Later on, Mike was taken back to his room for awhile. They were arranging his release, when Goren and Eames showed up.
"Need a ride?" Goren asked.
Mike nodded. "Please."
"I'm gonna go see Barek, come after me when you're ready," Eames said. The guys nodded.
"So anything exciting happen today?" Mike asked.
"Nothing out of the ordinary."
Mike laughed. "Nothing's ever ordinary at MCS, Goren."
"True. Well, the new guy starts tomorrow."
"I thought you said it'd be a few days."
"That's what they told us, but apparently he starts tomorrow."
"Lucky me, I won't be there. I get one more day. I think I don't mind, actually. I just want to go home and sleep."
Once the paperwork was finished, the boys went into Carolyn's room. She and Eames were chatting and looked up at them. "They freeing you?" Carolyn asked.
"Yea. I wanted to stick around as a visitor, but doc said no. Sorry."
"That's okay."
"We'll stop by in the morning before we go in," Bobby told her. She nodded.
"If I can I will come visit," Mike said. "But feel free to call whenever if you're bored and need an ear."
"I'll keep that in mind."
"Bye," Alex said with a smile, she got up and went for the door.
Bobby gave Carolyn a smile and a nod. "Get some rest and get back to us."
"Will do. Thanks guys," She said. They left the room.
Mike looked down at his partner. "Thanks for trusting me...and telling me. If he calls you again, call me and give me Hayes' number okay?" She nodded. "Promise me."
"I promise. Thank you for...well just about everything."
"It's what partners are for," he replied with a grin. "See you soon."
"Bye Mike," she said. He went for the door and down the hall after Goren and Eames.
"Ow," he said. A moment later, "Ow!"
Alex looked at him through the rear-view mirror. "You got a problem?"
"Yea, your driving and my seatbelt aren't agreeing with my stomach. I have bruises, y'know."
"Then take your seat belt off."
"With your driving? Yea right." He rolled his eyes.
"I think I like you better when you're laid out in a hospital bed looking all pathetic," she retorted, smiling.
"Children," Bobby said warningly. They both snorted in amusement. "So you're not coming in tomorrow?" He asked Mike.
"Nah, taking the day. I'll be in the day after though. The assumption is Barek will be in on Monday."
"Here we are," Alex said, pulling to the curb. "Need a hand in?"
"I think I can manage." He climbed out of the tank and bent down to Alex's window and looked in at them. "Thanks for being there. At the site and the hospital." He walked to his door then turned back. "And that's the end of warm-hearted Mike so don't get used to it." He grinned and went inside his building. He heard them drive off with a double-honk of the horn.
He let himself into his apartment. The familiarity of it made him feel even more tired. Just the feeling that he was okay and home. He glanced at his answering machine. No calls. Nothing new. He dropped his keys and jacket on the couch. He closed the blinds in his living room and headed for his bedroom, stripping out of the clothes he had worn the day before. The day before that felt like years ago. He closed the blinds in his bedroom, too. He didn't even bother putting pajama's over his boxers, he just fell into his warm soft bedding and went to sleep.
When he awoke, he didn't know what time or day it was. The apartment was dark. He went and took a long hot shower. It was painful at first on his aching muscles, but then he relaxed. Once clean and dry he headed for his living room and grabbed some painkillers the doctor had given him. He took them with some water and threw a frozen dinner in the microwave. While it cooked, he checked his answering machine. It wasn't blinking. He went looking for his cell phone, then remembered it didn't exist anymore. He looked at his answering machine again and scanned through the Caller ID. Barek hadn't called. But he decided that was a good thing, because most likely she wasn't gonna call unless Freddie was harassing her again. He wanted to call her, but he didn't want to disturb her rest. He needed her healed and back by his side as soon as possible, because frankly there weren't many people at MCS that he trusted to watch his back.
The microwave beeped and he took his food and a beer into his room. He sat in the dark and ate his dinner. Or breakfast. Whatever the meal was. In the silent darkness he heard Kelsey's screams. He heard Ryan. He heard the gun. He felt the vibrations of the beam rattling. He saw them falling.
He pushed aside the ends of his meal and lay back. It was only then he remembered that he probably shouldn't have had the beer with the painkillers. Oh well. He quickly fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.
