Feelings don't die

Prologue

Melanie has been working as a police officer for 18 years. She's always loved her job, no matter the ups and downs she had to deal with. She's well respected among her colleagues and formed close friendships with her police colleagues as well as the people they cooperate with at the hospital.

Helen has wanted to be a doctor ever since she could remember. And that dream did come true for her, but a lot of other things she'd wanted have yet to happen for her. She's always moved from job to job and loved every new opportunity she got, but throughout it all, she missed deep human connections.

When Melanie finally kissed her that fateful night 10 years ago, she'd hoped she'd finally found her person. They seemed perfect together. Always in sync, barely fighting and genuinely enjoing each other's company. For Helen, this seemed perfect. She actually thought about Hamburg becoming more of a permanent home. But for Melanie, this was her first kiss with a woman. And as much as she wanted it to be easy, her emotions were chaos. It was all happening too fast. Instead of getting to process all her feelings, she sat in a car with her partner for hours each and every day, asking about Helen.

Mattes was one of the nicest guys Melanie knew. Hell, she even dated him for a while. But they'd figured out they worked better as just friends and work partners. As much as she liked him, though, he could be pushy. And he was back then when Melanie was kind of dating Helen. He wanted to know what was going on between them, kept asking how she felt about her, bringing up that he saw them kissing. All while Melanie sat in the passenger seat with her head spinning because she couldn't figure out the answers to any of his questions. She had no idea how she felt. She only knew she felt too much pressure. Too many people are watching.

So... after an incident where someone had taken a shot at her and she ended up in hospital, she told Helen she couldn't do this. Looking back, she hated the way she handled things, but it was the best she could do at the time.

Helen had taken it fairly well. Most certainly better than Melanie ever handled any breakup. They tried their best to stay friends, stay in touch. But when Helen got a job offer halfway across the country, she didn't hesitate. Seeing her kind of ex-girlfriend on an almost daily basis wasn't exactly helping her move on.

Now, here they were 10 years later...
Melanie still at her same station with a lot of close friends and people she knew for ages, waiting for their new colleague to come in. Helen got offered a job at the hospital she worked at in Hamburg 10 years ago. It had been a while, and she had long moved on. Hamburg and this job being a bit more steady and long-term than most, everything seemed perfect for her. She felt like she finally wanted a place to call home.

It was early in the morning, Melanie's shift had barely begun when a woman walked in and introduced herself.

"Hi, I'm Caterina, but please call me Cat,"
She smiled. Before she could continue, she was greeted by Melanie.

"Ah yes, the new colleague, right?" She smiled back.

"Yup. Nice to meet you all. I wanted to bring food, but I struggled to get something organized so quickly, so a beer after work will have to do. I hope that's okay with everybody. " Cat laughed.

"Oh, absolutely," her new partner, Nick, chimed in.

"Alright, come on in. I'll show you around, " Melanie offered, and Cat quickly made her way behind the counter.

After walking through the entire station, they made their way to the lockers.

"So... men are over here, " Melanie pointed to the lockers separated by curtains.

"And we're over there. This one's mine, and I think this one should be free. " she moved along and pointed to the locker next to hers.

"Your uniform is in there. I'll leave you to it. " Melanie smiled, almost on her way back out.

"Thank you." Cat answered. "Uhm... one quick question, though, " she quickly added.

"Yeah?"

"Am I allowed to decorate my locker? Yours all seem kinda plain, and every station is different, so I'd rather ask..." she explained nervously.

"As long as you can get it off without damage, I don't think anyone's gonna care." Melanie smiled back, trying to calm the new colleague a bit.

She'd barely met her half an hour ago, but she had a feeling "the new one" was gonna fit in quite well and could potentially become a good friend.