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 in this chapter, because I discovered it was not conducive to where I wanted the story to go. I hope it works for you.

Thanks to Becky for encouraging the idea.

A special thank you to Stayce for her edit and her support.

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

Previously on Bad Medicine:

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 in the driver's seat. 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.

Bad Medicine

4

My goal was to get Steph alone, maybe even to get her into my car. It wouldn't be much cover, but it would get her off the street. If and when I got her into my car, I'd improvise, I didn't want to plan it too far in advance, since everything depended on her reaction. I wasn't good at this 'one step at a time' thing, but Steph had a history of messing up my plans. The only thing I knew was that my house wouldn't work as a safe house, the Slayers already knew about it. But I had other options.

Taking one last deep breath, I got out of the car and walked over to the small group.

Grandma Mazur greeted me with a genuine smile. "Isn't this coincidence," she said, "I didn't expect you to see you until tomorrow night."

It took me a moment to realize she was talking about Saturday dinner at Steph's parents' house. As entertaining as that usually was, few things were lower on my list of priorities at that moment, but I didn't think it would earn me points to admit that, so I just smiled a response.

"I need to talk to Stephanie," I said as calmly as possible, my mouth hurting with the effort to smile. Grandma Mazur nodded and took a step back, and I had one eye on Lula, watching for her reaction. Lula was watching Stephanie, which made me think she'd follow her lead, so I had to be careful.

Stephanie balked. "Gee, we were right in the middle of something. Can't it wait?" She didn't meet my eyes.
I took her elbow and nudged her in the direction of my car. "Afraid not. We need to talk now." I let go of her as soon as she started to move, I needed her to come with me by herself.

She probably didn't want to cause a scene in front of her grandmother, so she followed me. I unlocked the passenger door and held it open for her, "Let's talk in the car."

She glanced over her shoulder at Lula and Grandma Mazur, but neither of them was looking at her and she got into the car with a sigh.

"Gotcha," I said on a grin when I sat down in the driver's seat.

Steph looked at me for a beat as if she was trying to decide if I was serious. "Now what?" she asked.

"Now I take you back to my house and lock you in the bathroom," I said, still grinning, as I started the car and pulled away from the curb before she could get out.

"Hey," she protested, but she sounded more surprised than angry.

"If you're real nice to me, I'll bring the television in for you." Lula and Grandma Mazur looked at us in surprise, but I doubted they'd jump in Steph's car and follow us. She was with me after all, they trusted me.

"You can't be serious," Steph said and her voice told me I had to tread carefully now, keep it light so she wouldn't panic.

I wondered if I should turn on my flasher so I wouldn't have to stop for red lights, but then Steph would probably get the right idea about what I was doing. She wasn't going back on the street, not if I could help it.

I'd tried the reasonable route and I'd tried the convincing route, neither had worked, that only left the action route.
"There's a contract out on you," I told her as I made a right on Chambers. "And I ride by and see you standing there like a duck in a shooting gallery. A dead girlfriend doesn't do me much good." I mentally winced. That didn't come out right. She would think I was only concerned for me, not her.

I half expected her to freak and cut my eyes to her. She surprised me by saying "I was hoping the contract was just a rumor."

Good, she was taking this seriously now. I might be able to convince her after all.

"My sources tell me there's a guy in town from L.A., goes by the street name Junkman," I said, talking while we made our way through the Burg. Word is he was brought in by the Slayers, and we have virtually nothing but talk on him. And the talk says he's a very bad guy."

Stephanie was quiet for a couple of minutes, absorbing the information. Then she asked, "How do you know it's real?"

I sighed inwardly. That was Steph, alright, always doubting, trying to deny danger.

"The sources are good," I said, taking a right onto the highway.

"This isn't the way to your house," she said. I knew she'd known we weren't going to my house after a minute, the bonds office was only a few streets from my house.

"No," I said. "Change of plans."

When she didn't respond, I knew she was thinking about how to react. Trying to decide if I'd be more open to reason or to hysteria. I could have made it easier for her and told her nothing would change my mind, she was coming with me and that was final, but I thought I'd said enough for the moment.

I could feel her eyes on my when I turned onto 195. "Where are you going?" she asked, and I could hear anger creeping into her voice.

