Safe With You Beside Me

Brian sat down at the table near the kitchen and pulled a pad of paper out of his bag. He watched as Matt plopped himself down across from him with a yawn. They were both tired beyond belief but Brian knew there were a few questions that needed to be asked immediately.

“The tracking device had to have been placed recently. It was small but had you been having any sort of discomfort?” Matt shook his head and watched Brian write down the answer. “Okay next question. Can you remember any of your recent Jon’s names or faces, especially anyone who isn’t a regular, in the last two weeks?”

“I’ve only been with a handful of people that I didn’t know these past few weeks.” Only one person really stood out to Matt, but that guy couldn’t have done it. Even if the guy were suspicious, Matt wouldn’t rat him out; the guy would lose his job and more than likely the pretty little lady who had given him the ring on his left hand. “No one stood out and there were only a few who asked for anal.”

Brian watched as a slow blush crept onto Matt’s cheeks. He knew that these things were embarrassing to talk about but they had to be discussed. “We can get a sketch artist in here as soon as tomorrow.”

“I’ll try, but I don’t know if I can be of much help.” Matt hesitated; he knew he couldn’t let the cop know about that man, he just couldn’t. But what was the harm in keeping this guy’s identity a secret from officer Haner? Matt could only see good by doing so.

The questions kept coming for at least another half of an hour. Matt sighed in relief when room service came to drop off their dinner. He had slowly been getting angrier and angrier by the minute. He hated that some guy that he didn’t even know, had to pick apart his entire life like a jigsaw puzzle in reverse. He had wanted to punch the guy a few times when he stepped into uncomfortable territory but Matt held back, knowing that it wasn’t Officer Haner’s fault. The questions were just standard procedure, but did they honestly have to ask about his family and past? His home life was none of the cops’ concern and he wasn’t shy in saying so.

Tension ebbed on while they ate, but when Officer Haner brought out a pack of cards and dealt them both a hand, Matt started to relax a bit; he eventually grew so tired he couldn’t keep his eyes open any longer and bid the officer good night.

Matt fell asleep around the same time Brian traded door shifts with Zack. He and his partner had a plan; Brian would take the night shift and trade off just after sun rise, that way he could sleep until about noon. He settled down in his chair and made use of his cellphones reading application, ready for a long, boring night.

By the time Brian fell into bed, the sun had just risen. Pain was the first thing he felt when Zack had come out to relieve him. His back ached, his muscles were sore and he was stiff as a board.

Somewhere around noon a loud noise startled Brian right out of his bed. His gun at the ready, and aimed high for the second it took him to register that there was no threat. Matt stood in the middle of the room, hands in the air; his eyes were as comically wide as saucers.

“Sorry.” Brian put his gun down on the bed and rubbed at his face, noticing at once, he needed a shave.

“Um, it’s okay.” Brian watched Matt watching him. It took him a minute to realize why but when he did Brian nearly went tomato red.

In the middle of his sleep Brian had gotten hot and kicked off his sweat pants, leaving him in nothing but a jockstrap. Brian grabbed the blanket off the bed and covered himself with it quickly. Brian wasn’t the shy type but when he felt like he was being assessed like a slab of beef, he tended to get a bit embarrassed. When he looked back over at the other man, Matt was looking anywhere but at his nearly naked body.

Matt chuckled to himself when Brian quietly grumbled something and climbed back in the bed, using the blanket as cover while he slipped his pants back on. It was a while before anyone said anything, with how tired Brian looked, Matt honestly thought he had fallen back to sleep.

“You hungry?” Brian’s voice sounded groggy as he asked out of nowhere, startling Matt, the cop hadn’t moved a muscle and the room had been silent for over ten minutes.

“I could eat a horse,” Matt admitted, rubbing at the back of his neck embarrassed, taking a seat at the dining room table.

“Good, order whatever you want from room service.” Minutes later Matt heard a soft snore from across the room, he smirked to himself before getting up to send a quick order to room service.

Two hours later, Brian found himself coming out of a peaceful sleep. He groaned and stretched, the ache in his loins had finally subdued and Brian found it easier to move than the first time he’d woken.

“You finally up lazy ass?” Brian let out a groan and rolled towards the voice. Zack was sat at the table playing cards with Matt, smirking at his partner.

“Don’t you ever go home?” Brian knew the mistake before he had even opened his mouth; he couldn’t seem to hold the words back once he’d started. Zack spent more time in the bunk room at the precinct than even Brian did. A lot had been going on in Zack’s life recently. He had lost his wife about a year back due to Cancer. His children had been taken in by his in-laws for a few months and that’s where they had stayed ever since.

