beep. beep. beep.
"uhhhhhhhh. Make it stop." I rolled over to shake Ranger . beep. beep. I was left feeling around a mass of empty sheets.

Ranger is not present yet his its-still-dark-out-I'm-a-sadist alarm remained. I slapped around my dresser trying to find the offending device, eventually giving up and turning on the light. beep. beep. beep.

"Where in the hell is this noise coming from? Hell? is this hell? Am I doomed to listen to this fucking noise for the rest of my god-" my tirade was cut short when I finally found my shiny new iphone 'about to be dead-phone', on the chair all the way across the room from my bed. Where I clearly did not leave it. As if on que a shrill, brand new phone ring tone pierced through my brain and i fumbled for a moment trying to push the receive call green button.

"Babe."

"What is this terrible morning? Why am I awake? Everything hurts." I could almost hear his not quite a smile type smile though my phone.

"Babe. You had me program a "bright and early productive human" alarm last night. It was your idea to put the phone on the chair, to "trick yourself out of bed"."

"Well then. It worked. But also, I'm a bit fuzzy on the why's here."

"There was a bottle of Wine involved." Oh right, the Wine.

Flashes of the previous evening played in my mind. Ranger showing up for Dinner with, well, with dinner and wine. And my need of liquid courage to get through our first date date. Which ended with me drunk, apparently.

"So...that striptease.." I crossed my fingers and threw a quick prayer to god to have let it be a Cabernet soaked dream.

"Happened." Damn. I inspected a Texas shaped bruise that started on my outer thigh and worked its purple magic up to my hip. Definitely happened and didn't go very well.

"I'll have you know that drunk me had very good intentions."

"She told me. I believe she said "This is a distraction from the weirdness of us being a couple now." shit. shit. shit.

"Drunk me seems to have some pretty loose lips." double shit. I face palmed and immediately winced at the touch. My head was throbbing.

"Babe." He was totally smiling now. "Nothing loose about you."

"On that note I'm going to go drown myself in the shower. I'll get at you later?"

"Babe." He clicked off before I could, per usual.

Now fully awake, albeit a little worse for wear, I took stock of my current predicament. I outed us as a couple to..us? Were we a couple? Was that a friendly date? A 'hey, we screw sometimes and now we can continue to do this more regularly and guilt free' type of date?

Oh god...that striptease. I remembered falling over into the door frame of my bedroom and onto the nightstand. And trying to convince a highly amused Ranger to come into bed with me. I didn't recall anything sexual taking place, which just made me cringe harder. Because I definitely tried very hard to facilitate it. I scrubbed my hands down my aching face. Two options faced me currently. One: go back to bed and wish this all away and hope for a back in time do over. Option Two: Get up, take a shower, have at least a gallon of coffee, leave in search of a greasy order of fries for my hangover cure, and go grab my one and only skip. Today, because Vinnie was starting to get pissy over it and I was so not for having that weasel on my case today.

Option two won, because I had really been trying to woman up a bit more when it came to my life and responsibilities. The first solid adult decision I made was finally breaking things off with Joe. It had been a sad, yet necessary discussion between us. It hadn't gone bad, really. We both knew we were holding onto something because of nostalgia and great sex. But alas, those thing did not a healthy relationship make.

The second decision had been to take proper training courses through Rangeman. It made me feel like less of a liability, stronger and more capable. Skip tracing was getting easier everyday, well the physical stuff anyway. I had already been pretty decent on tracking them down, in my opinion anyway.

When I felt a little less like death I turned the water off and towel dried my crazy curls, now tame from the water. I dabbed the still wet mess with mousse and tied the towel around myself to get my makeup done. Its probably just me, but having my makeup done before I have my first cup of coffee makes me feel like I really have my life together. Like wearing matching bra and panties or accessorizing. There was nothing to do about the hangover induced dark circles under my eyes, but a double layer of mascara helped in spades. I padded out barefoot to my kitchen to start coffee, and to my delight found a still warm pot waiting for me. There was also a Gatorade on the counter with a note ' drink this first please.'The gesture was absolutely melt worthy, but I needed the coffee first. The man didn't even eat doughnuts, what did he know?

The first sip chased away any still lingering negative thoughts Id had since waking up. Ranger loved me. Look he even made me coffee! I frowned and considered that perhaps my standards of love were still quite low after the years of Joe morelli. Joe was a good guy, I mused over my cup. For someone else. I rolled my shoulders back and considered that never again would I have to get into an argument over my bounty hunting and general lifestyle. The relief of knowing that weight was gone was extraordinary. Almost hangover curing. If I'd known how happy I would be cutting Joe loose I would have done it years ago instead of last month.

