Happy Plumtober! Here's another little update. Working on having this done within the week, fingers crossed, so that I can shift back to finishing a few other stories that are almost done, but aren't necessarily Halloween themed. (Still behind on review replies and PMs. You should see my text alerts…)

Btw, after reading your reviews, I got to wondering if any cops have ever arrested a Chucky doll and…. Well, I had little luck in English, but found a gold mine when I switched the search to Spanish. If you google 'Chucky doll arrested in Mexico', you'll get to see some hilarious visuals. The cops even took a mugshot of the doll, you know, just in case. Officers were reprimanded for not taking their jobs seriously, lol. Guess real life is stranger than fiction after all…

Disclaimer: The Plum universe belongs to JE. Typos are my bad.

Ranger's POV

I shut off the alarm on Babe's phone before it could go off. Instead of being awoken by the shrill alarm tone, I woke Babe with a kiss on her forehead.

"Yo." She jolted awake with a start, flicking her eyes around the room before settling those drowsy gorgeous blues on me.

"Babe." Shaking my head minutely, I eased her fear that she'd overslept.

After the fiasco with the TPD officers, who no surprise happen to be two of Morelli's best buds on the force, and making sure her staff was doing okay after the traumatizing incident, Babe finally left. Stephanie definitely went over the time she was supposed to be there, being in a lot of pain on the ride back to Rangeman. As soon as we were inside my penthouse, I made sure Babe had a bite to eat before taking her pain meds. She fell asleep soon after.

While she's been asleep, I've made some calls. The Chief personally apologized to Stephanie and her staff, promising that change was coming to the TPD before he headed back to his office. I made sure to remind him, privately of course, that all it could take is one phone call for him to be replaced with someone who is eager to bring positive change to the TPD. Like Morelli, the Chief will do as I say, because he simply has no other choice. It's time for change. In fact, it's long overdue.

"Dang. I slept a lot." Babe yawned, flicking her eyes to my bedside clock.

"You needed the rest, Stephanie." With a pointed look aimed her way, Babe grimaced.

"Yeah." She fell asleep on my side of the bed, settling on her left side. Nudging my hip with her leg, Babe spoke drowsily. "I'll just be back for the last hour before closing and then the hour we have to wrap up afterwards." Babe flashed me a lazy smile as she raked her eyes over me, pledging to not overexert herself this go-around.

"I'm coming with, Stephanie." I know that look. "You're not getting rid of me so easily, Babe." I half joked, leaning down to kiss the soft smile stretching her lips.

"Mmmhmm." She agreed easily, accepting my help to sit up. "Can you help me with my hair, again?" Babe asked, predicting the pillow frizz on her curls down to a t.

After helping Babe get ready, making sure she ate, even if just a bit, we rode the elevator down to the garage. Even though she's technically due for her next dose, Babe said the pain wasn't so bad that she needed the meds at the moment. Instead, we compromised that she'd take the narcotic as we left the store to head back to Rangeman. I was on board with the compromise since Babe was being honest about her current pain levels.

As we made the short drive, we caught up with each other's day.

"How'd the visit go?" I asked Babe as I exited the Rangeman underground garage.

"Ehm." Shrugging, Babe said she wasn't sure. When I arched an eyebrow in response, Stephanie let out a sigh. "Other visits, well, corporate focused on the store, you know like making sure the visuals matched the diagrams, is the store merched, is it clean, and so on." Shrugging, Babe admitted she felt like this time around, she was their focus. "I'm pretty sure I'd have gotten the boot already if it weren't for the fact that we're their high volume store in the area and they need me to finish off the season strong. Otherwise, it'd be a 'put her ass on the do not rehire list now' and 'peace out, bitch' sort of sentiment."

I highly doubt that's what's running through Babe's boss's bosses' heads at the moment, yet despite everything, Stephanie's going to give it her all to keep the momentum going and close off strong. I'm so proud of her, and I told her so.

"They've all worked their butts off." Stephanie admitted that if she wasn't so connected to her staff, she'd have taken the medical leave without a second thought. "If they miss any of their shifts this week, my kiddos will lose not only their end of season bonus, but also their extra three dollars per hour differential." Babe says all combined, the incentives are easily an extra paycheck for each employee, which is nothing to sniff at.

"Proud of you, Babe." I reinforced upon witnessing yet another instance in which Babe's altruism is more than evident. Anyone else would take their rest time to heal and worry about everything else later. Not Babe.

"Thanks." She reached for my hand as I parked right by the door, kissing my knuckles just before I turned off the ignition.

"Bomber. Boss." Cal greeted us, opening the door for Stephanie and I to enter. Arching an eyebrow, I noted that he was wearing a Freddy Krueger sweater over his long-sleeve Rangeman shirt. The slashes on the sweater made his Rangeman shirt semi-visible, meaning he's technically not breaking protocol.

"It's Slasher day." Babe said by way of explanation, making me realize her Friday the 13th Jersey was saved for today for a reason.

"I have my knife." I said, flashing her what she calls my barely there smile.

"Uhmm." Babe rolled her eyes, but flashed me a small smile nonetheless.

"Hey, Steph." The girls greeted Babe before doing the same with me. "Hi, Mr. Steph." Babe's lips twitched at the sudden nickname her employees have for me, feeling bold to call me anything other than my street name because they know Babe has their backs. I'm not completely against it, seeing as it shows Babe's power dynamic in this role. I'm okay with deferring to her in her field. I find Babe's Boss mode quite sexy.

