The Road Home

[abrightboy]

Raylan's loose ends had been tied in Kentucky and Malcolm's were as tantalizingly close as they'd ever been. He and Raylan made the trip to New York with the intent of discovering the fate of the girl in the box, so they could head down to Miami without... baggage.

They would have to start with the revelation Jessica and Ainsley had made to Malcolm right before Raylan was shot, sending Malcolm back to Kentucky: that Eve had infiltrated the Whitly family to learn more about the Surgeon's victims.

Malcolm let them into the New York loft - a space he considered theirs now, more than his, since they decided they might weather the hurricane season there after moving to Miami - smiling as Sunshine tweeted greetings. Once the door was shut behind Raylan, he opened the door of her cage. Ainsley would have fed her diligently, but nobody would have let her out to fly. Sunshine took off across the loft and Malcolm grinned, watching her go.

He looked at Raylan. "We can still bring her with us when we leave, right?"

Comments

[tinstar]

He couldn't help but scoff at her answer with a wry twist of a smile and the little wave of her hand, offering out his untouched glass to replace her empty one.

"He won't. He also won't throw himself out any windows or stress even more about his day to day or how he stacks up in the dating world." Raylan eyed her for a half second. "I've asked him to marry me. He's already agreed. I think Willa will be good for him. A tiny soul to pour some of his enthusiasm and mania into."

For whatever motherly comfort that could provide. Malcolm was capable of deep and meaningful love and Raylan wanted to encourage that. People were their own kind of long term projects.

[abrightboy]

Jessica looked about to say something, maybe about the window or about the dating, but she stopped short, eyes widening as Raylan mentioned marriage.

“You’re getting married? When?” she asked. Then quickly “What for? Isn’t it a little soon and... sudden?”

[tinstar]

"Oh, we planned on droppin' by the courthouse first thing tomorrow," he teased with a faint curl of his lips before shaking his head. "Nah, it'll be after we're settled in Miami, whenever that is. Lots to happen before then. But my point in tellin' you is that he's not gonna get left alone. And I don't like the way Martin gets under his skin. Follows him home."

Raylan met her eyes purposefully. "But there is an end to this rabbit hole. We just gotta let him find it."

[abrightboy]

She held his gaze for a moment, then looked away, taking the full glass from him, but not drinking from it yet. Her eyes found the window behind him.

"Martin wanted to kill him. Our baby; his own child," she said in a low, lamenting voice. "Why didn't I see it?"

[tinstar]

"You're not the only one that falls into that trap," he assured as a matter of fact. "No reason for you to think that your perfect life and lovin' husband would turn out the way that it did."

It wasn't her fault, but he fully understood where and why she felt responsible.

"Girl I went to highschool with married the quarterback, real American dream til he started beatin' her. She shot him over their dinner table." He blinked over at Jessica again. "He didn't have a clue it was comin'. Didn't suspect a thing."

It wasn't just murderer's wives that got blindsided by the ugliness and capability of people.

[abrightboy]

She nodded dully, looking down into her glass, contemplating the contents.

"I was eighteen when I met Martin. He was almost 8 years older than me. Up to that point, my mother had prepared me very diligently for the sort of life I was to have. An appropriate marriage that I would attend dutifully." She gave Raylan a knowing look. "There were certain indiscretions you were meant to ignore and even actively hide. The family's name was everything. Children to carry on the legacy. Good works in the community." She shrugged. "Martin was not an appropriate match. He was a medical student from a... less than ideal family. Penniless, of course. My mother absolutely forbid me to marry him. But I did anyway." She looked at Raylan. "She wasn't right for the reasons she thought, but it would have saved a lot of heartache if I'd listened to her. Of course..." She shrugged. "He became a renowned cardiac and vascular surgeon and fences were mended. For a little while. Until his arrest." She pressed her lips into a wry line. "I knew he was sneaking around. Coming home with cheap perfume clinging to his clothes. I thought he was having an affair. I followed my mother's lessons. Kept quiet about it. Looked away. Malcolm never looked away from anything. I think if Martin was what he seemed to be and not... what he is, Malcolm would have gone into medicine. He followed his father everywhere, hung on his every word. Then Malcolm saw what he was and... everything came crashing down. My family avoided us. Children at school were cruel to him. The only good thing in his life was Gil. Of course he became obsessed with law enforcement. There's never been any way back since then." She stepped a fraction closer to Raylan. "Do you want to hear something horrible?" she asked, as though what she'd been talking about so far was light garden party conversation.

[tinstar]

That was young. Far younger than Raylan would have felt himself an adult, in comparison. At 19, he was just trying to get an education and a job; start a better life for himself. He almost felt bad for Jessica, if he didn't look at the lifestyle she led. But he could sympathize with young love and the damages that came of it.

