I hope you guys like this new little adventure. Will
and Deanna go back to 1945 with the help of none other
than Q. It's a comedy/adventure.
Hope you like it.
Disclaimer: Still stands true.. Paramount owns
everything, and I'm glad they do. I just play with the
names...its recreational therapy.
p_co07@yahoo.com 

              "SCHWEET HAUT"

Deanna stood outside of her quarters. She had gone
back to retrieve some information that the Captain had
requested she bring when she began her bridge duty.
She was just about to hit the key panel to open her
door when:
"Hey, schweet haut" he said, biting on the cigar he
had in the corner of his mouth. "Howz about a Kish."
Deanna whirled around standing in the corridor behind
her was Will Riker. Her eyes immediately centered on
the red glowing tip of the cigar that was dangling out
of the corner of his mouth.
" What are you doing, Will Riker?" she asked behind her
laughter.
" Lieutenant Togas " he said as he removed the huge
cigar from his mouth "Is passing out cigars, in
celebration of the birth of his son." 
"And I suppose you have to talk like that, when you
put one of those things in your mouth?" she asked.
" No." he said with a lopsided grin. "That was just for
effect." He put the cigar back in his mouth…he pulled
up his pants, and stood in his best gangster pose,
"CEE, ya gotta talk like thigh ceee."
" Oh, I think I understand." She laughed, "And you have
to pull your pants up that way too, I suppose."
" Yeah…" he squinted. "Fur a Broad, urr pretty
schmauttt…"
"A Broad?" she laughed. "Commander." She looked at him
with those huge frightened kitten eyes, "I think
you’re in desperate need of a vacation." She stated
softly with a twitch of her nose.
" So ya, Wanna be a wise guy, ayyyye." He said as he
shuffled his body, miming an imaginary machine gun.
" You’ve been hanging around Data." She said, slowly
removing the cigar from his mouth. "Haven’t you?" 
She then placed the cigar in her mouth, with the
intention of talking like he had been, when she
accidentally inhaled. 
She immediately began to cough and removed the smoking
cigar from her mouth. "Ugh.. How can you tolerate these
things?" she coughed in-between her words. She handed
the vile fat smoking thing back to him.
" You okay?" he asked, attempting to hide his smile as
he patted her on the back.
She nodded her head, as she held her fist over her
mouth. She continued to cough.
" That thing is horrid." She choked the words out.
" I just realized something, Deanna." he said as he
bent down slightly to look into her eyes.
" What?" she swallowed.
" You’re face is beautiful." He said with a tilt of his
head… "Even when it turns green." He stated with a
playful tone. 
"Gee, thanks…" she said as she wiped away the water
that had formed under her eyes.
Riker straightened his posture, and put the cigar back
in his mouth, "Scheme ya on da bridge, schweet haut."
He winked. 
She watched him as he turned around and headed back
down the corridor towards the bridge. Shaking her head
she pushed the keypad to her quarters and walked
through the door.

" On Screen." She heard Riker demand the order as she
entered the bridge. Standing beside him they both
heard the words of the chest profile that was in
living color in front of them, yet they couldn’t
believe their eyes…It was Q.
"Q, what in the hell do you want?" Riker barked.
Suddenly in a flash of light, Q appeared in front of
them. Everyone on the bridge flinched at his sudden
and unwelcome appearance. Q was fully dressed in early
1940’s pin stripe suit, the wing tip shoes, and the
hat. He was holding a machine gun in his hand.
" Schwa ya Wanna be a tuff guy eh?" Q directed his
comment towards Riker, as he rotated the huge cigar in
his mouth from one side to the other.
" What the hell is this all about?" Riker demanded as
he stepped towards the powerful entity.
" Well you’re certainly a party pooper, aren’t you?" Q
stated, as his shoulders fell slightly.
" And you Miss Troi," he said with a wink. "Apparently
someone doesn’t like smoke." He smiled as he
approached her, reaching out to touch her hair.
Riker immediately stepped forward, stepping in-between
Q and Deanna.
" Get the hell off this Ship, Q." he ordered.
" Only if you go first." He smirked. And with a snap of
the fingers Will Riker and Deanna Troi were standing
under a street light lamp. They stood there
dumbfounded for a moment. The air was cold and windy.
As the cars and people rushed by them, ignoring the
fact that they were definitely out of place.


"Extra! Extra! Read all about it!" They heard a young
boy call out from a nearby corner.
" Come on." Riker instructed, leading her by the elbow
across the busy street.
" What day is this?" Riker asked the young lad.
" Whaler ya." the bubble gum chewing boy snarled.
" Dumber- n- a sack –o- rocks?"
Riker stepped forward; he was going to show this
mouthy kid what a sack of rocks could do to a
smart-ass twelve-year-old.
Deanna quickly intervened in the situation, shoving
Will to the side.
" Please, honey could you let us see one of your
papers?" She asked pouring on the charm as she gently
touched his cold rosy cheek. "Just for a moment."
" Sure" he said smitten by her attentions and beauty.
" Thank you." She politely replied as she took the
paper and handed it to Will.
" Its November 12, 1945" Will answered, not truly
believing what he was saying. "We’re in Chicago,
Illinois."
" In North America?" Deanna asked.
" Yeah." He nodded. Giving the boy back his paper, the
young lad quickly snatched it out of Riker’s hand and
ran off. "Damn." Riker cursed, as he looked around the
street, both were still UN-noticed by the patrons who
passed by them. "Damn it, Q!" he repeated.

Walking about the city, it began to rain. It was a
down pouring fat heavy rain, Riker noticed how the
rain was beginning to wash all of the debris and crud
from the city streets, the dirty muddy water, whirled
around disappearing into the open sewer grates on the
side of the curbs.
Grabbing Deanna’s hand they ran towards the nearest
awning of a building, both of their uniforms became
soaked by the downpour.
Wrapping both arms around her upper body, "What now?"
She asked as the coldness of the rain made her teeth
chatter.
Riker yelled above the sound of the rain pounding on
the awning. "We need to find shelter."
Looking around he notice a flashing neon sign, proudly
blinking MOT L. "Over there." He pointed towards the
flashing pink florescent lights.

Upon entering the motel, Riker noticed a fat dumpy man
in a sleeveless white tee shirt, with a drooping
mustache behind the desk. He was reading a newspaper
that he had laid flat on the counter. There was
another man, standing against a far wall, his knee was
bent as the bottom of his shoe was flat against the
wall, he stood with his back against it. His hat was
tilting downwards upon his head, covering his eyes.
The lit cigarette tip glowed, sticking out of the bill
of the hat. 
The motel was dark and dusty looking, with dirty wood
floors. The ceiling fan made a squeaking noise with
every rotation of the blade. There were three chairs
in the lobby that were made out of some sort of green
colored plastic. A small table was situated between
the two chairs. An ashtray was used as a paperweight
on top of several folded newspapers.
" Excuse me?" Riker asked as he stood in front of the
counter.
The man looked up; he squinted one of his beady
looking eyes directly at Riker. "Yeah?" the man asked.
" We need a room." Riker informed the fat dumpy desk
clerk.
" Sure." He said as he turned and grabbed a key from
the pegboard that was behind the desk. "That’ll be
five dolls a night. No funny bidness. And NO whoopin
up on tha dame." He slapped the key on the counter. 
"Five dollars?" Riker asked behind his stare of the
man’s dingy yellow teeth.
" Yeah. Five dollars." The droopy mustached clerk
repeated. "What are ya, Bud? Stupid or sumpthin?"
Riker rolled his eyes at Deanna; she simply shrugged
her shoulder’s.
He noticed the man lazily standing against the far
wall began to move. The man removed his foot and
began to walk towards the two out of towners.
" I got that, Norman." He said as he slapped a green
piece of paper on the desk, winking at Deanna. 

Looking only for an instant down at the wood floor,
she blushed as she raised her head to look up into his
eyes. "Thank you, Sir." She politely stated. 
"Well, I guess with all these immigrants coming
through here." He smiled. "The two of you looked like
you could use a little help." Removing his cigarette
from his mouth he flicked it onto the wooden floor,
stepping on it with a twirling motion of his shoe.
Deanna’s eyes widened as she glanced at the flattened
cigarette and then back up at the man.
The man was tall, taller than Riker about two inches
taller actually. Standing six foot six, his huge body
towered over Deanna's. He had broad shoulders, and a
big neck. Riker thought he desperately needed a shave,
a two-day old growth shadowed his face. Giving him an
appearance of outdoor ruggedness. He was clad in a
suit; his jacket was open, revealing a handgun inside
a leather pouch that was wrapped around his waist.
Riker noticed the weapon immediately.
" Don’t let this scare ya, Billy boy." Patting the
holster around his belittling. "I’m a cop." He stated
proudly, directing his attention towards Riker.
Riker stood there and stared at him mutely not
believing that this giant just called him ‘Billy boy.’
" Your old operate, don’t speak much English, does he?" 
"Old man?" she asked confused. "I’m sorry. I don’t
understand."
" Your husband." He said giving a quick nod to indicate
he was talking about Riker.
She looked at Riker and smiled, and then back to the
man, "Oh, he isn’t my husband." She stated softly 
"I’m not married."
Riker noticed how the man’s face suddenly displayed a
huge grin; all of his teeth were white, and perfect.
He raised an eyebrow of satisfaction, the words he had
just heard her say pleased him. 
"Looks like we’re both single." He stated totally
ignoring that Riker’s presence was even in the room.
He removed his brimmed hat placing it over his chest.
" I’m Detective Johnson. William Johnson." His baby
blue eyes danced as he extended his other hand out in
greeting. "People call me Will."
" Deanna. Deanna Troi." She politely took his hand.
" People call me Deanna."
" It’s a pleasure…. Deanna." he stated politely. 
"And may I introduce to you, Will Riker." She gestured
with a wave of her arm towards the Starfleet commander
"Will?" the man smiled at Riker. "Damn good name, if
you ask me." He joked.
Riker didn’t appreciate his humor, or his attention he
was bestowing upon Deanna. "Yeah." He said extending
his hand, pretending to be polite. "My mother didn’t
speak much English." 
Deanna gave Riker one of her ‘looks’, before averting
her attention back to William Johnson. "We appreciate
your kindness, William."
" My pleasure, Deanna." He graciously nodded. "Here,
you may need this, too." Placing a twenty-dollar bill
in her hand, "You may need it…. For food." He smiled
with a bow of his head.
" Really, we can’t…." She began
"Just say you’ll have dinner with me." He requested
not letting go of her hand, Riker could tell this cop
was fascinated by Deanna’s beauty, and was definitely
making a pass at his Imzadi. A successful one at
that. "That is if it’s okay with your…" he looked at
Riker with a squint of his eyes as if remembering who
he was… "Brother?" it was almost a question.
" I would love…." Deanna began. 
"Well." Riker rudely interrupted jumping in-between
the two. "We need to get to our room…" he grabbed the
key ring off of the counter. "Deanna." he said with a
tug of her arm. "We will pay you back." He stated
bluntly to William Johnson.
" All I want in return is dinner with your sister." He
called out to them as they exited the dingy room.
Riker ignored the man, he grabbed Deanna’s hand and
she blindly followed behind him. Her eyes were set on
the tall handsome detective.
Will Johnson stood and watched as Riker drug Deanna by
the hand through the archway of the exit. 
"Norman?" William said, his eyes fixed on the doorway
the two had just gone through.
" Yeah." Norman the desk clerk answered, never looking
up from his paper.
" I definitely believe that’s the most beautiful woman
I’ve ever seen. This could be love."
" Love my ass." Norman chuckled behind his droopy
mustached grin; his yellow teeth were as grimy as his
smile.
" Norman?" Johnson turned his head slowly towards him,
slapping two quarters on the counter.
" Yeah?"
" Buy some fuckin’ tooth powder." He ordered as he
buttoned his jacket and headed towards the front door.




The hotel room was small; it had two chairs with
buttons attached to the cushions. A double bed that
was supported by an iron posted headboard, a small
beside table, and a huge wooden mirrored dresser. The
bathroom had a claw-footed tub, and a small sink that
had rust stains from the slow dripping faucet. The
toilet seat was up, revealing a dirty porcelain hole.
Hanging from the center of the room was a single light
bulb that swayed when Riker tugged on the chain.
" Will?" Deanna asked as she looked about the small
dingy area.
" What?" 
"I’m not staying here…" she said with disgust. "This
place is…"
"What the hell do you expect, Deanna?" 
"Clean, would be nice." She said, wiping her finger
along the dresser as it pushed away the thick dust.
" Just go stay with your friend." He sounded angry.
" My what?" she began to laugh.
" Your cop friends…" his voice had a jealous tinge.
" What’s his name? Oh, yeah…. William."
" He was very good to us, Will." She stated defending
the extremely handsome cop. "He gave us this," dancing
the twenty-dollar bill slowly in the air. "So we could
eat."
" He did that just to impress you, Deanna." 
"He’s a law officer, you know. He was totally
adorable, a brilliant smile, and tall, taller than you
actually, and he had the most beautiful blue eyes,
I’ve ever seen…" she began to speak as if Riker wasn’t
in the room, her gaze looking through him. "So…so….
Deep…so…blue." 
"Excuse me!" he loudly interrupted her daydreaming.
Snapping back into reality at the sound of his voice,
"Much bluer than yours." She quickly added.
He inhaled and exhaled, showing disapproval. She could
sense his jealousy. She gave him a playful tilt of the
head.
Falling backwards on the bed, he stared at the
ceiling. The bed squeaked loudly as the rusty springs
under the mattress moved with the motion of his body.
" Damn." He smiled. "I heard about squeaky beds." 
"What?" She asked, totally clueless to what he was
referring to.
" Want to make the bed squeak, Deanna?" He stated
mischievously. He began to bounce on the bed, causing
the rusty springs to squeak even louder. 
"Oh my God." Her jaw dropped. "You’re impossible!"
There were loud pounding rapping thuds on the wall,
"Hey!" A muffled voice yelled through the wall, "Give
it to er, Jack!" Riker looked at Deanna and couldn’t
hide his wide chauvinistic grin, or the sparkle in his
federal blue eyes.
" That’s it!" she huffed, "I’m leaving, Will Riker!"
She whirled around and stomped towards the door.
Riker quickly jumped off of the bed, and grabbed her
by the upper arm. "Deanna. Wait!" His voice changed,
taking seriousness to it, "I’m sorry." Pulling her to
him, he embraced her tenderly, whispering into her
hair, "I’m sorry, that was uncalled for. Forgive me."
She slowly melted into his embrace, resting her cheek
on his chest.
" We don’t belong here, Deanna." He placed his hand on
the back of her neck, intertwining his fingers in her
long thick, ebony hair. "This isn’t our time."
" I know that." She said nestling up to him closer.
" Brother."
Pulling her away from him, so he could look into her
eyes, "Brother?" he asked confused.
" Brother." She reaffirmed.
" You’re serious." He stated disbelieving. "No,
Deanna!" he protested. Letting go of their embrace, he
walked away from her. He inhaled and exhaled, then
turned around on his heels and glared at her. "No
damn way, am I going to try to pass off as your
brother."
Deanna looked him in the eye and stated again. "You
have to be my brother." 
"Why?" He voiced loudly. "Just why in the hell, do I
have to do that?" he was getting angry, the thoughts
of William Johnson flashed through his mind.
" Because it doesn’t look proper for us to be in this
motel room alone."
" Proper? …Wait…" holding up both hands in disbelief.
" Did you say…? Proper?" 
"You heard that lung-head next door, Will."
" The word is Lunk-head." He corrected her with a
smile. "Look." He said as he walked towards her, his
voice a normal tone. "Deanna, you and I have slept
together before…it’s nothing new for either of us."
" We don’t sleep together anymore, Will." She reminded
him. "We haven’t in a long time."
" We’re not on the ship."
" No." She stated firmly. There was no doubt, that
Deanna Troi had no intention of re-kindling their
relationship on or off the ship.
" How’s this…?" he definitely didn’t want to be
portrayed as her brother. "We pose as Husband and
Wife…but," he held up one finger.
She stood with both hands on her hips, giving him a
silent I’m listening. " The only thing is." He
continued his bargaining. Hoping she would agree to
it. "We don’t sleep together."
" And if the situation were the other way around." She
counteracted. "For instance, if it were an attractive
woman that was interested in you. Would you still be
as adamant on selling your platonic spousal theory?"
‘ Caught.’ He thought. ‘Damn it.’


Both of them turned as they heard the rapping on the
door. Riker nodded at Deanna and walked towards the
door, and slowly opened it.
" Is Deanna here?"
" Well…hello." Riker blocked the doorway. "William" He
said the man’s name likes a small child angry with its
sibling.
Deanna immediately stepped forward at the mention of
the young police officer’s name. "William" She greeted
him with a big smile. It was apparent she was glad to
see him, nudging Riker out of the doorway. "We weren’t
expecting you. Please, come in."
" No, no…I was just wondering." He inhaled and exhaled.
" If you would like to go with me to my grandma’s
house…she’s a real good cook." He stated nervously. 
Riker could have sworn the big man was sweating, "and
she has some extra clothing that might fit the two of
you." Yes, the big cop was definitely sweating.
" Will…We would be honored to." Deanna gladly accepted
his invitation. "This is very kind of you." Riker knew
he was in trouble he had to say something fast.
" My wife…." The words blurted out of Riker’s mouth
before he had time to realize it. 
"His wife." Deanna interrupted cutting him off. "Left
him years ago." She hooked her arm into Will Johnson’s
arm. "Please forgive my…colleague…" (she emphasized
the word), "he was hit by a truck as a child." She
guided the big man out into the cool night air. "He’s
not right." She whispered.

Riker’s eyes rolled, right before he slammed the motel
door shut. "Hit by a truck?" he mumbled the words to
himself, as he followed behind them. " Like to hit you
with a truck…a big truck. Or throw you out of an
airlock."
" Will did you say something?" The big man asked,
turning his head towards the mumbling commander.
" Yea, we’ll be back by midnight with any luck." 


Riker had been given a suit similar to William
Johnson’s.
Deanna came out of the bathroom of Johnson’s grandma’s
house. Dressed in a red skirt, and a red blazer, with
spiked high-heeled shoes. 
Both of the men’s mouths dropped at the sight of her.
Will Johnson smiled and gave her thumbs up sign. She
smiled warmly at him. 
"She makesth a might handthum woman, don’t she."
William’s grandma stated, behind her dentureless grin.
" You’re a might handthum man too." She smiled a
toothless smile at Riker. She was short, only about
five feet tall and thin, not weighing over one hundred
pounds, her hair was silver colored white, and she
wore a Chicago Cub’s baseball cap, and a chef’s apron.
" Thank you, Mrs. Johnson." Deanna politely replied.
" Oh, thugar…call me Birdie." She smiled revealing her
shiny toothless gums.
" All right, Birdie." Deanna stated politely. "Please
call me Deanna."
The woman smiled a toothless grin as her eyes
twinkled. "De-annie."
" De-an-na." Deanna repeated her name more clearly.
" De-annie and Will." She grinned wide at Will,
displaying her red shiny gums. "How in the hell am I
gonna keep the two oh you sthrait?" 
"Grandma?" William interrupted, it was more of a
request.
" Ah, hell I know…wont’s assth ugly…the other wonths
not….hee hee."
" Grandma." William tried to intervene. She chose to
ignore her grandson, with a wave of her wrist.
" Deannie…let me tell ya…the way Willyth been goin’
on. Awe, hell he caint keep a woman…he picksth…" 
"Yeah…Grandma isn’t supper almost ready?" William
quickly stood up and interrupted his grandmother.
" Justh as thoon ath I can find ma damn chopperthz."
She griped, mumbling as she waddled towards the
kitchen. "Tohoku um in bleach water and then…next thing
ya know…ya caint find tha suns a bitheths."
Riker looked at her in amazement, his brain trying to
translate her strange language.
" Grandma speaks her mind." William said with a shrug
of his shoulders.
" What happened to her teeth?" Riker’s eyes widened as
he asked the question. He’d never seen a toothless
grown-up before.
" Oh hell, Grandma’s always putting them in a glass."
William shrugged it off. "Then she forgets which one."
" In a glass?" Riker squinted. Thinking apparently this
man had no clue as to what he had just asked. 
"Yeah." Patting Riker on the back in a friendly
gesture, herding him towards the kitchen, "Just check
your water or coffee before you drink it." William
advised.
Deanna and Will both looked at each other, their faces
were masked over with shock.


Grandma finally found her dentures lying on the
kitchen windowsill. After dinner, Will, Deanna and
William cleaned up the dishes, at Grandma’s protest. 
She kept trying to shoo them out of her kitchen.
William refused to go, until she chased after him with
the straw broom.

" My parents were killed in a train accident when I was
ten years old." William explained as he and Deanna sat
on the wooden porch swing. "That’s when I came and
lived with Grandma." He stated flicking his cigarette
out into the front yard, watching the red tip as it
landed in the dew enhanced grass emitting sparks onto
the lawn.
" So your grandmother raised you?"
" Yeah." He answered. "I moved out once, but she’s
getting pretty old and I figure she needs someone
around here to do all the chores…the one’s she can’t
do anymore." He smiled at Deanna; his blue eyes
sparkled in the moonlight. "Although, you better not
tell Grandma that." he laughed slightly. "She thinks
she can do anything."
" She is quite unrestrained, isn’t she?"
" Unrestrained?" he mocked. "She’s the feistiest woman
I’ve ever met or seen."
Deanna laughed. 
"But," he added his voice taking a seriousness tone, 
"I sure do love that old woman."
" I understand." Deanna sympathized. "My mother can be
somewhat imperious at times…and I love."

