Walls Came Tumbling Down

Chrissie arranged herself in front of the webcam. "Can you see me now?"

"Yes, dear!" Ann replied, cheerily, while Mello just nodded and flashed a smile. He looked a lot better, and substantially more alert, than Chrissie had been led to believe. That worried her.

"Look at you all. Making me half wish I'd jumped into the car and come over." Chrissie gave an apologetic shrug. "But I am sure that you will understand why this way is better for me, as we chat. Mello, you might prefer this to be private." She kept on smiling, lightening the mood. "Sorry, Ann."

"Oh!" Ann stood with an exaggerated huff. "Come on, Maddie. We know when we're not wanted." The pantomime played out, with laughter, sweet words and some last minute fussing over Mello. He sat through it stoically, wearing a faint smile and holding a chocolate bar against his chest. He was propped up with the bed's built-in recliner ramp, with two pillows holding him in place. The more Chrissie inspected him, through the webcam's eye, the more she became convinced that he was as ill as she thought. He was just hiding it well.

There was a soft thunk, as the infirmary door closed. Mello faced the camera with a penetrating stare. He was wearing eye-liner. "They've gone."

Chrissie nodded. "I'm really sorry about what happened to you, Mello. I was in tears when I heard. Salvo will confirm that. We both cheered, when we heard you'd come out of surgery." She was being scrutinised. She wondered what he saw. "A terrible thing, but lucky for all of that."

Mello gave the briefest nod. His voice was husky and subdued, "Who is calling the shots over Mail?"

"On what level?" Chrissie asked. "If you're talking day to day welfare, then I have some influence. If you're talking about getting him moved to Wammy's House, then Ann has no right promising anyone things that she can't deliver."

Mello's eyes narrowed. "Who could give that order?"

Chrissie could see how quickly he was tiring. "Mello, before I answer that, or anything, I need a question of my own satisfied." He was just staring back at her. His head twitched in something approximating a nod. "Matt threatened me this afternoon. He basically told me that if I don't release him right now, then I will be facing," she hesitated, wondering how to phrase this, in the suspicion that others could be listening in, "a certain family, whom you were alleged to have associated with in your former years."

Mello had been watching her impassively. He took a couple of seconds to process what she was saying, then his mouth curled into a wide grin. He took the opportunity to lick the smooth side of his chocolate bar, before taking a small bite from a corner. "Mail said that?"

"In front of witnesses, whilst being filmed and audio recorded. I've added a note to the log that it's the Seroxat talking. Valerie has gone on record supporting that and adding that the anti-depressants have turned him into a fantasist." She waited. Mello slowly chewed his chocolate. "I'm not here to bullshit you, Mello. I'm going for openness and honesty, because, as Salvo put it, there's another civil war brewing here through Chinese whispers." She didn't know how much he knew. "After he said that to me, I was upset. I have a small child and I'm not prepared to have him raised without a mother. Been there and got the t-shirt. It's shit." She kept leaving pauses for him to jump in with reassurance, but Mello seemed more interested in his chocolate. "Salvo wanted me to come straight home. I got so panicked, that I thought home wouldn't be safe either. Can I be intimidated and frightened off here?" Chrissie nodded. "Yes. Yes, I can. So tell me, face to face here, should I be running scared?"

He finally answered, talking quietly with the chocolate in his mouth, "I don't know. What are you actually doing there?"

She wasn't going to let him deflect her question that easily. "Right now? Absolutely shitting myself in case professional hit-men threaten myself or my family."

Mello let his hand fall back against his chest, with the chocolate bar in it. He'd retained a strip between his lips. "And what would it benefit me to give up the advantage gained by the fact that you'll believe any old bullshit?"

"Scenario one. Matt rots in here as long as Neuron does, because everyone else is dragging their feet over dealing with their situations. Scenario two, is the same, but that scenario forces you to have to act. In whatever way occurs to you to do so." She left it at that. She had her imagination, but he had his plans. "Scenario three. I force trials. Luigi and I have already put together a solid case that Seroxat abuse is causing aggression and psychotic episodes, and whatever happens, you can have that information to do with as you will, because it's not going to go away." Chrissie gestured her apologies for stating a fact. "However, Century has worked his bollocks off, over the past couple of days, putting together a secondary case, that supports yours and Matt's assertion that he was possessed. Either one is going to get him off. I can guarantee that, because contrary to Matt's opinion, having him incarcerated under our responsibility is stressful, fraught and downright frightening. We're not martyrs and this isn't justice."

"It's very easy then." Mello's ghost of a smile was only just surviving. "Let him go."

Chrissie waited until he met her eyes again. "Right now, any kid with a clever plan knows that they're up against the multitude and if they don't defeat us all, then they will be thrown into a cell and forgotten. Let Matt out now and that is amended to, 'unless you have very powerful friends'." She paused, but he appeared unrepentant. "You know that attitudes are slowly changing about Neuron amongst the fifth? They used to be universally appalled. Now they're measuring the justice spoon-fed them in the classroom, with the reality handed to one of their number. It only takes a bit of spin for his story to become a failed mutiny against a velvet glove around an iron fist."

Mello sucked the next section of chocolate into his mouth. "Is that a threat?"

