Probable Cause
Written for the Fear Challenge. This fic was inspired by a comment from Meiveva Sirenice in the NFA Season 9 News thread. No spoilers, though.
Warnings: Violence, Language. Post season 8.
Disclaimer: You know the drill. I own nothing except my demented sense of imagination.
Summary: His greatest fear just might be happening.
Probable cause – The reasonable belief that a person has committed a crime; sufficient reason to believe that an arrest or search of a suspect is warranted.
Prologue
Tony let his gaze travel around the small, drab room. It looked like any other interrogation room he had been in over the years: the same bare walls, all except the one which held a large "mirror", the same sturdy table and chairs, the same stained and threadbare carpeting, the same security camera in the corner. He could even imagine what it looked like on the other side of the mirror, right down to the group standing there, watching the activity in the room, waiting for any hint of guilt. He had stood on that side himself, many times over, trading barbs with his teammates or watching other interrogators at work, both skilled and clumsy in their approach at extracting information from the accused.
Now he was the accused.
He had been in that position as well, more times than he cared to contemplate. He had sat in a room just like this when he had been framed by a psychotic lab assistant. It was an experience which left him with both a healthy respect of the power of forensic evidence and a fear of such a thing happening again, when perhaps he wouldn't have someone on his six to prove his innocence.
He had found himself in this situation again, two years later, when the woman whose trust he had betrayed accused him of murdering her father. He had faced down the FBI again, and his team had tried to help him by examining what little evidence they were able to obtain, but this time he had been saved by the one who had instigated the betrayal as part of her own personal vendetta.
In both of those cases, his innocence had never been doubted, not by himself, and not by his teammates. This time, however, there was no such assurance. The seeds of doubt had been spread far and wide, and this time, the likelihood of escaping the situation unscathed was much, much smaller.
He was, as it appeared for the present, totally screwed.
Tony was not worried about the impending interrogation. He knew all the tricks, both how to detect them and how to use them. He was more worried about the real reason for him being here. But worst of all, his greatest fear, was the question that had been going through his mind since had been brought to the station a few hours before. It was a question which he couldn't answer, and that terrified him beyond all else.
Did he actually deserve to be here?
TBC…
A/N: This will be just a little different than my normal stuff. I'm curious to know what you think.