What Does it Mean to Trust

by at8c

What does it mean to Trust? Will Stephanie understands what it means to trust when something happens that makes her question every man in her life including the merry men. NOT CUPCAKE FRIENDLY, NOT MORELLI or HELEN PLUM FRIENDLY.

34. Chapter 33: Being a Partner

These characters belong to Janet I am just borrowing them for my amusement. Although I would love to keep Ranger and the merry men for myself!

This story does contain violence, and touches on dark subject matters. This story is not friendly to Morelli or Helen Plum so for Cupcake fans you have been warned.

I want to thank everyone who writes a review for my story. I enjoy reading them and I love ideas they give me so keep them coming! You do my soul good!

I have a website that I have created to give you all something to explore to dig deeper into the story "What does it mean to trust". Please go and check out the playlist for the Party! The new character that I am introducing, the swimsuit for Stephanie as well as a few fun trunks for the guys.

www(dot)fanfictionstoryinfo(dot)webnode(dot)com

Chapter 33: Being a Partner

SPOV

We finished our workouts and I walked over to my bag. Grabbing my water bottle I start guzzling I have sweated so much these past five hours that I believe I will be permanently dehydrated. The cold water feels good to my parched lips.

Slyder approaches me reaching for my water. I instinctively pull back I wasn't ready to share my water with him, it tasted too good. He just gave me a look and I let him take my bottle. He handed me a bottle of Gatorade saying "try this I think it will make you feel better this will help replace carbohydrates, and electrolytes that you have lost while working out."

I open the bottle and take a few sips, Gatorade has never been my thing but as soon as the liquid hit my lips my body was craving it so I continued drinking it while Slyder finished the rest of my water.

Lester joined us "Beautiful you drinking Gatorade?" He knew I wasn't really a fan. Not to mention this was fucking diet of course it was and who the hell really wants diet drinks? I mean most people drink them but in all honesty do they really want them? I know people get use to them but it is a get use to them part that I don't want to have to do. I mean really why does anyone want to drink something or eat something for that matter that you have to get used to in the first place.

I smile at him "Slyder here asked me to try it, so I did. Actually while I normally don't like them today my body seems to be craving it." I tell him. He just nods in understanding but adds.

"Beautiful you have been working out hard this morning, and sweating a lot it will help you feel better." He told me. I couldn't resist asking.

"Lester how do you know I have been sweating a lot this morning?" I briefly wondered was he watching me again? Was he asking the guys and checking up on me as he did my first several sessions to see how I was doing? If so was he reporting back to Carlos because if he was I was going to kick his ass.

I mean I knew the guys reported back but this felt a little obsessive compulsive on his part he broke me out of my little mental rant "Beautiful I haven't been checking up on you, I haven't been reporting back to Ranger I haven't done that from the beginning. Yes at first I wanted to know how your sessions went only because I was excited and I wanted to hear how you were doing. I want you to join our team here but more importantly I have always wanted you to excel at your training because I knew you could do it and I knew you would be great at it." He told me, see now this is why he is my best friend.

Not only does he know exactly what to say to me he also knows how much I need to hear it. But then he has to continue and ruin it all for me. "Besides Beautiful I could smell you from the moment I stepped into the gym and let me tell you, you smell a little ripe." He scrunched up his nose as if he smelled something offensive.

What the hell? I smell? I know I have been sweating my ass off today but damn I didn't think I stunk why didn't they say something before? I mean they worked out right beside me, with me stinking. How fucking embarrassing is that? I mean Slyder doesn't know me from Adam all he is going to think is that I am the smelly Rangeman girl. I take a couple of sniffs trying not to make it obvious but I don't smell anything then again they say you can't smell yourself so maybe I am the smelly Rangeman girl.

I hear laughter beside me and I met Lester's eyes that are dancing with amusement, just fucking great. "Out loud?" I asked them I don't even bother looking at them I can feel them nod as my face turns redder and their laughter gets louder.

Laugh it up fuckers. Laugh at the fat smelly chick with the big butt who fills her plate up and eats too much by all means I think and they laugh even harder. Lester grabs me and pulls me to him. But I pushed against him if I stink I don't my stink rubbing off on him. Lester like Carlos always smells so good. It was the Armani cologne he wore it was expensive it was delicious and if he could have bottled a smell that was Lester it would be it. Just like the Bulgari was Ranger the Armani was Lester.

I notice Slyder had a distinct smell too but I wasn't sure what it was, but it was good. They were both still laughing when finally Lester pulled hard enough to break my hold bringing me close to him. He kissed the top of my sweaty forehead holding me to him.

"Beautiful I was only kidding you, you don't stink and you aren't fat. You have never stunk." But he stopped and thought about what he was saying and who he was saying it to and changed his mind. "Okay maybe you stunk that time you were thrown in the dumpster by the Chinese Restaurant, oh and that time that all that old rotten food got thrown on you, oh and that time that you landed in well I don't know and don't want to think about what it was because I have seen less vile things come out of dog's asses but par something like that happening you have never stunk not from sweating and not now." You know he doesn't have to remind me all the times I have stunk. He started smiling and he started wagging his eyebrows oh boy here we go

Playboy Lester was about to make an appearance. "If anything Beautiful I would say you all hot and sweaty well that would be at the top of one of my best smells list not to mention best fant…Ow" he yelled as Slyder smacked him upside the back of his head.

Looking at Slyder "Fuck man what the fuck?" he asked him, I had to smile. Slyder just shook his head which caused me to burst out laughing. Slyder was standing up for me that was nice of him but what he had to realize was Lester was my best friend I was use to his comments and his teasing and I could handle my own all though often the guys would slap him in the back of the head for some of his off the wall comments.

