TRAUMABEANS AU

[conning]

boop

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[conning]

The space is tidy, generic, the only real personalizations the books and the numerous plants. The books are a mix of romance and true crime. The plants are riotously colorful.

"About two months," she says, smiling ironically. "They moved me after Neal came to see me on Roosevelt Island."

Neal starts to apologize and she rests a hand on his shoulder, giving him a little squeeze. "It was worth it."

[abrightboy]

Malcolm looks at Neal curiously.

“You feel responsible for her situation,” he notes. “Isn’t it the other way around?” he asks, looking to Ellen for confirmation.

[conning]

Neal stares at Malcolm, somewhere between bewildered and protective of Ellen. “What? No she’s not.”

Ellen gives Neal’s shoulder another little squeeze before heading into the kitchen. “He’s right, Neal. We all went into witness protection because of my investigation.”

“But you lost your spot on Roosevelt Island because of me.”

[abrightboy]

Malcolm looks over at him with his own vague confusion.

“How did you know where she was?” he asks.

[conning]

“I told him,” Ellen says dryly. She starts pouring hot water into mismatched mugs, and Neal goes to where he knows he’ll find her teas, picking mint off the shelf without noticing that it’s unopened. Without noticing that what they have whenever he sees her isn’t her first choice.

Every so often he has a moment of cluelessness.

“That’s not the point. She always tells me,” he says to Malcolm. “But I went there, and I drew attention to it. Kramer followed my anklet’s signal. She would have maybe been dragged into talking at the commutation, or he would have tried to at least.”

[abrightboy]

“Does…n’t… she tell you because she wants you to go there…?” Again, he looks to Ellen for confirmation.

[conning]

“Yes,” Ellen says.

“It’s for emergencies,” Neal says, then looks at her. “Wait, what?”

She comes over and claims the box of tea, pressing a hand against his cheek. “Neal. I never pushed because I know how much you like your privacy and you didn’t want to let anyone find out more about where you’re from. How you grew up. But I told you where I was because I wanted to see you, too.”

[abrightboy]

Malcolm thought it was obvious.

“You’re usually a lot better at reading people,” he notes. He gestures between them. “You have a blind spot.” No judgement; just FYI.

[conning]

Neal looks at Malcolm, then at Ellen and her soft amusement, then at Malcolm again. Ellen sets the tea to steep, pausing to look at Malcolm before she adds the third bag to his cup. “Is mint all right?”

[abrightboy]

“It’s ideal, actually,” Malcolm tells her. “Stomach issues,” he explains while simultaneously waving them off.

[conning]

“Neal mentioned that,” Ellen says, nodding. She hands Neal his own cup before carrying hers and Malcolm’s over to the sturdy little kitchen table.

“He loves it, figuring out how to make things for you. Finding restaurants you might like. He’s got a bet going with himself over the things you’ll order depending on where you go.”

“Ellen,” Neal says, sounding for all the world like a teenage boy outed in front of a crush.

[abrightboy]

Malcolm only nods sagely, accepting his cup from her as they join her at the table.

“I expect that’s why he chose a tea you hadn’t opened,” he tells her reasonably.

[conning]

Neal joins them, realizing with surprise that Malcolm is right. Ellen just looks amused, and neither confirms nor denies.

“I told him you two didn’t have to come rushing back to the city. The marshals aren’t moving me yet.”

She gives Neal’s hand a little squeeze as he watches her unhappily.

[abrightboy]

“I know,” Malcolm tells her, “but I want him to sleep tonight. One insomniac is enough,” he teases with a glance at Neal. He looks at Ellen. “What happened? Why are they moving you?”

[conning]

Ellen sighs. “That’s one of the annoying parts of being on the witness side of WITSEC. The most they’ll tell me is that they heard something about the New York branch of a crime family I investigated in DC making noise about finding someone they’ve been looking for.”

Neal frowns. “Why now?”

Ellen pauses, hesitating, and Neal takes her hand this time. “Ellen…?”

“You asked about your father, when you came to see me on Roosevelt Island. I… might have rustled the underbrush a little.”

[abrightboy]

“Have you been in touch with him?” Malcolm presses, so Neal won’t have to.

[conning]

She shakes her head. “No. Not him. I reached out to another old colleague, a man named Sam Phelps. And I looked into a couple of local politicians who were cops in DC when I was active.”

“Ellen, why on earth—”

“You wanted to know about your father, Neal. You’ve never asked me about him, not since you were eighteen.”

[abrightboy]

“Politicians?” Malcolm questions. “Which ones? How high up?”

[conning]

"A few," she says, folding her hands around her mug. "A state court judge, a liquor lobbyist, and a senator."

The names she ads aren't ones Neal knows, really, except the senator. Terrence Pratt. Even then he knows the name in the way that most people would be aware of a publicity-focused politician they didn't vote for. He sips his tea, frowning, then winces as he burns himself.

"Why Pratt?"

"He and your father were huge rivals in their day, and..." She trails off, frowning. "I heard some things when I was investigating your father's arrest."

[abrightboy]

"Things that could compromise him?" Malcolm asks bluntly.

[conning]

"Significantly," she says. "There were rumors that he was--how much do you know about Neal's father?"

Neal blinks, realizing all at once that he hasn't said that much, beyond confessing that his dad was a crooked cop and a killed his superior officer.

[abrightboy]

Malcolm shrugs expansively.

"Neal said he was a dirty cop."

[conning]

Ellen nods, studying the table with a distant expression in her eyes for a moment. Then she reaches out and takes Neal's hand. "He was. I think he was. But I also think it was more complicated than that."

Neal's throat feels like it's closing up. Like he's walking into the cave at the base of the cliffs and bracing himself to drown. He reaches for Malcolm with his other hand. "You never told me."

"You never wanted to know, honey." Ellen still sounds a little apologetic as she says it. "I figured... you were lied to for the first eighteen years of your life. When you wanted to know more, you'd ask. And you have."

[abrightboy]

"Complicated how?" Malcolm asks, squeezing Neal's hand. "Do you think he was somehow coerced into it?"

[conning]

"I don't know." There's frustration and heartbreak in that. "He said he was. He told me he was innocent, that he'd been framed, and I believed him. I started looking into the guy he was supposed to have killed, turning over rocks. I was starting to make real progress when he confessed to shooting his superior officer. Said he lured the man there and killed him. But I'd turned up enough to know something more had to be going on. We were all taken into protective custody."

She looks at Neal. "Me, you, and your mother were all sent to St. Louis. Your dad... I don't know where he went. Not to prison. But your mom had divorced him by then, and she didn't want him anywhere near you."

Neal stares at her, shock rolling through him in waves. "I didn't know."

Ellen lifts her other hand to his cheek. "She didn't want you to."