chapter word count: 473

noir heart: fifty-three

Sid's initially petulant eyes widen in horror, and his face goes a white comparable to when he first saw Jack's badge - it's definitely his little bag, and the fear he is exuding from every pore tells as much. Possession of drugs is illegal anyway, but meth? Jack doesn't know which angers him more; that this kid has meth in his bag, or someone actually sold it to him.

"What the hell is going on here?"

Jack doesn't need to turn his head, nor cast a side glance to recognise the owner of that voice, the gruff tone is enough: Calhoun. Generally found wearing tracksuits of varying colours, and a blond bob featuring bangs that trail across her right eye, Jack used to and still thinks that she vaguely resembles the coach from Glee.

Eventually he does turn his face towards her, and...yep...still the same Calhoun. Blue tracksuit, arms crossed, scowling. "Jack, izzat you? Geez, you look like hell."

"Always a pleasure, Coach." he drawls.

Frowning, she continues her mild disbelief. "Last time I saw you was-"

"Macbeth, yeah." Jack finishes for her whilst simultaneously grabbing the collar of an escaping Sid, who evidently thinks it's a good time to sneak away, and pulls him right back against the wall without even looking. Forcing a smile, he prays Calhoun doesn't go against character and be all concerned; the school production of Macbeth is not a happy memory.

"Yeah. So why've you got our resident troublemaker pinned to a wall?" she asks, her tone still gruff but far less confrontational. That's weird.

Sid begins to panic, and mutter something like pleasedon'ttellher, pleasedon'ttellher. Of course, Jack knows better than most not to hide things from Calhoun. "Oh, no reason. Other than this," he holds the tiny bag over to the coach. Taking it, she frowns for a few seconds while she examines the clear plastic bag's contents, before her face goes blank in realisation. Stepping forward, she brandishes the bag like it's a discipline stick and practically growls.

"This had better not be what I think it is."

Sid seems to have another of his bright ideas by rapidly shaking his head, but lying to both a cop and one of the most intimidating staff members in the school is bad mojo, a concept Jack reminds him of with a reprimanding whap to the back of his head, NCIS style.

"Ow!" he yelps, his hand shooting up to massage the impact site, "okay! Okay! It's...it's meth…"

Jack removes his hand from the defeated boy's shoulder, linking it with the other in an unimpressed cross. "You should probably start telling the truth, Sid, 'cause what you say next could be the most important words in your life."

special thanks to: hornedgoddess, stefalove, jpbake, oninoko, heartonfire and scottydog for the reviews!