TLH-Verse: Another Job

[luvs_yogurt]

 It's just supposed to be another job, Michael had been working almost a week on putting together his cover and infiltrating a small time gun runner's inner circle all in an effort to get close to their leader - a man named Douglas Moore who was proving to be more elusive than Michael had initially hoped. Of course, the problem with trying to get in with gun runners when you happen to have a history with one runner in particular is that you have to sell it. Without Fiona on his side, he'd had to pull off almost half a dozen shady deals to even get to the people that are allowed to drop Moore's name without getting a rifle stock to the back of the head.

He had one last transaction to make, one more very shady deal and he'd been promised an audience with the man himself.

Michael wasn't expecting to come face to face with the blond he'd parted ways with on somewhat questionable terms in a cheap motel only a week prior. Damn it.

"You aren't the guy I'm supposed to meet!" Michael clenched his jaw, eyes quickly darting from one side to the other - trying to indicate to his lover that he wasn't alone and there were two other heavily armed men waiting for a good reason to put a bullet in him. "I'm not doing this deal with a guy I never met that aint the guy I'm supposed to be meetin'." He affects a deep southern drawl, rubbing his hands over a greasy undershirt, attempting to show he's undercover - not Michael Westen. Just another idiot fresh off the bus in Miami that thinks he can run guns with the 'big boys' in Moore's gang.

Comments

[lighteningcount]

Zechs stood there, watching Michael. His face was unreadable. With a sigh, he began to button the shirt up. It was just a bit snug on him. He was glad that Michael hadn't said anything about the fresh bruises that littered his torso.

"Fine, but I have veto rights. If it looks like your going to pass out, you'd better pull over and let me drive."

[luvs_yogurt]

Neither of them had fared well the day before - Michael was just glad the knife hadn't left an obvious mark.

"Fair enough," he nodded, "clinic, pick up my car and return this one."

He doesn't need to add; 'And then come back here and sleep another ten hours.'

[lighteningcount]

Zechs was all for sleeping ten hours or so. He was exhausted.

He groaned softly. "Ow..."

[luvs_yogurt]

Michael waited until they were secure in the borrowed door before he asked; "So, what aren't you telling me?"

[lighteningcount]

"They had me for three days." Zechs said quietly, "Wanting to know I was, who I worked for, who my associates were. Every time I didn't tell them, they hit me."

He stared out the window, avoiding Michael's eyes. "I've had worse."

[luvs_yogurt]

He frowned, "What'd you tell them, Zechs?"

[lighteningcount]

"Nothing. I told them nothing." He said, "I'm looking out for myself too."

[luvs_yogurt]

"You had to have told them something." He drove slowly, taking turns like a grandmother. "Even if it's a lie or a cover. They would have killed you if you said nothing at all."

[lighteningcount]

"I have an alias in Europe, a well known reporter. I gave them that. Told them I was following the trail of a German gunrunner."

[luvs_yogurt]

He let out another sigh, focus wanting to slip away from him.

"How well known? Well enough it could be traced back?"

[lighteningcount]

"No, Cyrene Wind is completely seperate from Zechs Merquise and Milliardo Peacecraft." He said quietly.

[luvs_yogurt]

At least he was good at running aliases, hopefully.

"I haven't even breathed a word that I've met with someone." To anyone, not even Sam.

"One of us must have been followed."

[lighteningcount]

"One of us must have been..." he said. The blonde looked over to Michael.

[luvs_yogurt]

"Believe me, if someone managed to follow me, then we've got worse problems than Cuban gun runners."

[lighteningcount]

Zechs sighed softly. "What are we doing now?" He asked. The blonde shook his head. "I don't know what to do."

[luvs_yogurt]

"Right now..." he pulled up in front of the clinic and parked the truck; "You're going to wait for me to go tell so overworked LPN that I've got the clap."

He turned off the motor and looked back to him; "And then we're going to my drop spot and pick up the Charger and search it for anything that shouldn't be on it. And then we're gonna return the truck and go back to the loft and wait for someone to try and kill us again."

[lighteningcount]

Zechs nodded. "Alright." He said.

He watched as Michael got out of the car and went inside. He leaned back, groaning. He just wanted to sleep for a long while.

[luvs_yogurt]

Sleep would come, in time. But first, work.

Michael returned with not only a bottle of good old penicillin, but also an injection to get him started on the path.

"You ever check a car before?" Michael asked, sliding back behind the wheel of the truck to find Zechs half asleep in the passenger seat.

[lighteningcount]

He opened his eyes and looked at Michael. "Yes, I've done it to my own car." He said. He straightened, shaking his head.

When they got to the Charger, he helped Michael look over it. Nothing, no bugs, no gps units. Nothing. Zechs frowned. How had someone connected the two of them? He didn't understand it.

Zechs followed Michael back into the loft, groaning. Every step hurt, the adrenaline finally wore off. "I hope you have some damn fine painkillers." He muttered.

[luvs_yogurt]

"I've got some connections," he chuckled dryly, making a quick path to the back of the refrigerator before tossing a half-full bottle of Percocet in someone else's name onto the unmade bed.

"No more than two, we have to be able to move quickly if something happens." He doesn't take any himself, more accustomed to the pain than most would be.

[lighteningcount]

He nodded and then popped the cap open. He took two and then went over to the bed. Zechs slid the shirt and pants off. Left only in the boxers. He climbed into the bed, curling up. "I'm going to sleep like the dead." He muttered.

Zechs smiled at Michael, reaching for him. "Come to bed." The pills were starting to take affect.

[luvs_yogurt]

"I will." He replied easily, still checking the walls and surfaces just in case.

He wasn't taking any chances. "Get some rest."

[lighteningcount]

He closed his eyes and allowed sleep to claim him. When he was drugged, he didn't dream. Which was a relief.

[luvs_yogurt]

Dreams were a luxury that was hard to afford in either of their lives.

Some time later, satisfied that there was nothing that shouldn't be there, he climbed into bed behind Zechs and let his bad arm drape over him, trying not to feel the hot throb in his shoulder. Sleep finds him easily enough.

[lighteningcount]

The blonde shifted a bit as Michael climbed into the bed, but he didn't wake up. The beauty of painkillers.

When Zechs woke, he had no idea what time it was and for a moment no idea where he was. He then felt the weight of an arm around him.

Michael's. He was at Michael's loft.

Zechs smiled softly and carefully eased himself from the bed. He needed to see if he could find some water. Once he had, Zechs stood in the kitchen and watched Michael sleep. A smile crossed his face. Things were okay.