Raylan tilted his head in a little, eyebrows lifting curiously in invitation for whatever Jessica was biting at the bit to tell him.

[abrightboy]

Jessica glanced towards the door, then looked at Raylan.

"Martin was careful. He killed at least twenty-three people and nobody had a single clue that he was the one that did it until Malcolm called the police. How did he happen to let his ten year old see what he saw? I think he wanted Malcolm to see those things. I think he wanted to teach Malcolm how to kill. After Martin was taken away, I took Malcolm to countless psychiatrists. More than one of them suggested I watch him carefully for symptoms of latent psychopathy."

[tinstar]

Raylan bobbed his head, glancing at the floor with a nod. "It doesn't take much to make a killer and.. Well, I met him, I don't know if you ended up hearin', but we.. didn't get on well. I don't know that I disagree with those psychiatrists but he's not over any cliff edge yet. I think you're right." There was nothing untrue about that statement. Martin was grooming Malcolm and was still trying to keep control of him.

"I'm not afraid of stoppin' him from goin' over it. This is somethin' that can be managed, if he's allowed to be happy. To let his brain get used to the idea and feelin' of not freakin' out all the time." He really did hope that Jessica saw the effect that he did on his time with Malcolm. She meant him well, savage, ashamed mama bear that she was.

[abrightboy]

She looked at him for a long moment.

"I suppose I never thought that would be an option for him. Happiness. This kind of happiness, especially." She sighed and took a sip of the drink, then looked at Raylan again. "Okay, happiness would be good for him; I can get behind that. But what's in this for you? Sleepless nights? Malcolm lives on a knife's edge. Why do you want to be part of that for the rest of your life?"

[tinstar]

He let out a little sigh, head bobbing as he pulled back a little, one hand gesturing out to the side. "That answer hasn't changed. Just him. Jessica, I'm forty three years old and this is the only relationship that hasn't ended in pain and disaster. I was happily married for nearly 7 years. I just wanna be that kinda happy again." Surely she understood that need, that want.

"Divorce shouldn't be the end of all relationships. My last girlfriend before him told me I was too emotionally messed up to be with anyone. The one before that stole from me so she could buy her husband that I didn't know about ten grand in fuckin' poultry. He can handle my job. Me. My devotion to it." He could be himself was the real point and that was worth everything.

[abrightboy]

She nodded. "I do want to believe that's true," she told him, setting a hand on his arm. "But it's hard to stop protecting him now. I know he's good at reading people, but he's also just... dying for anyone's affection and..." She took a deep breath. "If you use him and throw him away, you'll break him. You understand that, right?"

[tinstar]

"I do," he answered with every amount of gravatas she asked the question with. "I promise I will treat him well and love him and protect him even if that's from himself. There's no type of... 'fixing' him," he continued, clearly uncomfortable with the word and its connotations, "That's all on him and his head. But I can protect him. Make him happy."

And that's all he wanted to do.

[abrightboy]

Jessica's hand fluttered from Raylan's arm to her mouth. After a second, she smoothed that hand down the front of her dress, straightening herself out.

"Well. Then. We should get back to dinner. We'll have missed the whole course."

As though Jessica's staff would serve the next one with her not there.

She patted his arm awkwardly and swept back to the dining room, leaning over to set a kiss on Malcolm's temple that made him blink at her and then at Ainsley and then at Raylan, because maybe he understood what just happened as Jessica set the scotch down next to her wine glass and took her seat.

She draped her napkin back across her lap and looked at Malcolm. "So the two of you are going to go talk to that woman, then? Good. You should let us know what you learn," she said, as though there had been no interruption.

[tinstar]

Raylan wasn't sure how to take that. Had he offended her? The pat on the arm suggested not, though it could have been slightly condescending, that still wasn't the feeling he was getting. He wasn't going to ask and followed Jessica back into the dining room.

With his empty glass, not having a drop of what he'd left this room with on his lips, Raylan poured himself a heavy four fingers before he returned to the table, slipping into his seat wordlessly with a deep draft of his glass.

He was sure Malcolm would answer and let him do so as he quickly downed the rest of the soup in front of him.

[abrightboy]

"Yeah... we'll... we'll talk to her," Malcolm assured her, giving Ainsley a questioning look. Ainsley bobbed her eyebrows at him.

Jessica liked Raylan. She could tell. Malcolm had her approval.

Malcolm was still a little confused as to what was going on.

"Good," Jessica told him. "Now tell me more about this baby of yours. How did you choose her name?" she said to Raylan.

[tinstar]

Clearly, he had not expected the conversation to come back to him so quickly and he looked over as he set his food down, huffing a little smile. "I, uh.. I didn't. Winona did. She thought it was pretty and I assume her mother did too. Willa Marie Givens."

Control was not something Raylan had a lot of when it came to his daughter but at least she had his last name and not Gary's.

