The next morning proved to be just as hot as all the previous mornings that week. Jesse acknowledged the small gift of being able to dress casually today and lovingly adorned a pair of shorts and T-shirt before heading to the restaurant. This was one of his favorite places to be and no matter how much he complained about the night shifts, Jesse didn't think he'd have it any other way. The young doctor always thirsted for activities to keep himself busy. He didn't understand how other people could be happy to just sit around and watch TV all day. At the restaurant he was always meeting new people or catching up with old friends. He was proud to call the friendly atmosphere of BBQ Bobs one of his creations.

After entering through the back door, Jesse took the chairs off the tabletops and set them on the floor. The lunch crowd starting arriving around eleven. Steve would be in soon to help cater to the rush. Jesse smiled as he remembered all the times he and Steve had been the only two working. No matter how rushed and hectic things got, they always worked together and prevailed. Nights like those always resulted in goofier-than-normal after hours clean up. Jesse was Steve's self proclaimed little bother and he always acted like it, especially when they needed to wind down.

The first customer to arrive was a middle aged guy with large arms and a no-nonsense disposition. Jesse did his best to make friends but the man's eyes remained hard despite his returned pleasantries. Adapting his mannerisms to what he hoped would be more appeasing, Jesse took the man's lunch order then quickly became involved with the next customers.

Some time later, Jesse was just serving the man in the corner when Steve appeared behind the counter. "You got everything under control?" Steve asked as Jesse returned.

"When don't I?" Jesse asked as he tossed the order tablet on the counter between them.

"Oh, you know, eighty percent of the time."

"But I handle things. That's why I'm an ER doctor," Jesse replied as he narrowed his eyes and pointed at Steve.

"Point taken." Steve nodded towards and elderly couple in a booth. "I see Mr. And Mrs. Jones are here, it must be Wednesday," he commented with a smile.

Jesse smiled too; the couple were two of their most special customers. Every year they brought Jesse and Steve an array of homemade Christmas candy, and the thought did not go unnoticed by the sweet-toothed young men.

Jesse turned to Steve with a new thought in his head. "So how's the 'you-know-what' going?" he asked, lowering his voice. "Need any help? Can I assist in solving a crime?"

Steve's eyes darted around the room. "Shhh," he scolded and turned away from the customers. "No, you cannot help. I am a detective, I do this for a living. You are a doctor."

"But we both work here."

Steve closed his mouth and squinted at Jesse. "What has that got to do with anything?"

"I dunno, sometimes if I just say whatever's on my mind, your dad tells me that I've solved the case..."

"Don't you have a customer to wait on or something?"

Jesse peered into the kitchen. "Not for another three minutes."

Steve rolled his eyes.

Another round of customers came in and after they had been taken care of and their meals prepared, the two men found themselves at the counter again. Steve looked serious as he started, "You know, I've been wanting to ask you something. A favor."

Jesse cocked his head as if the motion would help him read Steve's mind. "What kind of favor?"

Steve sighed then looked Jesse in the eyes. "You can never tell Dad I asked you to do this," he warned.

"Cool! You are gonna let me go undercover!"

"Jess- no. I already covered that, check your notes. I want you to stay at the house with Dad this week. I think he gets lonely. I know you can keep him from sitting around and worrying about me. What do you say?"

Jesse's eyes softened with understanding. "Oh, sure. I guess. I mean, it'll be nice to sleep in the air conditioning."

Steve's brow furrowed. "You don't have air?"

"It went out a while ago. I think the repairmen get paid by the day."

"That's perfect. I'll tell dad that's why you need to stay with him. Thanks Jesse."

Jesse glanced to the floor. "Um, I'm kinda in a state of emergency with my clothes, do you think I could do a couple loads at your house while I'm there?"

"I'd say that's a fair trade," Steve replied as he monitored the customers. "I'll call him later to let him know."

"Oh, well, he should be here in a little while, you can tell him then."

"What?" Steve asked a little too loud.

"When Amanda dropped me off last night, she said they would stop by for lunch-"

"No, Jesse, that was the whole point of me leaving! I don't want anyone to be able to tie Dad to me!"

Jesse rolled his eyes. "Steve, come on. We're working. I don't see any homophobic gang members milling around," he said, sweeping his outstretched arm around. "Relax."

