Tommy washed his hands again and tried to get the images out of his head. He needed something to clean his nails but hadn't been able to get his hands on a brush or anything that would get the blood around his nails. Under them, it was horrible as well. He braced his hands on the sink and didn't look up. He just looked at where the water was rushing down the drain. It was clear because ther was nothing left to get off his hands that could be gotten easily.

"Here," a voice said.

Tommy looked to the side to see the brush that he had seen used to clean nails before surgery and stuff on TV. He took it, got soap out of the dispenser, and started to get rid of the last of Evan's blood off his hands. He scrubbed so hard that he was almost getting his blood from being too rough with his skin. He didn't care. He wanted it all gone. There were no reminders of anything of the night, even though there would be reminders of the night for a long time.

When no more blood was under his nails or around the nail bed, Tommy stopped and washed his hands like normal, happy to see it was all fine. His clothes were another matter, but he hadn't been able to get a hold of anyone to come and bring him something else. He needed a shower, and he needed it as soon as possible in case the blood was everywhere on his clothes. At least he didn't have to look at those if he didn't want to.

"I also have these."

Tommy finally looked at the nurse; she had attached herself to him, and he hadn't fought it. The whole staff was worried that he was going to go into shock or just collapse at a moment's notice.

Captain Mehta hadn't fought Tommy, being one of the ones in the ambulance doing chest compressions when Evan's heart stopped. Tommy hadn't even tried to stop until he couldn't do what was needed, and someone else jumped in and did it. He was just glad that no one had been unwilling to take him along with them. He sighed and looked at the clothes in the woman's hand. It was a pair of scrub pants that looked like they actually might fit him and then a hoodie from the gift shop.

"You didn't have to buy something," Tommy said.

"It's not that. It's got a defect and was thrown into the clothes we use for people who come in like you. The whole line was messed up, and it wasn't like it was something that we could send back. They couldn't fix it, so the company just donated the line to us for use like this."

Tommy took the clothes and looked to the side to see where the shower was.

"Go ahead. I'll get you some answers on a few things while you are getting clean."

Tommy nodded his head, and he started to strip. He knew that his clothes would probably be taken as evidence, so he wasn't shocked when the nurse held out a bag for him to stuff them into. LAPD officers had been on the scene when they had been loading up Evan into the RA unit, then getting him out of there and into surgery.

"Oh shit," Tommy said. He looked back at the nurse who hadn't left yet. "In the pants pocket are two rings. I took Evan's off him when they loaded him up just so the rings wouldn't go missing."

"Married?"

"Engaged, as of like half an hour before the shooting," Tommy said. He slipped back into the stall and heard the tink of rings on the sink.

Tommy had also left his phone on the sink, so he hoped to put the rings near there. They were probably coated in blood. Everything was coated in blood. Tommy felt like he couldn't get clean. He closed his eyes, and he could see the blood everywhere. He could see the ice cream cones he had just come out of the shop with on the ground as they melted.

The way that Evan's body jerked when he was hit with the two rounds before the actual target of the hit was taken out. Tommy still hadn't figured out who that person was. It was the wrong place at the wrong time, but now Evan was fighting for his life after being shot twice while waiting for Tommy to come out with ice cream to celebrate their engagement.

Tommy focused on getting clean, and he tried to make sure ther was no blood left anywhere. His legs were coated in its form where he had been crouched at Evan's side as he tried to stop the flow of blood, but the bullets had ripped through him, and so there were four holes to fight with. He hadn't been able to get a good hold on making sure that the bottom two were pressed to the ground, even as he had tried to get his overshirt off and under him to keep it from happening.

It had been years since Tommy had seen someone he cared for like that. Injuries were one thing on the job, but being shot at wasn't. He braced himself on the wall and thought about Jones getting shot in the neck in front of him overseas. Jones had made it and it had been a good thing that he had.

"Tommy?" Athena called out.

"Here," Tommy croaked.

"I'm not here as an officer but someone for you. We have a detective outside who wants to talk to you when you finish. Do you need anything?"

"I need those rings cleaned," Tommy said.

