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“Whoa, steady there.” Gil made a grab for his arm just as his knees gave way underneath him. “You okay?”
Malcolm couldn’t see the look in Gil’s eyes, he really didn’t want to risk moving his head from its current position of looking at the floor, willing the ground to stop spinning, for fear that it would only make the situation worse. But he could tell from the tone that Gil was worried about him.
Malcolm waved his hand nonchalantly, brushing off the concern. “It’s fine, it’s just the alcohol reacting with whatever they gave me at the hospital. It’ll wear off in a bit.” He shrugged his arm free, before adding, “Honestly I’ll be fine. Once I get home, I’ll go straight to bed.”
“Well if you…” Gil didn’t get to finish his sentence before Malcolm was falling again, this time leaning into the doorframe for support. “I was gonna say, if you insist, but there’s no way you’re getting home by yourself like this. I’ll get Dani to give you a lift.”
“No!” The words were out of Malcolm’s mouth so fast and with such intensity that he didn’t really know where they came from. He looked up this time, knowing that Gil was not going to ignore his reluctance to be alone with Dani. “I mean, I don’t mean, just, look I’m fine. Honestly, I’ll get a cab and I’ll be fine.”
On a normal day he’d have been able to slip out the door, and halfway down the corridor by now, with no chance for Gil to interrogate him; unfortunately today had turned out to be far from normal. Which is why he found himself being summarily deposited back onto the couch in Gil’s, before being confronted with “Spill it kid.”
He hated the look of concern Gil was giving him, as though this was some big huge problem, but in all honesty he was just going to laugh at him when he said it out loud, heck even Malcolm in his current state knew he’d overreacted. He was just tired, so tired, and that meant that his normally carefully constructed defences were down.
He sighed, knowing that there was no way out of this, and he was going to look like a total idiot, but at least it was just Gil, not the rest of the precinct this time. “It’s nothing, it’s stupid, it’s just that last time, with the whole ‘Surgeon’ copycat thing, we had a chat, and well, she said if I ever did anything stupid again to remember she had a gun.”
Gil leaned back in his chair, visibly shocked by what he was currently hearing. Sure Malcolm has his problems, but he couldn’t really think that Dani would ever purposefully hurt him, would be?
Seeing Gil’s reaction, Malcolm leaned forward quickly, almost tipping himself off the edge of the couch, before steadying himself against the arm, his words sluggish as his brain tried to keep up with his mouth and body that was currently doing everything it could to give in to the ever pressing demands of sleep. “Oh no, wait, I didn’t mean that I think she’d really shoot me. I just meant that, well ending the day like this is probably number three on the list of stupid things I’ve done today, and I just know that she’s gonna give me a lecture, and I really can’t handle that today Gil.”
“Seriously!” Gil laughed, “I mean, yeah, you’re right there kid, she can be pretty fierce when she’s got a bee in her bonnet, but for a second there I thought you were really losing it. Okay stay here, I’ll be back in a minute.”
Gil was almost out the door before Malcolm had fully processed what had been said, shouting a quick, “Where are you going?” At his retreating back.
Gil didn’t even miss a step as he shouted back, “To find you a ride.”
~~
“Seriously! This is your urgent job? I am not a taxi driver or a babysitter.”
“Don’ need a babysitter” Malcolm mumbled sleepily from his curled up position on the couch. “Or a taxi, just sleep here.”
“See, dude says he’ll just sleep here, problem solved.”
“No, not problem solved,” Gil signed, clearly exasperated by the situation. “Have you both forgotten what happened last time Malcolm slept at the office? He almost got shot by half the precinct.”
“Fine, s’fine” Malcolm fumbled with the arm of the couch, as he tried and failed to extricate himself from his current position. He could make his own way home, he’d be fine, he didn’t need anyone, let alone whoever it was that Gil had coerced into being his driver.
“Oh for…” Seeing Malcolm bumbling about like Bambi on ice, JT threw up his hands in defeat, before grabbing Malcolm’s arm to stop him falling straight back onto his butt. “Come on, looks like I’m giving you a lift home.”
