Ginoza rested his head on his hands as he lay in his bed, staring at the ceiling, willing himself to sleep instead of dwell on the emotions having an all-out war within his ribcage. He glanced at his nightstand, hoping to find something more distracting than the bland pattern of the ceiling. He winced.

Why do I keep those photos there?

Their innocence thinly veiled, two framed photographs stood guiltlessly facing him. His father smiled as Little Nobuchika sat on his shoulders. Kogami and Sasayama shared the other frame with a young Inspector Ginoza. He did his best to swallow the panic attack filling his chest, threatening to collapse his lungs, but he found that there was already no space to take a breath. He shot up and folded over in pain, hugging his knees to his chest. Tears streamed and he choked on them.

Damnit, get it together Ginoza. You need sleep.

A sob escaped him, and that was it. He found himself gasping for air, unable to control the pain emanating from his chest. He felt the sudden urge to run; to put as much distance between himself and the PSB as possible.

Too many memories… There is just too much loss here… I can't do it anymore… Every time I get close to someone… They leave me…

He was startled by a timid knock at his door.

"G-Ginoza?"

He checked the time on his wristband.

04:36:17

Why is she still awake?

It had been several days since the training accident and the team had captured a handful of anti-culture protesters the day before. There'd been a long foot pursuit and the day had been emotionally grueling as well. Inspector Akane had shoved Ginoza out of the way of a brick aimed at his face and had ended up in the infirmary with a concussion and an earful from Inspector Shimotsuki about how the Enforcers are supposed to be shields.

Gino took a deep breath and subdued his panic momentarily; long enough to stand and answer the door. He mindfully grabbed a t-shirt on his way and pulled it over his head.

"Ms. Maekawa, is everything okay?" His voice betrayed his exhaustion, and a hint of his anguish.

"I was actually going to ask you the same thing. I heard you from the common room. The door to the hallway was open. Are you worried about Inspector Tsunemori?"

He was shocked at her sudden transformation from timid Tsubame to concerned Tsubame. Her expression was identical to the one she'd given him when she'd elbowed him in the face. His heart tore itself in two, half of it throwing itself against the front of his chest to draw him nearer to her and share some of his pain, and the other half diving deep into the pit of his stomach to shield itself from getting attached.

"No, I know she'll be fine. She all but slapped Mika in the face when we were up in the hospital room…" He looked away from her down the hallway to the open door. "Why are you up so late?"

"Can't sleep," she muttered. "Tea? The teapot should be close."

He nodded and followed her to the kitchenette where the tiny ceramic kettle was whistling on the stove. She grabbed it before setting out a second mug for Ginoza and pulling a box of pre-packaged tea from the cabinet.

"Sleepy Time? Or something else?"

"I'll take whatever you're making," he replied, pressing his fingers to the bridge of his nose.

"Echinacea it is," she decided aloud.

"Sore throat?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah," she admitted. "Sore everything, really. I think I'm getting sick."

"Maybe you should make an appointment in the infirmary?"

"I'd rather not… I don't like the smell…"

"It does smell a bit like a Rehab Facility, doesn't it?"

Tsubame looked over her shoulder at him as she dipped the tea bags into the steaming mugs. She was half surprised he guessed so easily, and half relieved she didn't have to explain. After the initial wave of comfort washed over her, she brought the drinks over to where Ginoza sat at the island and took the seat next to him. Somehow his presence with her at that moment was relaxing.

"It's hot," she cautioned. Ginoza sipped from the brim of the mug anyway, the sting on his lip almost too painful to bear. But painful enough to distract me from pain elsewhere. "So, why were you crying?"

"I wasn't crying," he lied.

"You're good at a lot of things, Gino. Lying isn't one of them."

He sighed.

"I'd rather not talk about why."

"Fair," she nodded. "Would you feel more comfortable talking about what instead? Tell me about the feeling instead of the reason."

It was a ploy her therapists had used to open her up when she was still living in the orphanage. Her mind always seemed to clear up when she was able to transfer her feelings to someone else. She could feel Ginoza's anxiety hanging in the air between them, but she wanted to understand it better so that she could maybe feel comfortable like this around him all the time. It had been a long time since she'd been able to spend time with people on her own time and of her own volition, and in meditating over it, she discovered she actually missed it.

"You're hard to figure out, Maekawa," he smiled into his tea, his human hand propping up his head. "One day you can barely look me in the eye, and then the next, you're trying to get me to open up to you. What's that all about?"

