* * * *

Steve opened his eyes and rolled over to look at his clock to see what time it was. When he rolled over, he was surprised to find that his alarm clock wasn’t there. In fact, he realized, as his eyes began to focus, he was in his father’s room. He sat up slowly and looked around. He felt a sudden pain in his back as he sat. "Must be Dad’s bed," he thought. He couldn’t remember falling asleep in his father’s room, but he accepted that he was and began to go down to his own apartment. He pondered how he had gotten into his father’s room, but never really came up with an explanation. He remembered that as a child, he would wake up some mornings in his parents’ room, but he never could remember getting up and finding his way to their bed.

* * * *

Jesse woke with a start at the sound of yelling from his next door neighbors. "Great," he thought, "the neighbors are starting early this morning." He rolled to his side and pulled the comforter over his head hoping to drown out the now persistent yelling. He didn’t have to be at the hospital for another three hours and he planned on sleeping one of them away.

* * * *

Steve slowly opened the door to his room. In case his father was asleep there, he didn’t want to wake him. Steve made his way to his own bed where he saw a body covered in his plaid blanket. He pulled the blanket up around the person’s neck to realize that he was face-to-face with himself.

* * * *

Amanda couldn’t believe the sight that was in front of her. She recognized the room as Jesse’s, but she knew that there was no way that she could have gotten there without knowing it. She quickly ran into the bathroom to look in the mirror and found that the face that looked back at her was Jesse’s.

* * * *

The yelling became worse as Jesse laid in bed. Finally he couldn’t take it anymore. He opened his eyes to find that he was in Amanda’s room. He looked around for a second, completely confused at how he had gotten there. As he looked around, he realized that the yelling he thought was coming from the neighbors was actually CJ calling for Amanda. Jesse quickly got up and went to check on him. He opened the door to find the four-year-old jumping up and down on his bed with a Pooh under one arm.

"Hi, Mommy!" CJ cried delightedly.

"Mommy?" Jesse asked. Only the voice that came out of his mouth wasn’t his, but Amanda’s.

* * * *

Mark’s eyes fluttered open. He could feel someone else’s eyes upon him. He was startled to find that it was his own face that was looking back at him. He sat up quickly as his body sat down on the bed next to him. Both faces stared at each other, puzzled. Both pairs of ocean-blue eyes studied the other’s intently.

"How?" Mark asked, his voice coming out as Steve’s.

"Dad?" Steve asked looking into his own face. "Is that you?"

"I’m not sure," Mark said. "Is this really possible?"

"It can’t be," Steve said. He couldn’t get used to the idea of his father’s voice coming out when he spoke.

* * * *

Jesse panicked as he stood in the mirror seeing Amanda’s face reflecting back at him. He had splashed his face with water hoping that he was only seeing things. Soon, he had to accept the fact that he was in Amanda’s body and again went back to check on CJ. CJ played on the floor happily as Jesse went back in. "Come on," he told CJ. "You want to go see Uncle Jesse?" CJ nodded and a smile spread across his face.

* * * *

Amanda heard a knock at Jesse’s door. She cautiously opened it to see herself there. In some strange way, it put her mind at ease. She saw her son standing next to her body. CJ smiled up at, who he thought was, Jesse. Amanda smiled back and leaned down to give him a hug. The two adults eyed each other strangely. Did the other know the situation? Finally "Jesse" spoke. "Why don’t you two come in?" he tried to say casually.

"You know something’s up don’t you?" the real Jesse asked.

Amanda gasped with relief. "I thought it was only me!" CJ squirmed in her arms. "Let me go put him in your- my room." She put CJ in on the bed and gave him his Pooh to play with. Amanda entered the room to see herself eating something out of the refrigerator. "You keep eating like that," she began to warn Jesse, "and I’ll never forgive you when I have to lose the weight."

"Sorry," Jesse told her with a mouth full of food. He put the rest on the counter and sat on the couch. He looked at his body and asked Amanda, "Do you know how it happened?"

She shook her head. "I just woke up this way this morning. You know we really can’t tell anyone, especially, Mark and Steve. They would never understand."

* * * *

"Do you know how this happened?" Steve asked his father.

Mark could only shrug. He’d only seen things like this happen on television and in a couple of movies. There were no recorded instances of it happening in real life.

"What are we going to do? We can’t go to work this way!" Steve exclaimed.

