AN: Here it is, the first chapter of my first multichapter fic for Prodigal Son. I am soooo excited for the many whumpy things I have in store for this, as well as the beautiful bromantic moments to come. The title basically comes from the song Brother by NEEDTOBREATHE (although technically I was listening to the amazing cover done by Tyler Braden when I decided on the title). I hope you enjoy, and please leave a review :)

"You want me to do what?"

There was no way that Gil was being serious. Gil wouldn't ask JT to do something like that. He'd ask Dani, not JT. Yet there he stood, in Gil's office, his lieutenant making an outrageous request.

"I need you to go with Bright to this conference. I don't want him going alone," Gil reiterated with a shake of his head.

"You can't be serious," JT said around a smile, hoping beyond hope that Gil was, for some reason, playing a prank on him, despite the fact that the man had never pranked JT before and there was no reason to think he would start. Gil didn't crack a smile and tell him that he was kidding, to get back to work. He just stared at JT with a straight face. He wasn't kidding. "Boss, come on," JT almost whined. "Bright is a grown man who can take care of himself. He doesn't need me to babysit him on a trip to a psychology conference in DC. I will die if I go there. All those nerds, everyone there just like Bright? I can't take that."

"You're gonna have to, because you're going," Gil insisted. He didn't look at all amused.

"Why can't Dani go? She likes Bright more than I do, anyway," JT pointed out in a last ditch effort to get out of the assignment, knowing full well that he sounded like a petulant child.

"Because I said so." Gil continued to just stare him down, forcing JT to acquiesce. The man would not be swayed. Finally, JT nodded, giving a heavy and dramatic sigh as he did so. "You know someone needs to go with him, JT. That kid gets in trouble everywhere he goes. Do you really think letting him go to DC, specifically to somewhere where he's bound to run into people he knows, people who hate him, alone, is a good idea?"

"Did he agree to this?" JT asked, dodging Gil's question. He knew his boss was right, but that didn't mean he had to like it.

"Actually, yes," Gil replied, crossing his arms with a grin. "He told me he wanted to go to this conference, so I told him he only could if you went with him. He said that was fine."

JT took a moment to reply, knowing that it was best not to point out the fact that Bright had basically asked Gil's permission to go on a field trip and the man had told him he could if he had a chaperone. Not for the first time, JT almost laughed at how much of a dad Gil was to Bright, and how eagerly Bright accepted that.

"Alright, then," he finally responded. "When do we leave?"

"Tomorrow, I think," Gil replied. "Go ask Bright, he'll give you all the details." Gil sat back down at his desk and went back to his reports, a clear indication that JT was dismissed. Shaking his head, JT left, and went to find Bright. If he grumbled and complained under his breath while he did so, only Dani was close enough to hear it.

"What's got you all bothered?" she asked him from her perch on top of her desk, only sparing him a glance. She sat there, her feet on top of her chair, a report in her hands. JT had long given up on asking her why she never chose to use chairs in the way they were meant to be used.

"Gil's making me go with Bright to DC for some psychology conference thing," he complained. "There's gonna be a bunch of nerds there talking about nerdy stuff and doing nerdy things." JT sighed and flopped into his own desk chair.

"Sounds right up your alley," Dani said with a grin. She turned back to her reports, continuing to chew on her pen around her smile.

"Very funny," JT deadpanned. "I gotta go find Bright and find out when we leave and the flight information and all that." He sighed again, then pushed himself up and away from his desk like it was a monumental task. If he had to go the overcrowded airport and get on an overcrowded plane, then he wished he was with Tally and they were going to Tahiti, not with Bright of all people, going to DC.

Bright's desk was right by his and Dani's, but the profiler wasn't there. So where was he? He had to finish his reports for their latest closed case just like everyone else, and he'd been there earlier that day.

"Do you know where he went?" JT asked, turning back to Dani and pointing with his thumb towards Bright's desk. Dani looked up at him, then motioned with her head towards the doors. Bright was just walking in, and he was carrying a tray of coffee. A peace offering?

"For you," Bright said with a smile, taking one of the beverages out of the tray and holding it up to JT. "It's your favorite," he said. Eyes narrowed, JT accepted it, and brought it up to his lips. He took a careful sip, then nodded approvingly.

"So it is," he said. JT couldn't remember ever telling Bright what his favorite kind of coffee was, yet the kid knew it. There was no way that he had been able to figure out something as random as someone's favorite flavor of coffee through his freaky Jedi mind trick profiling stuff. JT just couldn't buy that. Someone must have just told him.

