Chapter 05

When Myriam woke up, she hadn’t known how long she was unconscious. She was surprised to find herself in her bed back at the abattoir. Attempting to move was painful, but she lifted her head enough to look around to see that the mess that was created when she fought her captors had been picked up.

Laying back down, she tried to remember how she could have possibly gotten back home. The only thing she could think of was that her team had realized something was wrong and had managed to find her in time. But why bring her home and not to the hospital?

And had she indeed hallucinated her brother?

The pain and exhaustion of her experience had her slipping back to sleep rather quickly. So quickly that as she tried to fight her tiredness, she wondered if someone had injected her with something for her pain at some point before she’d woken up. Still, she’d get to interrogating everyone when she had the energy.

Downstairs, everyone had gathered, trying to figure out how to go forward with the situation with the mayor and the paperwork with Agent Mikaelson.

“She refused medical treatment. I don’t see what the problem is,” Nick replied.

“The problem is that she doesn’t exactly have the right to refuse and she wasn’t coherent enough to. On top of that, she killed a man during the process,” Loretta explained.

“Self defense! They had her locked in a cage in what was clearly a fight to the death!” he argued. “You treated her just fine here! I’m her next of kin. I’ll sign whatever documents that your agency needs for her release but the last thing she needs are the severe stress of the hospital.”

Loretta flashed Dwayne a frustrated glance. “If it were only that simple. What we need is her to remember that she refused, and she may not. That’s first. We have our problems down here with NCIS HQ and DC officials right now that seem to have some blood out for Dwayne. We haven’t found out who, and while she’s a friendly face for us, we don’t know why they sent her over someone else who is willing to play by their rules. It’s a lot of things we have to consider.”

“So they may fire her because she didn’t want to go the hospital? That’s ridiculous!” Nick paced the floor with his hands on his hips, glaring up at the landing. “My return will hardly be a secret now so Cole’s imprisonment won’t be able to be maintained because it’s a false confession. We all are going to be affected, and this goes back further for you Pride.”

“You won’t be the first person to come out of witness protection,” Dwayne assured him. “That’s not on you or me. I’m not worried about that.”

“No, perhaps not, but Cole and I did this to protect Myriam from our father. No official police business involved. We did this. Not you or anyone else.”

Dwayne nodded with understanding. “And she’s fully capable of protecting herself now. She’s always been a fighter, and she will fight him should she come across him one day.”

Nick spun around on his heel, and if looks were capable of dropping a man dead, Pride would be six feet deep by the hatred that crossed the man’s face at what he just heard. “If that were so true, then my sister would not be upstairs in her present condition! I would not have had that sickening feeling of foreboding when I heard of her return to this city that something bad was going to happen!”

“Easy,” Pride said as he threw up his hands in defense. “She could have said ‘no.'”

“How? When? She was fifteen when she was thrust into this, and you sent her to your friend and hid her for us. Now, this is on my brother and me, and our family, but even with what family we have out there, they never tried to help get us out. She’s all we got and each other. I’ll kill anyone that comes after us first.”

“You know you can’t do that. Give her time to heal up, learn that you are alive first. Let us deal with the paperwork with your brother and what he wants to do now that he’s technically incarcerated under pretenses. If you can discuss with Myriam, figure out what you want to do. Because once I’m able to get back to work, they will likely reassign her. She’s pretty well liked at the DC office so she may be able to get a station of her choosing this go-round,” Pride calmly explained.

“And what of Cole? What about me? We lied, which ended with him going to jail. What will the repercussions be?”

Pride looked over at his people, holding a silent conversation with them. “Let us figure that out. I know it wasn’t done without reason and the courts got a lot of information on your father from Cole in exchange for a deal. The feds got more out of that deal than he did.”

“Alright,” Loretta said as she put an arm around Pride. “Let’s get you home, and leave Nick here. No doubt your team won’t mind keeping an eye out for safety. You need your rest, Dwayne.”

“Cole is still at your offices,” Nick murmured, slowly calming down.

Pushing himself up from the wall he’d been leaning against and silently watching on, Chris nodded. “Yep. Sebastian and I will head back. Tammy will stay here and keep an eye on things in case any more of the mayor’s friends decide to pay a visit.”

