Chapter 10

'Well it is only three or four days until I see you, I think I will wait till then to tell you!'

'Ooooh! That is mean! Sturgis, come on, you are not a mean person…tell me now…please…'

'No, I am going to wait.'

'Then I might not come!'

'Yes, you will, because you will just have to know!'

'(sigh) You are right…Topo! {rat}'

Sturgis flipped open his Italian dictionary and looked up the word Topo. 'Did you just call me a mouse?' he typed into the computer.

'No, I called you a rat!' came her answer.

'That's not very nice!'

'Well, not telling me how you see me is not nice either…Topo! Topo! Topo!'

'And just when I was going to tell you too…now you will HAVE to wait!'

'TOPO!'

Sturgis roared with laughter, causing several heads in the bullpen to turn and stare at his closed door. Only Harm was nosey enough to try and find out what was going on. He paused at Sturgis' door and thought about knocking, but decided against it.

Walking in, he asked as he went through the door, "So what is so funny, old buddy?"

"Um…nothing…" he said looking up at Harm.

"You do know that was not very convincing, don't you?" Harm asked coming further into the room and starting to walk around his friend's desk, as Sturgis hurriedly typed a message to Francesca and turned off his monitor.

'Francesca, someone just came into my office, I will be gone a minute.'

'Okay, Sturgis.'

"It was just work, Harm!" Sturgis snapped.

"Oh? And just what case was so funny that we could hear you all over the bullpen?" he asked sarcastically.

"Could you please just go away, Harm?" Sturgis asked with a tired sigh.

Harm looked hurt that his friend was acting this way, but he turned and left Sturgis' office.

As soon as he was gone Sturgis turned his monitor back on and typed in, 'Are you there Francesca? That was Harm, but he is gone now.'

'Yes, I am Carino, where else would I be? I remember Commander Rabb, he always did seem persistent!"

He smiled at her response, she could always make him feel better, wanted, needed. That is how he knew that she was the one for him. 'You can always make me smile, do you know that?'

'Oh, dear, that sounds like you needed someone to make you smile…bad day?'

'Worse than you could imagine!'

'Sturgis! What can I do?'

'You are doing it now, my dear! Just talking to you, even if it is like this, cheers me up.' He waited for her reply, but nothing came, he wondered if he had said too much, had he scared her off? Just as he was wondering this, his phone rang. "Commander Turner, how may I help you?" he said into the receiver.

"It is I who thinks she can help you, Carino," came the lovely accented voice of Francesca Paretti over the wires.

"Francesca!"

"Yes," and then he could hear her laughter, "you sounded like you needed to hear a friendly voice."

"Oh, I did!"

"Good then you will tell me what you think of me…won't you?" she wheedled.

His laughter was again heard throughout the bullpen, "No, I will not!"

"Topo!"

"I am NOT a rat!" he chuckled.

"Yes, you are!" she teased.

"We sound like two children," he told her with a laugh.

"And that is bad?"

This set him laughing again, but this time he did manage to keep it more quiet so not everyone in the offices could hear him. "No, it is a wonderful thing, just like you."

"So that is how you think of me!"

"What?"

"As a THING!"

"No! I think you are wonderful!"

"HA! Got you to tell me!"

Sturgis shouted with laughter once again, "You TOPO!"

Her laughter came across the lines like music to his ears. The rest of his day was brightened even more when she told him that she had decided to come in a day early so she could cheer him up in person. If he would pick her up from the airport that was! He quickly agreed to that and said that he would take her to her father's home after they had dinner.

To be continued…