Richard Book is Innocent (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
oxfordtweed) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
tweedandtinsel2010-12-04 05:08 pm
oxfordtweed) wrote in tweedandtinsel2010-12-04 05:08 pm
Lamp Light (8/10)
Title: Lamp Light
Fandom: Hot Fuzz
Character/s: Like in the film
Word Count (chapter/total): 6,500 / 47,100
Rating: NC-17
Summary/Warnings:What's really been bothering Nicholas all this time? You sure you want to know?
And this is when we start to get an idea of what happened. Danny's a bit wiser, Travis finally fits into the equation completely, and Nicholas is a complete mess. Of course, somebody's got to pick up the pieces. This section really breaks my heart. This definitely marks the point where Nicholas becomes what we saw through the first hour and a half of the film. I knew that when I got to this section, it was going to kick me into the ground, and it really did. But the hardest part is over. Now I just have to put everything back together.
Something about being in a Tesco seemed almost inhumanly relaxing. Normally, back home in London, Tesco was something to be avoided like the black plague in the weeks leading up to Christmas. Everybody and their mum’s dogs were scrambling to find just the right gift to give to relatives they only spoke to once a year, and were otherwise ignored.
In Sandford, there really was no such thing as really being alone. The village was so small, and the families so large, that it was seeming to approach a situation in which to ensure that you weren’t marrying into the family was to wait for someone to come along from out of town, or to brave the world beyond Sandford’s idyllic borders.
Nicholas quietly roamed through disrupted aisles, trying not to get run over by grannies with shopping trolleys, thankful to have a small city – even if it was Bufford Abbey – just a short drive away. Even if George Merchant’s bypass had been scrapped, Bufford Abbey seemed to get more traffic, if only because the Somerfield’s still hadn’t been properly cleaned up, or even purchased by a new franchise owner.
He found himself wandered out of office supplies, and into home furnishings, with tacky sofas and cheap shelves. A flickering blue light drew him to the next aisle, which housed a huge lamp display, stretching on into the next row. Something at the end caught his eye, and immediately, Nicholas forgot what he’d gone to Bufford Abbey to look for, completely awestruck with the blue-green liquid wax, or something similar, lamp, almost exactly like the one Danny kept in his own bedroom, except that Danny’s was red. Completely on impulse, and totally unable to stop himself, Nicholas grabbed two.
Danny had said it countless times before, but this time he really, truly meant it. Sandford was fucking boring. At least being a full-time policeman-officer, he could find ways to entertain himself, like tracking down one of the Andes with Saxon, using an old towel from the locker room, or finding the speed radar, and clocking the various speeds of anything and everything he could find.
Now, because some tart from London he never even met decided that everyone in Sandford was unfit for duty, Danny had been barred from the courthouse, when policing was concerned. He could still go in, but the east wing was suddenly a locked off and forbidden place.
He sulked down the sidewalk, kicking small pebbles as he went along, trying very hard to ignore the London cop walking what should have been his beat. In his complete and utter failure to ignore the officer across the street Danny looked right at him, seeing red upon noticing who it was. Checking the streets quickly, he darted across to the other side.
“What is it with you lot round here and jay walking?” Travis asked, startled to see Danny suddenly by his side. “I got on Nicholas about that the other day.”
“Why won’t he talk to me?” Danny demanded, completely ignoring Travis’ lame reprimand. “He tells you fuckin’ everythin’, and I can’t get two words out of ‘im.”
Travis sighed, continuing back on his original course. “That’s just Nick, isn’t it?” he said, realizing that he had met Danny before, and trying very hard to restrain himself from mentioning how he didn’t realize Nicholas was into “that.”
“No,” Danny said bitterly, falling into step next to Travis. “It’s you. You know things that are s’posed to be just me an’ ‘im, and other things that should be me an’ ‘im, but they ain’t. They’re just you an’ ‘im.”
“Danny, is it?” Travis asked. “I’ve known Nick for half my life. I’m sure he’s mentioned this.”
Danny remained silent for a few heavy moments. “It’s what he’s not mentionin’ that’s worryin’ me,” he said.
Sighing, Travis looked at Danny for a moment, before finding the nearest possible place for them to duck off. “Listen,” he said, pulling Danny with him into a hidden alley way. “Nick’s gone through a lot with Janine. He still ain’t over it. It hurt all of us, and he just needs time to get himself sorted out.”
“So you were part of it, then?” Danny asked darkly.
Travis looked away for a brief moment, his eyes closed tightly. “Yes,” he admitted easily. “But not in the way you seem to want me to have been.”
Danny frowned at him. “So, what happened, then?” he asked flatly.
Travis stared at him, his eyes dark. “You’ll have to talk to Nick about that,” he said. “It’s not my place.”
“But you said you was involved,” Danny pointed out. “If you was part of it, then why ain’t it your place to say what happened?”
Travis sighed. “You’ll need to talk to Nicholas about this,” he said simply. “It’s not my place.”
Danny narrowed his gaze, doing his best to intimidate the man from London. Though, truth be told, the man from London was doing a far better job at intimidating Danny.
“He’s my best mate,” Travis said simply. “If he wants to take his damn sweet time getting over it all, then I’m not about to rush him.” He walked out to the main street, Danny still following after him.
“I want to hear it from you,” Danny demanded flatly.
Travis turned on his heel. “No,” he growled.
Danny shook his head. “Not that,” he said, his arms crossed over his chest.
“No,” Travis sighed. “That’s your answer. We’ve been abstinent for over four years. I haven’t touched him since before he started seeing Janine, and I am not the reason they broke up.”
“They been together that long?” Danny asked.
“They broke up in February,” Travis explained. “But I think the relationship was over before that.”
“Because of something you’re not allowed to talk about?” Danny asked sceptically.
“Yes.”
Sighing, Danny shoved his hands in his pockets, and at the next available opportunity, rounded a corner to get as far away from Travis as possible.
The dog bite had been painful; this was fucking hell. The dog had at least missed every vital nerve in Nicholas’ leg, so any damage done was able to be fixed by hours on treadmills, and the marks were hidden at almost all times.
“Severe ligament damage with possible lasting nerve trauma.” In other words, his left hand would be stiff, numb, and full of scars. And what was with the Father Christmas get up? When he and Travis got the call, they thought it had been some disgruntled charity worker, completely unprepared for a homeless man doped up on hallucinogenics with a switch blade. That much, he had to admit, was funny. The bit about it maybe costing him his career was not.
