Finally, with the frustrating, seemingly repetitive day behind him, John took his scheduled field trip to one of the neighborhood hotspots. He pulled into his destination with a sigh of annoyance and a thirst for relief. As he entered the Café, he turned to see the flyers on the sidewall that were attempting to grab the attention of fans of many genres of music ranging from the lighter side of heavy metal to the classic throwbacks of country. It painted a picture of well, a beer, and whatever else was paired with the beer in the song. They had some really good bands here at the Coroner’s Café, and John enjoyed coming here to spend time with his buddies from work. Sometimes Caroline would come with him, but most of the time he’d just meet some of the guys from work for a few beers and some music or to watch a game. John loved football and the Café, which of course was really a bar, had a huge separate wing away from the bands that was used just for game time. The big screen TV’s were sweet and there were lots of sports-themed memorabilia that decorated the “man cave” in style.

There were also many beautiful women patrons that decorated the Café with style. John of course had a better chance to enjoy those decorations when he left Caroline at home. He was not a player. However, he enjoyed viewing fine art just like any other hot blooded man, especially a drunk one. Although he did have many offers for a “romantic getaway,” he limited his viewing to bar room enjoyment only. He loved Caroline very much and would never have a one night stand, even for some of those hot, tempting women whom sometimes approached his group of friends. John grabbed a couple of flyers. One was a heavy metal band he enjoyed coming to see, and the other, a new country group that someone had recommended he check out. As he headed through the crowds, the music lit up the room and echoed like a festival of sound deep into the soul.

“So what’s the score?” John yelled out as he entered “The Cave,” as it was called. The TV’s were lighting up the darkened bar that reflected a melting pot of old tavern and sports theme. The wooden tables and chairs, barstools, and background walls were actually brought to life from the combination.

“I’m not sure!” Lindsey called out. “I’ve been drinking free beer for an hour now!” She smiled loudly as she held up her beer with a freshly popped top.

“These bitches dun broke me!” Trent laughed out loud. “I can whistle at their hot asses now though can’t I?” Trent downed his watered down scotch and gave Lindsey a wink.

John came back, “I’ll tell you what Trent, if you get one of these other hot asses here to whistle at you, I’ll buy you a drink. And slipping whores a pocket of change to pucker their lips don’t count I’m afraid.”

This brought a crowd of laughter from John’s audience, and Craig weighed in from his suggestion box as well, “I think he’s going to have to whore himself out to get some woman to buy him another scotch. How’s your average on the one night stands, Trent? Maybe you need some advice from a pro to get that ‘Why don’t you buy me a drink?’ line driving these women wet and wild.”

Lindsey rolled her eyes at Craig’s egotistical chauvinism. “You boys are all the same, a whore in men’s clothing, with your one night stand pursuits.”

Tara laughed as she wondered who was the whore tonight, her or Seth; this being since she asked him over tonight, yet he had used Craig’s drink buying line on her. ‘I guess we can take turns, ha.’ She laughed to herself.

Seth smiled at Tara and privately gave her a wink of humor. He knew he had laughingly given her that line tonight and that they would be enjoying each other’s company late into the morning hours once again. The two did flirt with the occasional stands that somehow, oddly led to the laid position.

Fortunately, after several beers and far into the third quarter, John’s team had pulled ahead. He looked over to see Seth and Tara deep into um, well each other, and Craig attempting lousily to console Lindsey about her problems with her boyfriend Bryan. Of course, Craig was pushing a breakup as her solution. He wanted Lindsey for himself, but was too scared to come right out and say it. It seemed to John that after this conversation it would however be less of a secret.

From behind John, Trent arrived with a shiny new glass of scotch.

“Well, well what lucky lady got to spend coin on your ass?” John razzed Trent.

“The bartender, she’s new and all I had to do was throw a few compliments her way. Course, I had to pull my badge when her extra-large boyfriend waltzed up behind me. I guess this is my parting gift.”

“And they say lost love leaves one empty inside. You have a chance to warm yourself up with that glass of faded memories my friend. Take hold of your life before it is watered down with too much emotion.”

“Shut the hell up with your drunk ass poetic bullshit,” Trent replied trying not to break down into tears of laughter. “You shoulda’ seen that dude, big as a grizzly bear, three times the size of one of us.”

“Aw, you could have taken him,” John said. “Bet I could have taken him down.”

“Yeah, well not all of us have spent all our free time in the damn gym trainin’. I ain’t seen many people fight as well as you, but I dunno John, this dude was huge!”

“Alright, quit your damn whining. Here’s a ten. Get yourself a double, man.”

“Thanks, I can’t believe I left my extra ‘roll-o-dough’ at home. It’s still sittin’ on my damn nightstand.”

“Oh, really, guess I’ll go steal it on the way home,” John stated humorously.

