The call had sent a tremor through his entire body, blanking out everything that currently occupied his cluttered mind, making his eyes drift from the handful of court notices on his desk to his right-hand drawer, ready to retrieve his badge and revolver to rush out the door before the person on the other end could even finish talking.
Brushing aside his hot beef sandwich that had never been touched and long grown cold, Mike reached for his notepad and jotted down the address of the accident, trying to keep his fingers from shaking as he did so.
It was barely past noon. He hadn't seen in partner for less than an hour when the day had taken another turn south.
Ignoring the last few homeless men left in the bullpen, he stood up, balancing the receiver between his shoulder and ear, pretending to pay attention to the voice on the other end telling him not to panic and that everything was alright all things considered, but deciding to come to his own decision on the situation as soon as he got there.
When the call finally ended, Mike bridged the short distance to his clothes rack, reaching for his overcoat and fedora but never bothering to put either one of them on and headed out into the bullpen.
Several worried eyes followed his rushed moves, ominous signs of something bad brewing that had been instilled into each detective over the years.
Mike had made it halfway toward the glass walled vestibule when Steve entered the office, his grey dress coat carelessly draped over his left arm, the limp a little heavier than before but seemingly unscathed otherwise.
As if some divine notion had prepared him for who was heading out to check on him; the young Inspector's eyes immediately travelled to Mike's office, before scanning the bullpen for his partner, his expression changing to utter relief upon noticing him by the water cooler.
"Are you okay?"
The tense question was followed by a meticulous visual examination of his younger partner, ensuring that everything indeed looked to be alright.
With every eye in the bullpen trained at the two men standing across from each other quietly, it was Steve who finally cocked his head and nodded.
"I am fine. Everything is fine. They took Tanner by ambulance just to rule out any concussion but he is fine too. The car…not so much."
"Never mind the car…", Mike grunted, brushing the topic aside for the time being as he ushered his partner back to his office, "You sure you're alright though? They checked you out too?"
"They sure did. We got t-boned on the passenger side, so Tanner took the brunt. Luckily it was at a low speed. We never even made it to our first homeless shelter before it happened."
Hanging his overcoat and fedora back onto the clothes rack, Mike reached for his partner's dress coat to do the same, before gentle nudging him into the guest chair, then closing the door for some much-needed privacy.
"The Sergeant said something about the squad car being at fault. What really happened? Somebody cut you guys off?"
Much to his surprise, Steve bit his lip before shaking his head.
"No…no, he was right. It was our…my mistake. I ehm…I ran a red light. Don't ask me how it happened, it just…it just happened."
"Mhm."
Mike slowly circled his desk, taking in the information as he sat down and rested his hands in his lap.
"Too much on your mind perhaps?"
Steve looked up briefly, unable to meet his partner's even glance for more than a few seconds, before staring back down at the overfilled desk, nodding slowly.
"Something like that, I guess."
"That seems to have become a common occurrence…between the both of us…lately."
The gentle attempt at an open-hearted conversation made Steve snap out of his broody state and peek back up from underneath furrowed brows, a faint smile spreading on his lips as he continued to nervously fidget with the seams on his dress pants.
"I…I guess so."
"How about a compromise then…", Mike said, hoping to break through the invisible barrier that had developed between them ever since the fire at the warehouse, a barrier that had allowed resentment to flourish when loyalty and dedication should have tied them together in the first place.
"Ever since my stay at the hospital, you've been spending more time with Tanner than with me. And I thought I was your partner. I think it would be best if we team up again, you know? Hold each other accountable. Talk through all the issues. As a matter of fact, after spending all that time talking to people this morning and getting absolutely nowhere, how about we hit up the streets together, see what we can find out at these homeless shelters. I don't know about you, but I am itching to close this case and find out who killed Reverend Joe."
Leaning forward to underline his genial offer, Mike smiled broadly, his heart warming when the gesture was returned.
"I'd like that very much.", Steve countered, his eyes softening at the unspoken peace offering that was so utterly needed after an emotionally charged day, "But I don't know if they'll let me grab another car downstairs."
"Yeah, that might be a problem…", Mike joked in return and stood back up, reaching out a hand to help his partner back to his feet, "I think I can take care of that problem. If you still have the list of shelters, let's head out and ask some questions. But this time, let me do the driving."
