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“I am relaxing Tk. Calm down.”
“Calm down? Carlos, you were in hospital less than a week ago. You got 12 stitches; you’re supposed to be resting.”
Carlos rolled his eyes, smiling as he covered the speaker and grabbed his bag from the woman on the stall. “I am resting. Walking from the bedroom to the kitchen isn’t exactly difficult Tk.” Well, and a quick trip to the market to pick up some ingredients he didn’t have, but Tk didn’t need to know that.
“Spending hours cooking isn’t resting. I put leftovers in the fridge for a reason.”
“It won’t be hours, and cooking is relaxing to me. You won’t be saying that when you come off a 12-hour shift to a warm meal.”
Tk sighed on the line, and Carlos could just picture his annoyed and concerned face through the phone. “Just be careful alright. If your leg starts hurting, you lay down and leave the food.”
“Tk, I’ll be fine. Focus on your shift and stop worrying. I’ll see you when you get home ok.”
“Love you.”
“Love you too.” Carlos hung up first, pocketing his phone and turning back to the stall he was looking over.
It had been 6 days since he was hurt on a shift and Tk was being especially protective. Physically, Carlos would say he was fine. He had been cut with a blade when he was trying to tackle a suspect and had spent 2 days in hospital. The cut went from his midthigh almost down to the knee and had bled profusely when it happened. It had hurt, a lot, and Tk had taken several days off work to look after him whilst standing was painful, but he was fine now. Sort of. He had convinced Tk to not take another day off to care for him and was convinced himself that he was ok, but after having driven to the market and been walking around for only 20 minutes he could admit his leg pain was flaring up. He wouldn’t say that to Tk though, he didn’t need the other man worrying over him anymore than he already was.
Plus, Carlos really didn’t want to deal with an angry Tk once he found out he did pretty much everything he was told not to the second Tk wasn’t there.
“Hi,” he smiled, looking over the array of veg again, “do you hav-“ He didn’t get to finish his question as a scream from across the road alerted everyone, and the screech of tires and a horn sounded. Before Carlos could even comprehend anything else he had been dragged into unconsciousness.
Carlos came to in a flurry of pain. It wasn’t slow or gentle, nor was it like waking up from sleep. All his senses kicked back in at once, everything was overwhelming, and he was in agony.
The world was screaming around him, noise coming from every direction, and Carlos managed to figure out which way was up as he pushed himself from the ground. There was a woman beside him, crying, and Carlos turned to figure out what state she was in. He looked around beforehand, quickly taking in the scene before him. The market stalls that had been set up were now strewn throughout the road and pavement, people running, walking, laying around. The biggest attention grabber was the truck on its side further down the sidewalk. It had ploughed directly through the stalls, it seemed, destroying everything in its way before it came to a stop when it flipped.
“Ma’am?” Carlos said as he knelt beside the woman on the ground, recognising her as the stall owner he was speaking to last, “Are you alright?” She looked up at him, and Carlos saw the blood running down the side of her face.
“Oh god, oh my god what just happened. I mean I saw it, but I don’t- oh god.”
“It’s alright. Are you injured anywhere else?”
“No. No, I don’t think so.” He reached out his hand, helping her up and walking with her through the chaos. A group of people had gathered across the street, already helping to try and get people out of immediate danger. He let go of her hand, making sure she was ok to sit and tapped his pockets, looking for his phone.
“We already called 911.” Carlos just smiled at the voice with a small nod and looked back at the scene. People were moving around, pulling others from the ground and moving them away from the unstable, wrecked stalls and truck. He did a quick visual sweep, ensuring there was no one else that was in immediate danger before moving towards the truck himself.
“Sir-” “Move everyone away, don’t let anyone close.”
The truck looked even worse up close. It was on its roof with the front windshield was completely caved in, obscuring the driver from view. Carlos crouched down, eventually going flat on his stomach and peeking a head in the front window. “Hello? Hello, can you hear me?” There was no sound from inside and Carlos reached out to push some of the glass away and get a better view. The sound of sirens pulled him away, and Carlos turned quickly to see a fire truck pull up by the market.
