Semper Ad Meliora (Law & Order)

iuncta iuvant

Latin: "together they strive"

In which the aftermath of a mass shooting and a certain defense attorney's viciousness makes Frank realize the more support Nolan has for this case, the better.

Also known as "Camouflage" rewritten.

***

Frank Cosgrove was not known for a silver tongue. In fact, he was certain that having a silver tongue was in his lieutenant's requirements for his partner on the job. Between him and Kevin Bernard, everyone in the 27th precinct knew Bernard was the diplomat of the two . . . as evident on multiple occasions. Jalen Shaw, while green in the homicide department, had already proven to be the perfect counterpart to Frank, which was why he had asked Dixon to transfer the young detective from the 32nd to his side at the 27th.

No, Frank left the silver tongues to the attorneys. While he absolutely despised some of the politics that took over some of the cases (why couldn't every homicide be a case of black and white instead of shades of grey that barely changed?), he knew their precinct had the highest conviction rate of homicide departments. That wouldn't be possible if EADA Nolan Price and ADA Samantha Maroun didn't have the skills they possessed. Sure, Frank often found himself at Nolan's throat when they disagreed (he knew Shaw had already been warned about the blow-up from the Jimmy Doyle case), but he heard about how much time and effort the right hand of DA Jack McCoy put into weaving his case and trapping the jury in his web. That was why, even though he had been just as pissed as Stabler at the turn in Sirenko's case, he had sent a bottle of Nolan's preferred bourbon to his office after Stabler had confronted him in broad daylight. Frank wouldn't want another person to prosecute the 27th's cases.

That was why, when he and Shaw got the call to the aftermath of a mass shooting at Canal Street subway station, Frank got a sinking feeling when he heard Nolan, of all people, had been one of the first on the scene. Even if he rarely showed it, he appreciated the work Nolan and Sam did in the District Attorney's office. He and Shaw were trained to respond to these scenes, they saw these types of scenes on a daily basis. At worst, the prosecutors might find video footage of homicides, but never see the actual scene and victims themselves. So far, in the time Frank had worked at the 27th, that had been the case.

Not so much in the last few weeks. Not only had Nolan and Sam witnessed two shootings in as many weeks, both had been murders. Daniel Rublev had bled out under Nolan's hands, and Drea Clark had been shot on the courthouse steps after Sam convinced her to testify against Blake Carter. In Frank's eyes, that was two murders more than he would want them to witness. He knew their jobs were to prosecute killers . . . but if he had his way, they would be far, far away from any killing that actually happened.

And the first thing Frank noticed when he jogged down the stairs, geared up in case he came face to face with a shooter in this investigation, was Nolan speaking to one of the street officers, his hands caked in dried blood, his suit stained red as well. The sight of the prosecutor in such a disheveled state, the younger man's multicolored eyes darting around the station as he spoke, made Frank hesitate when he reached the end of the staircase. Still, when Nolan finished his statement and caught sight of him, the remaining tenseness in his stance appeared to ease. He looked even more disheveled when he turned fully to face Frank; the detective had never seen his hair in such disarray, and he'd never seen him without a tie, either. In short, Nolan looked like a mess.

And given the amount of blood Frank could see just in the station, not in the subway car, there was no way he could blame him.

The officer returned to examining the scene, and Frank crossed the distance to Nolan in a few quick strides. "You OK, Nolan?" he asked, eyes raking the younger man up and down, searching for any visible injuries.