"Why couldn’t we?" Mark asked. A smile spread across his face as he thought of himself sitting behind his son’s desk being a ‘real’ cop.

"For one," Steve began, "I don’t know a thing about internal medicine! How would I take care of your patients?"

"Ok, I get the point," Mark gave in. "Oh no," he said exasperatedly.

"What?" Steve asked.

"You have to go as me today. I have a board meeting with Norman and the other administrators."

"What?!" Steve exclaimed. "I’m going to have to sit through a meeting with Norman? What if they ask me something? What am I supposed to do then? Couldn’t you get them to postpone it until this wears off, or whatever it will do?"

"I wish I could, son, but this meeting has been pushed back three times already," Mark stated.

"This can’t be happening," Steve said exasperatedly.

* * * *

Jesse and Amanda walked down the hall of Community General Hospital to the pathology lab. They’d dropped CJ off at the sitter’s earlier that morning, and now they were going to try and get some of their work done. To be inconspicuous about the switch, they would have to take each other’s place.

They walked into the familiar path lab and Amanda instinctively took a seat behind her desk. Jesse cleared his throat. "Shouldn’t I be there?" he asked. "People might be suspicious if they see you behind my desk."

Amanda smiled sheepishly. "I forgot," she admitted.

As they switched places, Norman walked in. "Have either of you seen Dr. Sloan this morning?" he asked nervously.

"No, Norman," Amanda answered.

Norman glanced back and forth between the two young doctors. He wrung his hands in front of him. "When you see him," he continued, "tell him NOT to be late to this meeting. He paused momentarily. "Is something wrong? You two seem different."

"No," Jesse answered, "what could be wrong?"

"Fine," Norman said huffily. "Don’t tell me, I don’t care. Just because I’m the last one to know everything around here…" he turned and walked out of the lab grumbling to himself.

* * * *

"I’ve got it!" Mark exclaimed suddenly.

"Got what?" Steve asked.

"The perfect solution. Can you get surveillance microphones and receptors from the station?"

Steve smiled as he caught on. "I don’t have to. I have two pairs in my truck. I was going to return them yesterday, but I never had the chance to."

"Would that work?" Mark asked. His hopes were high. He knew Norman Briggs would have his neck if he missed this meeting.

"It should. Let me go get them and we can try it out." Steve slowly got up off of his bed. His father followed suit and was close behind him as they headed for Steve’s truck. Steve unlocked the door and opened it. He leaned in and found that his new arms were just a little too short to reach all the way across the truck to his glove compartment. So, he hoisted himself into the front seat and reached over to pull open the glove box. As he opened it, two small microphones and ear pieces fell into Steve’s waiting hand. "Got them," Steve told his father who was standing at the door waiting for him. Steve watched as his father went back into the house. He thought to himself, "Do I really look that bad in that robe?"

* * * *

Jesse met up with Mark and Steve later that day in the doctor’s lounge.

"Hi, Amanda," ‘Mark’ greeted him. Jesse didn’t respond to the greeting. "Amanda?" ‘Mark’ asked.

Then, Jesse remembered that ‘Mark’ was talking to him. "Oh! I’m sorry, Mark. I guess I was just thinking about something else. Steve, what are you doing here?" he asked, eager to change the subject.

‘Mark’ began to answer, but ‘Steve’ cut him off. "I just came to see Dad before I had to go back to the station."

"That was nice of you." ‘Amanda’ replied. Jesse began to get up from his chair and go back to the Pathology lab. As he began walking, his ankles buckled because of the high-heeled shoes he was wearing. He went crashing to the floor. Mark and Steve both jumped up to help ‘her’. "I’m fine, I’m fine," ‘she’ insisted. "They’re new shoes and I’m not quite used to them yet."

Mark and Steve both nodded and helped her to her, unsteady, feet. They watched her as she walked away, wobbling the whole time. Steve covered his mouth to stifle a laugh. As he did, his hand came in contact with his father’s scratchy moustache. "Dad, why’d you have to grow this thing anyway? It’s driving me crazy."

Mark only smiled at his son.

* * * *

Steve sat nervously in the board meeting. He’d been lucky so far, no one had asked him to answer anything. Mark had asked him to say a couple of things when silence would plague the room. He noticed Norman eyeing him from the other side of the table. Every time that they had made eye contact, Steve would only grin nervously back at him. Soon, the meeting was over and Steve had made it though successfully. As the members of the board left the meeting room, Norman quickly made his way to ‘Mark’. "Amigo," he started. "We have to chat."

