I don't think there are any little kids that read this stuff, but if so, Wheeler loses his temper and says a bad word in this chapter. He's a big boy and he's allowed. If you're a youngster, little kids shouldn't swear though. The power is yours etc, etc.

When they made their way to the city, it was decided that they would go to Wheeler's precinct first, talk to Captain Thomas, hand in his badge, and clean out his desk. After that, they would head over to Wheeler's apartment, pack up his things, and terminate his lease. Later that evening, they were going to Brooklyn to have an early Christmas dinner with Wheeler's parents.

At the precinct, everyone's attention was on Detective Wheeler and the good-looking girl holding his hand.

"Hey Detective! Welcome back!" said a young man in uniform as he slapped Wheeler on the back, then acknowledged Linka with a nod and kind "hello miss."

"Officer Petrosky! My favorite boy in blue. But hold that welcome wagon. I'm just here to get my things."

"Man, that sucks. We're gonna miss you around here bud. You're the only detective that doesn't treat us 'lowly uniforms' like dirt. Like that guy."

Just then, a cocky looking man in his 30s came walking towards them. "I thought you were takin' some time off Wheeler. Petrosky, what're you doin' standin' around? Shouldn't you be filing paperwork or something?"

"If you mean cataloging all that valuable evidence I collected from 'your' crime scene, that's done. Wheeler, good luck to you. Don't be a stranger." They shook hands and officer Petrosky smiled and nodded to Linka once again.

"Hey Petrosky, can you get me a box?" Officer Petrosky waved in acknowledgement and Wheeler turned to Wolfson, "Do ya hafta be such an ass Wolfson? Petrosky's a great officer. I'd rather have him working for me at a crime scene than against me."

"I'm just keepin' the kid on his toes. One day, when he's a detective, he can boss around the peons too! This your sister?" Wolfson asked.

"This is my girlfriend, Linka. Linka, this is my partner, Charlie Wolfson."

"It is nice to meet you detective," Linka said.

"Ooooh, I get it, mail order bride. Whatever floats your boat Wheeler. I'm sure you two will be very happy together saving the world from the hole in the ozone!"

That last remark sent Wheeler over the edge. He never liked Wolfson and now he had the perfect excuse to throttle him. He grabbed him by the collar, pushed him backwards so that he tripped over the chair, and landed flat on his back across the top of the desk,

"Listen here you son of a bitch. I've spent the last few years listening to you bad mouth the guys in the uniforms, and back when I was one of them, I've been on the receiving end of your comments and I took it, but you just crossed the line. That's not a cop you just insulted, it's a girl. MY GIRL! A girl I've known since we were kids. You can't order a girl this perfect in the mail. You can't even get a girl this perfect from Heaven. How I got this lucky, I'll never know, but I'll do anything to defend her honor, and if that means KICKING YOUR ASS IN A ROOM FULL OF COPS AS WITNESSES, THEN I'LL FUCKING DO IT!" Just as Wheeler pulled his fist back to deliver the first blow, Linka grabbed his arm.

"Wheeler, nyet! It is not worth it." She then leaned in close to his ear and said "Let us just do what we came here to do and get on with our day."

Once she let him go, Wheeler slammed his fist down on the desk right next to Wolfson's head, then pulled him up by the shirt and said, "Now apologize."

"Sorry."

"Not to me ya jackass, to her. And while you're at it, why don't you thank her for savin' your sorry ass," Wheeler said.

"I'm sorry," Wolfson said, and he almost sounded like he meant it.

"Now thank her" Wheeler goaded.

Linka was uncomfortable with all the attention they were drawing to themselves, especially to her. She realized he was just trying to defend her, but the attention was unnerving and she just wanted the situation to be over. "Wheeler, forget it. I do not want his thanks. Let us finish up here and leave."

"Ok Babe. You're right. Besides, I'd rather that Captain Thomas heard about this little 'incident' from me first." He then shot a look in Wolfson's direction.

Wheeler knocked on the door of Captain Thomas' office.

"Yeah, what is it?" The captain called from inside.

Wheeler opened the door partway to poke his head in.

"Wheeler! Come in. I wasn't expecting you to be back so soon. I take it things didn't go as well as you'd expected."

"Nah. It was pretty rough at first…but then things got better." Wheeler opened the door all the way and stepped in to reveal his companion.

Captain Thomas stood up upon seeing her and walked over to formally introduce himself.

"Hello Miss…?"

"Kovalev, but please, call me Linka."

"Ok, pleasure to meet you Linka. I'm Bill. Please, both of you have a seat." They each sat in the seats across from Captain Thomas' desk as he sat back down behind it. "So you're the girl that's taking my best detective away from me?"

