Disclaimer: I still own nothing other than Ray. JE graciously allows us to play in her sandbox.

A/N: Thank you for being so patient with my delays. I have been absolutely blown away by all of the reviews and PM's I have received through this story. As always my Thanks to Wanda517 who helps me put my scattered thoughts in some semblance of order. This story wouldn't be the same with out all of your support, questions and gentle nudges.

Chapter 13

I looked up from my logic puzzle as I heard a knock on the apartment door. I tossed the magazine on the coffee table and went to answer the door. In all honesty I was not surprised to see Ric, and Tank both standing in the hallway. I stepped back and let them enter. I took up my place at the end of the couch. There was a silence in the room, not a comfortable one, it was one of those silences that hung, like a heavy weight over your head. Something was going to break that silence, and all you could hope for was that it would not be the sound of your skull cracking.

I watched the men as they both found places to sit in the living room. The silence grew heavier with each passing second. I had to fight to keep from saying something first. I knew he had read the book by the white knuckled grip he had on it. I sat very still waiting for something to give.

"Ray, you've said a lot of things to me the last few days, and at the time, I just let it go. Now, we are going to talk about it."

There it was, an end to the silence. He did have a point though, I did say a lot of things while I was having my little temper tantrums. Now it seems those temper tantrums were going to come back and bite me in the ass. Time to suck it up and just jump in with both feet. "To which statements are you referring?" I wasn't asking to be a pain in the ass, that was just a benefit. I really needed to know.

"I want to talk about Steph, and what she has to do with this." He said as he held up the book and shook it back and forth slightly as if to emphasize what he was talking about.

I nodded in understanding. He must have figured out what I was trying to get at. "Can I go get Bobby and Lester? I figure we might as well get it all out in the open at once."

Ric nodded and I got up and went to the phone, I called over to Lester's apartment asking the others to join us. I sat back in my place on the couch, feeling the weight of silence once again fill the room. Bobby and Lester joined us, just a few minutes after my phone call. There was a few moments where we all shifted around and got settled.

As soon as the last one of us sat down Ric decided to speak. "Ray, over the last few days, you've pointed out to me many things, some you may even have been right about."

I raised an eyebrow. Ric rarely admitted that someone else may have been right, at least not with out a fight. " Okay…" I was walking a fine line with Ric, I knew from the tension in his shoulders that he had come to some difficult conclusions after reading that book. I didn't want to push him, but I still needed to find out what the new S.O.P. would be with Stephanie.

"What might I have been right about?"

"We, I… I might have over reacted at times, and put Steph in more danger than necessary." He said as his shoulders slumped slightly. He was not good at admitting that he made a mistake, so I promised myself I would be easy on him.

"You can't blame yourself for that though. You were working off the information you had at the time."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Tank demanded.

I looked over at him, and suddenly remembered that I hadn't talked to him about any of my suspicions. "We're talking about my assertions that things with Stephanie and her protection have not always been the right choices."

"I'm afraid I don't agree with you Ray. Stephanie is fine, she has always made it through her mishaps fairly safe and sound."

"I think the point Ray was trying to make, is that some of those situations might have been avoided in the first place." Thank God for Lester. He was able to better articulate my point. This was going to be a long night if I couldn't get my shit together and very clearly explain myself.

"That is exactly what I was trying to say. I know Steph isn't big on working out, and she doesn't like her gun, but she needs to learn how to avoid certain situations." I told them all calmly.

"Ray, it's not like she can always avoid bad situations, she's a bounty hunter." Gee thanks Bobby, way to have a girl's back.

I sighed softly and turned to him. "Haven't you ever gone to get a skip and something just felt off? I know I have, that's my intuition telling me something is wrong. I've learned to listen to that voice and back off enough to get a better plan. That's what I want to teach Steph."

The men just stared at me as if I had spoken another language, and I couldn't help but roll my eyes. They seemed to think I was loosing my mind.

"Just let me take a shot at it, I think I can get through to her."

"Ray, you told us the other night that it could possibly break her, I don't know if that is a chance we can take." Ric reminded me.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. It was time for shock tactics. I had tried to be gentle and persuading, now I had to just rip off the band aid.

"If you won't let me try, then you should go buy the cemetery plot now. It won't be a matter of IF she's killed but when."

Now I'd done it, the weight of their gazes was crushing. I had hit home finally, but I might have damaged some lifelong friendships to do it. I didn't want to be so harsh, but I needed them to realize I was serious. Tank just stared at me with such anger.

"I knew you could be a cold bitch Ray, but that was out of line even for you."

I just shrugged a little. "Tank, I know it sounds horrible, but I have never shied away from telling you guys the truth, and that is exactly what I did."

