AN: Here's an update. There will be several in quick succession, so bear with me on the edits! I've finally finished this beast, and I want to get it up, before I forget to post the rest of it.

While Meagan's team searched the house, she sat across from him in his office. He behind his desk, she in the guest chair his daughter favored. She looked beautiful as usual her long hair hanging down her back. She was wearing slacks and FBI issued Kevlar. She wore it like it was the tailored Chanel Suit.

Her radio crackled, "Ma'am, we've got something." She had been staring at him with the fathomless black eyes, arms draped casually on the arms of the chair, and her gun casually held in her left hand. He stared at her with a slight grin on his face which faltered at the words from the radio.

"Go ahead," she said into the radio mike clipped to her shoulder.

"Half of the jewelry is in the wife's box in the master bedroom."

"Keep looking. See if you can find the rest," she said then her lips tipped up in a smile. "You're fucked. The first crime scene is always so full of mistakes, isn't it?"

"There is no way you can connect me to your kidnapping. That's why you're really here," he said. "I've got ears at the FBI; I know what you're looking for."

"The warrant, which you should probably at least scan, is for evidence in an attempted murder case from several years ago. The victim was brutally beaten, almost to death, during the commission of a robbery. Case was stone cold until we found a picture. See the picture had trace evidence on it. Some of it was blood and looked like cast off spatter. It also held some spores on the back of it. The spores prove that it spent several weeks in your Boston basement. The blood belonged to the victim of the attempted murder and Julio Santos has identified it as a photograph that was missing from his office. It's not enough to get us a conviction, but it was enough to get us a warrant to search for other spoils from that break in. Looks like we found some. You gave your wife another woman's jewelry? Tacky."

"The statute of limitations is long gone on that," he waved her off.

"I'm afraid not. Sorry. There is no statute of limitations on murder or, in this case, first degree attempted murder." She raised an eyebrow at him, "Like I said, you're fucked. By the way, not only does that picture nail you for that robbery and attempted murder, but those pesky spores on the back of the photo prove that we were in your basement, so you know what, we got your for my kidnapping as well."

Maybe, Meagan thought.

"A kidnapping during which two innocent bystanders were shot and seriously injured, not to mention all of those people Ranger and I killed while trying to defend ourselves. You're going away for a long time. Thought you'd impress us, didn't you?"

"I caught you. How many have tried?"

"Many, and a few have been successful; it's keeping us that's the tricky bit."

"You were magnificent as usual; lived up to your reputations and then some. I didn't believe your dad's file when he listed the number of languages you can speak. I was impressed."

"So you watched and didn't try to stop us?"

"I needed to see if your relationship was still what it was when I met you. I wanted you to see that the mission was an error in judgment. That I am every bit as good as you are."

"Hardly," she snorted and leaned forward. "First of all, the point of what we do is subtlety. Crashing into a Starbucks? Not subtle. We also like to avoid as much collateral damage as possible. You didn't even try. See, I would have ambushed us while we were on the stakeout. We were alone."

"But you would have been more alert than while you were getting coffee."

"That's another thing Ranger and I don't get wrong-little personal details like I don't drink coffee. I mean, if I can avoid it, I do. You don't just get the little details wrong, though, you get the big ones wrong, too. Ranger and I aren't married, hell Ranger and I have never even slept together. I married Lester. We've been together for ages."

"No! You're wrong," Beals snapped.

"Pretty sure I know who I'm fucking every night," she said crassly. He had her built up as this ideal of the perfect woman so she was doing her damnedest to put him off by being exactly the opposite of what he thought she was, "Hell, Brown has a better chance at getting into my pants than Ranger ever did."

"You're lying. It doesn't become you. Stop it. I saw you in Bolivia. He held you, you told him you loved him and he called you that name, Querida. I looked it up; it means 'My darling.'"

"He calls his daughter that, too." She chuckled, "He also calls me Hermana or Manita-both mean 'sister.' We've never been lovers."

"But the way you touch?"

"Nonverbal checkins. Can't always ask the question with words. Our touches are completely innocent. You honestly couldn't tell from the way Lester and I dance that we're sleeping together? I've been told watching us is like watching foreplay."

"But Ranger was the one who wanted to buy you the condo," Beals blurted out.

"What?" She asked, genuinely surprised.

