Chapter 9
Elias
Eli felt like he was floating on a cloud. The only problem was that Burke wasn’t with him. There also weren’t any harp-stroking cherubs either, so maybe the fact that he was alone was a good sign.
The nurses had assured him he was going to be fine, but they didn’t have any news about Burke to pass along. Eli knew he managed to push Burke out of the way of the bullet that hit him, but that didn’t mean the gunman stopped firing once they’d hit the ground.
He wanted to hit the call button and ask for his things. He needed his phone so he could call Burke. Everything would be fine when he saw Burke.
As the minutes ticked past, Eli started to worry. What if the ER nurse had delivered his message and it had sent Burke running? What if Burke had been shot too?
He was just about to press the call button when the door to his room opened. Burke stepped in, wearing a pair of blue hospital scrubs. He looked nervous. Nerves turned to relief when their eyes met.
“Jesus, Eli!” Burke practically ran to his boyfriend. He pressed a kiss to Eli’s forehead before squeezing himself next to Eli on the bed. “Are you okay?”
“You mean aside from the bullet hole?” Eli had meant it as a joke, but knew it had been the wrong thing to say when Burke’s eyes went glassy.
“I’m sorry I didn’t protect you. When I saw the gun pointing at my face I was relieved because he wasn’t going to hurt you.” Burke’s bottom lip quivered. “But then when the gun went off and you tackled me and then didn’t move. Oh, Jesus, Eli.” Burke shook his head.
Eli reached out to touch the side of Burke’s face. “You’re safe. Unhurt. I wouldn’t change a thing.” Although he looked tired, Burke was as good as new.
“What did the doctor say?” Burke didn’t seem like he was concerned at all about himself.
“I was lucky.” Eli managed a smile. “They said the bullet hit under my collarbone and went out through my back.”
“How is that lucky? Luck would have been if the Kevlar caught the bullet.” Burke was shaking his head.
“It’s lucky because the shot was a through and through. If the bullet had hit my collarbone, it could have ricocheted around inside me. It could have hit a lung, my heart, an artery. It would have been all over for me if that happened.”
A single tear slipped down Burke’s cheek. “I was in front of you for a reason. Cisco said it was my job to protect you. Why did you shove me out of the way?”
Eli brushed the tear away. If Burke was asking why he did what he did, there was chance that the ER nurse hadn’t passed along his message. Why would she, since he’d lived? “I love you, Burke.”
Burke buried his face in Eli’s hand.
“If anything happened to you, I wouldn’t have survived.” Eli took a shaky breath. “I thought I’d never get over Jensen not kissing me back, but I did. I spent all those years thinking he was the love of my life. I was wrong.”
“You were?” Burke’s voice was barely above a whisper.
“Yeah. He couldn’t have been the love of my life because it’s you, Burke.” Eli’s thumb rubbed against the side of his face.
More tears slid down Burke’s cheeks. “I’m such a mess.
I’m sorry.” He swiped at the tears that didn’t seem like they were going to stop anytime soon.
“I love you too. It’s all I could think about when the paramedics were loading you into the back of the ambulance.
That I might not ever get the chance to tell you… ”
“That’s why I told the ER nurse how I felt about you. So much was happening all around me. I didn’t know how serious my injury was, but I made this nurse promise to tell you how much I loved you.”
“She found me in the waiting room while you were still in surgery. She said she had a message for me, but since you were going to be okay, she wasn’t going to tell me what it was.” Burke was grinning like a fool.
Eli barked out a surprised laugh. “We’ll have to share that story at our wedding.”
“Our wedding?” Burke squeaked. His dark eyes widened.
“Not today or tomorrow.” Eli hoped he hadn’t scared Burke off with those words. If Burke got flighty, Eli would just say the blurted out half-proposal was the morphine talking. It wasn’t, but that’s what he’d say.
“So, you’re saying your free the day after that?” Burke was smiling through his tears.
“I think I’m going to be free for a lot of days to come.” Eli wasn’t going to be back to work on Monday. He’d been shot, this wasn’t a case of the flu.
“I’ll be there to take care of you. I’ll cook your favorite foods and give you sponge baths. Read you bedtime stories and tuck you in.”
“Why do I get the feeling the sponge baths are what you’re really looking forward to?” Eli laughed.
Burke shook his head. “Can I touch you?”
“Why couldn’t you?” Did Burke think he was fragile?
“You’ve got all these tubes and your chest is bandaged.” Burke looked helpless.
Raising his right hand, Eli manage to smile. “How’s this?”
Burke took it and held on with both hands.
“I love you so much. I don’t know how that happened.
How I got this lucky. To be honest, I really don’t care.
All that matters is that we found each other and you’re going to be okay.
You’re safe, Eli. You’re safe.” He pressed a kiss to the palm of Eli’s hand.
Eli loved hearing those words drip from Burke’s full lips. “You know this is a hazard of my job. I got lucky this time, but next time…”
“Next time?” Burke looked shocked.
