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Even though Mark was exhausted from the previous day and this morning's events, he didn't sleep long; he was wide awake at 10 am. He stayed cooped up in the gatehouse, as he didn't want Hardcase to realize that he was awake. I know he's gonna ask a ton of questions and he's gonna quickly figure out that I lied to the feds -well actually I didn't lie, I just omitted some facts, okay you know he's gonna call that lying . . . and to him no less. God, I should really be studying, the date for the bar exam is going to be here before I know it!

Milt had been up and out of bed for about two hours now. He had to stop himself from going to the gatehouse at least twice. Just let the poor kid sleep; he was put through it last night and this morning. But what if he's hungry – hell he's always hungry. I guess he'll get up when he's hungry enough.

Mark had lain in bed staring at his law books for another hour or so. He glanced at his alarm clock again, 12 o'clock. Well he was getting a little hungry anyway. Hardcastle would definitely get suspicious if he didn't come out all day for something to eat. He definitely knew him better than that and would realize that something big was up.

Okay, 12 o'clock, now I know something is very wrong. How can that kid go for more than an hour without something to eat? I think I'll just go down and listen maybe I can hear whether he is awake. Just as Hardcastle was making his way down the walk approaching the gatehouse, the front door opened. Mark dipped his head as the sunlight blinded his already tender eyes. Hardcastle cleared his throat which made Mark flinch, realizing that he was so close.

"Morning, McCormick, I was just coming down to see if you wanted some breakfast, or maybe now you would rather have lunch?" asked Hardcastle in his normal gruff tone.

Mark shrugged his shoulders, "Don't really matter," he said softly, "either is fine."

Mark slowly made his way up the walk after Hardcastle, who had turned back toward the house. I wonder what he would prefer, breakfast or lunch, I have leftovers from last night's dinner but I bet eggs and bacon might go over pretty good, too.

"How about eggs and bacon?" Hardcastle suggested.

"Fine," came Mark's short reply.

"Maybe you want me to make you something else, I could . . . "

"Judge, whatever, okay," softly Mark cut him off.

Hardcastle nodded. Good work, dummy; can't you see that the kid just doesn't want to be bothered, and what do you do but pressure him about what to make him to eat. God knows the kid will eat just about anything. He quickly busied himself in the kitchen making Mark's breakfast. Mark fell into one of the lounge chairs by the poolside, and closed his eyes. He just wanted to feel the warmth of the sun on him.

Soon Hardcastle was there with breakfast in hand, eggs, bacon, toast with jelly, and orange juice. A breakfast fit for a king. Mark took the plate handed him and with a small smile added, "Sorry."

"Sorry about what?" replied Hardcastle, "I should be the one that's sorry. I had no idea that FBI agent was gonna get exasperated enough to take you into custody for questioning. What the hell was all that about anyway? I still don't have a clue."

"Well, when you figure it out, Judge, don't tell me, just keep them the hell away from me," Mark added with a long sigh.

"But some mobster is having you followed, that can't be a good thing. I have been racking my brain trying to come up with an answer, was it from one of our cases, but that name, Spangoletti, doesn't even ring a bell with any of our cases. I even had Frank run it this morning to see if there is any connection with us at all. Then I had him run it for any connection with Sonny, again nothing."

"Judge, you can spot a tail as quickly as I can, have you seen anybody tailing me lately? And if you did, they would probably be asleep as all I've been doing is to going to classes, taking finals and studying. As for Sonny, if he's in trouble again that's his problem; I'm not going to go running across the country again to rescue a man who doesn't want anything to do with me. Judge, just let it go, I think these feds are seeing UFOs or something anyway," Mark added sarcastically.

Boy, the kid's taking this fairly well seems like he just wants to forget it all happened, that's a little out of character for him. I figured he was gonna come out of bed swinging, wanting to take down the whole Bureau with his bare hands. Maybe putting him in that cell last night did more damage then I first thought.

God, Mark, why don't you just tell him? The lie is just snowballing, getting bigger and bigger while you dig yourself deeper and deeper, and you know he's gonna figure it out. Come on, you chicken; tell him now before this keep getting worse. He might never trust you again.

Hardcastle got up to take Mark's now empty plate, "Well at least your appetite is okay," Hardcastle chuckled. He heard a car in the driveway and went to see who had arrived. Agent Morris was coming down the walkway. Milt gritted his teeth. He had never liked the agent to begin with, but after last night he now had an almost loathing of the man.

"Agent Morris, look, don't you think you caused enough damage last night?" Milt began trying to cut the agent off before he even began.

"Well, I thought of another question for Mr. McCormick, if you don't mind"

"Well, actually I do mind, and McCormick minds, so why don't you just leave him alone."

"Judge Hardcastle, I realize that what happened last night was not the best case scenario, but we are trying to solve crimes here. I know you can appreciate that, as you still do investigating even after retiring from the bench."

Hardcastle clenched his jaw; he was torn between this law officer who was actually trying to do his job, and protecting Mark. Well maybe he could accomplish both. He definitely was not going to leave Mark's side again.