Another chapter for you.

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I was eating dinner at KFC with Nick when it hit me.

"Crap. My car is stick shift."

"Always liked a stick myself." Nick gnawed idly on the leg of fried chicken he'd been working on. From his smile I could see he thought I was just being conversational.

"No, Nick, you don't understand. My car is a stick shift. It has a clutch. You mash the clutch with your left foot."

"Oh. Sorry, I forgot for a minute. Yes, that's, um, that's as issue."

"I'm getting out next week. I'm going to need another car, an automatic."

"I'll take you. We can go look today if you want. We can swing by your place and switch to your car."

I grinned. Nick had been a true and faithful friend throughout my rehab ordeal. He'd visited every other day. At least once a week he'd taken me to supper, then to visit my grandfather at Autumn Manor. Papa Olaf really liked him. "Thank you. I'd appreciate that."

"Not a problem. After we're done I'm taking you for a shave and a haircut. You're starting to look like Grizzly Adams."

He mentioned my hair every tiime I saw him. "No, I think I'll leave it long. Thank you, though."

He snorted. "Greg, you at least need a haircut. You have a ponytail."

"I do have a ponytail, and I like it. I like it a lot."

"You look like you're on your way to a Hell's Angels convention." He took a swig of his tea. "So what kind of car you gonna get?"

"A used one, something fairly small. I like VW's a lot."

"You're on leave for what, another month, month and a half?"

I nodded. "Then it's back to DNA. Maybe for six months, maybe indefinitely. Depends on how well I'm getting around once they give me my permanant prosthesis. "

"It's going to be great to have you back, even if you're not back to the field yet."

"Gonna be weird being back in DNA, though. "

"At least you'll be back there with us, where you belong. The place isn't the same without you."

"Yeah, well, if it turns out I can't go back to being a CSI I might have to consider getting into another line of work."

"But you're good at DNA."

"I am. Unfortunately I outgrew it and now it just bores the living hell out of me. I can't see doing it for the rest of my life."

"So what would you do?"

I smiled. "Finish my doctorate, take more classes, go into DNA research. Several of the labs back East have put out feelers over the years; at the time I wasn't interested but now... We'll just have to see."

Four hours later, I was signing the paperwork for my new car - well, new to me. It was actually a year older than the Jetta I'd traded for it, but it was automatic, and it was red, and it was a Beetle convertible. I loved it already. "I'll drive us back to the apartment. We can put the top down."

"Sounds good. Sweet car."

"That she is." I fingered my car keys, then slipped in behind the wheel. Yes, things were definitely looking up.

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"So, Wild Man Sanders is going home." Lamarr looked up from my chart and grinned. "Though I'll still be seeing more of you than you like for a while yet. Remember, four-thirty every day you come here for PT."

"Yes, can't forget my daily pain and torture."

"You know you love it."

"I might if you looked like Liv Tyler, but you don't."

He chuckled. "Just keep showing up until we tell you to stay home, and before you know it you'll be trading your pirate leg for a nice, state of the art permanant one."

"Promises, promises."

"Greggo!" A grinning Nick appeared in the doorway. "Ready to go?"

"More than ready."

Lamarr grinned. "I know you are. Have a good weekend, man, but don't overdo it."

"I'll try to behave. See you Monday." I turned to Nick. "I'm packed and ready."

"Then let's head out before they change their minds on us."