Work Text:
It's 1 am and Jackson is still working at his office. He should be sleeping but he always has problems falling asleep when Stiles has a night shift and he's not sleeping next to him. He's about to call it a night and try to get some sleep when he's startled by his phone's ringtone and he's instantly on alert.
He grabs it and it's from Stephen, his husband's partner at the police force, one of his choices if he had to have guessed who was calling. The other choices would have been Derek or his father-in-law.
"Stephen? What's happened?" Because he wouldn't be calling his at this hour if everything was right.
"Don't freak out, okay? Stiles is fine but he's been shot— "
"Shot? He's been shot? Then, he's not fucking fine!" Jackson says louder than he should have because his kids are sleeping not far from that room.
"In the arm, okay? In the arm. I made a tourniquet on the scene and he's being taken to the hospital as we speak."
"I don't give a fuck where he's been shot!" Jackson shouts, sounding kind of desperate.
"Calm down, okay? I'm as upset as you are... he's my partner, you know? I'm going to call the sheriff now. So just get to the hospital and I'll meet you there."
Jackson closes his eyes for a second and takes a deep breath.
"Fine. Yeah. But I can't leave the kids alone—I need to make a phone call and wait for somebody to come over. I'll see you later."
"Jackson, he's going to be fine. I promise you."
"Yeah. He better be," Jackson says before hanging up.
*************
When Jackson gets to the hospital he finds Stephen, the sheriff and Scott in the waiting room.
The sheriff and Scott hug him before he can say a word.
"Where is he? What the hell has happened?" Jackson asks looking at everybody.
"He's having surgery. They are operating on him to extract the bullet and any remains that could cause an infection," the sheriff says, obviously trying to calm Jackson down.
"Shit." Jackson shakes his head. "And how the fuck did he get himself shot?" Jackson asks, looking at Stephen.
"We were in pursuit of a guy who had had a fight in a bar and had stabbed a guy. When we got to the scene, the suspect was just leaving in his car, so we were chasing him for a few minutes until the guy, who was really drunk, lost control of the vehicle, drove off the road and crashed into a tree."
Stephen stops to take a breath as he tries to remember exactly what happened.
"And then?" Jackson frowns, both confused and curious.
"We called an ambulance because we thought that the guy was unconscious, injured or dead. While I was calling, Stiles approached the car although I told him to wait for me. The thing is that when he opened the driver's door, this guy wasn't unconscious. He brought out a gun and started to shoot. Thank God the gun only had three bullets, but one of them hit Stiles's arm. He was still able to disarm the guy even before I got there, though. I put handcuffs on him and soon after that the ambulance arrived, taking both of them to the hospital. And that's when I called you. Everything happened so fast..." Stephen says, looking away from Jackson at the end.
"You do realize that my husband could be dead right now, don't you?" Jackson says intertwining his fingers behind his neck. "I can't believe this is happening again..." Jackson shakes his head.
"Are you accusing me of anything?" Stephen, who is much taller than Jackson, asks irritated at Jackson's tone.
Scott gets in the middle separating them before things escalate. "He's not accusing you. He's just worried and he hates hospitals."
"What if I'm accusing you? Aren't you his partner? Aren't you supposed to protect him and prevent things like this from happening?"
"Jackson, you need to calm down, okay?" The sheriff says, trying to pull Jackson away from Stephen.
"Yeah, I am his partner and he is my friend too, so only because I know how much you love him, I'm not going to hold what you just said against you. Now I think I'm going to grab a coffee somewhere," Stephen says before leaving.
"Great job, Jackson. Just brilliant," Scott says with irony as they see Stephen walking towards the lift.
"He's an incompetent, okay? He deserved it."
"He's a good officer, Jackson," the sheriff says. "He acted according to protocol and he might have saved Stiles's arm. I know how you feel but you can't just accuse somebody like that. It's not fair."
"Yeah," Scott nods. "We don't even have all the details yet. I'm sure Stephen did the best he could given the circumstances."
"This kind of thing happens all the time, you know? It doesn't matter if you have the best partner in the world. Sometimes, there's no way to prevent it," the sheriff says.
"So what, should I consider myself lucky because it only took two years for my husband to get shot? Yeah, that's a real blessing."
"I'm not saying that and you know it." The sheriff shakes his head. "Even if he's smart, he's not been a cop for too long and in this job, experience is what makes the difference in this type of situation. And look, I don't know what exactly happened but given the circumstances, I'm pretty sure that it wasn't Stephen's fault, it was Stiles's or just bad luck."
Jackson snorts. "If that's true. If this is his fault, it doesn't make me feel any better. It only proves that he shouldn't be out there doing this job."
