You are now Melanie Santos.
"Ugh, what happened." You ask, the throbbing pound in your head erasing every memory you have of the past several hours.
"I see you're awake." A cold female voice says from behind you, the click-clack of heels coming closer to you.
"Who's there? Where am I?" You cry, shivering as a cold damp breeze blows through the room and chills your skin.
"I just want to talk."She says, leaning down and pressing her cold fingers to your neck, a sharp pain shooting through your body as she does.
"I don't want to talk to you, I want to go home." You cry, realizing that this isn't right, that you shouldn't be here. "I don't like it here."
"It doesn't matter, you won't be here for long." The icy voice slithers over you before something soft and wet covers your mouth, restricting precious air from your lungs, and putting you in a daze. You try to fight back, but the woman is stronger, an you're getting weaker by the second. You're lungs burn for air and the last thing you remember is cold familiar eyes glaring down at you.
"Sweet dreams sweetie, if only you had wanted to talk."
You have died.
You are now Detective Mal Fallon.
You sit with your partner Special Agent Natara Williams in your favorite seafood restaurant, eating clam chowder.
"So then, Sandra came by my apartment and we talked about the divorce, how we would split up most of our assets." You say, gulping down some coffee before looking into Natara's eyes. "It just made everything feel so real, you know. It's one thing to be separated, but an actual divorce just puts the final nail in the coffin."
"I'm really sorry Mal, but I think that the divorce is exactly what you need." Natara says, her eyes tender. "It'll help you really move on." She is about to say something else when her cell phone goes off. She glances down at the screen, and her face lights up with a smile. "Sorry Mal, I have to take this." She gets up quickly and walks toward the door, but you can hear little tidbits of her conversation. Your heart sinks as you realize she is talking to the Assistant Distract Attorney, Oscar Santos.
"Yeah, I'll see you at the event." She giggles and gives her hair a flip, much to your chagrin and surprise. As she sits back down, her eyebrows draw together as she notices you gapping at her.
"What, do i have something on my face?" She asks, self-consciously brushing at her cheek. Your eyes follow the movement, and you heart speeds up as you take in her beautiful alabaster skin.
"No, it's just, I've never seen you act like such a girl." You say with a shrug, collecting yourself.
"That's because I'm not a girl Mal." Natara laughed, the light hitting her as she threw her head back and chuckled. So beautiful. "I am a woman."
" I don't mean that you're not...womanly, I'm just saying that I have never seen you flip your hair while talking to a guy, not even with Shawn." You realize what you have said to late, and watch as she cringes.
Two months ago.
You don't know how it's gotten this far, but you pull the trigger, and Shawn's eyes go wide with pain. You hear Natara's screams, but they float away as Shawn's lips widen into a smile and he leans in closer and whispers " Every time she sees you, she'll see this, my face. Detective Fallon. I. Win."
Present Day.
"Sorry." You sigh apologetically and look out the window into the calm ocean and blue skies.
"It's fine Mal." Natara clears her throat and abruptly stands up. "Really, you don't have to apologize every time Shawn comes up." You know she's lying, but you don't press it. You stand up as well, leave enough money on the table to cover both your meals, and glance back at Natara, who is already walking towards the door.
"Damn it Fallon, try to use your brain every once in a while." You whisper to yourself before following her out.
You are now Special Agent Natara WIlliams.
You sit in Mal's car, awkwardly drumming a rhythm onto your thigh so you can avoid looking at him.
"Look, Nat, about earlier, I shouldn't have brought up Shawn, it was-"
"It's fine Mal, like I said before." You say, still looking down, knowing in your heart that it isn't. Every time someone says Shawn's name, it's like you're right back on the roof, hearing the shot that changed everything for you. "Let's just go back to the station."
"Fine." Mal says, he hands tightening around the wheel. You know that you've hurt him by not talking about, but you just can't, not about Shawn, not about that night. The rest of the ride feels tense and uncomfortable.
Later, at the precinct, you stride over to your desk and shuffle through papers that had been placed on it, looking through new cases and profiles that you have been asked to review.
"Hey Natara." Ken walks up behind you and leans against the edge of your desk.
"Hey Ken." You answer back, looking at the profile of a serial rapist that had gotten a prison sentence of twenty to fifty years in jail.
"Can you tell me why Mal is hanging by the coffee maker looking like his girlfriend just dumped him?" Ken asks, his eyes suspicious. You look up and follow his gaze over to Mal, who is staring into his cup with a serious look on his face.
"We got into a fight at the restaurant, something that doesn't need to be talked about." You hide your face behind the papers, feeling a blush creep into your cheeks.
"Al-righty then, but that's not the real reason I came over here." Ken leans down, pulls that papers that your holding out from your hands, and gestures to Mal. "Captain wants the both of you in her office now."
"Okay." You say, walking over to Mal and telling him what Ken just said.
You are now Detective Mal Fallon.
You stroll into Captain Maria Yeong's office with Natara at your side, still feeling some of the awkwardness from earlier still in between you two.
"You asked to see us Captain." Natara says, walking up to the desk. Maria turns around and nods at the two of you.
"Please sit." She said, gesturing to the chairs that sat in front of her desk.
"What's going on Captain?" You ask, sitting down and watching as Natara did the same.
"There's been a murder." She says, leaning against the window.
