Disclaimer: I still make no money off JE's characters.

A/N: I have received several reviews and PM's about Ray's health. I have added a poll to my profile. I am not making any promises on how this story will or will not end, I just want to get an idea about how everyone feels.

Wanda517, once again you have pointed out not everyone lives in my head and can see what I see.

"Sure Steph, I can come get you." I locked eyes with Bobby and nodded in response to his un asked question. He turned around and headed out to get suited up. I didn't know what was going on, but I wasn't going to go in alone. I started putting myself back together and gearing up.

"Ok Steph, where are you?"

"I'm in my bathroom. Joe's in the living room trying to get in. He's really mad."

"That's ok Steph. We can still get you out of there. Now tell me what is keeping him out?" I asked as I finished getting dressed and headed out to the living room to meet up with Bobby.

"I pushed my bed in front of the bedroom door and he can't get it open."

I bit my lip to keep from sighing. That wouldn't keep him out for long. "Good thinking Steph. Just stay where you are, and I am going to come get you ok?"

I could hear her sniffle and murmur her response. I tossed Bobby the keys to my car as he walked in. I put the phone to my shoulder to muffle our conversation as I relayed to him what was going on.

"We'll have to go up the fire escape. It's the easiest way to get to her with out going through him." he said as we hurried towards her apartment.

"Ok Steph, we're coming to get you. We're going to come up the fire escape.'

"Oh God! Please don't let him know you brought anyone. He will be so mad I called you."

I clutched the door handle tightly, this was my biggest fear for Stephanie come true. "Ok, Bobby will stay in the car, and I will come up and get you."

I turned my head away from the glare I was getting from Bobby, and tried to focus on the landmarks outside my window to figure out how far away we were.

We were pulling to a stop right at the bottom of the fire escape that led to Steph's apartment, and I was out the door before Bobby even had a chance to throw the car in park. I raced up the stairs trying to ignore the pounding of my heart in my ears. "Steph, can you come to the window?"

"N..n..No." she managed.

I slipped the phone into my pocket and grabbed my flashlight. I turned my head to protect against flying glass as I smashed the window. I shoved up the frame and crawled through. Joe must have heard me because he started throwing his body weight against the door screaming at her that she would regret calling Manoso and his goons.

I tried to open the bathroom door, but she had it locked. "Steph. You can come out now. I've got you, but we need to hurry."

She opened the door, and I managed not to gasp at the bruising on her face, but just barely. I grabbed a pair of flip flops off the bedroom floor hand handed them to her. "Put these on."

I turned my attention to the door as I heard wood splinter. I knew we had only seconds before Joe was in the room with us. I pulled my gun and leveled it at the door. "Steph go to the car now please."

Joe began to shove harder against the door moving the bed little by little as Steph hurried to the window. Before she could get out, Joe managed to squeeze through the small space he had created.

"Boy Cupcake, you must feel stupid. You call your precious Manoso for help and he sends the bitch he's fucking to pick you up." he said with a deadly calm.

I felt more than saw Steph hesitate by the window. "Go Steph, I'm right behind you."

I kept my gun leveled at Morelli as I walked backwards to the window. He stood still holding his hands up in the air. "Now now, there is no need for your gun. You leave me and my fiancé alone, and we will all forget tonight ever happened."

I shifted my weight listening to the glass shards crunch beneath my boots. "And if I don't bring her back in here and forget all about the phone call I received, then what?"

"Then you won't like what happens next." he warned me. I decided that this was probably not the best time to have this kind of talk, so I backed out of the window, and carefully made my way down the fire escape. I was wearing Kevlar, but getting shot still hurt like a son of a bitch. As soon as my feet touched the ground, Bobby had the passenger door open and I jumped inside letting him take off.

I turned in my seat to get a better look at Steph. Her eye was beginning to swell shut, and her face was so covered in blood, that it was hard to see how badly she really was hurt. I felt so bad for her, all I could do was to keep assuring her that we weren't upset at having to come get her, and that she was safe.

