Fic: Breaking The Silence

[csi_sanders1129]

Title: Breaking The Silence
Chapters: 5/?
Author: csi_sanders1129
Genre: Drama. Casefile. Romance. Hurt/Comfort. Angst.
Ratings: T
Word Count: ~2,200
Pairings/Characters: Jason Morgan/Damian Spinelli.
Synopsis: In which Spinelli gets in over his head with a Jackal PI case, Jason has his hands full dealing with the fall-out, and a serial killer is on the loose.
Comments: I started this a while ago, but recently started working on it again, with major help from suerum , who is - for the record, awesome - it's not quite done yet, but it's getting there. Set a bit in the future (November 2010-ish) and assumes Maxie and Spinelli broke up and that Jason and Sam have also called it quits again. Mix between a casefile fic and a regular drama/hurt/comfort/romance kind of fic. Original characters aren't mine, even though I may not actually want them. Reviews are awesome, and enjoy!

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 |

Morning came by way of a persistent pounding at the front door. Whoever it was clearly had no intentions of giving up, and despite sleepless nights on behalf of both Jason and Spinelli – the hacker had woken up rather violently on four separate occasions to nightmares, which had then woken Jason (usually because Spinelli swung out and hit him in his mad attempts to escape whatever was attacking him in his dreams) and neither of them got back to sleep easily after such occurrences – they both abandoned the comfort of the bed. Jason opted to quickly change into his typical attire, but Spinelli stayed in the borrowed pajamas, and within a minute they headed down to deal with their early morning visitor.

Jason had deposited the sleepy Spinelli on the couch while he answered the door. It was Maxie, and she blew past him and toward Spinelli so quickly that Jason was sure she was moving at some inhuman speed.

Mac had probably told her what had happened. That didn't mean he had told her of Spinelli's current state of distress.

"Maxie, wait a-" He started to say, but he was too late. She had already crossed the room and was practically tackling Spinelli with a hug.

"Oh, my God, Spinelli, I heard what happened! Are you okay?" She demanded of the younger man, who had frozen where he sat on the sofa. Then he was in all out panic mode again, trying desperately to escape the hold she had on him.

She, somehow, ignored his squirming and continued to talk at him. "What were you thinking? Going into a dangerous situation like that on your own? I thought that was what Jason was for, so you didn't have to get kidnapped and tied up."

Spinelli, though, he had had enough. With one final, hard shove, he pushed her away. It was more forceful than the attempts last night, when he'd tried to get away from Jason. He pulled his knees up to his chest – difficult as it was with the cast, and probably equally painful – and wrapped his arms around them, blocking any future efforts at hugging.

Maxie gasped in shock at his actions, having clearly not expected to be met with such hostile resistance. Pushing and shoving was not typical Spinelli-like behavior, but then this wasn't a typical Spinelli they were dealing with.

"Spinelli!" She snapped at him, but Jason pulled her back, away from his self proclaimed protégé. As far away as he dared to get from Spinelli, anyway. "Hey, get off of me. Spinelli just-"

"Stop." He said, stone cold voice demanding obedience. "You need to stop right now. Spinelli doesn't need this."

"Why is he… acting like that?" She asked him, voice dropping a few levels as she cast a concerned glance at Spinelli. He was still curled in on himself, but his eyes were on Jason, making sure he stayed close. "What's going on?"

Jason sighed, dragged a hand over his face. "He won't talk. He hasn't said a word since I found him."

"What happened to him?"

"What part of 'he won't talk' did you miss, exactly? I don't know what happened. He won't tell me anything. Whatever it was… it involved a lot of blood, thankfully not Spinelli's."

"Ew!" Maxie shuddered dramatically and eyed Spinelli narrowly as though he were still coated in the red viscous substance. "Well, it's obvious he can't just go on like this, Jason. He has to snap out of it. A Spinelli who doesn't talk is like a Manolo shoe without a heel, it's worthless."

