This story takes place in the middle of TBO, so if you haven't read it, it may not make much sense…Steph left Joe's house in Ranger's truck to discover the wonders of GPS…and Haywood Street.

I'm leaving the TBO storyline at the end of the chapter, because I discovered it was not conducive to where I wanted the story to go. Copying pages of dialogue turned out to not be my thing. I hope it works for you.

Thanks to Becky for encouraging the idea.

And thank you Stayce, for giving Joe the right Jersian voice.

Disclaimer: This time I'm actually quoting dialogue…and without owning the characters, too. Oh boy. Even the title is stolen, from Bon Jovi!

Rating/Warning: The language is pretty bad

I threw the phone on the passenger seat in frustration. 'Okay', I thought, 'time for plan B.'

The problem was, I would get way too emotional if I stopped thinking like a cop. And I didn't know how much use I'd be to Steph once I stopped thinking rationally.

Bad Medicine

3

I took a couple deep breaths and tried to think straight. Steph was right, I had a tendency to go all caveman when I wanted to protect her. But she had the tendency to walk into trouble faster than Martinez could throw, so I thought my reaction was understandable.

I peeled away from the curb with the beginnings of a plan. I wouldn't be able to pull it off myself, but I had enough favors I could call in.

At the station, I checked in with Veronica first. "You got something for me?" I asked her. She looked up and smiled, handing me a list.

"I found twenty people we know about that have worked or are rumored to have worked on the East Coast," she said when I sat down in the visitor's chair.

I took a look at the list, but none of the names stood out. What was I supposed to do here, arrest them all? Even if I could find them, there was no way I could be sure I got them all. And one guy with a gun was all it took.

I ran my hand through my hair and looked up. Veronica was looking at me and she had this 'There's more but you need to ask for it' look. I reminded myself that I needed her help and smiled back at her, "A lot of names."

"Yeah," she said, "But I got something that's not on the list." I knew it. "Oh?" I asked, arching my eyebrows, barely biting back the 'Well, spill already'.

Veronica leaned back and played with the pencil she was holding. She was enjoying the attention, I was sure of it. And on any other day I'd enjoy that she enjoyed my attention. Today was not any other day. "Well?" It was the most polite I could do.

"You know we sort of have a mole with the Slayers," she finally said. I nodded. I knew she was talking about Deforest Whitman, but he wasn't exactly an informant. More like he found something to tell us every time he was arrested so he could bargain.

"I asked Lewis to talk to Whitman," Veronica continued. Damn, I didn't expect that. I figured she'd just be searching on her computer, I didn't think she'd initiate fieldwork. She was good. "Did he find him?"

"He did. And Whitman was talkative, too." She picked up a file from the stack on her right. "The Slayers hired a guy named Junkman," she said and gave me the file. I thumbed through it. Mostly crime scene pictures, witness reports, no picture of this Junkman. "We don't have his real name at the moment, but I'm still looking."

"Did Whitman say what they hired him for?" I asked, knowing the answer from what Lenny'd told me. Veronica nodded. "Seems to be some turf war going on. A lot of fighting for positions. Deforest said there was a hit list, but he didn't know who exactly was on it. He thought maybe a uniform and some people causing problems."

Shit. I knew who was on the hit list. And she was currently driving around in a monster truck the brothers could see her in.

I gave Veronica the folder back. "I really appreciate your help," I said, touching her hand when she took the folder. "I couldn't 've done it without you." She blushed. She was cute when she blushed.

And I knew she wanted me to stay and pay attention to her, like I had in the morning, but I just couldn't focus. Steph 'out there' was all I could think about.

"Call me if you find out anything else," I told her on my way out of her office. I needed to find Steph now.

I ran into Gazarra in the hallway. "The Buick was picked up," he said. Steph had been here? "When?"

"Just now, Frank Plum drove it home." I thanked Gazarra and went downstairs. No doubt Steph was trying to avoid me. Since she knew my car, I had to get another set of wheels, anything would do. I lucked out at the dispatch windowand got a gray Nissan Sentra with barely 10.000 miles on it. Usually I end up with banged up Crown Vics, so I took it as a good sign.

