The beautiful Lacey/Travis moodboard above is all thanks to venilegiamavi and there's a bunch more on my tumblr <3
__________________________
Scully laughed because he apparently wanted to test my patience.
"I told him the truth," he said when he calmed down.
"About what?"
He shrugged. "Operations, where they pick up shipments, where they frequent... Or at least, used to. Not sure if any of it changed."
I clenched my teeth together as he spoke, trying to stay calm and I wondered how Cameron did it so well, how he always looked collected.
Carlos shifted in his seat and I wondered if anything was the same as before Scully got locked up. I didn't ask Carlos though, not with Scully and Josh here.
"I told him to see whose name the house was under, that'll lead him to someone important. Was it under your name? Oh that's even smarter then, sending you undercover. Who'd suspect you?"
I narrowed my eyes, "How do you know about that?"
"We taught Cameron how to operate, honey," he said, looking pleased with himself. "The Caseys have been around for decades, that's not by chance. That's by knowing what works."
The house didn't matter, Dylan already know the house was in Hannah's name. She just had to stay out of harm's way now.
"What else?" I prodded.
"Told him what Jay looked like, that Finn has a rather explosive temper," he paused, thinking, "And that if he wanted to get to either of them, find my Bethie."
"What's wrong with you?" I spat out.
Carlos put a hand on my shoulder and pulled me back. I hadn't realized I was leaning forward so much.
This only caused Scully's eyes to drift to Carlos.
"You don't look like much of a fighter."
Carlos stared hard at Scully.
"What's your name?" Scully asked, tilting his head to the side as he looked at Carlos like he was trying to work out an equation.
"Miller?" he continued but there was a hopeful ring in his voice, like he wanted to meet Travis. Scully eyed the jackets we were both wearing. It was obvious my jacket wasn't mine. Heck, it was obvious the leather jacket I wore wasn't mine. But it looked like it fit Carlos and I wondered if Scully remembered me wearing the leather jacket last time instead of Carlos now.
"Maybe you had someone else's attention," Scully now looked at me. He opened his mouth to talk but Carlos cut him off.
"Mr. Taylor," Carlos began.
"Scully."
"Mr. Taylor, I was wondering why you think there's any chance you'll get out of here. You can't possibly think Dylan is serious, can you?" Carlos continued and I wondered if he even knew who Dylan was. "It's the active Casey members that Dylan wants and only then, it's to get our outside connections to bring the whole shebang down. So what makes you think he's not milking you for information? It's been years and surely he's not dumb enough to think the pick up spots for the suppliers are the same. Your information is outdated and let's face the facts, you're still in here aren't you?" Carlos cringed slightly as he looked to Scully, like it was paining him to admit the harsh truth.
But Carlos continued before Scully could get a word in, "He probably could snap his fingers and get you out like that. But instead, you're chained here talking to us. And if he lets you out, do you really think he won't put a muzzle and leash on you? You're a Casey and he wants to put the Caseys down. I think you might be dumber than I thought. No wonder you're in here."
I stared at Carlos, trying to hide the shock I felt as he spoke more words than I thought he was capable of. He also knew more than I thought he did. Maybe he should do all of the talking.
Scully crossed his arms over his chest. "He's gonna let me out. Was in here this morning and left to talk to his boss back home."
I started to panic internally, fighting to keep it from showing on my face and it was like Carlos had read my mind earlier as he continued to take the reigns.
Carlos laughed, "He told you? Did you get it in writing? Was it notarized? You have the word of a man working with you, the cops, and the Dacostas."
Scully shook his head, still looking as cocky as ever.
"What did you tell him that made him pinky promise to let you out of your cage?" Carlos asked.
This time, Scully smirked and then grinned and the laughed. "I told him I didn't do it."
"Didn't do what?" I asked.
"Didn't kill Alexander."
Carlos sighed. "Clearly, you put way too much faith in what people just say. You think that because you said you didn't kill Alex, that he's going to believe you?"