"Slyder thanks for standing up for me but I am use to playboy Lester. After all he is my best friend but I appreciate the help in keeping him in line sometimes it can be difficult" I tell him. He just laughed and nodded agreeing with me while Lester started pouting pulling his arms across his chest like a two year old little boy that couldn't have the radio car at the toy store.

A song comes on that I wanted to learn the dance steps to. I wanted to learn the shuffle to LMFAO "Party Rock Anthem" song. I got a great idea. "Hey guys do you want to get together later and see if we can learn to do the shuffle by watching the video? We could bring it up on the wide screen and see if we can copy the foot work." I asked them

Lester started laughing and Slyder looked a little ill. "What I want to learn how to shuffle and I can't be the only one that knows it at the club. So you have to learn it with me." I tell them hoping they would see reason to my asking and why it was important that they agreed with me.

Lester looked at me "Beautiful you got it but I can't speak for Slyder he looks a little green from the idea." He said laughing I had to agree poor Slyder.

Looking at him I couldn't resist as we made our way to the elevator "Slyder I didn't ask you to kill your first born, I just asked you to join us in learning how to shuffle. I mean you didn't mind jumping and dancing with us last night. It isn't that hard I mean it's a shuffle you can do a shuffle right?" And I start demonstrating what I think it would be like with Lester joining in. We were singing "party rockers in the house tonight….Everybody just have a good time…and we gonna make you lose your mind… Everybody just have a good time…Party Rockers in the house tonight…. Everybody just have a good time…and we gonna make you lose your mind…wanna see ya …Shake that"

When the elevator opened on the fifth floor and there was Lester and I shuffling to no music and singing with Slyder looking at us like we had lost our minds. When I took a moment to be aware of my surroundings there stood Tank, Carlos, and Cal in the hallway looking at us. They all seemed a little surprised at the sight that we must have made but when I shrugged my shoulders and asked them "what?" they just started laughing shaking their heads. I mean really I girl has to have her fun.

I had to admit we must have looked pretty funny putting my arms around both of them we made our way off of the elevator I was excited I had two people who was willing to learn the shuffle with me I wondered how many others would be willing to join us.

DougPOV

I was watching that bitch on the tape in the gym. I watched her interact with the new guy I wasn't even sure of his name, I saw them laughing I saw him sharing her drink him giving her Gatorade, them all laughing with Lester. I watched as they were laughing walking out of the gym and I watched them in the elevator.

I watched as her and Lester started doing a dance like but I knew there was no music so I wondered what was up with that. I watched as her tits bounced and I briefly wondered how good their weight would feel in my hands.

I had watched Lester pull her close to him for a hug and gave her a kiss on the forehead and wondered what her body would feel like in my arms. I hadn't gotten enough feel of her on the dance floor to know how her body would feel next to mine I only knew I wanted it.

I wanted to fuck her and thinking about it only made me harder. I quickly took a recording of the emptied out gym from the cameras. I only needed a few minutes of recording I wanted to make sure no one walked in the door during my recording so I kept it under five minutes. It was all that would be needed anyway.

For my plan to work I needed for the gym to appear to be empty so this little recording that I have saved will be helpful in making my plan a success. Now I just need to find a way to keep Lester and apparently now the new guy out of the gym while she is working out.

I wasn't sure how much longer I was going to be needed here and if they were really going to get rid of me then I definitely wanted my chance with her. I had done a little research and decided that I needed a different drug than one of the ones I had gotten it actually took too long for the drug to take effect I needed something that was affective but took effect faster so I would be paying another visit to that club in the next couple of nights to find someone selling the drug I needed which was actually a powder.

I couldn't help but smile as I thought about my plan and what my plan would lead to, thinking about my reward was enough to make me hard. I was going to have to wait until I was off shift and back in my apartment before I could take care of that. Under Hector's watchful eye I have to be very careful.

The last thing I wanted was for him to catch on to my plan. If he found out all would be ruined so I clicked off the feed entering a code for a different camera in a completely different area I preceded as though I was testing the different cameras.

No one would be the wiser as it was a weekly task to check all cameras making sure none had gotten shifted that all cameras covered whatever it was designated for without any interferences and that all cameras were functioning properly.

I had watched her enough to learn that one day her workout hour was the first hour the gym was closed and the next day her workout hour would be the second hour the gym was closed. I had been told the gym was closed between the hours of twelve and fourteen hundred. I also had noticed that the day her workout was the last hour in the gym there was always someone there promptly at fourteen hundred to begin more training.

I knew that I had a window of opportunity on either day but I needed to figure out which day gave me the most opportunity and the best access and now that obviously the gym wasn't closed to all of the men I needed to figure out how to keep those two away.

SPOV

Slyder, Lester, and I somehow I think I am going to be saying that a lot made our way to Carlos, Tank, and Cal. I quickly give Cal, and Tank a hug and a kiss on the cheek before I wrap my arms around my man feeling him wrap his arms around me. I close my eyes reveling in the way I feel when I am in his arms.

I am not the kind of girl that likes to give in to the old age thinking that a man has to protect a woman that a man has to provide for a woman that a man is the knight in shining armor that has to save the girl, okay so he has been my knight several time, okay lots of time and he has saved my ass but you know what I mean. I love my independence but when his arms are around I feel so safe, so secure, so protected and a part of me loves the way it feels.

I don't think I would ever feel those feelings with anyone else. I don't think anyone else could make me feel that way I know Joe never did nor did the Dick. I would never have allowed myself to be in a position to feel that way. But with Carlos it just came so natural I felt it before I even had a chance to realize what I was feeling. I believe that I had actually felt some of these feelings from the first moment that I met him.

When I feel his strong arms wrap around me his muscles flex and contract as he pulls my body to his hard chiseled body it does more than just wake up my hormones it makes me feel treasured, safe, protected, secure, and loved all at the same time. You have no idea until all of those feelings are taken away from you how much you need them in life, how much you crave them, and how wonderful they feel when you get them back.

