Thank you to everyone who is reviewing! I'm back and yes, Amelia, I had a great time. :) The next few chapters are going to be a little different, but try to stay with me, because I will get back to the real plot eventually...

PS I have to next few chapters hand-written, so it might take me longer to type them out... sorry for the inconvenience!

Chapter Twenty-One: Peanut Butter and Planning

"Come on, just hand it over!"

"No way!"

"Give it to me!"

"Nooooo."

"Please?"

"Nope."

Woody sighed and stopped his relentless chase after Jordan. "Not even if I ask really, really nicely?"

"Sorry," replied Jordan, still holding the jar of peanut butter out of his reach. "I got it first, and there's only enough for one sandwich." Woody sighed again, leaning against Jordan's kitchen counter.

"So you're going to make me go all the way to the store—"

"Yep."

"—to buy another jar of peanut butter—"

"Uh-huh."

"—because you don't want to share?"

"That's right."

Woody gave Jordan his best puppy-dog pout. She shook her head. "I really need peanut butter," she explained, "I've been craving it since last night, but I was too tired to go get myself some until this morning. And the pout isn't going to make me give you any."

Woody stopped pouting and grabbed his coat. "Fine," he growled, "I'll be back in ten minutes."

Woody wasn't as upset as he had pretended to be. He didn't even really want a peanut butter sandwich all that much. He just needed to apose Jordan sometimes; to make sure that one, he wasn't dreaming; and two, Jordan was still Jordan. Which she was.

Not only that, but he needed an excuse to get out of the house and call Nigel. He needed to ask him if he'd found Max yet.

He pulled out his cellphone as he wandered into the corner store a few blocks away from Jordan's apartment. "Hey, Nige," he said when the British man picked up the phone.

"Good morning, Woodrow. A little early for you to be calling, isn't it?"

"Maybe, but it's not like I can call you when Jordan's around, and this is my first oportunity where she hasn't been. So, speaking of which, any luck?" Woody heard Nigel sigh as he rounded to corner into the staples isle.

"Unfortunately, no. Max has been keeping under the radar, and doing it very well," replied Nigel unhappily. "I'm about to leave for the morgue now, and I'll keep looking. Try to see if I can find his cellphone through GPS, but for that I need his number, which I don't have. I'm trying to figure out his alias, then track his phone records."

"Thanks, Nigel." Woody grabbed a jar of peanut butter and began to head for the register.

"You said Jordan's not around. Where are you?"

"At the store, buying peanut butter." Nigel chuckled.

"See you later, Woodrow."

"Later."

Woody flipped his phone shut and payed for the peanut butter, and turned to leave when he saw him. He was wearing a dark sweater and black pants, dark sunglasses and a long, black trench coat. It was cold out; this wasn't so unusual. And had Woody not seen something long and black held tight to the man's side when he coat swished around a corner, he would have wrote it off as bad a taste in clothing.

"Ma'am," he whispered to the cashier, the only employee out front, "I'm a cop. I think the man who just entered the store might be concealing a weapon. You might want to take cover if anything happens." He put down his peanut butter on the conveyor belt next to the register.

The frightened clerks eyes widened, but she nodded quickly as Woody took out his gun and held it in both hands, pointing at the floor.

Stealthily, he followed the suspect's path down the dairy and frozen products isle, seeing him at the end of it, aparently checking prices of vanilla ice cream. He looked harmless, but it was in all likelihood that he wasn't.

As Woody moved slowly down the isle, th man turned slightly and he saw what looked like a semiautomatic rifle hidden under the trench coat. It was all the prodding Woody needed to lift his gun and yell, "Let me see your hands!"

The startled young man dropped the ice cream in his hands and raised them in the air slowly. Woody aproached him cautiously, and when he was close enough, pulled back the coat.

What Woody had thought to be a rifle was really a paintball gun with the "P.B. World" ensignia on the side. Woody took it cautiously, giving it a once-over before holstering his gun and holding it up.

"It's a painball gun," said the young man, "S-sorry." Woody sighed and offered it back to him.

"If you're going to carry one of these around with you, never try to conceal it," he said as the young man took the paintball gun, "If you do, police like me might notice."

He nodded quickly and bent to retrieve the fallen ice cream. "Sorry, officer. I was just on my way to a match— luminescant paint balls. Hence the black clothing. I guess it might look a bit suspicious."

"Just be more careful next time," said Woody, turning around and heading back toward the cashier. "False alarm," he told the stricken woman, who nodded and handed him his peanut butter.

As he left, he muttered, "All this, for peanut butter."

Jordan and Woody arrived at the morgue about an hour later, Jordan still laughing at Woody's insident at the store.

"It's not that big a deal, Jordan—"

"No, you're just paranoid."

"Woodrow is paranoid? About what?" Nigel popped his head around the door to Trace, looking at Jordan suspiciously. She grinned.

"He pulled his gun at some kid at the corner store because he was wearing a trench coat." Nigel snickered.

"He was concealing a paintball gun! It could have been a real one."

"Sure, Woody, just like Maddie's toy keys are really your house keys she's planning to use to break in."

Nigel shook his head at the bickering couple. He and Kate sure didn't behave like that. Then again, they weren't even an 'official couple' yet. They were an 'almost-maybe-something'.

Bug walked into Trace with a grin. Nigel raised an eyebrow, and Woody did the same when he walked in moments later.

"Okay, spill. Why are you so happy?" asked Woody in all seriousness. Bug faked a shocked expression.

"Because of what tomorrow is! I want to make it special, and I have the perfect plan."

