Recap: Stephanie remembers what her first time with Joe was like on the floor of the Tasty Pastry, Connie and Lula have figured out that something is going on in her romantic life.

Stephanie's POV

After dropping Mooner and Vicki at the TPD, I tried to decide what to do. Since I wouldn't pick up Doug Browning until after the bonds office closed, I wasn't going to get that money until I got back on Monday. I wanted to have some spending cash on my weekend out, and that meant I had to go back and face the music. Signing heavily, I headed for Hamilton Avenue.

I walked into the office like I was about to face a firing squad and handed over my body receipts. Connie took them, but made no effort to get the check ledger out. She stared at me, as did Lula. This went on for a few uncomfortable moments before I finally gave up.

"Fine, I'll tell you." I huffed, then glanced at Vinnie's door.

"He's bailing someone out, he can't hear us. Now spill." Connie said, determination in her voice.

I flopped down onto the couch next to Lula and spit out what had happened in the last 48 hours. "So Ranger asked me to help with a job guarding the President on Halloween because the Secret Service is stretched thin. And I was all excited, but when I told Joe, he made fun of me and said that I was a disaster, the worst bounty hunter on the Eastern Seaboard, and that the Secret Service would be crazy to let me near the president because he would probably get hit by a meteor.

"And I realized that he has been doing things like this for as long as I've known him. Since we were little kids. He puts me down constantly, but it's so subtle I hadn't realized how much he did it. I told him to leave, he didn't, so I left and went to Rangeman for some target practice."

"And when you say 'target practice'" Lula interrupted. I rolled my eyes.

"I need to get better with my gun so I feel more comfortable using it. Anyway, I went to Rangeman and after a while Ranger came down and…." I stopped. This was personal, and some of it was embarrassing. But Connie looked like she would shoot me if I didn't keep going, so I plowed ahead.

"He asked why I was there so late, and I told him what Joe had said, and how upset it had made me. He invited me to spend the night so I didn't have to go back to my apartment. So we went to sleep, and the next morning we, well, we had sex."

Connie and Lula were both looking at me slack-jawed. "What was it like?" Connie asked, sounding very much like Betty Boop.

"It was amazing. He's an amazing lover. He's strong and hard, but giving and he seems to like me being on top."

Lula was fanning herself. "Does he like to do kinky shit? I can totally see him doing kinky shit, like being handcuffed to his bed and role-playing. Like, one of you is the big bad bounty hunter and the other is the reluctant skip trying to bribe their way out of being captured…." Her voice faded and she got a glazed look in her eyes.

"Geez, we've been together for a little more than a day! We haven't talked about stuff like that yet. Besides, I can't imagine someone in control as much as Ranger being OK with me tying him up."

"You'd be surprised. Sometimes it's the guys most in charge who like that shit. Like that Senator from Louisiana who liked being in diapers. And on my corner, it was the gang leaders that wanted you to tie them up and sit on them way more than the low-down members. Sex is about fantasy, and you fantasize about what your life isn't, not what it is."

Connie picked up on the words 'we've been together'. "So are you two officially an item then? What about Morelli, did you break up with him? Is that why he brought the donuts?"

"I guess so. I told Joe I was breaking up with him, and why, but not that I was with Ranger. Honestly, they were separate things. I decided I was done with Joe before Ranger saw me doing target practice. I turned to him for comfort and support, like I always have. And we ended up in bed together. But if I'd gone to my parent's instead of Rangeman, I would still have ended it with Joe. I can't be with someone who puts me down so much. I just can't believe it took this long to realize it. Anyway, Ranger has to go to Philly for a meeting tomorrow, and then we're going to spend the weekend in the city. He's planning a whole weekend for us, and I can't wait."

Lula and Connie fanned themselves, and Connie got out the check ledger. "When you get back, I want a minute-by-minute account of what you did. Pictures would be nice too." She handed me my check, and I left to go to the bank to cash the checks, and meet Lester at Rangeman.

Now, should I tell Ranger what Lula had asked?