Bonnie was almost finished with her mug of tea when the door to the hallway unlocked and she heard Tan return from work.
She stayed quiet. It was late, later than she expected him to be home, but that was not uncommon.
As per usual he used the three yards before he was visible from the rest of the apartment to groan and de-stress his body.
It wasn’t before she saw him limping quite noticeably into the living room that she actually thought something could be wrong.
“Honey, what happened?” she asked as she stood up next to the living room table.
Tan grimaced and looked over in her direction. Then he shrugged a little before dropping his bag right where he was standing, and started limping towards her.
“Vic, you’re barely putting weight on your left leg…” Bonnie noticed in a worried tone, “What happened?”
Tan didn’t answer before he had limped over and held Bonnie in a hug.
“Honey?”
“Rough day at work…” Tan admitted.
Bonnie cautiously wrapped her arms around Tan’s midriff. Hoping that it wouldn’t cause him excessive pain.
They stood like that for minutes.
She could feel that he almost relied on her to keep him upright as they stood there. Much of his weight was rested on her, she didn’t mind. And feeling tension drain from him, little by little.
“Have you seen the news today?” it came out as barely a whisper.
“Not since I checked then news during my break at work…” she admitted, “Let me know what happened?”
“Kidnapping.” Tan whispered back, and Bonne could feel how the left side of her head started to feel damp from Tan’s silent tears, “One kid’s in the ICU. One dead. Third kid weren’t physically injured.”
Bonnie let one of her hands glide up to rub his back to rub it.
“I’m… I…” Tan squeezed her tighter, “It was a rough day.”
Bonnie almost started to cry herself when she heard Tan’s voice crack halfway through ‘rough’.
She didn’t know what to say, so she just continued rubbing circles on his back.
“Sometimes this job sucks…”
She nodded into his shoulder. “How’s your leg?”
He shrugged, it seemed like it took everything he had to pull his shoulders up an inch and a half up, before he let them settle back to their previous position.
“-You were limping pretty bad…” she prompted, “Have you gotten it checked out?”
Tan nodded a little, “Nothing’s broken.”
“-Just feels like it? Judging by the looks of it.”
Tan let out a grim chuckle.
“Have you eaten anything?”
“Huh?”
“Food. Have you made sure to refuel?”
He stayed completely still for a prolonged moment. Then he shook his head.
“You need food and an icepack.” Bonnie decided, “And a lot more hugs.”
Tan sniffled, “I’m down for the ‘hugs’ part at least. -And the icepack.”
“And food.”
Tan shook his head, “Don’t feel like eating.”
“Let’s get you seated on the couch. I’ll find something cold for your leg, and something to fill you up a little. What happened to your leg?”
“Suspect landed on it.” Tan sighed, “Full weigh of his upper body against the outside of my knee.”
“Sounds painful,” she prompted, “How does it feel?”
“Like I pulled everything that could be pulled near my knee…”
She nodded, then gently started coaxing him towards the couch. Once she made sure he was seated and had his leg up, she stood back up. “I’m going to get your pajama pants and a baggy tee… Your work clothes are probably not the most comfortable to sit around in. Do you want a shower?”
“I probably should take one, but I don’t…” he shrugged, “I’m exhausted.”
“I get it.” she nodded, “Just try to relax your leg.”
SWATSWATSWAT
“Oh dear…” Bonnie gasped as she helped peel Tan’s work pants down his injured leg, “Are you sure nothing’s broken?”
“Had x-rays taken.” Tan shrugged, “-But the doc wanted me to come back in a week if it’s not better.”
Bonnie nodded and pulled the pants off his feet, causing Tan to gasp and steady his thigh.
“I’m sorry.”
“Never mind.” Tan grimaced.
Bonnie started helping him put the pajama pants on.
Soon after they had managed to pull his pajama pants on, she placed the icepack over his knee, lifted his leg up on her thigh and started securing it with an ace wrap.
“Alright, sit tight.” she winked and placed his leg carefully back on the pillow on the couch, “You have to eat and drink something.”
SWATSWATSWAT
She cooked up some of her mom’s ‘famous’ pasta, and discovered that Tan was out cold when she returned to the living room twenty minutes later.
A/N: Okay, so early on when the world started going caca due to this being 2020, when countries first started going into lockdown thanks to the virus, I decided to give myself a challenge. 31 whump oneshots. The plan was to write it in less than 31 days, I don’t remember if I actually did that or not, because I was BUSY trying to survive my time as a nursing student at the hospital as well. (I did good. I survived.)
I’ve already posted this to AO3.
Word count: 190
Let’s start with… Hondo
They had just returned to Black Betty after what seemed like a five-hour mission. In reality it had lasted less than an hour.
His chest hurt more than he’d like to admit. Probably because of the unexpected kick he’d taken in the center of his chest.
“How are you feeling?” Deacon asked, dipping his head down to meet Hondo’s eyes.
“I’ll be alright…” Hondo answered, “Just got the air knocked out of me good.”
“It’ll help if you sit up straight…” Street commented, looking over at Hondo’s hunched form.
Hondo frowned and attempted to sit up straighter, only to let out a groan and leaned forward again.
