Eric
ERIC
Warmth surrounded him, which was good because the room was chilly. Humming softly in pleasure, he pushed himself closer to the source of the warmth. The smell of faint cologne and a hint of something else he couldn’t quite put a name to filled his nostrils. It didn’t matter if his sleep-fogged brain couldn’t parse the description. All it needed to know was the smell was a good one and left him with a dopey smile on his face.
“Mornin’,” came Blaine’s rough voice.
opened his eyes, blinking rapidly at the bright light in the room. Looking up at the broad chest he had been nuzzled against, he stared into Blaine’s smiling face. His mind slowly began chugging, remembering the past twenty-four hours, and the thing he’d been buried against was Blaine.
“Mmph,” grunted, pushing his face back into Blaine’s chest.
Blaine chuckled, the sound deep and rumbling. “Ever the morning person.”
“Coffee,” grumbled.
“That would require me to get up.”
had to admit that was a strong counter-argument. He’d rather not lose his reliable source of heat. Plus, Blaine smelled and felt good. It was hard to believe he’d allowed himself to ignore Blaine for so long, or rather, actively pushed him away.
He knew why he’d done it, but it seemed so stupid and destructive. With Blaine’s strong arms wrapped around him, refusing to let him go, it was hard to picture lying any other way.
“I can feel you thinking,” Blaine teased.
snorted. “You don’t sound very worried about it.”
“Since when has you thinking been something I felt the need to worry about?”
“That wasn’t as comforting as you might have thought.”
Blaine kissed the top of his head. “Just so long as they’re good thoughts.”
“Just thinking about how stupid I’ve been.”
“You didn’t know.”
“I didn’t want to know.”
Blaine sighed. “I...meant what I said.”
looked up. “About what?”
“Well, everything. But the reason why I signed up for the corps,” Blaine said, forehead creasing.
frowned. “Well, yeah. I figured as much.”
Blaine bit his bottom lip. “But after the fact, I realized it wasn’t the only reason.”
pushed away from Blaine so he could see the other man’s face a little clearer. It wasn’t that he didn’t figure there was more to it, but whatever this other reason was, it weighed heavily on Blaine. spared a thought of wry amusement that a week ago, he wouldn’t have given a shit or tried not to.
“What is it?” asked softly.
Blaine took ’s hand in his, squeezing their fingers together. “I did it because I didn’t want to be trapped there because I was terrified of being in Carson my whole life.”
couldn’t say he blamed him. There was nothing there for them except their families. But Sean moved shortly after left, and even Blaine’s brother moved on to greener pastures.
“I get it,” murmured. “Truthfully, I might not have left Carson if it hadn’t been for you leaving. I might have stayed there my whole life.”
“I couldn’t do it, not to myself, not to you. And, when it gets right down to it,” Blaine said, taking a deep breath. “I was running. The corps was...my escape. I had to get away. Not from you. From that place, from my parents.”
“You love your parents,” said with a frown.
“I do. They’re my mom and dad, of course, I love them. But I could never...I mean, c’mon , you saw them, you knew them. They were the most traditional, conservative people in that town. I couldn’t be me with them. I couldn’t have them, and you too.”
“You ran from Carson and from telling your parents the truth,” said, understanding.
Blaine nodded. “I couldn’t tell them the truth, but you...and me, we deserved to live our lives truthfully. Being there, we couldn’t do that. In the end, we’d be stuck, one way or another. At least, that’s what I told myself, and instead of questioning it, I ran.”
’s jaw tightened, and he jerked their combined hands closer to him. “Don’t you do that.”
Blaine stared at him. “What?”
“I can hear that tone, I know that tone, Blaine Edwards. Don’t you dare think of yourself as a coward. Don’t you dare blame yourself. Not for that. Yes, you should have talked to me. You should have told me. But you know what? I should have listened instead of freaking out.”
“,” Blaine warned with a low growl.
At that, he grinned. “What? If you’re allowed to call yourself names for wanting to get the hell out of Carson before it was too late, then I get to blame myself for being too stupid to stop and listen to you.”
He should have listened. God, should he have listened. Blaine had been right in the alley, calling selfish. All had heard was that Blaine was leaving, and that was all he wanted to hear. should have trusted him, should have believed in him. Instead, he’d been all too willing to drive Blaine away and send them into misery for the next several years.
Blaine huffed. “I hate when you outsmart me like that.”
“Yeah, well, I hate when you logic away all my goddamn emotions. I guess that makes us even,” shot back.