" Hey." The front screen door squeaked as Riker walked
out onto the porch. Noticing the two sitting on the
swing, he sat himself down on the front step. Turning
his body towards the couple. "It’s beautiful out here
isn’t it?"
" Yes, it is." Deanna answered, breathing in the cool
night air. There was a chill in the air, but it was
nice and crisp.
" Where’s Grandma?" William asked, as he put his arm
across the back of the porch swing. His large hand
draping over Deanna’s shoulder.
" She’s…a…in…" Riker noticed the arm. "She said she’d
be out soon."
All three sat in silence. Riker felt awkward, like he
was a third wheel. He was also discovering that he was
jealous. Deanna appeared to be content and
comfortable, and William was sweating, he was trying
to avoid Riker’s uneasy stare and trying to think of
what to say next to impress Deanna.
" Damn it!" they heard the old woman yell her curse
from inside. "Ya suns a bitches!"
William was the first one to jump to his feet as he
rushed inside the house. "Grandma!" he yelled running
towards the kitchen. Riker and Troi followed closely
behind.
Grandma was standing in the kitchen holding a saucepan
full of water by its wooden handle. 
"Are you all right?" William asked breathlessly.
" Hell yes. I’m all right!" She snapped. "But them cat
aint gonna be."
" Cats?" He sounded totally confused. "What cats?"
" Them god damn cats all over the backyard, Willie." 
She spoke loudly.
" Grandma, I don’t see any cats out there." He
explained as he leaned through the archway of the
door, looking out into the backyard. 
"They come over here and get ta shittin’ in my
flowerbeds" She vented out her frustration. Totally
ignoring the fact that there weren’t any cats outside,
she slung the metal pan of water out the backdoor.
" Take that ya damn varmint suns a bitches!" she yelled
out the back door.
She waddled over to the sink and re-filled her pan.
" If I wet their flower shittin’ asses, I Betcha they
wont do it agin…hee…hee." She declared with a nod of
her little baseball-capped head.
Deanna and William watched the old woman with widened
eyes, as she flung the pans of water out the back door
at the invisible menacing cats.
Riker cupped the grin that spread across his face with
his whole hand. He was fighting a personal battle
against his own laughter.
By the fourth pan of water, and the old woman’s
onslaught of cursing.
Riker lost.


William drove Will and Deanna back to their hotel.
Riker went on inside as William and Deanna said their
good-byes. Riker flopped down on the bed, and let out
a heavy sigh.
After several moments:
Deanna walked in and quietly sat down in one of the
two chairs. She removed her high-heeled shoes and sat
there silently rubbing her aching feet.
" You okay?" Riker asked, as he stared at the ceiling.
" Yes, I Am." turning the upper part of her body
around to face him. "Why do you ask?"
"You really like him, don’t you?" 
"Will?"
" Are you asking me a question, or referring to him?"
He asked as he rolled over on his side, ignoring the
squeaking springs of the bed, grabbing the feather
pillow scrunching it up to be the size of a rock, he
placed it under his head.
" I’m referring." She said lining both shoes on the
floor beside the chair. Standing up, she walked slowly
towards Will.
" You really like him, don’t you?" repeating his
question quietly, secretly afraid of her answer.
" Yes, he’s very nice." smiling as the bed squeaked
when she sat on the edge of it. "His grandmother is
somewhat…." She trailed off and gave Will a look.
" Nuts? Deanna, she’s nuts."
" Well, that’s a bit anecdotal." 
"She should fit right in with your family, though" He
exhaled, rolling over onto his back, "I can see her
with your mother right now." He spoke to the ceiling.
" Will." Deanna warned quietly, "Be nice."
" Especially when your mother drinks from the glass
grandma’s teeth are…" he turned his head towards her
and finished his sentence. "Thoakin’ in." his blue
eyes sparkled with merriment.
Deanna reached over and grabbed the feather pillow out
from under his head, and threw it at him.
" Hey!" he laughed. Quickly grabbing her. He wrestled
her playfully, pinning her under his body on the bed.
" What are you doing?" she asked, looking up at him.
" Nothing." He whispered.
" Nothing?" 
"You want me to let you go?"
" Yes. I do."
" Why?" he asked, lowering his lips to hers.
" Because…" she began to fake a cough…pretending she
couldn’t breath… "You’re crushing…. Meeee." 
He rolled off of her. "I get the hint, Deanna." He
stated through a frustrated sigh.
" Good." She scrambled to get off of the bed. "Now
let’s get some sleep, colleague."
" Ugh." He growled as he put the feather pillow over
his face.

They were both sound asleep, Deanna was on the bed,
and Will was sprawled across the foot of the bed, half
of his body hung over the edge. He began on the floor,
but after about an hour of tossing and turning, he
decided to sleep at the foot of the bed. Promising
Deanna he would behave himself and be the perfect
Starfleet man.
There was a screeching sound of tires outside their
motel. Followed by a spraying of bullets…that
shattered the windows, raining glass into the room.
Will sprang up from the bed. Deanna felt strong arms
that drug her to the floor, shielding her body as he
lay on top of her. "Stay down!" Riker yelled over the
sound of the fierce rapid machine gun fire. The
bullets left holes in the wall, which ran along at
lightening speed across the wallpapered room.
Glass, wall plaster and bullet shells were falling all
around them. The sound of the screeching tires were
the last thing they heard before the room became
silent. Moments later the sound of sirens and flashing
red lights outside of the motel room appeared.
" I think it’s safe now." Riker said, as he looked down
at Deanna, who was still lying under him. 
"Thank you." She softly stated. "For saving my life."
She looked up at him with her ebony Betazoid eyes,
which resembled a startled kitten.
" You’re trembling." He whispered, as he began to drown
in the dark pool of her eyes.
" Yeah."
He lowered his lips to hers, only centimeters away
from a kiss. She wasn’t going to resist this time.
Both of their heads suddenly snapped towards the door,
it was forcibly opened by the strong kick of a leg.
" Are you guys…all RI…" William Johnson’s voice trailed
off, when he saw Riker and Troi in a questionable
position on the floor.
Will quickly got off of Deanna and rose to his feet,
he extended out his arm. She gladly accepted his hand
as he pulled her to her feet.
" Yeah, we’re okay." Will said glancing at William and
then back to Deanna.
" Are you all right, Deanna?" he asked as he quickly
rushed to her side, taking her elbow in his hand.
" Well, it’s not everyday a girl gets drug out of bed
in the middle of the night, due to the sound of rapid
gun fire. But," she quietly added, "I’m all right,
Will saved me." She quickly glanced over at Riker.
" What the hell was that?" Riker asked as he looked
about the bullet-ridden remains of the room.
" Gangsters." William stated, never leaving his eyes
from Deanna’s. 
"Gangsters?" Will asked. "Why?"
With a jerk of his head, forcing himself away from
Deanna’s face, "They were after, Billy the Brick." He
inhaled and exhaled. "That’s why I’ve been hanging
around this dump, for the last couple of days."
Both of the out of towners looked at him, confused.
" They bagged him, all right." William said, as he took
a cigarette out of his lapel jacket, shaking the pack
with his wrist, he held the pack up to his mouth and
removed one with his lips. He then offered a cigarette
to Riker. Riker glanced at the pack and then at
William. "No thanks…I’m trying to quit." 
"The morgue is on its way." William said with a bend
of his head, lighting the dangling cigarette. "Come
on…. Let’s go outside." He put his hand on Deanna’s
back and escorted her out into the fresh air. "I can’t
let you stay here." Will followed closely behind,
really starting to dislike this person.
Cops, coming in and out of the doors of the various
motel rooms surrounded the parking lot. The block lit
up with the flashing red lights of the police cars; 
it became a red flashing, bullhorn sounding crime
scene. The lights were blinding as Deanna shielded her
eyes from their red glare.
" Turn those cherries off!" William barked. The
officers obeyed as they scrambled to their cars and
one third of the lights dimmed.
" That better?" he smiled down at Deanna. "They get to
be annoying after awhile." She thought that was nice
of him to say to try to make her feel at ease.
" Yes, thank you." She politely answered. She glanced
over at Will, who was watching as some men in white
uniforms carried a sheet-covered body on a stretcher,
across the parking lot.
" Billy the Brick…I presume?" Will asked, turning
around towards William.
" Da guy looks like a jelly strainah, boss." A short
fat detective yelled as he approached William. "The
cheatin’ bum is full oh holes." He added with a
chuckle.
He immediately stood in front of Deanna and took off
his hat, "Ma’am." he said with a nod and a smile. She
simply nodded back. His balding head shined against
the red lights of the cop cars.
" Where’s Norman?" William asked the short fat
detective.
" He’s all shook up, boss." He answered looking up at
the tall man, placing his hat back on top of his
baldhead. "He swears he didn’t know it was da Brick."
" He’s lying through his rotten teeth." William said,
with certainty. "Take him downtown. Put him under the
spot light." He ordered. "He’ll talk."
" Yeah, Boss. I’ll do dat." The man quickly turned and
jogged across lot.
" Spotlight?" Deanna asked, looking up at William. Her
teeth were chattering, from standing in the cold
parking lot.
" Interrogation." He answered looking down at her.
" Hey, you must be freezing." He took off his jacket
and wrapped it around her, packing it firmly to her
shoulders as if to tuck her into it. "Hey, Joe!" he
yelled at the young officer.
Joe immediately came running across the parking lot.
" What’s up, Boss?"
" Take Deanna and her friend to Grandma’s." he ordered.
" She needs to be some place where it’s warm."
" I’m fine." Riker protested. "Deanna, he’s right…. You
need to go."
~~ I’m staying with you, Will ~~~ Riker heard her
voice in his head. His eyes immediately widened as he
mutely looked at her. She didn’t use the link often,
but when she did… he knew she meant what she said, and
wouldn’t easily be moved. She looked him squarely in
the eye. He recognized the look all too well. There
was only one way he could win…if he decided to pull
Starfleet rank on her. ~~ Imzadi ~~ there it was
again, only this time, she was asking him not to pull
rank, she had sensed the thought as it ran through his
mind. He stood there and rubbed his beard. …He then
inhaled and exhaled. "All right." He agreed out loud.
" Imzadi" He said with a lopsided grin, and a wink.
William noticed the silent exchange between the two,
as he curiously glanced from one to the other. He also
noticed the way Will had referred to Deanna and the
way she responded with a smile and a blush on her
cheek. 




"All right you guys" William yelled to the other
officers, "Lets tear this place apart…make sure ya got
everything." He ordered.
They all three stood out in the open parking lot as
policemen scurried about collecting things and
reporting their findings to Detective William Johnson.
" ‘ Scuse me toots." An ugly little thin man bumped
into Deanna and tapped her on the behind. She quickly
moved towards Will Riker, grabbing his upper arm. She
moved towards Riker purely out of instinct, knowing he
would protect her. He in return stiffened his body,
and went into a defense mode, purely out of instinct. 
"Your Rae dish. Howa bout you and me…." His scrawny
little body stood in front of her, he was about five
foot seven and weighed a whole one hundred and twenty
four pounds. He smiled as he stared at the buttons on
her blouse, his mouth full of blackened teeth. "Hey,
ya dollface…how much ya chodge?"
" Why you rude little bastard." Will jerked his arm
free of Deanna and stepped forward, he drew back his
fist ready to rip this little weasel looking man, to
shreds.
" Hey!" William stepped in, grabbing Riker’s arm
stopping his fist in mid air. "Allow me, I’m a cop."
He stated with a bow of his head. The big man then
grabbed the skinny person by the collar of his shirt and
slung him around like a rag doll, smashing his spine
up against the hood of one of the squad cars. 
"Hey Wills…" the person looked up at the towering six
foot six police detective. "Geeze, I’m tryin’ ta score
here…." He said, holding out both arms… "Do ya’s
mind?"
" Yeah, I do." William answered, stepping forward
flipping the guy over and grabbing a hand full of
hair, he lifted his head up and then bammed his head,
face down, into the cold hard metal of the hood of the
police car.
He raised the thug’s head up by a handful of hair and
bammed it again.
" Not bad…" Will whispered to Deanna. She looked over
at him as her eyes widened, and Riker simply shrugged
his shoulders.
" Stop it!" Deanna protested. "You’re killing him!"
William Johnson threw the thug onto the cold wet
pavement of the parking lot…reaching down and lifting
his limp body up by the lapel of the thug’s dirty
jacket, standing him to his feet. "What the hell ya
doing here, Smelly?" he demanded an answer.
" I…. Wun-ned…" the thin little thug stammered, as he
wiped his bloody nose on the sleeve of his jacket. "Ta
seee who dey iced, dats all." 
"If your rotten ass is lying’" William grabbed the
thug’s lapel jacket and brought his face close to his.
" No Wills…. No! I’m tellin’ yas da truth, I swear on
my mudda’s grave." Holding up his bony hands in
surrender.
" Big deal." William Johnson shoved the man against the
car. "You put your mother in her grave."
" Yeah…right…Wills." The skinny puny man snorted a
laugh.
" Tell your boss. I’m looking for him, Smelly…. Ya got
that."
" Yeah, Wills…Yeah I gotcha." The thug nervously
agreed.
" Now tell the lady you’re sorry." William ordered, as
he put his big hand around the man’s throat, lifting
him so that the thug had to stand on his tiptoes.
" I’m sorry…yeah…I’m sorry…" the man gasped, showing a
mouthful of his blackened teeth. 
"Smelly?" William said as he gripped his throat
tighter.
" Yeah Wills yeah…" the man dirty little man answered
quickly.
" Brush you fuckin’ teeth." William let him go with a
shove… the thug quickly spun around and high tailed it
towards the opposite end of the parking lot. He
stopped right before he rounded the corner of the
building, turning around he screamed… "Hey toots…I got
whatcha need, rite here!" he laughed as he grabbed the
front of his crotch… then he quickly rounded the
corner disappearing into the darkness of the alley.
Will Riker put his hand on Deanna’s shoulder? "You
should definitely go to the detective’s
Grandmother’s."
" Will." She began to protest, quickly whirling around
on her heels.
" Deanna, I’m going to end up killing somebody." Will
explained. "If another idiot talks to you like that."
" Will, I’m a big girl."
" Deanna, damn it…. Don’t argue." 
"What if you need me?" she asked pitifully.
" Oh I’ll manage." Will answered with a smile. "You’re
more important."
" Will…."
" Deanna just go!" Will barked with a yell.
His yell startled her, as her eyes began to well up
with tears.
" Please…" her voice became a plea, she blinked
releasing the tear that rolled down her cheek.
" Deanna" He looked at her his jaw set. "That’s an
order!" He barked. 
He forced the words out of his mouth, her tears were
breaking his heart, but he knew she couldn’t stay…it
was too dangerous…too cold…and the thugs around this
place frightened him more than the murder, or the
spraying of bullets. The thugs weren’t exactly
gentlemen. Her tears got to him, and melted his heart.
He had to ignore them, for her sake.
Her tears were affecting William too; he stood there
in silence. Down deep William knew Riker was doing the
right thing, Deanna couldn’t stay.
" Hey…" William said as he walked towards the two. He
stood in front of Deanna, lifting her chin up with his
finger, "I’ll take care of him, I promise." He stated
with a flashy smile, reassuring her.
Deanna returned his gesture with a slight nod. Sensing
that what the detective was saying was true. 


Deanna turned and hugged Riker, and he gladly hugged
her in return. He kissed her forehead… "Go." He
quietly whispered, as he pulled her away from him. 
William watched the silent bond between the two. He
wondered if he might have some competition on his
hands.

" Hey! Joe." William called out to the officer that was
standing nearby.
" Yeah, Boss." The officer quickly ran over to the
detective.
" Take Deanna to Grandma’s." his blue eyes shined in
the moonlight as he looked down and smiled at her. He
opened the back car door.
Giving Will one last quick glance over he shoulder,
Deanna got into the back seat of the squad car. "Thank
you." She politely thanked William, as he shut the car
door. He slapped the roof of the car, signaling for
the driver to proceed.
Both men stood in the cold, dreary wet parking lot as
they watched the car speed off. The early morning fog
was beginning to overtake the city. Halos of smoke
formed around the streetlights causing an eerie effect
to the almost vacant lot.
" Hey, Riker?"
" Yeah?"
He stood there mutely, just looking at Riker as if he
wanted to say something of importance, and then he
changed his mind. 
Finally he reached into his jacket and took out a
cigarette and lit it.
" I need ta quit these damn things." He said as he blew
out a puff of smoke. "They can stain you’re teeth."
" So I’ve heard." 
His face had a look of disgust as he stated, "Damn, I
hate dirty teeth." 
"So, I’ve heard." Riker quietly agreed. 
Both men took off walking across the parking lot,
towards the motel room…to investigate the scene of the
most recent murder.



"I’m coming…. Damn ya…. Keep your panths on." The old
woman opened the door, her frown transformed into a
toothless smile, the moment she saw Deanna standing at
the door.
" Deannie!" grabbing her arm, pulling her in abruptly
through the threshold of the door. "You’ll freezeth
you butt off out there…get in thisth houseth." She
ordered.
" Da boss told me ta bring her here, Birdie." Joe the
young officer stated as he removed his cap and placed
it on his chest. "There’s been a murder at the motel
she wuz stayin’ in."
" Oh my." She said with a concerned tone to her voice.
Her long flannel nightgown was covered up by a huge
pink flowered robe, she had three wire hair rollers on
the top of her head. "Are the boysth all right?" she
asked the young officer. 
"Boys?" he asked, not knowing what she was talking
about.
" Willie and Billy…. Damn it! My grandsonsths! Ya hard
headed dense little bastard." Grandma was getting
irate, after all it was only five in the morning.
" Yeah. They’re all right." Knowing she must be
referring to William and the other guy standing beside
him in the parking lot.
" Well, thank tha blue heavensth." She sighed; the top
of her upper lip almost touched her nose from her
toothless mouth. Looking up at the young man, her
eyebrows wrinkled, "The damn world if it gets any
meaner…Iths coming to-an end, I tell ya…. The good
lordths gonna blow usth all ta hell."
The young officer stood there, he had a blank
expression to his face.
The old woman pointed a finger in the young man’s
face. "Ya think I’m lying doncha?…Ima church goin’ 
woman an I know…heaths gonna blow usth all up." She
squinted her eyes at the young police officer.
" Yes, Well Birdie…I gotta get back." The young man
wanted to leave, he didn’t want to hear Grandma
Birdie’s sermon at five in the morning.
" Well, then just be off with ya." She shooed him out
with a wave of her arm, slamming the big wooden front
door in his face, nearly nipping his nose.
" I’ll put thum coffee on the stove." the three rollers
flopped around on top of her head as she waddled off
into the kitchen. "I got thum peach prethervesth an
some light bread ta go with it."
Deanna walked into the kitchen behind the old woman.
" Justh because I’m old…they think I oughta get up ten
minutesth before the chickenths do…. An go ta bed
before the damn chickenths." She mumbled as she put
the metal coffeepot on the stove…looking up at Deanna
she smiled a wide toothless smile, her pink gums
gleamed. "Now, don’t mind me thugar…" she said behind
her toothless smile. "I fussth and gripe all the time,
askth Willy….hee hee."
Deanna smiled; she really was beginning to admire this
old lady. She may be somewhat disorientated at times,
but she pose no danger to anyone, Deanna thought as
she watched the old woman tinker about in the kitchen.
" May I help you do something?" Deanna offered
politely.
" Well, you can thit there and eat, when I get it
ready…. There ain’t much food… wont takes long ta eat
it…. heee heee." Revealing more of her toothless gums.
Deanna noticed how this woman’s feistiness was
addictive to watch.
" You’re not married are ya, thugar?" the old woman
asked as she took the cups out of the cupboard.
" No. No, I’m not."
" You’re a spinsth-ter?" She stated, placing the jelly
on the table. "Whaths wrong with ya, got wormsth or
what?"
" Worms?" Deanna looked confused, "I’m sorry I don’t
understand."
" Wormsth." She stated in a tone that suggested Deanna
should know what she was talking about. "A good dosthe
oh gath-o-line oughta kill em." She eyed Deanna, with
a matter of fact look. "Juststh a teaspthoon should do
it."
" Thure is a shame a pretty lil thing like you, done
went and got infesthed with wormsths." She shook her
head, "I keep tellin’ em, ya gotta cook that damn hog,
cook it till all the blood ith gone." She pointed her
bread knife at the young Betazoid, and warned, as she
got closer to Deanna’s face. "Deannie, ya justh caint
eat it raw."
Deanna was totally clueless and her face showed it.
" Hmmm." She quietly stated with a nod of her head.
Pretending she knew what in Sam Hill grandma was
talking about.

" Hang it out in the wood barn, pappy usthed to thay,
that cured it." she looked at Deanna and gave one nod
of her head. "But the thsuns a bithesth, oh…They know
everthang." The old lady rambled. Deanna’s eyes
widened as she mutely watched the feisty old toothless
woman as she continued to set the table and set down
the loaf of bread. "Now they all got wormths…. And
thereths a gath-o-line shorthage."

" Oh …my…Gods." Deanna said under her breath, as she
blankly stared at the woman.

" Looky here." Grandma said as she held a Mason jar
full of dry brown pinto beans in front of her. "How
many beanths are in thisth jar, honey?" she asked.
Deanna looked at the quart jar for a moment not really
knowing what this was all about. "What?" she asked
confused.
" Take a guessth. How many beansth are in tha jar?"
Grandma quizzed her with a toothless grin.
" I don’t actually know…. I would make an hypothesis of
maybe two hundred." Deanna shrugged, still confused by
the old woman’s question.

" Wrong!" Grandma slammed the glass jar of beans on the
table rather abruptly rattling the salt and
peppershakers that were in the middle of the table. 
Deanna jumped and her eyes grew wide. "The right
answer its …All of them!" she turned her head and
grabbed the jar and shook it like a rattle in Deanna’s
face. "Don’t cha see?" She paused briefly and
exhaled. "How many beans are in the jar." She stared
again…quietly. She looked silently at Deanna for only
an instant. "All of em are…and De-annie when ya
figure that out…. You’ll know the true meanin’ of
life…. That’sth when you can get your thelf a man ta
marry ya." She smiled a huge gummy toothless, loving
grin. She sat the jar of beans down on the table and
continued on with her task at hand of cutting the
bread.
Deanna was totally dumbfounded.

" Grandma?" They heard William yell from the living
room. "Deanna? You here?"
" Now, well in the hell elth would we be!" She yelled
her gums shined as she strained her neck towards the
sound of the voice. Deanna just smiled.
" Damn little stupid bath-tard, thent ya over here…now
he wanths to know where ya are?" she shook her head in
disbelief as she talked to the loaf of bread she was
slicing.



William and Will walked into the kitchen both men
smiled at Deanna. William reached for a slice of bread
and the old woman whacked him across the knuckles,
with the handle of the bread knife.
Hard.
" Oww." William quickly snapped back his hand.
" Grandma." He laughed, as he rubbed his knuckles.
" Come in my kitchen…filthy." Her voice was stern.
Pointing the knife towards the upstairs. "Get your
asseths up there and wash thothes handths." She
suddenly barked her demand through her toothless gums.
" Willie and Billy…Get!"
" I guess you heard the lady…Billy." William looked at
Will with an impish grin.
" I heard her." Will smiled back just as impishly. 
"Looks like you felt her though…Willie." Referring to
Williams now reddened knuckle.

William quickly grabbed the slice of bread from the
plate and ran out of the kitchen.

