“Boss will need to talk to you.”
And now, an hour later, it was the blurry light of early morning, making everything seem surreal, and the hostage situation was a million times worse than anything that Chris had ever seen in the movies. Wasn’t there supposed to be an FBI guy, a clever-smart and wiseass FBI negotiator, getting the wife, Daniel, and Daniel’s partner out of the building?
Snow drifted steadily around the cordon of cop cars and tape, and still the situation had not been resolved. They were in a standoff, but Chris wanted to be doing something. Anything. The hostage-taker, Ansell Stewart, ex-Marine, allegedly had emotional problems—but didn’t appear to have any solid reason for taking his ex-wife hostage apart from some kind of mental breakdown. Daniel had just been in the wrong place at the wrong time, answering an alarm at the offices. This much Chris had gleaned from standing in the small and changing crowd of people as close to the cordon as he could get.
His fingers were numb; he was exhausted, emotional, and was on the edge of grabbing a gun and going in himself. Forget what the experts said. Then he thought of Daniel, trapped in this rundown building, a complicated rabbit warren of rooms in the office block where the soon-to-be ex-Mrs Stewart was a cleaner. Suddenly he wasn’t so cold or eager to rush in and put Daniel’s life in danger anymore.
One of the cops from Daniel’s precinct had taken pity on him, fed him the limited information that he could, and had even supplied more of the police issue weak-as-piss coffee. There was some kind of commotion near one of the big white vans and friendly-cop gave Chris the thumbs up—clearly something was happening—maybe they were coming out and he held his breath, waiting.
It was over in an instant, a man being dragged out in cuffs, a woman—he could just about see through the sea of blue uniforms and cars. No Daniel. Where the hell was Daniel? Chris pushed past the barrier. He needed to see, gripped hard to friendly-cop’s arm. This was stupid, why wasn’t Daniel there? Cops were streaming in, weapons drawn, determination in their features, and then, someone was shouting, chaos unfurled in the crowd. Chris strained to see Alex, Daniel’s partner, stumbling out of the door, two others assisting, the group of cops parting in front of them.
“We need a paramedic in here.”
Chapter 13
Saturday, December 22nd
Chris didn’t know what to do with himself. Hospital debriefing, sitting on cold, hard chairs with Daniel’s family when he pretended everything was okay. It was the 22nd, only three more days until Christmas, and he refused to believe that Daniel wasn’t going to be out of hospital for that single most important day.
It had all gone horribly wrong.
As the initial minutes passed the full story had been pieced together: Daniel’s partner Alex, the shorter, stockier guy from the coffee shop, helped to create the whole picture. He told Daniel’s family that if it wasn’t for Daniel he wouldn’t be standing here. The whole cozy scene was made so much more poignant by Alex’s three-year-old daughter clinging to her dad as he explained what Daniel had done.
Daniel had put himself in between the gun-wielding psycho and Alex.
Why would he do that?
The husband snapped, the gun moving, a blur of movement according to Alex, and suddenly it happened. A bullet leaving the gun, and it tore into Daniel’s thigh, high, nicking an artery. Chris’s lover bleeding out on the floor, the husband unconscious, the wife screaming. Alex had slapped her he said—just grabbed the gun and slapped the wife. The action was the only thing he could do to calm her down—he was adamant about that.
If the paramedics hadn’t been there on scene waiting on death or injury… the trauma surgeon minutes away at St Angels… fuck, it didn’t even bear thinking about.
Daniel’s family were in and out of the ICU, his dad all sharp comments and keen questions. Daniel’s mom was dry-eyed at first— we told him he should never have joined the police force—and then a blubbering mess of hysteria when they stood next to their son’s bed and were told that he had needed a blood transfusion.
Chris wanted to smack her, just like Alex had smacked the hysterical wife, the violence inside him so fucking raw it was eating away at him. Of course Daniel should have become a cop, he loved his job, if he was going to die then his parents shouldn’t spend the last few hours of their son’s life blaming his life choices and saying Daniel had been wrong.
They didn’t really acknowledge Chris at first in the rush of grief and pain. He knew Daniel was out to his family, they had talked about that on their first date. Daniel commented it was funny that his mom and dad had actually had a harder time accepting his choice of career than his choice of sexual partner. There was a barrier between him and them Chris finally decided, and he was certainly not in the right headspace to care. As long as he could sit here when Daniel needed him he was okay with being ignored.
