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“She’s my wife, TK!”
And god does Carlos wish he could take back those four words but it’s too late, they’re out there now and Carlos will spend the rest of his life making it up to TK.
If only he’d been honest from the beginning about his marriage to Iris and gotten a divorce the minute he fell for TK, none of this would have happened. TK wouldn’t have gone to Iris to beg for a divorce so he and Carlos could get married at their dream venue and she wouldn’t have gotten upset and stormed off to wherever Iris goes to feel comforted. Carlos doesn’t even know anymore, that’s how little he knows the woman he married.
“Understood.” That’s TK’s response. “You’re right, you should go look for her. I understand that you don’t want to be around me right now and that you blame me but I’m always here for you Carlos. I love you. Just be safe out there.
“I love you, too.” And Carlos wishes he could say more. Beg TK to forgive him for the words he just said but he’s too damn stubborn and too worried about Iris to spend anymore time on this. Especially, since he knows they’ll get through this and they’ll get married at their dream venue in just eight short weeeks. They’ve fought before, why does this time have to be different?
But for TK, this is different. It’s like the universe has it out for him. First, his dad’s comment about becoming a father and now the love of his life is reminding him that he’s already married. To a woman. His best friend as Carlos put it. Why do the people he loves the most seem to constantly put him on the back burner anytime someone else comes into the picture? Is there something so wrong with him that he can be tossed aside like nothing? It’s in his head. He knows it but he’s hurting. Somehow being reminded that he would never be Carlos’ first marriage is the worst thing that’s ever happened to him.
Before he knows it, Carlos is out the door to search for Iris and TK is once again all alone with nothing but his thoughts. Usually, his go to during a time like this would be hitting the streets looking for some dealer where he could buy whatever he could get his hands on to numb the pain. But after Sadie and his involuntary relapse, TK has fought like hell to get back his sobriety and he won’t let this break him. He can’t hurt Carlos like that even though Carlos’ words were the ultimate betrayal. He accepted that Carlos was married, he didn’t cause a scene. Hell they’d even been joking about it the night before. But the context was different and now everything is hanging on by a thread. But he knows they will push through this eventually, TK just needs time. So he decides to pack a few things and leave a note for Carlos letting him know he’d be staying with his dad and Mateo for a little while just until they got over this hurdle.
On the drive over to his dad’s, TK calls Mateo to let him know he’d be staying over at his dad’s house for a while just until the whole Iris situation blows over. He doesn’t have to explain and TK is sure that it’s because Nancy has already filled Mateo in on everything she knows which as TK’s partner in the field, it’s mostly everything. Everything other than what just happened. On his arrival, Mateo helps TK unload and tells him to let him know if he needs anything but TK just wants to shower and crash. He wants to scream and cry in the shower and then go to bed and pretend this never happened and so he does. At least, he tries but right as TK is about to fall into a restless sleep, he receives a call from Gabriel letting him know that Carlos’s blue Camaro had been found outside of an abandoned house and inside the investigators found a blood trail. A blood trail that matched Carlos’ DNA. Instantly, TK is up and on his way to the scene where he finds Gabriel.
“Gabriel, please tell me what’s going on. Did you find Carlos or Iris?
“Iris? What does this have to do with Iris?” Gabriel responds.
“It’s a long story but basically Carlos thinks I startled Iris by insisting she divorce him so we could get married. She ran off and Carlos went out to look for her earlier and I haven’t heard from him since.”
“TK, this isn’t your fault. We’re going to find him. Iris too. Everything is going to be okay. You’re going to have your wedding and you two are going to be happy.”
