Chapter 2: Twenty Two Years Later
Mark's alarm goes off at five fifteen in the morning. He turns it off and gets out of bed. He stretches his arms over his head. He goes to the bathroom and looks at himself in the mirror.
"Another day, without her." Mark told himself as he looked at his reflection.
After he showers and changes for work he walks down the hallway and opens a bedroom door. He walks over to the bed and wakes the person up in it.
"Wake up, Sweetie." Mark said.
"Do you know how much I hate you?" His cousin Max groaned.
"Get up cry baby." Mark then told him.
"You need to find a girlfriend and get some." Max replied.
"You know as well as I do that I will never find a woman as wonderful as my last girlfriend." Mark explained to him.
Max gets out of bed and goes down the hall to the bathroom.
"You know what to do, right?" Mark then asked him as he followed Max to the bathroom door.
"Mark, I know the routine. I've been doing it for the past five years." Max groaned.
"What's wrong?" Mark then asked.
"It's my knee it locked up on me again." Max stated.
"Still?" Mark then asked concerned.
"Once and a while. It has been eight years since I had that surgery on it." Max then told him.
"That knee tore apart Max." Mark then reminded him.
"And it ended my baseball career. I know Mark." Max scowled.
"You should go to a doctor and have that knee checked out." Mark suggested.
"I'll go tomorrow." Max sighed.
"I made an appointment for you this morning at ten thirty." Mark then told him.
"I guess you heard my knee crack all day yesterday." Max then smirked.
"And Josh told me that you had to hold on to the railing with both hands to get up the stairs yesterday." Mark said.
"He told you that?" Max asked.
"Of course he did." Mark answered.
Mark goes to the stairs and goes down them. He then walks out the door and leaves for work.
Sarah Baker is in Manhattan and trying to catch a cab downtown to her new job.
"What, am I invisible?" Sarah screamed as another cab drove right by her.
Mark is at the stop light and looks across the street at Sarah who is shaking her fist at the taxi that just drove by her. Mark tries to get a better look at her but, the light turns green and a horn honks at him.
"Let's go Buddy; the light doesn't get any greener then that!!" The driver from the car behind him yelled.
Mark drives off and goes to work.
"The nerve of people in this city." Sarah scoffed as she tried to get another cab.
She finally gets a cab and gets to work right on time. Mark walks into his precinct.
"You missed a great game last night." Ernie Cooke told Mark.
"I watched it at home." Mark replied.
"You could have come to my place last night like Bryan and Nick." Ernie told him.
"I told you that I have to get home after work." Mark reminded him.
"Just come out with us tonight." Ernie said.
"It's Tuesday night." Mark then told him.
"Mark, you need to let loose and move on." Ernie then told him.
"I will eventually." Mark replied.
"You need to find yourself a girl and have a good time." Ernie then said.
"Ernie, I don't want to repeat myself like I do every time you ask me to go out and find a girlfriend." Mark sighed.
"I know, you'll never meet another girlfriend like your last girlfriend." Ernie smirked.
"Plus, I have to go to a baseball game tonight." Mark told him.
"Can't you miss one game?" Ernie then asked.
"I've been to every baseball game since he started playing baseball and it's the playoffs." Mark smiled.
Sarah is in her office when her boss walks in.
"Welcome Sarah Baker." Ms. Laughlin greeted her.
Sarah stands up to greet her boss.
"Hello, Ms. Laughlin." Sarah smiled.
"Please call me Emily." Emily told her.
"Are you sure about that?" Sarah asked.
"Sarah, you were the best Defense Attorney in Illinois." Emily said.
"That is true." Sarah gleamed.
"Confidence, I like that. Just remember one thing." Emily stated.
"Which would be?" Sarah then asked.
"You're not in Illinois anymore. You're in the big leagues. Mess up once and you're going back to the minors." Emily told her.
"I'll remember that." Sarah gulped.
"That's wonderful and again welcome to the big leagues." Emily smiled as she left Sarah's office.
Sarah goes back to her desk and stares out the window in her office.
