Assistant U.S. Attorney Luke Cameron

devil you know, part 15;
Pat Ryden is the first to congratulate Luke when he returns to the U.S. Attorney's Office. Unsurprisingly, the sight of Melissa Wallace being taken out of the Hoover Building in handcuffs has already created a media buzz, and a press conference is being scheduled as they speak. "Way to go," Ryden says, clapping Luke on the back. "Taking down a congressman's ex-wife, that's one hell of a win."

Luke gives him a smile that isn't as bright as it should be. He feels accomplished, but he also knows it's not over yet. "It'll be a win when Kevin gets a conviction," he points out. But it's his best friend's day off so he can't discuss it with him yet. Nor is Luke sure he's got the mental space for that yet. He walks through to his own office, sets his bag down on his desk and allows himself to take a deep breath. He did what he had to do. What he wanted to do. Wexler hadn't been his choice; this was. This was the first time he'd stepped out of his carefully defined boundaries on purpose and while he doesn't know if he'd do it again, he knows he did the right thing. That's what matters.

He's not surprised when he hears someone in his doorway. Bryan Alexander has watched Luke in and out of the office all week, not missing a deadline or a meeting while trying to close a murder case. luke kept his word and didn't put a foot wrong. "Congratulations," he says. "I thought you could pull it off."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence."

But that's not the only reason his boss is standing there. "You lied to me the other day," Bryan just comes out with it. "When I asked you if there was anything I needed to know. You didn't tell me about the book."

"I didn't have a choice," Luke retorts. "We couldn't let knowledge of that get out into the public. And for all I knew, people you know were in there."

"Are they?"

"I don't know. I didn't read the whole thing. It'll get handed off to the Political Corruption Task Force to see if any of Wallace's allegations are true." Luke sighs. "This is why I don't want your job," he adds. "I can't deal with this. I just want to close cases."

He's said numerous times that he doesn't have any interest in being U.S. Attorney. But this is the first time that he's so explicitly stated what's holding him back. Bryan files that fact about his prodigal son away for another conversation they're not ready to have. "I do my job so you can do yours," he reminds Luke before he pauses. "You've never held anything back in almost twelve years. That's one of the things I've always respected about you. Even when it could have gotten you fired, you said something. I didn't think you'd ever break my trust."

"I'm sorry," Luke says, because he is. "But I'd do it again."

It has nothing to do with Bryan or whether or not he trusts his boss. It was about protecting the integrity of his case and not starting a potentially unwarranted media firestorm. He made a decision based on the facts, not his emotions. But he understands that to Bryan it feels like Luke didn't trust him enough to at least tell him that he couldn't tell him. The two of them exchange a quiet look before Luke walks out of his office. He knows there's nothing else he can say, that his boss just has to get over it, and he has a press conference to be at.

That evening Michael faces the cameras all over again. This time it's Anthony Brennan giving the prepared remarks instead of Patrick Burton, and he's almost a decade older, but the song remains the same as Brennan gives the details of Melissa Wallace and Thomas Marshall's arrests. Michael stares out into the crowd of reporters and tries not to think about how much attention he's going to get. Back then the Wallace case had jumpstarted his career. Now as a senior agent he knows he'll get more points toward making Assistant Director, but he also cares less. He only wants to leave the whole saga behind him.

Michael glances over at Luke as the Assistant U.S. Attorney steps to the microphone. He's gained respect for Luke knowing the other man stepped up for him without having to be asked, even though it meant being out of his depth. And he can admit that having Luke there made this easier so he didn't have to hold everything in. Because he would have. "I want to start by thanking the FBI, Supervisory Special Agent Brennan and Senior Special Agent Davis for completing a detailed and conscientious investigation," Luke begins. "Despite a complicated case and the history of both the victim and the suspect, they maintained a commitment to justice."

The press conference lasts less than thirty minutes. Just like he did nine years earlier, Michael stops in the hallway on the way back to his office. Except this time it's to size Luke up. It seems wrong to leave it like this. "Thank you," he says. "I couldn't have done this without your help."

"You deserved it," Luke replies. "And frankly, I wouldn't have wanted to be anywhere else." As strange as this whole expedition has been, he cares about Michael. And being aware of what Mark Wallace had done and how he never should've been let out of prison, his anger at the situation would have made him want to at least know what was going on. He had at least held his tongue and not criticized the parole board in his remarks. "How are you doing?" he asks now that it's been a few hours.

"I'm fine. I'll be okay. It's just both times I've dealt with them, they've turned me into someone I didn't want to be." Michael sighs.

"Don't second-guess your decisions." The U.S. Attorney shakes his head. He's not in the habit of doing that anyway but he knows what Michael is thinking. If he made a mistake showing Melissa Wallace compassion knowing now she wasn't as innocent as he believed. "If you hadn't done what you did nine years ago," Luke points out, "you wouldn't have been able to do this."

