#2 Double Agents (Librarians Fanfic)

The Embarrassing Contract

"Where've you been?" Eve asked as Ezekiel stepped back into the library. He jumped back and wanted to become invisible. Colonel Baird, Stone, Cassandra and Jenkins were all looking at him, all of them with crossed arms and looking at him expectantly. He knew he had two ways he could play this. He could tell them the truth, or he could play it off as them being paranoid. Well, he had to do the right thing. 

"Sorry, I didn't know we had a curfew, am I grounded?" he asked, placing his hands behind his back innocently. 

Eve raised an eyebrow at him, giving him a look that he presumed was 'Do you think I'm stupid?'. Stone chuckled a little, he wasn't surprised. Cassandra looked hurt, like she wanted to cry. And Jenkins? Jenkins surprised him. Jenkins looked, intriguingly, impressed with him. 

"I might as well ground you, but considering you've been disappearing for months before we noticed I see that that's not going to stop you," Eve said, watching him sternly. 

"You're not my mother Baird," he smiled cheekily, noticing that Stone was still chuckling at him. 

"What?" Ezekiel added, turning to the older Librarian with a raised eyebrow. 

Stone stopped, looking around at the others before shrugging. "Nothing," he said, trying to suppress his laughter. Ezekiel glared at him, but before he could get him to speak Eve interrupted him. 

"We're not going to let you go until you tell us where you've been." she said. 

What Ezekiel wanted to say was, "Well Mum, I was on a date with the love of my life, but if you want to presume I was doing something evil that's fine." 

What Ezekiel really said was, "I just thought I had a lead on a case in the clippings book and thought I'd check it out. Nothing dangerous, I just didn't want to wake you guys. Geez Baird, I just saved your life, and got punched out, and now I'm being interrogated for trying to help out? I'm wounded, I really am." 

Cassandra suddenly looked very guilty, and Eve's expression softened. "Ezekiel, we don't want you to think you're not important. We know that you don't always feel like you're a part of the team, but I promise you are. Just, don't scare us like that again, okay?" Eve asked, her voice softer and her arms falling to her sides. 

"What? What do you mean?" Ezekiel said, hiding the fact that what she said was mostly true, "I'm the best part of this team. I'm Ezekiel Jones," he grinned, not adding his usual 'World's Best Thief'. 

Jenkins raised an eyebrow but he didn't say anything. He seemed to be the only one who noticed Ezekiels' slip in character. The corner of his mouth lifted for a moment, but he turned around before the thief could see. He had more pressing matters to deal with. 

Cassandra and Eve left quickly, both of them frustrated by Ezekiel's supposed apathy. Stone was the only one who stayed in the room with Ezekiel, still chuckling under his breath. Ezekiel suddenly snapped, annoyed by the cowboys' continued amusement. "What?!" he asked, glaring at the other Librarian. 

"So, who is she?" Stone asked, Ezekiel starting to notice a pattern. 

"You're obsessed with girls, you know that?" Ezekiel said, frustrated. "There's no girl." 

"Oh, sorry little buddy, who is he?" he asked, his laughing louder as he played with him. 

"There's no he! There's no anyone! What is wrong with you?" Ezekiel exploded. 

"Oh?" Stone asked, stepping towards Ezekiel and grabbing his sweater, pulling it to the side to reveal a fresh red mark. Ezekiel gulped, it was still sensitive. 

"I'm impressed Jones, I didn't know you could do that to yourself," he said, laughing his hardest. 

"Get off," Ezekiel pushed him away, pulling the sweater back over the hickey, "It was nothing, okay?" he added, trying to get away from more questions. 

"Uh huh," Stone nodded, still laughing, "And i guess the more obvious matching one on your jaw is nothing too?" he asked. Ezekiel's hand shot up to his jaw to cover it. He'd completely forgotten about that one. 

"Not. A. Word." Ezekiel growled at him. 

"Alright," Stone said, holding his side from laughing so hard, "but you know that until you tell me I'm not going to let you forget this," he said. 

"You're the brother of my nightmares," Ezekiel muttered, wincing for effect. 

"And you are the embarrassed dork of my dreams," Stone teased him. 

Ezekiel scowled at the cowboy. Stone winked at the thief. They were sworn to silence by an embarrassing contract. Well, it was embarrassing for Ezekiel. For Stone, it was a dream come true to see the thief so vulnerable. The cowboy could have sworn he'd even seen the younger Librarian blush.