[2er RPG] The Shepherd [ENG]

"Well, I wasn't the loud one. That's why your shoulder hurts."
Marcus kissed the red spot on Logans shoulder he was responsible for. He didn't feel bad about doing it, he kinda liked it. He kissed it again. He licked over it. Another kiss, longer this time. He wanted to leave his mark on his boyfriend.
In one smoothe move, he lay ontop of Logan. He kissed him, then his chest, before placing his head there to listen to the heartbeat of the man he loved.
"I'm gonna die if that beat's ever gonna stop", he whispered, "No big show, nothing. Just drop dead wherever I stand. I don't even understand how I was able to keep my sanity without that beat."
He lifted his head again to look Logan in the eyes.
"How I could keep going without you..."

"You don't think we woke Dylan up, right?", Logan asked only half joking and actually a little bit worried. "I couldn't keep quiet with that performance I've got." He smiled, watching Marcus lesn forward, kissing his shoulder. It didn't really hurt, he felt it, yes, but he was kinda proud of it and he would remember this night when looking into the mirror the next morning.
Logan looked at Marcus, who lay ontop of him now and leaned in for a kiss. He watched him moving down then and after he rested his head on Logans chest, Logan slowly moved his fingers through Marcus dark hair.
"Don't say that. You were doing fine without me and you still do. Maybe you need a helping hand sometimes, but you are in fact the strongest person I've ever met." Logan chuckled slightly. "But if keeping my heart beating is all I have to do, I guess I habe an easy job."

Marcus soflty punched his boyfriend against the thigh.
"Shut up, stupid. I was trying to compliment you", he chuckled.
He allowed himself, to close his eyes. For a second, he was scared of seeing pictures he didn't want to see. But there was nothing except the darkness of his own eyelids and the soft beating of Logans heart underneath his ear. How was it possible, that one simple heartbeat was capable of stopping his mind from overthinking and overworking? When he rested his head on Logans chest, he didn't hear anything besides the rhythm, his heart made.
Well, that was a question for another day, cause Marcus was exhausted, mentally and physically.
"I don't wanna talk anymore", he mumbled, already drifting off to sleep, "I just wanna hold you close..."

Logan swallowed the joke which wanted to jump from the tip of his tongue and just kept going stroking Marcus head. He could feel how exhausted Marcus was. His muscles relaxed, his breathing got heavier.
"I'll hold you all night... promise.", Logan whispered smiling putting his arms around his boyfriend. It seemed like he wouldn't even need pills to sleep tonight. Maybe they should keep this up if it worked.
Marcus was fallen asleep fast, unusually fast. Logan kept awake a little longer, to watch him sleep, check if he was alright or if he had nightmares. But Marcus slept deep as it seemed and Logan allowed himself to fall asleep too, still holding Marcus close.

The next morning, Dylan woke his dad up. Marcus sent the boy downstairs to make coffee, so he could at least put on some pants and hide, what he did last night. It was weird, to wake up so refreshed and without any nightmares or pills involved. If he remembered correctly - which he most certainly did - he had a good dream for once. There were only some snippets left, but... no blood o violence or death or fear, nothing. That was odd but pleasing.
As usual, Marcus made some pancakes, they ate, then Dylan went up to wake Logan with a coffee in bed, while Marcus was cleaning up the kitchen.
"Dylan? You need to get ready for school, if you still wanna go", Marcus reminded his son, when he entered the bedroom.
Dylan lay on his side of the bed and explained to Logan his adventure of last nights dream. Logan looked like he didn't listen. It was cute.
"C'mon, buddy. Leave Logan to his beloved coffee, he needs some more minutes."
Dylan nodded and jumped out of bed. He rushed to his room to get some clothes.
"I'm gonna go for a couple of minutes. See ya in a few", Marcus said and leaned down to give Logan a good morning kiss, "Pancakes are downstairs."
He left the bedroom, got joined by Dylan and then brought the boy to his school, before coming right back home, just like he said. Unfortunately, reality cought up to the two in form of a call from Michael. They had a new case and he needed all hands on deck.

