Rating for language and smut, I don't own them, will return them, etc.
…
She parked her car in Joe's driveway. It was after six - she had procrastinated and decided to wait until he was off work instead of doing this at the PD. Now he was inside, waiting for her. She dropped her house key onto the table inside the front door when she walked in. It wouldn't be used again - at least, not by her. The envelope of pictures felt heavy in her hand.
Strains of a hockey game were coming form the living room, so she headed in that direction. Joe was sitting on the couch, with Bob beside him, greedily licking Joe's hand.
He turned and caught sight of her. "Hey, Cupcake. Wanna beer?"
She didn't respond, but walked toward him. "How was your night?" she said. Some of the pictures had been from earlier the night before, some older.
"It was okay," Joe said. "I missed you."
"Really?"
"How was your night?" he said, missing her sarcasm.
The thought crossed her mind to pull her hair aside so he could see a string of bite marks, but she dismissed it as juvenile. Suddenly, she was exhausted. There had been so many fights with Joe over the years that she just didn't have the energy to do so again. And somewhere around the time Ranger had walked out of her apartment, she had stopped thinking about revenge.
"It was fine," she said. She walked upstairs and into the bedroom - a half-full laundry basket sat beside a chair. She grabbed the few clothes articles that were in his drawers and everything she had in the bathroom and dropped them into the basket. The basket she set at the top of the stairs, and then she did a quick check for anything she had forgotten. This would be the last time she was in these rooms, but as she glanced around, she couldn't find an ounce of regret for that fact.
The questions and doubts swirling through her brain - more about Ranger than Joe - were muddling her mind and her decisions. Why did she do it? What would happen next? What the hell had she been thinking? And on and on they went. The energy she could usually muster for a good screaming match with Joe was dedicated to analyzing every word Ranger had said that morning and trying to assign it a new meaning.
Carrying the basket, she made it down the steps, through the living room, and to the front door before Joe noticed. Her face flushed in anticipation and she took a deep breath, trying to prepare for a confrontation she knew was unavoidable.
"Going to your mom's?" he said. "I have some laundry too if you want to take it with you."
"No, I'm going home." She said it as evenly as possible. Her fingers were trembling and her heart was pounding. Just let me escape, she thought. Let's just be done with this whole charade.
"Home? What the--"
The pictures were on top of the laundry basket. She simply handed the envelope to him and walked out the door. As she closed it behind her, she could hear muffled cursing from inside, and then the sound of something shattering. Still walking sedately, she loaded the laundry basket in the back seat.
"Stephanie," Joe yelled, rushing down the sidewalk toward her.
Without responding, she opened the driver's side door.
"Wait!"
She was halfway in the car when he reached her. His hand closed around her upper arm and hauled her back out of the car. "Steph, come on. Let's talk about this."
His hold wasn't painful, but it was secure. She tried to yank her arm free, but couldn't. "Let go of me." She pulled again, but to no avail.
"Just listen--"
"No! There's nothing left for us to say to each other, Joe. It's over. We're done. Move on."
"Come on, Steph," he said, "Don't leave it like this. Come back inside and let's talk."
"Talk about what? How you fucked Terry? I don't need details, Joe. The pictures were bad enough. You swore there was nothing going on."
"Yeah, like there was nothing going on between you and Ranger? I'm not dumb, Stephanie."
"And I'm not going to stay with someone who cheats on me!"
Joe sighed and ran his hands through hair. She absently noted that it needed a cut before she remembered that it didn't matter anymore what she thought.
"It's not what it looked like," he said. "We were working. I didn't--"
"You didn't fuck her? Because you were definitely fucking her in the pictures I saw."
"And you think pictures can't be doctored? Think Stephanie!"
She rolled her eyes. "Ranger did not doctor those pictures."
Joe gave a harsh, guttural laugh. "Oh, that's rich. I see what happened. He showed up with an envelope of pictures and said 'bad news, babe, but Joe's fucking Terry. Let me comfort you'."
She crossed her arms over her chest - her toe was tapping on the ground - and gave him a smug smile. "Bad news, Cupcake. Ranger didn't take the pictures."
His face blanched. "Then who did?"
"Does it matter? It's over Joe. We both know it. Just let it go."
He grabbed her arm and pulled her toward him. "Steph, don't--"
"Let her go."
They both flipped around to see that Ranger had materialized in the driveway and was standing a foot away. His eyes were cold and black and terrifying. They were focused entirely on Joe.
