A/N: Thanks everyone for the reviews!! I hope you enjoy this chapter. :)

Chapter 17

Stephanies POV

The whole takedown only lasted a few minutes, but once I saw Bobby everything else faded away. He pulled me into his lap and held me tightly until we were given the all clear. Once he pulled back from me his face tightened and I realized he saw my cheek.

"That fucker did this? I'll kill him!" That took me by surprise, Bobby was a healer , he didn't usually resort to threats of violence. He pulled me up to my feet and wrapped his arms around me again, not wanting to let go. I didn't blame him, I was feeling a bit clingy myself. Then I finally looked around the room and saw everyone else. When he let me go I went straight for Joe, wrapping my arms around his waist and he wrapped his good arm around me, kissing my curls.

"Joe what are you doing here??"

"Cupcake. There was no way they were leaving me out of this takedown!" He pulled back and looked me over, wincing at my cheek. "I'm glad you're okay."

I felt another presence next to me, and when I turned I saw the deep green eyes of Les. He held his arms open and I stepped into them, and he spoke soft phrases to me in Spanish I didn't understand. After he let me go I got a hug from Tank and when I checked around the room again I realized someone was missing .

"Ranger is back at Haywood." Tank whispered to me and I nodded.

As we were leaving the room I gasped "John! Where is he? You didn't hurt him did you?" The guys glanced at each other but it was Les that finally spoke.

"The bell boy was hiding in a room downstairs, huddled in a corner. We are bringing him in, but he shouldn't see any jail time." He looked at Morelli who nodded.

"Yeah if it was blackmail then he will get a more lienant sentence."

"I'll speak for him. This wasn't his fault." I sighed suddenly exhausted. "Can we get out of here?"

"Of course." I felt Bobby's hand on the small of my back to lead me out of the room, as we made our way out of the building and back to Haywood.

Ranger's POV

I had been waiting with bated breath for what seemed like hours hoping on a confirmation of what went down when I heard my phone buzz.

"Is she okay?" I said immediatley.

"She's injured, but in once piece." Tanks voice came over the phone. "We're on our way back to RM. I think you might want to get the talk done sooner rather than later." And he disconnected.

He was right. I sat down and compiled all the things I wanted to tell her in a list in my head. Whenever she was ready I would be waiting.

Stephanie's POV

We walked in to RM and were met with basically everyone I hadn't already seen. The men were very relieved to see me, all gave me hugs and promised to do unspeakable things to Bowman for me. I smiled and nodded along but mostly was thinking about my shower. "Guys I really appreciate everything you all did for me, but if you don't mind I really need to get to my apartment." I couldn't handle being in the dress any longer, and needed to wash EVERYTHING to try and get rid of the overall sense of ick I was feeling. They dispersed and left me with my core guys. I gave another hug to Joe, promising to catch up with him this weekend and he left with Cal after several one handed fist bumps with the other three. I turned to them and realized we were missing someone. "Where's Trouble?"

They glanced at each other and then back at me. "He went with the Police down to the station to give his statement. Were you expecting him to be here?" Tank looked at me confused.

I wasn't sure why he was so confused at my question until I remembered he actually wasn't a Rangeman employee. "You need to offer him a job Tank. He did everything he was supposed to to protect me AND keep his cover. He deserves to work here." My eyes lit up and they knew I was serious.

"Okay little girl, we will talk it over. For now head up to 4." He was dismissing me, which was fine. I was done with the conversation anyway.

I looked at Bobby "Can I borrow you for a few minutes?" he nodded and we went to my apartment, his medical bag in his hand, it was never too far from him so I wasn't surprised. We walked in and I immediately went to the bathroom. "Can you?" I pointed to the zipper and he nodded, putting the bag down on my bed before following me in. I could feel how tense he was as he drug the zipper down , allowing the dress to fall into a puddle on the floor.

"Steph-" I turned around and cut him off, crushing my mouth to his. I I heard a deep moan but I wasn't sure which one of us it was coming from. When we broke apart he touched his forehead to mine, allowing us to catch our breath. "God I was so worried about you. I'm sorry I didn't take Ranger's warnings more seriously…" Again I cut him off but this time because I unhooked my bra and dropped it on the ground, before slipping off my panties. I heard another moan and that time I knew it was from him. I turned the water on as hot as I could stand it, and looked back at him.

"I might need help…" his eyes shined dark as he quickly stripped and we got in together.

