Neither Pete nor Mac seemed to be in a talkative mood. At the Captain's suggestion, they had moved further apart but continued to glare at each other. They reminded Moore of a picture he had once seen of two lurching pit bulls held back by a hand on their collar. The problem with being the referee in such a fight was the very real possibility of getting bit by one or both of the dogs. As yet, the captain didn't know what issue had caused the blow-up, but he was determined to find out.

"If neither one of you wishes to talk first, I shall do it." He knew both men were strong-willed and stubborn as a Texas mule. It made them two of the best officers he had ever worked with, but it made mediating a problem. He would have to exercise his best 'command' presence or he might lose one of them.

"Does this have anything to do with the hostage situation yesterday morning or is it something else?" Eeny, meeny, minee, mo. Which one should he force the first answer out of? "I want an answer gentlemen and I want it now." Pete stood closer to him, so he turned his full glare on his former trainee.

"No Sir." If Moore had expected a speech from Pete, he was sorely disappointed. A questioning glance at Mac was returned with the same two word phrase. But Val Moore was a patient man.

"Alright, does this have anything to do with Pete's black eye? " It was the next logical question and it did result in more detail, but not much. Pete's "No Sir" had been followed by Mac's "indirectly, Sir". Pete shot a look at Mac that would have been insubordination if he had put it into words.

"We seem to have a difference of opinion, gentlemen. Would one of you care to explain this paradox?" This time, the captain focused his attention on MacDonald, whose answer had given the captain a place to start. Mac didn't seem inclined to expand on his earlier comment.

"Well?"

"It's not really about that, Sir." Again, he got an answer that told him nothing. Moore had come to the opinion that calling these two officers stubborn as mules was an insult to the animal. Mules will at least cooperate when a carrot is dangled in front of them.

"Then what did you mean by "indirectly"? Instead of answering, MacDonald turned to look at Malloy, gauging what, if anything, he should say. Moore stood and took a step towards Mac, but it was Pete who finally spoke up.

"I think he means that I wouldn't have been around for our dispute if I had stayed in the emergency room...Sir." Still, barely enough information to build on.

"You mean if you hadn't bullied your way out of there." Mac had taken a step closer to Pete, but he was stopped from getting any closer by the Captain.

The captain kept himself from asking details about that tidbit; he could find out about that later. He nodded for Pete to continue.

"What Mac said isn't true, Sir. I might have been put on light-duty status; however, I still would have been in the station when…" Pete left the remainder of that thought alone. If Mac wanted to explain the rest, it was fine with him.

"When Pete threatened Ed Wells." There, now it was out in the open. Mac leaned back against the wall, seemingly satisfied that he had put Pete on the spot. All that was required now was for the captain to set Malloy straight. Instead, Captain Moore moved to stand directly in from of him.

"From what I know about Ed Wells' conduct in recent weeks, I'm not at all surprised that Pete threatened him. I'm probably going to do the same thing myself later today." Mac's eyes darted between the captain's face and Pete's. He never thought that he would be put on the spot over this fight.

"By the way Pete, what did you threaten to do to Officer Wells? Please tell me you didn't threaten to geld the man, as tempting as that is." Those two were laughing, but Mac had obviously missed the joke. During his conversation with the captain on Friday, Pete had said that his Grandfather's method of dealing with arrogant and uncooperative stallions was to castrate them.

"I said that if he wasn't willing to do the job of training officer, he should quit and if he didn't, I might have to do it for him." Pete spoke with the confidence of someone who knew they could back up their threat. Now the ball was in Mac's court.

"He can't do that. It isn't his job to decide who gets to be a training officer!" While Pete was calming down, Mac seemed to be getting more agitated. "Plus, he did it in front of other officers on that shift." MacDonald was getting the feeling that he was trying to keep hold of a slippery fish with his bare hands. Surely the captain would see his side, eventually.

"I did try several times to get Ed to come in here so we could talk in private, but he refused. I didn't even mean to threaten to remove him, it just came out." A shrug of one shoulder and a grin came with the explanation.

