AN: I'm sooooo sorry about this wait. I had this all done, and then comcast cut off my internet. I couldn't get on. But here, finally you have your update. And I am sorry you all had to wait on that cliff hanger too.

BUT , thank you so much for your reviews. You guys are awesome

"There's no easy way to say this, so I should just go on and say it. Fuller says we have to pick a replacement for Sanchez by the end of the month." I sighed, partly in relief that it hadn't been something worse, and partly because the thing I had wanted to avoid completely had finally come back to smack me in the face.

"Jim, I know that you are going to be most affected by this, because it means a new partner for you, so I want you to help me. We're going to pick this guy together, and if you don't like him, than we're not keeping him." Hondo looked at me expectantly, and I just felt blown away. I couldn't even speak, this was not what I wanted to do now that I was starting to get back on track, but I knew I couldn't hold off on it forever.

"Hondo," I breathed, "Thank you for including me in this decision, but," I paused to collect the thoughts flying around in my brain. I didn't know what I wanted, but then the right words flew at me. "I will talk to you tomorrow once I figure out what I am going to do." He nodded, like he understood where I was coming from.

"Ok Street, I'll talk to you tomorrow."

"Bye Hondo."

"Hey, could you tell the rest of the guys to head on in here?"

"No problem."

When I got to the car, I felt like shit. All the pride and accomplishment from earlier had been replaced by the overwhelmingness of the situation I was now in. I didn't know what in the hell to do.

Any bad mood I was having, was instantly switched off the second I stepped out of the elevator. I had to laugh just a little bit from the shock factor of it all.

"One word," Chris huffed. "And I'll knock you out Street." Sweat dripped down her chin as she wheeled herself awkwardly past the elevator door. I pretended to zip my mouth shut, saying "my lips are sealed". A nurse was following closely behind her, so I just turned and joined the slow moving train.

As time went by, Chris got slower and slower, but she never stopped. We were three quarters of the way around the floor when each push had six or seven seconds between them, and the nurse finally tried to call it.

"Look, Christina, I think we should stop now, it's just tiring you out now." The nurse started.

"How long have I been going?" Chris sighed, still inching forward. The nurse glanced up at a clock on the wall.

"An hour and fifty minutes." She answered.

"You said...I had to get back...to my room...in two hours to get to go home." Chris panted, obviously exhausted.

"Yeah, but you don't have to prove anything. You can always try again."

"It hasn't been...two hours yet." She said, and kept pushing herself forward silently.

"All right, you get ten minutes but then I'm calling it." The nurse said. I chuckled softly to myself, and watched the nurse jump a foot and a half in the air. She whipped around, and her eyes were huge in surprise.

"God, I forgot you were there." She sighed in relief. "Have you been following us the whole time?"

I nodded, and pointed to Chris.

"Had to keep my mouth shut or my girl over there would have taken me out." The nurse looked back and forth, first at me then at Chris. It was like she couldn't quite wrap her brain around something. Finally she looked at me and whispered.

"Is she your..." I laughed.

"She's my partner, we're LAPD." She laughed a little, nervously, when I said that, and maybe it was just me, but I thought that I saw a look of excitement hit her face.

"Oh," She said, and glanced at me sideways. I could tell she was trying to flirt, and it hit a nerve. I mean, this girl was in the middle of work, she shouldn't be flirting right in front of Chris, her patient.

I tried to just shake off the irritation, and watched Chris struggle with the last few minutes of her attempt at circling the floor. Her right arm was making things even more difficult for her. She had a cast up to her shoulder, and if that weren't slowing her down enough, Chris's arm wasn't cooperating with her. I could see her growing more and more frustrated as her arm laid limp and she pushed with more the cast than her hand.

"Ok, it's been two hours now." The nurse announced, taking hold of the handles on the back of Chris's wheelchair. Chris grunted in protest. She was four rooms away from her own. I hung back as the nurse and Chris made their way back to her room, and waited until that nurse was leaving. I was about to push the door open when she stopped me.

"Hey, I didn't catch your name, I'm Jackie."

"It's Jim," I said and went for the door again. Once more, she stopped me.

"Well Jim, I get off in half an hour, do you want to go get drinks or something?" I felt my eyebrows crinkle.

"What?"

"Drinks," She said again, slower. "Did you want to get drinks?"

Well, she wouldn't have been who I would choose, but I had nothing better to do, so, maybe, I suppose, I guess I could possibly sometime want to get drinks with somebody, and she happened to be there...

"Uh, sure. Where could I catch you before I leave? You know, once I'm done here?" I asked, flashing a halfhearted smile.

