Half asleep, and with a raging headache from the night before, Melanie waltzed into the sixteenth precinct exactly thirty minutes late for her shift.

Obviously, she hadn't meant to. She'd just been running so far behind schedule given the fact that she only woken up forty five minutes ago... In Barba's bed... After he'd physically carried her there, tucked her cosily under the duvet and then went out to sleep on the couch himself. You can see from that why she might have been a little too disoriented and dazed that she literally couldn't have come in to work any sooner if she had tried.

She hadn't even had that much time to call home, after running away from Barba, to check on Quint. Or to even brush her teeth to get rid of the remnants of what she drank last night, before she was rushing out the front door again and heading to work — wearing the exact same clothes as yesterday, she might add, and she could already hear the remarks that would be coming her way over that small detail she'd had no time to change.

At least she didn't sleep with Barba, Melanie thought to herself. That would have only made the jokes harder to brush off as if she had... If she'd had a drunken one night stand with Rafael Barba after months of pining after him, she'd no doubt have gone so red in the face after the first joke that she'd have opened up a window, and tossed herself head first out of it.

"Well, would you look who it is," Carisi said humorously as Melanie came shuffling tiredly into the squad room, her bike helmet in hand, her hair unbrushed and two dark ringed circles sitting heavy beneath her eyes. "We were wondering when you were gonna show up."

"And wearing the same clothes as yesterday?" Rollins added, raising her eyebrow knowingly as she sipped her coffee. "Looks like somebody got laid."

"To rest," Fin laughed, making Rollins snort into her coffee cup as Melanie glared half assedly towards him, "Girl, you look dead on your feet, what the hell did this guy do to you?"

"There was no guy," Melanie deflected instantly, even though there kind of was. Just not in the dirty way in which they thought. She set her helmet on the chair by her desk and sat down on her own, running her clammy hands over the entirety of her tired face. "I just... got a little drunk last night and fell asleep on the couch, that's all."

"Mhm," Rollins hummed, clearly unconvinced yet she let it slide. She was too uncomfortable herself to carry on, what with her pregnant belly and her constant need to pee, which speaking of, "Mel, help me up?"

With a faint groan that made Rollins chuckle Melanie stood back up, almost falling right back down again when a wave of dizziness suddenly washed over her entirely. Her hand shot up to her head as her mind spun violently inside of it, the whole room nothing but a blur as she braced herself against the desk, a soft, scotch-flavoured burp escaping up her throat and making her groan again.

"Jeez, are you still drunk?" Carisi asked with an amused scoff, getting to his own feet to help Rollins up as it didn't appear as though Melanie could move so much as inch away from her desk.

"It's possible," Melanie exhaled slowly, falling back into her chair again and closing her eyes in hopes of settling them. "I had so much scotch last night, I actually think I'm dying."

"I'll get you some coffee," Carisi said, as Rollins waddled off to the bathroom, "I assume you want some crack in it?"

"Yes please," Melanie mumbled, her eyes growing distant as she rested her hand on her chin and fought the urge to fall asleep. It didn't work though, her eyes drew closed again the second Carisi's chuckle faded as he headed for the coffee pot. Only, her peace didn't last long though, not when the faint sound of wheels rolling caught her attention and she cracked open one eye, to now see Fin so close to her that he physically made her flinch. "Jesus."

"Nope, just me," Fin said casually, leaning back against his chair and folding his arms. "You gonna tell me who he is?"

Melanie played dumb, "Who who is?"

"The guy who provided you with enough scotch to make you smell like it."

Subtly, Melanie tilted her head towards her shoulder and sniffed. God, he was right. She even smelled like scotch, and that would not be the best way for her to forget last night and stop blushing anytime she so much as thought about Barba carrying her to bed.

"There is no guy," Melanie said plainly, avoiding eye contact with Fin as he could always tell she was lying. Especially when she flushed a deep shade of scarlet, sort of like she was doing now. "I provided myself with the scotch."

"Man, you know as well as I do that that's bull," Fin said, tapping her arm with the back of his hand to get her to look at him. And even when she did, she didn't. "Four years we've been gaming together and not once have you ever gotten up to go get a scotch."

Melanie shrugged, "Times have changed."

"Times may have changed, but you ain't," Fin replied, a little peeved that she wouldn't tell him as unknown to Carisi, who'd only grow jealous, Melanie always used to tell him everything. The benefits of being gaming buddies. "You never change, and that's exactly how I know you're lying."

"I'm not lying," Melanie literally lied, but she just couldn't tell him the truth as no matter what she knew didn't happen between her and Barba, there was no way that anyone else would believe her otherwise. "I picked it up on my way home and I drank it, end of story."

"Yeah, it's a story alright," Fin muttered, rolling annoyedly away from her and back towards his desk as Carisi returned.

"Splash of milk and three sugars," He said automatically, handing Melanie the steaming cup of coffee as she flashed him a thankful smile. "We were all out of crack but, uh, hopefully it'll still do."

"I'm sure it'll be fine," Melanie chuckled, bringing the mug, which was even her favourite one, to her lips and taking her that first, glorious sip of the liquid within, feeling the heat of it trickle down her chest and erupt across her body like a hug. "Ah, perfect as always, Sonny."

Whatever you do, do not tell Barba that, Melanie, otherwise he'll be framing Carisi for murder and locking his ass in jail.

