Break Me One More Time [McLennon]

in which barney is in trouble (part I)

Paul didn't say anything for a solid thirty seconds. Then, at last, he frowned. "What do you mean?"

Mr. Vega sighed. "Barney Lynch has had several slip ups throughout this case. He did not inform you properly on several matters. He has failed as an advisor not only in that way, but he has also failed to keep you safe, as proven by the fact that you were taken hostage by the Shadows."

"But that wasn't Barney's fau- "

Mr. Vega put up a hand to silence Paul. "Save it, Mr. McCartney. Now is not the time to defend Barney Lynch. You will be brought to Barney's hearing, or hearings if it takes more than one to come to a verdict, and you will have your chance to defend him as well as be a witness."

"Oh..okay," Paul said, chewing nervously on the inside of his lip. He didn't want to go back to the F.H.O. Headquarters, not after what he'd seen happen to that poor old woman last time he was there. He tried to remind himself that that seemingly innocent old woman was a member of the Shadows every time he thought about the White Room and what he had seen, but it didn't help. No one should go through that. "If Barney is proven innocent, will he be allowed to be my advisor again?"

"It...is possible," Mr. Vega said, nodding. "But it's not likely. But really, Mr. McCartney, I promise you that I have much more jurisdiction than Barney in the matter of this case. I can protect you much better than he can, and give you much more information."

"But..Barney has been there for me," Paul frowned. "He's always been there for me. He's my friend and nothing that you say or do will change that."

"Yes, well, we'll just have to wait and see how the trial goes." Mr. Vega sighed. "I should get back to Headquarters now. There's a lot to be done. I'll come and collect you when it's time for the trial." And then, just like Paul had seen Barney and Tessa do so many times, Mr. Vega disappeared into thin air.

~~~

A few nights later, Paul was awake late, having some tea in the middle of the night because he couldn't sleep and he had nothing better to do.

"Hi, Paul, how's life?"

Paul looked up and put on a very small smile. "Hello, Tessa."

Tessa tilted her head. "Something's wrong."

"Yeah," Paul nodded. "Yeah, something is wrong. Something is very very wrong."

Tessa frowned. "What's the matter?"

"My advisor from the F.H.O. could be expelled from my case, and possibly fired," Paul took a deep breath and shook his head. He ran his fingers through his hair. "I don't know what I'll do without him. He's my friend, and he keeps me sane. Him and John are the only ones who keep me sane.."

"What're you going to do?" Tessa asked.

"I'm going to go to his hearing and I'm going to defend him," Paul said and nodded slowly. "Yeah.. I'm going to do whatever it takes to help him. Because like I said, he's my friend."

"You're a good friend," Tessa smiled.

"Thanks," Paul smiled back. "Anyway, do you have some information for me or something?"

"No, just checking up on you," Tessa shrugged her shoulders and sighed heavily. "I'm tired.."

"I feel that," Paul nodded.

Tessa chuckled. "There's this woman we're kind of...dealing with, I guess you could say. She's in the twenty first century and we think that the F.H.O. is going to bring her back to the sixties in a few years time - well, a few years here, anyway. There's no stopping them, but we think that if we can secretly get her on board our team then it'll help at the very least."