Back at Mark's beach house, everything was pretty boring. Mark sat in the living room reading a VERY thick book . . . . actually, he was rereading it for the third time. He was having a lot of trouble concentrating the past few days. He missed Steve being around just to talk to. Mark put the book down, finally giving up. He thought back to a few days before . . the look on Steve's face when he got the message from the station . . . . . Mark smiled, and then brought his hand up to cover the grin.
'Oh, I wish I had a camera for that one.' Suddenly, the doorbell rang. Mark got up and made his way towards the door, bumping into every possible piece of furniture along the way. 'I really do need a new prescription for these dumb glasses,' Mark thought as he reached his destination. As he pulled the door open, he forgot about his recent injuries.
"Well I'll be . . ." Jack Stewart stood there grinning. Mark pulled him into a bear hug and continued, "What on Earth are you doing here?"
"How ya doin' Mark? Bust up any crime rings lately?" Mark smiled and let Jack go.
"I'm pretty good and not lately. How much trouble have you been getting into lately?" Jack shrugged and replied,
"Well, my new boss frowns on hunting down murderers. He prefers I actually work when I'm at the hospital. What's that about?!" Mark shook his head and ushered Jack in.
"I don't know, but it sure sounds boring." Jack laughed. After a moment, Mark asked, "You thirsty? Hungry?" Jack looked up at the ceiling and said,
"Yeah. Whatcha got?" Mark turned towards the kitchen.
"Ooh, we've got lots of stuff." As they walked into the kitchen, Mark asked, "Does Amanda know you're here?"
"Nope, just got into town." Jack hopped up on the counter.
"And you just happened to know I'd be here?" Mark opened the fridge and pulled out a carton of milk. He opened it and sniffed it, then leered back with a sour look on his face. He shook his head and put it back.
"As I was flying over the place, I used my x-ray vision and saw you sitting there reading your book . . . Mark, what kind of super doctor/detective would I be if I didn't know where you were at all times?"
"You called the hospital?"
"Yeah." Mark shook his head and came over to Jack, reaching behind him into the cupboard. Mark set the cups down and looked at him.
"How did you know I was reading a book?" Jack jumped down and pointed to his eye.
"x-ray vision, remember?" Mark gave him a look. "Okay, I looked through the front window before I rang the bell." Mark nodded and poured, what Jack guessed was O.J., into the cups then handed one to Jack. After taking a long sip, Jack looked around. "So, where's our successful little policeman? Getting
batted on the head by bad guys? Arresting a girlfriend?" Mark smiled at the last comment - well, Steve was prone to getting into tough situations, and falling for the wrong kinds of girls . . . Suddenly, Mark got a down-right EVIL idea.
"Jack, you have any plans for lunch?" Jack shook his head while he finished the glass of O.J. "Mind having lunch with an old man and a psycho three-year-old?"
"Mark, why else do you think I came at ten a.m.?" They headed back into the living room as Jack added, "What time are the 'Fighting Duo' getting here?"
Mark sat down as he replied,"Amanda and C.J. will be here around eleven - she had an autopsy at seven-thirty - and Steve should be here around twelve-thirty." A light went on in Mark's head. "Hey, you'll get to meet Jesse. He's a great kid. You'll love him." Jack nodded as he looked around the room. On the mantle were photographs, DOZENS of photographs. Mark now had them creeping up the wall. There was a photo of
Mark and Jack, one from the Christmas party two years ago - Norman was so civil
to Jack that evening, he even accused Norman of being bribed into by Amanda - with the whole gang, minus Steve, one of Jack and Steve wrestling down on the beach in the middle of a volleyball game, Mark and unknown . . . 'Jesse,' Jack guesses. He was a cute kid, 'Must be a surfer.' Jack turned back to Mark and sat on the couch. "So, what's new at CG?" Mark shook his head.
"Not much. It's pretty boring without you guys around."
"Guys?"
"Yeah, well, Delores left when you did, her daughter just had a baby,Delores is ecstatic." As he said this, the front door opened and a toddler ran in, straight to Mark.
'This is C.J.? The C.J. that Amanda talks about on the phone for hours and hours on end?' Jack spin around to see Amanda at the door, struggling with a box. He jumped up and ran over to catch it before she dropped it. When she saw who was helping her, she screamed.
"Oh my GOD!!! Jack!" He just smiled and put the box down. She hugged him and started rambling. "What are you . . . When did you . . . Why haven't you called me?" The last part she asked as she placed her hands on her hips.