"About what?" Steve asked innocently.

"You weren’t your usual self in there today? Anything wrong?"

"I knew he would notice," Mark said into his microphone. Steve heard it on his receptor.

"Nothing’s wrong with me, Norman. Anything wrong with you?"

"Alright," Norman began huffily. "You can all keep your secrets. Doesn’t bother me one bit." With that, he quickly turned and walked away.

As Steve left the meeting room, Mark met him in the hall. "What is with him?" Steve asked.

"Oh, don’t worry about him. He’ll be back to normal tomorrow, I hope."

Steve replied, "I hope we’re back to normal tomorrow."

* * * *

Amanda came into the path lab later that afternoon. "Oh, I love being able to have a conversation with my patients, again," she glowed.

"Well, you know you could..." Jesse began.

"Shut up," Amanda quickly cut him off. She began looking around her lab. "Jesse!" she exclaimed. "You haven’t done anything in here! But you have had the chance to mess up my desk," she said as she eyed her sloppy desk.

"It was too neat," he replied. "I had to dirty it up some. I’ll clean it up before I leave, I promise."

"You’d better," she warned.

Suddenly, over the PA system they heard, "All available doctors to the ER, all available doctors to the ER."

"Guess that means us," Jesse said to Amanda. As he stood from his desk, his ankles buckled in his shoes once again.

Amanda helped him up. "Why did you wear those?" she asked.

"They looked good with the pants?"

Amanda could only shake her head.

* * * *

Steve looked at Mark with fear in his eyes. "What do I do now?" he asked.

"Go," Mark told him.

"Go?" Steve asked. "How am I supposed to...?"

"Someone will know if I’m not there. You have to go. All you have to do is make an appearance. You don’t actually have to treat a patient or anything like that. Turn your microphone on. I’ll tell you when its safe to leave."

Steve walked into the ER quickly. "What have we got?" he asked the nearest nurse, trying to sound professional.

"A drunk driver hit a bus stop full of people. There are a few already here, but there are many more on the way, Dr. Sloan."

Steve nodded. He would have to get used to being called doctor and quickly. He turned around to find his father, hoping that he could still get out of this. He saw his dad standing by the nurses’ station watching him. "I’ll follow you," Mark told Steve through his microphone. "Now go!"

Steve turned on the ball of his foot and walked to the nearest patient. He looked at the body, completely clueless. He observed multiple abrasions and lacerations. The man had been knocked unconcious, and to Steve, was eerily quiet. He tried to shake it off, but he still had no idea what to do next.

"OK, you’ve made your appearance," Mark said, trying to be inconspicuous about talking into his jacket where the microphone had been placed. "Lets go, quickly, before Amanda or Jesse can see one of us." Steve looked around momentarily and then left the busy ER.

* * * *

Amanda and Jesse headed back to the path lab after finishing up in the ER. There had been at least twenty people waiting at that stop, and every one of them had been brought in. Jesse walked unsteadily to the desk chair and sat with a hard thud.

Amanda laughed as she watched him peel the high-heels off of his feet. She unlocked one of the drawers in her desk and pulled out a pair of flats. "I have these if you think you’d like them better."

Jesse’s eyes lit up at the sight of the shoes. "Why didn’t you tell me about them sooner?!"

"I liked watching you suffer," she said playfully, with an evil grin. "How did you manage to get around in the ER today?" she asked him.

"Very small, quick steps," he replied.

* * * *

Mark leaned against the desk in his office. He felt young and better than he had in years. He felt strong and it was good to be the tallest of the Sloans again.

Steve paced back and forth. He worried about his own job at the police station. He knew they were bound to call or page him sometime soon.

"Something on your mind, son?" Mark asked as he watched himself pace across his office. He couldn’t believe the face that looked back at him. When had he aged so much? And why had he grown that silly moustache?

"Not really," Steve said. His father’s voice saying his thoughts was still a little hard to get used to. "I was just thinking about some things at the station."

"What kinds of things? Anything I could help with?"

Steve looked to his father thoughtfully. "You know," he began, "you could go in and get some paper work for me. Would you mind?" Mark shook his head and soon they were headed for the station.

* * * *

Tanis Archer, Steve’s partner, came quietly up behind them. "Finally decide to come in today, Sloan?"