The way he said Alex was familiar, like he knew of him or he knew about him and I wondered when Carlos joined the gang. Did he know Alex? That didn't make sense though because wouldn't Scully know Carlos, then?
"I can take him to who really killed him," Scully offered.
"Again, your information is outdated if you think the people responsible for his death haven't already been taken care of," Carlos said, shaking his head.
Scully glared and I wanted to ask Carlos what happened to Alex and who was responsible. This was one of the first times I'd heard someone mention Cameron's younger brother's situation besides Finn when I first got to Melkin years ago.
"So here's Plan A," Carlos said, "Somehow by some miracle, you convince Dyldo to let you out of your cage. He'll suit you up with a muzzle, a leg monitor, and if you're lucky hell spare the leash. But they've got these baby things out now and they're a harness you put on your kid, stay with me here," he said looking at Scully with excitement in his eyes, "that have a backpack for the kid to wear attached to it. It came out after your time so you probably haven't seen them but don't be surprised if you get strapped up with one of those to carry Dylan's personal things around while he tells you to heel. Then, he's going to find out literally all your leads are irrelevant, put you in jail with the murder charge again, and all the Caseys in here are going to turn on you because you were with the cops," Carlos said, splaying his fingers out wide in front of him like he was presenting something wonderful.
Scully studied Carlos.
"Plan B is you get one step out of this prison and a Casey kills you," I snipped, "Which I prefer."
"Ooor," Carlos drew out and leaned forward, his elbows resting on the table and his chin perched innocently on his hands like he was posing for a picture. "You keep your rat mouth shut and go back to your cell."
"Oh, that plan," Josh whispered, "that plan sounds the best. I would take that one."
His tone of voice reeked of nervousness, I didn't even have to look at him to see it. He was supposed to be the top of our training class and I could see Scully looking at him now, picking him apart with just his eyes. The training program taught us a lot of things but none of it covered how to keep your cool. How to not pass out. How to stand tall when the enemy was trying to make you crumble.
That, I had started to learn years ago thanks to Travis, Cameron, and the rest of the group.
And that realization made me wonder how Elle was taking it. She was still a trainee, not that the Dacostas would have cared and much like Josh, I suspected she only knew the textbook explanation of what to do in that situation. But none of the textbooks taught how to keep your calm when you wanted to throw up and pass out, hoping it was all a dream.
"If you were smart, you'd go with option C," I stated, clenching my jaw. "Though you're welcome to let me remind you of what Cameron did all over again. Or we can set, what did you call it? The dog? We can set the dog on you."
"Choose wisely," Carlos said casually and for the first time, Scully's stupid cocky grin was off his face and he actually looked concerned.
"Come on," Carlos said and nudged my arm.
I looked back to Scully who was still sitting there, who wasn't even stabbed in the slightest and wasn't even begging for his life and I didn't know how we were supposed to just walk out of here and trust that Scully wouldn't do anything rash.
"He gets it," Carlos said, answering my silent question and sent a smile in Scully's direction. "Don't you, Mr. Taylor?"
Scully glared at us as we got up. Josh started to stand but Carlos shook his head and halted him. We couldn't leave with Josh, that would ruin everything we did to get in here. The two of us walked over to Gordon.
"We can go now," I said politely.
Gordon looked annoyed but nodded. The threat against his family was probably still looming over his head.
"Go wait outside the door," he instructed and we did as we were told, sitting down on a bench a few steps from the door.
A few moments later, the officer who was previously stationed in the room walked towards us and I held my breath, worried he was coming to arrest us finally when the man just walked by us and into the visitation room. Gordon came out a second later, breezing by. We stood quickly and I had to jog a few steps to catch up with the cop as he wove his way down the hallways.
No words were spoken as he led us down to a small door with a glowing red "Exit" sign hanging above it. He pushed the door open with one arm, his face looking at us like we gave him a bad taste in his mouth.
"Thank you," I muttered quietly as I ducked out the door.