Being a Bounty Hunter had taken some of those feelings away from my life. People breaking into my apartment, the stalkers that I had collected over the years, the whackos who thought I liked having dead people and body parts left in my apartment and cars, the threats, the constant not knowing if while I was asleep in my bed if someone would break into my apartment as it seemed that a child was capable of picking the lock, the constant wondering if this time when I turned the ignition of my car was it going to explode with me in it all of it had torn away and chipped away at those feelings of security, safety, that I was protected, that I could protect myself.

I didn't even realize how much so until I moved here, moved in with Carlos where safety, security, protection isn't a question. I am safe here in this building with his men, I am secure here, and I am protected here. It isn't something I have to think about or look out for. There are no threats just on the other side of the door here, or the worry of when an ignition starts. I didn't even realize how much I would enjoy having those feelings. I didn't know how much not having that feeling was really affecting me or even until then realized how I had lost those feelings.

Looking up at Carlos he had a smile on his face, he must have been ESPning me again and following along with my mental epiphany if you may. "Hi" I tell him and he smiles bigger. "You ready for lunch? I am starving and I need a shower bad. According to these two" I motion to Lester and Slyder "I stink" I told him. He looked at them questioning their judgment on telling me that.

Slyder spoke up "hey I didn't say anything about you smelling one way or another" I just nodded my head.

"Exactly my point" I tell him then I elaborate "had I not stunk you would have said something. Instead you said nothing so effectively you were telling me that I did in fact stink and you just didn't want to hurt my feelings by saying so." See how I can turn it around? Laugh it up now boys I thought.

Slyder just shook his head half smiling and wanting to laugh he knew he had no come back and I had him right where I wanted him. Lester just looked bewildered so I couldn't leave him out of the conversation. "Lester you did say I stunk right?" He just shook his head. I couldn't keep the smile from my lips. I know I was being a little evil.

"Beautiful I told you I was joking, you don't stink in fact I told you that you all sweaty was…" Carlos cut him off

"Santos if you value your life you will not finish that statement." Uh oh Lester's in trouble, Lester's in trouble I couldn't help but think while the giggle bubbled out. See sometimes that little devil on my shoulder just makes me do devilish things but it is so much fun it is hard to refrain at times.

Lester gave me a hurtful look but I could see the humor and laughter behind his eyes. I reached out and hugged him I purposefully rubbed my shoulder and side on him telling him "now that I have rubbed my stink on you, you need a shower too." I said laughing.

He wagged his eyebrows "anytime beautiful, anytime beautiful you just tell me when and where." I shook my head. I swear sometimes I just don't get it he can turn anything into a dirty joke. He's my best friend but I swear all he thinks about is sex. Truly I wonder sometimes which head on him does the thinking. I am beginning to think the smaller of the two is the only one with a brain maybe because that is where the most of blood tends to reside.

"Not with me Lester, not going to happen ever" and I stress the ever part. He just smiles.

"Well guys this is fun but I need nourishment, and I need to get that shower so I don't stink the guys out of the car this afternoon during my driving training." I start to make my way to the elevator with Carlos following me his hand on the small of my back. God I loved how that felt. I loved his hands on any part of me some parts more than others but I especially loved his hand on my back when we walked together, I could just feel his support his love and it was wonderful.

MannyPOV

I had been over and over all of the things that my Wifey had been sent in that wretched box and all of the things that had been left on her bed. I had looked at those pictures of his dick, and a woman's pussy to the point that I didn't think I could look at another pussy without thinking of those fucking pictures. I may be broken at this point.

I mean there has to be something here, something to lead us to who this fucking psycho is. In all of this there is nothing. Not a damn finger print, not a damn sample of DNA nothing not evening seeming a single fiber. I have been a crime scene investigator and forensic specialist for years. I was one of the best in the country. I was called in when the police labs, state crime labs, even the FBI labs had no further leads. Rangeman was paid nicely for my services to the different departments for my abilities.

Here I was the best of the best hired out to do what I do all over the country where I solve murders, kidnappings, heinous crimes where people think they got away with it. I am brought in and I usually am able to find something that someone missed which leads to the discovery of who was responsible ultimately bringing the fucker or fuckers to justice.

But now that it counted the most, that it meant the most to me almost as much as it meant when I first got into this business I was unable to find a single shred of evidence to lead us to the fucking psycho that was after my Wifey.

Some would say that I am the job that the job was me and I guess they would be right. I have seen a lot too much and it has all affected me in some way. I am not immune. I have sympathy for the victims and I want justice more than most I just don't always show that side of me.

Actually I hardly ever show that side of me up until I met my Wifey it had been a long time since that side of me was shown so long in fact that I didn't think that side of me still existed. Part of me hated that that side was resurrected with her in my life because it meant every time I was called out for crime it hurt more it affected me deeper once again like in the beginning but there was another part of me that reveled in that side that once felt lost to me.

That I could still feel things that deeply things still mattered to me that I still had a hold on humanity and it was important to me that I still had the ability to care about someone and what was happening or what had happened to them and because of what I do I could find justice for them.

I never pictured my life in the field of crime scene investigations. I mean I had never had that aspiration as a kid growing up. My life was harder than many other kids I knew. My biological parents weren't stellar parents they were abusive, they were horrible people to me, to my sister, to each other.

They only cared about where their next hit was coming from they didn't care about my sister and I they never cared. We survived because we were survivalists eventually we were taken away from our birth parents and we were placed with people who loved us, who thought about us and life was good for both my sister and I.

I had taken swimming lessons which I excelled at and was placed on a swim team which the team did well we were state champions for two years while I was on the team. Our family then moved my Dad received a job offer that he didn't feel like he could refuse.

