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Detective Watts was pulling a late shift that evening; after having finally arrested Brian Keyes. There were only a couple other officers at the station house, one guarding the cells and one at the desk, so it was pretty quiet.
Both the Inspector and Detective Murdoch had gone home a few hours prior, and Roberts had also disappeared at some point, clearly not in the best mood.
Watts guessed he had gone to confront the young Miss Ryan about what had happened, and he felt a tinge of empathy for him.
Watts knew well himself what it was like to be different, to have to fear a lot of people’s intentions, but he supposed he was lucky that one couldn’t necessarily see it just by looking at him. Roberts didn’t have that privilege.
Watts was looking through some of his papers and glanced over at the still sealed envelope at the edge of his desk. It was from Joseph, it had arrived earlier in the day and Watts had been too busy to open it.
Now he just felt a hint of sadness looking at it, both missing him and wishing for something a little less complicated, knowing well he didn’t have such an option.
Not that he could really complain, Joseph was wonderful, kind and smart, and he was on the same page as Watts about a lot of things. He didn’t have big complicated attachments, people he’d have to hide his true self from. So it really was a perfect fit in many ways. They were careful because they had to be, but not so careful that it wasn’t worth it.
He thought of Jack for a moment too, and wondered if everything was alright with him, and Samuel. He would be almost five or six now, Watts could hardly imagine that. He felt the sorrow that always weighed on him weigh just a little more, but kept his composure.
«And I thought I was in a bad mood tonight.» It was Roberts, bringing Watts out of his head and back into the world. Watts looked up at him, he looked fairly downtrodden, and Watts did a slight smile.
«I was just- thinking. Didn’t go great with Miss Ryan then, I’m assuming,» he said and Roberts shook his head.
«It’s hard, it’s too much of a risk for me, and she doesn’t really understand that,» he said and Watts nodded.
«I do, if it helps,» he said and Roberts looked at him slightly questioning. He opened his mouth, as if to ask about it perhaps, but then turned his head, reminded of the officer at the front desk.
«You wouldn’t want to get a drink, would you Detective?» he asked and Watts smiled slightly.
He still wasn’t sure whether he could tell Roberts the truth about himself, but he also knew this case had been all about trust between them, and that Roberts deserved it in return.
He nodded. «Sure, I’d love to,» he said and Roberts smiled as well.
«Good, I could use one,» he said. Watts chuckled slightly and as a show of agreement, stood up and put his hat on.
«Alright then, let’s go,» he said and the two headed out towards the front entrance.
«G’night Detective, Constable,» said Pierson at the front desk and Watts and Roberts nodded almost in unison.
«Good night Pierson,» Watts said in return and then they were on their way.
It was only a few steps down the road before Roberts came back around to what he wanted to ask.
«You uh- you kept saying you understand some of my worries, would it be too much if I asked what you mean by it?» Roberts said and Watts made a small shrug.
«Depends on how much you can handle I suppose,» he said and Roberts made a slightly confused amused expression.
«How bad could it possibly be?» he said and Watts shrugged once more.
«Again, depends, but I’m Jewish, for one,» he said and Roberts nodded slowly.
«There are worse things,» he said, slightly jokingly and Watts smiled a little.
«At this time, yes,» he said and Roberts gave him a little nudge.
«You’re really stringing me along here, Detective,» he said and Watts chuckled slightly.
«Please, call me Llewellyn, if you like, that is,» he responded. Roberts made a single laugh at the fact he yet again danced around the topic.
«And you can call me Teddy, after I hear whatever this is,» he said and Watts raised his eyebrows.
«Oh that’s how it is, I see,» he said, «then why don’t you throw getting me a beer on top of that, and then I’ll tell you.»
Roberts looked jokingly frustrated.
«Alright fine, but you better pay me back if whatever you have to say isn’t bad enough,» he said and Watts properly laughed, a rare thing for him.
«Deal,» he said, pretty confident that he might still scare Roberts away with his confession.
Watts took a breath, and then went for it. «I uh- I’m a man of certain proclivities,» he began.
«Such as?» Roberts urged.
«Such as other men, mostly,» Watts said it as casually as he could, but Roberts stopped in his tracks.
His eyes were slightly large. He lowered his head and voice.
«You mean- you mean you’re a homosexual?» he almost whispered. It was hard to read what he thought about this, if anything in particular.
Watts nodded.
Roberts raised his eyebrows high, in a look that Watts almost couldn’t help but read as him being impressed.
«Well, alright, I guess I owe you that drink,» he said and Watts grinned.
«Good, I thought you might run,» he said and Roberts shook his head intently.
«No, no, I’m impressed, a police detective like you, that’s no small feat,» he said and Watts shrugged.
«Does- does anyone else know this?» he asked and Watts smiled slightly.
«You’d be surprised,» he said and Roberts looked at him curiously.
«In what way?» he said and Watts smiled slightly.
«Well, Ms. Hart knows, so does Murdoch and his wife, Constable Crabtree, whom you haven’t met yet, and not unlikely Mrs. Crabtree too, and I think that Higgins might know but we’ve never actually talked about it. And then there’s the Chief Inspector and his wife,» he shared and Roberts looked at him with wide eyes.
«The Chief Inspector? And he doesn’t mind?» he said and Watts shrugged.
«He did at first, but he’s a good man, he usually does the right thing in the end. He’s actually arguably been the one to support me the most in all of this, even though he might not seem the type,» he explained and Roberts nodded his head, impressed.
«That’s lucky for you, and I guess so for the rest of us too. Station House 4 is a very good place to be, it seems,» he said and Watts smiled.
«Yes, I certainly think so,» he agreed, before adding, «there’s plenty of things about being a man of the law that don’t agree with me, but the people around me are some of the best, and right now that’s what matters most.»
Roberts looked thoughtful and then nodded.
«Yes, I think I learned that today, trusting the right people can make a big difference,» he said and Watts smiled, just as they approached the pub they had been heading for.
«Indeed it can,» he said, and held the door open, allowing Roberts to step infront of him.
«Step on in, Teddy,» he said and Roberts smiled.
«Thank you, Llewellyn.»