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Curled in a ball on the cold concrete ground, Amy could feel pain shooting through her body. She could feel the water seeping through her clothing. Her ribs, right arm, and right leg were burning, an intense white pain coursing within her bones, her muscles tightening and spasming as she tried to move. Her head was aching, long throbs running along the back of her skull, getting more intense as attempted to lift her head.
Coming to this place alone was a stupid mistake. She had gone in without any backup, without anyone knowing where she was. Trying to push herself into a seating position, she cried out as her arm gave out beneath her. Feeling her shoulder whack into the cold floor, Amy rolled onto her back and looked up at the sliver of moon she could see through the grotty and cracked skylight.
They had left her here to die. She could still hear their voices, laughing and mocking, as she tried to get their secrets. Luckily, they only thought she was a loser wanting to get into the business and not an undercover cop. She knew if they had known, she would have gotten a bullet to the head. At least she was still alive. In a shit-ton of pain, but alive nonetheless.
She was meant to be undercover for another three weeks with Rosa. Oh God, Rosa was definitely going to kill her if her injuries didn’t. Feeling the tears prick at her eyes, knowing she had let Rosa down and didn’t think to let her in on her dumb plan, was just too much.
Amy didn’t think she could face the look of disappointment on Rosa’s face. She had that one facial expression where she could make a grown man cry, and Amy cry as well.
Hearing footsteps echoing around the empty warehouse, Amy’s stomach dropped. They had come back to finish her off. She was going to die and all she could think about was letting Rosa down.
“What the actual fuck were you thinking?”
Amy knew that voice.
It was Rosa.
How did Rosa find her?
Opening her eyes, Amy’s eyes met Rosa’s. She was crouched in front of her, with a look of something new on her face. Amy couldn’t quite place it.
“I wasn’t,” Amy replied, barely above a whisper.
“I can tell,” Rosa replied, arching her eyebrow. “What hurts? And do you need to go to the hospital?”
“Ribs, right arm, right leg, and my head. I can’t go to the hospital, I can’t.” Feeling the desperation seep into her voice, Amy knew that if they were to take her to the hospital with her injuries the mission would be over and they would have failed. Failure is one thing Amy refused to have on her record.
“Okay, let me look,” Rosa said.
Gently feeling along Amy’s leg, Rosa kept an eye on her face to gauge her reaction. Pressing on the soft tissue of Amy’s knee, Rosa heard her suck in a sharp breath. Just by a simple touch through Amy’s jeans, Rosa could feel the swelling. Slowly bending Amy’s leg, she kept a hand over the knee area to feel for any wrong movements. Satisfied with the range of movement, she moved on.
Amy’s right arm was covered in a dark purple bruise in the shape of a hand. If Rosa ever found out who did this to her, she was going to make sure they could never walk or talk again. Feeling around her wrist, Rosa watched Amy wince. A bandage would be enough for the night, until they could get an X-ray on it.
Moving onto Amy’s ribs, Rosa slid Amy’s shirt up and could see the bruising over them. It looked like a few solid blows were aimed at the area. Gently feeling along each rib to make sure it didn’t pose a threat if broken, Rosa was pretty sure they needed an X-ray too. She wanted to take Amy to the hospital, but she knew Amy was just as stubborn, if not more stubborn than she was.
“Why are you being so gentle?” Amy asked as Rosa carefully felt around her head.
“Because, contrary to popular belief, I’m not a heartless monster and I actually care about you. Even when you’re driving me crazy and don’t tell me things,” Rosa replied, feeling a large bump on the back of Amy’s head.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t think. How did you even find me?” Amy asked as Rosa helped her to sit up.
“I slid a tracker into the sole of your shoe on our first night in the motel room,” Rosa casually replied, feeling along Amy’s neck to make sure there wasn’t an injury they missed.
“If I wasn’t in so much pain and grateful you found me, I might actually care you did that.”