"It ain't my first coffee making rodeo, Mel," Carisi chuckled, yet he always felt a strange sense of self-pride anytime she complimented his coffee making abilities as anytime anyone else tried to make her one... she always struggled to hide her distaste.

The coffee soon began to kick in and by the time Melanie and Carisi got called away from the precinct on an ongoing case the two of them were investigating, Melanie could already feel her headache starting to lift to an otherwise manageable pain level. She still hadn't eaten anything yet, she'd just had another five cups of coffee and was all but bouncing off the walls with her heart mimicking a hummingbird inside her chest, but she was able to stand up and walk around without feeling like she was floating so all in all, she'd count that as a win in her book.

"You think this is our guy?" Carisi asked, as the two of them set off in the car towards the subway. They'd gotten a call from a local precinct about a possible public masturbator on the train, and they had every reason to believe it was the guy they'd been looking for.

"Probably," Melanie replied, pulling a small knife from her pocket and beginning to flip it open and closed in her hand. "Although with the amount of public masturbators we come across, there's an equal chance it's not."

"Yeah that's true," Carisi muttered, unphased by the knife play that was happening next to him.

"I don't understand why people can't get their jollies off at home like the rest of us." 

Carisi made a face at that thought, and glanced at her, "Get their jollies off? What are you, eighty?"

Frowning, Melanie just rolled her eyes and remained quiet as she continued to practise her knife skills. She always hated having nothing to do in the car and with the way Carisi drove, the two of them would probably be here until tomorrow morning before they so much as even saw the subway station platform.

"You gonna tell me where you were last night?" Carisi asked, glancing briefly to his side just in time to see Melanie stop what she was doing, peer suspiciously towards him out of the corner of her eye and when she realised he knew that she was lying, she pressed her lips together and went right back to playing with her knife. "I know you, Mel, I know you didn't choose to drink scotch on your own, so come on... Who is he?"

"God, what is with you people and thinking that just because I chose to drink scotch last night and that I came into work in the same clothes as yesterday, that I'm automatically seeing someone?"

"Because we know you," Carisi said plainly, "And we know that you, of all people, do not drink scotch."

"Well, I did, okay? So just drop it already," Melanie said in frustration, which was easily readable as Carisi got the hint instantly and raised his fingers off the steering wheel, as though holding his hands up in surrender.

Even he knew better than to continue to poke the bear and if she didn't want to tell him the truth, then fine. He'd just leave it at that.

"What did you do last night?" Melanie asked, trying to fill the awkward silence that was slowly filling the car.

"Not much, just had a few drinks with some of the guys," Carisi shrugged, "I texted you."

"Oh yeah," Melanie drew out, nodding her head, "Yeah, I remember... Sorry I left you hanging, I just couldn't think of anything I'd like to do less than hang out with Campesi."

"Yeah, it was probably for the best," Carisi said, knowing all too well about what happened between the two women. "With some of the things she said about Barba, I doubt they would have helped settle the heat." 

"The things she said about Barba?" Melanie repeated, and it was when her knife flipping suddenly quickened that Carisi knew he'd fucked up. He didn't know why he said that. He should have known better than to bring it up when she was in a mood, and so help Campesi if she said anything that would have so much as caused Melanie's eye to twitch in annoyance. "What things? What did she say?"

"Nothing," Carisi mumbled, trying to brush it off as he shifted uncomfortably in his seat, his fingers gripping the steering wheel tighter and the squeaking of the leather, no matter how faint it was, piercing straight through the rather tense silence that grew between them.

Narrowing her eyes at his shadiness Melanie turned to him, flipping her knife one last time so that the blade was fully, and quite menacingly extracted as she clenched her jaw, gritting sternly, "Dominick."

Dominick? Damn... She must be serious, Carisi thought to himself. The only other time she'd ever called him by his real name was back when he tried to grow his moustache again and she had so rudely told him that it made him look like a pervert. 

"Alright, alright," He sighed begrudgingly, knowing he had no other option but to tell her the truth if he wanted to leave the car without her knife sticking out of his thigh. "She just... made some passing comment about him needing luck if he ever needs a cop, alright, that's all." 

Melanie scoffed, "If he ever needs a cop he has me, okay? He doesn't need her... Or anyone else for that matter."

The sudden quietness to her muttered tone towards the end had Carisi stay silent as they pulled up to the bottom of subway platform, the only sound inside the car being the metallic clack of Melanie's knife as she continued to flip it flawlessly in her hand, which to some might have seemed threatening considering her mood but in reality it just made Carisi relieved that she hadn't chosen to poke him with it.

Despite that, her movements still seemed slow and calculated. Even her eyes were trained to the subway sign in the distance, glazed over and unmoving, and it was almost like he could hear the metal cogs spinning inside the wacky and wonderful world that was her mind. It wasn't like Melanie to stay quiet for so long, regardless of having something to do with her hands as half the time she would be babbling about one thing or another the whole way to the scene.

The only time she ever kept her mouth shut this tightly was when she was deep in thought, and considering the suit wearing topic of conversation, Carisi easily grew concerned and so he just had to ask,

"You aren't gonna do anything else stupid are you? To Campesi, I mean."

"Like what? Empty my clip into her?" Melanie chuckled dryly as she shifted her gaze to finally meet him again, catching the subtle way in which he raised his eyebrows and tilted his head as if to say well yeah you already punched her. She threw one hand mockingly up to her heart in response, "You know, Sonny, sometimes your lack of faith in me really hurts."

