A/N: Here's an attempt at a longer Homicide story for me. Lately I have been writing short, one-part stories so now I shall try my hand at this. The help of owning Homicide on DVD has helped!
Disclaimer: I own nothing. This is for entertainment purposes and nothing is being made off of this, please don't sue!
Summary: A call on a slow day makes everything become drastically hectic for the Baltimore Police Department.
This story takes place a few months after Kellerman's brothers come to visit him on the episode "Wu's On First."
Special Thanks: Cosmic Castaway for helping me, despite the fact that you haven't seen that much of Homicide…believe me I'll get you sucked into the fandom! Thanks girlie, I really appreciate you putting up with me!
A Relative Reminder Chapter One: The Storm Is Forming
March 20, the first day of spring. The beginning of another storm season. They don't lie when they mention April showers, but it always made everything come back to life and revived things that went dormant during the winter months. The breeze off of the Chesapeake Bay was cool and crisp, making any Maryland native's spring fever come out at full force.
This was Detective Mike Kellerman's favorite time also. It was the perfect time to snag a 50 pound marlin on his line as he drank domestic beer or Jim Beam off of the side of his boat, Case Closed. He was never one for the cold winter months, and had actually thought a time or to that he'd move down to St. Louis near his sister but that never happened. No matter how much he didn't want to admit it, Baltimore was in his blood.
Fishing was not on the agenda for the day for him though, he had to be at work at 9:00 and he was barely crawling out of bed at 8:30 to get there. He had forgotten that Juliana had spent the night but his memory was quickly jogged when he rolled over, his hand brushing her cropped hair.
"Hey, I gotta get going, I'm late." He replied, crawling out of the bed and down the galley to his bathroom. "I'll call you later if you wanna have lunch or something." He didn't even wait for her reply as he turned the water on full blast, allowing the hot steam to spray over his tired body. His relationship with Dr. Cox was complicated. To him it seemed like meaningless sex during drunken stupors, allowing only small fragments of the events to be remembered in the morning.
He quickly shrugged that thought off and focused on the day before him. He got dressed in a dark blue button up shirt and black tie and grabbed his leather jacket. It was now 8:50, he would definitely be late but it wasn't the first time. A few of his fellow comrades would say a few snide remarks but that was just a small price to pay.
As expected, Meldrick was the first to notice his presence, tapping his watch as they made there way to the coffee room. "Your alarm clock not work this morning?"
"Shutup Lewis, I'm only 15 minutes late. Is that the best comment you can come up with, cause quite frankly, it's a disappointment." He sipped the styro-foam cup, recently filled with the squad room sludge they were all so aquatinted with. "I swear this coffee gets worse everyday."
"So do the murders." Bayliss finished as he hung up the phone. "Got a double over on Gay Street, 2010 to be exact." He scribbled the address down, putting his blazer on. "You ready to go Frank?"
Kellerman sat at his desk, sifting over some unfinished paperwork that Howard wanted 'on her desk' by the end of the day. He shook his head thinking about her. She always seemed like she was out to prove something but in his book she was one of the guys from the day he had joined the homicide unit.
"You think so Mikey?" Lewis stared back at him from across his desk waiting on a reply to a question that Kellerman hadn't even heard because of his random thoughts.
"What?" He arched his eyebrow, trying to cover up his dazed reaction the best that he could.
"I was seeing if you were up for lunch at the Waterfront. Clam chowder special today."
Kellerman grimaced at the thought of the quality of the food across the street at their cop hangout. "That's okay, I really don't want to eat somewhere where the food can run away from you. Besides, I told Juliana we'd grab something together." He knew he'd probably regret mentioning her, but he couldn't suck the words back into his mouth now.
"I see. You'd like to hang out with Julie C, I do have to admit she's a lot better to look at than my ugly mug."
Kellerman nodded, his thoughts overtaking his mind again. It was a slow day so far; even the paper work was now finished. He was half tempted to open up an old case file and start it back up but every red name he had on the board was so cold that the chances of digging up a new lead were about as good as the Orioles winning the World Series. Nonetheless, he had to look busy for the brass. He had never wished for his phone to ring so bad when Lewis shot him another random question for the day.
"You talk to those to motor head brothers of yours lately?"
Kellerman had forgotten about their visit to Charm City a few months back in one of their childlike schemes to get rich quickly or to get out of trouble from some incompetent act they carelessly performed.
Sighing heavily, he responded. "Nope, last time I saw them was when they were here for my vacation." He shifted the Baltimore Sun newspaper that his eyes were scanning, looking over the top at Meldrick. "Why do you ask?"
"Just making small talk since ya know, you can't seem to shutup today. I'm just amazed at how well you kept them under wraps, seeing as they were family and all."
"You would too if you had family like that." He stood up, pushing his chair in. "I'm gonna head down to the ME's office, see if I can find that toxicology report on our Doe murder a few weeks back." It was obvious he was making excuses to see Cox but he didn't have to be completely honest for others that didn't know about their relationship. "I'll be back after lunch."
"Lunch? Okay I'll page you if anything goes down."
"We could only be so lucky."
Kellerman saw that Juliana had already grabbed a window seat at the back of Jerry's and was eyeing a small menu in front of her. He gave a slight wave, sitting across from her as he pulled out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter and offered her one. She of course declined, she always did.
"How long have you been here?" He asked, exhaling the toxic fumes from the cigarette and watching as the smoke lingered up and away.
"About 5 minutes, not too long. You got something on your mind?"
He never understood it, but she was one of the few people in the world that could read his facial expressions like a book. "There's always something on my mind." He retorted, trying not to sound too angry.
"Wanna talk about it?" She was used to Kellerman's moodiness and didn't take his shortness to heart.
"Meldrick brought up Gregg and Drew this morning. Just got me wondering what the hell those deadbeats are up to ya know?" He clicked the lid on his lighter as he stared down at it. For all he knew, his older brothers were dead or in jail. "Funny how when you think of someone it kind of just sneaks up on you."
She nodded, sitting back in her chair, allowing him to talk it all out before she made any attempt to make him feel better.
He inhaled more of the poisonous smoke, not saying anything else. "How has your morning been?"
She shrugged. "Went to that double murder that Bayliss and Pembleton are working. Other than that it's been pretty slow."
Kellerman was glad to have Cox. He usually wasn't too talkative about his problems but at least she was there for the little bit of information he was willing to share. Their relationship had it's ups and downs, and hell for all he knew it wasn't even a "committed relationship" but it felt good for the time being. Few things made him feel good anymore so he was going to hold onto this as long as he could, even if it was based on meaningless sex.
He made his way back to headquarters around 1:00, the same time Lewis did from his lunch break. "Anything come in Gee?" Kellerman asked, throwing his wallet on his desk.
"Nope, and you should be happy. You and Lewis have the next one."
Just like clockwork the phone rang, the same annoying ring that could be heard day in and day out that played through their minds like an overplayed new release on the radio.
"Homicide, Kellerman speaking." He nodded his head as if the person on the other end could see him. He put the phone back down in its cradle. "Got a murder over in Dundalk, let's get going."
TBC….let me know if I should continue or not! Thanks again!