Act of Remembrance
A/N: Thank you to all those who have read and reviewed my other stories and who have waited so patiently for my next offering. Real life has been cruel of late and has kept me away from the fandom so I am delighted to finally be back with a new story to post. I hope the wait will have been worth it and that it will not disappoint.
Chapter 1
It had been an exceptionally wet and miserable evening in San Francisco and while out patrolling in their squad car Mike and Steve had been called to two crime scenes over the course of the evening. On both occasions the two men had been soaked through as both bodies found had been located outdoors. One in an alleyway in the Tenderloin district and one down by the docks. Both cases seemed totally unrelated. The alleyway body seemed to be that of a homeless man, cause of death still unclear and awaiting the coroner's report and the young man's body found on the docks bore all the hallmarks of a gang killing. After securing both crime scenes and interviewing possible witnesses the two detectives searched for possible clues hampered by the poor weather conditions. With forensic teams in place the two men returned to the shelter of their car, rainwater dripping off Mike's fedora and with Steve brushing a hand through his rain-soaked hair.
Sitting into the car and turning on the engine, Steve shivered slightly from the dampness of his attire and glanced over at Mike who looked equally as miserable and chilled as he sat into the passenger side rubbing his hands together in an effort to warm them up.
"Some weather huh buddy boy?"
"Yeah, Let's hope there are no more call outs for the rest of our shift. I'm starting to run out of dry clothes in my locker." Steve said somewhat exasperated as he drove off back towards the Bureau to type up the two crime reports.
It wasn't a pleasant drive back to Bryant street as Steve had the windscreen wipers at full tilt to keep the windscreen clear and the glare of the street lights reflecting off the wet roads made driving more hazardous and exhausting. Stopped at one set of traffic lights Steve rubbed at his tired eyes and again shook more drops of rain from his hair that had been uncomfortably dripping down the back of his trench coat and soaking his neck. He shivered again and noticed that Mike was staring at him intensely. But before he had a chance to question his partner's intense scrutiny the light had turned green and Steve turned his attention back to his driving. Breaking the silence, Mike spoke first.
"You ok buddy boy ? You've been dragging all day. You're not coming down with something are you? You've been awfully quiet."
Keeping his eyes firmly ahead on the road Steve answered.
"No ... I'm fine. Just a bit tired that's all. I haven't been sleeping too good the last few nights."
"Oh? Something on your mind? Anything you want to talk about?"
Again keeping his attention firmly on the hazardous driving conditions, Steve risked a quick half-smile over at his partner.
"No. I'm ok. Really Mike! Or at least I will be when I get out of these wet clothes."
Mike smiled back and pinching the wet fabric that was currently clinging to his knee he replied.
"I'm with you on that one buddy boy!"
Silence followed as Steve concentrated on getting them back safely to the Bureau of Inspectors and Mike sat studying his young partner.
The truth was that Mike had grown concerned about Steve over the last two days. The young man had not been his normally cheery self and a dark cloud seemed to be constantly settled over him. He was very quiet and constantly looked tired and hearing Steve's admission that he hadn't been sleeping well tied in with how sluggish he had been of late. He had cried off their normal bowling night two nights ago citing tiredness as his excuse and Mike noticed that he hadn't been eating too well either. Despite the fact that Steve held Tony's pizzas in high disregard he normally managed to eat a slice or two but Mike's thoughts went back to earlier in the evening when Steve's slices had remained untouched and Steve's latest excuse had been that he just wasn't hungry. Mike vowed in that moment that he would get to the bottom of whatever was bothering Steve regardless of whether he wanted to talk about it or not !
Sighing with relief, Steve made it to the Bureau car park and even managed to get a parking space near the door. Locking the car both men made a dash for the door through the downpour and spent the next twenty minutes changing out of their rain-soaked clothes and drying off. Mike was the first back to his office and had hung his dripping trench coat and fedora up on his coat rack and had poured two hot steaming cups of coffee. Leaving one on Steve's desk Mike took his into his office and stood staring out the window at the torrential rain and hearing the occasional clap of thunder. Within minutes Steve had joined him towelling his hair dry as he came in to the bullpen.
"I left you some hot coffee on your desk buddy boy!" Mike shouted out his office door as he saw his partner enter.
Placing the towel around his neck Steve picked up the coffee cup and gratefully gulped down the warm and soothing liquid.
"Thanks Mike! Just what the doctor ordered!"
And then sitting down at his desk Steve wasted no time in putting paper in his typewriter and taking out his notebook and opening it up on the right page he proceeded to start typing his first report of the evening. Mike sat down at his desk, again staring out at Steve who was furiously typing as if his life depended on it. Once more alarm bells were going off in Mike's head. Normally Steve would put off starting the reports and would usually take his coffee into Mike's office and sit down and exchange small talk with the older man. Steve was definitely avoiding protracted conversations and that made Mike worry all the more! That usually meant that something serious was bugging the younger man and Mike knew from bitter experience that the more serious the cause of Steve's angst the harder it would be to get him to open up! As another loud clap of thunder broke through Mike's thoughts Mike sighed loudly as he realized the enormity of the task he had just undertaken!