“How is he allowed in here?” Daniel’s mom finally snapped, pointing at him but talking at the surgeon as he explained their son’s chances of survival three days after surgery. She couldn’t cope with everything, that much was clear, and her anger and despair was being directed outwards at the nearest victim. Chris.
“I’m his boyfriend—” Chris had started, but the surgeon interrupted the impending argument in blunt, take-no-prisoners terms.
“Daniel needs everyone who means anything to him to be talking to him.” Chris looked at the surgeon gratefully and caught Daniel’s dad’s sympathetic gaze as the older man pulled his wife to him; at least he didn’t mind Chris being here. “We have stopped the meds that are keeping him unconscious. Now talking to him, explaining, just the sound of your voice—that is what is needed now.”
By unspoken agreement they took it in turns, hiding this somewhat casual arrangement behind excuses such as fetching coffee or water or needing a bathroom break. Chris had managed to go back home, even helped Ame a little in the shop, when Daniel was being kept unconscious to heal. Now he had been told that Daniel could wake at any time, Chris wasn’t taking chances on not being here. It was actually close to the end of the 23rd when Daniel’s eyelids fluttered and suddenly it didn’t matter about physical therapy or dealing with aftereffects or all the important clever-surgeon warnings that everyone had been given of what to expect. Even as he was pushed out the door and into the waiting area he knew one thing.
Chris had his lover back.
* * * *
“Daniel? Sweetheart?”
Daniel focused on the words and blinked his way back to full consciousness. He was floating and that was his mom’s voice.
“Mom?” In his head he added on a lot of questions. What the hell happened? Where was Dad? Was he at home?
“There was a shooting,” his dad said. That answered two questions.
“Alex okay?”
“He’s fine. You were very brave, Danny.” His mom was very close, so close he could smell her familiar perfume and then he felt his dad hold his hand. This was nice.
He was alive, Alex was okay, and his family was here. Something missing. Chris?
Christian.
“Where’s Chris?” he mumbled around the cotton wool in his mouth. No one answered him and he fought through the fog to ask again. “Chris,” he said. He put every effort he could into sounding the word.
“After the doctor has seen you,” Mom said.
“Hello, Daniel, my name is Doctor Kavachik. How are you feeling today?”
“Sore,” Daniel said.
“A gunshot wound will do that,” the doctor deadpanned. Great, just what Daniel needed, a doctor with a sense of humor. “A couple of days bed rest and I think we can have you up and about. There’s not much more to add. The bullet nicked an artery; we fixed it; you lost quite a bit of blood and needed a transfusion.”
In Daniel’s mind that was quite a bit to add, but he wasn’t going to argue. The doctor continued. “You will need physical therapy as there was some muscle damage
and you appear to have fallen awkwardly with a lot
of swelling on your left knee. All in all though, young man, you will be fine. I’ll be checking back in with you later.”
“Thank you,” Daniel managed. He watched his mom and dad talk to the retreating physician and then waited until they were both back at the bed.
“Did someone call Chris?”
He narrowed his eyes when both his parents glanced at each other and an uncomfortable look passed between them.
“Chris. My boyfriend Chris. Did Alex not get ahold of him?”
“He did Daniel. But…” His mom’s voice trailed away. Fear bit deep inside Daniel.
Did Chris not want to know now? Having a boyfriend who was in the firing line every day had to be hard and he couldn’t blame him, but the utter disbelief that flooded him was suddenly too much.
“But what, Mom?” He needed to know just how bad this all was.
“You know we understand that you are the way you are, son,” his dad began.
“Gay, you mean,” Daniel responded just as quickly.
“It’s just… he works in a coffee shop.” His dad shrugged like that single sentence explained everything.
“Sorry?”
“Darling.” Great, now it was his mom’s turn. “Just, we support you one hundred percent but wouldn’t you rather see if you could meet an appropriate someone at the club? Maybe take a short vacation at the Vineyard and check out who lives around the beach house?”
“What the fuck, Mom?”
“There’s no need to be rude, Daniel,” his mom said, affronted. “We’re only looking out for you. What happened to that nice young man, the broker?”
Daniel didn’t even want to go there about Malcolm, the asshole ex who’d lasted long enough for Daniel to find out that every time he looked at Daniel all he saw was dollar signs.