He turned back to the truck and pushed himself in some more, finally getting a better view of the man inside. His face was obscured by blood, pouring down his face, over his closed eyes and mouth and running down his neck. He was breathing though, Carlos could see the small, gentle puffs of air coming from his nose.
He felt a touch on his leg but ignored it, instead reaching a hand in to feel for the man's pulse.
“-ir? Sir, you need to let us help him.” But Carlos just needed to feel for himself that the driver was truly still alive.
He did, feel the thrum of a pulse beneath his fingers, and he let out a soft sigh before being pulled backwards and out of the truck. He was pulled upwards and manhandled backwards away from the vehicle as firefighters and paramedics took his place.
He fought back, pushing against the man to let go of him. “Oi, when you’re told to move, you move. We gotta help-”
“Judd? Judd, it’s me, hey!”
He was let go of, and he took a step back from the larger man. “Carlos? Shit man, I’m sorry brother. Are you good? What are you doing here?”
Carlos looked around at that, looking out for some of the injured civilians he had seen at the market earlier, nodding as the woman he had helped up landed a smile at him from where she was sat on the ground speaking to EMTs.
He let out a shocked laugh as he looked back at Judd, “Shopping. At least I was trying to.”
“You were here when this happened? Shit, let me find your boy.” Carlos eyes widened at the mention of Tk and he shook his head quickly. “No no, I'm fine. Let him help the people who need it.” He wasn’t completely lying. There were people who needed help much more than he did, and he wouldn’t deny anyone that, but his leg did ache more than it had since he had been laid in hospital, and his head throbbed. They didn’t need to know about the blackout. Or knockout. He didn’t even know himself what had happened. Maybe that was an issue.
“I specifically remember you being stabbed recently. Tk won’t stop talking about it. At least go and get checked out.”
“Ryder! I need you over here. Get the clamp.”
“Duty calls.” Judd stepped aside and b-lined for the engine, “Don’t be an idiot, Reyes.”
He gave a hum of agreement and smiled, watching Judd move away.
“Carlos?”
Shit.
Tk hated this job from the second he stepped out of the ambulance on scene. There were people everywhere, civilians shouting for help, people crying for those they couldn’t find, general shouts of pain coming from most directions.
Tommy was in captain mode immediately, giving a curt nod to the 122’s captain and turning back to her own team. “The 122 will be treating the driver of the truck, we’ll be setting up here. Patch up and move on as quickly as possible.”
And they did just that, as much as it sucked. Everyone deserved their full attention, and Tk always hated not being able to do that.
They'd managed to survey most of the damage and start treating injuries before a commotion at the truck caused them to look up. Tommys walkie crackled to life, and she stopped what she was doing to answer. “-issue... too small- can't. -swap?” She looked up, meeting both Tk and Nancys eyes one at a time before nodding. “Copy that.”
“Tk, I need you over here.” He gave a small smile to the man he was patching up, leaving him with an ‘I'll be right back’.
“Cap?”
“The 122 is having some issues. The trucks at an odd angle and with the damage to the exterior they can’t risk moving it too much to get the driver out.” She could see Tk’s confusion and carried on quickly. “They need someone to climb in and treat him from the inside whilst they work.”
“And you want me to go?”
“You’re the smallest paramedic here, the only one dual certified, it seems the safest way. If you don’t-”
“No, no. I’m on it Cap.”
He stood without another word and turned to move towards the truck when he was greeted with the sight he was least expecting.
“Carlos?”
What the hell.
“’Los, baby? What- why are... were you here? When it crashed? Jesus fuck, here, sit.” Tk grabbed Carlos by the arm and tried to manoeuvre him to the floor but was stopped by Carlos pushing him away gently.
“No, babe, stop. I’m fine, really. I was barely in the way. And you’re at work.” He added, almost as an afterthought.