And just like that... Melanie was back.

Carisi rolled his eyes, the blatantly obvious sarcasm radiating from her aura as she chuckled in amusement having him grumble beneath his breath about being sorry that he asked in the first place. He then shut off the engine, telling her that he was done with the conversation and that his lack of faith was nothing if not justified given her history of holding grudges.

"Look," Melanie began, her tone serious yet she still continued to play with her knife, "I'm not gonna do anything that you would class as stupid but I will say this... If Campesi says one more thing like that about Barba, she's gonna have a lot more to worry about than my fist connecting with her face."

"You know, it makes me really uncomfortable when you say things like that whilst playing with your knife."

"You should count yourself lucky," Melanie replied, her movements coming to a sudden halt as the relief-causing click of her knife folding shut filled the brief silence between them. She then leaned forward, a mischievous twinkle shining brightly in her eye as she cocked her head towards the subway platform and added, in a playful whisper, "If I was anything like this guy, I could very well be playing with something else."

And just like that she was gone from the car, leaving Carisi to pull a deeply, deeply disturbed, and rather offensively disgusted, face as he unbuckled his seatbelt, following her reluctantly out onto the street and trying his hardest to think of anything but... that . He never wanted to have to picture anything about that kind of action revolving Melanie, or even anyone with Melanie, thank you very much. It would be too much like having his sisters telling him about their sexual experiences, and he'd very much like to not end up so scarred for life that he took Melanie's knife from her and used it to gouge out his own eyeballs.

"Sonny!" Melanie called towards him as he just stood there, his eyes distant and his mind fighting each and every thought that wanted to trespass into it. He regained his focus rather quickly, his eyes landing on her questionably as she fought against the smile that so badly wanted to curl on her lips, "Are you coming or what?"

At her inappropriate choice of words given the situation and the way she wiggled her eyebrows, Carisi's face fell into a frown and he rolled eyes, hearing Melanie laugh quietly to herself. He sucked in an annoyed breath, internally wondering why he'd ever put up with her as a partner for this long as sometimes she wore his patience so thin that he often thought that maybe Fin didn't seem so bad after all. Nevertheless he jogged towards her, falling in line beside her small frame as they made their way up the steps towards the subway platform.

"You know," Carisi began, curiosity suddenly taking the better of him, "You seem very protective over Barba these days." 

"Well yeah, I mean, look at him," Melanie huffed out softly, "He's so innocent and little, he can't defend himself."

"He's not that little," Carisi corrected, hating that he was using the word little to describe Rafael Barba. "He's taller than you."

"Yeah, but I grew up with a tree as a twin brother who liked to practise his WWE moves on me so I know how to take care of myself."

Fair. She did know how to defend herself better than most people, yet it still didn't answer Carisi's question properly. But to be honest, nothing ever would, which is why he easily let it go with a brief nod of agreement. Despite her blatantly obvious attempts at dodging said question, Melanie still made a rather excellent, and completely valid, point. Barba was little, as much as Carisi hated to admit it, and he was absolutely notcapable of defending himself in any way unless it was with his mouth and inside the safety of the courtroom, therefore he let it go.

For now. He still had a bucket load of questions he wanted to ask her and don't get him wrong, he would — just not when she was already in such a murderous mood that the slightest little thing could set her off. He really didn't fancy having to hide behind Fin again like the time she tried to murder him for spilling coffee on her, so for the time being he'd simply keep his mouth shut and focus on trying to finally catch this masturbating subway pervert.

The guy had been terrorising women, men and children alike for weeks now by getting handsy in the subway cart and God help him if today was the day that Carisi and Melanie finally caught him with his pants down — literally . He'd probably be leaving the station minus his you know what once Melanie was through with him and whilst Carisi, himself, didn't condone violence like that against others, he couldn't help but think that perhaps it would be the best course of action if the guy didn't have a thing left that he could then play with.

As they reached the top of the stairs and made their way onto the platform, Melanie and Carisi quickly weaved their way through the crowd that had gathered at the commotion. They came up to a small booth that usually housed the lone subway worker that now stood outside it, talking to a uniformed patrol officer about what he'd seen. However today, the booth seemed to be providing some much needed privacy and calmness for a young teenage girl, who sat tucked away inside with a bottle of water nursed in her shaking hands, her eyes still wide and shimmering, and a clear trauma written all over her blushing face.

"Hi there," Melanie said softly, a gentle smile rising on her lips. "I'm Detective Dodds, and this is my partner Detective Carisi, do you mind if we ask you a few questions?"

The young girl wiped her eyes and shook her head, a soft sniffle leaving her nose as Melanie grew closer, coming to crouch down in the doorway to better face her as she always knew how intimidating it was having someone of authority tower over you.

"What's your name, sweetheart?" Melanie asked, pulling her notebook out of her pocket.

"Amelia."

"Amelia, that's a pretty name," Melanie said with a smile, scribbling it down on a clean page in her book before glancing back up at her. "Now Amelia, can you tell us about the man you saw on the subway?"

"He was... touching himself," Amelia said timidly, and Melanie nodded her head gently.

"Okay. And what else can you tell us about him? Did you see his face?" She asked, "Or notice anything about his clothes? Maybe a work logo or something like that?"

