A/N Still not mine and not making any money. I also forgot to mention a special thank you to Dee for helping me get this story going! Thanks Babe!

Chapter 3

Once I was in my car I started thinking back to earlier in the day when I took Mooner and Dougie into the station. Eddie was at the desk when I walked in.

"Hey Steph, what brings you by? And while we are on the subject why are you here with them two?"

"Hey Eddie, I got a new job this morning. I am skip tracing for Vinnie and these are my first two skips."

"This is just priceless! Can I be there when you tell Joe?" Eddie asked while laughing at me.

"What are you going to tell me, Cupcake?"

Shit, shit and triple shit, why in the hell does stuff like this have to happen to me?

"Hey Joe, ummmm..."

"Come on Steph, spit it out. What's up?"

"Dude, like what is going on? I thought you said this would be a quick trip."

"You're here with those two?"

"Yeah Joe, they're sorta part of my new job." I told him while bracing myself on the inside for the fight I knew was coming.

"What the hell kind of job would you have bringing in the two of them? Wait a minute don't even tell me..."

"Joe, calm down and listen to me for a minute. I needed a job and Vinnie needed a bounty hunter, so things worked out for everyone and here I am with my first two skips. Now if you don't mind, I need to get my receipt and get back to the office."

"We'll talk about this later, Cupcake."

"Yeah, whatever. Bye, Joe. Mooner, Dougie, I'll call Connie and let her know to come down and bond you out again. Eddie. I'll catch up with you later."

"Bye dude, thanks for lunch."

"Bye Steph, I'll call you and set up lunch and Pino's one day this week or next."

"Sounds good Eddie."

I knew Joe hated my new job already. Today was a good day and one of the worst days of my life. Only in the life of Stephanie Plum could things get so fucked up.

I pulled into my lot, and noticed Morelli's truck waiting for me. I guess my night was about to get a whole lot worse.

Morelli and I were always fighting about something and it was almost always the same fight either about me marrying him or moving in with him. He didn't get it either. Now I'm going to have to listen to him lecture me about what a bad idea this new job of mine is. I made my way up to my apartment and readied myself for the fight that was about to happen.

"Joe, what are you doing in my apartment?"

"I told you earlier that I would talk to you later; well it's later."

"I'm in no mood to go through this with you tonight, Morelli."

"Too bad. I want to talk about it."

"You know what, Joe, I don't. Look, this isn't working for me; I can't keep fighting with you about the same old things and now my new job. I'm meeting with some guys tomorrow who are going to help me out."

Joe looked really angry now and my last statement didn't seem to help matters any. "And just who the hell are these guys that are going to be helping you out?"

"Ranger and Tank. I met them today at the office." Uh-oh, looks like Joe is about to blow a gasket.

"Are you fucking kidding me? Manoso is bad news. No one even knows where he lives; his address is an abandoned lot in Trenton. He is a psycho and I refuse to let you work with him."

"REFUSE TO LET ME WORK WITH HIM? FUCK YOU JOE! GET THE HELL OUT OF MY APARTMENT AND MY LIFE."

"Come on, Cupcake, you don't mean that. Besides, the boys miss you. It's been a while."

Are you fucking kidding me? He really doesn't get it.

"Joe, we're done. I've been thinking about this for a while. You want to get married and have me turn into another burg wife at home with the kids. Well let me tell you, that is never going to happen. I don't ever want to get married again nor do I want to have kids. We don't even have a real relationship, we have sex and that's about it. You tell me you love me, but I don't feel the same. I don't feel that way towards you. We don't go out, we never talk, and when you want sex is when you call. Do you think I like hearing " Why don't you come over, Cupcake, the boys miss you?" Maybe once in a while I want to be romanced, taken out to dinner, maybe some flowers. Come on, Joe, you know I'm right. If you really loved me and wanted this to work, things would be different."

"I don't want this to be over; how about I try to be different?"

"No Joe, it's too late. If I have to tell you these things to get you to stay with me then there's no point. You should have wanted to do them on your own. Now if you don't mind, I have I've had a really long day and I'm tired."

"Are you sure this is what you want?"

"Yeah Joe, I'm sorry." I went over to Joe and gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"I'm sorry too, Cupcake. Friends?"

"Always. Good night Joe."

"Night." Joe left and I locked up after him. I went in and took a shower as hot as I could stand it, got out, dried myself off, set my alarm, and got into bed. I wanted to get to sleep early. Tomorrow was going to be the start of a new life for me.

Joe's POV

I left her apartment and had no idea what to feel. I really do love her and she's right about everything. I never took her out or gave her flowers. It was always just sex and no romance. I really fucked up this time. I'll have to figure out a way to get her back. Or maybe we weren't meant to be. Something I'm really going to have to think about.