Blaine grinned. “Yeah, I guess it does.”
The kiss was sweet, and shivered at the heat at the end. “Quit that.”
“What?” Blaine asked, though he wasn’t successful at keeping his voice completely innocent.
“I should be going into the precinct later, and I don’t need to be limping more than I already will be,” told him.
“What, after a couple of times?” Blaine teased.
“Three times, thank you very much.”
“Mm, yes. That’s right, almost forgot.”
“Liar.”
swatted him on the chest, doing his best to wriggle out of Blaine’s hold. He managed only to flail around. Blaine’s fingers dug into his side, wiggling between his ribs and causing to shriek indecently.
“Quit!” bellowed, trying even harder to get away.
His wish was granted when his flailing hand smacked onto Blaine’s right side. With a grunt of pain, Blaine released him. pushed away as he was let go, shoving himself off the side of the bed. He landed on the carpeted floor with an indelicate grunt, flopping onto his back.
“Ow,” managed.
Blaine peeked over the bed. “Ow is right. You know my ribs are broken, right?”
“They’re cracked, as you pointed out last night. And that wouldn’t have happened if you weren’t an asshole,” said, swatting at him.
“I forgot you were ticklish,” Blaine told him, flopping back out of sight.
“Yeah, my ass, you forgot. Dick,” grumbled as he sat up.
His eyes fell to the box on the bedside table, and he smiled. As he took to his feet, he grabbed it and pulled it with him as he sat on the edge of the bed. Opening it, he gazed down at where he’d replaced the ring atop the letters, and something else.
“What’s up?” Blaine asked him.
“I, uh, did more than go to the grocery store,” admitted, reaching into the box to pull out the ring.
“Oh?”
“I stopped by my apartment too. Grabbed something I’ve had in my closet for years and took it in. Didn’t think they could...repair it as quickly as they did, but I guess the damage was bigger in my mind than in reality.”
Blaine rolled onto his side, propping himself up on one arm. “Is this where you tell me what’s going on?”
hesitated, then smiled again. He sat the ring on the bed beside him and grabbed what lay on top of the letters. The jewelers had removed most of the wear and tear on the chain, and looking at it, no one would know it had been broken. remembered the feel of it as the links gave way under his grief-driven strength.
“Is that…” Blaine asked, voice soft.
nodded. “I kept it. In a box of its own, in my room.”
“All this time.”
It wasn’t a question, but nodded. He’d never been able to justify why he’d kept it, especially when he’d supposedly wanted nothing to do with Blaine ever again. Yet he’d held onto it, and while he didn’t pull it out as often as he had years ago, he’d never forgotten it.
“I,” said, holding out the necklace. “Would like to wear it again.”
Blaine looked at the necklace, the first gift he had ever bought . Then he looked down at the ring, the gift that had been an unspoken promise and the one had cruelly thrown back at him.
’s heart thudded in his chest as Blaine took hold of the necklace, undoing the clasp at the back. Moving carefully, as though afraid any sudden movements might shatter the moment, Blaine took the ring and threaded the chain through it. He reached over ’s head, letting the necklace drape around his neck. shivered, first at the touch of the cool ring on his warm skin and then at Blaine’s breath on his neck as he clasped the necklace.
Blaine’s fingers pulled back, and raised his hand, laying it over the necklace. He’d forgotten how heavy the combination felt when draped over his shoulders and how comforting its presence was.
“Back where it belongs,” Blaine whispered.
’s eyes stung, and he whirled around to kiss Blaine. He tried his best to pour every bit of heartache, apology, and meaning he could into the kiss. It would take time for both of them to move beyond the past and truly embrace the present, to walk toward the future together. But that was okay because had Blaine now, and he understood just what he’d been missing for eight years.
“I love you,” breathed against Blaine’s lips.
Blaine pulled him closer, grip firm but gentle as he pulled atop him. He was warm, and his arms around ’s waist were protective and possessive. chuckled as Blaine’s fingers gripped him, pulling their bodies closer together. He’d told Blaine he needed to go into work later, but hell, it could wait.
* * *
Stepping through the double doors into the precinct’s lobby, hesitated after a few steps. David was in his customary spot but was the only person in the room.
“Something wrong?” David asked, looking up.
shrugged. “Weird. It’s so quiet in here.”
David snorted, the sound of a turning page coming from under his desk. “Probably because there’s no one else here, at least for the next couple of hours.”
“Really?” asked.
David shrugged. “It’s Friday night, and there weren’t too many people in here to begin with. Wild and crazy times for the drunk people.”
