"Jenk told me you went to see Beth at the hospital before you left New Hampshire." He was obviously nervous. He kept flipping that package over and over in his big hands. He walked all the way to the window-looked out. "Nice view."

"Of the street?" she asked.

He glanced at her. "I've lived in places that look out on a brick wall, four feet away. This is a nice view. How is Beth?"

"I don't know." Tracy was starting to feel like a broken record. But the truth was, since New Hampshire, she didn't know much of anything. "Her mother and brother were there. Her brother, Bobby, just came back from Iraq. She cut her hair-really short. I think it was impossible to get the knots out. She seemed...Shell-shocked."

"It's going to take time," Izzy said.

"Yeah, I guess," Tracy said.

"I have to go," he said. He held out the package. "This is for you. I also wanted to apologize to you again-"

"Forget it," Tracy said as she tore the paper. Beneath it was a box from a store called Leather World. Great. This was either going to be embarrassing or awkward.

She opened the lid of the box.

A belt was inside, made of rich brown leather. Nothing fancy. Except it had two notches cut into it.

And okay, she was wrong. This was both embarrassing and awkward. Her cheeks heated.

"Only two?" she said, her voice tight. "You were number three. Or is this your way of saying that night never happened?"

Izzy actually looked surprised and then aghast. "No," he said. "Wait. You think this is...No, no, no. Whoa, whoa. This isn't about sex. This isn't...These notches are for the lives you saved. Yours and Beth's."

The lives she'd saved.

Tracy felt her eyes fill with tears. The lives she'd saved.

"Really?" she asked.

Izzy nodded. "You know, it just occurred to me, that in some countries, when you save someone's life, you become responsible for them. You saved your own life, Trace. Don't you think you owe it to yourself to do something worthwhile with it? Not just throw it away on some asshole like Lyle?"

She looked at him, really looked at him. He was serious. "Thank you," she said. "This is a very nice present."

"You're welcome." He gazed at her steadily. "I really hope you'll think about what I said."

"Tom and his wife, Kelly, are having a New Year's Eve party," she told him-the words just coming out of her mouth, unstoppable. "Will I see you there?" She actually hoped he'd be there. How crazy was that?

But Izzy shook his head. "I have to, um, go away. It's going to be a while before I'm back."

"Oh," Tracy said. "I didn't know."

"Yeah," he said. "It's one of those assignments that no one wants, but someone has to do it, especially when they do something stupid or illegal and get into trouble." He made a face. "But I'll, you know, call you when I'm back in town. If you're still interested. Because I'm, you know, interested. But it's going to be a while. About six months."

"Wow," she said.

"Yeah," he said. "I know. That's much too long." He glanced at his watch. "I really have to go."

"Thank you," Tracy said, walking him to the door. "For the belt and for..."

For one long moment, she was sure he was going to kiss her good-bye. But he didn't. He just nodded and then was gone.

Tracy went to the window and saw him exit her building. He took a left and went down the street. She watched until he turned the corner, disappearing from view.

And then she picked up her phone and dialed. She connected with Lyle's voice mail almost immediately. "Hi," she said, as she looked at the rich leather of the belt that Izzy had given her, as she ran her finger across those two little notches, as she smiled. "It's me. I've made up my mind. I'm staying in California. I love my job, and...I really don't want to marry you. Good luck and...good-bye."

Tracy hung up the phone, and went to change into jeans-so she could try on her new belt.

Decker was moving painfully as he came into the Troubleshooters' office. But at least the son of a bitch was moving.

Dave, on the other hand, was finding out just how many things he couldn't do with a broken wrist.

"I'll get you some coffee," Sophia said, as Dave maneuvered himself behind his desk.

"Yeah," he called after her. "And will you also type for me and tie my shoes and button my shirts and cut my food. This is like being a child again. I can't stand it-it's driving me mad!"

"Hey, Dave," Dan Gillman said. "Is Sophia around?"

Okay, now the morning truly was a nightmare. Dan Gillman was actually standing in Dave's office. In dress whites.

"She's not in here," Dave said. He put his hand in front of his eyes. "You're blinding me."

"Yeah," Dan said. "Ha-ha. I haven't heard that one before. Isn't this her office over here?"

"Yes, she's right to the left of me." Dave managed to get to his feet without screaming. His leg muscles still hadn't recovered from that workout during the storm. "Is there something I can help you with?"

"Nope," Dan said. "I'll wait in her office."

Decker was across the hall, and Dave went into his office, where he had a clear shot of Gillman through the open door. "What's this about?" Dave asked quietly.

Deck shook his head.

"Did you," Dave asked, "you know...?" Finally invite Sophia to dinner?

Again, Deck shook his head.

Dave shut his mouth over the blistering names he was about to call Decker, because Sophia had come back.

"I'm putting your coffee on your desk," she called to Dave.

"Thanks," he said.

"Oh, hi," she greeted Gillman. "What a...surprise."

"A nice one, I hope," he said.

"Of course," she obviously lied.

"Look, I'm just going to be honest, okay?" the SEAL said. "I haven't been able to stop thinking about you. I really enjoyed the time we spent together, and yeah, I got a little freaked out-because I hate the thought of anyone hurting you. You're beautiful, you're amazing, and I know you have reservations, but I really hope you'll put them aside and give yourself a chance to get to know me. I'd like to take you out for dinner, or lunch, or coffee or a drink or a movie or..." He laughed. "I know I sound insane, but bottom line, I really want to see you again."

