Disclaimer: See ch. 1

Spoilers: Through 14

A/N: Thanks for all the great reviews! Since I got such a great response, I've decided I won't leave you hanging any longer. A little bit of my favorite Rangeman in this chapter (besides the Rangeman, of course)! Yay! I feel I must remind everyone that this story is NOT Cupcake friendly, I will have no complaints after you read this chapter, you've been warned. Longest chapter yet, enjoy!


Lester pulled me out of my car as soon as I parked in my lot.

"What is it, beautiful?" He asked, taking in my tear-streaked face.

I shook my head and let him drag me up the stairs to my apartment.

"Should I call Ranger?"

I sniffled a few times and was able to give him a vehement, "No!"

He watched me carefully as I went to the kitchen and grabbed my last Tastykake from the cabinet. I blew my nose and wiped my eyes, then bit into the cake.

"He's the cause of this, isn't he?" Lester asked after a moment.

I looked up. I'd almost forgotten he was here. Well, Ranger had said he'd have a man on me. I was surprised Lester hadn't seen me dash from Ranger's car back at the bonds office.

"He called me after you left the office and told me to find you on the GPS," Lester answered. Rangeman ESP.

I felt half a moment of disbelief that Ranger had sent Lester to do his dirty work before Les spoke.

"What did my cousin do to you, Stephanie?"

"Cousin?" I gasped. "Ranger is your cousin?"

He nodded. "My mom and his mom are sisters. He never told you?"

I shook my head and walked over to the couch. Lester sat next to me.

"Ranger doesn't tell me much."

Lester's laugh was nice after my crying jag. I leaned a little closer to him, absorbing his warmth. I just felt so cold, like my broken heart wasn't pumping blood to the rest of my body anymore.

"Oh, I know that's not true," Lester said. "Ranger tells you more than he tells anyone." He glanced down at me, then he grabbed the throw from the back of the couch and wrapped it around me, keeping his arm around my shoulders. "You know about Julie and Rachel."

I snorted. "Barely."

"Not much else to tell, Bombshell. It was a one time mistake and Ranger dealt with it in the only way he knew how, he married the girl."

I glanced up into his dark chocolate eyes, so much like Ranger's now that I had the connection. "Why do you call him Ranger? I always expected his family to call him Carlos."

Lester laughed gently. "They do. And I call him Carlos when we're with family." He was quiet for several moments, deep in thought.

I closed my eyes.

"He earned the name Ranger," Lester said after awhile. "He was a Ranger for almost six years. Youngest Ranger in a real long time. He was a damn fine Captain."

I opened my eyes and glanced up at him. "You were in the army with him?"

Les nodded. "I joined up a couple of years after him when I got out of school. I became a Ranger two years before he got out. Tank was there too, and Bobby."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Another guy we served with, Tommy, runs Rangeman Boston." He ran his hand up and down my arm, rubbing warmth back into it. I was actually feeling a little better. Lester was good company.

"Who runs Miami?" I asked to distract myself some more.

"Ranger's brother, Mario. We had an outside guy running Atlanta, but Ranger wanted to focus more on the other three, so he sold out last year."

"Ranger's brother's name is Mario?" I asked, tucking my head closer to Lester's side. I was finally able to relax. The sniffles and the shaking had stopped completely now.

"Yeah. Didn't he tell you about the family?"

I shrugged. "I know about Celia, that's about it."

Les chuckled. "Ceels. Helluva woman. She's second oldest. She's always on Ranger's case to find a girl. She wants to see him happy."

"Can you tell me about the rest of your family?" I asked. "Do you think Ranger would mind?"

Lester seemed to think on it for a moment. "You know what? I don't care if he does. They're my family, too. I can tell you if I want to."

"I don't want to cause a fight," I said, raising my head to look at him.

He tucked me back into his side. "Don't worry about it, beautiful. Now, where to start? I'm an only child," he told me, "so I spent a lot of time over at Tía Concha's house. That's Ranger's mother, Conseula, Concha for short."

I nodded for him to go on.

"Ranger's dad is Ricardo. That's why Ranger goes by Carlos. He's the oldest, Ranger is, so he was named after his dad."

I nodded. I'd known that much.