"Nice to see you too." She hugged him again and asked,
"So, out with it. Come on. What are doing here? When did you get into town?"
He waved at her, as if he was shooing away a fly, and answered,
"Well, I had some time off and I thought I'd come home for a while." Mark smiled when he heard that Jack thought of L.A. as home still. "And I got here," he said, motioning to Mark's house, "about an hour ago." He looked at Amanda and smiled once again. "Look at you . . ." Amanda gave a spin and he continued, "Ya haven't changed a bit. How's the scruffy rascal?" Amanda hit him.
"My son's not scruffy."
"I meant the dog!"
"Oh . . ." Amanda thought back to the time Jack took her out to buy a guard dog, when her apartment had been burglarized and she'd been knocked unconsious, all for that stupid manuscript. The sound of C.J. yelling brought
Amanda back to the present.
"Jesse Jesse Jesse," the toddler yelled as he ran towards Jesse, who had come up the back stairs.
"Hey there, squirt," he said as he picked the boy up. He saw Amanda and Mark and someone he didn't know.
"So Jesse, how's work?"
"Slow. As you can see," he raised his free arm and spun around, "I'm off for the afternoon. You seen Steve yet?" Amanda shook her head and Mark added,
"He said he'd be here for lunch. Apparently the case hit a snag . . . something about one of the suspects coming up clean . . ." Mark looked to Jesse as Jack said,
"Poor Steve. What a drag." Mark once again tried to hide his grin, whereas Amanda broke down laughing. After they got all settled down, Mark introuduced Jesse and Jack, then Jack retired to the basement to grab a shower and change clothes. Amanda put C.J. on the floor and popped a video into the VCR to keep him occupied while lunch was being prepared. The opening music to Chitty Chitty Bang Bang echoed throughout the house. About 45 minutes later, Colin came by to pick up C.J. He was taking him to see 'Gramma' and 'Grapa,' as C.J. called them.
******
Steve walked into the Sloan pad around 12:15 - fully decked out - just getting off duty and very hungry. He pulled off the wig he was wearing and started flipping through the mail as he asked,
"Jesse, did you get any information?" Jesse was already digging into the chips so his mouth was full. As soon as he swallowed, he replied,
"Yeah, I talked to Lynette downstairs, Georgia upstairs and Marie down the hall."
"And?"
"There's a residents meeting day after tomorrow. Stephanie's bringing cookies." Jesse smiled as he added the last part.
"Did you find out anything useful to the investigation?"
"Yeah, two nights ago, Matilda, that girl who showed us the apartment, she said that she saw some guy hanging out across the street. At first, she thought he was just a drunk waiting for the bus, but then she realized after a while that she recognized him. Apparently he had come in a few times looking for the lady who we're doing this for. She thinks he might be an old boyfriend, but she's not sure."
"That's it?" Jesse had a puzzled look on his face.
"Well, yeah."
"That doesn't help me Jess."
"Well, if I can't be of any help, then take care of the investigation yourself. There's plenty of good surfing right out that door that I'd really rather be doing if you're gonna . . ."
"Boys." Mark interrupted. "Now is not the time to start fighting. Besides, lunch is ready." Steve shook his head and said,
"Well, I'm gonna get out of this first." As if on cue, Jack came bounding up the stairs, took one look at Steve - who was WHITE AS A GHOST - and fell to the floor laughing. Steve rolled his eyes.
"Great! Just great!" Amanda was giggling. Steve went over to her and said, "Thank you so much for letting me know he was here." Amanda started laughing harder and Jack was starting to regain his composure Jesse started laughing, so did Mark. Jack pulled himself up and put his hand on Steve's shoulder and looked at Amanda - he'd just gotten the joke from earlier - and pointed to her
"What a drag . . ." he repeated, almost whispering, and started laughing again. Steve gave a forced smile and yelled,
"Okay, okay. Let's all laugh it up at the UNDERCOVER police officer!" Jesse tried to sneak into the kitchen, but Steve caught him. "Hey! Traitor!" He nodded as Amanda stopped laughing and Jack asked, between gasps for air,
"Does Norman know about this?" Mark looked Amanda and they both started laughing. Jesse, Steve and Jack knew they'd missed something. After that first night in the Path Lab, when Norman had come to Amanda, she went straight to Mark
with the story.
"I give up!" Steve threw his arms up in defeat and headed downstairs. The party moved into the living room, where the movie was still playing and they waited for Steve to return before starting lunch. They also decided not to mention anything that had just happened in the living/dining room.
