(Jesse walks into BBQ Bob's looking frustrated)

"Hey Jess, What's up, wake up on the wrong side of the On-Call Room sofa?" Steve asked snickering.

Jesse seemed all the more annoyed at his friend and business partner and gave him the same look as when Steve had asked him the one time if he wanted some fries with his salt. Just then, Mark and Amanda followed.

"No Steve, I'm afraid this problem involves you as well as Jesse" Mark informed him.

"Yeah, Steve, we hate to tell you this but I think you're gonna have some competition," Amanda continued eyeing towards the window.

"What do you guys mean? Come on Jess, don't keep me in the dark here," Steve replied getting more impatient.

"Well, remember that old book shop that went out of business down the road?" Jesse continued, "Well, Paige's Pages is now BBQ ROB's!"

"Oh, that's just great! Now I know where our breakfast crowd went!" Steve muttered.

Jesse walked into the doctor's lounge out of breath…

"Hey Jesse, you're looking a bit worn out! What happened?" Amanda asked.

"Two ambulances FULL of food poisoned BBQ Rob's customers. None of them made it. They kept bringing one in after another, I didn't even have time to barely glance at one before the next was wheeled in." Jesse explained.

"Well, I'll get to the autopsy's right after I finish my salad," Amanda assured him.

"Oh, would you? That would be great. I want to make sure that we don't have the same problem." Jesse replied, relieved.

Just then, Steve entered, "Jess, it looks like we are being blamed for the problem."

"What? How? Who? I have never been to Rob's, and don't even know what killed these people, or even the fact that they were murdered to begin with!!!" Jesse said defensively, "Who's charging us? And how do they know we did it?"

Steve, went on, "Jesse, settle down. That's the thing they don't know how they were poisoned, they just claim to know that we did it. They can't charge us without a weapon, although we do have the motive."

"What?"

"They are a threat to us. They know that we know they are taking some of our business."

"Competition or no competition, they still don't have the BBQ sauce that will char your taste buds off your tongue, and sear the lining of your stomach… yet." Jesse mumbled.

*****

(Amanda's Path Lab)

The rest of the gang walks in to join Amanda.

"Hey guys, I just finished the last autopsy," Amanda sighed.

"And?" Jesse eagerly asked.

"Hold your horses impatient one, I'm going to tell you before the sky falls." Amanda turned to face them and continued, "It seems that they all died from," She paused for a moment to try and keep from laughing. She started over, "It seems they died from eating oatmeal that had been mixed up with Drano. What gets me is that they didn't notice the taste until it was too late. I would think that the taste would be so terrible that they would have spit it out! I guess since the stuff is so strong, it only took a small amount."

"All of them?" Jesse asked looking disgusted.

"You got it." Amanda replied.

"Sick!" Jesse commented, "I never thought they would serve the contents of their garbage disposal to their customers!" he remarked sarcastically.

"JESSE!!!" The other three exclaimed.

"Well, he kinda has a point," Mark added.

"What do you mean?" Steve asked, surprised.

Amanda continued, "Mark's right. Unless what Jesse said was true, which is NOT likely, those people must have been poisoned deliberately."

*****

(Beach House)

"Wait a second," Jesse remarked, "That new waiter you fired the other day Steve…"

"Yeah, what about him?" Steve asked.

"He went to work for Rob's, and he knew that we had needed Drano for that huge clog in the kitchen!!!"

"You're right. Maybe he told Rob, and then made it look like we did it by poisoning them with Drano." Steve said completing Jesse's idea.

"That means that now they have the murder weapon, as well as the motive against us."

Before Steve could answer they were interrupted, " Are you two the owners of BBQ Bob's?" They turned to notice a detective standing before them.

(Hospital)

"How could they arrest Steve and Jesse so early in the investigation!?" Amanda asked in amazement, "They do have the evidence, but these are experienced people. They have no witnesses to Jesse and Steve even setting foot in that restaurant, and no reports of forced entry!!! They should know to make sure the people they arrest did it for sure before they arrest them!!!"

"I know Amanda. They were just doing what they thought was right. That's the thing I love about Steve is the fact he never drew conclusions so early."

"We have to find a way to prove their innocence! With the rate of justice in this case, you never know what'll happen to them next!"

Mark agreed, "I know Amanda, you're right. We have to get to the bottom of this soon."

*****

(Steve and Jesse's jail cell)

"Forty-three bottles of beer on the wall, forty three bottles of beer. Take one down pass it around, 42 bottles of beer on the wall." Jesse sang with little enthusiasm.

"Would you shut up already?" Steve reprimanded him.

"Come on Steve, do you have anything else better to do?" Jesse said insulted by his friend's cold statement.

"I hope Dad and Amanda are getting on top of this. I don't know how much more of this I can take. I know there has to be some evidence there to prove we didn't do it."

"I'm sure that they are already poking around. I have been in this situation more than you have. In fact, you were the one that put me in this situation some of the times. And I came out ok all of those times, right?" Jesse replied, trying to lift Steve's spirits.

"I know Jess, but still, even if we do pull through, there are so many possibilities as to things that could still go wrong. Rob's could find a way to revoke our license for Bob's, they could sabotage our food, blackmail us, there are so many possibilities. Too many for my comfort." Steve complained

"Let's just worry about getting out of jail first, that's our main problem" Jesse said, still trying to improve Steve's mood.

"That's another problem, I have too much time to think here, thinking leads to worrying."

"Hey! We still have each other!" Jesse pointed out grinning

"I know, that's another reason I can't wait to get out of here!" Steve said sarcastically.

Jesse responded with a sulky glare that supported his nickname personality of a six year old in an ER doctor's body.

"Well I guess we'd better try to get some sleep." Steve pointed out.