Looking back I wished he had refused. I wish he had never accepted that job if he hadn't accepted that job we would have never come to Miami we would have never lived where we did. I was eighteen technically no longer under the law of having to live with parents or a guardian but I still lived with them I was still welcomed in their home in my home and I was still loved as if I had been theirs from the beginning. I was also looking forward to my first year at college like my father I wanted to be a teacher.

I still couldn't believe how my life had started that I was now in the family I had, going to college. My sister well she would have started her third year of high school again something I never saw in our futures when we were kids with our birth parents. Truth being told I never expected us to survive our biological parents but we had we had survived and with the love that we had been shown we were excelling.

I will never forget the night that everything changed for me. The night that my whole world came crashing down around my feet. The night that everything important to me was ripped out from under me the night that changed my directions in life sent me down the path of life as a crime scene investigator, a forensic scientist. The life of a crime solver where all that mattered was finding the son of bitches who thought they could get away. I am not saying that it isn't a satisfying life in some aspects I mean it has its bad moments, and the moments you just want to throw up, moments you just want to kill something, someone. But when you catch the bad guy and bring them to justice. When you find that single shred of evidence tying them to the crime that they thought they got away with well nothing is more satisfying at that moment.

I came home to flashing lights surrounding my house. I came home to a crime scene investigator van parked in our driveway beside my mom's car. Thinking about it still makes my heart want to race my breathe catch bile rise in my stomach and anger run through my veins. I remember the police holding me back from my own home as they began asking me questions. I remember the panic in wanting to see my parents, my sister rising in me as the bile from the thoughts of possibilities that were flying through my mind as to why there was such as scene in front of my house.

I remember the numbness from hearing how my house, my family my mom, my dad, my sister had been victims of a home invasion gone wrong they called it. Gone wrong, that was their choice of words. Later seeing the pictures that they allowed me to look at as they questioned me as if they believed I would have been capable of such heinous acts of violence towards the only people that had ever loved me ever cared for me that I had ever loved or ever cared for, my life my family.

Then I had to withstand their sincerest apologies when they discovered that I couldn't have done it not that I wouldn't or didn't but couldn't have. I had been visiting my college it was orientation and I had been away for the past two days getting myself ready to attend college while my family was slain in an home invasion gone wrong. Those words gone wrong still ring in my head, still cause bile to rise from my stomach to this very day and those words still infuriate me when I hear them spoken in connection to a crime. No one will know how those words make you feel until they are spoken to you.

My father Victor Ramos, my mother Elizabeth Ramos and my sister Arianna Ramos were all buried on the same day, all beside each other. Their funeral was huge but it wasn't because they had so many friends who wanted to remember them for their lives, it was their death that was what was being remembered. Most of the people that were there looking and watching me bury the best part of my life, the best part of me didn't even know us they felt sorry for us, they felt sorry for me, they felt sorry for themselves and by showing up at the funeral of my parent's my sister it somehow made them feel that everything in life was good again, was going to be right and the bad thing wouldn't touch their lives.

I didn't care I didn't want them there I didn't want their sympathy their empathy I wanted to be allowed to mourn the death of my family my life without the strangers looking at me and watching me without their looks of pity. My world had been ripped out from under me my life had been turned upside down not theirs. They may have been sorry that bad things like this happen in life to good people but it wasn't their life it destroyed it wasn't their life it touched it blackened it was mine. I wanted to scream for them all to go the fuck home to leave me alone to leave us alone so I could mourn my loss so I could mourn my family so I could remember them as I knew them in life not in death not as how they saw the news or read the papers about a home invasion gone wrong. But out of respect of my parents and my sister I didn't have the heart so I sat there and tolerated them and thanked them when they offered me their condolences like that did it for me like that made me all better.

They say in death you should celebrate the life the person had. You should celebrate the person they were that you had always known them to be and not be lost in the sadness of their loss. Well I wanted nothing to do with that philosophy even though it sounded like a good one. There was nothing good about losing them like this. It isn't as if you could say they lived a full life, they lived a long life. My sister she was sixteen years old, my parents they were forty five years old. What is long about any of their lives? What was full about any of their lives I tell you what nothing. They had been robbed of their lives, their future, they long happy life taken away from them in a home invasion gone wrong that's what.

But I had the deepest and sincerest apologies and sympathy from the police department. I had the sympathy and empathy from everyone who lived in our neighborhood, from everyone who had watched the news as it unfolded on their televisions, from strangers that walked down the street that recognized my face. What was that supposed to do for me? Make it better? Make my life better? I didn't want any of it. The only thing I wanted was something that none of them were able to give me. I wanted to know who did this to my family, to me. Who it was that decided to invade my home, take the life of my mom, my dad, and my sister. Who was it that decided that this home invasion, the invasion of my home was the invasion that was to go wrong? I wanted a name or names. I wanted revenge, I wanted blood, I can't even tell you exactly what it was that I wanted to do I just wanted to make it painful and I wanted to make it last forever. I wanted them living in a daily life of hell. Prison was too good, death was too good.

It was my work in Miami that lead me to meet Ranger. When he opened Rangeman he saw the need to have a crime scene investigator on staff to investigate home and business invasions the very thing he sought to protect. Because of my life, my past, my mission in life I couldn't turn his offer down. It wasn't the salary even though the salary was probably better than any crime scene investigator ever made for the police, the state, or the FBI that wasn't the reason for me to take the job. It was his conviction to preventing invasions, to finding justice when they did occur that had me signing on the dotted line of my contract and busting my ass to pass the entrance exam for Rangeman. It is that same pride, that same conviction of what we do that keeps me with him year after year because of us there are families who are safe, there are families who are protected.