“Okay, you’re getting checked out when we get back.” Chris said leaving no room for discussion.
“It’s nothing…”
“Hey, better safe than sorry…” Luca shrugged from behind the wheel, “Could have a broken rib, y’know…”
“No, I bet it’s just bruised…” Hondo replied, trying to force himself to relax even though his chest hurt like hell.
A/N: Oh, what the heck, I might as well rapid-fire the first two or three.
Word count: 3 764
He knew a good portion of his character flaws. One was dyslexia, although he didn’t really consider it a flaw anymore. Another was what someone, sometime, had argued had to be ADHD, or at least ADD. He didn’t really care about that, he knew his attention span wasn’t the world greatest, but it was alright.
Some would call it a character flaw to be as tied up to his job as he was.
And there was a bunch more.
Eating like a medium sized industrial vacuum cleaner…
Maybe a bit more quick-tempered than one should be…
Right then and there, chasing a suspect, only one of those flaws he could come up with from the top of his head came back to bite him in the ass. -Or rather, the ankle.
He heard tires squeal against the hot asphalt. And quick reflexes was the only thing that saved him from being hit head on by the Mercedes-Benz star, but it wasn’t quite enough for him to avoid being hit by the car all together.
The first couple of seconds after he landed, he was in a sort of numb state where pain didn’t register yet. It was almost like a land of denial, as long as it didn’t hurt yet it couldn’t be that bad.
At the same time, he wasn’t sure if he could force himself to look towards his ankles.
The car that hit him didn’t stop, the next car didn’t either. But then again, it wasn’t even sure that the second car had seen what happened.
And then his right ankle started letting him know something was seriously wrong.
Tan came running up to him, and Luca managed to convince him to bolt after the suspect.
Next came Hondo.
SWATSWATSWAT
“Are you hurt?” Hondo asked as he kneeled down next to Luca, who was in the process of propping himself up on one elbow.
Luca blinked a few times and chanced a glance towards his legs.
“Luca, are you hurt?”
“My leg’s broken.” Luca answered with a 1000 yard stare.
“You think your leg is broken?” Hondo asked, “Which one?”
“No. My leg IS broken.” Luca swallowed.
Hondo frowned, “Which one?”
“Right one.”
“Lower leg? Upper leg?”
Luca swallowed hard, “My ankle’s toast. My lower leg in general feels wrong.”
Then random cars which had been further away, and had a better view of the whole accident started slowing down and stopping.
Hondo called in the accident, and Luca’s suspected injury. Agreeing that they needed an ambulance to come pick him up.
“Hey, I barely saw what happened…” A guy who had parked his truck came up to them, “Are you alright?”
“He likely broke his right leg.” Hondo answered for Luca, “Dispatch said the ambulance was ten minutes out.”
The guy nodded, “Anything I can do?”
Luca shook his head.
“No, nothing I can think of…” Hondo shrugged.
“We’re good here.” Luca ground out, “You can move on, no need in being parked on the side of the road and making LA traffic worse.”
The guy chuckled a bit, “Okay, alright. I wish you a speedy recovery.”
“Thanks.” Luca nodded, he was uncharacteristically pale by now.
The guy left.
Hondo looked back down at Luca, “How are you feeling?”
The blond shook his head.
“Still not a mind reader…” Hondo reminded him.
“My leg’s pounding.” Luca grimaced, “And I feel like I’m either going to pass out, or puke.”
“Well, please don’t do either…” Hondo smirked, hoping that he’d pull a short laugh from Luca. A short laugh from Luca would make it feel like everything was going to be alright.
“Man, it hurts.” Luca admitted through gritted teeth.
“I know…” Hondo nodded and placed a comforting hand on Luca’s shoulder, “Do you want me to start untying your boot? So that we can take a look at your ankle?”
Luca shook his head, “Nah. I think the ambulance people has more experience in that. Let them do it.”
Hondo nodded, “Okay, that’s alright.”
SWATSWATSWAT
After work they all went to visit Luca at the hospital.
He was basically just laying, waiting for swelling of his ankle and leg to go down enough for the surgeons to piece it back together.
“Hey, how are you feeling?” Deacon asked as soon as he had stepped into the room.
“Been better.” Luca admitted, “But they give me enough painkillers to make laying here semi-comfortable…”
Deacon offered up a brief smile.
“So, what’s the damage report?” Street bumped in, nodding towards Luca’s leg, which was covered in a temporary cast and rested on a mountain of pillows.
“Definitely broke it.” Luca shook his head, “Don’t really remember the fancy explanation for it, but I broke my leg six inches above the ankle, straight across both the bones… And my ankle is in multiple pieces. No better way to put it.”
Street nodded slowly as he tried to imagine the fractures in his mind. “So you’ll be laid up for a while?”
Luca shrugged, “I don’t really know what’s going to happen. Except that I need surgery to give all that a chance to heal…”
“That sucks, man…”
Luca bobbed his head in a nod, “Sure does.”
“On the plus side, Tuana might come visit you…” Street teased.
“Tuana?” Tan asked, as Luca blushed bright red.
“Kelly’s mom…” Street answered with a shit eating grin.