Steve grabbed Jesse's arm and pushed it down. "It's not like gang members walk around in matching outfits Jesse."

Jesse pulled away. "You know what I mean. You should be so lucky as to have a dad who wants to see you."

Steve's face softened and he sighed. "Okay. You win. He's just an old man stopping by for lunch. Heck, half our customers are just as familiar with us."

Jesse grinned. "Well now that you got that crisis under control, how about helping me wait on these people?"

o0O0o

Another hour elapsed before Mark and Amanda entered the restaurant. Jesse glanced at the clock. 12:45pm. Fashionably late, just as doctors should be.

"Hey guys, grab a seat," Jesse welcomed as he followed the pair to a table. "Amanda, are you going to make me give you a menu?"

"What's the special?"

"Barbeque."

"Boy, that is special," Amanda replied as she rolled her eyes. "Just get me what I always have. Oh, and get me a real waiter while you're back there."

"That hurt," Jesse replied, placing a hand on his heart and giving her one of his best kicked puppy faces.

Mark chuckled. "You might not want to tease him Amanda," he said. "He's probably the one preparing your meal."

Amanda grabbed her fork and pointed it at Jesse. "You do anything like that Jesse Travis and I will personally see to it that you are the next body I examine."

Jesse took a step closer to Mark and cleared his throat. "So what can I get you?"

Mark placed his order and Jesse left, then returned with drinks and left again when more customers walked in. He was still busy when Steve brought out the plates of food.

"Here you go guys," Steve announced as he placed each plate on the table.

"Hey, what do you know, a real waiter just like I ordered," Amanda said.

Mark looked at Steve. "How are you s-Steve?" he asked.

Steve glanced around the restaurant before sitting down next to his father. "I'm okay dad. I wish you wouldn't worry so much."

"You're in law enforcement. I can't help it."

Steve sighed and looked away.

After a moment, Mark asked, "Are you sure you're okay?"

Steve nodded. "I'm actually a little worried about Jesse. Did you know that the air conditioning in his apartment is out?"

Amanda nodded. "I was there yesterday. It's bad. I don't know how he stands it."

Mark looked at the young man standing next to a table where to business men were seated. "That might explain some of his odd behavior recently."

Amanda looked at Steve and the two smiled. "You left that wide open Mark," she laughed. "It's too easy."

Mark looked confused for a moment before he too smiled. "You're right, he's always a little odd." Mark's smile faded a little as he turned to Steve. "I could invite him to stay with me until it's fixed. He doesn't need to suffer when the spare bedroom is available."

"He'd appreciate it dad," Steve replied.

A few minutes later, the doctor in question appeared before them. He waited until Amanda took a bite of her food before he whined, "Steve, you weren't suppose to serve that until after I spit on it."

Amanda glared at him and Jesse smiled. "I still can if you want me to," he said, leaning towards the table.

"Get away!" Amanda laughed, pushing on his stomach with enough force to cause him to take a step back.

Jesse pulled up a chair and sat next to Steve so that they were almost shoulder to shoulder. "Why wasn't I invited to this little get together?"

"Your invite must have got lost in the mail," Amanda replied sarcastically.

Mark interrupted the bickering. "Jesse, I would like you to stay at my house for a while. At least until your apartment is back in a livable state. Now don't argue son, it's for your own good."

Jesse glanced to Steve. "Okay."

Mark blinked. "Uh, great. Well, I'm glad that's settled. Now we can eat."

"Now you can eat," Steve said as he stood up. "Me and shorty have customers to tend to."

Jesse found himself being hauled to his feet. "Hey, I was 'tending'," he complained. "You're the one who sat here first. I was just following your example."

"Yeah, well follow this," Steve ordered as he drug Jesse towards the kitchen.

"Bye guys!" Jesse called before he turned away and followed Steve.

o0O0o

Night had long since fallen outside BBQ Bob's and the last of the dinner crowd was walking through the exit door. "Thanks guys!" Jesse called to them as he headed to the table. The overhead chime above the door was left ringing in the customer's wake and Jesse breathed a sigh of relief.

"Good night," Steve commented.

Jesse agreed. They had been busy this evening and the cash register drawer was full to prove it. He and Steve had worked hard and earned gracious tips from the delighted customers. Jesse knew he would sleep good tonight.

"Heads up!" Steve yelled as he threw a cleaning rag at Jesse.

