Disclaimer: I still don't own them, and sadly, still making no money.

A/N: Wanda, thank you for being such an awesome Beta! Thank you to everyone who has sent a review. I haven't had a chance to reply to all of them yet, but I am trying. I would also like to apologize for getting this out so late today.

When we got back to the garage, I walked Steph over to her little pickup. It had seen better days. I think the original color was blue of some sort, but it was really hard to tell through all the rust and bond-o. I waited until she was leaving the garage before I turned around and hit the stairs at a run.

I shoved open the door on the fifth floor and didn't slow my pace until I was right in front of Ranger's Office. I pushed open the door and kicked it shut behind me. I barely took in the shocked look on the face of all four of my brothers. It seemed I was interrupting a meeting. I didn't give a shit. I stalked over to his desk and placed my hands on it as I leaned forward getting in his face. "You… I am holding you responsible for every attack that has happened to Stephanie since you met her. You haven't trained her at all."

He held his hand up in defense. " I told you she refuses to ex…"

I cut him off "Don't you feed me that exercise bull shit! You know as well as I do there are other things you could have done. I watched that girl today. She is a walking talking billboard that says 'Here I am Pick me! I'm a victim.' She's in an unsafe relationship, and has a target painted on her back because you couldn't be bothered to teach her how to listen to her instincts. She's anxious and terrified. You know the basics. You are not a stupid man Ricardo. You have been trained for years by the US government to be the perfect predator. You know what weak prey looks like. But noooooooo Mr. Bad ass couldn't even help her not look like easy pickings. You LIKE being her white knight, you like this dependence she has on you for her safety."

He looked at me his blank face firmly in place. "I have done everything I can for her. You don't know the shit she puts up with."

I shook my head. "Damn it! You've made her weaker. If something happened to you, that girl wouldn't last a week."

He almost looked sad as he leaned towards me speaking in a deadly calm. "Outside of this building there is no one who supports her and believes in her. She deals with a mother that makes yours look like a saint. I am the only one who told her she could do anything her heart desired."

"Your actions speak different. You tell her she is strong, you tell her to listen to her instincts, but then you take away her strength. You tell her things are not her fault and that there was nothing she could have done to prevent it. You look right into that girls eyes and LIE to her. Worse, you lied to me. You call me up and tell me about the little white girl who's got oomph, and that you're training her. You haven't done a damn thing for her other than make her a bigger target." I stood up and crossed my arms over my chest. "I may not know how hard her life is, or the shit she deals with from her demonic mother, but I do know that it isn't going to get better anytime soon as long as she continues this way."

While I was giving him everything I had, I could hear Bobby stage whisper to Lester and Tank. "You think one of us should remind them about the rule where anyone who causes Steph to be hurt gets called to the mats?"

I turned my head to yell at him to shut up, but then what he said finally sank in, and I felt a slow smile creep across my lips.

"Wonderful idea Bobby." I turned my head to look at Ric and gave him the same grin. "Let's go. Ranger." I put extra emphasis on his street name. I was not happy with him at all. He knew better. He was just letting his ego get in the way.

He looked me over raising an eyebrow at the jeans and T-shirt I was wearing. "Meet me there in fifteen minutes, after you've had a chance to change into something more appropriate."

I nodded and turned on my heel walking out of his office slamming the door behind me as I raced to the stairs. I hurried into the apartment undressing as I walked through the door. I grabbed a sports bra, and a pair of those lycra type leggings for working out and slipped them on. I took the opportunity to pin my braid up into a tight bun. I knew that when it was all said and done, he was going to kick my ass. We used to be fairly evenly matched when we were younger, but that was about 15 years ago. I might not be able to beat him, but I had enough tricks up my sleeve to make him work for it.

I hurried down the stairs so I would have some time to stretch, it would make things a lot easier on me. I looked up as Bobby, Tank, and Lester walked in. I gave them a nod, and a questioning look. Tank was the one who answered my unanswered question. "He's changing, and shutting down the monitor feeds in here."