Zack’s family wasn’t the type to keep his kids and not give them back, but they knew that them being at his home wasn’t such a good idea. Zack had buried himself in work, spending all hours away from home right after Gena’s passing. He saw how happy and good the kids were doing with their grandparents and he asked them to keep them until he could get on his feet again. They happily agreed but when Zack felt ready to take them, this case had fallen on their desk. Brian knew he wanted his kids back, badly. But he also knew that Zack felt a strong passionate need to solve this case. He didn’t understand why, but Brian didn’t mention it, he hoped that when his partner was ready, Zack would tell him.

“I’m sorry, Zee.” Brian sat up in the bed looking right at Zack, the other man nodded in acknowledgement and acceptance to the apology.

“You look like shit, Brian.” Zack chuckled and dealt the cards for their next hand.

“I didn’t get to sleep until eight in the damn morning Zack and it’s only,” Brian paused to look over at the clock noting that it was around four pm. “Never mind it’s a lot later than I thought it was.”

Brian checked under the blankets, making sure that his pants were still on. He let out a loud yawn and stretched to the ceiling when he climbed out of the bed. The second he stepped into the bathroom, Brian hissed at the cold tiles under his feet. He quickly did his business and went back out to the main room. Brian looked around and noticed Zack had left.

“He said he needed to go get groceries.” Matt filled in when Brian looked at him with a raised brow. The cop grunted while nodding his head and plopped down at the table, letting out a loud yawn.

“If you couldn’t sleep you could have woken me.” Brian had a feeling that Matt was a selfless person but he hadn’t known for sure until that moment.

Shelly had been the same way. She’d always put him before anyone else and no one stood in her way, except Brian’s job. He had always felt guilty when he’d come home, his dinner was cold in the microwave and his wife was in bed alone. But that was when he was actually able to make it home, it ate away at him very slowly, not being able to be there for her the way she needed him. His job was very important and he always put it first even without meaning to. That’s how their marriage had fallen apart.

Shelly had put up with his career for only a year before she started calling it his mistress. At year number two she was calling it his new wife; and just under year three she had called it quits, took off with Isaac, Brian hadn’t heard from her since. Which was really inconvenient for Brian in many more ways than one, it wasn’t just their divorce papers that needed signing.

“Don’t worry about it; I was on guard all night.” Brian covered his mouth when a really loud yawn made it past his lips.

“Why don’t you go get some more sleep, I can keep quiet?” Matt offered, looking over the table at Brian.

"I doubt I’ll be able to fall asleep again," Brian responded, he stood from the table and went back into the bathroom. Seconds later Matt heard the shower turn on; he let out a loud sigh and slumped down onto the dining chair. He needed to get a hold of Jimmy somehow but he knew they wouldn't let him back out on the streets or use a phone. Brian had said that they were going to be in the hotel for at least a few days or until the perp was caught. He knew that Jimmy would have started looking for him when he didn’t show up last night.

‘When did things get so fucked up?’ Matt wondered to himself but he already knew the answer, at the age of fifteen.

Zack showed up just as Brian had come back out of the bathroom, fully dressed of course. What a shame, Matt had sort of hoped that Brian would come out in only a towel. He should have known by the man’s blush earlier on in the day that Brian would be a very modest man.

“What’s going to happen with Jo? He can only miss up to two weeks of school in an entire year and he’s missed a few days already.” Brian and Zack shared a look, Matt didn’t understand what it meant but he knew it wasn’t good. Zack was the one to break the news to him.

"He will be temporarily home schooled but from what we've seen of your home, he will be taken in by child services." Zack and a team of investigators had found the house a disaster earlier when he had dropped by to get some of the family’s things. The worst of it though were the drugs the team had found. Zack dropped a duffle bag at Matt’s feet. “Here are some of your things, they have been bug checked.”

"You can't take him," Matt growled, his fists clenched. Zack set down the grocery bags he had been holding and placed his keys on the counter.

"I'm not the one to decide that Matt. A team of investigators searched your house and found heroine and a needle within reach of your brother." Zack took a step back when Matt advanced a step. At that moment Brian placed a hand on his shoulder and Matt swung. Brian twisted Matt's arm behind his back and pressed Matt's face into the bed.

"You can't take him!" Matt relaxed his struggles but kicked, trying to get out of the hold, but it was useless. Brian knew exactly what to do to counter ever move Matt made. He stilled in Brian’s grip for a few minutes, huffing and puffing, trying to take in enough air.

"Calm down and we can talk about it. You know as well as I do that he's not safe there, you knew what was going on and never reported it, they could charge you for that." Brian spoke softly and gently eased his hold, letting Matt roll over and sit on the edge of the bed.