"Then, like I said, there's Celia. After her is Liliana. She and I are the same age."

I peeked up at him.

"Twenty-seven," he told me with a smile. "Mario is next, then Elisa, and Rosita, the baby."

"The baby?" I asked.

"Well." He shrugged. "She's twenty-one, so not really a baby anymore, but…"

"Ranger said you guys grew up in Miami?"

"Yeah. We lived right down the street from each other."

"How did you end up back here?" I asked.

"Ranger's family moved back when Abuelo got sick. Abuela needed the help and Tía Concha wanted to be close. My dad had a steady business down in Miami so we stayed. When I got out of high school I joined the service. I never got proof, but I'm pretty sure Ranger pulled some strings to get me into his unit."

"Sounds like something Ranger would do," I muttered.

Lester laughed.

"Yeah. Anyway, we got real close to Bobby and Tank and Tommy while we were over there, learned to watch each other's backs, to trust each other with our lives. When Ranger got out and decided to start up Rangeman, we all jumped at the opportunity. What else were we going to do? The only kind of training we had was from the army. At first it was just Tank and Ranger, that's why Tank's second in command. The rest of us joined a year later when we got out. The company grew quickly and in a year we had the Miami and Boston offices. Atlanta came a year after that."

"If Tank's second," I said. "Who's third?"

Lester laughed softly and ruffled my hair. "I am, bombshell."

I nodded.

"Does that curb your curiosity for today?"

"For today," I said.

"Good."

"Thanks, Les. For helping me get to know him. And for distracting me."

He kissed me on the top of the head and moved off the couch. "Anytime, beautiful. That cousin of mine better watch himself, or I might just move in on him."

I swallowed hard. "Ranger doesn't want me. He has…"

Lester laughed loudly. "Right, bombshell, and I'm Catwoman." He waved and let himself out of my apartment.


An hour later my cell phone rang.

"Stephanie?" My mother said. "You have to come over here, right now. Your grandmother is…she's…"

"Tell her I need the Buick," I heard my grandmother yell in the background.

"Mother, really…"

"Liam's going to drive," Grandma said. "Don't fret, Helen."

"I'll be right over," I told my mom. Anything to distract me from my problems.

My mother was waiting for me at the door when I pulled up.

"Oh, good, you're here. You have to do something." I followed her into the living room where Grandma was sitting on Liam's lap. Holy crow.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"We're getting hitched," Grandma said with a huge grin. Her teeth looked like they might pop out of her mouth. Mom looked like she was about to faint.

"They're going to Atlantic City," my mom gasped. I forced her down into a chair and nodded for her to continue. "They say they're going to get married. Oh heaven, what will the neighbors think? No wedding, just running off to…"

"Maybe they'll think he knocked me up," Grandma said, waggling her eyebrows.

My mom's eyes rolled back in her head and she slumped back in the chair.

Dad peered over from the recliner. "She okay?"

"Yeah, dad, she's fine, just a little overwhelmed."

He nodded and went back to his television show.

I looked over at Grandma and Liam looking cozy and sickeningly happy on the sofa. "You really want to get married?" I asked them.

Grandma nodded.

"I love your Grannie, sweetie. I want to spend the rest of my life with her," Liam said earnestly.

"He's got his own house," my dad said without looking away from the TV.

I sighed. I fished the keys to Big Blue out of my purse and tossed them to Liam.

"You've got a license, right?"

He nodded.

"Good. Then go. I'll take care of mom."

Grandma hopped off of Liam so quickly that I thought she was going to hurt herself. She threw her bony arms around my waist and squeezed.

"Thanks, kid." She looked up at me and winked. "You know you're my favorite, right?"

I laughed and squeezed her back. "I know, Grandma. Congratulations."

Liam took Grandma from me and leaned over to kiss me on the head.

"You guys be careful," I told them at the door.

"We will," Grandma promised. "And while we're gone, maybe you should do something about getting that Bounty Hunter with the nice package. I really liked him, you know."

I nodded, tears pricking the backs of my eyelids, and watched them drive off in Big Blue. I really liked him too, Grandma.

Mom was coming around when I got back into the house.

"Where did…who…what…"

"They left," I told her.

