A/N: Hello everyone! No, you're eyes are not decieveing you. A new story is here! :P With only a couple chapters of Chances left, I figured now was a good time to get the ball rolling on this one. This is a story that I actually started about a year or so ago, but never finished. I ended up coming back to it and finished it, so here we are!

I hope you all enjoy the first chapter!

"Oh, I feel good about this one, Kendall! I feel like a man who can't lose!"

Kendall Knight smirked at his partner. "Uh-huh. Then take the shot, Carlos."

Carlos Gracia squeezed his wadded-up ball of paper and eyed the recycle bin behind Kendall once again before giving him a mistrustful glare.

"You can't cheat, dude. No moving from your seat, no-"

"No wheeling the chair." Kendall said, impatient but amused. "I know the rules of office basketball, Carlos. Take your shot."

Carlos pursed his lips. "You forget I've been your partner for four years. The only reason you bothered to learn the rules was so you'd know how to bend them."

Kendall laughed. The man wasn't wrong.

"I'm telling you right now, I'm not staying here a second after five just because you like to hear yourself whining." Kendall warned. "I've got plans."

"Yep. That's the level of dedication I've come to expect from my partner." Carlos teased, aiming his paper ball once again.

Carlos wasn't wrong about that either. Kendall liked his job, and some days he'd even loved it-the thrill of out-thinking criminals, the occasional feeling he'd helped someone. More and more often, though, closing a case felt like lopping the head off a hydra-the next day, two more would spring up in its place. And when it came down to it, the most important investigation he'd conducted in the last year wasn't on the FBI's books at all.

"Hey, wait!" Carlos let the paper fall to the desk and pointed an accusing finger at Kendall. "That means you're not coming to Lola's with us tonight for drinks?"

"Nope." Kendall shook his head apologetically. "Not tonight."

"You're breaking tradition! We close a case, we go to Lola's!" Carlos' brown eyes were as mournful as a basset hound's. "But, fine. Whatever. Your plans are more important than hanging with your coworkers."

If Carlos only knew. Understatement of the millennium.

Kendall had plans that would help him locate his brother and hopefully take down a powerful, entitled criminal businessman in the process. So, yeah, just a tad more important than downing flat beer at Lola's Pub. Not that he would share any of those plans with Carlos.

From the other side of the cubicle dividing Kendall and Carlos' shared space from the rest of the office, Lucy Stone's voice shouted, "Oh, for God's sake, Carlos, take the shot. Our boy's got a date, and it's about damn time he got lucky."

Kendall rolled his eyes, but didn't correct her. It hadn't been more than a month or...fine, maybe two, since he'd brought someone home, but not because he couldn't. If you had a nice build and decent-looking face, finding a hookup was child's play, and there was no more luck involved in the process of 'getting lucky' than there was in ordering a burger at the drive-thru. The problem was, those hookups were about as stale and unsatisfying as the dollar-menu burger.

"So, who's the lucky gal?" Lucy, their computer specialist, peeked her red-streaked head above the divider. "Or is it a guy? It's a guy, isn't it?"

Kendall shook his head. His bisexuality wasn't something he'd ever hidden-nor was his personal life something he liked to discuss. "No comment."

He cracked his knuckles as a spurt of nervous energy wormed its way through his gut. Part of him was excited that after months of planning, watching, and waiting, it was finally time to take action-the first step on a long path to getting his foster brother Ethan back, and taking down the people who'd framed him-but he wasn't particularly thrilled that tonight would involve what essentially amounted to unauthorized spying. Sinking to the level of the people he wanted to take down was sometimes necessary, but never fun.

Nothing more than a simple conversation, he reminded himself.

Kendall's desk phone rang, and Carlos groaned.

"Game over, buddy. Should've taken your shot while you had the chance." Kendall said, shaking his head with mock sympathy as he reached for the receiver. But the voice on the other end chased the smile from his face.

"Knight, I need to see you in my office immediately."

