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There were exactly 13 steps that tim could take to get from one side of his office to the other, a path worn thin as he stared at the calendar on the wall. It had been over two months since the creature that wasnt quite Rosie, the entity known as Michael, and stumbling into Jon’s office finding the body of… Someone.
Since then, it seemed that the two detectives were sniffing around the institute almost every single day. It seemed like every day they had a barrage of new questions to grill the three archival assistants on, each one digging deeper and deeper into each of their relationships with Jon.
“You know you’re going to wear through the floor if you keep pacing like that” Sasha called, leaning against the doorframe. “I know it’s been hard but pacing around your office isn’t going to get Jon back any faster.”
Tim wrapped his arms around Sasha's frame, his chin resting on top of her head. In the previous months Jon had put a stop to Tim's displays of affection saying that it was “unprofessional and indecent”, but Tim couldnt help but notice the flush that spread across Jon’s cheeks whenever he wrapped his arm around the archivist.
“I’m worried about him, Sash. He hasn’t reached out or even been back to the flat in months. What if he’s-” Tim began, emotion slipping into his voice. ”I’m worried too sweetheart, but there’s nothing that we can do. We just have to wait.” Sasha said.
He knew that she was right, tracking down statement leads was one thing but tracking down jon had been another challenge entirely. Martin had taken the liberty of calling the few phone numbers that jon had in his phone, but after weeks of trying even he had come to a dead end.
“I was thinking that we could go out tonight- maybe that indian place on the corner?” Sasha said fingers brushing the back of tim’s neck. “Martin loves the curry and it might be good to go to one of Jon’s favorite spots-”
“You think he might be there?” Tim asked, a glimmer of hope sparking deep behind his eyes.
“I’m not sure, but if there’s a chance he’s-” Sasha started, but stopped as she heard a commotion outside the door. Before she could untangle herself from Tim’s arms, Martin burst through the door, chest rising and falling as if he had been running.
“Guys, it’s Jon.” Martin sputtered out. “He’s here. In the institute. I saw him in Elias's office.”
Tim’s breath stopped short. “Martin, was he okay?” Tim said, voice wavering.
“Tim, he-” Martin started. “I dont know i just saw him for a second. He seemed thinner than he was before and -and there's his hand and his throat. Detective tonner said that it was her-”
“She did what?!” Tim said, rage boiling under his skin. Tim stoker had never considered himself a violent man, but knowing that someone had hurt jon seemed to set a fire in him. In that moment he wanted nothing more than to find the detective and destroy-
“We can all check on him together, but we need to get up there. Now.” Sasha spoke, authority dripping from her voice. She was always good at that, pulling the group into focus and being the deciding vote, even on trivial things.
In a moment, Sasha was out of the office, Martin and Tim trailing behind her. The hallways seemed to stretch on and on until Elias’s heavy wooden door stood in front of them. Tim’s heart raced under his chest as he pushed it open with a squeak, the feeling that he was walking into the lion’s den building in the back of his throat. But if it was for Jon, Tim was sure that he would walk into the cage over and over again, just to see the man for a moment more.
The inside of the office seemed dim for the time of day, dark wood and shelves of curiosities making the room seem smaller than it actually was. Elias sat at his desk, a cocky grin on his face as he looked up at the two detectives and -
Jon stood in the center of the room, a hand steadying him against one of Elias's deep leather chairs. It had only been 10 weeks but it seemed like the man had aged by 10 years. He already seemed thinner, pale even in the soft glow of the room, but what made him see red was the apparent damage on the small man’s frame. There was a dirty bandage wrapped around his hand that seemed to be caked in something awful and his eyes darted back and forth as if he was gripped with vertigo, but the worst of it was the blood that stained his shirt collar.
“Jon!” Martin spoke as he entered the room, practically catching him up as Jon stumbled toward his partner. Jon moved toward his partner as if he wanted nothing more but to melt into martin and Sasha’s arms, but he held himself rigid. He could settle on grasping the ginger’s hand for now- there was still work to be done.
“We’ve been so worried sick about you! Are you hurt? What happened darling?” martin said, trying to pull the emotion out of his voice.
“Im alright, Martin. I’m back.” Jon said with a watery smile. Sasha had come to his side at this point, eyes skating over the man’s pockmarked skin and shaking figure. Sasha and martin’s only goal had been to keep jon safe, blocking him from elias and the two detectives, but tim’s gaze could do nothing but move outward, finding the blonde detective he knew was responsible for the damage.
“You want to tell me why he came back with a bloody neck tonner?” Tim spoke in a low voice, eyes smouldering.
“I was doing what needed to be done” Daisy said, her canines seeming to glint in the dim light as she flashed a wicked smile “you’re lucky basira here stopped me when she did, otherwise you would be finding him in a body bag.”