Mark could only grin awkwardly at Tanis. He didn’t know what he was supposed to say to her. He didn’t know the kind of relationship Tanis and Steve had. He also didn’t want to make a fool out of Steve if he was to say something wrong. So, instead, he stood there and grinned.

Steve watched his father, hoping that he would say something, anything. Tanis eyed him strangely and went on to talk to who she thought was Mark. "How are you Dr. Sloan?" she asked Steve.

"Just fine thanks. We just came to get some papers about the Collins case," he said making sure to put emphasis on Collins, hoping to give his father a hint. "I wanted to look over a few things that didn’t sit right. You don’t mind me borrowing your partner for a while, do you?"

Tanis smiled. "Of course not, Dr. Sloan. He’s your son before he’s my partner. Take him as long as you like." She gave one last glance to ‘Steve’ standing behind the desk, still grinning. She waved to ‘Mark’ and walked away.

Mark quickly grabbed the folder and walked slightly ahead of his son, somewhat embarrassed. "What was that?" Steve asked as they slid into his truck in the parking lot.

"I didn’t know what to say to her! I’ve never seen you two talk before! I didn’t want to say something idiotic and make you look stupid."

"So instead you just stood there and grinned." Steve laughed. "Dad, you really need a new approach to women."

Now, that Steve had made his appearance at the station, he felt better. He had let himself become so nervous that his father would do or say something that would tip someone off, when in fact, he thought it had gone rather well.

The ride home in the truck was pretty quiet. Mark looked through the file that they were taking to the house. Nothing seemed too out of the ordinary. "In fact," he thought, "this looks too clean."

"Steve," he said aloud, "where did you say you found Shay Collins?"

"In his apartment. No one had seen him for a few days. Why, do you think something is up?"

"I don’t know," Mark answered slowly. "This file looks too neat. I think we need to do some digging."

"We can call Jesse and Amanda and have them come over as soon as they get off their shifts at the hospital," Steve suggested and looked to Mark who nodded as he studied the case notes some more.

* * * *

Amanda began, "Well, the police think he choked, right? You found food on the table near where he was sitting and food lodged in his throat, true?"

Steve and Mark listened carefully, hanging on every word that ‘he’ was saying. Suddenly, the real Jesse interrupted her, "What was on the plate?"

‘Steve’ looked through the file and answered, "A hamburger, some corn, and a baked potato. Then, on the table there was a bowl of corn, another potato, and another hamburger. You think something’s strange, Amanda?"

Jesse, as Amanda, went on, "Well, Shay Collins was an actor right? The lead in the movie version of FrankenCop, wasn’t he?" The three others nodded. "Well, I thought I read somewhere that he was a vegetarian. Why would he be having a hamburger if he doesn’t eat meat? Could it have been that there was another person there, who moved him to seem as if that was his plate and then cleared off their plate and left the scene?"

"But why?" Steve asked. "Blackmail? Something he wouldn’t act in?"

"Is there any way we can get ahold of any of the prospects that he was considering at the time?" Jesse asked.

"Sure," Mark answered. He took a pen out of the pocket of his shirt. He began writing with his right hand.

"Hey, Steve," Amanda began. "I didn’t know you were ambidextrous."

Mark, realizing he had made a mistake, quickly finished the last thing he was writing and stuck the pen back in his pocket. "Something Dad taught me," he told her. Quickly changing the subject he asked, "Amanda, could you do an autopsy on Mr. Collins? We better make sure we didn’t miss anything else."

Jesse panicked momentarily. Could he do an autopsy? "Sure, if you think its really necessary," he replied shakily. He knew he couldn’t refuse to do it. Amanda would never refuse to do an autopsy and he had to assume her personality for the time being.

"Great. Can you have the report on my desk by tomorrow morning?"

Jesse just nodded.

"I think I’ll go with Amanda and keep her company while she works," Amanda cut in.

"Actually," ‘Steve’ interrupted. "I was hoping you could come with me."

"Well," she started to argue. Then she remembered that she was Jesse and Jesse would jump at any chance to work with Steve. "Ok, great, when do we go?"

* * * *

Jesse walked into the familiar pathology lab. Somehow, everything seemed different than it did earlier that day. His heart was racing. Could he do a successful autopsy on Shay Collins? Did he trust himself to do one? He saw Shay’s body laying out, ready for him to operate. He pulled back the sheet that was covering Shay’s face. He was pale, and his blond hair laid limply against his face. Slowly, Jesse replaced the sheet and took out a pair of gloves and began work on the autopsy.