"No, not really," Amelia shook her head and sniffled, her eyes drifting up towards Carisi who kept scanning the crowd with his own. "But he was wearing a long coat."

"A long coat," Melanie repeated, writing it down. "Like a trenchcoat?"

"Yeah," Amelia nodded, "Before I saw what he was doing I thought he looked like a character from my favourite show. He always wears a trenchcoat."

"Let me guess," Melanie said, raising her eyebrow playfully. "Castiel?"

Amelia's eyes grew wider and a smile tugged at her lips, "You watch Supernatural?"

"Only all the time," Melanie chuckled, hoping that little detail might help Amelia relax a little and maybe even help her to forget the horror she'd witnessed on the subway. "Now, don't get me wrong I like Castiel too but I've always been a Crowley girl at heart."

"But he's the bad guy!" Amelia said, with a certain sort of innocence that made Melanie chuckle fondly. Oh to be so young and pure again.

"I know he is, but can I let you in on a little secret?" Melanie whispered, and Amelia nodded excitedly. She leaned in, waving one hand behind her to brush off the subtle nudge Carisi gave her with his knee and she added, "I've always had a thing for bad guys."

Barba aside, obviously.

As Amelia giggled quietly to herself and made Melanie smile, Carisi nudged her gently with his knee again, this time actually gaining her attention as she glanced over her shoulder towards him. He cocked his head subtly and quietly to the side, causing Melanie to clear her throat and act casual as she stood up, drawing her eyes towards the crowd where she could instantly see the trenchcoat wearing man standing tall amongst them. He looked shifty, not just from the tightly tied trench coat, but from the simple way in which he kept looking around him, as though he were waiting for the perfect moment to whip it out and flash everyone.

Drawing her eyes back towards Carisi, Melanie nodded in understanding. She then told the uniformed officer to get Amelia's details and make sure she got home okay, before the two detectives slowly began to make their way towards the crowd, not wanting to spook the guy too soon. Unfortunately though, Carisi stood out like a sore thumb and when the guy's eyes drifted toward him and fell to his hip, he noticed the badge and bolted.

"Ah, you gotta be kidding me," Carisi complained, an exasperated sigh leaving his lips as he made his move to start running.

Melanie, however, was already about ten feet in front of him by the time his legs started moving, her long hair flowing seamlessly behind her as she followed the guy along the subway platform. She was always much better at him when it came to chasing perps due to her added skill set of basically being like a superhero, and when the guy easily jumped the fence and dove, that's right dove, nearly fifteen feet through the air and landed on a nearby fire escape, it was no surprise to Carisi to see Melanie follow just as easily behind him.

He held his breath as she travelled across the gap, with nothing but a twenty foot drop beneath her should she miss her target and go crashing down to the ground. Luckily though, she hit the fire escape with ease which allowed him to exhale shakily, watching as she gripped her fingers tightly around the metal poles and pulled herself up and over the railing.

"I'll try and cut him off!" Carisi called after, despite not having a single clue how to do that without growing wings.

Melanie heard him faintly, but she didn't answer him. Instead, she continued to climb the stairs at an impressive speed as she slowly began to catch up with the guy, who she had traumatically ended up seeing waaay too much of when she glanced up and saw right under his trenchcoat. If he hadn't looked guilty before, he'd certainly look guilty now with his lack of pants or underwear, the dirty bastard. Whatever possessed people to be such sexual deviants she'd never understand, but she'd happily take him down if it meant another young girl like Amelia didn't get traumatised. Hopefully the trench coat he wore didn't affect her too much as Melanie would really hate for this guy to have ruined Castiel for her.

Nevertheless she carried on, reaching the top of the fire escape and stepping out onto the roof of the nearby apartment building. She thought she'd get him there, but this guy was fast . He was already halfway across the roof by the time she lifted herself from the railing and when he reached the edge he didn't hesitate to jump, once again flying through the air and landing with a rough tumble on the neighbouring roof.

Sucking in a breath, Melanie followed him, landing with ease and without so much as a faint pain in her ankles on the very same spot on which he had. She picked up the pace, feeling the adrenaline pumping through her veins as she focused on her breathing. Being a scuba diver meant she had excellent lungs and near perfect stamina which made her a pro at all things suspect chasing. The others would have given up the minute he jumped the roof, and Fin probably would have just shot the guy, but not Melanie. She loved the thrill of the chase and when the guy took a sharp turn left, she followed, leaping down onto a smaller building and picking up speed as they made their way towards another fire escape.

After jumping the majority of the stairs down, Melanie landed with a soft thud in the middle of an alley before immediately making her way towards the street. The guy was still going, how he was even running so fast with such a tightly tied trench coat on him, she had no idea but she was slowly but surely catching up to him. He obviously didn't have as good a pair of lungs as she did as she could easily hear him struggling to catch his breath as he ran, yet it still didn't seem to be slowing him down much.

Not even when Carisi finally caught up with them looking like he'd seen a ghost after watching Melanie leap across a building, did he appear as though he were giving up. He hopped fences. He scaled walls. He even made a superhero landing off a small bridge in the middle of Central Park when he tried to dupe them.

Tried being the operative word there as Melanie had seen it coming from a mile away and easily jumped down after him — Carisi took the long way round. She kept running, nearly close lining an old lady feeding the ducks in the pond and had she not been so quick to think on her feet she'd have knocked her in. But luckily, she managed to twist her body just enough to barely graze the woman's shoulder before she picked up the pace, sucking in a breath and throwing herself towards the suspect, grabbing an easy hold of his shoulders due to his sudden slowness and taking him down like a football player.

