GENERAL DISCLAIMER: See first chapter!

AUTHOR NOTES: Blame my writer's block for the delay in updates plus the fact that I have four stories now. What? I have almost nothing better to do nowadays…

CHAPTER FOUR : COPS AND DONUTS

Inspector Andrew Trudeau enjoyed his lunch breaks. He was always spending it at his favorite bagel café across the street. It was his retreat from the mounds of paperwork, hysterical and reluctant witnesses and creepy crime scenes not to mention the exceptionally weird ones.

His longtime partner and buddy, Darryl Morris sauntered in a few minutes later while Andy was halfway finished with his bagel dog. Over a cup of cold coffee, Andy could see that his partner didn't look as happy which wasn't surprising to him. The job could really get on your nerves sometimes even when you try your hardest not to.

"Man, I can't believe this," Darryl said, pulling up a chair on the either side of his partner. "I knew the Police Academy's turning out graduates earlier this year but now we've got six new guys," Andrew nodded. Generally, their department only had as many 4 rookies or less every time but this month it seemed that they had gotten lucky.

Andrew took a swig of his coffee. "The sooner those guys get up on the beat, the better,"

"I can't figure out one of them, though," Darryl said thoughtfully. "That rookie Brandon Barr, well, he doesn't shoot like a rookie. I rode with him all morning to get him through his first patrol and you should see the way he drives, Andy. He gets way too defensive behind the wheel at times,"

Andrew raised an eyebrow. "Yeah? Well, maybe he's a stunt driver or he's been practicing all night at the academy,"

Darry looked around and suddenly spotted the subject of their conversation. "Keep it down, man. He's coming our way,"

Andrew looked, immediately recognizing the figure of the tall, brown-haired, mustached cop passing through the tables with his usual solemn expression.

"Hey, buddy, over here!" Darryl called cheerfully as Officer Barr neared their table. The new cop paused, fixing the two inspectors with his unyielding gaze and as Andrew stared back at him, realized for the first time that the rookie had blue eyes. Vivid blue eyes.

Probably contacts, he thought.

"How's it going so far?" Darryl asked, attempting to strike up a chat. Andrew hid a grin as he finished the last of his bagel. Rookies. If they were lucky, they were in for a surprise especially on the first day. If they were unlucky, well, they were in for a much bigger surprise.

But Officer Barr's reply was nothing they've heard from other rookies before.

"Textbook operation," He said in a very stolid tone of voice. "Nothing too hard to handle. Now if you'll excuse me…" He walked off, heading directly towards the line of customers up at the counter.

Darryl only stared after him, mouth agape.

Andrew shook his head, crumpling the wrapper of his bagel. "He's gotten too overconfident for his own good. If you'll ask me, one of these days, he'll get a really rude awakening,"

"He's had that attitude ever since he got here," It was Darryl's turn to shake his head as he got up. Can't get him to lighten up. At least he gets the job done," Darryl grinned at his partner. " Now if you'll excuse me," he mimicked as he headed towards the same group to order his lunch.

Minutes later, Darryl returned to the table with his lunch, a soda, a bagel dog and some fries. Interestingly enough, Officer Barr seemed to like the bagel dog buns as well. He had several of them loaded on his plate and a small cup of coffee. This was quite unusual. Darryl pointed this out to his partner in whispers, leading to the two of them making guesses as to how the stoic young cop would consume them.

"He's not storing them in the patrol car," Andrew said, rolling his eyes. "We're not supposed to leave consumables there. It's a take-out,"

Darryl wiped his mouth with a napkin. "You think maybe he's got a family to bring home to? I never even asked,"

"You never know," Andrew replied, neglecting to keep his tone low. "He can give them to his girlfriend or he can brown bag them every day. Works for me,"

Zing.

Something hit Andrew in the side of the head. Something that was quite hard. "What the heck was that?!"

Darryl was chuckling. His gaze had shifted to the floor beside Andrew's chair. "Someone got you a donut, man"

Annoyed, Andrew picked up the donut. What a waste, and it was freshly baked too. "Kids," He looked around for any sign of the culprit. But there wasn't anyone misbehaving in sight. Only Officer Barr was two tables behind them, drinking his coffee.

"Well, if they're not going to be their parents' problem, guess what," Andrew tossed the donut aside on a used napkin. " They'd be juveniles,"

Darryl brightened suddenly as he turned in his chair. "Steve! Hey, how's it going?!"

Out of the corner of his eye, Andrew noticed that their sullen new buddy Brandon suddenly perked up in his chair, pausing before taking another sip as he watched the newcomer making his way towards them.

It was Detective Steve Rowling, a new transfer to the precinct. He wasn't a rookie, of course and according to his record, he already had thirty years of experience working in at least two different precincts. Hard to believe, but he looked really young too. There wasn't a strand of graying hair as far as anyone could see and his blue eyes seemed to twinkle with some secret amusement every time they approached him with a task related to a case.

Still, he's much more interesting to be around with than Barr, Darryl mused.

Like his fellow detectives and undercover cops, Rowling preferred to drive his own vehicle.

Steve pulled up a chair, folding his arms across the across the table in a casual way, eyeing his fellow cops.

"I just got off for lunch. People out there never cease to amaze me," He said offhandedly, looking around.

Darryl slapped a hand on his shoulder. "Welcome to the neighborhood, Detective Rowling,"

"Yeah, this is San Francisco. Lighten up," Andrew smirked as he stood up. " Anyway, I gotta head out, guys. See ya back at the precinct," You'll know soon enough, dude. You ain't seen nothing yet!

