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When Terry called me saying ‘it’s Jake, he’s hurt’, I was at the brink of a heart attack. And I still didn’t calm down as we hurried through the hospital halls.
Terry’s big arm was over my shoulder, trying to bring me any sort of comfort, but I barely paid any attention to it. I could only think about Jake, seeing him and making sure he was okay, or that he would be.
“Here it is” Terry spoke up for the first time since our encounter.
“Thank you” I absently told him, rushing to Jake’s bed.
“Hey, Y/N” My boyfriend replied, with that guilty and falsely innocent voice. “I see the Sarge has called you, you’re here! Great, I-”
My first instinct was to hug him, so I threw myself to him and hugged him tight, allowing myself to finally breathe because he was still alive.
“Ouch!” Jake complaned when I hugged him, making me immediately let go of him.
“I’m sorry!” I gasped, staring at him and hoping I didn’t make it worse.
“I’ve always wanted to do that” His goofy smile, while it usually made me happy, made my blood boil that time .
“Are you serious?!”
“Sorry! I just…”
“It’s not funny!”
“It is, a little bit”
“Jacob…” I wasn’t going to let him do this, not when he was injured.
“Oh, no” His goofy expression soon shifted. “You called me Jacob, that can’t be good”
“No, I’m so mad at you!” I exclaimed, crossing my arms over my chest.
First of all, he was reckless again and he got badly hurt. My eyes fell over the bandage on his left shoulder, which was still a little bloody. Second of all, he clearly didn’t want Terry to call me, Jake might have kept his injury from me! And last but not least, he wasn’t taking it seriously when he could have…. when I could have…
“O-kay…” Jake resigned himself, grimacing at what was coming.
“Y/N, don’t worry” Terry softly intervened. “The doc says he’ll make a quick recovery”
I turned around to my boyfriend’s sargeant, and even if I didn’t mean to, my expression must have intimidated him a little bit, because he backed away.
“I should give you two some privacy” Was all he said in response.
“Thank you for everything, Terry” I genuinely said, earning a head nod from him.
Then, when we were left alone, I furiously turned to Jake. He sighed.
“I’m sorry, okay?” Under all that goofiness, he looked utterly exhausted and a little weak. “It’s not like I was being stupid, I-”
“I know that you were just trying to protect Charles” I forced myself not to look at the bullet wound in his shoulder. “Terry told me”
Jake nodded, finally taking it seriously after noticing how worried I was.
“But it’s cool, right?” There he was again. “I was shot, right over the heart, I feel like John McClane”
When I first learned he was a cop, I thought it was cool too. It was epic and it reminded me of Die Hard, my favorite movie as well as his. But now, watching him lying in that bed, I selfishly wanted for him to quit his job. Even if I knew how much good he made, but… I just couldn’t stand seeing him get hurt.
And even if his words surely meant to cheer me up, they had the opposite effect as I realized how lucky he had truly been. If the bullet had reached him just a little lower, he…
I heavily plopped down in the chair when my knees buckled, holding a hand against his heart, that he immediately took in his.
“I’m sorry, Y/N, I really am…” Jake sighed again. “I told Terry not to call you because I didn’t want to scare you and worry you, but… you have the right to know”
I nodded, averting my gaze when my eyes filled with tears. I could have lost him, just like that. He could have died to save Charles, or to save anyone. And he would have been happy to, and I would have been proud too. But it was still such a painful thought.
“Please, don’t cry, Y/N…” He begged me. “Don’t cry because of me, I never meant…”
“I’m okay” I lied, doing my best not to actually shed any tears.
“If you start crying, then I’m gonna cry too…” Even though his voice sounded goofy, I knew he wasn’t trying to be silly, that he was genuine.
“I’m fine, I promise” I forced a smile and wiped the tears that had gathered in my eyelashes before they could roll down my cheeks.
“Bright side is…” He continued, squeezing my hand against his heart. “Now I’ll have to take it easy and I’ll get to spend more time with you”
“Yeah” I choked out, looking into his brown eyes even if they were blurry because of my tears. “You bet your ass that I’m not gonna let you out of my sight until you recover, and you better let me take care of you, Jake”
He smiled a little, and so did I in spite of myself. Jake rested my hand against his lips and gently kissed my knuckles.
“I would love for you to spoil me, Y/N” He kissed them again. “What better nurse than you, right?”
Jake kissed my knuckles yet again. I chuckled, thankful that he was alive. That he would recover, that I got to look after him and make him take it easy. And that after all he had the energy to still make jokes.