Three months later.

The large room was the usual hive of activity as Doug Penhall sat down heavily at his desk. Late night arguments and early morning school runs taking their toll. He looked tired and his seemingly permanently youthful face and exuberance were starting to fade. In fact the new officers being brought in to play teenager while he played coach or college professor were starting to make him feel old. Add to that Dorothy's sudden reappearance six months earlier he felt like life was galloping ahead without asking him if he was ready. Not that he wasn't happy to have her around again. Yes she drove him crazy, but as soon as he had seen her face on the other side of the door that morning he realised how much he had missed her. He was tired of missing people. As if this thought had summoned it, another letter was dropped on his desk. Same envelope, same stamp, same response. Stay away!

"Doug!", came Fullers bark from the other side of the room snapping him from his thoughts.

"Can I help you captain?"

"Why do I have a writ for a restraining order taken out on you by Dr Spencer?"

"I can't possibly imagine."

"Cut the crap Penhall. How many times do I have to ask you to leave this alone?"

"At least once more Sir" Doug replied his stony gaze fixed on his captain.

"Doug, it's been two years."

"1 year, 10 months and 23 days."

"You have to let this go"

"I can't."

"You have to. You can't keep on like this. We've been down this road before and you almost drove us all crazy"

"I can't hear him anymore Captain."

"What are you talking about?" Fuller asked, suddenly very weary.

"When he was in prison, when I needed help or advice, I could still hear his voice telling me what I needed to hear. But now it's gone."

"Do you want to join him?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Doug, this isn't healthy. It has to stop!"

"It'd stop sooner if people would co operate."

"Listen to me Penhall, you let this go. You leave that man in peace to do his job and you concentrate on doing yours."

"Why am I the only one that still cares?"

"You're not. But you are the only one harassing doctors and obsessing over this."

"I'm not obsessing….."

"Let me make this real clear Doug! If I hear that you have contacted Dr Spencer again, made one more call to any hospital or leaned on anyone in missing persons one more time, you will be back in uniform writing parking tickets! Do you understand me?"

"Yes, Captain Fuller" he replied with petulant anger.

"I'm trying to do what's best for you Doug." He sighed, suddenly tired and deflating. "How are Dorothy & Clavo? They getting on better now?"

"The kid loves her. If you don't mind, I have paperwork."

"Do yourself a favour Penhall and listen to what I've told you.

Holding back the tirade that was begging to come out, Fuller took a deep breath and headed back to his office

"Doug?" came the voice of Judy Hoffs as she placed a hand on his shoulder. "You need to talk?"

"Not now Jude, sorry."

"We all miss him and if you want to talk, I'm here."

"I know, thanks" he smiled kindly.

"Captain Fullers right you know. It's ok to miss him and still live your life."

"You sound like Dorothy!"

"She's a smart woman!" Judy smiled.

"She's an angry woman!" Doug joked. "Actually, she's been pretty great. She's really good with Clavo and she loves me I guess."

"The she wants what's best for you. Listen to her."

"I'm having nightmares Jude. These past few months just out of nowhere. I'm in this hospital, this awful place. I find him but when I see him, his face his blank. It's like some horror movie."

"I'd like to be able to tell you you're crazy and obsessive and need to get over it but….", she stopped, looking embarrassed as she pulled something from her jacket pocket.

"You know why I carry this picture?" she said handing him the old Polaroid of Ioki and Hanson. Doug remembered taking this to Ioki's hospital room what seemed like a lifetime ago. "Because when I close my eyes and try to see him, there's parts missing. He's disappearing."

"But you moved on. You've got err…. what's his name?

"Marcus. Yeah, I did, doesn't mean I have to forget. But we still gotta live right?" she finished with a knowing look. Patting him on the back as she took the picture, "I gotta go. Catch up later?"

"Sure. Hey Jude?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you."

As he watched her walk away, he picked up the paper that Fuller had angrily thrown on his desk. Court stamp and everything. Cease and desist from all contact with Doctor B Spencer on pain of death! He thought to himself. Just as he was trying to guess what the B stood for (and he could think of plenty of options) his thoughts were once again broken.

"You ok man?" came the heavily accented voice from over his shoulder.