There is that boy who is just starting out in college to become that educator I never got to be and that teenage girl looking forward to junior and senior years of high school because their homes are protected and watched over by us to prevent their lives from being ripped out from under them as mine was. We made a difference, I made a difference and for that my whole life all of my decisions my paths in life were all worthwhile. Now if I could just find a way to keep my Wifey safe and protected I would feel better.

Looking at the evidence for my Wifey brought back all of those painful memories for me. It took me right back to the moment when it was me looking at the clues, the evidence, the pictures from my own family. That night changed everything I ended up going to school but my major was no longer that of an educator someone who helps by building and molding a life of a child. It was that of a crime scene investigator, a forensic scientist. Someone who helped a destroyed life find justice. While important and necessary it somehow wasn't exactly the same as my intentions or my desires as that young adult who wanted to make a difference in a different way.

If the police department where we lived couldn't find the son of a bitch that stole my family, stole my life then I would dedicate my life to searching, tracking, and finally hunting him down if it took all of my life to do it. Unlike the clues here I had found that key that piece of evidence in the case of my family home invasion gone wrong. I had tracked him, I had hunted him, and I had dealt with him. He would never see the inside of a court room, there wasn't a chance he wouldn't be convicted for the crime he committed against my family. It had taken me several years but I had done it. I had found him and I not only prosecuted him, but I was judge, jury and executioner and before the life left his eyes he had screamed, he had begged, he had puked, he had pissed and shit himself in fear, he pleaded with me begged me for my forgiveness but there was none to give.

I couldn't help but think at the time was this how my mom, my dad, my sister begged for their life, begged for him to just take what he wanted and leave them their lives. Had they pleaded with him to allow them to live and in those thoughts it brought no sympathy, no empathy, and no forgiveness to the bastard before me.

Remembering my time with him actually brought me a sick sense of pride, and happiness which also brought about a healthy amount of guilt thinking that I had that in me that I was capable of doing something like that to another human being even when that human being had taken everything from me. But it was that part of me that sought revenge that just reveled in knowing that he had gotten exactly what he deserved that felt so satisfied.

It was also that part in me that was frustrating me right now when I couldn't find an answer to help protect my wifey. She was my sister. She was the first person that I allowed close to me to think of as part of my family since I had lost my family and I wasn't going to lose her because I couldn't seem to find a fucking clue as to who this sick son of a bitch was.

I had been told that a cop was involved we all felt confident that cop was her x-boyfriend cop Morelli but there was absolutely no evidence tying him to anything she had received. I couldn't prove it was him. My gut was saying it was him, but there wasn't a shred of evidence to link him. I was beyond pissed at myself, at him, picking up the nearest thing I could reach I slung it across the room yelling out in my frustration at the whole situation.

Stephanie Plum walked into my heart when I was shot. I have to say it was the best thing that had happened to my life in a long time and it took getting shot for it to happen. Ranger had a man that wanted to take over his identity and I had gone to the bonds office. I froze for a second seeing the man because he did look like Ranger and in that second before realization hit me it wasn't Ranger he shot me. Stephanie had come to the hospital to see how I was. Because of their policy no one would tell her anything unless she was family so she said she was my wife.

I have to laugh looking back on it because at the time she had no idea my last name. She only knew my first name as Manny so she told them she was Mrs Manny something. Lucky for her the nurse liked her and let her back anyway. From that moment until now and forever more she will always be my wifey. I love her, I would protect her, I would fight for her and I would die for her. That is why I was so frustrated that I wasn't able to find something anything to help her to make her life safer.

I was the best and yet I couldn't find anything it was also this love for her that made me sit back down after releasing a little bit of pent up energy frustration and anger. After picking up the pieces of stapler that I had put a nice hole in the wall with when I threw it. I sat back down to go over everything one more time in hopes that I missed something or overlooked something. Sometimes it was the tiniest of clues that lead you to something that breaks the case wide open my only hope was that I was able to find it.

RPOV

We make it up to our home for lunch and as usual Ella has already left lunch for us. I really wanted to talk to her about my plan for Morelli on one hand and I didn't want to bring up his name on the other. I was so torn. I never wanted to keep secrets from her. I know I can't tell her about my missions but barring that I never want to keep secrets not like this, not when it affected her life.

I had done this, I had been that guy and now that she was in my life I no longer wanted to be that guy. I had promised myself and more importantly I had promised her that I wouldn't be that guy so I knew I had to tell her. I just wasn't sure how I was going to tell her and I wasn't sure what her reaction would be. This was something I had to do but if she asked me not to do it I wondered if I could actually not do it.

I mean what do you say I am going to terrorize your x-boyfriend because of the things he has done to you. I am going to make his life a living hell on earth until he either decides to one leave you alone or he moves to a safer place hopefully across the country or better yet another country maybe a third world country without phones, without televisions, without all the modern conveniences we enjoy day in day out. In my dreams it would be a dry country that would serve him right. I know I am enjoying those thoughts too much.

But in all honesty how do you tell someone this? Especially someone who you know will worry that it will cause you trouble, or problems and I know she wouldn't want that and that she would worry about me, her brothers, and Rangeman. She loved this company as much as I did even though she wasn't here from the start. She loved everything we did, everything we stood for, she believed in our services and she believed in our name as all my men did. Tank, Lester, Bobby and I had built this company from the ground up we were all partners even though I held the title of CEO. From selecting the men to work for us some hand selected because of their specialties some referred to us by current employees some that just heard about our reputation and wanted an opportunity to work with the best. Each man had their own story for joining us.

We were the best. We made sure when we had the best of the best when it came to a specialists and because of that philosophy not all the times were our men had been the most upstanding citizens their whole lives. But it has always been said it takes a thief to stop a thief, It takes a hacker to stop a hacker, It takes a killer to stop a killer. So Rangeman was a mixed bag of past lives all brought together for a common goal of making businesses, homes, and lives safer. Past lives weren't acknowledged weren't judged it was only present and future lives of my men from the time they joined Rangeman that mattered. That they wanted to make a difference make a small part of this world safer for the few we protected.

