I'd brought in Lou a few times before. He was harmless. The trick with Lou was to bring him food – the greasier the better.

I drove to the closest Cluck in a Bucket drive-thru.

"You see this here, is a good idea," chimed in Lula. "We can get a second lunch. I want a bucket and cheese fries. What are you getting?"

"I don't want anything. I'm just grabbing a mystery parts bucket for Lou."

"Say what? You can't go to Cluck in a Bucket and not get something for yourself. You'll upset the fry cooks with an attitude like that."

"I just ate lunch. I don't need any chicken. And they won't know this bucket isn't mine."

Lula looked thoughtful. "You're serious about this. This eating healthy thing. You know what this is? This is your Saturn Return."

We pulled up to the speaker box and I put in our order.

I wasn't sure I wanted to know, but curiosity won out. I turned to Lula, "My what?"

"Your Saturn return. Every thirty years or so, Saturn moves back to where it was when you were born, and he shakes shit up. He shook your life up when you became a bounty hunter. I guess now the dust has settled and you've got to make the most of it. It's all about growth and maturity and all that."

I wasn't sure I liked the idea of a planet being responsible for my choices, but if it made Lula more supportive, I'd take it.

I parked and we knocked on Lou's door.

"Lou," I called out. "It's Stephanie Plum. I brought chicken."

He opened the door, looking bleary eyed and smelling like stale beer. "You're an angel," he said waving us inside.

"You missed your Court date." I said as we sat at his formica table. "It was Tuesday."

"I knew there was something I'd forgotten. I've not been the same since Marie died. She took care of all of the appointments."

This was an understatement. Lou's wife of forty years had died last winter and he'd taken to self-medicating. Sometimes that self-medicating took place in the parking lot of the liquor store and he was picked up by the police. I put a Cluck Bucket and a potato and gravy in front of him. At least potato was a vegetable.

I sat back while Lou and Lula ate their chicken. Sometimes it felt like my job was more social worker than law enforcement. I wasn't opposed to this part, but it wasn't always as enjoyable as finding skips and cracking cases. Lula however, was surprisingly good at it.

When Lou was finished, I told him that if we went downtown now, Vinnie would be able to bond him back out again. I called Vinnie while he put on some fresh clothes and we got into my Honda.

With Lou turned over to Robyn at the booking desk and Vinnie standing by, Lula and I headed back to the Bonds Office – she to pretend to file and me to turn in my body receipt and run reports on Rosa and William Hodge. At 5, I left to go to Eden and my first self-defence class.

The class was led by a PT named Abby. Abby was 5'3", blonde and looked like she took no crap from anyone. She took us through some of the more basic manoeuvres for breaking holds and basic strikes, then she paired us up to practice with a partner.

As this wasn't my first self-defence class, she partnered with me.

"Good, Steph. Put more weight on your back leg. It'll give you more force when you drive that arm through."

It was nice to be reminded that I was actually ok at this. I was definitely out of practice, but my muscles were remembering what I learned to do last time. We would run through some movement combinations, and then she would leave me to practice alone while she moved among the other pairs.

After an hour, my arms were aching. Abby returned to the front of the room to dismiss the class. I thanked her on my way out.

"You did really good today, Steph. I'd practice some cardio though as well. Self-defence will help you with your confidence, but never underestimate a well-placed knee and running like hell."

She was preaching to the choir.