Disclaimer:  Don't own them. Just borrowed. No profit.

Rollie looked at the calendar and moaned. Tomorrow was the day, the absolute worst day of the year as far as he was concerned. Between his dad, Rick and Angie, Rollie hated April Fools Day! Every year one or more of them pulled a prank on him and he hated it. Ever since the day his father had a friend call him pretending to be the police and say his dad was in jail for robbery. The very thought had terrified the fifteen year old boy. His dad, naturally, never noticed how upset his son was and thought the trick hilarious, but then Dingo never noticed a lot of things. That had been the year Rollie pledged to himself he would not pull pranks on any one else ever again. He'd learned just how much some of them could hurt and never wanted to risk doing that to someone else. Unfortunately, everyone else thought he was the prank master supreme. After all, what else could you expect from Rollie Tyler, master of the FX! So everybody else considered Rollie fair game and they'd try to get him, before he could get them. Nobody noticed that he didn't pull any pranks, that his tricks were just that, magic tricks and movie illusions and never played on any friend with an intent to make them the brunt of a joke... That they were never done on April Fools Day.

Rick would never be fooling him again, he had died over a year ago and Rollie felt a deep pang of sorrow at the thought. If Rick were here to trick him, Rollie would gladly forgive him and everyone else for all of the pranks over all of the years. But nothing and no one would bring Rick back... or Leo. It was close to a year since Leo's death and that hurt even more. Leo McCarthy was the one person Rollie had come to count on for a sympathetic shoulder on April Fools Day, his only allie against the gauntlet of pranks he ran every year. Leo was the only one Rollie had ever told about Dingo's stupid trick. This was the first time since they had become friends that Rollie was bereft of that support. Rollie shuddered and wondered if he could just hide in bed all day.

Rollie sat in the dark and mentally recited the pranks from past years, trying to decide if there was any way possible to avoid this year's batch. From innocent jokes of pop up snakes, food coloring in the milk, things squirting him with water, whipped cream in the face to changed time settings, hidden alarm clocks, Koolaid in the shower head, pants legs and shirt arms stapled closed, joke phone calls (Mr. Ray Norshine with a phone number for the National Weather Service had made one movie crews' day), "I forgot my wallet - please come help", cayenne pepper in his tea, salt instead of sugar or the other way... Rollie felt like he had personal experience with every conceivable April Fools joke known to man.

The ones Rollie hated the most though were the fake arrests and accident reports! They were the ones that scared him to death and he hated it! Every time he got one and he remembered it was April Fools, he still ran to wherever like a ninny, terrified that the one time he ignored it, like with the boy that cried wolf, it would be real!

One year, Leo asked Rollie why he didn't just tell Angie about the way he felt. Rollie had looked down at his beer and thought hard about it before telling Leo the truth. Rollie didn't want Angie to feel bad about all the tricks and pranks she pulled on him over the years. No, if the choice was him enduring yet another round of pranks or hurting Angie, well, the world could do its worse, because he couldn't hurt Angie.

Angie had pulled her nastiest tricks when they first met. Until Angie Rameriz hit her teens and teamed up with Rick Forsaythe for three years running. That team-up stopped when she finally got past the juvenile/rebellous teen stage. A stage, Rollie was convinced sometimes Rick had been permanently stuck in. Angie's next stage was much more... sophisticated - computer pranks. Fake viruses and phony programs. Once he'd spent the entire day entering billing information before he found out he wasn't in the billing program, but a dummy Angie had set in it's place.

Earlier that evening, Rollie'd left a message on the Gatti's answering machine, telling Francis not to come by tomorrow, effectively cancelling their on-going chess match for the week. What else was there scheduled for tomorrow that he could avoid? No appointments with any directors or producers, thank goodness! No movie effects scheduled... He'd been planning this for months... What else? The loft was fully stocked for a change, so there would be no take-out orders. If he locked all the doors from the inside, effectively sealing the old brewery... maybe... maybe this year he could escape all the ridiculous pranks... maybe. Maybe, he would disconnect the phones too and pull the battery from the cell phone. If they couldn't reach him, they couldn't trick him... Rollie sighed, rubbing his aching temples. He snuggled under the covers and closed his weary eyes... maybe this year...

