Work Text:
Saga was halfway through a long-gone cold cup of coffee when her phone buzzed on the desk, the screen lighting up with a call. The number was unfamiliar, local though - so somewhere nearby. She hesitated before picking it up, her curiosity just barely outweighing the desire to finish her stack of paperwork that had been growing and growing over the last few days.
"Agent Anderson."
"Hello," an unfamiliar female voice responded from the other end, "this is Nurse Carter calling from Memorial Hospital. Is this Saga Anderson?"
Saga sat up straighter as her heart skipped a beat, was it David? Logan? Her mind jumped to the worst possibilities. "Yes?"
"Alright, uhm, we have an..." the nurse hummed for a moment, the sound of paper rustling audible over the line, "an Alex Casey here in our care, and you’re listed as his emergency contact."
Saga blinked, processing the words. It was Casey? "Wait, hold on - I'm his what? He's in the hospital?"
"Emergency contact," the nurse repeated. "He’s been admitted due to injuries sustained in the line of duty. He’s stable, but given the severity, we thought it best to contact you right away."
Saga stared at the files on her desk, her brow furrowing as she tried to make sense of it. Why in the hell was she his emergency contact? She rubbed her temple, feeling the headache already coming on.
"Are you sure?" she asked, leaning back in her chair. "I'm his emergency contact?"
The nurse sounded a little flustered now. "Yes, ma’am. He’s listed you by name - Saga Anderson. And, uh, when we asked about his relationship with you, he said you were his partner?"
Saga paused, an eyebrow raising in mild disbelief. "Partner," she repeated slowly. "Uhm, he's my FBI partner. Not..."
"Oh!" The nurse’s voice shifted, clearly embarrassed. "Right. I see. Sorry about that."
Saga let out a sigh. "Don’t worry about it. I’ll be there in twenty."
It was looking like she wouldn't be finishing her paperwork tonight.
The hospital wasn’t far, but the whole way there, Saga kept replaying the nurse’s words in her mind.
Emergency contact?
She and Casey worked together, sure. Hell, she'd call them friends, but... emergency contact? She’d have to ask him how that happened, assuming he was coherent enough to answer.
When she got to the hospital, the nurse at the front desk directed her to Casey’s room, explaining that he’d sustained some "moderate trauma" with no life-threatening injuries - which was a nice way of saying he'd gotten the absolute hell beaten out of him.
And even with the warning, she wasn’t prepared for the sight that greeted her when she finally opened the door.
Casey lay in the hospital bed, his face almost battered beyond recognition - bruises blooming across his skin like a map of violence. His left eye was swollen shut, his lip split, dried blood crusted around the stitches that ran down his cheek to hold an ugly cut together. Bandages wrapped around his chest and disappeared beneath the hospital blanket covering his lower body, and his right arm was in a sling.
He looked like he’d been dragged through hell, and for a second, Saga could barely breathe.
"...Anderson?" His voice was rough, barely a rasp as he turned his head, grimacing. The small movement sent him wincing, pain etched into every corner of his face. "What... what are you doing here?"
Saga leaned against the doorframe, crossing her arms, forcing her breathing to even out as she looked at her beaten partner. "Casey. Were you ever going to tell me I’m your emergency contact?" she asked, one eyebrow quirked as she masked her concern. "Feels like that’s an important little factoid to leave out."
Casey blinked at her with his good eye, clearly caught off guard. He opened his mouth, then winced again, as though even speaking was painful. "I... forgot?"
Saga huffed. "You forgot? You put someone down as your emergency contact and just, what? Thought it wasn’t worth mentioning?'
He grumbled something unintelligible, shifting painfully against the pillow. Saga let out a breath, walking further into the room.
She sighed, letting the fight drain out of her. "You look like shit," she said softly, her eyes tracing the bruises darkening his skin. "What even happened?"
Casey groaned, his hand lifting to his forehead. "I was helping out on another case," he said, his voice rough. "Just going to take a witness interview. Turns out the witness was a lot more involved in the crime than we thought."
"And let me guess - this witness didn’t appreciate your charming bedside manner?"
