Liam came out of his office, slamming the door behind him. Seriously? His life was seriously going to continue to suck this much? That was a terribly inappropriate thought to have considering he had his husband back and he was profoundly happy about that. But the criminal who had taken him was still on the lose and the case was officially closed. And now, some wet behind the ears lap dog (with a rather fashionable suit) was following his team around. "Chancellor, in the conference room now please." He pointed in that direction as he walked past him, not stopping.

Chancellor has slept for a while, showered and dressed in a clean suit before returning to the office. He was presently perched on the corner of Clark's desk, reviewing the newest case file that had been passed in his direction. The demand to arrive to the conference room made him stand and tuck his file under his arm to follow Liam to the conference room. He closed the door behind him and leaned against it, figuring he'd have a head start to being shoved into it.

"You went suit shopping with him?" Liam started out with that. "Is this fun for you?" He pressed the palm of his hand to his own forehead, using his other hand to lean against the conference table. "And did you know that Meridian has been keeping cases from us? From me?"

"I spilled ranch dressing on him when I made him buy me lunch, so yes. I went with him to get a new jacket and tie." He folded his arms over his chest. "This is always fun for me. And I was unaware until Agent Comfort told me yesterday."

"Me losing my job is fun for you. Beckett losing his job is fun too?" They were the main two on trial here, though he knew that Cooper had been sent to follow Chancellor around too to answer the question about him coming out of retirement or not. It wasn't all up to Chancellor and Liam, of course. "Ranch dressing?" he frowned, just catching that. It was weird enough to take the wind out of his sails.

"No, that part isn't fun. I did my best to cover for Meridian and you, but I can't change the things that have happened. And yes, I was being myself and he was being rigid and boring and I coated him in ranch. And pickles."

That felt like a slap in the face. "Cover for us? Do you think we need covering? Do you think I fucked up?" Liam didn't curse very often, but he seemed to be a lot looser with his tongue lately, especially when he was talking to Chancellor. "Tell me. Should I have taken myself off the case?"

"No. But you shouldn't have shoved me into the door yesterday and Comfort saw that. How am I supposed to handle that when he asks me if you physically harming your employees is common practice?" Chancellor's voice was sharp, he wasn't going to be yelled at over this.

He had to get over the loss of Adam. As time settled on the case, Liam became more and more aware of that. "Fine, maybe you're right." He knew Chancellor was right. Leaning back against the conference table, Liam sighed. "He's here to evaluate you too, you know. Apparently my reccommendation doesn't quite have the same weight that it did a few weeks ago."

"What are they going to do? Make me leave?
Fine." Chancellor wasn't really that broken up about it. Yes, he thought retirement would be the death of him and yes, he promised Liam he'd stay, but he wasn't going to let some child scare him.

"I don't want you to leave. If you keep throwing pickles at him, you're going back into retirement. Then again, if I get fired then I suppose it won't matter." Liam sighed. "Just--be less of a goddamn maverick while he's here?" He knew full well that Chancellor wasn't going to be able to pull that off, but he was going to ask anyway.

"All right." Chancellor looked down at his shoes and he just toed the floor. Only Liam could make him feel put in his place. "Why do you want me to stay?"

"Because the second my world fell apart again, you were there to help me pick up the pieces, and I miss seeing you every day. I know I made a mess of our life together but--" he looked out the window and offered a shrug. "You're still really important to me. You make things feel just that much more stable." Even if he felt like he was at Chancellor's throat sometimes.

Chancellor felt like shit hearing that. It wasn't fair. He brought one hand up to rub at his eyes and he sighed, wishing there were some way to change the past, but there wasn't. "I'll do what I can do but if they kick me back into retirement then that's that. You'll have to learn to live without me. You've done it before."

Liam sat there for a moment, trying to read Chancellor's body language. He knew the man was brilliant at hiding things and that still killed him a little. "You got married before I did," he said finally.

"Because you resented me for drying you out. You wouldn't even look at me some days. So yeah, I got married. And we both saw how that worked out for me." More heartbreak. Chancellor, no matter hwow big an asshole he was, never did things halfway. He gave himself entirely over to the people he loved. Liam had abused the privilege and his husband had died, leaving him completely raw.

He shouldn't have said that and he wasn't going to have this conversation. "I'm sorry," he said genuinely as he stood up. "I'm sorry he died. I'm sorry that I still need you. If you really hate being here..." he stopped himself. He was going to give Chancellor an out, he was going to say that he could go. But Liam couldn't bring himself to do that. "I'm just sorry."

"You know what, spare me." Chancellor was upset now and he was pissed off. "I have a lot of work to do and I really don't need to hear anything else about all of this." He pushed away from the door and turned to leave. If he spent another second in the room with Liam he was going to deck him. Or cry. Or both.

For all of his training, Liam just had no idea how Chancellor felt about him. He let him go and stayed in the conference room, trying to collect himself. Cooper was speaking with Wyatt--or rather getting spoken too by Wyatt--but when he heard the door open and Chancellor come out, he excused himself. "Schedule says I'm with you for the rest of the day." He spoke like the schedule was an actual person and not just a list of things to do he'd made out for himself.

"I'll be at my desk finishing reports and working up a profile." Chancellor's voice was flat and he made his way to the corner of the office where his desk was. His mood had been thoroughly killed and he knew that the rest of the evening was just going to be the same once he went home. To his hotel. He hadn't had a second to breathe, let alone look for an apartment. He was still living out of a suitcase. Though if he was getting fired he supposed it was a blessing. Once he was settled he went to his reports.

