A/N: So, muse of mine got hold of an H:LOTS episode on the rerun circuit this morning and is now stuck on Mike Kellerman. Therefore, this. I own nothing besides Melanie, but you all already knew that.
After the polygraph test, he doesn't want to go back to the Homicide squad room, so he doesn't.
The stupid thing about it is that he knows he's going to run into Meldrick sooner or later, because this whole on-the-take thing has been all over the department and all over the city. His picture plastered across the front of the Baltimore Sun doesn't exactly help things, either. He knows he's not dirty, but the fact that others could think he is bothers the hell out of him.
What he'd wanted was to do some kind of good on the streets, but apparently, no good deed goes unpunished, and everything has the potential to blow up in one's face.
He's starting to think he's about to learn it the hard way.
The Arson squad room is mostly empty when he gets there, save for a lone figure sitting at the desk opposite the one that used to be his own.
In all honesty, Mike isn't surprised. The other four idiots were known for taking off, and now that he's been replaced, he isn't surprised that the new guy is taking off right along with them.
By the time Melanie Scott realizes there's someone else in the squad room, he's got his hands over her eyes, so that she can't turn around and see who it is.
"Real mature, Kellerman," she says, anyway. "What do you want?"
Mike laughs, and moves his hands. "Where's everyone else?"
Melanie shrugs. "Don't know, don't care," she says, and there is an edge to her voice that he doesn't miss. "Odds are I'm not gonna want to know, either."
It doesn't surprise him to realize that he knows exactly what she means.
They end up leaving the squad room.
Once upon a time, the two of them were partners, but that time had been a year ago. They'd been something like best friends, too, in the fact that he was her 'maid of honor' when she got married in '92, and she was his 'best man', and the one whose doorstep he ended up on the night he found out that his wife had been cheating on him.
Now, the two of them find themselves caught in the middle of a storm that their own unit started, and though neither of them have done anything wrong, it's unlikely that anyone will take their word for it.
"Heard you took a polygraph," Melanie remarks, and Mike sighs.
"They were gonna suspend me," he admits, because he told her about administrative duty, but didn't tell her about that. "I didn't really have a choice."
Melanie shakes her head. "Did you pass?" she asks, and Mike shrugs.
"Don't know, don't care," he says, and then, "Rollins took one, too."
This time, Melanie makes a face. "Fat lot of good that's gonna do," she says, sarcastically. "That man could lie his way out of anything."
It goes without saying that it's most likely exactly what Rollins did.
"How're the guys treating you?" Mike asks, after a long moment of silence. Melanie glances up at him.
"Could be better, could be worse," she says. "They know I got hauled in front of that lawyer, but they don't know what I said."
Mike bites back the desire to laugh. "You've got 'em scared, Mel," he says. "You know they'd do anything to keep your mouth shut."
"Worst they could do is kill me, but then they'd have you after 'em," says Melanie, half-seriously. "I'm not a rat, Mikey. "
"I know." Mike trails off for another long moment, and then, "So, how's what's-his-face dealing with this?"
Melanie rolls her eyes. "Luke isn't dealing with this," she tells him. "He's been down in Annapolis with his family on and off since it broke open."
For some reason, this doesn't settle well with Mike at all, and he shakes his head. "Figures."
Melanie gives him a sideways look as they continue walking, down the largely abandoned sidewalks, because it's morning in Baltimore, and most people are at work.
"He's not that bad, you know," she says. "I think it's more his family than anything else. Don't want anything to do with a dirty cop, y'know?"
Mike gives her a look. "You're not a dirty cop," he tells her, flatly. "Neither of us are. They don't want to take our word for it, it's their problem. Not ours."
At this, Melanie stops in her tracks and turns to look him directly in the eye. "They think you're on the take, don't they?" she asks, and he knows she speaks of the other murder police.
When he doesn't answer, she scowls. "You'd think they of all people would learn to give someone the benefit of the doubt until a real answer comes along."