"Don't move," Melanie ordered, slightly out of breath from the landing as held him down with one hand, fumbling in her back pocket for her cuffs with the other. She pulled them out quickly, digging her knee hard into his back to keep him still as she cuffed him. "Get up."

Roughly, Melanie got to her feet and pulled the guy up with her, a far too chipper smile plastered on his face for her liking and had he not been going commando right now she might have kneed him between the legs.

"Melanie," Carisi exhaled as he slowly jogged towards them, his face red and his hands went instantly to his thighs as he stopped. "Mel..." He coughed, an entire lung almost coming up with it.

"Are you okay there, grandpa?" Melanie taunted, finding clear amusement in the glare Carisi fired her way when he lifted his head and struggled to catch his breath.

"How are you not...?"

"Dying?" Melanie finished for him, and Carisi reluctantly nodded. She was hungover for crying out loud, she shouldn't have made it off the subway platform without hurling. "Because there's no better way to cure a hangover than taking down a pervert in the middle of Central Park." 

"You're insane," Carisi said, feeling a little better now that he'd caught his breath and was able to stand up straight again without wanting to fold in on himself. "Literally insane."

"Guilty," Melanie chuckled, "Now can we please go? Or do you need to take a taxi back to the car?"

"I can manage," Carisi remarked, coldly, annoyed. He reached out to take the other arm of the suspect before the two of them began to walk him through the park and back towards their car.

It didn't take them long. Carisi did have to hide his heavy breathing the entire way there to avoid being called Grandpa again — he was a whole year younger than Melanie — but once he was settled inside the driver's seat and they were finally on their way back to precinct with their suspect, he was slowly starting to revitalise.

"Oh, stop here," Melanie said excitedly, tapping her finger on the window. "All that running made me hungry and now I want a bagel."

"You know Liv doesn't like us stopping with suspects in the car," Carisi said, yet he pulled over anyway.

"Are you gonna tell her?" Melanie questioned, her arms folded and her eyebrow raised accusingly towards Carisi, who simply shook his head in response as he knew better than that.

"I will," The subway pervert said, causing Melanie to snap her head towards him and point angrily.

"You'll keep your fucking mouth shut otherwise you'll be arriving at Rikers without your dick between your legs," she gritted, causing Carisi's eyes to widen.

That was a new one.

"Wow, easy Mel, relax would you?" he said, reaching out to place his hand on the back of her seat to stop her diving through them and cutting it off right there and then. "Just... go get your bagel..." He sighed, "And if you could, please refrain from cutting anyone's penis off on your way there."

With narrow eyes, Melanie huffed through her nose and got out of the car, slamming the door with such force that made him flinch physically. Clearly she was hungry after all that, but hey, at least it wasn't him on the receiving end of her hangry threats for once, and that was something.

"Oh, she's fierce..." The guy almost moaned from the back seat, his eyelids fluttering as he adjusted his position in a way that made Carisi uncomfortable. "She's got spunk... I like her."

"Hey, you don't even look at her otherwise you'll have me to worry about, alright?" Carisi hissed, firing the guy a warning glare over his shoulder as he kept shuffling his hips. "And stop moving... Or the next time she threatens you, I'm not gonna intervene."

"You promise?" The guy replied flirtatiously, weirdly turned on by that subtle threat yet he quickly did what he was told. Clearly , he was rather fond of his penis, and despite his disturbing attraction towards Melanie, it was no surprise that he'd much rather prefer to keep it.

After Melanie returned with her bagel and a ridiculously large can of energy drink, the two of them headed back to precinct with their pervert in tow. Melanie had her bagel eaten by the time they arrived back and as she climbed the cement stairs on her own towards their floor she sipped carelessly on her drink, feeling it add to rapid increase of her heart which, had it been inside anyone else, would have sent them straight to the hospital for cardiac dysrhythmia. She pulled open the stairwell door just as the elevator dinged open and Carisi exited, the subway pervert yammering irritably away beside him and having him roll his eyes continuously.

"Hey, we gave you the right to remain silent so why don't you do us all a favour and shut the fuck up?" Melanie said, slurping on her drink as she took a hold of his other arm and helped drag him down the corridor. She turned the corner into the squad room, purposely knocking the guy into the door frame on their way through it. "Oops."

"Damn girl, you keep this up and I'm gonna have to get handsy with you," The pervert replied, unphased by her blatant assault and more turned on by her attitude if anything.

"You get handsy with me and I will break all ten of your fingers," Melanie warned him, and she meant it. She wouldn't hesitate to break a guy's entire hand if he so much as pressed a fingertip to her, and her eyes clearly displayed that.

Yet the guy only laughed deeply in response, in such a disturbing way that it made her, Carisi, and even Barba, who was standing just up ahead and happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, shiver uncomfortably. But Barba's unease didn't last long though, not when his eyes drifted slowly towards Melanie as she grew closer to him and he smiled automatically, his eyes gazing over her as he drank in the weirdly radiant glow she had about her, even despite her current threats.

"Counsellor, you're right on time," Carisi said, roughly tugging the perp forward and out of Melanie's grasp. "Got a public masurbator here for you, fresh off the subway."