I drained the last of my cup and dutifully grabbed the Gatorade. I wasn't being subservient to a new master, I told myself, I've got gym time with Lester this afternoon. If Ranger thinks that a Gatorade would help, I'm more than willing to give it a shot. I went back into my room for my clothes, black cargoes and a black tank (what? Its comfy and I looked cool for pickups) and snagged some good running shoes. Upon inspection I decided I looked like I was trying way too hard and traded my cargoes out for some skinny jeans. They looked better with my converse anyway. So much for adult decisions. Oh well, Rome wasn't built in day.

I grabbed my gun belt off my dresser (much more adult like than a cookie jar) and strapped it on. I'd spent a lot of time in the range first with Cal, who was currently in the wind, and now with tank, who was in fact an excellent marksman. My shot had improved and so had my overall comfort with sporting a weapon. It was just another one of tools that insured my safety at my job. I dropped my keys in my purse and grabbed the Gatorade on my way out the door.

My car situation had really gone nowhere. I got a new one, something terrible happened to it, repeat. I'm not sure how I had stumbled upon such disastrous car karma or how to get rid of it. I mean, It had to end at some point. There were only so many cars a girl could comfortably destroy before giving up her love of driving. Right now I had a Rangeman SUV while I was scouting for a replacement to my recently deceased bronco. It had been a vintage number, but well kept. Until the wheels and engine had magically fallen off and disappeared down on Stark. Again. And that, friends, is why I liked to keep my price range for vehicles very, very low.

The SUV drove like a dream with no weird ticks or pulls or random brake sticks when I was in the middle of downtown afternoon traffic. I stopped and grabbed some fries at a drive thru on my way over to the south side to nab my skip. I could feel their greasy tried and true magic working and gulped the Gatorade down with them. I was feeling more like me when I turned down the street towards Ellen Wheys current residence.

When I saw flames, my greasy fry filled gut dropped. I knew before I even got close. Ellen Whey had been convicted for Arson in the past. She was ape shit crazy and had recently been arrested for torching her husbands camaro upon suspicions of him cheating, hence the bond. Suspicions that I knew, after running some cursory searches on both her and him, to be totally valid. And I'm betting Ellen also knew and decided to burn down their house. I pulled up as the firefighters where still trying to dowse the flame. I saw Ellen already in cuffs, being helped into the back of a cruiser.

"Well, fuck." I didn't get a check if someone else arrested her. "At Least Vinnie didn't lose the bond and can get off my back." I watched an EMS load up a black body bag into the back of an ambulance. "yeesh." Guess Mr. Mark Whey did not make it out in time. That knowledge coupled with the acrid smoke smell had my stomach churning, so I threw it in reverse and headed back to the bonds office to see if Connie had anything new for me.

She did in fact, have two new files waiting. One for Starr Trayna, a hooker down by stark that wasn't usually very difficult, and one for a Mr. Trace Lang. The name or picture didn't strike my memory so I put it aside for a later search and set off to find Starr.

I found her in an alcove between two apartment buildings, trying to beat the heat of the already scorching sun. Jersey in July is no joke, and it was usually the best time to bring in sex workers to get re-bonded so they could get back out in the evening. Starr was usually friendly enough, and wed gone and gotten coffee together in the past on the way back into the station. I rolled my window down and she jumped down gracefully, unfolding her long legs and sauntering over. Starr had been beautiful at one point, but had succumbed to the tough inner city streets. She flipped her dark hair in disappointment upon seeing me.

"Man, I thought one of those yummy soldier men were finally coming in for a treat. And instead I get your wild ass."

"Hey Starr, I need to get you re-bonded, you missed your court date."

She held up a hand before I could continue my spiel much farther. "Yeah, Yeah, I know. Can we stop for an ice cream or something first, Its already getting HOTTT in here."

I nodded, Ice cream sounded just great to me. "Supposed to get to 97 today."

"Whhhhew I will absolutely sit in the ac with a nice ice cream cone to get bonded out. Even if it is at the pig pen."

I pulled into the Rangeman garage after dropping Starr off, still licking my peanut butter fudge cone. In an effort to stall the embarrassment of eating an ice cream cone in front of the Merry Men like a five year old I stayed in the car and reached across the seat to open Trace Lang's , distribution of lewd material without consent, couple of restraining orders from a Jen Cassity. My eyes widened at the attempted rape. Yikes. This guy was perv who took things way, way too far.

