Story Title: What Ever Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Stronger

Summary: Morelli and Steph finally break up (for real) and Morelli can’t handle it. He does the unthinkable, and Ranger helps Stephanie deal with the results.

Story Rating: R

Status: Work in Progress

Genre: Drama

Couple: Stephanie and Ranger (eventually)

Spoilers: through Ten Big Ones

Disclaimer: I do not own these characters, but only gently use for my amusement.

Warning: If you love Joe Morelli, you aren’t going to enjoy this story.

Mrs. Morelli looked less than pleased that her mother was opening the door for Joe’s girlfriend. Ranger wondered if Mrs. Morelli had always disliked Stephanie this much, or only since Joe had sort-of proposed to her (and then broken the engagement.) He mentally shook his head at yet another person who had added to Stephanie’s low self-esteem.

Grandma Bella lead Stephanie, with Ranger close behind, to the dining room, taking the head chair while motioning them to sit. She straightened her back and stared intently at Stephanie. It was almost as if Ranger wasn’t there. Not that he minded. Bella waited for Stephanie to speak.

Stephanie was nervous, and beginning to question the initial thought that this would work. Mrs. Morelli would never believe her, she knew; Grandma Bella wasn’t that much more of a hope. But Grandma Bella had held Joe in line when he was a much more rebellious and defiant teenager. If Stephanie could convince her, Bella would be a much more effective deterrent than a rape charge.

"Joe and I aren’t together anymore, Grandma Bella," Stephanie started.

"I figured as much, from the-" Bella paused in her words. Steph wasn’t sure if it was to bite back a racial epitaph, or simply from a loss at how to describe Ranger "-gentleman with you," she finished.

"Ranger is not the reason," Stephanie sounded a little too defensive, Ranger thought, but it was her show. "Joe and I, we don’t fit together, no matter how much we each may have wanted to or how hard we tried to."

Bella nodded silently, as her daughter roughly pushed the door leading from the kitchen open. She had mugs and a coffeepot on a tray, which she slammed down onto the table so hard that the coffee sloshed a little out of the pot and onto the tablecloth. "The cake will be a few minutes," Mrs. Morelli said directly to her mother, avoiding any eye contact with her visitors. Bella nodded and let her leave the way she had come.

Once the door had shut behind her daughter, Bella sighed. "There is no cake. She’s going to have to run out, and it will take a while. Car needs gas, too." Bella cracked a crooked grin at that. "Since she’s gone, spit out whatever it is that you don’t want her to hear. Are you pregnant?"

Looking horrifed at the thought- the possibility of which Ranger could tell Stephanie hadn’t considered yet and hoped she wouldn’t have to- she managed to sputter out a half-believable "No!" Bella nodded again. "Good. I don’t want any more bastard grandchildren running around than I already have, and I don’t want any shotgun weddings. What is it then?"

Stephanie was struggling with what to say, and Bella- with the impatience of the old, who knew time was not unlimited- cut in. "I never disliked you like Joe’s mom does. I understand that not everyone is cut from the same cloth. You are designed differently, up here-" Bella tapped her temple. "That’s not bad, though. I always knew that you two wouldn’t last; Joey is too much a Burg boy to be married to some bounty hunter disaster."

Ranger inwardly cringed. The subtle and completely non-malicious cutting down of Stephanie was painful to listen to, and Ranger was glad that he had not grown up in such an incestuous and confining setting as Chambersburg. The tiny, close knit Cuban community of Trenton was bad enough- but still nothing compared to this.

"I need you to talk to Joe for me." Stephanie bit her lip, staring at the floor. "He’s having some trouble dealing with our break-up, Bella, and I don’t want to make this any tougher for him than it already is."

Bella stiffened at Stephanie’s words, suddenly much more interested than she had been and maybe a little more defensive. "Just how much trouble is he having with this, Stephanie?" Bella’s voice changed tenor, and Ranger wondered how much Bella had guessed.

Stephanie opened and closed her mouth, her eyes confused. "Enough, Grandma Bella, enough."

Bella stared straight at Steph, taking a deep breath. "What did he do to you?"

Shaking her head, Steph tried to back-pedal, much to Ranger’s annoyance. "Nothing, Bella. Nothing. But I am worried that-"

"Bullshit," Bella’s voice was harsh and demanding. "You would never come here and ask for my help if he didn’t do something to you. Those bruises are from him, aren’t they?" Bella rose and rounded on Stephanie, grabbing her arm and examining the bruising there and on her face.

