White Collar Ficlet - Do Not Go Gently

[elrhiarhodan]

Title: Do Not Go Gently
Author: elrhiarhodan
Fandom: White Collar
Rating: R
Characters/Pairings: Reese Hughes
Spoilers: S4.12 – Brass Tacks
Warnings/Enticements/Triggers: None
Word Count: ~550
Summary: Forced by the powers that be into doing something he didn’t want, Reese Hughes is no one’s passive victim.

A/N: The first of three ficlets and accompanying artwork for purimgifts 2013, written for TigerBright.

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Reese may have told Peter that the brass had threatened his pension, that they’d take away his retirement benefits if he didn’t step down. That wasn’t a lie, not really. The directors may have made some noise about cutting off his government funded healthcare, but they couldn’t take away his pension without serious legal effort. Hell, even that idiot Fowler kept his, and he committed murder.

No, it wasn’t the brass that made him leave; it was finding the photographs of his wife, his daughters, his grandchildren, in his car. The images were unmolested, but they were clipped to a set of contracts for burial plots. There was a copy of the one that he and his wife, Miriam, had signed a few years ago, and a new one for an adjacent plot with enough space for all of his children, their spouses and their children. There was also an estimate for headstones for everyone except him.

The threat was cruel, unsubtle, and effective. Resign or everyone you love will die.

Pratt was a man who understood power, how to get it, how to use it, how to keep it. One didn’t rise from beat cop to precinct captain to chief of police, all the way to United States Senate otherwise. On the surface, he was just the kind of politician one didn’t see too much of anymore – socially mindful without the extremist views that made politics such a dirty word these days. His constituents admired him because he stayed above the fray.

But Hughes knew just how dirty he was – he saw the files that Peter put together before Pratt tried to kill him. It wasn’t just campaign finance, though. He’d done his own digging and maybe he wasn’t as discreet as he could have been. He found where some of the bodies were buried, and he wasn’t being metaphorical. The mob had the marshes off the Meadowlands, the senator had a toxic waste dump. Although his ownership was hidden by a dozen different holding companies, Pratt owned a Superfund site on the western shore of Maryland. A few years ago, after a big storm, a pair of unidentifiable skeleton were discovered there. Someone had smashed in their faces to destroy the teeth – hopefully after blowing a hole in the back of their heads.

This was Pratt’s doing. Hughes was sure of it, even though there was no way to prove anything other than the tenuous link between the senator and some anonymous corporations. There was nothing else, other than his gut telling him that this man was evil.

It was pretty obvious what was going to happen if he pursued this. His life would mean nothing if his family was annihilated. Retirement was the best option. The only option.

But he was not going to go quietly into the night. Nearly forty years with the Bureau meant he had friends who did the kind of work that stayed out of official reports. He also had friends who liked to scrape away at the layers and get to the truth, too. It wasn’t going to be easy, it wasn’t going to be safe, and he might just end up in a plain pine box made without nails and someone saying the Mourner’s Kaddish for him.

But if he went like that, he wasn’t going to go alone.


FIN

Comments

[maiac.livejournal.com]

This is a believable scenario, both the unsubtle viciousness of the threat (after all, Pratt didn't scruple to arrange a car crash for Peter), and Hughes' determination to pursue justice.

I hope we haven't seen the last of Hughes in the show.

[elrhiarhodan]

I hope we see Hughes again - I will certainly miss him, his gruffness, his concern, his desire to do the right thing for the right reasons.

Thank you!

[maiac.livejournal.com]

He was the best kind of boss: He was there to make sure his people could get the job done, not to satisfy his own ambition and need for power (why yes, that observation is inspired by the new boss, how did you guess?). He trusted his people, but also kept a close watch to make sure they didn't fall off the edge.

[kanarek13]

Wow, this is excellent, absolutely believable and a scenario that fits Hughes 100%. I especially love the bit about Hughes having his own friends that could get a lot of jobs done, and his determination to quietly pursue this further \o/

And that threat scenario - wow, chilling to the bone.

Brava, my friend! :D

[elrhiarhodan]

Thank you so much!

I figure that Hughes wouldn't stand down if his own life were threatened, but he would for his family.

[ultracape.livejournal.com]

Love it! Yup, I really, really like(d) Reese Hughes. I believe someone said he'd be hanging around a bit in contact with Peter, which is good.

I can't see him going that gently.

[elrhiarhodan]

Thank you so much. I hope we haven't seen the last of Reese Hughes.

[leonie-alastair.livejournal.com]

Great coda to Hughes departure. I can see Reese taking the "don't get mad - get even" approach to his retirement.

[elrhiarhodan]

Thank you!

Yes, Hughes is like that - he may have left the FBI for the best of reasons, but he's not one to give up.

[teaboyfan.livejournal.com]

This is so plausible, both the threat and Hughes's quiet resolve to fight back. I 'd bet that the entire White Collar crew would do just about anything for him.

[elrhiarhodan]

Yes, I agree. Which makes his departure even more devastating.

[coffeethyme4me.livejournal.com]

This is so chilling and sad but also beautiful.

[elrhiarhodan]

Thank you!

[sanuye12.livejournal.com]

This is so realistic and so chilling.

I already miss Hughes and Peter (and Neal) will be completely vulnerable at teh Bureau without him. But I can't see him going gently into the night either.
(I always thought Peter got this attitude from Hughes, not Kramer!)
Very nice story. I hope we see Hughes back as well, in some capacity.

[elrhiarhodan]

Thank you so very much.

I miss him too - I really hoped that Peter was going to step into his shoes (and I hope that will still happen).

[daria234.livejournal.com]

Yay love that he's determined despite it all

[elrhiarhodan]

Thank you so much. Hughes will never give up, never give in.

[ladyrose42.livejournal.com]

I'll take an agressive Hughes any day!! Or is silent but deadly, behind the scenes Hughes? Hope he makes it back on the show.

[elrhiarhodan]

Thank you!

I hope he makes it back, really soon.

[fatale.livejournal.com]

A touching end for a tough cookie :)

[elrhiarhodan]

Thank you so much.

[sapphire2309]

Wow. Blew my mind.

[elrhiarhodan]

Thank you!

[damietta.livejournal.com]

See, this is the step I wish White Collar would make. That hint of horror and danger. Reese behind the scenes would make an awesome subplot instead of some of the confection they get mired in.

Well done!

[elrhiarhodan]

What a perfect way to put it! Yeah - I wish the mythology of the season was better sometimes (though James and the box isn't as bad as the treasure from last year).

Thank you!

[pipilj.livejournal.com]

Wow Pratt is chilling hate the threat to Hughes.