Houston Knights is an American crime drama set in Houston, Texas. The show ran on CBS from 1987 to 1988 and had 31 episodes. The core of the show was the partnership between two very different cops from two different cultures. Chicago cop Joey LaFiamma is transferred to the Houston Police Department after he kills a mobster from a powerful Mafia family and a contract is put out on him. In Houston he is partnered with Levon Lundy, the grandson of a Texas Ranger. Although as different as night and day, and after a rocky beginning, the two cops form a successful partnership and become friends. During the series, it is revealed that both LaFiamma and Lundy have their own personal demons. LaFiamma comes from a Mob family himself and his Chicago police partner was killed when he went ahead while LaFiamma waited for backup to arrive. Lundy´s wife was killed by a car bomb that was intended to kill him.

Standard Disclaimer: Houston Knights belongs to Jay Bernstein and Michael Butler and Columbia Pictures. No copyright infringement is intended. This is fan fiction, written out of love for the shows. I am making no money off this. I have no money so please don't sue me. Any original characters who may appear in these stories are the property of the author.

Houston Knights Fanfiction

By Violet to Blue

Summery:

Joe is confronted with a painful decision he had to make a long time ago. In the course of events he gets caught between the battle lines of a mob war. Will Levon be able to find him in time?

The story also refers to the character of the TV series High Mountain Rangers, but not enough to make it a real crossover story. For this TV show also the standard disclaimer applies.

Warning: a bit of everything - some strong language, violence, drugs and some sex, but none too explicit Rating T Romance/Drama

It´s All Decided For Us

Our dreams were young and we were sure we´d always have each other
but life just turned out differently, no time or place for lovers.
We thought the world was in our hands, to take and then to give
But others had made plans for us which we just could not live.

Then destiny drew us apart
to go our separate ways.
It left us empty in our heart
to pass the endless days.

If we´re not granted to be joined for just one single touch
the only thing we ever ask would really not be much.
Our petty lives shall fin´ly end no matter how they passed
to find us in each other´s arms beyond this world at last.

Chapter 1

„Tonio, will you marry me when we´re old enough?" The girl with the unruly dark curls cuddled up to the boy. The teenagers faced each other and continued to exchange tender kisses.

"Sure, Jules, how often do I have to tell you?" Tonio had just tuned sixteen and his attempt to keep his slightly too long dark hair from falling over his left eye was futile. He pulled Jules closer and deeply inhaled her flowery scent. Then he started to untie her blouse.

"Tonio, don´t. You promised we´d wait ´til after we´re married."

The boy rolled his eyes. "Yeah, well, you don´t have to tell your mama or the priest. And if you´ve been with no one but me, then it will be ok that you´re not a virgin anymore." His face lit up with a mischievous smile as he continued to unbutton her blouse.

"Who else should I be with? You know that you´re the only one I will ever love." She smacked his hand in mock severity but then recaptured his mouth for another passionate kiss. When they parted for air she tenderly stroked his face and asked for the umpteenth time since they had consciously taken in the other´s existence: "Tell me when you fell in love with me, Tonio." On her face was a sweet smile he just could not resist.

"I fell in love with you when you pushed me into the mud in kindergarten. I love strong women." They both laughed and resumed kissing. Then he took a thievish pleasure in tickling her all over.

It took a few minutes for her to get over her laughing fit. "That´s when I fell for you too. You were so cute, with the mud all over you." She continued to giggle. He buried his face in her neck, imitating a vampire nibbling at her throat.

"I wanted to marry you there and then. Angelina was so jealous." She squirmed, laughing, trying to get away.

From downstairs a loud voice echoed up the staircase. "Bambini, won´t you come down? Dinner´s ready! Nonna Gracia will be angry if you keep her waiting." The woman´s voice held some authority but the teenagers knew she would never come up to check on them.

The youngsters had known each other since they had almost simultaneously been born into the large Italian community. Though they were members of different families they had been raised like siblings. They knew each other inside out. And they had loved each for almost as long as they could both remember.

The teens exchanged glances, burst out laughing again and quickly intertwined for one last wet kiss.

XIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXXIXIXIXIXIX

"So what are the plans for your holiday, LaFiamma?" Levon Lundy had casually placed his feet on his desk beside his hat and was leaning back in his chair to get more comfortable.

His partner Joseph Antony LaFiamma stared into his coffee mug and shrugged. He didn´t care to admit that he had no plans. There was nowhere he wanted to go but back to his hometown Chicago to see his family. But that was the one destination he couldn´t go without getting himself killed by the mob. Even after more than a year in Houston chances for the hit on him to be off were zero. What had been meant as a preliminary arrangement had turned out to become a long term solution by now.

