Siegel AU - Sensory
Note: I am undecided where in the timeline of my overall story with David Siegel this belongs, but the idea won't go away. Just a flash because a scene from earlier in the series didn't sit well with me.
Click, click, click, tak…click, click, click, tak…Agent Siegel looked at his C.I. as he fiddled with a pair of handcuffs and glanced briefly at the others in the van. Neal was in a strange combination of hyper-focused on and barely aware of what he was doing. The other agents in the van were definitely aware and seemed annoyed. No need to wait for one of them to threatened to break his arm. He reached into his pocket and pulled out square of dark purple crochet. Then he considered how best to break the man's current fixation. He stepped in front of Neal and let his shadow fall over the seated man. Neal looked up with some surprise of his face. He felt a little bad for looming over him, but it was probably less jarring than speaking loudly enough to call his attention away from the object he had been fixated upon and definitely better than startling him with a touch. He knew he didn't have the same kind of rapport with the man that Agent Burke did. A masked charm graced Neal's face, and Siegel's stomach turned at the two wide smile and practiced eyes, but the former corrects officer stalwartly kept his pity from showing. Too put the obviously frightened man out of suspense, Siegel held out the purple square. "Trade with me, Mr. Caffery," he said quietly.
"Thank you," Neal said with aplomb, and handed over the cuffs in exchange for the crocheted fabric. He immediately began checking it over and soon discovered the cloth's secret. "Wow. Thank you, Agent Siegel. This is really nice." The other agents in the van looked confused and Agent Jones went so far as to raise an eyebrow. "It's a puzzle. There is a marble you push through a little tunnel system. Though actually, I think it may be labyrinth. I don't think there are paths with dead ends."
"Enjoy finding out," Siegel said while handing Agent Blake his handcuffs. He smiled to himself, glad that his C.I. could now make use of a more appropriate sensory toy.