A/N: This may be a one shot but I'm honestly not sure yet.
Double Standards
Jane entered Patterson's lab followed by Tasha and Patterson. Rich was hunched over his computer just as they left him; it was as if he hadn't moved. Jane placed his lunch by him.
"Hey, here's your lunch."
Rich didn't say a word. Jane looked to the other two and saw their confused expressions.
"Hey, DotCom, they forgot to put the pickles in the middle of the turkey, beef, chicken, cheese, tomato, mayo, peanut butter and ketchup concoction that you call a sandwich so they put it on the side instead." Zapata said
"Ok, thanks."
This resulted in another look being shared by the three female members of the team. Rich was a part of the team and as such was expected to have meals with them if he wanted to but he felt that working with the FBI was one thing but being seen having lunch with them in the local diner was another, hence why he always got take out and they would bring him something back. However his attitude to Jane was baffling, he loved her yet he was giving her the cold shoulder and none of them could understand why. Reade and Weller entered the lab but the rest of the occupants didn't see them.
"Rich, have I done something to upset you?" asked a perplexed Jane
She was ignored again.
"Rich, what is going on? If I've done something to piss you off just let me know."
"Why?" demanded the hacker
"Why what?"
"Why should I let you know?"
"So I can apologise…"
Rich stood up and was toe to toe with Jane.
"Oh please…"
"What's that supposed to mean?" said Jane affronted
It was amazing that the usually scared computer nerd seemed fearless of the dangerous woman in front of him.
"Really? So it's ok for you to apologise but not for anyone else?"
There was a loaded silence, no one knew what to say, they all just looked at each other, well apart from Jane and Weller, and they avoided eye contact.
"Excuse me?" demanded Jane
"What? Can't handle the truth can you?"
"Rich!" said Kurt
"Do you even know what the truth is?" exclaimed Rich
"Rich!" Patterson tried to rein him in
"NO! WHY SHOULD I KEEP QUIET? WELLER HERE HAS FORGIVEN YOU FOR OH SO MANY THINGS, WHEN YOU CAME UP WITH THE WHOLE IDEA OF PRETENDING TO BE HIS DEAD BEST FRIEND…"
"RICH!" Kurt tried again
"…WHEN YOU SLEPT WITH OSCAR…"
"RICH!"
"…WHEN YOU BETRAYED THE TEAM, YOUR CHOICES THAT LED TO MAYFAIR'S DEATH, THE FACT THAT YOU KEPT THE SECRET THAT YOUR BROTHER KILLED EMMA SHAW!"
"RICH!"
"RICH!"
"RICH!"
"RICH!"
The whole team called apart from Jane but to no avail.
"BUT THE ONE THING HE DID WRONG, GRANTED IT WAS PRETTY BAD BUT THE ONE THING HE DID WRONG AND YOU CUT HIM OUT OF YOUR LIFE. JUST LIKE THAT! YOU'RE SO TWO FACED. HE FORGAVE YOU A LOT AND YOU CAN'T EVEN TALK TO HIM? I'M DONE WITH YOU!"
And so saying, they all watched as Rich stormed out of the lab. They all looked shell shocked by the outburst. Patterson was the first to recover and quickly ran after him. Tasha and Reade avoided Jane's eyes and Jane knew that they thought Rich was right. Kurt was just despondent. They all seemed to come to the conclusion that Patterson may need help and they wanted to make sure that the newest member of their team was ok. They all moved as one to go and look for their team mates. For some reason Rich always found the gym soothing, they had no idea why. He didn't exercise and he didn't leer at the agents while they trained, for some reason he just liked it. As they made their way to the gym they could see a few agents coming from that direction and they knew they were on the right track. When they reached the gym the closer they got to the door the more they could hear.
"..what was all that about?" asked Patterson
"Seriously? Why are all of you letting her treat Weller like that?"
"Rich, what else is going on? This isn't like you. Talk to me please."
They all saw when the hacker's shoulders drop in defeat, Patterson was facing them.
"Rich?" prodded Patterson
"She's only thinking about herself. I would never have described her as selfish but…"
"Rich her daughter died." Patterson said quietly
"I KNOW! WE ALL KNOW!"
"Rich?"
"Look, I know that I haven't been part of the Scooby Gang for long but I think I know all of you pretty well. Like I know that if Weller took an innocent's life that would be killing him inside, there is no way he will EVER forgive himself for that but can you imagine what he's feeling knowing that he killed his wife's daughter? How he's still standing I don't know. Like I know if there wasn't a spare parachute in the plane he would have still jumped, like he's been buying a bottle sometimes two of whiskey on his way home every night since he confessed everything to Jane…"
"Maybe he's not drinking all of it?" Patterson whispered
Rich just gave her a look that told her what he thought of that.
"…like I know he cancelled his trip to Colorado …"
"Things have been pretty busy around here." Argued Patterson
"…and how he lied and told Munchkin's mama that he wouldn't be able to see the little munchkin even if she did come down for a few days…"
"He has a lot of things on his mind."
"He's been ignoring all of Allie's requests for Facetime. He doesn't even speak to his daughter anymore let alone read her bedtime stories over Skype. He's cut off from his daughter…"
"Why would he do that?"
"Probably because he wrongly assumes that she'll be better off without him."
"He loves Bethany!" declared Patterson
"Yes he does, so much that he thinks she'll have a better life without him."
Patterson was shaking her head.
"Can you really not see it? Really?"
"Rich what are you trying to say?"
"I'm worried that Weller is going to eat his gun!"
There was stunned silence. Patterson was facing the rest of the team; she knew exactly when the rest of the team entered. She also saw when the rest of team turned to Kurt and they all saw the truth on his face, he wasn't quick enough to conceal the truth. The hacker that had been a pain in their butts since he entered their lives but had turned into a team member saw what they didn't, that their boss, their friend, their brother had actually contemplated taking his own life.
Patterson had tears in her eyes, it was nothing compared to the ones rolling down Rich's cheeks, she embraced him.
"He's forgiven so much of Jane's mistakes, yes he got someone else pregnant and he slept with Nas but he and Jane weren't together then so he didn't cheat on her, yeah Jane was in pain but still. She's supposed to love him but how can she when she doesn't even see how much pain he's in from hurting her so much? Why does it seem as if they can't be happy? If it's not one thing it's another. I know this is pretty big, I get that I do but there is a little girl in Colorado that deserves to have her grumpy daddy scare the crap out of her first date but that may not happen. If Bethany was killed with this 'hit on Jane', Weller would grieve but he would grieve with Jane, you know they would work it out, it wouldn't have been easy but they would have gotten through it. But she takes her ring off just like that! Even after Weller explained everything to Jane she just took the ring off and left. There are too many unanswered questions and Weller is too devastated to think about them and Jane isn't thinking clearly."
Patterson kept her arms around the annoying member of the team; he didn't even return the hug, his arms just hung by the side. Patterson watched helplessly as Jane left the gym.