No One's Born Broken

[abrightboy]

For tinstar.



Gil came and went. Dani came and went. Ainsley came and then left with their mother, who refused to even hear him out about telling the truth. He stared through the window at the motionless man in the bed for some indeterminate amount of time, his hand clutching his phone in his pocket.

Finally he let his eyes leave the figure through the window and he took his phone out of his pocket. He stared at that for a long moment, then scrolled through his contacts until one name rolled onto the screen: Raylan Givens.

He looked through the window, then looked at the name. Then he pressed it.

Comments

[tinstar]

Tim glanced over again before focusing on the road. If he hadn't been sure of his suspicions before, he was now. It was okay. He had his own proclivities that meant he wasn't going to judge, but the confirmation naturally brought about more questions.

Ones he wasn't going to ask. No, he hoped he'd see what he needed to when the profiler and Raylan greeted each other.

Unless Malcolm spoke up, they'd ride in silence until they saw the Harlan County sign and Tim's phone sprang to life. He glanced at Malcolm before answering it. "Gutterson. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Yeah. Sure, be there in ten."

He glanced at Malcolm again. "Hope you don't mind a small detour."

[abrightboy]

Malcolm took Tim's silence as confirmation.

He looked right at him this time. "I sincerely hope you really do intend to consider what's best for Raylan when you decide what to do today," he said quietly.

When the phonecall broke the silence Malcolm looked over sharply.

"A detour? To where?"

[tinstar]

"My job? Sure, I'll take him into full account," he said with a heavy note of sarcasm as he turned them off onto a less well beaten dirt road.

"Raylan's lookin' for some backup tailing someone. Needs us to be where he can't til he can get there."

Tim glanced over. "If you think I'm out here tryin' to out people just because I know something.. I was in the army. Confidential means something. And out here in the hills, they don't take too well to surprises. So it's best they not know a lot of things." The story of the government, in Tim's mind, but now was not the place or time.

[abrightboy]

They were going to help Raylan? He couldn't help the slight increase in his heart rate or the flush that came with it.

He looked over at Tim. "You asked me about it. I don't know you well enough to guess why."

He glanced around. "I thought Raylan was after some random loser. Why does he need backup?" He paused. "How did he know you were out here?"

[tinstar]

Malcolm also sat up a little straighter, leaned forward a fraction enough for the sharp eye'd Marshal to notice.

"Is that a question or a statement? I can't tell." Welcome to dealing with Tim Gutterson, Malcolm.

"Random loser has friends and thinks he's slick. Just a good time to prove 'em wrong. He didn't. We'll be waitin' a little bit. I'd apologize about not bringing any snacks but it's a BYOS system here."

[abrightboy]

"It was a statement," Malcolm said, and left it at that.

At Tim's explanation, he answered with an absent "I don't really eat," before asking "What are we waiting for? Are we blocking their escape route?"

[tinstar]

If it was a statement, Tim didn't see any reason to dive into a response about it. Either Malcolm would get to his point or not but Tim wasn't the kind guy to come half way for no reason.

"We're gonna serve as pressure, if we're pointed out or made and follow anyone who leaves if we're not. You want me to let you out so you can ride with Raylan somewhere?"

[abrightboy]

Malcolm looked over at Tim.

"Are we going to meet up with him somewhere before it starts?"

[tinstar]

"Nope. We're a bird in the trees. Don't get excited; it's mostly for show. You'd be surprised what some subtle pressures will do."

Tim turned them down another road, paying more attention to where they were by the building around them than any GPS system.

"Just us being here will be effective."

[abrightboy]

He was hardly going to get out of the car and call Raylan to halt his pursuit to come pick him up. He already felt like he was due some sort of dog house for not stopping the cat from getting out of the bag.

"I'll stick out the pursuit here, then."

[tinstar]

He thought not.

"Shouldn't take too long," Tim assured as dust kicked up behind them. Soon enough, they were pulling down another road and parking behind some trees that looked out over a fenced in field, ending in a shabby looking porch bearing house that looked like it came out of 1901 at the earliest. Tim fished out his dark aviator sunglasses and rolled down his window, propping his elbow out.

"You been on stake outs before, right?"

[abrightboy]

"Since I was twelve," Malcolm said, sharp eyes taking in the house and the field and anything else he could see.

[tinstar]

"Good." Tim assumed that meant he didn't have to tell Malcolm what to do.

It wasn't but a few minutes before a shitty old truck started dusting up the horizon, making its way towards the house and when it got there, two people scrambled out of the truck into the house.

"That's not suspicious," he quipped as he unbuckled his seatbelt.

[abrightboy]

He didn't. His lifetime of stakeout experience and his once out in Harlan County experience meant he stayed quiet and watched and that was it.

Malcolm frowned faintly. Was he supposed to go too?

He unbuckled his own seatbelt, getting ready to get out of the car.

[tinstar]

Tim always thought it was kinda funny how places like this went from an almost oppressive, eerie silence to a flurry of activity and then back again. The dust had settled and the rev of the truck's engine had finally ebbed off in the distance. Just as it seemed to reach peak silence, another dustup came on the horizon, and this time, it was a recognizable black town car.

From the house, one of the people slipped out and crossed the road, getting on the far side of that fence. Tim's head swiveled with them before he took off his glasses and handed them over to Malcolm. "Think you can sit here and look dangerous? My bet is Raylan's gonna go knocking on that door and use us being here as pressure. If the guy runs, you run after him. If not, well, we'll see you in a few minutes."

[abrightboy]

Run after him?

He'd love to.