Officer Gordon didn't say anything back. The only noise that was heard was the slamming of the heavy metal door as he shut it on us.
I looked around and we were on the side of the police station where a few cars were parked.
Carlos and I walked around the corner, heading down a few buildings before there was a small alley and I ducked into it, feeling far enough from the police station. My hands were shaking as I leaned against the brick wall and everything felt too hot.
I let out a deep breath before bending over and placing my hands on my knees to stabilize them and the rest of my body.
"Are you okay?" Carlos asked.
"No," I said honestly. "I was threatening to kill him."
All of the nerves I had pushed aside were coming back in tenfold.
"He'll get over it," Carlos said.
"Will he though?"
Scully seemed like the sort to hold grudges, considering he was threatening even his own daughter's life.
Carlos shrugged as he picked at some of the decaying brick wall. "He'll get over it if he's smart, which he is."
"How did you do that? How aren't you freaking out right now?" I asked because I had never threatened someone like that and before we walked into the police station, Carlos looked like he'd never threatened a fly.
Again, he shrugged and I could see some of the facade shedding the longer he stood out here with me. It was like the confidence was wearing off more and more as he slouched his shoulders.
"I deal with dudes like that every day," he explained and then I remembered he was the one meeting the suppliers according to Travis. "The only difference is they aren't handcuffed to the table. You did good."
I rolled my eyes because I didn't feel like I did good. "We were barely in there. We should've stayed and-"
"No," he said, softly. "It's not really a place you want to stay in long or Ben and Travis might wonder what's up. We got the message to him and there's only so much you can do. People are gonna do what they want to."
I scrunched my face up, thinking about his words. Travis was definitely someone who didn't need to come knocking on the police door asking where I was but everything in me feared Scully wouldn't make a deal with Dylan. The uncertainty gnawed at me as Josh came walking by, looking lost.
"There you are! What the hell? A little warning where you guys were going to go next time," he rambled.
Carlos didn't say anything as he walked passed Josh and we headed the rest of the way back to the cars.
I hoped there wasn't going to be a next time when it came to involving Josh. He was easily frazzled and I couldn't trust that. And if he came to us again, I doubted it would be for a good reason.
"You even scared me back there, Carson. I mean, this dude, I expect it from because you know, gang," Josh said, pointing to Carlos and whispering the last word like it was a secret. "Who knew you had it in you? Damn," he continued filling the silence as we walked. It didn't seem the time to remind him that I was also in the same gang.
I could still feel my nerves rattling inside of me, my heart beating fast and loud in my head like it was trying to drown Josh out.
It didn't calm until we saw the familiar car with the two familiar boys waiting outside of it. One had his black jacket hood up as he sat on the edge of the car's trunk. The other had a button up shirt tucked into his light khaki pants and was standing.
Ben had something in his hand as he stood in front of Travis and kept extending it out to him. Travis would reach for it for a second and then recoil. This happened multiple times before his head twitched up and spotted us coming. He hopped off the car and the two boys took a few steps in our direction. Travis wiggled his head a few times before the hood fell backwards, revealing his face.
His head tilted as his face pointed to the sky and he looked like he let out a breath, like he was relieved. As we got close, I could see the beginnings of a smile perched on his lips but he looked over at the other guys behind me before doing anything, when I expected him to come and hug me. I wondered if Josh and Carlos being here was causing him to act indifferent towards me.
Not okay with that and having no image myself to uphold, I closed the distance between us and wrapped my arms right around his torso. He stumbled back a step from the force of my hug but soon, his arms wrapped around me and I leaned into him further as he held his ground. I hadn't realized how badly I missed the contact and touching him until now. I inhaled deeply, letting his scent flood my senses.
Before I was even remotely ready to end the hug, I felt myself being tugged backwards by Travis himself.
"How did it go?" Ben asked.
"What are you wearing?" Travis eyed the green hoodie I still had on.
