Archive of Our Own

TK let out a sigh of relief when the Nurses left the room, he'd had enough of their checks and questions for the day and just wanted to rest and recover.

"They are just trying to help you." Carlos said from the doorway.

TK looked up quickly and smiled brightly when he saw Carlos. "Happy anniversary?"

Carlos let out a surprised laugh and moved to carefully hug TK, being mindful of his shoulder. "Nine days late but I'll take it."

Carlos smiled and kissed TK's forehead. "You scared me Ty, I thought I'd lost you."

"I told you that I'll always try my hardest to come back to you." TK said quietly, reaching for Carlos' hand.

"I'm sorry for scaring you, for scaring everyone, I'm still a little blurry on all of the details, I'll ask Dad when he comes back in."

"You don't need to apologise Ty, it wasn't your fault and you came back to me, to all of us, that's the most important part." Carlos held onto TK's hand and squeezed it gently.

"So what did I miss? Catch me up on the last nine days." TK said after a few moments of comfortable silence.

"Not much really, Judd has been acting Captain at the station with your Dad being here everyday."

"What's he been like? I can't believe I missed Captain Judd."

"I haven't really seen him much at work, I did a shift the other day but I couldn't focus knowing you were here so I took some time off." Carlos admitted with a shrug, he didn't want to be distracted at work, that never ended well.

"You've been here everyday?" TK asked with a small hopeful smile.

"Your Dad and I have definitely become friends with the Nurses by now that's for sure." Carlos joked.

"Your Dad and I worked out a system so that we could have some privacy when talking to you but one of us was always with you. Before you get all worried on me, I've been going home to sleep and eat during your Dad's time with you."

"Let me guess, there will be a system to look after me until my medical leave is over too?" TK teased fondly.

Carlos laughed and shook his head. "We thought we'd ask you about that one but I'll happily stay at your house while you recover, I still have plenty of holiday I can take."

"I don't want you to have to waste your holiday time on me." TK frowned, he'd love nothing more than to have Carlos staying with him while he recovers but he doesn't want to use up all of the holiday Carlos had spent a while saving up.

"Spending time with you isn't a waste, it's the opposite actually, I love spending time with you." Carlos said sweetly, stroking his thumb across TK's hand.

"You can't just say things like that Carlos, how am I meant to just act like we're only friends when you look at me like that while saying the sweetest things?" TK groaned and looked at Carlos.

"I want to talk about us so badly but everything is just so overwhelming right now." TK added on quietly after a few moments.

"We don't have to talk about anything important right now baby, we're still going at your pace." Carlos assured and leaned up to stroke his hair from his face and kissed his cheek. "Get some rest baby, I'll be here when you wake up."

"Love you 'los." TK murmured as he drifted off to sleep.

"Love you too TK." Carlos smiled sadly and sat back in the chair he'd spent the last nine days in and let out a breath he felt like he'd been holding the whole time.

----

"Here you go son." Owen said as he placed a new bottle of water on the table.

"I'm not even halfway done with this one Dad." TK sighed, while he loved how much his Dad was fussing over him, he was also a little fed up with it and wished he'd tone it down a little.

"You heard the doctor, you can't overhydrate, if your-"

"Don't tell me what colour my pee should be again." TK groaned.

"You need a pillow, you look uncomfortable." Owen said as he placed another cushion behind him.

"Don't want you to get a stiff neck." Owen added on, ignoring TK's protests.

"Dad I'm fine, I don't need another pillow." TK assured as he got comfortable again.

"Do you need anything else? I can load up one of those animal documentaries you love watching."

"Are you really going to hover over me for the next three weeks? Dad I'm fine, you can go back to work."

"Son you are recovering from a gunshot wound and a nine day coma, your organs started to shut down, I think that allows me to hover." Owen sighed.

"Trust me Dad, I'm very much aware of that and it's not like I'll be alone." TK pointed out, glancing towards the kitchen briefly.

Owen raised an eyebrow and tried to hide his amused smile, he saw where TK was going with this now. "You mean that you don't want your Dad hovering over you when you can have your totally not your boyfriend hovering over you instead?"

TK rolled his eyes at his Dad and had some of his water. "Carlos already booked the time off and no offence Dad but Carlos can actually make food I enjoy eating so clearly he's the preferred choice to hover."

"Mhmm sure son, I believe that you think those are your reasons." Owen grinned and grabbed his phone from the side. "Call me if you need anything and no strenuous activity, I do not want a call saying you pulled your stitches!"

"Oh damn there goes my plan to have sex with Carlos, totally my intentions here." TK deadpanned.

"You joke but I remember your final year of college!" Owen laughed and quickly left the room before TK could protest.

