Chapter Text
Carlos
Carlos took the baked chicken and roasted vegetables out of the oven, anxiously waiting to hear his husband’s keys in the door. He had finally come to a decision on whether or not to follow in his father’s footsteps. While he knew that TK was more than ready to support Carlos in his decision, he was still worried about how much it would change their lives. How much it might change him and whether or not he could live up to the legacy that his father had left behind.
Most of his memories of his childhood had not included his father, it had seemed like he was always on a case, never home. He had always viewed his father as a workaholic, someone that put work over his family, someone who had never found the balance between them. Maybe even someone that had never even tried.
He had sat at the wake after his father’s funeral, listening as his sisters told TK story after story about their childhoods and how much fun their father had been. How much he had cared about their happiness. He had felt like he was hearing about a stranger, most certainly not the man that he had grown up with.
He only remembered the nights that his dad had missed dinner due to a case. How he had waited weeks building up the courage to come out to his parents only for his father to be MIA again. How when he had finally been home for dinner that one fateful night that Carlos had managed to tell his parents that he was gay, it hadn’t been spoken about for another ten years. He remembered how he had married his best friend to try to force himself into a box that would make his father proud of him.
Even after he had learned that his father was fine with him being gay, that he loved the man that Carlos had chosen to love as another son, he still hadn’t been able to let go of all those missed dinners. He had been grateful that their relationship had taken a turn for the better since TK had come into his life, but that didn’t automatically heal all of those old wounds.
It had taken Carlos accidentally finding a video in his father’s desk that Carlos had been in as a child, that he had started to recall the nights that he would tuck him in with his favorite stuffed animal and a bed time story, the weekends playing catch in the yard, and all the nights that his father had checked for monsters under his bed and in his closet.
Eventually, he realized that he could have both a life with his husband and a job that would help him continue in his father’s legacy. His father hadn’t been an absentee husband or father, he had prioritized what part of his life needed him most at that time.
Carlos wished he had remembered those parts of his father before he died and not after. It haunted him daily. Every time he put on his patrol uniform, it felt emptier than it had before. Every time that he was told that there was no new information in his father’s murder, he left more locked into the never-ending cycle of grief, never moving beyond anger.
He had spent almost everyday since his father’s death searching for even the smallest clue as to who was behind it. Carlos finally came to terms with the fact that following in his father’s footsteps and joining the Texas Rangers was the best possible way for him to finally get some answers. There had to be more than what his family was being told and the only way to get the access he needed was to join the institution that was investigating the case.
Carlos had been more than a little bit surprised that the Chief still wanted him as a ranger after he had gone rogue in the days following his father’s death. He had been surprised when the man came to his home the week after Carlos and TK had returned from their honeymoon, offering him the job himself for the first time.
He had come a long way since those few days. His father’s murder had been consuming him, without his father-in-law, Sgt. O’Brien, and Chief Bridges, Carlos would be sitting in a prison cell, not getting ready to make a huge life decision that would honor his father instead of dishonoring him.
By the time TK opened the door to their home, Carlos was ready to tell him.
TK
TK could tell that his husband had finally come to a decision about the Ranger situation the minute he took he stepped into their home. He could feel the nervous energy radiating from across the room. He knew that the decision had been weighing on him since the moment that Gabriel had offer and again each time Chief Bridges continued to offer it.
“Hey baby.” TK said as he sat his bag down and walked towards the beautiful man he still couldn’t believe that he was married to. “Dinner smells amazing, I’m starving.” He added as he wrapped the other man in a tight hug. He felt the tension melt away from his husband’s body as he placed a kiss on his neck.
Carlos pulled away with a smile, “You are in luck then, I just pulled it out of the oven.” Taking TK’s hand and pulling him the rest of the way to the kitchen where their dinner was waiting.
TK waited until they had filled their plates and sat down at the dining room table before he asked “When are you starting?” with a smile. He laughed when Carlos’ shocked eyes looked back at him. “What? Do you really think I can’t read you by now?”
Carlos shook his head, “I guess that I should know that by now.” Carlos took a bite of his chicken before answering, “I haven’t officially accepted Chief Bridges offer, I wanted to make sure you were still ok with it first.”