"I asked my question first," she persuaded, hoping he'd give it a rest.

"I suppose…" He took another sip from his drink. "It's anxiety. And depression, I guess. That's what they tell me, anyway. My 'introverted tendencies' don't help me either… Or so I'm told. Truthfully, I'm probably the least introverted Enforcer in the Division, and yet, I seem to be the only one suffering from my introversion. Yayoi has Shion, Sho has his virtual world to escape to, and Akane…"

"So you feel alone?"

"Yeah, I guess you could say that."

She mulled that over for a few seconds before glancing back over at him. His prosthetic hand had found a death grip on the edge of the counter.

"I've been alone for a while too," she offered. "I didn't realize how much I hated it until I was allowed to be with people again."

"Well don't think it goes away when you're around people. People are the ones who cause it, really. You get attached, you acclimate to them, and then they just… leave…" His sad eyes crashed into her concern-laden irises, momentarily finding comfort in the hazelnut warmth of them. He shook his head and stood. "Sorry. You shouldn't listen to me. I'm just a poorly socialized dog who's mad at the world. I swear my bark is worse than my bite. If you'll excuse me, I should really get some sleep. You should too."

He retreated to his room, angry with himself for pushing her away, but also for allowing her to lure him out of his reverie with the promise of relationship. No good comes from it, Nobuchika. You know that. Push them all away. It's not worth the pain.

The next day saw Division One Enforcers sitting in the back of a paddy wagon behind a cruiser transporting their Inspectors across town to collaborate on the mysterious disappearance of a seven-year-old from an area park. With no recorded stress level increase, it would appear that the girl left willingly with a well-intending citizen, or other forces were at play. As they unloaded the paddy wagon in the middle of the day, the gathered crowd, who'd stayed mainly to help search for the child, gawked at the Enforcers. Inspector Shimotsuki begrudgingly authorized the Enforcers to carry the department's non-lethal electrified night sticks, making a comment about hunting dogs needing to watch their manners in the daylight. Tsubame shared a deeply irritated look with Yayoi while Sho rolled his eyes and tested the weight of the weapon in his hand. Ginoza took the stick from her and promptly walked away to join Akane, who was gathering intel from the girl's grandfather. He wore his black overcoat with the collar popped up around his neck.

The old man gave Ginoza a suspicious glare as he walked up, but continued to relay information to Akane. It was when Ginoza started asking questions about the man's granddaughter that he became red in the face and the insults started flying. The man's stress level sky-rocketed and a drone's alert function activated. Akane ordered Ginoza to return to the paddy wagon and tried to diffuse the man's anger. Mika shouted for all of the Enforcers to load in. Once inside, Yayoi asked Ginoza what happened.

"I asked him where he'd last seen his granddaughter. He didn't know. I then asked him what she was wearing and what color her hair is. When he couldn't remember I suggested that perhaps his memories of bringing the girl to the park were wrong. When he elevated so quickly, it just proved my point. I told Akane to look into the man's medical history. I'd bet my Crime Coefficient that he's in mid to late stages of Alzheimer's. His granddaughter was never at the park. He may not even have a granddaughter."

Ginoza's wristband blinked open to a call from Akane.

"I don't know how you just pegged all that, but you're right. We just called the man's son. He's coming to pick him up and take him to their family therapist. Good work, Mr. Ginoza. If Division Four had an Enforcer with your detective skills, we could've saved ourselves the trip." She hung up promptly and the paddy wagon began moving again. The rocking of the vehicle was therapeutic in a way. Having slept less than a couple hours a night since arriving at Nona Tower, Tsubame's consciousness began to fade. A few minutes into the transport, she was fighting the weight of her eyelids. Her struggle went unnoticed by Sho and Yayoi, who'd found entertainment in the form of news and social media via their wristbands, but Ginoza watched, amused, from the corner of his eye. He leaned back against the seat and prepared himself to reach over and keep her from hitting her head on the wall.

"Tired?" he mumbled.

She barely had the energy to nod her response. He removed his coat, folded it, and placed it in his lap.

"Here, it's a forty-five minute drive back home. You should take a nap."

She hesitated, searching his eyes for the answer to a silent, pleading question.

Can I trust you?

He smiled warmly and made sure his bionic arm was out of the way, then patted the coat with his human hand.

"Okay. Th-thanks," she whispered. Initially she lay rigid across his lap, but as sleep engulfed her, her muscles gave in to the overwhelming force of her exhaustion. Yayoi looked up from her screen long enough to quirk a suspicious eyebrow at Ginoza, but returned to her reading when he didn't respond. To be honest, he was too busy staying as still as possible to keep from waking his sleeping co-worker. She needs to rest, especially if she doesn't plan on seeing the MWPSB medical staff about her throat.

