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52

"Will you tell the others?"

"...I don't know if I can..."

"They'll have to find out eventually," Leo said with a soothing voice as they walked the now silent, empty street. They made their way back to the cafe, Robin with puffy eyes and a reddened nose from spending the last five minutes of walking trying not to cry. She wasn't successful. But, she tried at the very least.

"But, Ryan literally hates me. And, I don't want to ruin anything for anyone, especially Joel. I told him things wouldn't change here and if I drop the fact that I'm Hazel, that'll change things."

He nodded along, understanding the concern.

"They'll understand. Ryan doesn't like Hazel, but you're not her. You're Robin. And he likes Robin. A lot. If you hide it for too long, it'll break you and it'll make things worse for them. Joel's going through a lot of change, but if you end up telling him who you are when things are finally settling down for him, it'll be harder. Have you considered telling them about your background?"

"Yeah... but what if they figure me out from that...? I don't know, I want to tell them, but... ugh."

"You should," Leo nodded quickly. "Honestly, I think it would be good for Fox to hear. I bet he'd be able to relate quite a bit. It would also be good to just talk about, I think it'll take some of the weight off of you."

She nodded, accepting that she would have to tell them everything eventually. If they let her.

"I was thinking though," she breathed out, going back to her detective mind as she considered everything she needed to do. "I was considering disappearing for a while, a week or so... just so I can focus on the case. Get it over with and then, if I'm lucky, figure out what the hell I'm doing."

"Is that a good idea?" He turned to her, washed in worry. "Would you tell the others after that?"

"Yeah," she nodded, wiping her eyes as the cafe came into view. "I might not do that, It'd be safer to stick close to you guys so nothing happens... or distance myself or... I don't know anymore." her voice drifted before she turned back to him. "But... I need to ask."

"About the suspicion you had?"

"Yeah," she hummed, unsure of her words while looking back over her shoulder. "Did you ever know Jason Barber?"

He pursed his lips and subtly his eyebrows rose in his brief surprise.

"You're really searching for Jason Barber?" He asked, "I didn't know if it was true, I didn't know what you were doing but- that's really your case?"

"Yeah. He's a missing kid, I thought he deserved to be looked for."

He nodded silently, making sense of it as he turned back to her with a short sigh.

"I never knew him, honestly." He said, "I didn't even live here at the time he went missing, I came after. Originally, I went to a school in a whole other city, Brevton, where the orphanage is. Then, y'know, I was adopted."

She nodded along with every word, taking in as much as she could.

"How did you and the guys become friends?" She asked, slowing so they could talk more. Then, she glanced over her shoulder again, feeling herself tense with the realisation that this was a bad place to talk about this. "Actually, nevermind."

"Are you alright?"

"Mhm," she nodded and lowered her voice. "I don't want to get too lost in work right now."

"Ah," Leo noted, accepting her dismissal. He didn't realise it until now, but finding out you're a suspect wasn't a fun experience. "I can see why you were always so busy now."