"That's a strange place to rest and recover from your injuries, Lieutenant."

It was Lenny's soothing voice that pulled him out of his deep state of concentration and Mike glanced over the rim of his glasses to see the Psychiatrist lean against his doorframe, hands in the pockets of his dark dress pants, an empathetic smile on his face.

"It's as good as any. If I need anything, somebody will be close by. The same can't be said for being home. Besides, the place needs all the help it can get."

"I gathered that from talking to Steve yesterday. He said he might need some help with a peculiar gravesite?"

"Somebody buried a body in a shallow grave over Don Francisco De Haro's grave over at Dolores cemetery. It hits me like a mob hit but he just got word that fibers from the clothing match that of a cassock. We're not sure about the significance of the burial site."

Before Lenny could open his mouth to answer, the wailing sirens of several fire trucks shooting down Bryant Street disrupted their conversation.

Without skipping a beat, Mike got off his chair and headed toward the large window overlooking town, his eyes frantically searching for the pillars of smoke rising into the air. A third set of sirens approached from the opposite direction, before the trucks disappeared out of his line of sight, the sounds of horns and heavy engines being drowned out by everyday noises once again.

Exhaling the breath he'd held when he couldn't see fire in the immediate vicinity, Mike turned back around, ready to resume his conversation with Lenny, just to find the Psychiatrist right behind him, his brown eyes clouded with worry.

"You're going to get quite the workout if you jump out of your chair each time a fire truck rolls by. This city is constantly burning…", he said quietly and resumed to study his patient from the safety of a couple feet away.

"It's called keeping my guard up.", Mike argued and leaned against his windowsill, the fingers of his right hand nervously playing with the middle button of his light blue vest as he endured the Psychiatrist's prying eyes.

"Steve told me that you can't be convinced that Osorro is dead."

"And he's right about that. Without concrete proof that the body we found in the warehouse is our arsonist, we need to keep our guard up. He killed a dozen people and tried to kill my partner and me…I don't take that threat lightly."

Mike didn't realize he'd raised his voice until he saw Lenny flinch slightly, then nod.

"It's a very understandable reaction.", the Psychiatrist began and motioned toward the window, "Until it turns pathological in the form of restlessness, anxiety, paranoia even…not that you guys up here aren't already on the verge of paranoia."

"Like I said, I am just keeping my guard up."

"You've been through a very traumatic experience…", Lenny continued undisturbed and leaned against the gray file cabinet, "You almost lost your partner, and your own life to this madman. He's a very unstable and scrupulous personality type. Events such as this fire can manifest themselves in our psyche as post-traumatic stress events. They can cause you to be triggered by anything that reminds you of the ambush. It could be the sound of fire trucks, the smell of smoke, anything and everything related to Osorro. And before you know it, you are so frozen and triggered out of your mind that you can't sleep anymore and have an overly emotional stress response to pretty much anything. Your body and mind will grow exhausted, you won't be able to focus as well as you should, you'll be more susceptible to disease and even heart attacks or strokes."

"I am fine, Lenny.", Mike insisted, growing tired of the other man's stabs at his personal life, and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"I am sure you are. But regardless of how this thing pans out, you should consider talking to somebody. If nothing else, monitor yourself for symptoms. I can't recall how many similar scenarios I have come across in my career that ended up in anxiety, depression and even suicide. It's a dark topic nobody wants to talk about, especially in a career such as this where you have to put on the brave face all day. That's not natural. What you guys see and go through is not natural in the long run. And you are doing a fantastic job handling all these challenges, but even you are not immune to stress, Lieutenant, especially post-traumatic stress. I guess…all that to say that if you ever need to talk to somebody, I'd be happy to be that person."

Swallowing the snippy answer that had been at the tip of his tongue considering the genuine offer that Lenny bestowed upon him, Mike nodded quietly, then pointed his chin back at his desk.

"For now, let's just…let's worry about the De Haro case. What can you tell us?"