Joe's face turned a bit red, but he un-flexed his fingers from around her arm and took a step backward.
Steph scowled at Ranger. "He wasn't hurting me. I have this under control." She glanced around, finally noticing the pile of neighbors who had come outside to watch. "Did you follow me?" she said to him, under her breath.
"Police scanner."
"Christ," Joe said.
Steph rolled her eyes and turned back to Joe. "The pictures were not doctored, Joe. Are you seriously going to keep lying to me and tell me that you're not sleeping with her?"
Joe scrubbed his hands over his face before he spoke - his voice was calm now, his eyes pleading with her. "I'm not lying. Are you really going to take his word over mine?"
She cringed, guilt swamping her at her instinctive answer to that question. But there was a simple truth at play here. Ranger had never lied to her; Joe had never stopped.
Both men were staring at her, waiting for her answer, and clearly neither was happy with the speed at which her answer was coming. Joe was obviously angry - red face, tight fists at his side, the vein in his neck straining. Ranger looked calm, but she could feel the tension radiating off of him. Great.
She turned back to Joe. "Yeah, I'm trusting him over you. We're done." Without glancing around at all the neighbors who had come outside to watch, or at Ranger who she knew was still staring her down, she climbed in her car and drove off. A moment later, a black Ford pickup appeared in her rear-view mirror.
He stopped beside her when they reached her parking lot and climbed out of the truck. She watched him walk toward her car, all hard angles and cocky male swagger. She had a sudden image of him dropping his palms onto .45's at his hip and drawling 'y'all right ma'am?' just like John Wayne.
Instead, his palm dropped onto the top of the car with a heavy thud and he leaned down so that they were eye to eye through the glass window. His face didn't give away his tension, but the usual warmth in his expression when he looked at her was gone, making his eyes harder, the lines of his face sharper. He didn't look upset - it was more that he didn't look anything at all.
With a deep breath, she opened the door. He pulled it towards him, so that when she stood, the car door was between them.
"Don't start" she said before he could say anything.
"I didn't doctor those pictures," he said. His voice was toneless too.
"I know that! I didn't think for a second that you had. Besides, if you had really wanted me in bed you wouldn't have had to fake pictures to do it." She realized what she had just said when the look on Ranger's face softened into a predatory smile and the set of his shoulders relaxed. She gave herself a mental smack to the forehead.
"If I remember right," he said, his voice low, "You jumped me."
She could feel her cheeks heating up. "I was under duress." She ignored his low chuckle and closed her eyes against the feel of his fingers coming up and brushing her cheek.
"Regrets?" he said, his voice infinitely tender.
"No." And it was true. It had been a mistake. A huge mistake. A whopper. The little voice in her head saying that this wasn't the first time she'd made this colossal of a mistake didn't really help anything. Still, she couldn't bring herself to regret it.
But she also couldn't look up at him. If she did, she would be lost in those dark eyes. Whether she wanted to be or not, she was the kind of woman who valued commitment, and she wouldn't settle for less. Not even for Ranger.
He didn't want her, she knew that; still, she had slept with him again. And all it had managed to accomplish was cementing in her heart just how much she loved him - and that they would never be together. She kept her eyes averted, hoping he wouldn't be able to read her misery, or how badly her heart ached. God she wanted him. But then she'd be even more of an idiot than she was now. His hand came up to cup her cheek. Forcibly, she stopped herself from leaning into his touch.
She inched her eyes upward until they met his. He was staring at her with an intense, but unreadable, expression. His fingers were resting lightly against her jaw. "I'll walk you up," he said.
She took a quick step backward and hoped her voice wasn't shaking as badly as the rest of her. "No, that's okay. No stalkers. I'm fine."
His lips looked like they were thinking about tilting upward. He closed the distance she had put between them and touched her cheek again. "You sure?"
She knew what he was asking. His expression, his posture, all of it spoke of man ready to devour the woman in front of him. But she had no intention of letting that happen again, no matter how good he was at it, or how he made her feel. She dropped her eyes. "I'm sure," she mumbled, and she took off toward her apartment and safety.
…
Ranger watched her duck away before walking back to his car. As much as he would have loved to follow her upstairs and lose himself in that perfect body, it was just as well that she said no. Better.
Over the years, the memory of their one night together had faded. The way she tasted, the scent of her skin, the way her body moved beneath his - the individual tantalizing pieces had congealed into a warm memory.
But now, he had touched her again. Every feel, every taste, every movement had now been etched back onto his mind like a brand, and he wondered if he'd be able to erase it quite so easily this time around. Probably, he should have never touched her.