"How's it going?" Babe asked as she rounded the counter to clock in, eager to be filled in on any new developments.

With bright smiles in plain view, Babe was told that everything Chucky themed is currently sold out.

"We also sold out of cuffs." The girl who Morelli's officer buddies tried to arrest, Lizette, added. "Kid plastic cuffs, adult cuffs, the thick ones and bedazzled ones included…" She went on before someone else interrupted.

"…cuffs key chains…" Mary Lou's son, JC, added as he grabbed another batch of go backs.

"…cuffs chokers, earrings, bracelets, and the thigh highs with the bow and cuffs…" The girl with the rings, Megan, said suggestively. The barely there blush Babe immediately got had me raising my eyebrow at her ever so minutely.

"Babe?" I mouthed, turning just right so that only Stephanie could read my lips.

"Uhm…" Babe averting her eyes as she smirked told me everything I needed to know. Stephanie has hosiery with tiny cuffs on them. Since they're currently sold out in Babe's store, I pulled out my phone to look through the online catalog. Finding what I was looking for, it was extremely easy to picture Babe wearing the set. Flicking my eyes in Babe's direction, a promised rain check was exchanged through our gazes.

"Cops and convict sections are nearly sold out too." Someone else said, but I was still focused solely on Babe to decipher who it was.

"Great. The more we sell, the less we have to inventory and pack up after Halloween." Stephanie said to her team, but kept her eyes locked on me. Babe handcuffed to her metal shower rod was clearly a flashback we were both having right this moment.

As we held each other's gaze, the image of Babe handcuffed to her shower rod morphed into one where she's handcuffed to my bed instead, wearing nothing aside from those damn thigh highs with the tiny decorative cuffs.

Grinning wide, I winked at Stephanie before turning on my heel to leave her to start prepping her team for closing time. Meanwhile, I figured I could peruse the options still available in store. Perhaps I can find something Babe would like.

"Steph already has one of those." One of the girls murmured in passing when she saw me eyeing a Batman themed corset with an attached cape minutes later.

My blank face cracked for a split second, eliciting a giggle from the retreating teen. So, Babe has several interesting pieces in her closet. Mmmm… oh the possibilities…

As Babe did her thing, I kept perusing the aisles as I helped pick up or fix anything that needed rearranging. In doing so, I found a little something that I felt Babe and I could enjoy together.

"Registers close in ten minutes. Please take your purchases up to the front…" Babe and her team were going around telling the last stragglers to get a move on it.

"If you're still here after closing, I'll give you a broom or a mop." Babe said to a couple of teens that kept ignoring the closing warning, goofing around in the hat and mask area.

"Uh, yeah." The kids finally got the message, hustling towards the registers.

I waited until no one else was left ambling around to make my purchase. Placing the small packaging on the counter, I arched my eyebrow at the teenage girl manning the register. Smiling broadly, the girl shook her head. No, Babe doesn't have this in her new collection. Good.

Babe arched an eyebrow in question when she saw me placing my loot inside of the cargo pocket below my right knee. Opting to ask me later, Stephanie moved on to give closing tasks to her staff via their walkie talkies.

"Any questions?" Babe finished off, removing her finger from the push-to-talk button on the right side.

In response, a pair of eyes glowed red a few feet away from where Babe was standing as a devilish looking baby angel faux statue began to talk and move its head from side to side.

"Hmm, well the question is, will I or will I not torture you forever."

Complete silence fell while horrified glances from the staff landed on the interruptor. My best guess is that the frequency from Babe's walkie triggered the motion sensors on the thing, instead of the haunting conclusions the teens may be coming up with.

"You want closing duties?" Babe rolled her eyes at the little winged devil when it didn't respond even after she paraded around in front of it. "That's what I thought." Stephanie muttered before heading back towards the registers.

Closing was smooth. The store was starting to look a bit bare, but I suppose that's to be expected with only three days until Halloween.

"Goodnight, Steph. Mr. Steph." They waved one by one as they headed towards their cars or rides.

"Babe?" I called to her as I buckled her seatbelt. Stephanie waited until each one of her closers was in a vehicle and on their way home for the night.

"Yeah." She confirmed, opening her mouth to accept her very overdue painkiller dose. "I'll stick more to the schedule tomorrow. Promise." Babe murmured after taking a big swing of the water bottle I opened for her.

On the drive back to Rangeman, Babe's wandering hand reached over the console when I stopped for a red light.

"Hmmm…" She cocked her head towards me as her fingers traced over the packaging in my cargo pocket. "…nine ninety-nine before tax…" Grinning wide, Babe said the mini knife shaped earrings were a good choice.

"Babe." I laughed as the light turned green and I drove forward. "That's very impressive…" Flashing her a grin, I told her that I knew she was cheating. "…but I know you checked the register logs."

Babe's bark of laughter made my heart skip a beat, a sound that filled me with happiness. Babe's slowly returning to her old self.

"Of course I checked the electronic log. You were acting sus, Batman." In the semi darkness inside my truck's cab, I couldn't see her eyes sparkling that mesmerizing shade of blue I know so well.

"I was being suspicious?" Shaking my head, I kept the lighthearted moment going. "I'll have to up my game, Babe." Reaching for her hand, I kissed her palm as we neared our destination.

Little did we know that night would actually be the eve of Morelli's very public downfall. The truth always finds a way, surfacing eventually. All of Morelli's carefully crafted web of lies created a trap that he was unable to slither away from for once in his life. Perhaps the 'Italian Stallion' never once imagined that the day would come when everyone, his family included, would fully turn their backs on him.