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Tweak says, "fax me back, bro"

Derek Morgan (derek__morgan) wrote in omega_reality,
@ 2013-06-11 15:07:00

Entry tags:

*complete, 2013 06, character: april kepner, character: derek morgan, character: eliot spencer

RP: Derek, Eliot, April
Who: Derek, Eliot, April
Where: Camp Site
When: Tuesday, June 11, 2013
Summary: Derek tries to talk to Eliot again

The past few days had been extremely busy, trying to adjust schedules and routines to a world with no schedules and routines, using the sun and the rain as much as the watches. Still there was time to catch up with people, and Derek was trying to use the time to talk to the new arrivals, get a sense of who they were, profiling without meaning to. There were two people that he wanted to talk to. Not new arrivals, but they might as well be in a way, because half of the team didn't know. Of course, they also had it worse, because the half that did know didn't trust them.

He approached Eliot, while April was putting Eve in the car to sleep. "Hey there. Maybe we could join your wife and have a little talk." It wouldnt give them complete privacy, but there was no such things as privacy when they were living on top of each other, and this was the best they could do without risking lives.

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derek__morgan
2013-06-14 09:05 pm UTC (link)

"No, I believe they will pardon him, not because I believe they are good and noble, but because he's a valuable asset. You work with them or they do kill you. Or we all run together. They are at no greater risk, because they won't trust any of us. Not a single one of us, April. We know that. We're not discounting the possibility that we'll have to run there, too, but there is the possibility that we won't. It's a risk, yes, but the alternative means moving from dimension to dimension, from town to town until we die." He was confused by the way she was presenting her case, though. "What kind of work did the government made him do? What do you think they made him do that they would make him do again?" If anything, Special Ops went to the most important missions, saving lives across the world. Derek knew that he was missing something, a lot of something, and couldn't reassure her without the information.

"I get that, April, but you have no money now. You have no identity. You just left a dimension that imploded on itself. What do you think it would happen in the next dimension? You have nothing. We have nothing. We are ghosts, and ghosts don't last, not with families." He knew a few people who could. He'd just spent five months with three of them, and he knew that for all of his undercover skills, he wasn't even as good as them. "I'm going to tell you what I told Eliot. We have no intention of keeping you with us, but even if we'd let you slip as you put it, you'd be dead. They have your counterparts. How long before they found you? We have video recognition. We have phones under control. If they really want to find someone, they will find them. You have to start thinking what do you want to teach her daughter? Can you really have her on the run forever? Never settling, never trusting anyone, never dating, never marrying, because that's what you will be doing to her, because she will never be able to explain the differences, the two sets of powers she has, the lack of birth certificate, social security. I think those are things you need to consider, because it's all nice and well now that she's a baby, but that baby will become a teenager and eventually a woman."

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_eliot_spencer
2013-06-15 05:02 am UTC (link)

Eliot finally spoke up. He'd been keeping silent, mostly because he didn't want to get into another fight that went nowhere. But now Derek was talking about his past and this was part of things that affected them in the now.

"I'm a criminal, Morgan - one hundred percent, no question. And that's the crux of it," Eliot said. "No matter how hard I've tried to become a part of this team, since even before I'd lost my normal sight, it was never gonna happen because I'm a criminal and the rest of you ain't. I accepted that back when we were in Vermont, and when it came up that ya'll wanted to be the heroes you are by returning to New York, I stuck by what I am and thought of myself first.

"You're right in that I'm selfish, and I'll always be selfish, because I'm a criminal and a killer, and not a goddamned 'good guy' like the rest of you. Trying to be otherwise got me nowhere but a stock boy job.

"And if you don't think we could disappear back in our dimension, you got another think coming. You're used to dealing with splashy serial killers or zealot terrorists, not professional criminals who have more money and contacts across the globe than your agencies could fathom. But whether we make it to that dimension or any other, it's best for all that I get out of your lives so there's no concern for your team 'family'."

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derek__morgan
2013-06-15 02:15 pm UTC (link)

He always felt that he was talking about a million things at once when talking to them, but then he was used to that with Callen. He just needed to be just as careful with his words. "Eliot, you were a stock boy, because of your eyes, not because of your past," Derek continued. "We've always assigned jobs based on physical conditions and abilities. You have your eyes back, you can fire a gun without a delay. You can be part of the team, because if we find our way back and work for a federal agency, we're not going to push reports or giving lectures. We'll be out in the field dealing with enemies that normal people can't get to easily. Your skills are valuable."