I nodded with satisfaction and returned to my stretching routine. I knew they were watching me, so I went for the move that always made them wince. I did the splits, all the way to the floor. I may be old, but I liked my yoga. It kept me as limber as I was when I was still a gymnast. I smiled to myself as I heard them talking amongst themselves. Lester was saying "Ok Tank, if it starts looking bad, you and I will take Ranger, and Bobby you grab Ray."

Tank must have disagreed because he tossed out. "We should just let them kill each other."

Lester laughed. "If we do that one of us has to call Dad, and tell him what happened."

They were silent after that. I finished my stretching just as Ric walked into the gym. He walked to the edge of the mats and kicked off his boots and stripped off his T-shirt and unbuckled his cargos revealing tight spandex type shorts. He knew me well enough to know I'd take any advantage I had, so he'd minimized that. Smart. I was pissed enough to really hurt him this time. I don't know if I was more pissed about the way he had treated Stephanie, knowingly or unknowingly, or about the fact that he lied to me.

As Ric walked to the center of the mat he looked over at me. "You know Steph wouldn't appreciate you doing this for her. As a matter of fact she'd probably be pissed."

"Then don't tell her, I'm not doing this for Steph, at least not entirely. I'm doing this because I'm fresh out of ID-10-T forms for you to fill out."

I heard a few snickers as I kicked off my shoes and went to meet Ric in the center of the mat. Tank got between us like a referee. "Ok, this is going to be a clean fight. No weapons, and try not to break bones."

Ric and I both nodded and Tank stepped back signaling the start. I watched Ric carefully, I never quite knew what to expect out of him. The other three were predictable, but Ric never tried the same thing twice. He threw himself at me, and I let him take me to the ground. I was fine with grappling. The whole point of this wasn't to cause each other pain, it was for me to release some frustration, and for him to understand how stupid I thought he had been. I hooked my legs around his waist and used their strength to move him enough that I could flip us over. I jumped up quickly, and he was right behind me in getting to his feet. He came at me in a blur of motion, more kicks and punches than I could block. I was lucky he wasn't really trying to hurt me, or I'd have been down a long time ago. I needed to break away, just to give myself a second to regroup. It didn't look like he was going to give me that shot, so I took a chance that I could still pull off a back handspring from a standing position. It worked, and I also got in a lucky kick to his solar plexus on my way over.

That move shocked him, and made him take a step back. We were both breathing heavily and just stared at each other for a minute.

"You can say uncle any time Ray. You know I don't want to hurt you."

I remained silent. I wasn't ready to give up. We both advanced toward each other at the same time. He was faster than I was, so he was able to flip me over his shoulder. I landed on my back on the mat. I tried to take a breath, but the wind had been knocked out of me. I knew better than to panic, so I laid there another second or two until I could breathe again. I got to my feet just as I heard Bobby tell Tank to call the match.

I shook my head as if in answer to Bobby while I wiped blood from my eye. At some point I had gotten a gash right above my left eye. Ric was about to turn around to say something to the guys on the side lines, and I took advantage of his momentary distraction. I threw myself at him tackling him to the mat. We wrestled around, both of us trying to get the upper hand while trying hard not to break anything. He finally pinned me face down on the mat with my arm bent behind me and his knee in my back.

"I'm going to let you up now, and this whole thing is going to be over right?"

I took as deep a breath as I could in this position and said through gritted teeth. "Fine."

Ric let go, and stood up, as soon as the pressure of his weight on my back was gone, I pushed myself off the floor. When I stood up someone pressed a towel over the cut on my eye. I tried to brush away the help.

"I'm fine. It's just a scratch." I kept watching Ric out of the corner of my eye. I could see a few bruises forming on his chest. It made me feel better to know that I gave as good as I got.

Bobby pressed the towel against my head harder. "You're going to need stitches."

"Nah, just give me a little super glue and I will be fine."

Once we had both calmed down some, Ric came over and put his arm on my shoulders. I reached up and pushed away the towel Bobby had on my head, so Ric and I could talk.

"You're right you know." He told me.

"Of course. I usually am." I told him with a grin.

"Ray, I've done everything I could. I gave her bodyguards, I've offered safe houses. I don't know what else to do to fix it."

