"Here Partner, have a cookie." Pete held out an Oreo to Jim. Pete was well known for thinking on his feet; he knew if he could get Jim to eat an Oreo it would turn him into an accomplice. Jimmy parroted Pete's offer of a cookie. Jim had intended to play the stern father but the sight of both Pete and Jimmy grinning up at him, cookies in hand, was more than Jim could resist. He grabbed the cookie from Pete's hand and took a seat at the table.

"I'll make you a deal. I won't tell Jean about the cookies, if you make me some chocolate milk." While Pete filled a glass with milk, Jim reopened the Oreo package. He too, pulled out the tray to steal two from the back end of the tray. "If I'm going to take the blame for four cookies, it might as well be six."

"Hey. If you're getting your own, give me back my Oreo." Pete had opened the cabinet where Jean kept the Ovaltine. He paused to consider things before he removed the Ovaltine from the shelf. Pete brought the Ovaltine over to the table, opening it up with the intent of giving Jim some. His thinking being that it would be better if Jim didn't catch on about the Bosco. Pete hadn't counted on Jimmy pointing at the Ovaltine jar and saying "Yucky. Bad."

Pete paused; a spoonful of Ovaltine hovered over Jim's glass of milk. He had said the stuff was yucky when he put it back in the cabinet. However, he thought he had been talking low enough that Jimmy wouldn't hear him. Pete dumped the chocolate powder into Jim's glass, stirring it vigorously.

"Here you go Jim. Don't forget to dunk your cookie in it." Jim picked up his glass, noticing that his chocolate milk was much lighter than Pete and Jimmy's drinks were. He had an idea as to why they were different shades of brown and he made the obvious move. He stole Pete's glass.

Pete, who had been helping Jimmy dunk his Oreo, accidently dropped the cookie into Jimmy's drink while making a grab to get his Bosco back. Pete and Jim were too busy doing a two-person version of Tug-O-War over the much better Bosco to notice what Jimmy was doing. The child wanted his cookie back so he stuck his hand into the glass to reach it. The glass tipped over, covering the table and Jimmy in chocolate milk.

"****!" Both men turned to gape at Jimmy, who had used the "s" word properly.

"This is your fault." Jim was all ready to blame Pete for both the spill and the language. Pete countered the argument pointing out that Jimmy wouldn't have had to reach for his cookie if Jim hadn't stolen his Bosco.

"Bosco? You gave Jimmy Bosco and me Ovaltine?" That fact seemed to annoy Jim more than the spilt chocolate milk.

"You like Ovaltine!" Pete felt the need to point out the obvious to Jim, who seemed to be getting a little red in the face.

"I like Bosco better," Jim spoke as if his best friend should know at least that fact about him.

In the meantime, Jimmy was gnawing on a soggy Oreo. He was covered in Bosco, as was the table. The floor was practically clean thanks to the dog.

The two adults stopped fighting over the good chocolate milk when the phone rang. It being Jim's house, he answered it. Pete took advantage of the call to down the rest of the Bosco. From the conversation, Pete knew that Jim was talking to Mac. "Yes, he's here" caught Pete's attention. There was a series of "yes sirs". "No sirs" and "I'll tell hims". While Jim was on the phone, Pete started to clean up the mess. He was more concerned about Jean coming home than he was about the conversation on the phone.

"Take Jimmy and get him changed. I'll clean up the mess in here." Jim got the unspoken message; Pete didn't want to hear what Mac had said, yet. When Jim returned with a clean Jimmy, Pete was almost done cleaning up the mess. He brushed off Jim's offer to wash the glasses, telling him to take Jimmy out back to play catch. Once the kitchen was cleaned up and everything else put away, Pete opened the refrigerator to put the milk away. In plain view, sat the small plate with the carrot sticks meant for Jimmy's snack. To cover his tracks, Pete took a handful of carrot sticks off the plate. He ate three and gave another four to the dog.