She gasped and jumped up from the chair, only to fall back into it.

"Listen to me, mom." I crouched down in front of her and caught her eyes. "Grandma is a grown woman….very grown… Anyway, you can see that they love each other," I said quietly. "It's in their eyes. I think they know what they're doing, mom."

She was about to reply when my cell phone rang, the Batman theme song. I closed my eyes and reached into my purse for my phone. He'd found out about Lester's story telling. He was sending me away to Turkmenistan. Or, no, he really was a Man in Black and he was going to use his memory thingy on me.

"Yo," I said into the phone.

"Babe."

I stood up and walked into the kitchen and out the back door.

"What's up, Ranger?"

He was quiet for a long moment. This wasn't about Lester. This was something Ranger thought was much more serious.

"Who is she?" I asked, proud that my voice only cracked once.

"Babe."

"Ranger."

"Where are you?"

I ran a shaky hand back through my hair. "I'm at my parents'."

"I'll pick you up in five," he told me, then he disconnected.

I shut my phone and shoved it in my pocket. I couldn't even work up a good eye roll. I walked into the living room and found my mom and dad sitting together on the couch. They looked up as I entered the room.

"Are you going to be okay?" I asked my mom.

She nodded slowly. "Yes, yes I think so."

"Good," I said. "Because I have to go."

"You need a ride, honey?" Dad asked me, starting to get up.

"No, dad," I assured him. "Ranger's coming." I thought about it for a moment, then decided I might as well get it over with now. "I'm breaking up with Joe tonight."

My mother opened her mouth to speak, but I cut her off. "I'm not arguing about this, mom. You're going to have to trust me. I'll call tomorrow and explain." And I would, I realized. I wasn't going to avoid my family this time, I wanted them to hear the story straight from me, not from Mrs. Morkowitz's daughter's husband's mistress's hairdresser's handyman.

I bid them goodnight and stepped outside just in time to see the Cayenne glide to a stop in front of the house.

"Do you have a schedule drawn up on which car you're going to drive on which days?" I asked as I climbed into the vehicle. I was trying to lighten the mood but Ranger wasn't having it.

"Where do you want to do this, Stephanie?"

"Not here," I said. "Just go park somewhere."

In the end, we parked at the back of the mall lot, empty spaces all around us. Ranger turned and reached into the back seat. He grabbed a manila colored envelope and set it on his lap.

"You sure you want to know, Steph?" He wasn't calling me 'babe'. Strangely enough, that made me more nervous than anything else.

I nodded.

He squeezed the little metal bracket things and opened the envelope. Then he reached in and pulled out a set of pictures. He handed them to me.

I glanced down and my heart stopped. Terry Gilman I could have handled. Hell, I probably could have gotten past Joyce Barnhardt. But this?

"I'm sorry, babe," I heard Ranger say but I was too focused on the pictures in my hand.

There was Joe, his back to the camera, and smushed up between him and the wall was Jeanne Ellen Burrows. Their lips were glued together, his hand was shoved unceremoniously up her shirt, and one of her immeasurably long legs was wrapped around his waist.

I threw the picture at Ranger and closed my eyes. I definitely did not need to see the rest.

"She was the only one," Ranger told me.

All I could do was nod. What was this feeling bubbling up inside my chest? I was hurt, oh yes, definitely hurt. We'd dated for three years, how dare he go out and fuck someone else? There was anger, loads and loads of anger. Guilt I hadn't expected, but there it was. Was it really any different than what I had with Ranger? The alley outside the bonds office could attest to just about what I'd seen in that picture. Mostly, though, I felt relief. It was horrible, but I was really glad to have this as a concrete excuse to end the relationship. I had been so afraid that if I was alone after the breakup I might get weak and go back to him again. There was no chance of that now.

"Why her?" I asked aloud. "He hates my job. Why would he want her?"

I could feel Ranger's eyes boring into me but he remained silent.

"It's because she's good at it," I answered myself. "She doesn't give him indigestion. He doesn't have to worry about her blowing up cars or getting gang raped." I blinked rapidly to hold back the tears. They weren't tears of sadness over losing Joe. I was crying because I was inferior, never good enough. I'd always be second rate.