“What?” Deacon’s eyebrows shot up, “Are you dating her?”
“No…” Luca shook his head, “N-”
“Not officially.” Street chuckled, “I’m really tired of the way the two of you are doing your best futile attempt at keeping it hidden.”
Luca shook his head, “Well, it’s not, -official-, yet.”
“Well, maybe you two can finally get a move on, now that you’re off duty.” Street shrugged, causing most of the other S.W.A.T members to laugh.
“Dude, stop it.”
“Never.” Street answered smugly, “Not unless you come over here and stop me.”
“You’re punching a man while he’s laying down.” Luca said as he gestured to his cast clad leg.
“Only unfair fight is the one you lose…” Tan chuckled, “Isn’t that what you said to the recruits last year?”
“Yeah. I also told them to not kill each other, because they weren’t in the streets.” Luca pointed out.
Right then there was a knock at the door, before it opened up and Kelly and her mother entered.
“Hey team!” Kelly beamed, she saw most of the team first, before she came far enough inside the room to see Luca, “Hey Luca. Mom said you got hurt.”
Her eyes went wide when she saw the cast on his leg.
“I did…” Luca nodded, “But I’m going to be alright. It’s just going to take some time.”
“Wow, hey…” Tuana nodded at the guys and Chris, “I should have known all of you’d be here…”
Hondo smirked, “Actually, we were just about to leave… But our boy here could use the company…”
Tuana blushed a bit, but recovered quickly. Then she looked over at Luca, “Hey there… How are you doing?”
Luca shrugged a little, “Gonna be a rough couple of months… But I’ll be okay.”
“You didn’t really answer my question, now did you?”
Luca chuckled, “Well, no. My leg hurts, and I have to have it elevated and completely still…”
Tuana smirked a little, “Can you actually lay, or sit, still?”
The whole team chuckled.
“She really called you out there…” Chris grinned.
“Well, my girl texted me that she would have dinner ready when I came home. So I gotta leave now.” Hondo said, looking at the other team members in a hope that they would take the hint.
“Yeah, and we have that thing at… At…” Chris rolled her hand in the air, like she was searching for the correct word.
“Oh, yeah…” Street nodded when he caught on, “Yeah, you, me and Tan are meeting Derek and his girl…”
“Exactly.” Chris nodded.
Deacon smirked, “Well, I’ve got about an hour before I have to pick up the two youngest from kindergarten… That gives me a chance to grab a coffee and sit down in peace and quiet for a spell.”
The team members who weren’t confined to a hospital bed up and left, switching between goodbye hugs and fist-bumps on their way out the door.
SWATSWATSWAT
“Well, the team acted weird…?” Tuana shrugged after the team left.
Luca chuckled, “Yeah, you should’ve heard them before you guys came.”
“Oh yeah?”
Luca nodded, then he tried to shift a little in his bed, ending up with grimacing and groaning, fighting not to let out every four letter word he could think of.
After half a minute he pulled the pillow from below his head and placed it over his own face, finally allowing himself to whisper a silent ‘fuck’ into it, before removing it and placing it back under his head.
“-Are you alright?” Tuana asked, “Do you need anything?”
Luca shook his head, letting his right hand dart up to wipe away the remnants of smeared tears.
“I’m alright.” he choked out, “I just need my leg to stop aching so much.”
“You’re acting weird…” Kelly said with worry in her eyes.
“I’m sorry Kelly-girl…” Luca sighed, “It’s just that my leg hurts really bad. And I don’t want to… I don’t want to say bad words in front of you…”
“Like, Hell? Or, Damn?” Kelly asked, “Some kids at my old school cussed really much. Some kids at my new school says some bad words every now and then… It’s not like I haven’t heard it before?”
Luca chuckled, “Well, I’m trying to be a good role model here…”
Kelly chuckled, “Alright. Okay.”
Tuana chuckled, then she looked at Kelly, “Kelly, maybe you could go down to the lobby and buy yourself some snacks? Since we didn’t go home to eat before we got here…”
Kelly’s face lit up at that, as Tuana pulled out a few dollars to give to her. “And bring me back a coke.”
Kelly nodded before she headed out the door.
SWATSWATSWAT
“So, how are you really doing?” Tuana asked after the door closed.
“I’m a little freaked out…” Luca admitted, “But I know that’s mostly just because this hurts like a motherfucker right now.”
Tuana nodded.
“Wanna hear something funny?”
“What?”
“Street kinda mentioned that we had been seeing each other a bit more recently…” Luca admitted, “To the rest of the team… That’s why they acted weird…”
She smirked, “I kinda guessed it had to be something along those lines…”
“Yeah…” Luca nodded, “He’s getting impatient…”
“Well, he’s not completely alone…” Tuana winked, then stood up and stepped over to Luca’s bed, placing a hand on top of his.
“Maybe we should… Y’know…” Luca’s tongue darted out to wet his lower lip, “Maybe we should…”
“Make it official?”
Luca nodded.
“Maybe we should…” Tuana smirked and leaned down to place a kiss on Luca’s lips.
Luca met the kiss eagerly, running a hand through her dark hair.
“You had me worried.” She said as she pulled away a little, “I heard it on the news before I got your call.”
