Title: Trust
Chapter 2: Russian Roulette
Fandom: Stephanie Plum
Rating: Adult (M)
Pairing: Ranger/Stephanie
Summary: Ranger asks Stephanie a few questions and Stephanie sees things clearly for the first time. Meant to take place during FLF. Babefic.
Word Count (this chapter): 2308
Notes: Okay, well, originally "Trust" was just going to be a one-shot but then I decided that I wanted to see the story through until Ranger and Stephanie got together so here is chapter 2. But please be warned that this is going to be a different story then most, since JE is going to be writing the mystery parts I won't do that, I will write the parts she probably won't write, the cute, sexy, and funny scenes with Ranger and Stephanie. Which means that while I may reference the problems at Rangeman and the dude that is chopping people's heads off, this story is not about that. And there is a very real chance that I probably won't solve the mystery by the end of this story, I'll leave JE to do that.

This story will probably end up being about four chapters long and as you will notice the rating has gone up for language and for the fun stuff that will be at the end. ;)

Chapter 2: Russian Roulette

While waiting for Joe to come over ten minutes later for our long awaited "talk," I was certain that I had completely lost my mind. I had often wondered through the last three years if I had left my mind behind the moment I stepped into Vincent Plum Bail Bonds and asked for a job from my sleazy cousin, but now I was certain that I had. I was betting the future of my love life, which would then affect every other aspect of my crazy life, on a vague hope that Ranger had changed his mind. I couldn't actually see a life with Joe working out the way he wanted it to but at the same time I didn't want to be alone. I did the alone thing after Dickie and I didn't care much for it.

What if Ranger hadn't changed his mind? What if the conversation was just about a freak sun spot that had frazzled Ranger's mind for a few crucial seconds? I paced around my apartment, my headache and the wound in my arm forgotten as doubts began to creep into my mind. I didn't want to back out but it felt like I was playing Russian Roulette with two bullets instead of just one. But now it felt like I couldn't back out if I lost my nerve, I had told Ranger that I was considering a permanent "off" with Joe. It felt like I would be lying and worse, letting Ranger down if I changed my mind. The revolver was glued to my hand and I had to pull the trigger no matter what the chances of figuratively blowing my head off were.

In the middle of my pacing I heard a key in the lock. I turned and watched as Joe swung the door open, stepping into my apartment and closing the door behind him. He was dressed in his usual jeans and t-shirt but his face was anything but casual, his cop face was firmly in place. He knew what was coming and at least that made it easier, what I was about to say wasn't going to come as a surprise. I wasn't taken aback that he knew what I was going to say. I had never willingly "talked" before, after all living in the land of denial was easier than facing my problems. And the way I had spoken on the phone… "we have to talk," would probably always be construed as bad, the words that ended a relationship.

"How's the arm, Cupcake?" he asked, nodding towards my bandage.

I shrugged, my nerves making my annoying eye twitch come on full force. "Not too bad, the bullet just grazed me. Philip Esposito is gun happy."

"Yeah I know, he came into the station complaining of a broken arm."

I winced at his accusatory tone, remembering how Ranger had practically wrenched Esposito's arm off for having shot me. While the picture hadn't been pretty, Esposito's squeals had been rather humorous and I felt my lips twitch in a smile at the memory. Joe's lips tightened and I cleared my throat, wondering where to begin.

"Joe, I've been thinking…."

He sighed and his cop face slipped off, revealing how tired he looked. I didn't want to break his heart but this had to be done, for both of us. The sooner we were officially over, the sooner he could be happy, because I know the way I was now wasn't making him happy. He wanted a wife, someone he could come home to, and I didn't fault him for it, but I didn't, couldn't be that woman.

"I've known for a long time that we both wanted different things out of life but I don't think I can live anymore with the back and forth between us, it's not… healthy." I took a deep breath and kept eye contact with him, knowing that looking down, no matter how uncomfortable I felt wasn't an option. "I think we would both be happier if we broke it off permanently."

I guess I expected a lot of hand waving and yelling but he didn't, he just nodded slowly as if agreeing with me. "I was hoping that you were just sowing your wild oats over the last couple of years, and that you'd…" he paused for a second, "grow out of it."

I shook my head. "No Joe… I don't I ever going to grow out of being me. I don't want a normal job, or a normal life. I don't always like my job, but on the good days I really do enjoy being a bounty hunter." There was more that I could say, so much more, but this was going better than I expected it to and I didn't want to ruin it. The truth was, the job was minor, but it was the people that I had met and continued to meet because of my job that mattered. I would never have met Ranger if I hadn't been a bounty hunter, or Lula and Sally Sweet. In particular, I couldn't imagine not knowing Ranger, in the span of three years he'd become the most important person in my life.

Joe and I were silent for a moment before I spoke again. "I'm sorry it didn't work out Joe," I whispered and absentmindedly kicked at my carpet. I was sorry and knew that in a different life, falling in love with Joe would have been easy, but that life wouldn't have had Ranger in it.

"So am I, Cupcake." He took his keys out of his pocket and pulled my apartment key off, holding it for a moment before setting it down softly on the cheap end table next to my couch. The key made a clinking sound and it reminded me of a sound of finality, like a door closing on an era in my life.

Strangely enough, I didn't feel sad about letting Morelli go. I felt like I always did when I cleaned my apartment after I had let it get really dirty; there was a sense of accomplishment, like I had just done something I should have done a long time ago… I was proud of myself for biting the bullet and doing it. I would miss him, he'd been a constant in my life too long for me not to, but I also knew that if we spent enough time apart, that we could easily be just friends.

