A/N: Blue Bloods, as an intellectual property, is owned by Panda Productions, produced under CBS Productions, and distributed by CBS Television. This work is not-for-profit and written under the auspices of Fair Use doctrine of US Copyright Law, and is not an attempt to infringe on the rights of the owners and producers of said property.

Recently, my muse has deserted me regarding my other fics. And while I have not abandoned them, I have not decided where to take them next.

However, I still read fanfiction and, having watched Blue Bloods on Netflix in its entirety (or the first seven seasons). I decided to check for fanfiction about the show. A fanfic written by lawslave called Search and You Will Find and its sequel Building Bridges, were extremely well-written and, I felt, quite inspiring in terms of concept.

Jamie Reagan was kidnapped as a child and, 25 years later, is found by Frank Reagan working in his own department working under the name of Jimmy Riordan. The fics, I thought, were very faithful to the basic principles and characters portrayed by the show.

My thought, however, was: "What if someone else noticed Jimmy Riordan's similarity to Joe Reagan and decided to investigate?" I will use quite a number of the same basic premise as lawslave and I hope to do his work justice.

I do not plan a fic of the length and detail written by lawslave but am just writing another approach to the same idea. The chapters won't necessarily be that long.

With my father in the hospital, I just feel like writing what is, in effect, a story about doing something for a father.

Just Like my Old Boot

Sergeant Anthony "Tony" Renzulli was sitting at his desk across from his current partner and trainee. "I can't believe how long these forms are!"

Officer James "Jimmy" Riordan was used to his TO complaining. As he filled in his own forms he said, "Imagine how much worse it would be if he had been shot or, god forbid, one of us or the other responding cops had been shot."

Tony shot Jimmy a look and saw the small smirk. He narrowed his eyes. "I don't know if I should put you in for a medal or a reprimand." Jimmy looked at him and saw that Tony wasn't being serious. Tony gave a small smile and said, "Well, at least you talking him down kept it from getting worse. I actually wish those guys had waited ten more seconds to show up."

Jimmy shrugged. "Come on, Sarge. You saw that I had him pretty calmed down. He had already let the street vendor go to move out of the way and he was in the middle of putting the gun down when he was startled by the sirens."

Tony sighed. "Yes." His face took on a harsh look. "Next time be more careful! I'm happy you tackled him before he could bring it back into position. But if one of the other guys had already been out of their car with their gun drawn, they might already be shooting and you would have been in the way! And if I hadn't seen you moving I might have taken the shot when he started raising his gun again."

Jimmy said with some embarrassment, "Sorry for worrying you, Sarge. I just didn't want anyone to get shot and they hadn't had time to get their weapons in position yet. It was pure chance that it went off in the scuffle."

Tony nodded as he made another notation. "And that is why we have all this extra paperwork to explain an incident with shots fired. Luckily, it all worked out." He smiled and said, "I have to say, college boy, you're pretty good at talking the perps down when needed."

Jimmy grinned. "He was an EDP. All that Psychology training had to be of some use."

"I guess those years weren't a complete waste of time then." Tony then grinned back and Jimmy chuckled. Tony often razzed his boot about his minor Psych degree but the truth was that Tony respected Jimmy's schooling. If he had to answer honestly if asked, he would prefer more officers out there had the same training Jimmy did.

But not many patrol officers took the time to get degrees in Criminal Justice before they entered the academy. That was the type of thing that cops did in night school so that they could impress the bosses and get promoted.

Tony then gave a soft smile and looked up. "Truth is, Jimmy, you have a special way. You're good at dealing with people, all kinds of people. You actually remind me of my old boot." A pained look crossed his face when he realized who he was talking about.

Jimmy noticed and asked quietly, "Who's that, Sarge?" He could see that there was something less than pleasant involved.

Tony paused and gave Jimmy a long look. He almost passed if off but then he decided to explain. "Joe. The last guy I was TO for. He was a lot like you, a great cop. He really put in the time and effort to learn everything I taught him. Out on patrol, he could talk to anyone. He could talk down a situation like no one else I had ever worked with. Convince witnesses to talk. Get perps to give it up and thank him for his help. You have the same thing about you."

