From: Sarah Hickey To: Cc: Subject: [bhfic] NEW: Y2K Date: Sunday, 13 February 2000 11:44 From: "Sarah Hickey" Y2K By Sarah Hickey Rating: PG; there's a couple of swear words here and there. Disclaimer: I don't own them, and if I did I wouldn't have been so stupid as to loose William McInnes. Bad move, Southern Star. Dedication: To Lleyton Hewitt because my friends all hate you but I think you're cool. And to the guy who gave me a free Nike t-shirt at the Aussie Open. Summary: I thought it a little strange that Ben seemed so accepting of Maggie and PJ's engagement on Wednesday. And I wondered what might have happened in those torturous moments that we didn't see on TV *** The Imperial Hotel Wednesday, December 29. "St David's would have to be the most obnoxious, unappreciative, conceited members in the entire Victoria Police Force!" Maggie leaned back against PJ's chest as they watched Jack loose yet another game of darts. "I mean, would it have taken so much from them to simply look after our patch as well as their own? It's not as if they wouldn't have had to work anyway." "Doyle, stop sooking." The Boss was in no mood for 'whinging and whining', as he had put it when he delivered the news. Maggie, on the other hand, was fuming, and even the prospect of double pay made no difference to her. When the word had come down from above (or from Falcon-Price, depending on how you looked at it), all the Heelers had been upset. The dim hope of being able to spend new years in a raging state of 'party, party, party' - as Jo had put it - was now a distant memory thanks to what they believed was the selfishness of their St David's colleagues. It seemed that they were destined to see in the new year chained to their desks. Maggie's plans for a huge evening in Melbourne with PJ to see in the new millenium had gone crashing to the ground, hence her obvious furor at the working arrangements. PJ, however, wasn't quite as disappointed. Melbourne would've been nice, and the prospect of Maggie chained to her desk was quite appealing to him but that was beside the point. She was livid, and since he would be the one who'd cop most of her antics, it was in his best interests to calm her down as soon as possible. "Mags, it's not that bad. We can order in take away, put up a few decorations, have a bit of a laugh. It should be great." "But the take away shops will all be closed!" Jo had jumped in to defend Maggie. The girls stuck together. "Forget pizza, we're gonna be working. D'you know what that means?" PJ shook his head, but Maggie was on Jo's wavelength. "We'll have to go check on all the noise complaints, break up all the fights, make sure that everything " "Doyle, I'm sure it's not going to be that bad. And you can whinge 'till you're blue in the face, but it's not going to change anything. I'm going home." The Boss strode off. "C'mon Maggie, it'll be okay. We can we can still have a great time at the office." Even Ben was finding it hard to see the positives. "And that's what I'm going to tell my children when they ask what I did? That I saw in the new millenium sitting at my desk while their father " she prodded PJ, who conveniently spilt the remainder of his beer " stuffed his face full of pizza? I don't think so." "I do not stuff my face!" PJ looked at her indignantly and she kissed him apologetically. Ben winced in the background, but neither of them noticed. Jo laughed as Jack managed to lose again. "I need to play someone who challenges me. Hasham, you in?" As PJ began to nod, Maggie shook her head. "No, he's not. We're going home to ring a certain mother who was expecting a call two hours ago." And with that she dragged him out the door. "I'll play, Jo." Ben had recovered from his sour state well, he was getting there. Maggie and PJ's engagement was slowly becoming acceptable. But his darts game would never be the same. Jo shook her head in response. Playing darts with Ben was about as appealing as taking a cold shower with Keith Purvis. "Stuff it. I'll play by myself." *** Maggie's House. "I can't believe this is you." PJ was sitting on Maggie's couch, fingering the cover of the cassette in the stereo. "I mean, it so good." She grinned and moved to sit down beside him. "I think that was a compliment." "You know what I mean." She nodded as he pulled her close. "Can I have this?" "You've got to be kidding." Maggie turned to look at him sharply. "Please ?" He'd opted for the puppy dog eyes, but it wasn't getting him anywhere. "No way. It's terrible! We did it for a laugh at the final assembly in year twelve. I think I'm gonna burn it." She moved towards the stereo but he jumped over the back of the couch to stand in front of her. "Not so fast, Ms Doyle." PJ had a glint in his eye. "If you want that tape, you're going to have to get past me first!" Maggie didn't waver. "Easy." She leaned forward and initiated a long, deep kiss. As it began to get heated, PJ forgot all about the tape Slowly turning him around, she pulled away and grabbed the tape from the stereo. "See. I told you. Easy." But PJ wasn't phased in the least. Instead, he looked at her adoringly before wrapping his arms around her. "I love you." "I love you too." As she leaned in to kiss him, Maggie failed to notice his hand snaking around her back as he retrieved the desired cassette. *** Mt Thomas Police Station Thursday, December 30. Ben had never thought it was possible for nothing to happen. But it was. Or, maybe it wasn't, depending on how you looked at it. He shook his head. *Better leave that thought alone before it drives you completely insane.