Grandma spoke across the room to no one in
particular. "Damn boysth…come in my kitchen filthy….
I whooped that boy, when he wasth little…. I’ll whoop
his assth now." She continued to complain. "When heath
a hunded yearsth old, or thevin feet tall…." She
ranted on and on, as she washed her bread knife. "I
ain’t afraid of em, damn wormy kidsth."
Deanna sat at the table quietly. She had to smile as
she watched the two grown men race up the stairs like
little boys. Deanna could sense that grandma smiled at
that also, though she dare didn’t show her amusement,
in fear of the ‘boys’ getting the best of her.


Will and William had fallen asleep in William’s
bedroom after breakfast. William explained to Will
that he once had a younger brother that was killed in
the same train crash that took his parents life, and
that Grandma called his younger sibling Billy because
they both had blue eyes. Apparently Grandma, in her
somewhat senile way of thinking was under the
impression that Will Riker was his lost brother Billy.

After being up all night, Grandma made everyone "take
a nap." Claiming they would all gets rickets or scurvy
or some other disease Will and Deanna had never heard
of, if they didn’t get the proper rest. Grandma also
insisted that the boys sleep in Williams’s room, and
Deanna have the spare bedroom. She ranted on and on
about sin…. And how there wasn’t going to be any
heathen men under her roof. She also threatened Will
and William saying that if either one of them went
near Deanna’s bedroom she would skin them alive, and
hang them out to dry. All three just obeyed…. Nobody
in his or her right mind wanted to piss off Grandma
Birdie.

Deanna woke up late in the afternoon, and walked down
the wooden staircase, Grandma was sitting in her
reading chair asleep. She had a ball of yarn and two
knitting needles on her lap. Deanna quietly tiptoed
across the room as Grandma snored in the chair; the
bill of her ball cap covered most of her eyes.

Deanna headed towards the kitchen. She was planning on
grabbing one of Grandma’s brownies. William was right
when he said Grandma was a good cook. Deanna had never
tasted the type of food Grandma had served them.
Everything was made from what Grandma referred to as 
"scratch your butt, shut up and eat it." William
explained later that it was all home made. Deanna
wasn’t quite sure what homemade was, but she knew she
and Will knew they liked it. 


"Willie?" Deanna heard Grandma ask from the other
room. She sounded half-groggy from her sleep.
" Yeah, Grandma" was the quiet male reply. "It’s me."
" Did ja sleep good, Sweethaut?" 
"Yeah."
" You look just like your daddy standing there." She
quietly stated. "I miss your daddy…he was my only
boy." Deanna heard her say. "But you Willie, now
you’re my pride and joy."
" I know, Grandma." He stated quietly. "I love you,
too."
" Well, I betchur hungry." She said as she winced
against arthritic pain as she pulled herself up out of
the chair. "The others ought ta be waken up soon,
too."
" Here let me help you, Grandma." William took two
steps of his long legs towards her, to offer her
assistance in getting out of the rocking chair. 
"The day I caint get out of a chair by myself,
Willie." She smiled. "Is the day I burn the damn
thing. If ya caint get out of it…. You don’t need it."

Will, William and Deanna had decided to go to Tub’s
bar-n-grill, later that evening. William had received
a phone call from the station informing him of the
hangouts of the Big Boss Bobby. Bobby was a major
suspect in the murder of Billy the Brick and his gang
of thugs. Bobby was also the leader of a mobster
ring that terrorized the city. Deanna refused to be
left alone, so the men naturally agreed to bring her
along under the condition of when it became too
dangerous; she would leave without argument. 
Entering the small pub, Riker blinked his eyes several
times…the thick cigarette smoke that filled the bar…
stung his eyes. He noticed Deanna was doing the same
thing.
The waitress’ in the bar held huge mugs of beer, and
round metal trays of drinks as they zig zagged their
way through the bodies of drunken, laughing, and
sometimes yelling customers.
All three walked towards a table and sat down. The
table was square and had four chairs, Will and Deanna
sat on one side, while William sat opposite them. Will
noticed that bar was dingy and the pool table lights
that hung above the billiards circled in thick
cigarette smoke as it danced around the over hanging
billiard lights. There was a small jazz band playing
in the background for dancing purposes. There were
only about four couples on the dance floor, one couple
in particular Riker observed wasn’t exactly dancing,
they had become rather intimate in the middle of the
dance floor, oblivious to their surroundings. 

"Geeze, William fancy seein’ yous here…." The server
addressed William. She came over to the table holding
a round serving tray close to her chest. Deanna
noticed she talked as fast as she chewed the bubble
gum that was in her mouth. Her eggshell blue eye
shadow extended up to her eyebrows. "Yous still got
that gorgeous smile don’t cha?" she smiled, between
the smacks of the gum.
" Yeah…how ya doing’ Della?" William responded with a
nod of the head.
" I’m doing just peachy, William." She said as she
popped her bubble gum. "Did yous come in here ta see
me? She batted her blue eye shadowed eyes, making a
lame attempt at flirting. 
William rubbed the two-day old growth of whiskers on
his chin with this thumb and fingers; he inhaled and
exhaled, as if he were pondering her question.
" So, when are ya gonna takes me out again?" she asked,
ignoring his refusal to answer her last question. 
"There’s a new Gable film…an’ I wuz thinkin…we
could…." she spoke rapidly as she chewed and smacked
the wad of gum in her mouth. "Go an’ see it. And then
we could go ta my place."
He took the cigarette pack out of his pocket and
tapped it a few times on the table, packing down the
tobacco before he took one out and lit it. 
She stood there and watched him eagerly awaiting an
answer, as he performed the cigarette packing ritual,
one that she had witnessed many other smokers do. 
"Della?" William stated quietly as if he wanted to
tell her a deep dark secret. He took a long drag off
of his cigarette.
" Yeah, Sugar." The bimbo waitress bent at the waste,
lowering her face close to his as she continued to
chew the gum, readying herself for his answer.
" Not now." The big man stated quietly. "Not ever." He
answered, followed by the blowing of his cigarette
smoke that hit her directly in the face, halloing
around her blue shadowed eyes. 
The bimbo server quickly rose and waved the smoke
out of her face with her hand. "Geeze, like I really
wunna go out wittcha agin, ya bum." 
"You’re too good for me, Della." William stated,
leaning back into his chair. 
"Whose ya got wittcha?" she nodded indicating Will and
Deanna. Her voice had a tinge of jealousy to it as she
eyed Deanna.
" Friends." The big man answered, not really wanting to
waste any more time talking to this bimbo. 
"So, whadda have?" removing the pencil from behind her
ear. "Instead of me?" she blew a big bubble with her
gum and popped it…quickly sucking it back into her
mouth.
Setting his cigarette in the ashtray on the table, he
looked up at her…"Two whiskey sours and a Tom for the
lady."
" Two sours." She repeated, turning her head she
directed her gaze towards Deanna, "An a Tom, for da….
Lady." She scowled. She turned around on her heels
and headed towards the bar.
" William?" Deanna asked the detective as she leaned
forward across the table. She scrunched up her nose,
moving the ashtray away from under her face.
" Sorry." William nervously apologized as he quickly
stubbed out the burning cigarette. "Yeah?" he
responded wide-eyed.
" What’s a Tom?" she asked, her face had a seriousness
to it. His baby blue eyes twinkled, as a slow huge
grin spanned across, revealing a dazzling smile. 



With a playful nod of her head, she asked, "Are you
going to answer me?"
" It’s a drink, Deanna." Riker interrupted as he leaned
forward on the table and answered for William. "An
alcoholic beverage." He added. He scanned the smoky
bar. After awhile he apparently spotted something of
interest; his eyes squinted at a certain patron of the
smoke filled bar. "Be right back." He said touching
Deanna on her shoulder, standing to his feet he left
the table.
William and Deanna watched as Will Riker approached a
beautiful looking blonde-haired person, who was sitting up at the
bar. Deanna recognized the Riker charm immediately,
as he approached the woman displaying one of his
famous grins.
~~ What about your spousal theory? ~~ She sent to Will
from across the smoke filled bar.
Riker froze for an instant. Turning his head towards
her, he gave her a lopsided grin and a playful raise
of his eyebrows. 
That is exactly what I thought." She quietly stated
with a slight laugh to her voice.
William watched the exchange between the two. "What?"
" Oh, nothing." She said turning to face William.
" Will’s just being…Will."
William looked over and witnessed the two at the bar.
They were talking and laughing and gingerly flirting
with one another.
" Here are your drinks…" the bubble gum chewing waitress
placed the drinks on the table. She gave Deanna an
evil blue eye shadowed look as she placed her drink in
front of her. "An’ a Tom…. For da Lady." She sneered,
as she snapped her bubble gum.
" Della, take this one to the guy at the bar." William
placed Will’s drink back on the tray. "That punk over
there with the blonde." He nodded toward Riker and the
beautiful blonde woman.
" Sure, William…. No problem." She stated as she blew a
bubble and popped it, quickly sucking it back into her
mouth.
" If yous need anything else…" She leaned over and
placed a long red painted finger nail under his chin…
"Just whistle." She mocked a kiss towards him,
whirled around and walked off…heading back towards the
bar.

" I believe she’s jealous." Deanna observed. "Very
jealous."
" Nah." William answered taking a sip of his whiskey
sour.
" She does not like me being here with you."

" I took her out once…." He stared down at his drink
for an instant; "It didn’t work out."
" Why?"
" Why?" William couldn't believe she was getting so
personal. "You want to know why?"
" Yes." She answered with clarity. " Do I drink this?"
She quickly averted her attention to the tall glass in
front of her.
" You can drink it if you want…." His baby blue eyes
sparkled. "It’s called a Tom Collins."
Deanna took a sip of the drink from the straw. "This
is palatable." She smiled, taking another sip.
" I’m glad you like it…just don’t drink it too fast."
He flashed a grin. "It is an alcoholic beverage,
remember." Deanna immediately noticed the blueness of
his eyes, and the rugged look he held on his unshaven
face. He was a very handsome man.
" Real alcohol?" she asked, taking another sip.
" Yeah, Deanna." Thinking that the drink must be really
affecting her. "Real alcohol." He almost laughed. 
"Everything on this planet, during this time is real
isn’t it?" she picked up the glass, and took a big sip
of the straw. She looked around the bar at all of the
patrons.
" This planet?" he asked. "I’m sorry, you lost me."
" 1945 Earth. Not at all like the planet where I’m
from." Her statement flew out of her mouth before she
had time to think about it.
He sat there totally baffled at her remark; squinting
his eyes he studied her for a long time. He finally
spoke. "Deanna?" 
"Hmmm." She responded wide-eyed and staring right at
him, with the straw between her lips.
" No more Tom Collins, Okay?" he extended his hand and
took the half empty drink away from her, setting it on
the table. "Let’s try a Shirley Temple." He raised his
arm, flagging down the server.

"She’s very pretty." Deanna observed.
" She’s a blonde bombshell alright." William stated
looking over at Riker’s female point of interest for
the evening. "The ugly schmuck picked a real
looker…gotta give him credit for that." He took a sip
of his drink.
" You don’t know her
"No…I’ve never seen her before."
" I just thought that since you were from around here…"
she stated, staring at her Shirley Temple. "You’d know
who she was."
" Is something going on between the two of you?"
William asked, down deep he felt as if he would be
afraid of the answer.
" No." she shook her head. "Will and I are very good
friends." she fixed her gaze on her drink, slowly
stirring it with her straw. "At one time it was
something more. We were both young." She looked at
him, "very young." stating with a nod. "We haven’t had
that type of relationship in years." 
"Does it bother you?" William fixed his gaze on her
face. "To see him with other women."
" No. Not at all." She was attempting to convince him
as well as herself. "After all that’s…" She gestured
towards Riker with a sweep of her arm. "Will the
Thrill Riker."
" Will the Thrill?" he stated in astonishment and
amusement. "Will the Thrill?" he repeated for the
second time. "Hell, I’m paid to hunt down people with
names like that…. Tony the tornado…. Jimmy the snake….
Bobby the bagger."
" Billy the brick." She added, with a smile.
" Will the Thrill." The big man smiled. "Hey, yas boss…
Will da trill, wants ta know if ya wunna go swimmin’
wit da fishes…. " He imitated his best gangster voice.
They both laughed, the laughter slowly trailed off,
and Deanna looked at William. "So…" she asked leaning
forward on the table, placing her hands on her elbows.
" Why?"

" Why?" William asked leaning forward "What?" placing
his hands on his elbows. His big baby blue eyes
stared at her dark ebony eyes.

" Why didn’t it work out between you and Della?"
" Oh that… date thing." He sat up straight in his chair
and took a sip of his drink. "Well…. To be honest…."
He paused, moving only his eyes downward. He glanced
across the table at Deanna; he noticed her long thick
locks of ebony hair and her beautiful Betazoid eyes as
they widened with curiosity. Leaning forward he
motioned her with a crooked finger as if he were going
to tell her a secret, she leaned in closer to him.
" She chews gum…" He whispered in her ear. "Loud."

Deanna immediately sat up. "That’s not true." She gave
his a suspicious look. "You are attempting to evade
the question."
" Guess it’s time to fess up, then." he sat up straight
in his chair. "Okay, I’m lying." He flashed her a
brilliant grin and a wink.
" Detective…" She stated nonchalantly, "you can keep
your little secret." Intertwining her fingers
innocently through her hair. He smiled at that. Her
eyes twinkled and she gave him a mischievous little
grin. "Besides, I’m well aware of the true reason."
" You are."
" Yes." She said with a tilt of her head. "I…am." Her
voice took a sudden change. "Let’s dance." She stood
and grabbed his hand, pulling him up from his chair
onto the smoke filled dance floor.

Deanna and William were dancing slow and up close to
the mellow sound of the music. Will and his blonde
bombshell were engaged in conversation and soft
kisses, at a far off table in the back corner of the
bar. 
"Hey, yous wit tha pretty teeth." The voice said, as
William turned around. "Des is what wise gize like
yous git for messin’ wit my girlie."
Suddenly a huge fist came in direct contact with his
jaw…sending the big man staggering backwards, forcing
Deanna out of the way. William quickly composed
himself and lunged towards the thug. Ramming into him
like a massive bull, crashing them both into a nearby
table. Patrons began to scream and hustle to get out
of the way of the bar fight.
Deanna stood there in horror, as the two men wrestled
to the ground. The thug was massive in size and in
weight. The bulk of his weight was almost twice the
size of William’s, and he was just as tall.
William grunted as he picked up the huge thug by the
lapel of his jacket. He reared back ramming his fist
into the man’s face. The thug spit out blood and a
gold capped tooth, he glared at his opponent for an
instant, and there was a loud thump as the thug butted
his huge head, making perfect contact with William’s
nose. William staggered back a step from the massive
blow, wiping under his upper lip with the back of his
hand; he noticed the blood as it streamed out of his
nose.
" Your death is going to be…as…" William glared, as he
steadied his feet and rushed towards the huge block of
a man, slamming his fist for the second time into the
man’s face. "Ugly as you are…."
The man spit out more blood as he staggered backward,
he snapped the gun from his jacket instantly and
targeted the young detective…. William stood staring
down the barrel of the gun as the thug slowly raised
his bloody upper lip, revealing the now missing front
tooth. 
"Hey." taken off guard by the voice… the big gorilla
snapped his head around quickly, only to be slammed in
the face by another powerful fist for the third and
final time. Riker watched the thug stagger backward,
and drop to his knees as if in prayer…he stayed that
way for a moment…. Dazed… he rolled his eyes to the
back of his head and then slowly closed his eyelids…he
fell over sideways onto the floor. All three stared
blankly at the ugly huge dumb looking goon that lay
motionless on the floor. Riker raised a cocky eyebrow
towards William as he approached his nose-bleeding
friend.
William nodded his thank you. He took a handkerchief
out of his jacket and wiped the blood from his face.
" Piss off another husband, William?" Riker stepped
over the thug on the floor, picking up the gun that
lay beside the passed out body. " Damn, he’s ugly."
Riker stated with a twisted face. "Is his wife as ugly
as he is?" he asked with a lopsided grin, teasing the
big man. He glanced towards Deanna. She recognized
his concern, and gave him a silent sign signifying
that she was okay.
" You tell me…Billy." William answered Riker calmly.
" You’ve been sitting with her for an hour." Riker gave
him a look. Deanna smiled at the banter between the
two men.
The sound of gunshot exploded from the other side of
the room. The two men immediately dove for Deanna as
they all three fell to the floor. The patrons of the
bar all began to scramble and scream at once.
Will fired the thugs weapon he had picked up towards
the sound of the explosion. His bullets ripped into
the chest of a burly looking man. The man staggered
backward towards a wall, with his hands clasped onto
his chest, he slowly slid down the wall leaving a
smear of blood behind him on the wall. His legs
sprawled out, he landed in a sitting position on the
floor, and his head flopped forward.



"Twinkie?" they heard the hushed noises of the crowd.
Some were running towards the street some were running
towards the phone. Some just sat there and gawked at
the sight of the dead man on the floor.
William slowly walked over to the corpse. He squatted
down and lifted the man’s head by a handful of hair.
The corpse stared blankly at him, he released the dead
man’s hair, and his head flopped down…the chin landing
on the chest with a thump.
" Oh shit." William said as he slowly blinked his eyes.
He inhaled and exhaled.
He stood to his feet.
The sounds of cars screeching outside of the bar
brought everyone to attention.
" Let’s get the hell out of here." William ordered as
he grabbed Deanna’s hand and ran towards the back exit
door.

The alley was long and dark, and damp.
Riker was breathing heavily as he yelled. "Wait!" he
stopped running, gasping for breath. He felt the cold
night air as it entered his lungs.
" What!" William replied as he turned back towards
Riker. He was trying to catch his own breath, he put
both hands on his knees and inhaled and exhaled.
" Why in the hell are we running?" Riker asked between
breaths. "I thought you were the police."
" Because," William answered in between his own
breathing "You shot and killed one the mob leader’s
little brother."
" I did what?" Riker asked not truly understanding.
" You shot…" William’s voice grew louder. "A mob
leader’s brother…You dumb ass."
Riker straightened his posture and stood defensively.
" He was trying to kill us!" 
"You never…. Ever…" William shouted. "Fire at any one
in this town without first knowing who they are!" 
"When someone aims a weapon at Deanna, and puts her
life in danger…. I don’t stop and ask for
credentials." Riker fired back. "I never have…." He
glared. "And I sure as hell never will!"
Both men stood and silently glared at one another.
William couldn’t argue with Will.
" Shit!" William stated breathlessly, as he looked
around the alley. He knew the conversation with Riker
was over.

" Put your hands up!" they heard a gruff voice of a man
inside the shadows of the alley. "We’ve got you
surrounded." He yelled at the three, as they looked
around the alley in search of the voice.
" Da dame gets it foist." The voice called out. All
three heard the cocking of guns, as the voice became
closer.
They all did as they were ordered and put their hands
above their heads.

Ten men came out of the dark allies like cockroaches
to sugar. One grabbed Deanna and held a gun to the
side of her waist, insuring that the two men would
cooperate. They bound the two men’s hands behind their
backs with rope, pushing them to their knees in a
kneeling position onto the cold hard pavement.
" Looky here fellows" the guard that had Deanna yelled
to the other men. "Dis ones a classy dame…." He
smiled.
" If you lay one…." Riker warned.
He felt Smelly’s backhand slap across his face
snapping it to the side. "Shut yous ugly mug!" he
ordered. Riker slowly turned his head towards the
little weasel and glared. Smelly took a step back.
" Hey…Bud…Eat chur haut out…" the guard holding Deanna
laughed at Riker, as he pulled Deanna closer to him,
wrapping one arm around her chest, giving her a big
sloppy kiss on the cheek.
" I’ll shove your head up your ass so far, you can EAT
your own heart out." Riker’s eyes flashed with anger,
as he struggled with the ropes.
William looked over at his kneeling friend. "I’m
impressed." He said raising his eyebrows.
" Yeah." Riker answered, his steady penetrating gaze
never left the guard.

Walking out of the shadows of the alley they all heard
the clicking of her high heels on the concrete
pavement. She seductively swung her hips with every
classy step she took. She was smoking a cigarette with
a long black cigarette holder. She walked directly to
Riker; she bent down and blew a puff of smoke in his
face. "Well, hello again…handsome." She stated with a
seductive smile, giving him a kiss, leaving a trace of
red lipstick across his lips. The fox fur stole she
had wrapped around her neck tickled his face. Deanna
and William looked at one another out of the corner of
their eye. He didn’t kiss her back. "What?" she
pouted. "No kiss?" 
"Forgive me, Roberta." He stated with polite sarcasm.
" I’m not in the habit of kissing women, while a
numerous amount of guns are targeted at me, and my
hands are tied behind my back."
" We’ll talk later…" she purred as she ran her finger
across his red stained lips.
She casually walked over and bent down in front of
William, "And who is this?" she eyed the big man.
" Dats da copper." Smiley quickly responded, attempting
to win brownie points with the classy blonde lady.
" Dats da one dat iced Twinkie."
" So you’re the one that shot my little brother." She
stated softly with a turned up snarl, reaching up and
cupping his cheek in her hand. "Such a shame…" she
pouted, "tsk…tsk…tsk. And you’re…so…. Handsome, too."
William jerked his head away from her caress. She took
a drag of her long cigarette holder. Grabbing the back
of his head she forcefully brought his lips to hers
and kissed him, releasing the cigarette smoke she had
in her mouth into his. "Was it good for you?" she
whispered.
" I killed your brother!" Riker snapped.
William flashed a blue eyed glare at Riker.
Her attention immediately turned towards Will. She
stood up and walked over to him.
" Such camaraderie…Darling really, I’m flattered." She
paced in front of the two men…as if she were in
thought. " Since the two of you are so close…then,
you’ll just have to…" 
"No!" Deanna interrupted her as she struggled against
the big thug. 
She casually walked over to Deanna. The thug guarding
her never lowered his weapon from her side. "And what
have we got here?" Roberta asked as she eyed the young
Betazoid. Both men suddenly stiffened, squaring their
shoulders. Roberta noticed it. She turned around,
"Don’t worry boys… She and I are going to have…a
little talk." She tilted her head slightly towards
Deanna. "Aren’t we, honey?"
" Put the girl in the car." Her voice suddenly became
authoritative. He nodded and roughly grabbed Deanna’s
upper arm, dragging her small frame towards the end of
the alley. 
Riker lunged forward. "NO! Leave her Lao…." he
yelled. The butt of a gun smacking him in the back of
the head abruptly stopped his voice; he fell to the
ground unconscious.
William heard Deanna yell "Imzadi" from the shadows of
the alley. 
"You bitch." William whispered as he glared at
Roberta.
" Now…now." she said as she slowly walked towards him.
" The girl must belong to him. Look how he tried to
defend her…." She ran a slow crooked finger across his
unshaven cheek. "Besides," She bent down and
seductively whispered into his ear, "I heard you were
looking for Bobby the Boss?" She stood to her feet and
grabbed a handful of his hair raising his face, so she
could look into his eyes. Her voice suddenly became
harsh. "You found her!" She snapped his head forward
when she released his hair. Quickly flipping her fox
stole around her neck and whirling around she stormed
out of the darkened alley
"What bout Des two’s, Boss?" Smelly quickly asked
her…looking more like a pet monkey running alongside
its master.
" Kill them." She ordered never looking back. The other
men followed behind her.
And then she was gone. William heard the screech of
tire wheels as it rounded the corner of the building.
" Yeah, Boss…. Yeah…I’ll do dat…Yeah Boss." The skinny
little runt called after her.