TK isn’t so sure about that last part but he does know that Gabriel won’t stop until he finds his son and so, the search began for Carlos Reyes. For three weeks, TK is frantic in his search for Carlos and doesn’t think about what happened before he went missing because none of that matters as long as Carlos survives and comes back to him. It’s Iris’ resurfacing that prompts investigators to look at a known serial killers past cases. She informs Gabriel and the rest of the crew that she had been held captive by a man who drugged her and kept her hostage for the last few weeks. It was the hospital’s blood analysis which led them to the specific formula of drug she’d been dosed with that served as the connection. The last few weeks for her were blurry and the last thing she fully remembers is TK coming to see her and her agreeing to an annulment but she swears she heard Carlos call her name recently. That’s all it take for the FBI to get involved in the search.
It doesn’t take long for the FBI to uncover the killer’s identity and his mother’s who was complicit in his crimes. Finally, after a month long search for Carlos, Gabriel and TK find him in the suspects home which had underground tunnels leading them right to the abandoned house where Carlos’ car was found. Carlos is slumped over, tied to a chair with his head bloodied, and his white shirt covered in slices. His whole torso is covered in slashes made from some sort of sharp object. TK immediately jumps into paramedic mode, checking for a pulse which he finds but it’s weak and its unclear whether or not Carlos will survive in this state. He gets word that the 126 have arrived on scene and looks up to meet Nancy and Captain Vega’s eyes. It’s obvious that they’re both upset by having to work on Carlos too but are determined to keep him alive for TK’s sake. Nancy immediately hooks Carlos up to the LifePack which indicates Carlos’ falling heartbeat. As Tommy and Nancy load him into the ambulance, Carlos’ pulse drops and he begins to flatline. TK can feel his whole world shift in this moment. He needs Carlos to live. He can’t live without Carlos. He hears a muffled scream and soon realizes it’s him as Nancy defibrillates. It doesn’t take long for Carlos’ heart to restart and for TK to be able to breathe again but he knows that without surgery to stop the bleeding, Carlos won’t be here for much longer.
After what felt like an eternity, TK, Carlos, Nancy, and Tommy arrive at the hospital and Tommy informs the doctor’s waiting of Carlos’s state. The doctors immediately rush Carlos to surgery and it dawns on TK in that instant that if something happens to Carlos, he has no rights to make any decisions. This cannot be happening. So while Carlos is in the OR, TK pays a visit to Iris and lets her know about what’s going on with Carlos.
“You’re going to have some decisions to make,” says TK.
“Why, me? You’re his fiancé, you deserve to make these decisions.”
“I know.” TK sighs. “But you’re his wife and his best friend.”
“No, TK listen to me. You are his best friend. I’ve known Carlos for 15 years and I’ve never seen him as happy as he was when he came to ask for the divorce. He spent over an hour going on about how you’re the one. On paper, I might be his wife but you, you’re the love of his life. So whatever you want to do, tell me and I’ll do it.”
“Thank you.” TK sobs. “You know, if we had met under different circumstances, I think we’d be best friends too.
Carlos’s surgery takes about 3 hours and then the doctor comes in looking for Iris to inform her of his condition. Obviously, she insists that TK stay and together they hear the doctor say that Carlos is in stable but critical condition. A coma. All TK can do is laugh because Carlos was never supposed to be in a coma, that’s TK’s thing. He’s had 3 and counting. But nevertheless, the two of them let out a breath they didn’t even know they had been holding and Iris reaches over to take TK’s hand to stabilize him. TK’s grateful for her in this moment. He couldn’t do this alone. Once the doctor finishes giving them both the full rundown, they walk over to the room where Carlos is recovering.
It’s been 2 months since TK has talked to Carlos, one month of Carlos missing and another for him being in a coma. TK is going crazy. He’s trying to rest but it’s no use while his fiancé lays in a coma. He’s been up for days and it isn’t until Iris comes in to keep him company, that TK considers laying his head down at the edge of Carlos’ bed while their fingers are interlaced. But it’s in that moment when TK goes to lay down, that he feels the twitch of Carlos’s fingers. His head jerks up to look at Carlos’s face where he sees his open eyes. Iris runs out to get the doctor and TK can do nothing but look at Carlos in shock and with gratitude. He wasn’t sure this would happen. He knew Carlos wouldn’t leave him willingly but he didn’t know what the universe had in store for him.
