Chapter Text
Serving the Sentence
It all happened too fast for him to keep up, and it's only been a couple of weeks. One minute he's talking to Leona, then suddenly, Lucas is spewing one odd idea after the other. Both of them use the same words, "All in the name of progress", but now he can't understand half what Lucas was saying.
Lucas was talking about an app now, and he doesn't like the sound of it, and boy, does Lucas try his best to convince him that it's best for their already dismal contribution to revenue. It's like talking to Reese again, but at least Reese actually took a minute off to let him speak.
It was a huge pile of clusterfuck, one after the other. Not that he was taking note. During the old days, he could just walk it off or down a glass of whiskey or two.
Not now, especially not now.
His phone gives out a rather loud alert, loud enough to make Lucas go scowl at him. He could only reply with a quick, "Meeting with Mac, I have to be there."
He barely hears Lucas protesting, and he sends out a quick message to MacKenzie.
"If Pruitt asks, tell him we have a meeting of great importance."
He just needs to get out, even if it's for a few minutes.
---
MacKenzie had welcomed him in, while she was on the phone with Lucas, most likely - she was already standing up. Rubbing her temples, her hair currently in a messy bun, trying to vouch for whatever it was Charlie had told Lucas Pruitt. "Well, this meeting is of utmost importance Mr. Pruitt - Yes, we still need to finalize on who will take over for Will for the rest of the - Elliot has offered so we are considering - Sloan has already covered for two weeks -ANDYESTHESEARETHETHINGSWETALKABOUTINTHEMEETING, GOODBYE."
Charlie settles down on the chair, waiting for MacKenzie to compose himself. "He threw the 'Is your accent even real?' line yet again. I need him to remember my actual name, Charlie."She tucks in her stray hair behind her ear. A tired, but genuine smile lights up her face. "How was your day?"
He could only reply with a shrug. "He's talking about bringing in extra revenue by ," he draws quotation marks with his fingers, "'tapping phones'. He tells me to trust him because he's got his ear on the ground."
MacKenzie shuffles around some of her papers, but she takes time to tell a joke. "Tell him Reese already did the phone tapping thing. Didn't work out well for him."
"I think he means making an app or something-"
MacKenzie shifts to seriousness. "That sounds... Odd. We already have our own news app."
"He wants to make everyone journalists."
It was enough to make MacKenzie stop. "He's pushing through with it? The "report your own news" app?"
As if on cue, Sloan walks in, dressed too casually for a Thursday. "No, he's not yet there. He did however, push through with an app that lets you stalk people and assure you, 'It's okay to stalk people'. Just in case you needed your conscience to be clear when you're about to stalk someone."
Charlie looks back and forth at the two of them. "I'm sorry, what are you two talking about?"
"The app," they both reply at the same time, MacKenzie in the form of a question, Sloan with annoyed certainty.
At this, Charlie buries his face in his hands. "I don't even know what the fuck is going on around here anymore." There was too much going on, with Lucas and his grand plans of rewriting journalism, with his own staff incomplete; Neal on the run and Will in prison -
Will.
He looks at Sloan, and he takes the opportunity. "You're on visiting duty today, right?"
Sloan holds up her hand. "Hang in there buddy, I already moved for Elliot and Jim-"
"Well, I have a greater need than those two, my time is limited."
"Not funny."
"You get my point."
He's out of MacKenzie's office, deaf to Sloan's protests. That's the second time he's done that in a day.
He's usually a nice guy.
---
Charlie waits for the doors to open to bring Will in, but for the meantime, he observes Will's fellow felons. Not that Will was one, but every one else around here surely looks like the type.
The door opens, and in comes Will McAvoy. It's enough to make some of the visitors pause and take in a good look - Charlie takes a mental note of those who looked at Will with a "holier than thou" air around them.
Will didn't seem to mind.
"Prison seems to be doing good things to you," Charlie says as a way of greeting. He goes for a hug, to which the nearby officer cleared his throat to their general direction.
Will raised an eyebrow at him. "He's in his seventies and he's wearing a bow tie, do you think he's that big of a threat?" Charlie shakes his head, and urges Will to take the his seat. "I thought I'd get you a harmonica, to complete the prison experience. But seeing they're banning friendly hugs, I'm glad I didn't take the risk."
That did it. The smile on Will's face was the one thing Charlie needed to feel at ease - the current setting be damned.