An hour later, Jean returned to a clean kitchen, a surprisingly clean son and a dog that looked a little green around the gills. Pete and Jim had hardly spoken while they played catch with Jimmy. It hadn't escaped Jim's attention that his partner's mood had soured with the phone call from Mac. Jim was dying to know why but he knew not to ask. Pushing Pete wouldn't help. Jim learned very quickly on that Pete was a private person. He would share what he wanted to share when he was ready, not before.

The game of catch ended when Jean called in everyone to lunch. She had already set four plates with Turkey sandwiches on the table. It was assumed that Pete would join them. Jean offered the guys a choice between lemonade and iced tea. Both men held their breath and cast an eye heavenward, praying that Jean didn't offer Jimmy Ovaltine. The crisis was averted when Jean poured Jimmy a glass of apple juice.

"Pete, I meant to ask. How are you feeling?" Pete had assumed Jim told her about the bar fight because Jean hadn't been surprised to see him with a black eye. Jean was genuinely worried about Pete; he had noticed her watching him during the game of catch. Had Jim told her about his bullying the resident? Pete didn't ask.

"Not too bad, a little sore is all." Actually, whatever pain medication they had given him in the hospital had long ago worn off and he was feeling it. As much as Pete hated to take anything stronger than aspirin, he was considering getting that prescription filled.

"Mac said that since you were on light-duty, you didn't have to work AM watch tonight but that you needed to be there at 8 am tomorrow." Jim paused, hoping for a reaction from his friend, when he didn't get it, he pressed a little harder. "Did you go back to the hospital or is Mac putting you on light duty without a report from the doctor?"

"I went back", Pete's tone of voice said that it wasn't his decision to go back to the ER. Not that Pete was too upset about not having to show up for watch tonight. His head was starting to throb and his stomach hurt.

"Pete? Did you and Mac have a falling out?" Jim waited until lunch was over and Jean had taken Jimmy to put him down for a nap, before he asked Pete a few more questions. It wasn't what Mac said, but the way he said it that had Jim wondering.

"We have a difference of opinion. I believed the Captain when he said I had full control over all aspects of training. Mac feels that I overstepped my boundaries by threatening Wells. He is taking it to the Captain." Pete shrugged his shoulders, but was he really not concerned about his position?

"Well? What if Mac gets to the Captain?" Once again, Jim found himself trying to pry information out of his partner.

"If Mac makes enough of a fuss to get the Captain to change his mind, then the division will need a new CTO." Jim was still trying to wrap his mind around that when Jean returned to the kitchen with Jimmy in her arms.

"I can't get him to go down for a nap. Didn't you and Pete play with him a lot? He should be tired." Pete and Jim exchanged glances and silently agreed to not say anything about the "Bosco Fiasco".

"Let me try. I'll read him a book. It might help." Jim thought Pete volunteered in an attempt to avoid both his and Jean's questions, but he was wrong. Pete really did want to spend some alone time with his Godson. Time spent with Jimmy helped to center his mind.

Pete, who knew a sugar high when he saw one, choose a longer than usual Dr. Seuss book. "Horton Hatches an Egg" was a favorite of both of them. By the end of the book, Jimmy was drowsy, but not ready to sleep. Pete was about to offer to read it again, when Jimmy asked him for something that Pete never did when Jim and Jean were home; he wanted Pete to sing the "Noah" song to him.

When Jimmy was a baby, Pete would occasionally sing to him when the boy wasn't feeling well, but only while he was babysitting. It wasn't that Pete was embarrassed by his singing because he was, in fact, rather good at it. Pete had been a soloist in both the youth and adult choirs in church, before he became a lapsed Catholic.

There was almost nothing that Pete wouldn't do for the child who held his heart. He sang softly to avoid being heard, but as Jean reached to open the door and check on them, she heard something that made her freeze;

"A long time ago, when the earth was green…."