"I'll see you around Cupcake," he said before repocketing his keys and giving me a goodbye hug. He left then and I gave him a little finger wave as he took the stairs down; I closed the door after him and just like that Joe Morelli and I were over for good.

The next morning, I started my day with a cup of coffee, two donuts, and a stack of background reports on all of Rangeman's employees that Ranger had dropped off the day before. He'd been over them before of course but he was hoping that my spidey sense would pick something up; so far, I wasn't having any luck. I was currently combing through Cal's report, thinking that were just some things you didn't need to know about other people.

About half way through donut number two and thinking that I really should have gotten a third, my phone rang. Seeing Ranger's number on the display made all the memories from yesterday come rushing back and I felt my stomach clench. I was still in the middle of my figurative game of Russian Roulette; I had spun the chamber but had yet to pull the trigger. Breaking up with Morelli, while hard had been surprisingly painless. I had shed a few tears in the shower this morning over the emotional turmoil but I was feeling pretty good about the break up. The source of the tears was more about what I had to do next. Now that Morelli was out of the picture, I wondered what I was going to do about Ranger. I wanted Ranger, but knew that fundamentally I wouldn't be able to handle a "no strings attached, sex only" kind of relationship. But that was fundamentally, past experiences had shown me that I didn't have the best control where Ranger was concerned. Now that Morelli wasn't a factor anymore, I could imagine it being all too easy to throw that conviction out the window.

Breathing in deeply I answered. "Yo," I greeted.

"Yo, Babe." I honestly did not expect the rush of longing I got when I heard his voice and I had to bite my lip to keep in a whimper… apparently I wasn't very successful. "You okay?" his voice had grown serious, concerned.

"Oh, I'm fine, just uh… bumped my arm." Perhaps getting shot wasn't such a bad thing after all, it did provide me with some excellent excuses.

Ranger was silent for a long moment and I began to wonder if he knew what the whimper had really been about… damn ESP. "I'll be there in twenty, I don't want you driving." And then he hung up before I could even begin to form words.

I rolled my eyes and hit end, muttering about phone manners as I quickly finished my coffee. After the last swallow I threw away the wrappers to my donuts (now deeply wishing I had had a third, I was going to need another shot of sugar to make it through the day without humping Ranger's thigh like a dog). I hurried through the rest of my morning routine, brushing my teeth, dressing, and then applying my makeup. While brushing on my mascara I stared at myself in the mirror, giving myself a pep talk before Ranger showed up.

"Okay Stephanie," I began, speaking aloud, "this is what's going to happen today: you're going to go to work and you're going to find out who's stealing those codes from within Rangeman. Then you're not going to get involved in the case of the decapitating, machete wielding freak; then, most importantly, you're not going to beg Ranger to sleep with you, because not only would that be pathetic but the morning after would be disastrous." I finished my little talk with a firm nod of my head as I finished my mascara and slipped the tube in my purse.

Three minutes later I was tidying up the Rangeman files when my locks tumbled, informing me that my twenty minutes were up; I glanced at the watch and confirmed that it had been exactly twenty minutes since Ranger had called… how did he do that? I wondered. I stacked the last Rangeman file (Lester's) on top of my large pile as Ranger opened my door. I inhaled deeply and then let the breath out slowly, reiterating my earlier pep talk to myself before turning around to face him.

Like most days he was dressed all in black, his shirt clinging tightly to his chest and his biceps, and his cargos perfectly showcasing one of his best assets (and yes the pun was intended). Truth was, while his butt was just about perfect (oh who was I kidding? It was damn fine) I had seen his best asset up close and personal and it was perfect. Knowing that he was going commando underneath those black cargos was making my pulse go crazy and I had to check for drool just to make sure. Maybe resisting him was going to be even harder than I thought…. "Fuck he's hot," I thought and then blushed hard when his wolf grin appeared. Stupid Stephanie, you're not supposed to say that shit out loud, remember the pep talk?

"Thank you Babe, I often think the same thing about you," he said, looking me up and down and if possible his grin widened. I was thinking that his smile could probably melt gold it was so blinding. "I like seeing you in black."

I swallowed hard, my knees wobbly and had to clench my thighs together tightly to make sure they just didn't just fall open under the weight of his lustful gaze. "Y—You didn't have to come pick me up, my arm isn't that bad…" I said, my voice annoyingly breathy.

He lost some of his "you-know-you-want-to-fuck-me look" and shook his head. "You shift with that arm, it's not worth the risk." That made sense, but even though I loved seeing him and his cars were always about a hundred times better than mine, being around him more than what was absolutely necessary made the no sex thing all the more difficult. He nodded towards the files and I tried to get my mind out of the gutter and back to business. "Did you find anything suspicious?" he asked.

I shook my head as we walked out of my apartment. I locked the door behind us, wondering if I should even bother locking it, my locks were the worst in New Jersey after all. "No, nothing yet. Everyone so far seems to be just as they seem," I uttered as we walked down the stairs and I gazed at the elevator longingly as we past it.

Ranger blew out a puff of breath, about as close to a sigh as he was probably ever going to get. "Giordano Jewelers in Newark was broken into last night, they've been under contract with us ever since I started Rangeman."

"Shit," I muttered, groaning. I'd heard of Giordano's and knew that it was one of the more upscale jewelry stores on the east coast. "How much was taken?"

"Almost fifty-million dollars worth of merchandise," Ranger replied, beeping the passenger side door open on the Turbo.

I stared at him over the top of the car, horrified. "Holy fuckity-fuck," I exclaimed.

"That about sums it up Babe."

TBC