"I did everything I could to keep him safe. I taught him not to go near any of it; I kept him well fed and doing well in school. I did all I could to keep him away from her and the drugs so don't you dare judge me for doing everything I could to keep him!" Matt glared Brian down, if looks could kill, Brian would have been long gone. He didn't even know tears were falling down his cheeks until one hit his hand; he looked down, astounded.

Brian was absolutely stunned; he had expected Matt to be furious and want to do everything he could to get his brother back. He hadn't expected Matt to break down in tears a moment after yelling his head off. Matt stood from the bed and got dangerously close to Zack.

"You're not gonna take him from me," Matt growled, looking right into Zack’s eyes. He knew he needed to calm down before he hurt someone so he decided to lock himself into the bathroom. He needed a fucking shower and time to cool off. They were planning on taking his Jo away from him, and what could he do about it? Not a damn thing.

Matt quickly washed up but stayed under the spray for a while, enjoying the warm water pounding on his muscles. When he was ready to get out Matt grabbed a towel and dried himself off. He slipped on a pair of clothes that had been left on the counter for him and left the comfort of the small bathroom. When he was back in the bedroom he ignored Zack and Brian at all costs, even ignoring what they were saying to him.

Matt watched both of them out the corner of his eye, Zack left a few minutes later. Brian sat down at the table and wrote in a notebook for a while before he climbed into bed. Matt laid there and waited for Brian’s breathing to even out, eventually it did and he rolled out of bed grabbing the notebook on the counter. Matt decided that since he had no privacy; neither did the detective sleeping in the bed beside his. Matt was shocked by some of the things in the book; a lot of them were dark and dreary. It was a journal of sorts; one that Brian had been filling out for his therapist apparently. Matt read it all the way through just in time for Brian's alarm to go off. For fear of being caught, he quickly shut the book and put it back where it had been before shuffling the deck of cards Brian had left out.

Brian had been awake for a few minutes, dreading that he would have to go and sit outside the damn door all night again. He had just gotten himself dressed in his uniform when Zack burst through the door. He held his hands up the second he saw Brian’s gun pointed at him.

"Jesus, Zack!" Brian yelled. He made sure the safety was on and stuffed the gun back under his pillow.

“Sorry, sorry, but Brian this is important.” Zack made his way to the kitchen counter and started pulling photos and files out of an envelope. “Someone else has been taken.”

The two studied the pictures so intently that they hadn’t even seen Matt walk up beside them and look at the pictures. He knew that face, those tattoos and those hands. Fuck! Matt knew he shouldn’t have let them not call Jimmy. Because of him his friend was dead!

Matt was so shocked to see the photo that he dropped it to the ground. He bent to pick it up, noticing that it had writing on the back.

'This little birdy told me a secret about you Shadows, you have a son. He will be next.' Matt threw the picture onto the counter and ran to the door; he threw it open and pounded on the one across the hall. Brian quickly scanned the picture in his hand, taking in everything that the note said. He quickly followed and watched as Matt flew into the bedroom across the hall and picked up the little boy. A look of relief crossed his face as he sat down.

"Matthew what do you think you're doing?" Silvia screeched, laid out one of the beds. She looked like she was going through withdrawals and Brian didn't doubt it. He looked down at the note in his hand and re-read it, still in shock at what the note spoke of. The little boy wasn't Matt's brother it was his son.

"You okay Mattie?" Jo asked quietly, leaning back and looking at Matt’s face. The little boy used his fingers to wipe the tears from his dads eyes, a second later Matt pulled him back to his chest and held him tighter.

"I'm sorry Ms. Sanders but your other 'son' has been threatened." Brian couldn't say the word without his voice straining. If Matt loved his little boy so much then why would he have given him up to her?

"Put him down now!" She screeched; Matt looked over at her for a second before letting Jo down to the ground. He wiped his face quickly and looked over at Brian who was staring at him in question. Matt slowly shook his head and hoped that Brian understood that Jo didn't even know.

"I'm sorry Ma'am but Jordan is now on twenty four hour protective watch." Zack walked over to the little boy and held out his hand, explaining that he needed to ask him some questions. Jo looked up at Matt and waited for his ‘brother’ to nod in approval; he grabbed Zack’s hand and followed him.

"Where is he taking him?" Matt asked as he watched Jo be led out of the room. The little boy looked back at Matt again; he gave his son a warm smile and watched him disappear around the corner.

"He's going to take Jo to a room where he can be asked questions. He is not accused of a crime so a parent doesn't need to be present," Brian stated. When Silvia looked like she would start to argue, she rolled her eyes and fell back on the bed.

“Get out,” she sneered, giving her son a look of disgust before rolling over and ignoring them.

