Sixteen year old Jon Baker, followed his best friend Brady Harris down a dimly lit alley.

The shorter, dark haired boy kept glancing over his shoulder, looking past Jon with a look of terror on his face. They picked up the pace.

"Whatever happened to 'hey let's get some pizza together', now it's let's run from the authorities they know where we are," Jon asked, wishing he hadn't gotten caught up in this mess. i could have been home doing my homework...Jon thought, shaking his head. He hated school, but getting good grades was important to his parents. And also to his football coach. What would Coach Hanks say if he heard about this? Jon thought.

Brady glanced over his shoulder, again looking for any sign of the cops. "Jon, now is not the time for jokes."

"I wasn't kidding, Brady." Jon sighed. "What are we doing?" Jon hated to be left in the dark. Brady had been acting all wonky, since they met up at the pizza place. Jon had been hard at work studying for a big math test, when the phone rang. He didn't bother to answer, because his parents were home he assumed it was for them. However it wasn't the case, as his mom poked her head into the room moments later to inform Jon Brady was on the phone.

Leaving his homework behind, Jon went to see what his friend wanted. Soon being invited to have pizza. He accepted the invite, needing a small break from his studying. He wasn't expecting it to end up like this. They hadn't even ordered any pizza.

Brady looked over his shoulder again.

"Alright, this has gone on long enough. Brady, I have homework to do. I have studying to do. I only took a break for some pizza, and if this is some joke I'm not laughing. So either tell me what's going on or I'm going home," Jon said, as he stopped walking.

"Jon-" Brady whined. "We don't have a lot of time," his voice reflected his impatience and urgency, but Jon didn't budge.

"I'm not running or hiding from the cops if I don't have a good reason..and it better be good." Jon already made up his mind he'd leave within the next few minutes if this was another one of Brady's stupid pranks. But what if he was wrong this time? What if Brady was actually in trouble? He wasn't sure he wanted to find out.

"Jon!" Officer Frank Poncherello (Ponch) interrupted Jon's story. "What was so important about homework? Your friend is upset! And he's in trouble."

Jon shook his head, but didn't get a chance to answer.

"What's he even upset about anyway? Were you really running from the cops?" Ponch asked, eyes widening slightly, as he grew more excited with the story unfolding. He shifted in his seat, and took a bite of the ding dong he'd carefully unwrapped as Jon talked.

Jon hadn't had the greatest week. First was the man out on the streets impersonating a CHP officer, and apparently looking a lot like Jon. Then came Ponch crashing at his place, which really wouldn't have such a big deal if 1. Jon were in a better mood. And 2. Ponch didn't have so many annoying habits that irritated Jon. Now on top of it all the power had gone out. The apartment manager went door to door informing everyone that the power would be back in a few hours and they needed to be patient.

Jon was fed up, and had went on for at least an hour about so many things he was frustrated about. He hadn't meant to dump all his problems on Ponch, but Ponch was willing to listen. And he did listen pretty good. By the time his hour long vent session was over, Jon was feeling exhausted mentally. For once wishing he had a TV. But then remembering even if he did have one, he couldn't watch anything with the power outage.

So now for once he was truly thankful Ponch was here. Ponch had suggested multiple different things to keep Jon busy, so he wouldn't have to think too much about everything, and wouldn't have to go to bed early.

This eventually leading to them sitting and telling each other stories. Surprisingly, Jon did end up enjoying this a lot. He needed the chance to relax, and he was having fun with it. He had always thought being a writer sounded fun, which he had attempted and given up on before. This was different though, he didn't have to write anything down, and he didn't think too hard about it all. And with trying to make his stories sound real, he didn't worry much about word choice, as he didn't usually talk the same way he wrote.

Jon was never clear on whether or not his stories were true, however he could tell when Ponch was telling a real story and when he was exaggerating quite a bit, or making it up as he went.

This time Jon had decided to tell the story in third person, which made it even harder to figure out. At the end of the story, Ponch would guess if it was real or fictional.

Jon smiled. "Just keep listening, you'll find out."

Ponch sat back, getting relaxed on Jon's couch as he listened intently to the next half of the story.

Brady looked at Jon, then let out an exasperated sigh. "Jon, please! Don't question me, just follow."

"Why shouldn't I question you?" Jon crosses his arms over his chest.

"I'm your best friend. Where's your undying loyalty!?" Brady whined.

Jon stared, but said nothing.

Finally Brady gave in. "I stole a pencil from school today by accident. Apparently that's the fifth pencil I've taken. Gordon found out and he said he'd call the cops. I can't let them arrest me for a pencil, Jon. We have to run. We have to hide. We have to change our names and-"

Ponch shook his head, laughing. "This can't be real Jon. A pencil? All of that for a pencil?"

Jon cleared his throat. "Ponch, I said five pencils." The smile on Jon's face reached to his eyes, Ponch could see it through the flashlight Jon was holding. Ponch hoped the happiness would last, despite the circumstances. He hated to see Jon going through so much, what he hated more was feeling like he couldn't help...or that his help wouldn't be enough. He knew soon the power would be back, and with it this moment would end and Jon would once again be reminded of all of his troubles... They had to catch this guy.

Jon yawned, it was getting to be 10 o'clock now. "I think I'm about ready to call it a night."

"You didn't finish your story yet."

The words barely left his mouth, before the lights came back on. The power restored.

Jon smiled, relieved, then stood and yawned again. "Well, you were right. That never happened."

"That's it? You had a good story going there Jon-" Ponch tried to protest to Jon leaving it like that.

"Goodnight, Ponch," Jon said, interrupting. The moment the power came back Jon was hit with the sudden realization none of his problems were truly over, his happiness quickly fading.

Ponch tried to argue one more time, but Jon didn't listen, and soon they both had gotten ready for bed.. Jon looked forward to a good night's sleep...those hopes might not have been a reality though. Oh how he looked forward to when Ponch's motorhome was fixed.

A/N: This is a gift for JediaJelsa777. I hope you enjoyed it! (And I hope it wasn't confusing.) As you can see this is set during the season one episode One Two Many. (As if Jon didn't have enough going on in that episode...I had to add the power going out for a bit. :') and you didn't give a specific plot. Aside from something funny or happy. And I hope this fit it well. I enjoyed writing this.)

I tried to make it interesting... also writing the description was way harder than anything else I've done lol. (Okay done rambling.)

Have a great day :)

~Ponchy

Announcement to all: I am doing story gifts all through May. Hop on over to my profile to see how that works, then let me know if you're interested.