Cooper had been expecting some sort of barb, or at the very least a little quip. When he didn't get it, he was surprised to find himself a little disappointed. "Did something happen? I'm noticing talks with Agent Montgomery don't end very well for you." He followed him to his desk, pulling up a chair so that he could sit down to the side of him.

"It doesn't matter." Chancellor didn't want to talk about it, didn't want to think about it. His mind was already on his husband and he had the overwhelming urge to just sit on his laptop for the rest of the afternoon looking at pictures of the man, but that certainly wouldn't help matters.

The man's mood was making Cooper uncomfortable, but it certainly softened him a little to the seemingly unbreakable man. "There's speculation in your file that you and Agent Montgomery had a romantic relationship." For the first time in his time here, Cooper presented that information not as an accusation but in a tone that said he was simply concerned and maybe a little curious.

"Whatever it was or was not is in the past." Chancellor wasn't going to tell Comfort that he and Liam had lived together and slept together. He was not about to make this an even bigger mess than it was.

Rules were rules, but there was no express policy about relationships in the FBI. It was frowned upon between superiors and subordinates, but it wasn't forbidden. "West Point didn't exactly look highly upon the kinds of relationships I wanted either." He felt the need to be forthcoming with Chancellor, finding that he didn't like it when the man wasn't aggravating.

"Liam and I had a relationship but it didn't last. Is that what you wanted to know?" Because at this point he didn't really care and he just felt like his heart was going to ache for the rest of the day. "Ask what you specifically want to know."

"And you're sad about it now?" Maybe because Chancellor was too tired to really hide his emotions right now, Cooper was better able to pick up on it. Or maybe Liam simply couldn't bear to look all that hard.

"I am. More so about my husband." He was much more guarded around Liam. He didn't want him to know how he felt because the last thing he needed was for things to become more awkward.

The FBI didn't miss much in their personnel records. He'd been unable to resist reading the personal stuff. "How did he die?" That kind of detail wasn't in there and it felt like the only opportunity he'd have to ask.

"Cancer." Chancellor wasn't very fond of talking about the death of his husband but Comfort had asked and he wasn't going to make a fuss today. "It took two years from start to finish. I bet that wasn't in my file either." He shuffled his papers together and then leaned back in his chair just to look at Cooper.

He shook his head. "No, it wasn't." He held Chancellor's gaze for a long time, well composed. "Does it bother you that I read your personnel file?" He was starting to get comfortable, gaining confidence in interacting with Chancellor.

"No." There was information in there he didn't want most people knowing but his most intimate secrets weren't in that file and he wasn't really worried about it.

Cooper quirked the smallest of smiles. "I kind of wish that it did. I get the feeling I'm never going to be able to frustrate you. Not that--not that I want to." He looked at Chancellor's desk, breaking the gaze first.

"You would have to learn my buttons before you can frustrate me and I seriously doubt that you get the opportunity. They woll either force me back into retirement or move you to another case or squad or whatever."

"I learn really fast." He picked up the new case file. "Dead prostitutes," he said flatly. "Shot at point blank. What got you into his job?" It was so consistently grisly. At least war felt like it had a purpose. These crimes were senseless.

"My mother and father were murdered when I was sixteen. And I went into criminology after that." He had basically pioneered behavioral science but he hadn't ever solved that particular crime.

There were photos in that case file, but Cooper pointedly avoided looking at them. "I couldn't surround myself with this kind of thing on a daily basis." He figured that that made him weak according to Chancellor, but he knew himself well enough to know that he couldn't handle it. His leg hadn't been the only thing injured in Iraq. If Chancellor had Jude look up his file a clear diagnosis of PTSD would be there.

"Some people can and some people can't." He shrugged. "If you looked at every member of this team very closely you'll notice that there is something different about all of us. The way we see things, the way we respond to stress or pressure. The way we handle cases like this. There is just something different. It is why we work. It is why it is generally too difficult for Internal Affairs to come in and accurately access us. We are different and we can't always be governed by your rules."

Cooper tensed at the last sentence. "Right," he said tersely. It was stupid to think they were connecting. It was even more stupid to want to do so. It made no sense and he needed to stop trying.

"I understand the purpose of your job and I understand why you would be sent to look after our team. We play fast and loose sometimes and we need to be reminded that there are rules and they are there for a reason. But you need to understand that sometimes we have to think outside that to save lives. I don't think you can see beyond that."

"Saying the same thing to me in a nicer tone isn't going to make it more true. You can speak with as much altruism as you like and you can tout the uniqueness of your department, but the numbers show that following protocol increases the efficiency of the FBI. Efficiency means saved lives and solved cases." Cooper could not be forced to see that there were gray areas. It was black and white all the way for him.

"it is a good thing you work in the office and not in the field." He had been trying to be nice but now he didn't even want to bother. Chancellor leaned forward and he booted up his laptop. There was some work that he still needed to do and he wasn't going to waste more time trying to make Comfort see.

That made him flinch and he fell silent. He couldn't work in the field and this job had been a direct result of that. He liked this job, he found it to be very important and fulfilling. But at the same time he missed the ability to actually get out there.

Chancellor just set to work, silently and efficiently. He was very good at all aspects of his job, even the paperwork most field agents hated. It was easier to do that than to talk to Comfort.