“I’m sorry…” Luca said, rubbing a calloused hand against her upper arm, “Someone left my phone on the other side of the room, with my clothes… And I didn’t exactly know where it was…”
“Not like that…” Tuana shook her head, “You were in great pain, of course your first thought wasn’t to call your secret girlfriend. And besides, I bet the doctors and nurses kept you occupied for a while…”
Luca nodded at that.
“I meant, I know I don’t want to lose you…” she admitted, “Actually, I’ve known that ever since you helped Kelly get into her new school…”
Luca’s lips curved at one side.
“But, I also want to be able to be proud of you in public.” She winked, “Not… Not real public, but… Amongst our friends…”
“Darling, it would make me so incredibly happy to just… -To just tell my friends that I’m with this amazing woman and mother…” Luca gave her arm a squeeze, “And to be Kelly’s… Kelly’s… Step-dad?”
Tuana chuckled, then nodded.
“About that…” Luca looked down at his lap for a bit, “I never asked, ‘cause it wasn’t my place earlier…”
She nodded slowly.
“But…” he looked back up, “Is Kelly’s dad still in the picture?”
She shook her head, “No, he’s dead.”
“I’m so sorry…”
“Relax.” Tuana rolled her eyes, “He’s never been in the picture… He left as soon as he heard I was knocked up. He died before Kelly was born.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. Must’ve been rough on you…”
“It has made me cautious with men…” she chuckled, “You must’ve noticed.”
Luca couldn’t help but chuckle a bit, “And here I thought I was the one playing it safe…”
“We need to talk about your definition of ‘playing it safe’…” Tuana chuckled and jerked her head in the direction of his busted leg, “You’re more of a crash-test-dummy…”
Luca blushed a bit, “I deserved that one…”
She let her hand come down at his hairline, and brushed his hair back a few times before she leaned down to kiss him once again.
They got lost in it.
Lost in it, and they didn’t even notice Kelly opening the door and returning to the room.
Not before she let her presence be known with an audible squeal.
Luca and Tuana both froze, then Tuana stood back up.
“So you two ARE together!” Kelly grinned, “I knew it!”
Luca and Tuana both still had the deer in headlights look for a few seconds more before they simultaneously broke out laughing.
“How long have you been together?” Kelly wanted to know.
Luca shrugged, “A while.”
“Since my birthday…” Tuana clarified.
“That’s…” Kelly started counting on her fingers, “That’s four months!”
Tuana nodded.
“Why didn’t you just tell me?”
“-We wanted to know that it would work out between us first…” Tuana answered, “We were planning on telling you soon.”
Luca nodded, “I hope you’re not angry…”
“Why would I be angry?” Kelly frowned at the thought, “I’ve been wishing for this for almost a year!”
Tuana and Luca both visibly relaxed a bit more at that.
“Does the team know?”
“Not really…” Luca answered, “Street might have started to spread rumors, but they haven’t been confirmed yet. I was planning on telling them after we had told you.”
Kelly grinned.
“Well, now you know…” Tuana chuckled.
Kelly nodded. “So, are you going to move in together?”
The two grownups looked at each other for a moment, neither really knowing the answer.
“That’s something we haven’t talked about yet…” Luca said, scratching the side of his head.
Tuana nodded towards Luca, “Yeah, we should probably talk about that soon…”
“-Amongst other things…” Luca nodded back.
“Am I going to have siblings?”
Both Luca and Tuana froze once again.
“That’s also something we haven’t talked about yet…” Tuana answered.
Luca nodded.
“But is there a chance of it?” Kelly asked. Hope was audible in her voice.
Luca shrugged, “We haven’t talked about it yet. So we don’t know what to answer…”
“Can you talk to each other about that a little quick?” Kellie prompted in a voice only a girl in her pre-teens could manage, before realizing how she sounded and added “Please?”
“I think that’s something we have to talk about alone…” Luca thought out loud, and gave Tuana a questioning look.
Tuana nodded.
“If I went outside, could you talk about it now?” Kelly asked, still very excited about the idea.
The two grownups looked at each other, scanning each other’s expressions for what the other one thought.
Half a minute later Tuana nodded, “Sure.”
Kelly grinned, “I have my phone on me. Call me when you have an answer!”
Tuana nodded, and Kelly headed out the door again.
SWATSWATSWAT
“So…” Tuana started, pulling a chair over next to Luca’s bed, “Guess we have to talk…”
Luca nodded, “Yeah…”
“Do you want kids?” Tuana asked, tilting her head.
Luca trapped his lower lip in thought for a moment, then he looked over at Tuana. “Well, yeah… But as long as I get to be a father figure for Kelly, that’s enough. I mean, if you don’t want more kids…”
Tuana’s face softened, “But if I’m up for more kids?”
“Then yes. Definitely yes.” He winked.
“How many kids would you like?” Tuana followed up.
“I don’t know, never really thought about that…” Luca rubbed his neck, “Always figured I’d have to start with one anyway…”
Tuana laughed, “Think about it… Do you have a maximum limit?”
Luca thought, then chuckled, “Well, I guess it’s probably an idea to slow down if we’d have to drive two cars to go anywhere as a family.”
