Thank you TV Land/Sleuth Channel for bringing back our favorite old shows, especially the brothers! It's been too long!

Disclaimer: I'm just borrowing the boys for the enjoyment of fiction readers. Alas, I do not own any right to the characters from "Simon and Simon". Wish I did, but I don't. This is just for fun...

Feedback: I'm a junkie, but this is for your enjoyment!

Title: Twist of Fate.

I have seen a million things in my life, and I've never quite experienced anything like these guys.

My dad left for the war one day, promising he would come back, but he never did. I was twelve. My mom tried. She really did. But I was headstrong and heartbroken. And so was she. We butted heads all the time. She was so sad, not knowing how dad had died, not having his body or a gravestone. She never could really mourn. I understand that now. I didn't then. I just felt out of control and didn't know how to help anyone, let alone myself. I realize now it was just a part of growing up. Hormones and all that, but I never got to tell her that I was sorry. For the short time she had left on this earth, I made her life a living hell.

I've been paying for it ever since. When mom died, caring people from a local office tried to put me in a foster home, but I ran. One more statistic on the books. I was 16 at the time, but I looked older, acted older. When you lose everyone you love, you tend to grow up quick. I worked where I could, walked a great deal. I found it healing. When I was 18, I went back and collected my inheritance. It was more than I was used to living on. I felt the presence of my mom then. It was weird. I put it all in a national bank, hopped a bus and headed west.

That was over a decade ago. I was working in a bar when I first met them. One was tall, really tall, dark hair and looked like he belonged with the macho jerks that tended to hang out here in the daytime. Boy did he have the attitude with the guys they were with! The other was blond, preppy, and the exact opposite of his friend. He looked like he belonged with the college crowd that I saw sometimes when I took classes. Or maybe a professional organization. But he had an attitude too when he wanted it! I didn't think much of it at time, other than the fact that they were surprisingly nice to me. Most men were jerks and didn't know when to back off when I wanted them to.

It's my body. I didn't ask for it, I don't work on it, and I certainly don't use it like some of the other bimbo's around here. But, my legs are firm from all the walking I do, my blond hair highlights well with the sun's influence. And my other parts? Well, let's just say God was good. Not overly generous, just good. What a pain! I have a hard time getting anyone to take me seriously. That's why I went back to school. I do not want to spend the rest of my life being looked at like a empty headed piece of cute flesh. I guess that's mom's influence again…

I was finishing up and had clocked out when the fight broke out. Ah, poor Darrell. One more claim on his insurance and his goose was cooked. But I was not going to stay. I learned young to stay away from fights and such. They tend to land you in jail and I did not want to have anything to do with that side of the law. Mom wouldn't want that for me. So I left.

I went quickly to my car. A blue Honda Civic that I had bought from a foolish girlfriend who had bought a new car that she could not afford. She was in upside down and was fighting repossession. So she sold it for a song. What a deal! The car was not sexy, but comfortable, with a big back seat and a trunk to boot. It got me to where I wanted to go. It had taken awhile for me to get used to the manual transmission, but once I had, wow, what fun! I loved to just drive for awhile after rolling down the windows. I was doing just that to the passenger window when the car shook violently, and a body slid across the hood and fell on the other side of the car. I don't think I screamed, but he scared the living daylights out of me! I did scream when the back window was shot out. The dark haired guy came flying through the debris of glass and landed with a loud thud on the top of some boxes I had in the back seat.

"Get in AJ!", he yelled, and another body came head first through the passenger window I had just opened. "Drive lady!" he yelled with a big gun in his right hand. Since he was not pointing it at me but out the window at the people shooting at my car I decided it might be prudent to do what he said. I threw the car into reverse, and my foot must have slipped, because I just kept right on backing up straight into the guys that were shooting at us! The blonds head, AJ, was digging into my thigh as he tried unsuccessfully to pull his legs into the car. I didn't help when I clutched and then found 1st. The tires threw gravel everywhere, peppering the bad guys (how dare they shoot at me and my darling little unsexy car!) with rocks before the tires finally grabbed hold and shot us out of the tiny parking lot and onto the street.