Trent and John laughed as they turned their attention back to the game. As John’s team struggled to stay on top, he struggled to keep his mind from drifting to other thoughts. He had so much on his mind from work, and at home, he still had to make things right with Caroline. Thinking about it, he knew he was very rude to her this morning, and he was putting off getting home. He had just been so stressed out that his mind was not cooperating with keeping his mood swings down. He could feel the different moods coming on, feel them changing, rotating. His agitated calmness would turn to anger, to sadness and depression, or sometimes to a rush of thoughts, emotions, and actions all at once it seemed. He could feel the turning wheel of all these moods, but felt he could not control them as well as he wanted to.

John thought about Dave, his adoptive father. Captain Dave Goldman had pretty much saved John’s life. He’d made life better for John and his brothers James and Jason, yet there was still so much pain and anger inside of John. The life of physical and emotional abuse growing up had come from within his home, from his parents who had serious drug and alcohol addictions. This abuse had predominately of course, come from his father. Those difficult early years of John’s life had molded him in many ways, and although Dave had come along in his early adolescence, the emotional damage from the many years before could never be simply erased. This damage seemed to have led to his current emotional issues of mood swings, and difficulty building trust in others. Sometimes this unfairly hurt those around him, especially those closest to him. This morning his lack of control over his anger had unfairly targeted Caroline, and he knew he had to make it up to her.

Disgusted by a last minute interception ending the sure win of his team, John headed to the men’s room to take out his anger on a vacant urinal. ‘Damned quarter back.’ John thought. ‘Who throws a pass like that unless its sabotage? That guy better keep a low profile tonight, giving away the game like that.’

Turning past the last set of tables, John headed down the hallway to the bathroom. He noticed that there were more flyers lining the walls. They all seemed to blur together however in the dimmed lighting of the hall, the effect probably accented by the lite beer on his tongue. He’d have to remember to look at his flyers again later. Maybe he could offer to bring Caroline to see his favorite heavy metal band as a truce gift, hmm, might work.

As John entered the bathroom there were only three other guys inside, and they were all talking about the game. It seemed to be a two to one ratio in favor of the winning team. After pissing off the urinal, John approached the sinks, and somehow the men’s friendly discussion had turned into an angry argument, sadly lacking good sportsmanship. Two of the men began shouting after the lone fan had had enough bullshit come his way. The third man soon raised his voice and began threatening the sore loser, who happened to be a fan of John’s losing squad.

John however, liked to limit himself from bar room brawls, especially when he’d been drinking, um, too much. He decided that he should probably head back out the door and let any interested bouncers deal with it. He had to cross to the other side of the room to reach the exit, which seemed doable. He began slowly walking around the trio, which put him sliding behind his fellow fan. John tried to keep an eye on the men while looking towards the door as well, which seemed a little blurry at this point. While approaching the doorway, he was startled by a fourth man entering the restroom.

“What’s going on?” the man asked, as he entered to hear the commotion that had been difficult for anyone to hear outside of the immediate hallway area.

John looked directly toward the entering long haired man, who seemed like he was dressed for a business meeting or possibly had come from one earlier in the day’s hours. “I’m a…I’m really not sure.” As he turned to slide past the incoming man, he soon however discovered a different view of the men’s restroom as his legs were swept out from under him after receiving a strong leg sweep from behind. As John’s head hit the floor, he looked up to see that all three football fans seemed to have formed a new team of their own, and they evidently were no fan of his. He cringed as the team’s walk-on player, the long haired man who’d just entered, then kicked him in the ribs. The three gentlemen that were behind him then grabbed John and pulled him up as the mixture of alcohol and oncoming concussion left him at a disadvantage.

Just as John felt the punches landing upon his abdomen, he heard the apparent message.

“This is a warning Lieutenant; it’s not good to pry. And I suggest your friends hear a creative version of this event. Football fans can be quite violent you know, especially when you’re on the losing side, John. I hope that we don’t have to play this game again.”

John then found himself shoved hard to the floor, and he covered himself as he was surrounded from above. The cold, hard steel of the gun pointed at him deterred him from advancing as they exited. The fact that they had pulled his gun off of him left John even more helpless and out of options. All he could do was stay down close to the ground as he was told to do by the men and by his own pounding head and aching body.

John slipped out of consciousness as the last of the men disappeared out the door to anonymity.

John raised his head to find the eyes of a disappointed onlooker. Her soft eyes grimaced a wave of disapproval that John knew was actually concerned sincerity for his aching body, well at least he hoped it was. Her hand gently caressed his face as she ran her fingertips down his leg and let out a sigh of concern. Her lips gave gradual thought, and then reluctantly revealed her inner feelings on the current situation.

“Dammit John, you know Caroline is going to kill you baby,” Kellar warmly stated as she gave John her full attention while poking and prodding. “James told me about what happened, another fight, John?”

