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Of course Julian went poking around. Nosy was practically his middle name.
It made him a good spy—curiosity and the audacity to follow it—and also really annoying.
Not that Dylan could really throw stones, but still.
Julian tells him Charlie was dirty, tells him there was an investigation, and then--then his eyes gleam a little and he leans in, pushes himself up and leans in and hints—hints Lizzie—
Lizzie, dirty? Corrupt? Lizzie Needham? Of all the goddamn people in the world?
"Maybe Charlie's previous partner..." Julian says, voice lower, softer, hinting...
And the words are out before Julian can finish, before Dylan can think it through, indignant and furious. "—and his fiancé, who you know is Detective Elizabeth Needham, my current..." Dylan only pauses for a moment, but all the bite in his tone flees at the look on Julian's face.
"...partner," he says anyway, finishes his sentence even though he knows Julian had already known what he was about to say.
He tries to rally up his previous anger, tries not to think about why Julian tips his head like that, looks at him like that. "...who is certainly not dirty!" It's easy for a moment, thinking about that idea—Lizzie, dirty. Lizzie. "Why would you even try to raise doubts about her?!"
Julian just... looks at him for a moment. Something in his eyes Dylan doesn't dare to name.
He doesn't say anything, doesn't answer. Doesn't need to.
Suddenly Dylan needs to get away, needs to leave. Both to get away from what Julian's told him, to give himself space to think about Charlie being dirty, and to get away from that look in his eyes, the quiet—the way he'd gone still at partner, the way...
He can't think about it. He has to go. He makes excuses. Julian tells him to protect himself in a way that says I'm trying to protect you, because he's always doing that, isn't he, trying to protect everyone, trying to protect Dylan, and Dylan snaps at him, doesn't think about it, think about why, think about Lizzie's previous partner or his, doesn't let himself, just defends Lizzie and defends his decision and reminds him that Dylan is good at his job, Dylan knows who to trust, Dylan had trusted Julian, hadn't he, over and over, even when he'd been told not to, trusted his instinct that Julian was trustworthy and that same instinct is telling him to trust Lizzie and how can he ignore that, and he leaves, Julian's eyes burning a hole in his back.