Prosecutorial Misconduct // Rafael Barba

03 || DEPUTY CHIEF WILLIAM DODDS

Between the news of Mike's inevitable transfer to SVU and the irksome little detail that Barba had never once called, let alone even texted her, about meeting up for a drink, Melanie didn't get much sleep that weekend.

No matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't seem to settle herself long enough to allow her eyes to fully close. She'd tossed and turned all night long up to the point where her bottom sheet came loose from beneath her. Her mind had raced more than a kid with a new go-kart, and by the time Monday morning finally rolled around she found herself needing to apply an extra layer of make-up beneath her eyes just to cover the dark circles that seemed to reside there permanently.

This really wasn't how she'd wanted to start her week. After her moment with Barba in the parking lot, she'd actually been looking forward to seeing the beginning of a possible better one than she had had prior. But when he didn't call at all that weekend in order to unknowingly jumpstart that for her, things had quickly changed for Melanie. She knew she wouldn't be getting her better week and with the irritation still brewing in her stomach mixed with the fact that it was barely 8am yet she was already in such a foul mood, it didn't seem like it would be happening anytime soon either.

That's probably why she was here, climbing the staircase three steps at a time as she swiftly made her way up to her fathers office at 1PP. She hadn't intended to come and confront him about Mike that morning, but given her mood and the clear lack of evidence that it would be changing anytime soon, she figured why the hell not? This was probably as good a time as any to let him know her thoughts on the situation and who knows... perhaps it might provide her with a little much needed stress relief before she went to work — where Carisi had better think twice before he clicks that goddamn pen of his again. Otherwise... just call her a man because she would be burning .

But anyway, as she reached her fathers floor, Melanie's blood was already boiling hot beneath her skin by the time she saw the polished gold name plate stuck neatly on his office door. Deputy Chief William Dodds. She gritted her teeth at the mere sight of it, and the nerve he seemed to have to think he could just assign Mike to SVU simply because the word Chief was etched at the beginning of it. She wrapped fingers tightly around the door handle, not even bothering to knock before she pulled it down and barged her way inside.

William was at his desk when she entered, barely giving the door a chance to settle back in place before she opened her spite-filled mouth, "Where the hell do you get off?"

"Excuse me?" William asked sternly, his eyes widening as he stood up from his desk and watched Melanie delve deeper into his office with all the wrath of the Gods following close behind her.

"Assigning Mikey to SVU?" She elaborated further, and William couldn't help but grumble beneath his breath. He should have sensed this was coming... "As if things aren't bad enough with you inserting yourself as my chief but now this? Forcing Mikey on me too? Am I not allowed to have just one measly thing to myself without you coming along and interfering?"

"This isn't about you," William defended, choosing to breeze past the snide comment she'd made about him. "This is about a rogue unit who are in desperate need of added supervision. This is about me needing a Sergeant that I know I can trust in order to help keep your people in line."

"And it just had to Mikey, huh? You're telling me there wasn't any other trustworthy Sergeant in the department that you could have picked?"

"There could have been," William pointed at her, his tone toughening, " If you'd have taken the damn Sergeants exam like I told you to."

Melanie's expression hardened and she let out an empty laugh, "Oh, I get it now. Because I don't want to move up the ranks you're punishing me, is that it? What, you think I need supervision now because I refuse to be your good little Sergeant like Mikey?"