Disclaimer: I do not own Prodigal Son
Summary: Malcolm finds out more about Jack while Major Crimes gets a taste of new Edrisa
Notes: I do not remember the name of Jessica's person that works at the house so her name is Beth okay? Good.
Also I have to point out, I love Bright. I seriously do but he is a typical male. A rich male that has had a weird and crazy life but he was still privileged by his wealth, his skin tone, and his looks. He can be oblivious as a character at times and while he regrets his actions, doesn't actually apologize or try to do the right thing at times; especially with Edrisa.
XOXOX
When Malcolm left the station, he found himself walking towards his Mother's house. He doesn't want to run into Ainsley after what happened last night but he had the strongest instinct to find out everything he could about this Jack DeLuca guy.
As he walked he felt some guilt over what happened between him and Edrisa. While his mind was consumed on the possibility of his sister killing again, he did notice the effort she put into making the morgue as romantic as possible. The fact that he could find a morgue romantic in any way just shows himself how lost of a cause he really is.
Except Edrisa never made him feel like a lost cause. She made the effort into making their 'date' in a place he was comfortable in. He should have told her the truth that morning when she mentioned it being a date but he honestly thought she was just using the expression. When he saw her in that dress? A part of him felt like the biggest asshole for not talking to her and laying himself out there, but his brain was too focused on his sister and protecting her to worry about Edrisa's feelings.
His sister that was just fucking with him to prove a point to herself. She knew he was driving himself fucking crazy with all the emotions he's had since covering up Endicott's death, and she messed with him anyway.
It broke his heart that his own sister could be so cruel to him when he's done nothing but try and protect her.
Yet now that he isn't worried about Ainsley becoming the newest serial killer in Manhattan, he deeply regrets how he handled last night. Edrisa was someone that always treated him kindly and he abused that kindness last night. He needs to apologize. If Jack DeLuca wasn't there, he was going to offer buying her dinner and finally explaining himself. She would understand when he explained; she always did.
How did they meet anyway?! Jack was an extremely influential member of the wealthy in New York City, as far as he was aware, he couldn't think of anywhere they would have interacted casually much less on such...friendly terms.
He reached Mother's house and greeted Beth as she let him inside and informed him where his mother was.
As usual, she was in her living room, a glass of wine in her hand instead of scotch, as she looked over something. She must have heard him because as soon as he stepped in the room, she looked up at him and gave him a beaming smile.
"Malcolm! What a surprise. Birdie is napping and I'd love someone new to talk to." She says happily as she gets up to give him a kiss on his cheek. He could see something was clearly on her mind but he didn't have time for that now.
"Staying for dinner? I believe we are having fish tonight, but I know that upsets your stomach so we can have something else." She tells him as she starts pulling him to the couch to sit with her.
"No I'm good thanks mother. I actually had a question for you." He says and he sees her start to get her regular defenses up.
"Is this about your father or your sister or anything…"She looks around before leaning in to whisper,
"Murdery?" Her eyes are wide in fear and she looks like she was preparing herself for more bad news. He can't say he blames her. It seems every other day something bad was going on. Now that she knows the truth about her daughter she was really nervous about what could happen next.
"No, this is about the DeLuca family." He tells her and her eyes scrunch up in confusion.
"Oh! Not what I was expecting but what do you want to know? They are very liked and powerful and influential members in Manhattan, although Stephaine DeLuca can be a real bitch at times." She tells him giving a fake smile when she talks about the other wealthy woman.
He feels bad bringing it up since he knows she lost a lot of status after he turned in his father. It seems almost all the other families turned their back on her; not counting Endicott who was just trying to keep her close.
"What do you know about her son Jack?" He asks and she thinks for a minute trying to remember.
"Well I know he's in his late twenties, runs his late father's company, and is a little bit of a womanizer, although there is a rumor women aren't his only vice." She recalls and his eyes widened.
"What, like he's into drugs or alcohol?!" He asks, a little too excited making his mother look at him confused again.