Even over the water that was shitting him, Tommy heard the water turning on out in the main area. He knew that he couldn't put it off much longer, so he finished up, washing his hair again to make sure he hadn't left any blood there from where he had run his hands through his hair without realizing that he had blood on them.

"Anything else?" Athena asked.

"The nurse, I don't know her name, is checking on Evan and getting my clothes to a cop."

"We have them, and while there is probably nothing on them, we will still process them."

Tommy had no underwear, so he dried off with the towels in the shower's staging area and then slipped on the pants. They were a little too tight around his thighs, and they were going to rip if he sat down.

"I need clothes," Tommy said. He slipped the hoodie on, and it at least fit. He liked them because Evan liked them and wanted to have Evan in his arms again. Tommy stepped out to look at Athena, who was giving him a very wane smile.

"Bobby's having someone get your stuff from Harbor. You can live with those things until then. Though, maybe don't sit down and give anyone a show like that."

"They have been nice," Tommy said.

"It's how they treat the 118. They are very much treated nicely here. Don't worry. That's your phone and your rings. Anything else in here?"

"No. My wallet is up at the front desk because my pocket ripped on the part of the RA unit. I didn't want to lose it. The rings were in the front pocket, and my phone was in my other pocket. The nurse cleaned up the phone for me."

"Bobby's notifying Maddie since she wasn't at work."

"I didn't even..." Tommy closed his eyes.

"You are still reeling, Tommy. Don't worry. No one is upset with you. That boy has the worst luck at being in the wrong place at the wrong time. We just hoped that the next thing wouldn't be that bad. How are you feeling, really?"

"Numb and spacy."

"That's normal. Let's go. Lou's going to be nice to you, don't worry."

Tommy snorted at that, and he let Athena lead him out of the bathroom after handing him his phone and the rings. He slipped both into the pouch of the hoodie. The rings would need to be taken care of, and the phone would be his lifeline.

"Did you propose?"

"I did, and he said yes."

"Of course he did. Buck's been gone on you since you met."

Tommy wanted to laugh, but that feeling wasn't there. He knew that Athena was right. The man that was waiting in the room that Tommy was taken to looked like he had seen better days. There was a faint scar on his neck, and Tommy knew what that meant and who this was. Detective Ransone had survived nearly being killed by a serial rapist groupie who also served as the serial rapist's lawyer. Tommy had been busy with his mandatory overtime that was in place for all LAFD members for him to know a lot about what happened but he had all heard about him.

"Detective Ransone," Tommy said as he sat down a few chairs away from him. Athena sat down beside Tommy and laid her hand on his shoulder.

"Firefighter Kinard," Ransone said.

"Tommy, please, I don't need that kind of ceremony now."

"Then Lou is fine with me. We have the camera footage of the area, but I just need your statement of what you saw when you left the ice cream shop."

Tommy hadn't seen much; His entire focus was on Evan when he stepped out and the way that Evan looked at him as he licked his cone while offering up the second coen to Evan. Then the shots rang out, and Evan turned to see where they came from and then jerked. Tommy could see it all plain as day in his head. He figured that it was going to haunt his nightmares for years to come.

The door opened just as they were finishing up Tommy's statement. It was Bobby, Eddie, Hen, Maddie, and Howie. Bobby had a bag in his hand and looked like he had aged a decade.

"He's going to make it," Maddie said before she all but fell into his arms.

Tommy wrapped his arms around her to hold on tight, and he let her cry on him as Howie stood behind and rubbed his back.

"Chris and Carla are at our place," Howie said.

The name of Carla was one that Tommy knew as a family friend who had used to watch Chris when he needed more of a nurse to help him with things when he was younger. She had moved on to other places but still watched Chris every once in a while when Eddie needed someone to stay for a few days if Eddie was doing something out of town. There were a few different people who stayed with Chris to make sure that he was left alone for days on end.

"The others are in the main waiting area since this area's a little smaller; we can head out there soon so that people have eyes on you. Miriam called me and told me that she was packing up some stuff for you from home instead of the station. How does she have my number?" Bobby asked.

