TITLE: ALL IN A DAY'S WORK - PART ONE
DISCLAIMER: The characters are the property of Spelling/Goldberg Productions, Viacom Entertainment and Screen Gems. I'm not making any money off of this, but am writing for the sheer joy and pleasure that it brings myself and anybody else that cares to read it.
RATING: Part One is PG. I don't know about the other parts, although Cindy's said hers will probably be R. I think she has some big romance scene planned.
FEEDBACK: Certainly, but if you do, email me privately at the above email addy
SUMMARY: A thunderstorm, an obligatory dinner with in-laws and helping friends through a difficult time are all in a day's work for the guys and Jill
SETTING: Immediately after 'A Matter Of Justice'.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is part
one of what I hope will be an enjoyable Round Robin story. Please be kind,
because although I've helped Cindy with several of her stories in the past,
this is my first attempt at writing anything on my own.
It was an early October morning. Mike Danko woke up and picked up the alarm clock from the nightstand, fearful that he'd overslept. The numbers on the clock read 5:25am, which meant there was just over half an hour left before the alarm was scheduled to go off. Mike couldn't put a finger on what had woke him up out of a sound sleep, until he glanced over at his wife still soundly sleeping beside him and realized that for the first time in almost two weeks, he hadn't been awakened by her crying out from the nightmare that had plagued her since the night of the shooting. He propped himself up so that he could watch her sleep, something he never tired of doing. Nine times out of ten, Jill would instinctively realize he was watching her and wake up. Mike could never quite figure out how she always seemed to know when he was awake and watching her. Moving closer, he wrapped his arms around her and drew her closer to him.
"What time is it?" Jill murmured sleepily, pressing herself still closer to him.
"Early," Mike breathed, kissing the back of her neck.
"I didn't hear the alarm," she stated, trying to move Mike's hands to more neutral territory.
"That's because I woke up before it went off," he said, trying to get Jill's mind off of the subject of alarm clocks and the day ahead.
"Then, why are you awake?" She asked, disengaging herself from his arms and rolling over to face him.
"It was quiet and I thought maybe you'd gotten up. When I saw that you were still asleep, my mind began reeling with a hundred different little details regarding the day ahead," he explained.
"What details?" Jill queried.
"Well, the main topic of conversation that we've been avoiding for a week now involves dinner tonight with my parent's. I get off work at six, but my parent's also eat dinner at six. Now, we seriously need to work out the logistics of this. They've been wanting to see us since the night...they just want to see for themselves that you're okay. Do you want to just meet me over there or do you want me to pick you up here and we can just show up for coffee and dessert? It's your call," he finished as Jill threw back the covers and got out of bed.
"Mike, if it were really my call, we wouldn't be going at all. I know we have to make appearances with them from time to time. I'll call your mother and see if they can postpone dinner until 7 or 7:30. If they want to see you badly enough, I'm sure they can concede on that point, at least. I'm just really not up to stilted conversation with them about what happened that night," she sighed, walking to the bathroom and partially closing the door. "What am I supposed to say to them if they ask about the baby?"
"They don't know about that," Mike winced, as he waited for the expected explosion from his wife.
"You didn't tell them? Why?" Jill demanded, opening the door and staring at him.
"Because I didn't see the point. The only people who know about the baby are us and the guys. I just didn't see the point in everybody else knowing about it," he stated.
"Mike, those people already think there are enough secrets about me without you adding to the list!" Jill shouted, walking over to the closet and opening the door.
"I wasn't trying to make it a big, dark secret. I just knew you weren't ready to talk about it," he explained, as a rumble of thunder sounded in the distance.
"Now it's going to rain! This day's getting better by the minute and it hasn't even officially started, yet! Let me our agenda straight for the day. First, I have a doctor's appointment this morning to make sure everything's healing okay. Then, later on, I get to look forward to driving to Culver City to visit your parent's, who know that I was shot, but don't know all of the details! Am I leaving anything out?" She demanded sarcastically.
"You forgot the rain," Mike suggested as Jill glared at him.
Jill was standing at the sliding glass doors staring at the falling rain when Mike walked out of the bedroom an hour later. He walked over and pulled her close just as the doorbell rang.
"I'll get it," she sighed, pulling out of his grasp. Walking over to the door, she opened it to let in Terry Webster and Willie Gillis.
"Hey, is Mike ready to roll?" Terry asked as Mike walked toward the door.
"I'll call you at lunchtime, babe, to find out what the doctor said," Mike said, kissing her gently before following the guys out the door.
"Somebody doesn't appear too happy this morning, Danko," Terry observed as they walked downstairs toward their cars.
"Yeah, I know. We have this dinner tonight with my folks and spending time with them always tends to make Jill a little uptight," Mike explained.
"Well, with everything that's been going on, maybe she needs a break. You know, some quiet time with just the two of you," Willie remarked as Terry nodded in agreement.
"You're right, William, she does probably need just that. But, I've been promising my parent's for a week now that I'd bring Jill around and I don't think I can put them off any longer," Mike said as he unlocked his door. "Don't worry about it. It'll all work out."A couple of hours later, Mike was asking himself how in the hell he'd gotten stuck with the beach. Nothing ever happened on the beach and this time of year, there was hardly even any traffic along this stretch of road. When he'd asked the lieutenant why he was being relegated to traffic hell, Ryker had told him it would give him time to think. All he'd done for the last two weeks was think. Now he sat and thought about the upcoming evening with his parent's. He wasn't any more thrilled than Jill was to be spending an evening with them.
When he'd called them that night and told them about what had happened, he hadn't yet known about the baby. When he found out the next morning, he didn't see the point in calling them and telling them. It didn't change the course of anything. They'd sent flowers to the hospital and had agreed with Mike's suggestion about waiting to visit Jill when she returned home. He just didn't think they'd start calling right away with dinner invitations. Mike had finally relented and agreed that they'd make an appearance after his father had accused him of avoiding them.
Mike was brought out of his reverie by a sports car speeding by him on the curving road. He got on the radio and requested a want on the license plate as he turned on his lights and siren and gave chase.
The sports car suddenly turned off of the main road down a trail that was sandy to begin with, but now boggy and treacherous in parts due to the driving rain. Mike worried about cracking the oil pan on one of the numerous large rocks that were scattered throughout the road.
The car sped across a large puddle and Mike gave chase, but because he wasn't going as fast as the sports car, he bogged down. Trying to get out of the rather deep puddle was fruitless and all he got as a result was further bogged down.
"Control, this is Ludlow 7,
requesting a tow truck off of Old Canyon Road. I'm not exactly sure where
I am. It looks like some kind of dune buggy trail. Ludlow 7, out," Mike
said, taking his finger off the transit button and slamming the microphone
down in disgust.