As he sat idly in the hospital bed, counting down the hours until someone finally told him that his surgery went fine and that he could go home, he was surprised to see Janine come into the room, Jacob cradled in her arms.
“Oh, why’d you bring Jake?” he asked. “Couldn’t you have left him with my mum or something?”
“She’s on the other side of town,” Janine said. “I wanted to make sure I got here before visiting hours ended.
Nicholas frowned at her. “I’m sure Inspector Partridge could have looked the other way at you using your badge to come in after hours,” Nicholas reasoned.
Janine sighed, as she gently reached out, taking Nicholas by the wrist. “How is it?” she asked.
Nicholas shrugged, laughing slightly. “Oh, it’s great,” he asked. “Ever been on morphine?”
“Yes,” Janine said flatly.
“Oh. Right.” Nicholas idly picked at the IV poked into his arm, hating it for being there. “I should be going home tomorrow morning,” he said, reaching out with his undamaged hand to gently stroke Jacob’s head. “Just got out of surgery about an hour ago.”
Janine nodded. “Good,” she said. “I don’t like us being home at night when you’re not around.”
Nicholas picked at his bandaging for a moment, before mentally slapping his hand away. The doctors had put that there for a very good reason. Probably. “Ring Travis,” Nicholas suggested. “His heating’s gone out. I’m sure he’d be happy to sleep on the sofa.”
“I’ll probably do that,” Janine agreed.
Jacob began fussing lightly, and it didn’t take long at all for either Janine or Nicholas to realize that no amount of coddling was going to make him stop.
“He’s tired,” Nicholas said. “Go home. I’ll call you when they let me out.”
Janine smiled, leaning over to kiss Nicholas quickly. “Make it quick,” she said.
Nicholas smiled at her, sighing lightly as he watched her go.
The lamp was smaller, as it turned out, than Danny’s. And by no small amount. The blue light it cast over the room was cool, and soothing, and lit more evenly than the violent red he was used to. Nicholas had the lamp plugged in and on, and was asleep before the wax had even begun to heat.
He woke late in the morning, roused by a pounding on his front door. For a few moments, he considered letting whoever it was go away, but decided against it. There was simply too much going on to ignore anything. He lazily rolled out of bed and stumbled down the steps to the front door, pulling it open slowly.
“Yeah?” he said, seeing one of the officers he hadn’t known in London.
“Oh,” he said nervously. “Sorry to... wake you, Inspector.”
Nicholas smiled gamely. “It’s all right,” he assured. “What’s going on?”
The officer pulled out a slip of paper, reading the scribbled notes. “There’s a... Mister Grover causing a fuss at some farm on the edge of town. Won’t talk with any of us. Says he’ll only talk with you.”
Nicholas sighed. “Constable, I am, for all intents and purposes, on suspension right now,” he reminded the officer. “All of my officers are. We’ve no legal authority in this or any other constabulary right now.”
The constable pointed madly down the road. “Well, why don’t you tell him that?” he asked.
Nicholas shook his head. “You tell him that Inspector Angel is in London, and that he can speak with you and cooperate, or he can be arrested.”
The constable sighed, sagging just a little.
“If he wants to talk to an inspector that badly, have him talk to Inspector Douglas,” Nicholas offered. “Bottom line, here. I can’t. I don’t have any authority over this village right now. That’s why you were brought in.”
The constable frowned as he turned and walked down the steps. As Nicholas closed the front door, he could hear the officer muttering something to himself, which Nicholas chose to ignore. He knew Mr. Grover would eventually give up, park his truck back on his own property, and the whole mess would be done with until next month, when he came back into town for supplies.
He was at home, stretched out across the sofa with Spot stretched out across his chest, trying rather unsuccessfully to try to read around the cat. He knew he could easily just push the cat out of the way and be done with it, but he liked the warmth and the weight on his chest. The cat hair that resulted could easily be remedied by a bit of tape or a clean shirt.
He jumped slightly when he heard a key in the lock of the front door, and twisted his neck about to see Danny letting himself in.
“You’re here early,” he said, his head hanging upside down off the edge of the sofa. Immediately, he could tell it was a bad idea, and twisted himself back upright.
“No I ain’t,” Danny said. “Twenty minutes late, actually.”
Frowning, Nicholas looked down at his watch, and was surprised to find that Danny was absolutely right. “Shit,” he muttered, picking the cat up from his chest and putting it on the floor. “I’ll go change real quick.” Marking his place in his book, he tossed it onto the end table and rushed up the steps to his bedroom. He quickly fished out a clean shirt to replace the cat hair one, and returned to the front room, stopping at the front door to put his shoes on. “Right,” he said, pulling on his jacket and checking his pockets, making sure he had everything. Wallet, keys, mobile... check. “Let’s go.”
The pair walked outside to the cold air, getting immediately into Danny’s Mini. Before he started the engine, Danny made sure that the radio was off, surprised when Nicholas reached back down and flipped it right back on, flipping through the whole three stations Sandford got.
“Thought you didn’t like the radio on,” Danny said nervously. “Headaches, and all that.”
Nicholas shook his head. “I don’t mind it,” he said. “And you’re always going on about how great it is. Maybe I want to witness it for myself.”
Danny grinned widely and pulled down the sun visor, selecting a CD almost at random. “Radio’s rubbish,” he said. “It’s the stereo what counts.”
Nodding, Nicholas fastened his seat belt and leaned back, ready to go to wherever it was that Danny had suddenly felt the need to take him. Danny seemed to know exactly where it was he was going, winding the Mini through country roads and eventually onto the motorway. Nicholas had expected a quick run to Bufford Abbey for one thing or another, and almost mentioned to Danny how they’d missed their off ramp, but decided against it, figuring Danny knew what he was doing, so he settled back in, just enjoying the ride.
Danny took them clear out to Heston, where Nicholas had been once before, though he couldn’t remember for the life of him how he’d managed to actually find it. He watched out the side window at the passing scenery, so much different during daylight, as they approached a large row of old buildings. Parked outside, they got out of the car, and Danny led Nicholas into one on the end, holding the door open. At once, Nicholas could see why Danny had brought them out here. The walls were lined with shelves full of mostly-used, though some seemingly new, DVD videos, and where there weren’t shelves, there were bins, overflowing with heaps of plastic cases.
