(Untitled)

[themanclion]

Gene had been told to stay off his injured knee for about five days. Of course, that meant that he'd ditched the crutches as soon as he got upstairs and had decided that the next morning was the perfect time to take himself horseriding again.

So the morning after that, when he couldn't walk on the thing at all and had run out of Scotch upstairs, it

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[diced_tartan]

Nicholas knows enough about Gene that he'd expected the guy to just ignore any injuries he might have sustained.

So when he sees the crutch, he quickly reassesses what he'd known about the fight. It was apparently worse than he's been led to believe (although, he still can't get two words out of Travis about the matter, so he's still not sure exactly what happened).

"Who started it?" Nicholas asks tiredly.

He sees no point in pretence on this matter.

[themanclion]

'He did.'

He is categorical about it. It also has the added bonus of being entirely true.

'An' no, I don' know why.'

(Not quite as categorical on this bit.)

[diced_tartan]

Nicholas shifts his jaw and swears in French.

"Mind telling me what happened?"

He's making a conscious effort to remain calm about this, and the result is sounding almost detached, as though he's interviewing a witness and not talking to the DCI who seems to have some stupid feud going with his brother.

[themanclion]

It is noted by Gene of course, and not welcomed. He doesn't appreciate being asked questions like that, particularly when he did nothing wrong.

'Mind a smack round th' head with this stick?'

He jerks his head at the crutch.

'Why don' you ask him? He'd know more about it than I would.'

[diced_tartan]

"Because he's not speaking with me, and I'd like to know what happened," Nicholas says. "I've no doubt that he did start it, and I have an idea why he would have. I'd just like to know what happened."

If Gene does take a swing at him with anything, Nicholas will defend himself. And he is, unfortunately for Gene, faster than Travis is.

[themanclion]

He isn't stupid. He knows that he's in no position to start anything at the moment, let alone with someone who might actually know what they're doing.

'I walked in here an' ordered a pint. He asked me whether I recognised him. When I said yes, he punched me in th' face. End of.'

This is obviously leaving out all the stuff that came before and Gene sighs, because he knows Nicholas will ask.

'We'd had a talk a few days before. Reckon I told 'im some stuff he didn' like hearin'.'

[diced_tartan]

Nicholas sighs. Apparently none of this surprises him. He feels like he should be surprised about one part, but if anything, he's just disappointed about it.

"And you fought back, rather than trying to subdue him?"

[themanclion]

'Well, o'course I bloody fought back. What sort of bloke d'you take me for!?'

Honestly! Offensive!

[diced_tartan]

"A senior officer who should know better."

Yeah, usually Nicholas wouldn't say something like this to any senior officer, but the fact that one would let the situation get so badly out of hand is hugely disappointing to him.

[themanclion]

Gene just stares at him for a looong moment. And then lets out a long, disbelieving, breath.

'We have talked before, you an' I. I have bloody told you the way I do things. We have established that policin' in the 70s is differen' from the poncey ways you fairies in the future do it. You got some problem with a DCI who fights back, go find someone t'write a letter to.'

[diced_tartan]

"I'm not trying to defend him," Nicholas assures. "And you should know better than to fight with someone like that, because you never know what sort of training a person might have had."

He's sure Gene is painfully aware of this point, but frankly, Nicholas is pissed off at this entire situation.

[themanclion]

'An' you should know better than t'stand there and try an' bloody lecture me on fightin'. He came off worse than I did or didn' you see that nice big hole I left on his bonce?'

That has to be worse than a wonky knee any day of the week.

[diced_tartan]

Nicholas' face falls.

"I didn't," he says, trying to remain detached about this whole thing. "I knew about the concussion, but nobody's told me anything about what happened, beyond the obvious."

[themanclion]

'Oh.'

OK well, he didn't know that.

'Yeah, well. He got his head split open an' serves him bloody right. I'm only on this crutch 'cause I went and rode a horse when the quack said t'stay off it.'

Yeah, he can admit he was stupid on that score.

'He jus' didn't like bein' told a few home truths, tha's all. So he hit me for it an' I hit him back. He also seems t'think I have a problem with him bein' a bum-bandit but I didn' know that before he hit me, so that had nothin' t'do with it.'

[diced_tartan]

Nicholas is starting to seriously lose his cool right now, and there's some very creative swearing in what might sound to Gene like Chinese.

"No, I think that's exactly what it was," he mutters.

After scrubbing his face with his hands, Nicholas looks back up at Gene.

"What sort of things did you say to him?"

[themanclion]

He ignores the muttering. He's said it wasn't about that and he's not going to keep on saying it.

'He was whingin' about never gettin' looked at for promotion because of you.'

A beat, and Gene looks him square in the eye.

'Didn' I tell you tha' bein' a selfish prick affected more than jus' you? Anyway, I told him to stop bein' a bloody girl and stop usin' you as an excuse. To get off his arse an' prove he was worth gettin' promoted in his own right. He didn' seem t'take too kindly to it.'

But it's still the truth, as far as he's concerned.