“You’re not in bed. I came looking for you.”
A hand hit the door before it had the chance to open any more than an inch, a wave of anxiety surging through Chief's blood. He could feel his heart beating against his plastron, blood rushing in his ears. Oh, this wasn't good. Can't be seen like this- can't be seen like this-
"I'll be out in a minute!" The slider cringed at both the pain in his arm and the fear he let slip through his voice. On the bathroom sink countertop was a bloody mess. Literally. He couldn't let Eshra see any of it.
Gauze, cotton balls, cotton pads, antiseptic, scissors, surgical thread threaded through a surgical needle. Some are clean, such as the cotton balls, pads, and gauze still in their respective containers. Others were bloodied and scattered about along with little specks of crimson.
Chief had just returned from working another job. Back within the time he said he'd be, but he had made sure to be quiet when he snuck into the apartment. He was used to targets fighting back; they all did, honestly. He didn't blame them. But the one he'd just taken down had more fight than the others.
They had a knife, and they had wielded it well. Managed to damage his gear, that was for sure. He'd need a new vest, one cut had actually managed to get through to nick his plastron. Nothing noticeable really, not among the littering of other scratches and nicks and chips. But it wasn't the holes in his vest or the new fine line on his plastron. No.
It was his still currently bleeding arm.
His target had stabbed him and pulled down. Right in the shoulder. Chief would estimate that the gash was a good four inches long. The blade's hilt didn't touch his arm so he'd guess it's about two inches deep, three max. He had to patch himself up immediately after the job was done, lest he risk losing too much blood.
It had been a messy job and an even messier cleanup. Blood splatters still littered his face, and oh how his arm stung and throbbed with pain as he moved to clean himself up. By the time he finally got to getting the first few stitches in he'd grown numb. He still had to dab away blood from time to time as he went through three layers of stitches, making sure the wound was closed properly and would heal correctly. The last thing he wanted was a deep wound infection.
Lines of orange stained his arm where he'd poured the antiseptic on himself as he'd worked, but at least his wound was closed now. Dry and bandaged, Chief then worked on cleaning the rest of himself up, including getting the rest of the way out of his damaged gear, and then finally- finally exiting the bathroom.
It had been a lot longer than a minute, and Chief knew that. The first thing he did when he was finally free of the bathroom was find Eshra, pull him in for a tight one-armed hug, and shower his lovely mate in kisses and apologies. And when silence fell and Chief was just standing there with Eshra held close, only then did he let how tired he was show in his voice as he asked one little question.
