Disclaimer: JE owns all the characters in this story.

A/N Thanks again to Dyanswan for editing and encouraging. I also want to thank Mik N'jirnav for giving me the idea for this chapter and for giving me the information about the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, known as MBTI.

Chapter Four

The next day Ranger had meetings all day, so I decided to go to the bond office. I was sure Connie and Lula had heard about the argument and were dying of curiosity. So I stopped at the Tasty Pastry to get doughnuts before facing the inquisition. When I came out Morelli was leaning against my car waiting for me.

"Hey, cupcake, I went by your apartment last night and you weren't there. Where did you go?"

"You went to Rangeman?" I asked, thinking one of the guys told him I wasn't there to get rid of him.

"No, I went to your old apartment that you refuse to give up. I was certain you'd be there after that fight at the station."

"Yeah, Ranger said you told him I'd be going there. You should be ashamed of yourself. That was down right mean. But, there is something you don't know. Before I moved in with him I promised I would not run away."

"Shit. You mean that's all it takes to make you stay? A promise? If I had known that I would've had you promise me a long time ago," Morelli said bitterly.

"Look, Joe. It still wouldn't have worked for us. We have a lot in common, the same background, the same upbringing, but we have completely different goals. You want to get married and have kids. I don't want to do either of those things."

"And you think you and Ranger have common goals?"

"I think we want the same things out of life, yeah."

"Well, good luck then, cupcake. I hope he doesn't break your heart like you broke mine," he said as he walked back to his truck and drove away.

As I drove to the bond office I thought, maybe it is time to give up my apartment.

After I finished answering as many questions as I could for Connie and Lula, I headed back to Rangeman. It was getting close to noon and I had promised Ranger I would have lunch with him on seven. I was in the elevator going up, when it stopped on five and Ranger stepped in. Yum. Corporate Ranger.

He gave me a hug and said, "I missed you today, Babe."

"Oh, that's so sweet. I missed you, too."

The elevator doors opened and we entered the apartment. Lunch was waiting for us in a crockpot on the counter and the air was filled with the aroma of Ella's famous Aroz con Pollo. She had also left a bowl of salad and some fresh bread. We filled our plates and grabbed some water and sat down to eat. I told Ranger about my talk with Morelli and he smiled when I told him I had scolded Morelli for telling Ranger I was going back to my apartment.

"Ranger," I said hesitantly.

He looked up, giving me his full attention.

"I'm thinking of giving up my apartment."

"You don't have to so that, Babe," he said taking my hand.

"But, it looks to our friends and families like I am not fully invested in making this relationship work. It kinda feels that way to me, too."

He placed a kiss in the palm of the hand he was holding and said, "It's your decision. I want you to be comfortable with whatever you decide."

Ohhh, I thought. He is always so solicitous to me. I don't know why I was so bitchy to him. I don't even have the excuse of PMSing.

"What's on your agenda for the rest of the day, Babe?"

"I was going to run a few searches this afternoon, but I have no plans after that. Why?"

"My last meeting of the day was cancelled which means I'll be finished early. I thought we could talk about what went down yesterday," he said with his blank face in place.

I know he uses that face when he thinks I am going to get upset about something, so I decided to be mature for once. Even though I was shaking in my boots, I just smiled and said, "Sure. Just come by my cubicle when you're through with your meetings."

I could see him visibly relax which made me glad that I didn't whine and complain like I wanted to do.

We finished lunch and I put the food away while Ranger put the dishes in the dishwasher. We left the apartment and got into the elevator. When we got to five, Ranger scrambled the camera, pushed the stop button and kissed me until I almost melted. This gave me a good idea for later when it was time for "the talk". I'm the queen of distraction and, after all, nobody wants to have that kind of talk.

When I could stand on my own, Ranger opened the door and said, "I'll see you around four, Babe."

