A/N: Realize that I haven't actually seen Season 8 yet – I watch it when it comes out on Netflix. This was just a random idea because I thought it would be kind of funny … but just kind of. This is at some random time and not specific to any episode but summer between Season Six and Seven is closes approximation. I just thought it would be quite interesting … and chaos causing.

Officer Jamie Reagan looked curiously at the application form that had been sent to him. As a matter of course, he tended to ignore these types of things.

That being said, Jamie Reagan was once again lamenting his own lack of advancement in the NYPD. As long as his father was the Police Commissioner, it would be almost impossible to make Detective.

As a result, he spent much more time reading up on details and calculating possibilities than he normally would.

When he had sufficiently, looked over the form and the accompanying information, he reached over to his cell phone and picked it up. After a moment, it was ringing.

"Hey. I have a question for you."

Sergeant Renzulli was looking at the forms which his Patrol Officers had submitted to him just that morning. He narrowed his eyes when he considered the implications. He looked out the window and saw that the two in question had come in from patrol and were processing someone. He stood up and went to the door. "Hey, Reagan. Janko. I need to see you guys."

Jamie looked at his partner and back to his boss. "Sure, Sarge. We'll be done with this guy in about 20 minutes. That good enough?"

Tony paused and then nodded. "Yeah, that's fine. Come find me when he's been put in the system."

"Will do."

By the time that the two showed up at his office Sergeant Renzulli had been stewing for a bit of time. As the two entered, he looked at them and said, "What is the deal with this? You guys are planning to vacation together? Isn't that …oh, I don't know … completely stupid? Are you out of your minds?"

Jamie and Eddie looked at Tony with confusion. Eddie asked, "What do you mean?"

He pointed at the applications and said, "Two weeks off in July. Together."

Jamie and Eddie suddenly comprehended. Jamie immediately said, "Oh no, Sarge. It's not like that. Eddie is going out to California to visit a cousin and her family. I figured it would just be easier to get my request in at the same time. I'm actually planning on going to the East Coast."

Tony was relieved but a bit curious. "East Coast. What are you doing there?"

Jamie smiled and said, "I was invited to something. Believe it or not, it's actually a kind of a school thing. I was going to pass on it but since Eddie is also planning on being off patrol, I figured it would be easier to just do the two at the same time so no one had to rearrange partners, or put one of us on tickets." He shrugged. "I was trying to keep things easier for you."

Tony considered that and then said, "Well, that changes things a bit." He considered for a long moment. "The problem is that there are a couple of others who are also looking at the same time. I can overlap your time off. But I need one of you to go a week earlier or a week later."

Eddie and Jamie nodded. Eddie said, "I can move mine a week earlier. I just have to call my cousin."

Jamie internally breathed a sigh of relief. "That work out, Sarge?"

Tony nodded in satisfaction.

Jamie was sitting at the Reagan table the next Sunday when there was a lull in the conversation. He swallowed the bit he had in his mouth and announced, "By the way. I'll be out of town for a couple of weeks in July." Considering that it was currently May, he thought a couple of months notice was sufficient.

Frank Reagan looked curiously at his youngest. "Oh? Where are you going?"

Jamie looked over at his father as he cut the next bit of food. "I was invited to something on the East Coast by an old friend. Something I might get a kick out of."

Danny was distracted by his current case or he would have been more intense about getting details. "This friend from Harvard?"

Jamie nodded. "Someone I met up with when I was there." He didn't mention that it was someone who had been there on an NCIS case that he had just happened to run into. "I thought about it and decided that I needed to use up some of the vacation time I haven't used before I lose it. And it's something that will be fun."

Erin looked over. "So what is this fun thing?"

Jamie smirked. "I'll keep that to myself until I come back. I think you'll be both surprised and unsurprised."

Henry put in his two cents. "Francis? Your youngest is being sneaky." He smirked at Jamie from his place at the end of the table.

Frank said with some humor, "We've got time to get it out of him. It's about six weeks until July."

Strangely, Jamie kept very tight lipped about his plans during the next several Sunday dinners. And more strangely, Frank Reagan let him.

Jamie Reagan and Eddie Janko looked at the building they were scheduled to arrive at, both feeling a bit nervous. Eddie asked, "Why are we doing this?"

Jamie looked at her and said, "It will look good in our jacket? Might make it a bit easier later."

Eddie nodded. "I feel kind of bad for lying to Renzulli about this."

Jamie shrugged and gave one of his little smiles. "It wasn't a total lie. You did visit your cousin. You just are taking your second week to do this."

Eddie considered that and then shrugged with a grin. "I can just imagine the fun of explaining that when it comes up."

Jamie smirked at her. "I think it will be fun. Anyway. Ready to do this?"

Eddie nodded emphatically. "Yep." She glanced over as they walked toward the door. "Maybe after this, you'll let me drive sometimes."

Jamie replied with a full blown grin, "Don't get your hopes up too much, Shorty."