"Can't say I don't like the sound of it." Judging by the little smile on his face, it was clear he meant it.

[abrightboy]

Jessica nodded, her expression pleasant and approving, and set her spoon down.

Malcolm was still studying her.

"....Are you okay?" he asked.

She waved off his concern literally, her hand like a butterfly in his direction.

"Please, dear. I've never failed to weather the storm."

He looked dubious. "No. But..."

"But you have barely touched your soup," she pointed out.

His gaze lingered on her a moment and then he picked up his spoon a took a bite, more for her peace of mind than anything else.

"Now. I believe the main course tonight is wild pheasant in mushroom and wine sauce. Have you ever had pheasant before, Raylan?" she asked curiously, turning her full attention on him.

Malcolm looked at him. He wasn't sure what they talked about in the other room, but his mother was now clearly interested in knowing more about the marshal, suddenly. He wondered how Raylan would take the attention.

[tinstar]

He could tell Malcolm was curious, painfully so, but there was no way to give him context or insight without blowing the cover that Jessica was working very hard to keep. To be honest, Raylan wasn't wholly sure what had happened either.

When Jessica turned the conversation back to him, he looked up from his bowl, still feeling a little bit like a deer in the headlights of Jessica's attention.

"Pheasant? No. This'll be a first but I'm sure it'll be delicious." He looked over at Malcolm. "Do you eat it? Since it's also a bird?"

It was a genuine question - was it just chicken or would he eat anything with wings?

[abrightboy]

Malcolm pulled a bit of a face. “The sauce is a bit rich f...”

Jessica waved him off again. “Apparently you can develop a drinking problem fretting over every little thing he doesn’t eat,” she told him good-naturedly. “As you pointed out before, he’s not exactly wasting away.”

Malcolm conceded with a bob of his brow and took another bite of soup.

“So. Miami, you told us. Why Miami?” she asked, and this time it didn’t sound like an accusation.

Ainsley made a smug face at Malcolm and he made a face back. Have your laugh. She’ll be trying to marry you off to an eligible bachelor of polite society soon enough, it said. She stuck out her tongue at him.

“Will you two stop,” Jessica chastised. She looked at Raylan. “Sorry, go ahead,” she invited graciously.

[tinstar]

Raylan shifted his eyes to Jessica with a lift of his eyebrows. "I think my drinkin' problem is unrelated; all the information I can get is good information."

She shouldn't have cut him off like that.

He glance between Malcolm and Ainsley before he spoke. "Miami because I know I've got a spot and established contacts... And the beach. I'm hopin' y'all will come down once we're settled," he said with a look towards Ainsley. "I hope you like cuban, the cuban food spots are worth it alone."

[abrightboy]

Malcolm was so accustomed to her cutting him off that he didn't even really notice until Raylan said something. Which made Malcolm look at him warmly and then subsequently give Ainsley a 'shut up' look at the look on her face.

When Raylan looked at her Ainsley perked right up. Anyone apart from Malcolm paying her any attention got her attention.

"I've never tried Cuban," she said. "But it sounds like part of the Miami experience. I'd love to come. Unlike some people..." She shot Malcolm a playful look that he dutifully met with narrowed eyes, "I love a beach."

"So you're going there to continue working as a Marshal," Jessica clarified.

"He's not giving up his job, Mother," Malcolm said as though it were obvious. She waved him off. She'd asked Raylan.

[tinstar]

"Well you're definitely invited once we find a house," he said to Ainsley with a charming smile.

Swallowing a draft of his drink, he nodded and looked over, unafraid to meet her gaze bodly. "And Malcolm might continue to work in the same field as well. He could make short work of a lotta cases. But if you're concerned, I plan on investing in some bulletproof windows, if they don't run a million and a half a pane." He started to lift his glass back up and continued with a glance over at her and a lift of his eyebrows. "Of my own money."

[abrightboy]

Jessica looked at Malcolm, who was not going to argue the joining of their assets when Raylan was clearly making a point for Jessica's consumption. "Yeah, I intend on touching base with the local PD and maybe helping the Marshals out from time to time," he said with a casual shrug and a bite of soup.

Louisa collected their soup bowls - except Malcolm's - and took them away.

"I'd prefer to keep working on murders, since I can't work on serial murders, since those go pretty exclusively to the FBI and they. Um. Do not want my input."

Jessica rolled her eyes. "Because they fired you. Is a law enforcement agency that isn't Gil really going to hire you with that on your resume?" she said dubiously.

[tinstar]

Who actually paid for the windows was their business, not Jessica's. Not right now, anyway.

"The fact that the FBI fired him might actually get him a few more opportunities. We can use that kind of fire in actual man-hunts or murder cases. It's Florida. They got some sharp guys but.." Florida, after all.

"The job's not changin' Jessica. Just the location. Beaches don't get rid of anything."