Angie frowned as she tugged at the locked door of Rollie's loft. Why had Rollie locked the doors from the inside? He didn't normally do that, but for some reason, he'd locked all of them, even the hidden side entrance. She shivered in the cool air of a beautiful early spring morning. The blonde bladed over to a nearby payphone, lifted the receiver and checked for a dial tone. Getting one, Angie dropped the change in for a call, dialing the familiar number for Tyler FX. Angie's frown deepened as she got a recorded message indicating the number was temporarily unavailable. What was going on here? What if... What if Rollie was in trouble? What if... what if someone was holding Rollie prisoner inside? How could she find out? Angie took a deep breath and decided to try the cell phone, before giving into the panic that was rising inside. And got another damn message indicating that phone wasn't available either! Angie slammed the receiver down and checked her pockets for more change. Damn! She was out of change and Rollie was in trouble, she knew he was in trouble. It was the only explanation! Glancing around, Angie realized none of the businesses on the block were open yet, it was still too early. With a last anxious look at the workshop, Angie began to skate hard for the Mid-Town South Precinct. There, she could find Mira or Francis and together they'd find out what was going on. She just hoped it was in time to help Rollie!

Breathless from taking the stairs, Angie dashed into the confines of the detective bullpen and looked around frantically, trying to spot Mira or Francis or even Captain Vanduran. Anybody who might listen and help. She spotted Francis over by the coffee pot and ran to him, grabbing his arm.

Francis jumped and spilled the coffee he was pouring. Grabbing some paper napkins, he mopped at the spot on his jacket where it had spilled. "Damn, Angie! You scared me. What's up? I thought you and Rollie were busy." He looked over at the blonde and frowned. "Angie, what's wrong?"

Angie took a deep breath. "Rollie... I think something's happened to Rollie."

"Whoa. Why do you think something's happened to Rollie?"

"The doors are locked at the workshop. From the inside Francis! Rollie never locks them from the inside!"

"Okay... and this means Rollie's in trouble?" The short dark haired detective asked, puzzled.

Angie shook her head. "I tried to call him from the payphone. The phone's aren't working either! Francis, something has to have happened to Rollie!"

"Angie, I don't know if this means anything or not, but Rollie called last night and cancelled our chess match for this evening." Francis frowned as he tried to remember the message. "He sounded fine then, just... tired. I thought maybe something had come up and you had too much work to do."

"No, we don't have anything scheduled for the rest of the week. I thought I'd work on the VR game. They always want something else. Francis, something's wrong."

"Okay, come on, Angie. We'll check." Francis patted the blonde on the shoulder. "Maybe it's nothing and Rollie just wanted to sleep late without being disturbed." Please, he thought, let it be nothing. There's been more than enough lately.

Francis pulled up and parked next to Rollie's red sports car. Angie jumped out and ran to the doors of the workshop. He followed more slowly. "Take it easy, Angie. If Rollie's in trouble, we don't want to alert whoever's with him... If anybody's with him." He brightened at a thought. "Hey, maybe Danni came by for a surprise visit and they don't want to be interrupted."

"I don't think so," Angie looked over at him. "Danni broke up with Rollie ages ago. The long distance relationship wasn't working very well. She's going out with her photographer now." She shrugged as she remembered Rollie's response to her questions. "Rollie said it was more lust than love anyway." She smiled slightly. "He said memories of sixteen year old harmones were pretty strong." And she didn't really blame him. Between the life and death situation and teenage memories, there had been quite a draw between the couple. If she'd gotten the chance to date one of her teenage idols, she'd have jumped at it too. Especially, if they still looked as good as Danni did! At least, Danni had been fairly considerate dumping Rollie and he hadn't reacted like he had with Taia.

"Try and unlock the door again, Angie." Francis pulled his gun and eased to one side, just in case.

Angie looked startled when the door opened, just like normal. She looked at Francis and frowned. It had been locked inside before, she was sure of it! Francis was going to think she was crazy if nothing was wrong.

Francis gestured, indicating Angie should stay outside. He entered and looked around cautiously. "Rollie?" he called and waited for a response. Getting none, the detective searched the places that Rollie could have been hidden, but there was no sign of the special effects expert. The place was empty. "Angie, Rollie's not here." He glanced around again. "And there's no sign of a struggle or anything. Are you sure the doors were locked inside?"

Angie stepped inside and looked around worried. "Yes, they were locked! I'm sure of it, Frank. Where is he?"

"You said the hidden exit was locked too." Francis waited for her confirmation. "Okay, who would know about it? I mean, Rollie wouldn't have shown it to them."