Casey laughed bitterly, the sound turning into a painful cough. He clutched his side, squeezing his eyes shut as the pain hit. "Yeah, something like that. They weren’t big on answering questions. But they were big on hitting me with a crowbar."
Saga winced. "So you got crow-barred from the case, huh?"
"Oh God," Casey muttered, squeezing his eyes shut. "Don’t even start. I'm already having a bad day."
Saga smirked, unable to resist. "Crowbarred? Like... barred entry, but also-"
"I got it, Anderson," he cut her off. "No need to explain your terrible pun. It was already bad."
She snorted softly, but her smile slowly slid off her face as she stepped closer. "You really didn’t think to mention I was your emergency contact, huh? What if I had my phone turned off? How long have I even been listed as your contact?"
Casey let out a sigh, his good eye closing for a moment. He shifted, his brow furrowing as he groaned, his hand hovering over his bandaged ribs. "After Miranda left... I had to put someone down, and you were my only..." he trailed off, his voice thick with exhaustion. "I guess I just didn't think it would come up."
"I'm pretty sure that’s the entire point of an emergency contact." She shrugged, "but, hey, what do I know?"
Casey opened his eye again, glaring up at her. "Do you have to make this worse? I'm starting to regret putting you down."
Saga shrugged, smiling. "Consider this payback for not telling me. I could’ve left you here alone, but I’m just too nice for that."
"Sure," Casey huffed, "we'll call it that."
There was a knock at the door, and a nurse poked her head in, holding some paperwork. She glanced between the two of them, before holding out the papers to Saga.
"I have some forms for you to sign," she said. "And, uh, you’ll want to schedule a follow-up for him with his regular doctor. Just to make sure there's no complications."
Saga arched an eyebrow. "Me?"
The nurse looked between them again, a little hesitant. "Uhm, you are his partner, right?"
Casey groaned quietly from his bed. "not... not that type of partner."
Saga couldn’t resist. "Don’t worry, honey," she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "I’ll drive you to all of your appointments and make you dinner when we get home."
Casey’s scowl deepened, but there was nothing he could do from his hospital bed as Saga grinned at him. "I hate you."
"You love me." Saga winked at the nurse, who only looked confused but smiled awkwardly before leaving them alone again.
"Well, honey," Casey rolled his eyes, "if I say please, will you get your dear partner a coffee from the cafeteria?"
Saga laughed, and headed for the door.
Later, as she was getting ready to leave, Saga hesitated for a second by the door. She turned back to look at Casey, still beaten and bruised... but alive. And that was something she didn't take for granted in their line of work.
"Are you really okay?" she asked, "you look..."
Casey glanced up at her, his expression softening, just a little. "I’ll be fine," he muttered, before he took another sip of the lukewarm coffee Saga had fetched from the hospitals cafeteria. "I’ve had worse. This coffee is already making me feel better."
Saga took a step closer, her arms folding across her chest, trying to keep her voice light. "Well, next time, try not to get yourself nearly killed, okay? I don’t think there’s coffee in the afterlife."
He cracked a weak smile, his one eyelid that wasn't swollen shut fluttering as he fought to stay awake, the coffee no match for the drugs in his system. "There goes my weekend plans."
Saga bit the inside of her cheek. His usual snark was there, but his voice trembled, and his face contorted with pain at every little movement. The reality of how close he had come to serious injury - or worse - hit her like a weight in her chest.
The call she had gotten could have been so much worse.
"Casey..." she trailed off, unsure what to say. She hated how vulnerable he looked right now, how fragile.
He was Casey, for crying out loud. He wasn't supposed to look so... small.
He opened his good eye, looking up at her. For a moment, the mask of humor slipped, and all she saw was exhaustion - raw and unfiltered.
"I’ll be fine," he whispered, as if sensing her worry. "I promise."
She swallowed, the tension in her chest tightening. "Just... don't do this again," she murmured, her voice softer. "Don’t make me get that call again."
Casey gave her a small nod, his eye fluttering shut as the pain meds finally began to drag him under.
"Thanks, Anderson," he mumbled, his voice barely a whisper now.
Saga lingered a moment longer, watching him sleep, before quietly stepping out of the room, the papers the nurse had handed to her still held in her hands.
She had paperwork to do.