Agent Gustavo Rocque was one of the good guys-the kind of idealistic boss who didn't have grand career ambitions and genuinely cared about his staff. His tone now was stiffer and harsher than Kendall had ever heard him use before.

Kendall's stomach plummeted and his fingers clenched tightly around the phone.

In a career distinguished mostly by his ability to skirt the law and bend the rules, Kendall was used to being in trouble. The question usually wasn't whether he'd done something wrong, but which of those things he'd been found out on, and he wouldn't have lasted long at this job if he let himself get irritated every time he was called on the carpet.

Today, though, he was pretty sure he knew exactly why he was in trouble, and he was afraid there'd be no bouncing back from this one.

Using agency resources to track his brother had been a calculated risk. Time to pay the piper.

"Coming, sir." He said, putting the receiver back in its cradle.

Without a second to lose, Kendall removed a tiny thumb drive of pictures from his top side drawer and put it in his pocket with a grim smile. Then he unlocked the top middle drawer of his desk and took out the thin sheaf of papers he'd printed that morning. Holding them under the desk, out of Carlos' view, he folded the stack in half and quickly slipped them between his sock and his shoe. Not comfortable, but effective.

The beauty of low-tech, baby. Nobody thinks to look anymore.

He stood.

Carlos glanced up in concern, their game forgotten.

"Gusty wants us?" Carlos was on his feet reaching for the jacket hung over the back of his chair without waiting for Kendall to reply, but Kendall stopped him with an outstretched palm.

"Not us, man. Me. Also, don't ever let him hear you call him that, because I'm pretty sure he would kill you."

Carlos ignored the last part as his eyes narrowed.

"You? Just you?" There was a thread of hurt in his voice as he added, "What's going on, Ken?"

Kendall cleared his throat against the niggle of guilt that tried to lodge there. He and Carlos had been partners for years, and the man had earned Kendall's trust. Carlos wasn't an idiot-he knew Kendall didn't share any details about his personal life, but he probably thought Kendall had enough team loyalty to share information that would impact their work, their partnership.

Kendall hadn't.

And yeah, it was partly because making personal connections was sticky as hell-telling people your shit compelled them to get involved in your life and vice versa. But he also reasoned that if he'd told Carlos about Ethan's disappearance, about the lies and the cover-ups, Carlos' neck would be on the chopping block too.

Kendall forced a smile to his face. "I feel like I may be getting some unexpected time off. You behave yourself, Carlos."

Carlos shook his head, stunned and suspicious. "What's this about?"

But Kendall was already on the move, grabbing his gun from the lockbox in his desk and sliding it into his holster-temporarily, at least-before snagging his own jacket and his FBI cell phone on his way out of the cubicle.

"Kendall?" Lucy called, but Kendall didn't pause. He turned to flash her and Carlos a quick smile and salute as he pulled his jacket on. He wondered what the office rumors would have to say about his departure once it became known.

Probably something like Kendall went vigilante and got his ass reamed again. If he were suspended or even fired, they'd likely think nothing of it. Carlos would get a new partner, Lucy would find someone else's love-life to live vicariously through, and that would be that. There was an upside to not putting down roots.

He pulled in a steadying breath. The familiar smell of stale coffee and donuts made his chest inexplicably tight, and he had to mentally roll his eyes at himself.

Jesus, Kendall.

If they could distill that odor into a candle fragrance, no sane person would buy it, but here he was all wistful because he knew he probably wouldn't smell it again.

When he turned around a bank of cubicles and got a direct line of sight into Gustavo Rocque's glass-fronted office, he saw the man was not alone. Clark Johnson, Special Agent in Charge and general boil on the ass of humanity, sat in a chair in front of Gustavo's desk. Neither man looked happy, but Gustavo's face was flushed and his eyes flashed with temper.

Stick to the plan, Knight. Deny, deny, deny, and buy yourself some time.

As Kendall approached the office, Gustavo glanced up from his desk and the look of disappointment and anger he leveled at Kendall could have singed the hair off his head. Kendall lifted a hand and ran it through his messy blond mop. Still there. Barely.