Shit. Eli was afraid Burke would react this way. “I have no plans of retiring from the force or working a desk job.”
Burke shook his head. “There isn’t going to be a next time, Eli.
” He sounded vehement. “The next time some dirtbag points a gun at you, you’ll have a fully trained partner at your side.
I mean, Jesus. If I had known what the hell I was doing out there when the shooter came up from behind us, I could have protected you better.
He might not have gotten a shot off at all. ”
It all made sense to Eli now. Burke didn’t want him to leave the Salem P.D. He wanted to be Eli’s partner. “You think Cisco’s going to hire you when you graduate from the academy?”
“He better.” Burke swiped at more tears falling down his face. “No one is going to protect my man better than me.”
“Well, you do owe me one…” Eli managed a wink.
“Owes you one, what?” Cisco Jackson asked from the doorway.
“None of your business, chief!” Eli grinned at his boss and friend.
“You gave us quite a scare, Eli.” Cisco took a seat on the other side of Eli’s bed.
Burke moved to get up. Cisco’s hand on his shoulder stopped him.
“You’re good where you are, kid.” Cisco gave Burke’s shoulder a squeeze. “Nurse told me they’ll have you up on your feet tomorrow and you’ll be able to go home a day or so after that.”
“Thank God. I hate hospitals.” Eli wished he could spend the night in his bed with Burke at his side like they’d done last night.
“Who doesn’t?” Cisco turned back to Burke. “I take it you’re going to be his nurse when he gets home.”
“Yes, sir,” Burke agreed.
“Call me Cisco, Burke. You earned it.” The chief shook his head. “Eli’s the brother I never had. I don’t know what I would have done if…” Cisco’s eyes had gone glassy.
“Jesus Christ, you too? I’m fine. No more tears, huh?” Eli shook his head. He was so blessed to have a man who loved him with his whole heart and a best friend he could trust completely.
“Is he always this grumpy?” Burke asked Cisco.
Eli burst out laughing. “Only when I’ve been shot.”
“There’s a whole hallway full of people who want to see you. The real you, not this grumpy ass version of you.” Cisco sobered. “Are you up to seeing more guests? I can send them home if you’re not.”
“Let them in, but only for a few minutes. I’m sure they’ve all been worried about me.
” Truth be told, Eli was on the edge of exhaustion, but he’d sat out in that very waiting room many times before to make sure one of his brothers or sisters in blue was safe.
Everyone in the hall had done the same thing for him.
“You got it.” Cisco walked back to the door and motioned out into the hallway.
Eli smiled when he saw Greeley and Kevin Fitzgibbon walk into the room followed by Tennyson Grimm and Ronan O’Mara. Ten was holding their infant daughter. Bringing up the rear were a couple of his fellow officers, Jessie Price and Luke Rather. “Hey, guys. Shouldn’t the two of you be on duty?”
“We got the son-of-a-bitch,” Rather said. His smile was a mile wide.
“Brought him in alive. He was raving about having shot a cop.” Price shook her head.
“Did anyone else get hurt?” Eli was afraid to ask, but he needed to know.
“No. We grabbed him an hour after he shot you.” Price was shaking her head.
Rather rolled his eyes. “Bastard was hiding behind the dumpster at Lobster Charlie’s.”
“Shit, that’s my favorite place.” Eli frowned. He felt his eyelids starting to get heavy.
“We’ll bring you the biggest lobster roll when they spring you from this place,” Rather promised.
“Speaking of that, let’s head on out so Eli can get his rest.” Cisco started shooing people out of the room.
Everyone in the room shook hands with or hugged Burke. There was no doubt he was part of the family now.
“When’s the big day?” Tennyson asked from the door. He was the last one in the room.
Burke started to laugh.
“What big day?” Eli squeezed Burke’s hand. He looked back and forth between Tennyson and his boyfriend, there was something up for sure.
“Ten had a message for me when you were in the OR. He said he’d seen us on our wedding day. I wasn’t so sure I believed him until you sort of proposed.” Burke was blushing.
Eli smiled at the psychic. “You got any other news for us?” Eli knew Tennyson Grimm was the real deal.
Ten smiled down at his tiny daughter, who was asleep in his arms. “You both are welcome to babysit for Everly any time you like. You’re going to need the practice.” With that, Ten was gone.
Burke’s mouth was hanging open. “A baby?”
“Stranger things have happened. After all, I fell in love with you the second I saw you.”
“Same for me.” Burke shook his head. “How could the worst decision I ever made in my life be the best thing that ever happened to me?”
Eli had been wondering the same thing himself.
What if he’d arrested and booked Burke instead of taking things in the direction they went that first night?
He might not be sitting in this hospital bed with a hole in his shoulder, but he damn sure would have missed out on the man of his dreams. He was about to tell Burke that very thing when his eyes slipped shut and he fell asleep.