A/N: Thanks for the reviews everyone. Before we get started, I would like to make one thing clear - I am not trying to condone, endorse or promote the use of illegal drugs in any way, shape, or form. It's just story material from my overactive imagination. That why it's called fiction. As for the alcohol, you don't really think that they would be drinking "soda" all the time on the show while they are partying if it was not on the Cartoon Network , do you? Perhaps you should check out some of Mr. Quintel's earlier work. ;-) With all that being said, on with the story...

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Chapter 4

Mordecai awoke the next morning in a bed that was not his own with a splitting headache. He groaned and rolled over only to realize that he was lying next to Jessica. "What the…!" He yelled and quickly jumped out of the bed.

Jessica stirred sleepily and opened her eyes. "You're awake." She said.

"Yes, I'm awake. What the hell happened? We didn't…Did we…?" Mordecai asked anxiously.

"Nothing happened. You passed out on the floor and we dragged you in here and put you in the bed to let you sleep it off. This just happens to be my bed and I wasn't going to sleep on the couch…..Dude, you were so wasted! "

"What're you talking about?"

"You drank like fifteen beers and smoked a ton of pot! "

'I definitely wasn't thinking about Margaret though.' Mordecai thought to himself. "WHAT? Are you sure? I don't remember any of that."

"I don't guess that you would. You were completely out of it. I never would have guessed you for that type." She said.

"I'm not…I mean, I didn't used to be…but it was actually kind fun, from what I remember of it - even though my head is killing me now." Mordecai said. "Look, I've got to go to work. I'm already late. Thanks for...helping me take my mind off things."

"Not a problem. I'm glad you had a good time. Feel free to stop by any evening. I really enjoyed hanging out with you." Jessica offered, taking his hand.

"Uh…sure. Maybe I'll stop by again tonight. Thanks again." Mordecai said awkwardly. He wasn't sure if she was waiting for him to kiss her, but he just gave her hand a quick squeeze instead. She was cool, but she felt more like a friend. He wasn't ready to get involved with anyone else at this point. He turned and let himself out of the apartment.

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The alarm clock went off signaling it was time to get up for work. Rigby opened his eyes and covered his head with the pillow waiting for Mordecai to turn it off, but the constant beep did not let up. He crawled out from under his pile of clothes, which served as his blankets, and stared wide-eyed at Mordecai's bed. It was completely untouched - just as it was before he went to sleep. Mordecai never came back to the house last night.

Rigby showered and made his way to the front porch steps for the morning meeting. Everyone, except Mordecai, was already there. He sighed and took his seat.

Benson came out of the house carrying his clipboard and took his place at the bottom of the steps to start the meeting. "We have a lot of work to do today. The storms that rolled through yesterday downed a lot of leaves and branches. The park is a mess right now and I'm counting on you guys to get it back to normal by the end of the day. That means there is no time for slacking off! Skips, get the chainsaw and cut all the downed branches into manageable pieces. Muscle Man, you and High Fives are in charge of collecting them and hauling them to burn pile."

"Got it, boss." Muscle Man said.

"Pops, you can remove all the debris from the flowerbeds. Mordecai and Rigby – I trust you've had time to reconcile from your little argument yesterday. You two are on leaf duty. We need to have all the leaves and pinecones raked up – start with the playground area first." Benson briefly glanced up from his clipboard. "Hold on, where is Mordecai?"

Everyone looked around and shrugged, then all eyes focused on Rigby. "Why are you all staring at me? I don't know where he is. He didn't come home last night! He didn't even call or anything!"

"Hey, you know who else likes to stay out all night and not call-" Muscle Man started.

"NOT NOW, Muscle Man!" Benson yelled, growing frustrated and slightly worried at the same time. "Has anyone heard from Mordecai since yesterday?" Everyone shook their heads 'no' in unison. "Did anyone bother to call him to see if he's okay after he obviously didn't come home last night?" Everyone looked around aimlessly, avoiding Benson's glare.