"I guess I´ll just sleep in for a few days. You´re not going anywhere yourself, are you?"

"Nah, got too much work at the ranch, roof of the barn is leakin´ pretty bad, I really need to do something about it, double quick."

Joe was almost tempted to ask if he could help with the repair job when the door to the corridor flew open and their superior, Lieutenant Joanne Beaumont, rushed into the bullpen.

"Lundy, LaFiamma, in my office, now!" She kept her face neutral when she saw the heads of each and every detective of the Major Crime Unit turn towards her in surprise. Levon, who sat with his back to the door, started up and almost lost his balance. Joe took obvious pleasure in the near accident and smirked, causing Levon to glare back at him as he got to his feet.

Normally the two detectives didn´t expect anything good when their boss addressed them in her typical commanding tone. Slowly they followed her into her office. Levon reluctantly closed the door. He didn´t want their colleagues to hear whatever they had coming their way. Joe´s features showed that he, too, wasn´t expecting much good.

But they were both wrong.

As Joanne slumped down in her chair her face lit up with just a hint of a smile. Her eyes benevolently observed the negative stance of her best team. So her little performance had worked, she concluded.

Seeing her features soften both men frowned, slightly irritated.

She decided to lead them on a bit longer. "Anything I should know?" Perhaps the two partners had a bad conscience on account of something she wasn´t aware of.

"Well. Lieutenant, I don´t know what your aiming at but there´s really no reason to be angry." Joe tried his best not to sound too defensive.

Levon, who had been partnered with Joanne a few years back, knew her better. He recognized the signs and he smiled back at her. "Stop it LaFiamma, don´t confess to anything pre-emptively, this is not what it looks like."

When Joe still sheepishly looked from one to the other Joanne thought it was time to ease the tension.

"I am pleased to be the bearer of good news today. I´ve been to the Chief´s office and he explicitly asked me to deliver his congratulations on how you handled your last case. He was very pleased that he could give the press the good news." She paused and took in the broad smile that had spread across Joe´s and Levon´s face alike. "And I am personally very proud of both of you."

Levon was feeling a bit awkward, and he looked down at the tip of his cowboy boots. Joe just looked smug.

"How long will you be working on the reports for the case?" she asked, her gaze wandering over to the calendar on the wall.

"Oh, I guess even Levon´s extraordinary typing skills will not keep us from finishing it by tomorrow." Joe, as usual, could not resist commenting on Levon´s lousy typing speed. The Texan shot him a furious look.

"Ok, then you better get back to your desks. If you are through with this by tomorrow you can take Friday off. And next week you´ll both be on vacation anyway, right?"

"Thanks, Lieutenant," the partners uttered in unison and turned to the door.

"Oh, Joe, I almost forgot…" Joanne reached for an envelope on her desk.

Joe tuned back to face her as she handed him the manila envelope. "This was delivered for you, I think it´s from the Chicago Police Department."

He looked stunned. "Thanks."

On his way back to his desk Joe slid the envelope into his jacket. Levon eyed him suspiciously when he sat down. "What did she want, LaFiamma?"

"Get off my back Lundy, you heard what she said, start typing if you ever wanna get a chance to repair that barn of yours."

XIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXXIXIXIXIXIX

Quietly the partners resumed working. The prospect of an extra day off work had boosted Levon´s energy and his fingers seemed to fly over the keyboard of the electric typewriter. He was determined to prove to that Italian partner of his, once and for all, that he could handle the paperwork just as quickly and efficiently.

As Levon surreptitiously eyed the ex-Chicago cop on the opposite side of the desk he realized that Joe was not working at all. He seemed deep in thought, maybe diverted by whatever Joanne had said or given to him.

By noon it was obvious that Joe hadn´t even finished half of his report. Instead he had been nervously biting his lower lip, a sure sign that something was bothering him. Levon decided to put his partner through a proper grilling at lunch at their usual hangout, Chicken´s barbeque restaurant.

He got up and donned his hat. "You´re joining me for lunch at Chicken´s?"

Joe started up, looking sheepish. "Yeah, sure. Go ahead, I´ll catch up with you." Since he had his own means of transportation, the deep blue Cobra that Levon mockingly referred to as the batmobile, Joe liked to take a quick ride around Houston´s highways before dropping in at Chicken´s for lunch whenever the opportunity presented itself. So Levon thought nothing of it and set out in eager anticipation of a treat to his favorite food.

