Interlude

Who: Brett and Eris
Where: Their apartment
When: Afternoon

Eris had read over the note when it was brought up to her, the one that, even if it wasn't signed, she knew came from Jakob. And really, the one thing that kept standing out to her, kept glaring there, was just one little line. 'The longer they're kept out of the station, the more likely it is that this will become an official matter.' Certainly, there were probably files she had that might be missed, but the main things she'd gotten from him? Hadn't even come from the station. They'd been in some box in an attic somewhere. No one was going to miss shit, and with the announcement of his taking over as Commissioner, she would bet even if something was missed, he could smooth it over with no issue.

Therefore, if he wanted the files, it was for a different reason. Or, that was where her logic led her. It had her going back over them. She'd been doing so since she'd got the note, had been at it for a few hours. She just kept going back and forth, and even with the brain damage, she could pick certain things out. She'd not caught it before because it hadn't been what she'd been looking for. She'd just needed the information to get Brett's name cleared, and the contents of the files quite aptly did that. She hadn't been looking for the bits and pieces that led her to a very specific conclusion.

Brett's downfall they knew had been orchestrated--but the information she pieced together from what she had? Pointed to a very specific someone. Jakob Hollis. She checked and rechecked, just to be certain, but once she'd put it together, it wasn't hard to see. It wasn't intensely obvious or anything, thus being overlooked when she had the answer in her hand ages ago, but once set on the path of 'something in here Jakob doesn't want people to see'...well. There it was.

It was with a surprisingly calm state of mind that she clicked it all into place, and her very first, very strong conclusion was that he wasn't going to make it to see his career take off. Not after this. Not when she knew that Brett's life had been destroyed by Hollis. She needed to get him his files back, and she'd be happy to oblige. Certainly. In fact, she was going to have to have a drink with the man. Congratulate him on his promotion. And while she certainly had the urge to do something messy, she was going to keep it simple. Poison worked just as well as a bullet between the eyes.

But she was most certainly going to kill the bastard. It had been a while since she'd done something of the kind, and usually she had someone else do these things, but for this? Well. It wasn't business. It was personal. Personal like that first kill of hers had been, when she'd offed her father after one last drunken night at their apartment. It was going to be hands on, and she was going to watch the light die from his eyes, and she was willing to bet he was going to be confused as hell. His ego had been swelling for a while now, she'd seen it first hand. He thought he was untouchable. He was going to find out really goddamn differently really quick.

Bundling up the files, she of course left them all intact. It wouldn't do to have him sense something amiss.

The elevator dinged as Brett returned to the apartment from the meeting he'd attended that morning. Things with their next venture were progressing and he'd taken a trip to look over some of the lease paperwork - something which it had agreed that he'd handle himself since Eris tended to get herself turned around with paperwork. He shrugged off his overcoat as he headed in, catching sight of her. "All looks okay," he said, by way of a report on his meeting.

She looked up when the elevator had dinged, and as usual waited til she saw him to relax. They had building security and everything, but she was still quite aware of the fact that she had a psychopath after her. And she'd pissed him off...on purpose. "Good." she said, eyes on him. She didn't say anything, she just kept that gaze steady, assessing. There he was. Brett Trent, the man she'd put a hell of a lot on the line for, and who she'd just decided upon murder as punishment for the offenses leveled against him. After a few seconds of reaffirming that to herself, she internally nodded. Yep. She was okay with this.

He watched her watching him, then looked down at himself. Even though he'd removed his overcoat, it was really coming down out there and that showed. "It's still raining," he pointed out to her, figuring she was making a silent comment on his appearance.

"I noticed." she said, giving a light half smile. She finished bundling the files up. "I have to go out in a while. I won't be long." she said. Then she was thinking alibi for him for tomorrow. She'd call Jakob, set up a meet. Brett needed to be Elsewhere. Where, she didn't care, just so long as it as verifiable by people that he wasn't off killing Jakob. Not that she thought anyone would suspect him in any event, but she didn't want to take the chance either. One thing did occur to her, though, as she sat back in the chair. "Our dear friend senior detective Hollis has requested his files be returned. And I saw in the Echo he's apparently stepping up to be the new commissioner." she told him, drawing in a breath. She let it out slowly. "So, last chance, baby. Do you want to clear your name?" she asked him.

