"How you doing back there, Mike?" Jeannie asked as she looked over the back of the seat.

Her father was laying propped up against the pillows, his eyes closed. She'd been glancing at him constantly; it looked like he had fallen asleep. But when he reached for the blanket folded up on the centre hump in the floor, she caught the movement peripherally and turned her head.

Behind the wheel, Healey smiled to himself, tossing a quick glance in her direction.

Mike opened his eyes and smiled. "I'm fine, sweetheart. Just a little chilly, that's all." He started to drag the blanket up over his stomach, trying to find a corner so he could unfold it. She quickly scrambled to kneel on the front seat so she could lean over between the headrests and give him a hand.

"I can turn the heat on if you want?" Healey offered, trying to see the lieutenant in the rearview mirror.

"No, that's okay, Dan, the blanket'll be fine. Thanks anyway."

With Jeannie's help, the blanket was unfolded and Mike pulled it up over his chest. He was lying on an angle in the back seat, his lower legs in the well. As he pulled the blanket up, he raised his legs, putting his feet on the seat against the door and resting his knees against the seat, and turned his upper body slightly towards the back. With a reassuring smile at his daughter, he let his head sink into the pillows and closed his eyes again.

Her anxious smile fading away, she turned and slid down onto the front seat again. Healey looked over, frowning. "How's he doing?" he asked softly.

She looked at him from under lowered brows, obviously worried. "I'm not sure. I think he's in more pain than he's letting on… but that's nothing new," she rolled her eyes, trying to control her growing anger at her father's stubbornness.

"Well, we'll be able to make good time once we hit the interstate," Healey responded with a encouraging nod, his eyes glued to the back of the Porsche ahead of them. "We'll get him home, don't worry."

She threw him a grateful smile.

An easy silence filled the cab of the large sedan. Healey shot a quick glance across the seat. "Ah, have you always called him Mike?" he asked with a gentle chuckle.

Her eyebrows shot up. "Uh, yeah… for as long as I can remember, actually. I think I started calling him Mike instead of Daddy when I was about seven or eight…"

"And he didn't correct you?"

With a short laugh, she shook her head. "No… I think he thought it was funny. His cop friends would come over when my parents had parties and my dad had the occasional poker game and that kinda stuff, and they'd all call him Mike - and my mom called him Mike - so I just started to do it and… it stuck, I guess. I never thought about it much till one of my friends asked me about it when I was in high school. By then I'd been doing it so long it just seemed natural."

Healey was chuckling quietly. "If I'da called my Dad by his first name, he woulda knocked me into tomorrow. Times sure have changed." He looked across the seat with a warm smile.

She smiled back. "Well, Mike's always been a little… different from most of the fathers I've known, my friends' fathers. He's been pretty… chill about things… all my life."

The sergeant frowned. "Chill? Mike Stone? The guy in the back seat?" He jerked his right thumb over his shoulder.

She started to chuckle. "I know you won't believe me but he's a different guy when he's not in the office."

Healey grinned. "I'm pulling your leg. To be honest, Jeannie, he's the most fair and honest superior officer I've ever worked under. The guys trust and like him, and he trusts and likes them back, and in our business, that's two of the most important things."

She bit her bottom lip, pleasantly surprised by the spontaneous and unexpected declaration.

"You now, a few years ago, after your mom died," he said quietly, "we all thought we'd lost him…. He seemed to… I don't know… drift for awhile there, like the wind had been taken out of his sails. A lot of us thought he was going to pack it in, take the captaincy they'd been dangling in front of him… or walk away altogether."

She was staring at his profile, hanging on his every word.

Healey paused briefly then raised his right forefinger and pointed through the windshield. "And then that young man up there walked into his life…" He looked across the front seat and a small but very warm smile softened his features. "And I don't think I have to tell you how that's going, do I?" he asked rhetorically with a gentle chuckle.

The back of her throat tightening and her eyes filling with tears, she nodded.

# # # # #

"This is a sweet piece of machinery," Haseeian said admiringly, running his hands over the teakwood dashboard.

Trying very hard to hide his grin, Steve nodded behind the dark glasses. "Yes, it is."

"I've always been meaning to ask… where the hell did you find this little beauty?"

Glancing into the rearview mirror, unnecessarily making sure for the thousandth time that the LTD was still behind them, the younger man chuckled. "Well, it's not a very interesting story, Norm, but I'll tell you, if you want."

"Hey, I'm a captive audience. If it gets too boring, I can always fall asleep," the Armenian sergeant chuckled amicably.

"All right," Steve laughed.

A comfortable warmth filled the inside of the small sports car. Steve knew exactly what his colleague was attempting to do, trying to take his mind off his injured partner and the long road home, and he loved him for it.

"Well, it happened while I was at Berkeley," he began conversationally.

"Not surprising," Haseejian interjected with a deep chuckle.

