Title: Promises to Keep
Pairing: Travis/Wes
Characters: Wes, Travis, Alex, OCs
Summary: It was then, staring at Travis' face, trying to get him to talk to him that he knew. He was in love with Travis, and he was about to lose him. All he could think was that he had to stop Travis, save Travis, and before he knew it his gun was in his hand. "Travis if you move one more inch, I swear to God, I'll shoot." This is a kid!fic.
Chapters: 1/?
Word Count: 2,028
Disclaimer: I do not own Common Law, but given the chance I would love to! I do own the OCs, so that's something. The title is from a Robert Frost poem. I know nothing of law or police procedures so forgive my lack of knowledge. I'm happily making things up as I go. This is unbeta'd so I apologize for any and all mistakes.
AN: My timeline goes as this: Wes graduated high school at 16; was in college/law school 6 years; spent 3 years at DA's office; 1 year at Police Academy; 2 years as a police officer ( 1 in Missing Persons); and 2 years as Travis partner making him 30 in the season finale. Travis is 2 years older than Wes and went straight into the Academy after college. The title may change at some point because I'm not sure I like it.
"I believe that everything happens for a reason. People change so that you can learn to let go, things go wrong so that you appreciate them when they're right, you believe lies so you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself, and sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together." – Marilyn Monroe
Despite what many people believed, there was a reason Wesley Mitchell came across as cold as he often did. Wes had loved so many people in his life who just didn't love him like he needed them to. He'd loved his parents, even as they neglected him. He loved them (or the idea of them) as parents, rather than as Wendell and Kelsey, his parents. When they died in a house fire when he was nineteen, he mourned them as much as he could and moved on. You can't really miss those you don't really know.
He'd loved his best friend Michael, who he now knew only stayed with him because he had money, a nice house, and parents who didn't care what he got up to as long as he stayed out of their way. Wes wasn't a very social child and had always had trouble connecting with people. Michael was popular, but he talked to Wes, hung out with him even as the other kids bullied and teased him for being smart and so uptight, and made life feel a little less lonely. He loved Jamie, his first girlfriend, too. She was beautiful, intelligent, and elegant. Even at fifteen, Wes knew what he wanted and Jamie seemed to be it. So when he came home from vacation in Napa with parents, who hadn't spoken ten words to him the entire two weeks there, wanting nothing more than to hang out with his best friend and girlfriend, he was shocked to find them already together… in Michael's bed with no clothes on.
He'd loved Alex. She was everything he was sure he wanted and loyal to him. They got along well enough and she even followed him from Texas to work at the LA D.A's office with him. He had even loved his job as a lawyer. He was able to avenge broken families and get justice for victims of all crimes. Law catered to his love of debate, his need to be right, and his predisposition for fair conflict resolution and problem solving. Wes was finally on his way to contentment.
Well, that was until the Carmichael Case. Seventeen year old Sarah Carmichael was found dead in her bedroom. Noah Burke was the seventeen year old black male indicated in the murder of his white, long-term, secret girlfriend, Sarah. Her father, William, was a well-known business owner with many friends in high places, so the cops rushed to find the killer in order to soothe their friend. Noah was arrested and placed in a maximum security prison where he was killed by members of the Aryan Nation. Two weeks later, Sarah's brother Joshua shot their father before killing himself. He left a note behind saying he heard his father bragging about getting away with Sarah's murder and putting away the bastard who corrupted her. He was so afraid of their father that he had kept his mouth shut. But with the news of Noah's, who was his best friend, death he couldn't live with himself and he could let his father get away with it anymore.
Noah had been an honor roll student, who had never been in trouble and was headed to an Ivy League school on a full scholarship to study Political Science. Wes was saddened that his life was cut short by politics, overzealous cops desperate to gain favors and prosecutors looking for high conviction ratings instead of the truth, and racist bigots who love their race more than their children. It was a harsh blow to his ideals, but he could move past it once those responsible were reprimanded. Only it never happened. Noah Burke was swept under the rug, and the case was buried. Noah's parents were given not compensation, apology, or even an acknowledgement of a wrongful arrest and evidence tampering from the cops. When the Burkes tried to file a civil action suite, the D.A.'s office buried them in so much litigation that they had to drop the suit and file for bankruptcy. Wes was disgusted. He could not understand how the people who were supposed to fight for victims could live with creating them. He complained and protested but he was ignored. Wes then went to the family and offered to help them with the suit. Two days later the Burkes were shot and killed in a home invasion and Wes was rear ended and run off the road. There were no witnesses, no evidence and no lead, so the cases grew cold. Wes could never prove it, but he knew it was a hit to clean up the mess the LAPD and the DA's office had made. He shared his concerns with Alex, but she disregarded them and told him to keep his head down. She said if he continued to push it he would ruin the life they worked so hard to build; that the Burkes were gone and there was nothing they could do about it. Wes tried to take her advice and move on, but their relationship was never the same.