Michael has to concede the point. Melissa's fatal mistake had been thinking she could use him in her plan. Her coming forward had also immediately put her on their radar. Had she not had that blind spot, the case might still have come together, but it would have taken much longer. That idea makes it a little easier to forgive himself. "How are you?" he asks.

"Bryan's pissed off at me for not telling him about the book. He found out about it when I filed the arrest warrants. But I can live with that."

"Can you?"

"I knew what I was doing. The rest of us can't always be the good guy," Luke comments before he turns and walks away. Michael knows that's meant to be a compliment toward him but he can't help but take it as a reminder that Luke is often the bad guy. It's something he thinks on as he heads back to the third floor.

When Michael steps off the elevator, he hears a familiar voice call his name. He'd completely forgotten that Janet was coming home, but he remembers now that she wasn't supposed to be at work until tomorrow. It's clear that she came here for him. He doesn't argue with the sentiment, just catches her when she runs to him and holds her tightly. "I missed you so much," he murmurs into her neck.

"I missed you too," Janet says, kissing his cheek gently. "I'm glad you're okay. I knew you could do it, but I couldn't stop thinking—"

He knows what the rest of that sentence is. "Don't you dare apologize for not being here," he tells her. "I wanted you to be happy. And you were always with me anyway."

Brennan smiles to himself when he arrives a few minutes later. Eleven years later he knows he made the right choice. "Get a room, you two," he laconically quips as he walks by, causing his subordinates to burst into laughter—which is his entire point.

"Do you want to go get a drink?" Janet offers. "Or what can I do to help you?"

"Be here for me tomorrow." Michael would love nothing more than to spend some quality time with his best friend, but there's something else he needs to attend to first. "I've got somewhere to be tonight," he continues.

A half-hour later he's standing in Luke's doorway with another six-pack of soda. "I thought it should be my round," he says by way of explanation. Luke chuckles before letting him in. They've never been that close, and then five and a half years of personal tension had only made their relationship worse. But for the first time, they can see through each other's eyes and the world looks different.

[End.]

every game you play;
Luke goes down to the basement, pulls the box related to the Mark Wallace case, and hauls it into his office. He doesn't want any of the other U.S. Attorneys to know he's looking at it, but he does want to know what he's dealing with. The case was before his time, prosecuted by his then-boss Tanner Benton, who had used a far more experienced attorney as his second chair. They had wanted to throw their absolute best at Wallace, which is exactly what Luke would have done in the same situation. But it meant that all he knew was things he had heard secondhand over the weeks of trial.

He's halfway through the initial witness list when a too-familiar voice interrupts. "Is it a really slow night?" Bryan Alexander comments, and Luke tenses. He feels like he's just been caught with something, which maybe he has. He glances up at his boss while putting down the paperwork. "No," he says. "I'm doing a little opposition research."

"On Mark Wallace?" Bryan retorts, pointing toward the box to remind Luke that he can read the label on the side. Luke exhales sharply. "I just want to know who I'm dealing with," he explains. "In case I end up dealing with him."

He's watching his boss closely for a reaction. Though Bryan Alexander is known more now as a politician, he was a talented prosecutor and didn't become U.S. Attorney just because he's well-connected. He had told Luke about Wallace's parole for a reason, being aware that the ex-Congressman had been locked up for financial crimes and wanting his bureau chief to have the same awareness. Since he dropped the dime he really can't get angry at Luke for picking it up. "Have you found something?" he asks.

Luke shakes his head. "But I don't want to get fucking blindsided."

This was something he'd do for any agent he'd worked with if a case came up again. He'd want to look things over to give them ample warning out of respect. But it being Michael made the situation that much worse, and also knowing how much the case meant to Michael both personally and professionally. Luke considered Michael a friend even if that friendship had been strained. Especially with Janet being out of town with Holden, he felt a compulsion to protect Michael in her absence. He was the best FBI agent anyone could name by a mile and he didn't deserve to be dragged through the wringer again.

"You going to tell me to knock this off?" he prompts Bryan, since the other man hasn't answered. "Or is there something I need to know?"

"I wanted you to be aware in case he came up on our radar, not for you to start an investigation," Bryan points out. His tone is the implied warning that Luke has already overstepped his bounds. "But be careful. Tanner ran everything by the book. You're a lot more emotional and aggressive than he is. If this does lead to anything, don't turn this into a fucking street fight."

"He has to start a fight with me first." Luke replies. He understands the point; he's definitely not his predecessor (something that he and Tanner had actually started an argument over). But in his eyes, if Wallace wants to make things ugly, then he has no problem fighting fire with fire. He never has. It's why he was smart enough to cut Janet loose before the Whitehouse trial. He would have burned the world down if anyone had come after her. Obviously that was an extreme circumstance, but he's still willing to get his hands dirty if someone wants to go after Michael. Particularly an already convicted public official who should never have been paroled in the first place. He has three different reasons to be pissed off about this.