“How’d you find this place, then?” Nicholas asked, stopping at the closest shelf to the door to just marvel at the endless list of titles. Everything from Karate Kid to Karate Cop to titles in languages Nicholas had never seen before.
“Saw an ad in the Citizen, once,” Danny said. “Haven’t got a chance to get out here, much, what with everything going on with... you know.” He trailed away, slowly turning to dig through one of the bins.
Nicholas had never seen such a shop, with every nook and cranny devoted to one product. It was absolute madness, and he had to see all of it for himself.
He hadn’t meant to spend a whole lot of money, but nonetheless, Danny found himself bringing in a small back full of DVDs. Nicholas had made it his personal duty to remind the sergeant that while, yes, he was still being paid for his off time, he still did have other responsibilities to attend to. Still, Danny picked up the latest Bond title, as about half a dozen others that seemed promising.
As Nicholas settled himself on the sofa, Danny queued up one of the new DVDs before crashing down next to Nicholas.
“No drinks?” he asked, looking at the empty spots on the coffee table.
“Can’t,” Nicholas said simply. “Could interfere.”
Danny nodded. “Right,” he said. “I can still drink, though, right?” he asked.
Nicholas shrugged. “I don’t see why not,” he reasoned. “You’re not the one that’s got to worry about that sort of thing right now.”
Danny looked at the floor. “I won’t if you don’t want me to,” he said.
Surprised, Nicholas looked over at Danny. “I’m not gonna stop you from doing anything, Danny,” he said. “You’re a grown man. You can make your own choices.”
Danny smiled as he got to his feet, practically bouncing to the kitchen. “You want a soda, then?” he asked. “Snack?”
“I’m fine, Danny,” Nicholas called back. “I’ll get up if I need anything.”
A few moments later, Danny returned with a bottle of beer for himself, and a bag of crisps, which he sat on the coffee table. As he started up the DVD, Nicholas shifted on the sofa, his hand reaching into his pocket.
“What’s wrong?” Danny asked.
“I think I left my wallet in the car,” Nicholas said, his voice trailing slightly. “From when we stopped for petrol.”
“What you need it for?”
Nicholas continued to reach through his pockets, moving to see if maybe he’d put it into his jacket instead. “I wanted to get some take away.”
“Oh, I’ll go get it for you,” Danny said, jumping up eagerly.
Before Nicholas could protest or point out that he was perfectly capable of walking out to the car to fetch it for himself, Danny was already out of the flat, making his way to the Mini parked outside. He climbed into the passenger side, feeling around in the dim lighting provided by the overhead lamp. Sure enough, on the floor, there was Nicholas’ wallet, dangerously close to sliding beneath the seat, never to be seen again, until it was long forgotten and replaced. With the overhead lamp still on, Danny thought to check that it was indeed Nicholas’ wallet, and not Andy’s from the day before, when he’d given him a lift home. He opened the leather folds, laughing slightly at the bored expression on Nicholas’ driver’s license. Opposite the driver’s license, he noticed a photograph of what appeared to be one very tired Nicholas holding a very small child; a boy, if the blue bonnet on it was anything to go by. He remembered reading something in the paper, while he was still in hospital, about Nicholas, and something mentioned a few sisters. Shrugging to himself, Danny slapped shut the wallet and locked up the car before heading back into the flat, finding Nicholas having gone through half the bag of crisps already.
“How old’s your nephew, then?” he asked, tossing the wallet through the air at Nicholas, who barely managed to catch it with both hands.
“What?” Nicholas asked. “I haven’t got any nephews. Or nieces.”
“Oh,” Danny said dumbly as he sat back down. “Thought I heard something about how you had some sisters, or something.”
“Yes,” Nicholas said simply, alarm bells starting to go off in the back of his mind. “I’ve four, but none of them have had any kids. Not yet, anyway.”
“Oh,” Danny repeated. “Who’s the little tyke you was holdin’, then?” he asked. “In the picture?”
Nicholas’ eyes grew wide as his entire body tensed up. “Danny, you went through my stuff?” he demanded.
“Didn’t ‘go through’ it,” Danny reasoned. “Just looked.”
“Danny, I would appreciate it if you didn’t go through my personal belongings!” Nicholas insisted, sounding panicked.
Danny only shrugged. “What you got to hide from me, Nick?” Danny asked, trying his best not to sound hurt, and doing a very poor job at it. “I ain’t hidin’ nothin’ from you.”
Nicholas looked away; visibly concentrating on making sure he kept his breathing calm and steady. “It’s just... It’s personal, all right?”
“I get it, then,” Danny said, nodding. “I ain’t good enough to be part of your personal life, then?”
Nicholas inhaled deeply. “No! I...” He clenched his fist, mashing it into his forehead. “I’m just gonna go.” He turned before Danny could say anything to protest, not caring if he slammed the door behind himself.
Danny stood by the sofa, dumbstruck. What the hell had just happened, and where it had all come from, he’d need a dozen detectives to figure out, but he knew one thing right off; whatever it was, it was not good. Swearing at himself, he kicked at the coffee table and collapsed back onto the sofa. A few moments later, after realizing that he was not ever going to be able to wind down, he pulled himself back up to his feet, found his jumper and keys, and made to follow Nicholas, where ever the hell he had gone off to. By the time he was out on the sidewalk, the inspector was nowhere to be seen. Growling to himself, Danny kicked at the pavement and made his way to the one person in Sandford he knew Nicholas actually trusted, and it was clear that it sure as hell wasn’t Danny. He stomped off to the Swan, kicking at rocks and pebbles all the way there. As he reached the hotel, he tried to calm himself; didn’t want to seem upset for the new owners.
“Danny,” the matronly old woman behind the counter chirped. “What can I do for you, love?”
Danny stepped up to the counter, looking around nervously. Asking if Nicholas had come in would be foolish; this much he knew. “I’m looking for Sergeant Travis...” And then it occurred to him that
he did not know Travis’ full name. “Er... One of them lot from the Met. Travis... somethin’. The one with the hair.”
“Oh, right!” she said, clapping her hands together. “He’s up in twelve.”
Danny smiled and nodded, and then realized he’d no idea where that was. “Uhm... where?” he asked. “I thought the rooms all had names.”
“Yes, that. We re-did a lot of things round here, love. First floor.”