Steve froze for a brief second then continued without comment. "I was dating this girl who, shall I say, came from money… which I definitely did not. So one night I was invited to her parents mansion for dinner -"

"Whoa… that must have been… interesting…"

"Yes, it was," Steve admitted slowly, bobbing his eyebrows but offering no further details, "and daddy and I started talking about cars, which seemed to be the only thing we had in common. I was driving an old beater, of course, just happy it could get me from A to B. He was driving a '63 Aston Martin DB5 -"

"James Bond's car?"

Steve laughed. "The very same. Even the same silver colour."

"Jeez…"

"Yeah, that was his everyday car, believe it or not but, he told me on the sly, he had a little beauty in one of his garages that he wanted to show me."

Haseejian ran his hands over the teak dash again. "This little beauty?"

Steve nodded. "Yep. Turns out he bought it when he was going through a mid-life crisis but because it was so powerful, it scared the hell out of his wife so she eventually made him park it in the garage and wouldn't let him drive it anymore. That's when he got the Aston Martin."

"So this was just sitting in his garage?"

"Yep, that's why it doesn't have that many miles on it… or at least it didn't before I got my hands on it."

"And he let you have it?"

"Well, if you mean he gave it to me - no. He didn't become a rich man by being overly generous. But he sold it to me."

Haseejian frowned. "But you keep saying you'll be paying it off till you retire…"

Steve was nodding slowly. "Yep. I went to my bank and managed to talk the manager into letting me take out a loan… so I'm paying off the bank… slowly… like a mortgage…" He chuckled and the sergeant joined him. He looked into the rearview mirror again, an action not lost on his colleague.

Haseejian cleared his throat softly. "He's gonna be all right… don't worry."

Swallowing self-consciously, the younger man's eyes snapped briefly across the front seat. He tilted his head and sighed heavily. "It's a long trip… I wish we could just snap our fingers and be there…"

Haseejian smiled sadly. "Yeah, that'd be a big help, wouldn't it? We'll be able to make better time when we hit the interstate."

Steve nodded slowly. "Yeah…"

The sergeant studied the younger man for a long beat then asked quietly, "How's Jeannie holding up?"

Steve looked across the front seat again. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I wish I knew, Norm. I know she's putting on a brave face, for Mike, but she's hurting, I know she is. She came so close to being… you know…. If Mike hadn't gotten there when he did…" He clenched his teeth.

Haseejian was nodding slowly, looking at his hands in his lap. "Look, ah, I know there's not much we can do, Dan and I, but… well, you know, if there is anything - and I mean anything, Steve …"

Pulling his gaze from the road ahead, the younger man looked at his colleague and smiled warmly. "Thanks, Norm… that means a lot."

The sergeant smiled back. "Anytime… for Mike, for you… anytime…"

Both of them looked out the windshield, at the trees whipping by on both sides of the road, and a comfortable silence filled the car.

# # # # #

It was just after noon and they had been flying down the 40 towards the 5 when Steve put the turn signal on and they left the highway. The truck stop had a gas station and a large diner. He pulled up to one of the pumps; the LTD slid to a stop at the pump behind it.

Steve and Dan got out as the station attendant approached; they both asked for top-ups. Haseejian slowly emerged from the Porsche, stretching and yawning.

Jeannie turned and leaned over the seat in the LTD. The blanket over him, Mike was still facing away, his eyes closed; he looked asleep. Almost reluctant to disturb him, she reached down and gently laid a hand on his arm. "Mike…" He didn't react and she shook him slightly.

With a slight groan, he moved his head a bit.

"Mike," she said quietly again.

He opened his eyes and his head turned slowly in her direction. He was frowning slightly. She smiled. "We're at a truck stop. It's lunchtime. I think you should get something to eat and use the restroom. What do you think?"

He blinked at her a couple of times, as if he didn't understand, then he cleared his throat and nodded, starting to push the blanket away. She grabbed the blanket and gave him a hand. As he began to push himself up, he stopped suddenly, wincing.

"Are you okay?" She was frowning with worry.

He looked at her and nodded. "Just got to be careful, that's all."

The back right door opened and Steve stuck his head in, glancing at Jeannie. "How are you doing?" he asked his partner.

Mike smiled as best he could. "So far, so good."

Chuckling, Steve reached out and pulled the rest of the blanket off, pulling it out of the car as Mike made his way slowly and carefully across the seat. Jeannie got out and took the blanket as Steve helped Mike to his feet, then held on while the older man steadied himself. Jeannie tossed the blanket on the front seat and closed the door.

Haseejian had drifted over, a big smile lighting his face. "Come on, Mike," he said with a warm chuckle as he stepped between the lieutenant and his daughter, "let me escort you two to the diner." He extended his elbow towards Jeannie, who took it with a grin; she raised her eyebrows at her father.

"Why thank you, Sergeant," she giggled as they started off slowly, Mike following a half-beat behind with a smile and a head shake. He turned to look at his partner.

"You guys coming?"

"We'll be there in a minute," Steve assured him, glancing at the young man filling the tank. As Mike moved off, he looked at Healey, and they grinned at each other.