Two days after meeting Joe, Eddie and Mr. White at Smokey Pete's, Freddy awoke with a start. Covered in sweat, he sat bolt upright in bed and looked around him in confusion. But seeing nothing out of the ordinary, he lay back down and tried to relax again.

Wow, that must have been some nightmare, he thought. Putting his hands behind his head, he stared at the ceiling, trying to remember what the dream had been about. But like most dreams this one was fading as quickly as Freddy was becoming fully awake. He just knew that he'd been scared and that there'd been a lot of blood. Strange, he thought.

Finally deciding that he might as well get up, he swung his legs out of bed. He noticed that he was still sweating and wondered if the nightmare had really been that bad. But then he realized just how hot it was and dismissed that thought. Late August in LA with no air conditioning would make anyone sweat. Living near the beach for so long had made it harder to adjust to the heat in the valley this summer. He was really looking forward to fall and winter. LA may not have much of a winter but at least it would be cooler than this, he thought.

Yawning and stretching Freddy headed into the bathroom and started running a shower. He was still feeling a little odd from the dream so took an extra long one, letting the hot water relax him. Finally feeling somewhat normal, he stepped out and got ready for his big day.

For this was the day that Freddy was going to meet the rest of the crew and go over the heist. Joe was having them all meet at the warehouse that would also serve as a rendezvous when it was all over. Nice Guy Eddie was supposed to pick Freddy up at around 1:00. Not wanting to risk being out if Eddie called to change the time, Freddy decided to simply stay in his apartment until then.

He went to the kitchen and got out some cereal, smiling slightly as he brought out the box. Man, Jen would never have let me get away with eating this crap, he thought as he poured out some Captain Crunch.

Freddy was still getting used to being divorced. It had been a couple months but every once in a while it would hit him how different his life was now. He and Jen had gotten married so young. He had just finished the Police Academy and she'd just finished college. Some of his friends on the force had tried to warn him that maybe they should wait after he'd been on the force a while before getting married. But they'd both been so sure that it was going to last forever and neither heeded the warnings of friends and family.

Now here he was, less than a year from his 30th birthday and already divorced. Man, that's not how it was supposed to go down, he thought. As he sat at his dining table eating his cereal he looked around his paltry apartment. Jen had gotten the nice apartment (they hadn't been able to afford a house) near the Westside and Freddy had decided to move closer to the precinct. Living in The Valley was different but at least he could get to the station in less than 20 minutes. Something he'd never been able to do before.

Not that he really needed to go there that often these days. Once Holdoway had decided Freddy was ready for undercover work, he pretty much had stopped going in to the station. He and Holdoway worked alone most of the time so they often went to various places to meet up and work on Freddy's undercover skills. Then, once he'd been assigned to Joe Cabot's case, he'd spent a lot of time at home waiting for phone calls. First he'd waited to talk to Long Beach Mike and once they had their stories straight, Nice Guy Eddie.

He was beginning to feel a little stir crazy after so many weeks of solitude and was actually looking forward to getting out that day. Maybe I should really clean this place up with all the extra time I have, he thought. But quickly changed his mind as he hated cleaning and didn't think it would help make the time go any faster. He tried not to let himself get nervous as he thought about the afternoon's meeting. Deciding that he didn't like the silence now filling the room, Freddy turned on the radio. Then he took out the sports section from the paper and settled down to read it on the couch.

He managed to make the whole paper last for a couple hours, including a rare go at the crossword puzzle. Finally at almost exactly 1:00, Freddy's phone rang. Picking it up, Freddy walked over to his window, looking outside. Sure enough, he saw a car parked across the street with what appeared to be three people inside.

"Yeah" Freddy answered the phone, still watching the car.

"Hey, it's show time. Grab your jacket, we're parked outside" Eddie said.

"I'll be right down" Freddy replied.

"He'll be right down" Eddie said to the two other men in the car with him.

Freddy meanwhile had put on a black leather jacket and was quickly gathering up the things he needed. He turned off the radio, only then realizing that it had been on a country station the whole time. Freddy didn't like country so that station must have been set by Jen a long time ago. He thought it odd that hadn't noticed that he'd pushed the wrong pre-set button. But then again, his mind had certainly been on other things.

Going to the dining table, Freddy picked up two guns. Checking to make sure that the first was loaded and the safety was on, he put it into an ankle holster. Doing the same with the second gun he put it into his jacket pocket. He then grabbed his keys and headed to the door.

Suddenly he stopped. He felt like he was missing something and for a moment, couldn't figure out what it was. Then recognition dawned on him and he headed back to the table and picked up a small bowl filled with coins. He dumped it out onto the table and began searching through the coins, finally finding what he was looking for. Picking up his wedding ring he quickly put it on his left hand. Freddy still felt strange going out without his ring. It wasn't really that he wanted people to think he was still married, it was just that he'd never gone out onto an assignment without it. This was his first undercover assignment but he'd gone out on plenty of calls before that could have been dangerous and never once been hurt. Somehow he felt that not having his ring on would break a pattern of good luck and he didn't want to do that. The comfort of the ring on his finger made him feel better and he headed for the door again.

Then he stopped again. Suddenly Freddy felt the same fear and dread that he awoke with that morning. This is stupid, he thought to himself. It was only a dream and I don't even remember it, why should it bother me? Catching a glance of his reflection in the mirror by the door, Freddy stepped closer to it.

"Don't pussy out on me now" he told his reflection, who's eyes showed the fear he felt. "They don't know. They don't know shit. You're NOT gonna get hurt. You're fucking Baretta and they believe every fucking word, cuz you're super-cool"

The little self pep-talk seemed to work and Freddy felt his confidence come back. Looking in the mirror again he saw no more fear behind his eyes and knew that the guys he was about to meet wouldn't either. With that final thought, he opened his door and walked out.