"You are right Mac. Pete can't decide to make someone a training officer. That is a decision for me to make after the test results and weighing different officer's opinions." Now this was more like it; Mac smirked, sure that the captain would back him.

"He doesn't, however, have to work with anyone who is not qualified or who refuses to do the job properly. If he wants to remove someone, that is within his power." Captain Moore paused to let that sink in before continuing. "I understand that wasn't always the policy regarding training officers, but I have complete confidence in Pete. It was my belief that you did too."

"Don't I have some input in that decision? I am the one who assigns the men." Mac pointed his index finger at Pete." Not him." As Mac saw it, this was still a challenge to his position. He needed the captain to understand that. Pete almost batted away that pointing finger; his hand had jerked a little, but he held back. Hitting Mac would only make things worse.

"How many times has Pete spoken to you about Wells in the last two months?" Captain Moore asked, but he already knew the answer from previous conversations with both men. He needed to get MacDonald to understand that his input had been taken into account. When he got no answer to his question, Moore plowed on.

"Do you think he made this decision without considering your opinion? Yes, I gave him the power to remove a bad training officer, but only after both of you knew the problem and took actions to try and correct it. Ultimately, Pete is the one who has to work closely with the TOs. It should be his decision." It seemed to the captain, that MacDonald was starting to look at this logically, so, he turned to Pete.

"Pete, do you trust Mac with your life?" Malloy was caught off-guard. What did that have to do with anything?

"Eh. Why do….Yes. Of course I do." Pete stammered and turned toward his friend. Whatever anger he was holding on to faded as he met MacDonald's eyes. How had things gotten so heated?

"Bill, do you trust Pete with your life?" Unlike Pete, Mac expected the question and had his answer ready.

"Always." He let go of any lingering anger towards his longtime friend. The captain was right; Pete had never once challenged Mac's position as his superior officer. He had debated issues; questioned things, argued, but he had always deferred to Mac in the end. Pete was the one he went to for advice and a different perspective on things.

"Are we done now? Maybe you two don't remember, but I've got a much bigger mess to deal with and I don't intend to handle it by myself!" It felt good to laugh. Mac clapped Pete on the shoulder; offering him a cup of coffee. They consented to let the captain join them.

The three of them sat in the break room drinking coffee and catching up with each other. The first subject they discussed was the accident that Mac's wife and kids had been in. Were they okay? Did Mac need to postpone things here for a day? They were all sure that Wells wouldn't mind another day before facing them. It was jokingly suggested that they wait until a lieutenant was assigned to replace Lt. Rodgers, who had retired a few weeks ago. Four of them would definitely be more intimidating.

They had time to linger, talking about Moore's daughter's upcoming wedding and how his son was doing on his basketball team. The state of Pete's romantic life wasn't discussed. Instead Pete talked about Jimmy and how they managed to sneak the Oreos. Mac couldn't believe it.

"Wait. You taught my kids that trick, didn't you? Mary still blames me." Pete purposely avoided making eye contact with Mac and responded with a non-committal, "I'm sure I am not the only person to do that." Captain Moore burst out laughing; he knew what Pete was doing.

Mac was still trying to pin Pete down when Rusty, the older officer who worked the front desk came into the breakroom. As he helped himself to a mug of coffee they heard him muttering about people keeping him from getting his coffee. He might have been talking to himself, but the three occupants of the room heard him. Captain Moore turned to look at Rusty and asked if there was a problem.

"I need caffeine and no one will bring me a cup of coffee because you three are hogging the breakroom. You're scaring them…Leave." While they may have been too dense to notice that the room emptied when they got there and that no one had come in since, they could take a hint.

They refilled their mugs and headed towards the Captain's office. Already, there were two officers from the other night waiting in the outer office. Both were only witnesses, but they had that "deer in the headlight" look about them. It was understanding; no one wanted to speak against a fellow officer. Inside the office, Captain Moore took a seat at his desk.

"Today is not going to be easy, but before we start with them. I have one question." He paused for effect. "Exactly, who did you bully and why?"