Dirty Break (18+)

In Which You Gotta Have Faith

Leon hated to be kept waiting; one could argue that all you had whilst in prison was time, but he had so little to do with said time that when he had something to do that was productive, or at least broke the usual monotony of the day, he wanted it to happen there and then, not at the whim of the prison system. Even now he had been allowed into the visitor room to wait, the visitors had still not been let in, so here he was twiddling his thumbs again. Some of the other inmates were glancing at him repeatedly; as Strangeways operated on a Separate system, there wasn't a lot of interaction beyond the set times for meals and exercise and so not everyone had seen the resident celebrity. He disregarded their looks; he didn't intend to be in for long enough for any of them to cause him trouble and he certainly didn't want to incite it. He'd just managed not to evade the eye of a particularly mean looking bastard when the whistle sounded and the doors opened to admit the visitors although it was still a good few minutes until Conor was in and seated across from him.

"Alright, brother?"

Leon couldn't even be bothered to he sarcastic this time around, although anyone who saw the twitch of his eyebrow might have begged to differ.

"Might have some good news for you. I take it you've met at the lovely Miss Granger now?"

"I have, although I don't know if lovely is the word to use to describe her."

"Yeah, I'm sure your cock didn't get hard the first time you saw her - you forget I know your type, brother. Plus, you're in prison - so basically anything's your type right about now and you can't deny that she's attractive."

"Attractive, yes. A pain in my fucking arse? Yes."

Conor had the nerve to grin at him.

"What's the lady done to you that's so bad, Leon? She's only doing some interviews for god sake."

"For one, how do you think it feels to be surrounded by fucking disgusting men and then having her swan in every few days? If I have to hear one more man describe what he'd do to her - as if they'd ever get the fucking chance - I'm going to hurt someone."

"So you want her all for yourself? You're an O'Grady. Let everyone fucking know that you want her."

"She read about Harleigh, Con. Started asking me about her."

Conor had the good grace to be gobsmacked for about a minute before his brain engaged again.

"You let her know it bothers you, didn't you? You're never going to hear the end of it now, Leon. I hope you realise that."

"No, I hadn't thought that the smart woman who's trying to find interesting things to talk about for her TV show might cling onto the fact that my sister's dead."

"I take your point. Look, this is good. I have a plan and I think it's going to work."

A guard passed close by them; he'd sat in on the interviews with Lydia and had been keeping a closer eye than necessary on Leon ever since. Conor gave him an easy smile and waited until he was well past before saying anything further.

"I told you it was good that I saw her and her friend outside here that day. I found the friends website - from that I can find out her IP address and where she lives,
! I followed Lydia the other night and I cornered her, Leon. She hasn't got anywhere to go - she's going to help us."

"You stalked Lydia? Are you fucking kidding me? All it takes is for her to have a brave moment and go to the cops and that's me done for, Con. Security will be twice as tight."

Conor looked so surprised by Leon's rancour that he almost felt bad for a moment.

"I'm not saying it's a fool-proof plan, brother - I'm saying that it's a shot we might not have had before. If it doesn't pan out then we find another way. No harm, no foul."

"It's sloppy, Conor. I know that your hunches usually work out but we can't bank on a hunch this time. I need to get out of here so I can look into who framed me."

"She's scared, Leon. I threatened her friend if she didn't help me and there's no way she's going to risk that. I just need to make some plans to help the other parts of it along - I have confidence that we can get you out with this."

Leon was unconvinced; he wanted to believe that he could get out of this one, but something about it seemed permanent. He'd been on top of the world - might not have wanted to be part of the world he was in, but he was on top of it anyway ... until someone had decided they didn't want him in their world anymore. He had ideas of course, about who might have had both the smarts and the clout to pull something like this off, but in his line of business either you made damn sure you were right before you accused anyone of anything - or you prepared to look over your shoulder for the rest of your life. Leon had resigned himself to that being his fate, anyway - so he wasn't going to hesitate in the slightest in pointing the finger.

"The more people you involve the more this gets messy, Con. They're not a part of this, and that makes them loose cannons. They might do exactly what you want and fall into our laps - they might surprise us and do the exact opposite - I hope you're ready for the outcome either way."

"It's going to work out, Leon. Just have a little faith in me."

Much as that was not exactly convincing, Leon heaved a sigh and leaned forward slightly on the table, glancing around the room quickly before focussing once more.

"Go on then, Con. How do you think all this is going to play out?"

When Conor had finished speaking, Leon had to admire the sheer bravado he employed in believing his plan was going to work in the slightest. He was entertained, certainly, and he wondered whether Lydia was going to do what she should and do what they told her in order to protect her friend, or if she would realise that you probably shouldn't listen to what hardened criminals threatened you into.

"I don't see this working at all, Con, but I'm just about willing to try anything right about now. You let me know what I need to do and when and I'll follow orders like a good little soldier."

"You should be the Commander, all the shit you've put up with and still given us all 110%."

Leon would have scoffed at the idea, but he knew that Conor was being completely genuine when he said that. Conor had been born into the family, and he was perfectly willing to do his bit, but he had simply never desired being the one in charge of it all. Neither had Leon, truth be told, but as there was no way he was ever getting out of the family alive he figured he might as well be the organ grinder and not the monkey.

"Maybe so. Maybe it'll happen yet. We'll just have to see if your well thought out plan comes to fruition first, and then worry about what I am or am not in charge of."

People were already making moves to leave, although seconds seemed to have passed since his brother was escorted over to his table. He felt the urge to make inane conversation as though it might cause Conor to stay, but he was already moving to stand,clapping a hand over Leon's for a moment so short that the guards never picked up on it and then he was gone. As he was unchained, moved around like a rag-doll and re-chained, he found himself wishing that he was going to see Lydia again soon, if only for the modicum of human companionship.