Author's note: I kinda worked backwards and upside down on this story - came up with an ending, then a possible beginning, then a problem and solution, and then kinda strung the pieces together to make a story. Comments, criticism, and pickiness about grammar and such is always welcome.

Disclaimer: I do not own T.J. Hooker or any of the characters in it. I do own Jessica/Jessie Ethan and Ginger.

Vince chuckled quietly as his brother finished his story. It was a clearly exaggerated story, but amusing nonetheless.

"The fish was five - no, six! Six feet long! We struggled for a good fifteen or so minutes to get it in the boat!" Stephen held his arms out wide to emphasize the size of the fish.

"Sure," Vince breathed into his mug of hot cocoa. His brother was notorious in their family for overexaggerating stories. Falling into a pool about three feet full became a dramatic, near-death experience in Stephen's stories, when in reality he was up and out of the pool in seconds, laughing about the whole thing. Vince shook his head and smiled as his dad laughed.

"Reminds me of an old friend of mine. A cousin, actually. His name was T.J.," Vince's dad, James, said quietly, his small grin showing the trip down memory lane was a happy one. "We had a similar struggle, but with a two or three foot fish near shore."

"T.J., eh?" Vince said, glancing up with a smile. "I've never heard you talk about him, dad. What's his last name? Maybe my partner knows him - they have the same first name."

"Hooker," responded James, causing Vince to tilt his head up in surprise. "T.J. Hooker. As I was saying, we-"

"Is he a police officer?"

James gave Vince an odd look. "Yes, he is. Anyways, we were fishing near shore one day..."

The stories, crackling fire, and the incessant metallic tapping of Vince's oldest brother stirring his cocoa faded away as Vince spaced out. Didn't see that coming. Surely that can't be a coincidence... are Hooker and I related?

~~2 weeks later~~

"Oh, hey, Hooker," Romano said, glancing at his partner as they pulled into the parking lot of the precinct. "I meant to tell you something my dad said when I was in South Philly for Christmas." He ran his hand over the chipped paint of the old, baby-blue car, making a mental note to bring up a new car to Hooker again.

"Yeah?" Hooker called over the top of his car as they stepped out into the darkness. They were on night watch, and the shorter days during winter had caused the sky to darken by the time they arrived.

"Well, my brother was telling a story and my dad-"

"Hooker! Romano!" A darkened figure came darting out of the building, making the two officers it had called stop. "Captain Sheridan is looking for you two!" A female voice. Dim lights behind them illuminated her face to show Jessica Ethan, an officer they had found themselves frequently working with after she had transferred to LCPD.

Romano looked at Hooker with a mischevious grin, the dim lights casting strange shadows around his face. "Did you total another black and white while I was in South Philly?" he said, unable to hide the laughter in his voice.

"Hey, watch it, Junior," Hooker answered, and then turned back to the young brunette that had run out to get them. "What does the captain want?"

"All of us - on a case of disappearing people. Come on!"

Neither Hooker or Romano had any doubt she would have grabbed their wrists and dragged them with her at a speed fast enough to break the sound barrier if the little bit of light that separated them and stumbling around like fools would have been bright enough to even see their wrists, but Jessica merely took off back into the building, and Hooker and Romano followed. At their speed, dodging other officers in order to keep up with Jessie - who, surprisingly, seemed unfazed by having to jump from side to side to avoid the other officers - they were soon standing next to two familiar faces. Stacy Sheridan and Jim Corrigan stood outside of Captain Sheridan's office, watching Jessica, Romano and Hooker come up to them, panting slightly.

"The captain wants us to handle a case of missing persons. 4 have gone missing, all at night, all coming home or going out to work at some sort of restaurant or store," Corrigan said, answering the question that hung silently in the air.

"All two to three nights apart," Stacy added, cutting off Romano before he could even form words to get out of his open mouth. He closed it again.

"Why us?" Jessica asked. "I mean, isn't Captain Sheridan always asking us to back off and let the detectives handle cases like this?"

"Not this time," Stacy answered. "He didn't say why, but he wants us to investigate."

"Is there a trend we can follow?" Hooker asked as he turned slightly.

"The people were on their way to or from work from about 9:00 to 10:30 PM. They either never made it home or never made it to work. Three of the four cars were found abandoned in parking lots or on the side of back roads, and one showed signs of a struggle - his family confirmed his car was in top condition when he left, but when his car was found on a back road, there were dents on the outside, the windshield was cracked and the rearview mirror was shattered and had fallen off. The ah, officer that found the car say it was parked near a forest after a heavy storm, though, so there's a possibility the windshield and dents could have been caused by the storm," Corrigan rattled off, barely taking a breath. He looked at Jessica, who looked back at him and then at Hooker.

"I found the car with the shattered windshield. There were several good-sized branches lying nearby, and like he said, it was after a storm that had happened between the man going missing and his car being found, so I figured the dents and windshield could have been caused by the storm breaking off branches that hit the car," Jessie explained.

"Did the broken edges of the branches look rough or flat and smooth?" Romano asked. He was staring at the floor with his arms crossed and a thoughtful expression on his face.

"A little of both," she answered. "Why?"

"Could they have been cut?"

Jessica paused. "I guess so. But, not only were branches cut to keep them from falling and hitting the power lines, if it was cut when the man disappeared to make it look like the dents and crack was from the storm..."

"It's something we can use if we need to pick apart suspects, if this happens again," Hooker said. "Do you remember where it was?"

"Yeah, that back street that turns into a dirt road on the east side of town that nobody knows the name of," Jessica answered, tilting her head. "You aren't thinking of going back there tonight, are you?"

"Why not?" Hooker asked, looking over his shoulder as he turned completely around and slowly started to walk away.

"About three street gangs like hang out back there, for one, and they're the kind of people who want to have you for dinner, and not as a guest."

"That's never stopped us before," Hooker called over his shoulder as he sped up slightly, turning the corner.

Romano ran his eyes over the other three officers. "He's right," he commented, then turned to follow his partner. "Let us get into uniform and we'll meet you out by our black and whites?"

Three different versions of agreements came, and they split up.

Minutes later, Romano and Hooker kept pace with each other as they headed towards through the building and the parking lot. The echoes of their black shoes reverberated around the deserted hallway and came back to them as a dull, eerie tapping.

"I've never seen it so quiet around here," Romano said quietly. A glance through the window told him why. Half the officers were silently drinking coffee and mulling over various documents together, and the other half were writing out reports or some other form of document, likely to be stacked on the desks of their superior officers before daylight. One thing was sure. He didn't envy his partner as far as the paperwork sorting went.

"Mm," Hooker mumbled in response. "By the way, what were you going to tell me before Jessie came and got us?"

"Oh, right," Romano said quickly, snapping his fingers. "My dad had said he had a cousin who's a police officer. Said his name was T.J., and when I asked dad what his last name was... he said his last name was Hooker."

Hooker did a double take. "You're kidding."

Romano shoved the door open, stepping to the side to let Hooker pass him. "Nope." They filed outside to regroup with the other three officers, plus Jessica's German Shepherd and K9 partner, Ginger. The door shut, causing the voices to become muffled and incoherent when heard from the inside.

"They could be related? Oh, I could use this..."