He had already started burrowing into his pile of ribs and was wondering why his partner still hadn´t shown up, when Chicken answered a call on his phone. The black man in baseball cap and apron turned toward Levon.

"That was your partner, Levon, said he can´t make it. You´re not to worry." When he saw Levon frown he added: "Any trouble brewing?"

Levon wiped his mouth, for once using the napkin rather than the back of his hand. "I can´t read that boy, Chicken, whenever I think I understand him he turns around and acts weird." He rolled his eyes.

"Well, whadda yah expect, Levon? He´s a Yankee," Chicken confirmed with a broad grin.

XIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXXIXIXIXIXIX

Joe had never intended to go to Chicken´s. The moment Joanne had handed him the envelope he had known he needed to read whatever was in it in total privacy, no prying eyes of nosey partners or colleagues, no need to hold back his emotions for the sake of keeping up his macho image. And most importantly, he could not wait until the end of his shift.

So he headed for a service station to gas up and while the attendant took care of his car he used the public phone. Chicken confirmed that Lundy was there as expected and promised to relay the message. Then he picked up a chocolate bar as a surrogate lunch, paid, and resumed his journey on the highway. He headed straight for the desert. Somehow his mind longed for peace and solitude in a prosy surrounding, nothing should disturb or divert his attention.

A few miles down the highway he took an exit, turned onto the adjacent dirt road and headed for the mesa. He had no concept of time but at last the surrounding suited his purpose and he brought the Cobra to a halt.

He regretted that he had not bought a bottle of water. It was hotter than he had expected. He shed his jacket and took out the envelope. It was addressed to Sergeant Joseph A. LaFiamma, HPD. He ripped it open and pulled out another, smaller envelope. Again his name jumped out at him, this time written in a neat hand: Joey LaFiamma. He lifted the envelope to his nose and knew at once who the sender of the letter was. He would recognize that scent among a million others.

His hands trembled slightly as he unfolded the piece of paper. He recognized the hand at once, it was the one he had expected.

"Carissimo Tonio
I know you probably thought you´d never hear from me again. But the turn recent events have taken force me to write to you. I see no other way.
Perhaps you have heard that my mother died last year. Until then my father left me alone. And Mama always kept him at bay. But now that she is gone he has made up his mind to marry me off to a man I hate. I know I have no choice, I will have to obey. Please do not think that any of this is your fault. It is not. I don´t blame you for leaving me even though you promised to marry me. I know now you could not.

Still I have to ask one last favor of you."

Joe´s gaze grew hazy as long suppressed emotions surfaced. For an instant he lowered the sheet of paper and drew a deep breath before he was able to continue reading.

"Elena is also getting married this month and her daddy has arranged for her and all her bridesmaids to go to Las Vegas for her bachelorette party. She made me one of them, probably out of pity. I guess I am by far the oldest maid in the whole Italian community of Chicago.

Please come to meet me there. I know you can´t come to Chicago and if I come to wherever you are living right now they will find you and kill you. I need you, I need you to be with me just this one time. For me this is a matter of life or death. If you are not willing to grant that wish I can understand it. Perhaps there is someone else in your life now. But I hope that you will be able to come.

Tonio, you know you are the love of my life. Please help me.

You are forever in my heart

Giulietta"

By the time Joe had reached the end of the page and turned it over to the details of a possible meeting he felt tears stinging in his eyes. His hands were shaking and the emotions seemed to have put a tight steel band around his heart. For a long time he just sat there, his mind going back to his youth in Chicago, to the time when the future had still been bright, full of hope and plans. He had so successfully pushed it all aside that he was surprised at the force with which it hit him now.

He didn´t realize he should leave until the sun caused his head to pound with a dull pain. He folded the letter and when he slipped it into his jacket pocket his fingers encountered something soft and sticky. Disgustedly he withdrew his hand, looking down at it.

"Shit." His lunch, the chocolate bar, had melted in the midday heat and had turned the inside of his jacket pocket into a dark brown sticky mess. Only good thing was that he did not at all feel hungry any more.

XIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXXIXIXIXIXIX

Their lunch hour had long passed but Joe had not turned up again. With a frown Levon looked at the empty chair at the opposite side of the desk. He was beginning to worry.

Joanne had passed by their desk several times, her gaze questioningly halting on the empty chair. Levon had shrugged, indicating ignorance. So far she had not commented.

Another hour had gone by when she emerged from her office. "Joe called. He ran out of gas on the Mesa and it took over two hours until someone passed by and picked him up."

"When is he coming back in?" Levon was in the last throes of finishing his report, he had been eagerly typing away at it all afternoon.

