20-year-old police detective Fenton Hardy sighed as he waited impatiently for his partner, Gerry Moore. A bad flu had left their precinct short on manpower, so the two detectives were in on their day off, helping the foot patrol.

Fenton didn’t really mind, as he enjoyed talking to the many people they met as they walked along the city blocks, but his partner felt it was beneath them.  Recently promoted to detectives, a surprising move considering how young the two men were, Gerry was sure foot patrol was not what two newly promoted officers should be doing!

But while they were young, they had quickly developed into a formidable team, and had made a very good and solid reputation for themselves – good enough to attract the right kind of attention…and subsequent new badges.

Their promotions were really only a shock to Fenton – who was much more modest than his partner, and didn’t think they had really done anything that spectacular, yet.

So once again Gerry was stalling. He had taken every opportunity to stop at cafés for a coffee or a treat of some sort.

Fenton sighed again and looked at his watch as he waited for Gerry to stop flirting with the young girl who worked behind the counter of their latest stop.

“She’s too young for you,” Fenton remarked when Gerry finally swaggered towards him, a huge grin plastered on his fair face.

“I got her number anyway!”

“Gerry, she couldn’t be more than 16!” Fenton protested, inwardly very embarrassed by his partner’s womanizing. Gerry was always on some sort of conquest.

“Hey, who said I was going to call her?” Gerry snorted, patting his partner playfully on his back.  “Now, is there any back alley we haven’t crawled through yet tonight?”

“Yeah as a matter of fact…”

* * *

Ten minutes later, when four guys jumped the two officers, Fenton was wondering about Gerry’s choice of words, as he figured he might just be ‘crawling’ out of this alley….If he was lucky.

* * *

“Well, well, what do we have here?” A big burly guy with greasy black hair snickered when he saw the two guys checking out the dumpsters in the alley.

Fenton sighed – he had thought they should wear uniforms, but Gerry refused to hear it. He had worked too damn hard to get out of them; he wasn’t about to go back.

“Take it easy, fellows,” Fenton said as he saw the other three guys come out of a hidden doorway. He reached into his coat pocket.  “NYPD.” He flipped his badge at them as identification.

This just brought a smile to the four guys, and a shared look as they sized up the two cops.

Both were about the same height, 6’2, but one, the one holding the badge, had dark brown hair and eyes, while the other was a bit burlier, with short blond hair and blue eyes.

Both would be considered handsome if the four guys thought in that way – but they didn’t.  All they saw was a chance to have a bit of fun with two of New York’s finest. 

“Who’s getting excited?” the greasy haired guy said, and then things went bad…terribly bad….

* * *

“Ouch!” Moore complained as Fenton helped him ease out of the taxi.

“Sorry,” the dark haired cop muttered, and then tried to hide his grin when Moore ‘ouched’ again a few moments later. Fenton knew it wasn’t funny, but he couldn’t help it.  Gerry Moore considered himself a tough guy but he had a very low pain tolerance.

And yes, while his knuckles probably did hurt like hell, Gerry was certainly milking it for all it was worth – especially once he saw his first nurse.

“Sir?” another nurse said, indicating that he thought Fenton might need a wheelchair as well.  A male nurse, typical Fenton Hardy luck, the cop thought as he saw his partner already being wheeled away by a voluptuous red-headed female nurse.

And then he shook his head.  “I’m okay – nothing a hot shower and a night’s rest won’t cure,” he assured the male nurse.

All things considered, they had come out of the fight very well indeed.  They may have been outnumbered, but the hoods couldn’t fight their way out of a paper bag, and once Fenton managed to get his gun out…well the guys weren’t so anxious to rumble anymore.

Gerry did get in a couple of good punches though, and managed to bust open his knuckles on the jaw of the one guy they did manage to arrest.

And then they took a taxi to the hospital, because the precinct really didn’t have the manpower to have an officer drive them.

Sighing heavily, because he was tired and his body did ache a bit, Fenton decided to go outside to get a breath of fresh air while the doctor took care of his partner.

“I’m outside,” he called out to the retreating form, and Gerry only flicked his hand to indicate he’d heard his partner.

Shaking his head, Fenton rubbed his aching shoulder, knowing it was going to hurt in the morning. 

He and Gerry were the opposites in every way – not just appearance. And it was amazing that they worked so well together.  Especially since, as a person, Fenton Hardy did not like Gerry Moore. But as a cop…well, he couldn’t get a better man to watch his back.

In fact, the dark haired man spent as little time as possible with his partner, outside work. Even when they hung out with ‘the boys’ after work, Fenton never chose to sit with Gerry or talk to him. He would always seek out one or two other cops whom he enjoyed spending time with.

But never Gerry.

“Hey, are you okay?” A soft voice brought Fenton out of his reverie, and he turned to see the most beautiful girl he had ever laid eyes on in his life.

And he stared…at an angel.

She had shoulder length golden blond hair, and big blue eyes, that were right now shining with concern as she watched him continue to absently massage his shoulder. Petite, with a beautiful complexion, he could tell that even in a wheelchair, she was in great shape.

An athlete of some sort, he deduced, and then wondered why she was in a wheelchair.  What could clip an angel’s wings?

“I’m sorry,” the girl was saying, “Is something wrong?”

“S-Sorry,” he finally managed to stammer, as he shook his head to break the spell that seeing her had put him under. He had never experienced anything like that before.  “W-what?”

The girl smiled at him, and Fenton found himself suddenly very self-conscious of how he must look to her.  “I asked you if you were okay – your shoulder seemed to be bothering you. But then you started to stare at me, so I thought that maybe I had a second head growing on my nose or something.”

She gave a little laugh as she said it and it was like music in his ears.

“No…you’re funny,” was all he managed to get out.  Oh crap, the cop thought, why can’t I get anything intelligible to come out of my mouth?

The young woman just shook her head and chuckled.

Obviously, figured Fenton, you can’t look like that and not have guys behave like idiots around you all the time.

He tried again.

“I’m sorry. I was staring but there’s nothing wrong with your nose….It’s perfect….” he felt his face heat up as he wondered what his English teacher would say if he could hear him now.  “I mean…I…”

And then a young man spoke from behind Fenton, making the cop jump; he had not noticed anyone else there. “Is this guy bothering you, Larry?”

Fenton turned around and sized the new comer up. Younger than he was, the blond haired guy was also a couple inches shorter and a bit lighter build.  He was probably in his late teens, the cop decided.

I can take him, Fenton thought, and then scolded himself for having such a thought!

“Its okay, Paulie,” the girl smiled, “he’s just a bit confused. I think he might have hit his head.”  She winked at the other guy as she said that.

Fenton opened his mouth to say something, but then shut it again, not trusting himself to speak. The young guy noticed the bruise on Fenton’s jaw just then and frowned, taking in his weary, pale pallor.

“Do you want me to get someone for you?” he asked, his vibrant blue eyes still regarding Fenton warily, “You don’t look too well.”

“I’m fine,” Fenton finally said, and then turned to leave. As much as he wanted to talk to this angel, it was apparent that she was already spoken for. And as much as he was taken by her, he would never dream of going after anyone who already had a guy.

“Hey, wait!” the angel called after him and he turned.  “You still didn’t tell me why you were staring at me!”

Fenton grimaced as he saw an unreadable look pass over the other guy’s face. But he figured what the hell, he might as well be honest.  “Because you’re beautiful.”

And then he went back into the hospital.

Things like her never happen to guys like him…