Ranger didn't seem as horrified by what I said as the other three. He just nodded slowly. "Say I agree to this, what happens?"

I leaned back on the couch. "I talk to her, give her a few tips, set up a few blind scenarios, and voila… she at least learns what signals to listen too and never ignore."

For some reason I couldn't understand the laughter that suddenly floated through the room from all four of them. I shook my head. "Guys, things are different for women out there. Honestly when is the last time you had to be suspicious of someone offering to help you load groceries, or when is the last time you had to evaluate size, gender, clothing, location, words and numerous other things when someone tries to start a conversation with you out of nowhere? You haven't had to do those things. Those are things a woman, a safety conscious woman has to evaluate. Steph has the good girl syndrome, she doesn't want to offend anyone or hurt anybody's feelings. She's a walking talking target."

"Ray, I have no idea what you are talking about, but Stephanie is perfectly safe. Every time she goes out to catch skips, we have some one tailing her."

"Tank, you can't follow her everywhere, and none of you will be able to keep her safe at home. She has to be able to do that on her own."

Tank stood up and walked towards me. He squatted down in front of the couch so we were eye to eye. "What the fuck are you talking about? She's always over at Morelli's house. He's a cop he can take care of her."

I looked at one of my oldest and dearest friends, and having to tell him this was breaking my heart. "Pierre, Joe Morelli is the biggest threat to Stephanie's safety there is."

Tank stood up so quickly I was amazed he didn't fall over. He turned to Ric as he began to yell. "You can't just listen to her say things like this. She is way out of line."

Ric sat there quietly letting Tank work out his anger, and when it was finally quiet he spoke softly. "I let her say it because she's probably right Tank. She can see things we've missed." Ric flipped open the book, and quickly found what he was looking for, and read the paragraph out loud.

"Denial is a save-now-pay-later scheme, a contract written entirely in small print, for in the log run, the denying person knows the truth on some level, and it causes a constant low-grade anxiety. Millions of people suffer that anxiety, and denial keeps them from taking action that could reduce the risks."

I rubbed my forehead, this talk was becoming draining. I didn't want things to get so damn serious. I guess I thought that maybe they would just take my word and let me do my thing. If that is truly what I thought, then I was delusional. These guys needed facts, and figures, not gut feelings and suppositions.

"So seriously Ray, what is your plan? You told us earlier that you won't say anything to Steph about Joe, so how do you plan on helping her to stay safe in all aspects of her life?" Bobby leaned over and asked me.

I wish there were easy answers to all of this, but I was just making educated guesses. "To be honest Bobby, I just have to hope that teaching her to stand up for herself and to trust her own judgment will have to be enough. If we say anything bad about Joe it will make her want to defend him. She has to come to that conclusion by himself."

I glanced over at Ric, I could see Tank scanning through the book, and I hoped he found it as informative as I did. "Ric, trust me. I'll take good care of your little Stephanie. I promise."

"Fine, but Ray, don't be too hard on her ok?" He finally told me.

I nodded, and I finally felt my neck and shoulders begin to relax, unfortunately, Stephanie was only one of the problems we needed to discuss.

"Moving on… What does Legal say about your little problem?"

That set off a new round of discussion trying to decide what to do about the investigation. We had to meet with an investigator who would determine if the there were grounds for a lawsuit. We talked about possible outcomes, and how we would handle a lawsuit. It seemed like forever before everyone was ready to leave, although my night was far from over. I had asked Tank to stay so we could talk.

I let Bobby, Lester and Ric out the door and turned around to look at Tank. He was sitting on the couch rather stiffly, I was getting the impression that I might not be his favorite person right now. I walked into the kitchen with out saying a word. I dug around and found a bottle of wine, and set about pouring us each a glass. Bobby did not have anything even remotely resembling wine glasses, so I just used water glasses, thankful they were not red solo cups. I might not have high standards, but I do have some, and I draw the line at drinking out of plastic cups like a college kid.

I brought the glasses with me over to the couch and handed one to Tank before sitting down on the coffee table so we could talk face to face.

"Tank, listen… I know a lot of what I said tonight sounded cold, and probably really harsh. I wasn't trying to be. I was just trying to get my point across."

"I still don't know that you are right Ray. You're making some pretty serious accusations. You don't even really know Stephanie, and you are assuming she is in some sort of danger, when you don't know the whole story."

I took a sip of wine and thought for a moment. I needed him to understand, I wanted one of my best friends to see that I wasn't making things up. "Tank, that book in your hand is written by one of the foremost experts on violence in America. I'm not just shooting in the dark here. I really do see danger in how she lives."

"Why do you even care? You hardly know her."

