Thanks everyone for the reviews and PMs! I have tried to respond to everyone. If you haven't gotten a reply from me, you may have messaging blocked.

Thanks to my awesome beta Jen! I love your input! :)

Chapter 10 – Rules

Joe's POV

Bold section from the end of Chapter 5 (also Joe's POV)

I hung up the phone with a deep sense of satisfaction. I knew that Steph would tell people that some of those bruises had come from me and that some had been from a night of rough sex with Ranger, but she underestimated me. The first rule of gossip was that people always believed what they heard first. It didn't matter if it was true or not. Now when people heard her say that the bruises were caused by me, they'd think she was trying to protect Ranger. After all, we'd dated on and off for 3 years, and she'd never had a bruise until now. Until she started hanging around Manoso more and more. If she tried to explain the bruises away as love bites or rough sex, people would assume that he was too rough, violent, in the bedroom and she was covering for him. You had to love human nature!

Now to go talk to some of the guys before Steph did. Eddie, Carl, Big Dog …

I found Carl in the break room, munching on a doughnut, and chatting with Robin. Perfect.

I walked over and shook my head, sighing. "I don't know what to do about Stephanie."

I collapsed into a chair and held my head in my hands.

Carl spoke up first. I could hear the concern in his voice. "What's wrong with Steph?"

"Did you see her when I brought her in?"

"No, why? What happened?"

"I think Manoso's been smacking her around." I ran my fingers through my hair. "It's killing me to see her like this!"

Carl's eyes were wide and shocked. "What? Manoso is so protective of her! She's been his woman on the street for years now. Are you sure?"

I nodded. "I guess he found out that the two of us were getting back together. For good this time. No more on-off. He couldn't handle it."

Carl's eyebrows shot up. "You mean you guys are engaged?"

I nodded. "Yeah. I had just asked her, and she said yes. We were in the bedroom when Manoso and two of his goons broke in. Tank and Lester dragged me into the living room, and Ranger stayed in the bedroom with Steph. He said they had to talk, but I could hear her crying in there. Manoso carried her out, and she was still sobbing. I tried to go after her, but Tank held me back. He wouldn't let me go until the two of them had left."

Robin's eyes were huge, and her mouth hung open. "Where did he take her? What happened?"

"I don't really know. I looked for her all night, but I couldn't find her. I finally found her driving one of his SUVs this morning. She was driving like a bat out of hell, speeding and running red lights. She was in a hurry to get away from him, that's for sure."

Carl shook his head. "She must have been glad to see you! Was she OK? Did Manoso hurt her?"

I scrubbed my knuckles across my face. "He smacked her around. She's got a huge bruise on her face. And..." My voice broke, and I took a shuddering breath. "I think he raped her."

Carl slammed his fist down on the table. "What?" he roared.

Robin covered her mouth with her hands. "Poor, Steph!" she whispered.

"Has Steph pressed charges yet? Let's go get him!" Carl snarled.

I shook my head. "She's pretty upset. He's been abusing her for a while now. I think she's afraid of him, of what will happen if she admits what's going on. She's trying to make excuses for her bruises, but I know what they are. It's only a matter of time before the evidence shows what's been happening."

Robin nodded. "Do you want me to talk to her?"

I shook my head. "Not yet. Let her calm down. She was pretty worked up when I pulled her over."

Robin's forehead creased. "What do you mean worked up?"

I sighed. "She tried to stun me. I think she blames me for not protecting her last night. Or maybe she thinks I'm going to hurt her, too. Like Manoso. I don't know. She was wild. Lashing out, screaming, swinging. I finally had to cuff her so that she wouldn't accidentally hurt one of us."

Robin's eyes were brimming with unshed tears.

"I told her I was charging her with assaulting an officer and stuck her in a room to cool down. I'm hoping once she's settled down she'll be ready to file charges against Manoso. I just need to get the doctor in to document her bruises." I looked at Robin. "Maybe you could help her collect the evidence? Take the pictures or something? I know Steph trusts you, Robin."

Robin nodded. "Of course! Anything you need, just let me know."

I nodded. "Thanks guys! Do me a favor and don't mention this to anybody. I just needed to get it off my chest."

Carl and Robin nodded and mumbled reassurances. "Of course, sure, no problem."

I walked out of the room, hanging my head, dejected.