Danny nodded. “Thanks” He made off toward the first floor suites, finding twelve at the end of the hall. He made to knock on the door, but the contact came much harder than he’d meant, causing the door to rattle at its hinges.
“What?” Travis demanded angrily from behind the door. Bed springs squeaked loudly, and a few seconds later, the door was unlocked and pulled open just enough for Travis to look accusingly out into the hall. “Jesus, Danny. What the hell are you doing here?” he demanded.
“Where is he?” Danny demanded right back.
“Who?” Travis asked.
“Who else?” Danny asked. “Nick.”
Travis glared at him from behind the door. “Not here,” he said simply.
“Then where?” Danny asked.
Travis stared out at him for a long, heavy moment before letting the door swing open all the way, showing off a pathetically empty hotel room. “So, what’d you say to him, then?” Travis asked accusingly, stepping out to the hall.
“Nothing,” Danny said. “I fetched his wallet for ‘im, and he went off.”
Travis narrowed his gaze at Danny. “Danny, let me ask you something,” he said, frighteningly calm. “How long before Nick went back to work after the whole thing happened out here?”
Danny only shrugged. “I’unno.”
“How long?” His voice was a bit more strained, as though keeping himself from yelling for the entire hotel to hear.
Danny shrugged again. “I don’ know,” he insisted. “I was in a coma for two fuckin’ weeks. He was back in uniform by the time I came round.”
“Two weeks?” Travis asked.
Danny nodded.
“Two weeks!” He repeated, accusing and angry. “Who, in their right mind, would let that man return to work two weeks after that mess?”
Danny shifted nervously. “He wanted to help out,” he reasoned.
Travis did the same thing with his breathing that Nicholas did, and Danny wondered if it was some sort of trick they learned at the Met. Some sort of secret London cop thing, that country cops weren’t let in on. “Danny, have you any idea why we sent him out here in the first place?”
Danny shrugged nervously. “Cause we only had one sergeant?” he tried.
“No!” Travis said it as though it were the most obvious answer in the world, which clearly, it wasn’t. “In case you haven’t noticed, the man’s a damn fine officer. He needed time to recover and get over everything, and he wasn’t going to get that in London!” He was shouting now, and Danny did his best not to back up.
“Recover?” he asked.
“Yes,” Travis said, dropping his head into his hand briefly. “The man’s a fucking wreck. He’s probably never gonna get over Janine and Jacob.”
“Jacob?” Danny asked, feeling very stupid.
Travis sighed, realizing at once that he really, truly had no idea. About any of it. “Yes. Jacob,” he said, bringing his voice back down to a tolerable indoor level. “His son.”
Danny mulled that over for a moment. “Son?” he asked. “What, like his godson, or something?”
Travis screwed up his face in frustration, turning away from Danny for just a moment. “No. Like my godson,” he said.
Finally, it all clicked with Danny. Everything made sense, in its own sort of way. Even that damn duck in the shower. “He never told me he has a son,” Danny said quietly. “I didn’t know.”
Travis cringed as he slowly turned back into his room. “Took off, did he?” he asked after a few moments.
Danny stood awkwardly in the hall, watching as Travis quickly pulled a hooded jumper and a pair of trainers on. “Yeah,” he said quietly. “Thought he might have come here.”
Travis rolled his eyes as he picked up the room key, quickly locking up. “Anywhere else he might have gone?” he asked.
“Stop that.”
Nicholas looked over at Travis, dumbstruck. “What?” he asked, squeezing his hand gripper as he propped the radar gun up on his knee.
“That!” Travis said, swatting at the gripper. “It makes that annoying chinking sound. I hate it!”
Nicholas smiled darkly and squeezed again, noticing that Travis was indeed right about the chinking sound it made. He squeezed it again.
“Stop it!” Travis lurched across to Nicholas, snatching the gripper from Nicholas’ hand. He tried it for himself, finding the spring much tighter than it looked. “Jesus, Nick,” he said. “No wonder your damn hand always hurts.”
Nicholas snatched it back. “Doesn’t hurt,” he said. “It’s just stiff.”
Nicholas mobile screamed at them, causing him to jump, digging in his pockets for the device. “Yeah,” he said, finding it and bringing it to his ear. Travis watched as Nicholas expression turned from a pleasant smile to something dark and horrible. “What?” he asked.”I thought you said he just had a cold.”
“What’s going on, Nick?” Travis asked, but was waved aside.
“Where?” Nicholas asked. He was silent for what Travis felt far too long, but he didn’t dare try to talk to Nicholas again. “Okay,” Nicholas said heavily. He hung up his mobile and reached for the radio on his shoulder. “Seven, seven, seven to dispatch,” he said, doing his best not to sound panicked.
“Nick,” Travis tried again, nervously. Nicholas held up a silencing finger.
“Seven, seven, seven, go ahead,” someone on dispatch said distantly.
“In car number Sam, five, eight with officer Travis Martin, number nine, zero. There’s a family emergency. Need to get to St. Luke’s.”
There was a long pause, and as the seconds ticked on, Travis could see Nicholas losing his composure, which in turn made Travis very, very nervous.
“Seven, seven, seven, all clear.”
Nicholas sighed as started the engine and dropped the car into gear, quickly checking to make sure there was no traffic before pulling out onto the street. St. Luke’s Hospital was not more than ten minutes away, but Nicholas still required all of his will power to not use the sirens to his advantage. He did, however, use the police car itself to his advantage, parking in the marked spots at the front of the hospital. He and Travis rushed in the front doors, grateful to find that the front desk was relatively clear.
“Help you officers?”the receptionist asked.
“Jacob Angel,” Nicholas said, his voice wavering.
“Nick, what is going on?” Travis asked.
Nicholas turned to answer him, but was instead directed elsewhere, hearing Janine calling his name. She rushed past Travis, knocking into him as she reached out for Nicholas, holding him tightly.
“What’s going on?” Nicholas asked quietly.
Janine put her hand over her mouth and closed her eyes. Holding her close to his body, Nicholas gently rubbed his hand over her back, trying for her sake to keep himself together.
“Angel?” A voice said somewhere behind them. Janine and Nicholas turned sharply to find a doctor standing near the reception desk.
“Yeah?” Nicholas asked hopefully.
“Let’s, uhm, come with me, please,” the doctor said. Janine pressed her face into Nicholas’ shoulder before allowing herself to be led away. After a few steps, Nicholas turned round.
