Always By Your Side (Jack Archer x Mithran Ganesh)

Chapter One

I was sitting at my desk staring down at the report for some odd reason not being able to concentrate the reason is because I can't stop thinking about my friend and partner Mithran  Ganesh whenever he's near me or just the sound of his voice brings a smile to my face but no matter how hard I try the words get caught in my throat pretty much everyone knows about my crush and are trying to convince me to just come clean and tell him but it wasn't easy sighing I rubbed my temples trying not to stress myself out with everything going on with murder investigations there's not even enough time in the day sighing I picked up the pen and began working on the report as time went by I could feel my eyes getting heavy setting the pen down I pushed my chair back stretching out my stiff muscles slowly standing up making my way to the breakroom to grab a cup of and with so many thoughts running through my head I didn't realize that someone was calling out my name followed by a sharp pain in the back of my head yelping I quickly turned around and was met with a glaring Ingrid Bjorn. "Oh! H-Hey Ingrid what's up?" I watched as she raised her eyebrow at me before reaching wrapping her hand around my wrist and without saying a single started walking towards the meeting room as we arrived everyone turned to look at me which made me want to hide from the world." Thank you for joining us Archer please take a seat next to Mithran." I nodded taking a seat next to him as Chief Ripley continued on with the discussion slowly looking around the room I saw that everyone is busy listening except for my best friend Lars Douglas the forensic expert and who was also in an awesome band was looking at me silently moving his lips which made me smile then there was Armand Dupont our historian who talks a lot making us lose track of our thoughts sitting beside him was  Elliot Clayton the tech genius who was listening to his music sitting beside him is my other partner Carmen Martinez who you don't EVER want to see angry trust me I've seen it before then there's Grace Delaney our corner who's a very sweet person when you get to know her followed by Michelle Zuria who was once a SOMBRA lawyer who is now part of the Bureau and of course last but not least Marina Romanova a criminal psychologist also known as miss brains and beauty then her boyfriend Jonah Karam our weapons expert who is protective of everyone after what seemed like an eternity the meeting came to a sudden halt. "Chief we have a situation on our hands there's been a murder at an apartment duplex also there's been a break in at a nearby business." Chief Ripley nodded pointing towards me and Mithran. "The two of you head off to the apartment duplex immediately while Carmen and Michelle go investigate the break in, I'll text you the addresses." At this point my entire face turned bright red feeling my palms get sweaty trying to say something but stopped when I felt a hand on mine. "Don't worry Chief me and Jack can handle it no problem at all." He turned to look at me giving me a caring smile which made me feel so much better. "Let's get going Archer it's going to be a long day." I nodded as the two of us got up from our seats making our way towards the exit but stopped when someone called out my name turning around, we say Lars running towards us. "Sorry but I just need to speak to my bro for a few, okay?" Mithran nodded patting my shoulder before heading out the door. "What's up bro is something wrong?" He shook his head. "I just wanted to tell you that you deserve to be happy with whoever you love bro no matter what." A small smile appeared over my face pulling him into a hug. "Thanks, bro, for your love and support." He nodded before heading back to his office chuckling softly I headed out the door towards the cruiser. "Are you ready to go Archer?" I nodded smiling turning to look at him. "Always ready to solve crimes." Mithran chuckled pulling out of the parking lot making our way towards the crime scene along the way the two of us began chatting about random things about our hobbies what we like to do diffident movies it wasn't long until we arrived at the apartment duplex as we pulled up the owner of the apartments came rushing over. "Thank god you're here are you two the detectives?" We nodded pulling out our badges. "Yes, I'm detective Jack Archer and this is my partner Lab Chief Mithran Ganesh we're from the Bureau are you the one who contacted us about the murder?" He nodded beads of sweat rolling down his face. "Yes, I was in my office going over some paperwork when I discovered that one of my tenants hasn't been paying rent, for the past couple of weeks so I decided to call but no one answered so I left a message about a couple of minutes later there was a loud scream quickly getting up from the desk one of my other tenants came bursting in saying that one of the tenants who lived in 3B wasn't moving at all and that we needed to contact the police immediately." From the corner of my eye, I could see Mithran writing down very important information that we needed. "Thank you for your time we'll let you know if we have any more questions." After leaving the office we headed up towards the apartment at this point the thoughts were coming back stronger than ever taking a deep shaky breath the two of us entered the apartment and was met with a disturbing scene. "What the heck happened here looks like a tornado came