He finally woke, again, and felt human. He pulled the shades and let the early morning sun into his apartment. He turned on the TV for the news. He'd missed an entire day somewhere along the line. He went to take a shower again, and pulled on his suit and jacket. He checked his machine again. No new calls.
On his way to work, he stopped for a breakfast burrito. When he walked into the squad room, people were shouting to him and patting his back and welcoming him back to work. It was nice. He stopped at his desk and looked over at Goren. "Morning," he said.
Goren looked up. "Logan. Good to see you. How do you feel?"
"Great. I've pretty much been asleep since you dropped me off."
"I figured as much. We wanted to call and check on you but thought you'd call if you needed to."
Mike nodded, then immediately noticed something was off about his desk. He stood there for a long time thinking about it. Then he got it. It wasn't his desk that was different. It was Carolyn's. It was completely bare. "Where's Barek?" He turned to Goren, who had been watching him and waiting. Goren didn't look excited to say anything, so he stayed quiet. "Goren. Where is my partner? Wasn't she released yesterday?"
"Apparently."
"Apparently. What does that mean?"
"It means we haven't seen her since we left the other night. We went in yesterday morning and they said that she'd been released already. So we came in here and met the new Captain and asked about her and he didn't know what we were talking about. He'd been told that she transferred out and he had to find you a new partner."
"No. No, I don't need a new partner. Where did she transfer to?"
"I don't know."
"And you didn't think you should call me and let me know?"
"We didn't know what to do. We figured since she transferred, she probably let you know already," Goren said.
"Well she didn't." He plopped down at his desk, completely confused. There was no way she'd just take off and not say goodbye. Unless the accident had shaken her up more than he thought. Yea it had been scary, but it wasn't worth leaving over! He angrily yanked his top drawer open to get a spare tie out, as he hardly ever wore one in to work. He grabbed the tie and pulled it from the drawer. Something weighed it down. He held the tie on his desk and looked at it. There was a postcard pinned to his tie...he flipped it over...it was blank...he looked at the front. It was a picture of Washington D.C. He flipped it over again, and then he noticed what was holding it to his tie. A small black NYPD pin. Carolyn's NYPD pin. He looked at the pin and at the postcard. He sighed. No, she wouldn't leave without saying goodbye. This was her goodbye. Her ex had been living in D.C. and this was her way of telling him she had been relocated to...well he didn't know where. But he knew. She'd been relocated. She heard his voice in his head, '..a really nasty gang...I took a red-eye to see him..' The jerk Hayes had taken her away. Mike picked up the stapler from his desk and hurled it at a nearby wall. It narrowly missed a tall man with dark curly hair.
"I'm hoping you weren't aiming for me," the man said stepping over.
"And you would be?" Mike glared up at him.
"Captain Ross." He stuck out his hand. Mike didn't shake it. "And you're Mike Logan. Sorry about your partner."
"Yea," he muttered.
"Like I told Goren and Eames yesterday, I don't know where or why she transferred. Don't take it out on me." Ross turned and walked away.
Mike sighed and looked down at his tie. He quickly unclipped the postcard, ripped it up and threw it away. Then he put on his tie and clipped the pin to his lapel. He wasn't about to keep the postcard, in case there was any way it could be traced to find her. Not that it was possible, but he wouldn't take any chances. He'd keep the pin. He didn't want to admit that he'd never see his friend again...but he pretty much knew he wouldn't. And he'd have to get over it. Like every other change in his life. He'd let it go. Anything to keep her alive.
Ross turned around at his new office and shouted back to Mike, "Oh, and your new partner starts on Monday."
"And hey, if it doesn't work out, I can try and get Barek back," Ross said to him. Mike turned and looked at the Captain, then at his feet and had a moment. If only it were that easy, he thought. It had been barely a week, and already the flashbacks were starting to fade. But there were just moments here and there, when he was back there. On top of that beam. He pushed it away and went and joined his new partner at the elevator. It was over. He hadn't told anyone what Carolyn had confided in him or that she wasn't just 'transferred' and he never would. He would just hold a small flicker of hope, hidden deep inside, that things would resolve and she would get her life back. Now, he'd just get used to a new partner. Again.
the end
AN: Thanks to all who read and commented! Hope you enjoyed it :D