* Jack and Jo had reluctantly embarked on their fourth patrol that day, while Maggie had happily embraced the late shift. PJ had walked in that morning listening to a walkman, and barely said two words to anyone all day. Not that there was anything to say. Ben had spent the day getting considerably better at spinning a pencil around using two fingers. Nothing important had happened. He sighed and got up to make himself a cup of coffee. Sometimes, there was too much of nothing. *** Successfully, Ben advanced to the final level of Commander Keen 5, and closer to breaking PJ's highest score. The detective in question was coming out of his office; a miracle! Muttering something to himself underneath his breath, PJ moved to grab a Mars Bar from the fridge. "What?" The Acting Sergeant called over his shoulder, captivated by the game. PJ threw the Mars Bar wrapper in the bin and walked over. "Nothing. Got a song stuck in my head." Ben turned to look at him. "That wouldn't happen to be the same one you've been listening to all morning, because " "Quick! Press escape!" PJ was pointing to the computer screen avidly as a giant potato attacked Commander Keen. Ben turned, but it was too late. He groaned as two hours of toil went down the drain. PJ reigned as champion once again. Consuming the rest of his Mars Bar, the detective couldn't help grinning as he walked away. "Should've pressed escape..." *** "Good afternoon everyone! How are we on this fantastic day?" As Maggie almost bounced into the main office, her colleagues turned around slowly. "Why are you so chirpy?" Jack enquired, desperately trying to postpone the mountain of paperwork that PJ had given him. Maggie moved to sit down at her desk, placing her jacket on her desk. "I've just seen the most beautiful wedding dress in the whole world. And " She stopped quickly as PJ emerged from his office. "Hey." He grinned at her before extracting a something from the filing cabinet. "No walkman, PJ. Run out of batteries?" Ben hadn't been the only one to notice PJ's preoccupation with the 'mystery tape', as Jo had dubbed it. Today, anything out of the ordinary became fascinating. "Ha, ha. Very funny." PJ grinned at Jo and picked up the files from Jack's desk. "See if you're still laughing after you finish these babies." "What walkman?" Maggie had begun to put two and two together and was not happy with the answer. "Did you take that tape?" Her tone was threatening, and PJ stopped smiling almost immediately. "I thought that maybe I'd borrow it for the day. You can have it back now." He produced the tape from the depths of his pocket, before smirking. "I've heard it so many times that I can play it in my head." Maggie threw the tape at him with a smile. "You can keep it. But if I find out that you've " "Shit!" Ben's voice cut into the conversation as he thumped his fist against the keyboard. "Pardon?" "I've just been eaten by a giant potato!" He looked up angrily and PJ grinned at him. Maggie shook her head in a state of confusion and began to work. Ben rebooted the computer and started again. *** Maggie's House Emma Stewart sat next to Maggie on the couch, looking through bridal magazines. "When I get married, I'm gonna wear that dress there." Maggie looked over to see Emma's selection. "Can you keep a secret?" "Yeah." "That's the dress I'm going to wear." "Really?" "Mmm hmm. Next week Dash and I are taking you to get your dress." Emma seemed to have come to terms with Maggie's pending marriage to PJ, and was now in a state of excitement about the wedding. In fact, as Maggie had recently confided to PJ, Emma seemed to be handling the news better than her father. But Maggie was beyond caring too much about what Ben thought. She was getting married to *her* PJ, and that was all that really mattered. As she heard a key turning in the lock, Maggie turned to Emma. "Battle stations!" Both automatically began clearing away the mountains of chocolate wrappers on the coffee table, desperately trying to hide the evidence of their obvious binge. "Hey gorgeous!" PJ's voice rang through the house as he entered the living room, where Maggie and Emma were quietly