Baltimore, Maryland. Otherwise known as Charm City…maybe even the 'greatest city in the world'. He'd left this place once before. It had hurt, but he'd sworn he'd never come back. Too many things had happened for him to ever want to come back. But he's come.

There have been many nicknames for Maryland's largest city over the years. Some have referred to it as Charm City, the nickname almost everyone knows. Others proudly declare that it really is the greatest city in the world. Baltimore has even been called the city that reads, but that was years back.

But the murder police have their own nickname for it. The city has been one of many murders for many years. And it is as one of those dedicated veterans that he returns, more out of loyalty than out of anything else. He's come back because one of his own has fallen, and he'll be damned before he allows himself to stand by and do nothing.

The silver shield he was given upon becoming a Baltimore detective is in his pocket. He draws it out and stares at it, a flood of memories from his last year here coming over him. He closes his eyes and waits for them to go away. There will be new things to get used to when he makes his way to the squad room. A new lieutenant has taken over the first shift. And the old lieutenant…a chill passes through him as he thinks about the possibility that the old lineup could lose a beloved member, but he forces himself to face it.

He knows for a fact that all the old faces will be there when he walks in…all except Crosetti and Felton, both of whom were lost in the years gone by. The old first shift was bound together by many things…most of it was loyalty, to each other, the department…but most of all to their lieutenant.

Al Giardello is a good man, and most people know it. And no one could have expected any of this. No one did. Least of all those he had worked with. He opens his eyes as this thought, upset, because in his opinion, the last person to deserve this fate is his old lieutenant. And that only makes him more determined to rejoin the others for a while…so they can find justice…for the city, their lieutenant and themselves.

With this in mind, he stares at the silver shield in his hands for a few seconds longer before pinning it to his jacket, even though he's a New York City cop now. And pulling the doors to headquarters open, he walks inside, wondering if there will ever come a day when Baltimore won't be known as the city that bleeds.

A/N: Forgive me if I seem to have messed up any canon details...it's been a while. And I'm pretty sure y'all know H:LOTS ain't mine, so, I'll go.