Title: Few Choices
Author: scy
Feedback: scynneh@yahoo.com
Disclaimer: Not mine 
Fandom: Blood Ties 
Pairing: Vicki/Mike implied, Vicki/Henry implied 
Spoilers: Up through 1x04, 'Gifted.' 
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Mike debates about vampires and the job of a partner. 
Author's Notes: Bit of a pov piece written after the last episode. 
March 2007 

Mike had always locked his doors, but after he found out what Henry Fitzroy really did after dark, he added to his home security. Henry Fitzroy had made him uneasy before Mike found out that he did more than wrote about monsters. When it turned out that Fitzroy was one of them, Mike should have been relieved, but he wasn't. The guy's freakishness didn't put Vicki off, it never had, and now with Fitzroy playing guide to Vicki's new life, it looked like they were going to have to be doing a lot of night work together.

His and by extension Dave's efforts to dig up Fitzroy hadn't amounted to much, probably because he hadn't stayed buried long enough for anybody to put in a headstone. But Mike knew what he was now, and being aware of what facts mattered was almost as good as having a meaty file on something. He began to go through records, case files, unsolved homicides, anything where the victims had been attacked by an animal but where the cops hadn't found the attacker. Mike knew that Fitzroy was dangerous; he'd lifted Mike off his feet without so much as straining, and that snarl had been like a wild thing, dangerous and only holding back while it suited him.

Fitzroy might think Vicki was funny and beautiful, but that didn't mean he wouldn't turn on her in a second. What Mike needed was proof that Henry couldn't be trusted, that he would hurt someone else and was too dangerous for Vicki to depend on. The last wasn't going to be easy to convince her of, but Mike knew that if he could keep working at it, Vicki would at least let him get in a word before she started yelling back. Her loyalty to her friends was one of the qualities he loved about her, but he didn't think it should extend to anyone who could potentially rip the throat out of a person and think it was warranted. 

He'd seen Fitzroy think about going through with his threat, watched those weird black eyes go blank and known how very little his life mattered at that moment. But when Vicki had stepped in and told Fitzroy to back off, he'd done it. Even a vampire seemed to think that she was worth taking seriously, if only he'd leave her alone for the same reason.

It couldn't be as simple as a crush; that probably didn't apply when the guy was a couple centuries out. Mike would bet it had more to do with fascination than Vicki knew. She had been an unusual person in the department as his partner and that hadn't changed, even after she stepped out of the bullpen.

If he had a chance of making sure that she was okay and not into even crazier stuff, then Mike would have to, at least fake getting along with Fitzroy. Vicki was all they had in common, and Mike was determined to make sure that Fitzroy didn't succeed in getting any closer. Otherwise, Mike would try out a few of the things he'd been reading up on. It couldn't hurt to at least know what he was dealing with and the best ways to stop it and put it in the ground if he had to. It was easy to Google vampires, for a supposedly nonexistent monster, they got a lot of press time. He did a few searches, found the protective measures and weaknesses that were widely accepted and could he hardly believe that he was doing that much. But he had bruises on his throat from where Henry had grabbed him and he'd seen the whole freak show more than once. Although he wasn't sure how much of the information was reliable, he'd begun compiling a list of Fitzroy's known advantages because he was going to need to know how to deal with them. 

Vicki had taken to Fitzroy and his fellow weirdoes like a rookie out of the academy. Mike could see what she was doing; her anger and confusion about the loss of her sight was being placed squarely on her finding a way to explain all of the stuff nobody had a neat answer for. She wouldn't admit that she was scared of what was going to happen to her, but he guessed that she might even think that knowing more about what was in the dark was a way to cope with her problems. She said that Henry wasn't like all the stories and that he'd been helpful and hadn't hurt anybody, but Mike didn't buy that for a second.

What Henry did while he was away from Vicki was debatable, but Mike knew that vampires had to drink blood, and since Vicki wasn't being bitten regularly, somebody else was feeding him. Chances were those people had no idea of what they were letting near them. Despite what Mike thought was best, he had to acknowledge that even if Dave was the only one who suggested there was something more to Vicki and Henry's occasional collaboration on a case, he had a point. 

What bothered Mike was not being able to come up with with many other reasons for Fitzroy to keep on encouraging Vicki to go looking where she never had before. Even though he was a vampire, Fitzroy's attraction to Vicki was just as obvious as if he'd been a man and Mike saw it. For some reason, women were drawn to that type, they thought they'd salvage a good thing out of a disaster. Vicki hadn't  been one to fall for those scams, but now she made exceptions, and Fitzroy was standing in a huge blind spot.

It was the definition of a partner to pick up on whatever their other half missed and right now, Fitzroy was that. Trying to keep Vicki away was like stopping a train and doing that meant they weren't speaking for weeks or months. He needed to be able to step in if Fitzroy pulled a mind trick or anything on Vicki. If he had to push a little harder, then it just might be enough to ensure that Vicki was alright. Her not being in the mood to speak to him for a while was better than not hearing from her at all, and there was absolutely no question about which Mike could stand.

-end