes, fine. I'll go. I'll let you do your job. Any ideas how long this will take?"

Joe seemed a bit off balance with my abrupt acquiescence as he stumbled a bit with his answer. "I'm not sure Steph. So far all this guy's done is send notes to the station. And he's sending them from all over, so we don't even know his general location. Eventually, he's going to have to do something more bold. We can hope for a phone call that could be used to trace his location. Who knows, maybe getting you into hiding will make him force his hand sooner. For all we know, he could already be watching you, learning your routine, planning the best time to get to you. If we remove that, he'll have to deal directly with me." Joe forced a small smile and a lightness to his voice neither one of us felt. "This could all be over with before you know it."

I tried to return the smile, but instead an involuntary shiver ran through me. I didn't like thinking I was being watched. It had actually been a while since I had had to worry about that, and I was getting used to feeling safe.

Joe moved back over to me now, gathering me into his arms and holding me tight against him. I was having a hard time breathing, but I didn't feel like complaining. Right about now, there was no other place I'd rather be. "I shouldn't have told you all that," Joe said into my hair. "I just don't want to keep anything from you, and I want you to fully understand the situation."

I wiggled myself partway out of Joe's embrace so I could look at him. "It's OK, Joe. I'm fine, really. I got spooked for a minute, but I'm glad you told me. For as long as we're still together, you don't have to deal with this alone."

"Thanks Wonder Woman." I narrowed my eyes at him and bit down on the inside of my cheek, just so I wouldn't laugh. No sense in encouraging him, even if I did love the smart ass in him. "Now I think it's time we talked about how this is going to go down. I don't want anything going wrong."

I didn't really feel like talking anymore right now. My stomach was tied in knots, and I was beyond exhausted. But I didn't feel like sleeping either. I was already feeling restless just thinking about being sequestered at Ranger's place, and I knew just what I wanted to do to cure my restlessness. Still, I thought it would be better to hear Joe out first. He was in cop/protective husband mode right now. The protective husband mode might fit in with my plans, but I had to get him out of cop mode. "Tell me what you've come up with Officer Hottie," I said reluctantly. Joe grinned. Lula had christened Joe with that nickname some time ago. I thought it fit him great, and Joe always got a kick out of it.

Taking my hands, he led me back to the bed. "In order to get to Ranger's place, I want you to drive to the station. Once there, you'll change into a beat cop's uniform, including hiding your beautiful curls under a hat."

I glanced up at him through my lashes. "Trying to butter me up?" I muttered.

"Thought it couldn't hurt," Joe responded with a chuckle, ducking away when I tried to swat him. "Now, getting on with it. When you leave the station, you will drive a blue and white to Ranger's place. Once you're there, you will change out of the uniform, and one of Ranger's men will drive the blue and white back to the station wearing the hat and an identical uniform, so anyone who might be watching will think it was just a cop visiting with some questions. Not too unbelievable, considering we're talking about Ranger." This amused Joe, I could tell. Still, ever since Joe had proposed to me his association with Ranger had become friendly and I had no doubts that Joe wouldn't have considered anyone else for this operation. What I couldn't believe was that Ranger would agree to be "visited" by a cop. I was thinking about this when I heard Joe say, "Once you're at Ranger's, we won't be able to communicate anymore. In any way." My eyebrows shot to the top of my head.

"At all?" I cried, hoping I wasn't sounding too whiny or pathetic.

There was pity in Joe's eyes. "I'm sorry, Steph. I don't want to take the chance of someone intercepting correspondence or a phone signal that could give away your location. No phones, no e-mail, no letters. It's too easy for someone who knows what they're doing to trace those things."

I wasn't anticipating that. This just kept getting worse. But I'm tough, I can handle whatever life throws at me. My brain had that thought, but apparently my mouth didn't get the message. "What am I supposed to do all day?" Great! So much for tough.

"Well, you work for Ranger now, so you'll do your job. And just think of the commuting time you'll save." Joe tried for another smile, but it didn't quite reach his eyes this time.

"And what about the nights?" Mental head slap. Stop whining Steph.

Joe's eyes softened. "You'll think about me—at home-- thinking about you, knowing that this is just as hard for me as it is for you," Joe replied softly.

And just like that, I knew I would do whatever it took to get through this and make it as easy for Joe as possible. "That is some comfort, I suppose." Dropping my voice to a seductive whisper, I added, "But hey, we still have tonight."

I saw the telltale flash of desire cross Joe's face, then disappear. "Cupcake, I thought you'd be asleep when I got home and we would discuss all this in the morning. As long as you're awake, maybe we should move you over there now. Ranger knows you're coming, and it's not like he keeps normal hours. Then I could stay at the station to work on this some more."

"Joe, I understand how you feel about protecting me. And I've agreed to go to Ranger's. But, I don't want to go now. Be reasonable, Joe. You said yourself, there's not a whole lot to get from the notes. What's the point of going to the station now? And what's going to happen to me in the middle of the night, when you're right here with me? For the next few hours, you can protect me just as well Ranger. Better than Ranger." Framing his face in my hands, I stared at him imploringly, then brushed a soft, brief kiss against his lips. Enough to tempt, but not satisfy him. "Please? I want to be with you tonight."

"I've never said no to you when you look at me like that," Joe said, his voice low and husky.

"Do you think you should start now?" I asked, carefully trying to maintain the look that had me so close to getting Joe naked. Then just to help seal the deal, I licked my tongue across my lower lip.

As if Joe's eyes were movie screens, I could see the war going on inside him between his instincts as a cop and his desire. I figured desire won out when Joe growled, "No, I don't," then pulled me up against him and brought his mouth down hard against mine. The rest of the night was spent in that oblivion where lunatic fathers and stalkers don't exist. I absorbed all of Joe's fear and regret, and returned his love.

After a long night of loving Joe, the morning came too soon. I felt Joe brush aside my hair and kiss my cheek. I flipped to my back, letting the sheet fall around my waist. I knew it was unfair, knew he was anxious to get to the station, but I couldn't seem to stop myself. I didn't want to leave him and if this was the last time I was going to see Joe for a while, I wanted to make it last. Joe smiled plaintively, such an uncharacteristic expression for him. He slowly leaned over and traced a light path down my chest with the tip of his finger, then quickly withdrew his attention and stood to leave, disappointment etched in his features, and an unspoken apology in his eyes.

"I gotta go Steph. It's time to catch the bad guy." He placed one last kiss on my cheek. "I'll see you later at the station."