"It went very well. My girl, Annie Vanguard here, is a real natural," Carlos said as he came up behind me and patted me once on the back.
Travis looked at Carlos like he was speaking gibberish.
"I didn't want to sign in so I said I was Gordon's long lost kid and he was my boyfriend," I explained, unzipping the jacket and shrugging it for my shoulders. "Gordon let us in to shut me up."
Again, Travis just stared between the two of us.
"Yeah, she was fake crying and shit. Told everyone her mom died in a car crash and he was the only family she had left," Carlos added, taking off my jacket. Travis' jacket.
Ben and Travis both looked at me but I ignored them, holding the jacket out to switch with Carlos. Both Josh and Carlos didn't know about my own mom dying in a car crash during a business trip and I wasn't exactly ready to go down memory lane for no reason. I was more than fine with letting Carlos believe I was just that good of a liar.
"You were crying?" Travis asked, a crease forming on his forehead.
I shrugged.
"That was before Scully thought she was dating Cameron. I would pay money to see him date someone. And then Scully thought she was dating me but I think he thinks I'm you," Carlos rambled as he put his green jacket back on.
Ben laughed, "So you talked to him?"
I nodded.
"Anything pressing or can it wait until we're home?" Travis asked, eyeing Josh and I didn't blame him for wanting to keep things quiet.
"No, I think Carlos handled it for the moment," I said because wasn't like Scully was out of jail right now.
"Thanks," Travis said, nodding once to Carlos.
Carlos grinned, "No problem. I'm gonna jet unless you need anything else?"
Travis shook his head, no. "I'll call you once we get rid of him," Travis hooked a finger at Josh, once again not wanting to go over information in front of Josh even though he was there.
"Hey!" Josh protested but Travis ignored it.
Carlos nodded and walked over to me, wrapping his arms around my neck in a hug. "Let me know if we're still on for dinner tomorrow night, Annie," he said before letting go and taking quick steps back.
"The fuck is wrong with you?" Travis questioned under his breath. I could tell he was offended but Carlos was a friend so his gun was still stashed away.
Ben was cackling like a moron as Travis stalked toward Carlos, edging him back to the driver's side of his car, like he was herding a sheep.
"Dinner," Travis said like the word itself offended him as Carlos ran the last few steps to his car. "What the fuck?"
Once Carlos got in his car and drove away, Travis walked back over to us, glaring at the ground like it was insulting him. I rolled my eyes as I slipped on the too-big leather jacket.
"So, who do people think you're dating?" Travis asked looking appalled.
I tried not to join Ben in laughing at his face.
"I guess it depends on who you ask," I answered.
Travis narrowed his eyes and looked back to where Carlos had driven away to.
"You told me to go in there and I was told to figure it out. I did."
"Hey Lacey, you think I can date you next?" Ben asked as he leaned against the car.
"Next time I need someone, I'll be sure to call you."
Travis wrapped an arm around my shoulders, "No you fucking won't."
I wiggled out of his arm because he didn't need to be turning into a protective bodyguard in front of Ben, of all people.
"I'm kidding," I said. I grabbed the edges of his jacket, stood on my tip toes and planted a quick, soft kiss on his lips.
He snaked his hands around my waist when I stood normally, the small hint of a smile teasing his lips. "You ready to go home or do you have any other jails you want to break into?"
"Excuse me?" Josh huffed and I could hear his heavy steps coming near us, somewhere behind me.
Travis looked over at him and glared and the steps stopped. I unwound Travis from me and turned to see Josh shifting his weight from foot to foot, like he was debating taking another step forward or not. For the moment, it looked like Travis had paused whatever he was intending to do.
That didn't mean he froze Josh's mouth, though. I was pretty sure that was impossible.
"You promised if we went to see your dumb friend in here that we would rescue my law-abiding friend!" Josh hissed.
"I didn't say we were personally doing that," Travis sounded annoyed, bored even.
"Are you kidding me?!"
"You need to quiet down, Josh," Ben said.