“You were just shot ‘Los, and now this.” Tk was looking at Carlos with those big, sad puppy eyes, and he hated seeing them used on him.
“I’m getting almost as bad as you.”
“Not funny. I can see you favouring the left leg. Come on, let’s get you checked out an-”
“Strand! We need you over here now.”
He was torn, Carlos could see the pain on his boyfriend’s face, and so he forced his hand from his bicep and dropped it. “Go, baby. I’ll go see Nancy if it will make you feel better, huh.”
He was still conflicted, but one last turn to look at the crowd surrounding the truck seemed to sway him, and Tk took Carlos’ hands and squeezed, planting a kiss on them. “Thank you, babe. Love you.”
“I love you too.”
Tk ran to the truck and took in the situation as quickly as possible, slipping between firefighter and paramedic mode.
“Tk, here. We’ve stabilised the vehicle as much as possible from the outside but it’s still a danger, so I need you on top form. You're going to treat him from the inside, work on keeping him stable whilst we take the doors off enough to pull him out.” Tk nodded at his father and smiled before getting down to eye level with the window and peeking in. “You can fit right?”
“Yeah, yes sorry.” Owen easily picked up on his son's haste and didn’t hesitate to question it.
“If you don’t want to, Tk, we can-”
“No, I'm going. Sorry.”
He heard whispers from Judd, picked up on his partners name among it, saw the way his dad nodded and hushed him before Tk turned and crawled his way into the trucks cabin. “Do we know his name?”
“Not yet.”
“Ok, alright.” Tk pushed himself fully in and twisted his body uncomfortably, angling himself in the small space to aid the driver as best he could. “I’m going to help you, ok. Just keep breathing for me.”
He worked as quickly as possible, taking catalogue of the injuries he could see. He moved himself around to grab some equipment as a wet, sticky feeling soaked through his trouser knee. Tk looked down, touching the wetness and holding it up to see in the light. Blood; and a lot of it.
Shit.
He followed the trail with his eyes, seeing where the leak was coming from and landing on a large wet patch coming from under the man's shirt. He pulled at it gently and moved the material away, not anticipating the blood to start spurting heavily from the wound. “Fuck,” He pressed one hand to the wound and used to other to grab some gauze, holding it down forcefully to slow the bleeding as much as possible.
“Cap! Gonna need you to work faster out there, he doesn’t have much time.”
“Strand? What’s going on in there, give us the rundown.” The 122s paramedic captain called out.
“Got a puncture wound to the abdomen. It's not looking good; he’s lost a lot of blood already. With this little room all I can really do is keep pressure on until he’s out.”
“Is he trapped in there?”
“No,” Tk started, looking over the man's body again quickly, “No.”
“Do you reckon you could roll him on a backboard yourself? The door will be off soon, you can feed him out and we can pull him from this side, get him into an ambulance.”
“Yeah. Yes, I can manage. Send a backboard in.”
The backboard was pushed in and Tk had to juggle his patient and the board in the tiny space. He placed the c-collar on gently and used his strength in one arm to roll the man onto his side and then onto his back, finally flat on the stretcher. He huffed, taking a second to catch his breath, but not taking his hand off the wound.
“Tk, I need you to move as far back as possible. Once this door comes off the glass is going to come down.” He shuffled back some and used his spare arm to shield the man's face as the driver door was finally cut away completely, revealing the firefighters pulling it away from the outside. He covered them both, feeling the glass rain down on them roughly as it cut into Tks arm, and he shook it off, wincing, focusing solely on ensuring the man didn’t gain any further injuries.
He shuffled back even further when he saw the door was fully removed, and pushed himself up against the front windshield, using his strength with one arm to push the backboard towards the open space.
“Strand, I want you to keep your hand on that wound, ok. The second this board leaves the vehicle I want Peters to take over that pressure.” Tk nodded, not even sure they could see much of him from where he was pressed far back against the inside of the truck, but he felt the shift as they grabbed the board from the outside and pulled. He shuffled himself forwards and watched the other paramedic lean in slightly, reaching both hands to press against the wound.
