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Author's Chapter Notes:
I had too much fun with this one. I'll give you a cookie if you can identify the Easter egg from a previous story. ;-)
Bonus cookies if you can tell me in what key Gustav Holst wrote his Second Suite!
Also, I forgot to ask earlier, but did anyone catch the surreptitious Lion King quote in the last chapter?
After several hours of paperwork and uneventful phone calls, Rebecca walked happily from the SBPD to the bus stop that would take her to the UCSB campus. Excited to finally turn in the essay she had worked so hard on, she jauntily hummed to herself Holst's Second Suite as she waited for her bus to arrive. Suddenly, she heard a loud shout from the alley behind her, and when she turned her head to look, she saw a man waving frantically at her, shouting for help.

She ran to him and asked, "Hey, are you okay?"
Quickly, she realized he was, since he clapped a cloth over her face that had clearly been doused in chloroform.
"Oh, not again!" Rebecca thought, trying not to panic, and reached into her jacket pocket to retrieve the lighter she carried. A gift from a friend, it had served her well before and saved her again when she lit it and pressed it against the man's upper arm. The man yowled in pain and Rebecca broke away, fleeing onto the newly arrived bus, where she promptly called her boyfriend.

"Lassiter," he answered mechanically as he drove back to the police station from the latest crime scene.
"Carlton! I hate to bother you again, but---"
"Oh, sweet Justice, tell me it's not Victoria," Lassiter said, trying to shove away his guilt at his forgetfulness long enough to listen to what his girlfriend had to say.

"Well, no."
"Is it Spencer?"
"No."
"Great! What is it?"
"Um... I think someone may have just tried to kidnap me."
"You've got to be kidding me."
"You've got to be kidding me if you think I'd be kidding about this."

Lassiter cursed. "Are you okay? Are you safe?"
"Yes, I think so."
"What did he look like?"
"I don't really know. He was wearing a hat and sunglasses and when I got close enough to see, he smacked a drugged washrag over my face. I think his hair was brown, but it was hard to tell, since I only got a glimpse. I know that he has a lighter burn on his arm, though."
"What happened?"

Rebecca recounted to him the entire occurrence as she got off the bus and walked up to the door of her classroom.
"I bet it's the same lowlife who threw the rock," Lassiter growled. "I promise you, Williams, I will catch this guy! ...Right after I finish up this last police report."
"Be careful."
"Once again, shouldn't I be telling you that?"
"Hey, I'm a Sloane Ranger. I can take care of myself."
"Do I even want to ask?"
"Probably not. Will you meet me at my house after work?"
"Absolutely."
"Te quiero, Carlton."
"Love you, too."

When he got off work, Lassiter went straight to a florist and got a large bunch of colorful flowers before going to Rebecca's house. He stood at her door, clutching the flowers' stems for dear life as he finally gathered the courage to knock.
She answered the door almost immediately, so he knew she had been waiting for him. That only made him feel more guilty.

"Oh, you're knocking now? That's new. C'mon in," she said, looking up at him expectantly. He didn't say anything, so she teasingly asked, "So, what'd you do?"

Lassiter paled a little. Rebecca frowned. "Did you seriously do something? Because I was joking about that."
"These are for you," Lassiter blurted. "I...forgot that our anniversary date was tomorrow, and I accidentally scheduled something else for the evening."
"Oh. Well, it's a simple mistake. Don't worry about it."
"I'm so, so sorry, and I promise you I will--- Wait, did you say don't worry about it?"

Rebecca smiled. "Yes. You have a hectic schedule, I have a hectic schedule... Stuff falls through the cracks. We can still celebrate and make it special."
"We can, and we will!" Lassiter agreed quickly.
"Besides," Rebecca teased, "You're a manfolk. You're supposed to forget anniversaries, aren't you?"
"What are the chances of you forgetting all about this after tomorrow?"
"Well, if you're asking if I'm going to literally forget it, then no. It's stuck in there forever and it's never coming out. I'm going to remember everything about this moment until the end of Time. But figuratively, you can relax, because I will put it out of my mind."
"Thank you," Lassiter replied, relieved that he wasn't in severe trouble.

"So what exactly did you schedule for tomorrow?"
Lassiter's relieved feeling suddenly evaporated, replaced by sinking dread.


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