"And for you," Bright continued, holding out another beverage to Dani. She accepted hers with a genuine smile and soft "thanks". Bright set one more on his own desk, then headed towards Gil's office, the final coffee in his hand. JT turned back to Dani.

"What do you think the bribery is for?" he asked her.

Dani rolled her eyes. "Maybe he's just being nice. He does want to be friends, remember? Not everyone has an ulterior motive." She lowered her voice a bit, taking a quick glance over at Gil's office, where Bright still was. "He wants you to like him, okay? Can't you see that he wants you to want to be his friend?"

JT held up his hands defensively. "I don't hate the guy or anything, it's just-"

"He's different, I know, like Gil first said when we met, he's an acquired taste, but he's a good person, and you've seen how much he cares," Dani argued. She leaned a little bit closer after taking another look over at Gil's office. "And I know you like Bright more than you let anyone, especially him, know. So how about you take this opportunity in DC to get to know him as more than just a colleague."

He sighed. This did seem to be really important to Dani, and JT knew it was important to Gil. Gil had always loved the kid, obviously, and Dani had grown to care about him a lot. Edrisa's affection for Bright was obvious to literally everyone, leaving JT as the only member of their team to hold back. Deep down, JT knew that Dani was right, that he had already accepted Bright as one of their own much more than he let on, so why wouldn't he show it? He wasn't sure that he even knew the answer to that question.

"Okay, fine, I'll give it my best shot," he relented, taking another sip of the best coffee he'd had in a long time. Clearly Bright hadn't settled for the bargain brew, or even something as expensive as only Starbucks - which, on a cop's salary, got expensive pretty quickly. This coffee was the best of the best, but there wasn't a label anywhere on the cup. Bright had splurged somewhere, getting the most expensive and delicious coffee for them that New York City had to offer. JT sighed. Bright was a good kid. He deserved more of a chance than JT had been giving him.

Bright walked back out of Gil's office, a smile still on his face.

"You good to go tomorrow?" he asked JT.

"Yeah, yeah," JT muttered. He still wasn't happy about it. "What time is the flight? And where's it leaving from? JFK or LaGuardia?"

"It's at 10am, but we're actually leaving from Teterboro Airport, in Jersey," Bright said, his smile falling only slightly. He seemed to be in a remarkably good mood for someone who hated paperwork as much as he did - maybe that was why he had left in search of the city's best and most expensive coffee, an excuse to leave.

"The airport where they arrested Epstein?" JT clarified. Bright cringed, but nodded nonetheless. "Why? They don't fly commercial out of there."

"That's because we're not flying commercial," Bright responded, grin back on his face. "I got us a private jet." The kid was practically bouncing on his toes in excitement. JT glanced over at Dani, who was clearly pretending not to pay attention, but her grin gave her away. His voice suddenly grew serious once more. "Also, I know my family is wealthy, but I promise we never had anything to do with Epstein. My father being a serial killer is the worst thing about us, I promise," he affirmed, his eyes searching JT's as if it was paramount that he knew that The Surgeon truly was the worst thing about his family.

"Yeah, I believe you," JT said, dismissing the comment with a wave of his hand. "But why on earth would you hire a private jet? Just because you can?"

"Well, I thought you might like it," Bright replied, his hands going into his pockets. He was starting to look a little nervous, as if he'd messed up. "I know you don't really want to be going to the conference, so I thought maybe getting a private jet would be fun for you. I'm covering all the expenses, so it's not like you have to pay for anything. I just figured it would be different, and maybe fun, for you, hopefully," he said, looking up at JT with those big blue eyes, looking like a puppy who just wanted approval. JT sighed. He wasn't a monster enough to kick a puppy.

"Alright, sure, why not," he said through clenched teeth. This day just got better and better.

"Great!" Bright replied, his smile quickly returning. "Adolpho will pick you up, so you don't have to leave your car there."

"I don't need-"

"No, I insist," Bright interrupted. JT looked over at Dani, silently asking her to back him up on this. Dani beamed at the two of them.

"I think it sounds like a wonderful idea," she said.

"Traitor," JT mouthed at her. She only chuckled and returned to her report - well, returned to pretending to work on her report, since she was clearly still very clued in to the conversation around her. "Okay, then," JT said. Clearly arguing with Bright just wasn't worth it.

"Great," Bright repeated, then finally went back to his own desk. He audibly sighed upon opening his report back up. JT couldn't bring himself to feel bad.

Bright and early the next morning, Adolpho showed up outside of JT's house, just as Bright had said he would. After kissing Tally and her pregnant belly goodbye, JT walked out the door and put his duffle bag in the trunk, next to another duffle bag and a garment bag, likely containing the kid's signatures suits. He opened the door and slid in next to Bright, who seemed much too happy in light of JT's suffering.