I spent a lot of time abusing the poor engine in 2nd, taking fast turns and driving like a maniac. I'm forever grateful nobody was walking across the road while I was doing something so incredibly stupid. It was fun, but oh so dangerous. God, it would have killed me if I had hit a kid or something, but then again, I would be dead if those guys I sprayed with gravel caught me. I said a prayer and kept driving stupid.

"Have we lost them Rick?" came a muffled voice somewhere from the floorboard of the passenger seat.

"I think so." returned a voice from somewhere in the vicinity of the backseat. The wind was blowing in through the front windows I had opened and out the shot out back window like a mini tornado, whipping my hair into my face, stinging my eyes. My heart pounded with the adrenaline I remembered from my youth.

"What!" shrieked the voice from the floorboards. The struggle renewed to right himself in his seat. I became aware of just how small my big car really was.

"I THINK SO!" My ears rang. At this point, Rick was sitting between the seats scanning forwards.

I checked the mirrors and did a quick scan myself. "We're coming up on National City Boulevard. What do you want me to do?"

The blond had finally righted himself in his seat and I noticed he shot a glare at his friend. "That is the last time I do anything for a friend of your friend Carlos!" he quipped mysteriously, "We're not even getting paid!"

"What do you mean? He pays us! Didn't he help us out with all of that electronic equipment on that paraplegic case! He got us…"

"He nearly got us killed!"

"That was nothing. We've been through worse than that!"

"I want your boat out of my yard!"

"Guys," I said calmly, through my teeth. "Which way?"

Immediately the blond calmed down. "I'm sorry. Left. My name is AJ, AJ Simon. This here is my brother" I noticed a bit of a growl creeping into his voice, "Rick."

"Hi, how ya doing" came a now pleasant voice from the back seat. Wow these guys could change in an instant!

"I'll let you know when the adrenaline wears off." I growled back.

Rick gave a quick laugh from the back seat and leaned back to look out my poor shot out window. If it was unsexy before, my wonderfully serviceable car was probably really ugly now.

AJ said, "Now take a right. Another right. Do you mind parking for a minute? We're not going to hurt you." I knew that, but I felt it was better not letting him know it quite yet.

"What is it you want?" I asked while searching for a place to pull over.

Rick hopped out of the car, using the door this time, and began walking around my car.

AJ turned to face me. He had a sweet face. It made me mad. "I'm sorry we got you into all this…" he started.

"Sorry," I interrupted, "Thanks, I appreciate that, but it does not solve the problem of my windows does it?" I lifted my eyebrows and glared. The jerk smiled! "What!"

"You remind me of someone. Sorry."

"Is sorry all you can say?"

"If you would let me get a word in edgewise!" his voice rose in controlled anger. Good, I was pissing him off as much as I was!

"I'm waiting!" I retorted.

"We will pay for the damage."

"You better. I didn't ask for this…"

"And we're grateful. Where did you learn to drive like that?"

The abrupt change of subject was disarming. "Like what?"

"Like Richard Petty on a last lap." He smiled and I had to look away or I would laugh. Boy, he had a charm.

A shrill whistle came from outside the car, which immediately drew his brother's attention. For all their bickering, these two certainly knew how to work together. They were attuned to each other's every nuance. Funny. I never had a sibling, but if I had, I wished I could have had a relationship like these two had.

"Trouble?" AJ asked.

"We need to get moving." Rick replied, hopping into the car.

I didn't ask questions; I just pulled into the first opening in traffic I could find and tried to blend in.

"What is it?"

"Two men, black caddy, I recognized one. Has a black eye." He added smugly.

"They see you?"

"I don't think so, but this car is pretty recognizable now with all the holes in it."

"WHAT!" So much for just a shot out window. What twist of fate brought me together with these two? And how did I get rid of them…