I have always known it from the moment she first helped me how much she loved this company and how good she would be for this company. How do I tell her that I am putting all of that on the line so I can give a little payback, revenge the wrong that has occurred to her? How do I tell her that she is mine ours and by being mine and ours no one touches her no one messes with her without consequences, without repercussions? That it all came with a price and that price was more than likely the person's life. That I would give up everything I have, everything I am, and everything I have built to send that message to anyone seeking her harm, all to protect her.

I wanted to send the message sooner versus later. I had been talking to Cal and Tank in the hallway when Lester, Babe, and Slyder came up from the gym. The thought of seeing them in the elevator made me want to laugh Lester and my Babe were always up to something and it seemed as though Slyder was going to fit right in to their little pack. That made me happy. I have known Slyder for a while and I knew he was a trustworthy guy a good guy a guy that would be good for my Babe. Another brother for her like she needed more?

Well in my opinion she could never have enough people building her up she could never have enough people supporting her and I knew him well enough to know that he would support her, he would help build her up, he would love her as much as all of my other men did and I knew that she would come to love him. Like Lester he would laugh with her, play with her, get in trouble with her not that she really got in trouble more like caused trouble.

My Babe pulled me from my thoughts when she came in and flopped down beside me on the kitchen bar stool. I had been toying with a bottle of water while she had been showering and getting ready for her afternoon training sessions. I was a little concerned she would once again be leaving the building with Vince and Woody then Tank for the last two hours of her training. I wanted her to take additional men with her but again I wasn't exactly sure how to approach that with her either.

She sat down beside me and I thought I would tackle the easier of the two problems I was having but it would be her decision. I had to school myself to make it or more allow it to be her decision but I did it.

"Babe, I know you have driving training this afternoon with Vince and Woody but if you would like you can ask Lester, Bobby, and or Slyder to go with you or any of the other men if you would like." She looked at me.

"Why? Won't that interfere with their working? I mean I know Slyder isn't doing much as you just showed him his desk and today is like the first day he is here but still." I just shook my head. It would put us behind but it wasn't anything my men wouldn't be able to cover.

"Babe you can select any of them if you want them. Just ask I know they would love the opportunity to spend some time with you and if it would make you feel safer so you can concentrate on your training without having to constantly look in the rearview mirror then I say it is time well spent." I hated reminding her of what happened before my mentioning the rearview mirror but on the same time I wanted her to think about her safety before anything here at Rangeman and if jarring her memory even if it was a bad memory then I would take my chances with the gentle reminders.

She paused for a moment and I saw her eyes dilate a little at the memory I felt terrible for causing her pain and the worry but I could only hope it would help her in the longer run make a better decision about her safety.

She finally nodded and said "I think I will ask Cal and Slyder if they want to join me." I was a little surprised she hadn't said Lester I sort of hoping she would say him or Bobby so she could have a member of the core team with her but I wasn't going to say anything. He was going to be hurt when he found out and if I knew my hair brained cousin he would weasel his way in he wouldn't be left behind not after he found out Cal and Slyder were going. I knew they were going because I knew they would never tell her no when she asked they didn't have it in them even Slyder didn't have it in him.

None of us and I mean none of us big tough bad ass mercenary heartless soulless bastards had it in us to say no to her. They would fight for the chance they would do anything to spend time with her to see her smile. They would do anything to keep that smile on her face and telling her no well that was just unheard of no matter what she wanted even when you know no was in her best interest we still didn't have it in us. Her telling on them as to what they had eaten with her should be more than enough proof of what they would do to make her smile, to make her world happier.

The one time Hal decided before everyone had fallen for her and pulled her into their family he was going to say no ended up in him getting stunned so after that the men just decided that she was going to do what she wanted anyway so just allow her to do it. But somewhere along the way that line muddied and it became more doing what she wanted because it made her happy and everyone wanted to see her happy so they never said no and unfortunately I wasn't immune to that either. I never wanted to say no to her either. Thankfully she wasn't a woman who asked for a lot or expected a lot. But then again if she had of been that way I suspect my men nor myself would be the way we are either those were the women that were used to and none of them made a lasting impression on me or them.

Taking a deep breath I decided to broach the tougher subject. "Babe I am going to tell you something but before you jump to conclusions, or before you start protesting I want you to hear me out." She looks at me her eyes questioning what I could be getting ready to tell her. I briefly see fear cross her eyes, I briefly see self doubt and un-sureness and I quickly respond reassuring her "Babe it's nothing like that." She relaxes a little so I continue.

"A group of your brothers and I are planning on paying a little visit to Morelli tonight. We have a message that we want to deliver to him. He didn't go to jail for what he did to you the other night in the club and we want to send a message that we protect what is ours. Babe I don't want you to get upset when I say that but we do consider you ours. You are the guy's sister, you are my love, my life, my breath but you are more than that. You are the glue that binds us. You are the one thing that we all have that brings us together as a family and because of you each and every one of us are better men for having you in our life both individually and collectively for bringing us together as a family. Babe some of your brothers never had families, or lost their families, or are distant from their families and having you in their life brings that part of their life back to them and they treasure that, they treasure you. For many you are all they have and they love you, they want you safe, they want you protected, they want you to never be afraid to ride down the street, walk down the sidewalk, go to a club, go to the mall. They want you to be happy and not afraid that someone is out there waiting for you to be alone, waiting to take advantage of your vulnerabilities waiting to attack you or God forbid take you." I tell her.