Back at the Tower, Maekawa was out cold. A light drizzle had started to fall from the overcast Tokyo sky, and Ginoza hated the idea of waking Tsubame, so he carefully lifted her from his lap, wrapped her in his coat, and carried her out of the paddy wagon. Mika, who'd come to the back of the vehicle to open the door, threw a dirty look at the four of them.

"What the Hell? Sleeping on a call?"

"We were returning from a call," Yayoi corrected. "And Ms. Maekawa is off in five minutes."

Kagari's voice echoed in Ginoza's memory.

Lay off, Inspector. Enforcers are just as human as anyone else. We're just a little more likely to go off the deep end. Ginoza laughed to himself. In that case, shouldn't we be allowed to sleep whenever we want?

Akane barely noticed the group as she walked over to the front door. Her face was stoic, but her body language indicated otherwise. Ginoza made a mental note to check in on her after delivering Tsubame to the apartment.

"Something amusing, Mr. Ginoza?" Mika grumbled.

"Yes, but if I told you, it'd be less amusing," he answered, shrugging. He shuffled past her, Maekawa cradled carefully against his human shoulder, and made his way into the tower. Several awkward stares and an elevator lift later, he was finally at the door to the Division One common room. His robotic arm held Tsubame's legs easily, but his uninjured shoulder had begun to cramp. He did his best not to jerk her around as he reached into his pocket for his key card. The door scanner activated, checked both the Enforcer's hues, and granted them entrance into the room.

Ginoza decided it was best not to disturb Tsubame by lifting her hand and opening the door to her room. He also figured she'd freak out a bit if she found out he'd entered uninvited. So, he laid her down on the couch, adjusting his jacket so that it lay on top of her. He stood over her for a few seconds to make sure she was still asleep before turning to leave. As his hand touched the door, a raspy voice called his name from the couch. Tsubame had sat up and was peeking at him from behind the back of the sofa.

"Thank you, Ginoza," she smiled. A pang in his chest told him simultaneously to return to her and to hide from her penetrating gaze. It felt as though she could see right through him, and that genuinely frightened him. How on Earth does a teenage Isolation patient gain such analytical social skills? He decided not to dwell on it.

"You're welcome. You should get some rest. I need to go speak with Inspector Tsunemori."

"I'll wait for you to get back… Are you hungry?"

"A little. Just fire up the holo and have it decide what I need to eat. I'll be right back," he promised. She waved meekly and stood to pull up the holo that the Enforcers normally kept in sleep mode. After a day in the office, the group of them had little patience for the floating blue squid. Ginoza was happy that he shut the door in time to avoid it recognizing him. To his surprise, Akane was walking towards him down the hall.

"Detective, do you have a moment?"

"Even if I didn't, I feel like you'd take one anyway. What's up?" Her voice was strained, which worried him.

"Are you doing alright? You seem stressed."

She chuckled to herself.

"I just can't seem to catch a break with Shimotsuki, is all. She's been riding my case for months. If I could smack her, Gino, I swear I would."

"I seem to recall hitting you once to bring you back to reality," he laughed.

"A memory scoop and being obnoxious are hardly the same thing," Akane replied.

"A slap to the face seems useful in both scenarios, though. I've got to say, though, my assault on you was more for your benefit than mine. That's the major difference I suppose."

"You've become quite the rebel, Mr. Ginoza."

"I wouldn't say that. I've just learned to restrain myself less," he admitted. "Only Inspectors need filters. There's no necessity for an Enforcer to be tactful. As a matter of fact, maybe I'll call Mika out myself on the next mission. You should put me on her task force."

"I'll remember that," she laughed. "Just make sure you don't go getting yourself paralyzed."

"No promises."

"Of course not," she sighed, shaking her head. "Is Ms. Maekawa alright? I was on my way up to check on her. I noticed you carrying her out of the paddy wagon."

"She's fine. She just doesn't sleep much. I've actually come across her sitting up in the common room most nights this week at ridiculous hours."

"So you don't sleep either, then?"

"Not a whole lot," he shrugged.

"Uh-huh… Well, you should both cut that out. We don't have the man-power to have two sick Enforcers."

"You got it, Missy," he winked. He momentarily reminded her of Masaoka, which made her smile.