When I got back to my office, I let the smirk break out on my face. And that would be the second rule of gossip: The surest way to make sure that a rumor spread like wildfire was to tell someone something incredibly juicy and get them to promise not to repeat it. Why? Because they had the dirt, knew the secret. Everyone wants to be "in the know," to have something important to tell. I'd give it a couple hours, tops, before every cop in this station knew.

I settled back in my chair and propped my feet on my desk. I called the chief and told him about the suspected abuse. I reminded him of Stephanie's close relationship with Congressman Juniak, and he promised to get the doctors to come to the station and keep everything quiet. I knew that was the only way this would all work. It had to be done here, in house. All the cops here would already believe that Manoso was guilty. Anything they found, they would attribute to him. They wouldn't fudge their findings. No one here was a dirty cop. They would just be prejudiced in their findings, that's all. When they saw a bite mark or small bruise, they would assume abuse, not sex.

I was trying to figure out whether or not to call Steph's mom and tell her my version of the story when Carl came bursting into my office. He was practically jumping up and down like a little kid. "I've got it!" he yelled triumphantly.

"Got what?" I asked, irritated.

"I know how you can nail Manoso!"

He had my attention! I nodded for him to continue.

"The dashcam footage!" He looked supremely pleased with himself.

I rolled my eyes at him. "My dashcam has been broken for a year now, Carl. Every time it's up to be repaired they're missing a part or something else gets pushed to a higher priority. They figure the undercover cameras aren't as important since we usually don't do traffic stops." Actually, my dashcam had been repaired for months, but I'd conveniently forgotten to report that. Sometimes it was advantageous to know things that no one else knew. Plus then the Chief couldn't monitor my activities. I just turned it on and off whenever I wanted.

"Not yours, dumbass! I know yours is broken. I meant Steph's! You said she was driving one of Ranger's SUVs right?"

Shit! Suddenly I knew where Carl was going with this. All of Ranger's SUVs have dashcams. We've used the footage as evidence before. Son of a bitch! How could I have forgotten that? I had to get over to the impound lot ASAP!

Carl had continued to ramble, but I tuned him out. He looked up at me expectantly when he finished. Time to throw the dog his bone. "Good idea, Carl! I'll have to see if I can get the footage. Of course, the chances of Manoso handing that over aren't good. Especially considering that it would prove him guilty. Don't say anything to anyone about the footage for now. Especially not Steph. We don't want Manoso to get wind of our plan. He'll erase the evidence."

Carl nodded happily. "Sure! I won't say anything. Glad I could help." He headed back down the hall, and I grabbed my coat and keys.

I raced over to the impound lot and flashed my badge at the cop in the cage. "I need the keys for the black SUV that was towed here this morning."

He fished around behind him and came up with the keyring. He flipped it over to me, and I nodded at him.

I beeped the SUV open and climbed in. I was getting ready to toss the keychain in the cupholder, when I spotted a key that was slightly smaller than the rest on the ring. No! It couldn't be! I held the key up. Yep, there it was. The logo of the most expensive brand of dashcam was stamped on the top of the key. I closed my eyes as a huge grin slid across my face. I couldn't believe my luck!

I snorted. Manoso was supposed to be a fucking security expert! Somebody needed to tell him that it wasn't very secure to leave the key to the dashcam on the car's keychain! But, hey, his stupid mistake was my gain!

I unlocked the box, slid the flashdrive out of my pocket, and transferred the contents of the hard drive onto the stick. I double checked to be sure that the car's hard drive was now blank. It was.

Taking the dashcam key off of the keychain, I relocked the car. I flipped the keys back to the officer and left the lot. I had several stops to make, and not a lot of time to make them.

First, I headed into my Uncle Sal's hardware shop. I wanted to get a copy of the dashcam key made. You never knew when something like that might come in handy. Supposedly you couldn't get a copy of these kinds of keys made, but I'm nothing if not resourceful. Sal was always willing to do a favor for family, and he had a few blanks that were close enough to work. While he cut the key, I opened my cell phone. I left myself a message in the notes that just listed the license plate of the SUV. Obviously, this key only worked on the dashcam of that SUV. I needed the plate so that I knew which camera I had access to.

Once my key was cut, I sat in the parking lot of the hardware shop and downloaded my own dashcam footage onto the flashdrive. I wiped my own hard drive and headed back to the station.