"If there's anybody to blame here, that's that drunk piece of shit who shot him. So can we stop talking about blame here, please?" Scott says. "Let's take a seat, okay?"
They all sit down and Jackson looks around him with sadness and incredulity. He has so many bad memories of this hospital. He never wanted to be back here and still, here he is again. It's like there's no escape from that fucking place.
"Who is with the kids?" Scott asks when he realizes that Jackson needed to take care of that before coming here.
"I called my mother. My father is out of town anyway. She'll take them to school tomorrow. And I also talked to Derek. He's on his way with Kane right now. I'm sure he must have told the rest of the pack."
Scott simply nods and they are in silence for a few minutes because neither Scott nor the sheriff know what is the right thing to say. They've been through a similar situation before and they know how Jackson can be.
"Look, it doesn't sound like a very complicated surgery. I'm sure everything is going to be okay. Every time he's ended up here, he's always been okay." Scott says after a while, more to calm himself down than anything else.
"If he was still working at his company, none of this would have happened. He should never have become a cop... that's the real problem here. If you hadn't supported him..." Jackson shakes his head.
"He had made up his mind. I never encouraged him. He's stubborn and an adult... He made his own decision." The sheriff says, waving his arms. "I knew that nothing I could say would have stopped him from doing what he wanted to do."
"He knew you didn't want him to do it and he did it anyway." The sheriff continues. "So, if he didn't listen to you, do you really think he would have listened to me?"
"All I know is that I've been waiting for that call for two years. I never stopped thinking I was getting it. I'm afraid every time he goes through the door to work. And especially at night... The night shift is the worst. I always go to sleep wondering if he'll still be alive when I wake up." Jackson's voice breaks a little. "If my kids will still have their dad in the morning. I wish he came to his senses and left this fucking job."
"Have you told him all that?" Scott frowns. He can only imagine what going through that must be like.
"Not with those words... but yeah..." Jackson licks his lips. "Of course he knows how I feel. He's known from the start... I don't tell him anymore because I know that it's not going to change anything and I don't want to argue with him, so I guess that I've given up by now."
"Look. it's his job and he loves it, so..." Scott says.
"I know that and I know that I'm selfish..." Jackson admits.
"You aren't selfish." Scott rests his right arm around Jackson's shoulders, squeezing lightly. "You love him. Anybody would feel the same way. But seriously, you need to give Stephen a break, because I'm sure he already feels guilty and the last thing he needs is you going after him."
Jackson licks his lips and doesn't reply at first. He looks at the sheriff who has closed his eyes, resting his head on the wall behind him, and seems to have disconnected from their conversation.
"Okay, when he's back I won't talk to him." Jackson finally says. "That's all I can promise."
"Jackson, what is your problem with him?" Because there's always a certain tension between them and he wishes he knew where it comes from. "As far as I can remember you've never liked him. To be honest, it reminds me when we were in high school and you didn't like me for no reason. Have you ever tried to get to know him?"
Jackson snorts. "Look. I don't care how this sounds but I don't work with him. I don't need to like him just because he works with my husband. There's no rule in this world that says that I have to like my husband's co-workers. And, in case you didn't notice, the feeling is obviously mutual."
Scott doesn't say anything because he knows that at least that part is true, and Stephen doesn't seem to like Jackson very much.
"I tried at first, okay? I tried for Stiles but... I don't know what his problem is. Maybe he thinks I'm this rich guy who wants to keep his husband at home cooking for him and taking care of his kids... or maybe he thinks I'm some kind of jealous controlling husband... honestly, your guess is as good as mine..."
"You think he doesn't like you because you've got money?"
"It's a possibility... He knows I'm not a fan of Stiles's job. And he knows about my family and many other things about me. So yeah, I think he doesn't like people with money and probably thinks that Stiles could do better with somebody else. Hell, if he wasn't straight, I'm sure that person would be him..." Jackson says with irony.
"And what does Stiles say about that?"
"What do you think? He thinks it's all in my imagination. He's so... he's so naive, you know? He says we should invite him over for dinner... like if that would change anything..." Jackson says, waving his right arm.
Scott smiles and shakes his head as he imagines what that dinner would be like.
"So, I'm guessing that you weren't crazy about the idea..." Scott says.
"What do you think?... I said I'd rather get shot by a wolfsbane bullet."
Scott snorts and smiles. "Of course..."
"You're not going to say that I'm an ass to your best friend...?"
"What for? You already know that? Plus, he's old enough to fight his own battles. I'm not getting in the middle of it," Scott says, looking at his watch.
"Besides, I'm too tired to maintain this conversation for much longer. Let's just wait for the doctor..." Scott closes his eyes, imitating the sheriff's position. "Just wake me up if I fall asleep and there's any news."
They stay in silence after that hoping to get news from the surgery as soon as possible.