Prodigal Son; Malcolm Bright

23.00

Martin:You know I was wonderingwhen we were going to meet. Do I call you Kadence or Celine? Malcolm calls you Celine but on the visitation list it says Kadence so, which is it?

Celine: Celine is fine...I wasn't sure if you even knew I existed

Martin: How could I not know about the mother of my grandchild. Malcolm is always skimpy with details but-

Celine: I'm here for a reason

Martin: Right. Before we start, what's my granddaughter's name?

Celine: Paisley

Martin: How cute! Did Malcolm come up with-

Celine: Again, I'm here for a reason. You performed surgery on a man named Luis Ramirez, you did it in secret because of his criminal status. You have to know something about his gang or maybe him.

Martin: The Lotus'...brutal people. So how old is Paisley now?

Celine: Malcolm was right, I shouldn't have come here

I stood up to leave, things Malcolm & Ainsley had told me about him made a lot more sense now.

Martin: Wait! I'll make you a deal

I froze in my tracks, and slowly turned back around. I raised my eyebrow wondering what I had that he wanted.

Martin: If you bring my granddaughter by, I'll tell you everything you need to know

I squinted my eyes at him before signaling the guards to let me out. I spent the next couple of days trying to figure out what to do, the team was running out of leads to follow. I knew I couldn't exactly talk to Malcolm about the decision because he'd immediately shut it down. I had to do something though, being this sleep deprived was making me start to see my brother's dead body every time I closed my eyes.

The day I made my decision, I told Malcolm that Paisley was with Ainsley. I felt bad for lying but I knew what I had to do.

Celine: Come on Bugs

Paisley: Where're we going?

Celine: You're going to meet your grandpa

I really hoped Ainsley would be able to keep the secret long enough for me to get the answers I needed. Being back at the prison felt different this time, I was still sitting across from him, holding Paisley in my lap. He just stared & smiled at her.

Martin: She looks just like Malcolm, but if you look long enough your features start popping out

Celine: Answers please Martin

Martin: Right

He started telling me everything I needed to know. I heard the door buzz and I turned to see a rather frantic Malcolm entering. He grabbed Paisley out of my arms and glared at Martin.

Paisley: Hi daddy

Malcolm: My daughter is not something that you're allowed to use to get to me! You saw how desperate Celine was for answers and took advantage of that!

Martin: Malcolm I think you're overreacting

Malcolm: Stay away from my daughter Dr. Whitly

Celine: Malcolm...you're shaking

He looked down at his now tremoring hand, he held Paisley a little tighter and his hand started to steady. He glanced over at me again before walking out of the cell, I followed behind him. The tension between us was obvious, but we hadn't spoken on it.

He took Paisley that night, and the next morning I walked into the station thinking I'd be the only one here. To my surprise Malcolm was there going over the case, he looked up when he heard my footsteps.

Celine: Where's Paisley?

Malcolm: She's actually with Ainsley this time

Celine: Listen Malcolm I'm sorry for lying to you. I just really need to solve this case; I'm not really sleeping so I can't sit around and just to be helpless. I understand why you're upset...I'll never go over your head like that again.

Malcolm: Consider yourself forgiven

He offered me the cup of coffee which I took. We started going over the case using the new information. Other people started showing up to the precinct, and it was just a pretty regular day. I looked up to see a bunch of flowers being delivered to almost everybody.

Malcolm Bright

We stepped outside the meeting room to see what was going on. Everybody was fairly confused, I stepped closer to one of the vases to get a closer look at them.

Malcolm: What kind of flowers are those?

Celine: Carnations

Malcolm: Is that your favorite flower?

Celine: No, I'm deadly allergic to them. They're just really pretty to draw

I turned around seeing Celine about to touch one of them, I quickly grabbed her pulling her away from them.

Malcolm: They're carnations, go back in the room

She nodded and one of the officers handed me a card 'See you soon Kadence' I sighed and handed it to Gil. I went into the meeting room where Celine was obviously anxious.

Celine: Call and make sure nobody sent Ainsley the flowers

I nodded; Paisley shared the same flower allergy as her mother. After confirming she was safe I went and let Celine know.

Malcolm: She's okay

Celine: What're we gonna do Malcolm? We don't know how much they know about me-

Malcolm: Kadence! Just stop and listen to me. Nothing is going to happen to you or Paisley. We're going to catch them.

She nodded and I sat down with her so we could wrap things up with the files we were looking at.