"Maxie," Jason couldn't stand her drama at the best of times, but right now he couldn't risk her damaging Spinelli's tender psyche any more than it already was. "You should just leave. When he feels better and things are sorted out, I'll have him call you." Not that Spinelli even had to do that much. He and Maxie had broken up closing in on four months ago – they'd stayed friends, but they didn't talk much anymore.

Maxie responded the way she always did when faced with an ultimatum - she stubbornly ignored it, and by default, Jason. Walking back to the couch, she was practically tiptoeing, as though Spinelli had lost the use of his ears and eyes rather than his voice and simply couldn't see or hear her coming.

Unfortunately that wasn't the case, and he appeared to be entirely uninterested in enduring round two of Maxie's rather unique idea of therapy. Jason watched as Spinelli tensed, he looked ready to bolt off the couch. Without the use of his crutches - which were leaned against the wall - or Jason's aid, he would just end up on the floor again.

Before Jason could get to Spinelli or stop Maxie from doing whatever it was that she was planning, another visitor arrived.

"Jason," it was Diane Miller. Walking through the still open door, she paused at the threshold and took in the scene before her with a raised eyebrow and a quizzical expression on her face. "I heard about what happened to Mr. Grasshopper," she said offhandedly to Jason who was torn between listening to Diane and watching Maxie and Spinelli, "I was down at the PCPD and heard Mac Scorpio and Alexis discussing how he was found. It must have been a simply terrifying experience for the poor boy!"

Maxie proceeded to sit cautiously on the couch next to Spinelli and hold her hand out palm up as though she was trying to pet a wild cat. Spinelli responded by scooting clumsily away from her and came perilously close to falling off the couch in the process.

"I'm sorry - What precisely is she doing?" Diane asked Jason with a sharp edge to her voice.

"Helping Spinelli get over his traumatic experience, but I'm pretty sure it doesn't work like that." Jason replied tersely as he turned away from Diane, courtesy always losing out to expediency in his book, "I think it's time she left." He added brusquely as he began to make sure of that exact outcome.

"Allow me," Diane said, smoothly gliding by him, her expression grim and her eyes glinted dangerously as she stalked over to the couch where the two young people were engaged in a macabre dance of pursuit and escape.

Maxie kept moving inexorably closer to Spinelli while he was darting frantic glances around the room looking for sanctuary as it seemed that his mentor had failed him in his time of need.

"Miss Jones," Diane said sharply, a small, razor edged smile on her lips, "I must ask you to cease in plying Mr. Grasshopper with your clearly unwanted attentions."

Maxie scowled up at Diane, she had been so intent on proving that she could get Spinelli to revert to his normal self that she hadn't even registered the lawyer's arrival. "Or what?" she retorted, "I think I know Spinelli better than anyone here," she glared at Jason who returned her stare with interest, and for once his eyes weren't icy cold but rather burning with the intense heat of dislike, almost hatred. He'd give Diane her turn at bat but then if it didn't work, he'd throw the intruder out on her skinny butt.

"Well, let's just check on that, shall we?" Diane drawled as she turned her eyes on Spinelli who was following the exchange with close attention. Ever since Diane had come closer he had relaxed and looked less like an imminent flight risk, broken foot and all.

"Mr. Grasshopper," she said, her voice soft and compassionate, "Do you want Maxie's specific brand of help?" It was clear she had already noted the lack of words issuing from the hacker and being intuitive realized that he was in the unnatural state of being mute – whether by physical injury or by mental one, she wasn't sure. Diane phrased the question so it could be answered with a simple yes or no.

Spinelli shook his head vigorously, his hair flying every which way.

"Spinelli!" Maxie's tone was both outraged and injured, but the hacker wouldn't meet her eyes, he tucked his chin in and looked at his hands clenched tightly in his lap. His entire body was rigid with tension.