Logan woke up when Dylan came inside the bedroom the second time, opening one eye to listen to Dylans dream. He murmured some seemingly intersted comments, bit fortunately was saved by Marcus. He even was too tired to be worried the whole room smelled like sex and Dylan could notice as well as Marcus driving a car. He fought himself out of bed, drank his coffee and then went for a shower to get rid of all kinds of bodyfluids. Afterwards he went downstairs and listened to the call Marcus received just at the moment. Logan cought up with the conversation by just hearing Marcus talk and sighed heavily. If he for once wanted a day off, it was today... "How sweet. Now we suddenly get to work again. Isn't that great?", he commented sarcasticly, needing another coffee before being able to not be a dick infront of his boss. So he got himself another cup and looked at Marcus as soon as he got off of the phone.
"You're feeling up for this? Else, Mike can go fuck himself, I'll tell him personally, no worries." With his morning-dick attitude still on he started eating his pancakes. At least his bad mood only reflected onto Mike and nobody else. He just was angry again... of all times, he needed Marcus now?! "Fucking asshole..", Logan added mumbling to his thoughts. Also his alone time trip was delayed even further away as it seemed.

"Hey", Marcus jokingly punched Logan against the shoulder, "language. Just because the kid's not here, doesn't mean you can curse. Besides, didn't we say: no big decisions before breakfast? You're like the best example for the Snickers comercial."
He kissed Logan on the cheek and made himself another cup of coffee, before he joined his boyfriend on the table.
"Mike got the bomb-thing for us. Apparently it wasn't the first time something like this had happend. At least we stay in town for this one. I'm gonna call Kyle's parents, if they can take care of Dylen for today. Can you call your sister? We really need to get a decent babysitter. I mean, we cannot always ask your sister, she has her own life to take care of."
He combed through his hair with one hand, already thinking about what happened that day. The more details he figured out, the easier it was to work on this thing. And he was the only one, who could remember everything in every angle.
"What? Yeah, I'm fine. I just need to... I don't know, step back, I guess. This is not about my father or my brother, I ned to keep my distance, then I'll be fine."
He reached over the table for Logans hands and forced him to look him in the eyes.
"I'm okay, you hear me? We're gonna do this. The right way. And when we're done, you go and have your country weekend, while Dylan and I camp on the couch watching movies every second we're awake. Sounds like a plan?"

"After eating I'll still be mad at him. Wasn't yesterday about not stepping back and figuring things out?", Logan asked putting extra sirup on his pancakes to make them overly sweet. "I mean... you should take some time for yourself now that Dr. Rosemary started whatever she started, instead of working and moving evereything else in some corner again. I can do this alone." Logan looked at Marcus, but he didn't believe him. Last time he was fine he had a breakdown soon after. Logan stood up and got himself another cup of coffee and almost burnt his tongue because he drank to fast. He put the cup back down and turney around.
"And you wanna tell me we have that much bad luck that we sit in an ice cream shop at exact the time when some random psychopath decides to blow it up? Call me paranoid, but I don't think so." Whoever this was, Logan didn't want to get Marcus involved. He didn't want him to take himself back again. He needed to deal with something and Mike had to know that. But he ignored it because he was an asshole.

"I won't step back from the treatment. I'm gonna step back from investigation. Distancing myself from whatever's gonna happen. No personal involvment this time."
Marcus sighed. He knew that Logan was just worried about him. But he couldn't let that go just like that. If Mike wanted him to work on this case, Marcus would work on it.
"I'm not moving anything anywhere. I'm doing my job, that's all. And why on earth do you think, someone's after me? Frank is in some secret government prison and Francis wouldn't do anything like this. Even if it weren't me. It's just not his style. He works differently, mor personal, and he likes knifes and games. He would never just blow something up.
Marcus put his hand on Logans wrist as he wanted to take another sip of his way to hot coffee.
"Logan. Calm. Down. This is just another case, nothing more. Besides, I stayed at home for so long, I can't see these walls any longer. I need to work on something, to stay sane."

Logan sighed. "Fine." was the only thing he answered. He still thought that was one hell of coincident he couldn't believe was one. But whatever. With Marcus and Logan being a Team for this, Marcus would find out or whatever and Logan wouldn't let Marcus arrest whoever was responsible, but he himself would do it. There was a reason usually Andrew was Marcus partner and not Logan. Or at least, Andrew was involved. Logan took things to personally as soon as Marcus was involved. "You wanna go to the office then, or work here? I know you don't like the noise there. I'll go get anything you need."