"Probably Evan," Tommy said. He had never given it to her, but he also didn't put it past Miriam to get it another way.

"What happened?" Maddie asked when she finally stopped crying all over Tommy.

Howie pulled her to sit down, and Lou slipped out of the room.

Tommy was short and to the point for the retelling for them. He didn't go into why they had gone for ice cream or why they had been there at all. The proposal had been a spur of the moment; even if Tommy had been carrying around the rings forever, it felt like.

"Here," Athena said.

Tommy looked up at her, and she held a simple silver chain in her hand. He knew what that was for, and he hated that he loved the idea of wearing them like that. He fished out the rings from his hoodie pocket and put them on the chain. No one asked. Tommy hoped that Athena's glares would keep everyone's questions at bay about that.

"Family for Buckley?"

Tommy stood up as he slipped the chain over his neck. It was big enough to get around his head so that he didn't have to try and hook it up blind. He figured that Athena had made sure to get him a long enough one for that.

"Buck's doing good, and there was no other damage to organs. He was very, very lucky. They are closing him up now and will be getting him to a recovery room as soon as possible. I'll come and find you again when someone can go and see him as soon as he's in the ICU."

Tommy nodded, and a few people said their thanks, but then they were alone again. Tommy could take only so much of this, and he was glad that people had given him space. Tommy went back to where he had been sitting while giving his statement. Hen sat down on one side of him and held out her hand. Tommy looked at it for a few seconds before he slipped his hand into Hen's. Athena took his other side, and he leaned into Hen a little while she wrapped her other arm around him.

"Buck doesn't know how to quit," Athena said.

"No, he really doesn't," Howie said.

Tommy knew they were trying to cheer him up, but he wasn't sure it would work. He needed to see Evan. He needed to see him not covered in blood and smiling. He needed that so much.

---

The room was clean, the bed was clean, and even Evan was clean, but all Tommy could smell was blood. Evan had been in and out of consciousness as he had tried to wake up from his sedation from the surgery, and his body just being tired as hell from the surgery and being shot.

Tommy knew there was no blood, not enough to smell like that, but it was stuck. He still felt like he was covered in it, and he looked at his hands all the time to make sure that he wasn't.

No one else wanted to see him until he was awake. Maddie and Howie had been in there, and Eddie had come and gone a few times to make sure that Tommy was not spiraling into insanity.

"T'mmy," Evan whispered.

Tommy shot up and shifted his grip on Evan's hand so that he could hold it more easily at his new angle.

Evan's eyes were not exactly clear, but he looked like he was more there than he had been. Tommy made sure the button was closed so he could call the nurses if Evan stayed awake longer than a minute.

"Hey, sweetheart, look at me," Tommy said.

Evan's gaze shifted to where Tommy was, and he smiled at him. "Hi. Did I get sick?"

Tommy laughed, and it ended up a cry, and he wasn't able to hold back the tears.

"Oh, no, don't do that," Evan said as he tried to reach out with the other hand that Tommy wasn't holding. Only he stopped and stared at the back of his hand. It was still wrapped from the line that had been there for the surgery. Then, his gaze shifted to where the IV was in his arm. "Oh. What happened?"

"What do you remember?" Tommy asked as he pressed the button before letting the device fall to the bed. He clasped Evan's hand between his two.

"We had dinner." Evan closed his eyes, and his face scrunched up. He was slow in thinking, Tommy assumed. "Then we went to get ice cream to celebrate." Evan opened his eyes. "What were we celebrating?"

Tommy tapped his chest, where the chain with the rings was visible.

"Oh, yeah. That. Okay. Um, then there's pain."

"A hit of some kind, the detective on the case has been tight-lipped. They were firing at someone else, and you were hit as well. Two shots. Nothing was damaged, as far as organs go."

The door opened, and the nursing staff came in. They went around the bed and left Tommy right where he was, which he was happy about. Evan gripped his hand back a little tighter than he had been as if he were afraid of Tommy being taken from him.

"You know, if you missed us, you could come and visit," the lead nurse said.

"Then I wouldn't get your special sponge baths."

"That's up to him now," the nurse said, pointing at Tommy. "He's the one who put a ring on it."

