Actor was just about to enter the main-floor library when he looked up to see the Warden limping towards him.
"What have you done to yourself this time?"he asked with the beginnings of a smile.
"Give it a rest Actor." The comment was made with no hint of humor as the Lieutenant stepped around him and headed for his office. If Garrison had looked back he would have been impressed by the perfectly executed about-face the con man made to follow him.
"If you do not wish to be questioned you must either change your gait to eliminate that limp, or you must come in through the French doors…" The group's second met their C O's steely gaze without flinching. "I will work with you on your gait, if you wish."
Garrison came to attention, skirted around the Italian, marched half-way down the hall and back again with parade precision, and without any hint of a limp. Brushing past the man he entered his office. "I can manage my own gait," he said, though the limp had returned. "Thanks anyway."
Instead of the chair behind the desk the Lieutenant headed for the battered couch and lowered himself gratefully into a corner. Craig leaned his head back and closed his eyes, knowing the con man really hadn't disappeared just because he could no longer see him.
Actor considered their commander for a moment. He'd shortened his stride and kept the left leg bent slightly to accommodate the right. If he hadn't seen him just prior to that little exhibition he never would have known the Warden might be injured. And he took a moment to wonder how many times the man had been able to fool him in the past…and then was encouraged that he hadn't found it necessary to do it this time.
"I know you won't tell me where you've been." The Warden was sent out on his own occasionally, something none of them liked. "How serious is it?" And he smiled slightly, "if you were inclined to tell me the truth."
Garrison opened his eyes and sat forward. Resting his elbows on his knees he massaged the back of his neck a moment and then sighed. "Sorry. I'm alright."
"For you, that almost equates to an admission of being near death." Actor smiled down on the man when he looked up to meet his gaze.
Garrison gave up and smiled back as he leaned back into the over-stuffed cushions. "I'm just tired, that's all. Not only am I tired," he said wearily. "I'm tired of 'it'…. All I really want to do right now is go home."
Actor walked over to the Lieutenant's desk and pulled out the bottom drawer as he wondered where that feeling of 'home' might be for the young officer. He returned with two glasses; one he handed over as he took a sip out of his own. "With the pace they've set us, and your additional clandestine assignments, it is no wonder you are tired. You are only human, you know?"
Garrison laughed and sipped at his drink. "Don't tell the others, will you? I don't want to lose the edge I have over them."
"On the contrary." Actor finished his whisky and sat the glass back on the Warden's desk. "I believe I should go upstairs immediately, and inform them that you have finally admitted something they are already aware of themselves." He walked over to the door, "You finish that, and I'll keep the others quiet for a while so that you can get some rest."
The con man turned on the threshold and looked back when he didn't get a response. The Lieutenant was already asleep. Actor stepped back across the room and lifted the tumbler out of his hand and set it aside. He moved back to the door and closed it quietly behind him as he left.