Happily Ever After AU - for conning

[abrightboy]

From here

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[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?!”

[conning]

Neal hesitates still, wanting to argue that there’s even more reason to find Miss Windsor if she’s the one trying to burn the place down. “But—”

“Come on,” Ainsley gasps, grabbing Neal’s arm and practically dragging him along. She’s stronger than she looks, but then, so is Malcolm.

“We have to stop her.” It’s a feeble protest, and he doesn’t pull away from Ainsley’s grip.

[abrightboy]

"We can't," Malcolm says as they run. Out the front door, down the path. "She's losing everything; all her secrets will come out..."

The explosion almost knocks them off their feet and he stumbles to hold on to Rachel without falling.

[conning]

Neal staggers, hanging on to Ainsley and keeping her upright at the same time.

He turns around as soon as she's stable, taking a couple of quick steps back toward the burning building, numb with shock. There's something else under the numbness, a terror he knows is tied to Mathias. His breathing comes quicker, and he forces himself to turn back to the others.

"Are. Is. Are you two okay?"

[abrightboy]

Malcolm's attention drifts from the burning building to Neal and his expression shifts to concern.

"We're okay." He looks at Ainsley. "Call 911."

She takes her phone out and starts dialing.

He looks at Neal as he sets Rachel down gently. "Are you okay?"

[conning]

Neal focuses on Rachel instead of answering right away, shedding his jacket and tucking it in around her on the damp grass. He checks her pulse, like he'll be able to tell anything from it beyond "she's alive," and for a moment he gets stuck with his fingertips against her skin. He stares at her without really seeing her.

"She blew herself up." His voice sounds like it's coming from somewhere a few steps to the left of himself.

[abrightboy]

"She was losing everything and she couldn't face it," Malcolm tells him. "She wanted to die with her school rather than live without it, without its principles, without the comfort of its walls."

[conning]

Neal eases back to his feet. Shakes his head. He's still looking at Rachel, but it's mostly because that gives him somewhere to put visual focus.

"I don't understand it. She has a daughter. She has a daughter."