How's THIS for a start?

[Kalel]

We all know it's Mr. Culp's idea, but since it doesn't appear we'll see it come to pass, I thought I'd start a fanfic with the following. PLEASE tell me what you think! Thanks!



Partners
By
Dough Hubler


“Agent Anthony Villicana, reporting for duty, sir.”

Bill Maxwell felt his shoulders drop to his waist. He didn’t need to turn from his filing cabinet to know who had just entered his cubicle… he recognized the accent immediately. New York Bronx meets L.A. attitude and creates the love child of Brando and Travolta.

“Villicana!” huffed the senior FBI agent, his back still turned towards the intrusion. “What’re you doin’ up here? These offices are top secret, feds only!”

“Yes sir, Mr. Maxwell, I know dat.”

Bill closed the file drawer and turned towards the kid with a grumble in his throat. The sight of Tony Villicana startled him bolt upright. The last time Maxwell had seen the kid was just after he had graduated from Whitney High School. “I lost a bundle on that bet!” Bill had complained to Tony’s teacher, Ralph Hinkley. His last impression of Tony was the same as his first, unruly shocks of jet-black hair, tight denim jeans, even tighter black t-shirt, and a smirk that would curl the Mother Superior’s rosary.

Now, however, the Tony before him stood straight and tall in an ultra-conservative dark suit, hair neatly trimmed, his face totally devoid of expression.

“Well, well, well,” Maxwell grinned, leaning back against the edge of his desk. “Would’ja look at what the cat coughed up! Uh, funeral or wedding?… not that there’s much difference between the two!”

Villicana’s eyes held Bill’s and a smile began to play about the corners of his mouth.

“I gotta tell ya, kid, you’re lookin’ real sharp!” Maxwell admitted as he stood and started making his way around his desk. “Job interview, huh? Well, I’m sure that all the other little curtain climbers from class are proud as punch of ya, but, you still can’t be up here in…..”

Bill stopped above his chair in mid-sit and slowly straightened. “Waitaminit… what did you call me?”

“Mr. Maxwell, sir,” came the simple reply.

“That’s what I thought you called me!” said Bill as he came boldly back around the desk to face the young man. “You wouldn’t put a ‘mister’ in front of my name unless you were bleeding, on fire, or… no,” he concluded, his shoulders resuming their previous position near his belt. “They wouldn’t… they couldn’t…..”

The bi-fold was suddenly in Tony’s hand and open, chest high, when he grinned and finished, “They did!”

Bill couldn’t tear his eyes away from the laminated identification card and accompanying badge. “… special… agent… Anthony Villicana?” he read slowly. “You’re a fed?!! You?!!”

Tony pocketed the bi-fold and shrugged, “Just gotta get my hours in with a senior agent and I’m what’cha call ‘bonafide’!”

“… senior… agent…” the words fell softly from Bill’s mouth and rolled around on the floor a bit before rebounding back into his face. “Senior… you don’t mean me?!!”

“Now waitaminit, Maxwell… I mean, Mr. Maxwell,” Tony corrected himself. “I requested you special! I figured we knew each other and you’re kinda an alright guy, and I’d be close’ta Rhonda now that the baby’s comin’ and all.”

Maxwell’s mind, already a shambles, flashed back to an image of Rhonda Blake, a girl he had watched grow from a troubled teen nicknamed “Love Me, Rhonda” to a lovely young woman with a promising singing career ahead of her.

“Baby?” he repeated, aghast. “You went and got that little girl in trouble?”

Suddenly, the old Tony Villicana stood before him, his body taut with tensed musculature, his fists balled at his sides. “Hey, now, what kinda jerk you take me for, huh? Me and Rhonda, we was married a whole two weeks before she got pregnant!”

A short, relieved chuckle escaped the elder agent as he said, “Married, huh? A whole two weeks before…..”

Tony, relaxing as well, tossed off a practiced shrug, saying, “Well, you know, the Villicana line has always been what’cha call ‘fertile’. My grandma used’ta say that we was so fertile that if we stood still too long, we’d take root! I ain’t ‘xactly sure what that means, but it sounds like sumpthin’ to be proud of, don’t it?”

“Yeah,” Bill drew out with a sigh. “I suppose it does. Doesn’t answer the question of ‘why me’ now, though!”

Tony shifted his weight to one leg and stuffed his hands in his pockets. “Okay, see, here’s the thing. You and Mr. H… I mean, Mr. Hinkley, turned out t’be pretty tight, but I was there when the two’a you met, and it weren’t no match made in heaven!”

Villicana looked at the floor and began shuffling his feet. “But, he kept goin’ t’bat for you, y’know… saying you was a real stand-up guy and all.”

His eyes came up and locked with Bill’s. “And all them times you and me stood nose’ta nose, you never backed down, even though we both know I could’a creamed’ya. So, I figure, a guy like me, I gotta respect that.”

Maxwell actually felt touched by the sentiment… for a moment… until Tony continued with, “So’s, I figured since I gotta have some old guy show me the ropes… hey, no offense!”

“No, of course not!” Bill replied in undisguised sarcasm. “Who could possibly take offense at that?”

“Anyway, I thought why not you?” Tony finished. “Mr. H, he once tol’ me how important it was to pick the right friends. I picked him. Now,” he said softly, almost shyly, extending his right hand. “I kinda think I’d like t’pick you.”

“Uh,” Bill cleared his throat once, then slowly brought his own right hand up to clasp Tony’s. “Well… kid… uh, if we’re gonna do this,” he launched into honcho mode. “We’re gonna do it by the book, that’s just the kinda guy I am! You don’t like it, tough toenails!”

Tony beamed a toothy grin and said, “You’re on, Mr. M!”

Bill circled his desk to grab his sport coat from the back of his chair and struggle into it. “And, it ain’t gonna be easy, Villicana! You screw up and I’m gonna be all over you like ugly on a ape!”

As the two agents left the office and made their way towards the elevator, Bill added questioningly, “I sure would like to know who set this whole thing up. Maybe if I ask Carlisle…..”

The elevator doors opened and Tony asked, “You mean my Uncle Les?”

[Kalel]

... oh, and I meant to add that this ain't the whole fanfic! I just wanna know if you think its worth persuing! Thanks again!

[MyTatuo]

Am I the only one who sees a bunch of crazy code where all the quotes should be? Good story so far, though... I'd keep going.

[ktfanfic]

Haha!! I really enjoyed that, especially the last line! Hehe, Carlisle is Tony's uncle. ;D You are doing a great job, please update soon!!!!!

MyTatuo said:

Am I the only one who sees a bunch of crazy code where all the quotes should be?

I see them too.

~KT

[ThatGirl]

Great job! Looking forward to more.

[Kalel]

While I'm working on the rest of "Partners", here's a link to a short "I Spy" fanfic I finished just a day or so ago. Again, its set right after "I Spy Returns", but it addresses Kelly's racial awareness a bit... and there's no garbage where the punctuation is supposed to be!

www.fanfiction.net/s/2380357/1/

[MelMac]

Good stories, I'm enjoying both of them. I don't know why the apostropes and quotes are giving us the Zapf Dingbats though. Keep up the good work

[Kalel]

I finished "Partners" and started a new thread to it, but here's the link again, just in case. Lemme know what you think!

www.fanfiction.net/s/2381557/1/