"Da. Sorry."

"That's ok. You're prettier than me. I can't compete."

"Thank you. I promise I will take good care of him." Linka reached over and patted Wheeler's arm, giving him the reassurance he needed to do what he needed to do.

"Cap, I've gotta talk to you about something."

"I know what this is about. We'll miss your skill, but you have my blessing son. You go do what you gotta do."

"Thanks, but there's something else. Just now, I kinda got into it with Wolfson. He was being a prick to Petrosky and he made some crude remarks towards Linka. If she hadn't stopped me, I would have beat his ass."

"Why'd you stop him?" Thomas joked to Linka.

"I did not want him to end up in jail!"

"Oh, I could have pulled a few strings and gotten him out. Is that all? Don't worry about it Wheeler. Wolfson's a jerk, but no one's ever put him in his place. Maybe now that he's been taken down a notch in front of everyone, he'll quit acting like he owns the place. I don't know who he thinks he is, but he really gives it to the officers."

"Especially Petrosky. It's like he doesn't remember what it was like to be an officer. Petrosky's a good cop. I know he'll do good. As a matter of fact, he should be my replacement. He does most of the dirty work at the crime scene anyways, and now Wolfson's got him doing the paperwork! If he can just learn to deal with Wolfson, he'll be fine," Wheeler said.

"That's interesting to know. Looks like I've got my top candidate for your replacement! Alright, let's get this over with. You're here to hand in your badge right?"

"Yes sir." Wheeler stood and pulled the leather wallet that held his badge and set it on Captain Thomas' desk.

"You're sure about this?" Captain Thomas asked.

Wheeler reached over for Linka's hand and twined their fingers together. "Very sure."

"Ok then. You're now officially, 'Mr.' Wheeler. And you can call me Bill too!"

"Well, thanks for the opportunity Bill. There's one more thing I need to talk to you about though."

"What's that?"

"When I went back to the Planeteers, I wasn't completely sure I was going to stay. It took some convincing and I found out that if I came back here, things wouldn't be as I'd expected. What I'm trying to say is…you weren't here...Sir, when was the last time you had a full checkup, blood work and all that?"

"I don't know. A couple years. Where you goin' with this Wheeler?"

"Just that maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to have another one…soon. As a matter of fact, I'm not leaving until you schedule one."

"Fine. This is really weird, but you seem pretty insistent, so I'm not gonna question it." Captain Thomas pushed the intercom button on his phone that connected him to his secretary. "Kim, can you schedule me a doctor's appointment for a checkup?"

"Yes sir. Any particular day?"

"First available. Thank you."

"We should be going Wheeler," Linka said.

"Right."

"It was nice to meet you Bill."

"You too Linka. Keep this boy outta trouble, ok?"

"I will try." Linka stepped out of the office to let Wheeler have some privacy as he said goodbye to his friend.

"Thanks for everything Captain. Here's my cell phone number, email address, and mailing address. If you ever move, let me know. You know…so I know where to send that invitation to!"

"Oh yeah! Good for you. She seems like a sweet girl. I hope you two will be happy together."

"Thanks. It's not official yet, but I can't see myself being with anyone else but her," Wheeler stated.

"Sounds like you're headed in the right direction. Here's my card. Keep in touch."

"Goodbye Cap." Wheeler closed the door behind him. Linka was waiting for him and immediately went to him to give him a hug. She knew that was not easy for him.

"Are you ok?" She asked.

"Yeah. This hug is exactly what I needed. I guess I should finish packing up my desk and then head to my place."

When they got back out to Wheeler's desk, they saw that several boxes had already been filled with his belongings and were ready to go.

"They are either really eager to get rid of you, or really helpful!" Linka joked.

"It's the helpful part," said officer Petrosky from behind time. "I figured after the earlier incident, you'd be pretty eager to get outta here, so I loaded them up for you. Need a hand carrying them out to your car?"

"Yeah, thanks man. That'd be great."

The boys carried the boxes out to Linka's car and loaded them in and said their goodbyes.

Packing up the belongings in Wheeler's apartment was not hard at all. The apartment came furnished so all that stayed and Wheeler had not accumulated as much "junk" as Linka had expected he would have. His clothes all fit into three boxes, some DVDs, a computer and its accessories, and some miscellaneous things left them with less than ten boxes. It would be very easy to land the Eco-Copter on his building's roof, load his boxes into the elevator, and then into the Eco-Copter. After that, they went back to Linka's place to rest and get cleaned up before they went to Brooklyn for dinner with Wheeler's parents.