Once the doctor’s come in and remove Carlos’ breathing tube, it’s just the three of them alone. For two months, TK hasn’t thought about their fight and how it was the last thing the two of them talked about before Carlos disappeared but now that he’s awake, TK is slapped in the face with reality. He can’t breathe.
“Breathe, baby.” He hears Carlos say. But everything is muffled. He has to get out of there. “Will you stay with him?” He says to Iris. “I just need a moment.”
“Of course, TK. Take all the time you need. I’ll be right here.” TK knows that should bring him comfort but instead he feels sick, Carlos and his wife reunited. It was Iris’ disappearance after all that made Carlos blurt out Iris was his wife. TK realized in that moment, he’d been so worried about Carlos’ health for the past couple of months, that he hadn’t thought about himself for that long. He was still angry. Relieved that Carlos was alive and okay but angry at the pain Carlos had caused him. So he decided, he would stay with Carlos until he was recovered and then he would go back to his dad’s for a short while like he had been planning to before.
It had only been ten minutes that TK was in the hall but for Carlos, it felt like an eternity. He remembers the fight with TK and how much he regrets his words but right now he’s just grateful to be alive with his fiancé and with his best friend. They were all going to be fine. At least that’s what he thought.
On their ride back to the loft, TK was unusually quiet but Carlos just thought it was nerves. It wasn’t until they walked in and Carlos took in the state of the place, that he realized, nobody had lived here in months. Carlos took a minute to walk around and saw that TK’s drawers were partially emptied, TK’s favorite throw was missing off of the couch, and there was a piece of paper sitting on their counter. Carlos walked over to inspect the paper and found a note from TK explaining that he was leaving to stay with his dad for a while. He felt dizzy. This couldn’t be happening. Not again. Not after everything they’d been through.
“TK?”
“Hmm?”
“What’s this?” Carlos said while holding up the note.
“Oh. I had forgotten about that. I wrote that after our fight about Iris and you calling her your wife.” TK said those last two words with disgust displayed on his face.
“So you’re not leaving?” Carlos asked.
“Oh, no. I am. I’ve asked Iris to come and check in on you throughout the day since her job is right up the street and she agreed.”
“You what?” Carlos said with an obvious fearfulness in his tone.
“I need some time, ‘Los. I searched for you every day and I never gave up on you. I needed to know you were alive and you were okay. And you are. So now it’s time for me to take some space. What you said hurt me and it wasn’t fair of you to get mad at me for going to see Iris. I wanted to marry you and in order to do that you needed to be divorced. You’re the one who lied to me for three years about your marriage. I deserve some time to be angry.”
Carlos was stunned. Sure, he knew TK deserved to be angry but this cannot be happening. He didn’t mean it. Carlos fell to his knees.
“Please, TK. I’m sorry. Forgive me. I love you. Only you. I want to get married just as much as you do. We still can.”
“The venue is gone, Carlos. You were in a coma, it’s been 8 weeks. We have a year and a half of waiting to do. We will get past this and we’ll get married. Just, not now. You know that when you were in the hospital, I had no right to make any of the decisions regarding your health. I had to go to Iris and she had to make all of your decisions.”
That hadn’t even occurred to Carlos. How could he be so stupid? After all that nagging on TK getting a will, he didn’t even think to make TK his healthcare power of attorney because he just assumed when the time came, they’d be married and TK would legally have the right to make those decisions.
“I’m so sorry, TK.”
“I know you are. We’ll be okay, in time. I do love you, you know. I’m just hurting right now. I put all this hurt on the back burner until I knew you were safe and you are now. So, now it’s time to keep my heart safe. I’ll call you later.” TK said with a final kiss to Carlos’ forehead.
And with that, the loft door closed and Carlos was left with his heart in more pain than his healing scars.