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Fearful Encounters

Ray had no clue why Victor and Inu told him to go to Brett's office nor could he discern the look in their eyes. All he knew was that it made him uncomfortable and uncertain. With anxious steps he made it to Brett's office and lightly knocked on the door, "Boss, you wanted to see me?"

"Yeah," Brett said on an exhale, running a hand through his hair. He didn't want to accuse Ray of anything. Ray had presented as nothing but nice so far. He would ask him, they'd look at the surveillance tape together, and he'd take it from there. "Close the door and have a seat."

Ray shuffled into the room doing as told, this was definitely more than uncomfortable. He would stay calm though and try not to get anxious even though being called to the office never seemed good.

He didn't dare say anything until he was addressed by Brett.

"So, let me tell you what I've been told first, yeah? I don't want to accuse you of anything, I really don't, I think you're a good guy, but I really can't ignore this," Brett said, leaning back in his chair and studying Ray. He looked nervous, which didn't make Brett feel better about the situation. If he had put Eddy in a position where something bad like what Victor and Inu were suggesting could happen to him, he didn't know what he would do with himself. "Hear me out, okay? I've been told you've been seen coming out of Ed... the prisoners' room at night. Is this true, Ray?"

Ray sighed, it appeared he had been found out but at least it wasn't too bad thus this meeting wouldn't be too bad either. He had nothing to hide from the boss,"Yes it's true, I've been in his room during my shifts."

He said more cooly

"I hope, I really hope, you have a good reason, Ray," Brett said, eyeing up the guy. "I really really do. You do realize how it looks, right?"

"I have a reason but I am not sure if you'll think it's a good reason or not, " Ray thought it was a good reason just because he was an empathetic human being who didn't like hearing a person suffer. It was inhumane, "I realize it doesn't look the greatest when it's against the code of conduct."

"Please tell me I won't see anything bad on the surveillance, Ray," Brett said, folding his arms and resting them on his desk. "Please tell me what's happening."

"You won't see anything bad on those tapes from me, I think you'll be concerned more though when you see the prisoner, " Ray spoke softly thinking on it, he really did feel bad for the guy. He probably had too much empathy for this murderer but Eddy was just so human, "Every night that I've stood outside the room I hear him screaming and crying, pleaing, begging for mercy or forgiveness or saying how something hurts and for it to please stop. I couldn't handle it so I went in to see if I could help. First I always untangle him from the blankets he has gotten stuck in, then I sit on the edge of the bed and hold his hand. The hand holding thing wasn't really something I intended to start, I had noticed that one of his hands isn't aligned with his wrist and his fingers are also crooked on that same hand. So I took his hand to check it out but noticed he calmed down after awhile when he had that so it became kind of a habit so he can have a little bit of peace."

Ray explained what he was actually doing there, "I felt bad for him."

Brett inhaled slowly as he processed what Ray told him, how Eddy had obviously been hurting without him knowing. How could he not know?
"And that is all there will be on the security tape? You promise me that, Ray?" he asked, meeting Ray's eyes. He thought Ray was telling the truth, but asking him to promise would make Brett feel more secure.

Ray met Brett's eyes as he nodded, "I promise Boss, you won't find anything else on the tapes besides that."

It was still quite a sad thing to see on tape though, he wouldn't deny that. All he could hope was that it wouldn't take a mental toll on Brett if he watched them.

"Thank you. I believe you, Ray," Brett exhaled, relieved Victor and Inu were wrong. God, he would never be able to forgive himself if that wasn't the case. "Why didn't you tell me, though? This is stuff I need to know, Ray. It's not your job to deal with prisoners without checking with me."
Brett wished he knew, he wished he was the one to comfort Eddy. He was grateful Ray had taken care of him, but it should have been him.

"I'm sorry boss I know I should have but in the beginning I didn't know if it was a trap or not like he pulled on Inu. I didn't want to put you in danger because I'm certain you would have checked by yourself. After I learned it wasn't a trap I just didn't want to bother you and again put you in danger. Boss I saw you spending a lot of time with him, even when you're his target. I just worried for both of you I guess," Ray's eyes didn't miss the bandages wrapping Brett's neck and he could only pinpoint it back to Eddy because that was who Brett was with all of the other day, also Eddy cried a bit about it in his sleep. So he kinda knew the assassin apparently didn't mean to but his decision seemed to be validated either way because Brett was harmed because of putting himself near a dangerous person.

"Ray, listen to me: In the future, you're not to put yourself in danger like that, okay?" Brett said, sternly but in a protective way. He wasn't angry, he wasn't upset, just wanting to keep his guys safe. "You're important, and you need to be careful."
Brett ran a hand through his hair again and straightened his glasses.
"I will deal with this in the future, okay? If you hear him crying, I want you to come get me no matter if I'm sleeping or working or whatever. I'll deal with it, I know a thing or two about him, and I'll make sure he's okay."

Ray wanted to argue about that decision, it was stupid! He bit his tongue though because Brett was in charge and a big boy who could handle his own decisions, "Okay I'll tell you, but boss what if he hurts you again?"

He vaguely gestured to the bandages, hoping that maybe some reality check may make Brett change his mind.

"He won't, don't worry about it, Ray," Brett said, a hand slowly moving up to touch the edge of his bandage. The memory of Eddy's large hand pressing firmly against his neck was still very clear to him, and he had to clear his throat as he thought about it. "It was my fault for egging him on."

"I don't think it's just your fault..." Ray paused he probably should explain how he figured it out, because it may be concerning Brett that Ray apparently just knew, "He was crying a bit about that last night too...I don't think he's that um stable if I have observed anything."

Egging on was definitely part of it because it must have triggered something but to Ray it appeared that Eddy wasn't always there or completely right up there.

"It'll be alright, Ray. I'll sort it out with Eddy, and I'll help him at night if he needs that, okay?" Brett said with an assuring smile. "Don't worry about it, okay? Thank you for caring for him."

Ray sighed but nodded, "Okay boss, I'll leave it to you then" There clearly was no arguing with Brett so he would accept it as is and try to make sure his boss didn't die from staying in the same room as a killer.