As i scoured his file my ice cream had been dripping onto the steering wheel. Of the Rangeman SUV. Without another thought I dove forward to lick it off when I felt tingles on the back of my neck. Instead of raise my face to the shame of Ranger watching me lick a damn steering wheel, I leaned forward and let my forehead rest on it. The driver side door opened.

"Babe."

"Hey."

"Is there a reason your dripping chocolate ice cream onto your files?" shit, this damn cone. I picked my head up and grabbed the files, stepping out of the car. I needed a garbage, stat. Ranger pointed to a can across the next aisle and I jogged over to it dispose of my traitorous treat. After one last delicious lick. I'm a sucker for peanut butter, really.

"Can we start over for today?" His almost smile tweaked the edges of his lips. "so...Good morning."

"Good morning." His thumb came out to my lips and wiped off a bit of what i can only assume was more ice cream. He brought his mouth and licked it off. I froze as a shot of heat ran through me. How is he sex on legs at 10 am and I'm caught licking ice cream off a steering wheel?!

"Licking the steering wheel, babe?" Shit, out loud.

"Dont pretend you didn't witness that." His smile was full fledged now, teeth and all."Actually, do pretend you didn't witness that."

"Babe." He looked like he might actually chuckle at this point. It almost made it worth it. Almost.

"What brings you down here? "

"Could ask you the same."

"I've got gym time with Lester at 11, had some free time open up. Thought I might run a search." I gestured to my stained folder and he held a hand out, asking. I hesitated for a moment, already knowing what his issue would be. I held it out to him and he glanced down, his smile disappearing.

"Babe-"

"I know, but its not like it was more than one girl? Okay, that didn't come out right. He's clearly obsessed with this Jen chick. Hacked into her computer and took some creepy pervy pics and tried to rape her. That has nothing to do with me, someone who is not the object of his obsession, taking him in."

Ranger crossed his arms and stared me down. "Run the search. But." I raised my eyebrow at him giving me orders. I crossed my own arms. "But," his tone softened, "When the time comes for a take down, bring one of the guys with you."

Part of me really wanted to dig my heels in and fight out this whole control issue. But that was in the past, with my Morelli relationship. This guy doesn't want me to take down a rapist alone. He made sense, I just needed to keep my Italian reactions in check.

I nodded and he relaxed infinitesimally. He nodded towards the door and I followed him in, waving up to the camera, and the men behind it on monitor duty up on 5. We stepped into the elevator and electricity crackled between us. He turned his stare on me and I met it right back,wanting to jump his bones right there.

The mind reader struck again and he use his fob to disable the elevator camera. Next thing I knew I was pressed against the wall.

"Babe." he whispered it and my whole body broke out in chills. He ran his nose along the side of my face and I exhaled in a rush, the chills giving away to heat. I felt his lips on my jaw line tracing their way to my lips. I brought a hand up to his face and let it tangle back into his hair. This was new for me. Not that I didn't touch him, but when it came to daytime advances he was always in the drivers seat. But with the possibility of a new understanding between us and the guilt of Morelli gone, I felt brave.

I put my other hand on his cheek and drew his face up. I looked him square in the eyes before I closed mine and kissed him with everything I had. I had seen fire in his eyes, and I tasted the need on his lips. He broke the kiss abruptly turning his head away. My eyes were still unfocused and I was having a hard time remembering who i was, let alone where we were.

"You still want a redo on our date?" He was back to running his nose along my jaw and driving me insane.

"Yes." I breathed back. "Tonight, on 7?"

"8:00 work for you?"

"Ill be there." He reached behind me and pushed the button to continue our ascent, which had apparently been stopped at some point during our time altering kiss. I had just enough time to run a hand through my slightly mussed hair before the doors opened on 5.

I made my way over to my own little cubicle to run my search before anyone caught sight of us in the elevator. One look and everyone would know, not that they didnt already, but I like to live in the land of denial sometimes.

I looked into both Trace and Jen Cassity, figuring it would be in both of our best interest if I got her schedule and info. It didn't take a genius to figure he was probably going to be within peeping distance of wherever she was. I'd do rounds for him after lunch, the very thought of this poor girls harassment made my skin crawl. It wasn't often that I felt like I was actually protecting people when doing my job. So many of my skips were low level and posed little to no threat. But this dude was seriously sick and situations like this ended all too often in more pain for the victim.