I felt Ranger move, then his hand was under my chin, turning me to look at him. "You are good at it, Stephanie. What Burrows has is a learned skill: intimidation. She shoves her way in, grabs her man and shoves her way back out. You've got talent." His dark eyes had me pinned to the seat, I could barely breath for their intensity. "You've got more intuition, better instincts, more connections and resources, than any man or woman I've ever worked with."

I shivered as his eyes caressed me. "With a little bit of training, Stephanie, you could be ten times better then Burrows. Morelli is a fucking idiot."

I let my eyes fall closed and for a moment I leaned against Ranger's hand. Then I made myself pull away and look at him.

"The trade," I said. "It was me for Jeanne Ellen."

Ranger laughed once. "Jokes on him," he said. "Burrows hasn't been mine to trade for about four years now. If Morelli thought she was with me and screwing him on the side, he doesn't know me very well."

I turned away from him to look out the window. Okay, so Ranger wasn't seeing Jeanne Ellen Burrows…but Joe was. I could handle this…I think. But, then, I was sure Ranger was seeing someone. I shook my head. One catastrophe at a time, Plum.

"Will you drive me to his house?" I said quietly. Then I turned to look at him. His eyes were black and unreadable. "I could ask my dad if you don't want…"

"I'll do it."

He started the engine and drove out of the mall lot. We were parked in front of Morelli's house fifteen minutes later. I took a deep breath and turned to Ranger. His face was unreadable in the fading light.

"Do you want me to wait?" He asked, his voice low and even.

All I could do was blink at him. It wasn't even ESP this time because I hadn't been aware that's what I wanted until he'd asked. I nodded.

"Would you?"

"Of course."

I wanted him to call me 'babe'. I wanted him to smile and tell me to 'go get 'em, tiger'. I wanted to forget about his other woman and climb into his arms and just stay there forever. Instead, I turned away from him and got out of the car.

All the way up the walk I wondered what I was going to do if Jeanne Ellen was in there now. I'd probably smack her in the face and she'd flick me across the room like a gnat. At least Ranger was here to take me to the hospital.

My fears were unfounded. Joe answered the door alone, completely dressed, and looking like he'd been expecting me. His eyes scanned the street, rested on Ranger's car for a moment, then flicked back to me.

"Come in, cupcake."

I almost told him not to call me 'cupcake', but I figured that could wait until after the confrontation.

He led me into the living room and took a seat on the couch.

"What's up, cupcake?" He sounded tired, resigned.

I decided just to jump right into it. "Did you think I wouldn't find out, Joe?"

He stared up at me, his mouth opening and closing like a fish. "Abou…about what?" He finally managed to sputter. It was pathetic.

"Don't bother lying, Joe. I've seen the pictures." I sat down in the armchair across from him. "Jeanne Ellen, Joe? Really?"

His face crumpled and he put his head in his hands. "I'm sorry, cupcake. I'm so sorry."

"Do not call me that," I ordered. "You've lost the right."

He picked his head up and his eyes narrowed. "Oh, I'm sorry, babe. Is that better? Is that what I should call you now? No, wait, that's what he calls you, isn't it?" He smiled, a twisting of his lips. It was almost a sneer.

"You were going to trade me to him? Me for her."

"I figured as long as he's getting the benefits, he might as well accept full responsibility for you. It was just luck that he had something I wanted in return."

I sucked in a breath.

"He doesn't have her. They haven't been together for years," I shouted. "It was a sick joke and you know it."

He smiled; an angry, sick impersonation of the Joe-smile I loved. "There was no way I was hiding it from him, not after he was already suspicious. The man has ways of finding out just about anything. I figured I might as well put it in terms he'd understand. You know, him being a mercenary and all."

I curled my hand up into a ball and reigned back on the urge to punch him in the eye. "Don't you dare bring him into this. This has nothing to do with him."

"Doesn't it?" Joe sneered. "Because I wasn't the first to cheat, Stephanie. You've been doing it with Manoso for awhile."

"I've never cheated on you with Ranger," I gasped.

"Don't you lie to me, Stephanie, because I've seen you. In the alley by the bonds office, at your apartment, hell, at a fucking crime scene. I know you slept with him when we were broken up. I don't know how many times, but I really would rather it stayed that way. I know he wasn't sleeping on the floor during the Scrog fiasco. I see the way you two look at each other; like you're hoping no one would notice if you suddenly tore each other's clothes off."

