The hall outside the Watch Commander's office was becoming crowded with both officers finishing up their shifts and those who were due to hit the street at four. Murphy was getting together the paperwork he would need to conduct the roll call briefing. Pete still didn't think that he had the patience to deal with a locker-room full of comics. Stalling, he reached for the short pile of messages marked for him; He tucked them into the file he had and motioned towards the empty room that was attached to the WC's office.

"Hey Murph. I've got some phone calls to return before watch. I'm going to go in there and use the phone. Jim can fill me in on the briefing." He flashed a half smile at Murph and shrugged his shoulders.

"I shouldn't let you get away with that, but I'm feeling charitable. After all, you are one of the walking wounded." He wasn't fooling the sergeant, but Murphy shook his head and chuckled as he let Pete off the hook.

The layout of the office meant that Pete was out of sight. He wasn't that worried about the men on the PM watch; most of the men either didn't know him well and those that did knew better than to get him mad. He would get into his uniform once roll call started and he could dress in peace. Usually Pete didn't shy away from the teasing; it went with the job. Today was different though. If he was honest with himself, he hasn't been on an even keel for a few weeks.

The actual break-up was simple compared to the fallout that came in its wake. Jean Reed has been short with not only him, but Jim. She and Judy were close and Pete was absolutely certain that the version Judy gave to Jean had more than a little English on it. Mac had cornered him last week; the calls from his mother were to stop. Even Jim, tired of hearing Jean complain about Pete, was not fun to be around. Having to cancel his date just added to the list. Then, there was David.

All of it had left him with a very short fuse.

Pete blessed Murphy's kind understanding. The locker room was empty and Pete dressed in silence. He managed to make it to the tail end of roll call. As quietly as possible, Pete snuck in the door and took a seat in the last row. Jim glanced back and flashed Pete a smile, which the older man returned, wondering if Jim knew what had happened with David.

Roll call ended a few minutes after Pete sat down. The officers walked past him as he waited for Jim, who, as usual, had taken a seat in the front. Once Jim reached his row, the two of them fell into step with each other. After years of riding together Jim's natural place was on Pete's right.

"Thanks for working tonight Pete. I really didn't like the idea of working an L car on a Friday night." Jim paused before adding, "Murphy said he" railroaded you into it."

Jim turned, meeting Pete's eyes, as if he was wondering which Pete he was riding with; was he spending this shift with the angry one, the sullen one or some strange new version of his friend? The hesitation and fear, yes fear, he saw in Jim's eyes disturbed Pete almost as much as David's tears did. Has he really been so bad this last month? Pete grabbed Jim's arm, steering him into the breakroom.

"Sit down Jim." Pete filled two cups with coffee and tossed twenty cents into the kitty. He set one cup in front of Jim and took the seat opposite his best friend. He ran his hand through his hair and sighed loudly.

"I don't know where to begin." He leaned back in his chair and raked his hair again with his fingers. He couldn't even look Jim in the eyes.

"I owe you an apology. It can't have been easy for you to be riding with me lately." Jim started to speak, but Pete held up a hand to stop him. "No, let me finish. This last month has been a beast, but I should never have taken it out on you. I know that Jean has been on your case because of what I did to Judy. My temper hasn't been under control. I am sorry Partner."

"That's okay Pete. I'm just glad that you aren't mad at me for the way Jean is behaving." Jim was actually trying to take some of the blame. "She doesn't understand how it was."

"Do you?" Pete reached for his coffee. "I haven't been honest with you about everything."

"I have eyes Partner, and ears. She was complaining more and more; It sound like she was trying to change you into a carbon copy of her dead husband" Jim paused a moment to let that sink it then burst into a wide grin.

"Did you really call her a bitch this morning?" He was having trouble to keep from laughing.

Pete burst out laughing. "No, I called her a hard ass. I only implied that she was a bitch."

Jim spit coffee across the table. "I don't think she got the distinction, but Jean did."

"Is that bad or good?" Both brows rose up and Pete's head tilted to the side. He wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer.

"Good. Calling Judy a bitch was the best thing for you to do. Jean knows you well enough to know that Judy had to push you really hard for you to call her that. We also didn't like her saying that you stole her son." Jim smiled and Pete felt better than he had in weeks. It felt good to have some back-up.

"We're good?" Pete asked.

"We're good." Jim grinned again, then he downed the rest of his coffee; His partner did the same.

"Let's hit the streets before Murphy tries to rope us into doing a double shift." Pete was almost out the door, but he paused and looked back, checking needlessly, to see if Jim was following him. "Thanks Partner"

"1 Adam-12, PM watch clear." Jim waited for dispatch to acknowledge the clear before turning towards his partner. He flashed Pete a full on grin and started filling Pete In on the latest "Jimmy" story.

"You'll never guess what Jimmy did this morning. I thought Jean was going to have a kitten when she came home." He paused, waiting for Pete's reaction; He was an old softie about his Godson.

"Got away from you, didn't he?" Pete didn't have any experience as a parent, but he had been a mischief maker as a child and saw some of that in Jimmy. He did his best to encourage the child in the pursuit of the pure joy that is mischief.

"How'd you know?" Jim wondered if Jean had told Pete about the "incident".

"Lucky guess. What did he do? Did he finally manage to paint the cat?" Pete had been watching Jimmy a few months ago when the boy, who had been watching his dad paint the day before, grabbed a wet paint brush and went after the cat.

"Worse. The cat would have been easier to clean up." Something in the tone of Jim's voice told Pete who it was that did the cleaning up.

"We were watching Sesame Street in the living room when the phone rang. He was singing along with the show, so, I , uh, left him alone while I answered it. "

The non-parent was already laughing; this was going to be good.

"I was only gone for five minutes, but…" The radio interrupted Jim's story.

"1 Adam-12. Public works reports a blown out traffic signal. The Watch Commander requests that you direct traffic until the stop-light is fixed. Respond Code 2." Both occupants of the squad car groaned at the assignment. "1 Adam-12, roger."

Pete flicked on the reds, using them to move cars out of their way. He then parked the car in the parking lot of a closed deli, grabbed his hat and exited the car. Jim had his hat in hand as he assumed that he would be taking the first turn at directing the traffic. The temperature was hovering around 98 degrees and there was little to no shade available, making the job worse than usual. Jim's jaw dropped as Pete strolled into the middle of the clogged up intersection and started to direct traffic. What was up with his partner?