I headed to my cubicle, while Ranger continued down to the conference room for his meeting. I worked diligently until my in box was empty. It was only 3:30, but I wanted to stay at my cubicle because that's where I told Ranger I would be. So I started to surf the web until I came upon a site that was asking questions about relationships. I clicked onto the site. Maybe I could learn something that will come in handy for "the talk". But, when I started reading, I didn't have a clue what they were talking about. Some guy was saying he an INTJ and wanted advice about how to be more appealing to an ENFP. WHAT! Okay, maybe this won't help me after all. But, just at that moment Ranger came into my cubicle.

He leaned down to kiss my neck and saw what was on my screen. "Babe!" he said sounding surprised. "I didn't know you were into MBTI."

"What's with all these initials anyway? I don't know anything about MBTI or INTJ or ENFP. Do you know what this is?"

"It's an assessment tool used to help people understand their personalities. I took the test when I went in the Army. They use it to help in team building and conflict resolution, among other things. I happen to be an INTJ. It's an interesting concept. Maybe, we should get you tested. It could give us some insight into how to manage any conflicts we might have."

"What is involved in the testing?"

"You just have to answer some either - or questions. Then a specialist scores the test and figures out your personality type."

"Sure," I said. "I'll be happy to take the test. Don't you think we should wait to have "the talk" until after my assessment is done? After all, then we'll know better how to manage the conflict."

Ranger laughed, "Nice try, Babe. But we are having "the talk" right now."

Oh well. You can't blame a girl for trying.

When we got upstairs Ranger said we should change into something more comfortable. So remembering my idea, I put on skintight black work out pants that rode low and were worn commando. I paired that with a blue wrap shirt that didn't quite meet the top of the work out pants and showed a lot of cleavage. When I sauntered out to the living room, Ranger had poured us each a glass of wine and was waiting for me on the couch. When he saw me he eyes turned black. I slid into his lap and took his face in my hands and started kissing him.

He picked me up and sat me down beside him. He said, "You're not going to get out of talking about yesterday's fiasco. If that is comfortable you can keep it on, but don't underestimate my self-control."

"Actually it's very comfortable," I said. I know the look he gave me when he first saw the outfit, so I figured keeping it on was an ace in the hole.

He handed me a glass of wine and took a sip of his. He turned to me and said, "Okay, Babe. Do you want to start first or do you want me to?"

"Actually, I would like to start. I really need to apologize to you for my outburst yesterday. I know I should have waited until we were alone to say anything to you and the location for it couldn't have been worse. And, of course, I had to be so loud that it got every ones attention. I hated that all the cops heard us and especially the fact that Morelli heard it.

"It's okay, Babe, but-"

"No, wait. I have more to apologize for. I am really sorry for calling you Fidel Castro. I meant to call you a dictator but I couldn't think of the word so I called you Fidel Castro because he's the only dictator I could think of. I certainly didn't mean it as a racial slur. I'm really sorry because probably your family left Cuba because of Castro. I hope you can forgive me."

"Yes, they did. And I have to admit that I didn't like the comparison. Since you are apologizing, I forgive you. But that's not the only thing in play here. We need to address our working relationship and how it will affect our personal relationship. The fact is that I am the boss. I make the decisions and I give the orders. In the past you have only worked in the office and I have given you slack as long as you didn't mouth off in front of my men. But, if you are going to work in the field, you have to follow orders without question. It can mean the difference between life and death. Do you think you can follow my orders?"

"Is that it? Either follow your orders to the letter or stay in the office? You are always so black or white, Ranger. You can never compromise."

"I have done a lot of compromising."

"Yeah. Like what?"

"I let you bring junk food into my building. I let you play games during stakeouts. I let you play video games on your Rangeman computer while you are working. I let-"

"You know about that," I shrieked.

"Babe, I know everything that goes on in this building."

"Okay, Okay. So you can compromise. But, Ranger, you know how not good I am at following orders."

"Babe."

"You are right. I would hate it if I did something stupid and got some one else hurt or, God forbid, someone killed. I don't think I could live with that. I can promise that I will try to follow orders, but I can't promise how successful I will be at it."

"That's all I ask , Babe. Now, live up to the promise of that outfit."

"I can do that."