flicking through magazines. "Hi." She didn't look up. "I was talking to Emma, actually." With a grin, PJ kissed Maggie on the cheek before holding up a stack of videos. "Okay, Em. I got Barbie, Cinderella " Maggie and Emma glanced at each other uncertainly. "PJ. I'm *eight* years old." She turned to face Maggie. "Let's watch Titanic." "What, but I " PJ's protests were ignored as Maggie grabbed her own copy of Titanic and shoved it in the video player, sitting next to a contented Emma. Plonking himself down on the couch, he groaned. $20 on Barbie videos, and he was having to watch bloody *Titanic* again. *** Mt Thomas Police Station New Years Eve "And so the Commander Keen challenge begins. PJ, you will be playing on Maggie's computer, Ben, you will be using Jack's. The winner will hold the title of Commander Keen champion!" Jo paused as Jack handed her a stopwatch. "Gentlemen, you may begin." The Commander Keen challenge had been initiated by Ben, who had discovered a cheat that could get him from level one to level six in half the time it took to do them normally. Tom hadn't objected - if there was nothing going on, they could amuse themselves. Jo was in charge of the game after Maggie was ruled out because of bias towards PJ. Jack had a swift $20 backing Ben's victory, while Maggie remained in favour of a 'CI victory'. In honesty, the game was just a way to pass the hours before new year. It was seven o'clock now, and it usually took PJ three hours to finish the game. Today, he was on fire. With Maggie's hand on his leg and her dropping kisses on his arm every now and then, he was feeling pretty good. Anyhow, if Ben got ahead of him, he could just use a cheat mode to cut to the final sector. The tension began to mount *** Mt Thomas Police Station Two and a half hours later "Fuck!" Ben slammed his fist down in frustration. He only had one life left. He was damned if he was going to lose to PJ in this - hell; he'd already lost Maggie to the bastard. And, to add to the confusion, the cheat hadn't worked, instead it had lost him three lives. PJ, in the meantime, was having a great time. He was up to the final level and feeling *very* good. Maggie had her head resting on his shoulder, and he wasn't sure whether she was asleep or awake. Her shift didn't start until eleven, so she was allowed to take a power nap. He had to admit, it would've been pretty boring for her The giant potato was approaching. PJ pushed the control button quickly. Only three shots to go The screen went black. *** "Power failure!" Jo yelled, moving to grab the Boss from his office. PJ and Ben both swore, waking Maggie up. Jack was already on the phone to the electricity company. "Right, thanks." He spun on his chair. "It's not Y2K. Apparently a possum jumped on the wire. Should be back on in an hour or so." His colleagues breathed a sigh of relief. "Hang on." PJ stood up. "Who wins?" "Well, PJ was further ahead when the power went out. And Ben *was* on his last life. So I s'pose PJ has to be the winner." Jo's decision was final, and PJ let out a whoop of joy before hugging Maggie. Jack forked over the $20 and Ben walked out of the room. Maggie sighed, knowing that this couldn't go on. *** Locker Room "Ben? You okay?" "Of course I am. What do you take me for? It was only a computer game, Maggie." She sat next to him on the table. "You know I wasn't talking about that. I was just wondering if you were okay with everything." "What would you care?" "I care because you're my friend. C'mon, what's the deal?" "You and *him* sometimes it just cuts me up, y'know?" She shook her head and sighed. "We both know that nothing's going to change. I love him. And I'm marrying him. Nothing you can say or do is going to stop that." "But " "No, Ben. That's the way it is. Now you can either start the new millenium feeling sorry for yourself, or you can deal with the facts and have a good time. 'Cause that's what I'm gonna do." She stood and looked at him expectantly. He grinned. "You're right. Anyhow, this locker room smells." "You're a dag." She returned the grin and opened the door. *** "5,4,3,2,1 Happy New Year!" Maggie grabbed PJ and kissed him for what seemed like an eternity. Ben shook hands with Tom, and whirled Emma around in the air. Jack and Jo kissed for just a little longer than what could be considered a 'friendly' embrace. PJ looked around him, savouring the experience, before returning his gaze to Maggie, who rested her head on his chest. At that moment, he was overwhelmed to be there, holding the woman he loved, the woman he was going to spend the rest of his life with. And so PJ Hasham entered the new millenium; Commander Keen champion of the world. *** END *** Tom: "By the way, PJ's asked me to be the best man." Maggie: "I know." Tom: "So I'll be waiting with him at the end of the aisle... in case he faints." - Loose Ends ***