Jean was afraid to make any noise as she drew her hand back from the doorknob. Tears began to well up in her eyes as she listened to that full baritone sing her son a lullaby. It was a window into a side of Pete Malloy she never knew existed. Tough, demanding, hard, sarcastic, intimidating were all terms people had used to describe Pete, but this was….tender.

Jim had seen the "soft" side of Pete before Jean had; did he know about this? Somehow, Jean doubted that anyone they knew, save Jimmy, had ever heard his Godfather sing. Part of her wanted to stay there and listen at the door; another part told her that she was trespassing. It was the latter part that made her wipe away the tears before she went back to join Jim in the kitchen. She wouldn't tell Jim what she had overheard; a moment that "sacred" wasn't meant to be shared.

Ten minutes later, Pete, drawn by the smells of coffee and pie, came back to the kitchen. He assured his friends that Jimmy was finally asleep. Jean watched for any sign that Pete knew she had been outside the door, but he didn't mention it if he did. She was worried that Pete would stop singing to Jimmy if he knew that she overheard him. Pete stayed just long enough to down a mug of coffee and a piece of apple pie. When he stood up to leave, Jean did too. She took him into a hug and kissed his cheek, thanking him for taking care of Jimmy. That was somewhat unusual for Jean, but Pete took it anyway. It was much better than her goodbyes of late.

As luck would have it, Pete was long gone when the dog threw up Oreo pieces and carrots.

"James Reed! What have you been feeding the dog?" Only a deep sense of self-preservation kept Jim from stating the obvious. Jean could see as well as he did just what the dog had been eating. He watched Jean as she went to the counter and took out the package of Oreos. Once she opened them and saw the same four missing cookies that had been eaten yesterday. She peered over at her husband. Jim opted for silence, choosing not to show her where the cookie the dog threw up came from. Come to think of it, he didn't remember any of them dropping an Oreo. The evidence was clear that someone had though, but, where had the carrot pieces come from?

"I'm waiting." She stood in the middle of the kitchen, arms crossed over her chest. Jim didn't know what to say. He could easily blame the whole thing on Pete. After all, he was the one who had stolen the first cookies, but to do so might anger Jean and she was finally realizing that Judy's story was slanted against Pete. More than that, she had kissed him! Where did that come from?

"Does it matter, really?" Jim's eyes were pleading with Jean to let it go. He took her into his arms and kissed her with enough passion behind I to distract her from the matter of the dog and the cookies.

Pete had gone back to his apartment to work on the training report he had yet to write. He had nine out of ten reports; he didn't think Ed's would be necessary anymore. Try as he might, he couldn't concentrate on the details in the reports on the probationers. His left eye was throbbing and each movement caused him considerable pain. Finally, he gave in and went to the drug store. He was climbing the stairs to go back to his apartment when he noticed something white sticking out from under the door. He couldn't believe what he saw; it was a file containing the training report he was missing. Ed had apparently stopped by while he was gone. He wondered if Ed really thought this would help him out of the trouble he was in.

Forty-five minutes and one pain pill later, Pete was hard at work. When necessary, he would call the training officers to discuss certain details or problems he found. Pete considered ignoring Ed's report on Fraser, but it wasn't in him to do half a job. It was after midnight when he finally went to bed.

At midnight, Jim was starting his shift. He didn't know Sergeant Gordan very well but this was his and Pete's regular watch. He wasn't thrilled to find out that Woods had been moved over to cover for Pete; he would have preferred an L car for tonight. He liked Woods. Jerry was an amiable guy but he talked more than Ed did and Jim couldn't answer most of his questions. They had all wanted to know where Pete was. It was more than answering about Pete's injuries. Even though the officers involved yesterday weren't supposed to talk about it, there was constant speculation about Pete's involvement and Ed's possible fate. Jim, who had been present at both incidents, was constantly forced into giving no answer answers.