"Charming," Barba said flatly, his focus still trained on the now blushing Melanie — she was thinking of him carrying her to bed again — before it drifted slowly towards her partner. He then tilted his head, his eyes narrowing as he so blatantly pointed out, "You look winded."

The snort Melanie let out was unlike anything they'd ever experienced coming from her and had she not been so... her, she might have felt embarrassed about it. It had been heard across the room by seven different officers, who all glanced over to see her with her lips pressed tightly together, her shoulders shaking and Carisi's flushed face having dropped the entire way to the floor as he glared at them.

Now they were both bullying him? Wonderful. He, and everyone else for that matter, always hated when the two of them were together. They were too alike sometimes and they bounced so ridiculously easy off one another that had Barba not been Melanie's type, like at all, then they'd have all suspected them of sleeping together

"We were climbing walls and jumping roofs to catch this guy, alright. It was like a game of subway surfers, you'd be winded too," Carisi said defensively, to which Barba nodded in fairness and Melanie scoffed.

"We?" She raised her eyebrow at him, tossing her empty can in the bin then folding her arms, "I seem to recall you taking the long way around because you didn't want to climb walls. Also, the only person here who was jumping roofs was me."

"And me."

"Shut up," Melanie and Carisi snapped in unison, shutting the pervert up instantly.

"Look, I'm not Spider-Man, okay," Carisi continued, still openly on the defensive, "And besides even if I was... This is a new suit."

Melanie huffed out a laugh and shook her head, "Whatever, Ralph Lauren, just take him to holding will you? I'm sick of looking at his face." 

As Carisi went to begrudgingly oblige and began dragging the suspect across the floor, Melanie skulked back up to them, with Barba following absently behind like he always did. She took a tight hold of the front of the guy's trench coat and jerked him forward, leaning in to whisper, or rather, to threaten... again,

"So help me, if I catch you masturbating in there I will cut your dick off and staple it to your forehead."

Roughly, she let go and thrust the guy forward, allowing Carisi to drag him towards the cage as she turned back around, innocence clouding her face as she met the widened eyes of Barba.

"As an ADA... and as a person ," He added quickly, emphatically, "I'm gonna pretend I didn't hear that."

"What?" Melanie chuckled purposely, as she always loved getting that small rise out of him to the point where his voice went a whole octave higher.

"What?" Barba repeated in that exact tone, which he knew she was asking for and instead of elaborating further with, as he didn't want to give her the added satisfaction, he simply fired her a tilt of his head and a minor purse of his lips to tell her exactly what he meant — that she couldn't keep going around threatening suspects with felonies directly in front of him otherwise she'd get him into trouble.

Internally pouting at his lack of words, Melanie rolled her eyes, "You can be such a lawyer sometimes."

"I have to be," Barba snapped back, both defensively and playfully, as indicated by the partial smirk that quirked on his lips, "It's the only way I can think of to keep your ass in line. And out of jail."

"You need to stop thinking about my ass, it's unprofessional," Melanie said, casting him a knowing look which almost made him choke on his non-existent next words. It amused her immensely to see him redden all the way up to his ears and she laughed, that deep husky laugh of hers as she trailed away towards her desk, firing over her shoulder as Barba's head slowly began to tilt. "And stop looking at it too."

Snapping his head straight again, Barba had to clear his throat in a fluster and look anywhere but directly at her in fear of turning to stone. Thank God no one else was close by to witness that, otherwise who knows which country he might have ended up fleeing to out of the utter mortification that staring at her ass in public would have caused him. He was more than happy to stare at it subtly, or when they were alone and she so gracefully walked away from him, but he was a sex crimes ADA for crying out loud, he couldn't go around checking out detective's asses in the middle of the precinct. No matter how perky and inviting that ass may seem, it was unprofessional, and from now on, it had to stop.

It was easier said than done, however, as when he turned back around Melanie had bent over to pick up a pen that had rolled off her desk. It made him swallow thickly as he automatically trailed his eyes across the defined shape of her ass in her jeans, wondering what it would look like if he was ever lucky enough to get her out of them. He didn't get long to imagine it though, not when her dad literally came strolling into the precinct with Ed Tucker hot on his heels...

Talk about awkward and as quickly as Barba had looked, he tore his eyes away again and began to act casual.

"Melanie," William called towards her, coming to a sudden halt just up from Barba, who he greeted with a swift, curt nod. He then drew his eyes towards his daughter and watched as Melanie turned, her brow furrowing over the sudden appearance of him, and of IAB Lieutenant Tucker.

"Dad?" Melanie questioned, her heartbeat slowly increasing in her chest as her palms grew sweaty. "What's going on?"

"Detective Dodds, will you come with us please?" Tucker asked, or rather he demanded as there didn't seem to be a question mark at the end of that sentence.

"Tell me what this is about and I will," Melanie replied, folding her arms and standing still in her place as she refused to move. William then walked over to her, his eyes stern and his voice low but firm.

"Do what he says, and answer his questions," William told her, about to retreat back towards Tucker before he glanced back over and added, "And for both our sakes, leave your attitude at your desk. God knows it's done enough."

"What the hell does that mean?" Melanie hissed, offended, lurching forward and taking her dad by the arm. "Dad, what is going on?"

