Struggled a little bit with this chapter but I hope it reads alright. Also, for anyone who actually knows how Quantico works in terms of schedules, I don't have more than a cursory idea from glancing over the website so I apologise for any mistakes. You are all absolutely wonderful. One last tiny bit to go after this – I won't wait a whole week to post that but will probably put it up towards the end of the weekend.
Part IV: XVI-XX
xvi.
Don's whole life seems to boil down to these last five weeks as expectations skyrocket and he pushes himself to and beyond limits he didn't know he had. Something in his desperate striving lights a fire under the others and he thinks that maybe, just maybe, he might have been some kind of remarkable in any other world.
The thought is reassuring and unsettling all at once and so Don does what he does best and locks it away under the slowly solidifying granite of his shields.
The sixteenth week brings four firsts all at once.
On the Monday morning Carter manages to take Michael Wells down, for the first time of any of them, with a burst of unexpected speed and strength. The tactical instructor shows his approval with a distinct lack of restraint for the rest of the session and all four of them bear their bruises like badges of honour.
Wednesday's Hogan's Alley session is the first time that they split the four into two teams and Richard discovers the hidden leader in himself. He takes his team to a victory that is awarded praise from their instructors and basks quietly in the feeling.
Thursday evening is the first time Alex finishes their run, leading by a full stride for the last fifty metres, ahead of Don. The two skid to a stop together, hitting the ground in a tangle of limbs and breathless gasping for air. Somehow it isn't Don's failure but a success for both of them and that is an exhilarating thought.
Saturday is a first for Don when he and Terry sit in the laundry with the rumbling of the machines under their legs, slices of pizza in their laps and a distinct lack of barriers between them as she tells him quietly about why she joined the FBI. Terry's hand rests on Don's knee and he meets her eyes readily when she says his name.
"Talk to me."
For the first time, he does.
xvii.
Ian and Michael sit them down in an empty room the weekend of the seventeenth week.
"You've done the interrogation classes," Ian says and there is an edge to his voice that immediately sets Don's skin to prickling. "You've been taught to be bound by ethics and the law when extracting information in the interrogation room. Sometimes there isn't time and sometimes things are so far from what they seem that you'd laugh if you didn't end up with a gag in your mouth and held by someone who thinks you know things that maybe you do and maybe you don't. If you're captured then chances are whoever has you is not going to be bound by the same constraints you are."
"First," Michael says coolly. "They're going to ask you not-so-nicely to tell them what you know. They might threaten to kill you if you don't talk. They might threaten you with the lives of your family or your friends. Sometimes they will have them."
"You're going to have to decide whether the security of the information they want is worth that," Ian continues. "It's easy to say that no information is worth a life but you work for the government now. You're going to have access and be privy to things the like of which you've probably never imagined." He flashes a slightly terrifying smile. "Even if you don't have it, the most important thing is that they think you do, and there are people in the world that will do lots of things to get their hands on that information."
"They might put a bullet in each of your knees." Michael's voice is even and they do the best they can to keep their faces expressionless and their breathing regular. "Shatter the bones in your hands and your feet. It doesn't matter how strong you think your mind is, there comes a breaking point for both it and your body."
Ian leans forward and pins each of them with a piercing stare. Don doesn't think he'll ever forget the way Ian's eyes seem to suck the very light from the air in that moment.
"My question to you is whether you think you can hold that mental breaking point off until you're rescued?"
Michael's voice shatters the silence before they can answer. "And if rescue isn't coming, can your mind outlast your body and take the secrets you're protecting to your grave?"
xviii.
Their third to last Friday in Virginia, Alex and Carter come crashing into Don's room where he, Richard, Alice and Terry are reading over the transcripts from that day's moot court, breathless excitement in every inch of them.
"Edgerton has our placements!" Carter blurts. "All of us. He's waiting with Wells on the field."
They sit cross-legged on the grass like eager school children and Ian and Michael look vaguely, and a little indulgently, amused as they settle against the tree trunk.
"Congratulations," Michael says, fixing his eyes on Alex and Carter. "Miami field office SWAT are willing to take the both of you."
