"Hey Johnny, how was your weekend off?" Roy entered the locker room and addressed his partner who had already changed into his work uniform.

"Not bad. Spent some time at the beach and enjoyed the sun. How about you?" Johnny was tying his shoes as he answered.

"I just stayed home and helped the kids with their schoolwork."

"You always were a daredevil." Johnny replied sarcastically.

"Funny." Roy had begun changing into his own uniform. "Wait until you have a family, then let's see how much of a daredevil you are on the weekends."

Chet Kelley abruptly pushed the locker room door open, slipped inside the room and pressed his back against the brick wall like he was trying to hide. Roy and Johnny exchanged silent glances of confusion. Chet straightened the collar on his uniform shirt before strolling over to his own locker in a forced nonchalant manner, he didn't even acknowledge Johnny or Roy as he crossed the room.

An evil grin came appeared on Johnny's face. "Chet?" He asked in a mischievous tone.

"Yeah?" Chet was busily rummaging through his locker looking for nothing.

"What are you doing?"

He answered begrudgingly "What does it look like I'm doing?" He kept his eyes on his locker.

Roy joined in on the conversation. "It looks like you're trying to avoid something."

"Or..." Johnny chimed back in. "Someone."

Chet quickly looked over at Johnny and Roy who were watching him with great interest. He silently turned back to his locker in an attempt to ignore his jovial colleagues.

Johnny continued. "C'mon, what did you do?"

"Nothing." Chet answered quickly and sincerely.

"Nothing huh?" Johnny obviously didn't believe him.

"Nothing." Chet repeated.

"Then why do you look so guilty?"

"It's not-" Chet paused and took a deep breath to keep himself from sounding too defensive. "I'm not feeling guilty. Just..." He trailed off.

"Just what?" Now Johnny was really curious.

"I just don't know why Cap snapped at me."

Roy had finished changing into his uniform and was tying his own shoes as he replied. "He snapped at you?" He sounded just as unconvinced as Johnny of Chet's innocence.

"Yeah. And I don't know why." Chet still sounded sincere, and a little hurt.

Johnny and Roy again exchanged skeptical glances before Johnny asked his next question. "You don't know why?"

"Nope."

"Level with us Chet, what did you do?" Johnny didn't buy Chet's innocence one bit.

"Nothing! I swear!"

Roy sat down on the bench next to Johnny. "Chet, you know the Captain just as well as we do. He doesn't just snap at people for no reason."

"I know! That's why I'm so confused."

"Were you late this morning?"

"No."

"Did you get caught setting up another prank?"

"No. And that's 'The Phantom's' hobby anyway."

Roy just laughed as Johnny continued the line of questioning. "Did you say something you shouldn't have?"

"Since when is 'Hi, Cap.' taboo?"

Johnny couldn't help but grin. "Are you serious? That's all you said?"

"Yes! Why is that so hard to believe?"

Roy answered coolly. "Because Chet, the last time Cap overreacted to a simple greeting was when Chief McConnike was due for a visit. Remember?"

Chet looked at Johnny and Roy with a moment of 'eureka' flashing in his blue eyes. "Hey yeah! That's right! He was on edge the whole shift..."

"There you go, mystery solved. Just stay on his good side and keep 'The Phantom' out of the station for the rest of the day, and everything will be just fine."

"Right. You're absolutely right Roy." Chet seemed genuinely relieved.

Just then Mike Stoker opened the locker room door and stepped inside. "Hey guys, it's time for roll call." He cautiously glanced over his shoulder back into the bay before adding a word of caution to his colleagues. "And uh, you better move it. Cap's wound a little tight today."

"So we've heard." Johnny glanced at Chet sheepishly.

The three men left the locker room and stood in line in the bay. Mike and Marco Lopez were already waiting, and both men looked like they were afraid to move a muscle.

Captain Hank Stanley exited his office with a clipboard in his hand. He looked at his men with what could only be described as 'annoyance' in his gaze. Looking back down at the clipboard he began informing his crew of the day's events ahead.

"Yesterday 'C Shift' finished checking the hydrants in our area, so we can cross that off our list..."

Johnny and Roy both couldn't help but notice that their Captain looked a little pale and seemed to be moving a little slower than usual as he paced back and forth in front of his men.

Stanley continued. "What we have to do today is-"

The Klaxon's suddenly sounded off noisily through the station. 'Squad 51; woman trapped: 852 Elm Street, 852 Elm Street. Time-out: 07:54'

As dispatch informed the station of the call, Roy opened the bay doors and had slid into the Squad's driver seat while Johnny wrote down the address and acknowledged the call. "Squad 51: KMG-3-6-5." He handed the slip of paper to Roy through the window and took his place next to Roy in the Squad.

As the Squad drove away from the Station, gaining 'safe distance' Johnny asked the obvious question to his partner. "Did Cap seem a little... 'off' to you?"

"A little 'off'? I was going to ask you if he looked sick!" Roy had the exact same question on his mind.

"You noticed too, huh?"

"Yup."

"Think it's serious?"

"I'm not sure. For all we know he just didn't get enough sleep last night."

"Yeah, true. I guess we'll find out sooner or later."

"Hopefully before Chet ends up hiding on the roof or something."

"You say that like it would be a bad thing!" Johnny teased.

...to be continued...