All I could do was stare at him. He was right. Every single thing he had said had been the truth. I looked down at my shoes.

"I'm sorry, Joe. I…I guess we've both known for awhile that we aren't meant to be. I can't even really blame you for the Jeanne Ellen thing. I just…" I looked up to find him watching me. "I just wish you'd told me it was over. You didn't need to hide her, Joe. You could have just told me and started a relationship with her. I would have understood."

"You could have done the same with Manoso," Joe said softly.

I laughed wryly. "Ranger doesn't do relationships. Besides, I'm pretty sure he's seeing someone else. Not that it's any of my business."

Joe sighed. "I'm sorry…"

He was interrupted by a loud crash from the backyard. We were both up and running to the kitchen. Joe threw open the back door and there was Ranger, on the ground wrestling with a man I didn't know.

Ranger did some crazy kick twist thing, and he was on top, pinning the other guy to the ground.

"What the hell is going on?" Joe shouted.

"Ask Stephanie's stalker," Ranger said.

"I was coming to console her," the guy cried in the voice from my answering machine. "She needs a man in her life."

I heard Ranger mutter something about 'too many men', then he rolled off the guy and hauled him to his feet.

"Stephanie," the guy said when he spotted me. "I'm so glad you came to your senses. He's a pig. Did you get it? A pig. That's what he is, so that's what I sent you. He doesn't deserve you."

The guy was tall and thin with wire-framed glasses and a mop of red hair.

"And who does?" I asked. "You?"

His eyes widened and he glanced from Ranger to Joe to me. "Well…I mean…"

Ranger's eyes found mine. "You done here?"

I looked back at Joe. Yeah, we were pretty done, alright.

"Yeah."

"Good," he said.

He handed the stalker off to Morelli and took my arm instead. "Then I'll leave that to you," he said, nodding from the stalker to Joe. "And we'll get out of the way."

I let Ranger tug me around the house and help me into the car.

"You okay?" He asked me once we were cocooned in the warm blackness. The light from the dashboard threw strange shadows over his face, making it harder than usual for me to read him.

"Yeah." I nodded. "Yeah, I'm good."

He started the car and pulled into the street. It wasn't until we were halfway to my apartment before I realized something.

"You didn't even hit him," I said to Ranger.

"Shit," Ranger said slamming his hand down on the steering wheel. "I knew there was something I forgot."

I looked over at him. He was smiling all 200 watts. Ranger humor.

"Babe, if I was going to beat the crap out of Morelli, I wouldn't do it with you there. If you don't see it, you can't prove I did it." He winked at me.

I found myself smiling right along with him.

"I've got to get to a job," he told me once he'd pulled into my lot. "You going to be okay alone tonight?"

I nodded. I had been half-hoping that he'd stay. But if he did, I'd never be able to get him out of my heart, and he wasn't mine to keep. Besides, the more distance we maintained at the moment, the less chance I'd break down and declare something I'd later regret. My mouth had already gotten me into enough trouble where Ranger was concerned. For once, I was glad that he was Mr. Mysterious; it seemed he was willing to forget that my tantrum earlier had even happened.

"I could always send Santos over for a bedtime story," he said with a slight grin.

I grimaced. "He told you?"

Ranger nodded.

"Are you mad?"

He turned to face me fully. "No, babe, I'm not mad. I trust you. I would have told you all of that myself if you'd asked."

I didn't believe that for a second, but I nodded anyway.

"Can we get breakfast tomorrow?" He asked. "I want to talk to you."

Translation: I want to tell you all about my new girl. Shit.

"Sure, is 9:00 okay?"

He nodded. "I'll pick you up."

"Goodnight, Ranger."

He leaned past me and opened my door. Then he brushed a kiss across my forehead.

"Night, babe."

I climbed out of the car and made my way up to my apartment. I went to the window and waved down at him, then watched him drive away.


A/N: looks sheepish Don't hate me! I think Ranger might make up for his stupidity in the next chapter...well, we can hope so anyway...

Let me know what you thought!