Chapter 1

The 101st precinct was crowded, loud, and full of criminals, another normal day. Jody Powell sat at her desk trying to gather up all of her nerve. What's the big deal? He is a normal human being , she thought to herself. A loud thud could be heard across the room. T.J. Kincaid ran out of Kermit Griffins office slamming the door behind him.

"Geez, talk about a bad mood." T.J. said.

"Oh God, he is throwing things." Jody said to herself.

Mary-Margaret Skalany came up behind her and said "You know under that gruff exterior he is a teddy bear." Mary-Margaret began to giggle.

Jody got up and said "Stop laughing at my humiliation Skalany." She gathered all of her courage and walked to Kermits office door. She knocked and he yelled for her to go away. She bravely opened the door and stuck her head in anyway. Kermits head shot up in surprise.

There were only a few people in this world brave enough to open his door when he was having a bad day. Jody was not one of them. He knew Jody had to have mustered up a lot of nerve to open that door.

"Kermit, I know you are having a do not talk to me day, but I need to talk to you." Underneath his green sunglasses his eyes were twinkling with amusement. I wonder what she wants, he thought.

"Come on in and sit down." Kermit said smiling. Jody let out a sigh of relief as she sat down.

"What's up sweet cakes?" Kermit asked.

Jody cringed at the prospect of what she was about to do. "Kermit I need to ask you for a really big favor."

Oh no! Kermit thought.

"I would ask Peter to do this, but he was contacted by his father and left to visit him." Kermit had also received E-mail from Peter letting him know of the trip. "I can't ask Blake, my friend Steve has plans and everyone else I know is busy."

Kermit cut her off, "Basically I am your last choice."

"Yes, but in a good way" she said. She finally just ended her embarrassment.

"I am going back home this weekend for a friends wedding and I was wondering if you would be my date?" His sunglasses shot up in surprise.

"Look Kermit it has been a long three weeks and I would love to go home and just relax."she said "I don't want to be grilled on my social life. If I show up with a date, I won't be."

Kermit smiled to himself. He knew the last few weeks had been rough on her. They had three murders. Everyone had been working double shifts. He heard from Skalany something happened with Jody and Peter a few weeks ago.

"I would love to" he said. She broke out into a huge grin and Kermit could not help but smile.

"To tell you the truth, I could use a getaway myself. Spending the weekend with a beautiful woman is exactly what I need. I can pick you up Friday after work."

Chapter 2

Kermit and Jody were quietly lost in their own thoughts. They had been driving for about two hours. To both of their surprise, the silence between them was comfortable.

"Tell me about your family" Kermit finally said.

"They are pretty normal." Jody said looking out of the car window.

"Kira and I grew up in a typical suburban home."

Kermit looked at her when she mentioned Kira and said "I know you must miss her a lot."

"I do" Jody said.

"So do my parents, they are a little overprotective of me now."

Kermit was thinking about his brother David. He knew how hard it was to lose a sibling. Kermit still felt an enormous loss every time he thought of David. "I can understand that, they don't want to lose you too."

"Maybe" Jody said. "Maybe they just want me to be her. I wonder if sometimes they look at me and see her."

Kermit could see the pain in her eyes when talking about her sister. Jody looked out the window again as silence filled the air.

They reached the Powell residence at about 6:00 that evening. As they pulled into the driveway, Jody began to smile.

Kermit began to unload the bags from the trunk as Jody's parents came over.

"Mom! Dad!" Jody said enthusiastically.

"Sweetheart, we are so happy you could come to the wedding. It will be wonderful having you home for the weekend."

Jody hugged her mom and said "There is no way I would miss Carols wedding."

Kermit came around to the side of the car with the bags. Jody introduced him to her parents. "This is my date for the weekend Kermit Griffin. Kermit these are my parents' Sally and Kevin Powell."

Mrs. Powell eyes lit up at the mention of the word date. She extended her hand and said "Welcome Mr. Griffin. Have you and Jody been dating long?"

Kermit looked up and said "No Ma'am, I was her last choice."

Mrs. Powell politely laughed and said "All right, would you please come in."

Jody hit Kermit in the arm. "What?" he said innocently. "I've got to have some fun this weekend."

Kermit was amazed as he walked up to the house. It was an old southern style mansion, much like The Gables his sister Marilyn lived in. Jody's mother took them to their rooms. They had two separate bedrooms joined by a bathroom. Mrs. Powell poked her head in the door and said

"Dinner party tonight."

"Ugh," Kermit said as he put their bags down. Jody turned and said "I told you I would owe you big."

Chapter 3

Kermit was showered, changed, ready to go, and still waiting for Jody.

"Hurry up Powell!" he yelled into the bathroom door.

"Hold your horses Griffin" she yelled back. Jody walked out of the bedroom, Kermit froze. She was wearing a green sequined dress cut just below her knees. He tried not to look at her legs. Her hair was flowing along her shoulders. Her makeup showed off her eyes. Kermit soon realized he had never seen Jody in anything like this.

She looked at him and said "I wanted to match your glasses."

"You look beautiful, ready to go?" Kermit asked. She smiled as she took his arm. As she walked downstairs, she felt peaceful for the first time in weeks.

"JODY!" came a scream in Kermits ears that left him cringing.

"CAROL!" Jody yelled as the two women embraced.

