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They’re a mere thirty minutes from the end of their shift when the call comes in. It’s listed as a domestic disturbance and the details given to 911 operators are sketchy at best. Carlos has responded to domestic disturbance calls for years and they range from the smallest family arguments that get just a little too loud to serious incidents that required the most tactile of responses.
He gives his partner, Lexi Mitchell a nod as she accepts the call and he flicks the lights and sirens on, carefully navigating the after-work traffic.
Upon their arrival, the street is quiet. They pause outside the address, looking for anything amiss and come up blank. Carlos spots the neighbour appear out the front of their house motioning them towards him and Carlos gestures with a slight nod.
“He’s inside,” the neighbour tells him when they greet him and Carlos frowns.
“Who’s he?”
“It’s Jenna’s ex, Richie”
“Jenna Raymond?” Carlos confirms, remembering the name from the property report they’d studied on the way to the scene.
“Yes. I don’t know what happened, but Jenna told me they’d split a few weeks ago and ever since, he’s been coming around and constantly knocking on her door. I heard her tell him that it was over and he need to go and then she screamed, and I haven’t heard anything since”
“Okay. We’ll check it out, head back inside your property please”
“She’s a really sweet girl and they seemed happy, I don’t get it”
“Thanks, sir” They wait until he’s back into his house.
“I’ll knock, you hang back so you can see if anybody does a runner” Carlos murmurs a few moments later as they ascend the house’s front steps and Lexi gives him a quick nod of acknowledgement, staying back a couple of steps from him.
His first knock is met with complete silence, he waits for a moment before knocking again. He hears a faint sound of footsteps towards the door and immediately is on edge when the door eventually opens to a young woman with obvious terror in her eyes, her lips set into a half smile that looks more pained than joyful.
“Hello, I’m Officer Reyes. We’ve had a 911 call for this address and just want to check everything is all right”
“Everything is fine,” she says carefully and then tenses, her eyes closing for a moment like she expects something bad to happen to her. Carlos has been to way too many of these cases, with someone so obvious in their want to tell them they need help but is too terrified to do so in the moment.
“The report says they heard a scream. Are you here alone, ma’am?” Carlos asks and he looks past her for a moment as the movement of a shadow catches his eye.
“I’m fine, thank you” she tries again, not even answering the question Carlos had proposed to her. The desperation on her face is clear, but Carlos can’t figure out if she is desperate for them to leave or desperate for him to push inside.
“Can we please come inside to confirm that?” Carlos questions and there’s a pause where the girl looks to her right and a moment later everything immediately changes when she’s pulled backwards, the door slamming shut in front of her.
“Austin Police, open the door!” Carlos yells, hitting the door with his fist.
Carlos draws his weapon stepping back so he is standing next to Lexi.
“Definitely someone there with her, there was a reflection in the glass door inside. Call in backup and I’ll go around the back” Carlos waits for Lexi to give him a nod of confirmation before heading towards the back of the house, weapon trained on the windows as he passes. There’s only darkness when he steps towards them, blinds closed to keep anybody out.
By the time he has reached the rear of the house, he can hear the hushed conversation inside, so backtracks out of view.
“All you had to do was say nothing was wrong, Jenna. It’s not hard!” a voice says, dripping with anger.
“I’m sorry. Please, Richie. I’m sorry” the girl cries and Carlos hears an abrupt muffled scream and then can see two figures, one pushing the other down the stairs.
“Austin Police! Put your hands up and let her go!” he yells as they both jolt with shock turning towards him. He sees the shine of the knife as it moves to rest against Jenna’s neck and feels the familiar rush of adrenalin running through his body.
“Do not come any closer” the man warns, but he waivers in his movements and Carlos signals behind him for Lexi to stay out of view when he spots her in his peripheral vision.
“I’m staying here, why don’t you put the knife down and we can talk” Carlos reasons and the girl sobs as the knife is pushed closer against her throat. Carlos puts one hand off his weapon and holds it palm up, urging the man to stay calm.
“I don’t want to talk to you” the man mutters out, his eyes whipping around their surroundings “I need to talk to her. Alone”
“Okay. I don’t want anyone to get hurt” Carlos tells him and lets out a breath when the comment doesn’t anger the man in front of him any further.
“It’s Jenna right?” Carlos says, catching her eye as she stares at him, shock on her young face. Her face is covered in tears and she weeps quietly.
