***All characters belong to Janet Evanovich with the exception of a few I've added in for fun.

Thanks for all of the reviews! I love seeing responses to the story.

Stephanie's thoughts are in italics.

Memory Lane

I spent most of the 7 and a half hour flight lost in my thoughts. The thought of going home thoroughly upset me. What was my mother going to say about my disappearing act? Would anyone even speak to me? A small jolt of turbulence jolted me out of my depressive state and I shifted my legs to a new position that allowed the blood to flow again.

I sighed and decided that I would cross that bridge when I came to it. For the moment, I just wanted to bask in memories; the memories that I tried to suppress every day. For once, I just let them flow through my mind, bringing smiles and grimaces. I settled on the last time I saw Joe and let that memory play out, seeming as if it had happened just yesterday.

FLASHBACK

Oh man, my mother's going to kill me when she hears about this. No more cake for me.

This was my only thought as I looked on at my sizzling Camry. The firefighters had just finished spraying down what was left of my car and were packing up the hoses. I pulled my eyes away from my poor dead car and made arrangements with a towing company to take it away and turned to flash an irritated look over my shoulder when I heard raucous laughter behind me. My face pulled into a grimace before I could stop it as I saw Joe make his way through the laughing cops and firefighters.

Joe stepped up to me then sent a look to the tow truck guy that had him departing pretty quickly. I sucked in a deep breath then waited for the inevitable "I need Maalox when I hear your name" speech. His resigned sigh shocked me though, and my eyes darted up to his face, wondering where his anger was.

"Steph, this is the third time in 2 months." I was still too baffled by his sadness to catch his tone and answered without really thinking.

"It's this stupid arsonist! I was so close to catching him and I only turned around for two minutes-"

"That's not the point Stephanie!" I felt my hackles rise as the Italian anger showed itself.

"Oh really? I thought that was the point, me catching bad guys, and you making sure they stay in jail! I'm just doing what I'm good at, Joe."

He snorted in disbelief before sucking in a deep breath and letting out the rant he'd been holding in.

"That's just it Steph, you're not good at it. You're terrible at it and..for God's sake I'm a fucking laughing stock at the station! None of the cops can make it through one conversation that doesn't poke fun at my accident prone girlfriend who can't do her job. "

By the end of his speech his face was a bright shade of red and his eyes were wild. I felt like I had been punched in the stomach. I mean, I had wondered if he felt this way, but I was never sure, and I certainly didn't expect him to tell me. As I struggled to find something to say to that statement, the realization of what he had just said hit him. His hand reached out to touch my face, but I jerked away. I couldn't do this right now. I couldn't be here and for God's sake I couldn't cry in front of all of them. I was enough of an embarrassment.

Tilting me head upwards, I willed all of the tears to flow back into my tear ducts and I stiffly nodded to Joe and turned away. I had every intention of walking back to the apartment, anything to get away from these people. His hurried footsteps caught up with me and he sighed when I didn't turn to look at him.

"Steph, I didn't mean it. You know I didn't mean it. I love you, Cupcake. I just worry about you. "

I let go of a sigh I had been holding then turned to face him again. He seemed like he really didn't mean it. Maybe it was just his anger coming out again.

"Okay. I'm sorry about the guys at the station, Joe. "

"Don't worry about it, I can handle them. What are you doing tonight? You wanna grab Pino's and catch the game?"

After the day I've had? Not really.

"Not tonight, Joe. I've had the day from hell, and all I want is to go to bed and pretend this day never happened."

"C'mon cupcake, the boys really miss you. Come spent the night and we can call it even on this whole embarrassment thing."

Whoa buddy, I KNOW he did not just go there.

"Excuse me? You're not seriously implying that I should come over and have sex with you to make up for whatever embarrassment I might have caused."

"Steph-"

"And to think, I was feeling sorry for you! I was upset that my work had a backlash on you! And now, you want to exploit that feeling so you can get laid? You're out of your mind! Fuck you and your boys!"

God, when it rains, it pours. Could this day get ANY worse?

I threw him a withering look then slipped off my heels and started my walk home. After 10 minutes of angry thoughts and fast-walking, a black Bronco pulled up next to the sidewalk, driving along beside me.

I shrugged my shoulder bag up higher on my shoulder and quickened my pace. All I wanted to do was get home. The passenger window rolled down, and an amused voice drifted out of the truck's interior.

"Babe, get in the truck."

I turned and looked at him while trying to decide if I was going to give up my "I hate men" anger and get in the car, or prove my point and walk home in protest. His lips tugged into a small smirk at my indecision.

"Babe."

I finally decided that I could always protest tomorrow, and the concrete was killing my feet, so I threw my heels through the open window, and then climbed into the truck. Batman had apparently turned off his mood radar today because he launched into questioning as soon as I got settled in.

"Do know who did it?"

"It was Samuelson. I was chasing him down the back alley in Jackson Street. I lost him after about 2 minutes, so I gave up and headed back to my car, only to find it in flames. The fire department said it was started by a Molotov cocktail in the front seat. Where he got one is beyond me. How does this always happen to me?"

His amused smile slipped away and his face went blank and I knew I probably wasn't going to like what he said next.

"Stephanie, I want you to take one of the men with you when you go after Samuelson again. This FTA seems a little more dangerous than most of your others."

I felt the anger bubble up as I recalled the conversation from not even an hour prior.

Why does no one think I can do this?

"I can catch him, Ranger. I don't need one of your men."

"Babe, the guy set fire to your car. He's an arsonist. One of the guys will be here in the morning, and stay with you all day."

"Why can't anyone believe that maybe, just maybe, I actually know what I'm doing? God Ranger, I thought that you, of all people, would understand that! Pull over."

His blank face stayed put as he drove the rest of the distance to my apartment, ignoring my demands for him to stop. When he pulled into the lot, I briskly opened the door and slammed it shut and made my way up to my apartment. As I unlocked the door, I prayed that the crazies understood that I had a shitty day and needed to be left alone tonight. I surveyed the room and relaxed when I knew that I was alone.

Since when did everyone think that I was so incompetent? I wasn't the best bounty hunter, but I always got my man! I spent hours running through the events of the day. The fight with Joe, the fight with Ranger and the horrible message my mother left on my machine, asking what she had done to deserve such a daughter. Why should I even stay here anymore. No one thinks I can do my job, my mother wishes I was a normal daughter, Joe wants to use me, and Ranger bleeds money every time I get a new crazy. I tossed and turned the rest of the night, trying to decide what I wanted to do, how I wanted to proceed with life.

By 6:30 a.m. I was exhausted and irritated and my sadness had turned to anger. I had finally come to a conclusion though.

If I don't belong here, then I'll find somewhere where I do.

END FLASHBACK

The announcement of our arrival at Newark Airport jolted me out of my day dream. I hurried to get my wits about me then reached up to grab my carry on from the overhead bin. I guess it was time to head back to the real world. This time would be different though. I had learned to take care of myself, and I would show them all that I was no longer that weak Stephanie Plum. I was a fully trained, competent, capable woman, and I would show them all. It was the least I could do to honor my father.

**This is a bit of a filler chapter, just to set the background. We'll pick back up on the storyline next chapter. Thanks for reading!***