"No, I meant he likes men and women. Malcolm, what is going on? Is he a suspect in one of your cases?" She asks him and he pouts a little disappointedly.
"What about at Remington? Any scandals you know about?" He had to ask, there's no way there's nothing wrong with this guy other than he has a healthy sexual appetite. Everyone was hiding something.
"He didn't go to Remington. That was actually a little bit of a scandal, Stephaine kept saying he was going to transfer after his first year but he never did. I believe he went to public school." She informs him and he nods. He probably would have had better luck in public school, he's almost jealous of the slightly younger man.
"Thanks mom." He mumbles.
"So, are you going to tell me what this is about? If there's something interesting going on, I'd love to rub it in that woman's smug little face." She tells him and he couldn't help but laugh a little.
"Nothing is going on. I just saw Jack is getting close with Edrisa and wanted to make sure she would be okay with him." He explains and he can see she was trying to figure out who Edrisa is.
He should have pointed out to her that she has met Edrisa at least three times, but it wasn't worth it. He wants to get out of here before his sister comes home.
XOXOX
A couple days later, a body was found on the outskirts of Central Park. Malcolm happily did his morning routine after he got the text from Gil. As he took out his medications he chatted happily to Sunshine that today was going to be a good day.
He was seriously trying to look on the bright side. He was still avoiding his sister, so by extension his mother and he was honestly relieved to be away from some of that drama. He knew he would have to talk to one of them sooner or later but for now he was enjoying the peace.
He was even contemplating going back to therapy. He stopped seeing Dr. Le Deux after what happened with Endicott but he had a lot going on with the girl in the box being real, Eve being murdered, even his growing feelings for Dani. He wanted to talk to someone and other than Gil, he had no one.
He steps out of his cab and makes his way towards the end of the park where he sees the police tape containing the crime scene. He can see Ainsley filming the news on the farther side of the tape. She locks eyes with him, but he quickly turns away. He's going to pretend he doesn't see the satisfied smirk on her face. Today was going to be a good day. He had to keep telling himself that.
Gil and JT are talking to themselves when he finally reaches them. He sees Dani talking to some witnesses and makes a note she was wearing her hair up today. She never does that. She was also wearing earrings; they looked nice on her.
"Hey kid, we have a new one for you." Gil remarks pleasantly and JT nods in hello. He can clearly see the lack of sleep on the new father's face, but chooses not to say anything about it.
"Okay, what do we have?" He asks his father-figure. He will never be ungrateful to Gil for giving him this job, it's been the one good constant he's had in a long time.
As Gil explains the scene, they walk towards the victim . It was a Latino male, middle aged, middle class by the look of his clothes; his face was bruised, his hands were bound in front of him with barbed wire, and it looked like the cause of death was a cut across his throat.
He makes his way closer to get a better look and is making little notes to himself about the profile of the crime scene. The cut was deep and jagged; almost like it wasn't made by a knife. As he moves his face even closer to get a better look, he doesn't even hear anyone come by him before he is roughly yanked away from the victim.
"Special Agent Bright! That was way too close to the victim!" She says strongly, her eyes looked like they were burning from anger; definitely not the usual greeting he was used to receiving from her. Still going to be a good day; he was going to fix this.
He straightens himself out before giving her a charming smile that usually makes her blush. Only this time, she frowned at him. Huh.
"I apologize Edrisa, I was just looking at the cause of death. It doesn't look like it was made by a knife." He explains to her softly and she gives him an almost sarcastic smile.
"Well unless you have a medical degree and specialize in pathology, I advise you to leave that assessment to me." She tells him and his eyes widen in shock. He doesn't think he's ever heard her speak so harshly to him before.
He never did get around to talking to her and apologizing but she couldn't still be mad about that night, could she?! It was an honest mistake and he had a lot going on!
"Hey Edrisa, I'd appreciate you not speaking to Agent Bright that way." Gil finally speaks up and he is next to JT and Dani who are giving the woman a warning look. Surprisingly, she does not back down and stares at them head on.