Jesse caught it awkwardly and snatched his tip money from the table before wiping it down. "So where are you staying during this top-secret ultra-dangerous undercover gig? Somewhere nice, right?"

Steve laughed from the kitchen. "I wish. I'm in one of those apartments off Vine street, by that coffee shop."

"You mean your life may be on the line and they put you up in one of those apartments? The roof leaks!"

"And how would you know, Mr. Lives-Without-Air-Conditioning?"

Jesse turned the chairs upside down and set them on the table as he smiled at the memory. "Hey, I know people, okay? Very pretty people with very pretty-"

Steve dropped a pan and Jesse wondered if it was on purpose. "All right, that's all I need to know."

Jesse smiled and moved to the corner table. He grabbed the bills and shoved them in his pocket before his something nagged at him and he took a step back. "That's weird," he spoke out loud.

"What?" Steve asked as more dished clinked together.

"Did you see who was sitting at this table?"

Steve glanced at Jesse then went back to his task. "Yeah, some guy. He was alone."

Jesse searched the table as if it were an x-ray concealing a medical condition. "That's who I saw sitting here too, except I served him lunch." He looked at Steve. "He was here an awful long time."

Steve shrugged. "Maybe he got stood up. Faithfully waiting for a date that never shows, you know how that is, right Jess?"

Jesse continued wiping the table. "Oh you're funny," he mumbled just loud enough for the detective to hear. "Really freakin' hilarious. No wonder you have no friends."

"I'll have you know I'm a very popular guy."

"In what way?"

"In the I'm-A-Nice-Guy sorta way."

"Yeah. Whatever."

"You're my friend."

"Because your dad pays me five hundred dollars a week to hang out with you."

"That hurt, Travis."

"Life hurts, Sloan."

Steve and Jesse looked at each other from across the room. The testosterone level was almost palpable. Jesse tried to remain straight-faced but it was hard. Their stare-offs were frequent but Jesse was usually the one to look away first. Apparently Steve was really into head games like that. Jesse figured he learned it from 'cop school'. "Alright," Jesse started as he broke into smile. "You win."

"Remember that," Steve said with a pointed finger.

"It's okay, I'm the one that gets to go to your home and eat a home-cooked dinner with your father."

Steve looked dejected for a moment. "I'm thankful that you are," he replied as he looked down.

Jesse studied his friend's body language and decided the jokes were over. "You want me to bring you some leftovers?"

"It's okay. I'll take something from here." Steve put on a brave face and smiled. "I really am happy you're doing this Jess. It means a lot knowing that dad will have something to keep him occupied. And out of trouble."

Jesse felt the sparkle in his eyes. "Oh yeah. We can stay out of trouble, no problem."

Steve looked up. "Jesse..." he warned with a tone that reminded Jesse of his kindergarten teacher.

The two friends made short work of the rest of the after hours tasks and were soon locking up the restaurant. Somehow even when the place was empty, it still had a good feeling about it. It was hard to have a bad experience in this atmosphere. Jesse followed Steve out into the rear parking lot as the detective pulled the locked door shut. "See you tomorrow?" Jesse asked as he pulled out his car keys.

"Bright and early."

Jesse shook his head as he moved towards the dark Mustang. "I go in to the hospital at nine. I'll see you here in the afternoon."

Jesse opened the car door as Steve moved towards his own car. Just as Jesse sat down, Steve said, "Hey, tell dad I love him."

"Awww, that's so cute. Do you want me to kiss him for you too?"

"I'd say yes, but you probably would," Steve muttered as he got in his own car.

Jesse made sure there was seriousness in his voice when he replied, "I'll let him know."

Steve started his car's engine. "Thanks. See you tomorrow."

Jesse nodded as he shut the driver's door. He returned Steve's wave as the detective drove away. Now he only had to make a quick stop by his apartment to get his clothes then he could join Mark in the large, air conditioned beach house. Jesse thought that sounded really good about now. He started the car and the digital clock read 10:34 as a loud Aerosmith song filtered through the speakers, the volume startling him before he reached over and turned it down.

Jesse took a deep breath and let his head rest against the seat as he closed his eyes, letting the day's tension leave his body. In half an hour he could be in bed, getting a good night sleep. After quickly collecting his energy, Jesse began his drive into the night.