After the shower, we got dressed and he sat me on the bed to check out my injuries. The cheek wasn't broken, but it would hurt for the next few days and leave a nasty bruise. My wrists were red but they would heal, Bobby put salve on both injuries to help the healing process. My arm where Bowman grabbed me was red but fine. My spirit and emotional state however, those were a bit more broken, although the shower helped. "I'll be back as soon as I can okay? Get some rest." He said, kissing my forehead and then he was off.

I laid back on the bed, thinking I would drift off immediatley but I couldn't. I was too wired. I needed to move. So I got up and made my way to the elevators.

Ranger's POV

I felt her before she ever set foot in my hallway. I waited for the doors to open and there she was, massive curls wet from a shower. I did an immediate check for injuries and saw her cheek bruised and her wrists were red, but both looked like they had been doctored already. "Bobby?" I asked and she smiled. I let her in to the apartment and we sat on the couch in silence for a minute before she spoke.

"Why weren't you there?" she said quietly, her eyes downcast. I stopped for a second, that wasn't a question I was expecting .

"I was told I should stay here…" that made her laugh. God I'll miss that laugh.

"You're the boss! I'm surprised you listened… who told you to stay here? "

I cleared my throat "Hector."

Her grin got wide. "Well if it's any consolation, I'm glad we can talk now."

"It is. Ba- Stephanie… I have some things I need to discuss with you."

She nodded. "I do too. Can I go first?" We both smiled and I nodded. "First of all, you can call me Babe. It was your nickname exclusively and it will remain that way. It doesn't affect me the same way it did before… when you would say it I would go weak in the knees and my panties would be ruined." I laughed out loud. I could tell this was going to be a very honest talk. She giggled and continued "But I don't mind you calling me it. I want us to be friends Ranger. You were… are… an important part of my life. You have saved me way more times than a girl should need to be saved, you used to be my person… I know it won't be the same again, I get that. But I really would love it if we could still get along. " She took a breath and reached her hand out to me, so I took it. "I love you. I always will." She squeezed my hand and I ran my thumb over her knuckles. "I will talk to the guys, so they realize this is what I want. I don't want you to be ostracized or pushed out of your own company. That's the last thing I ever wanted." She started to get tears in her eyes so I scooted closer to her and wrapped my arm around her, kissing her temple.

"My turn?" she nodded, leaning against me. "I need you to know , I didn't push you back towards Morelli because I didn't care. The next morning after… I looked down at you and I saw our future. We were married, we had kids."

"A house with a white picket fence and everything?" she giggled.

"Yeah, and a dog. It was perfect babe. We were happy, and everything was perfect. "

"Is that what scared you?" she leaned her head up so she could see my eyes.

"Yes. Because I know the kind of life I have lead, the kind of enemies I've made. As much as I want that life, it's not meant to be. If I thought it would have been anything like that I would have asked you to marry me that morning in bed. But it won't be, and you deserve that, or whatever your version of a perfect life and family is. If it's with Brown, or someone not associated with RM, it doesn't matter. What matters is you. Your safety, your health and your well being. I mean, look what happened to you. That was because of me, because of the distraction I asked you to do." I hung my head and felt her move so she was sitting straight up again.

"Carlos look at me." I picked my head up and held her gaze. "That man could have easily found me working a case for Vinnie, or at Pino's, or driving down the street. I want to work here. I want to help you guys out however and whenever I can. Please don't be mistaken about that, I never once blamed you for this situation."

I shook my head and she reached out placing her hands on either side of my face to keep it in place. "I don't. You shouldn't either. This isn't your fault." I stared into those ice blue eyes and felt the pull to kiss her. She must have sensed it, because she leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss on my lips before releasing and snuggling back into my side. "Continue."

I smiled. "I called Julie, I think I'm going to move down to Miami for awhile." I felt her tense as I continued "I think for now at least that it's best. I can spend some time with her, and give you some space."

"You mean the guys. You just don't want them kicking your ass on the matts!" I felt her laughing against me and joined her.

"That's true too. I was going to hand my part of the business over evenly between Lester, Bobby and Tank." She moved again to look at me and shook her head.

"Don't. Go on vacation, see Julie and spend time with Miami Rangeman, but don't do something that rash on a whim. Like I said, I'll talk to them… all of them. If in a month you want to stay there, then we can figure out the logistics of that. But please, don't do this on my account. Now that we've talked, I feel a million times better… I don't even want to punch you when I look at you now!" We both laughed at that, and soon we had tears in our eyes. After a while she made the move to get up, walking to the front door as I joined her.

"Do you love him?" I asked her, and her eyes sparkled.

"Its a bit early for that… I mean, I do love him, I love all your men. But Bobby…" her face tinged pink and I knew.

"I'm happy for you babe." I leaned down and kissed her on her uninjured cheek before I felt her arms wrap around my midsection.