Eddie Janko was quite happy on her first day back. The week previous had been a blast. She was smiling widely as she lined up for roll call.

"Officer Janko. Welcome back." There were murmurs of agreement from the other officers. "You look quite relaxed."

"It was great, Sarge, but I'm looking forward to getting back out there on the job."

He nodded. "Well, I'll have a temporary partner for you while Reagan is off but today it's parking enforcement." He said this with some humour.

She sighed in resignation. "You got it, Sergeant."

After the roll call, Tony sidled up to her. "Have you heard from Reagan?"

Eddie looked around and saw that no one was close enough to overhear. "Actually, Sarge, I have a confession." She smirked. "Don't get the wrong idea but I actually spent last week with him."

Tony immediately became angry. "You lied to me!"

She motioned for him to be quieter. "Not really. I did go visit my cousin. But last week we did something else." She reached into her pocket and pulled out a piece of paper and handed it over. "This is what we were doing."

Renzulli snatched it and started reading. His eyes widened as he saw what he was holding. "This is what you were doing?"

Eddie smirked. "You're the only person outside of Detective Baker in the PCs office that knows that Jamie and I were doing this. He's there for another week. When he gets back, the official notices will be sent to the Department with copies for our jackets."

Tony was confused. "Why all the secrecy?"

Eddie sighed. "Well, you know how Jamie gets passed over because no one wants to even suggest promoting him in case it looks like nepotism?" Tony nodded, knowing that was right. "He was invited to this and figured that it would look good in his file. A way to work toward a promotion without working a hook. He's actually there for another week."

Tony chuckled ruefully. "I guess I can see that. Well, considering that it wasn't what I was worrying about, I'll let it go." He smirked. "But I will be doing something to pay you guys back for the half truth."

Janko looked at Tony and in mock horror and said, "I'm kind of scared."

"You should be." Tony was smirking as he considered how to pay the two back.

Jamie Reagan walked into his Family home on Sunday, the day before he was scheduled to be back to the precinct. He heard Sean call out, "Uncle Jamie is here!"

There were voices raised in welcome as he walked into the kitchen. After the women of the family had hugged him, as well as the kids, Danny came in from the living room and gave him a man-hug. "Welcome back, little brother."

"Thanks. It's good to be back." Jamie moved to grab a beer as he continued. "It's been a bit of a trip. I just came in from the airport – haven't even been home yet."

Danny, who had his own beer, asked, "Now are you going to tell us where you went and what you were doing?"

Jamie smirked and said, "Yeah. Let's go see Dad and Pop." He looked around. "Where are they?"

Erin answered, "They're on their way back. Dad needed to talk to the Monsignor. Pop was riding with him."

Jamie nodded as he took a drink. "Okay, then. I'll tell you guys all about once they get back." Just then, they heard the front door open. "Which I think will be just about now."

Very soon, Frank Reagan was now hosting his children in the living room. "So, Jamie. What were doing on the East Coast?"

Jamie took a swig and asked, "Do you know a Leroy Jethro Gibbs? Former Gunnery Sergeant and current NCIS agent?"

Frank considered the question. "I met him while a Captain. He doesn't play well with local law enforcement at times, or at least he didn't at the time. I had it easier as I was also a former marine – though I was a Lieutenant when I was serving which didn't impress him."

Danny smirked while Erin was confused. "What do you mean? If he was a Gunnery Sergeant, doesn't Lieutenant outrank that?"

Danny answered, "NCOs tend to look at junior officers as more impediment than asset in the field."

Frank nodded. "The fact that I had actually seen combat and had a couple of medals for it was more impressive to him." Danny nodded in understanding. "Anyway, what about him?"

Jamie said, "Well, I met him while I was at Harvard – he was on a case and I happened to run into him. He recognized my name. For some reason, he sent me a Flet-C brochure a couple of months ago."

Danny asked, "Flet-C? Federal Law Enforcement Training Center?"

Jamie nodded. "Yeah. They have classes which are free for local law enforcement. Flet-C certification classes are usually three days long each." He shrugged. "He said something about a friend of a friend talking to him about me and he remembered me from Harvard."

Danny asked, "Out of the blue? Out of nowhere?"

Frank smirked and Erin noticed. "What is it, Dad? You know something."

Frank paused and said, "Actually, this is the first I'm hearing about this. But when I met the Gunny, I noticed that he didn't say much. He would never explain if he didn't absolutely have to."

Danny suddenly had a look of comprehension. Erin was still confused. "What does that mean?"

Danny smirked and said, "There are a few types that you tend to run into as Marines. The friendly type, the gung-ho guy, the blustery type," (Erin smirked and coughed while saying, "you") and a few others. The quiet guy … that's the guy who's usually the most dangerous guy in the unit. If they don't absolutely have to say anything, they don't. But he's also the guy that you want to have at your back when it comes down."

Frank nodded. "He seemed like that type of Marine when I met him."