Derek stared at the other man. "You can be a criminal, but you can't afford to be selfish. You have a daughter now. What you do will affect her more than it will affect me."

He leaned back. "Assume that you could disappear, which I don't know if it's even possible when the government really wants to found you. It might take time, but with all the technology there is, no one disappears forever, but let's assume for a moment that you can do that. How many deals do you have to make to get what you need? How many times will you have to make them when your little girl slips up and shows her power? And how soon before some of the people you made a deal with want to use your power? The government might be suspicious of you, bu how kind are those people? How quickly would they use your wife and child to get you to do what they want? And who do you think is going to have to stop you when you start using your powers for other criminals or terrorists?"

He sighed. "Look, before you decide on your nice imaginary life in another dimension or escape the government, think. This isn't just you anymore. This is a child with two superpowers who won't understand why she can't use them, why making things float will mean that her life changes all over again. It means bringing her up without any roots, without a sense of family. You want to go back to being a criminal or an assassin, guess what job she'll end up doing when she grows up, because she won't know anything else."

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_eliot_spencer
2013-06-16 06:43 pm UTC (link)

"Yet, as you pointed out, even before we left we weren't a part of this team. If we had been, do you think we would've gone? And do you think that I'm stupid enough to believe that it was my sight that benched me when I was an integral part of things at the ranch, when I worked daily with the units and then was even given more responsibility? No, it was my failure with the students and punishment for it. It either was Vance or one of you four deciding I was useless, or worse: to even have around your units."

Vermont had been one of the unhappier periods of Eliot's life, and it hadn't been until Nate arrived and told him to stop trying to be what he wasn't that he'd given up on fitting in. April had been relegated to babysitter, so it wasn't as if she wasn't depressed. Not that anyone but him noticed or cared.

"My daughter comes first. How she's raised is up to me and April to decide. If she has family, she has roots, and that's us, not you or the others. While we're thankful Vance decided not to kill us like he'd promised, it doesn't change the fact that we haven't been wanted around since last August, which being the grand profiler you are, you already knew."

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derek__morgan
2013-06-16 07:08 pm UTC (link)

"Jesus, you're paranoid." And not even the way they were. "There was no punishment at all. Vance wanted you to work with the kids and you worked with the kids. At the school, we needed something completely different and that's what we did. You couldn't drive on those roads, you couldn't shoot. You trained with the rest of the office personnel, because that was what you could do. Or do you think that Nell and Brian and Sean were there for punishment too? We don't do punishment. We put people where we need them."

Derek snorted. "So we're back to you and your feelings. You know, you two have decided, and that's fine. I won't try to change your minds again, but don't tell me this is for the good of the team, or even for your daughter's future. This is for you, both of you, because you don't feel appreciated. You think that we're some kind of drones, following what our superiors tell us without thinking and April? I don't know why you think that the government would turn anyone into a criminal or a killer, and I'd truly like to know where you got that deluded idea, especially if you're using it not to give Eve a decent future. When you're willing to talk about whatever story you think you know, I'll be happy to listen."

He reached for the handle to go, but still looked at them. "I said my peace, but I hope you'll reconsider, for your daughter's sake, because Eliot, you've mentioned how you felt, but you hadn't said anything about what I said about the future and being the grand profiler I am, I know it's because you know that I'm right. That in dimensions with no contacts, you'll be nothing but low level criminals always on the run. That in our dimension, you'll be hunted down like an animal. That there is only one choice if you want to give her a future. I know that you know, because when you don't like the options, you scowl and change the subject. You don't like to face reality, but this time, it's not you or April paying the price. Think about that."

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april_kepner
2013-06-17 06:25 pm UTC (link)

There were few things April was not willing to discuss, but to discuss details of Eliot's past with anyone but him was one of those things. The government had asked him to kill, and anything he'd done thereafter had been done as a result of the damage done to him because of those orders. There were things she would say however, to both the men in the car.

"Eliot, you were a criminal, you aren't one, keep your tenses straight," she said firmly, before turning to look at Derek. "Nor will Eliot ever be one again. In any dimension or any possible future. He's not that man any longer and the fact that you'd draw the conclusion that that's his only option other than staying with the team says more about you than him. You talk about Eve, but don't you think we've thought about her? That we always think of her?"

"I don't know that we have all the answers, or that we've made the right choice, but it's not as clear cut as you make it out to be either. The options aren't safe and happy with the team or miserable and future as a criminal without it. I don't know what's best for my family right now, and we need time to figure out what is best for our family, and our daughter."

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