There are fist bumps and happy exclamations and both are gifted with swift kisses that make Ian cough pointedly until Erin and Charlotte meet his eyes with only the slightest flush to their cheeks. "The pair of you are heading to New Jersey field office. They're shorthanded in Narcotics and Violent Crime right now so there's probably some fieldwork in your immediate futures."
He looks at Richard and flicks his eyes to Terry, moving back and forth as he speaks. "A friend in the BAU has found a couple of openings in the local field office that you can fill. He'll handle your extra training and if that goes well then you've got your in."
Terry scoots sideways, leaning against Don, and practically radiating delight. Richard's eyes are alight with satisfaction as Alice's hand closes around his in congratulations and nervousness.
"You're heading to New York," Ian says to Alice. "Straight to white collar crime." Her hand loosens slightly around Richard's as she relaxes and he returns the pressure with an easy smile.
Ian's eyes flick to Don who thinks that he was wrong and his whole life has boiled down to this moment right now as the man seems to deliberately draw out the wait. A wry quirk at the side of his mouth makes Don breathe in sharply.
"You're heading on the road with Fugitive Recovery, Eppes. Reporting to Washington after graduation and I might see you out there."
Don closes his eyes as a smile, bright as the slowly setting sun, spreads over his face and he leans against Terry in relief.
They celebrate that night and, for once, it feels like the ghosts are completely gone even if it is only for a little while.
xix.
Quantico is practically abuzz in week nineteen. Placement preferences have been lodged, some approved, some declined, a few select recruits already aware, and there is a sense of achievement in the air because they're almost at the end and it has been drummed into them that their lives begin when they take that oath at the graduation ceremony.
Four letters arrive that week, confirming details for the graduation ceremony, and for the first time four replies are written and sent without more than the barest hesitation.
Richard breaks their unwritten rule of silence but, by this point, it doesn't really matter.
"Have to say goodbye to the past to make room for the future, right?"
Don nods automatically in response but there is a bitter taste in his mouth at the lie because he knows that part of him is the past and he can't let that go.
xx.
They all pretend not to notice the others' eyes on each other as they greet the family that comes to watch them take the first steps into their lives as special agents. Don watches from the corner of his eyes as Richard's father shakes his son's hand calmly and his mother gives him a quick and emotionless hug, as Alex and Carter's parents approach the pair of them from opposite sides and firmly demand their son's sole focus with a distinct lack of warmth.
He knows that the three of them, and the girls, are watching as his mother draws him into an embrace heavy with things that neither of them will acknowledge even though they know they're there and his father claps him on the shoulder with a maelstrom of disbelief, fear and a little pride, whirling in his eyes. Charlie looks around, all wide-eyed curiosity and faint streaks of chalk dust. Don has to be the one to touch his brother's arm in greeting.
Terry doesn't let go of his hand unless forced by their places in line. Alex is steady and strong at his side and he is irrationally grateful for their sequential surnames. He thinks the oath that they take has to be the truest thing any of them have ever said and there is an immediate sense of belonging, up there on that stage, in the group that somehow seems bigger than it ever has before.
Awards for academic and athletic achievements are handed out with a minimum of fuss and Don pretends not to see the vague surprise in any of their parents' eyes when they return to the grass to continue the festivities with pieces of paper declaring their achievements for all to see.
For a moment Richard stiffens beside him and he immediately surveys the area for a threat before he realises that this is probably one of the last times they will be genuinely safe. His eyes catch sight of Ian and Michael, maybe a dozen yards away, watching them with an indecipherable kind of uncertainty that looks completely at odds with the men that they've come to know and admire.
Don suddenly knows that he doesn't want the two worlds, the two versions of himself, to collide and that neither will the others. He shakes his head minutely and mouths 'later' before turning to nod in response to whatever it is his father has just said.
Taking a deep breath, he forces a smile and introduces himself to Richard's parents politely.
Everything is only temporary, he says to himself as his mother's hand settles on his back. This is only temporary and this is almost over. You just have to be patient a little longer.
Terry's hand slides back into his soon enough and he knows that it's almost over. The thought is both thrilling and a little terrifying.
Not 100% on how this one turned out but we're almost at the end as well!