Jamie nodded. "Yeah. He was pretty quiet. I actually met him and his team while I was out there. One of his team used to be a cop in Philly and Baltimore. Anyway – when I asked him why he sent the brochure all he would say was 'friend of a friend'. Tony – that's his second-in-charge said that when the boss was like that, that would be the best I could get."

Frank was curious. "So you spent your vacation on extra training?"

Jamie shrugged. "Well, I figured that it would look good for my file. Something extra in case someone was looking for a specific skill set."

Frank nodded, masking his sadness at that. He knew exactly how hard it would be for Jamie to get a promotion while he was PC. Extra training would put him higher on the list if someone was looking.

Danny just shook his head. "I took classes too – I got overtime for them when they came up. I didn't use my vacation time."

Frank said, "No. I admire what he did. Because he had to use the time or lose it anyway, it probably was a good choice." For Danny, that ended it. His father's word was always rated higher than other peoples' opinions. Frank looked at Jamie. "So. What classes did you take?"

A couple of months later, Sergeant Tony Renzulli was in front of Comstat. Comstat regularly had Captains, Lieutenants, and Sergeants from different precincts to review current trends, issues, and possible trouble areas to look out for. This particular review as pretty smooth until the end.

"Well, Sergeant. I have to say that the 12th Precinct is looking pretty good. A few things that you should be looking out for, but you seem to have it well in hand. Is there anything else that we should know about?" the Deputy Commissioner in charge of Patrol asked him.

Everyone in the room saw him tense. "Well, not really."

The Deputy Commissioner in question said, "You thought of something. Out with it."

Tony looked around the room and sighed. "There is one area that has been distracting me."

"And what's that?"

Tony glanced nervously down at the PC, who hadn't said much in the meeting, and then back to the Deputy. "Well, one particular officer has been keeping me distracted."

"And that Officer's name?"

Tony looked very reticent after glancing one more time. Finally he sighed and said, "Well, it's Officer Reagan."

There was sudden tension in the room. Everyone looked down at the PC and then quickly back. Frank said, "What has he done?"

Tony was quick to protest. "No! No. It's not anything he's done."

Frank asked, "Then what is it?"

Tony paused once more and then finally said, "Well, it's all the recruiters who keep asking me about him."

The Deputy asked, "Recruiters?"

Tony nodded. "In the last month, I've had inquiries from the FBI, NCIS, ARMY CID, DEA, the US DOJ, and a couple of others as to his performance as well as inquiries as to how he works with others. I've also got some inquiries from other cities like Los Angeles, Miami, Washington DC, and even Cleveland. They figure that if we won't use him – they will."

The Deputy Commissioner asked, "What do you mean 'we won't use him'?"

Tony sighed. "Well, here's a guy who graduated top of his class after graduating Harvard Law. He's got over six years on Patrol. He's earned numerous commendations and made numerous felony arrests. None of his arrests has ever been kicked back as done sloppy or as a bad collar except when there were other factors outside of his own control. The few complaints he's had against him have either been false accusations, like that biker incident during the protest, or he's taken his rips without complaint. Even that rip he earned for disobeying a superior officer was committed for the benefit of the department and not his own hubris. Has several items in the classified section where he's gone above and beyond including being instrumental in taking down not one, but two, high level criminal organizations. Add to that he also received Flet-C certification on several courses he took while on vacation – not training mandated by his superiors. To any outsider, he's critically underused." Tony shrugged. "That's what was meant by 'we wont use him' when it was said to me."

Everyone looked at Frank – who didn't look at anyone other than Tony. "What does he say about all the inquiries?"

Tony replied, "He says he's happy where he is and isn't looking at changing careers. He's turned down a few offers in front of me. But they still want him. I figure a year before he gives into the pressure if nothing changes."

Everyone looked once again at Frank Reagan. He looked around at everyone. "Well. Don't look at me! I've deliberately kept out of pushing his career to avoid any charges of nepotism. The only times I've acted outside of that were cases where it was critically important that I have someone I trusted to do things quietly." Frank shrugged. "As the old saying goes: Use it or lose it. As far as his not being promoted – well, that's on the department. If you guys don't want to promote him, then there's nothing I can do about it."

Frank looked at the man who trained two of his sons. "Is there anything else, Sergeant Renzulli?"

"No, Sir. That's it."

"Well then. Thanks for coming. You are dismissed. You'll get any directives once COMSTAT has reviewed everything." Tony nodded, gathered up the papers he had brought, and made his way out of the meeting. It broke up quite quickly after that.

Frank made his way to his office after the COMSTAT meeting. Baker had a couple of items which he handled quickly. Garrett was in his office preparing for the next press briefing.

When things were quiet, Frank grabbed his cell phone and made a call. "Gunny. How are things down in DC?" After a pause he spoke again. "Fairly normal." Pause. "It's created a little bit of a ruckus – but I was expecting it. I want to thank you for sending that brochure. Things are progressing apace because of it." Pause. "The next time I'm in DC – that happens every few months. You cook the steaks, I'll bring the beer." Pause. "See you then."

Frank had a little smile on his face as he closed his phone and put it away.