"We are homicide detectives Captain." You joke, hoping to get a smile on Maria's grim face.
"This is no time for jokes Detective." Maria says sternly, walking forward and sitting down at her table.
"Captain, what is going on, really?" Natara asks, leaning forward and resting her elbows on her knees.
"Special Agent, Detective, this isn't just any murder, this is the murder that hits one of our own." She said gravely.
"Who?" You ask, your curiosity aroused.
"It was Assistant District Attorney Oscar Santos's daughter Melanie." Maria says, her eyes on Natara. You glance over at her and see how her face has fallen, her eyebrows drawn together.
"Melanie?" You hear Natara whisper and then she gets up. "Has anybody talked to Oscar yet?" She heads for the door, her hand on the doorknob.
"Special Agent Williams, sit down." Maria says firmly. "I didn't call you in as D.A Santos's girlfriend, I called you in as an F.B.I agent. If this is going to be a problem for you, well then I think that this is going to be in your best interest to sit this case out."
"Captain, that's not fair." Natara argues." Oscar has the right to know about his daughter, and I'm not going to be the one not to tell him about this crap!"
"Special Agent, sit down, and watch yourself." Maria warned.
"For what," Natara asks defending the rights of my boyfriend?" Natara folded her arms over her chest.
"Agent Williams," Maria barked, "this is the last warning I'm going to give you before I call two police officers in here to escort you out."
"Maria-" Natara begins, her voice sharp. You realize that whatever she is about to say isn't going to be good, so you stand up and take her arm.
"Natara, stand down." You hiss in her ear, yanking her backwards. She glances back at you, her face going from furious to calm with every second that you hold her close to you body. You on the other side, are having an opposite reaction, your heart speeding up and every hair on you arms standing up on edge. Natara disentangles herself from you and turns back to Maria after a minute, her face unreadable.
"I'm sorry captain, it was wrong for me to lash out like that, and it won't happen again." She says, folding her arms behind her back.
"Even so, you understand where I'm coming from when I say that you are off this case." You can feel Natara about to argue again, so you grab her around the waist and tug her towards the door.
"Thank you for your time Captain." You say, struggling as Natara punched your arm. Maria nods as you exit.
You are now Special Agent Natara Williams.
You fight your way out of Mal's arms and spin around, eye's flashing.
"What the hell Mal, I have to be on this case." You spit, feeling a cold bubble of hatred go through you as you watch Mal's boyish good looks screw up into a frown.
"Sorry, Nat, but between being off the case, and off the force, I think I would pick the former." He says.
"Mal, Oscar has the right to know about his daughter, no matter how painful." When you see he won't budge on his opinion, you change tactics, think about how you can get him on your side. "How would you feel if you weren't told about Tasha's murder?" He flinches away from you and you immediately regret what you just said. Tasha was a low blow.
"Pretty bad." He says, his eyes letting you know that he wasn't talking about Tasha at all. He turns and begins to walk away, compelling you to follow, leading you into the very public bullpen.
"Mal, just try to see it from where I'm standing." You grab his shoulders, making him stop.
"I do." He spits, drawing the attention of nearly every police officer in the bullpen. "You like Oscar, Oscar likes you, so suddenly you no longer like common sense or self-preservation." This is probably one of the worst fights that you have had with Mal, and you're ready to go all in. You glance around the bullpen and see that every is hanging on your every word.
"Oh, Mr. Follow-Your-Guts is reprimanding me for not having any common sense?" You laugh. Mal looks so angry he could kill.
"I'm not doing this with you right now." He says, maybe doing the most mature thing that you have ever seen him do.
"When would you rather we do this. I mean, can you pencil me in your empty date book?"
"Natara, watch it." Mal warns, echoing Maria. You want him to see how much his help would mean to you, how much you need him to be your partner instead of the guy trying to oppose you.
"What is it Mal? Because you know that if it was anybody other than Oscar, you would help."
"No, I wouldn't because what Captain said was right. You can't be on this case because you are too close. I bet you didn't even know Melanie, and yet you're willing to fight tooth and nail against Captain?"
"She was Oscar's daughter." You say, you're voice close to a whisper.
"Where's the Natara who could look at a case and see the facts, not be clouded by emotions, the traits that make us such a good team?" Mal asks, he steps so close to you, you can feel his breath on your cheek. You want to answer, when you hear someone clear their throat behind you.
"Is it true?" Oscar asks from behind you. " Is Melanieā¦gone?" Oscar voice breaks and his eyes glisten with tears. You turn to Oscar, too soon to see the way Mal face falls. You can't speak speak until your heart beat slows down.
"Oscar, I am so sorry." You say, walking towards him. "It's true, Melanie's gone."
You are Krista Summers.
You wake up in the same cold room that has been showing up in your nightmares. You try to remember what happened to you, but all you can think about is the sharp pain in your head as you fell to the ground.
"Hello?" You call, your voice echoing through the empty room.
"It's your fault that Melanie is dead Krista." A familiar voice says, the woman coming closer to you from your left.
"I-I would never hurt Melanie." You say, goosebumps creeping over your bare arms. "She was my friend."
"Some friend you were." Suddenly, every hair on your head is begin pulled back and the mouth of a knife is pressed against your neck.
"Pl- please don't kill me." You beg. The woman laughs a cruel, calculating laugh.
"I won't kill you honey, I need you to do something for me."