"You too, Harry? Can't a guy get some peace?"

"It just looked kind of heated back then."

"Don't worry about it" he sighed, something Doug Penhall didn't used to do. "So, anything else from the break in at Grant?"

Penhall and Ioki had been sent into Grant Community College to investigate a suspected burglary and fencing ring, but progress had been slow.

"Yeah, the stolen stereos from the robbery last week turned up in one of the dorm rooms last night".

"Really? Who's dorm?"

"You'll never guess!"

"Surprise me Harry!"

"Taylor!"

"Taylor!? The cheerleader?"

"You asked me to surprise you Penhall."

"There's gotta be some mistake here, the girl is like the original goody two shoes."

"Yeah, well that goody two shoes father owns a TV and stereo business. I also talked to her friend Carrie; you know the one that keeps eyeing you up?"

"Can't say I blame her!"

"Doug, so modest!" Harry smiled rolling his eyes. "Anyway, turns out our little miss perfect is dating Zach Myers."

"Where do I know that name?"

"Doug, he's got a rap sheet longer than your arm. Breaking and entering, receiving and selling stolen goods. You want me to go on?"

"You've been busy! So, you reckon she's storing this stuff for him or something?"

"Maybe. And, her Dad's store has a delivery coming in tonight"

"Iokage? You thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Stakeout!" they cried in unison, drawing irritated glances from the rest of the chapel.

"I'll tell Fuller!" Harry finished, passing the newly occupied desk beside Doug's on the way to Fullers office, he offered a friendly smile to the occupant.

Tony McCann had watched the various exchanges with both irritation and amusement. He had grown to like the 3 long serving (well, compared to him) officers and they had tried their best to make him welcome, but he still felt like he was intruding. The distant Ioki, strangely reserved for someone so flamboyant, seemed like a good guy but seemed to hold him at arm's length. The bright, clever Judy Hoffs had taken him under her wing and shown him the ropes with nothing but professionalism, but this hadn't made him feel part of the team. The only one who had seemed to accept him was the large brash Doug Penhall. Although, sometimes, he seemed to lose patience when he didn't get some joke he was expected to instinctively know, and the guy's ideas for covers? Geez! There was a shared history here, like a wall that wouldn't let anyone through. Watching the display this morning he was starting to understand that the issue was that some of the shared history was missing. Naturally being a detective, he wanted to get to the bottom of it. He was thinking about swiping whatever the captain had given Penhall when he heard said captain requiring his presence.

"Yes, Captain Fuller?" he asked as he entered the office.

"Penhall and Ioki are on stakeout tonight. I want you and Hoffs on standby if they need back up."

"For a kid robbing an electrical store?" Judy asked.

"Hoffs, do you really think one kid is moving the amount of gear we're talking about here?"

"Not in one night" laughed Doug

"Exactly. So, you're on back up guys."

"Yes sir" came the sullen reply.

"What time is it?" Penhall asked rubbing his heavy eyes as he sat in the passenger seat of his old truck. Harry insisting on driving.

"Just past 10. Am I keeping you up Penhall?"

"Thought he'd be here by now is all. I'm too old for all night stakeouts!"

"Well, the other robberies happened between 10 and 12 so sit tight."

"Do you think Fuller will write me a note to explain why I'm out late?" Doug sighed.

"Dorothy not going to be pleased huh?" Ioki laughed. "Why did you get married?"

"I'm not married….."

"Yeah, I know, you're in hell. Admit it Doug, you love the girl. Why don't you marry her?"

"Don't open that door please Harry."

"Sorry man."

"Where's the coffee?"

"Was I supposed to bring coffee?"

"That's the way it's always worked, I bring junk and Ha…." he suddenly stopped dead. Harry looked at him sympathetically.

"You're still searching hospitals huh?"

"Yes. Don't go all Fuller on me Harry. I have to do this."

"Any luck?"

"What do you think?"

"What makes you think he's still in a hospital? It's been nearly 2 years."

"The only place I can think to look. That and bowling alleys. Have you any idea how many of those places there is in this country? It's easier to search the hospitals" he finished, trying to lighten the mood.

"Well, you know what they say Penhall, no news is good news."

