1300 Golden Gate Avenue's Golden Gate and Fillmore Apartment may not be as glamorous as having a quaint little house in the suburbs, but it suits Mal Fallon just fine. It is a one minute walk from the San Francisco Police Department, where he works as a detective, and is in the middle of downtown San Francisco, which is right where he wants to be. It is a little pricey, but he manages because it feels like home, and that's all that really matters. As an added bonus, it is a mere seven minutes' drive from Marina Motel, and that is more important to him than any other location factor. There are three main routes to get from his apartment to that motel, and he knows every one by heart. There is the Divisadero Street Route and the Webster Street Route and the Webster-Divisadero Street Route. He usually takes the first.

Natara Williams, on the other hand, is less accustomed to the streets and shortcuts of the great city of San Francisco. Even after a year, it's startling how little she knows about the city itself. One thing she does know is how to get to her job at the SFPD, and therefore to her partner's apartment building a block away. Considering the better part of her free time is spent in that part of the city, it isn't surprising to anyone that she knows that area better than her motel's vicinity. Least of all to Natara herself.

Even so, as she drags her two suitcases into the cab, it irritates her that she has to live in this city. She doesn't know her way around, she has no need for her own car, and she has to live in a motel room. Even with the short, seven minute commute to work every day and all of the friends she has made, she is incredibly relieved to be leaving the city, even if just for a short while. And better yet, she's leaving with her partner Mal Fallon, whom she cares about more than she likes to admit.

"San Francisco Police Department," Natara says to the cab driver.

"Fastest route?" he asks dryly.

Natara rolls her eyes. "I wouldn't know the difference," she answers, and the cab slips into the light morning traffic with ease.

Mal's eyelids flutter open and he turns to his nightstand. The alarm clock sits stolidly, resolutely blank. He groans and reaches for his phone, which so happens to also be dead.

"Damn," he mutters and stands up, rubbing his eyes. "Today just isn't my day."

He sits like that on the edge of his bed, rubbing the tiredness from his eyes, for another few minutes until he hears a knock on the door.

"Who…?"

"Hey, sleepyhead," Special Agent Natara Williams' voice rings out. "Don't tell me you forgot about our trip! We have crimes to solve, Mal Fallon. Wake up!"

He smirks and walks over to the door. Natara materializes in front of him, with two large suitcases at her sides. She lifts them and strolls past him.

"You look awful," she comments.

"You seem excited," Mal answers.

"No city for a whole month." Natara turns and beams at him. "I'm ecstatic."

Mal walks into the kitchen and begins his morning ritual of making coffee and toast. Natara follows him after relieving herself of the suitcase burden, and continues talking.

"And I mean, Oscar's upset that we have to push the wedding back, but he understands that it's work. He seems pretty upset that I won't be around, though. Have you ever been on a cruise?"

"It isn't a cruise, Nat," he replies. "It's a boat taking us from here to Madagascar. It's just transportation."

"Well, yeah, but…"

Mal shakes his head, smiling, as she persistently argues that this is more of a vacation than work.

"It's going to take at least fifteen days to get there," Natara says. "So that's officially fifteen days of free vacation time on a cruise ship, no less, to just relax before we get there and actually have to work."

"It is a small ship though, Nat. It isn't, like, a giant luxury cruise ship. Just a few people heading to the same place," Mal answers, pouring two cups of coffee out and adding some cream and sugar.

"Small expectations can lead to big results," Natara says, grinning, and snatches one of the mugs from his hands. "You just wait."

And indeed, the results are far greater than Mal imagined.