The thought of someone taking her makes my heart want to stop makes my stomach tighten and my muscles to contract. I took a calming breath hoping I stressed enough how important this is to all of us, not just me. How much we all wanted those things for her. If I gave my men the opportunity to volunteer everyone here in this building would volunteer to teach that fucking cop a lesson.

I could see her taking it all in. I could see a little surprise in her eyes I think she was surprised I shared this with her. I could see fear in her eyes and knew that stemmed from what he could possibly do to us.

"Babe he will know who delivered the message but I promise I have a plan that is going to leave him in such a state that he won't be able to tell anyone and if he was able to tell someone they would never believe him." Her eyes widen at my statement and I could sort of read how she might have read the wrong thing into some of what I said so I quickly corrected that

"No we won't kill him, I promise when we leave him he will be breathing and while he will be in some pain it won't be anything major broken or damaged." Again she relaxed at my words. I could see a little confusion she wasn't exactly sure what to say so I thought I would add.

"I am not really asking as this is a decision we have made but I wanted you to know, I wanted to share with you our thoughts and decisions, I wanted to tell you what we planned and why we planned it. I want you know that we will all be safe but I wanted you to know that we are serious about sending the message that you don't mess with us or ours. It is a message we would have a long time ago sent to Stark Street and one the cop needs to hear and understand." I tell her I refrain from using his name again or calling him the x labeling him as the cop is less personal it's a psychological thing I know but I couldn't help myself from trying to further remove her from the thoughts of him and what we planned.

I watch as she thinks through what I told her. Her not just jumping in protesting may be a good thing this conversation may be going to the way I want it may have been easier than I thought.

"Carlos" she said getting my attention not that she didn't already have it. "I understand what you said and I understand why you want to do this. But don't you think it would be better if we just dropped it? I mean the more we fight back isn't that going to just make him fight harder? Wouldn't it be dangerous for you all I mean he shot at Cal, what would prevent him shooting at you all again? This time he might get lucky, this time he may actually really hurt or kill someone." She had worry in her eyes.

"Babe he isn't going to get the chance." I told her and she shook her head.

"You don't know that, you can't promise that. You don't know that he won't get the chance. If he does get the chance you already know he will take it. You already know that he would love nothing more than to see you dead, to see my brothers dead. He wants me to come back to him. He wants me." She said raising her voice with worry.

"Babe he isn't going to get you. You aren't going back to him. He isn't going to get what he wants. He isn't going to kill me or any of your brothers." I tell her. Trying to reassure her trying to erase some of the worry I see on her face as her eyebrows grew closer together. Maybe this wasn't smart telling her ahead of time but I still couldn't help but feel it was right thing to do.

She changed tactics on me, I should have seen it coming but what can I say I was busy trying to comfort her that her nightmares weren't going to come true. "Who are you planning on being with you to deliver this message?" She asked me.

"Well for starters Tank, Lester, Bobby, Cal, I also suspect that Hector will want to join in and I wouldn't be surprised if Slyder joins in as well." She looks at me I see surprise in her eyes.

"Why Slyder? Why would he join in? He just met me. Why would he want to go?" She questions.

I just smile. What to tell her I briefly wondered. "Well for one he is close with all of us, for two we are comfortable with him having our backs, and for three he would figure he would have some fun tagging along." I tell her.

She seems to accept that nodding but then says "Why tell me, I mean why didn't you just do it and then tell me, why are you telling now?" What? Why is she asking that?

"Babe I love you, you are my partner, you are going to be my wife, I want to share things with you, I want to tell you when something affects your life, I told you I want to support you. I want you to have decisions in your life and be able to make them knowing you are supported. Trust me a part of me wanted to just send the message and then tell you but that wouldn't be me keeping my promise to you, it wouldn't be me being the man I want to be for you." I tell her hoping that it was the answer she would know to be the truth. I just didn't see the double edge I was creating in telling her the truth.

"Carlos, as your partner I understand you telling me this and it being your decision and not asking me my permission because I am not here to be your mother and give you permission to do something. Thank you for respecting me enough as your partner, your future wife to tell me your plans, and to explain them to me."

Wow who knew being so forward was the way to go I could feel the excitement building just the thought of sneaking in his house and delivering the message was making me very happy. But she continued taking the excitement and the happy with it.

"As your partner, and your future wife I want to come with you all. I have a message of my own that I want to deliver to him." She told me and I could just feel every muscle in my body freeze I knew I was now fucked. From all that I had said I had dug the hole I had jumped in and I had taken the fucking rope with me I couldn't even say I had fallen in. Fuck. There was no way I could say no even though my head, heart, and body was screaming no I couldn't make the word come out of my mouth and still be true to everything I told her which all of it I meant with every fiber of my body when I said it.

Damn my Babe should negotiate some of the Rangeman contracts she wouldn't even have to work at it she would have the customers telling us what it was they needed without us even have to explain why we thought they needed it. She was good.

"Babe I want you safe." I tried to tell her that was being honest with her even with what I had said.

"I will be safe with the seven or eight of you I will be more than safe besides I am not going in empty handed. I plan on having my weapon with me I just hope he won't force our hand and make me use it." Interesting she was going to willingly carry her gun and just like when you carry a gun you hope you don't have to use it but if the situation arises and you have to use it you better be prepared, ready, and capable of using it even if it means taking another's life. If you aren't agreeable to that then you really shouldn't be carrying the gun at that point they become a danger to yourself and those that are around you. Effectively if you are unable to use it you will have just given the enemy a weapon one they may not have had prior to taking yours.

I took a deep breath I really couldn't ask for more from her besides her agreeing to stay here at Rangeman but she was right we could and would protect her. "Okay Babe if you want to come with us then you can come with us." I tell her really I didn't have anything else to say other than okay even thought my heart head, and body were screaming no.