Nick eyed the woman for a moment before nodding as he looked at Pride. “Thank you, Pride. Sorry to be once again a pain in the neck.”

“You go and take care of your sister, and I’m pretty sure Loretta will be back later.”

“Damn straight I will,” the woman said as she lead him out of the courtyard. “And you’d better stay in bed and rest, Dwayne, although I suspect you were doing something else entirely. Oh! And Nick, I would anticipate a visit from Patton sometime tomorrow once he hears about what happened. He won’t go without wanting to see her.”

He wordlessly nodded as he turned to make his way up the stairs. Pausing at the top, he rested a hand on the rail. “I’ll bring some bedding down for you Agent – I’m not sure what you prefer to be called. I am familiar enough with police routines that you’ll want to remain downstairs. The sofa is comfortable enough,” he shrugged.

“Gregorio is fine,” she responded.

Nick nodded and disappeared into a room leaving the team to themselves for the moment.

“Pride…” Gregorio sighed as she looked at her retreating boss. “I sure hope you still have some favors in high places.”

He glanced up at the landing and shrugged. “I may not, but she got friends in DC. She was working directly under Vance before coming here, so that counts for something. Look, she’s been in the DC game more than I have so she can play their game. She toes their lines a lot better than I would ever be able to and she knows how to get under their red tape. But, she knows how the streets are and when it’s important to get around it. I think Gibbs can get Vance to pull some strings.”

“It’s been a rocky year down here. I know she’s a friend, but they have a shady history, and it can only blow up further,” she shrugged, giving her opinion.

“I know, but we can’t do anything. They didn’t ask for this. They were only kids that were dragged into their parents business, expected to continue it.”

“How do you know they haven’t? They act like they know far more about then they let on. Myriam’s actions on keeping her life outside the office were suspicious and questionable at the bar,” she said as she went into explaining the encounter.

Dwayne sighed, growing more and more tired and feeling much older than his years. “I hear you. Look, for every friend she has in this city, her name has two enemies. But with that name, there are just as many that respect and fear it. Sometimes it’s the only weapon you got. I’ll check in with you all in the morning if I can get out of bed. Okay?”

“Take it easy. I’ll shoot you a message if I find out anything.”

“Eh, no. I’ll find out later if necessary. Just do the job and let LaSalle know until Myriam is back on or HQ says otherwise. I want to go to bed now,” he waved at her before following Loretta out.

By the time Nick dropped the linen off for Gregorio and returned up to his sister’s room, he was thoroughly exhausted. He fell into the armchair Myriam kept in her place after dragging it to her bedside and just sat, watching her. Having not been able to be close to her for so long, he did not know how long he’d have these moments until the agents could get him answers. He had depended on the words of others for news of his siblings for years. Perhaps now, they could be a family amongst themselves again.

At some point he had nodded off, only to be awoken by a click of a gun being cocked. His eyes flashed open and shot over at his sister before freezing to find her aiming the weapon on him. “Easy now…”

“I’m either hallucinating, or some motherfucker is trying some stupid prank but either way there is no fucking way you’re who I’m sure you’re about to claim you are,” she said, her voice filled with trepidation and anger. “Don’t you fucking move.”

Nick swallowed and held his hands up defensively. “Ah, but unfortunate for the situation, I am. Your agent friend is right downstairs and can verify my story if you want-”

“I still call bullshit because I haven’t told anyone where I live,” she glared, biting back a grimace as she shifted to sit up further in the bed.

“I don’t have to move. I can yell for her,” Nick calmly offered.

Myriam glanced at the door that had been left open, hesitating. As far as she recalled, there was no reason the team wouldn’t know where she lived. Hell, she barely could remember how she got home at all. “Who’s here?”

“Small, brunette, reminds me of you. Gregorio?” he answered.

Her arm dropped slightly at the name before she nodded. She couldn’t help but wonder as she stared at the man, who he was and where he came from. Why he looked and sounded so much like her brother, just older?

“Agent Gregorio?!” He called out, voice cracking a bit. “Can you please come up here?!”

The sound of footsteps running up the stairs could be heard before Gregorio skidded to a halt in Myriam’s bedroom. “Woah, easy, put down the gun, Myriam,” she said as she held out her hand. “No one’s going to hurt you here. You’re home. You’re safe.”