“Why you-” tim began to lunge at her, but before he could, a bored, unaffected voice cut through the chaos.
“As entertaining as this whole scene is, I fear that we need to get back on track. We’re on a bit of a time crunch you see.” Elias spoke, as if he had seen this play out before and the reunion had become a tedium not dissimilar to going to the dentist every six months. “Now, I believe our Archivist had a question for me.”
Jon righted himself, an almost static buzz filling the room as he considered his boss. “Elias. Did you kill Gertrude Robinson? And Leitner?” he asked soberly. Just the question alone seemed to have drained Jon of the last traces of his energy, now finding it more and more appealing to lean into Martin and Sasha’s waiting arms.
Elias seemed to let out a laugh, a mix of pride and humor lacing through his cold eyes “That’s… That’s quite nice, actually. Tingly… but sort of freeing. You know, even Gertrude never properly tried to compel me. I always wondered –”
“We’re not here to hear some supervillain speech from you Bouchard” Sasha started, breaking into the conversation. “Now is there any answers you’re going to give us that won’t end in a visit to A&E”
Elias blanched, utter confusion racking the man. “Miss james, I hardly think that this is the-”
“I think you should answer the question.” Tim butted in, the ire in his eyes landing on the greying man in the center of the room.
“Did you know where he was?” Sasha asked the man, her voice cold. Colder than anything Elias had heard from her before. “Yes, i did but i hardly see what-”
“And did you know that he was in danger?” her eyes were lit now, almost dangerous. “I hardly see how that matters miss james, but if you allow me to-”
“Did. You. Know?” Sasha spoke, compelling the gray haired man just as fiercely as Jon had only moments before.
“Well yes, but i hardly believe that is any of-” Elias started before a slap knocked him squarely out of his chair and onto the floor.
“That’s my girl” Tim said as sasha walked back to meet her boys, Martin giving her a soft smile as he nodded his approval to the woman as he practically held Jon up. “We’re going home bossman, anything you need to say can wait until monday.” Tim said, before turning to the door where Martin and sasha were already leading jon out of the room.
“But- but we have to stop the unknowing” Elias said, a thread of panic racing through his voice.
“Just send it in an email or something then. It’s not like it’s the end of the world.”
_
“I know love, I know” Martin spoke as he wrapped Jon’s hand on the couch of Tim’s apartment. With a shower, Jon started to feel like himself again. As he dressed he pulled on tim’s pants, a shirt from sasha’s drawer, and one of martin’s sweaters from his closet. There was something about having their scents so close to him that Jon loved, though it was nothing compared to the real thing.
He could have stayed in that bliss all night if he had the option, but as he walked he found his hand beginning to ache like the first moments it lay in Jude Perry’s grasp. The weeks hadn’t done anything to numb the pain.
“Alright love, your hand is all wrapped up and the silvadine should help it feel better in no time” Martin said, placing the injured hand down gently on the couch before gathering the dirty bandages and making his way to the trash can.
“Thank you Martin. i just can’t believe i was such an idiot to fall for it- Jude had spent the previous ten minutes telling me how she liked burning things, i dont know why i didn’t think it would happen to me” Jon said, a crease forming on his brow the way it always did when jon believed he had made a dumb decision. Martin reached his hand out, thumb smoothing the crease between his eyes “Maybe not, but you can’t blame yourself for everything darling. It’s not a bad thing to believe someone could be decent.” the ginger man said “though from now on, no more tunnel explorations. Deal?”
“Fine, deal.” Jon chuffed “though if I do, you’re not allowed to run in after me.”
Martin creased his brow, a scowl forming across his face. “No can do. Where you go, I go.”
As Jon rolled his eyes, a rhythmic knock sounded at the door. “We have the food!” Sasha called as she opened the door, Tim trailing behind her with a bag of Chinese food behind her.
“Tim, why do you insist on knocking every time? This is your flat!” Jon asked with a roll of his eyes.
“Because-“ the man started “how else would you two know to stop snogging on the couch?” He said waggling his eyebrows while pulling an eggroll out of the bag.
“There will be no snogging tonight”. Sasha said, earning a resound boo from at least two parties in the room “we’ve all had a-“
“Tiring-?”
“Brutal-?”
“Hellish-?”
“- Long day.” Sasha said, stopping her partners from spiraling out like they so often do. “That the only thing we’re doing tonight is watching trash tv and eating egregious amounts of junk food.”
“And we’re going to do the same thing tomorrow as well.” Tim said, adding on. “In addition to snogging of course” which finally earned Tim a smack on the chest and a stolen egg roll by Sasha.
“Tim, I need to go back” Jon started “There’s still more I need-“
“The archive will be there, Jon” Sasha said calmly “all we need to do is rest tonight.”
And climbing onto the large couch, the four sat together as if nothing had changed; but deep down there was the subtle knowledge that things were never going to be the same again after tonight.