* * * *

Mark and Amanda sat in Steve’s car on the way to Shay Collins’s agent’s office.Mark figured since the man had lost his number one client, he would need a new one, and he would be the one to give it to him. Amanda sat, fidgety.

"Steve, where are we going?"

"To Shay Collins’s agent. We need to find the scripts Collins was interested in and see if we can get you signed up."

"Whoa, signed up?" Amanda asked.

"Sure, you look kind of like Shay. Maybe we can get you into some auditions. See who he saw, go through the whole routine." Mark said, smiling excitedly.

Suddenly, Jesse’s cell phone rang. "Hello, Dr. Travis." Amanda answered professionally.

Jesse’s frantic voice answered back. "Amanda, you’ve got to help me! I don’t know what to look for!"

"Just put it away for now," she said trying to talk in code. "I’ll help you with him later tonight."

"Thanks, Mandy. I owe you one!" Jesse replied, relieved.

"Sure do." She said and hung up Jesse’s phone.

"Problem?" ‘Steve’ asked.

"Not really, one of my patients was having a little trouble with some of his medication. That was one of the nurses. I told her I’d help him when my next shift started." Amanda went on, "How do you expect me to pass for an actor?" she asked.

"You’ve done some acting right?"

"Well, sure, but only in high school and I was absolutely terrible!"

"Then we’ll need lots of luck," Mark responded.

"And a lot of broken legs," Amanda added under her breath.

Jesse sifted through many of Shay Collins’s personal effects. He opened the actor’s wallet to reveal many pictures of Shay as different characters he had portrayed in the different projects he had worked on. "He’s not stuck on himself at all," Jesse thought sarcastically as he flipped past the fourth picture. Jesse looked up momentarily and smiled as Mark entered the path lab. He was grateful for the company.

"Hey, Mark. Anything wrong?" he said instead of his usual "whats up?" Being Amanda was a lot tougher than he had imagined. Even talking like her was unusual for him. He now wished that they were back in their own bodies.

"Have you heard from Steve or Jesse, lately?" Steve asked awkwardly, feeling as if he was speaking in third person.

"No, sorry. Do you find something important?" he asked, interested and hoping.

He shook his head. "I just wanted to know if they’d found anything out at the agent’s office," ‘Mark’ replied. "What are you looking through?" he asked, noticing the different things laid out across the desk.

"Just some of Shay’s things. I didn’t really find anything interesting. The man was completely self-absorbed, I did learn that much." Steve smiled back at ‘her.’

Steve picked the wallet up and began leafing through it, himself. One of the pictures caught his attention. He studied it for a moment and then held it out for ‘Amanda’ to look at. "That’s from FrankenCop, right?" he asked. She nodded confidently. "Who is that?" he pressed on, as he pointed to someone standing in the background of the picture.

Jesse studied it carefully, trying to absorb the face of the person and try to put a name with him. He closed his eyes, thought back to the movie, and tried to picture the other characters. Several of his favorite scenes flashed by like a short on the inside of his eyelids. The closing scene of the movie stopped. He could see the face perfectly. "That was Tom O’Malley," he replied. "He played the bad guy in FrankenCop. He’s also been in a few others since then. Most of them were flops from failed television series."

"Have they worked together since then?" Steve asked.

"I don’t know," ‘Amanda’ answered. "I heard that there was a really bad rivalry on the set of that film. People walking off the set declaring ‘You’ll never work in this town again!’ and things like that."

"Then O’Malley should definitely be a suspect," ‘Mark’ stated.

* * * *

‘Jesse’ and ‘Steve’ sat nervously as they waited for their appointment with Aaron Foxworthy, Shay Collins’s agent. The secretary eyed them oddly as they sat. The phone rang. She picked it up and listened. She then turned to Steve and Jesse, "You may go in now." She hung the phone up and opened the door for the two friends. They both nodded their thanks as they passed her.

"Mr. Travis," Foxworthy began, "I see you have no previous acting experience. What makes you want to get into acting now?" he asked.

Amanda stopped to think for a minute. What should she say? Should she be herself or Jesse? "It just seemed like a good time and the right opportunity." She replied. "I have nothing to hold me back from doing what I want and this is what I want," she told him confidently.

‘Steve’ sat in the chair next to her. "And you’re here, why?" Foxworthy asked him.

"I’m strictly here for support," Mark answered.