“Huh, right,” Myriam replied, nodding towards Nick. “And I just imagined my dead brother in my room? Got a good explanation for that?”

“Because you’re not. Pride already left for the night, and when he comes back after he gets some decent rest, I’m sure he will do a helluva better job helping your brother explain what happened. But for now, just put your weapon down and let him try to explain to you what he can or get some more rest. You should be in the hospital,” Tammy lectured. “Are all you Mikaelsons this stubborn?”

“Yes,” Nick nodded. “Stubbornness and paranoia are our main traits.”

“Speak for yourself,” Myriam muttered, still not putting her gun down. “If you’re my brother, tell me something that nobody knows about me but you.”

“You have some loyal friends in shallow places,” Nick replied.

Myriam huffed. “Even Gregorio must know that by now, and she’s a freaking profiler.”

“That’s not to say that you got your hands dirty with them. They were a security blanket against our father, of course. But you enjoyed a tune or two…”

Myriam scrunched up her nose. “That’s something Gregorio would have suspected by now. Try again, Nick.”

He looked around until he found what he was looking for. “This,” he said as he picked up the stuffed animal. “Is your dear old friend Asparagus. Cole got it for you on your 10th birthday and you two were obsessed then with a simple sentence Cole had picked up from his friends; You cuss, I cuss, we all cuss, for asparagus, much to mother and father’s dismay. So you named this little one Asparagus. It’s a joke between you and Cole. You never leave home without it and still take it with you.”

Gregorio let out a small snort, earning a glare from the injured agent. “What? It’s funny,” she shrugged.

Myriam dropped her arm and stared at him warily. “How are you alive? I saw him shoot you.”

“Flesh wound, some special effects from our friend Alaric such as blood pouches and the like,” he replied as he sat back down in his chair again, holding Asparagus. “It helps when you have cops on your side.”

She shook her head, unable to form words for a minute. Thinking of the years without either of her brothers. “Why?”

“For you.”

She stared at him with a blank expression, failing to see the reasoning behind that answer. “Yeah, that doesn’t make sense to me now. You waited sixteen years to decide to show and be all Surprise! I’m alive! Cole’s been sitting in jail, and I’ve been unjustifiably mad at him for your death all this time, refusing to see him, and you think it’s just okay to show up like this?”

“And if it hadn’t been for you getting into trouble in New Orleans, I would have still been dead to you!” Nick countered. “Cole and I wanted to give you a better life, and that was best if we took ourselves out of the equation for you! To keep you safe!”

“Glad to know how much family means to the two of you,” she icily replied. “Get out.”

“Yeah, don’t bother, I’ll leave,” Nick fumed as he walked out of the bedroom.

Gregorio held her hands up and tried blocking him. “Whoa, hang on here. I think we are all overreacting to this news and need some time to process for a while.”

“Nope,” Myriam replied, glaring at her brother’s back. “He made it clear he’d rather play dead than be here and be with his family. It’s much easier that way.”

Nick balled his fists by his side as he turned around. “Don’t you think we would have if things would have been safer that way?!” He shot at her. “With our enemies and our father still on the loose, you were better off without us painting a target on your back. Cole was safely in prison where our name still carries, I was lost, and you were surrounded by law enforcement the entire time. We wouldn’t have stood a chance, the three of us together.”

Myriam’s brow raised. “Elijah is dead I heard. At least that’s what I was told.”

“One can only hope. He’s better at pretending to die than I am. As long as we haven’t seen his body, I’d suggest thinking about the worst-case scenario,” Nick replied with a sigh. “Besides, I heard he was spotted in Asia a while back.”

She drew in a deep breath and sank into the bed. “If that’s the case, then don’t run. We’re better as a united front, being a new generation of the Mikaelson family and making things right now.”

“Perhaps we’re better as a united front now, but we weren’t when you were still so young, Myriam. I am sorry for what Cole and I have done, but it was to protect us all.”

“Just let’s sleep on it right now. I can only imagine LaSalle at the office bitching about the paperwork we’ve given him,” Myriam shrugged and scrunched her face as a spasm shot through her back. “Is there any pain medication around?”