"What happened to him?" Jimmy asked in the same quiet tone.

"He was promoted to Detective and went to work in the Warrant Squad. He was killed in the line of duty three years ago."

Jimmy could see that Tony hadn't truly gotten over it. Then he had a sudden thought. "Joe? Would that be Joe Reagan? The Commissioner's son?"

Tony's face lit up a bit. "Yeah, actually. Good people, the Reagans. Joe's brother is a detective too and his sister is in the DA's office. And the Commissioner's father was the PC when I came on the job." He paused. "You heard about that?"

Jimmy nodded. "Actually, yeah. I always knew I wanted to be a cop. When I was nearing graduation, I started looking at departments all over the East coast, trying to decide where to go." Jimmy paused to make another notation on the papers he was filling out. "I studied up on Commissioner Reagan – that's where I learned about it. The PC is why I decided to come to the NYPD. From everything I could find, there's no more honest boss than the Commissioner."

Tony nodded. "Yeah, that's right. He really backs up his people but he comes down hard on corruption." Tony paused. "Actually, last year they found out that Joe wasn't taken out by a perp but by dirty cops and the Commissioner fell on that scum like a house of bricks." Tony waved his hand and Jimmy when he saw he was interested. "I'll tell you about that sometime, cop to cop. But the thing is, you do remind me of Joe."

Thinking about something Tony decided to reach into his desk. He pulled out a small framed picture from his drawer and handed it over to Jimmy with a cheerful smile. "That's Joe. That was taken by one of the guys just off duty before me and Joe went out on late night patrol. He caught us in the middle of trading jokes."

Jimmy looked at the picture with a smile. He then paused and really looked at it. "Woah. He actually even kind of looks like me."

Tony motioned for the picture and then took it back and looked at it critically. He looked at the pic and then Jimmy and then back at the pic again. He looked at Jimmy and said, "Actually? Yeah. You two could be brothers. You even have the same smile and everything."

Jimmy chuckled ruefully. "Yeah. I wish. I think that would have been far preferable to what I did have." He was a bit saddened with the comment.

Tony clucked with sympathy. He had, over the course of almost two years, coaxed Jimmy into telling about his time growing up in Buffalo and he knew that his mother was no prize. "Well. You turned out good anyway – so stop brooding about it." Tony was better than anyone else in getting Jimmy to cheer up when needed. He saw Jimmy had, once again, consciously put it out of his mind. "There you go. You never know. You could be related, maybe a distant cousin or something."

Jimmy's chuckle was a small bit more cheerful. "You never know. My mom never told me who my dad was so it could be."

Tony nodded with the same direct tone he often spoke with. "Whatever the case is, you're a good man – and a good cop. Now. Let's get this paperwork finished." He paused and then said with some thought. "Then again, maybe if we take some more time Marie won't hold my dinner and I can justify eating out."

Jimmy Riordan grinned. Tony loved his wife, loved his family, but her skills in the kitchen were not, from what the Sarge said, a reason he loved her. "Well, sorry then. I'm actually done." He signed the paper and handed it over to Tony.

Tony sighed as he accepted them. "Just great. Now I got no reason to not go home yet!" He looked at Jimmy as he stood up. "Next time we have to fill out paperwork for an incident can you take just a bit more time?"

Jimmy laughed and started walking toward the door. "I'll try, Sarge. See you tomorrow." He then walked out.

Tony looked at the door with irritation as he arranged the papers and finished his own. He put them all together and then put them in a folder for the Lieutenant and placed it in the appropriate outgoing tray. He then reached for the pic that he had set on the desk and looked at it. "We still miss you around here, Joe." He gave the picture one more long, fond look and then placed it back in his drawer.

As Sergeant Renzulli puttered around the room in preparation to leave, he noticed that something was bothering him. He paused and thought about it, not knowing what exactly he was twigging on. Despite his efforts, he was coming up blank. Finally, he put everything behind him and made his way out to whatever lukewarm catastrophe Marie had waiting for him at home.