This is a double shift day. There will be one more upload today: Secreted Away.

"Technicolor Wishes & Hi-Def Dreams"

4. Performers

After Rachel had found the object matching the description of the murder weapon, in plain sight in the psychiatrist's living room, everything had happened pretty fast. Winslow had tried to run, but Puck was on him faster than he'd all but shouted out that he had him, and the man was restrained, cuffed. Rachel frowned, seeing how much Puck was getting into this, like it was all a game. But then he looked back to her as though to say 'what now?' and she sighed, pulling her hand into her sleeve before grabbing the supposed murder weapon.

"Well, get him in the car," she pointed to the door.

"Right…s… They'll read you your rights when they book you, dirtbag," Puck declared, looking back to Rachel, who rolled her eyes. "Anyway, you're under arrest, so move."

In the car, Rachel had found an evidence bag, allowing her to deposit the object she held cradled in her sleeve. Puck was pumped up from having caught and arrested a bad guy, and she could already envision him parading the guy through the station, letting everyone see what he'd achieved.

Only the moment they had pulled the car to a stop in the FBI parking lot, they started hearing a shrill noise. "What the hell is that?" Puck covered his ears. Rachel did the same, though looking in the rear view mirror she could see Winslow was unaffected.

"I don't know," she told Puck, shutting her eyes…

And then the noise had gone. Rachel let out a breath, and it was then that she realized that she was standing, even though she'd been sitting in the car a moment ago. She opened her eyes, and she jumped. She closed her eyes again, reopened them, but her sight was just as it had been the first time.

Everything was in black and white.

"Puck?" she called out, looking down at herself, to the room around her, a kitchen… By the dress and the décor she had to think it was something like the fifties. There was something familiar about this place, too, it… "No way…" she breathed, just as the door opened and a man walked in, one who definitely wasn't Puck. But she knew him, too.

"Oh, what are you shouting about now?" That was definitely him, that was… Fred… This was I Love Lucy… Only if he was there, and she was here, then… She picked up a knife on the counter, trying to see her reflection in it. "Ethel, what are you doing?" Fred asked just as she saw herself. She gasped, putting the knife back down.

"I… I thought there was something in my teeth," she responded with the first thing that came to mind. He frowned, then left the kitchen. As soon as he was gone, she let out a breath, leaning against the counter.

She had to think… If she was here, and Puck wasn't, then… With a look of outrage, she made her exit. She guessed her way along but finally, once again, she had located him, raising her fist to knock at the door only to have it open before her. There was Puck, and he pulled her inside before shutting the door.

"Is… Is she here?" Rachel asked him.

"Is who here, I don't even know where we are," he told her.

"Do you watch television at all?" she stared at him, but then, "Wait a second, you do know, I can see it," she pointed at his face.

"Okay, fine, I would watch it with my Nana and…" he shrugged. "Why did you say 'is she here,' aren't you…" He observed her, and then he chuckled. "You're Ethel…"

"I know!" she frowned. "Why do you get to be Ricky and I don't get to be Lucy?"

"Is that really what matters right now? We're in a show again," he pointed out.

"Right, I know, it's just… Okay, I'm sorry, let's think. There was that noise, and then I was here…"

"And I was here. I freaked out a bit because I couldn't see colors and I thought I hit my head or something. But then I saw myself in a mirror and…" he pointed to his face.

"So we… jumped…" she looked around.

"Looks that way. Is that just going to keep happening or…"

"How should I know? We solved the case, we brought the killer in…"

"… and we jumped," Puck finished for her, and she nodded. "So if we go along with it and finish something, we get to leave? Maybe it's like Quantum Leap…"

"And how did that end?" she asked him, and he clammed up. She sighed, just as the door opened and in walked…

"Lucy!" Puck exclaimed faster than she did, and Rachel stared at him before turning… For a moment it was hard for her to keep it together, seeing the woman there, in the flesh, just three steps away.

"Ethel, what are you doing here?" Lucy smiled at her, and she still couldn't talk, but then she'd moved to Puck, her 'husband,' and Rachel snapped out of it. "I tell you it is just freezing out there, feel my hands," she placed them in his hands, all the while sneaking a look to her friend, jerking her head ever so slightly to the door. Rachel paused, hoping she was misinterpreting the signal. She had inched her way through the door and it was there that she found a wrapped package. Now she understood. Lucy didn't want 'Ricky' to see it. So she picked it up and scurried right by, sneaking the package where Lucy's 'discreet' directions guided her, which was the kitchen. She had hidden the box as best she could before returning to the living room. She didn't know, if this had been Ricky, if he would have noticed, but then this was Puck, and if he saw them, he had never said a word.

They had almost hoped that this would be all it had taken to get them home, or at least on the next step to getting home, but then that really wouldn't have made sense. Only then as soon as Rachel had returned from the kitchen, the phone rang. There was a pause where no one moved, and it took Rachel staring at him for Puck to realize he should answer.

"Hello? Yes? Oh… Oh, well I… Uh… Sure, yes. Okay." When he hung up, both women were staring at him. "The act for tonight's show was snowed in, they won't make it. They want me at the club," he motioned toward the door.

'You can't go!' Rachel mouthed at him, shaking her head, behind Lucy's back. When she'd turned though, she had to hurry and try to look normal again. "Well, that's too bad," she covered.

"I should go," he moved to the door.

"Ricky, your coat!" Lucy called to him, and seeing him turn and go to find it, Rachel shook her head to herself, amused. As soon as he'd gone though, Lucy had turned. "Ethel, I have an idea." Rachel blinked, unsure how to respond other than to go along with it… what other choice did she have? She had a pretty good idea of how this would end up…

TO BE CONTINUED (NEXT TUESDAY)

A/N: Okay so as you can guess this is where things start to get trickier ;)
I'll tell you more later :D