Stephanie tried to pull away and continue to deny things, but Bella- small and bent as she was- had an iron grip. "Bella, no, this is from a skip-"

Bella tsk-tsked and went back to her seat, focusing her attention on Ranger now. "You let this happen to her?"

Stephanie looked desperately at Ranger; Ranger avoided her eye and answered. "I wasn’t there to stop it, and she won’t let me do anything about it."

"That’s points for you, girl." Bella reached for the coffee and poured three mugs. She liberally sugar-and-creamed hers, taking a large steaming gulp before continuing. "My Joey may be strong, but this one would break him in half. I admire that you won’t let him do your dirty work for you." Being sure to catch and hold Stephanie’s eyes steadily, Bella promised, "I will make sure that Joe doesn’t come near you anymore."

Stephanie looked shaken. The matter of fact way that Bella knew what had happened- that she so confidently insisted Joe would stay away- "Grandma Bella," Steph had trouble forcing the words out. As much as her rape had shaken Joe’s image as a good guy, her heart insisted that it was an aberration, a mistake he made and would truly regret. Bella’s tone challenged that. "Has he done this before?"

Bella took another gulp of steaming coffee, allowing it to cool in her mouth before swallowing, buying a few more minutes. "Done what, exactly?" she asked directly, not quite ready to throw Joe under the bus.

"Raped someone," Stephanie almost whispered. She had not admitted what had happened to anyone so openly yet. Ranger knew- Tank knew- but she had not related it outside of that protective circle. Her chest tightened and her eyes began to film over with held-in tears.

"No," Bella stated firmly. "But he is a Morelli, and I know what Morellis can be capable of. Thank you for coming to see me. This will never happen again. I apologize on behalf of my grandson, for what it is worth."

Nodding, Stephanie licked her lips. Maybe her world had not completely disintegrated. "He’s a good man. He didn’t mean-"

"Don’t make excuses for him," Bella shook her head. "Even good men can do bad things. I will take care of him."

"I don’t want this known-" Stephanie tried to interject, but Bella spoke right over there.

"I’m not going to go announce it at the beauty parlor," Bella waved away the thought. "It wouldn’t help either of you, I know that, too. But I will make his life hell for it, and if it ever happened again-" Bella directed her gaze at Ranger. "I might want you to talk to him."

Ranger hid a predatory grin. Joe’s own grandmother was willing to let Ranger beat the shit out of Joe? Maybe this lady wasn’t too bad after all. He took out his business card- silver lettering on black, the Rangeman symbol prominently centered- and slid it across the table, leaving it directly in front of Bella. "I would have no problem doing that, Grandma Bella."

Her aged hand- liver spots and spider veins flashing- took the card and tucked in into her sweater pocket. "I will keep that in mind, Mr. Manoso." She dipped her head in acknowledgement. "But I think I will be able to keep him in line. He isn’t an evil man- he’s just lost his way a bit."

Stephanie agreed. "I don’t want to hurt him anymore than I already have-"

Again, Bella dismissed her words with a hand wave. "He’s a grown man. He needs to take his lumps. You-" Bella looked Stephanie directly in the eye. "You need to take are of yourself and don’t worry about my Joey. He’s your past, and he will stay in your past. You’re a strong girl. Don’t look back."

"I’ll try," Stephanie managed to get out, playing with her coffee mug in the resulting silence.

Bella interrupted the quiet right before Ranger was going to. "If you want to avoid my daughter, you should probably leave." Bella’s eyes met Ranger’s. "I’m not kicking you out. Cake will be here in a minute, and I would never be remiss in hostess duties. But if you want to avoid her, I’m not offended at a quick exit."

Stephanie immediately rose. "Thank you, Bella." She went over to hug the woman. Ranger watched the old woman gingerly grasp Stephanie, careful of the bruises that were not visible. Remembering the stories Stephanie had told about Morelli’s family, he wondered how many times Bella had had to stifle her own reaction when someone had unwittingly caused her bruises pain, or handle someone with extra care due to unseen injuries.

Moments later, he and Stephanie were back out at the car, and she handed the keys to him freely and placed herself in the passenger seat. Turning to look out the window, she aimed to find her own "zone" while Ranger headed the car back to the Haywood offices.