Evan chuckled, then he made a face. "that hurt."

"Well, once we are done here, Tommy's going to hit that buttonand you are going back to sleep for a little while. I'll get some Jell-O up here for you to eat on, and you are going to take it easy."

"Yes, Ma'am."

"Or I'll call your sister and Eddie. Then you can deal with Eddie's grandmother staring at you."

"Mean woman," Evan said, but he was smiling, his eyes drooping. "Can I wear my ring?"

"We can see about the necklace in a little while," the nurse said.

Tommy looked at her badge and saw that her name was Annie. He remembered seeing it but had seen so many people over the last day.

"I'll be back in a few minutes; you just rest, Buck," Annie said.

"No doctor?"

"No, he's been on track for everything. Rounds will happen later, and he'll be looked at then. His vitals are fine, and he's doing pretty well talking to us. We don't need him poked and prodded more than needed."

Tommy nodded his head and looked at Evan's drooping eyes. He hit the button, and he could tell the moment that the drugs hit Evan's bloodstream. He relaxed on the bed.

"Did you mean it about the ring?"

"Yes, I did. We don't typically allow it, but the chain is easy enough to get off his head if something happens, and there are times when the comfort of something is worth more than the hassle of moving it if necessary. His hands are too swollen from everything, so it's going to be better to do that than to have to cut it off if he swells much more."

Tommy nodded and clasped the rings again. He would wait for Evan to wake up before he put the necklace with the ring on him. Tommy would wear his ring as well since Evan would be wearing his in the best way he could.

Evan was awake, and that was all that mattered.

---

The sound of movement alerted Tommy. He gripped the edges of the chair as he listened for anything that told him who it could be. It was night, and that meant that everyone should be sleeping. Tommy should as well, but the sounds around him always alerted him. He might have been out of the Army for over two decades, but there were things that he would never forget.

Tommy opened his eyes, but the room was mostly dark, and there was a guy on the other side of the bed, looking at Evan. Tommy tried to place the face, which was what he could see from the glow of the machines, but there was nothing there that he knew. Then, the man was moving over with a syringe. Tommy grabbed the food tray and carefully moved, getting closer to the man who it seemed hadn't noticed Tommy was even in the room. Once he was sure of his path, he swung. The empty Jell-O cups went flying, but the tray cracked the man over the face, sending him back, and then Tommy dashed around the bed to subdue the man. He got the man down on the ground and on his front, pulling his hands behind him.

The clatter of the tray was loud in the room, but Tommy didn't figure it was going to do anything but maybe wake up Evan.

"T'mmy?" Evan called out.

"Hit your button, Evan. Hit it for me, baby," Tommy said as he looked at Evan.

Evan was reaching out and fumbled for the alert button. He seemed not to be that alert.

Despite the hours, the door opened, and the lights turned on just seconds later.

"What's going on?" Annie asked.

"I have no idea. Tommy?"

"This guy was trying to put a needle into Evan's line. I took him out with the food tray, and so far, he's not fighting much. I might have really hurt him, but I cannot let him up until we can get him secure."

"I'll get security. Where is the needle?" Annie looked around but didn't get too close.

"Somewhere around here," Tommy said.

"Okay, I'll have security look for it and deal with that." Annie huffed as she headed out of the room.

Tommy kept the man pinned under him, and he tried to make sure that Evan was okay. Evan was just looking at him. "Baby, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I am. I'm trying to wake up. Someone just tried to kill me."

"Yeah, they did."

Tommy felt like maybe this meant that something else was going on with this. He wasn't happy about that at all. He needed to figure shit out. If someone was coming to kill Evan while he was in the hospital, then that meant that he might have been the target.

"Buckaroo," Athena said as she came into the room with Bobby on her heels. Athena wasn't in uniform but had her gun and badge on display.

"Got handcuffs?" Tommy asked.

"I do." Athena slipped into the small space between Tommy and the wall and cuffed the man under him.

"What's going on?" Evan asked.

Tommy moved around the bed and let Athena deal with the man. He then grabbed Evan's hand and focused his attention on him.