Clark caught the direction of Gustavo's glare and turned his head too, leveling a look of disgust at Kendall. He stood as Kendall entered the office.

"Agent Kendall Knight?"

Kendall nodded and responded in kind. "Agent Johnson."

Kendall put his hand in the pocket of his suit jacket, and smoothed his thumb over the surface of the lucky quarter Ethan had given him a few years back.

I knew this was going to happen, he reminded himself. I owe Ethan more than I can ever repay.

"Have a seat, Agent Knight." Gustavo said stiffly, gesturing next to Agent Johnson.

Kendall sat stiffly. Think about Ethan. Think about Shane Diamond. You're about more than your badge.

"You know why you're here, I presume." Clark said.

It was the kind of bullshit interrogation tactic they were taught on day one in the Academy. Did he think Kendall was an idiot? That he'd start blabbing?

"I'm afraid I don't, sir." Kendall replied, spreading his palms out flat in front of him and attempting a smile.

"Knight, enough with the bullshit." Gustavo said. "You started working with me right after you left Quantico. You don't have any tricks that I don't know about."

But growing up in a house where the very act of breathing was often grounds for punishment meant Kendall knew better than to volunteer information.

"Why don't you tell me what you think I've done." He said.

Clark leaned forward and grabbed a tablet from the desk.

"How about unauthorized use of Bureau assets, for starters? This image turned up on a facial recognition scan at the airport in Barbados, but the face isn't linked to any ongoing investigation in our database. Running a trace using facial recognition software without authorization is a serious offense."

He turned the display towards Kendall, who kept his expression blank when he saw the picture on the screen. There, in grainy color, was a man with shaggy, messy hair and a beard, his baggy clothing barely concealing his tall, lean frame. It was the very same image Kendall had printed out that morning, the one now growing damp inside his shoe, and it finally proved suspicion that had only grown stronger for the past six months.

Kendall's foster brother, Ethan Schmidt, who everyone on earth believed to be dead, was actually very much alive.

Kendall put his hand back in his pocket and fitted the quarter between his fingers.

Flick and roll, flick and roll.

"Wow, yeah. I would imagine it's serious. And you think I had something to do with running the face through the system?"

"Don't play dumb, Agent Knight." Clark warned. "It's not a good look on you. Now, how about if you tell us who this man is and why you were searching for him."

Kendall made a non-committal noise. "I wish I could, Agent Johnson." He said, a slight bitterness in his voice.

He wished Ethan could have a fair shot at coming forward and clearing his name without having to deal with Shane Diamond, the heir-apparent to the global Diamond Tech conglomerate, and James Diamond, the younger brother who always covered for him.

Agent Johnson puffed out his chest and started at Kendall. "Agent Jenny Tinkler recalls you initiating a flirtation with her a few months ago."

"Jenny?" Kendall asked, rolling the name around his mouth as though trying to place it. "Oh, the blonde on the seventh floor?"

"Yes." Clark huffed.

Kendall nodded and smiled. "Right, I remember. She's a lovely woman, if only slightly clumsy. I do remember chatting with her a few months back."

"She said she offered to show you the facial recognition system." Clark prompted. "And you seemed extremely enthusiastic. She assumed you had a romantic interest in her, and asking her to show you the system was just a way to break the ice. But it wasn't. Was it?"

"I don't understand what you're getting at." Kendall lied. "I do remember her chatting with me about the computer, but...Well, you know me and computers." He shot Gustavo a self-deprecating smile. "I was sort of flirting with her at the time, but the circumstances changed."

"You mean you got her to show you how to program a long-term search and then ditched her?"

Kendall blinked. Right on the money. "No. I mean, I remembered there's a no-fraternization policy in the office."

This time it was Gustavo who snorted. "You honestly mean to say you were flirting with Jenny? Just last week at Lola's, you took off with some guy named Tom."

