AN: Firstly, I hope my fellow readers and writers had a blessed, safe and fantastic Easter!

Next, I wanted to apologize for the delay in posting this update. I had a nasty bout of the stomach flu followed by preparations for the arrival of the Easter Bunny (LOL) so RL has once again got in the way of my online hobby. However, I had a great Easter with my wonderful family and I am slowly munching through my supply of chocolate eggs and bunnies from my fridge (I am so glad that my appetite got back to working order in time for Easter). I'm sure that was more than you needed to know ;-)

Thirdly, I have made an adjustment to the names of two key characters that were introduced in the previous chapter and will play an important role in this story. "Rick Morgen" is now "Troy Hartman" while his father "Jeff Morgen" is now "Jeff Hartman". To avoid confusion between my story and another writer's and out of respect for that writer (who is a great friend and whom I admire) and a huffy muse who refused to cooperate with those names, I decided to make these changes.

Lastly, thank you to ALL my readers who have been just absolute gems :-) And of course a BIG thank you goes to my beta.

Tanith

ACT II Part 2:

General Hospital, November 2nd, 1973

It felt oddly surreal to Mike Stone to be driving alone that morning to pick up his daughter from the hospital and take her home. Yesterday's Harvey Decklan incident re-played itself in his mind and while he knew Olsen was right in his decision to take him off the case, it didn't make him feel any more reconciliatory toward him. At least not right at that moment.

As he parked the car, Mike thought about his partner, or was it his former partner, Steve. The young man had phoned him early that morning to ask how he was doing. The question only caused Mike to take out his frustrations with his protégé and the call was ended abruptly. Sighing heavily, Mike promised himself that he would call Steve later on to apologize. The thought took away some of the tension he was feeling as he got out of the sedan and made his way through the front entrance of the hospital.

After speaking with Doctor Moore about Jeannie's condition, Mike sat down in the waiting room and waited for his daughter to get changed and sign the release forms. He was relieved to hear that Jeannie was showing signs of recovering from her ordeal.

"Mike? I'm all set," Jeannie's voice penetrated Mike's thoughts.

It took a moment for Mike to respond, as his mind drifted back to the present. "Let's get you home, Sweetheart." He wrapped an arm protectively around the slender girl's shoulders as they walked out of the hospital together. It wasn't until they were in the car that Jeannie asked where Steve was.

"Rudy felt I should take a couple of days off, you know, to spend some time with you and make sure you're really okay, while Steve takes care of things for me at the office." Mike knew it wasn't entirely true but he didn't feel it was an outright lie either. Maybe he just needed a day to cool off and see things from an objective point of view.

The rest of the drive was spent in small talk with no more mention of Steve or the office. Every now and then Jeannie would steal a glance at her father and she observed that he was under some strain but she wasn't sure that now was an ideal time to ask too many questions. A significant part of her was glad that he would be home to keep her company while a smaller part nagged at her that something was up with Mike.

SFPD, Bureau of Inspectors, 850 Bryant Street

Following Olsen's suggestion that he should take Mike's office for the time being, Steve sat with his head down, pouring over the notes that littered his partner's desk. Although he understood where the Captain was coming from, he found that he had mixed feelings about benching Mike completely for the next few days. On one hand, he felt Mike did need some time to cool off and reflect on his behavior but on the other hand, Steve knew Mike was quick to rebound back to his old self after a rough patch and to take something as important as this case away from him might do more harm than good in the long term. He also couldn't ignore the fact that this was hurting their friendship and it made him feel wretched. Early that morning, Olsen had introduced him to his new temporary partner, Jeff Hartman, and though Hartman seemed to be a likeable guy and displayed a professional outlook, Steve didn't feel they were quite on the same level when it came to discussing the cases that they would be working on together. By lunch time, Steve found he'd lost his patience and sent Hartman away to grab something to eat on his own. Alone, hungry, tired and miserable, Steve's eyes drifted to the telephone on Mike's desk and the photograph of Jeannie beside it. He ran his fingers through his hair and sighed heavily. He wanted to pick up the phone and call Mike to see if he and Jeannie were up to having some lunch with him. Apart from wanting to see them on a personal level, there were some questions he needed to ask Jeannie about the attack as well as getting an official statement taken. He would rather do it over some coffee and ensure Jeannie was comfortable and relaxed. An inner struggle presented itself when he wondered how Mike would react about him questioning his daughter. Had they been still working on the case together he knew Mike would be fine but as it were, Steve's gut told him that this could prove to be an awkward situation. A knock on the door, however, disrupted his internal debate.

