Chapter 16

Early Hours of Day Eight

Gil and Malcolm stood in the living room. Gil had his arms crossed and his stance widened. Malcolm stood and swayed on the balls of his feet, hands clasped behind his back.

"I'm going to do what I can to help you kid, but I need your help," Gil says. Malcolm nodded along hoping to prolong the inevitable.

Gil searches his face, moving forwards and placing his hand on Malcolms shoulder. The shorter man's frame slumps under the weight. Disappointment. It filled the room.

"Kid, you almost died today. You do understand that right? And it wasn't just a random night bender, you've been heading towards this path for weeks. Diving from case-to-case, not eating, not taking your meds, and don't think I don't know you haven't seen your therapist either. I don't understand why, but you're killing yourself Malcolm. And I need you to take care of yourself. Let me handle things for a while," Gil pleads.

"Okay," Malcolm responds softly. He forces his eyes to meet Gil's. This was a battle already lost. He really screwed up this time.

"I will let you know when we need you," Gil adds. Malcolm nods, slightly elated at the turn of events. He foresaw a lot more yelling and berating. He wasn't sure if this was worse.

"Thank you," Malcolm says. Every emotion was put into that single word and Gil squeezed the back of his neck affectionately.

"Of course kid. But I think it's high past time you tried for some real sleep. You look like you're about to fall over," Gil says pointedly. Malcolm nods hesitantly.

"Come on, on you go," Gil says, pushing Malcolm towards his bedroom. The shorter man throws his arms around the taller for one last moment. Gil returns the hug.

Then Malcolm heads over to his bedroom.

"I see you've made some changes since I was here last," Gil says following him. Malcolm follows his gaze. In addition to the guest room, Malcolm also had double glass doors installed for his bedroom and a new alarm system for when he went to bed.

The doors to keep him in as much as deter others from entering and the alarm to wake him up if he does get out of his restraints again.

Fear trumped fear in this case. His fear of hurting a friend again beat his fear of claustrophobia.

"Just a few," Malcolm responds, grabbing the remote to set the alarm.

He turns to Gil, confused "are you staying?"

Gil scoffs.

"Maybe you hit your head at some point if you think I'm leaving you alone tonight," Gil jokes. Malcolm gives a small smile for his efforts.

"I have a guest room upstairs. Although I'll have to invest in a futon too… I'll do that tomorrow," Malcolm says to both Gil and himself. Gil raises his eyebrows at the additional changes.

"What happened to the person that would, and I quote 'die before ever reinforcing people to stay in' your space?" Gil presses. Malcolm chuckles at that memory.

Shortly after graduating and finding the loft, he was adamant that he wanted to be alone. Alone is what protected him.

"He made friends," Malcolm responds softly. And it was true.

Before Malcolm would've said Alone is what I have. Alone protects me.

But now he realizes that philosophy is wrong.

So while Malcolm sets up for the night: shuts the doors, turns on the alarm and locks restraints with mouth guard in, Gil heads upstairs to sleep in the guestroom.

Malcolm manages to sleep another night without terrors, the mental and emotional exhaustion taking over.

Gil travels back downstairs periodically to check on Malcolm throughout the night.

Edrisa insists that Dani return home when the detective relieves JT from his "babysitting" as Edrisa fondly calls it.

Dani tempts her with a Harry Potter marathon and popcorn she snuck into the hospital room.

Dani falls asleep sometime around "Prisoner of Azkaban" but Edrisa worries her way through "Order of the Phoenix" before she finally succumbs to sleep.

She didn't ask Dani about Malcolm when she returned. The other woman was obviously shaken and while Edrisa accepted the 'Malcolm's sick' excuse, she knew better.

Something was wrong with her friend and she knew it. He was so reluctant to leave and then rushed out, barely saying goodbye. Then he doesn't return… yea, something was wrong.

She managed to get Dani to reveal that Gil was staying with Malcolm, but otherwise there was nothing shared about what happened.

So Edrisa slept with her thoughts, hoping that everything would be okay.

She really wanted to go home, home to Malcolms' loft.