"Only a few more months now, isn't it?" Bright asked him. He had to be referring to the baby.

"Yep, only two months to go," JT confirmed, nodding. He really didn't want to get into a conversation with Bright about babies, or, worse yet, fathers. He really didn't want to get into a conversation with Bright, period. It was bad enough that he had to go to a psychology conference with the younger man, they didn't need to add small talk and make things worse.

A little voice in the back of his mind reminded JT that he'd promised Dani he would make an effort with Bright. As much as he tried to force that little voice down, his conscience wouldn't let him. He was a man of his word.

"How are... things?" JT asked, cursing himself for not being able to come up with something, anything, better than that. Small talk was just not his thing.

"'How are things?'" Bright repeated, looking at him in extreme disbelief, a massive smile on his face as he held back laughter.

"Whatever, I won't even try," JT responded before Bright could say anything else, but he did have to smile at his own awkwardness, and at the light laugh that it gave Bright.

They stayed quiet the rest of the drive to the airstrip, which was okay with JT. He was sure that he would have to endure a lot of Bright's near constant chatter over the next four days, so he would take the peace and quiet where he could get it.

Adolpho dropped them off right by the jet - JT still couldn't believe that Bright had his own driver, did the kid even have a license of his own? - and drove off after they got their luggage out of the trunk.

"Is this your own pilot too?" JT asked, not even sure himself if he were asking sarcastically or not.

"No," Bright replied around a smile. "We don't have a pilot on retainer. There is a pilot we usually use, but he had to back out last minute this time. He recommended this one though." Bright took his garment bag across his arm and held the duffle bag with the opposite shoulder, adjusting them slightly as he made his way up the stairs that had been extended down for them. Shaking his head at the fact that there were people who existed that did in fact have personal pilots on retainer, JT followed him.

"Good morning, Mr. Bright," the pilot said as soon as they stepped foot onto the small jet. He enunciated his words a lot more than most people did, and had a cheery smile that looked permanently stuck on his face.

"Just, Bright, is fine," the kid answered him with that kind smile he always wore, extending a hand to shake. The man took it, his motions stiff but professional.

He turned to JT. "And..."

"Detective Tarmel," JT finished for him. He held out a hand to shake the pilot's too, and made sure to shake the man's hand a little harder than necessary, hoping to maybe shake some of the man's stiffness away.

"I will be your pilot for this journey. I am Captain Stover," the man said, his cheery smile finally falling into something a bit more natural. He straightened his coat, but then took a more relaxed posture, losing some of his earlier stiffness as well.

"Captain Reynolds has you highly recommended," Bright said, his own posture becoming more stiff in response.

"He is an excellent pilot," Stover conceded. He dipped his head slightly in respect. "Now, if you will please take your seats, we will be departing shortly." JT and Bright both nodded, then went to put their luggage in the bins as the pilot went back to the cockpit, closing the door behind him.

"Is it just me, or was that totally weird? I mean, I've never met a pilot on a private jet before, but that did not feel right," JT said, eyebrows raised as he looked between Bright and the cockpit.

Bright plopped down into the seat next to him, a confused frown on his face. "It's not just you. His body language and vocal inflection was all off, but I'm not sure what conclusions to draw from it yet, other than that maybe English isn't his first language."

"Why can't your normal pilot fly?" JT asked.

"He called me last night, told me he had to back out because of a family emergency. He seemed really upset, so I didn't push for details. He recommended this guy, said he's one of the best pilots he knows," Bright answered, still staring at the cockpit instead of back at JT. What Bright was saying definitely wasn't making JT feel any better.

"What are the chances he's just a weird dude and we're jumpin' at shadows?" JT asked, leaning over a bit to get into Bright's line of sight. Finally, the kid turned away from the cockpit to look at him.

"Well, in the normal population, the chances of that are pretty high, but with us..." Bright trailed off for a moment, smiling sardonically and shaking his head. "Things always seem to be something with us." JT scoffed, but couldn't disagree. The amount of cases they'd had since Bright had joined the team that turned out to be connected to the kid's past was startling to say to the least. "We should have time to ask Gil to look into it before take off." Bright pulled out his phone, but frowned at it. "No service?" he muttered. JT took out his own phone, only to see the same no service message. Something was definitely wrong.