Foxworthy nodded and continued talking to ‘Jesse.’ "Can I see you act," he said making it more of a statement than a question. He handed ‘Jesse’ part of a script to study. "Look that over, and read it to me when you’re ready."

Amanda stood and began reading the monologue to herself. She read certain parts over and over again to make sure that she had the right voice inflection that she thought the part would need. She began:

"Good," Foxworthy said. "Here are a few scripts," he handed ‘Jesse’ a large pile of new scripts. "Look those over and see if there is anything you would be interested in doing. You have talent kid. You may be the next Shay Collins."

Amanda stood there and beamed. "Shay Collins? You really think? Is there any way I could ever work with him?"

"I’m sorry," Foxworthy said, flatly, "he’s dead. Those are most of the scripts he was considering. Next time we meet we can discuss contracts. Bye, now." He said and motioned for the two of them to leave.

"Before I go, could I ask you one question?" Amanda said.

"I guess, but hurry, I’m busy," Foxworthy replied.

"Since Shay was killed, who will get these scripts, if I’m not interested in any of them?"

"Tom O’Malley, I guess."

Amanda smiled. She’d gotten the answer she had hoped for.

As they got back into Steve’s truck, Mark couldn’t resist. "What was that script he had you reading?"

"You couldn’t tell? Lassie Leaves Home, Timmy buys a cat and all hell breaks loose," ‘Jesse’ said reading directly from the summary. "This one is definitely going to be a classic," he said smiling.

* * * *

The four gathered around the Sloan’s kitchen table for the second time that day. This time, they were looking through scripts, maybe trying to find something in one of them that might give a clue to Collins’s untimely murder.

"How can people go and sit through this junk?" Steve, as Mark, asked.

"Which one are you reading?" ‘Amanda’ asked him.

"Lassie Leaves Home, I have to quit. Give me the next one." His father handed him the top one on the stack of about six more. Steve studied the title, Underworld, and opened it, expecting the worst. What he got was an intriguing murder-mystery. The more and more involved he got in the story, the less and less he was listening to his friends.

"I think Mark is caught up in the story," ‘Jesse’ said to ‘Amanda.’

"You think?" ‘she’ answered. Both watched ‘Mark’s’ expressions as he read the script.

"Amanda," ‘Steve’ began, "did you get that autopsy done on Shay?"

"Not yet, Steve. I’m going back to the hospital later. I’ll get the report to you in the morning."

"OK, just checking," he went back to flipping through his script. "I still can’t believe they want you to act, Jess. That exerpt they had you read was terrible! "

"Must be my natural charm and lovable face," ‘he’ said and grinned.

* * * *

"Wow," Steve said as he sat Underworld back on the table. "If you’re actually going to act, you should definitely do this one," he said.

"Did you find any clues in it?" Jesse, as Amanda, asked.

Steve sat and thought for a moment. "Well, the basic story is about a guy in his 30s, Jesse’s character, I suspect. Anyway, this guy is a big corporate CEO. He’s murdered one night in his home. There are no witnesses and the officers on the case can’t come up with any suspects."

"Well, thats different already," Jesse began. "We have suspects."

"But," Steve went on, "as the case begins to unfold, you begin to suspect the partner. He is the one who stands to become the next CEO if Jesse’s character, Jackson, is killed or can no longer do his job."

"Who wrote that?" Mark asked, interrupting Steve.

Steve looked at the cover briefly. "Wesley Jamison. Have you guys ever heard of him?" He looked around. All three of them shook their heads no. "Yeah, me either. Think I should check him out?"

"Mark, why don’t you let Steve check him out?" Amanda asked.

This time, it was Steve who made the slip up. "Oh, yeah, sure. I guess I was just getting excited about the whole thing." Steve and Mark passed a nervous glance.

"I could call Foxworthy and tell him that I’m interested in Underworld. I know he’ll love to hear that. I’ll be right back," Amanda said as she got up to use the Sloan’s phone.

She dialed the number and waited patiently for someone to pick up while she watched the small waves hit the beach and fall back into the ocean again.

"Aaron Foxworthy’s office," his secretary answered.

"May I speak to Mr. Foxworthy, please? This is Jesse Travis. I came in and saw him this morning."

"One moment," she said and put Amanda on hold.

"Hello?" Foxworthy answered.

"Mr. Foxworthy, hello. This is Jesse Travis. I wanted to call and tell you that I am very interested in doing Underworld. Could you tell me about the author, Wesley Jamison?"