Josh's eyes zeroed in on mine. "Do you see this? They used me for what they wanted and now what? Elle's going to die because your friends are too selfish?"
Travis stepped forward, his arm brushing against me in the process. "Do not call me selfish."
"Then why don't you do something heroic for once in your life and help my friend?" Josh argued.
Travis was in front of me so I couldn't see his face, but I could see his hands clenching at his sides a few times.
"Josh," Ben warned.
"I said we'd handle it," Travis said lowly.
Josh shook his head, disappointment flooding into his eyes before he spoke again, "When it's on your schedule. I didn't even want to come here. I knew you couldn't be trusted. I should've done things on my own, it was a shot in the dark."
"Are you serious, Josh?" I finally asked as I looked around Travis' large frame. "You of all people can't call anyone else selfish. Do you not remember ratting Travis and Ben out just the other day to Dylan to get ahead? Or agreeing not to tell anyone about what we were finding when we first got here because you wanted to be the ones to turn in the gang? In case you forgot, it ended with me getting choked in the Dacosta territory."
Josh deflated a bit after that. I walked around Travis and put a hand on his chest, pushing him back slightly. I thought he would resist and I'd be pushing against a brick wall, but he let me guide him back a few steps.
Travis ducked his head lower towards mine. "We have people working on it. That's what we were doing when you were in the jail."
He hadn't said it low enough so Josh couldn't eavesdrop and when I turned around to see Josh, it looked like he was straining his ears already.
"See?" I asked. "There's people working on it already."
"Carson," Josh said and I felt Travis push slightly against my hand, like my name coming out of Josh's mouth was another thing to add to the list of things that annoyed Travis. "This is Elle we're talking about. I thought she was your friend, too. How do you know anyone is even-"
Before he could finish his doubt about the Casey gang - or at least the members not locked up - I held up my hand. "I trust them, Josh. You need to trust me."
"I thought I did," he said.
"Well you're going to have to try a little harder," I said and headed towards the car, getting into the back seat.
Ben got into the driver's seat and just as Josh went to open the back seat door, Travis put a hand on the door to hold it shut.
"Uh uh," Travis tutted and opened the passenger's side door for him.
Josh got in the front seat and shot an annoyed look back to me. I ran my hand roughly over my face, again wishing I had just fought harder to stay home with Ben and Travis earlier today. We could've finished the movie they hated.
Travis got in the backseat with me, sitting more in the middle and against my side than anything else.
It was a few minutes into our drive when Josh spoke up.
"So I'm just supposed to go back to my hotel, twiddle my thumbs, and wait for you to handle Elle? When you've told me nothing about how you're actually going to do this?"
"We can drop you off in a ditch if you'd prefer that," Travis said as he grabbed one of my hands. He laced his fingers with mine and used his other hand to wrap around the top half of my hand.
Ben chuckled.
"Obviously I don't prefer that," Josh argued.
Travis shrugged half heartedly, since Josh wasn't really looking at him anyway.
Ben looked over to Josh a few times while driving. "Just let us know if Dylan does anything different in the next couple of hours when you go back. We don't need him messing up plans to help her. Just text Lacey, we'll check on it now and then," he said.
I wondered how safe it was to turn my work phone on but if it was Ben suggesting it, I figured it would be done without being tracked.
Josh sighed in response and rested his head on the car window. Just watching him do that while we were driving made my brain feel like it was rattling. I don't know how he kept his head on the window without feeling the irritation of the window vibrating.
"Yeah," Travis said, "And if Dylan finds out you were talking to Scully with us just tell him we had a gun pointed at you and you had no choice."
"What if he knows I'm lying?" Josh asked.
"Do you want me to make it a realistic memory for you? I'll gladly take my gun out," Travis said as his thumb ran along my finger, sending my stomach flipping.
"No," Josh was quick to answer.
Josh grabbed the back of his seat and turned slightly so he was facing us. With the quick movement, I saw Ben tense and felt Travis do the same to my hand.