“You’re going to be in pain for quite a while. You took a beating,” Rosa commented, scooping Amy into her arms in one swift move.
Hearing Amy shriek, Rosa smiled to herself as Amy relaxed into her after the initial shock wore off.
“We are going back to our motel room and you’re going to let me patch you up. Let me take care of you, okay?”
Not knowing how to react, Amy gulped down the lump in her throat and nodded her head before leaning closer into Rosa as she carried her out of the warehouse. Rosa was warm and she could feel her body heat seeping through her wet clothes. It was a nice feeling.
It didn’t take them long to get back to their room. Luckily, Rosa had parked close to the warehouse and it was only a five minute drive to the motel.
Inside, the heating was pumping. It felt like a warm hug engulfing her. Amy was still freezing cold, her body ached in more places, but everything hurt too much to move from the couch.
“I’m running you a bath. Then we’re going to patch you up and have a talk.” Entering the bathroom, Rosa pushed the door partially closed and sighed. Amy was pretty banged up, covered in dark bruises. Rosa was hurt that Amy didn’t tell her where she was going or what she was up to. She thought they were in this together. They had worked so hard on this case, and she wanted to bring the criminals to justice just as much as Amy. If she could get these scumbags off the street, she was going to. She knew they still had time, but she didn’t know how big of a setback tonight caused.
Putting the plug in the bathtub, Rosa turned the hot water on and watched the tub begin to fill. Grabbing the muscle soothe off the counter, she added three handfuls into the water, watching it turn blue.
Heading back into their shared room, Rosa pulled the first-aid box out and spread its contents out on the table. She was grateful Amy had no open wounds. Blood was a bitch to remove from motel bathrooms.
Looking at Amy, she was sitting back, holding her arm with her eyes closed. Rosa could tell how much pain she was in, but she wasn’t letting it show.
Going back into the bathroom, Rosa turned the hot water off and added in enough cold so it wouldn’t burn. It was still hot, muscle soothe hot, and Rosa had a feeling Amy would be a while.
“Bath’s ready. You look like you need it.”
“That’s probably the nicest way you’ve ever told me I look like shit.” Opening her eyes, Amy looked at Rosa and tried to move.
Sucking in a sharp breath as she tried to lean forward to take her shoes off, she had to take a moment to get the pain under control.
“Let me help,” Rosa said gently, sitting on the sorry excuse of a coffee table and pulling Amy’s shoes and socks off. “I meant it when I told you to let me take care of you. Let me help, please.”
“I guess,” Amy said. She didn’t like admitting she needed help, she was also so self-sufficient, never having to rely on anyone else.
“Here,” Rosa said, holding out her hand to help Amy up.
Hovering close to her, Rosa wrapped an arm around her and guided Amy into the bathroom. Noticing Amy was putting a little more weight on her injured leg, Rosa felt some of the tension leave her. Putting weight on it usually meant they didn’t need to take a trip down to the local hospital and then explain everything to Captain Holt.
“What now?” Amy asked, her eyes landing on the bath. God, what she’d do to be in it right now.
“How about I put your hair up for you. Turn around.” Gently running her fingers through Amy’s silky hair, Rosa tied it into a messy bun using the elastic on her wrist.
Amy never thought having Rosa touch her and be so soft with her would ever happen. She liked the feeling of having her hair put up and it made her softly smile to herself. Realising Rosa was done, Amy hobbled a step forward and faced Rosa. “Now what?”
“You get naked, of course. Unless you want to go in fully dressed.”
“Real funny. I can’t use my arm so I guess you’re going to have to undress me,” Amy replied, raising an eyebrow at Rosa. Sometimes she liked to challenge her.
“Can do,” Rosa smirked, making quick work of Amy’s clothing but making sure to be careful around her injuries. “Do I need to pick you up and put you in the tub?”
Without waiting for a reply, Rosa picked Amy up and gently set her down in the warm water. Trying to contain her smile as Amy squeaked, she shut the lid on the toilet and sat down.