Bobby got us home in a hurry. We helped Steph upstairs to my apartment and we put her in the bedroom. Bobby set about cleaning her up as best as he could, fortunately for her, the damage looked worse than it was. Joe was good, he knew how to make her hurt, with out requiring that she went to the ER. I helped him get her undressed and into a pair of my clean pajamas.

"I'm really sorry you had to come get me." She said. I lightly patted her shoulder and shrugged.

"No worries. That's what friends are for right?"

Steph winced as Bobby gently prodded her cheekbone double checking for fractures. "No, I mean I'm really sorry. Joe saw you and now he is going to try to make your life miserable."

Bobby whipped his head around to stare at me. "He SAW you?"

I rolled my eyes and shrugged. I couldn't see what the big deal was, I didn't do a damn thing wrong, and he could try to make my life miserable, but I doubted he would even register on my irritant scale. "Its not a big deal. I'd rather he target me than you Steph."

"He's not like that Ray. He didn't mean to hurt me. I just caught him off guard that's all." she said.

I found myself reaching for Bobby's hand, when I could feel his fingers twined with mine, I found the strength to not argue with her. "What I think isn't what's important Steph. Just know I'm here if you need place to crash, or someone to pick you up ok?"

She nodded, and I leaned over and gave Bobby a quick kiss. "Take good care of our girl. I'm going to go await the inquisition." I took a quick glance at my watch. "I'm betting we've got maybe another ten minutes before they come storming in here."

Steph sank into the pillows on the bed and looked at me with tears in her eyes. "You didn't tell them what happened did you?"

"Steph, its not my story to tell. You tell me what you want them to know, and that is what I will tell them."

She sniffled a little and groaned as Bobby placed an ice pack over her eye. "I don't want them to know who did this. They'll hurt him."

Bobby leaned over and started tucking her into bed. "It's ok Steph, nothing is going to happen. Everything is going to be fine ok?"

She murmured her ok, and her eyes started to close, but then popped open as wide as they could, which wasn't far. "Wait! You two kissed."

So much for hoping that had escaped her notice. "I'll tell you all about it tomorrow, just try to get some sleep for now. One of us will always be in the living room until you wake up tomorrow."

I grabbed Bobby's hand and pulled him out to the living room to wait for the guys to show up. I knew Ricky in particular was not going to be happy with me.

I pulled off my Kevlar vest and tossed it into a chair as I flopped down on the couch to start untying my boots. Bobby began taking off his own gear before sitting down next to me. I kicked my boots under the table and laid my head on his shoulder. "She's going to go back to him."

He wrapped an arm around me and lightly trailed his fingers over my skin. "I know. Now we just have to stay strong and be there for her when we can."

I nodded and snuggled against him, I was just about to close my eyes in an attempt to grab a little sleep, but I heard my living room door fly open. I jumped off the couch and tried to get between Ricky and the bedroom.

"What in the hell happened Ray?" Ranger demanded. At that moment, he was finally Ranger to me. There was no sign of the little boy I grew up with.

"Not my story to tell."

He gave me a look that had me questioning the wisdom of my next move, but I did it anyway. I grabbed his arm and tried to move him off the path to the room.

"Let her sleep." I said firmly.

He continued to glare at me but he came back to the living room with me. He threw my Kevlar out of the chair before taking a seat.

"Will someone please tell me what the hell is going on here?" he asked.

I curled back up on the couch next to Bobby and shrugged. "Not much I can tell you. Steph called and asked me to pick her up, so I had Bobby drive and we went to pick her up and brought her back here."

This was received with a raised eyebrow. We all knew I was leaving out more than I was telling.

"So you both went fully dressed, and didn't see the need to inform anyone else of what was going on?" Tank asked as he joined us on the couch.

Lester was in the kitchen raiding the refrigerator. That man ate more than Tank most days, but if it kept him from joining the others in harassing me then I was fine with him eating me out of house and home. I looked back at Tank and shrugged. "Seemed like a good idea at the time."

"You both directly violated protocol for Stephanie's safety, and I won't tolerate that." Ricky said.

