Slash, Fag and a Bottle of Scotch - Chapter 5
Fic: Slash, Fag and a Bottle of Scotch
Author: jitterfly
Pairings/Characters: Chandler, Kent, Miles
Rating: 15+
Disclaimer: Characters are not mine ....
Warnings: Slash
Summary: Chandler gets a shocking call ... and the rest is what follows. :)
"Right you lot, gather round please." Miles stormed into the incident room, followed by a less enthusiastic Chandler.
After the crowd was gathered, Miles looked at Chandler, seeing if he wanted to be the one to speak. But Chandler continued to look at the ground, clearly uncomfortable.
Miles reached back and closed the ever open door, before sitting down on the edge of a table. He took a breath.
"Kent is in the ICU at Royal London Hospital." Gasps echoed around the room, emanating from concerned colleagues.
"He was attacked while on his own. They slashed him." More gasps mixed with a few threatening obscenities were issued and Miles had to wait before they died down to deliver the blow. He took another breathe. This was going to be hard.
"There's something else." The room was silent now. Even the walls seemed to listen. "When they were fixing him up, they found … they found a cigarette butt."
Chandler grimaced, disgusted at having to hear it out loud. A few colleagues brought their hands to their mouths, gobsmacked. Then,
"What's a cigarette butt mean?" Mansell had raised the question.
Miles turned and resentfully started to explain. He had hoped they would all know. It would have made things much easier.
"It's an act of hatred. A final insult after", he paused to look at Chandler, hating to have to say this aloud. "after a raping between two men. Usually it'll mean the rapist knew the victim but not the other way round."
The room was once again filled with threats and questions. "Who would want to do that to Kent?" was on everyone's lips in some variant. But there was one less person to hear it.
After Miles had said those fateful words out loud, he couldn't bare it any more. He had rushed past the rest of the group and slammed the door to his office, locking himself away from the conversation.
He knew what it meant the second he'd seen it, of course he had. He may be a fast tracker, but he knew his stuff. The urge to vomit crept up on him again as the thoughts of Kent alone took over. But he couldn't leave. He took a deep breath instead and sat down, head in hands.
Back in the incident room, the voices hadn't softened. Everyone was asking questions they knew no one had the answers to. In the second that those horrid words had left Miles' mouth, each member of the group felt an overwhelming need to protect their youngest. Miles was bombarded with noise as he tried to calm the infuriated detectives.
"Listen everyone. I know what happened to Kent was, well, just unthinkable but we have to get on with our jobs. That might seem hard to do right now, but it's the only way we can bring justice to the bastard that did this to one of our own. They picked on the wrong DC. And now we have to bring some justice back into Kent's world. But their hatred has cost them. Kent was brought straight to hospital so they can still salvage the DNA. They just made the biggest mistake of their lives, and as soon as that report comes back from the lab, they're not gonna know what's hit 'em."
The men didn't know whether to applaud, concur or remain silent. A mixture of the three occurred and just before they went back to work, Miles kept their attention for just a second longer. "Oh, and try to keep it tactful, yeah." He glanced at the boss, slumped in his seat with his head in his hands. "I'm sure you can appreciate the delicacy of the situation."
Although the others didn't know the full extent of things, they knew the DI and DC were close. Everyone got the message.
As the team went back to work with a new fire in their eyes, Miles turned around, ready for round two.
The door to Chandler's office was pushed gently open and Miles took the seat opposite him.
"Remember what you said in the viewing booth? You have to stay professional."
Chandler looked up suddenly, anger screaming from behind his watery eyes. It wasn't so much aimed at Miles, than at the situation.
"It’s different now."
His voice was raised and he noticed a couple of heads turn. Softer this time, he continued. "That was before I knew what had happened. When I thought he'd just been hurt not…" He couldn't bring himself to finish the sentence, so he reclaimed his slumped position. "I'm not sure I can deal with this Miles."
The DS looked at his distraught boss. His hair was scruffy and his eyes red. The tie that was so elegantly knotted earlier had slipped down somewhat and it was shunted a little off centre. Something that would have been fixed in seconds under different circumstances. Although, as Chandler sat up, he still straightened up his desk. Things weren't too different.
Miles leaned forward too. "Sir, you have to try. Just get through today at least. We can't do anything for Kent unless everyone plays their part, and I hate to say it, but you're the leading lady. So chin up, if only until 6. We'll make this right. I promise."
Miles stood up and gave Joe a weak smile, determined to keep his promise and Chandler was left alone with his thoughts. Always a dangerous combination.
As the clock struck 5, Chandler counted the 435th pin.
"Boss." A voice at the door startled Chandler and he came round from his world of numbers with a start.
Initially annoyed at having lost count, all was soon forgotten as Mansell delivered his news. "Sir, the DNA just arrived at the Lab. Thought you'd want to know."