“I can bathe without supervision,” Amy said, wincing as she slid further into the water.
“You probably can, but you have a lump on the back of your head the size of a golf ball. I’d rather be over cautious.” Pulling her phone out she began to scroll through her e-mails, giving Amy some privacy.
“Can we do the talk now? I know what I did was stupid,” Amy said. She could feel something clawing its way through her stomach and she just wanted to know what Rosa had to say before it got any higher.
“Okay. What you did was stupid. You should have called me. I’m your partner, we’re meant to be in this together. You just left and didn’t bother to leave a note or text. Why did you go in without backup?” Tapping her foot on the cracked white tile, Rosa held eye contact.
“I just wanted to prove myself. Everyone thinks I’m too fragile to do things alone, that I can’t solve something this big. I heard chatter as I went out for my nightly run and I knew I only had a few minutes to hide to listen in on them. I left my phone here on charge, so all I had was myself. They found me after I sneezed from all the dust and then they did this. They thought I was some princess wanting to get into their ranks,” Amy replied, making sure she didn’t leave anything out.
“And what did you learn?”
“The guy we’ve been after, Jin, he answers to another person. He’s in charge. His name is Dingbang and he sources the drugs. Jin organises the shipments and selling of the products. There’s also another two guys that seem higher up, Cho and Manny. Their brute force airheads are Juro and Ken. They did this to me. They have a shipment coming in next week sometime but the location I think they’ll change. It’s meant to be somewhere near Coney Island.” Letting out the remainder of the breath she didn’t realise she was holding, Amy felt her body begin to relax as the water soothed her aches and pains.
“I think getting all those names and when the next shipment is due, you’ve definitely proved yourself. Never ever do that again. I swear to God, if you do, you won’t know what’s coming for you,” Rosa replied, hoping the vague threat was enough to pull Amy back in line.
“I promise I won’t. Why do you care though?” Amy asked, watching Rosa’s nostrils flare slightly.
“Because I care about you, you big dummy,” Rosa replied swiftly. Like hell was she going to tell Amy she was developing feelings for her and this whole undercover operation was only drawing her further in.
“I know that, by why?” Amy pressed. She needed to know. She needed to hear Rosa say it. They had been getting closer and closer, and Amy wasn’t blind or stupid. She had a strong feeling Rosa liked her, and she had had a crush on her since the first time her eyes landed on her.
Who couldn’t fall for Rosa. She was badass, confident, could stare danger in the face, and underneath all the layers, she was soft and caring, smart and funny. Everything Amy loved about her.
“I just told you why, there’s nothing else to it,” Rosa replied, seeing Amy’s face drop. She hated to see Amy upset, she didn’t want to hurt her feelings, but if she admitted how she felt, she couldn’t face the rejection.
“Okay,” Amy said softly, hurt evident in her face.
“I care about you more than should. I was so worried when I came back and you weren’t here. I started to panic and I checked the tracker and saw where you were. You weren’t moving and I thought you were dead and that almost killed me.” Shit, she was really doing this. “I like you, like, like you. As more than friends. I know you don’t feel the same way and that’s cool but you did ask.” Slowly exhaling through her nose, Rosa didn’t understand why Amy was smiling at her.
“Rosa, I like you too. I’ve had a crush on you since I first saw you. I’ve always thought you were out of my league so I never made a move. Rosa Diaz, would you be my girlfriend?” Amy asked, still smiling brightly.
“Amy Santiago, yes, I’ll be your girlfriend,” Rosa replied, returning the smile. God, Amy was cute when she asked things like that.
“I think we should seal this with a kiss,” Amy said, trying her best to smirk which only resulted in a weird yet super cute smile.
“I think we should.” Walking the two steps to the bath, Rosa leaned down and met Amy halfway in a soft and promising kiss. Amy’s lips were soft against her own, the perfect fit to her own.
“I think we should do that more often,” Amy quietly said, pulling Rosa in for a second kiss with her good arm.
