Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye - Luke Bryan

Just gonna drop this fic here... If you haven't listened to the song you should...

Joe POV:

Steph stood in front of me, tear tracks on her cheeks as she broke my heart. I ran a hand through my hair as she told me the honest truth, a truth I had been ignoring for a long time now.

"So, it's over?"

"It's over," she confirmed softly.

"You wanna know the only thing we ever did right?" I asked her. She looked up at me with a slightly confused expression. "All we did right was make love."

She laughed softly but nodded. "We fought pretty good, too," she said.

I shrugged. "I don't count that as good." I chuckled.

I took her hand and tugged her to me; she curled into my chest. "Can we do what we do right one more time?" I whispered into her hair.

She looked up at me and nodded. "A goodbye fuck."

I grinned and kissed her softly. "A goodbye fuck."

XXXXXX

I woke up to Steph packing her stuff. I knew there was no point in asking her to stay; this time it was permanent. She deserved better than what I could give her, and I knew it. I watched as she threw all of her possessions in a basket, setting it by my bedroom door.

She turned towards me, biting her lip before walking over to the bed. She sat on the edge of the bed and took my hand. I propped myself up on my elbow as she looked down at me.

"I really do love you, Joe," she said softly.

"But you're not in love with me," I finished for her.

She nodded, sighing softly. "But I'm not in love with you."

"You're in love with him," I said. She looked at me. I raised an eyebrow. "Go for it, Cupcake. He loves you too."

"If you knew I was in love with another man, why did you keep coming back?" she asked.

"I thought I could make you fall in love with me," I shrugged.

She looked down at me and shook her head. "We're both screwed up."

"No doubt," I said.

She laughed softly and leaned down to kiss my forehead. She walked to the door and picked up her basket. "I'll see you around, Joe."

"See you around, Steph."

"Oh, and Joe?"

"Yeah?"

"Terri's in love with you, too," she said. "I know it would look bad for you to be involved with her, but I thought you should know."

I was dumbfounded as I watched her walk through the door. "How the fuck does she know that?" I asked myself.

Six months later...

I parked my POS cop car in front of Pino's. Walking inside I heard a familiar laugh. I turned to see Steph sitting in a booth, Manoso's arm around her, and a few Rangemen sitting with them. She saw me and I smiled softly at her.

She grinned and waved me over. I shook my head and looked at Manoso. He lifted his chin, and the hand on Steph's shoulder motioned for me to come over. I was being summoned.

I ambled over and Steph smiled at me. "Did you go for it?" she asked.

"Babe." Ranger chuckled. She rolled her eyes at him.

"Well, Joe, I hope you get some sense knocked into you soon." She said, "I know I had to knock some sense into this one."

Ranger shot her a look. "Babe!" he grumbled.

"Oh hush, you're more hardheaded than he is." She grinned, making me laugh.

"I'm glad you're happy, Steph. Glad you followed my advice."

"Advice?" Ranger asked, raising an eyebrow. Steph averted her eyes and gave me a look. There was no way I was touching the subject of our morning after break-up conversation.

"Well, I've got to pick up my order. See you around, Steph."

She gave me a look and I snickered, walking away. I was happy she was happy, even though it wasn't with me. Maybe she was right, one day I might be able to have Terri, but today wasn't that time.

I know some people ain't going to like this fic, but it would be a pretty good way for JE to end Morelli and Steph's relationship...