I drove down every street in the Burg, but there was no sign of her or the truck. I even parked outside the bonds office for a couple hours, but she didn't show. Finally, I gave up and drove back to the station, but I kept the keys to the Sentra. I didn't have a plan B yet, but a car Steph didn't know might come in handy.

It was past five and I knew Veronica would be long gone, but I went back to her office and took the list and the folder on Junkman off her desk. I powered up the computer in my offices and ran some searches of my own.

I was still trying to come up with a Plan B a few hours later when my phone rang. This time, I promised myself, I'd be more convincing, I'd talk Steph into letting me protect her.

Only it wasn't Steph, the number came up as Hamilton police. There was no reason for the Hamilton Department to call me, unless Steph was in trouble.

Probably I wasn't going to like what they had to say, but I answered anyway.

"Morelli, it's Gus," Gus Chianni said. So maybe it wasn't bad news, maybe Gus just wanted to catch up. We've been buddies for years, ever since the Academy. "What's up, Gus?"

"Your girlfriend called in trouble at the multiplex," he started and I could feel the acid rise in my stomach. "Anyone hurt?" I had a white-knuckled grip on my phone.

Chianni chuckled. "No, everybody's fine. But I didn't like the way the guy we busted looked at her. He knew her. Who's she mixed up with?"

"Who was he?" I leaned forward in my chair.

"Terrence Long, one of the Slayers. He's got a rap sheet longer than my arm. Thought you would wanna know."

"Thanks man, I appreciate it. He didn't hurt her, did he?" I held my breath while I waited for his answer. "I told you, no one got hurt. We got him on a speeding offence, but he'll be out before you know it. Keep an eye on her." I almost said 'I'm trying to!'

"And what's with the truck she's driving?" Chianni asked. "Do you know about it?"

I thunked my head on my desk. Did I ever. "You know whose it is, right?" Chianni went on when I didn't say anything.

"Yeah, I know. It's just a loaner," I told him lamely. Chianni grunted, "That's what she said too."

I thanked him and hung up. "Dammit, Stephanie!" I yelled and brought my fist down on the desk hard. Not only was she not staying somewhere safe, she was out and about, waving the red flag in front of the bull.

And part of me couldn't help admiring her for it. I knew she was scared, but she refused to be intimidated into hiding. And if I was honest with myself, I loved her tenacity. The more she was pushed, the harder she fought. My kind of girl.

But a big part of her stubbornness was that she constantly underestimated danger. The Slayers weren't known for playing fair. And from what I'd seen of Junkman's handiwork, he was a pro. I needed a plan. Now.

There was only one thing I could think of that would keep her safe. It would work, too, but I needed help.

It took me longer than I thought to talk to everybody I needed but by the end of the second shift, I had my ducks in a row. I took the long way home, driving by Steph's parents, Val's, Mary Lou's…but there was no sign of the truck.

I'd lucked out, Isabelle was on tonight. She's been working dispatch for as long as I've been with the Trenton PD and we have an easy friendship. Before I left, I told her how much I liked her new hairdo and gave her a plate number I needed all cars to be on the lookout for. It worked. She sent out an 11-54, instructing all units to report sightings of the car, but not engage otherwise. Now, if the truck was spotted, I'd hear about it. It wasn't much, but it would help.

The kid next door walked Bob during the day, but every time I came home, Bob rushed past me onto the small patch of grass in the front yard as if he'd been holding it for days. Tonight was no exception. I chuckled and grabbed his leash from inside; it was a good time to take him for a walk.

We walked for an hour, it gave me time to think, and now I was sure I was doing the right thing. Steph would be pissed, that was a given, but I would be able to keep her safe. And saving her life was the only thing that mattered.

I filled Bob's food bowl when we got home and he inhaled his dinner. I wasn't really hungry, so I just got a soda out of the fridge and walked over to the living room.