"Can you really shoot as good as they say?" Josh looked eagerly at Travis, all hostility temporarily replaced with curiosity. If someone was in front of Josh that he could question and learn things from, he was a happy camper most of the time.
"Um, I guess?" Travis answered. I looked up at him and he looked uncomfortable.
"Scully and all the reports we have in your file make it sound like you never miss," he bragged and I wondered if that was what was causing the uneasy look on Travis' face - I never really heard people praise him for it. Usually they said it with frustration or annoyance or sought him to kill him for it.
"I usually don't miss," Travis stated like he was talking about something as casual as the weather.
"What kind of accuracy are we talking?"
"Eighty percent, maybe?" Travis questioned as one of his hands left mine to scratch the back of his neck.
"More like ninety percent accuracy," Ben stated.
"Jeez," Josh breathed out. He turned back to sit properly in his seat, his face almost in awe.
We drove back to the nicer town and stopped a few blocks from Joy's.
"Are you kidding me? You're going to make me walk? Again?" Josh fought.
"You could use it," Travis suggested. It was a lie, but I wasn't about to point that out.
With an excessive amount of huffing and a lot of mutterings of "You'd better not be lying to me" later, Josh finally got out and started walking back to the hotel. For Elle's sake, I hoped I wasn't lying about the Casey's handling it but I trusted Travis.
As soon as we drove far enough we were out of sight from Josh, Travis laid down on the back seat, resting his head in my lap and propping his feet up against the opposite window.
My hands hung in the air over his head, surprised by the sudden action.
"Hello?" I asked.
"Hello," Travis smiled up at me.
For the first half of the ride home, I filled them in on everything that happened in the jail from the moment we left them until Josh found us walking out of the prison. They didn't say much as I rambled.
"So what did Cameron do?" I asked quietly, finally voicing the question I'd been wondering since the jail. We were almost to the house now, the empty fields of nothing replaced the broken and rotting buildings.
Travis held one of my hands in his and the other was reaching up to play with the tips of my hair falling towards him.
"Nothing," Travis answered but he was looking at my hair as it twirled around his fingers and I doubted he was actually listening.
"Ben," I prodded.
Unfortunately, he only shrugged. "Scully was before our time."
I groaned, slouching slightly which caused Travis to readjust but not get up. I highly doubted they were Cameron's right hand men and he didn't ever give them a head's up relating to the crazy guy in prison that wants him dead.
"He really didn't do anything, Lace," Travis repeated.
I rolled my eyes because Scully was obviously afraid of Cameron for a reason.
"What are you doing tonight? Do you have plans?" Travis asked from below me, eyes still looking at my hair.
"Is that a serious question?" I asked because I didn't have a car of my own and my plans revolved entirely around them and whether or not we were being summoned places.
An amused smile found its way onto Travis' face and his eyes light up slightly and all I could think was one thing: trouble.
He was a lot of trouble.
"Good. We're going to go on a date," Travis stated and my stomach did a flip so hard I thought I jumped.
A date? Was I hearing that correctly?
I don't think I'd ever gone on an actual date with the guy on my lap.
"Me and you?" Ben interjected from the front seat.
"Shut the fuck up," Travis said.
"Well I know you don't mean you and Lacey because I had dibs on next."
I laughed and the frown that popped onto Travis' face only caused me to laugh harder.
"I swear to god, I'll shoot you," my boyfriend threatened.
"You're all talk," Ben baited him.
"Do you know what a date is?" I asked. "It's not going on a gang stake out or shooting up people. It's important to me that you know that."
"Trust me, I know that. We'll go somewhere nice," Ben answered instead of Travis.
Travis glared at me. "You're both so fucking funny."
I squeezed Travis' hand that was holding mine. "I would love to."
___________________
Last chapter I asked who you guys would kill off and some of your responses were so funny, so thiiiis time: who's your favorite character?
I hope you liked it! The next chapter should be out soon. Have a great day and don't forget to smile<3