Joe's POV

Steph cried herself to sleep a little while after I'd broken the news to her about her apartment. I just laid there thinking, with my arms wrapped around her neck. I have to do something about this. I have to figure out why they are after Steph for absolutely no good reason.

"Joe?" I noticed that Steph had just woken up and her voice sounded slightly husky as she started to wake up more. As she fully woke up her face changed and I realised she remembered what had taken place about an hour earlier.

"I'm here"

"It wasn't a dream was it?" Her face looked sad and crestfallen.

"No cupcake it wasn't" I pulled her body close to mine in case tears started to fall again. "I'm going to figure this out, I promise... But I really don't think you should be chasing FTA's right now" I said the last past cautiously in case she started getting angry.

"OK... I'll go shopping with Lula"

Whoa that was too easy. I quickly looked at her to make sure she was telling the truth.

"But I want you to take me to my apartment first" She'd sat up now and was looking at me with determination on her face.

"It's still a crime scene"

"I know... that's why I want you to take me because I know you'll be able to get me in"

I was pretty unsure about taking Steph to her apartment, it was going to be pretty messed up if a fire bomb hit it; I didn't know if she could handle the stress all over again.

"Come on Joe, please I have to see what happened"

There was no way I could turn down her beautiful face when she looked so god damn determined to get what she wanted and besides that would be suicide anyway.

"OK... ok, I'll take you but first you let me make you breakfast in bed"

I quickly kissed her on the lips before she could object and rushed downstairs to turn the frypan on.

Steph's POV

I think I've just worked out what that feeling is.

"Christ I love him! I really, really love him"

Joe's POV

"Cupcake! Breakfast is ready"

I looked at the table; I'd set it up perfectly, well at least I'd hoped so; I was just trying to make her day a little better. I saw her come down the stairs and happily saw her face light up when she saw the table all set up for breakfast.

"Your breakfast mademoiselle" I smiled, took a deep bow and pulled her chair out for her when she got down the stairs.

Steph laughed. "Why, thank monsieur" and sat down.

After breakfast we both sat in the car on the way to Steph's apartment in silence. I guess we were both just really nervous about what we were going to see. It took us about 10 minutes before we finally pulled into the carpark of Steph's building. Still it was silent, until Steph drew in a sharp breath and swore. Her apartment was on the outside facing the carpark, but it no longer resembled a room. Now it just looked like a smouldering mess. There was still smoke billowing from the ash windows. I knew that whatever had still been in the apartment would now just be smoking memories. Luckily, the fire had been pretty much contained to just the one apartment and no one else was hurt.

"Steph, are you going to be alright?" I was really concerned but I tried to not show it all, because she usually pulled away when I gave too much.

"Yeah I'm just going to go over and talk to my neighbours at little bit ok?" Her voice was slightly shaky and her face looked pale.

"Yeah, I just have to have a quick word to Morteine, then I'll take you wherever you want to go" I smiled reassuringly and she gave me a small smile back, before she turned and walked away.

I painfully drew myself away and searched the hectic carpark for Agent Morteine. Finally I found him standing next to a cop car talking into a radio. He waved when he saw me approach.

"What's the status?" I asked once I got to him.

"Well... obviously it was lit deliberately. We think that it was designed only to send a message not to kill, which is at least some good news. The team back at the FBI thinks that Steph must have something they want, because we can think of no other reason why they would be targeting her this much"

"Yeah but I have no idea what it could be"

I was just trying to think of something when I heard Steph scream.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE? YOU SLIMY PIECE OF SCUM!!"

I spun around quickly to see her standing face to face with Dickie Orr. I couldn't help but agree with Steph about what she'd just screamed. It was pretty much Dickie's fault that Steph was so reluctant to settle down, after he betrayed her so badly.

I ran over to her and stood next to her protectively.

Dickie sneered at me when I arrived. "Maybe you can talk some sense into the bitch, Morelli"

"How about you tell me what want before I escort you out of here in hand cuffs" I said trying to remain calm.

Steph on the other hand was not bothering. "Or... I could just beat the shit out him?" She said looking at me hopefully.

I laughed because she looked fully serious and Dickie knew it.

Dickie was looking nervous now. "Look Steph, I just need you to come and access the safety deposit box with me"

"What?" Steph was looking just about as confused as I was.

Something is not right here. Why does Dickie look so scared? And why does he need to Steph to access the box as well?

"What do you want with Steph?... and Dickie if you haven't noticed this isn't exactly the best time to be asking stupid questions, there happens to be a psycho on the loose"

When he didn't say anything something suddenly clicked in my mind.

"Shit! You've got something to do with this don't you?" Now I was really angry! This asshole was once again screwing with Steph's life.

Steph looked beyond pissed. "WHAT THE HELL HAVE YOU GOTTEN ME INTO YOU IDIOT?"

"Shut the hell up you idiots! You don't know who you're dealing with!" Dickie looked scared shitless now. He was constantly looking around.

I was just about to cuff the bastard when there were some sudden movements in the bushes behind him and someone opened fire.

In the confusion I forgot all about Dickie and set my mind on protecting Steph.

"STEPH! GET ON THE GROUND" I grabbed her and pulled her down practically underneath me, so I could protect her from any bullets that might be heading her way.

Almost as quickly as the gunfire had started, it stopped. Thankfully no one had been injured, once again, which further added to our story that they were just trying to scare Steph, not actually kill her... yet.

"Are you alright?" I whispered quietly in her ear.

Her face was deathly pale. "Hey, Steph... please you're going to be alright" I held her tightly on the shoulders, trying to make sure she didn't faint.

"Please... look at me"

"I...I...thi...think..." She tried to speak, but all she could do was cry. I hugged her right to my heart, which was beating so hard I thought it might stop at any minute.

After a few minutes she pulled away slightly and lent up and kissed me lightly. "I think I'm ok"

I felt my heart slow down ever so slightly.

She looked around suddenly, "Crap the bastard's gone!" she exclaimed.

"I definitely think Dickie has something to do with this"

"I knew something was off when he came to see me the other day."

"What did he want?" I asked, a bit more harshly then I'd intended. You should have to told me.

"I don't know really, something about a safety deposit box."

I stared at her blankly.

"It's a high security bank deposit box that I had put in both mine and Dickie's name when we were still married. I completely forgot about it during the divorce and he never brought it up so it was left alone. I'm guessing I wasn't supposed to know about it."

"Why didn't you say something earlier?"

"Because I didn't think anything of it" Steph said with agitation.

I could see she was getting annoyed now, I guess she has every right to.

"Ok, it doesn't matter now; we'll talk about this later. Do you want me to take you home?" I put my arms around her next to comfort her.

"My home is gone!" Her voice was high and shrill.

Ouch.

The hurt I felt must have shown on my face because she said, "Oh, Joe I'm sorry I didn't mean that... It's just; that was my apartment." She pulled me back into a hug.

"Come on lets go" Steph said.