Following the advice of his attackers, John had made up a bullshit story of testosterone versus lack of touchdowns. He felt this would probably fly due to the fact that he somehow found himself in the middle of verbally challenged arguments a few times a year. In truth, this one had been the most unusual altercation chalked up on the current calendar year however.

While keeping all of this in mind, the continuous gaze of hazel eyes directed at him was starting to increasingly annoy John, due to the fact that he had to undergo judgment of said bullshit tale. He guessed he would have to hear Kellar bitch now, about how Caroline was going to bitch later, upon arrival to the hospital. Tag team mud wrestling would be one thing, but this was uncalled for. Dr. Kellar Raines was John’s current doctor, and his long time best friend. She was Henry’s daughter. Henry being Dave’s best friend, she and John had been around each other since John was adopted years ago. She truly had a heart of gold and was like the girl next door except all grown up as the beautiful woman next door; tall and thin with dirty blonde hair and soft, gravitating hazel eyes. Kellar was five years older than John, and she had taken him under her wing early on. She had always tried to get him in line or keep him there if she could. They had a strong bond, and although John would often go to her for advice, trusted her immensely, and thought very highly of her; sometimes her “mothering” he found to be quite annoying.

“Look Kellar, I’ll be fine; I really don’t need to stay tonight.” John said as he gingerly sat up in his bed. “I just want to go home. You’re really making too much out of this.” He looked over and felt a slight bit of nervousness as he saw the door handle turn. Luckily, it was only his brother James reentering the room. “I’m really flattered at the offer Kellar, but we can have a sleep over some other time,” John joked.

“Nice try, but I’m afraid you are stuck here for the night,” Kellar countered with a smile. “Caroline is on the way, and I’m sure that she is bringing her sleeping bag. The two of you can camp out here at the hospital for the rest of the night and into the daylight hours. James’ other half, Alex of course, is watching Christopher. Alex said she would spend the night at your house, so that they wouldn’t have to wake Christopher up.”

“Yeah and you owe me on that big time big brother, I was enjoying my loud, um, I mean quiet evening at home,” James popped off looking first at John, then glancing over to Kellar with a cheap grin. “I sure hope you learned your lesson John; next time, cheer for the winning team, so you don’t get your ass kicked. You know a lot of wuzzes jump on the band wagon at the end of games or seasons and pretend like the winning team was always their team. That’s probably who beat you down, those dammed band wagon bitches. They’ll overrun you if you’re not careful.” James laughed richly at his own humor as he attempted humiliation in John’s direction.

Kellar just rolled her eyes and tried to ignore him. James could definitely be an ass.

“But whose team is going to the playoffs you prick, mine, not yours,” John threw back.

“You got me there,” James returned. “What about you, Kellar, and your team?”

“James, you know the only reason I started watching football was because John use to make me. Whose team am I always forced to cheer for?”

“Hmm, you should have had his back, Kellar. I elect you to enter the men’s room with John from now on, especially at the Café, and especially on game nights. If they can sneak their bitches in there, we can sneak in ours, hah!”

“Shut the hell up James,” John said as he threw his paper cup of water at James.

The door suddenly opened as James was about to react to John’s abuse. The room quickly thickened, and everyone stopped mentally to say a silent prayer for John, including John himself.

Now having the stage to themselves, Caroline took the lead by simply raising a finger to her lips as John began to open his mouthful of faux excuses for the night’s mysteries and true apologies for the morning’s mayhem. He noticed her beautiful, long hair had been tossed up in the back, and it reminded him of early mornings that had only just begun to leave the bedroom. He tried to read the expressions stretching across her face as she stood before him. The ocean of her eyes soon lost the momentum of his conscious thought as he rested his gaze in waters charted deep within his heart.

“I’m just glad that you’re all right,” Caroline spoke softly.

“I got a phone call,” were the first words James uttered as Caroline spoke.

John felt like he was trapped waiting on the Judge to announce sentencing. Her voice sounded strange, as if she was still undecided of her tactics, or maybe that was her tactic John thought. He followed her movement toward him and lowered his gaze downward upon the bed as she sat in the dark brown chair beside him and gently raised her soft hand toward his fingertips. Feeling her touch instantly made him long to be with her, all be it far from the current setting. He chanced an upward glance and caught a painful peck to the lips as Caroline slowly directed her target via the slight motion of her fingertips.

Caroline smiled gently at her sneak attack as their eyes found commonplace, and John then softly pursued her lips as they called for his return. Caroline lowered the bed railing and moved in closer to John. She then guided his head to lie upon her chest and held him close to her.

“I’m just glad that you’re here,” John said as he enjoyed her caressing touch. It felt good to have her licking his wounds rather than biting his head off. As John waited still for a possible lecture that would never come on this night, he couldn’t help think in the back of his mind that he just might be on probation.