Marcus wasn't convinced. Logan usually didn't let go of something like this so easily. But he dropped the conversation, so they wouldn't fight about it.
"We should go there. I mean, I have to face civilisation at some point, so why not somewhere I know everyone and everything? You can't protect me from the world, Logan. And you don't need to. I'm not a porcelain puppet."
Maybe he shouldn't have said those last two sentences. But it had to be said at some point. Marcus loved Logan, but... he was a bit overprotective sometimes as if he forgot that Marcus survived the world for many years on his own.
"Now drink your coffee, we got work to do."

Logan didn't comment what Marcus said, instead he put his cup away. "I don't want it anymore. Let's go." Logan took the keys and went to the car, to drive to the office. He would call his sister later, although he would've picked up Dylan from school himself. As Marcus said, they could stay in town. If Marcus wanted to work all night, that was his decision, Logan could drive home in between work to take care of Dylan if needed.
Logan didn't say anything the whole way, he didn't want to argue about anything and he had the feeling they couldn't converse like two adults right now. Marcus wanted to work, so he drove him to work. And he'd try to get something done too, although Marcus wouldn't need his help, that he was sure of.
He was angry for Marcus and Mike acting like yesterday didn't happen. Marcus broke in front of Logan, in front of Dylan and now they ran around living life as if everything was alright. Nothing was alright, but if Marcus thought he was fine, then he should run around, work, smile, whatever. But that didn't mean Logan was okay with it and frankly he wasn't ready to deal with more bullshit right now. He didn't want to be right about this being a mistake, but he was pretty sure he was. But he wasn't anything else then an overprotective annoyance right now, so he just shut his mouth.

Marcus sighed. Internally he was screaming, punching a wall and cursing all at once. It was their first real argument since Dylan was with them. Funny enough, work always seemed to be the problem they were arguing about.
He followed Logan outside and in the car. He didn't like the silence this time. Usually, he enjoyed it, used it to sleep even. But this silence right now... it wasn't healthy. He wanted to talk to Logan, but what should he say?
At the office, things quickly changed. It was easy to get into the old rythm. Andrew greated them friendly, Stand wasn't wearing a shirt, everything was like it always had been.
"Ah, there you are!", Mike said, as he spotted the two, "I need your version of what happened. Stan already analyzed the witness reports but I know you have a different perspective."
He got Logan and Marcus in his own office upstairs and let them talk. Marcus explained, what he noticed and what he did after the explosion. His mind always went back to Dylan. He was glad, his boy was fine. Marcus also mentioned, that he never saw the building from inside after the explosion, since Logan went in alone.

Logan followed Marcus into Mikes office and followed his boyfriends explanation. He hadn't got anything to add, how could he? He just explained what he saw when he went back inside. He told Mike the bomb couldn't really be that big, the half house seemingly was missing only because of the glass front of the shop. The guy at the front survived although he was pretty close to the explosion. The shop owner hadn't got that much luck. But Stan knew all that from the reports. Logan had nothing to add, he just tried to not explode because Mike got Marcus to review what had almost broken him completely. Logan only said what he needed to, nothing more.

Despite any rumors about people in higher position, Mike was a darn good cop. He listened to the reports of both Marcus and Logan, sucked everything up and processed it. Marcus could literally see the wheels turning in the head of his boss during this cmall moment of silence after Logan had finished. Then, Mike leaned forward and slid a file over his desk.
"What's this?", marcus asked, opening up the folder and glancing through it.
"This is the profile of Michael L. Miller", Mike explained, "A former member of a british military elite team. He specialized in explosives. As of three years ago, he also became a criminal mastermind with not only high ambitions but also a exponentially increasing following."
"So, are we talking terrorism?"
"No. This guy has no interest in annying governments. He is more the mob kinda guy. And he's good at it. We have no idea, why he is doing, what he is doing for the last six months, but this wasn't the first hit od this kind."
Marcus looked through the folder. There where five other explosions. Exactly the same method. Low value target, low casualties, small explosion with almost no damage to any kind of structure.
"If he wants to show muscle, this is a bit much...", Marcus mumbled, "And it's too spread out to be a gang thing..."
"Exactly. This guy is intelligent and he is planning something. We just don't know what. Yet. I want you and your team to find out what he's doing, why he's doing it and stop it from happening."
Marcus nodded, eyes on the file in his hands. At least he held it in wa way, Logan was able to have a look for himself.