Tuana chuckled as well, “You’re probably right about that.”
“That being said, I can’t really come up with a number right now.” Luca shrugged, “What’s your number”`
“Well, growing up I always wanted a big family.” She answered, “But I guess two to four kids would do…”
“So, four’s your max?”
“I wouldn’t say that…” Tuana shrugged, “I guess my actual max is when I start feeling that I’m losing more grip than is okay.”
He chuckled, “That’s a nice max limit. Mind if I adopt it?”
She chuckled, “No, go ahead.”
“Then that’s my max as well, whether that means two or ten…”
“So, at least one sibling then.”
“As sure as we’re able to, yeah.” Luca nodded, “I mean, you’re obviously able to… You’ve got a real life proof of that walking around… I can’t exactly point to a definitive proof like that.”
Tuana shrugged, “Just because I have one kid, doesn’t mean it’s going to be just as easy to have a second one. Not this many years later at least.”
Luca nodded, “Well, at least we can have some fun trying.”
Tuana chuckled, “Yeah, after your leg is better.”
He nodded, “Yeah, there’s not going to be any ‘trying’ for AT LEAST a month. Maybe longer.”
She nodded, “I think you’re right about that…”
He nodded.
They both fell silent for a little while, then Luca cleared his voice, “About that other question…”
“What other question?”
“If we were going to move in together…”
Tuana nodded.
“What are we going to answer to that?”
She shrugged, “I don’t know…”
“I mean, there’s three possibilities I see.” He shrugged, and started counting them off on his fingers, “First one, I move in with you guys. Second, you guys move in with me… We might have to figure out something to do about Street then… Or the third option, we continue living in separate houses, but I sleep over at your place every now and then, and vice versa…”
Tuana nodded, “All three are valid options.”
Luca nodded.
“Just because we chose one for now, doesn’t mean that it has to stay that way…” she mentioned.
“That’s true.” he nodded.
“How about we go for option number three for now, and then we just roll with it? See what happens?”
Luca nodded.
“But of course, if you want option one or two…” she shrugged, “I mean, we could keep the other house and rent it out…”
Luca shrugged, “Whatever is fine by me. Sticking to status quo and just seeing where that leads us sounds good.”
She nodded, adding a reassuring smile.
He smiled.
“But maybe you’d like to stay with us for a little while now?” she asked, “I mean, Kelly and I are probably at home more often than Street, right?”
He nodded, then tried to shift ever so slightly. His right hand darted down towards his leg, and it took everything he had to not start sobbing. “Dammit.”
“Do you want me to go ask the doctor if you can get anything stronger?”
He shook his head, wiping at his eyes as salty tears rolled from them.
“Luca, you’re in pain…”
Once he was able to speak again, he looked at her, “Well, I can’t really have opioids.”
She tilted her head, “Have you had a problem in the past?”
He shook his head, knowing what she was thinking. “Not like that… I just have a really low tolerance for that stuff, it often makes me sick… And I don’t want to add ‘nausea’ or ‘throwing up’ to my list of troubles right now.”
“Oh, I’m sorry… I thought… That was dumb of me…”
“Don’t think about it… It was a bad choice of words on my part.” he chuckled.
“So, do you want to stay with us for a while when you’re discharged from this place?”
He nodded, “Could I borrow the guestroom? I’m pretty sure it’ll probably hurt too much to accidentally get bumped into… -And you move around a lot when you sleep…”
“Of course…” she nodded, then she glanced up at the clock hanging on the wall, “Maybe we should call Kelly now?”
He nodded, “We probably should, but I’d like to sneak a kiss from you first…”
She smiled, stood up and stepped over to make that happen.
SWATSWATSWAT
“Now? What did you decide?” Kelly asked, almost bouncing where she stood.
“What do you want to know the answer to first?” Tuana asked.
“Everything.” Kelly grinned, “But I guess it makes sense to start with if we’re all going to live together first.”
“We decided that we don’t know the final answer yet.” Luca shrugged, “But I’m going to stay with you guys for a while now that my leg is injured.”
Tuana nodded, “After that we’ll have to wait and see. We might decide to live like Theo’s parents. They don’t live together all of the time, but it seems like all three of them like the arrangement.”
Kelly nodded, “Theo’s parents fight less than most of the other parents, so that’s cool!”
Luca really liked Kelly’s way of reasoning.
“And babies?” she then quickly switched over to the next question on her list, “Am I going to be a big sister?”
Luca and Tuana laughed.
“Well…” Tuana started, “If everything works out well, then you are going to be one.”
Kelly’s grin grew wide, “Really?”
“Yeah.” Tuana nodded, “But we can’t make any promises before you actually have a brother or sister, you know that? Sometimes it can be really hard to get pregnant.”
Kelly nodded, her head going up and down at a comical speed. “But you want kids together?”
They both nodded.
“But if it doesn’t work out for us, you are enough.” Luca pointed out, “Remember that.”
“Here. Icepack.” Hondo said as he tossed Luca the item, expecting the other man to catch it mid-air. Instead it smacked into his shoulder and ended its journey on the floor.
