~*~ This story contains elements of BDSM all throughout, so if you don't enjoy that, you can skip this one. ~*~
It was getting later into the evening, as the sun began to set against the backdrop of Detroit, Michigan. River Thorn had finished taking every single particulate out of the body they had been examining, and the body had been sewn back up after the autopsy. Dr. Carrington had let River do most of the exam, though he helped here and there. He wanted to make sure River was as comfortable with all parts of this job before he let River loose to do full autopsies on his own.
This wasn't the first job River had out of school, but the last few years he had been interning in various parts of the labs in Ann Arbor while he finished up his masters, and now he was busy with his PhD, but he had finally landed a job with the coroner's office in Detroit, which had always been his goal.
Now that the bugs, dirt, particulates, tissue and fluid samples had been collected and the autopsy complete, River was cleaning the body after the chest had been sewn up again. He used a cloth with gentle soap to clean away any blood and dirt. The family had already identified the body and River would call the funeral home in the morning to come collect the body. River always tried to give them a clean slate to work with once they had a hold of the bodies.
Just as River was zipping the body back up into its bag, the buzzer rang at the loading bay door. River let out a small groan, because it meant another body coming in. Of course, he could get it loaded into one of the trays for preservation until he could work on them, but they usually liked to make sure they started taking samples pretty soon afterward. He went over and hit the button that would let the mortuary transporters come into the building. They had a ton of samples working and bodies that were part of active investigations, so only someone with a key card or who got buzzed in could even come into the building. He watched the camera as they came inside and then went back to cleaning up the table to wait until they came into the room.
River had been prepared to see the usual team of transporters, both older men, one an African-American fellow with tight, curly white hair and stubble and the other a shaggy gray-haired man who never seemed to stop talking. Instead, Rufus was leading the gurney but a younger man was pushing and doing the more physical work. He was shorter than River, though much closer to his age, and well-muscled. He had sandy blonde-brown hair and River could see tattoos peeking out from the edges of the man's coveralls.
As the two transporters came into the room, they could hear what sounded like eerie, ghostly screaming throughout the back where the fridges were. River could see the slight look of trepidation on the younger man's face as he glanced over at where the refrigerator units were.
River gave him a warm smile. "That's just the sound of gasses releasing out of the bodies we have in the refrigerator units. Eerie sounding but just science."
The new guy looked like he was unsure of that, but willing to take the explanation. They lined the gurney up next to the open table and transferred the body bag over without saying a word. River could tell that the new guy was watching Rufus to learn what he had to do, but seemed to be picking things up quickly.
"We're picking up the Forrester body too," Rufus told River.
River went over to the refrigerator units and opened one up that was in the middle, opening up the bag to check the toe tag. He knew it was the right body but they had protocols because mistakes had been made, and Dr. Carrington was a stickler for protocols. Once he was sure he had the right body, he closed the body bag again and motioned to the tray for them to take the body. Rufus told the new guy to give River the paperwork for him to sign off on the transfer.
New Guy reached under the mattress on the gurney and pulled out a clipboard with two sets of paperwork on it. One was the standard delivery packet from the Police station. River knew that he had to sign and date-and-time the top copy and let the transporter separate the copies and keep the sealed envelope under the clipboard. The second document was the chain of custody form for the funeral home that the Police station used for unclaimed bodies. The man handing him the clipboard eyed him interestedly as he explained what he needed River to do with the paperwork. His tone was confident, even though River was sure this was the first time he was being asked to deliver this spiel.
River smiled at him again, deciding not to mention that he knew what to do. He filled out what he needed to and then dated and signed it before handing the paperwork back to him. The man took the clipboard back, leaving the sealed envelope with River, and stashed it back under the mattress on the gurney before wheeling it over to the open refrigerator, slotting it in next to the tray that Rufus had expertly unlatched and pulled out on its rollers. He and Rufus grabbed the handles built into the body bag and hefted it over onto the gurney before Rufus pushed the tray back into the refrigerator unit and closed the door. As he did that, the new guy unzipped the end of the bag that River had opened and double checked the toe tag against a sticky note he took from his pocket. He looked over the toe tag for a moment, proving that this was the first time he had been trusted with this task.
"So, are you just training here or will you be a new fixture around these parts?" River asked the new guy once he was done with his triple check of the body.
He looked a little startled by the conversational tone to River's voice, but smiled and said, "I guess Sam is finally retiring. At least that's what they told me when I interviewed for the job. I've been partnered with Rufus to learn the ropes. I don't know what happens after I learn the job."
As he finished speaking, Rufus announced to River that he was going to the restroom, eliciting a good-natured eye roll from the new guy before he shuffled off in the direction of the more accessible restroom. The other was over by the breakroom, through two secured doors.
"I liked Sam but boy he could talk," River commented with a laugh as he went over to stand near the new body, putting the sealed envelope on the top for a moment before he checked their cameras and got it ready to turn on for when he would break the seal. The envelope would tell him where the body was found, in what condition, what the field agents had taken already, and what they wanted from River. "If he's retired then I assume you'll be on our rotation going forward. I'm River Thorn. I work under Dr. Carrington here."
"Under, hm?" the new guy said under his breath before saying much more loudly, "I'm Emmanuel, but Rufus calls me Manny."
"Just Rufus?" River asked with a chuckle. He was taken by how handsome this guy was, but knowing River's luck, he was probably as straight as they came. "It's very nice to meet you, Emmanuel. Don't be a stranger. We don't bite here, usually."