Wes tried to return to normal, he really did. But he was curious, so he looked up other cases similar to Noah Burke's. He found seven other possible cases swept under the rug. He didn't have the proof to do anything about it, but they set a terrifying precedent. Wes could not help but think there had to be a way to prevent this situation from happening again. Finally, he realized that there was. There was a way to stay in the law field and still make sure the correct people were arrested and put away. He could became a police officer, and be the one doing the investigating and arresting rather than the prosecutor going on the word of the cops. He could be on the front line making sure due process and department procedures were followed in an exact manner to catch the correct criminals. The more he thought on it, the more he fell in love with the idea. Three months after the death of the Burkes, Wes resigned from the DA's office and joined the Police Academy.
Alex was furious. Suddenly her dreams of a perfect life were in danger of collapsing. She tried everything she could think of to convince Wes to go back to being a lawyer, but Wesley was stubborn. Once he set his mind to something that was it. So he studied and worked hard to push through the Academy. As Wes got closer toward becoming an officer of the law, their fights became louder, longer, and much more frequent. They stopped sleeping and eating together, and sooner were little more than roommates to each other. But still Wes didn't leave. Though Alex's attitude toward the Burkes upset him and changed the way he looked at her, he still clung to the same dream of a perfect life that she did. So when she gave him the ultimatum, return to being a lawyer or she would file for divorce, he resisted. He tried to tell her that he being a police officer didn't have to change their dreams, but she was adamant. Wes thought about going back, if only for the sake of his marriage, but the thought made him sick. He literally could not stomach it. So when he came home from his Academy graduation to see most of his clothes packed and at the front door, he grabbed them without a word and called in a favor with a friend who managed a hotel. And six months later coming home, after coming off a satisfying ten hour work shift finding a child kidnapped from his adoptive parents by his coked up birth mother, to divorce papers already signed by Alex, he grabbed a beer, read through the terms and signed his name. He didn't fight very hard because even though he still held on the dream and the familiarity that was Alex, deep down he couldn't stay with her. She had failed him, just as his parents, Michael, Jamie, the school system, the DA's office, and he, himself, had before her.
Wes was twenty-eight and just finishing his first year in missing persons when Pac-Man introduced him to Travis. By the end of the month they were partners in the Robbery Homicide Division. Travis was everything Wes was not and contained many qualities and did many things that he hated; but he was smart, dedicated, had excellent instincts and connections, and he could read Wes better than anyone he had ever met. Despite the bickering and teasing, they worked amazingly well together and complimented each other enough to be noticed. Soon they were one of the best teams in RHD, and possibly the LAPD, and had one of the highest closing rates on record. It was rare that they had to arrest a second person because they tended to be right the first time. They became best friends as well as partners, spending entire weekends and days off hanging out with Pac-Man and each other.
Travis and Wes worked together for two years before things came to a head. First, they helped Pac-Man catch the attention of SIS. With Pac-Man gone more often, Wes and Travis had to get used to the changed dynamic in their relationship. Now that it was mostly just the two of them, feelings they had been able to bury by using Pac-Man as a buffer began to come out. Neither man wanted to admit it, so attraction led to awkwardness and tension, and what was once banter and teasing became full- fledged arguments that would sometimes escalate to fights. Then, Wes' divorce was finalized and after a farewell one night stand, Wes and Alex were officially over. Four months after the divorce was finalized Alex called to say she was pregnant. Wes was so overwhelmed. He was afraid to tell Travis because of the tension between them so he kept quiet and worked out a new settlement with Alex. He would now get the house and Alex, who wasn't ready for a child and refused to raise a child alone or be in constant contact with Wes, signed over her parental rights and gave Wes full custody.
By the time Pac-Man called them about the dirty SIS agents, between an eight month pregnant Alex and an increasingly tense relationship with Travis, Wes was about ready to bash his head in. Paternity leave was sounding better and better. Then Pac-Man was dead, their trio now officially a duo, their best friend gone and his murderers were walking away with no consequences. It was then, staring at Travis' face, trying to get him to talk to him that he knew.
He was in love with Travis, and he was about to lose him. After everything in his life that he had lost, he could lose the man who had become his everything, too. Travis, was his best friend, his partner, his sounding board, his ear and shoulder for comfort, the love of his life and the one person who had never failed him; and he was about to do something that, either by death or prison, would take him from Wes forever. And Wes could not deal with that, not when he couldn't breakdown, not when a child was coming that needed her daddy sane, not when he needed Travis alive and free in order to function properly. He tried to stop Travis from following Crowley. But Travis was bigger than Wes, and a lot stronger. He was moving toward the door before Wes could try again. All he could think was that he had to stop Travis, save Travis, and before he knew it his gun was in his hand.
"Travis if you move one more inch, I swear to God, I'll shoot."
AN: Sooooooooo? What do you think? If you like it then let me know. I have so many surprises in store for you. Next is the fallout from this (different then the show); Travis does something he's good at; Wes takes on more responsibility, and life for Wes gets so much more complicated! Stay tuned for the next chapter! Please Review!