If flameless candles are the only things lighting up your life, maybe you're living wrong.

When Detective Miller burst through the door of the stakeout apartment, Hinkle didn't turn around to greet him. He didn't get up, didn't offer his partner a cup of stale coffee or cold Chinese food. Instead, he just sat staring out the window from his folding chair, his binoculars sitting in his lap, and coldy said, "You're late."

"Huh? Oh yeah." Miller threw his stuff on the kitchenette counter and took off his jacket. "I, uh, stopped in to headquarters real quick. The Chief wanted me to check in, you know. File some paper work. That sort of thing."

Hinkle didn't move. "Oh. How nice. And I supposed all the phones down at HQ are broken."

Miller sighed as he picked up his mug, filled it with last night's coffee, and placed it in the microwave. "Don't be that way," he said. "I'm only a little late."

"And I suppose you ran into him, didn't you?"

"Who, Marty? Well, yeah, now that you mention it, I did. He's working this crazy homicide case. Like television crime drama crazy. Wacky stuff."

"Mm hmm," Hinkle said, shifting slightly in his chair. "Must be a lot more exciting than sitting with a boring old stakeout partner."

"We had a nice little chat about it over coffee, actually. He asked about you, we caught up on precinct gossip, blah blah blah. Oh, and also, I asked him if there were any openings in homicide BECAUSE CLEARLY THAT'S WHAT YOU WANT TO HEAR."

"Well that's what you want, isn't it?!" Hinkle threw the binoculars to the floor and stomped toward the windowsill. "Every time you go there, it's always 'Marty this' and 'suspicious murder that!' Just admit it! Our stakeout doesn't excite you anymore! You want away from this building and away from..."

Hinkle turned and gasped. Miller was standing behind him with an extra large pizza still hot in its box, a battery-operated Westinghouse flameless LED candle flickering away in each corner. "It's extra pepperoni and garlic," he told him. "Your favorite."

"You... You remembered."

"How could I forget?" Miller said. "Six months ago, the Chief called me into his office, and my life changed forever. Happy six-month stakeout-iversary, rookie. I wouldn't trade you for all the accidental manslaughter cases in the world."

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