The pure innocence to her tone made William sigh, he motioned to Tucker to head into Liv's now empty office by himself before he turned back around to Melanie, bringing one finger towards her chin. He curled it, placing it gently under and carefully tilting her head to better showcase her bruise, the light cascading over it in a way that amplified its colouring even more than he could see before. He then drew his thumb lightly over it, the close up look he was getting tensing his jaw as he always hated to see his little girl with marks such as this one.

At that, Melanie didn't even need his words to know what this was about and she nodded, brushing his hand away from her as she was well aware of the eyes that were currently fixated on her. Not just Barba's and their deep worry, but everyone. They always stopped what they were doing when her dad walked in as half the time they put on a show arguing back and forth but this time it couldn't have been more different. She simply sighed, motioning for him to go and she trailed after him like a kid again, passing Barba yet refusing to look anywhere near him as she only guessed he'd say I told you so.

Instead she kept her eyes fixated on her dad's back and it wasn't until Liv's empty office door closed behind her did she allow them to stray, landing coldly on Tucker who was always far too eager to strip her of her badge.

"Detective, where were you last night?" Tucker asked the second the door settled place.

"What, no small talk?" Melanie tilted her head sarcastically, folding her arms as her eyes narrowed, "You just like to bend 'em right over, do you?"

"Jesus, Melanie" William muttered, an exasperated breath leaving his lips as he pinched the bridge of his nose. Why was she like this? He threw his hand down, his eyes widening as he stepped forward and hooked his hand around arm, "What did I tell you? Leave your attitude outside, otherwise you're going to make this much harder than it already is." 

"Fine," Melanie huffed, pulling herself out of his hold and forcing a polite, overzealous and absolutely attitude riddled smile Tucker's way — William sighed, and from wherever she was, Liv was incredibly glad that she wasn't there.

Tucker simply cleared his throat, and ignored it, "I'll ask you again, detective, where were you last night?"  

"Home."

"Alone?" Tucker raised his eyebrow far too cheerfully for her liking that the sarcasm oozed from Melanie's response.

"Well my cat was there, but I haven't quite taught him to speak yet." And she paired it nicely with a shit-eating grin that caused even Tucker to exhale slowly.

William had been right, Melanie was a handful and this was not going to be as easy as he'd hoped.

"Melanie," William soon warned, and Melanie rolled her eyes. It was like talking to two brick walls all of a sudden and it almost made her miss the pervert. She gave in, throwing her hands up a little and allowing them to slap against her thighs as they lowered.

"Fine. I was home. Alone. With my non-talking cat," She muttered, a lie obviously. She was with Barba from early evening and stayed with him until the early hours of this morning, but she didn't exactly want to tell IAB or her dad that she'd been tucked fast asleep in the ADA's bed come 10.30pm last night — and great, now she was blushing again. They would only interpret that however they see fit and she would not, under any circumstances, allow herself or Barba to succumb to such a misconstrued insinuation... Or whatever scrutiny or passing judgement that those in the department might see fit to throw at them. "Why? What did I do this time?"

"Assault, for starters," Tucker said, and Melanie furrowed her brow, feeling her cheeks easily cool off again. "Detective Campesi is claiming that after the first tussle you two had..."

"You mean the one she started?" Melanie was quick to add. She had no idea how they knew about that in the first place, but in all honesty she didn't care that they did. There had been cameras all around them so Campesi could say all she wanted about that incident as they could clearly see that she was the one to instigate it. And whilst Melanie's back was turned... Noticing a pattern yet, Tucker? "The one where she slammed my head into the wall?"

"Yes, well regardless of who started it," Tucker carried on, noticing the subtle way William tensed and briefly closed his eyes at the reminder. He hadn't even looked at the footage either, as he couldn't stomach seeing it. "Campesi is now claiming that you followed her to a bar last night, waited until she left and then you dragged her into an alleyway and, I quote, beat the holy hell out of her."

"I'm sorry," Melanie chuckled delusionally, as was she hearing correctly? "She what?"

"You heard me."

Melanie's jaw clenched, "And you just what? Took her word for it?"

"A picture speaks a thousand words," Tucker said plainly, holding up a tablet to showcase a hospital photo of Campesi, who had severe bruising along the side of her face, a split lip, and a deep gash on her forehead. He flipped it closed as Melanie's jaw dropped, inherently shocked by her own apparent work, "Now one of those bruises shows a clear impression made by a ring... If we test yours against it, is one of them gonna match?"

"Obviously, because I punched her yesterday," Melanie explained, holding out her right hand which was still heavily bruised beneath her rings, "But look at them... There's not a drop of blood on them."

"You could have very easily cleaned them."

Melanie squinted her eyes at him and scoffed, "Oh please, don't tell me you actually believe your own bullshit."

"Melanie..." William began, except he couldn't even let out another stern-coated breath as Melaine held up one finger and silenced him, then she pointed.

"Don't you Melanie me," She gritted, "You can clearly tell that this is a set up! I mean, she's so obviously trying to frame me for this and whilst you're here trying to ream me out for my attitude , Judge Judy over here," she glared at Tucker, "Has all but found me guilty for it! I mean, come on already, this is bullshit!"

"Look, that all may very well be the case," William began, and despite his own beliefs that that was the case as his daughter may have had one hell of a mouth on her but she'd never resort to such violence, Melanie's face still twisted into a look of utter betrayal that all but broke his heart. "But until we can sort this out..."