A nagging feeling told Pete that he should be early to work today. He was getting very tired of these omens; couldn't God stop sending them? Better yet, could things calm down? It was 7 am and Pete was already by his locker changing into his uniform. He didn't look up at the sound of the locker room door opening. The odds were that it was someone on the tail end of the AM watch. Pete only saw the flash of a person as they went by his row of lockers, but it was enough. Mac was here.

The silence in the locker room had gone way beyond uncomfortable. Maybe it was petty of Pete to not greet Mac, but the sergeant had set the tone by ignoring him. Mac had to know as well as Pete did that there was a confrontation coming. He understood Mac's not wanting to give up some of his authority, but he felt that he needed that authority to do the CTO job properly. Clearly, the Captain had been on Pete's side; would he still be was the question. Pete wondered if Mac had already spoken to Captain Moore.

In the end, it was Mac who broke the silence. Pete had finished dressing and was heading for the door and the ever-present coffee in the breakroom when he heard Mac:

"Be in my office in ten minutes." Mac, one of Pete's closest friends, was being cold and impersonal. Would that friendship survived this clash of wills? Pete skipped the cup of coffee. This wasn't going to be a nice, friendly chat; certainly not the typical relaxed conversation one usually had over coffee. He was standing, going over a few messages left for him, when Mac entered the office and closed the door. Pete, who wasn't in the mood to placate the older man or defer to Mac's opinion, waited for MacDonald to start.

"I haven't spoken to the captain yet about you. The fact is that you had no right to assume authority over issues that are my call. It will go a lot easier if you admit your mistake." They stood at arm's length glaring at each other like two rams fighting over a flock of ewes.

"You're the one making a mistake; right now. Maybe you should talk to the captain before you go around condemning my actions." So far, both men were just barely keeping their tempers. If one of them didn't back down it could turn ugly fast.

"I don't care if you think you have the authority, you should have cleared it with me before you threatened Wells. " What MacDonald wasn't getting was that if Pete had been given the authority over determining who was fit to be a training officer, there would be no need to clear it with him.

"Why would I need to clear it with you and how was I supposed to do that? Ask Wells to wait while I stopped and called you on the phone?" Pete's temper was rising as fast as Mac's. Both were known for being stubborn to the extreme. Things were not going well.

"You have to clear it with me because I am the Sergeant! Or have you forgotten that fact? I out-rank you Malloy." If anyone were over hearing this argument, they wouldn't catch the line that MacDonald crossed.

"I know that Mac! I was there, remember?" Early in their partnership, Jim had asked Pete about some station scuttlebutt. Reed had been told that Pete, not Mac, was the odds on favorite to make sergeant one year, but that he didn't even try for it and Mac was promoted. Jim always thought there was more to the story than Pete's explanation that he wasn't ready for a desk job.

"How dare you bring that up? You made your choice." Mac, who had closed his hand into a fist, took a step closer to Pete.

"Yeah, I made my choice, but have I ever brought that time up? Cashed in on it? Do you really think I'm even talking about that now?" Pete would rather turn into stone than back away from Macdonald.

"Name me one instance where I didn't respect your rank or follow your orders." Not wanting to get off the street was behind his reasoning, but the fact that his friend was ready to, did play into Pete's decision. Mac, Pete, Val Moore and Captain Grant were the only four people who knew everything about Pete's choice to not take the sergeants' exam.

"You are doing it right now, Malloy. Arguing with me when you know I am right." Mac was showing no sign of being willing to give up the bone.

"You're wrong MacDonald. I was willing to wait and discuss this with the Captain. This little chat was your idea, not mine." Both men were breathing heavy and getting louder by the second. It might have come to blows if Captain Moore hadn't opened the door.

Instantly, both men stepped away from each other. Neither one said a word, but the Captain knew both well enough to know he had walked in on an argument. He took a seat on the edge of the desk, facing both men. Moore knew their history together. In all that time, he had never seen them this upset with the other one. The Captain depended on these two men working well together. Would he be able to solve their argument and keep them both happy?

"Talk."