i know your silences, morgan.

‎      ‎      ‎      ‎      ‎        ‎‎‎‎‎not everything is a puzzle you need to solve. ‎      ‎      ‎      ‎     ‎      ‎      ‎      ‎        ‎( promo by @fixescrimes )

skittish little doe was she, there was a constant trembling of her hands. admittedly, her caffeine habits were not good for her anxiety—however, no one ever said anything about it affecting her autism. a squeak left her, hands raising almost in surrender. practically everyone was taller than her, so it would not take much to knock her down. “i'm fine! are you, though?”

       the trouble with adam was that he was always rushing. work was always at the forefront of his mind, and he was always focused on the case at hand, rather than...well, literally anything else. this time, he had to force himself to stop and fully focus on her. "absolutely, i'm alright. just got a little distracted by the promise of coffee - here, let me get yours. it's the least i can do."

She's already planning to run him through facial recognition later. She's learned by now that problems rarely show up just once, and it'd be good to have a little more background on this guy for when the time comes that she needs it. "I guess that depends on what you want to ask me."

       In his line of work, there were always people who simply weren't interested in speaking to cops. Karadec was used to it, and honestly, he understood it. If someone walked into his place of work saying they had questions, he wouldn't be too happy either. "Nothing too crazy," he assured, letting his jacket fall back over his badge. "I'm with the major crimes department, there's been a series of robberies at a lot of big stores in the area lately. Laptops, TVs, anything pricey. We're expecting the Buy More to get hit any day now, have you seen anything unusual in the area?"

"not without gloves, no," floribeth told him, perhaps a tad too cheerfully, "can't contaminate the evidence, can i?" a beat and then: "but sure, i won't." to show she's serious about it, she folds her hands behind her arms the same way soldiers do when they stand 'at ease'.

       a heavy sigh escaped karadec's lips. while he appreciated that floribeth knew the deal with gloves ( something adam took very seriously, whether it was evidence related or not - his aversion to germs meant he always had extra pairs on him ), the folded hands felt almost mocking. she was way too much like morgan. "thank you. if you see anything, you can just tell me. not everything needs to be touched."

"exactly! and, i know there's nothing i wouldn't do for my kids, especially if i lost a custody case and hadn't seen them in a long time." she pulled a lollipop she stole from daphne's desk out of her pocket and unwrapped it. they still had a long night ahead of them and she needed something to fidget with to stay sharp.

that was something he knew without a doubt to be true. there was absolutely nothing morgan wouldn't do for her kids, being an incredible mother was one of the things she was best at. he kept that thought tucked in the back of his mind for the moment, just nodding along with what she was saying. "yeah, i can imagine," adam mused, his eyes still scanning the pictures. "not like having kids has happened for me yet, but if it had...i would probably do the same." and given what a stickler for the rules he'd once been, that was saying something. parents would go to insane lengths for their children. "so, we bring him in..."

shaking off the ridiculousness of that childish reference, her eyes widened. "mom. parents. no!" her eyes widened even more as she put two photos side by side. "child! you remember how i said it seemed like both of them were left handed even though one still wrote with his right hand? look at their faces. it's a little blurry on the right, but you see that dimple, too, right?"

       "...i'm not even gonna ask." a lot of the time, that seemed to be for the best with morgan. she was ridiculously smart, but she was also ridiculously infuriating sometimes. this was one of those times when it seemed as if the best thing to do was to ignore it completely, lest she start to explain where that song was from. luckily, the case was enough to distract the both of them. karadec stared in awe down at the photos - not because he was awestruck by the resemblance, but because he was awestruck by her. competent as he and the rest of major crimes were, sometimes he wondered how the hell they'd ever solved a case without her. "i do, i see it. they're father and son?"

"more like covering for someone." she sighed and flipped through more items. "but, who?"

       unsurprisingly, he stared blankly at her. "i have no idea what you're talking about, and that's probably for the best," adam admitted. it wasn't the first time she'd referenced something he had no knowledge of, and almost definitely wouldn't be the last either. film and television weren't exactly his forte, he was more of a workout and board games kind of guy. he moved swiftly on from that thought, his mind going over the different possibilities in his head. morgan was the one who could see the small details, but he was still damn good as his job. mostly. "a lover, maybe?"

morgan scoffs and rolls her eyes. "oh my god, karadec." she shakes her head in tandem with her words. "again, a little potential apple juice isn't going to kill you." she continued to rifle through the files, eyes scanning photos, small details, a receipt to a chinese restaurant on a thursday on 5th street. something had to click, right? sure, they'd brought in a suspect the day before, but something about it didn't feel right. or maybe too right? "if it helps, i didn't bring the whole file home." she grins. "so, progress?" her eyes returned to the pieces in front of her. "but, you feel it, too, right? something doesn't add up."

        "- but apple juice is sticky." he was aware those words made him sound a little bit like a child, but he didn't try to backtrack. she knew fine well how he felt about stickiness by now. adam dried his hands off, turning to turn her, unable to hide the hint of amusement her technicality brought about. when she'd first started working with them, he'd hated how much she bent the rules...now, he quite often found himself following her lead, bending a few rules of his own. soto had been right, she was rubbing off on him. "it's all a little too neat," he agreed, begrudgingly. "you think he was framed?"