“Got it, I've got it.” Tk let go, finally feeling like he could breathe again, and he allowed himself a second to sink back with no stress on his head anymore, hearing the commotion from outside. He gathered his thoughts for a quick second, and soon sat up at the instant memory of Carlos injured outside, moving with haste to get out and reach him.
The creak of metal and groaning fell on deaf ears, with Tk fully engrossed in climbing out. He missed the screeching of metal and glass, but not the screaming from elsewhere, and scrambled to exit, but not before the truck began to move beneath him, taking Tks unwilling body with it.
“Back! Everyone back, now!” The truck tumbled, groaning as it swayed several times before coming to a finite stop.
He heard it before he saw it, and pushed Nancy out of the way and leant over to watch the truck tip onto its side. “Tk! Tk- Arghhhh.” Carlos went down before he even got up, yelling out profusely the second his foot touched the ground as pressure built in his leg and sent agony shooting through it. His world blacked out for a moment and came back to him blurrily with a worried Nancy hovering over him.
“-os. Carlos? Can you hear me.”
He groaned and whined but pushed himself up with his hands in the process. “Hey, hey no, stay down. You’ve definitely done more damage to that leg than you were letting on.”
“Tk-”
“Cap’s gone, see, and the 126 will get him. You can’t do much with a leg you can't even walk on.” Carlos gave her the infamous cow eyes and scrunched his face in pain. “I know, ok, but they’ll get your boy out.”
Judd was in action before the truck had even stopped moving, shouting Tks name as he went. The rest of the crew were gathering around him, doing the same as they surrounded the truck to get a look in. It was on its side, the entire left drivers side caved in from where it had rolled some, with the front windshield having caved fully in on itself. Tk was only slightly visual, his body on its side and curled up, laying on the ground where the door was cut off. Blood was visual on his forehead but was obscured mostly by his arms which were covering his face. Judd couldn’t see whether he was awake or not, and he got closer to the ground, crouching to see through the windshield and into the cab.
Owen was there behind him almost immediately, shouting orders to the rest of the team, before he was placing a hand on Judds back and talking, “How is it?”
“Not sure Cap. He’s not movin’ in there.” Owen could just see the outline of a leg from where he stood, and he bit back a cry and pushed his own pain away to focus on helping his son.
The truck was cut quickly, with the windshield already caved in it was light work, and Marjan was the one to crawl in and help get Tk out safely. She reached one arm over, moving his hands out of the way to gently roll the man into a somewhat flat position, and watched as his chest rose and fell with each breath. Her own breathing stuttered at that, and she nodded to Judd outside, “He’s breathing, let’s get him out.”
Moving Tk was much quicker than the original rescue, and Carlos could only thank and pray as he watched the surrounding crew work, until eventually a slack body was pulled from the destruction.
Tk looked dead. He was pale, limp and bloody, and Carlos almost cried at the sight. He didn’t, cry, but instead just pushed himself onto his one good leg, arms trembling as he tried to stay up. Nancy reached out for him, holding on so he didn’t fall, and she tried to push him back down onto the gurney.
“Nancy please just-” His voice was desperate, pleading with her, and Nancy heard that tone regularly. People begging for their loved ones, for one last chance to be with them. And Nancy cracked, because this wasn’t just any call, any partner, any victim; this was Carlos, this was Tk, this was... family.
“Ok, just- let them get him secured and I’ll help you to the ambulance, ok. There might be some room in the back.” Carlos sat back, defeated, but never moved his eyes from Tk. He was laid on the ground now, with the 122s paramedic team working around him.
