Disclaimer: I don't own Diagnosis Murder or any of it's characters.

Prologue

Minnesota

"Hey! Are you even listening to me?!" A little girl with chestnut pigtails was standing, hands on hips, watching as a younger child with messy blonde hair ran around on the lawn, playing with his action figure and toy plane.

"Uh-uh" He managed between self-made sound effects of the plane colliding with the unfortunate plastic man.

"Good...Anyway, because we're best friends like my Mom and Daddy were when they were little, then we should make the same promise they did and..." The girl continued, then pouted when she realised her younger friends attention was now solely on the action figure and it's newly decapitated arm, "Jesse!" She whined, snatching the toy and it's limb off the boy and fixing it, "Now will you sit down and listen to me?"

"Macie...You made it not be broke anymore!" Jesse examined his toy in awe, "I thought only growed ups could do that..."

Macie rolled her eyes and sat down on the grass, dragging the little boy down next to her, "So...If we've not found anyone to get married to in twenty years time, then we'll marry each other...Promise?" She held out her hand so they could shake on it.

The little boy looked at her hand, then rolled over in a fit of giggles, "Only Mommy's and Daddy's get married silly."

With one hand Macie grabbed the small boy by the collar, pulled him to his feet, and pinned him against a wall, "I am not silly, take it back!" For a little girl, she was surprisingly intimidating.

"I take it back!" The little boy said quickly, the presence of fear was evident in his voice.

"Good...Now say you promise!"

"But I don't wanna get..."

She tightened her grip and snatched the toy plane out of his hand, "Say you promise Jesse Travis or I'll break this so bad that even a 'growed up' wouldn't be able to fix it!"

Two large blue eyes stared up at her in horror, "Ok I promise, I promise!"

Macie left go of his collar and gave the toy plane back to him, "You're the best friend ever!" She beamed, giving him a great big kiss on the cheek.

Jesse quickly wiped the kiss away in disgust, "Yuck!"

20 Years Later

Dr Jesse Travis walked in to the room with an amused look on his face as he read the patients file, "I gotta be honest with you...Miss Elliot, you're my first 'Toe-Stuck-In-Tap' patient." The young Doctor examined her foot, "I'm Dr Travis by the way."

"The Fireman who cut me free said the same thing."

"Tell me if this hurts." Jesse started to wiggle the womans toe about, "Anything?"

"My toe's pretty sore, but wiggling it isn't making the pain increase."

"Ok, well the good news is it's not broken."

"And the bad news?" She asked.

"I think you're gonna need a new tap..."

"Hey Jess, Have you seen my Dad around anywhere?" Lieutenant Steve Sloan asked as the young Doctor lead his patient out of the room.

"Mark's with a patient."

"Oh...How long do you think He'll..."

"Wait a minute..." The woman interrupted, "You're names Jesse...Jesse Tarvis?"

"Yeah..." He was having trouble working out what was so fascinating about his name.

"From Minnesota?"

Jesse looked at her in confusion, "Do I know you?"

"It's me...Macie!"

"Macie...?"

"Oh my...How long as it been?"

"Uh...?"

"Jesse, we have so much catching up to do!"

"I..."

"When does your shift end?"

The young Doctor looked at his watch, "In about an hour or so..."

"Great! We'll have dinner once you're done here." She beamed, "Isn't this exciting?!"

Jesse stared at her with a blank look on his face, "We will...?" Then he suddenly remembered he was having dinner at the Sloan's Beach House, "Oh sorry...I'm having dinner at a friend's house tonight...Maybe we..."

"Ok great, I'll hang around here and wait for your shift to end, and then you can show me the way."

Jesse's jaw dropped, "Wait what?"

"I'm gonna get to meet your friends too...I can't wait!" She started to walk away, "I'll see you later!"

"But..." Jesse stared after her.

"You have no idea who she is...Do you?" Steve wasn't even trying to hide the smirk on his face.

"Not a clue." The younger man admitted.

"So...When are you telling my Dad he's cooking for five people tonight, instead of four...?"