“Thanks…” Luca nodded as he stretched his left arm down to pick it up. Then he struggled with popping the fluid filled sack inside of it, before shaking it to distribute the fluid and the chemical reaction, before he placed it over the knuckles of his right hand, not bothering to mask the grimace which flashed across his face.
“Thought you knew how to throw a punch without hurting yourself…” Street mentioned as he studied Luca carefully.
“Well, I didn’t expect to hit his helmet, now did I?” Luca growled, “And I certainly didn’t expect him to headbutt my punch either.”
Street grimaced at the image. He hadn’t seen the fight, but Luca’s right hand didn’t look good.
“I think I might’ve broken it…” Luca pressed out after attempting to move his fingers a bit, “Feels like there’s something scraping against the inside of my hand…”
“That doesn’t sound too good…” Street frowned.
“Yeah…” Luca frowned, “Gonna have to get my ass to the ER for some X-rays afterwards.”
“It’s alright if you want to go straight away…” Hondo said, “I don’t think there’s anything special to be mentioned during debrief…”
“Nah, I know…” Luca nodded, “But right now I just want to sit here and rest my hand against this icepack. Plus I might need someone to drive me.”
“I can drive you.” Street shot in.
“You can both go.” Hondo nodded, “I’ll cover for you.”
Luca shook his head, “No, right now I just need to rest for a little while. It’s not too bad when I don’t move it.”
“I think she’s waking up!” Street’s voice cut through the darkness.
Then a sliver of light arrived next.
Something hurt. She wasn’t entirely sure what yet. She felt like she was floating around outside her body.
“That’s good.” Deke’s voice was there.
She heard herself mutter ‘Ow’.
Then she recognized what hurt. It was her legs. Both. And her head. She definitely had a concussion going. And her left shoulder had taken a beating, although it wasn’t all that bad.
Then she was able to blink the world around her clear.
The whole team was there.
“Hey, Chris…” Hondo smiled at her softly, “How are you feeling?”
She frowned and looked over herself. Her legs were in casts. Her right one from mid-thigh down, her left from below her knee. “Not too good… What happened?”
“You got hit by a car…” Tan replied.
“That makes sense, sure feels like that’s what happened.” She sighed, “Well, did it at least look badass?”
“It sure scared all of us,” Luca tilted his head from side to side, his hands kneading on each other, “-if that’s what you’re asking.”
Chris shrugged the shoulder that didn’t hurt. “I take it, it’s going to take some time before I’m back in the field…”
Hondo nodded, “Yeah… You’ve got a couple fractures that needs to heal first.”
“And a minor concussion that needs to calm down…” she added, “But that’ll probably be alright within a week…”
Street grinned, “Well, can’t wait to have you back…”
His right shoulder was screaming at him, but he didn’t exactly have any other choice than to hold on. He glanced down, and realized how important it was for him to not lose his grip.
“HELP!” he had no other choice than to yell for help, “HELP ME!”
His right arm felt weak, like he barely could hold on with his hand. His left arm luckily felt alright enough to hold himself up.
“HELP!”
He could still hear a ruckus from the hotel room he had been tossed out of.
“HELP! I NEED HELP!”
The ruckus went quiet and a couple seconds later Hondo and Deacon looked over the railing.
Hondo twisted around, “Luca, Street, break into the room directly below us!”
“Can you pull yourself up?” Deacon asked.
“No.” Tan shook his head, “My right shoulder’s hurt.”
“Can you hold on?”
“I hope so.”
SWATSWATSWAT
“LAPD-SWAT!” Luca yelled as he slammed on the door, “We have an ongoing emergency on your balcony!”
Street was just about ready to attempt to kick down the door, when it unlocked and a rather confused young woman opened it a split second later.
Luca stormed into the hotel room, while Street actually paused a quarter second to thank her, before following.
SWATSWATSWAT
Luca grabbed his left arm and shoulder, and he felt a bit safer. A second later, Street came into view and grabbed his right.
His shoulder screamed, he screamed as well.
“Pull him up.” Luca ordered, and the two of them started pulling him upward.
He went up and over the railing, before he was dumped onto the deck of the balcony.
His shoulder felt like he had some really hot hot sauce in it. He managed to get his right arm cradled in his left, and worked on not crying.
“How are you feeling?” Street asked, one hand on his good shoulder this time.
“Think I tore my shoulder.” he winced, “I didn’t think I was going to manage to hold on.”
Luca nodded and hunched down beside him, “You think you can move your shoulder?”
He tried, but ended up shaking his head. “No. No, feels like it’s dislocated or something.”
“Your elbow or wrist then?” Street added.
Tan attempted, but ended up shaking his head. “Feels like I have a knife in my shoulder.”
“Alright, let’s just try to stabilize it then.” Luca said as he pulled out a triangular bandage from a pocket of his west.
SWATSWATSWAT
The next day, Tan walked into the S.W.A.T headquarters, with a massive immobilizing sling holding his right arm completely still.
He was glad to see the rest of his team and they seemed to be very happy to see him as well.
“Hey.” Chris grinned when she saw him, “What did the doctors say?”
“Going to need reconstructive surgery.” Tan tsked, “Tore pretty much everything in my shoulder. I’m having surgery next week.”
Chris nodded.