Chandler rushed up from his chair and out of the room, calling Miles as he left.
The walk to Llewellyn's Lab couldn't have been longer and it felt like a marathon to the two detectives. Finally though, they reached the cold white room and burst in, jumping straight to the point. "Have you ran it yet?"
The pathologist looked up from her computer and met the anxious gaze of the DI. "Just doing it now. It'll take about 10 minutes, so if you want I can call you when…." "No, I'll wait." Chandler interrupted before anyone tried to suggest he leave.
"OK."
After what seemed like forever and a day, the computer pinged.
Three apprehensive heads shot a look at each other, before all three rushed back to the screen. The screen that held the name of the man now in for a world of pain.
Except it wasn't the name of a man that met Llewellyn as she arrived there first. And her face quickly relayed this information to the men.
"What?" the question was asked simultaneously, but she instinctively looked at Chandler first.
"Well, this is quite extraordinary. A name hasn't come up….. Two have."
Chandler and Miles rushed round to view the screen and were met with complete and utter disappointment.
"Jimmy and Johnny," Miles sighed. "Twins. Bloody identical twins."
"Well we'll bring them both in. Arrest them." Chandler probably knew in his heart that was he was saying wasn't logical but it needed Miles to make it hit him properly.
"We can't. Neither of 'em will confess and we can't hold either one without proof."
The room was silent. Everyone defeated.
"Then we'll get proof." Chandler unbent and walked away from the computer. He looked at Miles and saw the thought process transfer. Now he joined in.
“We'll question Kent. Get him to remember whatever he can. If we can get a location, we can find them on CCTV. I'll go over it till I'm dead if it means I can identify which one of those sons of bitches did this."
At the mention of Kent, Chandler looked at his watch. "Damn." He muttered under his breath, but in the quiet lab, Miles heard.
"What?"
"I've got to go pick Kent up from the hospital and take him home. I'll be back soon."
Miles gave a quick glance to Llewellyn, hoping he could get away with asking what he was about to. "Then can you talk to him. Try to find out where he was." Chandler immediately began shaking his head, but Miles continued, determined to get a result. "He might open up to you, and if you're coming back we can get the ball rolling straight away."
Joe was turning things over in his mind, unsure of what to do. But Miles delivered the last convincer and Chandler had to agree.
"Come on Boss, the sooner we can start, the sooner this all ends. No more investigation. People won't have to talk about it. It'll all be in the past."
Chandler nodded silently. That was exactly what he wanted and he guessed he had to do his part to achieve it.
Author: jitterfly
Pairings/Characters: Chandler, Kent, Miles
Rating: 15+
Disclaimer: Characters are not mine ....
Warnings: Slash
Summary: Chandler gets a shocking call ... and the rest is what follows. :)
"Right you lot, gather round please." Miles stormed into the incident room, followed by a less enthusiastic Chandler.
After the crowd was gathered, Miles looked at Chandler, seeing if he wanted to be the one to speak. But Chandler continued to look at the ground, clearly uncomfortable.
Miles reached back and closed the ever open door, before sitting down on the edge of a table. He took a breath.
"Kent is in the ICU at Royal London Hospital." Gasps echoed around the room, emanating from concerned colleagues.
"He was attacked while on his own. They slashed him." More gasps mixed with a few threatening obscenities were issued and Miles had to wait before they died down to deliver the blow. He took another breathe. This was going to be hard.
"There's something else." The room was silent now. Even the walls seemed to listen. "When they were fixing him up, they found … they found a cigarette butt."
Chandler grimaced, disgusted at having to hear it out loud. A few colleagues brought their hands to their mouths, gobsmacked. Then,
"What's a cigarette butt mean?" Mansell had raised the question.
Miles turned and resentfully started to explain. He had hoped they would all know. It would have made things much easier.
"It's an act of hatred. A final insult after", he paused to look at Chandler, hating to have to say this aloud. "after a raping between two men. Usually it'll mean the rapist knew the victim but not the other way round."
The room was once again filled with threats and questions. "Who would want to do that to Kent?" was on everyone's lips in some variant. But there was one less person to hear it.
After Miles had said those fateful words out loud, he couldn't bare it any more. He had rushed past the rest of the group and slammed the door to his office, locking himself away from the conversation.
He knew what it meant the second he'd seen it, of course he had. He may be a fast tracker, but he knew his stuff. The urge to vomit crept up on him again as the thoughts of Kent alone took over. But he couldn't leave. He took a deep breath instead and sat down, head in hands.
Back in the incident room, the voices hadn't softened. Everyone was asking questions they knew no one had the answers to. In the second that those horrid words had left Miles' mouth, each member of the group felt an overwhelming need to protect their youngest. Miles was bombarded with noise as he tried to calm the infuriated detectives.
