Cuffed and Cursed Part 3
"Well, where do you suggest we look?" Connor said with false brightness, and took a step, forcing his shoulders to straighten and a smile to his
face. He didn't want false sympathy, so hiding the hurt was the best… no, the only option. Becker turned to look at him, a single brow raised and a smirk playing at the corners of his lips.
"I think we should ask Jess." Becker said, inclining his head towards their field coordinator. Connor caught on quickly enough.
"I can't believe we didn't think of the security cameras sooner." He commented, nodding. They walked over, watching politely for Jess to finish whatever it was that made her fingers fly across the keys.
After a moment, she looked up at them, smiling.
"CCTV?"
"Yes, please."
"It'll cost you a chocolate bar." Jess said, grinning. Connor leaned around to look at the second screen of the ADD.
"Nothing-" Becker began his usual reply with a grin.
"-With orange in it, we know Becks!" Connor almost snapped, to the surprise of the other two. He glanced at Jess, wincing. "Sorry, Jess. It's just,
I… we really need to find Danny ASAP, yeah? Bit antsy." He apologized, waiting until she smiled and rolled her eyes.
"Boys." She said it in a long-suffering sort of way, which made both of the men chuckle despite themselves. Thankfully, she turned to the ADD and pulled up the camera footage.
Jess had found Danny lurking in the break room, though after Quinn walked around the room once and poured himself a cup of coffee, he glanced up at the security camera, and winked. Becker actually growled, startling Connor, who was trying to type one-handed while Jess halfheartedly tried to regain control of the ADD from him.
"C'mon, let's head to the break room."
"But Becker-" Connor ground his teeth as Becker ignored him, and started walking, forcing him to follow or be dragged by his wrist. "Becks! By the time we get there, he'll be long gone!"
"I know, but maybe we can head him off…"
"If we weren't handcuffed this would be easier." Connor muttered.
"Well, it would mean that we could go down different hallways and corner Quinn." Becker pointed out, brows furrowed as he turned to face Connor. For his part, the techy genius hadn't considered that Becker might not mind the handcuffing part because it was with connor, but because it was more difficult to do things when your hand was linked to someone else's. "Is something wrong, Conn?"
Connor's eyes widened, and then he shook his head sharply, turning away.
"Later, later. Danny's probably halfway across the building by now!" Connor switched topics, starting to walk. Becker immediately fell into step, easily keeping pace.
Danny wormed his way through the air vents above Connor and Becker, peering down at the two through the grating. He let out a quiet sigh. He'd hoped his plan would work. Maybe he would've done better to lock them in one of the empty menagerie pens…. He shook his head. Becker would murder him, possibly for real, if he did that.
Danny resolved to stay hidden for as long as possible: they would have to discuss the fight eventually.
"He's not in here, Becker." Connor grumbled, sighing as Becker shook his head and practically stalked towards the cabinets on the other end of the room. "There's no way Danny could keep quiet for this long, anyway." He added, making a face when Becker didn't reply. "Becks, he probably snuck out long before we got here. The ARC's pretty round abou', he could be anywhere by now."
The Captain finally turned to face him, eyebrows raised.
"And what do you suggest we do?"
"What?! I'm suddenly the one who makes the decisions?"
"Conn, you know Danny better than I do."
"So it's not because you finally think I'm useful?" Connor couldn't stop himself from blurting. Becker opened his mouth to respond, and Connor turned away, glaring at the cuff rather than meeting Becker's eyes. "Nevermind, we… we're not getting into this again, yeah?"
"Connor…"
"I mean, you said to drop it, so it's dropped, been dropped all day, yep."
"Connor!" Becker shouted, grabbing his shoulder and forcing Connor to look at him again.
They stared at each other for a moment before Becker shook his shoulder lightly.
"Connor," he began, but then realized he wasn't at all sure what he intended to say, "I didn't... Why did you think I was so against you rejoining the field team?" Connor looked away, and Becker could feel the tension through his light grip on Connor's shoulder.
"It's not hard ta figure out, Becker. I've 'eard it enough, gotten enough flak for bein' the one who nearly ended the world an' all, and for other things too. I hoped I wouldn't get it from you, but I'm no' fit for the field team, am I? You an' the others'll be 'appier if I'm not out there, gettin' in the way..." Becker was barely able to let Connor finish his self-derogatory speech, and his grip tightened fractionally.
"Conn, that's not true, none of it. If any of my men have been 'giving you flak' about the New Dawn incident, you should know you can come to me and I'll tell them off." Connor shook his head.
"I don't need to be coddled, Becker." He said tonelessly, then gestured at the hallway. "We should really find Danny."
"I'm not coddling you, Connor." Well, maybe he was being a tad overprotective but, "I care about you, and you'll notice that I haven't let Abby back on the field team either. You two are too important to be constantly in danger, and you're not always in the way! You just have a tendency to act on what your heart tells you, which more often than not gets you into danger. And I'd prefer it if you didn't nearly cause me heart failure every anomaly shout." Becker explained, watching as Connor's eyes widened in surprise. He gaped at Becker for a moment, and then the expressive brown eyes narrowed in suspicion. That was something he would always hate Phillip for. Before, Connor had implicitly trusted people. Now, he tended towards not believing them, and erring on the side of caution, which, while sometimes better for Connor's safety, was also somewhat heartrending.
Connor wasn't acting like Connor.
"You were... trying to protect me?" His tone was skeptical, but hopeful, and Becker nodded.
"Even if you can take care of yourself, because I know you can, right now I'd rather both you and Abby were safe." It was hard to admit a lot of personal things in their work environment, though he wasn't often one to speak his mind about 'feelings' anyway. Still, Becker cared for both Abby and Connor, and with recent events neither of them could really be spared.
"Oh." Connor blinked a few times, and then a small smile formed.