"I don't know! I don't know, Francis!" Angie sat down in Rollie's stripped leather chair. What was going on? She took a deep breath and tried to think. Then jumped up as Rollie walked wearily inside. "Rollie! Where were you? I was worried sick! What's going on? Why..."

Rollie stood there and stared blankly at his friends, letting Angie's questions wash over him.

"Angie. Angie!" Francis put a hand on her shoulder. "Give him a chance to say something."

Angie frowned at Francis then took a good look at Rollie. "Rollie? Are you okay?" She asked more calmly.

Rollie nodded and moved to drop on to the closest couch. He dropped a small white paper bag beside him, and rubbed his eyes. "Yeah. Basicially. I just came from the doctor's, I've got the flu or rather a flu type virus."

Angie stared at Rollie, surprised. "The flu? You're sick? Why were the doors locked? And the phones, I tried to call and..."

Rollie dropped his head back and groaned. "I wanted to hide, Ange. I didn't realize I was coming down with something until later."

"Hide?" Angie moved to Rollie's side. "Hide from what?"

"April Fools Day! Every year it's the same damn thing. More jokes on Rollie Tyler." Rollie was too tired and sick to dodge the truth anymore. "I hate April Fools!"

"Rollie, why didn't you tell me?" Angie looked at her partner, puzzled. "I would have stopped."

Rollie lifted his head and looked at her. "I know." Then added in a whisper. "I... I didn't want to hurt your feelings."

"Oh, Rol! You are so dumb sometimes." Angie shook her head and reached for the bag to check his prescriptions.

Francis chuckled from where he'd been watching his special effects friends. They both looked at the detective, startled by the sound. At their looks, he started to laugh harder.

"What?" Angie asked, exasperated. "What's so funny, Frankie?"

"You two!" Francis held his sides, he was laughing so hard. "You've been pulling April Fools jokes on Rollie for years, right?"

"Yeah," Angie answered slowly, "ever since we met."

"Well, it looks like Rollie got the last laugh." Francis assured them. At their surprised looks, he continued. "This morning, you were so sure something had happened to him, you were running in circles, Angie. Without even meaning to do it, Rollie pulled an April Fools on you!"

Angie looked startled, then began to grin slowly. "Guess he did, Frank." She turned to look at her bewildered boss and began to laugh too.

Rollie really didn't know what he'd done. He looked at his friends like he thought they were crazy. "What does Frank mean? You thought something happened to me?"

"The doors were locked and the phones were disconnected." Angie told him, trying to talk and laugh at the same time. "I thought someone was holding you prisoner or something."

Rollie looked stricken at the thought. "I'm sorry, sweetie! I didn't mean to..."

Seeing Rollie was genuinely upset about upsetting her, Angie tried to reassure him. "It's okay! It's okay, Rollie. You didn't mean to do it, I know that. As long as you're okay, it's okay. Besides after some of the pranks I've pulled on you, it's about time you got back at me." She smiled gently at her best friend. "It's okay." She soothed. Sobered, she decided it was time to get Rollie back in bed where he belonged. "Come on, you lie down upstairs. I'll get some juice and you can take your medicine. Got to take care of you, boss. We go back to work, Monday and I don't want to handle it alone."

Rollie nodded and stood. "Sorry, Francis. I'm sorry we disturbed you and that I had to cancel tonight..."

"It's okay, Rollie. No harm done and you didn't mean to do it. You take it easy and get better, we can play next week." Francis told him. You'd think Rollie would love April Fools, but here he hated it. It seemed he was always learning something new about his friend. And not just him, Angie learned something today, too. "I'll see you later, I've got to get back to work." He hurried out, he needed to get back to the precinct. Mira would be there soon and they had some cases they had to follow up.

Rollie climbed up the stairs slowly, Angie right behind him. He looked over to the bathroom. "Maybe I should take a shower first."

Angie started as she remembered. "Uh, not right now, Rol. You change into something more comfortable and take a nap." She added sternly. "After you take your medicine. The shower can wait." She mentally crossed her fingers.

Rollie nodded his head and obediently took the pills. He moved to his closet to find some sweats. While his back was turned, Angie darted into the bathroom. She had to get the soap out of there, before Rollie found out she had put clear finger nail polish on it so it wouldn't lather. No more pranks for her... at least not on Rollie Tyler.