“Travis,” he said, motioning for him to follow. “Come on.”
Fandom: Hot Fuzz
Character/s: Like in the film
Word Count (chapter/total): 6,500 / 47,100
Rating: NC-17
Summary/Warnings:What's really been bothering Nicholas all this time? You sure you want to know?
And this is when we start to get an idea of what happened. Danny's a bit wiser, Travis finally fits into the equation completely, and Nicholas is a complete mess. Of course, somebody's got to pick up the pieces. This section really breaks my heart. This definitely marks the point where Nicholas becomes what we saw through the first hour and a half of the film. I knew that when I got to this section, it was going to kick me into the ground, and it really did. But the hardest part is over. Now I just have to put everything back together.
Something about being in a Tesco seemed almost inhumanly relaxing. Normally, back home in London, Tesco was something to be avoided like the black plague in the weeks leading up to Christmas. Everybody and their mum’s dogs were scrambling to find just the right gift to give to relatives they only spoke to once a year, and were otherwise ignored.
In Sandford, there really was no such thing as really being alone. The village was so small, and the families so large, that it was seeming to approach a situation in which to ensure that you weren’t marrying into the family was to wait for someone to come along from out of town, or to brave the world beyond Sandford’s idyllic borders.
Nicholas quietly roamed through disrupted aisles, trying not to get run over by grannies with shopping trolleys, thankful to have a small city – even if it was Bufford Abbey – just a short drive away. Even if George Merchant’s bypass had been scrapped, Bufford Abbey seemed to get more traffic, if only because the Somerfield’s still hadn’t been properly cleaned up, or even purchased by a new franchise owner.
He found himself wandered out of office supplies, and into home furnishings, with tacky sofas and cheap shelves. A flickering blue light drew him to the next aisle, which housed a huge lamp display, stretching on into the next row. Something at the end caught his eye, and immediately, Nicholas forgot what he’d gone to Bufford Abbey to look for, completely awestruck with the blue-green liquid wax, or something similar, lamp, almost exactly like the one Danny kept in his own bedroom, except that Danny’s was red. Completely on impulse, and totally unable to stop himself, Nicholas grabbed two.
Danny had said it countless times before, but this time he really, truly meant it. Sandford was fucking boring. At least being a full-time policeman-officer, he could find ways to entertain himself, like tracking down one of the Andes with Saxon, using an old towel from the locker room, or finding the speed radar, and clocking the various speeds of anything and everything he could find.
Now, because some tart from London he never even met decided that everyone in Sandford was unfit for duty, Danny had been barred from the courthouse, when policing was concerned. He could still go in, but the east wing was suddenly a locked off and forbidden place.
He sulked down the sidewalk, kicking small pebbles as he went along, trying very hard to ignore the London cop walking what should have been his beat. In his complete and utter failure to ignore the officer across the street Danny looked right at him, seeing red upon noticing who it was. Checking the streets quickly, he darted across to the other side.
“What is it with you lot round here and jay walking?” Travis asked, startled to see Danny suddenly by his side. “I got on Nicholas about that the other day.”
“Why won’t he talk to me?” Danny demanded, completely ignoring Travis’ lame reprimand. “He tells you fuckin’ everythin’, and I can’t get two words out of ‘im.”
Travis sighed, continuing back on his original course. “That’s just Nick, isn’t it?” he said, realizing that he had met Danny before, and trying very hard to restrain himself from mentioning how he didn’t realize Nicholas was into “that.”
“No,” Danny said bitterly, falling into step next to Travis. “It’s you. You know things that are s’posed to be just me an’ ‘im, and other things that should be me an’ ‘im, but they ain’t. They’re just you an’ ‘im.”
“Danny, is it?” Travis asked. “I’ve known Nick for half my life. I’m sure he’s mentioned this.”
Danny remained silent for a few heavy moments. “It’s what he’s not mentionin’ that’s worryin’ me,” he said.
Sighing, Travis looked at Danny for a moment, before finding the nearest possible place for them to duck off. “Listen,” he said, pulling Danny with him into a hidden alley way. “Nick’s gone through a lot with Janine. He still ain’t over it. It hurt all of us, and he just needs time to get himself sorted out.”
“So you were part of it, then?” Danny asked darkly.
Travis looked away for a brief moment, his eyes closed tightly. “Yes,” he admitted easily. “But not in the way you seem to want me to have been.”
Danny frowned at him. “So, what happened, then?” he asked flatly.
Travis stared at him, his eyes dark. “You’ll have to talk to Nick about that,” he said. “It’s not my place.”
“But you said you was involved,” Danny pointed out. “If you was part of it, then why ain’t it your place to say what happened?”
Travis sighed. “You’ll need to talk to Nicholas about this,” he said simply. “It’s not my place.”
Danny narrowed his gaze, doing his best to intimidate the man from London. Though, truth be told, the man from London was doing a far better job at intimidating Danny.
“He’s my best mate,” Travis said simply. “If he wants to take his damn sweet time getting over it all, then I’m not about to rush him.” He walked out to the main street, Danny still following after him.
“I want to hear it from you,” Danny demanded flatly.
Travis turned on his heel. “No,” he growled.
Danny shook his head. “Not that,” he said, his arms crossed over his chest.
“No,” Travis sighed. “That’s your answer. We’ve been abstinent for over four years. I haven’t touched him since before he started seeing Janine, and I am not the reason they broke up.”
“They been together that long?” Danny asked.
“They broke up in February,” Travis explained. “But I think the relationship was over before that.”
“Because of something you’re not allowed to talk about?” Danny asked sceptically.
“Yes.”
Sighing, Danny shoved his hands in his pockets, and at the next available opportunity, rounded a corner to get as far away from Travis as possible.
The dog bite had been painful; this was fucking hell. The dog had at least missed every vital nerve in Nicholas’ leg, so any damage done was able to be fixed by hours on treadmills, and the marks were hidden at almost all times.
“Severe ligament damage with possible lasting nerve trauma.” In other words, his left hand would be stiff, numb, and full of scars. And what was with the Father Christmas get up? When he and Travis got the call, they thought it had been some disgruntled charity worker, completely unprepared for a homeless man doped up on hallucinogenics with a switch blade. That much, he had to admit, was funny. The bit about it maybe costing him his career was not.