"And I'd appreciate you respecting my crime scene." She shot back before she widened her eyes, almost as if she was just as surprised at her words as they were.
"Your crime scene?" Dani asks, surprised and almost amused at the doctor's tone and attitude. Usually all it took for her to be putty was Bright giving her a smile. Something seemed to have changed overnight.
Edrisa straightens herself up and looks at the detectives with a confidence she hasn't had since Agent Malcolm Bright joined the Major Crimes Unit. Hell, no one has seen her this confident before.
"Yes! These victims may be deceased but they are my responsibility and they are in my care. I will not have any non professional possibly contaminate any evidence that could lead to finding whoever did this. If any of you have a problem with that, I suggest you bring it up to the Captain, but I assure you, I'm doing nothing wrong." She looks them all in the eye when she defends herself before ending her speech looking at Bright who looked equally shocked and embarrassed at what just happened.
Before Gil could say anything to defend his actions, Bright nods.
"You are absolutely right. This is your domain and I promise to remember that in the future." He says and she just nods before walking back to her team to transport the victim to the morgue.
This was not how their interactions usually go. Usually there's witty banter, morbid jokes, and even some playful flirting. He didn't like this change at all.
"When did Edrisa get a backbone?" JT mutters to Dani, shocked and the younger detective scoffs before shaking her head.
"I don't know, but she needs to learn her place." She says to her team and Malcolm frowns at her.
"But she was right, I shouldn't have gotten that close. She's told me that before, I just forgot." He tried to defuse the situation. He can see Dani was getting angry at Edrisa and while he appreciates the fact she has his back, he knows he was in the wrong, which is why he apologized.
"Still. She shouldn't talk to you like that." Dani says and JT just shrugs.
As the three leave the crime scene while Gil goes to make a regular statement, they head towards their cars and JT nudges his partner and points to Bright.
"Maybe Bright stood her up for their 'date' the other night. Or turned her down; I saw her bring roses to the morgue that day." He jokes and Dani turns to the profiler surprised.
"You did tell her that it wasn't an actual date right?!" She asked him and he could feel himself shrinking into himself, embarrassed again. Fuck, he did not want to get into this with Dani before he properly apologizes to Edrisa.
"I thought it was just an expression. I needed her help with something." He mumbles and even JT looks at him.
"Dude, not cool. That girl has been drooling over you since you got here. Pretty creepy and annoying if I'm being honest."
Dani nods in agreement.
"Yeah she is a borderline schoolgirl or creeper on you but you did tell her you weren't interested right?" He can hear the anger in her voice and he's not sure if that anger is because of how he acted with Edrisa, a fellow coworker, or if she was angry because it appears he's enjoying her affections. The profiler in him knows the answer but is choosing to be ignorant.
He stops and looks at his two friends who were clearly looking for an explanation. He wasn't into gossip in any way. Even in the FBI there was always petty drama going on and he tried to stay as far away as possible.
"Look nothing happened. I asked Edrisa for help and then I left; nothing happened." He says again making sure Dani got the point. She seemed happy with that but JT still looked suspicious.
"So what about the roses? Did she think it was an actual date?" He asks. Edrisa wasn't his favorite person; in fact he barely knows her and doesn't really want to, but he knows how to treat women and if his friend didn't tell her that he wasn't interested when she clearly was; well that could lead to a whole mess of problems. Also, it would make him reevaluate how he sees Bright as a person. It wasn't cool to lead someone on. Yes, Edrisa was freaky but she did try to be nice to people and even gave him a gift for his newborn.
The two men look at each other and JT can see that his friend is just realizing how badly he messed up. He doesn't say anything, it wasn't his place but also because Dani didn't need to hear it, but he thinks he may need to have a conversation with him sooner rather than later.
All Malcolm Bright kept thinking was how fucking hard it was to have a good day, drama free.
TBC