"I don't know." Chrissie replied. "What would it benefit me to give up the advantage gained by the fact that you'll believe any old bullshit?"

"If you wanted to now, could you open his cell door and set him free?" Mello asked, lazily, "Regardless of the morality and your own personal conscience?"

Chrissie shook her head. "I haven't got a key. I'm here as Matt's lawyer. Do you really think that Near wants me anywhere near here? I'm a Letter and I'm in the middle of his operation. I'm watched too, with restricted access. I'm taking the opportunity to do the things that you wish you could, but without you having to become the baddie." She saw his sharp glance. "Tomorrow he starts being weaned off the drugs. He's having full mental and physical assessments. I'm saving you months of persuasion and coaxing here."

Mello frowned. "But no-one asked you to do that."

Chrissie felt the verbal slap. She folded her arms. "You're tiring. Let's cut to the chase and make our deal."

"Deal?" Mello blinked. "Right. Ok. Go on."

"The fastest way for you to get him back is to let me put him on trial." She faltered, as Mello shook his head. "No?"

"It's not the fastest way, but we'll run with it. Carry on." Mello's eyes were closing for several seconds at a time. It was difficult to judge how sharp his intellect might be right now. Chrissie decided that it was best to assume razor-sharp.

"I put him on trial, with you having webcam conversations with him in the run-up, and enough evidence there to clear his name. Any other way is going to make it difficult for your future together, as you'll be living in fear of one of us tracking you down." She saw Mello's smirk. "I know. I just threw that in to see if you were still paying attention. But I will hurry it up. You're obviously in need of sleep. Will you support that?"

Mello gave a tiny shake of his head. "When is this court case? Where is this court case? How is this court case going to happen? Who judges this court case?"

"I distributed my proposal by e-mail to all of the alumni earlier. It's workable. Soon as I can pin everyone down to available dates, then we can get it over with."

"I'm available now. You read me the evidence, for and against. I'll judge it." He spoke with his eyes closed.

"Mello." Chrissie chided. "Let's call this a night. Get some sleep and we'll resume tomorrow."

Mello's eyes sprang open. "No. I haven't heard the deal yet. You imprison my husband, despite my dropping the charges. I am the victim here, remember? You've demonised his medication and you're all set to go on the cold turkey. You haven't yet mentioned that it might be essential medication. Is it doing him any good and, if so, what happens when it goes away? And is this worth destroying the last couple of years of bloody hard work, that you're discounting, based on an incident when he was in puberty?" His eyes were drooping again. "And you want my consent on a court case, that is bound to be orchestrated by our peers. We've just been in the company of some of them on a case. They lined up to take potshots then. Imagine the opportunities that a witness stand will offer up! And you would like him to withstand this endless barrage of abuse, either during or immediately after cold turkey, without his medication and separated from his husband."

Chrissie felt the flush of her temper rising. "You know what, Mello. Forget it." She jabbed her hand in a karate chop. "I'm just going to go home. I did my best here." She knew that she was acting impetuously, but not enough to fully backtrack. "I do have a lot of respect for you. I wish you a full and happy recovery. I hope that getting Matt out of that cell won't end up being too fraught." She sat, caught by his gaze. He looked like a little boy. "Incidentally, Lauren will have to leave too. Near wasn't happy about her being there, because she is, after all, representing a rival code. I argued that corner for you too. She's staying because I'm keeping my eye on her."

Mello gave a heart-felt sigh. "So it is Near calling the shots."

"No!" Chrissie barked. "He's playing it by the book! It's all down to the Resolution! The Board calls the shots." Her fingers were knitted together in her lap. "Has anyone told you that Fenian's gone missing? And before you dare cheer, I mean proper missing. Not answering his 'phone; not gone home."

"I didn't do it."

"I didn't say that you did." Chrissie rolled her eyes. "I'm just pointing out that people might have priorities other than whether you and Matt get to beat each other up tonight." He stuck his lower lip out, then slowly raised his chocolate to his mouth. "Mello, I'm sorry. You're knackered. I'll stick around tonight. Tomorrow, when you're more coherent, you can tell me if you're going to let me see this through." It was excruciating watching the effort it took him to bite into that chocolate bar. "Did you know that Seroxat suppresses oxytocin? Therefore, if the little romantic touches have been dropping off, don't take it personally."

Mello's teeth had clamped together, straight through the chocolate. "No." He remarked, softly. "I did not know that."

She took pity on him and sighed. "It's ok to fail sometimes, Mello. I'm going to let you sleep."

"No." Mello peered through his lashes at the screen. "I've been out of the loop. Didn't know about Fenian. What else don't I know?" He forced a smile. "And why is Salvo talking about civil war, when I'm in ground zero?"

So she told him about how no-one had heard from Fenian since he left Wales and Deontic's cryptic message to Century about that. She talked about Kiana's belief that blowing up the outhouse had settled the trouble at the site; and Century's subsequent findings. She told of how Deontic was the sole person left in Aberystwyth now, with instructions from Century to divert the stream. She talked of Lauren's loyalty and of Matt. Several times, she thought that Mello was asleep, but each time she stopped talking, he opened his eyes and bade her to please carry on. She went on until her stopping invoked no response for over five minutes. Then she shut down the webcam and walked away.