"No, Harry. No news is no news!" the larger man snapped. "No one even says his name anymore Harry. It's like my best friend has become this secret that no one can talk about."

Ioki looked at his friend, his face deep in thought, struggling in his mind with the best way to deal with this.

"Doug, there's something I need to tell you."

"Yeah?" Penhall answered, distracted looking out the window through the rain.

"I've been doing some searching of my own and….."

"This is going to have to wait Harry, here's our guy."

Hoffs and McCann sat impatiently watching around the corner waiting for the signal to move in. The rain was pouring heavily now, and the car was getting uncomfortably cold.

"I can't see a thing out there" McCann complained as he wiped and the fog forming on the windows.

"Just wait for their signal. Sit tight and stop complaining."

"Hey, look!" he said suddenly his eyes focused on something she couldn't see.

"What?"

"Is that a car?"

"Where" she asked, peering through the darkness to see. She could just make out a dark shape moving slowly on the other side of the road.

"You think it's our guy?"

"I don't know. McCann what kind of car does he drive?"

They were interrupted as Penhall's voice came over the comms.

"Hey guys the party's started. There's two guys just entering the building now. Give it 10 minutes and then come and crash the party."

"Doug, we might have some unexpected guests. We've got what looks like two guys in a dark Lincoln hanging over the road."

"Ok keep an eye. Call if anything happens. Damn it!" he yelled suddenly. "Guys they've got drivers and they're making a run for it. Get a move on!"

"You heard him McCann, move it!" Judy yelled.

As soon as he started up the car, the lights on the car across the road blazed out obscuring their view, as it sped around the corner.

"Go!" Hoffs yelled impatiently.

Around the corner Ioki was displaying his usual driving prowess in pursuit of the teens in the other car. They had spotted the undercover officers in the truck and made a break for it.

"I told you we should have brought the Deuce! They recognised this van a mile off!"

"Harry, if we had brought the Deuce they'd have got away by now!"

"Is this the fastest it can go?"

"Hey Harry, we've got company" Doug said nervously as he spotted the car coming up fast behind.

"What the ….?" Harry's curse was cut dead and the car almost drove through the back of the truck sending it into a spin. Pulling on the wheel as hard as he could, Harry righted the car and tried to make sense of his surroundings.

"Harry. It's coming back." Doug barked. "Get your foot down Iokage!"

Putting the accelerator down as far as he could, Harry sped away onto the main drag trying to put some distance between them.

"They're not giving up. Who the hell is that?" Doug shouted over the noise of the engine.

"These kids might not be as small time as we thought."

Looking back through the windshield Doug gasped.

"No way! It can't be?"

That was when the car finally caught up.

As McCann spun the car onto the main road trying to keep up with the other 3 vehicles, they caught sight of Penhall's truck, the strange car gaining every second.

"Doug? What's going on?", the panic in Judy's voice palpable as she screamed over the radio.

"Jude, I think it's….."

His words were cut dead as Judy and McCann watched the car plough into Doug's van and send it spinning over the side of the hill.

McCann stopped the car and they looked on in horror as the truck went spiralling out of control. Jumping out of the car they raced towards where it had stopped, the rain beating down on them. Noticing the car speeding away, McCann raced after them on foot as Judy headed towards the wreck desperate to help her friends. She was almost there when the explosion nearly blew her across the road in a ball of noise and heat. The world seemed to fade around her as she hit the ground, scraping against the tarmac. She could hear the beating of the flames and the screech of tyres as the car sped away.

Hearing the commotion, McCann spun back as fast as his feet would go to the sound of the explosion. Picking Judy up, he helped her over to the scene of the wreck. The truck had spun and landed on it's roof, damaging the fuel line as it spun the engine exploding as the gas and oil leaked out.

They could see the twisted metal of the trucks roof and heard the glass breaking in the heat of the flames as it spread to the grass and bushes surrounding.

Their faces frozen in disbelief as they stood looking on in horror at the burning wreckage of Doug Penhall's truck. Breaking her paralysis, Judy ran towards what was left of the truck, calling out in hope that one of them would answer.

"Judy, stop!" McCann called as he sped after her.

"We've got to get them away!" she pleaded desperately.

He just reached her in time to pull her away as the second explosion went off.