The very first line of this story is a writing prompt I saw, which Stephanie wouldn't let me forget or let go unanswered. All familiar characters belong to Janet. Mistakes are mine.

"How does it feel to lose the best thing that ever happened to you?" Morelli asked, blocking my path from the bonds office's door to the one on my brand new Cayenne.

"Thankfully," I said, stepping around him, "I can't say how that feels since Ranger and I are still very much together. If I had to guess though, I bet I'd feel nothing if I lost my Man of Mystery because I'd be dead inside without him."

"Give it up, Cupcake. You miss me and we both know it."

I could feel the full force of Connie and Lula's stares as they plastered their noses to the large window taking up half of the front wall of Vinnie's business. I sighed. They'll look their fill and then I know Connie will either call Rangeman's control room, or Ranger directly, to inform my security detail that I'd walked out of the bonds office and immediately got stuck in a six-foot, one hundred-and-eighty-pound load of crap. I had to act fast and do what I could to minimize the potential destruction Joe's appearance could cause.

I crossed my arms over my chest so he would stop staring at it. "And what exactly am I supposed to be missing? Being called stupid and crazy? Getting screamed at after an attempt on my life instead of asked if I'm okay? You propositioning me for sex right after I tell you that I hate you and wish you'd spontaneously combust? I promise you, I am NOT missing you. I've been really glad to be rid of you."

He lifted his hand up to brush a breeze-captured curl back behind my ear, thinking he still has the right to touch me, but I flinched right before taking a huge step away from him. The smug expression he'd been wearing since he first crept up on me finally changed. Except his face turned darker and angry, not apologetic at all.

"I've never raised a hand to you, Stephanie."

"And yet you just had me backing away to protect myself from you. Why do you think that is?"

For a homicide detective used to interrogating people, he doesn't have a great poker face. And the sad thing is, I can clearly see that he really doesn't understand that abuse isn't just someone punching you. It's also a person who claims to love you, ruthlessly crushing your confidence, your voice, basically your entire soul, every single day ... multiple times a day if they felt like it ... until there's no trace left of you.

"Since you don't seem to get what I mean, I'll spell it out for you," I helpfully continued. "No, you never raised a hand to me in that way, but you often raised your voice to call me names, to ask yourself how you could love 'someone like me', to laugh when either Mooch or Anthony made fun of my appearance or my job. Actually, you all made fun of anything I tried to do for you or when I'd attempt to help somebody else. Yet you never once raised that same voice to stop your mother, grandmother, or your buddies, from bad-mouthing me every chance they got. Naturally, I'd try to make myself less of a target every time I see you. From the age of five on up, you've always placed one on my back ... or a different part of my anatomy."

To avoid an issue he doesn't want to take responsibility for, he zeroed on the least important part of my little speech.

"My mother liked you, Cupcake."

I nodded. "She did up until I stopped treating you the way she had, and tried to make you see that there are major consequences to your actions. I stopped blaming myself, or other people like she does, for the shit and damage you alone do to others. She leapt right into Grandma Bella's camp seconds after you went crying to her that I chose my friendship with Ranger and my job, over a toxic relationship I thought I deserved."

"He wanted in your pants, Steph. Even you can't deny it."

"I won't deny it, but Ranger has all the access he wants to my pants and what's inside them because he loved, protected, and listened to, me even when sex wasn't on the table. To paint a better picture, Ranger likes who I am so much, he never tried to change who I am or how I think. He actually goes off on those who do ... even my mother. It didn't matter what he and I did or what we do now, we're just happy to do it - or nothing - together."

As if he knew exactly when to arrive to back up my point, I could feel the rumble of Ranger's F-150 turning onto Hamilton, headed straight for us. I told my insides to stop jumping around in excitement at seeing Batman, and focus on cutting Morelli off at the knees. He'd noticed the huge black truck. I admit, it is pretty hard to miss. And though Joe tried not to show it, his body became tense. He still believes he can bully me, but he knows there's no way to bully Ranger. My man can make even the Devil apologize and swear to develop better manners.