TK arched a brow at his husband, “You really questioned that?”
Carlos rolled his eyes as he took another bite of his food, “No, but its been a few months and I wanted to make sure before I officially accepted.”
“Officially accepted? Does that mean that you did at least unofficially accept his offer?” TK asked, grateful that the chief was even more stubborn than his husband was.
A blush started creeping up Carlos’ face as he replied, “Well, Chief Bridges came to see me as I was getting off shift earlier. He asked me again why I was dragging my feet on giving him an answer. This time I told him that I wanted to talk to my husband before I gave him my official answer tomorrow, but yes, I did unofficially tell him that I would join the Texas Ranger, like my dad.”
“What is there for us to talk about?” TK asked him. They had spent months going back and forth on whether or not it was the right time for Carlos to take the detective’s exam, weighed all the pros and cons. TK has always supported whatever Carlos wanted to do, even if he did think that the world could use his untapped detective skills.
“For one, the increased hours that I will be spending on the job.” Carlos told him.
“That’s true, you would probably have to spend more time at work when you have a case. We talked about that before when Detective Washington was hounding you last year.” TK replied. “What else?”
“I am a little bit worried that I may not be able to fill my father’s shoes. More than a little actually.” Carlos admitted.
TK thought out his response before speaking. He wanted to make sure that he used the words that his husband would hear over those that were in his own head. “Babe, I do understand what you are saying with that. I had the same fears when I followed my father with firefighting, in the firehouse he rebuilt after 9/11. I know what it feels like to think that you have to fill the shoes of the man you are following.” TK paused, reaching across the table for Carlos’ hand before continuing, “You know what I finally figured out after years of never feeling like I was able to measure up?”
“What?” Carlos asked, leaving his hand in TK’s.
“I don’t need to fill my father’s shoes, he is a great captain. But he isn’t me and I am not him. I can only fill my own shoes.” TK answered. “For me, filling my own shoes meant moving to medical, becoming a paramedic. For you, it could be moving from being an APD Patrol Officer to a Texas Ranger or becoming a detective. Just because you join your father’s organization, doesn’t mean that you need to become him. You just need to continue being you, listening to what your gut tells you.”
“Do you really think that it will be that easy to not compare myself to him everyday if I am sitting in the same office that he did?” Carlos asked doubtfully.
TK smiled, “No, babe, I don’t think that it will be easy, but I do think that you were born to solve cases and help as many people as you can. Let that be your legacy, your purpose.”
“I like that.” Carlos said as he returned TK’s smile. “What about the people that think I am just there because of my dad?”
“Well, it’s a good thing that I have some experience with that too.” TK teased, letting Carlos’ hand go so that they could return to their meal.
Carlos rolled his eyes before saying, “Yeah, I guess that’s true too. How bad was it at first?”
“Hell. Everyone thought that the only reason that I was there was because of my dad, but then they got to see me do rescues, watched as I earned my dual certification, wanting to prove myself. I took all the certifications for the different types of rescues quicker than anyone else in the house ever had. I made my own space.” TK reflected back to those first years as a firefighter. “I made my share of mistakes, some far worse than others, but I kept trying.” TK smiled again when he added, “I know that no matter what direction you take in your career, you will make it your own. You won’t need to rely on your father’s legacy, you will create your own.”
Carlos bit his lip before asking, “What if I do something so bad that it ruins his legacy?”
“Have my relapses ruined my father’s legacy? No, they haven’t. Did any bad calls I made on a scene ruin my father’s legacy? No. Our fathers aren’t us, Babe. We may have followed them in our callings, but we aren’t them. They don’t define us and we don’t define them.” TK told him honestly.
Carlos took a bite of his food as he thought over what TK had told him. He cocked his head to the side as he said “Ok. I will call the chief in the morning.”
TK took ate the rest of his food as quickly as he could, stopping only at his husband’s confused “Uh, you in a rush?”
“Fuck yes I am, we have some celebrating to do, now finish up so that we can use this table for something a bit more fun that eating, Ranger Reyes.” TK replied with a wink.