He considered that. It was more possible now, he knew. The old commissioner was dead, the new one was the guy who'd given them the information they'd needed in the first place - for all that he thought that Jakob was a shifty son of a bitch. The situation between them had changed, and changed a lot. Things hadn't quite played out the way they'd intended at first and they were out now. It made clearing him a more viable option, but he'd figured that those files had gone. He'd made his decision and, in true Brett style, he'd not looked back. To have it offered to him again blindsided him, and for a second that showed in his expression. He didn't know how to answer that.

She watched him sort of blank on that, and it didn't surprise her. Not really. Brett was consistent, if absolutely nothing else. Standing, she walked around the desk and out into the hall, coming right up in front of him where she looked up at him. There was that big height difference, after all. "Think about it." she said, not trying to push him in either direction. Frankly, after tomorrow, Jakob wouldn't be needing the files anyway. But Brett still could. And so they'd have them. But either way, she wanted to re-present the possibility.

He did, and it was tempting, like a carrot dangling in front of him. Brett was not one of life's natural criminals and it still ate at part of him, knowing that some people thought that's what he was. Another part of him, though, knew that whilst he might not have chosen that, that was what he'd become and no amount of explanation would atone for that. Why give lame excuses to the world, when no matter what, he'd done terrible things and he should have to live with the consequences. "If Hollis is demanding the files back, I guess it's too late anyhow," he said, after a moment or two.

"Hollis can kiss my ass if you want to get your name cleared." Eris said. Plus he'll be dead. "Don't use that as an excuse. I'm not going to see him til tomorrow either way. You've got time. Don't make a snap judgment, and don't blow this off, okay?" she requested. "Consider it. You don't have to answer right now." She reached up, and loosened his tie, letting her eyes tick down to that from where she'd been holding his gaze. It occurred to her that she didn't know if she was going to tell him. Either before, after, none of it. She flat out didn't know. She did figure that it would change how he saw her, and she didn't want that, but at the same time, she wasn't sure if she could keep it from him. Decisions, decisions.

He didn't reply to her - because she'd asked him not to make a snap judgement, and he wouldn't. He wasn't sure he could, given that he was pretty much conflicted about it. He wasn't even entirely sure that he'd be able to make a decision by the following day, but he'd give it some thought. How would it change things? Would that make it easier - to look at it objectively, rather than relating it to himself. What good would it do? Would it hurt anything - that was how the decision had been made last time, after all, and he'd been able to deal with that. Maybe he should do the same this time.

He'd made the distinction to her once. Said that he was a killer but not a murderer. In his time with the O'Malleys, people had in fact died because of him, but he'd never sought out to kill someone. Not like she was fixing to do. And she knew they'd talked a little about it when they'd talked about Andrei. He seemed to be behind her on the idea that killing him might just be the best option. He even said he'd do it, and she believed him. But she didn't want that for him. What she'd wanted for him in the first place was to let him clear his name, get his life back. Or some part of it that had previously been lost, anyway. He'd opted out.

They'd talked about murder, but it had been for what was done to her. And as she undid his tie, she was thinking that Brett was pretty fucking famous in her book for double standards. She was willing to bet that what he found acceptable for her wasn't acceptable for him. So, she could already imagine that if she told him what she'd figured out--that Jakob had set him up and she planned to kill the son of a bitch for it--that he wouldn't be on board with that plan. That he'd fight against it. Which had her logically closing the possibility off in her mind of telling him about it beforehand. That just left after. And she really didn't know what she would do then. How it would play out. She remained quiet, doing the simple task of unknotting the fabric, and vaguely she wondered if he ever had found the cufflinks she'd bought him as a present, but when she'd arrived home they'd gotten into a fight--therefore she'd never mentioned it, she'd merely put it in with his others. If he had, he hadn't said. Putting it out of her mind, she pulled a little on his tie, to draw him down a little as she pushed up on her toes, wanting to brush a soft kiss over his lips.

He caught onto what she wanted, and right now, it was far easier than talking, far easier than the thoughts going through his head as he leaned in to kiss her, much more than just a brush over her lips, a proper kiss. They hadn't talked about... Anything to do with them recently. There seemed to be an unspoken agreement that they were focusing on the business. Not that the 'them' part of things had fallen by the wayside, it hadn't, they just weren't talking about it. He wasn't talking about it, anyhow. And if she thought there was anything to talk about, then she wasn't either. or possibly she just didn't think there was anything to talk about, he didn't know - because to find out, he'd have to bring up that he thought there was something to talk about and he wasn't doing that.