“We should. Are you almost done? I’d really like to check you over and make sure there are not any hidden injuries.”
“I am, the water’s beginning to go cold.” Pulling the plug, Amy watched the water drain before she even thought of getting out.
“I’ve got you, take it slowly,” Rosa said, supporting her as she somehow managed to get out of the tub without falling face first onto the tiles.
Feeling a warm towel wrap around her, Amy smiled and pulled it tight. It was soft, and Amy was pretty sure Rosa had warmed it over the heater. Allowing Rosa to help her back into their room, she sat on the edge of her bed and wanted nothing more than to lay down but she knew she couldn’t.
“Are the soft purple-ish pyjamas okay? I can find you something else if needed.” Looking at the neatly folded pyjamas next to Amy, Rosa could see she had set them up ready for tonight.
“They’re fine. I even have clean underwear ready. I’ll put them on and I’ll let you have a full 360 degree view of me.” Slipping them on, she gingerly got to her feet as Rosa stood in front of her, looking at her body.
Carefully checking Amy over once more, Rosa inspected her right arm and wrist a little more thoroughly. The handprint would be bruised on her skin for a week or so, and her wrist had bruising around it that she didn’t notice earlier. “Can you bend your wrist back and forth or does it hurt too much?”
Doing what Rosa asked, Amy winced as she tried to move it backward. “It only hurts when I move it backward. It’s the same kind of pain from when I sprained it as a kid.”
“How did you sprain it?” Rosa asked, raising an eyebrow.
“By trying to copy the entire dictionary out in three hours. I made it to E.”
“Of course,” Rosa smiled. She could picture adult Amy trying to do the exact same thing.
Grabbing the bandage and a safety pin from the table, Rosa began to wrap Amy’s wrist, making sure to support the injured area. Wrapping the last layer around, she pinned it and moved on.
“How does that feel?” Rosa asked, beginning to closely inspect Amy’s ribs. She didn’t care her now girlfriend was shirtless, she had other bigger things to think about.
“Better, thank you.” Hissing as Rosa touched the back of her rib cage, Amy pursed her lips together.
“On a scale of one to ten, how bad was that?”
“About a four,” Amy replied, trying to breathe normally.
“Did one of them kick you hard in the back? It looks like you have a steel-cap boot impression right where I just touched.”
“They did. The bath helped a lot with the pain. I think I need to sit for a second,” Amy said, feeling Rosa help her down the second the words left her mouth.
“I’ve had a look at your back, it’s not too bad. There’s just that one spot that’s a deep purple and you’ve got some lighter bruising around it. Your ribs, as you can see, are bruised to hell. How do your knee and head feel?” Rosa responded, tucking a strand of hair behind Amy’s ear.
“They both hurt. I’m getting a very bad headache.” Yawning, Amy covered her mouth. “My knee still hurts but I can put weight on it again. I’m also getting some pain in my hip.”
“I think the best we can do is get you dressed and into bed. We’ll slip out tomorrow and get some X-rays to make sure nothing’s broken. We’ll keep it off the books so no one at the precinct finds out.”
“Thank you,” Amy sincerely replied, pulling her sleep shirt over her head. “Will you lay with me?” she added, her voice quiet.
“Of course, let me get changed.” Pressing a gentle kiss to Amy’s forehead, Rosa quickly slipped out of her jeans and shirt and put her pyjamas on.
“Get into bed and I’ll turn the light off,” Rosa said a minute later, making sure the door to their room was locked and deadbolted.
Flicking the light off, Rosa made her way over to the bed and climbed in next to Amy.
Curling herself around Amy, Rosa smiled to herself as Amy cuddled into her. Pressing a gentle kiss to Amy’s lips then forehead, Rosa gently ran her fingers through Amy’s dark hair.
“Goodnight Rosa, thank you for taking care of me,” Amy said sleepily.
“Goodnight Amy. I’ll always be here for you.”