I turned my head towards him and sighed softly. "You were treating the symptoms, not the disease."

"I don't know how to reach her on that level." He actually sounded upset. He knew he screwed up, but was powerless to fix it.

I rolled my eyes at him. "So what you are saying is. Ray, my darling older sister whom I love more than words can say, if you fix this for me, I will be forever in your debt."

All four of the guys laughed and Ric kissed my forehead above the gash he left there. "That is exactly what I said. Now go get stitched up. We'll all have dinner on 7, and see if we can come up with a way to fix this mess I made."

I pulled away and grabbed my shoes. We had said all we needed to say for now. I gestured for Bobby to lead the way to the clinic. I followed him to the third floor and hopped up on the exam table while he pulled out a suture kit.

"I told you, just a little super glue and I'll be good as gold."

"I can't use derma bond on this cut Ray, it's too jagged, more like a split than a cut."

I sighed and laid down. I knew it was easier for him to sew me up if I was flat, rather than sitting.

He slipped on a pair of gloves and came over with the lidocaine injection. I hissed softly as he injected it into my flesh. Lidocaine always burned for me, I knew that wasn't always the case, but it was my luck that I was sensitive to it.

"You know Ray, you're walking a dangerous line. This thing with Ric and Steph… It's well.. Complicated."

"Complicated nothing." I wished I could open my eyes and look at him, but that would just get saline, and blood in my eye. I think he was cleaning the cut, because I wasn't feeling the tugging that usually came with stitches. "Its actually simple. He's head over heels for her which short circuits his brain, and she's confused. He won't come out and tell her how he feels, so she's playing Yo-Yo with the cop. Seems pretty simple to me."

It amazed me how I could see so clearly through Ric's relationship issues, but my own were as clear to me as mud.

"Ray, he's scared to death of getting hurt. He's in uncharted territory. Do you know how hard it will be for him if she doesn't choose him?" I felt the tell tale tugging of the stitches through my skin as Bobby closed the wound. I did have an eerie feeling that somewhere in this conversation we stopped talking about Ric and Steph. "Unless she knows he's interested then she CAN'T choose him. I know Ric, he's probably pulled that strong silent mysterious bull shit ya'll do and the poor girl probably doesn't even realize she has an option."

I heard Bobby sigh and then I heard the snip of scissors. "All done."

I sat up and looked at Bobby. "Thanks. Hey, listen about last night. I'm sorry I was such a bitch. It's not your fault I'm feeling out of sorts and I shouldn't have taken it out on you."

I slid off the edge of the exam table and occupied myself with putting my shoes on my feet. I bit my lip holding back a sigh. Things were never this hard with Bobby. It used to be so easy to talk to him, to tell him everything on my mind. Now, we were barely talking. I stood up and slipped out the door while Bobby was cleaning up. I hurried upstairs and let myself into the apartment and headed straight to the shower.

When I got out of the shower, I went back into the bedroom and picked up the bra I had gotten earlier that day. I had to admit that while the entire process of buying it was hell, it did make me look good. I put it on and dug through my shirts on the bed. I pulled a Navy blue shirt off the pile that said "Not as lean, Not as mean, Still a Marine and pulled it over my head. I picked up the discarded jeans from earlier and slipped them on. I grabbed a pair of socks and my boots and I took them to the living room.

I sat down on the couch and instantly regretted the really hot shower. I had sparred with Lester, and then with Ric. The hot shower had really tightened up the muscles. I knew better. I knew that a warm shower was best, but I wasn't thinking once again. I forced myself to lean over and put my socks and boots on. When I was done I sat back against the couch and closed my eyes. I planned on closing my eyes for just a minute.

I woke when Bobby gently shook my shoulder. I opened my eyes and stared at him. It took me a minute to realize where I was and what was happening.

"Were you planning on coming to dinner tonight?" he asked quietly.

I blinked a time or two. "Of course, I just sat down and closed my eyes for a minute." I glanced at my watch and realized that I had slept for over an hour. "Oh shit! I'm sorry I can't believe I fell asleep. I hope you guys weren't waiting on me."