Ah hell, I didn't really want to answer that question, but I knew he needed an answer. "The first reason is because she is important to all of you. If she gets hurt, you all will hurt, and I don't want that. The second reason is…" I sighed softly. I didn't want to talk about this. I took another sip of wine and turned my head to stare at the clock on the wall. The soft tic tic tic of the clock was soothing to me.

I forced my attention back to Tank. "The second reason is because when I was still a Rookie, I was partnered with a guy named James. Jimmy was a good cop, and we became friends as Partners often do. I used to go over to his house for Sunday barbeques and dinner. You know normal shit. When I was there, his wife would have this look on her face.. A look that I will never forget, but cannot describe. I should have seen it. I should have known better. One day after we both pulled a double shift because there was a nasty flu going around, I was on my way home when I heard a call come in over the radio. It was a request for an ambulance at Jimmy's place. I hurried over there as fast as I could thinking maybe one of the kids fell and got hurt or something."

I took another drink of wine draining the glass. I tried to swallow the tears that were stuck in my throat. "By the time I got to his house there was yellow crime scene tape surrounding the entire place. I managed to get past the barricade by flashing my badge, but before I could get inside I was stopped by I.A. Jimmy had beaten his wife so bad that she didn't make it."

I must not have done a good job of swallowing my tears, because Tank put down his glass on the coffee table and took mine out of my hand placing it next to his before he picked me up and pulled me into his lap.

"Ray, you couldn't have stopped him. You have to know that." he said quietly as I just sat there trying to wipe the hot tears that ran down my face.

"Yeah I could have, if I had paid more attention I could have turned him into Internal Affairs. I would have done it too. Partner or not, I would have turned him in. The day I stood by the grave of Jimmy's wife, a woman who would still be alive if I had paid attention. I promised myself I would never miss the signs again. I read that book Ric handed you cover to cover numerous times, I took college classes, I went to seminars, I did everything I could, and now, I see the signs Tank, I won't let someone else get hurt. I can't."

Tank rested his chin against the top of my head while we sat silently. I knew he was absorbing everything I had just told him.

"Ray, do you think it is possible that because you are so determined not to let something like that happen again, that you could be seeing things that aren't there?" he asked quietly.

"I don't think so, but even if I'm wrong, what's the harm in me taking Stephanie under my wing and making her safer?"

"You don't know her like we do. She is amazingly resilient, and very good at what she does. I don't think telling her to park her car under street lights is going to help her much if at all."

I pushed away from him just enough that I could look him straight in the eye. "That's not what I am trying to do, I want her to learn what makes her vulnerable to an attack. I want to show her how even the worst person in the world can gain her trust. I want her to recognize when she is being lied to. I want Stephanie Plum to be able to save herself once in a while." I explained, trying to make him see what was possible.

"Ok, so you teach her those things. How does it keep her safe IF, and that is a mighty big if here, Joe is likely to become abusive?"

I had to give him credit, he was at least willing to give me the benefit of the doubt. "It is my hope that by teaching Steph to listen to herself reliably, and sharpening her survival instincts, she will realize that she might be in danger."

"What will you do if it doesn't work like that? What if he does get violent?" his voice was quiet, but I could tell that what I was saying was starting to have an impact.

"If it does happen, I will help her in anyway I can. If I have to, I'll bring in the big guns." I said as I reached for his glass of wine. If he wasn't going to drink it then I was.

"And what exactly are the big guns?"

I finally found the strength to smile at him. "I'll call Dad. He knows how to make everyone feel special, and like they are worth something."

Tank's eyes took on a far away look, I could tell he was remembering when he became a part of our family. "Yeah, Dad does have a gift for that."

There didn't seem to be much to say after that. We sat in companionable silence for a while before I climbed off Tank's lap and began to pick up our glasses. I took them to the kitchen and rinsed them before putting them in the sink. Tank seemed as ready as I was to end the evening, so he said his goodbyes and let himself out the door. I locked up and went straight to the bedroom. I needed to change clothes. I found a pair of old sweatpants and slipped those on, sighing softly as I looked down and saw that my stomach was slightly swollen. It wasn't the first time this had happened. Maybe Bobby was right and I needed to see a doctor. I shook my head and climbed into bed. I had too many things on my plate right now. I would worry about it later. I snuggled under the covers and closed my eyes. I needed to get a good nights sleep. Ric had told me before he left that Stephanie was coming in tomorrow to use Rangeman search programs to get information on a couple of skips she got assigned on Friday. I guess if she wanted to work on Sunday, that would be a good time to talk to her, the office should be practically empty tomorrow. My last thoughts before drifting off to sleep were of how to get Stephanie to go along with my plan.