As they walked towards the training area Luca came running up to them, “Hey man, how’s the wing? Looks like they meant serious business with that sling right there.”
Tan nodded and glanced at the band running across his lower chest to hold his arm tight to his body. “Yeah, I needed Bonnie to help me get dressed this morning. -And to drive me over here. Thanks for pulling me up by the way.”
“Don’t mention it.” Luca winked, “I know you would’ve done the same for any of us.”
Tan smirked, “Well, not for the next few months…”
Luca looked over at his arm, “-But… You’re going to be okay, right?”
“The surgeon who’s going to fix my arm thinks so.” Tan nodded, “Going to be a long recovery time though.”
He had no way of dodging the punch that was headed his way. He had a wall to his right, and a wall behind him, and on his left a second mean-looking dude blocked his way.
The shockwave from the punch traveled all the way through his abdomen, just like he had expected, but then the guy in front of him looked satisfied with himself and prompted the other guy to follow him.
Street looked down, and his heart sank.
He didn’t expect seeing the handle of a knife sticking out of his lower left side.
“Shit…” he just kept staring at it in disbelief. All this for sticking up for a girl he didn’t know.
He felt panic gripping at him. He had a freaking knife stuck inside him.
He grabbed his phone out of his pocket and dialed 911 as he started walking towards the front of the street. A knife in the gut definitely called for a hospital visit, and he had no foolproof way of knowing if the knife had done some real damage or not. It probably had, it was buried to its hilt.
But it didn’t really feel that bad yet. If anything, it felt absurd.
It was like it ought to hurt, but it didn’t.
It was like it ought to knock him on his ass, but there he was, walking without too much trouble.
The only thing he knew for sure right now, was to let the blade stay where it was. For all he knew, it could be the only thing keeping him from gushing blood.
SWATSWATSWAT
“Hey, Hondo… I just got a call from Street.” Luca bit down on his lower lip, “He told me to tell you that he’s going… He’s going in for surgery. He- He was stabbed tonight… Says he’s doing fine all things considered. Alright, call me when you get this, okay?”
He hung up and squeezed his right fist so hard his knuckles cracked.
Even though Street had said multiple times that he felt good, and that the doctors were optimistic about his recovery, nothing about this night felt okay.
Oh dear lord how bad he wanted to punch something.
He shook his head and started pacing again, from the corner of the kitchen counter, to the pinball machine and back.
Then his phone started ringing. He picked up.
“Hey Luca, I just missed your call. Heard the voicemail, what happened? How is he?”
“He didn’t really say much. Just that he had been stabbed in the gut by some guy who had been picking on some girl. He called for an ambulance by himself, and climbed into it on his own. Man, I’m stressed!” Luca blew out an exasperated breath, “Anyway, he’s not coming in to work the day after tomorrow.”
“Of course not…” Hondo agreed, “How are you holding up? Would you like some company?”
“I’ve got Duke keeping me company, he’s laying under the table looking at me…” Luca shrugged, “Probably thinks I’m acting funny or something.”
“I could come over.” Hondo offered.
“It’s not necess-”
“-I know it’s not necessary. Do you want me to come over?”
Luca stalled a bit, looked over at Duke who tilted his head at him. As if asking ‘what’s wrong?’
“Probably smart not to be alone, huh?” Luca sighed, “Yeah, come over.”
“Alright, I’ll be there in twenty, just need to put some real clothes on.”
Luca couldn’t help but smirk at that comment, “Yeah, I should probably find a t-shirt to go with my PJ-pants. I’m not changing pants though.”
He could hear Hondo chuckle at the other end of the line. “Alright, see you in twenty. Call me if something happens.”
“Will do…” Luca nodded.
SWATSWATSWAT
As soon as they had hung up, he contemplated calling the rest of the team, but Street had only specified Hondo. The rest of the team could wait until the morning.
He paced a bit more, before he decided to go to his bedroom to punch the crap out of the sandbag he had hanging there.
The bag wasn’t enough. It didn’t relieve pressure as well as he had hoped. He continued punching. Continued trying to get some negative energy out of his system.
It didn’t work. Not tonight.
He broke away from the bag, pulled one deep breath before he spun around and chose the concrete wall in stead of the punching bad for his impromptu workout.
He kept hitting the wall until fatigue got to him and his legs almost gave out.
His hands were shaking, he couldn’t hold them still for the life of him. He looked up and saw that he had colored an area of the wall red with blood.
He looked down at his hands, and his knuckles were bruised, bloody and swollen.
He was soaked with sweat. He glanced at the clock on the wall, he had maybe five minutes to clean up before Hondo got there.
Grabbing a fresh t-shirt, PJ-pants and some boxers, he half-jogged over to his bathroom.
SWATSWATSWAT
While he was in the shower, washing the sweat off of him and the blood off his knuckles, the adrenaline started wearing off and his hands started hurting.
Soap made the cuts and abrasions on his knuckles sting like they were on fire. And moving his fingers made him wince when he didn’t prepare well enough.
He stepped out of the shower and reached for the towel. His hands were still shaking, but now they were aching as well.
He dried off quickly, and looked down at his hands.