"Sure, Travis. Wesley Jamison is the pen name for Tom O’Malley. He started writing it about a year ago and then brought it in to me yesterday. So, you’re interested in discussing it? I can have you in my office tomorrow."

"That would be wonderful. Thanks." Amanda said and hung up the phone.

"You guys will never believe this…" she said as she went to the living room where her friends had migrated.

* * * *

"There are a lot of coincidences between the movie and what really happened, but I think that’s probably all they are: coincidences," Mark said when they’d finished discussing the script and Tom O’Malley.

"But they could be more than just coincidence! They could lead us to the killer: O’Malley!" Amanda exclaimed. "He said that he’d just given it to him yesterday, two days after Collins was murdered. That would have given him plenty of time to finish it, from real life experience."

"I have to go with Amanda on this one. I think she has a legitimate point," Steve, in his father’s voice, agreed.

"Me too, Steve."

"Ok," he said, trying to act like his son would, "Do you think we should rule out Foxworthy just like that? I would think that he still has a pretty strong motive."

"What?" Jesse asked. "His biggest star would be dead, how could that benefit him? Lets go now and pick up O’Malley," he said. His usual personality showing through.

"Amanda, you’re usually the one who tells us to hold off until you at least have an autopsy, which you still haven’t done," ‘Steve’ told her glancing at his watch.

"Oh, you’re right. Come on, Jesse, I’ll drop you at your apartment before I go back to the hospital," ‘she’ said and motioned for him to come with her. He got up and followed obediently. Mark and Steve followed them to the front door and watched as they left in Amanda’s car.

They both smiled as they pulled out of the driveway. As soon as they were out of view, Amanda asked Jesse, "Did they seem strange to you?"

"No more than ususal," Jesse answered smiling.

"I’m serious. That seemed a little odd. You don’t think they could be too, do you?" She considered what she said for a moment and then answered her own question with a "Nah."

* * * *

The two young doctors stayed at the hospital until six working on the Collins autopsy. Nothing unusual came out of this autopsy. They still found that he had died from choking on the piece of meat that had lodged in his throat. The toxicology report came back negative, as well. Jesse and Amanda were frustrated and ready to go home. They struggled with where they should stay that night. Amanda suggested that Jesse stay with CJ and her. Suddenly, she remembered CJ. With all that had happened that day, she hadn’t thought much about him. Now it was six o’clock and the sitter she had gotten didn’t like working past six-thirty. She rushed Jesse out of the path lab and grabbed the report to drop off at the Sloans’.

Jesse jumped out of the car and jogged to the door to pick CJ up. The babysitter was very nice and he thought about asking Amanda for her number once he was back in his body. He smiled at her, took CJ's hand, and led him to the car. He opened the door and helped the child climb in and buckle up.

"Hi Uncle Jesse!" he exclaimed when he saw Jesse’s body in the front seat of his mother’s car. "You gonna come and play with me?" he asked.

"Sure, kiddo." Amanda answered with Jesse’s usual answer for whatever CJ would ask.

Jesse slid back into the driver’s seat and made sure that his seat belt was buckled. Then, he put the car into drive and began to head back to the Sloan house. Amanda popped in the cassette that CJ liked to listen to when they were driving home. Jesse bobbed his head to the music, mostly oldies that had been redone with children singing them. CJ watched the scenery pass through the window and swung his feet to the beat of the music.

By the time they reached the beach house again, the sun had begun to set. Amanda and CJ went right into the house, but Jesse went around the side of the two story house and walked out to the beach. He hadn’t watched a sunset on the beach for a long time and was enjoying the down time he was able to have. He didn’t think about anything but the incredible sun that was falling behind the huge ocean.

"Where did Amanda go?" Steve, as Mark, asked ‘Jesse.’

‘Jesse’ shrugged. He looked out the balcony doors and pointed down to the beach. "She must have gone down there when we came in. She’ll be up in a few minutes. After living with this guy," Amanda continued ruffling CJ’s hair, "she needs some time to herself. And work doesn’t count," she said hoping that Mark would pick up on her hint.

"Well, as long as she’s ok, we might as well get back to work," Steve said. Amanda’s new shoulders dropped, her attempt had completely failed. Usually when she dropped hints like that Mark picked up on them right away.

Jesse made his way up the balcony steps to where his friends had now gathered. "Incredible sunset, wasn’t it?" he asked.