Carlos’ eyes were securely on Tk, and he saw the way his leg moved of his own accord, lifting and kicking out. He saw Tks hands, flailing for help, and then the way his head lifted somewhat as he looked around wildly. Tk was scared. He was with people he wasn’t familiar with, hurt and injured and panicking as he lay there, and Carlos couldn’t bare to watch this for a second longer. He stood, and promptly tilted as he put pressure on his injured leg, but forced himself to move forwards in agony, dragging the injured limb behind him and wincing as he stumbled to his boyfriend. He let himself fall to the ground as he reached Tk and was quickly pushed away as he tried to get closer, close enough to hold him.
“Sir, you need to move-.”
“Strand, Strand please just- you're going to hurt yourself more.”
“Sir!”
“Tk. Tyler, I'm here. You're ok babe.” Carlos pushed himself in, getting closer to where Tk lay flat on the gurney and grabbed out for his hand. Blood was coating his fingertips, crusted beneath his nails, and whether it was his or a patients Carlos didn’t know. Tk saw Carlos, pulled his hand closer and squeezed, and he promptly fell back down, calmer.
“’Los. Leg.”
Carlos laughed, a genuine smile, and looked over him, surveying for injures. “Don’t worry about me.”
The paramedics understood now, realised who Carlos was, but they pushed him away all the same as they pulled the gurney up and started pushing it towards the ambulance. Carlos was pulled away from Tk and pushed aside, standing and groaning as he forgot about his leg and all his weight was pushed down. He shouted out, crying as a sharp, intense pain ran through his body and he went down, right back where he was sat moments ago.
Tk was leaning back, straining on the gurney and listening as Carlos shouted out in pain. “’Los! Carlos- No.”
He was struggling, fighting those trying to help him, but it was no use as they pushed him into the ambulance and held him from getting up. Owen appeared then, having been watching as they treated Tk, and he rushed forward as he shouted. “Hey, son, careful. Nancy and Tommy have Carlos, ok. They’ll look after him.”
Tk shook his head wildly, hearing what his dad was saying but not really listening. His mind couldn’t take it in, couldn’t process the words, and instead he closed his eyes, eyes which didn’t open again.
Carlos was really sick of sitting by his boyfriend’s bedside. Not that he wouldn’t do it time and time again; if Tk needed him, Carlos would be there within the next breath. That didn’t change the fact that Carlos hating having to sit by his boyfriend in hospital and watch him in pain.
He wasn’t even meant to be in there, not really. Carlos had torn all his stitches and sprained his ankle in the crash, as well as a mild concussion. As far as the doctors were concerned Carlos should have been there overnight, but he begged and pleaded until Judd eventually entered and reasoned with him to at least let the man put him in a wheelchair, so he didn’t make himself worse. Carlos had to admit that the pain in his leg was excruciating, and he got in the wheelchair begrudgingly and let himself be pushed to Tks room.
The sight of Tk was alarming, pale and still, and Carlos didn’t hesitate to run a hand through his hair delicately, relishing the touch.
“He’ll be ok, no major damage. The Docs think he bashed his head a little too hard, and he’ll have a lot of bandages on those arms for a while, but your boy will be fine.”
“Thanks Judd.”
Carlos didn’t see him leave, just heard the door close on his way out. He let the silence stretch out, didn’t speak a word for a while, just sitting and holding Tk as he watched the man breathe, chest rising and falling, alive.
“You always look so small when you lay in one of these beds. It’s bad that I know that so well. It’s too... God Tk it’s too often that you’re here. And I can’t keep doing this.” Carlos rambled, spewing his thoughts out and continuously played with his hair, curling it around him fingers playfully.
He noticed when Tks breathing changed, when it became faster; noticed how his hand twitched slightly and fingers lifted from where they lay. He lifted himself too, pushed up from the chair a little, ensuring Tk would see him straight away.
His eyes opened slowly, blinking once, twice, and then scouring the room, taking in where he was until they finally landed on Carlos.
He lips turned up into a smile, relaxed and slow and so beautiful that Carlos could cry. Tk was just grinning at him, smiling wide like he hadn't just almost died, again, and Carlos could do nothing but just stare in adoration at the man he loved. But then Tks smile dropped a little, his lips turning down and his eyes roaming over Carlos, noticing the wheelchair and the bandages peeking out from his trouser leg.