"Your point?" Kendall retorted, allowing his very real impatience with this topic to show. Yeah, he'd been flirting with Jenny to learn her programming system, but he could have flirted with her for other reasons. Jesus. They needed to cover bisexuality in the next sensitivity training.

"And what about this?" Clark tapped his tablet again and showed Kendall a split-screen of two very official-looking letters.

Now this was a surprise. He hadn't been expecting anyone to catch him on his rule-bending so soon.

Although Kendall didn't need to read further than the company header at the top of the one on the right-Diamond Tech-to know what he was looking at, he carefully read the entire thing, then shifted his attention to the letter on the left and read through that one too, as though his own signature wasn't affixed to the bottom, buying himself a minute to compose himself.

"This looks like a pretty standard letter from the FBI giving notice of a potential investigation. And the other one looks like the typical, rich-corporation boilerplate reply, saying they're far too powerful and entitled to take our investigation seriously. Nothing out of the ordinary."

Kendall glanced up and met Clark's eyes. They glittered with anger, and somehow it calmed Kendall. He could deal with anger.

"It wouldn't be out of the ordinary." Clark agreed. "If this were in our jurisdiction to investigate! This isn't Cyber Crimes, Agent Knight, and no one in the hierarchy has ever authorized an investigation into Diamond Technologies!"

Kendall clenched his jaw, gripping the quarter in his hand so tightly he knew it would leave a mark on his palm. "Perhaps you're not aware, but we received a tip regarding a very clear data breach-"

"An anonymous tip about a data breach which, I will repeat, you have no authority to investigate! Without a warrant, you're only going on an unauthorized fishing expedition. You don't take up a position against a company as powerful as Diamond Tech without dotting your I's and crossing every damn T." Clark's eyes were hard as stone. "If they chose to take further action against us for harassment, it would leave us open to litigation, and after the year the Diamond's have had, we never would have won."

Rage blossomed in Kendall's chest. The Diamonds had a tough year? They didn't know the half of it. And now they were getting off scot-free, without any repercussions, as they always seemed to.

Clark shook his head in disgust. "You're lucky they seem to have dropped it after this letter."

Those words were like tiny pins that pricked the dam of Kendall's composure, unleashing a deluge.

"I'm lucky? I was doing my job investigating illegal activity! Jesus!" Kendall locked his teeth together, trying to reign in his temper.

Clark opened his mouth to reply, but Gustavo cut him off.

"Knight, this isn't your first rodeo, so don't start talking to me about conducting an investigation within the boundaries of the law is compromising your morals. There are rules and procedures we need to follow, and you know it. You know exactly how far to push the line without crossing it, and you also know better than to pull a vigilante stunt like this." He motioned towards the letter on the tablet.

Gustavo was right. Kendall did know better. He'd sent the letter weeks ago, in a spurt of impatient frustration, wondering if he'd ever see Ethan again, if he'd ever have enough information to make Shane Diamond pay. It had been stupid and he'd known nothing would come of it, but he'd hoped it would make the bastards at Diamond Tech sweat, if only for a minute.

Now, knowing he had nothing more to lose today, he crossed his arms over his chest and stood firm.

"What I know is when assholes like Shane Diamond say jump, we say 'How high, sir?' He can get away with anything."

"Ah, and that offends you because only you should be able to bend the rules? You're Kendall Knight, the Robin Hood of the FBI!" Clark scoffed and it took all Kendall's self-control not to wipe the smirk off Clark's face with his fist.

"I think we've heard enough." Clark told Kendall, then he stood and stared at Kendall. "You're hereby suspended without pay, Agent Knight, until the Office of Professional Responsibility can investigate your involvement in this matter. Gustavo, take his gun and badge. I'll get Vasquez, and we'll escort him out of the building." Clark turned and left the office, almost gleeful.

Kendall found his ass stuck in his chair and a lump stuck in his throat. The words had hit him like a sucker punch, even though he'd been expecting them.

"Gustavo, if I were to break the rules, it would be to help someone who didn't have the power to help himself." Kendall said quietly.