"Yeah, beautiful," Steve said quickly. He went on to what he was dying to ask, "Did you come up with anything spectacular on the autopsy?"

"Nope, nothing," Jesse said, sorry to let his friend down. "That leaves the one suspect we have left, O’Malley slash Jamison," he said a broad grin spreading across his face.

"Well, I did get his report," Mark began, "he’s been picked up a couple of times, but nothing as serious as this."

"Doesn’t mean he couldn’t start," Amanda commented.

Mark shrugged Steve’s broad shoulders and relented. "OK, I’ll call it in that I’m picking him up."

"I want to go with you," Steve said with a look that told his father he wasn’t going anywhere to pick a killer up alone.

"Me too," Amanda said, seizing the opportunity that she knew Jesse would never pass up. Steve and Mark both looked at him, "You never know, you made need some more back up," Amanda suggested.

"All right, come on," Steve said.

The three left Jesse sitting on the balcony watching the waves still crash against the sand. He hadn’t even realized he’d been left behind until CJ climbed into his lap and asked him to play. "I’m bored." CJ told him.

"Uncle Jesse will play with you," he told him.

"Jesse’s gone," CJ answered.

"Man!" Jesse cried. "Left behind again!"

* * * *

Mark, Steve, and Amanda approached O’Malley’s house with caution. When they reached the door, they could hear the television on in the living room. Mark told them all to stand back, when they did, he kicked the door down. "I’ve always wanted to do that!" he thought to himself. He went into the house. When he heard no one rushing to the door to find out what had happened, he became suspicious.

Steve and Amanda followed him inside. The house was a mess. It didn’t look as if it had been ransacked, instead it was a neat messy, if there is such a thing. They looked in all the rooms, and found nothing. When they got around to the kitchen, they could smell something burning. Once again, Mark entered first, with the other two following him. They found Tom O’Malley sitting at his kitchen table, head down, beside a plate of food.

Steve quickly went to O’Malley’s side and felt for the pulse in his neck. Finally, he felt one. It was very weak, but it was there. He shook the man’s shoulder hoping to get a response out of the lifeless body. Steve saw his eyes flutter open and shut again. "Quick," he said. "Call an ambulance. I’ve got a pulse, but its very weak."

* * * *

Jesse sat on the couch flipping through channels on the television when his cell phone. "Dr. Bentley," he answered.

"Jesse!" he heard his own hushed voice say. "Steve and Mark don’t know I’m calling you. We found O’Malley almost dead in his home."

"How come you guys get to do all the fun stuff?" Jesse pouted. "And how could you just leave me here?" he asked, trying to sound hurt. "It was at least ten minutes before I’d realized you were gone!"

"Jesse, listen to me, we know that O’Malley killed Shay Collins, he’s confessed to that. He came around about an hour ago, long enough for Steve to question him a little. He said that it wasn’t because of the script though. In fact, Wesley Jamison isn’t even his pen name. His pen name is Wesley Jackson. Foxworthy must have heard me wrong."

"But wait a minute," Jesse interrupted, "if thats not his pen name, then how do you explain all the connections between Underworld and the real murder?"

"It was exactly as Steve had suspected the whole time, they were all completely coincidence. Look, I gotta go. Steve and Mark are eyeing me strangely. Are you still at the beach house?" she asked.

Jesse nodded.

"Jesse, are you at the beach house?"

"I nodded!" he said exasperatedly.

"I can’t hear the beads in your head rattle," she scolded. "Anyway, take CJ home and put him to bed. I’ll be there in a little while."

"Ok, ok. I’ll leave right now," Jesse said as he switched off the television set. He hung the phone up and began to call for CJ. "CJ, time to go home!" Jesse walked around the whole floor looking for Amanda’s child. When he didn’t find him on that floor, he headed down the stairs to Steve’s apartment.

"CJ!" he called again, Amanda’s voice floated through the house.

CJ came running out of Steve’s room in one of his shirts and hats. "Mommy!" he cried. "Look I’m Uncle Steve!"

"Don’t tell me you’ve switched, too!" Jesse said and scooped CJ up in his arms.

* * * * * * * * * *

"Well, Mr. Travis, I think you definitely have an idea here," Jackson Burleigh said as he snapped Jesse’s script shut.

"And?" Jesse said leaning forward, eager to hear what the man had to say.

"And?" Burleigh asked. "And, well, think bigger! Think bloodier! Think hooters!"