#18 in TeenFic
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❝Don't,❞ he pleaded softly, offering her a tiny smile, ❝please don't make me a promise you will never be able to keep.❞ He released a quiet but deep breath, leaning forward even more, tilting his body towards her, until thei...
The entire interrogation, Nick kept his answers straightforward and strictly need-to-know, cautious to not give away anything that wasn't the law's business.
He also conveniently omitted anything about knowing this was about to go down -- or anything that had to do with Michael being present in South Carolina. Nick didn't want to be seen as someone who had known the whereabouts of a criminal and yet chosen not to alert the authorities.
These people were not going to understand why he had felt like Michael wouldn't be a threat to his safety. They weren't going to understand brotherly dynamics. The law didn't take sentiments into account.
He also made it a point to not ask about any casualties. Because Nick didn't want to know who it was. As long as he didn't know, he could go on pretending it wasn't his brother.
He wanted to hang onto that made-up image of Michael; slightly injured from the stupid plan he'd carried out, hands in cuffs, a blank look in his eyes until they made contact with Nick's own ones and there was a flicker of emotion in them. Nick was desperate to keep that scenario in his head as the only one which was about to play out.
There was no room for an officer to look at him and tell him "I'm sorry". There was no room for "Your brother succumbed to a gunshot wound earlier this morning. The doctors tried their best." Nick didn't want to be thinking along the lines of any such scenarios.
So he just pushed those thoughts out his mind and held onto the other image.
He had to, for the sake of his own sanity.
▂ ▂ ▂ ▂ ▂ ▂ ▂
Nick's mother was being questioned in the other interrogation room, with the more senior officials and someone from the US Marshals Office.
The detective who'd cleared up certain matters with him and taken his statements offered Nick a smile, shook his hand and then proceeded to leave the room.
As the detective opened the door, Nick saw his mother being taken back into the other interrogation room.
Hadn't she been in it this whole time? Where did they go to halfway through the questioning?
"Hey, Detective?" Nick asked, rising to his feet.
The older man stopped in his tracks and stuck a foot into the doorway to stop it from shutting completely. He poked his head in the gap, "Yeah?"
Nick gestured towards the direction of where his mother was, even though the door wasn't open enough for him to see the other room. "Where did they take my mum?"
