Chapter Eleven #4
He needed to avoid Alex, even though he was a damn good partner, and he loved working with him. He was a constant reminder of what he lost, and what he’d never be free to have again.
It was too much.
“Thank you,” he said.
Elizabeth needed to know.
“Will you be okay?” she asked.
He nodded.
“I just need to get my mind off of that, and get into a room where I’m alone.”
She glanced over at Callen, and he knew what she wanted. It was time to book another room. The last thing she wanted was Alex to go at Corbin, and he knew the man well enough that he’d do exactly that.
Not in violence, but to figure out what had happened. Alex would assume it was his fault, and it would be a mess.
“Can you get him into a room?” she asked.
He nodded.
“Yep.”
He pulled out his phone and went into an app to do just that.
Now, Elizabeth had to decide if she wanted him working in this state, and she didn’t. She was going to be down two people, but that was more than okay.
The detectives were detective-ing.
“Take the rest of the night off,” she said.
Corbin protested.
“You need our update about what we found out,” he said. “I can work.”
She stopped him.
“Corbin, you’re off your game. No offense, but if I want to stay ahead of this, I need everyone ready to go. Get some sleep, and we’ll regroup tomorrow. If you can’t, I understand.”
He was so grateful.
Elizabeth wasn’t done.
“I have enough people on this. Ethan has the profile, Callen and Gene are my partners, and then I have you, Alex, and the two detectives running backup. I’ve got this. Get some rest, and if you’re not able to do the job, I’d rather send you home than break you.”
The man just nodded, and that told Elizabeth everything she needed to know.
He.
Was.
Exhausted.
She understood about fighting for a long time to hold on. They all did.
From where he sat, Callen shared.
“He’s booked. You’re in a room down the hall. It’s under your name, but paid for.”
He was so grateful.
“Thank you. I’ll send a report to you about what we found later, that way you can make sure Alex got it all.”
That worked for her.
“Want me to do anything?” he asked. “I can research, and it will help me get this off of my mind.”
She could.
“You can help Callen. I have him working on the caretaker of the cemetery. We had a run-in with the caretaker,” she admitted.
“He was asked to leave the location, or what we believe is the scene of the crime. Do a deep search on his personal life and let Callen know what you find. You can both confirm the results,” she said, giving him something just to do.
It was busy work, and Callen didn’t need help, but Corbin needed to not think about life, and research always helped.
“Bless you,” he said, hugging her.
She patted him on the back.
“We got you, Corbin. You and your mom are our family now, too. I’m sorry about Will, and I hope that one day, you get peace from this.”
He.
Did.
Too.
What wouldn’t he give to not feel like this day in and day out of his life?
It sucked.
“I appreciate that. I’ll be good. I just need to regroup,” he admitted. “Thank you for understanding about the partner thing.”
Well, she hoped everyone knew that she loved all the people who worked for her, and she’d advocate for them.
When he got up, Corbin grabbed his things.
“I really am so appreciative to all of you,” he said. “When I needed people the most, Ethan and Gene showed up. Now, I have more people who show up. That’s a blessing. I love you all.”
They felt the same.
Family wasn’t always blood, and their circle was the proof of that.
“We love you too, Crotch Goblin,” Gene said.
The man headed out, and when the door was closed, Ivan went to stand in front of it.
Elizabeth sighed.
Oh, Callen knew that sigh, and it was NOT a good one. In fact, it was the opposite. The shit was going to hit the fan. He’d bet on it.
“What?” he asked.
She was to the point.
“I had a meeting with Alex a couple of days ago, to make sure he meshed with Corbin as his partner.”
Uh-oh.
“And?” Gene asked.
Elizabeth explained.
“Well, he said to me, and I quote, ‘he’d won the partner lottery, and working with Corbin was amazing. He finally felt like he was back to being on a team, and he saw this lasting a long time’.”
They cringed.
“I also told him he could be his permanent partner, since they worked so well together. I reassured him that he was going to have Corbin as his partner. Period.”
Oh, boy.
“Well, he’ll be okay,” Gene said. “Shit happens. If anything, the FBI prepares you for that.”
Oh, if it was only that simple.
Elizabeth cued them in.
“Alex had a rough life before the FBI. He has abandonment issues. When I put him with Noah, he thrived. It gave him permanency, and he needs that according to his psych profile. When I moved Noah to work with Lawless, it was a hit to Alex in a deep way that we won’t understand.
He lost it a little, and was not in good shape for months after.
Alex is co-dependent in a way. He needs his person to thrive, and without that stability, it’s a freefall.
Now, I have to tell him that Corbin isn’t his partner, and we watch the tumble begin. ”
That was an issue.
They were already low on staff, and losing Alex, one of their most seasoned investigators, would be damn difficult to the team.
“He’s been calm, not drinking like an idiot, or out trying to find his worth in sex,” she said.
“He’s been on time, and happy. To him, his partnership allows him to focus on something other than love, and his past. He uses that partnership to fill a very specific void, and I suspect he was in love with Noah. ”
Uh, that was an issue.
“Noah is gay. Alex is not.”
She pointed at Gene.
