'Black and White' - The White Bridge Crime Series 2 - LGBT, manXman

29

Freddie --->

"I don't want to go back to work," Eli said quietly, swallowing the last of his 'Dark and Stormy' cocktail.

"Why not?" Freddie asked.

Eli shrugged.

"Just don't... I don't like teaching as much as I thought I would. Perhaps I could do something else..." He mused.

He didn't seem aware that his voice was slurring a little.

"Like what?"

"Don't know." Eli shrugged again. "I always wanted to be a fireman when I was a kid. But I never grew any more past the age of fourteen."

"There's no minimum height."

"I know... But say I go to a fire, and there's a guy Rex's size that needs dragging out. How can I manage that?"

Freddie grinned.

"Alright... I'll try a... Cosmopolitan next."

"This will be your fourth cocktail, Eli."

"So? Is there a law about getting pissed before two in the afternoon?"

"Don't know. Ask the fuzz." Freddie nodded towards the door.

Eli looked and saw Rex and Dom coming into The Dinner Table, and slid off his stool.

He went over and hugged Rex, who ended up half-carrying him back to the bar.

"Who names cocktails?" Eli asked him. "They have some crap names. I've had a 'Dark and Stormy', a Vesper... something I can't pronounce..."

Freddie put a Cosmopolitan on the bar in front of him, and watched as Eli downed it in one go.

"How many have you had?" Rex asked, sipping a lemonade.

"Four... Five?"

"You can't hold your alcohol, can you?" Rex smiled.

"Nope." Eli giggled, and slipped sideways off his stool and fell onto Rex.

Rex lifted him up and settled Eli on his knee.

"Rex?" He whined suddenly.

"What?"

"I wanna have sex."

Rex rolled his eyes.

"I know. I do too. But not while you're drunk, I'm afraid."

Eli whined again.

Freddie grinned at Rex.

"Adrian gets just the same." He whispered conspiratorially.

Eli sighed and leant against Rex.

"I love you Rex."

"I know. I love you too."

"Rex?"

"Mm?"

"I'm going to be a fireman," Eli said.

He slurred, and sounded sleepy.

"Yeah. Fireman. But I have to pick you up first."

Rex shot Freddie a look.

"Childhood dream, apparently." Freddie shrugged.

"Should we get you home?" Rex asked Eli, making to pull him to his feet.

"No." Eli whined. "I like Freddie."

Freddie grinned, and took Eli's empty glass, replacing it with a pint of water.

"Drink that." He commanded. "You'll thank me later."

Eli obediently drank the water. He settled back against Rex's body with a sigh.

"Come on," Rex said firmly. "Home time."

Rex manoeuvred Eli out to his car and strapped him in, ignoring Eli's feeble protests, before driving him back to Dom and Adrian's house.

Eli was fast asleep by the time they pulled up the drive.

Rex carefully lifted him from the car and carried him up to their bed in the spare room.

Wishing he could crawl under the duvet with Eli and sleep for a month, Rex instead wrote a quick note for Eli and headed back towards the police station.

He found Dom and Cole deep in conversation with Stanley Mitchell when he arrived. Mitchell was a lawyer for the Crown Prosecution Service, and had been assigned to Operation Aqueduct; Eli's case.

"Do we have a trial date already?" Rex asked in surprise.

Mitchell usually only showed up when a date had been set and he needed to clarify witnesses and experts for the trial.

"No... There's been a complication."

"Oh?" Rex flopped into his desk chair and loosened his tie a little.

"Tyler's lawyer has changed his plea on his behalf."

"What?"

"The guilty has been changed."

"Let me guess..." Rex began sarcastically. "Not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect."

"Bingo." Mitchell rubbed his eyes wearily.

Although only in his mid-thirties, Stan's forehead was prematurely lined by the stress of his job, his hair already starting to go grey.

"He seemed perfectly sane in the hospital the other day," Dom said coolly.

"That's not the time that's up for debate. All Dougherty's lawyer needs to do is make the jury believe he wasn't of sound mind during the attacks... They could believe it."

"Not if we get Eli on the stand," Dom said firmly. "Hear him talk about the attack, and you'll have no trouble convincing the jury Dougherty was sane when he carried out the attacks."

"I don't know if Eli will, though," Rex said quietly. "He's a lot more damaged than he lets on... He can't sleep without me. He's only asleep right now because he's medicated himself to the eyeballs with booze."

"Hang on... You're sleeping with him?" Mitchel demanded.

"Yeah... Not in the... sexual way. Yet." Rex added as an afterthought.

"God." Mitchell groaned. "What is wrong with the men in this unit? Why do you feel the need to sleep with every victim that comes your way?"

"The last time that happened was with Dom and Aidy. That was five years ago," Rex said, feeling nettled. "We can't help who we care for, can we?"

Mitchell sighed.

"That could complicate things, Rex. Particularly if the defence lawyers find out."

"Well... Make sure they don't," Rex said firmly. "I'm still looking for a new place."

"You're not moving back home?" Dom asked.

"No... I think Eli and I are going to get a place together."

"That's... fast," said Dom, looking uncertain.

"I know... But we both want it." Rex rubbed his eyes wearily, and yawned. "So... The trial?"

"The hearing is this Friday. If we lose, Tyler Dougherty will go to a psychiatric hospital for examination, and we won't know about the trial until his results come in. If we win, we should be able to move ahead with the trial almost immediately. We may even be able to go ahead without Eli's testimony, although having the jury hear his statement might sway them more against Dougherty."

"I'll talk to him," Rex said.

He sighed and yawned again.