AN: Luckily I was able to write most of this on my train ride today so here is another installment. A slower paced update but an update nonetheless LOL. This is new territory for all the characters so I'm trying my best to keep them in character but please forgive if they veer a little OOC...

Thanks everyone for following my story and for the feedback!

Tanith


Chapter 47

"What?" Steve laughed wrily at the absurdity of the accusation. "No, no, there must be some mistake. Doc, run the tests again!"

Dr. Andrews looked apologetically at his patient. "I'm sorry but there's been no mistake, Mr. Keller. There were only small traces of the drug left in your system but it was enough to get a positive result."

"I didn't take anything! At least not voluntarily!" Steve shouted. "I am not a junkie! I'm a homicide detective of the San Francisco Police Department and I want a second opinion!"

"Steve, that's enough!" Mike barked, quieting his upset partner but earning a glare from him in return. To the physician, he said, "Doc, would you mind giving us a few minutes?"

"There's been no mistake, son..." Riley started but Steve disrupted him with another outburst.

"What are you talking about? Didn't you just hear a word I've said? Chief, come on, you gotta know didn't take anything! Mike, tell him there's been one hell of a mistake here!"

But Riley cut in before Mike could say anything, "You were found in one of the rooms of a hotel during a drug bust. You were unconscious on the bed with two young women. Two prostitutes. You had a great deal of cash in the lining of your jacket and your prints were all over the syringes…"

"Wait a minute! What prost...Syringes? Money? Am I being accused of something here?" Steve vehemently protested. "This is why I've been handcuffed all this time, isn't it? Am I being charged?"

Mike laid a calming hand on Steve's shoulder. "Steve..."

The young detective's eyes bore into Riley's. "Well, am I?"

This time as the silence rode out, Mike also made eye contact with the SFPD Chief. "Is he?"

"No, not yet," Riley finally replied.

Steve looked fiercely into Riley's eyes. "This is obviously a set-up! Send someone over to the Lees and if Christina's not there, you've got all the proof you need to bring in the Holdens and clear my name."

Riley sighed. "Okay, I'll send someone over to check your story out. It's not that I don't want to believe you but you gotta look at this from my point of view. Now, we're going to do everything we can to get to the bottom of this mess but I need you to cooperate with me."

"Chief, you know me. Maybe not as well as Mike but I'm a straight out cop. I'm not one of the bad guys and I'll do anything to prove it," Steve said in his last line of defence.

"Good. Firstly, I want your permission to search your house."

Steve swallowed hard, not trusting that Riley really believed in him. But, he just made a promise to cooperate and he felt obligated to do just that.

"Is that really necessary?" Mike spoke up.

"In any other case I would have gotten a warrant but I really don't want to have to do that here. If this is really a set-up to frame Steve, the best thing he can do for himself is to volunteer to help us with the investigation. It shows he has nothing to hide and nothing to fear of what we may find," Riley explained.

"It almost sounds like you're expecting to find something," Steve commented uncomfortably.

"Don't make this more difficult than it has to be. I don't like this anymore than you do!" Riley said tersely.

Steve's shoulders tensed up. He wanted so badly to continue with his defence but he knew it would just make things a whole lot worse. Riley was doing his job and he needed to respect that even if he didn't like the direction the investigation was heading. "My keys were in my jeans pocket. If they're not there, Mike has a spare set."

Riley nodded. "Okay, we'll keep you both posted. In the mean-time, just lay low and let's try to keep a lid on it. I don't want either of you discussing this with anyone else, even in your department. Except for Olsen of course. The last thing anybody needs, especially you, Steve, is media attention if there's a leak." Looking down at his watch, he excused himself. "I gotta go before my wife sends out an APB on me. Get some rest, both of you."

"Give my regards to Debbie," Mike replied, while he thought about the long night ahead of him. He doubted he was going to get any kind of rest.

Once Riley had left, Steve made a move to get out of bed but Mike kept a restraining hand on his shoulder.

"What do you think you're doing?" Mike hissed.

"I'm not just gonna sit here and twiddle my thumbs! I'm going back to that cabin to prove to you and everyone else I'm right!" Steve shot back.

"No, you're not! You're going to stay right here in that bed. You have nothing to prove to me but if you go out there, you're gonna dig a bigger hole for yourself! Are you listening to me?" Mike had to practically wrestle the young man back into his bed. "Steve, look at me!" Mike placed his hands on either side of Steve's shoulders and peered into his face. "I know this isn't easy. It's not fair and it sure as hell stinks. But you got yourself into this mess when you went on your own reconnaissance mission without telling anyone where you were. Now we have to deal with it the best way we know how and that is by sticking together because that's what partner's do! No more running off and getting yourself killed!"

"I didn't get killed," Steve muttered feebly.

"Not this time but these guys mean business. Don't push your luck," Mike advised in a serious tone then he released Steve's shoulders and pulled up a chair just as Irene poked her head into the room.

"I can come back?" Irene asked tentatively. She had stayed outside in the hallway after calling the office to check for any messages she may have missed.

Mike turned around then found a second chair for Irene and gestured for her to take a seat. "You came back at a good time. Sit and I'll fill you in." Then to Steve he said sternly, "I want you to tell me everything that happened since the last time I left you here and don't leave anything out. You got that?"

Steve nodded. "What about Jeannie and Christina?"

"Buddy Boy, as far as Christina is concerned, her mother hasn't reported her missing and before you get started again," Mike said, holding up his hand to forestall the young man from speaking. "I don't have a warrant. Without one, my hands are tied and there's no chance I'll be granted one either. As for my daughter, I can't go marching over to wherever she is, unarmed. I need some ammo that's strong enough to break through that shield she has wrapped around her heart and that's where you come in. I need to know exactly what we're dealing with so let's get started."

Steve drew a deep breath, ran his hands through his messy hair then began to recount what had transpired since that afternoon. By the time Steve had finished with his informal statement, his throat was uncomfortably dry again. He found it particularly difficult telling Mike about the condition Jeannie was in and the fact that he failed to pay more attention to how he got to the cabin. "I'm so sorry, Mike. It was dark and I don't remember where the turn off was."

Irene noticed Mike's apprehensive reactions to Steve's recollections about his daughter and knew he was close to racing off in search of the cabin himself so she decided to talk some sense into him first. They needed a plan of action that wasn't going to further endanger Jeannie's life or involve all of them getting suspended. "Mike, why I don't I call this one in? I can get an address and a telephone number for the cabin. Call Jeannie and see how she sounds, what do you say?"

Steve took Irene's suggestion the wrong way and snapped hoarsely, "Jesus Christ, you don't believe me either? You, of all people?! I just spent the last twenty minutes going over what I saw, what I'd been through and you…you want to call her and see if she's okay? Well, she's not okay! So long as she…"

"Steve!" Mike held up his hand, his voice riding over the top of his protégé's. "Enough. Irene's right. As much as I want to go over there myself and break the door down, that's not the way this is going to work. We have to be sensible and tread carefully. I know my daughter and I trust that she'll find a way to tell me herself if she is in trouble. I'm not saying I don't believe what you saw and neither is Irene but there's a chance Whitney could be telling the truth about her being ill. Whatever he may be, he's known Jeannie for years and he has never harmed her. I believe he does love her and she did call me today with a very clear message: she's not my little girl anymore. I have to respect that. So please, Steve, I'm asking you to do the same."

Steve wanted to shake some sense into Mike and Irene but what good would it do? It was obvious they had some doubts about what he saw and he could hardly blame them when he'd just tested positive for drugs. It was going to be a long and dreadful night, he just knew it.