Matthew Gibson

He was happy for Will.

Really.

But when he saw her and Hoffman leave together, he felt a stir in his gut.

"Someone's got to stand up to that prick," he muttered.

"Now, Gibson," Tapp turned to him with a bemused smile. "Today's a happy day. None of our boys died. Rosello's gone. Just enjoy it."

"Aren't you mad?" Gibson rounded to the veteran cop. "You, of all people, know what Hoffman did. What he'll keep doing."

The image of the junkie that had taken his gun filled his vision. The guy's chest, exploding as Hoffman shot him in the back. The spray of hot blood on his face. The taste of metal and gunpowder. It haunted him.

It had been cold blooded.

Cruel.

It had been wrong.

"Now, Gibs, I know you're all excited with your new assignment with IA. But remember what happened last time? You need to have hard evidence before bringing down a superior. Especially now that the precinct sees Mark Hoffman as the hero that took bullets to save our golden girl? I bet you ain't gonna find a single cop here who'll say boo to Mark Hoffman now. Now, you're a nice kid. I may even agree with you on a lot. But I also know to be smart about it. Pick your battles. Let it go."

Gibson clenched his jaw. Tapp must not have been that clean.

This entire department was dirty.

He'd clean it up.

He swore it. Even if it killed him, he'd be sure the bad guys would face justice.

He got to his feet and almost collided into Detective Kerry.

"Easy there, hon, where's the fire?"

He grumbled and walked away, shoving his hands into his pockets.

How could Will stand being partners with that creep?

He went to blow off steam. Poured some coffee. Chewed on a toothpick.

But his feet somehow carried him away from the Cop Pit and to the higherup's level. He knew where Hoffman's new office would be. And he wanted to give the guy a piece of his mind.

He knocked the on frame. Hard.

The door opened.

It was Hoffman.

He looked past him, searching for Will.

She wasn't there.

"Looking for Maddox?"

"Uh," he looked up at Hoffman, suddenly remembering that he was noticeably larger than he. "No. I want to talk to you."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." Gibson squirmed, suddenly feeling warm. "I'm out of Homicide. I'm now in IA."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." He rubbed his nose. Fuck it. "About what happened at the Crossroads. You killed that man. It was wrong. And you may now have this entire department around your finger but I want you to know," he paused, "that I know what you are. What you're capable of. And I'm going to keep a close eye on you. If you step out of line. If you start slipping. I'll be there and I'll bring you in."

Hoffman's face had gone blank. His lips curled into a sneer. "Oh, will you?"

"Yeah." Gibson cleared his throat. "And Maddox. She's a good person. I won't let you," he rubbed the back of his neck and looked away, "corrupt her. Someone's got to protect her from you. You got me? I've got my eye on you, Hoffman."

"I'm shaking like a leaf. I didn't know Maddox needed you to be her knight in shining armor. I'm sure she'll find that cute. But let's get things straight." He took a step towards Gibson and they were chest-to-chest. "She's my partner. If there's any protecting her to be done, I'll be the one to keep her safe. Not some loudmouth rookie who's still waiting for his balls to drop. So here's a tip. Back the fuck off."

They glared hatefully at each other.

"Hey, what's going on here?"

It was Will, holding two cups of coffee with concern knitting her eyebrows.

"Gibson was just saying congratulations. He's leaving now."

"Okay?" She smiled but her eyes still sparked with awareness. "Oh, Matt, I heard you're now in IA. Glad to hear it. I'm sure you'll do great there."

He felt his cheeks flush. Hoffman was staring down at him, waiting. "Thanks, Will."

He couldn't help it. I'm a fucking coward.

He walked away.

Allison Kerry

"But we had to get back to Virginia. You know you'll always hold a special place in my heart, Ally. But long distance just won't work. We good?"

Allison tossed her hair over her shoulder, squeezing the receiver tightly. "Yeah. We're good." She refused to believe her heart was breaking. No, she had Eric.

She didn't need Linds. It had been a fling. Just a fling.

"As soon as I can, I'll find another reason to get back up there. Maybe we can pick up where we're leaving off, you know?" Lindsey's voice was playful but laced with concern. "I'm not the only one with regret here. Strahm feels terrible about how things just ended. He didn't even say goodbye. How has Will taken it?"

Kerry sighed into the payphone, still looking at the convenience store entrance for Eric to come out. It was just like Lindsey, to try to deflect with gossip. "Well, Will doesn't seem too concerned. I wasn't even sure they were an item."

"So here's the thing. I heard they were seeing each other, but purely in a professional setting. Which is weird, isn't it?"

"Actually, it sounds like what's expected of adults to do."

"Ouch. That's fair."

Allison kept looking over her shoulder. She felt like she was about to be caught cheating - which was ridiculous, considering she wasn't the one married and with a child - and wanted to get off the phone promptly.

She wasn't too torn up about Lindsey. She and Eric had just spent the morning getting reacquainted with each other's anatomies. She had almost forgotten how to use his equipment. Working with Lindsey, and getting 'reacquainted' with her old college roommate, had been the longest period of time being with one person exclusively. Well, the closest thing to exclusivity for her. Technically, she had still been fucking around with Eric behind Jane's back.

Long term relationships weren't a thing in her line of work.

She knew that.

So why did her chest sting so goddamn much?

"Ally, I've got to go. See you later."

"Yeah. Bye, hon." She hung up and got into the car, biting the inside of her cheek.

Eric finally returned with some chips and a soda, a tense look on his face. He opened the door and threw in his purchase. "I've got a page. It'll be a minute."

He slammed the door, angry.

She already knew it had been Jane.

Lately, it seemed his wife had been needier than usual. It had set him on edge.

This had made their latest trysts more intense, as if he was trying to fuck his way out of his marriage.

Which, technically, he was.

She watched him in the phone booth, the yellowing glass distorting his face. But his arms said it all. His body language started defensive. Then openly hostile. She watched as he took the receiver and slammed it against the glass, hard.

She leaped out of the car as he continued using the plastic phone as a hammer, cracking into yellowing glass, lines spiderwebbed around his impact.

"HEY! Easy there, big guy!" Allison opened the booth door and released the pandora box of Eric Matthews' vulgar vocabulary.

"You fucking bitch! You think you can take my kid away?!"

"ERIC!" She put a hand on his shoulder and he flinched.

She had seen Eric furious before.

But this time, she wasn't sure if she should risk trying to cool him down.

He stormed out and kicked a can. He was unbridled, enraged violence in the form of flailing punches and a snarl.

She watched as he tired himself out, nervous when a couple of bystanders stopped to observe his tantrum.

He collapsed to the ground, pinching his nose and breathing heavily.

Allison slowly approached his back. "Eric. Let's go. I'm driving."

Eric complied, not brushing the gravel off his clothes and slumping into the passenger seat. She started the car and drove off, her heart racing.

"What happened?"

"She's leaving me."

Allison swallowed. "She knows."

"She found one of your bras when doing the laundry. I thought it was one of hers. I just threw it in the hamper this morning."

She bit her tongue, withholding any admonishments. She would have called him a dumbass, if she had not been as equally responsible.

"I'm sorry."

Matthews was staring out the window. "Now what am I going to do?"

She didn't know.