When he put more into it than she'd been intending, she didn't shy from it. She just changed what she was doing to accomodate it, stepping closer. She slid her hand up his chest and put her arm up around his neck, giving him her full, undivided attention for a moment. She'd be needing to leave sometime here, she was going to have to go to Chinatown, they'd have something lethal and fairly quick. She even had an old contact there that she was sure would have something for her and would swear she'd never seen her in her life. But for the moment she was there with him, and there was still that feeling in the back of her mind that going through with her current course of action was going to mar things. That all those things they were making a point not to talk about were going to be moot. But there was one thing about Brett, and that was he inspired her to action on his behalf. This time was no different. He'd been a very good man, and then he got broken along the way. That hero that was inside the shell still lived, but it shouldn't have happened in the first place. There was something Eris found inherently offensive about what had happened to him, and therefore, finally having a target to make pay for it? She wasn't passing that up. Really, it would be poetic...Jakob would be handed the keys to the fucking city with that title of his, and he'd think he had it all--only to lose it without even finishing out a week. Hell. He'd make it a single day.

He drew the kiss out to its natural end and only then did he draw back, somewhat reluctantly. It was tempting just to continue on, push things further, but he'd been out in the storm for quite a while and what he needed was to get out of his damp and wet clothes and - as tempting as the alternative really very much was - into a hot shower. "I should take a shower," he told her, wondering absently if she would try to stop him and, if so, how that would go.

Eris had half a mind to go with him. Or just pull him into the office, and continue things. But he was right, he needed to go warm back up, he'd been out for a while in the elements, and it was her turn to go brave it. Sure, she could probably kill Jakob with something around the house, but she wasn't going to. There was a very clear, very realized sadistic edge to what she had in mind, and therefore, she was going to pull out the stops. Which meant she probably shouldn't dawdle there with him, she should get her ass moving so she could get exactly what she wanted. The thing about premeditated murder was the part where it was planned, and you followed that plan. She gave him one last brush of a kiss, then stepped back, though there was a clear reluctance on her part as well. "And I have to go out." she said, giving him a rueful little half smile. "Go, shower, warm up. I'll be back later."

The moment she stepped back, before she even said anything, he knew that he'd been hoping that she'd insist on showering with him. And that he'd been planning for that to lead to all sorts of interesting places. But, she had plans. He nodded, letting her go, refusing to let his disappointment show too much on his face. And because of that he didn't even ask where she was going. "You'll be back before dark," he checked, though with that storm outside darkness was a relative term.

"I should be." She said, not thinking it was going to take her too long to get what she needed. "I'll try not to be too much later than that, either way." she promised, thinking it might take a little while just with traffic, but who knew. She'd go, get things done, and while she was at it figure out a good way to get him a plausible alibi for tomorrow night. And get a really good bottle of scotch. Apparently, she'd gone from having nothing to do to being a busy little bee. Just one with a pretty serious vendetta to see to.

He gave her a little quirk of a smile - a look on him she'd seen rather more often later, though it was still far from regular. "You know I'll come looking for you if you aren't," he reminded her. He tended to stalk, but she'd given him permission for that now. It was simply that he worried, with Andrei about. If she gave him a timetable, when she expected to be home, he was better. If she was late - he didn't like that.

She started walking away, giving him a smile over her shoulder as she reached for her coat. "I know." she said. "Just don't worry til after eight." she said, figuring that gave her more than enough time to get everything done. And if she didn't, she could call and let him know she was going to be out later than that. Though part of her liked the idea that he'd come looking for her, that same part of her that liked when he chased her down. She'd promised she'd stop running, though. This was different. And, if things went spectacularly badly, it would probably be the last time she saw that cute little smile on his lips, or have him tell her he'd go looking if she went missing.

But it was about him. It was about what had been done to him. And in a better world, he'd never be standing there, doing this with someone like her. He'd be a cop, out there making the streets a better place or something. The smile might not be such a rare thing. That solidified the resolve in her mind as she turned back towards the elevator. Her personal hero there had had his life shattered around him. And that just wasn't going to go unanswered. Not on her watch.