Disclaimer: Everything familiar belongs to JE.

Warning: Adult Situations

Chapter 18: Sunday, August 21st, 1700-1900

Hospital

Javier's POV

Spending the afternoon with Stephanie was a real treat. I understand exactly why my little brother fell for this woman. She has an infectious smile, a genuinely good heart, and accepts my brother for who he is, not for his money or his attractiveness. During our time together, she never once mentioned how much money Carlos had or how attractive he is, which is refreshing. Our sisters have tried to set Carlos up, but most of those women are only after him because he is wealthy. My sisters don't understand how vain their friends are deep down inside.

Carlos asked Stephanie to buy clothes for Julie, giving her his credit card. She didn't go to the designer sections or the high-end stores. Instead, she shopped the clearance racks and mid-level stores for nice, good quality clothes. When I tried to tell her to go to the nicer stores or to buy full priced stuff, she balked. Carlos is going to have a challenge giving her everything he's going to want to give her. Carlos told her to buy anything she wanted for herself, but when she did buy stuff for herself, she wanted to pay for it with her money. I managed to get the cashier to ring it up on Carlos' charge. She yelled at me but thanked me anyway.

She spent most of the afternoon trying to get me to talk about my brother, what he was like growing up, the shows he watched, the things he did. She is genuinely interested in learning about my brother. I am now convinced that as intelligent as my brother is, he is the stupidest one in the family. How he can let a jewel like Stephanie get away is beyond me. If she were a car, a potential client, or an object, he would already have claimed her. The fact that he's fighting his feelings and keeping her at arm's length is disconcerting.

I gathered the most insight when I made Stephanie tell me about her growing up, as all the stories I know about Stephanie start from her bounty hunting days forward. I want to know more about what made this woman so special.

Flashback to Food Court

We stop at the food court for ice cream. I have no idea where Stephanie puts all the food she eats. I swear, she can out eat my brother, and I combined, especially when it comes to Mama's and Abuela's cooking.

"So, Stephanie, tell me about your childhood. I only know about Stephanie Plum, the Bombshell Bounty Hunter. I want to know more about you."

She cringes at that nickname, though I don't think she minds when Bobby calls her Bomber. I think coming from Carlos' men she takes it as a compliment, but from an outsider, not so much.

"Well, I was always the black sheep of my family. My family is very traditional. My mom is a homemaker; she spends her day cooking and cleaning. The Burg gossip line is the only news she cares to know about, and since I'm so often the headline, she is usually upset with me. As a kid, I wasn't a girly-girl. I didn't like playing with Barbie dolls. I didn't want a Cabbage Patch Kid. Instead, I wanted superheroes and comic books. I spent more time playing with boys than I did girls, and when I was eight, I tried to jump off my garage roof to fly like Wonder Woman. I broke my arm in the process and earned my second longest punishment to date."

"Carlos was a daredevil on his bicycle, trying to do wheelies and other tricks. He fell off his bike at seven and broke his wrist." We both chuckled at that mental image. "What was your longest punishment for? I can't imagine it being worse than jumping off the roof."

Steph grew quiet for a moment before deciding to share her story. "When I was little, my mother always told Valerie, my perfect sister, and I to stay away from the Morelli boys, that they were trouble. Of course, telling me not to do anything, even as a toddler, was like waving a big red flag in front of a bull. I did the opposite. One afternoon, I was walking home from Eddie's house after dropping off a cake, when Joe Morelli, who's Valerie's age, came out to talk to me. He started off being very sweet to me, offering to walk with me, to protect me. As we walked past his house, he told me about a game, called choo-choo. He asked me if I wanted to play it, and I agreed. We went into his father's garage, where he was the train, and I was the tunnel. When I got home, my underwear was on inside out. When I told my mother what happened, she yelled at me for being near Joe Morelli and said it was my fault."

I look at this woman, appalled that she doesn't realize that she was molested, sexually assaulted by Joe Morelli. "Stephanie, you know what he did was wrong, don't you? What did your father do when he found out?"

"Nothing. My mother never told him what happened."

"What did he put inside you, Stephanie?" I asked, afraid of what he could have used, especially being inside a garage.

"His fingers." She replies quietly. I can tell that she's still embarrassed by what happened.

"Stephanie, I'm sorry. If my daughter came home telling me that story, I would have killed that little punk. You didn't deserve that, nor did you deserve getting punished."

"Well, that was typical for my childhood. I was never good enough, never Burg enough. I would mess up a cooking lesson, and mom would yell at me, calling me a disaster. I was forced to take ballroom dancing lessons, which I hated so that I could dance properly. I preferred jeans to skirts, t-shirts to blouses. My mother always told me I'd be lucky to land a good Burg man. When Dickie Orr showed interest in me, she was thrilled. He was a lawyer and the perfect Burg husband material. The fact that he cheated on me while we were married and would force me to do things I didn't like didn't matter. I was his fiancé, and then his wife, so it was my duty to please my husband; however he wanted it. My mom was more concerned about me being pregnant after Joe and I had sex on the floor of Tasty Pastry. She was more concerned about my reputation since I was not a virgin anymore. In college, I went to a party, and three guys raped me. I never told my family. It would have been my fault anyway."