Logan only took a short look at the file, but drifted off a little when he heard the name. It was a common name, but something clicked in Logans head, he couldn't quite find what it was though. His anger lifted a bit when he listened to Mike and he took a short look at the picture and the file. He waited until his boss was finished, took a short glance at him and then sighed.
"I know him...", he stated, asking himself if Mike knew. "I mean... not really, I saw him once, didn't talk to him and he didn't talk to me. I was just some soldier and that was like ten years ago. I also can only now match his face to that name, although I guess it's not his real name. He must've gotten many enemies." He leaned back and balanced his chair on only two legs. "I'm not supposed to talk about any alliance between US and British military about ten.. or more exactly eight years ago, though. And I'm not sure if it is in any case relevant, just asking myself why he is bombing us instead of the UK, or anyone else."

Mike practically scanned Logan. There was no sign in his face that he knew. But he wasn't surprised either. Marcus never got a hold on that man, he was so hard to read... one day, Marcus would crack this shell. But not today.
"You don't have to talk about it, Logan. He's not with the british government."
Marcus went through the papers again.
"He bombed his own team and then vanished...", he summarized from the pages.
"Before that, he showed some anti-social behavior. In other words: he's a sociopath. And the fact that he is able to hide not only from the MI6 but also the CIA and NSA... He's one of the good ones. That's why we got the case. Been eyeing it for three month now. Thanks to your talent to be at the right place and time, we finally got it. Now, let's start working on it, I don't want any more kids in line of sight. This guy needs to come off the streets asap."

"I wouldn't call that a talent...", Logan mumbled getting a little bit angry again. He knew this man needed to be stopped and he also knew Marcus wouldn't let go of it until he was. He would work 24/7 on this instead of focusing on himself and when they got him, Marcus would be a little bit more broken again. How convenient that this guy bombed their favorite ice cream shop.
Logan stopped playing with his chair still asking himself why this man was plotting something in the US instead of his home country. Elite military stuff going rogue isn't something unusual, because what went behind the scene was harsh and unfair, they probably got lucky with Mike as their boss. And Logan knew Mike had to cover for a lot of shit, like letting Marcus brother go. The government could choose to just get rid of this organisation and most of the members would probably be dead short after.
But whatever Millers reasons for all of this were, why doing it here? Logan couldn't wrap his head around this. But that wasn't his domain anyway. He stood up and glanced at Mike. "Anything else?", he asked. If he wanted Marcus to get better Logan had to help catching this asshole soon.

Mike could clearly sense the tension in the air.
"No. That is, of course, if you don't have anything to say to me, Logan."
Marcus could do a hundred things to ease the situation right now, but he wouldn't. He knew better than to stand in the way of Logan, the hurricane. It was incredible that he was able to keep his temper up until now. But Mike was a though guy, he could take it.
So Marcus focused on the file, pretending to not notice any of these little lightning strikes rushing back and forth between the eyes of his boss an those of his boyfriend. Everyone knew, he did catch all of that, but sometimes just pretending was all it needed. Another trick he had learned in highschool.

Logan looked at Marcus for a short amount of time. He was certain he didn't like it when Logan talked about him or his state of mind, especially when he was in the room. Also, he wasn't just angry at Mike, but also at his boyfriend. But this was not the place to discuss that with Marcus.
"You know Marcus would never say no to such a case... to any case. And you know this is the absolute worst timing right now. He just got his stitches out and I don't have to recite where he got that wound from. He was personally involved in the bombing not an hour after and I think you know that he didn't just shake that off like it was nothing.
That aside, Dylan was there too and he saw his father struggling with it. You know Marcus is an idiot who tries to cope with all this by working and keeping his mind from processing what happened and you have nothing better to do then to give him not only the opportunity to do exactly that but also let us work when Dylan is scared enough already. I know you took care of him when I put work before him too, but that's exactly why you should know better as to drag us here at the absolute worst time ever." Logan was surprised that he didn't shout up until now, he kept relatively calm.
"You'll loose your trump card anytime soon, when you keep on carelessly ignoring what Dr. Rosemary sure did tell you. You should get Marcus off this case, I don't care that you want him working on that and I don't care about Marcus wanting to work either."