JT didn’t wait for Malcolm to object again, before gently steering him through the open door and down the corridor. Gil couldn’t help but smile as he watched the two retreating figures, at JT’s added, “Dude, you better not fall asleep in my car, you may be a skinny arse but I am not carrying you up to your apartment.”
~~
“Geeze man, you expecting the zombie apocalypse or somethin’?” JT exclaimed as he and Malcolm, made their slow, painfully so, walk up the stairs to his apartment. Malcolm had just about managed to stay away for the ride home, which had led to an uncomfortable silence in the car.
“What?” It took Malcolm a split second longer then normal to register that JT was remarking on his antique weapon collection, something that he himself hardly noticed anymore, which meant he was always surprised when other people saw it for the first time. “Oh that, no, that’s just my antique weapon collection. You know some people collect stamps, I collect deadly weapons.”
JT didn’t miss a beat before replying, “Yeah, and that’s not weird at all.”
“What for a guy with a serial killer for a father, or just a guy in general?” Malcolm retorted, he still wasn’t sure where he stood with JT and it made him uncomfortable. If he hadn’t been fighting to stay away this would have been the perfect opportunity to do a bit more profiling, but as it was he was finding it hard to stick one foot in front of the other right now, let alone do any kind of complex mental thinking.
He could feel JT shrug beside him, before he replied, “I don’t know man, this kind of looks like the lair of a serial killer.”
Malcolm chuckled, “Yeah, you know I’ve heard that before.”
JT released Malcolm once they got to the kitchen counter, leaning him up against it, before turning to make his way back down the stairs. “Well, if you don’t need anything else, I’d better be getting home.”
“Um…” Malcolm started.
JT sighed, before turning on his heel, back to face Malcolm. “You need something else?” He questioned, really hoping that the answer was gonna be no. He knew Gil had vouched for him, and Dani certainly seemed to have warmed to him, but JT just couldn’t shake the feeling that something just wasn’t right with Bright. He really didn’t want to be here, in this apartment, for any longer than was strictly necessary.
Malcolm must have picked up on his body language, even in his almost unconscious state, as he bowed his head, and leaned back against the counter. “Never mind, I’ll manage. Thanks for the lift.”
“Look dude, we’ve come this far, just tell me what you need okay, then you can get to sleep, and I can get home to my girl.”
“Can you help me over to the bed?” Malcolm indicated his bedroom by nodding his head to the right, afraid that if he let go to point he’d end up in a heap on the floor. “Not sure I’ll make it by myself.”
“Sure, come here.” JT grabbed him by the waist, and put one arm around his shoulder, bearing the majority of his weight. “Easy.”
They made their way over to the bedroom before Malcolm heard JT take a sharp intake of breath. Lifting his eyes from the floor he saw what the other man had seen, his restraints for the night terrors. Yet another thing that Malcolm barely thought of anymore, but to an outsider must have seemed more than strange.
He chuckled nervously, “Honestly, I’m not a serial killer, they’re for me. You’ve seen me when I have a night terror, I’d probably end up hurting someone or myself without them. Just throw me on the bed, I’ll be fine from there.”
JT did as requested, flopping Malcolm down onto the waiting bed.
“You’re seriously messed up dude.” JT whispered, almost to himself, his brain running away with his mouth. “Shit, sorry, I didn’t mean that, I mean, hell I have no idea what I mean. Seriously though, this is not a conversation we should be having right now, you’re dead on your feet, and I am seriously weirded out right now.”
Malcolm didn’t reply, already dead to the world, JT thought, for a split second about turning around and leaving, he’d done his duty. But he stopped himself, eyeing the restraints at Malcolm’s sides, he’d never forgive himself if he ended up having a night terror and hurting himself, all because JT was uncomfortable. So he found himself kneeling down by the side of the bed, pulling at the restraints before gently placing Malcolm’s wrists inside.
Once he was satisfied that all was okay, and Malcolm was safe, he switched the light off, whispered “Night Bright,” and made his way back out into the cool night air.