Happily Ever After AU - for conning

[abrightboy]

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[abrightboy]

Malcolm glances towards the door, then at Neal, then up the stairs.

“I’m okay,” he promises. “How’s your dad?”

[conning]

That's right--his dad. Neal gives Malcolm a wide-eyed look that says quite clearly he has no idea, then he's rushing for the stairs again.

James is sitting up by the time Neal reaches him. He tries to wave off Neal's offer of help to stand, but Neal insists, helping the other man to his feet as James groans faintly.

He's definitely the most beat up of the three of them.

[abrightboy]

Malcolm doesn’t seem super concerned about that.

“Who was that?” he asked without preamble.

[conning]

“One of the Flynns,” James says, wiping a little blood from his mouth. Neal offers his handkerchief, or starts to, but then moves to clean James’ face himself. The man winces in pain and surprise, but doesn’t draw away.

“Which one?” Neal says quietly.

“The youngest son of their former boss. The only one that really matters anymore.”

[abrightboy]

"What was he doing here?" Malcolm asks. "Did you invite him here?"

[conning]

James pushes Neal’s hand away so he can glare at Malcolm, and it hurts in a way Neal doesn’t expect. It hurts enough to snap him out of his concern and get between Malcolm and James. “Don’t look at him like that. Did you?”

“No,” James growls. “He must have followed me. He was the one who was following me before, too. I found a picture of him when I was working a lead on Ellen.”

[abrightboy]

"You've spent the last twenty years looking over your shoulder and you let some mob administrator follow you? To a meeting with your son?" Malcolm asks skeptically.

[conning]

"He's not an administrator," James says, starting to take a step forward. Neal matches him, blocking his way, hand hovering over James' chest.

The older man stops, and for a second Neal is... scared. Of something. He's not sure what. He eases back to take Malcolm's hand, the gesture both protective of Malcolm and reassuring for himself.

"So who is he?"

"He's the one in charge. He's probably the one who killed Ellen."

[abrightboy]

“The one in charge rarely does his own dirty work anymore, so what could he want with you that’s worth the risk of dirtying his own hands?” Malcolm asks. “He has people for that. He could have sent one of them if he just wanted you dead.”

[conning]

“That’s true when a family has power,” James grunts, wiping a fresh but of blood from his mouth. “Not when the youngest son of the dead patriarch is trying to establish significance and clout again. He’s got people. He also wants to make it clear that he’s not afraid of blood.”

“Why Ellen?” Neal’s tone is hard, or he tries to make it hard, but it comes out fractured.

James eyes Neal, a tinge of guilt on his face now. “Me and Ellen were the ones that got his dad arrested. It didn’t stick, but it was the beginning of the end for the Flynn’s reputation.”

Neal shakes his head. “That doesn’t make sense.”

[abrightboy]

“You’re saying that now, after all this time, he killed her for that? How did he find out her current location and identity?” Malcolm asks.

[conning]

“That was his excuse,” Neal murmurs. Something is clicking. He doesn’t like it. “That was his excuse. You said the Flynns didn’t own the police, that it was the other way around.”

He gives James a sharp look. “Someone still owns them. Someone Ellen knew about, hid evidence about. That has to be it. Someone owns Flynn and sent him after Ellen because he had a reason, albeit a flimsy one, to want revenge. But whoever it was had access to federal witness protection records.”

Neal can’t breathe. “Someone on our side sold her out.”

It doesn’t occur to him that he just said said our side.

It very clearly caught James’ attention. He scowls.

[abrightboy]

Malcolm looks at Neal, ignoring James’ expression without failing to notice it.

“Someone high up. Those records aren’t accessible by just anyone. And it has to be someone who worked in law enforcement when they did. Someone who was compromised by their work. But not only that: why now? There was a trigger. If we find out what, it might lead us to who.”

[conning]

“We have to tell Peter,” Neal says. He tightens his grip on Malcolm’s hand a little, studying James. “You need to talk to him. Meet him. Tell him what you know.”

“No way,” James snaps. “I’m not sticking my head in the lion’s mouth before we know who’s holding the leash.”

[abrightboy]

“You don’t trust Neal’s judgement?” Malcolm asks. “That doesn’t seem right, when you’re the one that made him the kind of person who always looks over his shoulder.”

[conning]

James growls under his breath, rubbing his lips with his fingertips. Neal's grip on Malcolm's hand tightens a little when Malcolm gives voice to something that Neal had been thinking without intent to say it.

James studies Neal, and something about the look on Neal's face apparently decides him. "...Fine," he murmurs. "All right, fine."

[abrightboy]

Malcolm looks at Neal.

“Where do you want to meet him?”

[conning]

"My apartment," Neal says softly. "It's as close to neutral territory as we're going to get."

And he's not taking James anywhere near Elizabeth.

[abrightboy]

Malcolm nods.

"We should get out of here, then."

Malcolm is careful to keep James between them, without seeming like he's trying to keep James between them. He wants one of them to have an eye on him all the time.

Not that he doesn't trust him.

He brings up the rear as they head up the stairs to Neal's place.

[conning]

Neal called Peter on their way. He's waiting in the apartment already, facing the veranda, hands on his hips. He turns around as the door opens, scrutinizing James with suspicion.

It's weirdly reassuring, the expression on Peter's face, and the fact that it's not directed toward Neal himself.

"This him?"

Neal shuts the door behind Malcolm, taking a deep breath. "James Bennett, Peter Burke. Peter, this... is James."

He can't bring himself to say my father.

[abrightboy]

"He was assauled by the Irish mob," Malcolm fills in helpfully. "Is that still a thing around here?"

[conning]

"Not really," Peter says, frowning. "I don't think so, but I don't have the latest, either. Organized Crime isn't my biggest fan."

"Or mine," Neal adds helpfully.

That prompts a genuine-sounding laugh from James, which gets Neal's startled attention. He tries, he really tries not to be too pleased with himself.

Peter notices then that James isn't the only one beat up. "What happened? You both got attacked?"

He sees Malcolm's bruised head. "All of you? How many were there?"

[abrightboy]

“Just the one ambush,” Malcolm says looking pointedly at James. “Mr Decades On The Run let a mobster wannabe follow him to a secret meeting, apparently,” he adds with a snort, always keeping half an eye on James to gauge his reaction and whether it’s the one he was hoping to elicit.

[conning]

Neal feels a strange impulse to defend James, but he doesn't. Malcolm isn't wrong, and the flash of anger that comes and goes in James' eyes makes Neal uneasy.

He goes to the fridge, pulling out two beers--one for Peter, one for James--and then retrieving a bottle of wine and two glasses for Malcolm and himself. "Malcolm got hurt on a case, before this."

Glances Malcolm's way, concern briefly clear before he turns back to the wine. James tracks Neal's look, expression dark.

Peter clearly hasn't decided yet how to read the room.

[abrightboy]

Malcolm laughs lightly. "Oh yeah." He looks at Peter. "A suspect pushed me down an elevator shaft, but here's a secret: you shouldn't push the police into an elevator shaft you've disposed of victims in before." He taps his nose. "If they don't die, you have twice as many problems."