Disclaimer: I do not own any of the original characters, locations or canon information depicted in the series "The Streets of San Francisco". I'm just borrowing them for my pleasure and hopefully the enjoyment of others.

Author's note to follow story.

Tanith

You Have A Lot To Learn, Buddy Boy!

Mike finally had had enough of Steve's uncharacteristic silence. From the moment the young man was picked up at his doorstep, throughout the drive to the office and now late in the morning he had not said a peep but merely grunted, shrugged his shoulders or mumbled incoherently under his breath.

"That's it, Buddy Boy, out with it! Come on, what's eatin' you? You've barely said an intelligible word since I picked you up," Mike huffed, throwing down his pen on the desk.

Sitting in the seat opposite his partner, Steve leaned an elbow on the arm of the chair and rested his hand on his jaw. He cleared his throat and shifted to excuse his next movement which was move his hand so that it covered his mouth, making his reply sound like a muffled, "Mwhy dunno wad ya tokem bot."

Mike rolled his eyes, lunged across the desk and pulled down Steve's arm from his face, causing the young man to almost fall to the side. "You got a tooth ache? What is it, Steve?"

Hearing the concern mixed with a level of authoritative in Mike's voice that denounced any further nonsense, Steve resigned to his fate and looked up to meet his mentor's gaze. He pulled back his lips into a forced smile that showed his teeth.

"What in God's name happened to your teeth?" Mike's eyes widened almost as much as he did mouth.

One word reached Steve's lips and he immediately regretted it. "Jeannie."

"What? What do you mean, Jeannie?"

Now it was Steve's turn to roll his eyes. "She pulled a prank on me. I hope you're not gonna get mad at her. She told me the ink will come out by tomorrow."

Mike's disapproving glare morphed into one of amusement. A grin twitched at the corners of his mouth and try as hard as could to suppress the laughter from erupting, he could not quite contain it. "Oh, she told you that, did she?"

Steve's attention was piqued. "Well, it will won't it? She's right isn't she? Mike?"

The Lieutenant shook his head with a sigh, pushed his chair back and grabbed his coat and fedora from the stand.

"Mike! Wait a minute!" Steve almost shouted as Mike headed for the door.

"You have a lot to learn about women, Buddy Boy, particularly my daughter," Mike called back as he walked out of his office, chuckling heartily.

END

Author's Note: The idea behind Jeannie's prank was inspired by a scene from the film "The Patriot" (2000), where Anne Howard puts ink into Gabriel Martin's tea as payback for a childhood prank that he had played on her. The two are romantically involved and when Anne kisses Gabriel goodbye, her teeth become equally stained!