Work Text:
“9-1-1 what’s your emergency?”
The words echo from the phone that TK has a white knuckle grip on. His other hand is placed over his mouth as he tries to conceal the sounds of his heavy breathing.
As the 911 operator goes quiet, TK strains his ears, searching for any more footsteps or any indication that the intruder is still upstairs.
“Hello? Is anyone there?” The voice crackles through the speaker again.
Convinced that the intruder went back down to the living room but still terrified to make a sound, as quiet as he can he whispers, “Someone’s in my house.”
“Can you tell me your location and if there’s anyone else with you?”
It’s just him in the house and he relays that to the operator along with his address before he pulls the phone back away from his ear, listening to the rest of the suddenly quiet environment.
Ten minutes ago, TK was sleeping peacefully after a long day at work and now he’s locked himself in his bathroom hoping and praying that whoever is in his house simply takes what they want without discovering him. He doesn’t hold out any hope that someone who breaks into people's houses in the middle of the night will show any mercy upon finding him as a witness.
TK is completely out of his element here. As soon as the smashing of glass ripped him from his sleep, he ran to the en suite bathroom and locked the door, thankfully remembering to grab his phone but completely unprotected without a weapon. He’s a sitting duck and if they find him, he knows it won’t be good.
The only thing TK’s relying on to get him out of this is his fight-or-flight response and his limited, and probably incorrect, knowledge acquired from watching movies with this type of situation.
TK’s a general practitioner. The most combat experience he has is when he is working with little kids who are afraid of needles or when he has to fight Nancy in the breakroom for the last of the coffee. Sure he’s a bit of an adrenaline junky, but there’s a big difference between getting your heart racing in a fun way versus an immediate-danger-fight-for-your-life way.
“I’ve dispatched police and medical to your location. Can you tell me your name, sir?” The voice on the end of the line is calming and it helps to bring his anxiety down just a touch.
“TK.” He chokes out.
“Hi TK, I’m Carlos. Where are you right now?”
“In the bathroom off of my bedroom. Second floor.”
“Okay, that’s good. Stay put if you can, first responders are five minutes out. Is there anything you can arm yourself with?”
TK looks around the room from where he’s crouched under the window, not wanting to stand up in case he can be seen through there. The only thing in here that could even remotely be used as a weapon is the plunger and while he’s desperate, he’s not that desperate.
“No, there’s nothing. I don’t know what to do,” his voice wavers as his eyes dart around the room. He slams them shut at the sound of something slamming in the other room.
He can feel the panic building and is merciless to stop it.
“Take a slow deep breath for me, TK. In through your nose, out through your mouth.”
TK follows the kind man’s instructions, making sure to keep his exhale quiet.
“There you go, just like that. Police are three minutes out, okay? You’re doing real good. Are both your bedroom and bathroom door locked?”
TK nods before realizing Carlos can’t see and whispers, “Yeah.”
“Is there anything you can quietly barricade the bathroom door with?”
“No, not really. This bathroom’s really small.” TK says. He’s growing increasingly frustrated with himself because he’s unable to do anything to save himself. Each one of Carlos’ suggestions is unattainable. “Can you stay on the line with me until they get here?”
“Of course, TK.”
TK listens as the operator starts offering up reassuring words. He finds the man to be more comforting than the words themself. There’s something about the way he talks to TK, like he’s genuinely concerned for his well-being and not just going through the motions of his job. TK likes to think he’s the same way with his patients, wanting to form a connection with each and every one of them.
With each second that passes listening to Carlos recount some silly story to distract him, TK finds his heartbeat slowing bit by bit. His voice is smooth and honey-like and TK thinks he could listen to it all day.
TK is so engrossed in the man on the phone that he almost misses the heavy footsteps coming up the stairs.
“Shit,” he utters, any sense of calm now eaten away by the full-blown fear that’s returned.
“What’s going on TK? Talk to me,” Carlos says urgently.
“He’s coming upstairs. What if he finds me?” TK’s breaths become erratic again. “He’s going to kill me, Carlos.”
“Don’t say that TK, you don’t know that. Police are one minute out, you’re going to be just fine. You hear me?”
The sound of wood splintering pierces the room and TK doesn’t need to be told that the invader just broke the bedroom door. Maybe he’ll be lucky and they will be too distracted by the things in his bedroom to move to the bathroom before the cops get there. Depending on what they're after, TK has some valuable things in his room that might satisfy them enough to leave.
He tells himself this, not sure if he even believes it.
