To my loyal readers, a hearty thank you; and a small warning, I might not be posting a chapter a day for this one, but I will do my best. I hope you enjoy - and I appreciate everyone who reads and everyone who reviews. I do this for the love of the characters and their world - and do not profit in any way except with pure enjoyment. I hope it is mutual.

Inspector Steve Keller looked up from the file on his desk as his partner entered the bullpen and crossed wearily to his office. The sun had set long ago and the inspector and a couple of others were the only ones manning the large semi-dark room.

Lieutenant Mike Stone, trying to suppress a yawn while attempting to work the kinks out of his stiff neck, stood beside his desk and looked around, as if suddenly unsure why he was there. Steve got up and, with a warm smile, moved silently to the inner office door. "You should sit down before you fall down," he said with a quiet chuckle. "Was the meeting that boring?"

The yawn finally breaking surface, Mike closed his eyes and threw his head back with a heavy sigh. "Roy and I were taking bets as to which one of us was going to fall asleep first. I'm not sure who won – I think it was a tie." He shook his head quickly to wake himself up. "I didn't expect you to stick around."

"Well, I didn't have a date tonight, and I figured you might need someone to drive you home so you wouldn't fall asleep behind the wheel."

Mike looked at him with amused skepticism. "Just how long do you think it takes me to drive home?" he asked with a quick laugh, but he knew the real reason behind the weak excuse. Steve had just broken up with his latest 'flame', this one lasting over three months, and he didn't relish the idea of going home to an empty apartment. The young man had a habit of becoming 'clingy' whenever he was recovering from a battered heart.

Chuckling, Steve motioned with his head towards the coat rack. "Pack up and let's get out of here. We'll need to pick up something to eat on the way. And let's make ourselves scarce before the phone rings."

"Yeah, sounds like a plan," Mike replied sluggishly as he crossed around behind his desk to clear it off. He had just taken his .38 out of the top side drawer and was clipping it onto his belt when the phone rang. He looked at the phone and froze, then glanced up into the bullpen, meeting his partner's eyes.

With a sardonic smile, shake of his head and a chuckle, Steve continued to clear up his desk and put on his jacket.

With obvious reluctance, Mike picked up the handset. "Homicide, Stone."

Ready to go, Steve moved slowly to the inner office door and leaned against the frame. Other than the occasional "Yes" and "I see", Mike barely said anything as the one-sided conversation dragged on. He glanced up at his young partner, his look unreadable, then sat.

Frowning, Steve pushed away from the door and dropped into the guest chair, staring at his partner, who's own countenance was unfocused but obviously concerned.

"So, ah, when would you need us to leave? That is, if we agree, and we're a team on this, of course." He glanced up at Steve but the younger man could glean nothing from the still neutral expression. After another long silence, Mike said, "Okay, well, let me talk to Steve and I'll get back to you as soon as I can… Yeah, it won't be long."

Another pause. "All right, thanks." Mike hung up the receiver and sat back as Steve leaned forward.

"So, ah, what do you have to talk to me about?" the inspector asked, unable to keep the curiosity out of his voice.

Mike was still staring at the phone. "Well, that's a first," he said quietly, sounding a little awed.

"Mike, I need a little more information here…" Steve chuckled, waving his fingers in a 'come on, come on' gesture.

"Ah, yeah, well, seems that Rudy heard that things have been kinda quiet down here the last few days, and he was wondering if we could give Narcotics a hand."

"A hand? What, undercover?"

"No, not quite. They've had a nationwide APB out for a guy who's been running heroin and cocaine in North Beach and the 'Loin. They finally managed to turn one of his runners against him, they've got him dead to rights, but he took off a couple of weeks ago before they could collar him and disappeared. They knew he was from back east, rural Kentucky, and they figured he went back there.

"Well, this morning they got a call from a small town in the Appalachian Mountains in southeast Kentucky – they got the guy. Some small town sheriff got the APB and knew who the guy was and they nabbed him."

Steve nodded, impressed. "So, ah, so how do you and I figure into this?"

Mike took a deep breath and sighed, trying not to grin. "Well, ah, they gotta get this guy back here and as Narcotics is up to its proverbial eyeballs in cases right now, and we're sort of in a lull, as he put it, Rudy was wondering if you and I might, ah, take a road trip and bring this guy back."