Bryan knows two of the three, which is why he hasn't just pulled rank on Luke and shut him down. It's good business for the head of financial crimes to know that a high-profile white collar criminal is back on the street, and on a personal level he can understand Luke's opposition. Luke's passion for the work is why Bryan promoted him and why he wants him to become U.S. Attorney someday. Yet he also has the political savvy to understand this will be an even worse scandal if it goes to trial again, with how relentless Luke will be compared to the usually stoic Benton. "Put that back when you're done," he says. "Don't tell anyone you're looking into this. And don't do anything without talking to me first." The latter is not a request.

Luke nods and breathes a heavy sigh as his boss walks out of his office. They're all still hoping this is nothing, but his inherent cynicism tells him something is about to happen.

burns you out sometimes;
"We better not offer this motherfucker a deal," Luke snaps, and he's never meant anything more in his life.

The emphasis in his voice startles both Kevin Russell and Bryan Alexander, and the two of them look at each other. Luke's not stupid; he knows that look is asking each other if they really want to deal with him. "We're not," Kevin replies, in the reassuring tone he'd use for a child. "We just want to make sure we do this absolutely right."

Luke shakes his head, hands settling on his hips. "Don't patronize me, Kevin. Don't fucking patronize me on this."

"Luke." Now the U.S. Attorney is looking right at him, and it's not an impressed look. "I've already kicked you off the fifth floor once, I'll do it again."

Dexter Vincent is taking the stand tomorrow, for God knows what reason, and this was supposed to be a conversation about how to approach it. Kevin hadn't expected to have to cross-examine him considering the length of his rap sheet, and has no idea how this plays into Vincent's defense strategy. What he does have are the lengthy notes that Holden provided them for this exact situation, and the ability to bounce ideas off two of the smartest legal minds in Washington D.C. The latter of which he's regretting at the moment.

He really should have firewalled Luke months ago. But he didn't, for the same reason Bryan hasn't dismissed him; he understands how important this case is to Luke. It might not be the right thing to do as prosecutors, but it's the right thing to do as human beings—let him do something to help. Especially when he's so damn brilliant at his job. And Luke's taken all his anger and channeled it into his own cases, chewing through trials at an impressive rate, so they can't even say he's not doing his work.

But he's going to be an asshole until the jury returns a verdict.

"Is he testifying because he knows something we don't?" Kevin asks.

"Or just because he's an arrogant son of a bitch?" Luke replies.

"You'd think his defense attorney would stop him," Kevin points out, to which his best friend shakes his head. "That's assuming he listens to his attorney. Would you want to argue with a known drug dealer?"

"You'd better do your opposition research," Bryan interjects. "Make sure he's not going to drop something about Jack Ford that we don't know. And then go over those FBI notes. He's making himself vulnerable; it doesn't matter what narrative he wants to push if we can take advantage and get him to break."

"We'd better fucking break him," Luke mutters.

Kevin glances at him again and has half a mind to tell him not to show up in court tomorrow. He's done that once, after hearing that Luke got into it with Carissa Ford, but he knows that it won't work this time. Luke wants to make sure that this cross goes exactly the way that it should. Just like Janet wants to be there, as much as it's making her skin crawl, to show Vincent that he can't stop her. It's far from ideal but excluding them would be worse.

"Hey. I know how to do this," he says instead. "Remember that I was you before you got here. I know how to prosecute a red ball."

"I'm not saying you don't," Luke replies, his eyes lifting. "I'm saying I want to see him suffer."

He doesn't just want to win; he wants blood, and Kevin doesn't doubt that if it wouldn't jeopardize the whole case, Luke would get it. He's not afraid to get into a fight and he's been open about not caring if Vincent gets beaten up in jail. But he can't officially be anywhere near this case so the defense doesn't accuse them of misconduct, so he's trusting Kevin to get it done. Maybe not just trusting, but expecting.

"I'm going to do the best I can." Kevin sighs. "Let me go over these and you can go through what we have on Jack. Flag anything and we'll run a mock cross before lunch." So that if Luke gets bitchy again, he can blow off steam immediately afterward. Plus he knows if anyone can find something to attack with, it's Luke Cameron. He's at his best when he's on the offensive.

"How's Janet?" Bryan asks, hoping to calm him down and switch gears. "Is she going to be okay to do this tomorrow?"

"She's nervous, because of how her cross went," Luke concedes. "But she wants to be there. And she'll be with me."

"I'm going to trust you to keep her together." The U.S. Attorney nods slightly. He doesn't expect otherwise, but Janet dissolving into tears in the gallery would still be a scene that they don't need. There have already been headlines since she testified three weeks ago. Media interest has spiked since learning the heroic FBI agent shot by the vicious drug dealer is the daughter of a federal felon. "Stay in the back. Take the back door. And I shouldn't have to say this, but don't talk to anybody."

Luke chuckles. "Trust me, I'm already censoring myself."