"Sort what out? Nothing happened!" Melanie exclaimed, her breathing increasing at an ungodly pace as she placed her hands on her hips and turned away, shaking her head. She couldn't believe this. She actually couldn't believe this, I mean, the audacity that woman had to go to such lengths to frame her for assault astounded her, and yet to see that her own father thought she was capable of it? That hurt her worse. And in more ways than she ever expected it to and she very suddenly found herself wishing that Mike was here. He'd stick up for her. No matter what she'd done to him he would always, without a doubt, never fail to have her back when it mattered most. And at that annoyingly painful thought her voice then fell, becoming so quiet as her lip wobbled that it was almost like she were a child again, being blamed for something else she didn't do and she glanced back at him, "I didn't do this, daddy. I swear to you, I didn't..."

"I know you didn't, sweetheart," William said softly, assuringly, lifting his hands to take her face gently in them. She only ever called him daddy when she was feeling particularly vulnerable — or pissed at him, but he could tell that wasn't the case here — and if he hadn't already known she wasn't capable of this, that tone alone certainly would have told him otherwise. "But you don't have an alibi, Melanie, so unless there's something you aren't telling us..."

"Is there?" Tucker interrupted shamelessly, and it was in that moment when both pairs of their hardened eyes landed on his very soul that he could tell they were related.

Is there something I'm hiding? Yes, Melanie said to herself, yet out loud she hissed, "No."

It would have easily cleared all this up but she just couldn't bring herself to tell them the truth when she didn't know what the consequences might bring. Not just to her, but to Barba as well.

"Then until we can get to the bottom of it," William carried on, having to physically tilt Melanie's face back to look at him before she Medusa-d Tucker to death. "I'm afraid I have to put you on desk duty."

That seemed to hit even more of a nerve than the suspected assault did as Melanie abruptly shoved his hands away from her, subtly wiping at her annoyingly tear-ridden eyes and making for the door.

"I'm gonna need your weapon too," Tucker called after her, halting her in place and hearing her laugh from delusion. As if things couldn't get any worse. She shook her head, running her tongue irritably over her back teeth as she then reached hesitantly for her holster. "Slowly."

"I may want to shoot you at times, Tucker," Melanie spat like poison as she turned to him and pulled out her gun — quickly, "But I'm not stupid."

Tucker held out his palm and she all but slapped the gun into it, lingering there as he muttered, "We'll see about that." 

William stepped forward out of protective fatherly instinct, but he wasn't needed.

Melanie simply rolled her eyes and snatched away her hand, a small shiver coursing its way up her spine as she ran her hands up and down her arms, "Great, now I feel naked."

"Until this is sorted out, please refrain from any and all contact with Detective Campesi," Tucker added, tucking her gun into his jacket which only made her seeth more. 

"Oh, believe me," Melanie began, her voice dripping with certainty as she gripped her hand tightly around the door handle, "I have nothing more to say to that bitch."

She did. She had plenty of things she'd like to say to her... About Barba. About this whole incident. About how she better watch her back this time, but despite what you may believe, Melanie wasn't that stupid. She wasn't about to add more fuel to the fire simply to feed her ego and so, with that in mind, she ripped open the office door and stormed out of it.

Carisi was back and he, along with everyone else around her, except Barba, instantly jumped back to their business at hand, acting as nonchalant as possible as though they hadn't been eavesdropping the second they heard her raised voice seep through walls more than once. Hell, if Munch was still here they'd all be gathered around his desk as he whipped out his parabolic microphone to get a better listen. Almost made her miss him really, as the squad room could get real quiet without him.

Nevertheless, parabolic microphones aside, most people were able to hear every word she had shouted. She could tell, by the subtle glances they fired her way and the pity that riddled Barba's face as she passed him on the way to the bunk room, ignoring any and all attempts from anyone stupid enough to try and make contact with her. It wasn't a lot, mainly Carisi who gave up after the first attempt, as he and everyone else knew to stay away from her in this kind of mood. And she was glad for it. She didn't want to talk to anyone who was in there, not even Barba. He would have only forced her to tell her dad and Tucker where she really was last night and she couldn't do that.

And he wouldn't understand why she couldn't either, therefore she simply kept walking... And walking... Until she was out of the precinct entirely, and before she knew it, had ended up right outside the home of the only person she could ever want to talk to at a moment like this.

Mike.

-
I know there was a lack of Barba in this chapter but I really wanted to showcase more of Melaine's relationship with the others, especially Carisi -- who I know it looks like gets bullied by Melanie but I promise you she loves him!

I'd actually played about with the idea of the two of them getting drunk and sleeping together at one point but I see them as too much of a bother and sister duo to want to do that... but obvs Barba can't see that yet so he's forever going to be jealous ;)

anyway, I hope you liked this chapter! it was a nightmare to write and I actually scrapped an entire version where we got to see Melanie wake up in Barba's (and even in that version I had seven other versions within it, two of which had them kissing! but its way too early for that and it'll be flirtatious banter and ass-staring galore for a while) anyway, again, I couldn't get those versions to flow properly and it just seemed really messy so I went with this version, which I really, really like, so yeah, hopefully you do too!

maybe even let me know? would be nice to hear your guys' thoughts on the story so far and maybe even some suggestions as to what you'd like to see! :) I have the next chapter planned out already, it'll be another non-canon one, but then the one after will be Mike's first episode/day at svu which I sort of have planned... we'll see... anyway, I'm rambling now

bye!