Locking the door to my office, I plugged the flashdrive in. I pulled up the footage from this morning first and fast forwarded to the part where I hit Steph. I completely blurred it out- the audio as well as the visual. Going back through the recording, I blurred out anything that showed her cheek. That way no one could tell when she had gotten the bruise. Doing that made the footage blur in and out of focus, but that worked out fine. The poor quality could be passed off as a malfunctioning dashcam.

Now for the best part. I smirked as I watched the footage from Stark Street this morning. I made sure that nothing from the video pointed back to me. No audio, no video. I also looked for clues in the video- there was nothing hanging from the rearview mirror that would give me away. Nothing on the dash. No clues that I was the one who had recorded the drive by.

I rearranged the footage and transferred it back over to the flashdrive. The drive by would show first, then the traffic stop. Now I just had to get it back on the SUV's hard drive.

I headed back over to the lot and got the keys again. I downloaded the footage and wiped everything for prints. I added the key back on the SUV's keyring. Done! Now I just had to wait for Ranger or Stephanie to request the footage as evidence. I smirked. It would be interesting to see how they tried to explain away the presence of the drive by footage.

I was locking up the car when a few other officers pulled in. Carl had asked them to process the car for evidence. Obviously he thought they would notice the dashcam and suggest the recording as evidence. As I watched them process the car, a black SUV pulled up. Two guys dressed completely in black climbed out. RangeMan goons, no doubt. I turned my back to them so that they wouldn't see my smirk. Too late, assholes!

I stuck my head inside the car. "The owners of this SUV are here to pick it up, boys."

They looked up at me, looking to see whether that meant they should speed up or slow down. "Take your time." I told them with a smirk and a wink. They smiled and nodded. They knew what that meant. Process every fucking hair, every piece of lint, every blade of grass.

The RangeMan morons walked over and stood next to the car, watching the guys work. I waved and smirked at them as I headed back to my car. Have a nice long wait, fuckers! I thought.

I pulled out my cell phone and called Carl.

"Hey, Carl! You know that great idea you had about the dashcam?"

"Yeah! What about it?"

"I drove over to the impound lot and checked out the car. It does have a dashcam. Good call." Nothing like stroking someone's ego to get them on your side!

Carl sounded like he was all puffed up with pride. "Yeah, I thought it would. Good, man! I'm glad we've got something to work with."

"Well, that's the thing, Carl. The dashcam is locked up just like ours. The only way to get the footage is for Manoso or one of his goons to open it. Right now, there are two RangeMan guys at the lot plus a few of our cops. I thought if we could get Steph to request the footage right away, our guys could have them unlock it. Or if Manoso calls them to get it, our guys can confiscate it once they unlock the box. What do you think?"

"Yeah, yeah! Good idea!"

"Listen, the fastest way to get them to request it is to make them think that they need to prove Steph is innocent of the attempted assault charge. They'll both be so panicked to get her off that they won't be thinking straight. They won't think about what the tape will show, just that it will help prove Steph's innocence."

"OK. What do you need me to do?"

"I need you to formally charge Steph with the attempted assault and get her through booking. Do you think you can do that in the next half hour or so?"

Carl let out a deep breath. "Sure. Man I wish there was another way. I hate to have to arrest Steph!"

"Get Eddie to do it. She'll forgive him for it. She'll know that he's just doing his job."

"Alright, man. We'll get on it now. I sure hope this works. I hate to think of anyone hurting Steph."

"Me too, Carl. Me too." I disconnected.

I got back to the station, and I sauntered into the room they had Steph in. I felt my jaw tighten as I saw that she was sitting on Manoso's lap. "Cupcake, Manoso." I ground out.

I turned to Eddie. "Did you get her processed yet?"

Eddie nodded. "We were just going to talk quickly about the drive by shooting so that we could get her in front of the judge before 5:00."

I shrugged my shoulders. "The questioning comes first. If she misses the judge today, she can appear first thing tomorrow." In fact, part of me hoped she did miss the judge today. If she was here overnight at least she wouldn't be in Manoso's bed.

Stephanie growled at me. "You're a jerk, Joe! There is not a thing to tie me to that stupid drive by and you know it. I have no motive. Plus I have an alibi! Now let me get bonded out so I can go home! I am not spending the night in jail!"

A tall well dressed guy stood up and held out his hand. "Detective Morelli?" he questioned.

I nodded. Who the hell was this guy?