Smelly turned around and eyed William and the
unconscious Riker who lay on the cold pavement of the
alley.
His bravery turned to nervousness; suddenly realizing
that everyone was gone.
He took out a cigarette, William noticed how his
scrawny hand trembled as he held the match up to light
it. "Be glad you’re on your knees, Wills…. Yous can
pray, while I smoke." He snorted, behind his rotten
teeth.
William watched mutely as the skinny man smoked a
cigarette. Smelly squatted down in the middle of the
dark, damp alley. Smelly exhaled the smoke slowly,
reminding William of a man who had just had great sex.

" Dis is gonna hurt yous a lot more dan me, Wills."
Smelly snorted a laugh. Standing up, he aimed the
weapon at long range.
" Hey, Smelly?" 
"Yeahs…Whatcha want before I ice yas?" 
"Do you think, before you kill me…" he nodded once "I
could have a smoke?"
" Geeze, I don’t know…Wills," he said unsure of the
request. "Da boss says ta kill yous."
" Hell, Smelly…What do you think I’m going to do, for
Christ’s sake…. I’m tied up…. Plus you’ve got the
gun."
" I don’t know…. Wills…. Da Boss…"
"Smelly." William cut him off. "He sure as hell…."
Nodding down at Riker… "Can’t hurt you. Look at him,
the bum’s out cold."
" Wills I …Dona think…." The scrawny little man
whined.
" Smelly…even in the joint you get one last cigarette."
Smelly took three cautious steps towards the big man;
the gun trembled in his hand. 
"You got me." William sounded convincing. "You’ve
outsmarted me, Smelly…."
" Geeze, Wills…I am schmaut…" he snorted a laugh,
behind his blackened teeth.
" Listen Smelly… All I want is for you to reach into
my coat and get me one damn cigarette before I die…all
right?"
" I ain’t no…Schmuck…. Wills." he sucked his cavity
ridden teeth… You think I’d fall for dat one, doane
cha?"
" Okay Smelly…you out smarted me… again." William
grinned at the scrawny nasty little man. "I’ll smoke
one of yours."
" Sees ya caint out schmaut me…." He proudly stated
tapping the side of his head with his finger…. He
reached into his dirty coat pocket.
" Yous want me ta light it for yas too?" he snorted a
laugh, as he held the lone cigarette in his dirty
little hand.
" No offense, Smelly…." William made a face of disgust.
" But your mouth…its not too…. I really don’t want…."
" Shut yous mug about my mouth…" he warned with a
squint of his beady eyes. 
The thin puny man took one more step towards the
detective. He reached out at arm’s length and
cautiously, placed the cigarette between Williams’s
lips.
" I gots ta find a match…" he shuffled though his dirty
pockets, still holding the gun on the kneeling
detective.
" Take your time." 
"Yeah, Wills…" he snorted a laugh… "Dat way yous get
ta live longer…"
William nodded his head and rolled his eyes at the
weasel standing in front of him.
" I got a lighter in my pocket, Smelly."
" Oh, I bet yous do." Smelly stated suspiciously,
waving the gun at him.
" It a gold lighter…my Grandma gave it to me for
Christmas last year."
" Did yous say gold?" the puny thin mans eyes lit up.
" Yeah, it’s gold."
" When I ice yas…can I have it?"
" Just light the fucking cigarette!" William commanded
loudly…shuffling the cigarette between his lips.
" Yeah…Sure, Wills…yeah." The puny thin man flinched at
the sound of the big man’s voice and obeyed.
Smelly began to search for the gold lighter in
William’s jacket. Never turning loose of the gun
"The other pocket, god damn it!" William barked loudly
around the unlit cigarette in his mouth. 
"Yeah…the udder pocket…sure…Wills yeah…" Smelly laid
down the gun, and began to search in the other pocket
of William’s jacket.
William head butted the man.
Hard.
The two heads made a loud thumping sound at impact. 
William quickly shook the stars out of his head and
slowly rose to his feet.
Smelly staggered back wildly, holding his head with
both hands. He fell to the ground screaming in pain.
William still in a slight daze from the head butting
swayed over in a stupor to where Smelly lay. He rared
back his leg and with one swift mighty kick. The steel
toed boot made contact with Smelly’s skull, producing
a huge jagged crack across his forehead. Smelly
flopped like a fish out of water, before his body
jerked one last time, releasing its final breath, and
a gush of blood his face lay in slowly ran down the
alleyways.

William spit out the unlit cigarette. "I don’t smoke
your brand." He stated to the dead man. "You smoke
Dumb Ass…I don’t"
William slowly staggered back over to Riker…
"Riker." He said nudging the man with his boot. "Wake
up."
Nothing.
" Riker!" He nudged him harder. "You better not be
dead!" he warned.
" Worf is that you?" Riker mumbled. "You’re out of
uniform lieutenant."
" Riker!" William almost yelled. He inhaled and
exhaled, and glanced up to the sky. "I’d like to Worf
your ass all over this alley." He said to the mumbling
man on the ground. "Riker!" he repeated nudging him
harder with his boot.
" Yeah…Oh shit my head." Riker winced in pain. "I can’t
grab my head."
" Get up, you idiot!" William nudged him with his boot.
" We’ve got to save Deanna."
Riker fluttered his eyes…attempting to focus…he tried
to rise to his feet. Not realizing his hands were tied
behind his back; he flopped over to the side landing
on his face.
" Hey, guy who picks up female mobsters in bar rooms…"
William bent over and looked down at Riker. "And then
kills their baby brother."
" Go to hell." Riker said in a hushed voice as he
slowly rose to his feet.
" We’re tied up, remember?"
" I thought you would have taken your perfect white
teeth, and gnawed the damn ropes by now…William."
" In my boot is a knife, can you get it?" Ignoring
Riker’s smart-ass remark about his dental hygiene.
" I can if you take off your boot." Riker suggested.
" I can’t take them off without my hands…. They lace." 
"What good is a knife in your boot, if you can’t get
to it." Riker couldn’t believe this man.
" I don’t know…. I’ve never had to use it." 
Riker sat back down on the ground and fumbled his
fingers unlacing the big man’s steel-toed boot. "That
should do it, Willie boy."
Once free of the ropes that bound their hands, neither
man could discern which hurt worse his heads or their
wrists.
Riker walked over to the dead man lying in the puddle
of blood. "What the hell happened to him?"
" He wanted to buy a pair of boots like mine, so I gave
him a closer look."
" He doesn’t look too impressed." Riker said with a
shrug…knowing exactly what the big man meant by the
statement. Remembering that this was the slimy worm
that made vulgar gestures towards Deanna, and the same
thug that slapped him across the face.
" Yeah." Kneeling on the ground William put his boot
back on and was lacing it up. "They’ve got Deanna. You
better pray we’re not too late."
" She’s still alive." Riker said, as he scanned the
alley; "I can sense that much." 
"You can what?" William said pulling down his pant leg
over his boot, raising to his full posture.
" Nothing…" he quickly evaded his remark. "Where to
now?"
" To police headquarters, we’re going to need some
guns…." 
Both men took off running full speed down the
darkened alleyways of Chicago.



SCHWEET HAUT
CHAPTER 15

William had already strapped a holster onto the
commanding officer’s chest. He handed him a gun and
several other weapons.
" Hey, ya boss." The short fat detective walked though
the door, approaching the two men.
William turned around…
"Dey found Smelly in the alley…just like yous said."
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a
toothbrush. "He had dis on em."
William took the toothbrush, looked at it for a
moment, cringed, and handed it over to Riker.
Riker gave him a disgusted look, glancing from the
toothbrush to William. He threw it down on the desk.
" Da meat wagon picked up da body, Boss…da bums head
wuz split wide open."
" He didn’t like Willie’s boots." Riker quipped in,
while snapping his gun in the holster.
William just glanced at Riker for an instant and
rolled his eyes.
" Bobby da boss is a dame?" The round little fat man
shook his head. "Geeze, all dis time, we wuz thinkin’
it was a guy." He stated in disbelief.
" Will the Thrill here… brought her out of hiding."
William said with a smirk.
" Will da Trill, huh?" his fat little cheeks balled up
and his eyes twinkled with amusement, as he looked
over at Riker.
" That’s Will the Thrill…. Not trill." Will wanted to
clarify. 
The fat little man rubbed his round belly as he exited
Detective Johnson’s office, his laughing made a jolly
little sound, "Will da trill…" he mumbled as he
walked towards the door.
" Thanks." Riker said to the detective.
" You’re welcome." William nodded, "A tiny dark eyed
little beauty clued me in on that one."
" I bet she did." Will replied with a roll of his eyes.
They continued to equip themselves. 
"Hey ya Boss?" the fat little detective poked his
round little head in through the doorway.
William looked at the man, "Yeah?"
" Did yous ever play football, when ya was in da big
school?" The man was talking about college.
" Yeah. Why?"
" Me and da boys wuz talking about it…"
William stood there mutely, and gave the man a nod, as
if to say… ‘And’…
"Betcha had one hellof a kick." He said with a smile.
" Seein’ Whatcha did ta Smelly’s head-n-all." He
turned and walked away…they heard him outside the
office. "See you guys, I told ya…Now…. Pay up." 
"You like sports?" Riker asked.
" I’ve done some football."
" I’d like to try you at parisee squares." Riker said
with certainty
"I don’t do checkers." William snapped his gun in the
holster of his chest. "You play poker?"
" A little." Riker responded using his best poker face.
" Excuse me?" it was a request…and it was female, and
it was nice.
" Yes." Both men responded, quickly turning around.
" May I?" she quietly requested to enter the office.
" Yes…" Riker jumped into the conversation answering
for William. "Please come in." He flashed her one of
his most famous smiles.
She nodded at Riker as she entered the room.
She was good looking and she carried herself like she
knew it. She slowly walked into the office; she had
all the right curves in all the right places. Her
frame was petite. Her eyes were huge and they were
lilac violet…her hair was shoulder length, curly and
the most brilliant of black. Both men smiled at her as
she silently placed a stack of papers on the desk.
They both noticed the heels she was wearing and how
they made her legs look graceful and sleek. 
"I’ve typed up some reports for you to sign." She
stated with a smile, her violet colored eyes twinkled.
The red lipstick that she wore was perfect.
" Thank you." Both men responded at the same time.
She simply nodded, she had a slight look of confusion
as she glanced at one and then the other…she
gracefully turned to walk away.
" Excuse me…but" Will called, taking a huge step
towards her, "I don’t believe we’ve met."
" I don’t believe we have either." She extended a hand,
"I’m Darcy Marrow."
" It most certainly is a pleasure…I’m Will. Will
Riker." He took her hand. "You must be new…in the
department."
" I am…. I started yesterday." She blushed a little as
she looked towards the floor. 
"I’m training for Mrs. Blushmyer’s position." She
added.
William stood there and mutely gawked at the two.
Mostly at Darcy.
" Well, I truly look forward to you becoming a part of
our fine staff, Mrs. Marrow."
" Oh…I’m sorry if I’ve misinformed you…It’s Miss…Miss
Marrow and I suppose, if I do get the job. The two of
us will be working together on a daily basis…perhaps,
you should call me Darcy."
" All right, Darcy." He stated in a gentlemanly tone.
" I’m sure you’ll do just fine." William stepped in.
"I’m Detective William Johnson. This is my office."
extending his arm in greeting. "And you can call me
William…its sounds more…. Dignified." he flashed Riker
a lopsided grin.
" Darcy Marrow." She glanced from one man to the other.
" Two Wills? Excuse me if I appear confused." She let
go of William’s hand.
" His mother doesn’t speak much English" William
informed the violet eyed beauty, with a glistening
smile.
" His grandmother does." Riker stated in a gentlemanly
tone, "perhaps you’ll get the chance to meet her,
sometime."
She stood there silently looking at both men, before
she spoke. "I just wanted to bring in those reports.
If you’ll excuse me." She nodded at both men, turned
and walked out of the office; both men stared as she
rounded the corner of the door.
" You’re a cad." William finally said. "No wonder she
dumped your ass."
" Who?" 
"Deanna, that’s who."
" She didn’t dump me." Riker sounded insulted.
" Bull shit…" William said with a laugh. "What did she
do find you in the sack with another woman?"
Riker didn’t answer…
"I knew it." William sounded triumphant. "I knew it!"
He twirled around on his heels, clapped his hands and
pointed at Riker. "You’re in love with Deanna, but she
scares the hell out of you." He put a finger up in the
air. "So you flirt with all these women, running away
from your feelings. And…" he added, with a twinkle in
his eye. "Deanna knows this, that’s why she won’t
sleep with you. You’re just too damn stupid, to see
it."
Riker stood there and looked at the man, he scratched
his bearded chin with his thumb and his fore fingers
for a moment as if in thought. He looked over at the
detective and flashed him a big grin.
" I got a better one for you." William said with a
smile. "Want to hear it?"
" Why not?" Riker shrugged.
" Darcy is mine. Remember her? You know the one with
the legs, and the…dark wavy hair…and those beautiful
violet eyes…" He stated with a raise of both eyebrows.
" She’s my personal secretary…and I won’t be calling in
sick."
" Ass-hole."
" That I am, my ugly friend." William agreed with a
nod.
But," Riker retaliated with a grin… "Deanna is mine.
Remember her? You know the one with the big…huge
ebony eyes that melts a man’s heart…. The one with the
musical accent to her voice…and the perfect body…" he
said with a raise of his eyebrows… "She’s my personal
psychologist. And I will be calling in sick."
" Ass-hole."
" That I am, my ugly friend." Will agreed with a nod of
his head.
" Let’s go…Billy."


SCHWEET HAUT
CHAPTER 16

After various dead end leads the two men entered Tub’s
Bar-n-Grill…The place was packed. The room was a smoky
haze, as the men zigzagged through the crowd to the
bar.
" Hey, yas Wills…." Della said behind her gum chewing.
" Geeze, ya must be stupid or sumpin ta come back ta
dis miserable joint."
" He’s stupid." Riker quickly jumped into the
conversation.
" Who’s ya friend?" She eyed Riker up and down. Her
bird egg blue eye shadow was the first thing Riker
noticed. He thought she definitely had too many makes
up on. 
"This is Will the Thrill Riker…." William introduced
his colleague in a loud voice.
She eyed Riker. "Will da Trill, huh?" She blew a
bubble and quickly sucked it into her mouth. "Nice ta
meet-cha." She batted her made up eyes.
" Thrill!" Riker yelled above the noise of the crowd.
" That's Will the Thrill…. Not Trill."
" What can I do for yas..?" The husky voice behind the
bar asked. Both men spun around.
" Bourbon—straight shooter—no ice" Riker slapped the
palms of his hands flat against the top of the bar
after he placed his order, as if he was playing a
drum.
" Make that two." William looked at Riker. "I take it
you’re a drinking man?" he raised his voice in Riker’s
ear.
" I was born and raised in Alaska…. You have to drink
to keep warm." He yelled above the crowd.
" Alaska?"
" Yeah." He stated with a loud voice.
" No wonder you’re such a cold son of a bitch." William
yelled towards Riker’s ear.
Riker smiled and nodded at the guy.
" I’m here schhoog-ga…" Riker felt her hand grab a
handful of butt flesh. Riker spun around.
" Della…look. I’m sorry but…" he stated to her loudly.
" Maybe some other time."
" I put out." She yelled at him rather bluntly.
" She does." William stated loudly as he paid for the
drinks. "Or so I’ve heard." He quickly added more
quietly.
" Put out?" Riker was confused. "I’m sorry."
" I’m an easy fuck." She yelled at him as if she were
talking about the weather. 
Riker’s eyes widened and his chin dropped. He was
flabbergasted at the rudeness of this woman in front
of him.
" Here." William handed him his drink, with a huge
smile. "You may need this."
Riker downed the whole shot in one gulp. 
"Hey, Della…. Get yous butt back ta woik." The
bartender ordered the bubble gum chewing waitress.
" Geeze…all right already…." She complained while she
smacked and popped the huge wad of gum in her mouth.
" I’ll be back, shoog-ga." She touched Riker on the
lips with her fingertips. She blew a bubble and popped
it. She whirled around and was gone, lost into the
boisterous loud noises of the crowd.
" Damn." Riker shook his head and laughed.
" I know." William agreed as he took a cigarette from
his pack, placed it between his lips, and lit it. He
studied the red-hot tip of the cigarette in his hand
for awhile before he looked back at Riker.
" So you going out with Della?" William asked in a
serious tone. 
"Deanna’s here." Riker yelled above the crowd,
ignoring the man’s rib about the bubble gum chewing
waitress.
" She’s what?"
" She’s here?" he repeated for the second time…loudly.
Both men felt the cold steel of a gun, rammed into
their spines. "Just head for da John." The gruff
voice instructed. Six thugs herded them to the
restroom.
They did as they were told. The armed men kept the
weapons jabbed into their backs as they entered the
men’s restroom.
The bathroom was a dump…full of rust stains and vulgar
graffiti covered the walls. "Put yous hands up." The
thug jabbed harder in their spines with the cold metal
of the gun. The place had a stench of urine.
Both men felt the blunt end of the handle of a gun as
it drummed against their heads, then everything went
black.

CHAPTER 17

Riker came to in the midst of a room that had a light
bulb hanging from the ceiling by one thin wire. Ugly
steam pipes ran along the ceiling, with huge chips of
paint missing. The small cell had no furniture…or
windows. Just cinder blocks of concrete, and a metal
door.
Riker fluttered his eyes as they adapted to the lone
light bulb. Everything was groggy…slowly coming into
focus. He attempted to rise to his feet…he shuffled
over to William who was still passed out on the cold
concrete floor.
" William…hey…William"
"Darcy" William mumbled.
" Will wake up." He tapped him on the cheek.
" Deanna?" he mumbled… 
"What the hells that mean?" Riker’s temper flared.
" Wake your ugly ass up!" he nudged the man almost
rolling him over.
" All right." he was attempting to focus his eyes to
the lonely light bulb.
He sat up… "Where are we?" he rubbed the back of his
head.
Suddenly the metal door opened…Riker quickly stood to
his feet as they shoved the new prisoner through the
door. Deanna was dressed in a red silk full-length
nightgown, and she was barefooted. Her hands were tied
behind her back and she was gagged with a handkerchief
tied over her mouth.