Sophia said something, but her voice was too low for Dave to hear her.

Dan, however, stood up. His voice carried quite nicely. "Friday's great. Friday's perfect. Seven o'clock? Well, great, I'm...thrilled. I'm looking forward to it. I'm...going now, so you can get to work and I'll...see you. On Friday."

Dan Gillman came out of Sophia's office walking like a man who was on top of the world.

Dave didn't even bother to look at Decker. He just went into his office and closed his door.

Jenk was waiting on the steps of Lindsey's apartment when she came home from work, a pizza box and a pile of DVDs beside him.

"Hey," she greeted him.

"Hey," he replied. "I had the entire day off. I have something I wanted to show you, and I was in the neighborhood, so..."

Lindsey kissed him. "You want to do me," she translated, "and think I'll put out for a pizza."

"I always want to do you," he said, catching her and pulling her onto his lap. He kissed her again.

"Honey, I'm home," she said, leaning her forehead against his, looking into his eyes. "God, I could get used to this."

"Good." He was grinning at her. "Aren't you going to ask me what I did on my day off?"

Lindsey stood up. Unlocked her apartment door. "What did you do on your day off?"

"I made you some DVDs," he told her as he followed her inside. "See, I know this guy, who knows this other guy who works at a nursing home, where there's this World War II vet. He was a survivor of a POW camp in the Philippines."

She looked up at that.

"Yeah," he continued, bringing the pizza into the kitchen. "He was one of the men your grandfather saved. He knew your grandmother, too-she was one of the guerillas who staged the rescue. It was her knowledge of the camp that made it all possible. Did you know that?"

Speechless, Lindsey shook her head.

"Her name was Keiko, right? I know you never knew her, and I just thought, you know, this guy-his name's Bruce Wendell-he's in his nineties. He may not be around much longer. So I went to the home and videotaped an interview. I thought your father might like seeing it, too. According to Bruce, Keiko-your grandmother-was really something special."

Her heart was in her throat. "I can't believe you did that-on your day off."

"It was fun," Jenk told her as he opened the pizza box, got plates down from her cabinet. "He was a nice guy. It was interesting talking to him. I think this pie's going to need reheating."

Lindsey watched as he took a couple of bottles of beer from the fridge. "Thank you. I just...I don't know what to say."

"You just said it." He kissed her. He opened the bottle and handed it to her. "And you're welcome. So what do you want to watch first? The Bruce Wendell interviews, or The Empire Strikes Back?"

Star Wars, of course. "Which one is that, again?"

"The best one," Jenk told her. "The one where Luke finds out that Darth Vader was his father. Which means that Darth was Princess Leia's father, too. And I don't know if you know this, but in the Star Wars books, Leia and Han Solo get married. Han doesn't have any problem with Leia being the mother of his children, and Darth's, like, a bigger mass murderer than Hitler even. I mean, he wiped out entire planets and-"

"I get it," Lindsey said, laughing, as she put a slice of pizza on her plate and set the microwave for a quick zap. "And by the way? You can stop working so hard. You're definitely getting some tonight-you had me at Luke, I am your father."

Jenk laughed. But then got serious. "I didn't make that videotape because I wanted-"

"I know," she cut him off as the microwave dinged. "I finished my Christmas shopping this afternoon. I'm now officially ready to have a stress-free holiday."

"That's really great," Jenk said. "Because I'm suddenly completely stressed about it."

She looked up from testing the temperature of her pizza with her finger. He wasn't kidding.

"I'm completely terrified that when you meet my mother she's going to say...I don't know what she's going to say," he admitted. "I've been having nightmares that she'll greet you at the door with a pile of bridal magazines and menus from catering halls. See, I've never brought anyone home with me before."

"She's going to think we're really serious," Lindsey realized. She bit her lower lip. "That could be uncomfortable."

He didn't realize she was teasing him. "I don't know how to-"

"Yeah, it could be really uncomfortable," Lindsey interrupted him. "If, you know, it weren't true."

Jenk gazed at her. "So are you saying that you won't mind if my mother goes a little overboard?"

"I'm saying don't stress."

He wasn't done. "Or are you saying that you'll marry me? Because you know I want to marry you."

Lindsey stuck her fingers in her ears. "Don't frighten me, don't frighten me, don't frighten me," she said. "La, la, la, la, la."

Laughing, Jenk took her fingers from her ears. "Aren't you the unflappable woman who went one-on-one with the most horrible serial killer of the decade?"

"That wasn't half as terrifying as planning for the unforeseeable future." Lindsey was only half-kidding. "Tell me that we'll take it slowly, really, really slowly."

"We'll take it slowly," he promised.

Looking into his dancing eyes, Lindsey nodded. With this man beside her, she could do anything. "But not so slowly that you shouldn't, you know, kiss me. Right now."

Jenk laughed and kissed her.

And then Lindsey gave herself the best Christmas present ever.

"I've been thinking," she told him, working to keep her voice from wobbling-she was that nervous. "That when you leave the Navy, we should maybe travel for a year or so. Work overseas. And then, you know, think about getting married and..." She cleared her throat. "Maybe even have kids."

The love she saw in Mark Jenkins's eyes took her breath away.

"Sounds like a plan," he whispered. And this time when he kissed her, he didn't stop.

PARTNERS-AND LOVERS-

SAM STARRETT AND.