At this point, I am beyond shocked. I don't think Carlos knows all of Stephanie's history. The woman sitting across from me has been sexually assaulted multiple times in her life, and every time told that she deserved it, not that it was wrong. I believe that she will have an emotional break while helping Julie to deal with her assault when she finally realizes what she experienced.

I take Stephanie's hand in mine, "Stephanie, you didn't deserve any of that, you didn't deserve to lose your virginity on the floor of a bakery. You didn't deserve a husband who didn't respect your wishes and boundaries, and you don't deserve anyone who won't allow you to be you. Don't settle for second best, Stephanie, go for the gold. You deserve the gold."

"Well, the gold doesn't do relationships, and his love doesn't come with a ring, but a condom. I'm a budget line under entertainment. There is no price for what I give him, but the tab must be in millions for what he has given me."

"Stephanie, who are you talking about?" I ask, afraid to hear her answer.

"I said that out loud?"

"Yes, Querida."

"The only man who I ever truly loved, who I want to spend the rest of my life with, maybe having a family with someday, but that's not a deal breaker. I don't know if I want children. Right now, I know I don't. But what I want, what I need, is a man who is going to be faithful to me, who will never cheat of me, who will support me and love me for who I am. I want the man who will not change me, who always says he's proud of me. He doesn't understand that I don't need to be married. My first marriage was such a disaster that I don't even know if I want to get married again. I want his heart, his whole heart. But he only thinks of me as a friend with benefits."

I am now angry at my little brother. Anyone can see that they love each other; it's apparent whenever they are together. I've seen their spark, and I swear, they could power the city of Miami with the energy between them. Carlos better remove his head from his ass and claim this woman before he loses her forever.

"Have you told him how you feel, Querida?"

"No, I can't, Javier. If I tell him and he rejects me, I won't be able to recover. I can't risk him telling me that he doesn't want me in his life anymore."

"I don't think that will happen, Stephanie. You are a wonderful woman, a special woman. Any man would be proud to call you his wife, his lover, his woman."

"I wish I could believe you, Javier, but my life experiences have told me otherwise."

"Tell me about the cop," I say.

"What's there to say? Joe Morelli was my first FTA, and after I caught him and helped clear his name, our paths kept crossing. He changed from the bad boy of Trenton to a respected detective who inherited his aunt's house in the Burg. My mother loves him, thinking he'll be the perfect Burg husband and father. He loves me but doesn't like my job or my friendship with your brother. We are engaged to be engaged and someday will get married. I figure that will happen if he ever manages to knock me up or if I decide that I no longer want to be a bounty hunter and decide to work at the button factory."

"Isn't that the same person who fingered you in his father's garage and took your virginity on the floor of the bakery?"

"Yes, but when he came home from the Navy, I ran him over with my father's Buick and broke his leg. Then, when I brought him in when he was FTA, I locked him in the back of a meat truck to deliver him to Trenton PD."

"Stephanie, do you want to be a Burg housewife with a Burg husband?"

"No, but it's my destiny. It is what I will eventually become. I have no other options. Joe is one of the last available Burg men who are even remotely attractive who has a good job. Besides, no one else is vying to date me or have a committed relationship with me, so Joe is the only option." She replies as she looks down at her lap. Then, I see her demeanor change, and she announces, "I have two more stops to make. Julie needs underwear."

I cringe but continue to escort the woman who I hope I can call my sister-in-law one day.

We arrive back at Miami Rangeman Headquarters as Carlos and Lester are getting out of their SUV. Stephanie parks her car in her spot, and I see both her face and Carlos' face light up.

She opens the trunk, and Carlos chuckles at the number of bags that she managed to stuff in the truck of her Ferrari. "Babe, I hope some of that is for you."

"Only two bags. The rest is Julie's."

"I thought I told you to buy stuff for yourself too."

"You did, but I need to watch my spending with not working right now."

Carlos is visibly unhappy. "Babe, I told you to use my card, for everything. You dropped everything to come here with me. It's the least I could do."

"Carlos, you are providing me a place to stay, three meals a day, a car, basically everything. I can't have you buying me clothes on top of that."

I shake my head at my brother. He is clueless. "Babe."

"Carlos." She replies with her hands on her hips, Jersey glare aimed at Carlos. Oh yeah, she's perfect for him.

"Let me help you bring this stuff up to the apartment. We'll have a quick bite to eat before heading back to the hospital." Carlos tells Stephanie. He gathers most of the bags, while Steph carries two bags, one from Victoria's Secret and the other from Aerie. Carlos looks at the two bags than at Steph.

"The Victoria's Secret is for me, the Aerie for Julie."

I see Carlos visibly relax. I can tell thinking about his daughter wearing lingerie scares him. I don't think he realized that his daughter is a teenager. I can't help but laugh.

"Javi, you may think it's funny now, but wait until Karla is fourteen, and your wife is buying that stuff for her."

I pale at the thought of my little girl becoming a teenager. Carlos has me there. I immediately stop smiling. I watch as Ranger and Stephanie enter the elevator together, watching as Carlos puts down half the bags so he can put his arm around Stephanie. She leans into him, clearly relishing in his embrace: damn fools, both of them.