"No, Ella hasn't even brought dinner up yet. We just got a little worried when you didn't show." I took his outstretched hand and he pulled me up off the couch. Was it just me, or did he hold my hand just a second longer than necessary. I needed to stop thinking like that. I stretched a little listening to my body do it's impression of a bowl of rice crispies.

"Thanks for waking me up." We left the apartment and walked up the three flights of stairs in silence. My body was screaming at me in agony. I almost wished someone would piss me off. I needed the adrenaline rush. Ric let us in the door almost as soon as Bobby knocked. He led us to the living room of his apartment. Ric's place was beautiful, it was the very picture of a sophisticated bachelor pad right out of a magazine. There was only one problem, I observed as Bobby took a seat between Lester and Tank on the couch, there was not enough space for these giant men and little old me. I shrugged and walked over to sit on Tank's lap while giving Ric a look.

"I trust that in your impenetrable appartment, located in your impenetrable building I'm safe to sit on someone's lap right?" I was joking when I said this, but the reality was, when he first told me to be careful because of Steph's feelings I was downright pissed off.

Ric just looked at me and shook his head with a grin. "You'll really hold a grudge until judgement day won't you? I suppose you'll outlive me just so you can piss on my grave." There was a sparkle in his eye, which let me know he hadn't lost his touch when it came to the darker sense of humor we both shared growing up.

"Nope, I swore when I got out of the Corps I was never going to stand in line again."

Bobby, Lester and Tank all started laughing, not just chuckles, but those deep belly laughs that I hadn't heard in a long time. I just grinned my cutest most innocent grin at Ric, and he took one look at my face and joined in the laughter. When the laughter died down and Ric took the last chair in the room. I decided it was time to catch up. "So Bobby, how are things with you and Kayla?" See I could be mature, even if the idea of Kayla made me want to get into a cat fight.

Bobby looked over at me. "She's good as far as I know. We split up a while ago, she didn't like all the hours I worked."

"I'm sorry to hear that." Was it wrong of me that inside I was doing a little happy dance? "Lester, I'm not even going to ask you. I don't want to know about the features of this weeks Barbie."

Tank, Bobby and Ric all laughed at that while Santos threw a couch pillow at me. I didn't even have to move to avoid that, The advantage about sitting on Tank was he blocked most projectiles launched my way.

A comfortable silence fell over the room for a few minutes before Ric's housekeeper Ella came bustling in with a cart laden with food. She brought something even better than food. She brought… I sniffed the air a few times to make sure, Yes she did… She brought "COFFEE!" I launched myself out of Tank's lap to help Ella set out the food.

I know she heard my excitement because before I could offer to help her set up she held out a steaming mug of the greatest thing on earth. I took the cup gently from her hands and lifted it to my nose to take in the wonderful aroma. "Café Bustelo?" I asked her.

"Yes. Someone alerted me that you had a weekness for real Cuban coffee, and that you drank it by the gallon so not to bother with the demitasse cups."

I grinned and wrapped an arm around her hugging her while I held my coffee away from her so she didn't get burned. "I Love you." I let go of Ella and turned to face the guys. "I love you guys too!"

I moved out of Ella's way cradling my coffee cup as though it were a precious gem. Ric had coffee in the break room, but it was so weak it might has well have been hot water. I took a sip of the coffee and sighed softly as the perfect flavor came through, making Cuban coffee was an art form, one this woman had obviously mastered. "Ric, she needs a raise."

Ella laughed as she finished putting our plates on the table. "I take it you like the coffee?"

"This is perfect. I couldn't have found better, even in Little Havana."

Ella beamed with pride as she hurried out of the apartment. I tore my focus away from the coffee long enough to look at the guys. "Chow's on."

The guys all got up and we took our places at the table. I wasn't much for health food, but the grilled chicken and veggies was wonderful. I noticed that ella, and also added a good amount of black beans and rice. I was absolutely starving after today. This is just what I needed. It didn't take us long to eat at all. I guess if you work in an industry that has lots of emergencies, the "eat it now, taste it later" attitude of boot camp never really goes away. I pushed my plate towards Tank. I had a little bit of chicken and rice left, and I couldn't eat it, but I knew he could. I needed a cigarette bad. There were times it was easy to not smoke, but right after a good meal it was almost impossible.