Zing. Another donut hit, colliding against the inspector's shoulder. "WHAT THE $#8!"

Andrew looked around wildly, donut in hand, glaring at people in nearby tables as if silently accusing them of flinging donuts when his back was turned. "OKAY, THIS ISN'T FUNNY!..."

Detective Rowling simply stared up at him, his expression admirably calm. Darryl merely shook his head at his partner.

"Leave it, man. It's probably just some kid playing around," The inspector gave a disgruntled sigh and finally turned to leave but not before chucking the said donut in the recycle bins.

Darryl shrugged before turning back to his new companion."He gets a little antsy these days, you know. We've been getting a lot of these creepy cases lately and they seem to fold up suddenly for some weird reason-" Pausing to take a drink, he added," So, I've got a few more minutes before I shuttle back to those loons ,"

Rowling leaned back in his chair, raising an eyebrow. " Loons? What an interesting metaphor,"

Zing. Another donut came flying through the air, and Rowling caught it deftly in his hand as if he were wearing a baseball glove.

Darryl blinked. "Whoa. Great catch," Rowling merely gave a small smile and tossed the donut on the table. Then he wadded up in an old napkin as Andrew had done.

"I was in Little League until high school,"

"Ahh… So you must be one of their best catchers," Darryl joked. He never got to be in Little League that long; he was in the Little League majors, however, until he broke an elbow.

"Yes, I was," Then he chuckled for the first time since Darryl met him. "No, actually I wasn't. I'm just a major fan of baseball leagues,"

"Yeah? Which ones?" Darryl asked curiously. He'd never met a guy who claimed to be a fan of baseball leagues. Plural. Usually, baseball fans were devoted to just one or two at most.

"Oh you know, the three most popular ones, " Rowling said lazily. "I admit that I missed the Little League Baseball World Series. I should've been there. I'd be a player by now with my own fancy nickname,"

Darryl grinned. "Something like Roller Rowling, eh?"

"Nah." Detective Rowling cracked another smile, his eyes twinkling with mirth. "I'd use my initials for a name. It might sound boring to fans but I think I like it. S.P. ROWLING,"

-----

"Anyone got the last coffee?"

"Prue, did you see the pot handlers anywhere?"

"Good morning, Prue, Piper," Phoebe greeted, rolling her eyes as she sat on the kitchen counter facing her laptop. She'd been up for an hour now, cruising the information highways for any sight similar to the model of the vehicle she saw in her premonition. From what little she could remember it was a passenger wagon and it looked like an expensive one.

"Okay, if that wasn't the last coffee then what is this?" Prue stopped at the counter next to Phoebe, a cup in hand.

Piper eyed her sister amusedly. "Prue, did you even check whatever you pour into that cup?"

"Well, no because the last time I checked the coffee brewer is used for coffee!"

"Uh, Prue? We're out of coffee," Phoebe piped up, tearing her gaze away from the screen to face her sisters' accusing looks. "and we don't even have a teapot so I found a way to make tea using the coffee pot,"

"Great," said Prue, stomping over to reach for a tin of wheat crackers. She took a sip of the tea. " Herbal. I should have known. That means I can get a real breakfast at work today,"

"Prue, I've got some muffins straight from the oven," Piper announced, handing over a plate. " just get yourself a cup of cocoa and try not to get anymore frazzled than you are,"

"Piper, I'm running late, okay?" Shooting her sisters looks, she added, looking pointedly at Piper," and you're supposed to be driving me,"

Phoebe sighed. They'd talked about this all last night. They concocted a potion for enhancing the senses for Prue and even tried to talk her into trying a spell for invincibility but Prue put her foot down. They eventually agreed that the side-effects would be too inconceivable. After that, they had bickered over whether letting Prue drive or use public transport. Well, Piper was being adamant about taking no chances so the older sister finally promised to stay indoors as much as possible and having someone drive her instead.

"Okay, Phoebe, we're going," Piper said, shouldering her bag as she hurried after Prue stalking out of the kitchen. "You know what to do right…?"

"Yeah, yeah. I got the list," Phoebe sighed, getting off the chair to follow her sisters out into the hall. "Laundry. Plumber. What else? Groceries. Potion ingredients. Hmm… " Prue opened the front door, facing her sisters with an impatient sigh.

" Oh and I might go down to the precinct this afternoon. Maybe Andy knows something about some hitman driving a brand new Volvo,"

This time Prue rolled her eyes. "If he's some warlock or demonic hitman, I doubt Andy will wanna know anything about it,"

"Well, I'll ask him if he's had any more strange cases involving some hitman lately,"

"Hmph." Was the only sound that came from Prue as she hurried down the steps towards Piper's van. "Good luck, Phoebe!"

"See ya later!" Piper called as she started the engine. "Oh we might be a little late…"

"Yeah thanks," Phoebe muttered as she watched her sisters get into the car. " AND KEEP YOUR PROMISE, PRUE!"

She barely heard Prue's smart reply as she turned to go back into the house and did a double take.

Parked in front of the Arnolds' driveway, across the street from their house was a silver Porsche GTS. It looked brand new.

Wow. The Arnolds must be really raking in the dough nowadays.

Or maybe it just belongs to a visitor, Phoebe thought. How fortunate for some people.

Sighing again, the youngest Halliwell sister entered the house, reminding herself again to get a decent enough job to return to college and maybe someday, get a cozy enough position that would allow her to own a luxury vehicle . If that were to ever happen…

A/N: Oh and there will be a bit of triangle in this story. I'm not telling yet but after reading this chapter, you should have a good guess especially if you know the story of Charmed. Hehehe. Now let's get this show on the road…