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“APD officer requiring medical assistance” Those few little words coming over the radio had the ability to turn the blood in TK’s veins into ice. “Ambulance 126 are you free? You’re the closest unit.”
“Medical unit 126 free and responding.” Nancy replied to the operator as the three of them got into the ambulance and buckled up. She started the engine and pulled out of the firehouse just as the officer’s location came through to their computer.
“It doesn’t have to be Carlos.” Tommy said over their headsets, knowing where TK’s mind was at.
“I know. I know.” TK said, briefly checking his phone but seeing no text or any sign of life from his husband.
“And you know what cops are like, they call us out when they stub their toe.” Nancy offered.
“That’s protocol.” TK said absent mindedly. It was almost four months since Gabriel had gotten shot, and even though he was recovering well and back at work on desk duty, Carlos hadn’t given up on trying to find the shooter.
“Dispatch do you have a unit number of the officer needing assistance?” Nancy asked over the radio in an attempt to calm TK’s nerves.
“363H20. There is another officer on scene but the call came from 363H20.”
“That’s Carlos’ badge number.”
“Are you sure?”
“Nance, I could recite that number in my sleep. I’m sure.” TK deadpanned while putting on gloves. “I just hope he hasn’t done anything stupid. He promised me he would lay off his one man investigation into Gabriel’s shooting.”
“How is Gabriel?” Tommy asked, trying to get TK to focus on something other than his injured husband. “I’ve been meaning to check in.”
“You know how he didn’t want to wear the sling the doctors had given him at our wedding? Because he didn’t want a reminder of the shooting in our wedding pictures? And only did it when Andrea made him? Well that’s about as much of his doctor’s advice he’s taken. He’s alright but stubborn as ever.” TK sighed. “Carlos really is his father’s son.”
They pulled up to the location a few minutes later and saw Carlos sitting on the curb next to his cruiser with a tea towel pressed to the side of his head, and Lexi Mitchell standing beside him.
TK jumped out of the ambulance, torn between wanting to strangle his husband for getting himself in trouble again, and wrapping him up in a hug and not letting him out of his sight for the next few months.
He grabbed his gear and walked over to where Carlos was sitting.
Carlos who was staring at his shoes instead of looking up.
“Hey Lexi.” TK greeted her before kneeling down and putting a hand under Carlos’ chin so he’d look him in the eye. “I thought I was the danger magnet in this marriage?”
“Don’t start.” Carlos rolled his eyes and groaned. “Things just got a little out of hand.”
“Yeah I can see that.” TK said and tightened his grip on Carlos’ face when he tried to look away. “What the hell happened, Carlos?”
“No pet names? Ouch. You’re really in the dog house now, dude.” Nancy commented.
TK briefly glared at her before turning his attention back to his husband. He turned his head to the side.
“Move the towel so I can take a look.”
“It’s fine. It’s just a scratch.”
“I’ll be the judge of that. Move the towel.” He ordered, sounding way more angry and annoyed than he actually felt, but he figured maybe making Carlos think he’d really pissed him off would make him stop his investigation and let the team assigned to it do their jobs.
“Your bedside manner needs work, paramedic Strand.”
“It’s Reyes-Strand actually. You see I got married four months ago to this amazing man, he’s my soulmate, he completes me, but he’s being a world class idiot lately.”
“Why don’t we leave you two to it.” Tommy suggested. “Officer, are you hurt?” she asked Lexi.
“No ma’am. But he is.” She pointed her thumb at the backseat of the cruiser. “I put him in there for safekeeping. He got a little too close to the ground. With my help.”
“Is he dangerous?”
“Not anymore. And he’d be really stupid to add assaulting a paramedic to the list of offences we can book him for.”
“Right, well, let’s go take a look. Way over there.” Nancy said and turned to TK. “Try not to kill him. Too many witnesses here.”
“I’ll do my best.” TK replied while cleaning the cuts and scrapes on Carlos’ face. “But I’m not making any promises.” He grabbed an antiseptic wipe from his kit to clean the wound he’d had the towel pressed against. “This is going to sting a little.” He murmured.
Carlos winced when the wipe touched his wound and tried to move his head away as a reflex but TK kept him in place.
“Don’t do that you big baby. I’ve got you. I’ll find something that doesn’t sting so much. And then we’re going to take you to hospital because you need stitches.”
“I don’t need stitches. I’ve got work to do. Can’t you just put a bandage on it?”
“Do you want an infection? Do you want to be bleeding through that bandage all day?”
“No, but…”
“Carlos.” TK said sternly but then softened a little when he saw the concerned look on his husband’s face. “Baby do you trust me?”
“What? Of course I do.”
“Do you trust me to know what I’m talking about? That I know how to do my job?”
“Of course.”
“Then trust me when I say you need stitches. And before you say anything, yes I can do it, but you want a plastic surgeon for this because the wound is on your face. I can patch you up but you’ll end up with a scar.”
Carlos mumbled something that sounded like “I don’t care.” And TK barely resisted the urge to roll his eyes at him.
He grabbed some gauze and tape from his kit and covered up the wound on Carlos’ face.
“That should do for now.” He moved to sit next to Carlos and grabbed his hand, entwining their fingers. “Do you want to tell me what happened?”
“The guy came out of nowhere.” Carlos started after a minute. “He took a swing at me and I hit the wall and then the ground. I think his ring cut my face.”
“Hmm… it’s not like you to let the bad guys get a jump on you…”
“Yeah. I guess I’m having an off day.”
“Just one day? Baby you’ve been distracted for weeks, you’re running yourself into the ground with your investigation. You’re awake half the night obsessing over it.” TK said and held up a hand when Carlos tried to argue with him. “We share a bed, remember? I know you’re not sleeping. I can feel you tossing and turning.”
Carlos sighed.
“I’m sorry. It’s just… I feel like I’m finally getting somewhere. I had a solid lead that brought me here.”
“Then why didn’t you tell detective Washington and her team?”
“I did! But they didn’t do anything!” Carlos argued. “I told them they had to move now but they just thanked me for my help and sent me on my way.”
“Probably because they had to check out the info. You taught me that police work involves a lot of checking and double checking and gathering as much information you possibly can before making a move.”
“I know… but I feel like I’m getting close to figuring it out.”
“So you grabbed Lexi and went to investigate on your own?”
“No… she just… kind of insisted to come along and didn’t take no for an answer.”
“Thank god for Lexi Mitchell.” TK muttered.
“I know it was stupid to go alone, ok? I know. But I… I can’t just... drop it. It’s my dad who got shot and nearly died.”
“I know babe, but if you keep going like this, he won’t be the only one coming close to dying.”
“Why? Because you’ll kill me if I don’t drop it?”
“No, you’ll be beating me to it.” TK deadpanned. “I don’t want to become a widower before we even get to our one year wedding anniversary. I love you and I hate seeing you like this. You need to start taking better care of yourself, baby. Promise me you will. ”
“I promise.” Carlos mumbled after a minute. “But I can’t just walk away from it and pretend it never happened.”
“I’m not asking you to. But I need you to sleep for more than 10 minutes a week and not spend every minute of every day obsessing over your dad’s case. You know they’ve got the best people working on it, so you can take a step back. Relax. Do something fun. Forget about it all for a couple of hours. Can you do that for me?”
“I’ll try…” Carlos promised.
“Why don’t we order pizza tonight and watch that show Paul was talking about last week?” TK suggested. “And we can just relax and turn off our phones for a couple of hours… and who knows what else we could do.” He winked, making Carlos laugh.
“I don’t think that’s really considered relaxing, babe.”
“Maybe not, but it’ll be fun.”