"Looks like you haven't moved an inch since I went out," Hartman commented conversationally.

"Yeah, I guess I didn't realize the time," Steve replied flatly.

"I just got back from the Captain's office. He said that if you don't take a break…"

"What? He'll send me home to do some knitting?" Steve scoffed then took a deep breath and continued in a lighter tone, "Look, I'm sorry, I'm just a little frustrated with some of the decisions that the Chief has been making lately."

"Right, like asking me to help you out?"

Steve didn't miss the taller man's resentful tone. "I didn't mean it that way," Steve said defensively, locking eyes with Hartman. "I think we got off on the wrong foot here. What do you say we start over and start working together?"

Hartman held his arms out then let them fall to his sides as he replied indifferently, "Sure, I'm fine with that, Keller."

Steve nodded then gestured for Hartman to take a seat. He then pulled out the file labelled, Jeannie Stone, from the top drawer of the desk.

Together they perused through the case file and discussed possible suspects and questions for the victim that still needed to be asked. Hartman studied the photographs from Mike's home, his daughter's injuries and finally a police sketch of a tattoo that the victim had described with great detail. The startling resemblance it bore to a tattoo he knew his son had, sent his mind reeling. Not again! Hartman's mind took him back to a year ago when a seventeen year old girl had accused his son of sexually assaulting her after a high school football game. She claimed her masked attacker had a tattoo just like the one his son had. The similarities were just as striking then as the one Jeannie described to the sketch artist. Though Troy vehemently denied he ever touched the girl, Hartman always carried the fear that his son was the prime suspect and like any parent who loved their child, he did everything he could to protect him. He dug deep into the victim's life and found faults that brought doubts to her credibility and testimony. The girl was popular with the boys in her previous school and her parents had tried desperately to hide her medical records that provided proof she had terminated a pregnancy six months prior to the alleged attack. She left her former high school to start over in another town leaving behind a story that a boy had tried to attack her. Hartman confronted her parents who admitted to the lie and the girl broke down, begging him to drop the case to protect her dignity.

"What is it? Did you see something that I've missed?" Steve asked after noticing Hartman was studying the sketch of the tattoo for a considerably long moment.

"No, I just remembered a guy I had locked up some time ago had a similar looking tattoo but he died in prison. Sorry, my mind must've taken a trip down memory lane for a minute there," Hartman brushed aside Steve's comment then ensured the sketch was buried underneath the rest of the paperwork as he piled them on the desk.

It was getting late in the afternoon and Steve knew he couldn't delay paying Jeannie a visit any longer. To add to his already sullen mood, was the realization that he would have to take Hartman with him since they were now partners and he couldn't very well tell the older Inspector to stay behind.

As Steve and Hartman left Mike's office and gathered their coats, Olsen intercepted them bearing urgent news. Steve was requested at the DA's office which would mean his plan was dashed. Cursing under his breath, the young detective failed to hide his frustration from surfacing.

"Keller, why don't I go over to Stone's house and get that statement from his daughter? It's not something that would require the two of us to do," Hartman suggested. Maybe Miss Stone made a mistake about the tattoo. Perhaps she has some dirty secrets hidden away that she doesn't want anybody else to find out about. Hartman realized he was relishing the opportunity to speak with the victim without any interruptions from Steve. He knew that Mike was Steve's partner and it would be all too natural for the younger Inspector to go lenient with the questions instead of being objective. With the Lieutenant officially off duty, and his partner out of the way, he hoped to dig deep into the life of Jeannie Stone and bring to the surface anything that could have the potential to discredit her accounts of what transpired that Halloween night.

Before Steve could reply, Olsen jumped ahead of him and responded, "Agreed. Go ahead Hartman."

Ordinarily Steve respected the Captain but right at that moment, he could think of less favorable things to say about him.