As much as he hates to do this, he puts Carlos on mute as the footsteps cross right in front of the bathroom door. He covers his mouth with his hand again and sits as frozen as possible. He hears his dresser drawers being pulled open and riffled through and then it goes silent.
He’s paralyzed on the bathroom floor as he strains his ears and the sound of the air conditioning turning on almost makes him jump out of his skin. After a few more seconds of silence, he’s starting to think that maybe the intruder left the room. With a shaky hand, he presses the unmute button on his phone and Carlos’ voice immediately comes through.
“TK? Are you still there?” The once calm, reassuring voice is now filled with worry.
“I’m okay,” he says so silently he isn’t even sure if he hears himself. “I think he- “
Before he’s able to finish the sentence, the bathroom door gets kicked in.
It’s like time freezes as he locks eyes with the man in front of him dressed in all black and the stereotypical ski mask. The man’s gaze shifts to the phone in TK’s hand, the screen clearly displaying his phone call with 911.
Everything happens at once after that. TK moves to stand but the assailant stomps his boot over TK’s wrist and he drops the phone. He cries out in agony and watches as the man then stomps his foot down on his phone, shattering it and disconnecting the call. With that problem taken care of, the intruder swings a right hook into TK’s temple, sending him crashing back to the floor as his eyes flutter shut and darkness consumes him.
***
The sound of the dial tone makes Carlos stand up in his seat. The last thing he heard was TK’s shout, so full of pain that Carlos felt it in his core, and then the call was cut.
His eyes dart around the rest of the call center, most people so engrossed in their own calls to notice his distress. As much as he loves his job, this part is always the worst. He dispatched police and medical and they’re likely already at the house, but Carlos is no longer a part of the story and he never gets to know how it ends.
Normally it doesn’t get to him too much, but there’s something about the way TK latched onto the help he was offering that’s making it so much harder to let this one go.
He knows he shouldn’t have said everything was going to be okay, that’s like the number one rule, but the man was so panicked and Carlos wanted to do whatever he could to comfort him. He felt drawn to him, like he wanted to protect him. And then it didn’t really matter in the end anyway as he was merciless to help TK from the violence inflicted on him by the intruder.
That scream is going to haunt his nightmares and he just hopes the first responders got there in time.
He rips the headset off and storms into the breakroom, needing a minute to breathe before he’s going to be able to take another call. He collapses into one of the chairs, thankful that the room is empty, and places his head in his hands as he takes a deep breath.
He wishes he knew more about the man other than two letters that likely aren’t even his real name. He knows it’s frowned upon to seek out people who call 911, but he just wants to make sure he’s okay, that the police got there in time. He doesn’t want to even think about the alternative or what he would’ve heard if the call hadn’t been disconnected. He has listened to his fair share of people die over the phone and it always rattles him to the core, but he knows that for some reason this particular case would’ve been worse.
A lot of people who call 911 hang up as soon as they’re sure that help is on the way. Not TK, though. He wanted Carlos to stay with him, to help him get through it. TK trusted him and he just hopes more than anything that he had good reason to.
The hand that lands on his shoulder causes him to flinch and he looks up to see Grace giving him a sad smile. “You okay?” she asks as she sits down next to him.
Carlos shrugs. “Tough call.”
She nods. “Do you want to talk about it?”
Carlos musters a genuine but small smile. Grace is one of his closest friends both inside and outside of work. She showed him the ropes on day one and has been there for him ever since.
“It was a home invasion and the call got cut off right as the intruder found my caller. First responders were almost there so he’s probably okay but,” Carlos shrugs as he trails off.
Grace’s hand on his shoulder rubs smooth, comforting circles. “It’s hard not knowing,” she agrees. “But if I know you, I know you did everything you could to keep him safe. There’s only so much we can do from here, Carlos.”
Carlos knows she’s right but at the same time, she’s not entirely correct on the reason he’s so torn up. It’s less about the guilt he’s feeling and more about the worry he has for TK’s safety. He doesn’t admit that to her, though.
He doesn’t know why, really. She's the most understanding person he’s ever met, but he feels a little embarrassed about being such a mess over this one call. It’s hardly the most traumatic one he’s gone through.
So he keeps it to himself, heading back to his desk to take the next call as he tries to get TK’s voice out of his head.
***
TK looks up at the building before checking his phone one more time to make sure he has the address right. He’s been debating on whether it was okay for him to show up here for the past few days every since the incident.
He thankfully came out relatively unscathed, all things considered. The police showed up right as his assailant came at him and they later informed him that the man was involved with numerous other break-ins in the area. He ended up having to take a short trip to the ER so he could get an x-ray on his wrist. After determining it was broken, he was sent home with a cast and instructions to ice the nasty bruising that formed around his eye.
