Author's Note: The 365 Project is an experimental project to write and post at least one short every day for the next year, not including my semi-regular bi-weekly updates. Whether or not that goal can be reached, we'll see... This is The 365 Project, 25 January.

Disclaimer: Life is the property of NBC and is used for entertainment purposes without permission or intent to profit.

"Stages"
By J.T. Magnus, 'Turbo'

"Uncle Charlie! Uncle Charlie! Watch this, Uncle Charlie!"

Charlie Crews laid the tongs beside the grill and turned away from the cooking steaks to watch as his honorary niece jogged the length of the diving board, bounced on it once before jumping into the air and doing a complete flip before diving headfirst into the pool. Rachel Seyboldt surfaced to the sound of clapping from both her parents and her 'Uncle Charlie'.

"Not bad, Rachel," Charlie smiled, "You'll be on the swim team for certain if you keep that up."

"Thanks, Uncle Charlie," Rachel replied, "Don't forget I like my steak medium-rare, okay?"

"Medium-rare, okay," Charlie nodded before turning back to the grill.

'This is the life,' he thought to himself as he picked back up the tongs.

Charlie Crews winced as the doctor - not the prison surgeon who wouldn't care to do a proper job because Charlie was worse than a con, he was a cop-turned-con, but a former doctor on the outside who now stayed safe in prison by being neutral and fixing everyone if they needed it - stuck the needle into Charlie's skin and began to sew the wound closed, each new pass causing a fresh wince. Fortunately for Charlie, it was a cut, not a stab or a shot, so it could be sewn closed without any problems from the skin healing before the tissue underneath.

The doctor shook his head as he stitched, "Charlie, you know you're a cop at heart, I know you're a cop at heart... nobody else here cares that you've got 'to protect and serve' tattooed on your soul. You've got to stop getting yourself in the middle of fights that don't involve you. Sooner or later, it's going to get you killed."

"Dying doesn't concern me, Leo," Charlie countered, "After all, I already have life."

Charlie Crews stood in the sun as a free man for the first time in over a decade, feeling it warm his body even if it couldn't entirely penetrate the barriers that had risen around his spirit. There were so many things that free men took for granted that Charlie would never overlook again; fresh fruit, warm sun, a cool breeze; the ability to start walking and never stop, not pinned in by walls or fences.

"'Stone walls do not a prison make, nor iron bars a cage'," Charlie commented to himself, "I suppose no one ever mentioned that to the Bureau of Prisons. They seem to make frequent use of them, after all. They lock up the body and in doing so, entice people into imprisoning themselves because they're behind walls and bars, fences and guards. But once you realise that they can only lock away a body, you're no longer a prisoner because the mind is free..."

Charlie smiled faintly, if nothing else, prison had given him a new way of looking at life.

"Uncle Charlie! Uncle Charlie! Watch this, Uncle Charlie!"

Charlie Crews laid the tongs beside the grill and turned away from the cooking corn to watch as his honorary niece jogged the length of the diving board, bounced on it once before jumping into the air and doing a complete flip before diving headfirst into the pool. Rachel Seyboldt surfaced to the sound of clapping from all present.

"Not bad, kiddo," Dani Reese announced, "If you can keep that up, I wouldn't be surprised if we saw you in the Olympics one day."

While Ted and Olivia went back to what they were doing, Rachel swam over to the edge of the pool near where Dani was sitting, "Uncle Charlie used to say almost the same thing when I wanted to be on the swim team."

Dani looked over at the subject of that statement with a grin, "What? Nothing about 'it's easy to dive, you just have to let go of air' or some other kind of Zen?"

Charlie frowned at her, "I existed then and Zen existed then, Dani, but we didn't exist together until later."

Dani winced, "Sorry, Charlie, I didn't mean it that way."

"It's okay, Dani," Charlie shook his head, "I understand that understanding is a three-edged sword."

Dani and Rachel shared a look that said neither of them knew what that was supposed to mean while Charlie walked over to them and crouched next to the edge of the pool.

"Life was my sentence, life is what I recieved," Charlie waved a hand to take in the mansion and the people there, "This is life."

Then he grinned, "Next time, try to splash Ted and Olivia, okay?"

Rachel could see Dani moving behind Charlie, so to keep his attention, she replied, "Sure, easier than finding a water hose."

"Splash yourself, Crews," Dani announced before taking advantage of Charlie's position to give him a quick shove towards the pool. Unfortunately, she had underestimated his reactions and when he managed to grab her wrist, she went tumbling into the water with him.

Grinning, Rachel shook her head, "Some life, Uncle Charlie."

Charlie smiled as he put one arm around Rachel's shoulder and the other around Dani's, "Yeah, some life."