" Deanna." Will exclaim with surprise…he ran over and
took off the gag, he began to untie her. She embraced
him; he gladly embraced her back. He stood and held
her tightly while she quietly cried---they were tears
of happiness that they were together again. 
Forgetting the throbbing in his own head. He
constantly reassured her that he was fine, and that
she was safe. "Are you all right?" he whispered into
her hair. She simply nodded her head, as she held him
tighter. William stood to his feet. He looked over at
the two estranged lovers, Riker nodded his she’s okay.
He searched his jacket for a cigarette.
" Damn." William quietly stated to himself.
" What?" Riker asked never releasing Deanna.
" No smokes. The thugs took my guns and my cigarettes."
" Against da wall you twos." They heard a voice outside
the cell. Both men obeyed as they opened the door, and
shoved in another prisoner.
It was Darcy.
" Darcy?" William exclaimed. "How in the hell?"
She had both hands tied behind her back and a
handkerchief over her mouth to muffle her screams. She
was dressed in a red silk nightgown, barefooted and
she had been crying.
William ran over to her and untied the ropes and took
off the gag. "Are you all right?" he asked grabbing
onto her shoulders, looking into her reddened violet
eyes, she nodded yes.
" Why? Why are they doing this?" she cried. He pulled
her to him and held her. She sobbed against his shirt.
She was scared; she had never been through anything
like this before. 
"Why are you ladies dressed in night-gowns?" Riker
asked.
" Roberta likes red…she said we would die in red."
Deanna explained. 
"She’s evil…" Darcy said, "I was walking home from
work yesterday and they forced me into their car." She
cried. "Why are they doing this? Why?" she sobbed,
William embraced the trembling secretary. She seemed
so small compared to the six- foot- six giant.
Deanna laid her cheek on Riker’s broad chest, and
said. "They’re doing it, because they are both named
William." She let out a tearful laugh. "Happens to
Will all the time."
" What?" Darcy asked, pulling away from William’s
chest. "But, why me?" she started to tear up again.
" Up against the walls…" they heard the snapping order;
both men shielded the woman as they backed away from
the door.
The steel door opened, and ten thugs walked in armed
with machine guns. Roberta walked in through the
threshold of the small cell.
" Yous guys over there." One burly thug ordered the men
to move away from the women. The men hesitated for a
moment until he shook the gun at them.
" My…my…my." what a happy sight, she smiled with an
evil curl of her lip. 
"Why are you so evil?" Darcy cried to the heartless
mob leader. 
"Because my little violet eyed secretary…you belong to
our pretty smiled, rugged detective, who killed my
favorite little pet…Smelly… and our little dark eyed
psychologist belongs to our flirtatious handsome
friend who killed my little brother.
" I don’t belong to him." She took a step towards
Roberta. The thugs raised their guns. William stood on
guard.
" Yes, you do…" she laughed, grabbing Darcy’s face
under her chin… "Lets see…I quote, "Darcy is mine,
remember her…end quote…Ring a bell, Will?" Roughly
letting go of Darcy’s face.
" You tapped my office!" He glared.
" Oh and I’m not done…." She smiled and turned her head
towards Riker, "Deanna is mine, remember her? The one
with the…." Shall I go on, Will?" 
Riker silently glared at the woman.
She turned to leave…
"One more thing…" she put a finger up in the air, as
if she remembered something.
" I’m sorry Will…we couldn’t find your non-English
speaking mother…. But we did…"
"You bitch! I’ll kill…" William cursed loudly as he
lunged towards her only to be gutted with the handle
of a machine gun. He felt the wind knocked out of him
as the force of blow made him want to vomit. It
knocked him backward to the floor; he laid in a fetal
position holding onto his stomach.
Riker stepped forward ready to kill; all guns
immediately cocked.
~~ No Will ~~ Deanna warned in his thoughts. He took
one step back; his glare never left Roberta.
Darcy stared in silent horror at the sight of William
on the floor as he coughed, hacked and spit up blood.
" Fool" The blonde boss leader hissed at the gasping
detective, as she turned and walked out of the cell
room. The thugs backed out of the cell, never lowering
their guns. 
The clicking sound of the lock echoed through the
small cell.
Will immediately went to William… "Hey, you okay?" he
asked touching the man who was now on his hands and
knees. Riker put his hand on his shoulder.
" Hell no…" he coughed… "Do I…. Look" he gasped…
"Okay?" He struggled catch his breath. "I just got
gut…. Wrenched." he spit out more blood. "You idiot."
" Hurts like hell, don’t it?" Riker stated as he
grabbed the big man under his arm and helped him stand
to his feet. 
"Yeah." He said taking the sleeve of his shirt and
wiping off his mouth, attempting to control his
breathing.
Darcy stood there mutely. Her violet eyes widened at
the sight of William, as he struggled for composure.
" I’m okay, now" William assured her and the others.
She slowly opened and closed her eyes, letting out a
sigh of relief. Then she glared at him, as her face
changed into one of anger.
" Darcy is mine!" she huffed the words out of her mouth
towards the big man.
" What?" he asked…still holding his now bruised
stomach? 
"I only met you for the first time, yesterday
afternoon." Darcy glared at William in anger. "I put
some papers on your desk…And he…" pointing an angry
finger at Riker, "he was the one who made the pass at
me." She yelled.
‘ Oh… shit’ Riker thought, backing away from the big
man.
" Who do you think you are?" she yelled at the man.
" That I would even consider…going with you." Her
violet eyes darkened with anger.
" Will, did you make a pass at her?" Deanna was in on
it now.
" Well…" he said, backing away further. "It wasn’t like
that."
" Riker…. You were all over the poor girl." William
stated still holding his aching gut, trying to shift
all the women’s anger to the other man.
" You’re unbelievable!" Deanna huffed at him. "I’m
kidnapped…And you’re making a pass at some other
woman?" Her voice calmed down. "You’ll never
change…Will Riker.
‘ Oh… shit’ William thought.
" They’re both very slick." Darcy shook her finger in
anger at the two men. "That one had me believing that
that one was…. That one, who thinks he owns me!"
William gulped loud.
Deanna’s dark eyes fixed on Riker. "Deanna really…"
Riker stammered.
" Deanna is mine. That is what you said, wasn’t it?
Well, tell me this…who do you belong to Will?" she
asked a little too calmly.
" Deanna?" Riker was beginning to get nervous. 
She stepped closer to him, each step he took back she
took one forward. "I would rather be with ferengies
than to spend one minute with a …..a…" she stomped her
foot.. "William Thomas Riker…Ugh!" 
"Look, we don’t have time for this." William decided
to come to Riker’s defense.
" Don’t tell me what I have time for!" Darcy glared at
William. "Who do you think you are…?" she walked
towards him. He straightened his posture. "I would
rather belong to all ten of those…. Those…morons out
there than to spend one…. minute…with….. a…..a…."
William was beginning to get nervous. 
Her voice changed suddenly, as she politely asked,
"What is your middle name?"
" I don’t see…what…that…has…" He stammered.
" What is it!" Darcy urgently demanded her violet eyes
flashed in anger.
" Gilbert." William quickly answered.
" William Gilbert Johnson!" she stomped her foot in
anger… "Don’t you ever, ever, refer to me as your
property again! She poked him in the chest with each
of her following words. "YOU… GOT… THAT!" 
"Yeah." He answered. Riker could have swore the man
was cowering down to the little violet-eyed beauty…he
began to smile.
" Don’t you dare." Deanna warned Riker through clenched
teeth. His face immediately became sober. Johnson
could have sworn he saw the man cower down to the
little dark eyed beauty, but he didn’t dare smile.
They stayed in the cell for a long time…the women sat
on the opposite end and refused to talk to the men. 



here is chapter 18 of Schweet Haut...I hope you like
it.
patty

SCHWEET HAUT
CHAPTER 18

"Ladies?" Riker called to the women across the cell.
They turned their heads towards the wall, refusing to
acknowledge him. He glanced over at William…. William
just shrugged. Both men sat on their side of the cell
with their legs drawn up and their forearms across
their knees.
Finally breaking the silence. "Hey… yous two dames….
gotta schmoke?" William asked in a gruff gangster
voice. Pulling the collar of his shirt up around his
neck, he continued. "Hey…I’m talkin’ ta yous… What’s
wrong withcha…caint cha hear…. Are yous blind or
sumthin?" Sitting on the floor of the cell, William
practiced his gruff gangster vocabulary.
" Hey…Will da trill?" He looked over at Riker, nodding
towards the ladies. "Dem cookies caint hear…daze must
be blind." 
"Hey…eyes got a plan sees…" Riker was in on it now, he
used his best gangster voice. "For buskin’ outta dis
stinkin’ joint."
" Yeah, boss…over da wall…." William answered, trying
to hide his laughter. 
"Will da trill…dats my name…an doane yous forget it."
Riker pointed a finger at William.
" Yeah, boss….Will da trill……he’s schmaut." William
tapped the side of his head with his index finger.
Both of them began to laugh at their own antics. The
girls turned their heads and attempted to hide their
own laughter. The men’s laughter was beginning to be
contagious.
" Will?" Deanna stated quietly across the cell room.
Both men stopped laughing and looked at her, she
noticed the two shades of blue, as their eyes
glistened in merriment. They both gave her a lopsided
grin.
" Both of you are imbeciles." She stated with a smile.
" At least, she’s not mad at me anymore." Riker
shrugged to William.

" Get against da wall yous guys!" They heard the thug
outside. All four immediately jumped up to their feet.
Deanna ran towards Riker. She grabbed onto his arm; he
corrected his posture and placed her behind him.
William ran over and grabbed Darcy…she protested until
she saw what was standing at the door, then she clung
onto him. 
"Okay you guys…time ta meet cha maker." Sounded the
big gruff voice of the ugly man, who Riker had knocked
out in the bar. He stood like a huge boulder in front
of the doorway.
He raised up the machine gun. They were all sitting
ducks, and William and Riker knew it. The ugly goon
looked at Deanna, and smiled revealing a big gold
tooth in the middle of his mouth, "Two’s bad we didn’t
get ta know each udder better, toots." He winked at
her. 
He raised up the gun…with a big smile…and aimed.
" Wait!" Riker yelled. "You can have her!" He quickly
said, holding Deanna at arms length in front of his
body.
William and Darcy slowly turned their heads and looked
at him with dumbfounded wide eyes. William wanted to
slap this idiot upside the head, and knock some sense
into him.
" Whadda ya talking about, Bud?" The big ugly oof
asked.
" You can have her." He repeated. "I have…. If you know
what I mean." He winked at the big goon.
~~ William T. Riker what are you up to? ~~ 
~~ Trust me, Imzadi ~~~
"You’re gonna just give me da dame?"
" Why not…we’re going to die anyway, right?" He
bargained. "Why not have a little fun first?"
The big lug looked at him suspiciously.
" Who’s going to know…us?" Riker laughed. "Hell we’ll
be dead."
" Yous are serious." He eyed Riker, letting down some
of his guard.
" Yeah…and hell… why not that one too." He nodded his
head towards Darcy. 
Darcy gasped, and clutched onto William tighter. 
William glared at Riker; the goon wouldn’t have to
kill him…he would.
" You means I can…have um both?" the dumb thug stated
like a kid at Christmas. He was dumb, very dumb and
Deanna recognized it.
" If you can handle us both…" she stated seductively.
Riker turned loose of her arms… "But I would loooove….
to have you…… all to my self…" 
"Geeze…you sure are purdy…" he almost blushed at
Deanna. 
"Tell me…big boy." She stated licking her lips. "How
do you like it?" Deanna asked. 
Now Riker’s eyes widened. He’d never seen this side of
Deanna.
The big thug gulped loud, releasing his finger from
the trigger of the gun.
Darcy stepped forward and began to rub her chest in a
seductive way… "Oh Deanna…he may be too much…. Man
for… just you…" she purred… "I want some, I just love
big….. strong…..sexy men."
William and Will quickly shot a look at one another.
" You’re so…. So…. Handsome." Deanna purred, as she
slowly approached him. The women began to ad lib, a
bit too well. Both men just stood and watched…in
amazement.
" It’s been Sooooo long." Deanna opened her eyes wide,
and bit her bottom lip seductively. "I need you…"
Deanna growled… ‘nowwww."
The women slowly,…. Walked towards the thug…rubbing
their breast and licking their lips… 
"You’ve got to help meeeee…" Darcy seductively
pleaded. She looked at him and whispered…"William
fucks" she pouted to the big ugly goon "like a
rabbit."

" A Rabbit?" Riker mouthed the words to William.
William shot him a silent, ‘go to hell’ look. Riker
gave him a lopsided grin in return.

The thugs eyes widened as the two very sexy women
approached him.
Darcy reached for the ribbon that was on the neck of
her silk gown…the man’s gaze was steadily fixed on her
hands.
She slowly pulled the ribbon.
Deanna did the same as they slowly approached the big
thug. He got confused; he didn’t know which one to
watch. He began to sweat; he swallowed, and then
gulped hard. 
The women were definitely affecting the big ugly thug.

They were beginning to affect Riker and William…both
of them rubbed the side of their faces, and took deep
breaths.

Darcy stood in front of thug now and unexpectedly
pulled down her gown and flashed the big goon her
breasts, exposing both in his face. 
The gold tooth idiot froze. His eyes almost popped
out of his head, as his jaw dropped.
Deanna quickly grabbed the machine gun…aiming it at
the moron. The men saw that as their cue and ran
towards the girls. William retrieved the gun from
Deanna.
The thug was still in a stupor over the sight that had
just flashed before his eyes. 
William took the gun and struck the big lug upside the
head, knocking him unconscious…they all four noticed
the smile on his face, as he lay motionless on the
floor of the cell. The men removed all of the thug’s
weapons from his body, while Darcy and Deanna quickly
tied their gowns.
Cupping Deanna’s face with his hands Riker bent down
and gave Deanna an unexpected quick kiss. "Good work."

" We need to go to Grandma’s and see if she’s okay."
William stated with concern. 
"Do you know the way?"
" Yeah, I think so." William stated.
" Then we’ll follow you…Thumper" Riker added with a
lopsided grin.
William stood and stared at Darcy…not believing what
he just saw or what she just said. She simply looked
at him with a playful tilt of her head. "Am I still
yours, Detective Johnson?" She batted her eyelids at
him, as her violet eyes twinkled with mischief.
" Come on." He said, rolling his eyes. He grabbed her
hand; they quickly walked through the threshold of the
cell. Mumbling about how he’d like to thump Riker on
the head and something about he’d like to show her
rabbit…
"Did you say something, Will?" Riker asked as he and
Deanna followed behind.
" Yeah. I’d like a smoke it’s a habit." William quickly
answered.



SCHWEET HAUT
CHAPTER 19

Once outside of the cell…there was a long narrow
hallway. Two doors were on each side of the corridor. 
"One of these maybe leads to the outside." Will
stated… "Stand back."
With a raise of his foot he kicked the door open; it
slammed on the other side of the wall. The men slowly
rounded the corned of the doorway…there were
bloodstains splattered and streaked all along the
inside walls.
" Not this one." Will said…quickly stepping out of the
doorway.
He kicked the door open on the other side. There were
trails of blood that lead up to long wooden boxes and
wooden crates. Riker thought they were probably being
used as makeshift coffins. The small room had a stench
of death. He quickly shut the door and looked at the
others, "Not this one." Giving William his ‘lets move
on’ sign, they headed back down the long hallway,
deciding to go the other way.
An armed thug stood in the doorway of the exit.
William raised and aimed the machine gun towards the
thug. The women stood behind Riker. 
"Freeze!" William ordered. 
The thug quickly spun around, and took a gun out of
his vest and aimed. The rapid machine gun fired a
round of twenty bullets at lightening speed, directed
at the thug’s chest. The hired thug jerked and
twitched with each bullet that nailed into his body,
as if he were doing a wild dance. His body bouncing
off of a nearby wall, as it collapsed in the middle of
the archway.
William nodded to Riker. They both walked cautiously
over to the thug, Riker grabbed under the shoulders
and William grabbed the ankles of the bloodied corpse.
The thug’s lifeless torso was riddled with holes from
the machine gun. His once white shirt was now a
scarlet red. "I think you killed him." Riker stated
as they moved the dead man out of the doorway.
" Yeah, I killed him good." William replied. Dropping
the corpse to the floor the body landed like a brick
with a loud thud.
Riker motioned for Deanna and Darcy to join them. The
girls quickly ran towards the men. 
"Here." Riker handed Deanna his gun. He picked up the
gun, which was in the middle of the doorway. He
examined it for ammunition. 
"She can shoot?" William asked in amazement.
" We’ll find out." Will answer as he sidestepped
though the archway of the building.

Coming out of the cinder block enclosure…they stood in
the middle of a field…the knee high grass was
beginning to turn brown and die, due to the cold
weather. They saw nothing around for miles, but the
sun shining on the cold and windy pasture. The girls
began to shiver…they were after all standing in the
middle of a field in silk nightgowns. Riker took off
his coat and wrapped it around Deanna. William took
off his and Darcy gladly accepted it. The gesture had
at least merited William a smile and a polite Thank
you.
" Where are we?" Will asked.
" I’m not quite sure…" he observed as he looked around.
" Come on. There’s got to be a road around here
somewhere."
They walked through the pasture, until they found a
farmhouse. The outside of the house was tidy and
neat…white, with a little white picket fence.

William knocked on the door, while studying the huge
porch that surrounded the house.
The font door slowly opened.
There was a kid that answered the door…a boy about six
years old. Standing inside of the screen door, eating
a candy bar.
" Excuse me." William politely stated. "I’m a police
officer, may we use your phone."
" We ain’t got one." He mumbled between chews.
" Well, then may I please talk to your father?"
" I ain’t got one." He answered, never slowing down his
eating.
" Look," William attempted to be polite… "I’m a cop…and
could I please speak to a grown up? There is a grown
up here, isn’t there."
" You’re a copper?" The boy’s eyes lit up with
excitement.
" Yeah." William smiled.
" Cops make lots of money, don’t they?" The young lad
asked. William turned around and inhaled, he noticed
the girls standing on the porch shivering from the
northern wind that howled around the porch. He had to
get them inside, even if he had to strangle this
little, missing two teeth, candy bar chewing kid.
" I don’t know about lots?" he answered politely.
" Would you please go get your mother?"
" I ain’t got one." He mumbled while tossing the bite
of candy bar in his mouth.
" How much would you charge me to talk to your mother"
William was getting fed up with this kid.
" A quarter."
William inhaled and exhaled… "All right. Here’s your
quarter." He reached into his pocket and pulled out
the coin, holding it between two fingers.
The boy began to unlock the screen door.
" No…. Not so fast." He pulled the shiny coin back. "Go
get your parents…and then… you get the quarter."
" Mama!" the kid screamed, revealing the chewed up
chocolate in his mouth.
" There’s a big man at the door, trying to give me a
quarter!" he yelled.
Soon there was a clamoring of feet as they all rushed
to the door. Eight heads popped around the screen
door, children ranging in ages from fifteen years to
three.
" I want one…" they all cried. 
Riker stood there and a huge grin flashed across his
face.
" You youngins’ get back…shoo…shoo." They finally
heard the voice of a woman as she approached the front
door.
" May I help you?" she asked, stepping up to the screen
door. All eight heads peaked out from behind their
mother. The woman weighed about four hundred pounds
and was in a huge dress and a big checked apron.
" I’m Detective William Johnson, of the Chicago Police.
May we use your phone?"
" Well, I ain’t got no phone…but." She saw the women
standing on the porch shivering. "You can come in…"
She opened the door and welcomed the four into her
house.
" Please, sit down." she instructed with a wave of her
hand towards the furniture. All eight children quickly
scrambled to chairs…and sat down wide eyed as they
gawked at the strangers. The three-year-old stood
directly in front of Riker and stared up at him, she
sniffled and wiped her nose on the sleeve of her
dress.
" You youngins get…. Get I said." The children quickly
sat on the floor Indian style, their gaze focused on
the four strangers, two of the children began to pick
their noses...and one kept scratching her head…the
three-year-old didn’t move, standing in front of Riker
staring up at him.
" Irma Jean… it’s not polite to stare…Now sit down with
your brothers and sisters."
The little girl turned around and said… "I caint
ma-ma."
" And why not?" the woman asked quietly.
" I peed my pants…. Ma-ma." she said as the tears began
to well in her eyes… "Joan Marie Alice." The woman
called to one of the children, a thirteen-year-old
girl stood up.
" Yes, ma-ma" she answered.
" Take Irma Jean upstairs…and clean her up." the mother
instructed. "She’s got some fresh underwear in her
dresser."
" Yes, ma-ma." The girl obeyed…taking the little girl
by the hand and walking her towards the stair. 
All four watched the two girls as they disappeared up
the stairway.
" Well…" the woman said as she wiped her hands on her
apron. "I’m Teva Mills." extending a hand out to
William. "What is it I can do for ya?"
" Detective Johnson, William Johnson." He shook her
hand.
" Would you happen to have a car by any means?"
" A car?" she almost laughed. "With eight kids…I can
barely keep food on the table. We caint afford no
car."
She looked over at the women. "Why are they in their
night gowns?"
" They were kidnapped and we rescued them ma’am?"
William stated as if it were official police business.
" You rescued them?" she eyed him suspiciously.
" Yes, ma’am."
" I got eight kids…. Did you come to rescue me too?"
She stated seriously.
Riker and the others smiled…William was speechless.
" Loretta…Loretta Elaine." The woman called out to
another child, which was sitting on the floor.
" Yes, ma-ma." A fifteen-year-old stood up.
" Loretta, go in the kitchen and cook up a pot of
coffee." 
"All right, ma-ma."
" You all do want some coffee don’t ya?"
" I’d love some." Riker responded, using his most
charming voice.
The woman eyed him. "Now, don’t go flirting with
me…young man." she warned playfully. "I’m the widow of
eight kids," She smiled at him as she continued, "When
I got pregnant with the eighth one…that’s when I took
the twelve gauge, and shot him."
Riker’s eyes suddenly widened, along with Deanna and
Darcy’s. "It’s been the only form of birth control
that seems to work."
" You all follow me." She said as she walked towards
the other room. 
"I can have John Joseph, run over to the neighbors and
tell them to call the police department…and let them
you’re here." They sat a huge picnic table, which was
being used to function as dining room furniture.
" Herman and me…" she said, "That’s my husband, he’s
out milking’ the cows now…he should be in before it
gets dark." She quickly smiled at Riker, letting him
know she was teasing, about shooting her husband.
" Well, we figured with eight kids a picnic table would
be the best thing to use…so…he made this."
" Thank you." William took the cup of coffee. "You
wouldn’t happen to have a cigarette would you?" he
took a chance.
" No…I chew." She stated. "You want a plug?"
" No. No thank you." He said with a smile.
" You’re afraid it’ll stain those white teeth of yours
aren’t ya? Those have got to be the whitest teeth I’ve
ever seen…" she squinted towards his mouth. "Are they
real?"
" Yeah, they’re real." 
"How do you keep them like that?" she asked out of
curiosity.
" No sweets." He stated proudly, "And I brush
constantly."
" Well you must brush with lye soap to get them that
white."
He rubbed his two-day old growth on his face.
" Something like that."
" Is the coffee all right, ma-ma?"
" It’s perfect Loretta…You did just fine." The woman
smiled at the girl. "Now go tell your brother, John
Joseph to run over to the neighbors and have them call
the police and tell them Detective Johnson is here…
"All right…ma-ma" the girl smiled and took off
running, yelling her brother’s name.
" You need to tell your man to shave." She directed
the statement towards Darcy. "He brushes his teeth but
he don’t shave." She added.
" I’m afraid you were misinformed…Mrs. Smith." She
politely stated. "He isn’t my man.," she added, glaring
over at William.
The woman simply shrugged off the statement, choosing
to ignore it.
" Are you all hungry?" she asked. "I got some rabbit
stew left over, that we had for supper last night."
" Did you say," Riker couldn’t resist. "Rabbit?"
William kicked him under the table, "Owww." He sounded
the words. He looked over at William and gave him a
mischievous grin. Riker received a baby blue eyed icy
stare in return. 
"John Joseph, loves to rabbit hunt…. Most boys do."
She added with a wave of her wrist. "When he kills
one…. We clean it up and I cook it."
Deanna and Darcy quickly glanced at one another…and
then looked at the woman.
" Teva." There was a yell at the door. "Teva." the
voice called through the house followed by the
stampeding of children’s feet running down the stairs.

" Gregory, Gregory…" The children cried in the other
room.
" I’ll be right back." She excused herself from her
company as she wiped her hands on her apron and walked
through the dining room doorway.
" Riker! You make another wise crack about rabbit and
I’ll take out my gun and shoot you myself." William
quietly stated his warning as he glared across the
picnic table. 
"You don’t have a gun…." Riker leaned across the table
and whispered smugly.
" No, but she does!" William fired back in a hushed
tone, nodding his head towards the woman’s direction.
" A twelve gauge! She shot her horny husband,
remember."
" William!" Darcy gasped in hushed urgency, grabbing
his forearm. "Shhh!"