“Yeah, Loretta left some ibuprofen,” Gregorio piped up. “I’ll go and get it.”

“Thank you,” Myriam murmured and watched as the agent slipped out and turned back to her brother. “So… you’re alive. Shall we throw a ball for your back from the dead and Cole’s freedom?”

Nick gave her an incredulous look. “I certainly hope that you are joking. Because if you are not, then you must be in a great deal of pain and I will let that slide.”

“I think it might be a good idea. It gives us the platform to the public that we are united and puts the word out that we are still here and not going away to Elijah if he tries to come after us.”

He shook his head, adamant against it. “I’m sorry, but I disagree. It’s best to keep a low profile. No balls, no fancy parties. And not staying in New Orleans if, and when, Cole gets released.”

“I don’t think they’ll let me stay after what happened. I fucked up,” she admitted. “I’ll be lucky if I keep my badge.”

“How did you fuck up? Did you allow yourself to be taken? No. Put them in a cage with a fight to the death and see what they do!”

She sighed and moved to lay back down. “It’s government bureaucracy crap. I’ve been playing this game for awhile now.”

“Well, if they’d take your badge then it’s a loss for them,” he said as he sat down next to her on the bed, carefully. “Whenever you made the news in your rookie days, my heart swelled with so much pride. When you didn’t make the news anymore, it took me a while to figure out what happened, but what I heard didn’t surprise me. Unlike any of us, you did something good for a change.”

“Where have you been?” Myriam found herself asking. “How have you been keeping track?”

“Oh, here and there. I traveled to Europe for a while, then went to some non-extradition countries… visited Hawaii… ran into some trouble there with Wo Fat… went to another non-extradition country…” He summed up his life. “But I kept track through Cole. He still has eyes and ears that can be trusted, and I wrote to him as the lonely Miss Jenkins, who writes to prisoners and lives with her hundred cats.”

She rolled her eyes. “Entertaining. You know that guy gave me the creeps. He’s not a great ally to keep. He won’t hesitate to burn the family, and I wouldn’t doubt he helps our father.”

Nick smirked then. “I made sure he was six feet under after I left.”

“Are you sure? I mean sure?” She asked. “He was more sleazily than Elijah.”

Nick nodded. “It’s a crazy story, but I believed I even helped the local Law Enforcement with him. This guy got kidnapped and all because Wo Fat believed that this guy knew where his dead father was.”

“Do they know you killed him for them?” She smirked.

“The guy was so beaten up that I pumped him full with drugs and planted the idea in his head that he killed him,” Nick shrugged. “I had to leave after that, didn’t want them to come after me.”

“Let’s hope that his memory doesn’t come back from the event if you ever cross paths. It wouldn’t be the first time,” she said, concern filling her voice as it dropped in case Tammy was close by with her pain medication. “Because I remember those drugs were yours and Cole’s favorite M.O.”

He had a coy smile, and a small shrug as Agent Gregorio walked back in with a glass of water and a prescription bottle in hand. “Well, I’ll send LaSalle an update that you two haven’t torn one another’s heads off yet so that he can let your brother’s worries ease.”

“He’s still at your office?” Nick asked. “I would have thought you had him sent back already.”

Tammy shrugged, appearing to try to stay out of that pool of trouble. “Not my call.”

Myriam smiled as she narrowed her eyes, having swallowed the medication gratefully. “Bet that Pride had that request to keep him around until shit got straightened out. Wouldn’t surprise me, but I’d have sent him back, to be honest. It wouldn’t hurt him.”

“Yeah, but it would be hardly fair, wouldn’t it?” Tammy replied with a shrug. “In any case, Sebastian asked what you two want for food so he can bring some over. Loretta wants you to stay in bed, Myriam, at least until she’s cleared you.”

Pouting, she let out a sigh. “I’ll stay until she comes. I don’t want to sleep anymore,” she said with a shudder. “And I’m not hungry.”

“You need to eat something,” Nick scolded.

Rolling her eyes, Myriam set her head down as she thought. “I guess a chia pudding and muffin from Pagoda is fine.”

“Alright. Settle in. If there are any updates, I’ll let you know,” Gregorio let them know before leaving the disgruntled siblings on their own.

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