"I'm Tom Anderson, Ms. Plum's attorney. I'd like to request that this questioning be put on hold until after Ms. Plum appears before the judge. After she is bonded out, I guarantee that she will return to the station voluntarily for further questioning."

That didn't really work into my plan, but Eddie and Carl immediately agreed with Steph's lawyer. What the fuck? These guys were supposed to be on my side! Now there was no way that I could argue without looking like an ass. Reluctantly, I agreed.

& & & & & &

If I could have figured out a way to prevent Stephanie from making bail, I would have. Unfortunately, there was no legitimate reason for the judge to deny it. She had absolutely no priors, she was well known in the community, and she had no extra cash to flee.

Instead, I just waited for her to get bonded out and come back downstairs for questioning.

I was pissed to find out that Manoso, the asshole, had pulled some strings and arranged for the Chief and Eddie to sit in on the questioning. I knew that he wanted the Chief there to make sure that I followed procedure. I assumed that Eddie was there because he was related to Steph. Too bad he had already heard the stories about Ranger, and I was pretty sure that he thought Manoso was guilty.

The chief took over and looked at Steph. "Let's get the easiest part out of the way first, shall we?"

She nodded.

"You admit to running the red light that Detective Morelli pulled you over for, correct?"

She nodded again.

He looked over to me. "Write her the ticket. That's taken care of."

I pulled out a ticket book and filled one out, signing it with a huge flourish and smirking as I slid it across the table to Steph. If nothing else, she had a ticket for running the light. Maybe I could offer to fix it for her. For a small fee of course.

"Now, it's my understanding that Dr. Weston and Officer Russell finished documenting your injuries earlier?"

She nodded.

"In addition, Dr. Weston performed a rape kit?"

She blushed. "Yes." I sat up a little straighter in my seat. I felt like screaming out loud. This was perfect! I had half expected Steph to refuse the rape kit. I can't believe she agreed to it! I hadn't heard that yet. I was going to have to call Dr. Weston and find out what showed up. If there was even a drop of Manoso's semen anywhere near her, I would figure out a way to use that!

The Chief continued. "Dr. Weston and Officer Russell have prepared the paperwork here for you to file charges of assault, abuse, and rape against your attacker. We just need you to name him and sign the paperwork."

"That won't be necessary." she said, glancing over at her lawyer.

Chief Doyle looked at her, unbelieving. "You don't wish to press charges against the person who did this to you?" he asked.

Of course she wasn't going to press charges against him. I muttered under my breath then, just loud enough for the Chief to hear. "Get Manoso out of the room, and she may file charges against him." I knew the Chief would accept that as the explanation for her behavior.

A muscle near Ranger's jaw jumped and he clenched his fist, but he didn't say a word.

Her lawyer spoke up then. "I still haven't been given a copy of Stephanie's exam. I would like to see everything that was documented. I would also like a copy of the paperwork you have here. I will speak with my client at a later date about pressing charges. If she changes her mind, I'll be sure to let you know, but for now, she is not interested in filing anything."

That reminded me that I needed to get a copy of the findings, too. Once I had a chance to look them over, I was sure that I would be able to twist them to suit my needs.

Chief Doyle looked at Stephanie. "Is that correct, Ms. Plum?"

She looked him straight in the eye. "Yes." she said in a firm voice.

He shook his head. It was clear that he disagreed with Steph's decision, but he was ready to move on. "Alright then. As far as the drive by shooting on Stark Street this morning, Detective Morelli mentioned that the car you were driving matched the description of the car seen leaving the scene. A pretty generic description was given for the car. Just that it was a black SUV, most likely an Explorer. Any number of cars would match that description. I highly doubt that you had anything to do with that, Ms. Plum, but by any chance do you happen to have an alibi for this morning at 3 am?"

She nodded and looked up at Ranger, blushing. "I was with Ranger last night and this morning. I was asleep at 3 am."

I turned and addressed the chief. "Unfortunately, if Ranger was also asleep at 3 am, he will be unable to serve as Steph's alibi. He could have slept through her leaving and coming back." I gave a smug smile.

Ranger looked right at me and smirked. "She was in my bed at 3 am alright, but she was definitely not sleeping. In fact, we were both very much awake."

Stephanie gasped.

My mouth was set in a tight line, and I glared at Manoso. "How do you know what time it was?" I bit out.