"Goodnight, Mr. Ginoza," she waved. He watched her walk back to the elevator before re-entering the apartment. Tsubame was sitting in front of two plates of hibachi style steak.

"I couldn't get the damn thing to listen, so it made us a fancier dinner than I intended. Hope you're hungry."

The little squid bounced over to Ginoza and began bombarding him with questions about his stress levels, Crime Coefficient, and nutritional supplementation. It made an embarrassing comment about synthesizing some candles to improve the lighting in the common room before he shouted at it to go back to sleep. Tsubame blushed and stared at her dinner.

"I swear those stupid things are programmed to match make any person they come into contact with. For the longest time it was convinced that Kagari and Kogami were perfect for each other. I can see now why Kogami almost had it uninstalled."

"Kogami?" Tsubame looked up at Gino as he sat down next to her at the island.

"He was a Division One Enforcer a long time ago," Ginoza answered. For a moment, he forgot that Kogami had been the Inspector on Tsubame's case ten years ago. When he remembered, he glanced over at her to check her reaction.

"Were there two Division One employees named Kogami?" she asked.

"No. Enforcer Kogami was formerly Inspector Shinya Kogami. He was… my best friend at one point in time…" Ginoza's every instinct told him to change the subject. This could get painful for both of them.

"That's interesting," she mused, poking at her dinner. But she didn't share whatever thoughts she was entertaining. She yawned as she pushed her food around her plate.

"You aren't very hungry, are you?" he noted.

She shook her head. After years of eating as little food as she could stand, mainly because it was disgusting, she found that she couldn't stomach more than a few bites of normal food at a time. Ginoza grabbed her plate and placed it in the refrigerator.

"It's just as good reheated," he promised. "Sleep is more important."

"Says you," she challenged.

"From experience, skipping out on sleep isn't the best idea in this line of work. It was a major contributor to my demotion, among other things."

"Since you're so convincing, I suppose I could go try to fall asleep," she laughed. It was the first time he'd ever heard her speak so light-heartedly. Even her eyes lit up above a genuine smile. Distracted, he dropped his dirty plate and it shattered on the floor.

"Damnit," he cursed himself, sighing. "I really don't want to turn the holo back on to get rid of this."

Maekawa was already on her feet walking around the island.

"I'll help. At least it stayed in some pretty big pieces. We'll just have to have the holo check it in the morning." She bent down to grab a bit of ceramic.

Ginoza knelt as well to help pick up the plate he'd destroyed. He hadn't really broken anything like that since he first started getting the hang of his prosthetic arm. He'd smashed several coffee mugs before finally mastering the control of it. He reached out to grab a jagged piece with his human hand and found his target to be much smoother than he'd been anticipating. He jerked away when he realized he'd grabbed Tsubame's hand instead.

"Ah, sorry. I didn't realize your hand was there."

She held the piece he'd been reaching for with an iron grip, the sudden contact startling her. It took her a few seconds to notice the light bleeding from the cut she'd acquired.

"Shit. I'm such a klutz," she blushed.

"I'll go get a bandage. You should clean that out," he instructed. He rushed to the bathroom to grab a medical wrap from the first aid box under the sink. When he returned, he found her wincing with her hand held under a stream of water from the faucet. "You'll have to dry it off and then I'll wrap it up," he told her. She grabbed a dish towel from a drawer and dabbed at her throbbing hand. She hesitated before holding her hand out to him.

"It hurts," she whined.

"It'll be fine. It's not very deep and the edges match up well. I don't think you'll need stitches from the infirmary, but you should probably go get a regimen of antibiotics at some point tomorrow."

"We'll s-see about that."

"Up to you." He finished wrapping the bandage around her palm. She watched him intently, prepared to yank her hand away if he pulled the fabric too tight. Relief flooded her as he tied it off at the back of her hand.

"Thank you, Gino."

"No problem," he sighed.

"Ginoza?"

"Hmm?"

"You're, uh, s-still holding my h-hand…"

It was his turn to blush as he dropped her bandaged hand and clasped his hands behind his back. The cold sensation in his human palm from his metal hand was an unpleasant change.

"Sorry. I'm pretty tired myself. I'll see you in the morning?"

"Sure thing," she smiled.

He turned to leave her, but stopped short at the door to the hallway.

"Hey, Maekawa." She looked up at him expectantly. "That confidence suits you." He looked back at her over his shoulder. "I'm glad you're feeling more comfortable here. I think you'll come to like the job."

She just smiled stupidly as the door closed behind him. What a strange man.