“What... you ‘kay?” Tk was pushing himself up, sitting up and leaning over to get a better look at Carlos’ leg.
“Hey, hey stop. I’m fine.” Carlos was pushing Tk off gently and sitting him back against the bed. “I’m ok, I promise.” Tk wasn’t buying, Carlos could tell. “I fell on my ankle badly when I moved out the way of the truck, it’ll heal fine with a little rest.”
Tk didn’t seem convinced but sat back anyways, sighing as he let himself lay down and pulled his bandaged arms up to his head weakly.
“Sorry.”
“What are you sorry for, huh?” Carlos reached up to move Tks hand from his head and held onto it tightly again, stopping him from wincing when he touched his injuries.
“Should be looking af’er you.”
Carlos laughed, “Yeah well, you’re not known as the 126s danger magnet for nothing. I would appreciate you not throwing yourself right into danger every time though. I can’t-” Carlos had been light-hearted about it all, joking with Tk to keep him calm, but it had hit him all at once, Tks tendency for getting injured, and Carlos didn’t know how much more he could see his boyfriend like this. “I can’t keep doing this Tyler, I-”
“Hey, hey. No, I'm sorry.” He wiped a stray tear from Carlos’ cheek and pulled him in closer. “Please don’t cry baby.”
Carlos shook his head and dropped it, wiping his tears away and snivelling. “Don’t, just- stop apologising. You have nothing to be sorry for, it’s me I-” He took a deep breath, gathering his thoughts and looking Tk in the eye. “I love you Tyler. I love you so much and I can’t... I can’t keep watching you get hurt. Seeing you lying here, it breaks my heart more and more each time.”
“’Los-”
“No, no I... I know it’s not your fault. I know you don’t want any of this either but it- I'd like you to actually make it to our wedding.” fuck, maybe he was letting his emotions take over too much; he did not mean for that to slip out.
“Our... wedding? Where has this come from huh?”
Carlos felt around in his pocket, noting the absence of the ring he’d been previously carrying around for weeks prior to his accident. He looked down, reconsidering, but instead looked up and sat himself up, facing Tk properly.
“Tyler Kennedy Strand, I love you more than I have ever loved anyone. When I look at you it feels like any and every emotion I've ever felt is bursting out of my heart all at once and I... I cannot imagine a future where you’re not there. I don’t ever want to be away from you, ever.”
Tk was blissful, almost forgetful of where he was, almost forgetting how much pain he was in, or how tired he was. Nothing else in the world mattered, because Carlos Reyes was proposing to him, and Tk had never felt luckier.
If Carlos was the sun, Tk was the moon.
Where Carlos was an early bird, Tk was a night owl. Where Carlos brought a joyous, warm light, Tk brought a brilliant glow.
One thing about the sun and the moon, Tk found, was that they were synonymous with one another. Where the sun was mentioned, the moon was thought of too.
The sun and the moon, light and dark, bright and beautiful; Carlos and Tk.
Tk barely remembered what life was like before Carlos. He had lived 28 years before he even knew the man existed, and yet the thought of living another minute in the future without him was absurd.
But Tk couldn’t say all of those things, couldn’t convey all of those feelings with enough emotion and sincerity that they would be understood deeply enough, and so he settled for a simple “Of course I will.”
Carlos slipped the ring from his finger, the one his Abuela gave to him when he was 14, the same ring he wore every single day, the same ring he never took off, and placed it gently on Tks finger, pulling his hand up and placing a soft kiss.
This proposal wasn’t what Carlos had envisioned, hadn't gone anywhere near what he was planning, but none of that mattered. Not when he was sat with his boyfriend- fiancé, who loved him more than life itself, who wanted to spend the rest of his life with Carlos.
This proposal was perfect, because it was just them, two people who loved each other more than life itself.