"How does he even know about that? We definitely didn't tell him." Carlos said amusedly as he walked into the room with a tray of food for TK.

"Because I was hobbling along on crutches for a week longer than I should've been?" TK rolled his eyes fondly, it was definitely worth it.

"Yeah I guess that would've gave it away." Carlos laughed and kissed TK's forehead.

"Are you alright to eat or do you need any help? I don't want you straining your shoulder."

"I'm alright to eat but I promise to let you know if I need any help." TK replied as he started to eat, letting out a small noise of delight as he took a bite, loving the small look of achievement on Carlos' face that he got whenever he made something TK liked.

"Want me to put one of your nature documentaries on? I'm sure the sea-life one is usually on around now." Carlos said as he turned on the tv.

TK smiled fondly at Carlos, he really was the luckiest guy in the world to have him.

----

TK rushed to answer the door when he heard the doorbell, he'd managed to convince Carlos to go to the food trucks to pick them up some dinner which also gave him the opportunity to invite Zoe round.

"Hi, thanks for coming by, please come in!" TK smiled and moved out of the doorway for Zoe.

"Yeah don't mention it, I actually teach a grad seminar down the road." Zoe nodded as she walked into the house.

"You know I really love this new look you've got going without all of the tubes coming out of your face."

"That's a joke, I do that, I joke." Zoe added on at TK's confused look.

"Oh right, good one."

"So you're a psychology professor? That must be pretty fascinating, diving deep into peoples heads. Figuring out what motivates them and stuff."

"I dig it, yeah." Zoe said, looking more confused by the minute.

"You know firefighting's the complete opposite, always something new and unexpected, we never really get to drill down on anything."

"What am I doing here?" Zoe asked after she'd been offered an ice tea and listened to TK ramble on a little.

"Honestly? I'm not sure." TK admitted. "You know I feel like I really need to talk to someone and well you are a psychologist."

"I'm a professor of psychology with a focus human sexuality." Zoe corrected. "But I'm also a really good listener."

"Well thank you, I appreciate any professional advice."

"Okay so, who do you normally talk to about these things?"

"Well I guess there is my boyfriend well he's not really my boyfriend-boyfriend again yet, it's complicated." TK said with a small fond smile.

"It's common for you to question your life choices after a near death experience or two." Zoe hummed.

"But all I've ever wanted is to be a firefighter, ever since I was a kid."

"I didn't mention that actually but it's interesting that you did."

----

TK couldn't stop thinking about his conversation with Zoe even hours later, he'd never questioned wanting to be a firefighter before even after he'd been injured so why was he thinking about it now?

"Everything alright? You haven't said a word since dinner." Carlos asked softly, running his fingers through TK's hair as his head was on his lap.

"Just thinking about a few things." TK murmured quietly, leaning into the touch slightly.

"I want to visit Colt, see how he's doing and letting him know that I'm okay." TK said after a few moments.

"Are you sure about that? It won't bring up any bad memories from the night for you?" Carlos worried.

"It might but I need this and I think maybe he does too, if he can see that I'm alright now then hopefully he can start to recover too."

"You are one of the most caring people there is, still thinking about others when you also went through a traumatic experience."

"I'm sure the department can help arrange a visit, want me to come with you?" Carlos offered softly.

"If it's alright I'd like my Dad to be with me? It might help him too, he was right next to me when-"

"You don't have to explain yourself TK, I understand." Carlos assured, not wanting TK to feel guilty about this when he had no reason to.

"Thank you for being here, I really do appreciate it, I missed you so much."

"There isn't anything else I'd rather be, I missed you too baby, more than anything."

"Do you ever think about what our lives would've been like if you moved to New York after college?" TK asked quietly.

"Hmm yeah, we'd be married by now I think, nice apartment together, a little small but we make it work because we're saving up for a deposit for a nice family house." Carlos said, smiling as he imagined this.

"We'd have a cat who follows you around everywhere and naps with me after a long day, my Dad teasing us about the cat being a practice child before we have one of our own." TK smiled fondly as he got lost in his thoughts.

"That's the dream but the reality might've been a little different, I'm not sure how I would've handled being so far away from home, I can't ever imagine moving out of Austin permanently." Carlos sighed and held onto one of TK's hands.

TK hummed and tried his best to keep his expression neutral, he didn't want to lose Carlos again, he'd do anything to not lose him again but he also wasn't so sure Austin was the place for him right now, his profession wasn't the only thing he was questioning right now.

"We'll have that future one day, no matter how long it takes." Carlos squeezed TK's hand before going back to stroking his hair.

TK nodded, not trusting his voice enough to speak and let Carlos' soothing voice and hands lull him to sleep, he'd worry some more later for now he just wanted to enjoy the moment and rest.