As much as he wants to put this whole thing behind him, he knows he can’t just forget it ever happened. He’s paranoid around his house now, each creak and groan that his house makes has his eyes shooting open. He knows that eventually there will be a trial that he has to testify at. But slowly with time, both his physical and psychological wounds will heal.
So, yeah, he supposes things aren’t all that bad and he knows he owes a large part of that to the kind 911 operator who helped him through it. Not only did he literally send the help, but he kept TK calm throughout the whole situation. Without him, TK without a doubt would’ve had a panic attack.
Which is why he’s standing outside the dispatch center, working up the courage to go in and thank him. He doesn’t know if showing up here is appropriate but he doesn’t know anything about the man other than his first name and his job so if he wants to find him, this is the only way to do it.
When he realizes that he probably looks more creepy lurking outside the building than he would if he actually went it, he opens the door. After following a maze of signs and corridors directing him where to go, he comes upon a reception desk.
“Hi, can I help you?” The woman behind the desk questions as he approaches.
TK looks past her into the room where various people are sitting at desks all answering calls. There are dozens of people working and any one of them could be Carlos, if he’s even here today. Shit. TK didn’t even think of that.
“Hi, um, is Carlos working today?” He asks, turning his attention back to her.
She tilts her head in question. “Carlos Reyes?”
“Uh,” he shrugs, feeling very much out of place. “I’m not really sure. He really helped me on a call the other day and I just wanted to thank him.”
She smiles. “Yeah, that’s Carlos Reyes. He’s such a sweetheart.” TK can’t help but smile at that. “I’ll go get him for you.”
TK nods and shoves the one hand that’s not in a cast into his pocket as he shifts anxiously on his feet. Luckily he isn’t waiting long because someone starts walking his way and TK has to keep his jaw from dropping.
This man is gorgeous, holy shit.
His eyes lock on TK and he feels his breath catch in his throat from the intensity of having Carlos’ attention on him. Carlos smiles slightly as he approaches.
TK snaps out of his trance as he clears his throat. “Hi, I’m TK. Um, I called 911 a couple of days ago. I think you were the one that responded,” he says, unsure on how to go about this.
He watches recognition flash across Carlos’ face and his smile increases tenfold. “TK, hi. I’m glad to see you’re okay,” he sounds so relieved and TK’s heart flutters. Carlos’ eyes rake over his face and then drop to the cast on his wrist. “You are okay, right?”
TK smiles at the concern that’s so evident in Carlos’ voice as he nods. “I’m okay. Just a superficial bruise and a broken wrist, but that beats the alternative.” Carlos frowns slightly. “I just wanted to stop by to thank you. You pretty much held me together throughout that whole nightmare.”
Carlos flushed and waves him off. “I was just doing my job.”
“Well, you’re very good at it,” TK blurts out without even thinking about it but he loves the way Carlos breaks into a shy smile at the compliment. Not sure where his sudden boldness is coming from, he continues on, “Can I buy you a coffee sometime, as a thank you?”
Carlos’ eyes widen a bit before he says, “Thank you, but that’s really not necessary. Like I said, I was just doing my job.”
TK nods and tries not to let his disappointment show. He watches Carlos bite his lip before the other man speaks again. “I’m sorry if this is out of line, but you can buy me a coffee just so we can get to know each other better, not because you owe me. If you’re interested.”
Carlos is looking at him with such hope and the smile that erupts on TK’s face is so wide that it hurts the skin where his bruise is. “No,” he says, mentally cursing himself when Carlos’ face falls. “I mean, yeah. Yes, I would love to. No, that wasn’t out of line,” he laughs awkwardly.
The tension leaves Carlos’ body once again as the tentative smile reappears. “Okay, good.” He gestures with his thumb back to the call center. “I only have about 15 minutes left. You can stick around if you’re free?”
“Sounds perfect,” TK says softly. They stare at each other for a few more seconds before Carlos excuses himself to go back to work.
TK heads back outside to wait for him on one of the benches, his mind running through the last five minutes as he waits. TK isn’t entirely sure he’s not dreaming.
He is so thrown by the sudden turn of his afternoon. He thought he would say thank you and then move on with the rest of his day. Now he has a date with possibly the hottest guy he’s ever seen who is also impeccably sweet. He can’t help but marvel at the craziness of it all.
The day of the break-in that has been and always will be such a dark spot in his life has now given him a sense of hope. Despite all the tragedy and trauma, it brought him to Carlos. TK doesn’t know what the future holds for them, but he’s excited to find out.