Baz had to go feed his cat.
It was both his fumbled excuse to get out of the hospital and actually true. Cali was probably starving and Gwen didn't need him hanging around while she spoke tersely to lawyers over the phone. Her reasons for bringing him along no longer applied. Rei answered the phone, but she didn't stop in for a visit.
Baz let himself into his warehouse, half-expecting a SWAT team awaiting him there, ready to arrest him for Rei Collingwood's kidnapping. Nothing made sense. How could Rei be kidnapped if she simply answered the phone when called? How could there be a ransom demanded for someone who hadn't begged for help while confirming a dying man's wishes? How could a would-be kidnapper be connected to the burglaries? Baz performed one and not the other. He was 100% positive on that point.
He fumbled with the lock longer than usual, his hands still shaking. Panic nauseated him, alcohol not quite flushed from his system.
Immediately, Cali was at his feet, meowing her wishes at him fervently. Pouring her kibble was such a mundane task to perform while his heart wouldn't stop pounding.
It was one thing to worry about any evidence of his presence in Rei's penthouse. It was another to add that to anything he may have ever left while running Jasper's errands. Baz couldn't stop himself from mentally reliving every incident for a potential mistake, something that would point the police straight in his direction.
He paced around the apartment, pulling things out of his storage room-turned-closet, packing for something even if he didn't quite know what it was. It felt like the right thing to do. Running away looked better and better the more things stacked against him.
But where would he go? Back to Iowa where his parents lived? To France to start over? Could he change his name? Get a new identity? How did a person get ahold of fake IDs? Where did he start when trying to erase his life?
Baz was just a criminal by mistake. He didn't have the connections that might let him pull off an elaborate escape.
Cali padded to him, weaving around his legs. Baz dropped onto the edge of the bed, trying to massage the ache out of his skull. Running away couldn't be plan A. At best, it was a wobbly backup.
If he could just ensure his innocence in Rei's kidnapping, then... maybe his life wasn't completely over. He'd never been caught for the break-ins.
If he ran, he'd always be running. A lifetime of looking over his shoulder. A week of it was killing him. Baz couldn't last through decades of paranoia.
Cali nuzzled at his hand, demanding he stroke her fur. Baz obliged, his heart rate slowly returning to something reasonable. It was too early to launch into full-on panic mode. There was still a shred of hope on the horizon.
Baz continued packing, throwing the blackest of his black clothes into a backpack.
Cheng planned to meet the demands of the ransom. There would be a rendezvous. If Baz couldn't find Rei first, maybe he could find out who would demand ransom for her. He packed his cowl and his split-toed shoes and his sport camera.
Forming a rough plan in the back of his mind served to calm his nerves. It wasn't him demanding cash for Rei. If the police caught that person... well, they wouldn't need to pin the disappearance on Baz. Problems solved.
The simpler he made it sound, the better he felt.
Baz grabbed the last of the things he might need, like his phone charger and a handful of granola bars. He gave Cali a little tuna to make up for disappearing on her.
Then he left once again.
***
Baz hammered at the front door, looking over his shoulder like he may have been followed.
He wasn't. Baz wasn't anyone worthwhile at the moment. Without DNA pointing authorities in the right direction, what would make them look his way? No criminal record followed him. A medical history of painkiller prescriptions wouldn't be enough to declare him a suspect just yet. The more he spun the logic, the more time he felt like he had.
Just not enough time to squander.
Diego swung open the door, taking up almost all of the frame.
"Are you skipping town?" Diego asked, eyes falling on Baz's stuffed backpack and bicycle leaning against the fence.
"I'm kind of in a little trouble," Baz admitted, shrinking in Diego's incredulous, judging gaze, "and I might need a favor or two."
Diego sighed, stepping aside to let Baz in.
Baz had been over plenty. He crashed on the pull-out couch after watching late night international sports and the rare occasions the drank together. He watered Diego's plants when he went away to visit family. Now, he dropped his backpack in the living room.
This was the part he wasn't looking forward to.
"You know that whole escort joke thing?" Baz asked, too edgy to meet Diego's eye.
"Sure," Diego said, attending to the pan sizzling on the stove. Baz settled at the breakfast bar, pulling up a stool.
"I'm not really an escort."
"No kidding," Diego deadpanned. It somehow made the conversation worse.
"I've actually been breaking into mansions in the middle of the night," Baz said.
"Uh huh."
"I'm serious. Somebody gives me the security access and I just... find an open window, usually," Baz insisted. Diego gave him a look.
"You break into rich people's houses?" Diego asked, still more focused on cooking than on Baz's confession.
"Yeah. So, I kind of, stole this thing from Rei Collingwood's apartment the night she disappeared. It's a bit of a problem since they might decide I'm the one who kidnapped her," Baz kept going. Somewhere in the story, it would have to sound so ridiculous that there was no way he could've made the whole thing up. It was too wild.
"The night you climbed down Hillside and made out with Gwen Ferrero?" Diego asked.
"Yes!" Baz pulled out his phone, running the search that might prove at least one aspect of the whole crazy week he'd had. He held the screen up for Diego to see. "Gwen Ferrero."
Diego squinted at the screen before taking the phone and scrolling through the tabloid article.
"Holy hell. I picked out that shirt," Diego said, "you really did make out with a model."
"I kind of slept with her last night, but that's beside the point," Baz shrugged.
Diego blinked. "You really climbed down Hillside, didn't you?"