“They left you with the guys in lock up?” asked.
“No one there yet, bet there will be by night’s end.”
grunted. “Fair.”
“What’re you doing back here?”
“Grabbing a few things and wanting to take some of the recent files home. Edwards is still laid up, and Morgan doesn’t want me in here without my partner for too long.”
“That why you’re in here so late?”
No, he was late because a certain partner didn’t know how to keep his hands to himself. Not that was going to complain, he’d happily fallen back into bed for another round of intense sex, followed by a nice meal, shower, and a nap.
“He’s a big baby when he’s injured,” told him instead.
“Well, good thing he’s doing alright. Woulda sucked to have the guy killed or taken outta commission. He only just started.”
snorted. “Tell me about it. Then I’d have to find a whole new partner.”
“God knows you only just managed to break this one in. Can’t imagine what the next bastard would’ve had to deal with.”
rolled his eyes and walked on. “Yeah, yeah, funny guy.”
“You alright?”
David’s question stopped him in his tracks. “Uh, yeah, why?”
“You haven’t said one rude thing to me, and you’ve gone a whole conversation without swearing.”
narrowed his eyes. “You know, you’re right, fuck you, David. Mind your own business.”
“Ah, and the universe is aligned properly once more.”
There was no way in hell he would tell the man that he hadn’t felt as relaxed and at ease as he did right then in ages. The few rounds of good sex had certainly done its work, but knew it was more than that. As he made his way back to his office, he reached up to curl his fingers around the ring beneath his shirt.
Blaine hadn’t been happy that he couldn’t come in but had been assuaged when promised he’d only be an hour or two. had even promised to sit down and go over the case files with Blaine. Detective work was still new to Blaine, but he needed something to do with his recovery time. Plus, there was the ever-so-personal factor that both of them had nearly been killed by the bastard.
Any hope that there might be more updates for him to sink his teeth into was quickly quashed when he booted up his computer. The latest was the investigation into the firebomb that had almost claimed Blaine’s life. The investigation hadn’t gotten far in the past few days, something accepted with a resigned sigh.
He downloaded what there was to the network he had access to outside the precinct. He and Blaine could look it over later, hopefully with a box of takeout between them and maybe a movie playing in the background.
frowned when the download failed, citing a random error. Muttering under his breath, he set it to work again. It cited the same error almost immediately, and he swore under his breath. Restarting the computer did nothing, and in fact, he found himself unable to access the database at all.
“Fucking technology, I swear to God,” he hissed, pushing away from his desk.
Stomping out to the lobby, he stopped when he found it empty.
“Hey, David, where the fuck did you go?” he called, looking around.
Grumbling about people unable to do their jobs, he approached the desk and looked behind it. The small space David customarily used as his workspace was dim, lit only by the security feeds on the small screens beside the desk.
“Seriously?” muttered. “Fine, fuck you.”
Not bothering with going around, he hopped over the desk. Crouching down, he looked over the small device under the desk. It was supposed to be the router to the mainframe, which was located on the second floor. He hoped the error wasn’t the mainframe, or he’d have to wait until the tech nerds came in to look it over.
Rooting around, he frowned when he drew the device out, no cord dangling from it. Blinking, he turned it over and then looked at the floor. Every single cable had been pulled out and left on the carpet. His eyes flicked up to the camera feeds above him and found none had the recording symbol in the lower right-hand corner either.
“Well, no fucking wonder,” he muttered, brow creasing.
The silence felt heavy as he set the router down and looked around again. David had left his book behind, which was strange since the man was usually attached to his latest novel. ’s eyes flit over the cover, seeing the same half-naked fireman he’d seen almost two weeks before.
Flipping the book open, he found it hollowed out in the center. There was another book inside, made by an amateur from the looks of the cover and binding. He opened the smaller book, breath catching as he read what appeared to be instructions and ideas. Some of the pages were pulled from the internet. knew you could find just about anything on it if you looked hard enough. The rest were printed copies of devices and objects, some of which had small, handwritten notes next to them.
“Oh shit,” he muttered as he recognized the trap that had almost burned him and Blaine to a crisp.
A shadow fell over the page, and stiffened. Standing up, he whirled around, hand going to the gun in his holster. Pain flared along the side of his head, and he rocked backward. He had a few moments of blurry sight to see David’s once friendly face turned into a mask of rage. The next blast of pain was mercifully short as he felt his knees buckle beneath him, landing facedown.
His last thought before darkness took over was how thick the ring felt pressing against his chest.