As he sat idly in the hospital bed, counting down the hours until someone finally told him that his surgery went fine and that he could go home, he was surprised to see Janine come into the room, Jacob cradled in her arms.
“Oh, why’d you bring Jake?” he asked. “Couldn’t you have left him with my mum or something?”
“She’s on the other side of town,” Janine said. “I wanted to make sure I got here before visiting hours ended.
Nicholas frowned at her. “I’m sure Inspector Partridge could have looked the other way at you using your badge to come in after hours,” Nicholas reasoned.
Janine sighed, as she gently reached out, taking Nicholas by the wrist. “How is it?” she asked.
Nicholas shrugged, laughing slightly. “Oh, it’s great,” he asked. “Ever been on morphine?”
“Yes,” Janine said flatly.
“Oh. Right.” Nicholas idly picked at the IV poked into his arm, hating it for being there. “I should be going home tomorrow morning,” he said, reaching out with his undamaged hand to gently stroke Jacob’s head. “Just got out of surgery about an hour ago.”
Janine nodded. “Good,” she said. “I don’t like us being home at night when you’re not around.”
Nicholas picked at his bandaging for a moment, before mentally slapping his hand away. The doctors had put that there for a very good reason. Probably. “Ring Travis,” Nicholas suggested. “His heating’s gone out. I’m sure he’d be happy to sleep on the sofa.”
“I’ll probably do that,” Janine agreed.
Jacob began fussing lightly, and it didn’t take long at all for either Janine or Nicholas to realize that no amount of coddling was going to make him stop.
“He’s tired,” Nicholas said. “Go home. I’ll call you when they let me out.”
Janine smiled, leaning over to kiss Nicholas quickly. “Make it quick,” she said.
Nicholas smiled at her, sighing lightly as he watched her go.
The lamp was smaller, as it turned out, than Danny’s. And by no small amount. The blue light it cast over the room was cool, and soothing, and lit more evenly than the violent red he was used to. Nicholas had the lamp plugged in and on, and was asleep before the wax had even begun to heat.
He woke late in the morning, roused by a pounding on his front door. For a few moments, he considered letting whoever it was go away, but decided against it. There was simply too much going on to ignore anything. He lazily rolled out of bed and stumbled down the steps to the front door, pulling it open slowly.
“Yeah?” he said, seeing one of the officers he hadn’t known in London.
“Oh,” he said nervously. “Sorry to... wake you, Inspector.”
Nicholas smiled gamely. “It’s all right,” he assured. “What’s going on?”
The officer pulled out a slip of paper, reading the scribbled notes. “There’s a... Mister Grover causing a fuss at some farm on the edge of town. Won’t talk with any of us. Says he’ll only talk with you.”
Nicholas sighed. “Constable, I am, for all intents and purposes, on suspension right now,” he reminded the officer. “All of my officers are. We’ve no legal authority in this or any other constabulary right now.”
The constable pointed madly down the road. “Well, why don’t you tell him that?” he asked.
Nicholas shook his head. “You tell him that Inspector Angel is in London, and that he can speak with you and cooperate, or he can be arrested.”
The constable sighed, sagging just a little.
“If he wants to talk to an inspector that badly, have him talk to Inspector Douglas,” Nicholas offered. “Bottom line, here. I can’t. I don’t have any authority over this village right now. That’s why you were brought in.”
The constable frowned as he turned and walked down the steps. As Nicholas closed the front door, he could hear the officer muttering something to himself, which Nicholas chose to ignore. He knew Mr. Grover would eventually give up, park his truck back on his own property, and the whole mess would be done with until next month, when he came back into town for supplies.
He was at home, stretched out across the sofa with Spot stretched out across his chest, trying rather unsuccessfully to try to read around the cat. He knew he could easily just push the cat out of the way and be done with it, but he liked the warmth and the weight on his chest. The cat hair that resulted could easily be remedied by a bit of tape or a clean shirt.
He jumped slightly when he heard a key in the lock of the front door, and twisted his neck about to see Danny letting himself in.
“You’re here early,” he said, his head hanging upside down off the edge of the sofa. Immediately, he could tell it was a bad idea, and twisted himself back upright.
“No I ain’t,” Danny said. “Twenty minutes late, actually.”
Frowning, Nicholas looked down at his watch, and was surprised to find that Danny was absolutely right. “Shit,” he muttered, picking the cat up from his chest and putting it on the floor. “I’ll go change real quick.” Marking his place in his book, he tossed it onto the end table and rushed up the steps to his bedroom. He quickly fished out a clean shirt to replace the cat hair one, and returned to the front room, stopping at the front door to put his shoes on. “Right,” he said, pulling on his jacket and checking his pockets, making sure he had everything. Wallet, keys, mobile... check. “Let’s go.”
The pair walked outside to the cold air, getting immediately into Danny’s Mini. Before he started the engine, Danny made sure that the radio was off, surprised when Nicholas reached back down and flipped it right back on, flipping through the whole three stations Sandford got.
“Thought you didn’t like the radio on,” Danny said nervously. “Headaches, and all that.”
Nicholas shook his head. “I don’t mind it,” he said. “And you’re always going on about how great it is. Maybe I want to witness it for myself.”
Danny grinned widely and pulled down the sun visor, selecting a CD almost at random. “Radio’s rubbish,” he said. “It’s the stereo what counts.”
Nodding, Nicholas fastened his seat belt and leaned back, ready to go to wherever it was that Danny had suddenly felt the need to take him. Danny seemed to know exactly where it was he was going, winding the Mini through country roads and eventually onto the motorway. Nicholas had expected a quick run to Bufford Abbey for one thing or another, and almost mentioned to Danny how they’d missed their off ramp, but decided against it, figuring Danny knew what he was doing, so he settled back in, just enjoying the ride.
Danny took them clear out to Heston, where Nicholas had been once before, though he couldn’t remember for the life of him how he’d managed to actually find it. He watched out the side window at the passing scenery, so much different during daylight, as they approached a large row of old buildings. Parked outside, they got out of the car, and Danny led Nicholas into one on the end, holding the door open. At once, Nicholas could see why Danny had brought them out here. The walls were lined with shelves full of mostly-used, though some seemingly new, DVD videos, and where there weren’t shelves, there were bins, overflowing with heaps of plastic cases.
