You guys wanted Joe's punishment and I knew you would. If I was Steph, seeing it would be acceptable for me too.

Chapter 7

The three cops followed us into the alley. We could hear Morelli cursing and threatening Cal and Ram as we were walking. When the wall of black parted and Morelli saw me walking towards him, his faced flashed from angry to terrified and then went sickly pale. "Hello, Morelli. Hector, strip him. Boys, draw your straws and pass out the condoms."

"Fuck you, Manoso! You assault a cop and your ass really will be dead this time!"

I turned as the three TPD cops walked up, "Eddie, Carl, Big Dog? You boys see an assault getting ready to take place here?"

"Nope, not me, wasn't here…"

Hector roughly grabbed Morelli's jaws and turned his face to him and kissed him on the mouth hard and ripped his shirt off. Morelli went to hit him and Hector slammed him to the wall. Ram and Cal held his arms while Hector reached around and tweaked Morelli's nipples and unbuckled his pants and then dropped them and his boxers to the ground. Hector grabbed a handful of his bare ass and whispered in his ear, "Agradable y firme (nice and firm)."

"The last three will be myself, Tank and then Hector. Who's up first?"

I sent Tank to get Steph when it was time. When she arrived, I handed her a condom and said, "You want to give me a hand here, Babe? I'm at a disadvantage with the casts."

"Sure honey." She smiled at me. She roughly grabbed Morelli's jaw and turned it toward her and then unzipped me and stroked me a couple times and ripped open the condom wrapper with her teeth and rolled it on and kissed me. Damn! That's my woman. The guys were hooting and whistling.

She put her hands on her hips and growled at Morelli, "Enjoy, Joe. I certainly do." He looked at her with sweat running down his face and his body and tears in his eyes and then Hector gave me a hand by spreading his cheeks and I slammed into the son-of-a-bitch. I heard Big Dog say, "Christ! What the fuck did your mothers feed you boys? I've seen nothing less than eight inches.

Tank laughed. "You ain't seen nothin' yet, brother."

Steph spoke with pride then. "That's my man inside you. Impressive huh, Joe? They were all impressive, weren't they?"

In a shaky voice he said, "You would know because you're just the Rangeman whore. I bet you spread your legs for all of these thugs."

"Well, that would make me a lucky girl Morelli because I would rather be their whore than your anything. Finish up honey, so we can go home."

I looked at her strong stance and jaw set and growled my climax. I dropped the condom with the couple free fingers I had and my Babe zipped me up and I put my arm around her and we began walking back to the SUV. She turned around as Tank was pulling his condom on and he looked at her and winked. Then Joe's scream seemed to split the air.

"Wait just a minute, Ranger." She walked back to Joe. Tank was wailing on him and Joe looked up at her as tears were rolling down his face. "One more thing, Joe. If we ever hear that you have raped or abused another woman in this city again, your new lovers will be looking for you."

Hector was bouncing on his toes laughing maniacally. Tank looked at me as he was zipping up. "Getting antsy, he hasn't had his turn yet. We don't want to be here for that, man." Steph grinned at Hector. "Bet you have friends that would like to play with a handsome cop like Morelli?" He laughed and nodded.

"Correction, Joe. Next time Hector will introduce you to some new lovers." Joe was whimpering as Hector unzipped and we were turning away.

Stephanie mumbled, "Good God and Christ on a Crucifix, where do you get one of those and where does he hide that thing?" Tank and I both boomed with laughter. The three TPD cops laughed and followed us out. Like the scene of an accident, Steph looked back one more time. Hector was wrapping something around Morelli's cock and balls. She mumbled, "Hhmm…?"

Stephanie had a strange smile on her face as we walked back to the truck. There would never be another woman in Trenton at least that would suffer abuse at the hands of Joe Morelli. I whispered to the woman Morelli had almost broken, "Proud of you and I love you, Babe."

When we got to Haywood, Stephanie turned to me and said, "Ranger, Lester wasn't there. I know he's upset and I need to go see him. He loves me, you know. I couldn't give him what he wanted. I was hurt and grieving and getting hooked on the stupid pain pills. I think I mislead him and I need to talk to him."

