HUNTED

"when did you say the cleaner was coming?...no, I didn't think so" PJ laughed as he listened to Maggie & Tom banter. After so long closed, he could just imagine the state of the Widgeree station. Maggie was just a little bit of a neat freak, so all the dust and cobwebs would be driving her crazy.

"c'mon, Doyle, it's only for a few days, and you must be used to living with messy McKinley." Dash's messiness was legendary, and Tom only knew half of it. A month had passed since a second toothbrush had appeared next to Maggie's in the bathroom cupboard, and as yet had remained unnoticed in the chaos that seemed to appear in the wake of Dash's morning routine. Then there was the problem of Dash's habit of leaving piles of random objects laying around. Their secret had nearly been blown earlier in the week, when a sneaky midnight run to the kitchen for a glass of water had gone terribly wrong, after he tripped over what turned out to be her boots and jacket dumped just inside the loungeroom door. He had only just managed to avoid swearing out loud, and the noise of his stumble hadn't seemed to attract the attention of Maggie's very inconvenient and very curious housemate.

"so, Doyley, you missing us yet?" The paperwork on his desk was multiplying at a rate of knots, and now Maggie was out of the office for the next three days, he was stuck with doing it all himself, as well as likely being stuck with Dash as his off-sider. She wasn't a bad kid, really. She just wasn't Maggie. Nevermind that he was also facing three full nights at home, alone.

"no, but I'm sure by this afternoon I'll be hankering for some company, so can I put in an order for, what, a tall, dark, handsome detective, bearing wine, seafood, an overnight bag, and uh…" oh crap. Nononoono. This was not good.

"Mags…" PJ tried desperately to avoid the boss's eye, capture Maggie's attention, and not turn bright red, all in the same moment, and failed miserably at all three. He could see Tom's eyebrows going up with every word.

"since there's no tv here…"

"MAGGIE" The longer it took to get her to listen to him, the more PJ panicked.

"…and we have the whole place to ourselves…"

"Margaret" They were done for. Hopefully the boss would agree to a transfer reasonably close by, but more likely they were about to be sent to opposite ends of the state.

"…I was thinking…" PJ buried his head in his hands. This was a disaster.

"Doyle, maybe you might like to keep the rest of your thoughts to yourself?" Tom's voice cut through Maggie's chatter much more effectively than any of PJ's attempts to get her to stop.

"Boss?" Maggie sounded both confused and nervous. If he hadn't been so anxious himself, PJ would have found it hilariously adorable.

"Oh sorry Doyle, did I not mention you are on speaker?" Tom's voice had an unexpected hint of humour in it. That was…an interesting turn of events. Maybe it would just be half way across the state, not all the way.

"Speaker….ooohh"

"Yes. Speaker. And as entertaining as it is, I think we would all like to be able to look each other in the eye tomorrow?" PJ sat up straight as he listened. There was definitely laughter in Tom's voice that time. He looked across the desk to see the boss smirking at him.

"Yes, yes, of course, sorry, I can explain…" Maggie was talking fast and high pitched, a fair sign she was working herself into a decent panic.

"I'm sure you can. How about you save it though until you are back. Is that enough time for you to concoct a good cover story?" It was as close as Tom had ever come to admitting he knew what was going on. PJ started relaxing a little bit. "Go and clean the station. We will talk on Tuesday."

Tom hit the button to end the call, and PJ waited for the inevitable lecture. They sat in silence for a few moments.

"Take Cooper with you and keep looking for Robbie." Tom said as he got up from his desk, and started walking towards the door. "McKinley & Stewart are out patrolling south of the highway so start to the north." He opened the door and motioned PJ out. "Oh, and Hasham?" PJ paused before leaving the office, waiting to see what was coming now. "If I ever have to overhear a conversation like that again, you will be sorry. Bring the TimTams in before you go out."