Probably, the fact that he couldn't shake her, couldn't erase her from his memory as he'd been able to do with so many other faceless women over the years, meant that loved her, but he was still trying to deny it. Normally, he demanded honesty, from the men around him and most of all from himself. But in this one instance, he could do denial almost as good as Steph.
He started the car, and with only a glance up at her window, he drove away.
He didn't like how much he wanted her. It was bordering on needing her. That would be unacceptable. He needed to go to Miami soon - do some clean up work at that office. Maybe now would be as good a time as any. Give them both some separation from this newest change to the nature of their relationship. Give them both a chance to regroup. To forget.
He kept telling himself that was possible.
…
Weeks later, Steph was sitting on the couch in the bond's office when he walked in. Her heart flipped over in her chest and her breath snagged.
"Babe," he said, giving her an easy smile. A smile that said her world hadn't just been tumbled on its end.
It had been three weeks since 'that night,' as she had taken to calling it. One week since she had found out she was pregnant. "Hey," she said.
She watched as he went through his normal routine. He stuck his head in Vinnie's office and told him he was back, he asked Connie for his files. The whole time she was watching him, waiting for him to turn to her and notice everything that had changed since he left.
"I want to talk to you," he said to her. He motioned toward the door with his head. "Outside."
Her stomach in her throat, she followed him. He tugged her into the shadows in the alley and ran a hand through her hair, tucking the strands behind her ear. An easy smile graced his lips. "Babe. How are you?"
She stared up at him. "Fine. How are you?" Coward! a voice in her head yelled. But what was she going to do - tell him? It was too new; it was her secret. She'd tell him later.
"Good," he said.
She thought for a second that he was going to kiss her, but he didn't. He took a step back and dropped his hand from her hair.
"How long are you back in town?"
"For a while. I've been at the Miami office. I need to keep going back and forth between the two for a while. Get some things straightened out."
She nodded. That would make it easier to keep her secret. But she couldn't do apprehensions while she was pregnant. Even she didn't consider herself that invincible. "Um, I was wondering if maybe I could come work for RangeMan again."
He raised an eyebrow. "Research or field work?"
"Research." She laughed and hoped it didn't sound as awkward as it felt. "I don't think I'm cut out for field work with you guys."
"Bounty hunting slow?"
She nodded.
"When did you want to start?"
"Um, tomorrow?"
He stared at her for another minute. "Sure. You know the hours and the uniform."
"Thanks," she said, almost sagging in relief. She knew she should tell him, but she couldn't bring herself to do it yet. When he had left, three weeks ago, she had shuffled around under a cloud. She hadn't known where he had gone or why or if he was coming back.
Stories of Joe's infidelity had circulated, yet she didn't have the energy to seek revenge; her mother bemoaned her state as a spinster; and her job had been enough to make her feel like she was standing on a ledge and staring at the bottom. Daily, she calculated the distance she would have to fall before finding freedom.
But then she had found out she was pregnant. She rested a hand on her belly without even realizing she was doing it. The terror she had expected. The instant joy had been a surprise. Her own response was so new, so fragile, that she couldn't handle dealing with Ranger's response as well.
"You sure you're okay, babe?" he said.
Her eyes snapped back to his face and she dropped her hand from her stomach. "Yeah. I'm fine."
"I'll see you in the morning?"
She nodded. "Yeah. Thanks."
…
Ranger got Steph settled at her desk before walking back to his office. He glanced at her again via the monitor on his desk. Something was up with her, but he had no idea what. He stopped himself from going over there and demanding that she tell him.
He had spent three weeks trying to escape her memory.
It hadn't worked.
Tank stuck his head in the door. "You still want in on the Michael's take down?"
"No. I need to head back to Miami."
Tank raised an eyebrow. "I thought you were staying until the end of the week."
Ranger glanced back at Steph's image in the monitor. She was chewing on her bottom lip and tapping her nails on the desk. "Turns out I need to go sooner," he said. He couldn't stay. She was his one weakness, and three weeks away hadn't exorcised her from his mind. For both their sakes, he needed to stay as far away from Stephanie Plum as he could, until he could get his desire for her back under control. His last thought as he walked out of the Trenton office was that he never should have touched her.
…
Please please review! If there's not many reviews, I start thinking that the whole thing sucks, so then I start making all these changes, and that just slows down how fast the next chapter comes…. So if you like it, let me know! Thanks for reading :)