Ripper Street/Tonight there's going to be a jailbreak...

[thirstforvice]

Leman Street was dark and deserted. It was late, and everybody else had shut up shop and gone home hours ago. But the body brought to them late in the afternoon had required several tests run, to try and ascertain the cause of death. Matthew had made it as far as poison, but was still trying to ascertain the type.

He didn't really need any assistance, but Drake seemed to want to stay with him, and he wasn't about to complain. It was probably sensible, anyway; whilst the worst of his withdrawal had passed through, there was still the odd craving that plagued him, and being left alone in his dead room, and all the pills and potions that came with it, was still not entirely advisable.

The first shouts from the cells below came as Matthew removes the heat from under a boiling beaker of water, his final experiment hopefully complete.

"You gonna go check on that?" he asks without looking up, final goal (and, therefore, home time) almost within his grasp.

Comments

[thirstforvice]

Matthew groans but starts to collect together a bag of medical supplies. He's tired and he wants his bed, but he supposes Bennet is right. He has a responsibility, as the division's doctor.

[thegentlemanthug]

Bennet leans in to murmur against his ear. "And then I'll show you how I like to take care of you."

[thirstforvice]

That has Matthew smiling, and he speeds up his work at once. In seconds, he has a bag ready to carry down into the re-secured cells.

[thegentlemanthug]

Drake escorts his doctor to the cells, making sure he tends only the seriously hurt, before ushering him towards the door and the waiting cab.

He wants to be at home as soon as possible.

[thirstforvice]

Matthew sleeps poorly that night, dreams filled with prison breaks and worse, Bennet attacked by hordes of men and worse, monsters that drag him to the floor. And Matthew can never get there in time, can never get to Bennet before he's torn to pieces.

He heads to work that morning tired and grumpy, not looking forward to finding out Reid's reaction to last night's excitements.

[thegentlemanthug]

Bennet always sleeps like the dead, a soldier's habit, but he recognises the signs of exhaustion on his lover's face.

"S'our day off tomorrow," he says, hoping to cheer his lover.

[thirstforvice]

"Maybe more than a day off," Matthew says darkly as they turn the corner onto Leman Street.

"Maybe we'll both be looking for new employment soon."

[thegentlemanthug]

Drake looks at Matthew strangely. "We did what we could."

[thirstforvice]

Matthew laughs.

"That one's worked on Reid before, has it?"

[thegentlemanthug]

Bennet hadn't seriously considered Reid's reaction to the events, but he hadn't expected to be blamed for them.

"We didn't let 'em run riot, did we? Some poor bobby will empty latrines for a week and that'll be that."

[thirstforvice]

"Ever the optimist, Benny..." Matthew smiles, clapping him on the shoulder before they head inside. He has a feeling that their boss will be blaming them for this, somehow... or maybe that's just the lack of sleep talking.

[thegentlemanthug]

"Not until I met you," Bennet says, loving the warmth soaking through his fine coat from his lover's hand.

[thirstforvice]

As he had predicted, Matthew doesn't make it even halfway to his dead room before he hears Reid bellowing for the both of them. Giving Bennet a pointed look, he turns and makes his way instead towards the Inspector's office.

[thegentlemanthug]

Bennet follows his lover into the office, closing the door behind them.

"What in God's name happened last night?" Reid isn't in the mood to mince words.

[thirstforvice]

"Your crooks did a runner," Matthew informs him, equally happy not to beat around the bush.

"Sergeant Drake here did his best to round them back up."

[thegentlemanthug]

"And what did you do?" Reid says, his voice low and dangerous.

[thirstforvice]

"Well... I helped," Matthew puffs up his chest. "Burnt one with a cigarette. But I'm no soldier warrior like Drake, here. I'm a doctor. I come in when the battle's won."

[thegentlemanthug]

"What's this about?" Drake says, suddenly. "The doctor was-"

"We caught one of them," Reid interrupts. "Do you know what he said? 'The American just let us run'."

[thirstforvice]

"'The American' didn't want to die in a cop shop," Matthew answers back, rising angrily from his chair.

"You don't pay me to fight, Reid, and you sure as hell don't pay me to die trying to round up petty criminals. We were only there at all because I was trying to get test results, for you. We could've been in front of the fire at home, and then your cells would have been a damn sight emptier."

[thegentlemanthug]

Reid grabs hold of Matthew and slams him up against the wall.

Drake doesn't even think. He crosses the room in a heartbeat and lands a vicious left hook across Reid's jaw.

[thirstforvice]

All the fight leaves Matthew in an instant as Reid grabs hold of him, flashes of Susan, and lovers before her, bright at the forefront of his mind. He knows how to talk the talk, but the second things go beyond words, he only knows how to crumble. He lets himself be pinned to the wall, and doesn't move when Bennet rips Reid off of him.

[thegentlemanthug]

Drake steps over his boss and takes hold of Matthew's shoulders.

"Are you all right? Nothing hurt?"

[thirstforvice]

"'m fine," Matthew promises. He feels shaken, mentally, and the back of his head hurts from where it connected with the wall, but nothing so bad as to warrant any fussing.

"Sure I probably deserved that."

[thegentlemanthug]

"You didn't," Drake says firmly, not looking over at his boss as he gets himself to his feet.

"A word, Sergeant," Reid says.

"I'll be taking the doctor home now," Drake says, conversationally. "Accident at work - wasn't it?"

[thirstforvice]

"Sergeant..." Reid doesn't drop the subject so easily, looking a strange mixture of shocked and furious.

"It's fine," Matthew tries to shrug the whole thing off, rubbing at the back of his head. "It's my fault."