CHAPTER 20

"I’d like to introduce you to my nephew…Gregory
Smith." The young man was about five foot eleven and
normal built. He was clad in a sailor’s uniform.
Both men stood up and extended a hand in greeting.
Introducing themselves to the young service man. He
gladly shook their hands, and then he spotted Darcy.
" Darcy…. Miss Darcy Marrow?" he said with a big grin,
his eyes wide with wonderment. He immediately snapped
his hat off of his head and placed it on his chest.
" Yes, I’m Darcy Marrow." She stated quietly standing
to her feet. "I’m sorry, have we met?" she appeared
puzzled.
" Well, not personally." He extended his hand in
greeting. "You were one of the SU girls, weren’t
you?"
"Yes, I was." She blushed slightly. "You were one of
the service men in the audience, I take it?"
" Yeah, yeah…I was."
Riker squinted, "USO?"
The man quickly snapped his head towards Riker,
"United Service Organization. They send entertainers
and pretty girls overseas to perform for the troops
during war time." He smiled at Darcy. "And Miss Darcy,
was one of the girls…the squad went nutso, Miss
Darcy…we all thought you were the prettiest one on
stage…"
"Well, thank you." She nodded her head gracefully.
" That was our intention to entertain you braves young
men. I am glad we succeeded."
" She really entertained us…" William mumbled in the
background. Riker shot him a big smile, and raise of
his eyebrow.
" Me and half the guys had your picture on our ship
locker."
" I just stood in the background…and introduced the
stars to the stage, really. I didn’t do much
entertaining." She said… "There were five of us girls,
who worked for the SU, but since the war ended. I
decided to go back to school." she told the excited
service man. "I’m in the process of looking for a job
now."
" She has one." William quickly stepped forward, "She’s
my personal secretary." Darcy chose to ignore him.
" Wow! Two SU girls…" he spotted Deanna standing
beside Riker, "Wait till I tell the fellas."
Deanna didn’t speak, but just simply smiled. She let
the young man have his day…he was actually excited
about the possibility of USO girls in his house…. She
allowed the young sailor his minutes of glory.
Darcy looked over towards Deanna and smiled.
" I can’t believe you two girls are standing in my
aunt’s house." An awesome tone tinged his young
voice.
" We are waiting for a ride into Chicago." Darcy stated
wrapping her arm in his, "You’re cousin went to the
neighbors house to call the police station."
" I’ll give ya a ride…if I can have a picture of you
two…" he offered, hoping she would say yes.
Darcy smiled at the young man, and glanced over at
Deanna. 
"I’d be honored." Deanna smiled, taking the boys
other arm.
" Teva get the Kodak!" 
All three stood in front of the fireplace, as Teva
snapped the picture. The young sailor had his arms
around both women’s shoulders smiling from ear to ear.

The young sailor had a truck; Deanna and Darcy rode in
the front, while Riker and Johnson were stuck in the
back. The bumps of the road made their bodies jump, as
they held onto the sides of the truck bed. It was
cold…too cold to be riding in the back of a truck. 

The young sailor stopped in front of Grandma’s house.
" Thank you…" Darcy waved as the young sailor drove
off.
" This is my place." William smiled at Darcy attempting
to impress her as he stood outside of the big white
two-story house. 
"Yeah, we know." Riker interrupted. Stepping in front
of him as he walked around the big man.
" Dumb ass." William mumbled following the others
inside.

Here are chapters 21 and 22 of SCHWEET Haut...I hope
you people are enjoying this, thanks for the feedback so
far.
Patty
SCHWEET HAUT


CHAPTER 21

"Grandma!" William called throughout the house. "Are
you here? Grandma!"
He glanced at Riker, concern and worry etched across
his face. 
"Willie?" a voice called from the other room. "Is that
you?"
" Grandma." William yelled. 
"Gods, boy…you give an old woman a heart attack." She
said as she came out of the kitchen doorway. "You’ve
been gone for two days…not a hide nor hair of ya. No
go to hell…or a kiss my ass…if-n you’re dead or
alive."
" Grandma are you okay?" William rushed and hugged his
Grandmother. He let out a sigh of relief, knowing that
she was okay. He kissed the top of her head.
" I will be if you don’t crush the shit out of me." She
half-laughed as she patted his back, returning the
hug.
Grandma spotted the two women in nightgowns…she
stepped away from William, pulling her glasses further
down her nose, she spied over the rim of the wire
reading glasses.
" What in the hell?" she asked to herself.
" Grandma…we can explain." William began. She hit him
upside the head. "Owww" he said rubbing his head.
" Nice to see you too."
She laid her glasses on the end table and walked over
to the women. "Deannie?" 
"Yes it’s me." Deanna responded politely. 
Grandma spotted Darcy and turned to look at her. "Who
are you?" she asked suspiciously.
" I’m Darcy." She extended her arm in greeting. "Darcy
Marrow"
"Well, you sure do got some pretty lilac eyes."
Grandma smiled warmly, as she glanced down at her
hand, not knowing why this girl was holding it out. In
Grandma’s world only men shook hands. Darcy let her
hand drop to her side, and was beginning to feel a bit
awkward.
" Darcy’s my new secretary." William interrupted with
the proud statement, as he made his way to the cabinet
to get a pack of cigarettes.
" You shut your damn flapping’ jaws…" Grandma glared as
she turned her head and scolded William.
Grandma suddenly whapped Riker on the back of the head
with her hand. "Hey!" he said rubbing his head. "What
did you do that for?"
" Making these ladies run around in their nightclothes,
that’s what!" she scolded. "They’ll catch their
death!" 
She turned and walked towards William. "God damn it!
No wonder ya two can’t keep a woman. Neither one of ya
know how ta treat a woman. Ya damn heathens. Both of
you are about smart enough to be called a dumb ass." 
"Welcome to the family, Will." William smiled. "When
Grandma hits you… it means she thinks you’re one of
her own."
" Right, Grandma?" William said as he quickly passed by
her kissing her on the cheek. 
"Don’t try ta butter me up, god damn it! It’s too late
for that!" She scolded the big man. "Ya ignorant
shit!" she snapped. 
William flashed her a grin and a wink. 
Grandma turned to Deanna and hugged her. "Oh sugar,
I’m glad you’re all right. You go and clean up now."
She smiled real big at Darcy. "Honey, you too.
Daircy…that’s a pretty name had an old work horse
named Percy, they made glue out of the ol saddle
sager." Then Grandma smiled. Darcy noticed the
Chicago cub’s baseball cap Grandma was wearing, and
the chef’s apron. She stared at the unrestrained old
woman in confusion, tilting her head slightly. Darcy
was totally speechless, as her eyes widened.
Grandma turned, towards William. "Now damn it! She’s
scared ta death…look how thin she is…bet she’s got
worms too."
" If you’ll excuse us…" Deanna quickly interrupted.
" Deannie … you and little Daircy go and get cleaned
up, now…if ya need anythin just holler." The old woman
instructed the girls with love and kindness in her
voice.
Deanna took Darcy’s hand and led the dazed and
speechless young woman up the stairs.
" How are those pretty little ladies gonna have babies
if ya starve em ta death?…It’ll mark their babies for
life…Look at both of ya…just standing there…ya dumb
shits! …No damn wonders ya two-caint keep a woman. At
least not a decent one."
" Grandma." William quickly interrupted. 
She chose to ignore her grandson. "Oh, you go out with
women, both of ya do. …Floozies…nothing but floozies.
Ya both like those women with that bird shit smeared
all over their eyes…" she pointed towards her eyes.
" And they flash their big ol’ milk biscuits in front
of ya…and they wiggle their stinkin’ asses…and you go
on an on…. Thinkin’ its love…. It ain’t love!" she
barked.
" Milk biscuits?" Will whispered lowly to William.
" Breasts." William whispered back, with a smile.
" And then ya go an have sexes with em….damn painted up
floozies….leadin’ your ducks ta poor water, that’s
all in the hell you’re doin " she pointed at the two
men with a scolding finger. 
Will and William’s eyebrows shot up, snapping their
heads to look at one anther. Both men slowly looked
down at their shoes, as if examining them, trying to
stifle the laugh that would surely get them killed.
" My ducks?" William whispered. He could no longer hide
his laughter.
Grandma hit William upside the head with the palm of
her hand. He flinched and she warned. "Wipe that
damn shit eating grin off your face…or I’ll whap ya
agin." 
He did. 
"You’re both gonna die, lonely old wrinkled fart mean
suns a bitches…I tell ya if ya don’t go ta learning’
how ta treat a lady." She continued to rant on.
" Birdie." Riker tried to interrupt her. He took a step
forward.
" I’m Grandma!" she snapped. "How many times do I have
ta tell ya. Ya dumb little bastard!" She scolded. 
Riker stepped back, and stood beside William and
continued to get his ass chewed out, by this feisty,
baseball cap wearing old woman. "You both need some
discipline in your life and if the Good Lord wants me
ta give it to ya than I’m gonna do it." She stated
with certainty. " Even if I have ta beat the shit out
of both of ya" 
She focused on William and pointed a finger in his
face. "You think I’m lying doncha?" she squinted her
eyes at him. "Well, I ain’t…ya little smart ass
bastard! I whooped ya when you was little…an I’ll do
it agin…"
She turned and picked up her reading glasses. "Willie
comes in here drunk…puking like some buzzard." She
harshly folded up the newspaper on her reading chair.
" Now, god damn it…he’s found a new buzzard ta puke
with. No damn shittin’ wonder ya both are named
William." She swatted the paper on the back of her
chair.
" Grandma, I’m hungry." William loudly interrupted
her. He knew that those were the only words that
would make her stop her rambling. Grandma’s mouth
immediately closed. "We haven’t eaten for almost two
days." He told her in a pathetic tone of voice.
" Two days?" She sounded shocked. "Well…. Let me get
you something to eat…honey. You boys must be starved…I
got some light bread…and I made an apple dumpling
pie…and I can cook up some chicken. I got some good
smoked ham…" She appeared excited, and smiled towards
the two men. She turned and headed towards the
kitchen. "And the meats cooked all the way…all the
way. …You’ll get worms…worms I tell ya…you say… That
old woman’s nuts… crazy suns bitches…. You ain’t got
sense enough ta eat…and ya go starvin yourselves ta
death…if ya don’t eat reg-lar…you’ll both get rickets
or scurvy or the parvo…in my day…." her voice slowly
muted as she waddled to the kitchen.

" Want some whiskey?" William finally asked.
" Do we have to go in there and get it?" Riker nodded
towards the kitchen.
" Yeah."
They both stood there beside each other silently. They
studied the kitchen doorway.
" She’s pretty pissed."
" Yeah…we pissed her off alright."
" What if she’s got a knife?"
" Or a rolling pin?"
" Good point."
They stood staring at the kitchen doorway a bit
longer…just pondering.
" I could grab the bottle."
" I could grab the glasses."
" We’d have to be fast."
" Yeah…."
" So…. You think we should try it?"
" Why not? That is unless you’re afraid."
" I’m not afraid…. Well, not normally…But…"
"I know…me too."
" You ready?"
" I think so."
" GO!"
" AHHHHHHHH! Ya damn fools come run-in’ in my kitchen like
some wild ass horses…I’ll pour a pan oh water on
ya…betchur asses won’t run in my house agin!"


CHAPTER 22 

Early the next morning, Darcy was walking down the
back stairway to the kitchen, the house was
huge…having a stairway in the living room and another
one leading to the kitchen…towards the back of the
house. There were three baths and apparently a huge
library where William did most of his paper work, in
order to spend more time at home with his grandmother.

Upon entering the kitchen she head the banging of pots
and pans, and the slamming of cabinet doors. She
thought Grandma had risen before everyone else and was
probably making breakfast.
It wasn’t Grandma. William was searching through the
cabinets and drawers of the kitchen. He had just
gotten out of bed also he was barefooted. He wore a
short sleeved shirt that was not buttoned, she didn’t
even think it had buttons, the shirt was old and
thinning. She noticed the massive amount of chest
hair as it covered the rippled muscles…she noticed his
huge neck, and the strong jaw line of his face. His
hair hadn’t been combed and was sticking up wildly on
his head. He was holding a coffeepot in one hand. 
"You’re up early." Darcy quietly stated. Leaning on
the archway doorframe.
William spun around. He fumbled the metal coffeepot,
as if it were a football he was trying to get control
of, he finally held it securely. "I thought I would
make some coffee." He smiled clutching the coffeepot;
a tinge of nervousness touched his voice.
" I didn’t mean to startle you." Darcy smiled at the
thought of his coffeepot juggling.
" I guess I’m not used to anyone but me and grandma
being in the house."
" You’re Grandmother is still in bed?" 
"Yeah…She gets…. Upset…" he looked at her and smiled.
" When people think she has to wake up early, just
because she’s old." William filled the coffee
strainer with coffee. "I make the coffee every
morning."
" This is a big house." Darcy stated walking through
the archway of the door, looking around the room.
" I seemed bigger when I was a kid." William answered
quietly. "It’s been in grandma’s family since the
early 1800’s…this old house even has a servant’s bell
built into the floor. It’s under the dining room
table."
" Really." Darcy sounded almost excited. "Does it
work?"
" Oh yeah…it works." He said as he filled up the metal
coffee canister with water. "I used to sit at the
dining room table and step on it all the time when I
was a kid." He sat the coffee pot on top of the
burner of the stove. "No servants ever came out but,"
he added. "Grandma did." He turned towards Darcy. "She
hated that bell." He froze. He noticed how really
beautiful she was. He studied her small features, her
hands…her face, her lips…her eyes. He was loosing
himself in her beautiful lilac eyes. The coffeepot
began to boil, making a gurgling sound throughout the
kitchen. William snapped back to reality. He suddenly
realized that his shirt was wide open, and that Darcy
Marrow was studying his features just as much as he
was hers. 
"Well," he said nervously, "I need to brush my teeth,
get dressed, do all that." He smiled running a hand
through his uncombed hair. "I normally do that, while
the coffee is cooking." 
She noticed the uneasiness of his voice, as if he
suddenly became shy.
" Okay…you go ahead." There was warmth to her voice
that he had never realized before, and he liked it.
" In the meantime, I’ll watch the coffee, and then pour
us a cup."
He nodded once and smiled and walked towards the
doorway.
" Detective Johnson?"
" Yeah" he turned around to face her again. 
"I’m sorry about getting so angry with you the other
day."
" That’s okay…." He smiled. "I deserved it…I had no
right to say what I did. You know…. You are probably
meaner than Grandma."
She smiled at that.
" You can call me Will. After all, we will be working
together, on a daily basis. Won’t we?" William asked
hoping and praying she would say yes.
" Yes, I suppose…" she looked at her hands and then
looked up towards him. "As long as kidnapping isn’t on
the daily agenda at the office."
" No it’s not…. At least no one has ever kidnapped Mrs.
Blushmyer." He was going to make some joke about Mrs.
Blushmyer’s appearance but decided not to.
"Will?" She asked. "Do you think I could return to my
apartment today?"
His heart skipped ten beats. He straightened his six
foot six posture. She wanted to leave…he had to think
of something.
" I don’t really believe that would be too wise. I
mean," he tried to sound professional, hiding his own
feelings that he didn’t really want her to go
anywhere, trying to hide that he truly cared for her.
Trying to hide that he was scared for her. "The thugs
found you once, I don’t really think it would be
safe…"
"Oh I see." Darcy lowered her head downward in quiet
disappointment.
" Hey," he walked towards her, lifting her chin with
two fingers. "I’d be more than happy to take you over
there to get some of your things…." Looking directly
into her violet eyes. " You could pack a suitcase." He
wanted to see her smile. He loved her smile. "Besides,
Grandma’s really isn’t all that bad…everyone usually
ends up falling in love with her." He flashed her a
huge grin, and added "Just don’t let her treat you for
worms…. Gasoline leaves a bad aftertaste… believe me,
I know."
She laughed at that.
He winked at her and turned to walk out of the
kitchen, suddenly turning as if he forgot something.
" Hey…about that Will thing?" he flashed her a grin.
She noticed how his baby blue eyes lit up. "Better
call me William…that buzzard upstairs…the one they
call Will. He may get us confused." He gave her a
lopsided grin; "Oh yeah and one other thing, since
you’re going to be my secretary…" he said with a
mischievous grin, he looked like a little boy with his
hair sticking up on one side and barefooted. " The
first thing you should know…is about coffee…. I take
it black." Her eyebrows shot up, before she could
react to his statement about her serving him his
coffee. He grabbed onto the woodwork of the doorframe
with one hand, and swung himself around, taking the
winding stairs two at a time. He was gone.

Here is chapters 23 and 24 of Schweet Haut. Thanks for
the feedback so far.
patty

CHAPTER 23 

"It’s right here, the brownstone." Darcy instructed
William as his car rounded the corner. Parking in
front of the old brownstone apartment, all four got
out of the car as Darcy walked up the wide cemented
steps in front of her apartment. The streets were busy
as the traffic zoomed up and down them. 
Children were on the sidewalks playing, clad in coats
and earmuffs as they all screamed in playful chatter
towards one another. 
Climbing up the huge winding wooden stairways, "It’s
on the third floor." She stated looking back towards
her friends as they followed behind her. 
When they reached the second floor they heard the
yelling of an old man. "Darcy?" he said as he stuck
out his head from beyond his front door. 
"Yes, Mr. Calloway." Darcy replied walking towards the
old man’s door. 
"You…ain’t been home…. I was wonderin’ where you could
have gone off to." He stated as he opened the door
wider. "The damn police…. I called them and awe hell,
there a bunch oh idiots down at the PO-lice station."
He stated with disgust. "They must all be getting
dressed for the policeman’s ball." He chuckled. 
William rolled his eyes towards Will. His hair was
thinning and he was in a tank type tee shirt. He was
thin, his round little round belly extended out,
making him look like he was almost four months
pregnant. He wore a pair of wire rimmed glasses, that
desperately needed cleaning. 
"Mr. Calloway, is there something you wanted to tell
me?" Darcy asked. Knowing that this man watched every
apartment dweller on all of the four floors of the
building. "Yeah, Mr. Brambly was huntin’ for ya?" he
said pushing his glasses up on his long bony nose. "He
came by last night, tapping on your door." 
"Thank you, Mr. Calloway." Darcy smiled and turned.
She started towards the stairway again, the old man
watched cautiously as the four began to ascend the
narrow wooden staircase; the stairs creaked with each
step they took. The keys jingled as she opened the
door to her apartment. Will and William decided to go
in first just to make sure that everything was safe.
" I’ll just pack a bag." Darcy stated as she headed
towards the bedroom. 
"Deanna, I know I have some more suited clothes that
would fit you." She smiled at her newfound friend.
Deanna nodded politely and followed behind her. 
"Darcy." William called as she was entering through
the bedroom doorway. 
She turned around. "Who is Mr. Brambly?" he asked out
of curiosity. 
"Oh that’s my neighbor, across the hall…. He runs
around in defensive stance all the time." Her voice
turned sympathetic. "He has some mental problems that
were a result of the war." she smiled. "I don’t
actually know his first name." She glanced over at
Deanna who was smiling. "He is quite nice though…. For
a man who never wears clothes." she smiled at the
shocked look on his face. "There’s some soda in the
refrigerator if you two would like, just help
yourself." She turned and walked into the bedroom. 
William cocked his head, crossed his eyes, and stuck
out his tongue towards her, when she turned her back. 
"Well now that’s mature." Will observed. As he stepped
in front of him, walking towards the icebox. "What’s a
soda?" Will asked looking inside of the small icebox. 
"It’s something that will rot your teeth…" William
replied as he was already walking towards kitchen
area. "Any beer in there?" 
There was a low rap on the front door. Both men
straightened their posture. Darcy came out of the
bedroom and proceeded towards the door. "Wait." Will
warned, taking long cautious steps towards the door.
He nodded for Deanna to get back into the bedroom.
Both men stood guard on each side of the door, weapons
drawn. Darcy slowly opened the door. "Mr. Brambly."
She smiled. "Good afternoon." 
"Yeah…good afternoon." Paranoia was tinged in his
voice. He quickly glanced from one side to the other
as if he was looking out for someone. 
"Please, come in." she stated as she opened the door
and gestured him inside. The man cautiously entered
the dwelling. He noticed that the two men had guns and
were in the process of putting them back in their
holsters.
" AMBUSH!" he yelled, quickly diving to the floor.
Darcy glanced from the men to Mr. Brambly who lay on
the floor with his arms above his head. 
"Mr. Brambly…. It’s all right…. They’re on our side." 
The man peeked out from under his arms. "They’re on
our side?" he asked cautiously.
" Yes, they are." She assured the paranoid man. Mr.
Brambly stood to his feet. The man was in his early
sixties…and was clad in nothing but boxer shorts. His
hair was in a military buzz cut, and he hadn’t shaved
in days…giving his face a dirty look. 
"I’d like you to meet Detective William Johnson, and
his partner Will Riker." She stated gesturing towards
the two men, who stood dumbfounded at the man’s
attire. 
"Yeah, Brambly…. Just Brambly." He quickly shook both
men’s hands. Paranoia was etched across his face as he
scanned the room with his eyes.
" Please have a seat, Mr. Brambly." Darcy herded the
man towards the living room. "I’m going to go finish
packing. If you’ll excuse me." She then headed towards
the living room. "He’s perfectly harmless." She stated
to the men over her shoulder. 
Mr. Brambly eyed both men as he sat down in an
overstuffed chair. His focus never left their weapons.
William took a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket
and the paranoid military man jumped. "It’s just a
cigarette." William told the man as he held the pack
of tobacco out, so the man could see for himself.
" Would you like one?" offering the man a smoke. 
"I don’t smoke unless I buy em myself…. People put
shit in em." He stated his head never stopped moving
as he scanned the room constantly…always on guard.
Will sit down across from the man, thinking if he were
on the Enterprise he would have a lot of time to spend
with Deanna. 
"Tell me…Mr. Brambly." Will asked. "Do you always run
around…in your underwear?" "It’s military!" he
snapped. 
Will glanced first at Mr. Brambly and then to William
and then back to Brambly. William smiled a mischievous
grin towards Riker. Will grinned and stood to his
feet. "You’re out of uniform, Brambly." He stated with
Starfleet authority. "On this ship. We have
regulations, and I expect you to abide by them." He
squared his shoulders to the man. "Is that
understood?" he barked the command. 
Brambly immediately leapt out of the chair and stood
at attention. He cautiously eyed Riker. He inhaled
deeply and let the breath out slowly. "You’re on their
side aren’t ya?" he whispered through squinted eyes. 
"Brambly!" Commander Riker barked. "Stand down! That’s
an order." 
"You have to be the enemy." The man said as he slowly
circled Riker. "You yell your orders just like they
did. You stand just like they did. And you’re most
definitely service orientated, just like them." He
continued in military fashion as he circled Riker,
stepping heel-toe in rhythm across the carpet
barefooted. "I am in Uniform!" he quickly turned and
pointed a finger in Riker’s face. The gab between his
two front teeth was a least one-quarter of an inch
wide. William stood and watched as the crazy man in
the boxer shorts eyed him. 
"I’m a spy!" he declared. 
"You’re a spy?" Riker asked, unbelieving what was in
front of him. "Do you have a code name, Brambly?" 
"Code name?" he man’s eyebrows rose, as if he was
interested. 
"Yes, all spies have a code name." Riker answered,
going along with the man. Pretending he knew what he
was talking about. 
"No, I don’t." the man appeared ashamed as he rubbed
the top of his buzz hair cut. 
"Well to prove that we are on…your side." He glanced
quickly at William. "I can give you a code name, but
you would have to follow proper protocol before it
becomes official." 
"I ain’t putting on no clothes." The man quickly
became defensive…the gap between his teeth seemed
larger now. "They’ll recognize ya for sure, if you do
that…" the man stated sincerely.
" Your official code name, Brambly." Riker stated
putting his arm around the man’s shoulders… getting
ready to whisper in his ear… "Is…" the man eagerly
awaited for the new code name. 
"Bare-meat!" William quickly stepped in, blurting out
the new name…for this deranged, paranoid old soldier.
Riker quickly snapped his head towards William.
Putting his tongue in his cheek, Riker looked down at
the floor and shook his head. He was beginning to
appreciate the sense of humor that the detective was
bestowing on him daily. Riker definitely knew he was
beginning to like this man.
" Bear-meat, aye?" the man pondered on it for awhile
before displaying a huge gab toothed grin. He stuck
two thumbs in the elastic band of his green plaid
boxer shorts and extended both arms out in front of
him, stretching the waistband, before snapping them
back. "Yeah." His insane looking eyes sparkled. "I
like it." He added with a smile. 
Riker smiled. "Bare-meat…. Agent Bare-meat." the man
stated somewhat disappointed. "All right…. Number one
agent, Bare-meat." The man still appeared
disappointed. "I officially promote you to super
spy…congratulations, Super spy Bare-meat." Riker
nodded as he extended an arm in congratulations. 
The man gave a huge wide gapped tooth grin, and gladly
shook Riker’s hand. 
"We’re ready…" Darcy called from the other room. She
and Deanna came out of the bedroom. Deanna immediately
froze at the sight of the sixty-year-old man standing
in his underwear. 
"We need some help with the luggage, if you wouldn’t
mind." Darcy suggested to William. 
"Yeah, sure." William said as he walked towards the
bedroom. "Damn it! Darcy there’s eight bags in here! 
What in the hell did you pack?" he yelled from the
other room. 
"Things for Deanna and myself." She stated loudly from
the living room into the bedroom. She was already
walking back into the bedroom. Deanna walked towards
Will. She chose to ignore the two arguing in the
bedroom. 
"This is Deanna. Deanna Troi." Will stated, "I’d like
to introduce you to…Mr. Brambly. 
" Mr. Brambly." Deanna stated politely, extending a
hand. 
"I can’t shake hands with a woman, ma’am." Code name
Super spy Bare-meat apologized. "The lotion ladies
wear on their hands, mess up my carefully designed
fingerprints. And call me Bare-meat." He smiled at
Deanna revealing the huge gap between his teeth.
" I see." She said not really knowing how to approach
this man. "Bare-meat?" she asked confused. "That’s an
unusual name, may I ask how you acquired such a
distinctive name." 
"It’s a spy name ma’am…." He stated politely.
" Confidential Information, I can’t divulge my
sources." Deanna simply nodded. She glanced over to
Will, and then back at the man who was standing almost
nude in front of her. "You see…" Bare-meat continued.
" They got this brain wave surgery…they operate when ya
sleep. That’s why I don’t sleep." He nodded. "Ain’t
slept a wink in seven-teen years…not one wink…." He
sounded proud of his accomplishment, when both Riker
and Troi knew it was physically impossible to go
seventeen years without sleep. "Hey, you think
Bare-meat is the right name for me…. Since I don’t
sleep?" his attention turned towards Riker. "Don’t
bears hibernate?"
" Will?" She turned towards Will, awaiting his answer
to the Bears in hibernation question.
" Riker!" William’s voice called from the other room.
" Get you ass in here! The girls have decided that
today is moving day."
" If you’ll excuse me?" Riker smiled. Relieved that he
wouldn’t have to answer Bare-meat’s question. 
"I’ll have to check your luggage ma’am." Bare-meat
stated squaring both shoulders…. "It’s standard
procedure." 
"Would you… Excuse… Me?" Deanna’s voice trailed off as
she walked towards the bedroom. 
"Yes, ma’am." He stated as he stood in a paranoid
stance, looking to and fro around the room.