"Ransone called me at home since I was closer, and he's not sure how much you would have trusted a random cop showing up right now. He got word from a CI that a target was placed on you. It seems that Tommy tackling you stopped the other bullets from finding their target, so to throw off suspicion, they killed that woman instead."

"Why me?" Evan asked.

"Not sure on that yet. We will figure that out. You are going to be moved to a room, and your registration will be hidden after Ransone and the other officers show up to make sure that this guy is taken care of. You did a number on him, Tommy."

"I hit him with the food tray when he was trying to inject something into Evan's line. The needle is there somewhere." Tommy waved his hand to that side of the bed.

Athena walked over, got some gloves, and started looking around while Bobby held onto the guy before dropping him into a chair. His face was bleeding, but he didn't seem like he was in too much danger of dying. Athena came up with a syringe that had nothing in it from the looks—air embolism.

"I wanna go home," Evan said.

"Soon," Tommy said.

Evan moved around on the bed as much as he could to cuddle Tommy a little more. He was shaking and seemed to be freaked out even more now. Annie came back in with security, and they looked happy to see Athena there. Tommy understood that feeling well.

"Sergeant Grant, thank you. We are working on the other room, and while it's a little out of the norm, it'll allow for a team of staff to be there with him as well as any guards without alerting anyone."

Tommy wasn't sure how a guard was going to be hidden unless that guard was in the room, and that was something that wasn't a good thing. He wasn't going to question anything, though. It would happen how it would happen.

"I wanna go back to sleep," Evan said.

"Go. I'll make sure that nothing happens."

"I know." Evan reached for the button he was given at night to help him sleep since the pain was worse when he was asleep. He moved on it wrong. He pressed it, and in a few moments, he was out again.

"That'll hit in the morning," Bobby said.

"Yes, it will when he's not so sleep-fogged and drugged up." Tommy brushed the little fringe of curls off Evan's forehead and leaned over to kiss where he touched.

---

Despite the injuries, Evan was released just a few hours after the whole plot to kill him was figured out. It seemed that he had seen something while working that had made one of the gangs in the city a little worried about something being figured out or something. It was a little over Tommy's head as he hadn't focused on it. It had been an idiot who told people to kill Evan, and the guy had been tossed to the wind by the rest of his gang to take the fall for that.

Tommy was glad to be out of the hospital, but he wanted to be sure that Evan's stay at home would go well. Evan was bored, and it was just three hours after getting home. He was moving slowly, and he had to have help to use the bathroom, as his one arm was still in a sling. He was too sore to deal with much at all beyond sitting and watching TV.

"Want a book?" Tommy asked.

"No, I want you to sit down," Evan said.

"I'm working on stuff right now."

Evan huffed, pouting as he changed the channel again before turning on the steaming stick. Tommy headed back to the kitchen to work on the snacks for Evan. The kitchen wasn't quite as big of a disaster as it could be, and Tommy wanted to make sure that Evan had everything he needed and that Carla wouldn't have to do much beyond warm up a few things when she came to cover when Tommy went back to work. He wanted to take longer off, but he was running low on time off that wasn't going to get cut into the vacation time he was going to use for the trip he and Evan had planned and not have to worry about sick time later. So he was going back to work the next day.

Tommy filled a glass with water and then another with Evan's juice before going back to the living room. The water he had been drinking should have been empty by that point, and Tommy wanted Evan to stay down for as long as possible.

There were a few seconds of panic when Tommy got into the living room, and Evan wasn't there. The stream of whatever he was watching was turned off. It wasn't just paused. The TV was off, and Evan's phone wasn't on the coffee table. Tommy laid the drinks down and wandered back into the back of the house, but Evan wasn't in the bathroom either. So Tommy went up to the second floor, where the guest room door was shut. It had been wide open as Tommy worked on setting it up for Carla to sleep in.

Tommy tried the handle, but it was locked. He swallowed as he tried to understand what was going on. He understood that Evan wanted space, or at least that was what it seemed like, but why wasn't he in their bedroom? Tommy headed to their bedroom and hoped that it held something. He found nothing. There was nothing out of place. The only evidence of anything was that the sink was wet, so it seemed that Evan had been in there for something.

