By The Book

“She’s not home,” Mac stressed through the phone. “Keep an eye out there for her, all right, Stell?”

“I’ll do that, Mac. You calm down.” Stella knew him too well. All she needed was to hear Mac’s voice, and she knew almost exactly what he was thinking.

“I’m trying, Stella. I just have no idea what I’m going to say to her. I’m angry, but I don’t want to be. Everything just came at us like -”

He was interrupted by Morgan coming through the front door.

~

The first words that ran through my head when I opened the door: oh shit.

The second words: I’m dead.

My dad stood in the living room of our apartment, his phone in his hand. I could faintly hear Stella’s voice coming through the speaker, but Mac wasn’t paying attention. He had his hand on his gun, which was just his cop reaction to a door suddenly opening. I was completely paralyzed by the look on his face. He looked pissed beyond oblivion.

“You decided taking off was the best option?” he growled.

“Just for last night. I wasn’t ready.”

“I had no idea where you were. Do you think that was the best thing to do at that point?”

“Dad, get off my back! I was scared!” I heard myself yell. “I had no idea what was going to happen and I didn’t know what to do!”

“And I suppose you went to Don’s and stayed the night?” he yelled back. It was the first time I had ever heard his voice raised outside of the interrogation room.

“Yeah, I did, because that’s where I was comfortable. I wasn’t going to sit here and wait for you to come home and then say, ‘Hi daddy, how was work?’”

He took a deep breath, obviously trying to control himself. “Morgan, I don’t know what I’m going to do about this.”

“Is it a personal issue or is it legal?”

The question seemed to freeze him for a second. “What?”

“Is the reason you’re grappling with this personal?” I repeated.

He didn’t answer. We stood there staring at each other for a moment, our wills battling it out.

“Dad, if this were any other case, you would have put the guy away in an instant. Apparently this is different. I’m not saying you should treat it that way,” I stuttered hurriedly. “But I’m just asking, since you’re giving me the chance, that you hear me out.”

He folded his arms over his chest. I took that as him saying ‘Say what you want, but do it quick.’ I fumbled for a second, searching through my brain trying to find the right words to say. I opened and shut my mouth twice before I finally decided.

“You have to look at it from my perspective. Yeah, I’m 16. That’s a number. My date of birth says December 12, 1992. In every other aspect of my life, I’m so much older than that. I’m not 16, except for the goddamn number I got stuck with. As for Don, he sees it like I do. Lindsey even forgets that I’m underage. I’m around all of these people every day and I just want to be a part of it all. You really expect me to keep acting like a teenager when I’m around adults 24/7? It’s impossible.” I felt tears start to sting my eyes. I rarely ever swore, but it just came out. I refused to cry, even in this situation.

“What am I supposed to do, Morgan? If I so much as hesitate, they’ll call me on special treatment of my daughter.”

“You already have hesitated.”

“Believe me, Chief Horlocker has noticed.”

“So what’s the problem?” I snapped. “Why haven’t you arrested Don and fired me?”

“Because I can’t!” He threw his hands over his head. “I can’t! However much I try, I can’t fire my daughter and the man she…she…”

“We weren’t just sleeping around. You know that I wouldn’t do that. I’ve been dating him for almost seven months.”

Mac’s hand went to his forehead and he started pacing. I noticed my breath was short, like it was when I went out after a criminal.

“Dad, you can’t think I’m going to sit around and watch everyone else live while I only get to watch? I won’t. I have a life too. I’m not going to refuse someone who cares for me like Don does.”

“I can’t believe this,” I heard him mumble.

“Well, you’re going to have to!” I was starting to lose it, I could feel it. “This isn’t any other Statutory case you’ve ever worked on! It’s mine. I’m not like any other 16-year old you or the department has seen before. And if Don goes to court for this, I’m doing something about it myself.”

“Morgan, no.” The sternness in his voice shut me up instantly. I was shaky and ready to run from the apartment, but I wasn’t about to let him break me now.

“You’re not going to do anything about it.”

“You can’t stop me!” My voice cracked.

“You won’t have to.”

That could have meant a hundred things. It could mean that they already had Don in custody, or that my dad was firing me, or maybe it meant that…that we were going to be cleared.

Mac turned and looked me in the eyes. For the first time ever, I was able to look back. We stared for at least two minutes that seemed so much longer than they were.

“I can’t lose you, and I can’t lose Don. I don’t know how this whole thing will turn out, but I won’t let anything happen to you two.”

I began to sob with relief.