"He´s not coming in again today. He said while he had to wait he got too much sun. So he went home to lie down." Joanne looked a bit unsure when she added. "Sounds a bit like a mild sunstroke to me. I hope it´s not going to keep him down tomorrow, I really need that report from both of you. Otherwise I will not be able to let you go on holiday."

"I´ve done my part." Levon ripped the paper out of the type writer. "Damn Yankee. Wonder who´s laughing now about wearing a hat. He never minds the sun, always thinks he´s immune to it."

"Are you gonna check on him on your way home?" Joanne seemed concerned.

"I don´t think the boy will appreciate it," Levon uttered with a shake of his head.

XIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXXIXIXIXIXIX

He went nonetheless.

Levon found Joe´s car parked in front of the apartment building, covered with the fine red dust of the Mesa. The question was why Joe had gone there in the middle of a working day. It probably had something to do with the mysterious envelope Joanne had given him.

Levon took two stairs at a time and banged his fist on Joe´s apartment door, then halted to listen.

When he got no reaction he tried again, this time adding a loud call to identify himself. "LaFiamma, yah alright? Open up, will yah?"

It took a while before he heard footsteps on the other side of the door. "Lundy, will you stop hollering? What do you want, for God´s sake?"

"See if you´re ok."

"Cut it, I don´t need you to mother me, yah hear?"

"Well, let me in then."

"No way."

"Well, then I have to tell the Lieutenant that you´re feigning it."

With a furious "Madre mia…" that trailed off into a number of unintelligible Italian curses the door opened. Levon only caught a glimpse at the back of his partner who had already turned around and headed over to the couch, slumping down on it. Joe was in sweats and as he laid his head on the backrest he moaned, pressing a wet cloth against his forehead.

Levon towered over him. "What have you done to yourself this time?"

The hand with the cloth dropped and the face that emerged was strangely pale under the ferocious sunburn on nose and cheeks. The contrast was heightened by the fiercely red eyes. "Nothing, I just have a headache, Lundy. Stop making a fuss."

Levon knew his partner was lying. There was more to this than just the overlong exposure to the sun. But Levon also knew he wouldn´t get anything out of the younger man. Clamming up was one of his partner´s traits that Levon really hated. It made dealing with Joe downright annoying at times.

When Joe reclined on the couch again with eyes closed, Levon took the opportunity to scan the room. First thing he noticed was the manila envelope on the coffee table, looked like the one Joanne had given to Joe. Levon recognized the words Chicago Tribune and what looked like a telephone number scribbled across it in Joe´s hand. Next to it lay a smaller envelope, ripped open and a handwritten letter beside it. The writing was small, neat and presumably female. Levon bent down, trying to read it.

Joe must have sensed it. He came bolt upright and quickly snatched the paper away, folded it and slipped it in the pocket of his sweat pants. His features showed a mixture of pain at the sudden move and fury as he glared up at Levon.

"Stop spying on me, Lundy. You´ve run your check for the Lieutenant. So get lost now, double quick, will yah?"

Levon shrugged. He knew Joe was right, he was entitled to his privacy. "Ok, see yah tomorrow then." He opened the door and stepped out.

"…afraid so…" were the last words Levon heard as he pulled the door shut.

XIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXXIXIXIXIXIX

"Nonna* Maria, can I ask you something?" The ten year old boy approached the old woman shyly. *grandmother

She beckoned him to her. "Of course, Giuseppe, you can ask anything. Come, sit here beside me."

"Nonna Maria, how do I know if a girl is the right one for me? To marry I mean?"

"So you want to get married, young man?" She brushed the unruly bangs from the boy´s forehead.

"No, not yet. But I think I have found the right girl and I want to know if I should marry her," the boy answered earnestly.

Nonna Maria smiled. This grandson of hers was always very serious, always had been. Thank God, he could at times be just as much of a rascal as all the other boys. But this earnestness was unusual for a child at his age.

"Who is the girl, Giuseppe?"

"Nonna, that´s a secret." His blue eyes were large, and she always wondered why of all the children he was the only one who did not have brown eyes.

"Well, if it´s Giulietta, then I don´t think it is really a secret."

"But how did you find out, Nonna?"

"Well, haven´t you been friends for a long time now? Or is there another girl?"

"No, no, of course not." The boy protested indignantly. "But how can I find out if she´s the right one for me?"

"Well, you will feel it, if it feels right to be with her, then she is the right girl for you."

"Good," the boy said, then he thought for a moment. Nonna Maria knew that he hadn´t finished yet.

"And we will always be happy, right?" The boy´s face lit up with a big smile.