He headed back down to the kitchen, grabbing the drinks to put them in the fridge.

It wasn't until Tommy was done with everything that he looked at his phone and found that Eddie had texted him. He debated what he was going to answer when Eddie texted back, asking if it would be better to bring Evan to his place and allow Carla to watch over him there.

That hit Tommy like a steel beam to the head. Tommy went to the drawer in the living room where the key to the bedroom was, and he pulled it out before he headed up the stairs. He knocked once, but there was no sound on the other side. He debated for a few seconds before unlocking it. He found Evan in a burrito of blankets on the bed, his pills beside him, along with the glass from the bedroom that was empty of water. A pack of snack crackers was on the nightstand, and an empty wrapper was in the trash. Evidence of tear tracks was on Evan's face.

Tommy tapped to call Eddie as he left the room, pulling the door shut. He went to their bedroom and over to the window to look outside. He waited for Eddie to answer.

"What's going on?" Tommy asked in lieu of a greeting.

"I won't spill what he was texting me about," Eddie said.

"No, I know. I just don't know what to do. I wanted to make sure that everything was as set up as it could be for going back to work."

"And where was he during that?"

"On the couch where he could rest. I checked on him."

Eddie made a noise that wasn't all that kind, and Tommy nearly hung up on him. He had no idea what was going on. He usually loved Eddie and Evan's friendship, but right now, it was pissing him off.

"Look, you and I both know what our years in the Army did for us. We see a problem, we fix it, and we mitigate what we can. Sometimes, we also don't see the forest for the trees."

It took Tommy a few seconds to put it together. Evan kept asking him to sit with him and watch something for a few minutes. He even pointed out that he wanted not to be alone, but Tommy kept on putting it off. He wanted to get things set up for Carla so that she could just focus on Evan, but Tommy wasn't focusing on him at all.

"Shit," Tommy said.

"He took his pills and will be out for a while. Finish what you need to finish, and then just be with him," Eddie said before he hung up.

Tommy laid his phone on the nightstand, plugging it in because he needed not to have it dead on him. He went back down and cleaned up what he had been working on, not starting anything new. He threw together the food needed for dinner in the crock pot and then headed back up to the guest room.

Evan was still wrapped up like a burrito. It took Tommy several minutes to get him out of the blankets so he could slip in there with him. Evan's body was a tight line from the way he had to lay to not piss off his arm off his side where the bullets had ripped through. But as Tommy cuddled into him, Evan's body relaxed, and it seemed like he had fallen into a deeper sleep.

"I'm sorry," Tommy said, even though Evan couldn't hear him. He had been so focused on the tasks that he wanted to do that he had forgotten what he needed to do, which was take care of Evan. He sighed and held onto him. Maybe a nap wasn't such a bad idea, even for him.

Tommy closed his eyes, and he let sleep take him over.

---

Tommy was warm when he woke up. He groaned and tried to figure out where he was because he knew he wasn't home.

The sound of movement made Tommy wake up faster. He found Evan still in his arms and having a small nightmare. Tommy shook him awake, careful of his injuries.

"Shit," Evan said.

"It's okay. You are safe," Tommy said.

"Yeah, I am. Where are we?"

"Guest room because someone thought it was a good idea to sleep in here instead of ht bedroom."

"Didn't want to lock you out of your own room," Evan said.

"It's our room, and I wish you would have. This bed is shit."

"No, it's not shit, it's just not what we are used to. You don't have to stay, you know."

"There is nowhere I would rather be. I'm sorry for being so task-focused that I didn't really pick up what you were asking for."

"I mean, I wasn't trying to be subtle. I just wanted to have a few minutes with you, and you kept on putting me off."

"You told me this morning you didn't want to be alone, and I wouldn't let you sit with me in the kitchen because it's all hard chairs and everything. I should have allowed that. You can make your own choice of what you sit on. It's me who messed up on that, baby. I'm sorry."

"It's okay, just don't do it again."

"I won't. I'm sure that I'll fuck up in other ways, and no, I don't want you to go to Eddie's to have Carla with you there for the next few days."