Even if he was distracted from taking Tim's sunglasses for just a second at the sight of Raylan's car approaching.

"Yes," he finally answered, forcing his attention back to Tim. "I can do that."

[tinstar]

Tim nodded. "Just slide over, don't walk around the car."

Getting out of the car, Tim shut it with nearly no sound and started a long stride towards the far field where he'd seen the girl, he assumed, go, and it broke into a jog readily, getting him over there and behind a tree with quickness.

It was Raylan's car and when it pulled up crookedly behind the truck, The Hat got out, glancing over at the truck Malcolm was sitting in before he headed towards the front door, right hand already settled on his gun as he knocked.

The door opened and a short conversation took place, Raylan's finger and the slight movement of his hat the only thing that suggested he wasn't really happy. But it got fiery and the door was tried to shut, setting Raylan off on foot through the house and out the back. Malcolm was the only one left to see an older man scurry out the front door and off in the only direction that wasn't the road that brought them in.

[abrightboy]

Malcolm all but leapt out of the car and raced after the man, three piece suit and all, running down the unkempt lane the man was trying to follow to escape.

He managed to catch him, tackling him into a tree before getting his arm behind him to pin him there.

Only then did he look around for the Marshals.

[tinstar]

Tim was first, marching a girl about 15 years old in front of him and the train of insults echoed out in front of her, to no real effect on the Marshal moving her towards a central point.

"Catch a live one, huh?" he called over the space towards Malcolm, looking around for Raylan. They hadn't heard any shots, which was a good thing, but their worry wasn't worth much with a pissed off and red eye'd Raylan coming up from the back. The kid he had, also couldn't be but 15 had a few black eyes himself and a bloody nose, but neither of them looked like they were in a talking mood.

Raylan frowned slightly as he walked his guy forward. "Malcolm? What're you doin' here?" He looked over at Tim. "Didn't realize back up needed back up."

[abrightboy]

Malcolm grinned at him, hoping that giddiness could be mistaken for the thrill of the chase.

"Funny story, I..."

He was cut off by his prisoner suddenly bringing his head back in a sharp backwards head but that sent Malcolm to the ground, trying to get up and go after him through stars in his vision that left him sprawled in the dust, trying to push himself upright.

Luckily, he'd looked over at Raylan and avoided a broken nose, but he'd probably suffer a bruise to his cheekbone.

[tinstar]

By the time Malcolm hit the ground, Raylan had his gun out and was shoving his guy towards Tim. "STOP THERE OR I'll SHOOT."

The seemed to think that Raylan wouldn't and a few steps later, Raylan fired, catching the man in the leg and sending him down with a cry. Raylan's stride kept going as he stopped by Malcolm, squatting down to look at him in his face and judge the damage. Ahead of them, the man was swearing. "You fuckin' shot me!"

"Well I would say I'm glad to see ya, but not you've got a shiner to match mine. You okay?"

[abrightboy]

At the suspect's protest, Malcolm, who'd got himself to sitting up, looked over at him. "He did warn you. You must not be from here, if you thought that he wouldn't."

When Raylan crouched down, Malcolm looked up at him with a wry smile. "I'm fine," he insisted, gingerly touching said shiner with his fingertips and wincing slightly. "Anyone who talks as much as I do has been hit in the face before," he pointed out with a bit of a laugh.

[tinstar]

Tim watched it all passively, only forcing the kids to sit down so he could rest one hand on his gun, just in case.

"You're not allowed to do that man!" The guys said in his own defense. Raylan clicked softly. "Aw shut up," he said as he stood and ambled over. "It's just a flesh wound. Builds character. Keeps you from running again too." He was lucky he only got shot in the fatty part of his calf.

"Now, you gonna tell me where I can find your buddy, or are we gonna have to throw the book at.." He half turned to look at the kids. "What are they, your niece and nephew? Cousins? The boy can't run for shit but he doesn't hit bad."

[abrightboy]

Malcolm, meanwhile, got to his feet, dusting himself off fairly uselessly. He was too dusty for a bit of dusting off to do any good.

"Niece and nephew," Malcolm told him. He could see from the man's face that Raylan had nailed it the first time.

The man looked at him oddly. "How the hell do you know?"

"You told me," Malcolm said simply, and the man gave him a dirty look. "Answer the deputy's question," he said in a calm but firm voice.

[tinstar]

Tim at least had a smirk at Malcolm's dusting attempts.

Raylan lifted his eyebrows with a soft Huh of surprise, in a 'fancy that' tone as he looked back down at the man. "Shame to see them in jail for the next five or six years over some shitty little paper forgin'. Not that they look like they're gonna come out much better than you, but you could save them a couple years."

That was reasonable, right?"

The man glared at both of them from the ground, hands gripping his bleeding calf. "Last time I seen him, he was runnin' pills up to Lexington."

"And when was that?" Raylan prompted.

"Day or two ago."

"And any idea where he might be.. right now?" He was starting to get annoyed with the dance.

The guy stayed silent and Raylan lifted his eyebrows expectantly. After a second, Raylan nodded, face scrunching up like he'd decided something as he reached down and hauled the man to his feet, earning a frantic -"Wait, fine. He's been stayin' at my sisters."

"Address?" Raylan asked, lips having vanished in their tightness. The guy spilled and Raylan's everything instantly relaxed. "See? That wasn't hard, was it? Get you Uncle of the year award at least."

He turned around at looked at Tim. "You got an extra set of cuffs?" Tim pulled them and chucked them underhand to Raylan who caught them in one go. "Never leave the house without a spare pair," Tim said dryly, letting people who might wonder what that meant with no real hint.