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"You should've woken me up! Called me, anything, Carlos!"
Carlos has long since moved back to the bed, sitting propped up against the pillows, but TK keeps pacing the floor of their bedroom, frantic. Anger and worry and relief and fear all churn together in his stomach.
"I can get a glass of water on my own, TK —" Carlos starts, but stops at the look TK shoots him.
“But you don't have to, Carlos! That's the point!" TK swings his arms and nearly knocks the empty glass off the nightstand again. One of Carlos's socks is soaked through, but thankfully the glass didn't shatter on the floor. TK is thankful for a lot of things tonight.
"You didn't have to rush into that scene either," he continues. "There were three other officers there, any one of them could’ve helped! Backup was on its way too — you were already exhausted, you'd been out in the sun all day, you hadn't had a break, and look what happened!"
"I fainted," Carlos says drily. "It happens."
"You collapsed, Carlos!" TK can still feel the scream that ripped from his chest earlier that day, reverberating inside him. "So yeah, I'd like you to take some fucking rest tonight! Just let me get you a glass of water! Instead of walking to the kitchen yourself when you can still barely stand on your own!" And stumbling again on the way back, he doesn't say. And dropping the glass, and tripping and falling and nearly hitting your head again in the dark —
"Please," Carlos sighs, his eyes falling closed. "Could you be a little quieter? You're making my head hurt."
TK stills, a surge of anger coursing through him, rooting him to the spot. It's a long moment before he can be sure that when he opens his mouth it won't just be a scream that comes out.
"Do you want to know what you looked like?" he finally says. Now Carlos opens his eyes to look at him, apprehensive.
"All the color drained from your face." TK's voice is quiet, brittle. Every word is on the verge of shattering. "Your limbs were just useless. Like their strings were suddenly cut." In the moonlight, he sees Carlos swallow, tears gathering at the corners of his eyes.
"You just crashed to the ground." TK takes a step closer to the bed, tremors running through his whole body. "Your gun went flying out of your hand, it's a miracle it didn't go off. It's an even bigger fucking miracle that you didn't crack your head open on a rock, or just straight up fall off the cliff — your arm was dangling off the ledge," he chokes out. "No one could've caught you in time."
"TK —
"Your pulse was so faint I could barely find it." TK's knees bump the edge of the bed and he sinks onto it, braces himself against it. "Your eyes just rolled back into your head — you were shaking. You were in and out of it — just... whimpering, crying out, you couldn't understand what was going on around you —
"TK —
"I almost lost you today, Carlos." TK's voice breaks, and when Carlos reaches for him, he lets himself be pulled into his arms. "I was so scared," he sobs into his chest. "I almost lost you — please, please don't do that again —
"I'm sorry," Carlos whispers, tucking TK's head under his chin. TK's sobs slow and stutter to a halt with the rise and fall of Carlos's chest, the beating of his heart against his cheek. "I'm so sorry. But I'm here. I'm okay."
"Never do that again," TK whimpers. "Please never do that again."
"Okay," Carlos soothes. "Okay, I'm okay."
It's not something he can promise, and TK knows that. But for now, this is what he needs — to fall asleep in Carlos's arms, to the steady rhythm of his heartbeat.
He's okay, he's okay, he's okay.