It was a peaceful day at the police station.

And by peaceful, it meant that there were no oddball phone calls, no arrests, and best of all, no paperwork. It was the kind of day that Hogan was free to sort through his office, get things cleared away, file things, and get to be reminded of what color his desk was after having been buried for weeks.

He was especially grateful for the reprieve since the last few weeks had been so hectic.

Shortly after they had celebrated Lizzy's 18th birthday, she had gotten an invitation to spend a month in Vienna, performing at various prestigious concert halls with the exclusive Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. Needless to say, it had been the opportunity of a lifetime.

Unfortunately, no good parent could let their eighteen year old daughter travel abroad for a month on her own. More unfortunately, a month was just too long of a time for either he or Newkirk to take off from work.

However, not everything was unfortunate. He had decided that Lizzy's chaperone could would be the person he had trusted to take her to her first dance, her prom, and on her senior trip: Lieutenant Ivy.

It didn't hurt that he could speak German, either, which, they had informed him, had come in handy many times in their travels.

He loved the way Lizzy described the majestic castles and buildings she had seen, the art in the museums, and the architecture of the Ringstraße. It was during these pleasant thoughts that the opening of his office door brought him out of his reverie.

"Heya, Sheriff, how's life treatin' ya?"

The man who had walked in was Officer O'Keefe, who had worked at the police station nearly as long as Hogan had. He was a good officer, but the two had never been really close.

"Not, bad. Yourself?" he asked, offering a pleasant smile.

"Oh, I'm pretty good. Just stoppin' by to pick up last week's report," said O'Keefe, taking the appropriate folder out of the filing cabinet that was near the door.

"Good. I think everything's in order," said Hogan, taking a stack of papers from his desk and shoving them into one of the nearby drawers.

"I also wanted to congratulate you on gettin' re-elected as Sheriff," the other man added with a wry grin.

"Thanks. It was a harrowing race, especially considering I was running unopposed," answered Hogan.

O'Keefe let out a chuckle.

"I don't think anyone had the guts to go up against you, sir. I think I speak for everyone when I say there's no one we'd rather complain about over our coffee breaks than you, sir," he said with a laugh. "Especially Lt. Ivy. I think he would have a nervous breakdown if he had to work under some guy."

"Ah, he's a good kid," said Hogan, in his defense.

"You sure must think so," said O'Keefe, with a shake of his head.

"Why do you say that?" asked Hogan, detecting something in the other man's tone.

"Well, I mean, you let him travel to another country for a whole month with your daughter. I don't think many people would let their kids go galavanting across Europe with some guy."

"He's not some guy; he was her chaperone, and I got nothing but excellent reports from both of them," said Hogan, starting to get a little annoyed.

"No need to get testy, Sheriff, I'm just sayin'..."

"Saying what?"

"Well, Lizzy's a pretty girl, and Ivy's what...only a few years older than her? I'm just sayin'..."

"Well, I wish you'd stop. Don't you have somewhere to be, Officer?" said Hogan sharply.

O'Keefe just threw up his hands in defense and left the room without another word.

x

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x

It was only about an hour later that there was another knock on Hogan's door, but this time his welcome was much less friendly. O'Keefe's insinuations had put him in a bad mood, and it didn't look as though he was going to come out of it any time soon.

It didn't help that the person that entered his office next was none other than John Ivy.

"Well, what do you want, Ivy?" asked Hogan crossly, from his desk.

The young man didn't answer; he came closer to the desk with an unreadable expression on his face. If he was forced to describe it, he would have said it looked to be a mix of determination and stark terror. Hogan noticed that his cap, the one he usually wore with such pride and affection, was crushed in his hands and stained, as if he had been wringing it incessantly.

"Spit it out," he added when all the other man did was open and close his mouth a few times.

"Sir….I….need to ask you….. something. Something important," he said, almost a whisper.

"Well, ask me," said Hogan, starting to get a little concerned with how nervous Ivy was acting.

"I want...I...want to ask you...for...for…"

"What is it? A promotion?" guessed Hogan, getting up out of his chair to stand next to the younger man.

"No, sir, not a promotion, I...want to...ask you...for...your permission to...to...to," there was a big, determined breath, "to ask Lizzy to marry me."

It took Hogan a few moments to recover from the shock of being asked such a question, but when he vaguely came back to his senses, he did what any sensible father would do.

He punched Ivy in the face.

x

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x

It was a few hours later that found both men sitting outside the station, one nursing a bad mood and the other, a black eye.

It was a while before either man spoke, and Hogan was surprised to find that Ivy was the one who broke the silence.

"Officer Newkirk told me that would probably be your reaction, sir," the young man whispered, not having fully regained his confidence enough to look the other man in the eye.

"I figured you'd asked him first," said Hogan, letting out a sigh. For some reason, he had the oddest craving for a cigarette suddenly, even though he had given up the habit many years ago.

"If it makes you feel any better, sir, his reaction was the same as yours. Only, he got me in the gut."

Hogan let out a humorless snort. "I bet he did."

"Sir, I love Lizzy more than anything in the world, and…"

"So do I," said Hogan, looking right at the other man.

Both were silent for a while.

"Well?" asked Hogan after a while.

"Well, what, sir?"

"Are you gonna ask her?"

"You mean, I can?" gaped the young man.

"I don't see why not," said Hogan, letting out a sign that seemed to come from very deep inside him. "It's Lizzy's decision, not mine."

x

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To Hogan (and Newkirk's) chagrin, Lizzy gleefully accepts John Ivy's proposal.