Woody and Nigel looked at each other. "What's tomorrow?" they said in unison.

"Valentine's Day!" replied Bug excitedly, practically jumping up and down. "Wait, you guys forgot?"

The two men looked at each other, both wearing matching expressions filled with panic. "Uh-oh," said Woody.

"She's going to kill me," moaned Nigel, running his hand through is hair.

"Who is?" prompted Woody, but Nigel shook his head.

"Not allowed to tell... but she is seriously going to take a scalpel and..." He began to explain in great detail what she was going to do if he forgot Valentine's Day, causing Bug to cross his legs and Woody flinch.

"Are we sure we don't know her?" asked Bug after the explanation, "Because your new girlfriend is starting to sound a lot like Ka—"

It was at this moment that Kate walked into Trace, humming quietly to herself. She stopped when she saw the three men in the room staring at her.

"What?"

"Nothing. Nigel was just describing to us what gruesome things his new girlfriend would do to him if he forgot Valentine's Day," said Woody, "And Bug commented that she sounds a lot like you."

Kate looked at her watch, which was one of those fancy ones that have the date on it. "Tomorrow's Valentine's Day?" she asked, "Huh. I'd completely forgotten." Nigel sighed in relief, but neither of the other men noticed.

Woody was shifting uncomfortably from foot to foot. "I've got to go," he said suddenly, "Nigel, call me if you get a lead on our... project." He left Trace, leaving the door swinging ever so slightly behind him.

Bug put a sample in the mass spectrometer and let Trace also, leaving Kate and Nigel alone. She leaned in close and whispered, "I'm sure your new girlfriend won't harm you if you forgot Valentine's Day. Especially since she did, too," in his ear. He smiled at her, and she quickly went to the microscope and began to examine a piece of evidence.

Bug had all his attention focused on numerous little white sheets of paper in front of him, so when Lily put a hand on his shoulder, he jumped.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," she said, removing her hand. "What are you working on?"

Bug began to pick up his papers in full tilt, piling them up, then pulling open his desk drawer and shoving them inside. "Um... it's a surprise," he said, turning to face his suspicious girlfriend. "I was just about to call the babysitter and make sure Maddie's okay."

"Erm, okay," said Lily, slightly confused by her boyfriend's actions, "Tell Megan and Chase I said hi." She gave him a peck, then left as he reached for his phone.

Megan and Chase were the couple who ran the daycare service Lily was using. They only took six kids per day unless it was an emergency, so Lily felt that Madeleine would be well taken care of while she and Bug were at work.

Bug dialed their number and waiting for it to ring. Megan answered, sounding flustered. "Hello?"

"Hi Megan, it's Mahesh. I was just calling to check in on Madeleine," said Bug, noticing the wails in the background that sounded like the little Lebowski.

"Great! Maybe you can tell me how to get her settled down. I went to put her down for a nap and she started screaming and hasn't stopped."

"The only thing that calms her down is if I sing to her," explained Bug, "I could probably do it over the phone..."

"Do you just want me to hold the phone next to her, or something?"

"That should work." The screaming that had been in the background suddenly grew louder, indicating that Megan had put the phone next to Maddie. Bug began to sing his mother's song, and the screaming slowly faded until it stopped all together.

There was a noise as the phone was moved, then Megan came back on, talking quietly. "She fell asleep! Has anyone ever told you that you have an excelent singing voice?"

"Um, no," said Bug, eyebrows coming together, "Listen, about tomorrow..."

"I remember what you asked me last month, and I'll drop her off at her father's at three, just as you specified." Bug sighed with relief.

"Great, thanks Megan."

"No problem, Dr. Vijay."

"I told you, it's Bug or Mahesh."

"Sorry. Usually my clients prefer to be addressed by their titles. You and Miss Lebowski are some of the better ones."

"Well, thank you," said Bug, taken aback, "I really hope it's not too much trouble..."

"No trouble, Mahesh. Hope your plans for tomorrow work out."

"Me too. Tell Chase Lily and I say hello,"

"I will be sure to do that. Good-bye."

"Bye." He hung up, a little relieved that his plans for tomorrow were working so far. He had a big surprise for Lily when she woke up the next morning. He had already cleared it with Garret to get the day off, and Lily automatically got holidays 

off, so they were set since Madeleine had a sitter until three, and Jeffrey would take her after that.

Everything had to be perfect; down to the tiniest detail. His first Valentine's Day with Lily had to be special, perfect, romantic, spectacular. And he knew just how he was going to pull it off.

Woody was fuming. How had he forgotten Valentine's Day? It seemed as though Bug had something planned already, but both he and Nigel had to come up with something last minute. Though he doubted that Nigel's new girlfriend— whoever she was— would do what Nigel specified, he knew that Jordan would probably be mad if he didn't do something special. She souldn't show it; she'd be quietly seething uner her skin where no one could see. She's say she'd forgive him; but underneath there'd be that anger again. And he hated it when Jordan was angry.

He had sort of rushed out of Trace once Valentine's Day had been mentioned, for the simple reason that he had no clue what to do and had less then twenty-four hours to do it. When Jordan got off work the next day he had better have something awesome planned; something romantic, thoughtful, and sincere. Something like...

Nothing. He had no clue. A fancy dinner? No, Jordan didn't really go for stuff like that. Jewlery? He was already giving her the ring, as soon as he found Max to ask his permission. But there was no way that was going to happen in time. Flowers? He had no idea what Jordan's favourites were. What was he going to do?!