Author's Note: First Endeavour fic – hoorah! Just last week I re-watched all of the episodes so they're fresh in my head for the new series. I then spent all weekend combing through the Endeavour archive on AO3 – but I ran out of fics so now I have to write my own things.
Base of Operations
DeBryn's attention is on the cadaver currently lying on his table, but he hears the door open as Thursday and Morse enter the mortuary. "Afternoon, gentlemen," he says in a casual tone, "welcome to my base of operations."
"Doctor," Thursday greets him.
DeBryn waits until he hears the footsteps come to a halt beside his table before he looks up. To his surprise only Thursday is standing there, waiting patiently for whatever DeBryn has to say. He was sure he'd heard two sets of footsteps but there is a bit of an echo in here; perhaps DeBryn was mistaken.
"No Morse today?" he questions Thursday. Not that he'd admit it, but DeBryn's grown to like the squeamish young detective.
Thursday gives him a puzzled look and turns to his left, only to find there's an empty space. With a slight frown he twists his head further back before taking a step to the right, revealing a pale Morse standing behind him, hands stuffed in his coat pockets. Maybe it's the location that's making Morse so pale, or the lighting; likely a combination of both.
"Hello," Morse says quietly, not looking DeBryn in the eye. Now that the entirety of the cadaver's messy gunshot wound is in full view, he pales further, swallows.
"You alright?" Thursday asks Morse, looking like he's ready to catch him if he faints.
Morse clears his throat with some effort. "Yes," he says, not quite convincing anyone in the room – including the unfortunate corpse. "Yeah, I'm fine."
"Right," Thursday says, bringing everyone's attention back to the task at hand. "What do you have to tell us, Doctor?"
As DeBryn begins his report, he's not surprised to see Morse hide behind the Inspector's back once more. If Thursday notices, he decides not to comment on it either.
THE END