"Because at 3:30 I got a phone call about a break-in."

I could feel my anger building. "And?"

Then Stephanie muttered under her breath, "And he was still inside of me when the phone rang."

I knew that she hadn't meant to say that out loud. I knew that she thought she was just thinking it. I was pissed. I was holding my pen so tight that I accidentally snapped it in half. I was taking deep breaths and trying to get my temper back under control, but it wasn't working. I couldn't stand the thought of that asshole fucking my Cupcake!

Ranger grinned at her and kissed her cheek. "Babe!" he growled.

"You're willing to sign a statement to that effect?" the chief asked Ranger.

"I'd be glad to." Ranger smirked as I got up and walked out of the room, slamming the door behind me.

I walked into my office and punched the wall before slamming that door, too. Fucking Manoso! Thinks he can just steal Stephanie away from me! Ha! Stupid fucker doesn't know that she's mine!

I smirked. I wonder if she ever told Manoso that I was her first. And by that I mean her first everything. First guy to finger her, first guy to fuck her. He wouldn't want anything to do with her once he found out that she'd always been mine!

Plus, I knew how the Burg worked. There were two groups of girls in the Burg. The ones you fucked and the ones you married. It was absolutely frowned upon for a good girl from the Burg to have sex before she was at least engaged, preferably married. And if she did have sex before marriage, that guy had better plan on making an honest woman of her. Or else. I just needed to remind Stephanie, and her mother, that I had been her first. That we were meant to be together. That in the eyes of the church, we were already married. In the Biblical sense, of course.

I knew that Steph and Ranger would be leaving the station soon. Hopefully Manoso would drop Stephanie off at her apartment. But, hey, if he wanted to join the conversation, too, that was fine by me. I didn't have any problems letting him know just how long Stephanie had been mine.

I grabbed my jacket and keys. Time to head over to Steph's apartment and wait for her.

I stormed out of her apartment and down to my car. Well that conversation had clusterfuck written all over it! Where the hell did she get off trying to make me sound like the bad guy?

And when the hell had she grown a pair of balls and gotten up enough nerve to stand up to me and tell me that she wanted nothing to do with me? If I found strong-willed women sexy, I would be majorly turned on right now. Unfortunately for Steph, I preferred my women barefoot, pregnant, and submissive. The way they're meant to be. The entire rest of the Burg understood this. Why on Earth Steph was the only one who missed the memo was beyond me. But I was determined to change her mind. I wanted a woman whose first name was Mrs. and dress size was maternity, and damn it, Stephanie was going to be that woman!

She said that the only thing I could do to change her mind was to drop the charges. That was fine by me. I really had nothing to gain by pressing charges against her. It would make me look like an ass to have Stephanie go to court because of me. However, if I dropped the charges I would look like the forgiving, overly generous boyfriend that I am.

Plus, then Stephanie and Manoso wouldn't spend a lot of time looking for evidence to prove me guilty and her innocent. Not that she'd find it, but still.

I was a little disappointed that they hadn't pulled out the dashcam footage as evidence. That was a moot point now, though. The guys had already taken the vehicle back to RangeMan. Once they saw the footage on the hard drive, they'd erase it. There would be no way that they would release that to the police. So all of my careful planning this morning was for nothing.

I let out a deep sigh. Oh well. I fingered the new key on my key ring. Well, maybe not for nothing.

Steph's POV

Bold section from the end of Chapter 9

I just sat in shock. "What was the first part of the recording?" I asked, numb.

Ranger's mouth was in a thin line. "If I had to guess, Babe, I'd say that was the drive by shooting on Stark at 3 am."

"But why would it be on the SUVs dashcam?"

"I think someone was waiting for you to pull the footage to prove what happened with Morelli was self defense."

"But how did it get on there?"

"That's a good question, Babe." Ranger said looking over at Hector and Hal.

I spoke up. "Do you think that Joe was able to add the footage on there somehow?"

Lester rolled his eyes. "You give Morelli too much credit, Beautiful! He's not good enough to access our cameras."

Tank spoke up. "He's a cop. Even if he's not a good one, he's been around long enough to know how to manipulate dashcam footage."

Ranger crossed his arms over his chest and glared at Lester. "You're forgetting one of the first rules of warfare, Santos. Never underestimate your enemy."

TBC

Any thoughts or ideas about what Ranger and Steph will do next? What about Joe?