"That night I listened to Julio's messages. You called about the condo. You asked him to go look at it. Ranger said to just buy it so you wouldn't be upset if you lost it to someone else. He said you could always sell it, if it wasn't quite right. Lester said to just buy the damn thing; he didn't even sound like he liked it."

She did something then that genuinely shocked him; she tipped her head back and laughed. Really laughed. "Oh man, do you ever have that wrong. Lester wasn't just interested in the condo he was already sharing fantasies with me about it. He wanted to just buy the damn thing because he knew it would get him laid."

"STOP THAT!"

"Stop what?" She asked innocently.

"Stop being crass; it's beneath you. I know how you were brought up and your parents…"

"My parents are probably spinning in their graves. So? I'm not the perfect daughter. I'm not the girl they would have ever hoped I would be. My father wanted me in the family business so badly I was practically raised at his office. I would have rather been playing with friends. How the hell else do you think I fell in with some gang bangers and then into the military? It was to get away from that life. I can't remember the last time I even set foot in MacDunnaugh. I'm CEO in name only and I am probably going to sell the company. It doesn't matter to me."

"NO!" he yelled, "You are just saying that to piss me off. Stop it! It's not going to work. I know you. I know how hard you work."

"How hard I work? Please. I have an IQ of around 200, I'm gorgeous and I have the metabolism of a hummingbird. I don't have to work hard for anything. Even this figure," she snorted. "I practically coast through life."

"It's not working, Meagan. It's not! You forget I was in Bolivia. I saw what you did for that kid on the chopper. I saw you shove your hand in his leg. I saw you hypnotize him. I watched you and Ranger. You killed all those people and then you saved two men who were going to die if you hadn't acted and you did it without thinking. If you just coasted through life, you wouldn't have been able to do that. I know people who coast. My daughter coasts. She's never been cool headed a day in her life. Nothing gets to you. Ever."

"Oookay. If you say so."

"I said stop it! I know you're lying. I know you're lying about it all and it's not working, Meagan. Ranger is your husband, Ranger is your partner."

"Ranger hasn't been my partner for years except on paper in a business agreement."

"Nice try, I had you grabbed on the way to a stake out together as partners."

"We had business to discuss and that was the best way to go about discussing it. We aren't partners and I have documentation to prove that I married someone else."

"No, you're partners. Look." He pulled a disc out of a tray on his desk and put it into his computer, spun the screen and showed her the footage of her climbing Ranger. "That touch there is intimate. That's…"

"Ranger's hand on my ass lifting me up higher so I can pick the lock on his restraints quicker. Did you even attempt to translate what I said there? I asked him if we could keep how I was doing that from Lester and Steph, Ranger's wife."

"Did he just show you the video?" The radio crackled.

"He did" She replied, "We've got the bastard." She leaned forward and ejected the disc that had the video on it.

The door opened and Morelli walked in with a tech who tripped at the entrance and stumbled into Meagan. The distraction was enough for Beals to grab the gun he kept strapped to the underside of his desk. He levelled the gun at Joe's head and screamed at the tech to get out. The good news was that Meagan was able to slip the disc to the tech while he was righting himself, the bad news was, she'd just spent twenty minutes winding him up, and now she had to talk him down.

"You really don't want to do this, Captain," Meagan said, her gun trained on Beals. "You'll go down if you even think about pulling the trigger and you know it."

"You're a Fed?" Beals yelled at Joe, "You were fucking my daughter for a job? I knew you were a bastard. I just fucking knew it!"

"Calm down, Captain," Meagan said, "He was never ordered to sleep with your daughter. She knew Joe was an agent and he was trying to catch her stalker, that's all."

"Oh, he did more than play pretend. I have footage. You think your cameras are the only ones in this house?"

"Captain, I genuinely like your daughter. I do. I wouldn't have done something like what you are accusing me of," Joe said in an effort to placate him.

"Is this true?" He shouted at Meagan, "I know you like to fuck with people's heads. This is something you would do to manipulate her into getting information on me."

"She knew right from the start that Morelli was undercover. You can ask her." Meagan said, "Just put the weapon down."

"Where's Ranger?" he demanded, "I want to speak to Ranger. I know he's out there."

"Ranger isn't out there,Ranger isn't FBI; he's back at Rangeman. I can get him here if you would like."

"Yes, I want him here as quickly as possible."

