Happily Ever After AU - for conning

[abrightboy]

From here

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[abrightboy]

Malcolm grins. As JT removes the suspect, Malcolm kneels down and removes the doll’s head.

“You know, he might not be the guy. When I come into the interrogation, be disapproving,” he advises Gil, tossing the head up in the air and catching it.

[conning]

Neal retreats into himself a little on the drive to the precinct, calm and casual on the surface and trying hard not to overthink the question of what if the doll that guy had tried to make off with was a person. He stays quiet, letting Malcolm do his thing, and he can't help smiling at the production Malcolm makes of unboxing the head for their guy.

Before Gil and Malcolm even join him behind the observational mirror, Neal has come to the conclusion that Gil asks.

"He's not our guy, is he."

[abrightboy]

“He definitely has a psychosexual disorder,” Malcolm tells him, confirming the suspicion, “but not the right one. His emotional and physical attraction is to inanimate objects.”

[conning]

Neal grimaces faintly. "That's something, I guess. Do we have any idea who bought that eye?"

[abrightboy]

“Objectophilia is more common than most people think. There was a documentary released about it a few years back. One of the featured objectophiles married the Eiffel Tower and ‘consummated’ her relationship with it during regular public tour hours,” Malcolm explains with a brightness in his eyes reserved for real, fascinating psychological oddity. He looks over at Neal at his question, then looks at Gil.

“It was purchased on the school’s account,” he informs them.

Malcolm looks at Neal again with that simmer of excitement just below the surface.

“Who have we met recently who is almost psychotically obsessed with making women perfect and silent?”

[conning]

Neal grimaces. “I could see it.”

Gil raises his eyebrows. “Care to share with the class?”

Dani interrupts, slamming into the room with a mix of disbelief and fury in her face and voice. “Boss, you’re going to want to see the news, right now.”

[abrightboy]

Gil turns the TV on and Malcolm goes from an expression of vague curiosity to one of surprise as it turns out that Ainsley is reporting from a crime scene where she discovered a dead body.

"Bring her in," is all Gil says. "And get some unis over there to secure the scene."

[conning]

Neal feels sick. He feels sick at the footage. He feels sick at Ainsley’s attitude when they bring her in. He stays out of it, while Gil and Malcolm try to talk sense into her, but it doesn’t work, and…

And he can’t take it.

As she gets up, he finally speaks from a corner of the conference room. “Why were you whispering? When you got your camera out?”

He has to steel himself to say the next part, but he manages to sound cold. “She was dead, right? No one around to steal that particular scoop.”

[abrightboy]

Ainsley looks at him, part ice, part carefree.

“For dramatic effect,” she tells him, like she’s schooling a toddler. But the next slips out before she even understands how she knows it. “You know what I’m talking about: you’re a performer, too.”

She strides out of the room without leaving room for them to respond.

[conning]

The answer is like one slap after another. Shock, insult, then shock again as he realizes there are only so many ways she could know that with the kind of authority she used.

Gil eyeballs Neal, debating whether or not to ask what that was about. What Ainsley knows about Malcolm’s pet project that she isn’t sharing, beyond the obvious. He rubs his face.

“Go home,” he says. That’s directed at Neal and Malcolm. “Shouldn’t take the techs too long to get that girl’s phone unlocked. We’re waiting on the toxscreen but I’ll bet anything there’s rohypnol in her system. I’ll let you know if we turn anything up.”

[abrightboy]

Malcolm wants to protest, but can’t think of an argument. His mouth opens and closes a couple of times, then his shoulders slouch and he looks at Neal, tilting his head towards the door before trudging in that direction.

[conning]

Neal joins him, still dazed. "She remembers me."

He's not sure Malcolm realizes it yet. "I don't know if she knows she remembers me, but. She does."

[abrightboy]

Malcolm, deep in thought about the crime scene, looks over at Neal with faint confusion.

"What do you mean?" he asks.

[conning]

"Your sister. She remembers me. What she said in there--"

He pauses. "It's possible she went and did some research, I guess."

[abrightboy]

“No,” Malcolm says. “When she said it…. She let it slip,” he explains, understanding now.

[conning]

"Yeah." He glances back toward the precinct, then focuses on Malcolm again. He knows the other man isn't happy--about the situation with Ainsley, about the case, any of it.

Which is naturally more important than Gil's instructions.

"Want to go back to the etiquette school for round two?"

[abrightboy]

Malcolm looks at him like he wasn’t expecting special permission.

“We might be able to get her to admit to it.”

[conning]

"If anyone can, it's you." Neal kisses his forehead and hails a cab.

[abrightboy]

As Neal moves to hail the cab, Malcolm smiles softly at the ground.

When they get to the etiquette school, he knocks. Miss Windsor answers, but refuses to let him in, moving to shut the door in his face. He stops her. With etiquette. By the time he realizes what’s really happening, he hopes it isn’t too late, racing inside and into the dining room. Tea on the table. No Ainsley. He runs upstairs, hoping Neal is still somewhere in tow.

[conning]

Neal is right behind him, putting a pin in the thought of how hot Malcolm backing Miss Windsor into a corner with her own rules is. That's something that can be shared later, if things are all okay.

They're going to be. They have to be.

When Malcolm falters in the hunt for Rachel and Ainsley, they catch the sound of voices at almost the same time. Neal finds the latch to open the wall in a breath, falling in behind Malcolm and holding his breath as they descend quietly into the hidden area of the house.

[abrightboy]

He can see through the slats. Ainsley, unconscious, draped across the bed. Rachel looming over her. But it’s dusty inside the wall. He coughs. It gives them away.

Rachel pulls a gun on them. Malcolm keeps himself between the gun and Neal as he steps into the room, talking to Rachel about Miss Windsor, about her childhood. But Ainsley gets off the bed and Malcolm suddenly is looking past Rachel, past her shoulder at Ainsley, though ostensibly still talking to her. His tone has changed. He’s pleading.

“Don’t do this. Please. There has to be another way.”

[conning]

Malcolm’s tone makes Neal’s hair stand on end. What does he think Ainsley is going to do? Does he think she’ll hurt Rachel bare-handed?

But then Rachel realizes Ainsley is there, spins, the gun goes off, and while Malcolm makes sure Rachel fires wild, Neal tries to get to Ainsley. He’s helping her up as Malcolm checks the unconscious Rachel’s pulse.

His ears are still ringing from the gunshot. “Is she…?”

[abrightboy]

“Unconscious,” Malcolm confirms. He casts around like he’s looking for something. What did Ainsley do with the knife? He stills.

“…Do you smell gas?”

[conning]

Neal meets Malcolm’s eyes, his own huge. “We need to get out of here, now. That’s propane.”

He starts forward to get Rachel, but Malcolm has already scooped her up—again, hot, but a poor time to say so. They hit the main floor and the smell is all but overpowering. Neal feels sick.

“We have to find Miss Windsor,” he says, logic lagging behind panic and concern. “You get Rachel and Ainsley out. I’ll join you.”

[abrightboy]

Malcolm stops.

“Neal, no!” he all but screams. “There’s no time; you’ll be killed! Who do you think opened the gas?!”