CHAPTER 24 
Later that evening in the squad room, William, Darcy,
Will and Deanna were sitting in his office going
through the files he had on some of the cities most
notorious mobsters.
" Here is William Ruldoph Cornelio…also known as Billy
the Bagger." Deanna stated going through the yellow
folder. "He is in Federal Prison, serving a life’s
sentence for armed robbery and murder."
" Georgio Carpalli" Darcy was reading from the folder.
"Sentenced to fifteen years for attempted murder. Out
on probation…January 10, 1945. Place of residency
Kansas City, Missouri."
After going through about fifty files, all which
seemed to lead to a dead end.
" Here’s one…that looks suspicious." Riker finally
spoke up. All eyes turned towards him expectantly…
"William Gilbert Johnson…." He read never looking up
from the folder. "Also known as Jackie the Rabbit.
Wanted for…"
William quickly snatched the folder out of Riker’s
hand. "Dumb ass" He stated below his breath.
" William?" the sound of a woman at the door made
everyone’s head turns towards the voice.
Standing in the doorway was a woman who was very
attractive and by the way she carried herself she knew
it. She was dressed in a mink coat, complete with the
diamonds; this was definitely someone with lots of
money.
" Elizabeth?" William appeared shocked by her presence.
His voice took on a sudden change. "Why are you here?"
William answered not really caring if he spoke to this
woman or not.

All eyes turned towards him, not believing his
response.
" So William which one’s your little woman?" she asked
eyeing both women in the room. She walked over to him
and raised her hand and stroked the stubble on his
face. The corner of her mouth turned up as she smiled
seductively at him.
He immediately grabbed her hand and removed it from
his face.
" Liz, what in the hell do you want?"
" We were engaged to be married once." she batted her
eyelashes at him. "Remember?" she purred.
Will, Deanna and Darcy’s eyebrows rose at her
statement. Their eyes focused on William.
" Yeah." He whispered wishing he didn’t remember. "But
your ugly rich boyfriend didn’t like me. So we got
unengaged." He stated with more force and
sarcastically.
" Oh William, you could always make me laugh." She said
as she threw her arms around his neck. He could smell
the gin on her breath, mixed with a sickening sweet
smell of her expensive perfume.
" Where is your ugly boyfriend?" he threw her
forcefully away.
" We got married!" she spat. "I’m sorry William it
wasn’t personal." 
"Sex with you never was." 
She reared back and straightened her posture. Riker
thought for sure she was going to slap William, and he
didn’t blame her.
Her shoulder’s fell slightly. "It’s been awful,
William." Her voice sounded painful. "Pure hell."
He stood silently and stared at her, his face was
totally blank as if he hadn’t heard what she just
said. Deanna sensed that the woman felt uncomfortable
by his silence.
" You bastard." She whispered her curse. She whirled
around and walked out of his office.
There was a dreadful silence that filled the room as
all four watched her leave…no one really sure as to
what to say…no one really sure as to why she was
there.
William suddenly clapped his hands together, making
everyone in the room jump. "Now. Where were we?" He
turned abruptly and walked towards the files. 
"William, what the hell was that?" Riker finally
whispered to William as they began to search through
the files.
" Just a bitch." William answered, wanting the subject
to be dropped.
" And you call me cold." 

Deanna touched her forehead with the back of her hand.
She suddenly became dizzy.
" Will?" Deanna said, looking up at Riker; her face was
ashen in color.
" Deanna? Are you all right?" he quickly rushed to her
side, kneeling down beside her chair.
Deanna looked down at Riker; tears began to well up in
her eyes. "Grandma." Her voice barely a whisper.
" Hey, Boss." The short fat detective stuck his head in
the doorway.
William looked up towards the doorway.
" Yous house has been hit." 
William immediately snatched his coat and ran out the
door. "We got cars on the way over there." The short
fat detective stated. But before he could finish the
sentence William had already dashed out of the office.
The little fat man’s face masked with concern and
worry. The others followed quickly behind.

Upon arriving at Grandma’s house, both sides of the
streets were filled with cop cars, and fire trucks as
their red lights beamed across the yards. Firemen with
axes were running across the front yard. Men were
unwinding the huge white hoses as they scrambled to
subdue the blazing fire. The house was in flames as
the black smoke bellowed out of the top story windows.
The front of the house was totally engulfed in flames.
The loud crackling sound of the fire echoed throughout
the whole neighborhood. 
William ran through the yard. He grabbed one fireman
by the shoulders and swung him around. 
"Where’s my Grandmother!" He shouted, his voice was
almost a panic.
" I don’t know." The fireman responded loudly. "I
haven’t seen anyone."
William ran to another fireman, and demanded the same
thing. He ran to another and another…all had the same
response. One told him that no human could have
survived that explosion that began the fire. He
quickly scanned the crowd with his eyes. Grandma was
no where in sight.
Darcy and Deanna stood frozen as the flames engulfed
the huge dwelling.
Will ran through the crowds of spectators and
neighbors, looking for the old baseball cap-wearing
woman.
With a shout that sounded like a madman, "Ohhhh Fuck!"
William yelled to no one in particular. The front yard
was in total chaos…as firemen and policemen hurried
about doing their jobs. William ran his fingers
nervously through his hair…his brain was in a whirl. 
Where was grandma? 
Was she still in the house? 
Was she safe? 
Was she being burned alive? 
Was she even at home during the time of the explosion?
Was she suffering? As that question flooded his mind,
he went into a panic. He spun around as his brain went
into shock. Panic gripped his heart at the thought of
his grandmother still being inside the burning house.
His pulse raced, as his adrenaline rose inside of his
body. "NOOO!" he screamed and at full speed he ran
towards the front door of his grandmother’s blazing
house.
"Hey!" a fireman called out. "You can’t go in there!"
Riker ran towards William. William ran onto the front
porch and with one mighty kick…he kicked the front
door open, the windows of the huge wooden front door
shattered with the force of his kick. The heat of the
flames burned his cheek, as the huge balls of flame
bulleted out of the burning house’s archway. So
powerful and extreme were the flames that the
explosion blew his huge body backward, and sent it
soaring through the air. He landed with a thud on the
lawn beyond the front porch. He rolled over onto his
hands and knees as police officers and firemen came to
see if he was injured.
He jerked away from them when they tried to assist him
to his feet.
The house was totally engulfed in flames. The hungry
fire quickly devoured the upstairs area, sending the
roof of the huge house crashing on top of the once
beautiful dwelling. William watched silently as the
home he grew up in crumbled to the ground in soot and
ashes, he knew in his heart his Grandmother hadn’t
survived.
Grandma Birdie was gone.
Forever.
Riker looked over towards Deanna, who stood with tears
flowing down her face. She wrapped her arms around her
upper torso and shook her head no. He knew then, that
the feisty old woman had perished in the fire.
Riker watched as William fell to his knees and openly
cried on the front lawn. Riker walked over and
embraced Deanna and Darcy who were both sobbing.
No one said anything to William, nor did they try to
comfort him. 
They let him alone with his grief.



Here is chapter 25 of the story, thank you for the
feed back so far...hope you enjoy this.
patty

Schweet Haut
CHAPTER 25

Riker looked around. He couldn’t believe this was
happening. Damn how could Grandma die? He’d only known
her for about a week but he was beginning to really
care for that old woman. Suddenly, he became
angry…with himself for not seeing what was happening
and at Q.
"Q…" he whispered to no one into Deanna’s hair. She
suddenly rose her tear stained face and looked at him.
She knew what he was doing…. Q had never ended a life
in any of his little plots and tricks.
Will let go of Deanna and Darcy and took a step
forward. "Q!" He screamed above the noise of the
firetrucks and policemen. "Damn you, Q!" he continued
to yell into the smoke filled air. "Why did you let
her die?" he called out into the air.
" I didn’t let her die." Came a sarcastic reply to his
questions…standing before Riker was Q, dressed up in a
firefighter’s uniform, complete with axe in his hand. "She
simply perished in the fire, that’s all." He shrugged.
" She was old…believe me the smoke killed her before
the fire…."
" You killed her." Riker whispered his accusation
towards the entity. His face turned red with anger.
" Did you bring us here to watch a loved one die…is
this your idea of a joke?"
" A loved one?" Q laughed, "Your whole pathetic race is
a joke, you love everyone…you hate everyone… Look at
these fools attempting to put out a blazing fire, all
running around." He gestured with a wave of his arm.
" Fix it…" Riker warned there was a certainty to his
voice that was unmistakable. "Send Deanna and myself
back to our time, and…." His voice trailed off as he
glanced first to Q and then to William who remained on
his knees weeping on the front lawn. " Bring Grandma
back."
" You are a party pooper aren’t you?" Q asked, his
shoulders fell slightly. "You weren’t always this
stoic you know."
" Now, damn it!" Riker demanded.
" Oh very well…." Q stated his voice sounded more of a
nuisance. "On one condition…." He added there was
slyness to his voice that Riker didn’t like and he
also recognized, as Q raised a single finger.
" What condition." Riker glared at the single
finger…this wasn’t a question.
" When you catch the bad guys…." He whispered into
Riker’s ears… "You take those two with you." He nodded
towards the women.
" You go to hell." Riker wasn’t about to put Deanna’s
life in jeopardy. "I won’t play along with your little
joke, Q"
"Oh, on the contrary, this isn’t a joke…." He reminded
the Commander, as Q turned his head towards William.
Deanna stepped forward. "Will." She stated taking hold
of his arm. "We have to do as he says…" she let out a
deep breath. "It’s our only option."
Riker looked down at Deanna for a moment, he knew she
was right. Yet, he was afraid to put her in danger, if
anything ever happened to her. He would never be able
to forgive himself. "We’ll be okay." She assured him,
knowing his thoughts.
Riker inhaled deeply and let out a breath slowly. He
glanced over at Darcy who was still sobbing over
William’s loss. He then quickly glanced over to
William who had remained alone in the front lawn on
his knees with his grief.
" All right." Riker resolved under his breath.
Q immediately whirled around to face Riker, displaying
a huge grin on his face. With a snap of his fingers Q
had vanished.

William wiped the water from his face with his
handkerchief and stood to his feet. He inhaled deeply
and exhaled slowly. He squared his shoulders and stood
erect at six foot six. The veins in his huge neck
bulged. His baby blue eyes flashed in fury as he gave
the now smoldering collapsed house one last glance.
The veins in his huge neck bulged. He marched towards
his automobile.
" Hey…. William!" Riker called out to him. The huge man
chose to ignore him and continued to march towards his
car at a steady determined gait. Riker grabbed onto
the huge man’s arm. "Where the hell are you going?"
Riker asked, turning the huge man around to face him.
There was a determination in the huge man’s reddened
eyes. His eyes flashed and his anger was smoldering
like the fire that engulfed his home that took his
grandmother’s life. "That bitch and all of her goons
are going to die." He stated with a calm
determination… "I’m going to burn them out just like
they did…my…grandmother." He swallowed hard.
" Elizabeth was in my office to give them enough time
to do this." His eyes glared at Riker. "Now, get the
fuck out of my way." His voiced seethed with anger.
Riker could relate, he knew how he would feel if
someone had just killed the one and only person he
loved…if someone had just killed Deanna.
Riker stood and stared at the man for a moment. He
knew there was no way he could change his mind, or
talk him out of his own personal revenge that he was
determined to fulfill.
" You can’t go off all by yourself." Riker warned,
suddenly realizing that he sounded just like Deanna.
The big man ignored him, turning he headed for his
car.
" Hey." Riker swung the man around again. He noticed
how the big man balled up his fist…ready to strike if
Riker would attempt to stop him from his personal
vendetta.
" She was my grandma too." Riker recalled Williams
words just a couple of nights before, when he told him
Grandma considered him family. 
William nodded in understanding. "All right, let’s
go."
" William!" Darcy’s call sounded from the street.
" William!"
Both men looked towards the voice; emerging from
behind a fire truck was Grandma. She was clad in her
baseball cap and apron and she was pissed.
Both women ran over towards her and hugged her. She
gladly hugged them back.
William quickly glanced over at Riker, a huge grin
enveloped across his face. He immediately took off
across the lawn towards his Grandmother. He quickly
swooped up the old woman raising her off of her feet
as he swung her around. He embraced her with
fierceness. Deanna noticed the happy tears as they
fell from the big man’s eyes. 
"Let me down you dam fool idiot!" Grandma yelled. She
began to pound the big man on the shoulders.
William let his grandmother down. Then Riker picked
her up and hugged her twirling her around in his arms.
" Let me down!" she yelled at Riker, hitting him across
his shoulders. "Damn big ape!" Riker smiled and gently
returned the old woman to her feet.
" Two damn fool kids…" Grandma stated as she brushed
the soot from her apron.
" Grandma, we thought you…. You died." William said,
realizing that his grandmother was alive he gave her a
huge hug again.
" Died!" Grandma exclaimed as she patted her grandson
on the back. "Hell, I ain’t dead…. Not at least
till…I…." Her voice trailed off as she saw the
destruction the fire had done to her beautiful home.
She released her grandson’s embrace and slowly walked
towards the house. Standing in the middle of the lawn
she simply shook her head, as she viewed the blackened
remains of lumber as they lay in a huge bonfire.
" Grandma." Will walked over to her and put an arm
around her. "I’m sorry." He whispered.
" Sorry?" she asked calmly, her eyes never leaving the
burning heap of lumber. "For what…were ya playing with
matches, Billy?" she wiped her hands on her apron and
looked up at the six foot four man. "Now we don’t have
to paint the suns a bitch." Grandma turned around and
walked towards William, mumbling. "I hated that
house…grew up in that house…papa used ta whoop me in
that house…. That damn thing was too big for me
anyway…. Hell of a thing ta clean…. And them shitting
cats. Should have made firewood outer tha damn thing
years ago…. I always wanted a new house…and by golly
I’m gonna get one…hee hee…and the suns a bitch better
not have any stairs…damn things…I hate stairs…" All
four looked at Grandma with amazement as she walked
towards the firetrucks. Grandma turned around and
exclaimed. "Can ya quit your gawkin’ long enough ta
give me a ride ta Mildred’s…or am I gonna have ta
walk?" she asked as she stood. William didn’t know if
she was in shock or just crazy. She had just lost
everything she had ever owned…. Pictures, memories,
her house…clothes…everything and she was happy because
she wouldn’t have to paint the house anymore.
" Well, air ya…" She demanded an answer. 
"Grandma are you all right?" Will asked in disbelief,
ignoring her request for a car.
" Your face is burnt Willie." Grandma stated with
concern as she saw the reddened area on her grandson’s
cheek. "Ya need ta let Billy put some butter on
it…oh, hell we ain’t got no butter do we…hee…hee." It
occurred to Riker that apparently this old woman truly
believed that he was William’s younger brother
Billy…and there was no way he would ever be able to
change Grandma’s mind.
" Grandma…are you all right?" William asked, not really
sure if his grandmother was in shock or some sort of
denial.
" Willie, I got all my memories here." She pointed to
her head and tapped it with her finger. "That house
was just made of wood…hell, after I go-n meet my
maker… they probably would of torn the suns a bitch
down and made a floozy house out of it, in remembrance
of my damn dumb ass floozy chasin’ grandson’s." She
continued, her voice transformed into one of
compassion. "All that matters ta me is standin` right
tere." She meant the two young men who were
dumbfounded by her attitude. She smiled at Will and
William.
" Now are you gonna give me a ride ta Mildred’s?" her
voice took a sudden change. "I spect I’ll be staying
over there for a spell till the house gets done….
Mildred and I are friends don’t cha know." She nodded
at Darcy. "Now Daircy…you take good care oh that dumb
bastard, Willie who don’t know whether ta shit or grow
daisies…. All right?" She turned and faced Deanna.
" And you too Deannie you take care oh that big dumb
shit, Billy oer there, who just keeps pissin’ in tha
wind."
" Hey Joe!" William called out with a wave of his arm.
" Yeah, boss." The young officer answered as he ran
over to the detective.
" Take Grandma wherever she want’s to go." William
instructed the younger cop. 
"I’m going ta Mildred’s…ya dumb little face burnt
bastard…fer the ump teenth time." Grandma walked over
to Will whacked him on the back of the head with her
hand.
" Hey! I didn’t say that." Riker protested as he ducked
down to the old woman. "He did." He nodded towards
William while rubbing his head.
" You two stay with the boys…" she hugged Deanna and
Darcy. "They’ll take good care of ya…" her voiced took
a sudden shame as she lowered her head. "I’d take ya
ta Mildred’s with me…but her damn fool husband pinches
ever young thing on their asses…and then blames it on
his eyesight…. Hee Hee… he ain’t pinched my ass in so
long…." She paused as if she remembered. "Oh well
honey, never you mind. I don’t think you’d
understand. Seeing how the two of you have never been
with a man, and all…" Both women silently glanced at
one another, and then back at Grandma, who stood there
and simply smiled. "We’ll have a talk someday…about
manly goings on." She whispered as she patted their
shoulders.

She turned towards Riker. "And I suppose the two of
you idiot asses will be staying in some hotel…" she
stated with a squint of her eyes…. Looking up and
focusing on Riker. 
"I just got one more thing ta say…," she warned with a
pointed finger. "If I hear oh the two of you horny old
toads trying ta lead your ducks…I’ll tan your hides!"
She warned.
" Grandma…" William was embarrassed by her
forwardness…and it was showing.
" Ya heard me!" she barked towards William, cutting him
off. "They ain’t no stinking ass floozies, and God
knows that’s all the two of you ever get or want! And
don’t let me hear of ya treatin’ em that way!"
The police car pulled up beside the curb. William
opened the back door for his grandmother. "William
Gilbert Johnson…They’re virgins and I expect them ta
stay that way!" she glared at the big man. She ducked
down to sit into the backseat of the police car.
William shut the car door with a slam. "You’ll marry
em, even if I have ta drag your idiot asses down the
altar…. Both of YA!" She warned as an absolute. "Don’t
think I wont…damn wormy kids."
She turned her body and faced the young cop driving.
" We’re leaving a damn fire; ya little hot headed shit!
Not going ta one…so drive slow." was the last thing
they heard right before William slapped the roof of
the car and it sped off down the street.
" Billy, did she say…? Ducks?" Deanna asked. A teasing
smile crossed her face. She looked up at Will with a
playful nod of her head.
" De-annie, did she say…. Virgin?" Will answered her
question with one of his own.
" According to Grandma Birdie." Deanna answered; she
was already walking away from him. "Absolutely." She
added looking over her shoulder.
Darcy simply smiled "Absolutely." She repeated with a
nod and headed off behind Deanna.
" Hey, William?"
" Hmmm." William answered as he watched the women walk
across the yard.
" Would Grandma really make us marry them?" 
"Yes." He answered matter of fact.
" Can she…legally do that?" Riker asked through
squinted eyes as he followed behind William who was
now trying to catch up with the women.