"All right, Joe, I need you to radio the men and let them know I need Carlos."

"Why isn't he here? You're lying. He's here. He's your partner. He's your husband. Lester married Stephanie Plum. They screwed up the caption; I know they did; I saw you together Ranger is your husband and he is your partner." His voice was filled with a desperate anger. His world was falling down around his ears, and his fantasy of the perfect lives were becoming disillusioned, and he was clinging to them. She'd have to help him, have to get him to believe he was going to be all right, that she was just fucking with him.

"You're right; the paper screwed up. I was just trying to goad you into a confession. Ranger is my partner. He's not here because someone needs to control the men. We're running two teams. Like Vadrine and Frakes did. I run the government side of things; Ranger handles the civilian side. We can maximize our resources that way. Remember how Frakes and Vadrine used to divide the duties? Frakes handled the psy-ops and intelligence gathering, which is why Les, Bobby and I worked with him more, and Vadrine was more Wetwork and Extractions. Ranger and I are using the same model and have a similar division of labour. You know, I wouldn't have another partner besides Ranger; the man knows me so well he knows what I'm going to say before I say it. You can't beat that kind of relationship."

"Exactly! It's what I have been trying to teach Linda and Margaret. It's about anticipating each other's needs and it's about loyalty. You and Ranger have such loyalty. Since you were children, you've looked out for each other."

"That's right, since we were kids. I wouldn't ever betray him nor would he betray me. Now, what can I do right now to make it so we all get out of here alive?"

"Drop the charges. I never meant to hurt you and those kids at the coffee shop weren't supposed to be shot. The people responsible are already dead so it's no big deal."

Beals tried to further explain, "I caught you because I wanted to prove myself. I wanted to prove to you that I could be on your team. I made a mistake in Bolivia. I didn't know you then, you see. I thought you were just arrogant kids-The Poster Children for the Army. I didn't know you were who you were. I'm used to being the smartest one in the room because I've never worked with people as intelligent as I am. I can offer you the perspective of someone with experience. You're still young; you could use me."

"I'll consider it," she said. "You know we give people second chances all the time. A lot of our staff have benefited from that. They've made mistakes but you know I have the connections to make them go away. I might be able to do the same for you but you'll have to let me take you in first. Ranger and I will need to hear the full story because if you've hurt anyone else, I need to know then Ranger and I will make a decision. I can't make any promises other than we'll hear you out. What I need you to do now is show me you would be willing to accept my orders; that we were wrong in Bolivia. We didn't know you either and, trust me, both Ranger and I know what it's like to have to follow the orders of someone we think is a blithering idiot. It's what almost got me killed so we can sympathize. Now lower your weapon and surrender yourself into my custody."

"Yes, ma'am," Beals said sharply and began to lower his weapon. Both Meagan and Joe approached the desk and she still had her gun out while Morelli holstered his to grab his cuffs. In a moment of extremely bad timing and a spectacular display of stupidity, their Section Chief's voice crackled over the radio.

"Morelli, your partner's coms cut out. I need a Sit Rep. Is Beals in custody? Can we make entry?"

"You're his PARTNER!?" The gun was back up again, this time pointed at Meagan. "Is every word out of your mouth a lie?"

"No,I work for the FBI so I have to have an FBI partner just like sometimes Ranger and Tank are partners."

"You're lying to me again!" He screamed hysterically, "I thought you were honorable! I should have known that you're a disappointment just like Margaret and Linda! I thought you were different! I thought you were perfect but all you know how to do is lie."

"I wasn't lying, Captain, I said I'd hear you out." Meagan kept her voice calm, she could take him before he pulled the trigger, but she'd rather not.

"No! I'm not listening to you anymore!" Time slowed down as Beals chambered a round in the gun leveled at Meagan's head. Joe grabbed her arm and yanked her behind him just as Beals fired several shots in quick succession. Joe's Kevlar vest took the rounds meant for Meagan's head. Morelli, dropped, falling into an unstable Meagan, her to the ground with him. He landed awkwardly on her, half crushing her.

Beals screamed in incoherent rage at having missed his target and rounded the desk just as Meagan managed to get her arm out from under an unconscious Joe, grabbed his weapon and emptied the clip into Beals as the door slammed open.

Someone yelled, "Shit, get EMTs in here Morelli's down!"