“How’d you find this place, then?” Nicholas asked, stopping at the closest shelf to the door to just marvel at the endless list of titles. Everything from Karate Kid to Karate Cop to titles in languages Nicholas had never seen before.
“Saw an ad in the Citizen, once,” Danny said. “Haven’t got a chance to get out here, much, what with everything going on with... you know.” He trailed away, slowly turning to dig through one of the bins.
Nicholas had never seen such a shop, with every nook and cranny devoted to one product. It was absolute madness, and he had to see all of it for himself.
He hadn’t meant to spend a whole lot of money, but nonetheless, Danny found himself bringing in a small back full of DVDs. Nicholas had made it his personal duty to remind the sergeant that while, yes, he was still being paid for his off time, he still did have other responsibilities to attend to. Still, Danny picked up the latest Bond title, as about half a dozen others that seemed promising.
As Nicholas settled himself on the sofa, Danny queued up one of the new DVDs before crashing down next to Nicholas.
“No drinks?” he asked, looking at the empty spots on the coffee table.
“Can’t,” Nicholas said simply. “Could interfere.”
Danny nodded. “Right,” he said. “I can still drink, though, right?” he asked.
Nicholas shrugged. “I don’t see why not,” he reasoned. “You’re not the one that’s got to worry about that sort of thing right now.”
Danny looked at the floor. “I won’t if you don’t want me to,” he said.
Surprised, Nicholas looked over at Danny. “I’m not gonna stop you from doing anything, Danny,” he said. “You’re a grown man. You can make your own choices.”
Danny smiled as he got to his feet, practically bouncing to the kitchen. “You want a soda, then?” he asked. “Snack?”
“I’m fine, Danny,” Nicholas called back. “I’ll get up if I need anything.”
A few moments later, Danny returned with a bottle of beer for himself, and a bag of crisps, which he sat on the coffee table. As he started up the DVD, Nicholas shifted on the sofa, his hand reaching into his pocket.
“What’s wrong?” Danny asked.
“I think I left my wallet in the car,” Nicholas said, his voice trailing slightly. “From when we stopped for petrol.”
“What you need it for?”
Nicholas continued to reach through his pockets, moving to see if maybe he’d put it into his jacket instead. “I wanted to get some take away.”
“Oh, I’ll go get it for you,” Danny said, jumping up eagerly.
Before Nicholas could protest or point out that he was perfectly capable of walking out to the car to fetch it for himself, Danny was already out of the flat, making his way to the Mini parked outside. He climbed into the passenger side, feeling around in the dim lighting provided by the overhead lamp. Sure enough, on the floor, there was Nicholas’ wallet, dangerously close to sliding beneath the seat, never to be seen again, until it was long forgotten and replaced. With the overhead lamp still on, Danny thought to check that it was indeed Nicholas’ wallet, and not Andy’s from the day before, when he’d given him a lift home. He opened the leather folds, laughing slightly at the bored expression on Nicholas’ driver’s license. Opposite the driver’s license, he noticed a photograph of what appeared to be one very tired Nicholas holding a very small child; a boy, if the blue bonnet on it was anything to go by. He remembered reading something in the paper, while he was still in hospital, about Nicholas, and something mentioned a few sisters. Shrugging to himself, Danny slapped shut the wallet and locked up the car before heading back into the flat, finding Nicholas having gone through half the bag of crisps already.
“How old’s your nephew, then?” he asked, tossing the wallet through the air at Nicholas, who barely managed to catch it with both hands.
“What?” Nicholas asked. “I haven’t got any nephews. Or nieces.”
“Oh,” Danny said dumbly as he sat back down. “Thought I heard something about how you had some sisters, or something.”
“Yes,” Nicholas said simply, alarm bells starting to go off in the back of his mind. “I’ve four, but none of them have had any kids. Not yet, anyway.”
“Oh,” Danny repeated. “Who’s the little tyke you was holdin’, then?” he asked. “In the picture?”
Nicholas’ eyes grew wide as his entire body tensed up. “Danny, you went through my stuff?” he demanded.
“Didn’t ‘go through’ it,” Danny reasoned. “Just looked.”
“Danny, I would appreciate it if you didn’t go through my personal belongings!” Nicholas insisted, sounding panicked.
Danny only shrugged. “What you got to hide from me, Nick?” Danny asked, trying his best not to sound hurt, and doing a very poor job at it. “I ain’t hidin’ nothin’ from you.”
Nicholas looked away; visibly concentrating on making sure he kept his breathing calm and steady. “It’s just... It’s personal, all right?”
“I get it, then,” Danny said, nodding. “I ain’t good enough to be part of your personal life, then?”
Nicholas inhaled deeply. “No! I...” He clenched his fist, mashing it into his forehead. “I’m just gonna go.” He turned before Danny could say anything to protest, not caring if he slammed the door behind himself.
Danny stood by the sofa, dumbstruck. What the hell had just happened, and where it had all come from, he’d need a dozen detectives to figure out, but he knew one thing right off; whatever it was, it was not good. Swearing at himself, he kicked at the coffee table and collapsed back onto the sofa. A few moments later, after realizing that he was not ever going to be able to wind down, he pulled himself back up to his feet, found his jumper and keys, and made to follow Nicholas, where ever the hell he had gone off to. By the time he was out on the sidewalk, the inspector was nowhere to be seen. Growling to himself, Danny kicked at the pavement and made his way to the one person in Sandford he knew Nicholas actually trusted, and it was clear that it sure as hell wasn’t Danny. He stomped off to the Swan, kicking at rocks and pebbles all the way there. As he reached the hotel, he tried to calm himself; didn’t want to seem upset for the new owners.
“Danny,” the matronly old woman behind the counter chirped. “What can I do for you, love?”
Danny stepped up to the counter, looking around nervously. Asking if Nicholas had come in would be foolish; this much he knew. “I’m looking for Sergeant Travis...” And then it occurred to him that
he did not know Travis’ full name. “Er... One of them lot from the Met. Travis... somethin’. The one with the hair.”
“Oh, right!” she said, clapping her hands together. “He’s up in twelve.”
Danny smiled and nodded, and then realized he’d no idea where that was. “Uhm... where?” he asked. “I thought the rooms all had names.”
“Yes, that. We re-did a lot of things round here, love. First floor.”
Danny nodded. “Thanks” He made off toward the first floor suites, finding twelve at the end of the hall. He made to knock on the door, but the contact came much harder than he’d meant, causing the door to rattle at its hinges.
