M-13

The Autopsy

Lincoln's POV:

I don't even look over at the door when I hear it open. If Atticus is going to leave on his day off and ignore my existence, then I have every right to ignore him. I told him that it was unfair that he had to go in, and that he should tell his douche of a boss that he did not want to, but of course he said yes, because we can't have a nice day off where we sleep in apparently.

"Hey, babe..." Atticus tries, but I continue to wash my dishes and ignore his existence. "It's pretty early... I thought you'd still be asleep."

I force a smile, and he knows it isn't a real smile. "Well, I was actually sleeping really well until my idiot boyfriend woke up and was being loud on the phone and then left me," I tell him, making Atticus wince at my attitude. "So you can blame yourself for this."

"I don't like taking blame," Atticus whines, coming up behind me as I make myself tea. He places his hands that are always littered in callouses from whatever he does at work on my hips, and then kisses my neck. "I can make it up to you."

Nope! Not after you woke up at five and left me here alone knowing that you could have denied going in to work!

I turn around and shoot him a deadly glare, making him pout but take his hands off my hips. "You made your choice this morning when you could have just let the phone ring as opposed to going in on our only coming day off!" I exclaim, crossing my arms and glaring at him. "Why was your ringer even on?!"

"Just in case," Atticus mumbles, sitting down at the dining room table.

Now I feel like a piece of shit.

I know that Atticus has issues not responding to calls from work. He has an internal anxiety and guilt issue that acts up when he ignores a call from work, because he knows he could have gone in to help out his team. While I feel bad about it, he and I have talked about attempting to fix it, and it's kind of difficult to do so when he is still following his old habits.

"This morning was different, Lincoln," Atticus says, earning my attention.

I walk over to the table and sit down beside him, taking his hand in my own. "How so?"

"A boy only a year younger than you was murdered by someone with the Mistacesemia malfunction," he says, and my blood runs cold. "He was ripped apart and there was a message on the wall that I was told about but have not read yet because I didn't want to stay at the office too long. My only job was to collect one of the ones with the malfunction who lives in the area and interrogate them to rule out certain people."

"You haven't seen any pictures of the crime scene?" I ask him, rubbing Atticus' hand with my thumb.

He shakes his head. "I'm sorry, but it's rare that something this bad happens. I-"

"It's okay," I cut him off, feeling the original traces of my anger and irritation flowing away. "That's terrifying, though, Atticus. And it explains the call I got this morning..."

Atticus furrows his eyebrows. "What call?"

"I got a call from the office but I ignored it because I'm taking my full day off, but now I'm rethinking it..." I grumble, and Atticus seems to be fighting back a laugh because he knows that I hate going in on my day off.

"You're one of the best doctors there, babe," Atticus says, taking my phone and unlocking it. "Have you listened to the voicemail?"

I shake my head as Atticus hits the button.

"Hey Lincoln, it's Danielle. I'm calling because someone was killed and it's assumed that a person with the Mistacesemia malfunction did it. The boss wants you to preform the autopsy and determine whether or not that was the cause of death. He won't let anyone else give their opinion, so if you could come in today that would be great, and if not, that's your task for tomorrow! Thanks!"