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 not following the TBO storyline anymore because they're off on their own now.

Thank you for all your kind reviews, I appreciate them more than you can imagine.

A special thank you to Becky and Stayce for making this story possible.

Disclaimer: Still not mine, just having fun with JE's characters

Rating/Warning: The language is pretty bad

"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.

Bad Medicine

5

Steph's cell rang and she rooted in her shoulder bag for it. I wondered if I should ask her not to tell anyone where she was or where she was going, but I didn't want to push my luck. She'd accepted me taking her a lot easier than I thought she would, so I didn't say anything now.

She answered the call and listened for a minute, then she smiled. "Yeah, I'm okay. I'm with Morelli. How do you…?" She listened some more and nodded. I watched her out of the corner of my eye, keeping my attention on the road. Steph always talked animated, whether it was on the phone or in person, and I'll never get tired of just watching her.

My own cell phone vibrated on my hip and interrupted my musings. I'd forgotten to hook it up to the hands-free so I had to snap it off my belt and push the button.

It was Veronica, and since she never called me, I assumed this had something to do with the case.

"Junkman got his first victim," she said when I answered. Shit.

I caught myself before I asked her if the body had been ID'ed. "Who is it?" I asked instead.

"A gang member, we don't have positive ID yet. But it's our guy's handiwork."

"How do you know?" I'd been hoping it could be a totally unrelated homicide.

"He's got a J carved into his forehead." Shit. J for Junkman, no doubt.

I told Veronica to call me if she heard anything because I wouldn't be in for the rest of the day and made a mental note to let the chief know at some point as well.

Stephanie and I disconnected at the same time. "That was RangeMan," she said. She was sharing. I took that as a good sign.

"My car has a GPS tracker and they wondered why it hasn't moved for so long."

"They're tracking you?" I asked, although it shouldn't have surprised me. Manoso's company could keep small countries safe, if I trusted anyone to take care of her, it was them. I just didn't trust Manoso.

Sure, as a professional, the guy was top class. Probably had forgotten more about combat situations than I ever knew. But personally, he seemed a little too interested in Steph for my taste.

Steph put her cell back into her purse. "They know about the Slayers. I've been hiding at RangeMan for the past couple days."

So that's why I hadn't been able to find her. At least I now knew she hadn't been in danger. RangeMan was like Fort Knox. What was I doing taking her away, would I be able to keep her safer than a security company?

"I can keep you safe Cupcake," I said and glanced at her sideways.

"I know. I'm honestly relieved to be out of Trenton," she said and blew out a long breath. "There are no Slayers where we're going, right?"

I smiled. "Nope."

"Where are we going?"

I stretched out my right arm until I got a hold of her neck, then I gently pulled her towards me. She scooted closer over the bench seat and laid her head on my shoulder.

"Somewhere safe and quiet," I told her. "They may not even have heat. We have to snuggle together real close to keep warm."

She chuckled. "I'll bet."

This was going even better than I'd hoped. Not only was she not mad, she seemed to be feeling friendly.

"It may have a huge bed though," I said and stroked her neck with my thumb.

"That's a shocker," she chuckled.

I got an idea. Once we got where we were going, I'd call in backup anyway, so it really didn't matter where we went. So I figured I might as well take her someplace nice, we could easily combine business with pleasure, since I didn't plan on letting her out of my sight until I got word Junkman was behind bars.

We were on 195 going East, so the logical place was the Shore. Sure, we could also stay at some seedy roadside motel since I was constantly making sure no one was following us, but I could just as easily take Steph to the beach she liked so much.

"How do you feel about Asbury Park?"

"Can we play skeeball?" she asked immediately, lifting her head off my shoulder.

I chuckled. "We can play anything you want to play." Although we might have to be a little more careful about public appearances.

Steph snuggled into me again. "Asbury Park it is," I announced.

"I think I like getting kidnapped by you," Steph whispered, her mouth close so close to my neck that her breath tickled my skin. I grabbed the steering wheel tighter and sat up straight, trying to redirect the blood flow back to my brain.