At 10:50 I made my way into the elevator going down to the gym. I went four days a week, which wasn't perfect , I know, but it was a start. I only trained with Lester on two of those days but I liked to think I was becoming much better at pushing myself when he wasn't there. It had taken me two weeks to convince Ranger to not close off the gym to the other guys when we were down here. I knew he still had whomever was on monitors take this camera out when i was down here, but i was adamant on not restricting access to the other guys. Sometimes the guys were so busy they only had a certain window of time to workout, and I loathed the preferential treatment from being female. They were mostly too scared to look at me, let alone ogle me and disrupt their mandatory fitness routine.

I changed into my gear in the nearby bathroom since there was only one locker room and it was currently being used by a bunch of naked Rangemen employees. I still threw a loose burnout tank on over my sports bra, just to be more conscientious of my gym partners. I had black capri leggings and actual gym sneakers as well. They had set me back a pretty penny but I felt like the more I spent on them the more i had to use them. Which was also the logic I used whenever I bought a new pair of FMPs and it hadn't failed me yet.

I gathered my hair on top of my head in a messy bun and started stretching in the open mats area while I waited for Les. He had only shamelessly flirted with me the first week until he saw how serious I was about training and then he cut the crap.

"Hey beautiful." Well, mostly.

"Hey Les."

"Heard we might go skip chasing after this."

"Oh yeah? News travels fast here. Damn gossip queens."

He flashed me his mega watt smile. "Good news like going out into the field with you for some fun." I squinted up at him to gauge how serious he was being on the fun part. I was never sure how often the merry men were laughing at me. "I'm serious, I get to see our physical training be implemented, that's exciting. I get to judge how far you've come since your dumpster diving days."

"Those dumpster diving days were barely a month ago, lets not get too carried away."

"Steph, you've been killing it in here and we both know it. If I could just get you to add a day or two to you regime, you'd be a monster."

"I'm considering it still. Maybe If I did one extra day with you. So then I'm only on my own two of those days. You know, to keep me honest. If you have time! I don't want to waste your time"

He scoffed. "I'm getting paid to be here Steph. And even if I wasn't, I'd make the time. Keeping you safe and knowing you can take care of yourself is important to me."

He Held out a hand to me, which I took and we walked over to the cardio area, with treadmills and stationary bikes. I started every workout with fifteen minutes on the treadmill, then another ten on the bike. Then we moved onto weights for another twenty. I alternated between core, lower body and upper body. Sometimes we did Plyo, which was fun at first, until I thought I could do the high box, which ended with my knees catching on the steel box and then falling onto the ground. I still had to do them, but I was a lot more cautious of them and knew better when it came to my progression.

Today was a core day and I painfully got through squats and planks while Lester, ever the dictator, constantly adjusted my positions. We did an hour and a half together and by the end of it I was toast. I dropped out of my plank flat onto the floor.

"ughhhh."

"Hey that was a two minute plank! Much better, Steph."

"ughhhhh." just kill me now. The mats were cleaned often, I felt like I could take a nap here and it would probably be okay.

"Hey beautiful, we gotta do your cool down so your muscles don't lock up."

"ughhhhh. No moving ever again."

"C'mon you know it'll feel better after you stretch it back out." I did, but no way was I admitting to him that moving was a good idea.

Finally I rolled onto my back and sat up slowly. "All right, you win. I don't want to hobble around like an old lady tomorrow." He grinned and I started stretching my legs back out, reaching for my toes.

"So what do I gotta know about this perp?"

"He's a creep. He's making a career out of stalking this poor girl. and then he tried to rape her. My money is on him watching her."

Lester frowned, "Today is probably ideal for bringing him in. If he wants to run, he may nab her first."

I nodded in agreement and stood slowly, rolling my spine upwards as I did. "Also afraid he may try to Romeo and Juliet. Or just kill her. I've got her file, a few addresses I think should pan out." I finished my stretches and he headed off to get a quick workout of his own in.

I had to go up to 7 to shower, because again, no women's locker room. I could have showered in an empty on 4, but that seemed like extra work for someone to have to clean a shower out specifically for me. I grabbed my bag out of the bathroom I'd used and stepped onto the Elevator. I waved at the camera, mostly to say 'hey I'm done, you can go live with the feeds again', which I'm sure they already knew, but whatever. I let myself into Rangers apartment and grabbed a glass from the cupboard to fill up with water. Which I drank often now. Working out required it.

Stepping up my game with workouts had its perks, particularly getting to use Rangers shower and soap. And towels. My god, these towels were the softest towels on planet earth. I loved to take a minute and lay down on the giant wonderful bed post shower. Sometimes I fell asleep and then I got to wake up to Ranger finding me mostly naked on his bed. I sighed and got off the bed. But not today, today I had a bad guy to catch. I grabbed my pre workout clothes and suited up to meet Lester.