through here!" Mithran nodded in agreement making his way into the apartment being careful not to destroy any potential evidence. "I agree with you on this one Archer, but we can't jump to conclusions just, yet we'll need to send the body to Grace so she can do a thorough autopsy in the meantime I managed to find some clues like this torn picture and what looks like a bloody footprint on the back of her jacket let's get a sample of that substance." As the two of us got to work on securing the crime scene looking back, I saw that Mithran was complete focused on solving this case no matter what that's what I love about him maybe when the time comes, I'll ask him out on a date. "Alright I managed to piece together the picture and managed to get a sample of that substance I'll send it to Lars for testing and then we'll run this person through the database." I nodded in agreement helping him up as the two of us headed out the door while making our way downstairs the two of us started talking again not really about anything specific just random stuff. "You're really funny Jack I wish we could talk like this forever." A dark blush has appeared over my face once more. "Maybe we can so I was waiting for the right time to ask this, but I was wondering if you aren't busy later maybe we could hang out after work?" Suddenly his footsteps stopped slowly looking over I saw him staring at me a light blush appeared over his face which made me feel even more embarrassed than ever. "I-I'm sorry just forget that I ever asked let's get back to HQ!" Right as I turned around, I felt a pair of arms being wrapped around my waist followed by laying his head on my back listening to the sound of my heartbeat swallowing the lump in my throat I slowly lifted my arms up being careful not to scare him placed my hands on top of his not caring what the others think the two of us enjoying the moment in silence but all of that quickly ended when another cruiser pulled up immediately my heart began to race but then it only took that one sentence to make my day. " I would love to hang out with you later today but first things first we need to head back right away I just received a call from Chief Ripley, and she says that it's urgent turns out that Carmen and Michelle discovered something strange at the break in and it might be linked to our crime scene." My eyes went wide when he said that. "Then what are we waiting for let's go!" Quickly pulling away he reached down grabbing the case of the ground as the two of us made our way towards the cruiser. "What are you two still doing here I thought you would've been back at the HQ by now!" Looking over I saw Carmen sticking her head out just seeing her like this made me laugh. "We got a little bit distracted with the crime scene were getting ready to head on back with the body and evidence in fact since you and Michelle are here why don't we all head back together." Before they could even respond we quickly took off leaving them in the dust. "I have a feeling that when we get back to HQ Carmen's going to be kicking your butt." Immediately once again all the color drained from my face when he said that the memories started coming back and believe me, I rather not go through them again as we drove along the road sitting in complete silence, I heard the radio being turned on to my favorite band. "How did you know this was my favorite song?" He turned to look at me softly smiling reaching over placing his hand on top of mine. "It's my favorite song too it helps me relax after a long day of work not only that also helps relieve stress." I felt cupid's arrow strike it felt like I couldn't live without him in my life, but it was still too early to tell if he liked me back as we pulled into the parking lot of HQ shutting the cruiser off sitting there for a few moments before getting out making our way up the steps only to be stopped once again by someone calling out my name knowing who it was I started picking up the pace not even bothering to look back. "Jack, you get back here this instant don't you dare walk away from me!" Luckily for me Mithran already went on ahead and so did Michelle because the next thing I knew I felt a sharp tug on the back of shirt. "And where do you think you're going Jack?" Trying my best to stay calm but was failing miserably so I just started playing dumb. "I don't know what you're talking about Carmen besides don't you have to meet up with the others to discuss your findings?" Immediately she reached up grabbed ahold of my ear making me yelp in pain. "I am meeting up with the others were just waiting for you and Mithran to discuss what you guys found at the murder scene!" A nervous grin appeared over my face. "O-Oh is that right actually I'm on my way to the lab right now to identify the mysterious person in the photograph we found at the scene." After a few moments of silence Carmen finally let go of my ear sighing. "You have a good heart Archer but your minds all over the place take some time to gather your thoughts then meet up with us in the office, okay?" I nodded as she disappeared down the hall sighing, I pressed my forehead against the cold wall rubbing my eyes. "She's right I need to calm down and gather my thoughts with so many things happening I completely forgot my job as a detective I need to push my feelings aside for the time being and focus on solving this case." Pushing myself off the wall I quickly made my way to the lab hoping that everything will get better later on.