“What?” Travis demanded angrily from behind the door. Bed springs squeaked loudly, and a few seconds later, the door was unlocked and pulled open just enough for Travis to look accusingly out into the hall. “Jesus, Danny. What the hell are you doing here?” he demanded.
“Where is he?” Danny demanded right back.
“Who?” Travis asked.
“Who else?” Danny asked. “Nick.”
Travis glared at him from behind the door. “Not here,” he said simply.
“Then where?” Danny asked.
Travis stared out at him for a long, heavy moment before letting the door swing open all the way, showing off a pathetically empty hotel room. “So, what’d you say to him, then?” Travis asked accusingly, stepping out to the hall.
“Nothing,” Danny said. “I fetched his wallet for ‘im, and he went off.”
Travis narrowed his gaze at Danny. “Danny, let me ask you something,” he said, frighteningly calm. “How long before Nick went back to work after the whole thing happened out here?”
Danny only shrugged. “I’unno.”
“How long?” His voice was a bit more strained, as though keeping himself from yelling for the entire hotel to hear.
Danny shrugged again. “I don’ know,” he insisted. “I was in a coma for two fuckin’ weeks. He was back in uniform by the time I came round.”
“Two weeks?” Travis asked.
Danny nodded.
“Two weeks!” He repeated, accusing and angry. “Who, in their right mind, would let that man return to work two weeks after that mess?”
Danny shifted nervously. “He wanted to help out,” he reasoned.
Travis did the same thing with his breathing that Nicholas did, and Danny wondered if it was some sort of trick they learned at the Met. Some sort of secret London cop thing, that country cops weren’t let in on. “Danny, have you any idea why we sent him out here in the first place?”
Danny shrugged nervously. “Cause we only had one sergeant?” he tried.
“No!” Travis said it as though it were the most obvious answer in the world, which clearly, it wasn’t. “In case you haven’t noticed, the man’s a damn fine officer. He needed time to recover and get over everything, and he wasn’t going to get that in London!” He was shouting now, and Danny did his best not to back up.
“Recover?” he asked.
“Yes,” Travis said, dropping his head into his hand briefly. “The man’s a fucking wreck. He’s probably never gonna get over Janine and Jacob.”
“Jacob?” Danny asked, feeling very stupid.
Travis sighed, realizing at once that he really, truly had no idea. About any of it. “Yes. Jacob,” he said, bringing his voice back down to a tolerable indoor level. “His son.”
Danny mulled that over for a moment. “Son?” he asked. “What, like his godson, or something?”
Travis screwed up his face in frustration, turning away from Danny for just a moment. “No. Like my godson,” he said.
Finally, it all clicked with Danny. Everything made sense, in its own sort of way. Even that damn duck in the shower. “He never told me he has a son,” Danny said quietly. “I didn’t know.”
Travis cringed as he slowly turned back into his room. “Took off, did he?” he asked after a few moments.
Danny stood awkwardly in the hall, watching as Travis quickly pulled a hooded jumper and a pair of trainers on. “Yeah,” he said quietly. “Thought he might have come here.”
Travis rolled his eyes as he picked up the room key, quickly locking up. “Anywhere else he might have gone?” he asked.
“Stop that.”
Nicholas looked over at Travis, dumbstruck. “What?” he asked, squeezing his hand gripper as he propped the radar gun up on his knee.
“That!” Travis said, swatting at the gripper. “It makes that annoying chinking sound. I hate it!”
Nicholas smiled darkly and squeezed again, noticing that Travis was indeed right about the chinking sound it made. He squeezed it again.
“Stop it!” Travis lurched across to Nicholas, snatching the gripper from Nicholas’ hand. He tried it for himself, finding the spring much tighter than it looked. “Jesus, Nick,” he said. “No wonder your damn hand always hurts.”
Nicholas snatched it back. “Doesn’t hurt,” he said. “It’s just stiff.”
Nicholas mobile screamed at them, causing him to jump, digging in his pockets for the device. “Yeah,” he said, finding it and bringing it to his ear. Travis watched as Nicholas expression turned from a pleasant smile to something dark and horrible. “What?” he asked.”I thought you said he just had a cold.”
“What’s going on, Nick?” Travis asked, but was waved aside.
“Where?” Nicholas asked. He was silent for what Travis felt far too long, but he didn’t dare try to talk to Nicholas again. “Okay,” Nicholas said heavily. He hung up his mobile and reached for the radio on his shoulder. “Seven, seven, seven to dispatch,” he said, doing his best not to sound panicked.
“Nick,” Travis tried again, nervously. Nicholas held up a silencing finger.
“Seven, seven, seven, go ahead,” someone on dispatch said distantly.
“In car number Sam, five, eight with officer Travis Martin, number nine, zero. There’s a family emergency. Need to get to St. Luke’s.”
There was a long pause, and as the seconds ticked on, Travis could see Nicholas losing his composure, which in turn made Travis very, very nervous.
“Seven, seven, seven, all clear.”
Nicholas sighed as started the engine and dropped the car into gear, quickly checking to make sure there was no traffic before pulling out onto the street. St. Luke’s Hospital was not more than ten minutes away, but Nicholas still required all of his will power to not use the sirens to his advantage. He did, however, use the police car itself to his advantage, parking in the marked spots at the front of the hospital. He and Travis rushed in the front doors, grateful to find that the front desk was relatively clear.
“Help you officers?”the receptionist asked.
“Jacob Angel,” Nicholas said, his voice wavering.
“Nick, what is going on?” Travis asked.
Nicholas turned to answer him, but was instead directed elsewhere, hearing Janine calling his name. She rushed past Travis, knocking into him as she reached out for Nicholas, holding him tightly.
“What’s going on?” Nicholas asked quietly.
Janine put her hand over her mouth and closed her eyes. Holding her close to his body, Nicholas gently rubbed his hand over her back, trying for her sake to keep himself together.
“Angel?” A voice said somewhere behind them. Janine and Nicholas turned sharply to find a doctor standing near the reception desk.
“Yeah?” Nicholas asked hopefully.
“Let’s, uhm, come with me, please,” the doctor said. Janine pressed her face into Nicholas’ shoulder before allowing herself to be led away. After a few steps, Nicholas turned round.
“Travis,” he said, motioning for him to follow. “Come on.”