Chapter Text
It is the night before Valentine's Day.
Despite the chilly weather, he is determined to surprise his boyfriend and partner in life given this is their first Valentine's (Eve) together as a couple despite both of them couldn't get the day off on the actual romantic day. Both of them are working on that day as well but thankfully one of them were able to end the shift a couple of hours earlier. The extra couple of hours are enough for him to buy a bouquet of flowers, a bottle of good wine, take outs from a fancy Italian restaurant that they enjoy from a previous date, and desserts from a bakery not far from the restaurant before his boyfriend return home an hour before midnight. He wished they could do it properly at location instead but having a romantic dinner at home while watching the TV and maybe some making out after sounds just as good given Christopher is having a sleepover at Abuela's.
Walking back towards his car parked on the street, he was beyond thrilled for his preparations and nervous for the gift he got for him which are currently safely stored in the glove box of his car as a surprise. Looking at his watch, he should probably get home quickly to set the romantic atmosphere and probably shower and dress nicely for the occasion as well.
As he approached the car and set everything inside properly, a loud scream is heard and it's coming from the back alley of this book store he parked in front of. With his firefighter's instinct to help, he ventures into the alley immediately. The alley is dark and the lights weren't enough to illuminate the area. He looked around and notices there's no visible person within the alley and there's a couple of dumpsters in front of the back entrance of the stores. Quickly, he checks the dumpsters in case the person who sent out the distress scream is hiding in them.
Despite his alertness, he did not noticed someone is approaching from behind slowly. As he is too focused at the task at hand, he felt the smack of a hard object at the back of his head, slamming the front of his head into the hard metal of the dumpster. He immediately fell onto the dirty floor trying to regain composure before he lost consciousness.
"Just take what you want. Y-you don't have to do this, please.", he said.
Thinking the assailant is just attacking him for the valuables. As he begs for his life, he is already feeling the darkness slowly consuming him. With the last of his strength, he tried to stand up and run for his life. As he is on knees, the assailant approaches and kneel in front of him. As he saw the assailant approaching him with his blurry vision, the person is wearing dark coloured hoodie with a mask and has a relatively smaller physique.
"Please, just take whatever and don't k-", a sharp pain is felt on his left abdomen before he could finish begging for his life.
Looking down, he saw a knife is now embedded into his stomach. Realizing the ordeal, the assailant stabs him a couple more times before he finally fall face down onto the floor succumbing to the darkness rapidly.
"If I could not have you, he can't have you either."
It's the last thing he heard, recognizing the person's voice and walking away before he finally lost consciousness.
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There's still couple of hours left before his shift ends an hour before midnight, time seems to move slower for how antsy he is on the wait and hopefulness to no crazy calls to end the shift relatively quiet and smooth. He has been bummed out they are working on Valentine's, probably the most important romantic day as it's their very first one. However, Chimney has requested a weekend Valentine's day off relatively early in the year for romantic weekend getaway with Maddie. With one paramedic down, the team just couldn't afford to let the two firefighters to take the leave either.
Despite the unfortunate circumstances, he is pretty delighted when he found out his boyfriend is probably planning something on this fake yet romantically motivated holiday given his boyfriend is glued to his phone looking at places earlier in the shift before he left. With this realization, he is over the moon for the gesture and pretty exhilarated to have a romantic sexcapade.
Instead of pacing holes into the ground while waiting for time to pass, he decides to have a late work out to keep his mind occupied and a shower to follow fantasizing the limitless possibilities of the secretive plans his boyfriend is planning. Out of the shower, he made himself coffee and chew on some cookies while having a conversation with Bobby and Hen over their Valentine's plans in which both of the other couple are also having a relatively uninteresting Valentine's. Athena is working a case and Denny is out sick.
Just as he finished his coffee, the bell rang loudly as if it's teasing the crew for a bad Valentine start as it is inching towards the end of the shift. The crew immediately gets into their gear and hops into their trucks, out to the streets trying to save another life.
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To say the weather is chilly is an understatement when it started raining not long into the night which occasionally happens in the city of angels during this time of the year. It's the coldness and wetness of the rain that jolts him awake slightly for the predicament that he is in. The pain is excruciating and unbearable but in his mind, he knows he is dying and trying his best to stay alive and not to break the sacred promise he made to his loved ones.
He musters the last of his dying life force to crawl forward painfully, hoping to get people to saw him in the streets given the chances of it happening is very unlikely with the rain and darkness. Just as he is giving up and wallowing in his own self pity in his last few dying seconds, the universe seems to take pity on him just as someone from the book store exited through the back entrance and found him dying alone.
The poor lady was obviously shocked for how terrifying the scream she lets out. She stood there for a second, shaking herself out of the shock and tries to help him while calling for 911.
"Sta-station 1-18, tell th-them that-", and passes out once again after he mumbled that to whoever hoping that they heard it.
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It's raining as they rollout onto next call. He is slightly annoyed as he would not be able to be back home in time for whatever his boyfriend is planning for their super late dinner. On the bright side, they could cuddle up closely cloth or cloth-less with how cold it is. To gauge the timing of the call, he probed for more information from the captain so he could send his boyfriend a message that he will be back late and what time it will be.
"Hey Cap, what's nature of this call?", he asked with slight hint of impatience.
"It's a medical call but the caller asked for the 118 insistently. So the truck is also going in case anything out of the ordinary has happened and we could provide assistance."
"So, it would be quick then?"
"Hopefully."
Bobby assurance isn't doing it for him but there's is nothing that he can do about it. As they are going to the destination, he looked out of the windows and noticing the familiarity of the places they are passing by. The Italian restaurant that he has fond memories of their first date, the park that they went with Christopher on their day off, the grocery store that they frequented on their way home after a shift, the coffee shop that sells their favorite donuts. All these places just reminds him of the love that he has for the man he loved unconditionally.
They comes to a stop, reaching their destination.
He was still submerged in his own mind when it happens. They got out and he realizes the call is near the bakery that sells the desserts they buy all the time. Not thinking much about it, he moves towards the book store following Bobby's lead. As they are getting closer to the book store, his heart sunk for noticing his boyfriend's car parked in front of the store. Immediately his anxiousness and uneasiness kicked into full gear.
He ran to the car and saw the flowers, food and wine are still placed in the car neatly. Fearing the worst, he charges towards the scene and his world crumbles immediately from within.