If this was the last moment Gustavo would be his boss, it was somehow important that Gustavo not think of him as an asshole.

So stupid.

Gustavo shook his head. "You think I don't know that? Christ, Kendall. That's not the issue. Not for me, anyway. You see this piece of crap?" He demanded, pointing at the framed inspirational poster that had been hanging on his wall for as long as Kendall could remember, the word Teamwork emblazoned over a sunset skyline.

"You think I keep this here because the freaking scenery inspires me? I've been preaching this to you idiots for years, but you just won't get it. There's no 'U' in teamwork. You don't close cases on your own, you don't go into a sketchy situation without backup, and you don't go off half-cocked just because, for reasons I can't fathom, you hate rich people in general and Shane Diamond in particular." Gustavo shook his head sadly. "Until you learn to trust someone, Knight, until you can really believe other people have your back, you're gonna be shark bait for guys like Clark...and guys like Diamond."

Kendall ground his teeth together to keep silent. Gustavo didn't know a single thing about his life beyond the black-and-white statistics of his personnel file-the number of schools he'd attended, the number of jobs he'd worked to get himself through college. Nobody knew what went on in those homes behind closed doors, or what it was like to grow up in the poorest, sketchiest neighborhood of an affluent town. They didn't understand the loyalty a man earned when he stood in front of a closed fist to protect his brother.

Men like Clark existed only to serve fat cats like Shane Diamond, and Kendall would be damned if he'd play that game, even if it meant surrendering his badge.

He took his FBI cell phone out of his pocket, but before he could set it on the desk, Gustavo shook his head.

"Keep it. We'll need to contact you."

Kendall nodded robotically, his stomach-churning. The worst had happened, professionally-speaking, but he reminded himself that now he could focus more fully on finding Ethan. Another thing to blame Shane and James Diamond for.

A knock at the door signaled Clark's return. He'd found another agent and was ready to escort Kendall out of the building.

Kendall stood and mechanically removed his gun from its holster, placing it on Gustavo's desk. It was weird setting his badge next to his gun. He felt a flash of panic, followed by an unsettling weightlessness, like the gravity holding him in place had somehow reversed itself. Who was he without his badge?

It was time to find out.

He nodded once at Gustavo.

"Thank you." He said, and he knew Gustavo would understand those thanks had nothing to do with the bullshit he'd just spewed, but with the years he'd spent teaching Kendall how to be a good agent.

Gustavo nodded.

Kendall turned and shouldered his way through the doorway, pushing himself between Clark and the other agent. Clark put a hand on his shoulder to stop him.

"Just a second, Knight."

"What?" Kendall sputtered as the agent gestured for Kendall to put his hands in the air. "You can't do that."

"Oh, you'll find that I can." Clark said pleasantly, patting him down.

Clark removed Kendall's phone, keys, and wallet, then came upon the thumb drive Kendall had stuck in his pocket.

Clark smiled. "Well, now. Look at that. You weren't taking information out of the building, were you?"

"Hey!" Kendall protested. "That's personal!"

"This is an FBI-issued thumb drive." Clark corrected him. "I'm afraid whatever's on here is going to have to remain in evidence. You can be sure I'm going to go over it with a fine-toothed comb, myself."

Kendall let his anger rise to the surface.

"Good luck with that!" He spat.

He grabbed his belongings from Clark's hand, then strode down the hall toward the elevator with the two escorts hot on his heels.

Kendall powered through the revolving door and out onto the rain-swept Boston street before he allowed himself to take a deep breath. If he wanted to help his brother, he needed to play by a different set of rules than Gustavo did-rules that involved using James Diamond to find Ethan.

Done! So, it looks like Kendall is a man on a mission, and that mission involved James.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on the chapter, as well as if you happened to have a favorite part/moment!

Again, I hope you all enjoyed! For those of you reading Chances, the next chapter of that is overdue, but it will more than likely be up tomorrow. As for this story, the next chapter will be up either later this week, or sometime next weekend.

Until then!

-Epically Obsessed