Riker, Deanna, Darcy, and William walked into Tub’s
bar-N-Grill; the normal daytime patrons were sitting
up at the bar. Some were sitting at tables; the place
had only handful of people scattered about the dirty
smoky bar. The men eyed the women up and down as they
walked behind the men.
" What can I get for da four of yous?" The gruff
bartender asked. His attitude towards these two new
patrons was all but friendly.
" We’re looking for Bobby." William stated as he leaned
forward on the bar. 
"Bobby who?" He gruff bartender answered, "Wheeze get
a lot of Bobby’s in here." The man was apparently
lying.
~~ He’s lying. ~~ Deanna sent to Will in his thoughts.
~~ He’s knows. ~~
Will stepped forward, and grabbed the gruff bartender
by the front of his shirt. Will hoisted the man off of
his feet and his dirty apron covered chest lay across
the top of the dirty wooden bar.
" You uneducated moron." Will threatened the man.
" Where is she." He demanded.
" Kiss my ass." The gruff bartender stubbornly scowled.
Will took his huge fist and stamped the man in the
nose.
Hard. 
The bartender’s head whip lashed back, blood began to
gush from his nose at a rapid rate.


William snapped the gun out of its holster and held it
to the temple of the bartender’s head. Knowing that if
he didn’t do something Will would probably kill the
man.
" The man asked you a question." William warned the
man. "Answer him." The gruff bartender swallowed hard,
he heard the clicking sound of William’s gun as he
cocked the hammer of the gun back. 
"Shoot the ugly bastard." Will seethed. "I’ll find the
two timing bitch myself."
" Okay. If you say so." William calmly stated with a
curl of his lip, slowly pulling the trigger of his
gun. The bartender began to sweat. He couldn’t believe
that these two men would actually kill him in cold
blood….or would they? 
"Bobby’s over at da Motel…at Norman’s place." The
bartender quickly answered.
Riker let loose of the gruff bartender’s shirt, with a
shove the man staggered backward behind the bar. He
quickly wiped his bleeding nose with the sleeve of his
shirt.
" Let’s get out of here." William told his friends as
all four turned to leave.
" Right behind ya, boss." Darcy stated with a slight
hop to her walk. She never saw the huge smile that
crossed Williams’s face.
The gruff bartender drew a shotgun out from behind the
bar and cocked it. With split second timing Deanna
whirled around and fired, the bullet from her small
handheld gun tore a hole in the big man’s chest, dead
center in his heart. His big lunky body flew backward
crashing into the row of liquor bottles, breaking
glass and spraying liquor all over his wounded chest
cavity and the floor. His body instantly flopped in a
dead heap.
All eyes widened as they stared at Deanna as she blew
smoke from her little weapon. 
"Nice shot." Riker stated under his breath, returning
his gun back to his holster. William thanked Deanna
with a nod of his head. "You really can shoot that
thing can’t you?" he asked in amazement.
" When I have to." She simply answered, putting her gun
back into her blazer.
The patrons of the bar fell into a hushed silence. All
eyes were on the four patrons who stood in the middle
of the floor…they all watched as they ran out through
the back door of the bar. 

Everything was quiet in the cold, wet dark alleyway
behind the bar. All four jumped at the sound of tin
trashcans as they clanged against one another. An old
yellow alley cat quickly jumped into view and ran at
full speed across the cold wet brick pavement of the
alleyway. Both men let down their guard and glanced at
one another…exhaling a breath.
The sounds of distant sirens were heard as they sang
in the cold silent night air. 
"We gotta go further into downtown." William said.
" After you." Will stated with a side sweep of his
hand. All four took off running down the long damp
dark alleyways of the city, headed towards the MOT L.



"Whatcha want now?" Norman asked William from behind
the counter of the dingy motel office. "What can I do
for yous?" his dingy yellow teeth eyed the two young
men. He quickly glanced at the two women who were
accompanying them; he twirled his droopy mustache with
his fingers. William walked up to the counter and
slowly extinguished his half-smoked cigarette out on
the wooden counter, using it as if it were an ashtray.
The smell of old varnish and wood burning filled the
motel keepers nostrils.
" Hey!" he protested. "Never heard of ashtrays?" The
dingy tee shirted man said in disgust.
" My friend here just got into a fight with his old
lady." Will stated. "Show some compassion, he’s
hurting."
" Oh yeah?" The man stated through his yellow teeth. He
seemed interested in the fact that William was
troubled. "I didn’t know he had an old lady." He
stated over his droopy mustache as he eyed William.
" Well, he ain’t got one no more." Darcy quickly walked
up to dirty clerk; she was rapidly chewing gum. "And
this…this… hound dog was with another woman in my
bed." She protested. Darcy looked and was dressed like
a hooker. "Geesh, and I was thinkin’ he cared." She
quickly raised her purse and swatted William with it.
" And the other woman was her." She pointed towards
Deanna. "How would you like it if I take this…. This….
Clerk ta bed with me, ya big ape." she threatened, as
she chewed her gum.
The dingy clerk Norman liked that idea, after all
Darcy was beautiful, probably the most beautiful woman
he had ever seen. But, on the other hand he was afraid
of William’s size. He quickly smiled at Darcy and then
suspiciously eyed William.
" Yeah, he was in here the other day…and he was trying
ta score with the little lady …I saw him." The clerk
snitched on William.
" Do want ya want…" William stated to Darcy, not really
caring what the clerk said. 
"All right…. Then I will." Darcy stomped her foot.
" You!" she pointed towards the dingy clerk. "Come
with me!" she ordered.
The clerk was in shock. "Me?" he gulped as he pointed
towards his chest. 
"Yeah." Darcy said between chews of gum. "Do ya Wanna
do it or not?" 
"Yeah. I mean…. Yeah I do…" he stammered. Then he
looked towards William. "Is…it…" he gulped, "all
right with…you." He looked at William and then at
Darcy and then at Will and then at Deanna.
" We ain’t married." William shrugged. "Do what you
want."
The clerk straightened up his posture, the spilling of
his chili that he had for lunch stained the belly of
his white dingy shirt. He began to walk towards the
end of the desk his face was covered in a huge smile
as his yellowed dingy teeth gleamed in the dingy
atmosphere of the lobby.
As he came out from around the bar, William whacked
him on the back of the head with the butt of his gun
knocking the man out cold. He fell like a flat blob
onto the floor.
" Thank Goodness." Darcy stated as she took the wad of
gum out of her mouth tossing it into a trashcan. "If
that animal would have touched me…."
" This hound dog wouldn’t let that happen…" William
stated with a smile as he walked in front of her. His
attention turned to Riker. "Let’s move this mustard
mouth bastard." He directed his attention towards the
girls. "You two virgins look into the files on his
desk cabinet for a Roberta Corpinelli."
" A hound dog beats the hell out of a rabbit." Riker
stated as he grabbed Norman’s ankles.
" Dumb ass." William stated under his breath. William
heard Will’s quiet laughter.
Riker and William moved the huge lug to the far end of
counter. His body landed with a thud on the floor.
" I found it." Deanna reported as she pulled out the
receipts on Roberta the Boss. "It just has a phone
number." She handed the piece of paper to William.
" Let’s call it."

" Looking for me?" They heard the familiar voice of
Roberta. All four heads turned towards the sound of
the voice.

Standing at the door was Roberta along with four of
her goons, all armed and guns were aimed at Riker and
his friends.
One goon with a huge scar across his face aimed at
Darcy and stated, "Put chur hands above your head." He
cocked back the gun. "Single file. And no funny
bidness or I’ll splatter her brains all over da
place."
"Put down the phone, William." Elizabeth said, as she
stepped from behind Roberta. "She’ll kill you."
"What are you doing here?" he asked, shocked at the
fact that she would even be involved with someone like
Roberta. 
"Roberta and I are good friends." Elizabeth answered.
"Friends?" William laughed. "I wasn’t aware that
snakes and rats could be friends."
"Single file" the goon with the scar across his face
ordered. They lead the group into three separate cars.
Deanna and Darcy in one and Will and William were in
separate cars.
They took them to an old abandoned building, each were
lead single file into an office. The room was dingy,
steam pipes hung from the ceiling…and a single light
bulb dangled from the center of the room.
"You first, we’re going ta have some fun" the thug
motioned towards Darcy with a wave of his gun.
"Leave her alone!" William sprang forward towards the
guard. The guard immediately aimed his gun at Darcy’s
head. The other three thugs aimed at William.
"Back off!" he ordered, "Or she gets iced right here."
Darcy’s eyes grew wide as the thug grabbed onto her
upper arm and forced her into the wall attempting to
kiss her.
"Stop it!" the female voice ordered. "Let her go!"
The thug did as he was ordered…with a growl. Darcy ran
and stood by William, wrapping her arms around his
waist. He wrapped one arm around her shoulder.
"Well, isn’t this cozy." The female voice of Roberta
hissed. "So protective…William."
She turned her attention to Riker. "I’m not such a
snake after all…I may be a murderer and a racketeer
but," she smiled, "I’m definitely not a fan of rape."
"How decent of you." Riker glared at her. He stood
protectively beside Deanna.
"Have you removed all of their weapons?" Roberta asked
the scar-faced thug.
"Ya, boss…they’re clean." He answered.
"Good." She hissed. Her attention turned to back to
Riker, "You see you killed my brother and you’re
friend William…. he killed Smelly…" she smiled, "But
worse than that…he broke my best friends heart." He
stated as if she wanted sympathy.
"Her heart?" William said with a chuckle to her voice,
"Damn, I was trying for her neck."

Roberta walked over to him and slapped him across the
face. The sting of the blow left a red mark on the
side of his cheek. "Listen you arrogant bastard!" she
glared. "You will die…and I will let my friends play
with your little girl-friend here."
He silently stood and glared at her. His silence
infuriated her more. She nodded towards the big
scar-faced thug and he grabbed Darcy pulling her away
from William. Another thug sent a powerful blow to
Williams’s gut…sending him to his knees. Roberta
cocked the gun and held it to the back of William’s
head.
"Tell me one thing…" she smiled as she held the gun
firm in place. "Are you still in love with Elizabeth?"
she asked. "They say dying men don’t lie."
"They say real men don’t kiss and tell." He answered,
he wasn’t afraid of Roberta and it made her uneasy.
"William, please answer her." It was Elizabeth’s voice
in the background as she walked through the doorway of
the small office. 
"Why is she going to kill me?" he replied, "Hell, we
know that already, don’t we?…. Or am I the last to
find out about that too?"
"William now is not the time to be waggish." She
warned. The concern in her voice was evident.
~~ Will, I have a gun in my bra. ~~ Deanna sent to
Will.
He instantly nodded his head at her, being careful not
to be seen by the others in the room.
"Here Elizabeth, you can have the honor of killing
him." She handed the gun to Elizabeth. "Or would you
rather kill…" her focus moved to Darcy… "His lover."
William slowly shut his eyes and silently prayed that
Darcy would be spared. He opened his eyes and looked
Elizabeth straight in the eye.
The gun trembled in her hand as she lowered it to
William’s head. "I love you William." Her voice broke
as she fought back the tears. "I’m so sorry." She
cried. Suddenly she whirled around and fired the gun
at Roberta hitting the woman in the stomach with the
bullet. Roberta bent over in pain as her starched
white suit became stained with the gushing wound.
"Now!" Riker screamed as he lunged towards Darcy.
Deanna instantly pulled the gun out of her bra and
fired at the scar-faced thug who had a grip on Darcy.
Riker rolled with Darcy on the floor out of the line
of fire…he landed on top of her. William lunged
towards the gun that the thug was holding. He
immediately began to fire at the other men in the
room.
The room became a haze of smoke and gunfire as glass
and wall fragments shattered throughout the small
area.
When the smoke of the room cleared…all that was
standing of the mob was Elizabeth, somehow she had
escaped the gunfire of the room.
Deanna rose to her feet, as did William. Riker was
still lying on top of Darcy protecting her body from
the flying fragments of glass and debris.
"William, I married for money…instead of love."
Elizabeth whispered, her face was streaked with tears
as she spoke. "I love you, William." She then raised
her hand to the temple of her head and pulled the
trigger of the gun.
"NOOO" William yelled as the gun exploded. She slowly
fell to the ground. She looked at him one last time
and smiled, revealing a huge gush of blood that oozed
behind her teeth. She was gone before her body hit the
floor. William rushed to her, but it was too late. He
kneeled silently beside her, he reached for her hand
and kissed it. "Goodbye, Liz." He whispered. He then
took off his jacket and covered her blood stained
head.
He stood up and inhaled slowly and exhaled deeply, as
if in thought he looked towards the ceiling and then
at her still body.
He looked over at Riker and noticed the position the
two were in. "Making out with my woman, Billy?" he
asked trying to lift the mood of the room, plus his
own spirits.
"Yeah…." Riker said as he got off of Darcy, he
extended a hand and pulled her to her feet. "You were
playing cops and robbers with mine."
"Damn." William said to no one in particular. He
reached down in his coat pocket that lay across
Elizabeth’s body and took out his cigarettes and
lighter. "Sorry, Liz…. But I really need one." He
spoke to the jacket, being careful not to uncover her
face.
"Deanna." William said as he blew out a puff of smoke.
"You can really shoot that thing can’t you?" 
"When I have to." She smiled. Walking over to Riker
and wrapping her arms around his waist. He returned
her hug. She gave the small gun to Will.
"Where did you have that thing?" William asked.
Deanna simply patted herself lightly on the breast and
smiled.
"I knew those things couldn’t be real…" he stated, as
if he just had a revelation.
"You don’t know…." Riker quickly added…his shoving
Deanna out of the way and firing his weapon cut off
the sentence. He aimed and shot the gangster standing
directly behind William. "William dove for the ground
as the sound of the bullet whizzed past his head. The
thug’s body fell to the floor as he grabbed his mid
section and screamed in pain.
William slowly stood to his feet. "Thanks." He nodded
at Riker. "I owe you one." He breathed in and out,
realizing how close he had come to dying.
"Don’t talk about Deanna’s chest anymore." Riker
quipped. "I was aiming at you." He added with a
lopsided grin and raise of his eyebrows.
"Dumb ass." William whispered under his breath. 
"I called the authorities and they are on their way."
Darcy broke in. "This place is full of information and
books…. Names…. Numbers of every gang leader in the
city."
"Good work." Riker smiled at Darcy. She politely
smiled back. "Let’s get out of here." 

The Scarlet hotel was nice. It was definitely what was
being used as a casino hall and a hotel. 
"We’d like a room." William informed the desk clerk.
"One or two?" the thin little man asked as he smiled a
lopsided grin.
He definitely was eyeing the women who accompanied the
men. They were both dressed up in the best of 1945
fashion thanks to Darcy, who had some evening dress
clothes over at her apartment. 
"Two." William answered. 
"I’m sorry, we’ve only got one room…but it does have
two double beds in it." He apologized. "We’ve got a
poker tournament going on this week."
"Poker?" Riker’s ears perked up at that. Deanna gave
him a lopsided smile.
"Please sign here…. Where it reads Mr. and Mrs.,
please." The clerk directed William with the golden
ink pen in his hand. William signed the register, and
handed the ink pen to Riker. Riker took a look at it
and glanced over at William moving only his eyes. 
The thin clerk whirled the book registry around, and
smiled "Thank you Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Here is your
key." He handed the key to William. "And Mr. and Mrs.
Jones here is your key." He handed the key to Riker.
The women looked over at one another. "Tommy will show
you to your room." The clerk snapped his fingers
twice. A young boy in a square shaped hat came running
over and picked up the two suitcases.
"This way." He instructed the four patrons.
"Smith?" Riker whispered to William. "That’s
original." He stated with a lopsided grin.
"It’s common." William shrugged it off.
"And Johnson, isn’t?" he replied as he followed the
others up the staircase.
"Thank you." Riker tipped the bellboy, as he shut the
door behind him.
"Who am I?" Darcy asked. "Mrs. Smith or Mrs. Jones?"
she sat on the bed.
"I believe that’s Mrs. Smith." Deanna pointed to
Riker. She sat on the bed beside Darcy. "Hey, it
doesn’t squeak." She stated as she bounced up and
down. "The last bed Will and I slept in squeaked
severely. Well actually he was the one who made it
squeak." She stated. All eyes focused on Deanna. "It
was terribly distracting." She added innocently with a
nod. "And the neighbor kept banging on the wall…and
then he yelled something like give it to…"
"Deanna!" Will suddenly broke in interrupting her.
"So. What now?" Darcy asked William, ignoring Deanna’s
earlier statements about squeaking beds, attempting to
save her face. 
"Now it’s 0200 hours and we need to get some sleep."
Riker stated as he flopped down on the bed. "And I’m
not sleeping with William again." He said. "I’ve had
to sleep in that idiot’s bed all week at Grandma’s."

"And just who are you going to sleep with, Commander?"
Deanna asked.
He turned his head towards Deanna and raised both
eyebrows up, along with a lopsided grin.
She quickly rose from the bed and exclaimed, "You are
so egotistical, Will Riker!"
William stood there and shook his head in disbelief.
"You never give up do ya?" he asked quietly.
"Nope." Will stated as a matter of fact, grabbing the
pillow and shoving it under his head.
There was a knock on the door. All four glanced at one
another. William and Will stood on guard.
"Who is it?" William asked as he approached the door.
"The owner of the hotel." The muffled reply came from
the other side of the door.
William slowly opened the door. Standing in full clad
gangster’s clothing was Q.
"Q!" Riker exclaimed. "What in the hell do you want
now? Unless you’re here to send me and Deanna back…get
the hell out of here."
"Is that anyway to treat an old friend, Commander…" he
stated as he walked into the room. "After all I did
bring the old woman back from the fiery grave." He
picked up a letter opener from the dresser in the room
and fiddle with it.
"Fiery grave?" William first looked at Deanna and then
to Will. "What in the hell is he talking about?"
William was totally lost.
"He saved Grandma." Deanna stated quietly. "She died
in the fire…and he…"
"Counselor!" Will interrupted her sternly. His voice
took on a sudden quietness to it. "That’s enough." He
quietly reprimanded her. 
"Do you always have to listen to what this simpleton
says?" Q asked Deanna as he walked towards her. "He’s
always barking orders. Always Starfleet.
Always…Riker."
"Q!" Riker quickly stepped in-between the entity and
Deanna. "What in the hell do you want?"
Q quickly diverted his attention towards Darcy. "And
you must be…little Darcy…the secretary." He walked
towards Darcy. "Hmmm nice violet eyes."
"What the hell is going on?" William asked, not really
appreciative of the way Q was looking at Darcy.
"Riker, who the hell is this?" he asked demanding an
answer.
"I…" Q answered, "am Q" he bowed slightly. "And you
must be William Johnson…ah yes, the one with the sense
of humor." He gave Riker a quick smug look as if he
were comparing the two men. He looked over at William.
"By the way, your little girl is beautiful. She has
violet eyes just like her mother and she sounds
exactly like her grandmother." He glanced towards
Darcy.
"MY WHAT!" William yelled. 
"Q!" Riker interjected rather loudly. "Stop it!"
"Oh…all right…to be fair… your daughter has your eyes,
Riker…she didn’t take after the Betazoid side of the
family." Then he shook his head. "You’re such a brat."
"Q, please tell us what you are doing here?" Deanna
interjected softly. She could tell the two men were
losing their temper.
"I’m here…my little empath…. to take you back." He
answered, "After all Riker did get to shoot some
gangster and now… my game is over." 
"Game? Why you son of a bitch…" William quickly
stepped forward and drew back his fist and slammed it
into thin air. Q in an instant vanished and was
standing on the other side of the room
"Temper. Temper." Q stated smugly as he examined one
of his fingernails. "You are spending too much time
with Riker."
"What about them?" Deanna asked, referring to William
and Darcy, ignoring the entity’s arrogance.
"Oh, they’ll be fine…. They won’t remember you." He
smugly stated, "That prime directive thing…. Picard
keeps nagging…. And nagging."
"Q!" Riker demanded. "We did as you said, we took the
girls with us."
William and Darcy stood in amazement, and disbelief.
"What the hell are you talking about Riker?" William
whispered.
"We are talking about…. my dear boy," Q stated with a
smile. "This!" and with a snap of his fingers Deanna
Troi and Will Riker were gone.


Epilogue
Will and Deanna were on the Enterprise. Deanna was in
the library of the ship…her focus was on the computer
screen.
"What are you doing?" Will asked as he walked behind
her, looking over her shoulder.
"Just going through some newspapers, that’s all." She
stated. "Look at this."
She began to read an ancient newspaper.
Local crime Ring brought down by Detective William
Johnson


"And I found this…" she added with a smile.
MAYOR OF CHICAGO:
William G. Johnson. Pictured here with his wife,
Darcy and two children Billy and daughter Birdie.


"You miss them don’t you?" Will asked as he gently
put his hand on Deanna’s shoulder.
"I suppose I do." She admitted quietly. "I must admit
that I miss Grandma Birdie too." She stated with a
slight laugh.
"Me too." He smiled.
"I’m glad we went, Will." 
"Hey, toots…" Riker used his best gangster voice. "Dey
call me Will da trill."
She looked at him and smiled. "All the beans are in
the jar, Will. I understand now."
Riker laughed. "Well, I’m glad you do, because I’m a
little bit confused." He shook his head. "And to be
honest…. Deanna, just what in the hell are you talking
about?"
She simply smiled again…and sent a thought to his
head, followed by a smile.
"What!!" he stated wide-eyed. Afraid he might be heard
by the other patrons of the quiet library. "Are you
serious?" he asked urgently in a low whisper.
She stood up and walked out of the library. Riker kept
talking as he followed behind her. "I could create one
on the holo-deck, or we could create…one that really
squeaks….or hell, I could build one from scratch and
keep in my quarters…or…I could…." 
She walked ahead of him heading towards the holo-deck
smiling from ear to ear.

THE END