She looked at me "I have to get going to my training but I want for us to have dinner with everyone who is going tonight and I want to chill out with them in the living room so make sure whoever it is that is going to deliver our message is up here no later than six thirty. If Cal, Hector, and Slyder are coming then they will need to know more of the history between Joe and I. They will need to know what I shared with You, Lester, Tank and Bobby. I know it will be a repeat for you all but I think under the circumstances it is necessary. If they are going to deliver a message on my behalf they need to know what they are walking into both present and past." She tells me.

When did my Babe become such a thinker, when did she start to become one that thought before she acted I am not even sure if she has realized it or recognized this side of her yet but as she was learning, growing in her abilities, becoming more secure in herself and confident the changes that she was making were simply amazing and I loved her more for every single one of them if that was possible because I always thought she was perfect the way she was, still still was perfect only her confident more self secured way made her somehow more perfect.

I quickly made the decision to invite the guys up and not tell them why not tell them my Babe's decision I was going to let her tell them, I was going to let her show this side of her they will be so proud of her. They will be so excited to see her soaring.

FrankPOV

I am sitting here watching television like every other night waiting for my wife to put dinner on the table. She is in the kitchen working away on whatever it is we are having tonight. I have replayed the scene the night Stephanie walked out saying she was no longer in this family over and over in my head.

Part of me was glad that I had stood by my wife. I mean that is what a husband should do right stand by his wife, stand by the woman he loves. I am just not sure standing by your wife, and the woman you love against your daughter is so ideal. But then again that is almost an impossible decision how do you decide between your wife and your daughter. I have to live with my wife I don't have to live with my daughter but that doesn't mean that I don't love my daughter and miss my daughter.

It had only been a little over a week and I did miss her. I still couldn't believe Morelli had slapped her. I have never liked that boy and I really didn't understand why my wife wanted our daughter with him so bad it wasn't as if he has ever been good for her. But I chose to stay out of that both in my wife, and my daughter's life I refuse to get in involved in the Morelli and Stephanie union, reunion whatever you want to consider it.

I understood how she enraged Morelli but I still didn't agree that violence was the answer and in my opinion violence against someone you claimed to love should never happen regardless of excuse. But being a man and understanding how jealous a man can get I can see how Stephanie excited those feelings in him when she said what she did about Ranger. How that could have affected Morelli and to that I was trying to be a little more understanding even though I did not agree, and didn't condone that behavior.

I have also been replaying the accusations that she raised against my wife and I briefly wondered if she was right. Had my wife cheated on me with other men? I always questioned if she had cheated on me with Morelli's dad but when he died I sort of let all of the wondering, and suspicions die with him. But hearing what she said was it true? Had she and had there been others, if so were there still others? I couldn't help but wonder and question it.

My wife had always been attentive, had always had dinner on the table, had always taken care of the house, and had tried to raise our daughters the way she felt would give them a happy life. I can't really fault her for any of those things. I stepped back and allowed her to do what she felt was best, I allowed her to raise our daughters as she wanted without interfering without getting involved. I didn't know how to raise girls, and since I didn't have boys I allowed my wife to take over that responsibility while I worked, and brought home the money to support our family.

The past several years of our marriage things between us had sort of mellowed out a little. Our sex life had dropped off to almost nothing. Not that I had really done anything to keep it alive so I am just as much at fault as her so there is no fault or blame to pass to her.

I sort of thought that our aging her going through the change of life us become mid-lifers as they called it was the reasons for the lack of desire between us because earlier in our married life even when our daughters were young and growing up we had always had a healthy desire for each other and sex even to the point of taking advantage of time when our daughters were in school or away with friends.

If anyone is to blame I can blame her mother for coming to live with us. I mean who can concentrate or think about sex when you have that old bat running around listening, watching, and making comments. Since she had found out that Stephanie moved out of her apartment Edna had moved in to it. I doubted that Stephanie even knew that. But it definitely seemed to be working for all. She was happy there and I was happy she wasn't always here.

I don't think since the night Stephanie walked out of this house with Ranger she has contacted anyone in the family or spoken to anyone even though I know her mother had tried to talk to her. If she had I had not heard about it and I can't believe Edna had talked to her she wouldn't have been able to keep it to herself when she comes for dinner as she does every night.

Since Edna moved out and even slightly before that my wife's and I sex life had begin to pick up. She was to the point now of almost the way it was when we had first married those younger years of our marriage. In some ways she is better she has become more adventurous and had experimented with things that she had never done before. Sex with her was once again exciting, it was fun, and I looked forward to that time with her.

She was almost to the point I would have label her insatiable but I made sure she was satiated every time sometimes even more than once. So things here were good in the sex department. I do however wish that she could let go of this notion of wanting Stephanie with the Morelli boy but if it made her happy, and her being happy made our home happy and ultimately me happy then I wasn't going to get involved. She always seemed to know the best when it came to our daughters so I wasn't questioning her now.

If Stephanie did decide to go back to Morelli it isn't like he would be the worst case he was a detective with the police force he wasn't like his dad although that slap did have me a little worried that he had that aspect of his dad in him. But I had never seen it prior when he and Stephanie were on better terms so it is possible that was just because of the stress of the situation that caused him to lash out. We have all had moments like that when we did something that was out of character something we weren't proud of.

Really after all why should the culmination of a man's life be decided by in a single incident in his life? So while I may not really care for the man maybe he would be okay for my daughter after all. My wife seemed to thank so.

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You can find it all at www(dot)fanfictionstoryinfo(dot)webnode(dot)com There are playlists there for the party and songs that are mentioned through the different chapters, pictures of the characters along with their bio as I see them in my head, as they are in my story. There are pictures of some of the clothing, and places that have been in my chapter, as well as pictures of cars, trucks, motorcycles from the Rangeman compound. I hope you enjoy it! Leave a comment there as well if you wish!