“You don’t have attraction to women, but how do you feel about me?” he asked.
They got it.
Love came in all shapes, sizes, and circumstances. None of them saw this relationship coming before it hit them.
“So, he was in love with Noah, and that same feeling is what he feels for Corbin?”
She nodded, and pulled out her phone.
There was a way to figure this out, and she knew who to talk to.
The man who administered the team psych evaluations every single year.
Elizabeth rattled off a text to Ethan.
‘EJ, out of curiosity, what would happen if I took another good partner away from Alex, and stuck him with say…Axl?’
It didn’t take him long to reply, and it was exactly what she expected.
‘Due to his past, he’ll take it as a loss, and feel like he’s lost something deeply personal.
He’ll revert back to how he normally behaves, and blame himself for the whole thing.
Basically, he’d bottom out. I’ve already recommended he not be partner jumped again, after what happened with Noah. Is something wrong?’
Oh, he could say that.
She showed the men, and Gene whistled.
“So, we make one man happy, and the other suffers either way on this?”
She nodded.
“Now, I’m going to have to rip that out from under him, and deal with the fallout.”
And that sucked.
“Will he be okay?”
She wasn’t sure. That was going to be her issue later when she told him. Out of the two men, Corbin’s trauma was bigger, and she had to prioritize it.
Like at a mass casualty event, you helped the more injured person first.
Corbin had the deeper scars.
“Send out an alert. I want to meet the detectives, and Alex in the restaurant downstairs for dinner and an update. Hopefully, by then, Chris will have some DNA, and I’ll know my next move.”
Because tonight was going to suck.
Bet.
On.
That.
* * * The Blackhawk Family * * *
Washington, D.C.
Residential Area
Monday Evening
Like he’d planned, Lewis had caught the flight, and landed in DC not that long ago.
It was smooth flying, and now, he was going to have to do the harder part of the job.
Checking on a person who was on the edge. Oh, he knew Axelle, and if she was in a freefall, there were other problems.
While it was weird driving down the street on this block, it brought back memories.
Good and bad ones.
He’d spent quite a while with Axelle George as her boyfriend, in a relationship that hadn’t been planned, but occurred out of love.
They’d had a good run.
A damn good one.
There were few people he cared about in his past. He’d loved someone, but his brother fucked that over by having an affair with her, and then there had been the only other love of his life.
Axelle.
Only, in the CIA, you couldn’t make ties without making problems.
If you did, the bad guys tended to find the weakest part of your armor, and used them to their advantage. While he’d always wanted to stay, at one point, he walked away.
He’d left her behind, and it had broken him in ways he never thought possible.
Then, she got married.
Oh, and it was to a senator, right after they broke up. He told himself he was glad she moved on, but he’d been jealous. Seeing her around, and seeing her sporting some rich man’s ring pissed him off.
Especially as a soldier who fought rich men’s wars for them.
Until he heard what happened to her.
When Elizabeth called, saying she was in the hospital after being hurt, he flew back, and watched from a distance. She went back to Jack to be safe, and he followed her for a few weeks just to make sure.
But he stayed away.
Why?
He loved her.
Fast forward, and he found ways to occupy his time. Most of them were in the Middle East, or in shithole jungles where he could die.
Because he didn’t have anyone to come home to. He’d found purpose in NOLA, helping Elizabeth and the Hunters, and being part of the Spiders.
He liked his work, and dreaded when it would be time to retire.
But it would happen.
He was aging, and the idea of being picked off by the enemy of the state didn’t exactly sound like fun.
So when Elizabeth asked him to head here, it was an easy decision.
Friendship came first.
Now, he had more money than necessary, but friends…they tended to die.
So, he’d do what Elizabeth asked.
As he walked up to the door, Archangels appeared.
Yeah, it was just easier to announce himself.
“What are you doing?” the one asked.
Lewis went for his creds. When he flashed them, the men lightened up a bit.
“Tell the Director that Reaper is here. She’ll know who it is, and let me in.”
When the archangel texted the woman they were watching, the text came back immediately.
‘You’re dismissed for the night. I’ll be here all night, and he’s classified. We’re good.’
After reading that, and showing the other Archangel, the man nodded, and let him proceed.
Lewis waited for the man to head away and get in the blacked-out ride with the other guy.
Then, and only then, did he approach the door, and knock on it.
It took her a couple of minutes, but he knew she was in there. When the door opened, it was a punch to his chest.
Yeah, he was jealous of Duke too.
He missed his time with this woman, and how well they worked together.
“Well, if this isn’t a surprise,” Axelle said, smiling.
Lewis needed to figure out what was going on for Elizabeth, and that was the ONLY reason he was here.
Or that was what he was telling himself.
“Hey, Red. Looking good. I was in the neighborhood and thought I’d stop by. Whatcha doing? Want to grab dinner, or maybe watch a movie? If the husband doesn’t mind, that is.”
She blinked, and didn’t say a word.
Instead, she grabbed Lewis by the front of his shirt, and pulled him into the brownstone.
When he was shoved against the wall, and the Red Queen was against his body, her mouth pressed to his…
He knew one thing.
This was about to be complicated.
Oh, and fucked up.