It was raining in New York, so the Mets game was cancelled, and I couldn't focus on anything else so I turned off the TV and sat in the dark living room.

There'd been no messages on my answering machine and Steph didn't call my cell phone. I wanted to talk to her, but I was afraid I'd tell her too much about the plan if I called her now. I just hoped she'd be okay for one more night. Tomorrow, I'd make my move.

I was just locking the front door the next morning when my phone rang. It was Costanza. "Still looking for your 11-54?" He asked. "Did you find it?" I asked, not sure if I wanted to hear his answer.

"I saw Stephanie park it in her parents' garage last night." I was hoping that meant she'd finally realized she was too exposed. "Steph know you have everyone looking for her truck?"

"It's not her truck," I said. "I was looking for Manoso, it's his truck. Steph must've borrowed it." I didn't know if Costanza was buying it, but he didn't comment. Probably he knew something was up, otherwise he would've told me last night. I thanked him and disconnected. At least I knew I wasn't looking for the truck anymore.

When I got to the station I told the dispatcher on duty to cancel the 11-54 on the truck. With any luck, there was no report on it and the lieutenant would never hear about it.

I went to Veronica's office next, but she hadn't found out anything new. Next on my list were the reports from the night before. It was time consuming to go through everything that'd come in, but since Steph hadn't answered her cell this morning, I had an uneasy feeling.

A couple hours later, I leaned back in my chair, feeling a little better. Steph hadn't been involved in any police activity. There'd been trouble in Slayer Land, but it'd only involved gang members.

I grabbed the key to the Sentra and left my office. I was going to make one more trip around her usual hangouts to find her. She couldn't hide from me forever.

Carl didn't tell me what car Steph had switched to, so I took time to look for any parked cars I hadn't seen before. I knew most of the cars in Steph's parents' neighborhood, so that was easy. Mary Lou's and Val's streets were a little trickier. Unless Steph was actually sitting in the car, I had no way of knowing what she was driving.

The bonds office was last on my list. I was driving down Hamilton when I spotted an older purple Towncar sitting right in front of the office. First I saw Lula, then I saw Steph standing right next to her on the sidewalk. Bingo.

I hooked a U-turn and parked right behind them, inching as close as possible so she couldn't get away. I took a deep breath and tried hard to appear calm. I didn't think yelling would earn me any points; I had to keep it together.

I could see Steph and Lula talking when I got out of the car and now I also saw Steph's grandmother standing between them. I groaned inwardly. To convince Steph by herself would be hard enough, with friends and family around, I couldn't win.

Grandma Mazur smiled when I approached. "Isn't that a coincidence," she said. "I didn't expect to see you until tomorrow night." Right, tomorrow was Saturday; we had a standing invitation to show up at the Plum house for dinner. After what I had planned, I doubted I'd be invited over ever again, but I didn't want to think about that now.

"I need to talk to Stephanie," I said as calm as possible as I tried a smile and put my hand on Steph's neck. My fingers curled into her shirt involuntarily, as if I could keep her in place with that.

"Gee, we were just in the middle of something," Steph said, turning towards me, "Can't it wait?" I could tell she was trying for a smile too, only it didn't reach her eyes.

"Afraid not," I said, shooting Grandma Mazur and Lula a hopefully apologetic look as I pulled Steph with me. "We need to talk now."

I took Steph's elbow and opened my passenger side door with my free hand. "Can't we talk out here?" She asked. Shit, she didn't trust me. And the fact that she had every right not to probably did nothing to make me look trustworthy.

"I'd like to talk to you in private," I said. She sat down and I closed the door, then I jogged to the driver's side, nodded Lula and Grandma Mazur and got in. I started the car before I closed the door, I didn't want to risk her getting away.

"Hold on here," she said, her tone still on this side of pissed. "I never said anything about driving anywhere with you!"

"Gotcha," I said and sent her my brightest smile. I'd have to improvise the next step, but with any luck, I could alert my team and have them in place in time.

TBC

A/N: Do you think Joie is doing the right thing? This can't end well, can it?

11-54: Police code for Suspicious vehicle