"You see this?" I asked Morelli, pointing to my face that's sporting a big, stupid grin just from knowing that Ranger is almost close enough for me to touch. "This smile, my neck tingle, and my eyes not being able to look at you because they're so busy trying to catch sight of Ranger, is what happens when a man loves and respects the woman he's with almost as much as she loves him back."

"You teaching another seminar on what love is, Babe?"

My whole body began to hum after he parked his truck behind my Cayenne-gift and cut between our two vehicles just to get to me faster. Tank hung back, close enough to act if needed but far enough so we'd have the appearance of privacy to deal with this.

When Ranger's arm was in its usual place around me, I answered. "Yeah. Lester and Ramon were getting tired of my talks. I had to branch out."

"Nice try, but no one could get tired of you," he assured me.

"Funny seeing you roll up," Joe butted in to say. "Did Connie rat Steph out?"

That pissed me off more than I thought he could anymore. "Don't you dare, Morelli! 'Ratting me out' would imply I wanted to talk to you without Ranger knowing. That's untrue on so many counts, but I'll give you the top two. Not only did I not want to talk to you AT ALL, I'm the one who hit my panic button so Ranger would know exactly where I am and that I need him to join me. Do you get that? I wanted Ranger here so you would leave. When are you going to accept that there's nothing between you and I so we can all move on?"

"He put a button on you?"

Ranger was going to end this conversation, but I shook my head. This shutdown needs to come from me.

"Yeah," I answered, "because Ranger wants me to be safe at all times so I can live to see another day with him. I don't love you, Joe. I never did. And you've been working this vendetta against either Ranger or me so hard, I don't even like you. Now that I've learned that I'm not some unlovable screw-up, destined to destroy everything good around me, I can freely say that I love Ranger as many times as I want to without worrying about jinxing it. Truth is, I loved him long before you started worrying about losing to him. My feelings for him aren't going to change any decade soon, so feel free to hold your breath while you're trying to convince yourself they will."

Tank beeped my Cayenne unlocked in lieu of clinking a toast in response to my words. I glanced around Ranger's muscled body to raise an eyebrow like I've been practicing, at Tank.

"Very subtle," I told him.

He shrugged his massive shoulders. "I'm not a subtle guy."

Morelli snorted. "No shit."

"Do I need to remind you to stay away from Stephanie?" Ranger said to Joe. "I ask that with the implication that you really don't want me to have to."

Batman's body is incredibly hot, in appearance and in temperature, but I shivered at the iciness of his tone.

"I was just leaving," Joe muttered.

"What a coincidence," Tank pointed out. "Every time Ranger shows up, the cop leaves." He aimed a stare at Morelli. "You'd think you'd save us a trip and just steer clear of The Boss' woman."

Ranger spared him a glance. "This wasn't a wasted trip," he informed his best friend, taking the case file out of my hand to put it in Tank's. "You can take Steph's car back to Rangeman and tell Santos and Brown to pick up Vinnie's FTA for her. She and I have somewhere to be."

That's news to me. "We do?" I asked.

"Yes," he said, pressing his lips to mine for a brief kiss. "You had direct exposure to this asshole. The only known cure for contact with this kind of contaminant is fresh air, direct sunlight, and a cake batter-flavored frozen custard."

"You're taking me to Point Pleasant?"

"Or Ocean City. Your choice. My meeting isn't until eleven tomorrow morning, so we can stay overnight if you'd like."

The smile I gave him paled in comparison to the one I'd explained to Morelli earlier. "I love you!"I told him before subjecting him to an overly-enthusiastic hug, not caring that Lula and Connie are probably high-fiving each other and speculating out loud on what Ranger and I will definitely be doing later.

"I know you do, Babe," he told me.

I felt one beefy arm circle my waist, but didn't know where Ranger's matching one went until I heard his Glock cock.

The protective grip he has on me, led me to believe that he isn't about to shoot me. And he and Tank have been tight since before boot camp, so I had to assume Ranger has his weapon trained on Morelli. His words proved me right.

"You heard Stephanie. I'm the only man she loves, Morelli. And she's not about to stop. Walk away now, and do yourself and your currently-uninjured body a favor and never look back."