Reasonable Doubt

Don stepped out of the dark warehouse into the loading bay, sliding his shades on against the brightness of the midday sun. He felt a contentment that was all too rare in his line of work - the perps had been taken into custody without a shot being fired and their shipment had been seized before it could get out onto the streets of LA. Job done.

He smiled slightly at the sight in front of him. It seemed like he wasn't the only one to be feeling pretty pleased with life right now. Colby was leaning back against his car, eyes closed as he turned his face to the sun, and looking just as relaxed as Don felt. It really was too much to expect Don to resist the temptation handed to him like that. He walked over to Colby and kissed him. Just a quick kiss on sun-warm lips, except it felt so good and the surprise on Colby's face was so comical that he went back for seconds. And when Colby started to respond, it turned out not to be such a quick kiss after all. Finally, reluctantly, Don pulled back. This was neither the time nor place.

"Get out of here," he said, jerking his head towards Colby's car. "Your report won't write itself."

"Yeah, about that," Colby said. "You think Charlie could come up with some sort of computer algorithm that'll do that for us?"

"Go." Don's commanding tone was spoiled by the slight grin he couldn't help as he watched Colby get into his car and pull round toward the front of the building, presumably looking for David in order to scoop him up and take him back to the office so he wouldn't be alone in paperwork hell. There was co-dependent and then there was Colby and David.

Don glanced at his watch and turned back to leave. He too should get back to the office, start the interrogation of their suspects. It was all a formality; they'd been caught in the act like a bunch of amateurs.

Speaking of which… Damn it. David was standing rooted by the warehouse door, staring at Don. It seemed as if he'd just gotten an eyeful, which was extra annoying given it was the first time Don and Colby had done anything like that at work in the couple of months they'd been together.

"You need a ride?" Don asked as he walked towards him, because he had to say something to cover the awkwardness.

David ignored his question entirely "What the hell was that?"

Don stopped in surprise. "Me and Colby? You know we're together."

"Yeah, but I didn't expect to see the two of you acting like that on a freaking op," David said sharply.

Don's stomach tightened. "You got a problem with it?"

"Yes, I've got a problem with it. I don't want to see an op going south and people getting hurt because you're too busy staring at Colby's ass to do your job."

The anger in David's voice blindsided Don. It shouldn't have. He'd just never expected it from David.

"You know me better than that," he said, biting down the fury that was suddenly washing through him. "What's this really about?"

"It's about you not being focused on the job."

"Yeah? Odd how I don't remember you having a problem with me and Liz."

"That's because you kept it out of the office. And what's that supposed to mean anyway?"

"You work it out."

Don pushed past David, who didn't move out of his way, meaning Don's shoulder jostled his, and by the time Don got into his SUV and slammed the door behind him, he was really pissed. He knew he'd let the satisfaction of a job well done and Colby's closeness in that moment lead him into something he should never have done. It didn't matter that the scene had been secured and cleared, he'd have reamed out any member of his team who'd behaved as he had. That knowledge didn't make him any happier about the conversation he'd just had.

.

As soon as he got back to the office, Don got called in to see the SAC about a complaint he'd received about harassment and intimidation by Don's team. Given the complainant in question was a self-confessed paedophile, Don didn't express as much regret over that as the SAC wanted, so it was almost a half hour before he was out of there and back to where he could do his damn job rather than worry about the human rights of scumbags.

None of had left him in the best frame of mind when David caught up with him in the corridor.

"What I said earlier, Don – I was out of line."

Don stopped and swung round on David, but just managed to stop himself from delivering the blistering reply that was dying to get out. David's face was open, his expression making it evident that he wanted to clear the air.

"Colby and I shouldn't have been messing around like that, and it won't happen again," Don said in the end. And damn it, he was still mad as hell at himself for putting himself in the position where he was in the wrong. Not least because anyone could have walked out that door and seen them, and that was something he didn't even want to think about.

David nodded, and passed over the file he had in his hand. "Newman's statement. He's willing to give us Ferguson if we'll do a deal."

Don suppressed a sigh with difficulty. This was the part of the job he found the most soul-destroying: compromise, always compromise. Everyone knew Newman was guilty as sin; the thing was that Ferguson was just as guilty and they needed testimony to touch him. "Let's do it," he said in the end, and passed the file back to David who turned off toward interrogation.

Don stood there watching him go. David had been right to call Don on his behaviour earlier; what bothered him was the way David had done it. Maybe it was post-op adrenaline that had fanned annoyance into anger. Don hoped so, he really did. But he'd seen that sort of reaction one too many times, and the whole thing left him with a nagging feeling of unease.