"Why am I not surprised? " Benson mumbled. "Call him, Rigby, and tell him that Benson said he needs to get to work now, or he's fired! And while you're at it you should probably apologize."

"Apologize? Apologize for what? He punched me first! Look at the bruise on my cheek! "Rigby shouted, standing up and pointing to the swollen bulge on his face. "He needs to apologize to me! I was only trying to get him to do something besides mope around the house all day and everyone wants to take his side and jump all over me about it!" Rigby knew that he could have handled the situation a little differently yesterday, but he didn't appreciate Benson telling him he had to apologize to Mordecai.

"Whatever Rigby, just get him on the phone NOW!" Benson said in exasperation, realizing that Rigby did have a point. "I'll give him yesterday, but I won't put up with him skipping work again today. Can you just find out where he is?"

"Okay, okay." Rigby pulled out his cell and dialed Mordecai's number. After only a few seconds, he pressed End on the phone and put it away. "It went straight to voicemail. The battery is probably dead."

"Oh, bad show! I do hope Mordecai isn't hurt!" Pops exclaimed.

"He has the cart too!" Muscle Man bellowed. "That means that I have to haul all those branches on foot! I'm gonna punch him in the face if he ever does come back!"

"Nobody is punching anybody, Muscle Man. I will deal with Mordecai when he shows up. Now, all of you need to stop slacking off and GET TO WORK!" Benson shouted. Everyone quickly jumped up from their seats on the stairs and headed in separate directions, getting ready for the day's work.

Rigby was on his way to the shed to get the rake when he saw the cart coming up the dirt path leading into the park. He felt a sense of relief when he saw Mordecai behind the wheel.

"Mordecai!" Rigby called, trying to get the blue jay's attention. He ran out to the middle of the path, blocking the way so Mordecai wouldn't blow past him. He watched as the cart drew nearer and started to slow, finally coming to a stop.

"Rigby. What do you want?" Mordecai asked, obviously still angry.

"Dude, where have you been? Benson said he was gonna fire you if you didn't come to work today!"

"Don't worry about where I've been, dude. I have a life outside of the park, you know. Now get out of the way." Mordecai replied, a hint of arrogance to his voice.

"You do?" Rigby asked, ignoring his demand. If Mordecai had another life outside of the park, it was something that he was unaware of.

"Yeah dude, I've got new friends. They are so much cooler than anybody here."

"Oh…" Rigby sounded slightly hurt. "Look man, I'm sorry about yesterday." He fidgeted with his hands and kept looking around, obviously feeling uncomfortable with admitting he was wrong. "I shouldn't have pushed the issue about Margaret. I just didn't want you to sit around all day feeling sorry for yourself. I guess I went too far though."

"Whatever, dude." Mordecai tried to maintain his 'I don't care' attitude, but his features softened a little. Rigby could be a pain sometimes, but he couldn't stay mad at him for long.

"So, are we cool again?" Rigby asked.

There was a long pause as Mordecai seemed to consider it for a moment. "…I guess…sorry I punched you." He muttered, barely audibly.

"No worries, man. I didn't even feel it."

"Pffft…yeah right!"

"So where did you go all night?" Rigby asked.

Oh, you know, just hung out and stuff with….people. What kind of lame job does Benson have us doing today?" Mordecai changed the subject.

"Raking leaves. I was on my way to the shed to get the rake."

"Great, sounds like a blast." Mordecai rolled his eyes. "I'm going to go let Benson know I'm here before he blows a gumball or something."

"Okay, we're supposed to do the playground first, then I thought we could go get lunch at Cheezers and go play a few rounds of Strong Johns before we hit the walking trails. I'll get the rakes and meet you over there." Rigby said happily, glad that things seemed to be getting back to normal.

"Sure, dude. See you there." Mordecai drove off toward the house to see Benson.

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A/N: More soon. Thanks for reading and, as always, let me know what you think. ~Summer