Prosecutorial Misconduct // Rafael Barba

06 || A GAME OF SUBWAY SURFERS

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."