take me from the wreckage

take me from the wreckage;
It feels different for Luke to get back to his everyday work. After spending six months-plus with his mind constantly being dragged back to the Vincent case, he's developed different rhythms that he has to shake. To realize that he's not splitting his time between his schedule and Kevin's, or that Janet is fine and he can stop worrying about her. He knows that he'll settle back in with time, which is why he doesn't entirely appreciate Kevin walking into his office and reminding him.

"Did you talk to Chris Gillespie?"

"No." Luke shakes his head. "What would I have to talk to him for?"

Christopher Gillespie is the Assistant U.S. Attorney in charge of narcotics and one of the four other Bureau Chiefs. The three of them saw each other at the weekly staff meeting on Monday but that was four days ago so Luke has absolutely no idea what Kevin is referring to. But since he can guess it's not a social call, he closes the file he's reviewing and sits up straight in his chair.

"We're filing charges against eleven different members of Dexter Vincent's organization." Kevin leans up against the filing cabinet. "The FBI's done three raids in seven days."

Now Luke knows why he's passing this information on. Vincent's arrest, and the subsequent charging of his number-two man Devonte Barker for his murder, had left the gang exposed. And with FBI agent David Spencer having taken the proactive step of keeping tabs on their movements in case of such a scenario, the FBI was already prepared to exploit that weakness. Kevin feels like Luke should hear the news since it's technically connected to the case he invested so much of himself into.

"It's not my case," he retorts, shaking his head. "Good for him, but I don't need to know about it."

Maybe that's the new Luke Cameron talking. The old one would want to know everything because he'd want to watch the fallout. If people he loved had to suffer than so should everyone else. But the new Luke has only threatened to file additional charges against Richard Whitehouse for working with Vincent, and then dropped the idea when Vincent wound up dead. He knew that would make his case not worth prosecuting, and he knows that of those eleven arrests, Gillespie will likely plead five of them down to build cases against the remaining six. This could all take months, and Luke doesn't have the emotional space for that.

"That's different for you," Kevin points out.

"I really just want to get back to work." Luke sighs. "I spent six months on your case and almost lost my ex-girlfriend twice. Then I served a permanent restraining order on her father. I need a break."

"Maybe you should take some time off."

"And do what? Go on vacation with myself?" He chuckles humorlessly. The only people in Luke's life right now are his parents, and he's not flying them to Washington from Iowa just to keep him company. "I'll be fine. I've got four cases I'm working on. Just don't drag me back into that again."

"Okay." His best friend nods. "Have you talked to Janet recently?"

"I texted her the other day. She's working with the Behavioral Science Unit at Quantico." Luke is aware that Kevin's asking because he thinks Luke's mood must be related to something about his ex. "She's doing well. She just wants some space from everything. And I've realized that's not a bad idea."

Once Kevin leaves he allows himself to slump back into his chair. Over a decade he's seen his fair share of difficult cases; you didn't get to be a Bureau Chief unless you had some headaches and an ability to beat them. He's had worse and he will again. But anything having to do with Janet always struck a nerve, and seeing her hurt and scared had been particularly draining on him. Just like she needed to recover, he needed to build his walls back up again. It's just a matter of time.