"Should we be gettin' off the plane?" JT asked, this time completely serious. But before Bright could answer, they both felt the jet begin to move. Theirs was the only flight leaving that morning, so they had the whole runway open to them. The jet immediately began to speed up. JT looked over at Bright, eyes slightly wide. "I guess not," he said. The jet lifted off, forcing both JT and Bright back in their seats. They began to level off soon enough, but JT could still feel the jet rising, just like it was supposed to. Sure, the departure had been quicker than expected, but it had gone smoothly. Maybe everything really was fine.

But part of JT was scared to accept that, knowing that it wasn't a good idea. If it were only JT, then maybe, but this was Bright. The damn kid always got himself into trouble somehow, that being the very reason why Gil had insisted that JT had to accompany him to the conference in DC.

"We have no service, so we can't find anything out about this guy, so I guess I'll just have to go talk to him myself," Bright said with a shrug, making a move to stand up.

"Oh hell, no," JT interjected. "If this guy is some psycho killer, then you goin' up and talkin' to him is not a good idea, you'll get yourself killed. And if this guy is just a pilot, and we're wrong, then you'll only be distracting him from his job of flying the damn plane that we're on," he insisted. It was true, they didn't have very many options, but that didn't mean that Bright's idea was a good one.

"First off, it's a jet, not a plane," Bright unhelpfully pointed out. "And second, talking to 'psycho killers', is kind of my thing, and if he's planning on killing us, then his plan probably isn't to do it while in the cockpit, so I'd be disrupting his plan, and thus either buying us more time, or drastically shortening it. I'm not working with a lot here." He shrugged again, once more moving to stand. JT held out his arm and stopped him again.

"At the very least, wait until the jet has leveled off," JT said, really only to be a contrarian. He couldn't let Bright win at everything. "With your luck we'll hit some turbulence and you'll fall and break your freakin' nose," he muttered.

"Aww," Bright replied in mock gratitude, putting his hand on his heart. "You do care." JT rolled his eyes, but didn't deny it. Bright chuckled, but nodded in acquiescence with JT's request. "I guess I can wait until we level off, especially if we're gonna die anyway."

JT just nodded, choosing to ignore Bright's words, then settled further into his seat. For about the next ten minutes, he and Bright waited, neither one bothering to hide their nervous ticks - Bright's constantly shaking hand was joined by his bouncing leg, and JT worried the inside of his lip and kept wiping his palms on his thighs.

Finally, once they'd reached cruising altitude, Bright stood up and took a deep breath.

"Don't do anything stupid," JT told him with a shake of his head.

"Do I ever?" Bright fired back with a smile. He took a step forward, then quickly turned back to JT. "Maybe you shouldn't answer that."

"Ya think?" JT muttered in reply. Bright made his way over to the door to the cockpit, and, finding the door locked, knocked.

"Hey, Captain Stover, can I have a word?" he asked through the door. After a moment, he knocked again, louder. "Captain Stover?" Still, no reply. Bright glanced to JT in concern, then put his ear right against the door. He looked back at JT once more. "I can hear him, he's talking with someone over the radio, but it's not in any language I know. Sounds eastern European, but not Russian." He tried the door again, but it was very much locked. "Captain Stover!" he called out once more. JT got up and walked over. Bright stepped aside.

"Don't make me break down this door!" JT shouted, adding a few loud bangs on the door with the side of his fist for extra measure. Stover started shouting into the radio, but still didn't acknowledge them. "What is that?" he asked Bright, in reference to the foreign language. "Romanian? Serbian?"

"I don't know, something like that," Bright said. "Either way, we can't understand it, so you can do your thing and break the door down," he said, stepping back and gesturing towards the door, giving JT a patient smile, as if they weren't maybe about to be murdered by a pilot who may or may not actually have been a real pilot.

JT sent Bright a quick glare before returning his attention to the door. He couldn't believe he was doing this. Having to kick down a door on the very jet they were on was just one of the many reasons why JT wished Gil had told Dani to go with Bright instead. Just like he would kick down any suspect's door, JT raised up his leg, and struck the door with all of his might.

Nothing.

He tried again.

Still nothing.

"Damn," he muttered, gearing up to try again. Bright stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.

"Post 9/11 enhanced air travel security," he said, as if the idea had just hit him but was obvious now that he recalled it. "This is a new jet, designed to be un-hijackable."

"That word is definitely made up," JT muttered, but stepped back from the door nonetheless.

"Aren't they all? But anyway, the door isn't gonna come down, not like that anyway," Bright replied. He moved back to the door and put his ear against it. "Yeah, he's still yelling about something, probably us."

Whatever he was planning, JT was not going to just stand there and let it happen, unbreakable door or not. That just wasn't in his blood. So what were they supposed to do?