Disclaimer: Alright, here's the deal McBain and all other Llanview characters are property of ABC/Disney. Ozzie and any other characters that occur on Bold and the Beautiful are property of CBS/Brad Bell. I'm not ABC, and I'm not CBS—I'm me, and I don't own squat. Got it? Good.

A/N: If you were a PC fan this will be funnier to you than if you are just a new ME/McBain fan. Anyways, enjoy! Until next time—PCGirl.

John was sitting at his desk looking at the information from the last case he had closed the other day. It was quiet lately in Llanview, he almost wished he'd stayed with the FBI—almost. If he had though, well he wouldn't get to see Natalie anymore. He sighed as he remembered the night in his hotel room. He'd spoke the truth when he said he liked looking at her.

His daydream was interrupted by the phone, "McBain."

"John—this is Christopher at the FBI."

John cracked a smile, "What's up, chief?"

"Do you remember a guy we had you put on surveillance a few years ago by the name of Deacon Sharpe?"

"Yeah—vaguely. We were trying to figure out if he was doing illegal stuff at a casino in Vegas, right? Never had enough to put charges on him though, why?"

"Well, he's dead and the cops contacted me—they wanted the information you had on him. If it's alright with Bo, can you fly out to LA for a day or two?"

"He moved up in the world, huh?" he laughed.

"Yeah, but now he's moved down—six feet down. Let me know if it's ok with Bo and I'll give you the info on where you should go when you get there."

John hung up the phone—it had been slow at the department lately, and he knew Bo would let him take a few days to help out the guys in LA. There was one thing stopping him, and he knew that was the fact that he'd have to leave Natalie alone with Paul for two days—but maybe a few days away would get his mind clear again. Who was he kidding—Natalie was in his system and wasn't going away anytime soon—whether he was in town or not he'd probably still be thinking of her.

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John looked at the address again, yep this was the place. Christopher had said that the cops were talking with one Massimo Marone at the time, and to just meet them at his house. "Mansion is more like it," he said as he rang the doorbell and a gentleman answered the door, "Hi, I'm John McBain—the officers here are expecting me."

"Very well," said Hudson as he let him in.

John took a look around, very nice. He took notice of a blonde male sitting on the couch. He was around the same age as John—had on a bright blue button up dress shirt, and his hair seemed a little frazzled. He walked over and coughed to get his attention. "I'm Officer John McBain," he said as the man looked up at him. John didn't understand why but suddenly his eyes narrowed and he felt like he was on guard.

"I'm Oscar Marone," he said as he reached for John's hand to shake it and they both were shocked with electricity.

"So you knew Deacon Sharpe, huh?" asked John.

"Yeah, well I've known him long before either of us moved to here--we knew each other in Las Vegas." Vegas--sounds like Vega, which made Natalie come to mind.

"So what type of man has he been since he came here?" he asked—unsure of why he suddenly wanted to interrogate Oscar.

"The same from when we were in Vegas--sneaky, greedy, willing to harm anyone to get what he wants."

"Sounds like someone else I know," he said under his breath as he thought about Cramer--stupid punk.

"Where you from originally?" asked John as he noticed an accent coming out from Ozzie. John recognized him--he wasn't sure how or where, but there was something familiar about him.

"Atlantic City--and you?"

"Small world," he grinned as he saw Ozzie's eyes narrow also. John grinned as he realized Ozzie had the same feeling they'd met before also.

"So you know anyone that would want to kill Mr. Sharpe?"

"Sure, I mean he's the type of guy that rubs you the wrong way. I'm sure he's burned a lot of bridges in the past--including with me multiple times, but can you really blame a guy for taking out a sleaze like that?"

John thought no, you can't blame a guy for taking out a sleaze like that-- he'd been thinking about what he'd like to do if he could get Paul cornered in a dark alley for weeks now--and someone did just that to Deacon Sharpe.

Their conversation was interrupted as a officer came over, "You McBain?" he asked as John nodded, "Yeah, I've got the info to tell you," he said as he abruptly ended the conversation with Oscar and went off to talk with the cop.

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John was sitting in his LA hotel room staring at the ceiling—he'd given the cops here what they needed to know, but he couldn't catch a plane until morning. He pulled his cell phone out and dialed, "Hey Antonio."

"Hey John—heard you were able to get a few days off, huh? How's California?"

"Same ol', same ol. Anything new I need to know about?"

"Well, yeah—guess who they found in a dark alley beaten almost past recognition and then rolled up in a rug."

John could tell by the tone of Antonio's voice he knew the answer, "Hmmm? Paul Cramer perhaps?" he said as Oscar's words repeated in his mind, can you blame a guy for taking out a sleaze like that?

"Are you psychic?"

John just laughed, "No, just figured the guy had it coming. I'll see you tomorrow—and check up on Natalie for me, will you?"

Antonio laughed—he'd been waiting for John to ask him that, "I will."

Remembering Oscar's words reminded John--when he got home he needed to do a background check on Oscar Marone. They had met before, but he wasn't sure how--maybe their paths had crossed in AC growing up, or maybe when he'd been doing surveillance on Deacon Sharpe before he'd seen him around--heck, maybe they were enemies in a past life--but he knew he'd met the guy before.