"Just one more question and then you can rest," Diane said gently, and Spinelli reluctantly raised his head and looked directly at Diane - bypassing Maxie altogether. "Do you want Maxie to leave?" She asked straightforwardly and after the briefest of hesitation as he still refused to look at Maxie he gave a short nod.

"Well, I never," Maxie stood up abruptly from the couch, she bumped the end table and a lamp tumbled off and hit the ground shattering with a loud crash that caused Spinelli to cringe and begin rocking back and forth and start emitting those dreadful mewling sounds again which chilled Jason's blood.

"Leave now!" He said, stepping forward, his paralysis ended as he grabbed her arm and started dragging her toward the door.

"What's wrong with him?" Maxie sounded scared and guilty as she twisted her head to look back at Spinelli. "I didn't know he was so messed up," she tried pleading her case with Jason who was far too busy pushing her out the door to deal with her excuses.

"I told you that you weren't helping, Maxie," he said, quite unforgivingly. "Get the hell out and don't come back," he slammed the door in her startled face and immediately forgot about her as he turned his attention back to the couch, ready to go comfort Spinelli.

He wasn't needed this time, though. Diane was sitting on the couch, her arms wrapped around Spinelli as he laid his head on her breast. She was rocking him back and forth and talking in a low soothing voice. "It's okay, you're safe. It was just a lamp - Maxie knocked it over by accident. She's gone now and you don't need to worry about her coming back, Jason and I will see to it..." She kept up the reassuring litany as Jason moved to sit next to them on the arm of the sofa.

Diane looked at him over Spinelli's bowed head, her face was anguished and her eyes bright with tears. Jason placed a consoling hand onto Spinelli's shoulder. "It's okay, you're fine, and you don't have to worry. I'm sorry I let her in; I should have guessed she'd act like that. But Diane's right – it won't happen again, I won't let it." Now that Jason was back in his immediate proximity, Spinelli shifted to lean against him instead, and Jason wrapped his own arm around the hacker, temporarily ignoring the odd look that crossed Diane's face when he wordlessly accepted the motion.

Between the two of them, their words and touch managed to calm Spinelli down and the exhausted younger man lay back on the couch, his face tear stained. Diane covered him with an afghan and kissed his forehead. "We'll be right here. You just get some sleep, all right?" He nodded, the adrenaline gone from his system, and he was asleep in minutes.

Diane motioned to the kitchen, so they could talk privately without disturbing Spinelli, but Jason wasn't risking that again. He shook his head, moved to the table that now sat where his pool table had been. "I can't go far – he freaks out if I'm not around."

"I see," she replied, claiming one of the chairs while Jason stayed standing. "Has he said anything?"

"Not a word. And he hardly got any sleep at all, kept waking up with nightmares." It was what he was watching for now, in fact, his eyes across the room on Spinelli. "I know Maxie wasn't helping him, but I'm not sure I am either. I honestly have no idea what I'm doing."

"Well, you made it through the night with him in one piece. You must be doing something right." Diane countered. "I saw the pictures of the house where you found him. Whoever did that – Spinelli's probably scared they'll come after him, and I know that boy trusts you more than he probably does anyone else on the planet. So if he wants you to stay close, it probably isn't a bad idea."

Jason knew that. He wasn't complaining about the proximity issue at all – he had no intentions of letting Spinelli out of his sight as long as whoever had done this was still out there. But he knew Diane probably knew that already, too.

"I should be going now, but I'll be in touch. Mac has promised to keep me informed about the investigation, and if he has any… questions for you or Spinelli, he's to go through me first. No need for any unexpected visitors to send Mr. Grasshopper into any further panic attacks." She assured him, her own eyes wandering back over to the soundly sleeping Jackal. "And I'll be sure to warn Max about letting Miss Jones up here again when I meet him for coffee later."

"Thanks." Jason said simply, as she headed for the door. He moved to clean up the shattered remnants of the lamp before he claimed the chair by the sofa to get some rest himself.