"Listen everyone. I know what happened to Kent was, well, just unthinkable but we have to get on with our jobs. That might seem hard to do right now, but it's the only way we can bring justice to the bastard that did this to one of our own. They picked on the wrong DC. And now we have to bring some justice back into Kent's world. But their hatred has cost them. Kent was brought straight to hospital so they can still salvage the DNA. They just made the biggest mistake of their lives, and as soon as that report comes back from the lab, they're not gonna know what's hit 'em."
The men didn't know whether to applaud, concur or remain silent. A mixture of the three occurred and just before they went back to work, Miles kept their attention for just a second longer. "Oh, and try to keep it tactful, yeah." He glanced at the boss, slumped in his seat with his head in his hands. "I'm sure you can appreciate the delicacy of the situation."
Although the others didn't know the full extent of things, they knew the DI and DC were close. Everyone got the message.
As the team went back to work with a new fire in their eyes, Miles turned around, ready for round two.
The door to Chandler's office was pushed gently open and Miles took the seat opposite him.
"Remember what you said in the viewing booth? You have to stay professional."
Chandler looked up suddenly, anger screaming from behind his watery eyes. It wasn't so much aimed at Miles, than at the situation.
"It’s different now."
His voice was raised and he noticed a couple of heads turn. Softer this time, he continued. "That was before I knew what had happened. When I thought he'd just been hurt not…" He couldn't bring himself to finish the sentence, so he reclaimed his slumped position. "I'm not sure I can deal with this Miles."
The DS looked at his distraught boss. His hair was scruffy and his eyes red. The tie that was so elegantly knotted earlier had slipped down somewhat and it was shunted a little off centre. Something that would have been fixed in seconds under different circumstances. Although, as Chandler sat up, he still straightened up his desk. Things weren't too different.
Miles leaned forward too. "Sir, you have to try. Just get through today at least. We can't do anything for Kent unless everyone plays their part, and I hate to say it, but you're the leading lady. So chin up, if only until 6. We'll make this right. I promise."
Miles stood up and gave Joe a weak smile, determined to keep his promise and Chandler was left alone with his thoughts. Always a dangerous combination.
As the clock struck 5, Chandler counted the 435th pin.
"Boss." A voice at the door startled Chandler and he came round from his world of numbers with a start.
Initially annoyed at having lost count, all was soon forgotten as Mansell delivered his news. "Sir, the DNA just arrived at the Lab. Thought you'd want to know."
Chandler rushed up from his chair and out of the room, calling Miles as he left.
The walk to Llewellyn's Lab couldn't have been longer and it felt like a marathon to the two detectives. Finally though, they reached the cold white room and burst in, jumping straight to the point. "Have you ran it yet?"
The pathologist looked up from her computer and met the anxious gaze of the DI. "Just doing it now. It'll take about 10 minutes, so if you want I can call you when…." "No, I'll wait." Chandler interrupted before anyone tried to suggest he leave.
"OK."
After what seemed like forever and a day, the computer pinged.
Three apprehensive heads shot a look at each other, before all three rushed back to the screen. The screen that held the name of the man now in for a world of pain.
Except it wasn't the name of a man that met Llewellyn as she arrived there first. And her face quickly relayed this information to the men.
"What?" the question was asked simultaneously, but she instinctively looked at Chandler first.
"Well, this is quite extraordinary. A name hasn't come up….. Two have."
Chandler and Miles rushed round to view the screen and were met with complete and utter disappointment.
"Jimmy and Johnny," Miles sighed. "Twins. Bloody identical twins."
"Well we'll bring them both in. Arrest them." Chandler probably knew in his heart that was he was saying wasn't logical but it needed Miles to make it hit him properly.
"We can't. Neither of 'em will confess and we can't hold either one without proof."
The room was silent. Everyone defeated.
"Then we'll get proof." Chandler unbent and walked away from the computer. He looked at Miles and saw the thought process transfer. Now he joined in.
“We'll question Kent. Get him to remember whatever he can. If we can get a location, we can find them on CCTV. I'll go over it till I'm dead if it means I can identify which one of those sons of bitches did this."
At the mention of Kent, Chandler looked at his watch. "Damn." He muttered under his breath, but in the quiet lab, Miles heard.
"What?"
"I've got to go pick Kent up from the hospital and take him home. I'll be back soon."
Miles gave a quick glance to Llewellyn, hoping he could get away with asking what he was about to. "Then can you talk to him. Try to find out where he was." Chandler immediately began shaking his head, but Miles continued, determined to get a result. "He might open up to you, and if you're coming back we can get the ball rolling straight away."
Joe was turning things over in his mind, unsure of what to do. But Miles delivered the last convincer and Chandler had to agree.
"Come on Boss, the sooner we can start, the sooner this all ends. No more investigation. People won't have to talk about it. It'll all be in the past."
Chandler nodded silently. That was exactly what he wanted and he guessed he had to do his part to achieve it.