A/N: This is another idea I've been bandying about for awhile, and Roadrunner was so excited about the premise we agreed to collaborate on it. So enjoy!

In New York City's war on crime, the worst criminal offenders are pursued by the detectives of the Major Case Squad. These are their stories...

A yellow cab pulled up to the curb in front of an upscale apartment building on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. A young man emerged from the cab after settling the fare and went to the trunk, removing two suitcases as a woman about the same age slid gracefully out of the back seat and waited for him on the sidewalk. He closed the trunk and waved to the cabbie, who drove off.

Stepping onto the sidewalk, he looked up at the building and smiled. "Home, sweet home," he said, taking a deep breath of the city air.

The young woman laughed and picked up her bag from the sidewalk beside him. "You can stand here on the sidewalk all night if you want to, Floyd. I'm going inside."

With a laugh, he grabbed his bag and ran after her. "Wait up, Laney! We're both surprising Dad, remember?"

"Well, come on then, little brother. I'm not going to wait all night. Dad's birthday only lasts till midnight."

"Then he turns into a pumpkin?"

"No, then you turn into a pumpkin." She grinned at the doorman. "Hello, William!"

"Laney! Floyd! Home for your dad's birthday?"

"Yep," Floyd answered. "If I don't turn into a pumpkin in the elevator."

Laney ruffled her brother's unruly red hair. "Come on, carrot top."

"Coming, Freckles! Later, William!" Floyd called as he followed his sister to the elevator.

As they rode up to the seventeenth floor, Laney let down her strawberry blonde hair and shook it out. Then she pulled it back into a ponytail. "What did you get Dad for his birthday?"

"That bestseller he's been wanting. You?"

"A new stethoscope. Didn't Mom tell you Mitzi chewed up his good one last week?"

"Oh, yeah..." He chuckled. "Dad's gonna make stew out of that dog one day."

The doors opened and they headed down the hall. Floyd pulled out his keys. "I hope he's home. We should have asked William."

"It's going to be a surprise either way."

He pushed the door open. "Yeah, I guess it will."

A few moments later a scream penetrated the thick wood of the closed door. "Nooooo! Daddy!!!!!"

"Laney? What the hell...? Oh, my God! Dad!!!"