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

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verse: safe hands

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

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.

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"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.

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

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.

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.

"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."

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

"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."

"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'."

"'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."

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.

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.

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

"Are you all right? Nothing hurt?"

"'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."

"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?"

"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."

"It ain't your fault," Bennet says, impatiently, before facing down his Inspector.

"You want to throw a punch, sir? I'm right here."

Reid's jaw clenches, and for a moment he clearly thinks about doing just that. But then he deflates and, with a sigh, waves them both in the direction of the door.

"Come back tomorrow. In better moods, if it would please you."

"And I trust my doctor will see no further damage?" Drake says, voice flat and hard as iron.

"Ben..." Matthew tries to stop the conversation, feeling ashamed and embarrassed, but Reid is already answering him.

"So long as he gives me no more cause to."

"You have something to say to him, you say it. He deserves your respect not..."

Drake trails off, letting his anger cool a little in his veins.

"We'll be seeing you tomorrow then."

"Tomorrow," Reid nods tersely, and lets them leave.

Matthew says nothing as they leave the station again. It had all been as he expected, apart from the fact that they did still have their jobs. That was something.

Drake is too angry to say anything, steering Matthew towards the nearest hansom and directly him back towards their lodgings.

He studies his lover carefully for signs of injury, distress.

Matthew rubs at the back of his head every so often, more out of instinct than any real pain. No serious damage has been done.

He's quiet, though, more so than is normal for him. It's been a while, since he was last attacked, and he had been off guard. He needs to remember to be more careful.

Drake leans forward and reaches for the back of Matthew's head.

"Does it hurt?" he asks.

Spooked by Reid's attack, Matthew moves away on pure instinct, swearing under his breath when he realises what he's done, and who he's recoiled from.

"'m sorry," he apologises, relaxing closer to Drake again.

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