"I didn't kidnap you, Cupcake," I said. "I'm getting you off the street to somewhere safe."

Steph pulled back and leaned back in her seat. When she didn't say anything I cut my eyes to her to find out if I'd said something wrong.

She was chewing her lower lip, frowning.

"What?"

"Don't you think I should be on the street, showing the Slayers I'm not scared of them?"

"No," I replied, taking a deep breath. "That's the last thing you want to do. You can't intimidate them by showing no fear, you can only challenge them more."

We drove in silence for a while and I was hoping Steph wasn't trying to come up with arguments why she should go back.

I reached over and covered her hand with mine. "Let the pros do their job. I'd rather have you alive than fearless."

She giggled and I cut my eyes to her to find out what was so funny.

"Sorry," she said, squeezing my hand. "Just seemed like a funny line."

I sighed. I could see her point. "No, I'm sorry. I'm having a hard time putting into words what I want to say."

The truth was the past couple days had me scared for her, and I wasn't used to feeling scared. I especially wasn't used to fearing for my girlfriend's life. So I couldn't always think straight and talk straight even less. Sure, Steph had been in trouble before. She'd had stalkers and other psychos after her, but this time, a contract had been put out on her. It didn't get more serious than that.

"I think that's our turn," Stephanie said and pointed at the sign announcing the exit.

I smiled. We know we love each other, but talking about emotions isn't really our thing. She was changing the subject and I wasn't about to call her on it.

Stephanie squeezed my hand again as I slowed down to take the exit. I should have called for backup and I should have called the chief then, but that would have meant letting go of her hand and I didn't want to. The calls would have to wait until we were out of the car.

I glanced into the rearview mirror and noticed a black minivan with tinted windows that was a little too close to us. I realized it was changing lanes with me when I swerved back onto the highway.

"What's wrong?" Stephanie asked and there was an alarmed undertone in her voice.

"Probably nothing," I told her truthfully and straightened in my seat. "How about we eat before we get there?" I pointed at the sign announcing a McDonald's at the next exit, trying to distract her.

"How did you know I was starving?" Stephanie asked. And then she called my bluff. "And what's the probably nothing?"

Behind us, the van was accelerating with us and I was beginning to get a really bad feeling about it. Just about anyone or anything could be behind those tinted windows. I didn't know if there was one guy or ten.

I sighed and jerked a thumb behind me, then I held Stephanie by the elbow, knowing what she was about to do. "Careful," I cautioned her.

She looked over her right shoulder. "The black Minivan?"

I nodded and took the exit almost on two wheels as Steph grabbed the door handle, sucking in some breath.

I checked the rearview again and my heart fell when I saw the van following us, now only a few car lengths behind. I let go of Steph's hand so I could hold the steering wheel with my right while opening the snap on my hip holster.

Barely slowing down, I made a right at the end of the ramp towards the fast food joints. I didn't want to overreact, but I couldn't take any chances either.

"They're still there," she said and rummaged through her shoulder bag until she found her gun.

"I know," I replied and turned into the McDonald's parking lot.

"Stay down," I told her as I stopped the car with screeching tires, pulled my gun free and watched as the van pulled in behind us.

"I'm gonna…" she started, but I pulled her back towards me.

"I need you to stay in the car and not move," I said. "Let me check it out first."

She nodded and gripped her gun with both hands. "Okay."

"It's gonna be okay," was all I could manage by way of calming her. I flicked the security on my gun and held it against my thigh when I slowly approached the van. It had stopped a few spots over and the sliding door was just opening. I took a deep breath and positioned my self behind the car next to it.

With a loud shriek, a kid jumped out of the van, followed by another, both about eight years old.

A woman opened the passenger side door and yelled something at the kids, I didn't hear what it was over the blood rushing loudly in my ears.

I holstered my gun and let out a deep breath. Shit. I was losing it. A soccer mom with her kids had me on high alert!

I ran my hand through my hair as I turned around and walked back to my car. Steph had gotten out and was leaning on the roof looking over at me.

She was grinning. "Glad to see you're not perfect, Morelli," she said and winked.

TBC