TRAUMABEANS AU

[conning]

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[conning]

Neal looks at Malcolm in slight bemusement. Obviously, he thinks, Peter means Malcolm.

A pause, then Peter says, “Both of you.”

Another pause. To Malcolm: “You saved Ellen and Neal. Protected them. I owe you for that.”

Then to Neal, he says—more quietly, “Thank you for bringing me in on this. For trusting me.”

Neal blinks, surprised. “Of course I trust you.”

[abrightboy]

Malcolm really doesn’t think he did anything he wouldn’t do for a stranger in the same position, but he smiles graciously.

“All I want is to find out who’s behind this so Neal can have his family back.”

[conning]

Peter nods gruffly. Looks at Ellen. Then at Neal. “Me too. I’ll meet with Diana at my place tonight, bring her up to speed, and she can read Jones in.”

Neal nods, feeling better with the knowledge that the two of them will be working this too. Diana in particular.

The kettle starts to whistle, and Neal glances toward it, thoughts briefly derailed. Peter takes the opening.

“Neal… are you all right?”

He glances at Peter as he goes to the French press, then focuses on the coffee. “I’m fine.”

[abrightboy]

Malcolm doesn't go for the kettle when it howls. He leaves it for Neal, watching him and watching Peter, his gaze tangibly vigilant.

"Do you know anyone who can loop you in to the movements of organized crime in the city?" Malcolm asks Peter before he can question that lie.

[conning]

Peter glances at him, grunts and holds up a hand to forestall the question for a moment, then looks at Neal again.

“There are times when you’re really hard to read and times when you’re a really bad liar, and this is one of the latter.”

Neal hesitates in the middle of pouring water from teapot to French press.

[abrightboy]

“Maybe it’s not a lie,” Malcolm tells him. “Maybe it’s a boundary. He’s allowed to have them. All evidence to the contrary.”

[conning]

Peter twitches back in aggressive surprise from the response, and even Ellen looks surprised. Neal casts Malcolm a grateful look before going back to the coffee.

Give him another two years, and he’ll be snapping at Peter’s infringements himself. Another year, even. But he’s still too close to everything that happened with the U-Boat.

Peter presses his lips together. “I want to make sure we’re all focused. All being honest with each other.”

[abrightboy]

“Someone tried to kill his aunt and shot up her house with us in it. Shaken up is about as honest a response as you can get. If you weren’t ready to talk about the emotional ramifications of a difficult day, you wouldn’t appreciate anyone trying to make you,” Malcolm points out. “Let’s focus on the case. There’s a big enough mystery to solve.”

[conning]

Peter scowls. Neal braces himself for argument, but it doesn’t come. Instead Peter just rubs his face and turns away for a moment.

“Did any of you see who was doing the shooting?”

[abrightboy]

“They didn’t exactly want to talk,” Malcolm tells him, but pulls a map out of a kitchen drawer and starts drawing on it. “But this is the route I made them chase me and you should be able to get a decent CCTV image here…” He marks an ‘x’, “and here,” he explains, marking another.

[conning]

Peter is again surprised. So is Neal, though not in the same way. His surprise quickly gives way to admiration and affection. He sets Malcolm’s coffee down to one side of the map, putting an arm around his waist and pulling him in for a kiss.

“You’re amazing.”

[abrightboy]

Malcolm huffs a self-deprecating laugh.

“You didn’t think I didn’t have a plan, did you?” he teases.

[conning]

Neal grins. “I mean, I rarely do, so…”

It softens again into a genuine smile and he kisses Malcolm. “You are amazing.”

Peter grunts and looks away from the two of them for a moment, pulling out his phone to take a picture of the map. “I’m going to have Diana pull footage from those cameras and we’ll see what’s what. Do we have a safe place for Ellen to stay until we establish who we can reliably work with?”

[abrightboy]

“Here,” Malcolm tells him. “She’ll stay here, but tell nobody. Literally nobody,” he cautions.

[conning]

“Peter, please,” Neal says, as the other man starts to protest. He moves close enough to grab Peter’s forearm, eyes intense and hunted. “Please, I’m begging you. If it was Elizabeth—”

“Okay,” Peter says, alarmed by Neal’s demeanor. He puts a hand over Neal’s and gives it a light squeeze. “Okay, I won’t tell anyone.”

“If someone finds out, we can just say she was hiding upstairs when you were here.” Neal loosens his grip, slowly.

Peter makes an amused noise. “Kramer would love that one.”

“Kramer?” Ellen chimes in, frowning. “That man who tried to ruin Neal’s commutation?”

“He’s still in New York,” Peter says tiredly. “Trying to get some last-minute charges to stick. But you can bet he’ll try to stick his nose into this when he finds out about it.”

[abrightboy]

“Those charges won’t stick. He can kick his little feet all he likes,” Malcolm says coolly. “And he doesn’t need to find out about this, but if he does, you tell him I’ll be up to see him.”

[conning]

Peter grunts, turning away to send the image and make his call. Ellen moves in to the space Peter vacates, hugging Neal tight. "It'll be okay, honey."

[abrightboy]

"It will," Malcolm agrees. "And when Ellen is free of all this, she can live wherever she wants and you can just go visit her whenever you feel like it. No sneaking around."

[conning]

Neal reaches for Malcolm's hand. "We can go visit her."

Ellen holds out one of her hands, too, for Malcolm's free one. "Damn straight, young man."

[abrightboy]

Malcolm gives her a shy smile and lets her take his hand.

"I'd like that," he tells her.

[conning]

“We got him,” Peter says, eyes alight in a very Malcolm-like way as he rejoins them. The linked hands only give him a moment’s pause before he shows them his phone and the image on it if Malcolm’s pursuer. It’s from one of the cameras, clearly.

Neal resists the urge to point out that Malcolm is the one who got him.

“That’s Dennis Flynn Jr,” Ellen says, surprise in her tone. “Don’t know him, but he’s got the old man’s looks. It has to be his son.”

“Dennis Flynn, as in Irish mobster Dennis Flynn?” Neal raises his eyebrows and looks at Malcolm. “Do you think Gil knows anyone who knows anyone…?”

[abrightboy]

“Gil knows people,” Malcolm assures him. “I can go with him. He didn’t see me. I’m not affiliated with Ellen in any way they’re aware of.”

[conning]

“But—”

Neal can’t think of what to say to get Malcolm to let him come. He flounders a moment, then finishes, “I can help.”

[abrightboy]

"Yeah," Malcolm tells him. "In my ear," he says, gesturing to his ear.

[conning]

“How?” The question comes from Peter, not Neal.