"Thank you Carlos. For everything. Especially tonight, I'm glad we had the chance to talk."

"Me too babe. Me too."

Hector's POV

I heard a noise coming from outside my office and immediately tensed but when I heard soft feet padding towards me I knew. "Florecita"

"Hi Hector." Stephanie smiled as I rushed to embrace her.

"You're okay?" I pulled back and saw the apparent injury on her cheek. She waved it off.

"I am. Bobby already doctored it, I'll be fine." I lead her to one of the chairs and she curled up into a ball on it, staring at me. "How well do you know Trouble?"

I laughed. "You liked him right?"

She nodded "He did the best in an impossible situation, and I want to make sure he works here. Can you help me convince the guys?"

"Of course florecita but I think his resume can convince them. He excelled in the Army when he was overseas, he has almost as many metals as Ranger does." Her eyes flashed when I said his name. "Have you seen him?" I growled under my breath and she laughed.

"I have. We finally had our talk, and it was good. I want to thank you for asking him to stay here instead of coming to rescue me." Her emphasis on asking made me realize she knew I hadn't. "It was exactly what we needed. For me to come home and us to have a heart to heart without anyone around. He wanted to leave Rangeman. He actually is going to Miami for awhile." That surprised me. Not that he was going to Miami, his daughter was there and he had another business he could run, but the fact she said wanted.

"He's not?" She shook her head.

"I convinced him to take a vacation, visit Julie and his other office. But that he shouldn't give up this company, or move permanently because of me. I want to have a meeting with all the guys first thing in the morning. They need to know he and I are okay, so their treatment of him can't continue on like it has." Her eyes cut to me. "Yours either Hector."

I felt the tiniest bit ashamed, but stood my ground. "He hurt you Estephania, it broke my heart to see you in pain."

She smiled and nodded at me. "I know Hector, and I love you for sticking up for me. But really, I'm okay now. He and I are in a good place, we plan on being friends. And he's your boss, and I like you working here so…." We laughed, knowing he wouldn't fire me.

"Okay Estephania, you're the boss." I winked at her and we stood. "You want to go let the core team know?" she nodded and we walked to the conference room on 5.

Lester's POV

Tank and I had been sitting talking when Bobby walked in. We both caught his wet hair, and I couldn't help but point it out.

"Help beautiful with a shower?" I raised an eyebrow at him and he grinned.

"Yes. Now where do we start?" he sat down and I had to laugh.

"Is this going to be a recurring thing?" he looked like he didn't understand so I pointed to his face . "The huge grin. That going to be a permanent fixture on your face?"

He laughed "I hope so!"

"Okay you two enough. I'm glad little girl is safe and okay. Bobby how are her injuries?"

"Cheek isn't broken, she will have a horrible looking bruise for awhile but it'll be okay. Wrists are a bit raw from the handcuffs, and her arm has a bruise from where the fucker grabbed her hard but it'll fade."

We had been sitting there discussing stuff for awhile when Hector and Stephanie came walking in. Bobby jumped up and offered her a chair, the other two of us stood.

"I thought you were sleeping? Is everything okay?" she nodded and sat down. Hector nodded to us and sat down in the corner of the room.

"What's going on beautiful?" I hissed when I saw her cheek but tried to keep it under wraps. She looked at the three of us and took a deep breath before starting in.

"I couldn't sleep so I went to 7 and talked with Ranger. " All three of us growled and she rolled her eyes at us. "Before you guys freak out, it was good. I want to have a meeting tomorrow morning with all the guys, but I wanted you three to know first. Ranger was planning on dividing his shares of Trenton Rangeman between the three of you and moving to Miami."

We shared glances. I wasn't surprised, my cousin loved this woman and had messed up so bad his own men were turning on him. He probably didn't think he could have their respect any more. He was right.

"I told him not to." Now that caused surprise. I heard Bobby suck in a breath and could tell by his face he was worried. Stephanie didn't even hesitate, she grabbed his hand and squeezed. "I told him he should go for awhile, get away from here if that's what he needed. But not to do it on my account. We talked, he told me his reasons for pushing me towards Morelli, and I understand. Everything is okay." She leaned against Bobby, putting her head on his shoulder.

"Is this really what you want little girl?" Tank asked . "Because we will be happy to take his shares if that'll get him away from you."

She cut her eyes to him. "Yes Tank. This is what I want." She picked her head up off Bobbys shoulder and whispered in his ear. I knew what was said because his face lit up, his eyes went dark and he jumped up.

"We need to go. See you in the morning!" And they practically ran out of the room to the sounds of our laughter.