"Jody it is wonderful to see you again. It has been to long." Carol said. Carol was the bride to be. She was a long-legged model with brown hair and perky breasts.

"I can't believe you are getting married Carol. You swore you would never get married" Jody said.

Carol looked at her and said "You swore you would be married with children by now."

Jody laughed and said "Don't remind me. Carol this is Kermit Griffin. Kermit this is Carol Erickson. She is the one getting married and my oldest friend."

"Please to meet you Mr. Griffin, are you and Jody dating?"

Kermit said "Call me Kermit please and we are not dating. I am her last choice."

Jody punched his arm again as Carol dragged her away. "He has a sense of humor. I like that." Carol said.

Kermit was left alone to mingle.

Kermit wandered around the dinning room. There were about ten people there, talking an drinking. The dinning room was cozy with leather chairs and couches spread evenly around the room. They had a bar set up along the right side wall. Kermit went and ordered himself a scotch. He sat quietly drinking, waiting for Jody to return. He wanted her to enjoy herself this weekend.

"Vodka tonic please" a voice from beside him said

The man turned to Kermit and said "How do you do, I am Michael Rogers."

Kermit turned and said "Hello."

"Nice sunglasses" Michael said.

Kermit turned to him and said "Thanks, they help me block out loud personalities." Michael never noticed Kermits comment.

"I am a friend of Carols, how about you?"

"I am here with Jody Powell." Michaels body became stiff and rigid. His face grew pale and he frowned. Kermit immediately noticed his change in demeanor. He immediately got a bad feeling about this guy.

"I did not know if Jody was here" Michael said.

"She and Carol went off for a little girl talk."

Michael turned to Kermit and said "Jody and I are old friends. We use to date in high school. We were very close and very in love." There was something about the seriousness in the tone of his voice that caught Kermits attention.

"I will have to get her to tell me about you sometime, she has never mentioned you before" Kermit said smiling.

Michael smiled a nervous smile and said "You are a lucky man."

"I know" Kermit replied never breaking eye contact.

Michael said a polite goodbye and left. On the outside he was calm and dignified, on the inside he was a volcano of rage waiting to explode.

Chapter 4

"Kermit I am so sorry to abandon you" Jody said as she came back laughing.

"No problem" Kermit said as he leaned against the bar drinking his scotch. He was still looking in Michaels direction.

"Hey What's wrong?" Jody asked.

"I just met a guy who said he was a friend of yours, Michael Rogers."

Jody froze as her face went pale and her hands began to shake. A vision of a handsome young man with short brown hair and blue eyes popped into her mind. She remembered how tall he was, she only came up to his chest. In an instant the image changed to the same young man grabbing her by the arm and slapping her.

Jody turned to Carol and whispered "Did you know he was going to be here?"

"I didn't know Jody, I swear. My parents must have invited him."

Kermit put his scotch down and gently took Jodys arm. "Are you all right?" Jody felt like she was going to be sick.

" I would like to go back to the room Kermit."

"Sure" Kermit said. They said their goodbyes to Carol who went off the talk to her mother.

"Hello Jody" Michael said as he stood behind Jody. She slowly turned around and all of her memories from that period of her life came back to her. His hair was still brown, streaked with some grey. He wore glasses now and was still as tall as she remembered. He had put on weight, but was still very muscular.

"Hello Michael" Jody said. Michael went to hug her but she moved back and into Kermit. How could she not want me to hold her? Michael thought. Kermit could see that Jody wanted to get away from this guy. He put a protective arm around her and pulled her close to him.

"How are you doing? " Michael said.

"I am fine" Jody said politely.

"I was just going up to my room Michael, if you will excuse me."

Jody's mom walked up to her and said "You will miss dinner dear, are you feeling well?"

"I am fine mom, just tired from the drive."

Mrs. Powell said "I should have let you rest, you go rest. I will give your regards to everyone."

"Thanks Mom" Jody said. Michael smiled "I will see you tomorrow." Jody frowned and said "Yeah all right."

Chapter 5

As Kermit and Jody entered the room, her fear turned to anger. She was angry that she had allowed Michael to get to her. She was older now and a cop. She should have been able to handle him.

"How are you feeling?" Kermit asked as he took off his jacket and loosened his tie.

"I'm fine, " she said. She kicked a chair letting out some of her anger.

Kermit gently asked "Do you want to talk about it?"

Jody looked at him and said "Are you sure you want to get that personal Griffin. I heard you don't like that."

Kermit smiled and said "I can make an exception in your case sweetcake."

Jody took a deep breath and threw herself on her bed. She turned over on her back and looked at the ceiling. "Michael was my rebound relationship from hell. I got involved with him and realized to late he was an asshole."

Jody took a deep breath and sat up on the bed. "I was blind and stupid and did not see him for the type of man that he was."

Kermit sat down next to her and asked "What kind of man was he?"

Jody looked at Kermit and said "The type of man who likes to use women as punching bags." Jody quickly looked away, unable to look Kermit in the eye. She knew he would see the shame and stupidity she felt, even today, for having gotten involved with Michael.

Kermit gently turned Jodys face to look at him. "You made a mistake once. You learned from it, and you moved on. That is what smart people do."

A single tear ran down her cheek. Kermit wiped the tear away with his thumb. Jody smiled.