Stephanie knocked on Lester's door and waited. He opened it and looked at us and opened it wider. He waved his hand for us to come in and sat down on his sofa. Stephanie walked over and crawled in his lap and put her arms around him and hugged him. His surprise was evident on his face and he looked at me. She said, "Les, I know you love me and that's okay. I love you as a dear friend, but I have always been in love with Ranger. I don't know what I would have done without you. I know that one day you'll find your love. I'm positive that you will."

Lester looked at me and I nodded and he put his arms around her and kissed her.

"I'll always be here for you, beautiful."

"You didn't go to the alley where they had Morelli…"

"You were there?" She nodded.

"You took her with you? She didn't need to see that, man."

There was a knock on the door. "Yeah?"

"It's Bob."

"Come in, Bobby." He walked over and sat down next to Lester and kissed Steph on the cheek.

"Good to see you alive and well, mi hermano."

"Good to be alive, mi hombre. Bobby, I appreciate you taking care of Stephanie during all this mess."

"This is her home. She's our sister." I nodded.

Bobby asked, "Why did you leave, Steph? We were worried. What if Morelli had found you first?"

"The pain pills were changing me. I was having inappropriate thoughts and I was afraid that I would start acting on them. I thought it best if I left Rangeman."

"You should have come to me. I wasn't aware that they had become a problem for you. We could have weaned you off and worked through it."

"I was already a burden. I didn't want anyone to know how much more pathetic and helpless I'd become."

"That was in your head. That was never true."

"She and I both are going to get some help and it won't hurt for us to have some sessions together. I dragged my broken ass out of that hellhole and made it home because my woman needed me and I needed her. I'm going to cut the shit and admit that I love her. Hopefully, the help will give us a healthy new beginning." They both smiled and nodded agreement.

"Ranger, what was Hector going to do to Morelli? I saw him tie something to his penis." Bobby choked.

"What the fuck were you doing down there, Steph? Ranger, what the fuck, man?"

"That's what I said, Bob. She didn't need to see that. Damn, bro!", Lester said.

"She wanted closure. I allowed her to see me and she saw Tank and we left as Hector moved up. He was last." Lester and Bobby grimaced.

"So is somebody going to tell me what Hector did to Morelli or not?"

"NO!" Three voices boomed.

"Duh! Look at me. Do I look that innocent to all of you? What was that tie thing about?"

Lester groaned and Bobby sighed.

"Babe, he tied up his cock and balls. Works like a cock ring. He was going to torture Morelli by jerking him really hard and fast and Morelli wouldn't be able to cum. Hector is wicked. No doubt he jerked the hide off him and Morelli won't be able to use it for weeks." Stephanie burst out laughing and the guys did too.

"I love Hector!"

Lester barked, "Beautiful, Hector can be one evil mother and I have no doubt he enjoyed the hell out of that. Makes my balls ache just thinking about it."

Bobby said, "Damn, I hope you didn't create a monster by taking her to that alley."

Stephanie giggled. "Well, you two missed the action and Hector was the big man hands down. Have you seen what that guy is packing? I'll buy him lunch just to see it again. I'll pay him if he'll let me measure it. I'd like to have a picture of it and frame it. You know, I bet he could enter that thing into the Guinness Book of World Records..."

"Babe..."

"Oh sorry. Yours is very impressive too, honey. It's as soft as baby skin and it's cute the way it has that little crook in it and leans to the left a bit and it's definitely frame worthy too." Bobby and Lester busted out laughing.

"Shit! I do need my head examined. My men are never going to look at me the same way again." That made them just laugh harder.

"Boys, I'm exhausted now that I know my woman is safe."

"Ranger, I'll be reviewing your hospital chart during debriefing and I'll see you sometime tomorrow for a physical and I will be setting up these counseling appointments for both of you." I nodded and got up and reached for my Babe's hand.

"Come here, Babe. I'm tired and I want some alone time with you." She got up from Lester's lap and walked over to me. Then she smiled up at me and slid her hand around my waist and squeezed. I smiled at her and nuzzled her nose and then we headed to my apartment. I looked back at the guys. "I'm offline for a while, men." I winked at them. "My Babe and I have some catching up to do." I heard Lester say, "Good, because I don't know how much mushy Ranger I can watch and keep my dinner down."

When we got to the apartment, she looked up at me with those big blue eyes with love in them and whispered, "Ranger."