I stood up, and before I could even tell them where I was going, Ric looked at me. "That will kill you one of these days."

I shrugged my shoulders. "Yeah yeah, so you keep telling me. I also know that carrots cause cancer in lab rats. The only thing science has proven with out a reasonable doubt is that Scientists are fatal to lab rats."

All five of us laughed and I headed for the door, I didn't realize the four of them were behind me at first, but then I heard them. I turned around to look at them questioningly. It was Lester who broke the silence. "We wanna see what was in the Victoria's Secret bags."

I just rolled my eyes, and led my own personal parade down to the garage. While I climbed in the drivers side to grab my cigarettes, Lester popped the trunk so they could carry my bags for me, and Tank pulled out the bags from the back seat. I climbed out of the car and shut the door with my butt. I leaned against the car watching Ric take in the sheer amount of bags.

"Joke's on you brother dear. You told Steph to get anything I needed to be a Jersey girl. You wanted to pay me back for being a pain in the ass, but I'm not the one with the ten thousand dollar credit card bill." I doubted it was really that much, but I wasn't paying much attention to the prices, I was counting down the hours until we could leave.

" He'll think it was worth it when he hears all about your shopping adventure. Did you guys know there is a process to bra buying? It involves jumping up and down and stretching and other weird shit." Tank supplied.

I just shot him the finger as I exhaled smoke. I decided to turn the conversation before it went any farther off topic. "So, someone fill me in on the deal with Steph." I was almost sorry I asked. I had long finished my smoke, and we were back upstairs and halfway through our second pot of coffee before I finished getting all the details.

I steepled my hands under my chin, the index fingers of both hands resting on my mouth while I thought about all I had heard. I knew what I had to do, I just wish there was an easier way to do it. "Ok guys, I know the only way that this is going to work. I won't even touch on her relationship. She may or may not come to the right conclusions on that, but I can at least try to make her stronger. The risk is though, that I might just break her, and I can absolutely guarantee she will never like me again when this is over."

Ric looked at me and shook his head. "I don't think I want to take that risk. She's too special. That's what we all love about her. She doesn't get caught up in the bad things that can happen. She makes all of us remember that while there is a lot of darkness in the world we don't have to live in it. Even us Merc's can walk in the light of day. We'll find some other way to keep her safe."

I shook my head and handed Tank my Coffee cup while I grabbed Bobby's leg to help me stand up. "She's taken up permanent residence in the land of denial. You can't protect her from everything. Yeah she has panic buttons and trackers, but she ditches those every chance she gets. She does her best to loose the guards you put on her. I admit she has a lot of crazy stalkers, but what about the guy who follows her home from the grocery store who only wants to rape and murder her. You can't be everywhere, and you can't protect her if she won't take the steps to protect herself. I work here too now, you think I want to take a bullet for someone who would willingly and knowingly walk right in the line of fire? Because I'll tell you right now, It's not on my top 100 things to do. I'll tell you another thing. You guys are my brothers you know that. What you may not realize is that I love you all as much as I loved Robin. I put one brother in the ground, and now what your asking me to do is sit back and wonder which one of my brothers is going to be next. Which one of you am I going to have to bury because You four are afraid to hurt poor little Stephanie's feelings?" I stopped talking. There was so much more I could have said, but I was about two words away from tears, and I refused to cry. I had shown enough weakness, tears were just not in the emotional budget tonight. I took a deep breath and made it a point to look each one of them in the eye.

"I have a brilliant idea, why don't you four sit up here and figure it out. Draw straws or thumb wrestle for all I give a fuck, just figure out which one of you is going to die for Stephanie Plum, so I can start grieving now."

I turned on my heel and walked out of the apartment. I needed to get a grip on myself. Better yet, I needed to go back to Miami. That's what I needed. I needed to go home, home where I didn't see Bobby every day, and home where Stephanie Plum was no more than stories I heard.