I knew it was about the worst move I could make, trapping her like this, but I'd decided her safety was more important to me than our relationship. If she hated me forever after this, so be it, but at leas she had a long rest of her life.

"We're taking a vacation," I told her and finally glanced at her. She was sitting with her back turned so she was facing me and her eyes were shooting daggers at me.

"Turn around. It was a good laugh, now get me back to Trenton," she said in her 'don't-fuck-with-me' voice.

"Sorry, Cupcake," I said and gripped the steering wheel a little tighter. I was grateful I'd made it this far before I had to tell her, but that didn't make it any easier.

"I think what you're doing can be considered kidnapping."

"No," I replied, "This can be considered a couple's nice long weekend at the shore." I was keeping my tone light, trying to cushion the blow. The last thing I wanted to do was use force, but I would if I had to. I was not going to let her out of my sight.

"You're overreacting," she said, switching gears.

"The brothers on the street are scared," I explained. "There's a whole hit list out there, including a cop and two rival gang members, and you're on it too. This is the real deal, Steph."

"And you're still overreacting. If I hide now, I'll have to hide forever."

I shook my head. "Only until we have the guy in custody. Let the professionals handle this one."

She snorted but didn't say anything. I had to think fast. I needed her to understand this was the only way, she was too visible in Trenton, especially if she kept running around in broad daylight as she had been.

I had another hour to convince her, then she'd either come willingly or I'd have to drag her.

We drove in silence for the next few miles. Traffic was heavy and I had to concentrate on the road, so I couldn't read her mood by her face.

"I took a few days off," I told her. "I thought we could finally have that mini-vacation we talked about." No answer from her. She was sulking. Sulking was better than screaming, I decided. And anyway it was worth a try. If she thought this was anything but protective custody, she might accept it.

"You're taking me to the shore," she said after a while, and it was a statement not a question.

"It's after Labor Day and looks like rain and you're taking me to the shore."

"Okay, so it's not a vacation," I admitted. "But it'll get you out of Trenton and out of harm's way and we still get to spend time together." I knew she was spoiling for a fight and if I wanted to get us to Point Pleasant in one piece, I had to keep us both calm.

"Think about it," I said, covering her hand on her thigh with mine. "A totally uninterrupted weekend, just you and me."

"It's not the weekend, Morelli. It's the fact that you made the decision for me."

I knew she was going to bring that up sooner or later. And I couldn't deny it. I'd given her plenty of chances to come on her own, and she had refused. I couldn't say that though. I certainly couldn't tell her about the favors I was going to call in to get backup so we could protect her around the clock. She already thought she was going into hiding, if she so much as suspected a safe house, I had no chance.

I pulled into a rest stop without amenities, not even a pay phone, and stopped so I could face her.

"Yes, I'm taking you to the shore," I said, running a hand through my hair. "It's what's best for you right now."

Her eyes narrowed and I knew I'd said the wrong thing. She looked around and I took her hand in mine. "Don't."

Our eyes locked. "Don't what? She asked.

"Don't try to run from me again," I said softly and tried to touch her face but she jerked back.

"Run from you? Why would I run from you? Because we had a fight and I left and now you're trying to kidnap me?"

I sighed. "You aren't being kidnapped. Is there a blindfold over your eyes, are your hands tied?"
She gave me a look that told me that wasn't what she'd meant, and she looked damned pissed. Since I'd expected as much, I wasn't surprised. She hadn't tried to open the door and run, I thought that was progress.

"Steph, the Slayers hired a professional hit man," I tried to reason with her one more time. "Do you know what that means?"

"They don't want to get their hands dirty?"

"They're making 100 percent sure the job gets done."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

Her shoulders slumped a little and I thought maybe I'd gotten through to her. She had to understand I wasn't blowing this out of proportion, this wasn't me being a macho boyfriend trying to control her, her fucking life was in danger.

"You're not gonna lock me up?" She asked, finally looking up and meeting my eyes.

I smiled and winked, "Not unless you want me to."

She rolled her eyes and laughed and I let out a long breath. Phase one completed, I thought as I got the car back onto the highway.

Now I only had to get her safely there. Only I hadn't quite figured out where 'there' was. One step at a time, right?

TBC