"You won't tolerate that?" I grabbed onto Bobby's leg and used it to propel myself off the couch again. Ricky stood up, and soon we were nose to nose. "I've got news for you, you get to decide what behavior you will or will not tolerate from me for twelve hours a day, on my off time forget about it. I don't know when the others started only seeing you as their boss, and not their brother, but guess what bucko! I've got news for you."

"oh shit… she's got news. That's never good." Lester said from the kitchen.

"Shut up Lester." I shouted before turning back to Ricky. "You may be the big bad end all be all around here for everyone else, but I still remember when you could hardly walk a straight line with out tripping over your own feet, so if you want to talk to me as my egotistical boss with a god complex you can come back during business hours. If you want to be my little brother who is freaked the fuck out because the love of his life has been injured then sit down, shut up and let me talk."

Lester finally joined us in the living room carrying four bottles of beer. He looked at Bobby and kicked him in the shin. "fuck man. What did you do at dinner to get her so cranky."

"I didn't do it. None of this is my fault." Bobby said.

I flopped down on the couch and glared at all of them. "Just shut up. As I was saying. Steph called me specifically and asked me to pick her up. I can't tell you why, or anything else for that matter because she asked me not to. It is her story to tell not mine."

I set my unopened bottle of beer on the table, and watched the guys all open theirs."

"Ok, so hypothetically, what could have caused Steph to need you so quickly you didn't have time to let anyone else know?" Rick asked.

I rolled my eyes, I hated this game. It was a way to discuss the problem with out actually saying we are working on the problem. I was about to answer when Rick's cell phone rang.

"Yo." He paused for a moment to let them speak. "Tell them 10 minutes."

He hung up the phone and looked at me. "Any reason why Trenton PD is downstairs in the lobby with a warrant for your arrest?"

I shrugged, I truly was at a loss on this one. "No clue. I guess I should go down and see what this is all about."

I took off my utility belt and handed it to Lester, and glanced at Bobby and Tank. "Which one of you is going to walk me down?"

"We're all going." Tank said.

I shook my head, the last thing I needed to do is show up with an entire platoon of heavily dangerous men. I was going to let them know that when Bobby volunteered to walk down with me. I gave everyone a quick hug and promised to see them first thing in the morning. I was sure that what ever this was it was a misunderstanding and I would be out in a few hours.

Bobby and I took the elevator to the lobby, and I found Joe Morelli looking smug as he stood behind two uniformed officers. I rolled my eyes, I knew what this was all about now. He was going to show me he was in charge. I stuck my foot in the door of the elevator to keep it from closing, and I gave Bobby a kiss. "Call a lawyer, I know exactly what this is about. I'll be home soon."

I stepped off the elevator and held my hands out to my side showing I was unarmed as I approached the officers. "Good evening officers, what can I do for you today?" It was important to keep this calm, god only knows what Morelli told them about me.

The first officer stepped forward. "Raven Hunter? Turn around, place your hands on your head and kneel on the floor." I slowly turned around keeping my arms out and started to kneel on the floor as I placed my hands on my head. I kept my gaze on Bobby standing by the elevator. I knew he wasn't going to be happy, hell I was a little less than thrilled about this, but what can you do. I winced a little as my arms were pulled roughly behind my back and the cuffs clicked around my wrists a little more tightly than necessary. I was soon being helped to my feet by both officers.

"You are under arrest for breaking and entering, threatening an officer, and the armed kidnapping of Stephanie Plum. You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney, if you do not have one or cannot afford one, one will be appointed to you by the court. Do you understand these rights as I have read them to you?"

"Yes" I said.

I gave Bobby a small smile of reassurance as I was turned around and led out of the building followed by Morelli. I was being helped into the back of the squad car, when my head hit the top of the doorway. I gritted my teeth, and slid in back along the seat. I knew that unfortunately this was probably the first of many accidents I was going to have. Cops looked out for one another, and they did not take kindly to one of their own being hurt, and Steph, as Morelli's alleged fiancé was one of them. I hissed softly as my head made contact with the side window when the car turned a little too sharply. It was going to be a long night. I just hoped arraignment came soon.