"They're Homicide," says Mike, dryly. "They've learned not to give anyone the benefit of the doubt until a real answer comes along."
"But they still think you're dirty."
"I don't know what they think."
But it goes without saying that he cares, and isn't going to admit it.
"Would you tell me if you were?" Mike asks, when they come to a stop at a crosswalk. Melanie shrugs.
"Don't know," she says. "Whole theory is that you're supposed to trust your partner, but something like that…"
"You trust me, don't you?"
"Well, yeah, but come on, Mike. Even if I say I would tell you, do you really think I'd actually mean it?"
"Probably not."
"Exactly."
It's an uncomfortable subject for both of them, but one of those things that they're gonna talk about anyway, just because it's present in both of their lives.
"I'm not on the take," says Mike, and Melanie nods.
"I know it. I'd kick your ass if you were."
The thought makes him laugh out loud and they cross the street. "You make me wish I'd stuck around, Mel," he remarks.
She smirks, but shakes her head. "You're lucky you left," she replies. "You think it's coming down hard on you…it's worse where I am."
Mike isn't surprised. "They aren't trying to put it all on you, are they?" he asks, and Melanie shakes her head again.
"Nah," she says. "They know better. You know, Rollins called us all back to his place after the Feds started coming around."
"What happened?" Mike asks, even though he doesn't really want to know.
"Tried to pay us off again," says Melanie, quietly enough that he barely hears her. "He really thinks he's gonna skate on this, and because of those other four, he might."
He doesn't know why he's so relieved that she didn't take the money this time, either, but he is. After all, it means he isn't the only one left that didn't.
"I miss Arson," he admits, then, tugging her out of the way of someone who's chosen to ride their bike on the sidewalk. "Homicide is just…well, it's cold."
She wants to laugh at this, but doesn't. "Cold, huh?" she asks. "In what way, exactly?"
"In every way. The detectives, the victims…you know, at least in arson, people planned it out so it was rare that anyone actually died, but over there…I don't know, Mel. It's not what I thought it would be."
"Yet people say they're the greatest unit Baltimore's got." Melanie fiddles with the shield she's wearing on her waistband and goes on. "If there was more fire than blood on the streets, it'd be different, y'know?"
"Who's to say fire and blood are mutually exclusive? Just because there's fire doesn't mean there can't be blood," Mike replies. "What do you think this investigation's saying?"
"That in this case, there can be both," says Melanie, and then, "Why'd you come by the squad room, anyway?"
"Didn't want to go back to the Homicide squad room," says Mike. "Everyone's looking at me, y'know?"
"Bothers you, doesn't it?" Melanie asks, and he sighs.
"I think you know me too well."
When they end up halfway across Baltimore at the harbor where his boat is, neither of them are particularly surprised.
"Gonna be a hell of a walk back," Melanie remarks, and Mike sighs, casting an almost apologetic look in her direction.
"I'll give you cab fare or something," he says. "Sorry about that. I didn't realize we'd come so far."
Silence falls when the double meaning of this second remark hits them, and they are also hit by the realization that somehow, somewhere, the lines between them got blurred.
He sits on the edge of the boat and remains there, feet swinging above the water as he reaches for her hand to help her across to where he is. Neither of them notice that when she sits, she is still holding onto him.
"Tell me if you pass?" she asks, quietly, and as he nods, she leans over so that her head is resting on his shoulder.
It occurs vaguely to Mike at this point that if any of the many cops they both know, to include Meldrick, were to come looking for either him or for Melanie, this particular scene could be read into at least a thousand different ways.
Even so, he doesn't move, and neither does she.
"I'd tell you," she says, finally, and he knows what she means without having to ask. His arm goes around her waist, and they remain where they are, looking out across the harbor towards the city.
"It'll all be over soon," he says, more to convince himself than to convince her, but he feels her nod anyway.
"Here's to hoping."