He had. It felt like years since it happened, but the bruises hadn't even faded yet. Baz nodded.
Diego turned back to the stove, silent and distracted as he tossed seasoning into the pan.
"You didn't kidnap anybody, did you?" Diego asked.
"No! I don't know if anyone did, but there's supposedly a ransom demand and I think I need to go figure out who's demanding it," Baz said. "Can I crash here while I try to lay low?"
"You kind of already invited yourself in, didn't you?" Diego replied.
A silence fell in the kitchen, processing replacing conversation. Baz had a whole bike ride to think about what he was asking. It was too risky to stay somewhere as predictable as home. Who knew enough about Baz to consider Diego's place?
"Another thing, do you think you could swing by my apartment and feed Cali? Just, keep an eye on the place?" Baz asked, as if he wasn't already asking too much. Asking too much of Diego was a common thread.
It seemed very much like Diego was ignoring him, continuing on like he wasn't there at all. Baz watched him go through the motions. Diego had always been hard to read. It was easier to gauge his mood based off the pressure of his massage therapy than by looking at his face.
"When you lent me that money to pay off my loans..." Diego began.
"Gave. I don't need a dime back," Baz said, "and yeah... I was paid to take a re-creation of the Nebra sky disk from this guy's collection. To be honest, it was kind of useless as a collector's item anyway since anyone who knows anything about the Nebra sky disk knows there's only one and it's on permanent display in Germany... if that's what you were asking."
Sitting still was difficult. Baz resisted the urge to pace through Diego's apartment just for the sake of moving. He tugged at the ring around his neck.
"That just means I owe you something that isn't money," Diego said.
Diego didn't entirely grasp what he'd given Baz. In the slump of withdrawal and the listlessness of losing school and his career as a gymnast, Diego stood between Baz and relapse too many times to count. Diego didn't accept excuses when Baz wanted nothing more than to lay in bed for days at a time. Diego kept dragging him out of his misery until life wasn't quite so miserable. There was no dollar value on that.
"No. It means you re-assembled me back into a human being and it was the least I could do," Baz replied. "I live in a warehouse, ride a bike, and don't know I'm supposed to wear black socks with a suit. What do I need that kind of money for anyway?"
The last week had been very eye-opening. Wealth wasn't without its problems. Money wanted company. It couldn't be satisfied. It bought big houses to fill with things. It threw parties where other people with money came and judged all the things money bought. Paintings and pottery and bottles of wine. Gwen and Rei both seemed so alone.
Their trust funds and inheritances didn't save them from that.
"Then why do it?" Diego asked.
Blackmail was the short answer. The very first time it sounded so straightforward, an obvious choice. In retrospect, Jasper had offered him a shovel, asked if he'd dig a hole, and Baz only realized too late that it was his own grave. The evidence against him just piled up. How many houses had he crept through?
"Because I haven't figured out how to get out of it yet," Baz said, "but I'm working on it. Right after I sort this kidnapping mess out."
It wasn't a very satisfying answer, but Diego didn't press further. He took his frying pan off the burner and plated the stir fry. He slid a plate across the counter to Baz.
"'Cause you're a PI, too?" Diego asked. He leaned against the counter, cradling his own plate.
"Nope. I am invisible and all I'm going to do is follow Cheng Collingwood when he goes to pay the ransom." It would be easy. It would solve all his problems.
Baz really hoped it would solve all his problems.
"When?" Diego asked.
"Well, tonight, I guess. I don't know when he's supposed to make the exchange or anything. The best I can do is tail him to it," Baz shrugged.
Okay, it wasn't a rock-solid plan. Baz chose to ignore the tiny details in the hopes that he could improvise his way through them. If he got hung up on how he was going to pull it off, the impossibility of it all would creep up on him. Hadn't he outrun guard dogs and parkoured his way onto second-story balconies? How hard could it be to stalk the face of a security company who was already likely on edge because he was supposed to be meeting his sister's possible kidnapper?
How hard?
"How can I help?" Diego asked.
"You're going to feed my cat, remember?" Baz said, "and hopefully notice if I mysteriously go missing."
Like most of the answers Baz supplied, Diego didn't look particularly satisfied by that one. Maybe Baz shouldn't have mentioned any chance of disappearing.
Baz dutifully washed the dishes afterward, if just to prove that he was more than a useless houseguest. There was something so painfully normal and mundane about washing the dishes right before he planned to head out and follow Cheng Collingwood. Mild-mannered Baz Barret by day, benign stalker by night.
Diego's attempt at apathy faded the more Baz milled around, organizing what he needed for his mission. For every black article of clothing Baz pulled out of his bag, the deeper Diego's brow furrowed.
Baz changed to layer it all on, emerging in head-to-toe black.
"Why don't you just get a catsuit?" Diego's jab didn't faze Baz. He also didn't believe the cavalier attitude for a second. Diego's raised eyebrows were too impressed, or shocked, to not take Baz at least a little seriously.
"Ha ha. Very funny," Baz took the mocking lightly. "Pleather's too constricting or I'd consider it."
Diego's face turned serious and it made Baz's stomach churn a little. He preferred his friend poking fun at him. It helped Baz believe the lie of normalcy.
"I hope you know what you're doing," Diego said. "I kinda got used to having your punk ass around."
Baz forced a smile, trying to be cocky. "What's the worst that can happen?"
___________
A/N: Okay, this might be one of my favorite exchanges between Baz and Diego. How do you feel about their bromance?