"I don't either," Evan said.

"Then why did Eddie ask me that?"

"No idea." Evan rolled onto his back, moving out of Tommy's hold a little, but he drew Tommy's arm across him and stayed like that.

"Maybe because he thought it was all about making things a certain way for Carla? Or maybe she would rather be there? She knows his place well."

"Carla's used to coming into new places as part of her job. So it's not her end. He's probably just trying to make things a little better for us and thought it would help. I'll make sure he knows it's fine that she's coming here and you got out of your stupid phase."

Tommy laughed. He laid his head on Evan'shsoulde and breathed in his smell. He still smelled of the hipster since he had been too tired to shower when they got home. Tommy had planned on helping him with that tonight after dinner once his stronger pain pill had started to kick in. But there was the scent of their clothes, and the one that was just Evan was there as well.

"I almost lost you," Tommy said.

"I know. Over a stupid idiot."

Tommy snorted. He trusted what the cops told him, mostly because Athena said it. The gang wasn't going to go after Evan after all of this. They would wash their hands of the guy who had been an idiot, and he would be safe. Even some of the people who were the worst of the worst didn't go after first responders for anything unless they ended up being the worst kind of first responders. Tommy had seen enough people trying to do the least when it came to some people in the city, but that wasn't Evan. If it meant protecting a patient, Evan would get in the way of anything. He had seen it more than once when calls were filed and put on YouTube.

"Do you just want to stay here?" Tommy asked.

"No. Bedroom." Evan tried to sit up but slumped back down. "Help."

Tommy laughed, got out of the bed, and walked around to where he could help Evan get up and out of the bed. He would have to make the bed up again, and he would once he had Evan tucked away in the other bed. He grabbed the pills and the snacks just in case Evan wanted them in the bedroom.

Evan flopped on the bed on his front, his bad side pressed into the pillow that kept him from putting too much pressure on his wounds. He was looking at Tommy with a sleepy smile on his face. He made a grabby motion, so Tommy worked his jeans off and tossed them to the side. He left his socks on and crawled into the bed. He checked his phone and then sent a message to Eddie that he and Evan were taking a nap.

"I love you," Evan said.

"I love you, too." Tommy bit off the apology that he wanted to say. Instead, he just settled in and listened to Evan's breathing for a few moments.

"Can I lie to you?" Evan asked.

"You can. Do you want to move the pillow, and I'll replace it?" Tommy wasn't going to move it because that wasn't a good idea in case it pulled on the bandages.

The shirt Evan wore was loose and wouldn't pull on the bandages on his chest and back, but it might if there was enough pull on something like the pillow.

Evan lifted a little bit and got the pillow out from under him before leaning into Tommy when Tommy got closer. It took a few moments for Evan to move so that he could get settled in a way that didn't hurt.

"Better?" Tommy asked.

"Hmm," Evan hummed, a happy lilt to the noise.

"Good. We can stay like this until dinner. I threw a roast and veggies in the crock pot for dinner, and you and Carla can have leftovers tomorrow as well."

"Yummy," Evan said.

Tommy waited for Evan's breathing to even out before he picked up his phone with his free arm and took a picture of them, making sure that Evan's smile was in the image. He sent that to Eddie so he didn't have to worry. He laid the phone down and heard it buzz, but he ignored it in favor of enjoying having Evan in his arms.

He looked at his ring and smiled at it. Evan was still wearing his around his neck until he could put it back on his finger. The planning of their wedding was going to take over Evan's time while he was recovering, so at least he would have something to do before he was allowed back at work. There would be work to get back, given the damage done to muscles and tendons from the shots, but at least there was something to look forward to when it came to that. Maybe they would even be married before he went back. They would have to talk about dates before Tommy started to dream of Evan with his name on him when he went back.

Tommy knew he wasn't going to be able to go back to sleep this time, but at least he could lay there with Evan in his arms, something he wasn't sure was going to be possible a few days before.

Having Evan in his arms had made it possible to forget about the blood that had been on them. He felt like he might just be starting to get clean again.

The End