I whispered, "Babe..." Then I wrapped my arms around her and kissed her soft lips and everything was forgotten and all in the world was safe and right again. I lay down and she gently undressed me and kissed all my wounds and moved over me and we made love as well as two broken lovers could and then we began healing, together.

One Year Later

About a week after the social get-together in the alley, a photo showed up in Morelli's office showing him with his clothing around his ankles, his hands against a brick wall and a man kissing him with his hand on his rear end. This same photo subsequently showed up in a few political figures' offices and support for a campaign for Morelli as county Sheriff was withdrawn.

Last heard, Morelli had accepted a transfer to a police department out of state. That was at least six months ago.

When rumor spread that Joseph Morelli was gay and out of the closet and that's why Stephanie Plum did not want to marry him, Helen Plum was horrified and then happy that her daughter at least made that choice wisely. Then her happiness turned to embarrassment again when she found out that Stephanie had secretly married Ranger in a civil ceremony and had been happily wed for months and was even pregnant without telling her. She had called Stephanie and demanded that she come to the Plum home to explain her bad behavior and disrespect.

Stephanie arrived ready for Helen Plum. She and Ranger had completed their counseling sessions and were not so surprised to find that Helen Plum was a destructive influence in her life and she had been given the emotional tools and support to deal with this family problem. Ranger watched with pride as Stephanie told her mother exactly how she made her feel and how she had hurt her and pushed her to accept men who hurt and abused her and demanded choices in her life to suit her mother's ignorance and selfish pride. She told her mother that she didn't want her influence in her life or in her unborn child's any longer and said goodbye.

Sadly, Frank Plum never said a word until he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer a short time after and called Stephanie. He apologized for his reticence in dealing with his wife and her treatment of Stephanie. He also admitted that he knew that Morelli was hurting her and did nothing. They made their peace with one another before he passed a couple months later.

It was Saturday and another pool party at the beach house was taking place, Steph's favorite place. I walked out of the house with a big plate of burgers and brats for the grill and stopped. I had to put the plate down to keep from dropping it as I snickered. Stephanie walked out behind me and snorted. A game of water volley ball was evidently about to begin and there were six Rangemen in the deep end of the pool, a couple treading water and one Grandma Mazur on the other side grinning and clacking her teeth in a hot pink bikini.

Stephanie slapped her hand over her mouth in a fit of giggles. "Well that's not fair. You should go team-up with Grandma."

"Babe, Edna is more dangerous in water than on land. She's like a shark-stingray hybrid with those choppers and the bony fingers."

"What a bunch of pathetic wimps you guys are." She continued to giggle.

"She's got her snorkle and mask. She got two men at one time last pool party. I'm not digging her false teeth out of another pair of swim trunks while a man screams and I won't comfort another 250 pound ex-Army Ranger after she sticks a bony finger up his..."

Thank goodness Lula and Connie and Mary Lou and her husband Lenny came outside at that moment because I had the shivers at that memory.

The girls thought they were getting ready to play guys against girls and hopped in with Edna and I wanted to cross myself and thank God I was so happy. Steph opted not to play because she was almost four months pregnant with our new babe. So, they asked Lenny to team with them.

I put the meat on the grill and went inside to get the corn Steph had wrapped and the peppers and onions for the grill and came back out when I saw a flash of red and blue tank shirt and white ass running by. Tank walked up next to me and said, "And, he gone."

"Was that Lenny?"

"Yeah. And, damn that white boy's fast." He put his hands up over his eyebrows looking down the beach and then I did the same."

"Shit! I just see mostly white and sand flying."

Stephanie came up and slapped us both on our tender slightly sunburned backs. "Well go get him you two big goofy oafs!" We chuckled and I kissed her and we grabbed a towel and went to console Lenny and bring him back. I looked back at the pool and Grandma gave me a thumbs up and pitched his trunks over the net. I guess that was a compliment for poor Lenny. The trunks splatted on Lester's head and he began bitching about never being able to get a hard-on again and getting his head shaved.

I looked from the pool back at my Babe and the sweet smile on her face as she rubbed her little belly and giggled and I heard the laughter of my friends and gave thanks for being alive and so content with my world and everyone in it. Even little Granny Mazur...

THE END

Hope I gave you a fitting HEA for this story! Love you guys!