“Y-yes” she stammers out
“And you’re Richie right?” Carlos asks calmly, getting a brief nod in response.
Richie starts to look behind them, clearly looking for a getaway route and Carlos knows that any chance he had to escape is already gone, back up will already be surrounding the house, unseen for the moment.
“Okay, Richie. What’s happened today?” Richie nervously glances between Carlos and the house, the knife shaking in his hold and Carlos knows there’s a limited time where this goes smoothly.
“I didn’t mean to do all this. I just wanted to talk to her” Carlos senses the situation, takes a gamble on his gut and lowers his weapon, keeping it at his hip.
“To Jenna?” Carlos prods and Richie nods, the sound of a car on the street making him jump but he concentrates back on Carlos again a few moments later.
“I just wanted to understand” he explains further, and Carlos doesn’t even know if he realises that he's lowering the knife.
“Understand what, Richie?”
“Why she left me. I just want to understand why” The words make Carlos’s gut churn; they echo ones he has asked himself hundreds of times in the past month. He forces himself not to let himself get distracted by his own problematic life and instead what’s in front of him.
“Okay, but this isn’t the way to go about it, Richie”
“She said she loved me. Why would you do that to someone you loved?” Richie asks and Carlos glances at Jenna for just a moment and sees her close her eyes, staying silent.
He looks back at Richie and just for a moment he sees his own desperation, the complete and utter confusion of thinking somebody loved you beyond anything in the world and then having it crush down on you that you were wrong with no reason why.
“I don’t know, Richie. I do know that if you loved her, you wouldn’t want her to be hurt or scared. "Don’t do this” Richie’s grip on the knife loosens further and it lowers from its position against Jenna’s neck. He presses on “Let’s put the knife down and talk about it”
“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry” Richie repeats into the back of Jenna’s head. Carlos takes a step forward and then another when Richie doesn’t react.
“Drop the knife, Richie,” he says, keeping his voice firm as he continues walking forward.
“I just wanted to know why. That’s all. I didn’t mean it. I love you. I’m sorry”
“You have to drop the knife, Richie” Carlos repeats and is only a few steps away when a fence at the back of the yard squeaks, causing Richie to spin around, the knife that was barely still in his hands now tight in his grip again. Jenna ducks out of the way, running away with a scream and Carlos moves to the left to cover her exit only for Richie to take a step towards him, knife perfectly positioned to slice into his shoulder.
He feels the pain in his shoulder bloom immediately but still manages to grab Richie’s wrist, twisting so the knife clatters to the ground. He pushes Richie towards the ground, relieved to see officers swarm from behind him, so he doesn’t have to stretch his shoulder any further.
’I’m sorry. I’m sorry” Richie cries and Carlos turns away to walk towards the steps, gripping the rail tightly.
“Reyes!” Lexi calls as he drops to sit on the step, reaching up to touch his shoulder, swiping at the blood that he can feel soaking into his long-sleeved uniform shirt.
“I’m okay” he mutters.
“We need medics around the back of the house,” Lexi speaks into her radio, crouching down to support him as he hears his heartbeat far too loud in his ear, adrenalin still pumping.
“I’m sure it looks worse than it is” Carlos reasons with her.
“Let’s let the medics decide that huh?” she tells him
“Jenna okay?”
“Other unit took her around the front, I’ll check on her in a second” he hums in reply and then groans inwardly when he sees the familiar face of Tommy walking towards him.
“Hey Carlos” she greets and Carlos wants to tell her he doesn’t need help, but the pain has started to throb, so he lets her sit next to him with no argument. He watches behind her, waiting for the moment her fellow paramedics will appear, his heart beating erratically for an entirely different reason.
“Hey Tommy” he replies and she smiles at him.
“We’re going to need you to take your shirt off, see what we’ve got here” he hears her request, and is considering the least painful way to complete the task, then all he can see is TK walking around the corner, stopping when he sees Carlos in front of him. His face drops in shock, eyes going straight to Carlo’s bloody shoulder. He starts to hurry towards him before stopping suddenly, hands squeezing into the straps of his backpack as he stays glued to the spot. It’s not the first time he’s seen him since he walked out, their awkward encounter at his dad’s house where Carlos had desperately tried to get him to talk with no response has that covered, but it’s been over a month now and it hits Carlos just as much.