---
Usual pleasantries were exchanged, "How's ACN?", "How's prison life?", "Do you have plans to bust me out of here?" - with the last one causing the guard on duty to be on alert. It seemed to be your usual visitation, albeit it was one with a nightly news anchor and the president of the news division he was under. They had managed to make the conversation between them casual, to save themselves from eavesdroppers looking for a quick buck with a story to sell.
Or so Charlie thought. After all, Will had a few years of being a prosecutor under his belt.
"Something wasn't right," and Will felt it in his bones. Sure, Charlie had a brave smile on his face, managed to crack a few jokes here and there. But that lightness didn't seem to reach his eyes. He knew something was up.
Will managed to glance at the clock. "Are they giving you an extension because you're old?" Charlie crossed his arms. "That joke got old a few jokes ago."
"I've got a couple more, and I intend to use them all."
"I was wrong, prison changed you." Charlie laughs, still trying to keep the atmosphere light.
"Charlie,"Will starts, leaning in slightly as if it would help to keep things confidential. "Tell me what's wrong."
The older man took to quick to rebuff, "Nothing. Nothing's wrong."
Will opted for a pause, not quite giving in to an impulse to try to talk it out; he'll let Charlie open up.
It didn't hurt to nudge him to the right direction though.
"We've only got a few more minutes. And from what I understand, MacKenzie's made sure every single one of you guys would be visiting me during my stay."
He's not sure when the calm and composed Charlie Skinner took a back seat, but sure enough, the old man became older, as if the burden on his shoulders was killing him.
This was the Charlie Skinner he was afraid to see in front of him.
---
Charlie tries to look everywhere else except at Will. The image of his friend - no - his almost son, imprisoned for standing up to beliefs they all hold dear in their profession. Ever since they slapped him in cuffs and sent him to prison for contempt - Charlie felt proud for Will, and then mixed with spite for himself .
After all, they wouldn't be here if he had not been so blind. Had he seen through Jerry's ambition for prestige. Had he known that to save Leona and Reese was to sell their very soul to the devil. Had he step in and told them that Neal gave him the source.
Day in and day out ever since, Charlie felt that burden. The burden he carried was so deceptively simple: that those who were young and have so much promise were compromised because of a blind, delusional old man.
"I'm so tired Will," he blurts out. "I know I have to keep it together. I try to, every goddamned day. But so help me God, everyday I see the repercussions of my mistakes. I should be the one locked up for contempt. I should have left when I was asked. I should have kept my fucked up, idealistic self silent and let everything run its course. Who was I thinking we could change all that?
Charlie takes in a deep breath, making himself go on. "I shouldn't have - If only I had played it safe, I could have protected you all better. I could have been... The better person you all needed-"
---
"Stop."
Charlie stops, coincidentally when Will, in his firm voice tells him to. He wanted to say more but he couldn't, while Will couldn't bear to see him regret everything they had built from the beginning.
"I don't like seeing you like this. It's already hard as it is , Charlie. I'm away from my wife, from the thing which we both love doing, and I am not doing anything while God knows what that prick is doing. And all the while you've been carrying this... Huge millstone that you insist on hanging around your neck.
Don't blame yourself. Blame anyone else - Dantana - he should be the one whose ass you're kicking. But I am not going to leave here until you take all of that shit you said back.
We all made a mistake. Because we were doing it for a good cause - a great cause. We were all alone fighting through that muddled world of misinformation and deceit and paranoia. And it felt good. It felt great! Not only because it was the right thing to do, but because you made sure we all were on board with it. We weren't alone in that mission to civilize. You. Made. Sure. Of. It.
If anything else Charlie, we disappointed you. Because we weren't doing enough. Right now, we aren't doing enough. If I were there and not here, you know I'd be kicking Pruitt's ass because whatever's coming out in that blowhard's mouth is a far cry from what we've set out to do. You just have to give us all a chance to stand back up and fight.
But don't you ever blame yourself for all this shit that's happening to us right now. This was never an easy road."
Will reached out to the father he always had, not minding anyone who was witnessing the whole thing.
"Everything is going to be okay Charlie," Will tries one more time. "We're not going anywhere."
And after all that talk, the only thing Charlie Skinner could do was to bow his head, to look at his shaking hands, still begging for forgiveness.