There were a couple of good gashes over his knuckles. Two of them were gaping quite a bit, and could probably use a stitch or two each. But a couple of Steri-Strips would have to do.
He dried his hands a bit better, then he attempted to close the wounds with the thin adhesive strips. Would’ve been a lot easier if his hands weren’t swollen to heck and stiff.
After that, he put the fresh set of clothes on. He realized how his hands were looking and figured he had to hide them with zip-hoodie. Then he had to re-apply the Steri-Strips because they had peeled off.
Just as he was done closing his wounds a second time, he heard Hondo’s car pull up outside.
He pulled the sleeves well over his hands to hide them, before he opened the door to the living room in order to meet Hondo.
SWATSWATSWAT
Hondo had his own key to Luca’s home, so it didn’t take long before he was inside.
“How are you…” Hondo asked as soon as they saw each other, then his lips curved into a small smile, “So, you flexed too hard?”
Luca got real confused for a split second, before he looked down at his t-shirt, the print saying ‘I flexed and the sleeves fell off’. Then he shrugged and nodded.
“So, how are you?”
Luca took a calming breath and shook his head, “It rattled me.”
Hondo nodded as Luca walked over to the couch to sit down.
“I mean, we’re not supposed to get hurt, but when we do…” Luca shook his head as he placed his elbows on his knees, “We’re supposed to get hurt on the job. Not out on the town with friends…”
Hondo nodded again, and sat down on the couch as well.
They sat in silence for a while, then Hondo spoke up, “Your hands are shaking…”
Luca looked down at them and saw how bad they were still shaking. “Yeah, I beat the crap out of my punching bag from our call ended and until I had to jump in the shower. Muscle fatigue.”
Hondo nodded, and looked over Luca’s head, “You forgot to close the door to your bedroom… Let me see your hands.”
“Huh?” Luca’s head jerked up and he glanced over at the bloody wall, then back at Hondo.
“How are your hands looking?”
Luca groaned, but raised his arms to peel back the sleeves of the zip hoodie. Only to find that his hands were feeling progressively worse. He barely managed to avoid grimacing.
Hondo frowned as he saw the damage Luca had managed to do himself. “Punching bag, huh?”
Luca chuckled a little, “Yeah… Well…”
Hondo reached out for Luca’s right hand when the blond’s attention was off somewhere else. He really wasn’t expecting it when Luca yelped and pulled his hand away.
“Sorry.”
Luca shook his head, grimacing as he held both his hands close to his chest, not really able to cradle either hand.
“Broken?”
Luca shook his head, “Don’t think so…”
“Well, I think you should get some pictures taken…” Hondo sighed, “Of both your hands.”
Luca shrugged.
“I can drive you to the urgent care right now if you want to…” Hondo offered, “It’s almost 4 a.m. and with luck we’ll be done there just in time to visit Street.”
Luca sighed and glanced down at his beaten up hands, then he reluctantly nodded.
“Alright, but you might want some other pants. The muscle shirt and the hoodie is fine, but pajamas…?”
Luca nodded, “Yeah… Sure.”
“-And if you tell me where you’ve got your cleaning supplies, I can see what damage I can make to that stain you’ve got on your wall… I don’t think you’re up to it, and Street won’t be either.”
Luca nodded a little more, “Yeah, thanks… It’s in the laundry room. Under the sink.”
Hondo nodded and got up.
SWATSWATSWAT
Jim was a little groggy when he woke up. Half of the team was already there, Tan, Luca and Hondo were missing.
The fact that Luca and Hondo still wasn’t there confused him a bit. He had told Luca that he could tell Hondo straight away, but that the rest of the team could wait until the morning.
He was a bit too groggy to really address it yet, he was also a bit too groggy to keep a decent conversation with those from the team who was already present.
He dozed off a couple of times before he actually felt like waking up.
He had just woken up for the nth time when he heard Luca’s voice from down the hall. Then he heard Hondo’s voice giving a reply to whatever Luca had said.
He did a short wave at the two of them, Hondo waved back and Luca nodded at him.
“Kinda thought you two would’ve been the first ones here…”
“Oh, we were…” Hondo shook his head and gave Luca a solid pat on the back.
“Huh?”
Luca sighed and pulled his hands out of his pockets, showing off one hand wrapped in gauze and one wrapped in cast.
“What happened?”
“I went ham on the punching bag…” Luca shrugged.
“Yeah, and then you went ham on the concrete wall when the bag wasn’t enough…” Hondo added.
“Ouch…” Street frowned, “Are you alright?”
Luca chuckled, “Yeah man… I’m not the one stuck in a hospital bed.”
Street smirked, “Bet that I’ll be 100% before you are…”
“Game on, kid.” Luca grinned, “Game on…”
Hondo chuckled.
“So, how are you feeling?” Luca asked back after a little while.
“My stomach hurts. And my shoulders hurt…” Street shrugged, “The nurse explained that it was typical of the sort of surgery I had. Called it air pain, because of the air the surgical team used to blow up my belly to make room to operate.”
“Ow, I felt that when I had my appendix removed…” Chris frowned.
“But hey, I will almost have no scarring, so…” he shrugged a little, “That’s cool I guess.”