"I'll be just down the hall in the nurses station." She winked as she walked away, and it all just felt awkward, but I still pushed through the door.

"Hey Chris, what's up?"

"Nothing," She sighed. The girl looked dog-tired. I moved back to my usual chair

"Yeah, that exciting?" I said. She smirked.

"Well, I guess, if you really were interested, I finally got to pee by myself today. But it was pretty weird with that damn nurse watching the whole time." She said, and gave me an expectant look of sarcasm.

"Is that right?" I laughed.

"Yeah, well you asked." She shrugged. "Anything new with you?"

"Yeah, today we got a huge bust," I leaned back and folded my hands behind my head. "Yeah, yours truly took the guys in and pulled everybody out, no shots fired, and we got the mother fucker."

"Yeah?" She sighed, uninterested. I felt like an idiot four seconds later when I realized Chris might not want to hear me gloating like that when she doesn't get to get any of that action. I tried to fix it.

"Aww, Chris, I'm sorry-"

"No, don't be." She cut me off. "You can talk about it. It's ok, I'm not gonna freak out or anything."

"Ok."

"Yeah," she sighed. "So tell me about it."

"Ok...well, we had to go dress up for a dinner party. Actually, they made me some business man from Ireland, so I had to put on the accent and everything."

"No shit?" Chris laughed.

"Heck yeah," I laughed back, "We were taking down this guy, real big with drugs, hired a couple hits ad his assassins ratted him out. So, he was holding a big dinner party that was fronting for a drug exchange. There's like fifty tables full of dealers and suppliers, and none of us could spot him. We even had two extra teams mixed in too. This guy was no where to be found. But then, out of the corner of my eye, I see him. He's talking to two big black guys. They look like fucking bouncers. So, I excuse myself, and walk towards him. I try to make some conversation, and this fucker is trying to get away. I put my hand up and give our little signal to Deke, and he excuses himself and moves behind the guy. I get boxer to move in towards the left, and Jesse covers me in the back. The I whipped out the Magnum in my shoulder holster, and the guy caves faster than you could imagine. Then every other cop in the building whips their weapons and we take out twenty-three dealers, suppliers, whatever. No bullets, no shots."

"No way." Chris laughs.

"You better believe it girl. And there's more. When I was walking out, some fucker is right behind me, and go figure, I recognize him from traffic a couple months ago with you. Remember that Casini dude?" Chris scrunched her eyebrows for a second, then the realization struck her.

"Oh yeah, we took him down, and found the pipes and shit in his pocket."

"Yeah, yeah, he made bail, and skipped out on court, and they had a warrant out for him. So I turn and catch this punk by the throat. He goes down, and I got him locked up."

"Shit Jim, you were busy today."

"Eh, not too bad." I shrugged, "But, you know, it's definantly not as big as hitting the toilets by yourself for the first time in like three weeks."

"Hey, shut up." She said, pushing lightly on my shoulder. I laughed as she yawned.

"Get some sleep girl, you'll need the energy when you hit the floor again tomorrow." I said, standing up.

"You leaving?" She said, letting her head roll down the pillow tiredly.

"Yeah, I'll let you be." I said. "Later girl."

"Later Street."

If I had known I was about to have one of the worst dates of my life, than I would never have left the hospital with Chris. But I knew form the first swig of my beer that this whole date was a mistake.

She could not stop talking about herself. I mean, every other sentance was her complaining about her ex boy friend or talking about how she couldn't figure out why guys hit on her so much. She kept talking so long, that after a while, I just watched her mouth move and nodded my head every eight seconds.

"Excuse me, I've gotta go use the restroom." I said, trying give myself two seconds of freedom. I ducked into the bathroom, and dialed Chris at the hospital.

"Hey?" She yawned.

"Chris it's Jim did I wake you up?"

"Yeah, but watchu want?"

"Look, could you call me back in a couple minutes to get me out of this date."

"Date? Who are you on a date with Street?" I could hear the amusement in her voice.

"Some nurse from the hospital." I sighed, " Just please, if I have to hear one more second of her wondering why they call it Kentucky fried chicken if she can eat in California, I might die." Chris laughed at me.

"Sounds brutal. As much as I like to see you sit throught this one, I'll do it."

"Thanks girl, I owe you so much." I said.

"Yeah you do," She laughed and hung up the phone.

I walked quickly back out to the bar, and sat down to Jackie wondering why they named it Ketchup. I kept checking my phone to see if it was ringing, and finally, after twelve minutes the phone rang. I managed to excuse myself and fly out of the bar.

"Damn girl, just wanted to make me sweat it a little?"

"You know it Street. Talk to you later kay?"

"Ok, see you tomorrow Chris."