Brian and Matt walked across the hall back to their room. Matt picked up the picture from before and sat down into one of the chairs.

“I knew I should have called him.” Brian watched Matt carefully for the next few seconds; he nearly jumped when Matt yelled. “It doesn't make any sense he doesn't fit the profile; he’s a twig, there’s barely any muscle on him!”

"You knew him? I’m sorry, you know him." Brian corrected himself and sat down across the table from Matt.

"Yeah. Jimmy Sullivan, he’s been working the streets with me since I started. He's been doing it for about ten years; he started when he was fifteen. He was a street kid with no family and no way to pay the bills so he let people pay for sex. They would pay a shit ton to keep him quiet so they wouldn't go to prison afterwards when he had blackmail on them. He's a sex addict, he loves sex and after a few blackmail payments he had enough money to buy a house, so he had some guy fake the papers and paid him off. He's lived there ever since. A few months after he quit he was back at it, he loved sex so much and getting paid was just a bonus. He was my partner out there; we watched each other’s backs and even talked some people into paying for both of us when we thought they were suspicious. I leave and he gets taken. I can’t call and he dies!" Matt shook his head; he closed his eyes and took a deep breath he really didn't need to be arrested for beating the shit out of Brian because he took him away from his best friend.

"I'm sorry that this happened. If you would like I can bring Jordan in here to stay, he doesn't need to be around all the shit your mother's going through right now." Brian could only offer that little bit of hope to the man, what else could he say? I'm sorry your best friend might be dead because you weren't there for him? "He doesn't know does he?"

"No, he doesn't." Matt stood up and started pacing; he made it a few times around the room before he sat down in the same spot.

“Can I ask what happened?” Matt looked at him like he’d grown two heads for a second, before letting out a deep breath and nodding.

“By the time I turned fifteen, things had started going downhill; I got the high schools head cheerleader Valery, pregnant. Her parents didn't want anything to do with a delinquent’s child so they made her give up her rights to Jo. I couldn't afford a kid; I had no job and barely skated by in school. My mom said that if she was paying for Jo she wanted full custody of it, as she called him back then. She said that ‘Jo was to never find out who his dad is' and I’ve had to just shut up and like it.” Matt closed his eyes and rubbed at his forehead for a few seconds. Brian couldn’t help but wonder how common the name Valery was. He personally thought it was a beautiful name.

“After Jo was born I raised him as my own, I had to when my mom was always high as a kite and wouldn't do it. Yeah she paid the bills at first until she lost her job and made the system pay her to feed Jo. When that money was gone part way through each month and their bellies were hungry, I found myself on the corner of the street at age seventeen. Of course she found out how I was making money and decided to up and move us to a town very well known for prostitution. She knew I would pay the bills just to keep a roof over his head and his belly full, so she started to blow all of it on drugs.” Brian swallowed harshly, listening to the story.

“I would have moved out long ago if it hadn't been illegal to take Jo with me. I’m not willing to leave my six year old little boy with her, and if I fought her for custody and the court saw that I had no job, or if I turned her in for being on drugs, Jo would go to foster care and I can’t deal with that. So instead I keep Jo with me as much as possible, and I only leave the house at night after he’s gone to bed. That way he wouldn't even have to go near her. I taught Jo a long time ago to stay away from the drugs and needles, he’s really careful. I’ve even caught him checking the couch before sitting down one day after school.” Matt had fresh tears rolling down his cheeks. “There’s nothing I can do to keep him, is there?”

“I don’t think so, not for now Matt. The only thing I can tell you, is to go out there and try to get a job after all of this is over. Get a place to stay without her and petition to the courts to adopt him.” Brian sounded sincere when Matt looked up and met his eyes.

“Yeah and what if someone else gets him before I can make a proper life for him?” Matt wiped at his eyes and sniffled. “I’ve seen what some kids go through in foster care; I know a lot of people who have been there. Some have been molested, treated like animals, some of the kids out there said that they never felt what home was not even once because some of their fosterer's just wanted the money and didn’t care for them.”

“When he does get taken into child services, I will do anything I can to make sure he gets a good temporary home.” Brian tried to reassure him, but Matt was far too deep in thought to even process what he’d said.

Little did he know, how important that promise was to Brian.

Notes

I am so happy to be back in the process of writing this story. I am going back and taking notes on all the past chapters I have saved on another site and I am editing them. I hope you guys enjoy this story so far. It has been a very long time since I have written on anything other than my own personal books. It's nice to be back into this fantasy world and this amazing fandom.

Please let me know what you think of this so far. I really appreciate all the support you guys have showed me for all of my other fanfictions. I write for my readers, it makes me so happy to bring a little bit of my fantasy world into your lives for entertainment.