"Uh, Steve?"

"What?"

"I have to go to the bathroom."

(Next day in Doctor's lounge)

"Man, it sure is harder without Steve to let us go poking around with him, and Jesse to research stuff for us!" Amanda stated, looking at the screen of her laptop with a frustrated expression on her face. She was looking up Info on the Internet to support Jesse and Steve's alibi.

"I know what you mean. I haven't lived alone for years. It's weird." Mark agreed, "Find anything?" He continued.

"Well, so far, I have looked up several different things on here, and I also went over to Rob's to ask a few questions to that waiter they said they fired the other day."

"Anything?"

"Nope, the waiter wouldn't talk to anyone without a badge." Amanda answered.

"Well, I guess I'd better get going over to Bob's, the lunch crowd is significantly smaller, but I guess I should take care of the few with faith in our restaurant." Mark said.

"Ok, I'll be here, I have a few autopsy's to do, but as soon as I finish, I'm back on it. I may go over to visit them during my lunch break." Amanda replied

"Sounds good Amanda, I'll talk to ya later."

"Yeah, bye."

*****

(Jail)

"Hey guys!" Amanda said as the guard let her into their cell.

"Amanda!!!" They both exclaimed as she gave each of them a quick hug.

"I thought I'd come see how you were doing."

"Any news?" Steve asked impatiently.

"I'm afraid both me and Mark are stumped, but we will find something soon, I promise." Amanda said regretfully.

"I hope so, the food here is about as gourmet as what they serve to the patients in the ICU." Jesse joked.

"We're doing all we can." Amanda reassured them

"Thanks Amanda, we appreciate it!" Steve said.

*****

(Beach House)

"I'm coming, I'm coming!!!" Mark exclaimed after hearing several aggressive raps at his front door. He opened the door to find the waiter Steve had fired standing before him. "Can I help you?" Mark asked.

"Look, let's get to the point." He said impatiently.

"Fine, you're the one standing here at my door coming to talk to me." Mark answered.

"Your son is getting exactly as he deserves. He fired me, and now I'm getting my revenge. But you're too late, unless you can prove that Steve didn't do it, he's toast along with his little ER doctor friend. After all, your son was caught with the Drano right in his restaurant! It even had oatmeal stuck to the bottle!"

"So you did do it, no surprise, you're not going to get away with this." Mark continued

"Oh don't give me that Sloan, I am home free, your son's already in jail, and the trial is next week. Nobody will believe that we had this conversation. Face it, you lost. Maybe you should remind Dr. Travis and Jr. that they should respect their employees more next time. But then again, I guess there won't be a next time now will there?" The waiter rambled

"Get OUT!" Mark exclaimed

"Pushy, pushy"

"OUT!"

Mark slammed the door behind him, went to the phone and dialed Amanda's number.

(Amanda's house)

Amanda went to the door to greet Mark.

"Hey Amanda, thanks for letting me come over, we have to talk."

"Sure Mark, I have to give CJ a bath, but I'm sure he won't mind if we talked in the process!" Amanda joked

(Bathroom)

"I can't believe the nerve of that guy, to come to your house and say that stuff." Amanda said.

"I know, there has to be SOMETHING that we missed, some evidence proving that they are innocent!" Mark said, frustrated.

Suddenly CJ walked in as Amanda was pulling out the bubble bath. She started to unscrew the lid on the Sesame Street Liquid Strawberry Bubble Bath. CJ started to whine.

"What's wrong CJ?" Amanda asked her son.

CJ then pointed to a different bubble formula, Barney's Purple Foaming Bubble Bath.

"What is it Mark?" Amanda asked when Mark put on his famous thinking, serious face.

"That's IT! I think CJ has found the glitch in the evidence against Jesse and Steve!!!" Mark exclaimed. "Amanda, we need to go to BBQ Rob's for some oatmeal!"

"What are you talking about?

"We just need to run some tests on the ingredients of it, trust me."

"Ok" Amanda agreed as they walked out the door.

*****

(Police station)

"Chief, Steve and Jesse aren't guilty, and we can prove it." Mark claimed as he handed the Chief a folder.

"What's this? And how does it prove their innocence?" The chief asked

"We ran some tests on the oatmeal. The Drano bottle that had oatmeal PLANTED on it from BBQ Bob's was not the Drano used to poison that oatmeal at Rob's."

"What makes you so sure that it wasn't?" The chief said, not convinced.

"Well…" Mark started

*****

Mark, Steve, Jesse, Amanda, CJ, and the convinced chief walked into BBQ Rob's.

Steve walked up to the waiter he had fired, " Kevin Meccinson, I am placing you under arrest for the murder of four of your customers, and the attempted murder of three others. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law…."

"What are you guys talking about? How did you find out I did it?" He asked.

Mark stepped forward, "Kevin, the Drano that you planted oatmeal on in BBQ Bob's was Regular Liquid Drano. The Drano in the actual oatmeal was Drano foamer, a very different chemical. You thought if you disposed of the evidence here, and planted some in Bob's that Jesse and Steve would automatically be charged. Well, I guess the only ones home free now are Steve and Jesse."

Steve turned Kevin around and led him to the squad car.

*****

(Beach House porch)

"I never thought I'd ever be glad to go on rounds again!" Jesse laughed.

"No offense Jess, but I am kinda glad we don't have to live together anymore."

"None taken! I feel the same way. At least you and Mark have more than one room, and especially more than one toilet!!!" Jesse went on.

Mark, CJ. And Amanda walked out.

"I guess you guys pulled through!" Amanda said.

"Thanks to CJ!" Mark explained, "If he hadn't requested his foam bath bubbles, we never would have figured it out! He then went into the house and came back out holding a tray, "Oatmeal anyone?"

The End

by:

JenB