“Carlos” Tommy says, gently shaking his forearm and Carlos assumes it’s not the first time she’s said it. “Shirt off or I cut it off”
“Okay, okay” he mumbles, and with help starts to take off his vest followed by his shirt. With no barrier, he can see the knife wound is significant, but nowhere near as bad as he first thought. He looks anywhere but at TK as she asks him questions and presses on the wound, and he’s pleasantly surprised that the blood is already slowing when he looks back down.
“I could use you inside, Cap,” Nancy says over their radio and Tommy sighs, glancing behind her at TK
“Is this going to be a problem?” she says quietly to Carlos. Carlos focuses on TK and knows if he wasn’t someone who didn’t care about professionalism, he would have no hesitation saying no, but there’s a girl inside who has had a worse day than him. He shakes his head.
“Push on this” she grabs his hand pushing it on his shoulder where she’s put a large gauze against it “It’s a really clean cut, you’ll need some stitches but besides that, you’ll be good. I’ll be back”
“Thanks” Carlos whispers. Tommy gives him a gentle smile before heading towards the house, talking quietly to TK for a second before continuing past him.
“Tommy wants me to wrap it, we can do it at the rig if you’re okay to move?” TK asks him when he eventually comes towards him. His voice is apologetic, Carlos hates that it makes him feel sorry for him.
“Yeah” He tries to push himself up with his good arm, but wobbles on his way up as he gets his balance. TK comes close as he falters, automatically grabbing onto him to try and keep him upright. They pause, staring at each other for a quick moment before TK rushes out a whispered apology, stepping away from him.
By the time he slowly makes his way to the rig, sitting down on the step, TK has supplies waiting next to him and he tentatively reaches towards him, hands stopping for a moment after he touches him.
“Is this okay?” TK asks quietly
No, of course not he thinks to himself. “Just do it” he replies instead.
“I’m sorry” TK whispers a little while later, as he wraps a bandage around Carlos’s shoulder.
“We’re not doing this right now”
“Carlos...”
“We are not doing this now” he snaps firmly and this time TK seems to get the message and they exist in silence as TK concentrates on Carlos’s shoulder again. It’s the slowest job he’s ever seen him do, but he can’t seem to find it in himself to call him out on it. There are words on the tip of his tongue wanting to hurl themselves out. Everything he’s wanted to say, lying in the bed that was meant to be theirs, inside the loft that he’d thought they’d make a home in together. He looks across as they lead Richie out towards the car, his head hanging towards the ground.
Why would you do that to someone you loved?
“I’ve been trying to talk to you for weeks” The words shock him just as much as TK, who tenses as he finally finishes the bandage, but once Carlos starts, he finds he can’t stop. “If you had picked up any of the dozens of phone calls you could’ve apologised ten times over by now. I tried to fix it and you ghosted me. You kicked me out of your dad’s house like I meant nothing to you”
“I know. I’m sorry I-”
“That guy, Richie? There’s a part of me that understands him and what does that make me?” He rattles out a breath and refuses to be embarrassed when a sob gets caught in his throat “You broke my heart. And whatever reason you think there was to do that, it wasn’t good enough. Are we done here?”
He meets TK’s eyes for a moment and every part that loved him wants to take back the words, wants to pretend, even just for a moment that they are still the TK and Carlos that everyone else sees, but the burning in his gut reminds him of why he can’t do it.
“You need stitches” TK mumbles, and Carlos ignores the way his voice cracks and squeezes his hand together against the urge to comfort, to forget, to forgive.
“I’ll go myself,” he tells him and steps off the rig, nodding at Nancy on his way past. He finds Lexi waiting off to the side, and when she notices him, she quickly heads in his direction.
“Your arm good?” she asks, stepping into line next to him as they head to the cruiser.
“It needs stitches, can you take me to the hospital?” She looks behind him and Carlos expects her to send him back to the ambulance.
“Sure,” she says instead, and Carlos can’t get out of there quick enough.
Carlos looks out the window of the car as he waits for them to be led out of the scene, he tells himself not to look for him, but his eyes find him anyway as they have since the moment he first spotted him across the floor of a dark bar. Nancy sits close to his side, rubbing his back as they talk, probably about him he supposes. Tommy comes out and they both straighten and start to clean up their supplies. He tries to ignore the drag to his movements, the quiet sorrow shadowing his every move.
“You two going to work it out?”
He turns away, leans his head back against the head rest and closes his eyes.
“I don’t know”