"He wants us to drive to Kentucky and back?" Steve spluttered, sitting back.

"No, not drive, Mr. Literal," Mike shot back with widened eyes and a shake of his head. "We'd fly to Louisville and rent a car."

"Oh, well, that makes more sense." Steve nodded with a facial shrug. "So, you have reservations about us going…?"

"Well, I wanted to talk to you first, of course. I can't make the decision for both of us."

"Since when," Steve said under his breath, and Mike pretended not to hear.

"So, do you want to do it?"

"When do we go… if we go?"

"Tomorrow morning."

Steve thought about it. "So, what, we just get there, drive to this small town and pick this guy up, drive back to Louisville and fly out?"

"I guess."

"We don't get to do any sight-seeing?"

"You want to sight-see?"

"Well, I've never been to Kentucky before, have you?"

"No. I never really thought about it."

"Well, how long does it take to drive from Louisville to this town, whatever it is?"

"I have no idea."

"You're just a font of information, aren't you?" Steve chuckled.

"Hey, I got the bare bones from Rudy, 'cause I wanted to talk to you about it first," Mike whined, shaking his head in friendly frustration. Steve laughed harder, sitting back and crossing his legs, enjoying the moment. "All right, smarty, I'll get more information, but do you want to go or not?"

"Of course I want to go. Are you kidding? A free trip halfway across the country? Why not?" He lowered his eyes, staring at the older man. "What? Don't you want to go?"

Mike stifled another yawn, then he nodded with a smile. "Yeah, sure, why not? It'll be good to get away, even if it's only for a couple a days. I've never been to that part of the country; it might be nice to see some of it. And like you said, on someone else's dime, that works for me too."

Steve clapped his hands and began to stand. "All right. So why don't you call Rudy and tell him we'll do it and then we gotta get out of here and pack."

Mike chuckled at his partner's sudden enthusiasm. Grinning, he reached for the phone to dial the captain's number. He knew the break and the change of scenery would go a long way in healing the romantic turbulence in the young man's life.

# # # # #

Mike tossed his suitcase into the trunk of the tan LTD then got into the passenger seat. As the large sedan pulled away from the curb in front of his house, he glanced over at the driver. Steve couldn't seem to contain his enthusiasm.

"You know it's gonna take us almost all day to get there, right?" he said gently.

"Yeah, I know, but, Mike, come on, a road trip? You gotta love it. I know the other guys're gonna be jealous." He chuckled almost sadistically and Mike laughed.

"Well, what with the time difference and all that, we'll be lucky to get to the airport motel by dinnertime tonight. I talked to the sheriff in Kearney, and he said he'd be expecting us late tomorrow night, if the weather holds out and we can make the trip from Louisville to Kearney in one day. It's quite a haul." Mike had taken a Kentucky map out of his inside topcoat pocket and put on his glasses. "We gotta go through Lexington and down through the mountains on I-75. But they're expecting a lot of rain tomorrow so who knows?"

"What, you don't think I have enough experience driving up and down hills in the rain? I mean, come on, give me a challenge," Steve laughed, "throw in some San Francisco fog, just to make it interesting."

Mike chuckled and shook his head as he put the map away. "I know, I know, you can give Mario Andretti a run for his money. I just want to get there, enjoy the scenery, pick up this Donald Lee Rutter, and get back here, all in one piece, if that's not too much to ask."

"Hey, Mike, I can control what happens in the car, but I can't control what happens in the air, you know what I mean?" Steve knew that the older man was a little apprehensive about flying. He couldn't resist a little ribbing.

"Yeah, I know," Mike said quietly, looking out the side window and swallowing heavily.

# # # # #

The plane turned off of the taxiway and they could feel the pushback as it began to gain speed, barreling down the runway faster and faster. Steve, who had been staring out the window, turned to look at his seatmate. Mike, holding his fedora on his lap, had laid his head back against the seat and closed his eyes. He was immobile.

Steve's face split into a delighted grin but he managed to keep his laughter muted. His head bobbing in silent mirth, he looked back out the window in time to feel the wheels leave the ground. He could hear Mike's sudden intake of breath.

'This is going to be fun,' the younger man thought.