It is only after this that she tells her parents just why she happened to fall in love with someone no one in a million years ever would have imagined her with.

She told them about one time when she was eight, and she was waiting for them to come home from work one day. She had been in the kitchen, and, when she heard the sound of a car motor, she had gotten up to see if it was them.

It was, and she remembered watching from the window as a young man with fall gold hair had jumped out from the passenger seat, walked to the other side, and opened the door for a thoroughly amused Sheriff Hogan.

She remembered how they came in, the tall, sandy haired young man once again opening the door, and they were both in the kitchen.

"I remember, you picked me up and gave me a hug, dad, and when you did, I could see John over your shoulder. I remember he waved at me and then went back out to the car. You know, I think I've been in love with him ever since."

She told them how, when she was sixteen, and he'd been her last minute date to the Huntingburg Improvement Society dance, looking very handsome in his freshly ironed uniform. He'd been so polite, and she found his quiet, respectful demeanor charming.

"I remember coming home that night. I was so happy, remember? We'd had such a nice night, but I remember I came home and cried myself to sleep in my pillow, because I knew he'd only ever see me as just a kid."

She even related how she had ducked various cloying invitations to her prom, in the hopes that Ida would ask her to "just bring along your police guy" again. It had worked, and made it even easier for her to suggest him as the necessary chaperone on their senior class trip.

What had really made her over the moon had been the invitation to play with the Vienna Philharmonic, a trip in which she was more than happy to give every gleaming detail to anyone willing to listen.

Her favorite part of the whole trip, she had said, had been the ball. The whole orchestra had been invited to be the guests of honor at Schonbrunn Palace, where elegant music was playing all night.

She had dragged Ivy with her to all the boutiques until she had found a beautiful gown, and then had later dragged him to the ball, despite his assertions that there were plenty of other people there that would have loved to dance with her.

The only word she could think of for the night in Schonbrunn Palace was "divine." It adequately described the food, the music, the dancing, and even the dresses of all the guests. Like something out of a fairytale, she had said.

It had been late in the evening, and she had been dancing with different people she knew from the orchestra, and had even persuaded old Mr. Valerian the conductor to waltz with her once around the palace floor.

By the end of the night, it had seemed that everyone had run out of energy except her. Determined to make the night last as long as possible, she had yanked Ivy up from the chair he had occupied all night and insisted that they had at least one waltz across the beautiful palace floor.

Filled with the crystal sparkle of chandeliers, the beautiful music and enlivened gaiety of the whole majestic evening, Lizzy, proper, reserved, prudent Lizzy, had pulled her talented dance partner down and kissed him.

To his credit, the young man had immediately tried to talk her out of her infatuation. After all, when she was in diapers, he had been holding a gun in the Battle of Berlin.

But since when has anyone been able to talk someone out of loving someone else?

Either way, their sweet, unpretentious romance had begun, and grew into something dangerously like love during their last two weeks in the mysterious and romantic city of Vienna.

Their feelings hadn't changed once they returned to the normal rhythm of life in peaceful Huntingburg.

x

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When word gets out, no one expects the marriage to last.

Hogan ends up avoiding his new son-in-law at work most days, as well as many of the other officers at the station who liked to needle him about it. He doesn't know if Newkirk is having the same problem, because he doesn't ask about it, and, frankly, he doesn't want to know. And maybe it's because he doesn't like being reminded that Lizzy doesn't live with them anymore, that's she's off, on her own, living in the big old house that had belonged to Ivy's family.

The fact that they only live a minute and a half away doesn't make him feel any better.

Of all animals, none like routine better than humans. And maybe that's what had gotten Hogan into such a rut. His whole life, whether he had like it or not, had been revolving around Lizzy since the day that little girl had wandered onto his lawn.

He didn't even realize how used to seeing her off to school, to violin practice, cooking with her, walking the dogs with her, how used to everything in the world with her he had become.

And now that the routine was different, he noticed it more than ever.

Fortunately for Hogan, he was beginning to get used to the new routine rather quickly.

He got used to Mr. and Mrs. John Ivy coming over for breakfast every morning, and usually for dinner.

He got used to making his own lunch and cleaning his own toilets.

He got used to driving to work with Ivy while Lizzy went off to give violin lessons.

He got used to Newkirk griping about the way he made coffee, since Lizzy had been the one who had taken that duty over long ago.

And he wasn't the only one who had to get used to the fact that Lizzy's profession sometimes took her out of the state, and sometimes the country, for weeks at a time.

He was pleasantly surprised when Lizzy came over one day and announced that she decided she was not going to do any more international traveling for a while.

When she told him it was because he was going to become a grandfather, he had done what any sensible parent would do: sit down and have a beer. Or three.

But he was happy; happy for them, happy for the fact that everyone was content in their peaceful and thoroughly enjoyable lives.

And he was even happier when Lizzy and her husband came home with a small bundle swaddled in a soft blue blanket.

He knew Newkirk must be feeling the same thing he was when they were introduced to Robert Peter Ivy, who had his mother's hair and his father's eyes.

"We decided to go with 'Robert' as his first name, daddy, because we thought…"

"...'Peter Robert' sounded too much like Peter Rabbit."

And as time went on, both Hogan and Newkirk began to realize something: life really hadn't changed much after all.

It was just as full of love as it had always been.