In a flash of foresight the old woman could see this boy as a charming young man who would attract countless girls. But she could also see that he wouldn´t be happy about it. She pushed the thought aside. "Nobody can be sure about that, Giuseppe."

"But isn´t that what marrying is about?"

"Not just that, it is also about being there for each other, to stand by each other in hard times."

"Yes, like when you are poor or ill? I know that. But if we love each other we will still be happy, right?"

"I hope so, tesoro*, but sometimes love is not easy, and sometimes it can hurt you instead of making you happy. Sometimes it is not meant to be, like with Romeo and Julia. You know the story, don´t you? Love is hard to explain and it is hard to understand the ways of love. It might be that things will change between Giulietta and you, and you will feel differently about each other in the future." *treasure

The boy looked at her in disbelief. "No, that´s not possible, Nonna. I will always love her. And we will get married and live happily ever after, isn´t that how it works? I am absolutely sure."

"That is good, carissimo*." The old woman bent down and placed a soft kiss on the boy´s dark hair. "Everything will come in due time, Giuseppe, don´t worry too much. You are still young. Now run along." *dearest

The boy looked up and kissed her on the cheek. "Thanks Nonna." He jumped up and ran out without as much as a backward glance.

XIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXXIXIXIXIXIX

Joe had restlessly tossed and turned in his bed.

The letter had stirred up many things. Love, hurt, fear, hope, defeat and deep hopelessness. It had reopened a wound he had negated but which had been festering for all those countless years. He had pushed it aside, buried it deep, but not deep enough.

He realized that the wound had never healed, it almost felt as if it had not even started to close. Now he wasn´t sure it would ever do.

In the small hours the memory of that one conversation with his granny had suddenly surfaced. He could remember it with vivid clarity. But only now the significance of what she had said hit him like a sledge hammer.

Love hurt. Like hell in fact. Giulietta "Jules" had always been his one and only true love. Somehow he felt it was his fault that he might have turned her into a tragic Julia. But how could he have prevented it? He had no idea.

XIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXXIXIXIXIXIX

"Got a minute, Annie?" Joe timidly entered the office of Annie Hartung, the wheelchair bound colleague who was in charge of ballistics and the likes. She had taken Joe under her wing the moment they had met and they had become good friends in no time.

"You need some motherly advice on how to treat a sunburn?" she asked, taking in his vividly red nose and cheeks.

He looked down, the flush of embarrassment adding to the intensity of color on his features. "Well…no, not exactly." He grinned sheepishly.

"Sorry Joey, I didn´t mean to make fun of you." She pointed at the chair beside her desk. "Why don´t you sit down?"

"Thanks." He sat down and she could see that he felt uneasy, that he was searching for the right words. But he said nothing.

"Joey, what´s on your mind? Can I help you with anything?" She sensed his insecurity.

"Yeah, Annie, in fact you can." His hands were nervously kneading each other. Another pause ensued.

"Well, why don´t you tell me then, Joey?"

"Yeah, sorry." He took a deep breath. "You know I have some days off work coming next week and I need to go someplace."

"Oh, I didn´t know that, Joey, where do you wanna go?"

"I need to meet someone, you know, it´s very important. I only learnt yesterday about it and I…I have a problem." He looked at her with his big eyes, the awkwardness quite plain to see.

"And are you gonna tell me what the problem is or will you keep me guessing?" Annie smiled inwardly at his manners. He was always so reluctant to tell others what moved him.

"Sorry, of course not. I wanted to ask you if you could lend me some money. I need it for a flight I have to take. I didn´t know until yesterday otherwise I would have tried to put some money aside." She could see that he felt uneasy about his plea.

"You´re not planning to go to Chicago, are you?" It was common knowledge that he couldn´t go back home unless he wanted to risk his life.

"Oh no, of course not. It´s not Chicago. But the person I need to meet is very important to me." He blushed.

"A woman?"

He nodded. When he saw her expectant face he added: "Not what you think, we go way back." He hoped he had not given away the true nature of his quest.

"Ok, and you didn´t want to ask Levon?" Annie knew that Joe had had a bad experience borrowing money from his partner. It had almost led to the splitting up as partners.

He nodded again. "I´ll repay you next payday, you can be sure."

"Joey, just promise me one thing. Don´t get yourself into trouble, be careful, you hear?" She took his hands in hers. "How much, Joey?"

"Three hundred." He tried to gauge her reaction. But she seemed to be ok with his request. "Can I pick it up at your place tonight?"

"Yeah, I´ll have it ready for you, Joey."