Suddenly agitated, he made to move in bed but the pain stopped him and he cursed loudly. “Forgive me my lack of freaking manners,” Daniel began. “I’ve just been shot in the fucking leg and I want Chris.”
“You love this man?” his dad asked gently.
“Chris. Christian Matthews. I’ve known him since college. I love him. Please find him and tell him I’m here. He’ll be freaking out.”
His mom looked at his dad again. This time there was a question in her expression. His dad nodded.
“He’s here already, Daniel. He’s been here since you were brought in.” His dad stood. “I’ll go and get him.”
“I’m sorry, Danny,” his mom said. She placed a hand gently on his. “We didn’t know you loved him.”
At that moment a nurse came in the room and began checking vitals. All Daniel wanted was Chris. Was Chris still interested? Would he realize just what could happen to Daniel on any given day, the kind of threats he was occasionally confronted with?
Chapter 14
Chris had been consigned to the cold, orange plastic chairs for waiting visitors. He stared at the red and gold tinsel that decorated the information desk. Nothing like that was allowed past the main ICU doors, no sign of Christmas for those patients for fear of infections and lack of cleanliness. He drank crap coffee and kept himself sane by listening to the nurses as they talked. He knew Daniel was awake, knew he was being moved soon, but no one had said it was okay to go back into the room, and he was still sitting here like a kid waiting for Christmas, desperate to see Daniel for himself. An hour of waiting at least and the door opened, Daniel’s dad standing to one side and indicating the open entrance. Chris bolted upright.
“Daniel is asking for you.” There was warmth in the other man’s voice, more than there had been from Daniel’s mom, and Chris stumbled to stand as quickly as he could.
“Thank you, sir.” He moved past, but the older man stopped his entry with a strong grip and then an extended hand. Chris shook hands cautiously.
“Son… call me Edward.”
Everything in the room was so sterile—sheets, pillows, and walls all white, and scrubbed silver apparatus, the clear snaking pipes a nest of fragile lines—but finally Daniel would be practically free of any connections to them. He was doing really well and the nurse was checking vitals. His voice was scratchy as he said something to the nurse as she leaned over him adjusting the covers—the tube in Daniel’s throat clearly had bruised him. She moved and Chris had his first view of Daniel without the paraphernalia that had assisted his breathing and pushed him full of nutrients.
The nurse smiled at him, and even Daniel’s mom, who hovered just to one side, seemed kind of pleased to see him. Cautiously he edged closer. He may well have been waiting for this man to open his eyes, had sat for hours contemplating the twists and turns of his life over the last few weeks. Who was to say though that Daniel felt anything near half of what Chris was feeling right now. Who was to say Daniel hadn’t called him in just to say hi and that was it.
“Hey,” Chris offered softly, his hand moving to touch but then stopping just short of Daniel’s broad chest in his white hospital gown. Emotion thickened his throat and he wanted to say more, but there was nothing there, and immediately he was right back to nerdy Chris who could never string a complete sentence together.
“Chris—” Daniel lifted up his hand, and Chris noticed the cannula in the back of it, and that dread that had lived with him for three days bubbled over in a few words, even as he gripped at the hand Daniel offered.
“Don’t you ever do that to me again.”
Chapter 15
Sunday, December 23rd
“With any luck,” the senior nurse said, flipping through the pages in Daniel’s chart, “you’ll be able to go home on Christmas Eve. You’ll be on enforced bed rest but the doctor said to me he’s willing to give you the space to heal at home.”
“I’m assuming that’s what the doctor really has advised?” Daniel’s mom interrupted and looked at Chris suspiciously. Like he had something to do with a great nefarious plan to get her son out of hospital? The nurse looked at her blankly, then back down at the notes. She was probably used to relatives wanting to hear news directly from the doctors or the surgeons. From what Chris had observed through his time sitting in reception though, it was actually the nurses who ran the show.
“Yes, this was what the doctor advised—that it looks very likely” was what she replied, not rising to the concern that even Chris could hear in Daniel’s mom’s voice. He had discovered a lot about Daniel’s mom, Melissa, over the last few days, not least of which was that she hid her fear for her son under that society-neat façade she wore so well.
“Thank you.” Chris diffused the tension, leaning into his boyfriend and knocking shoulders gently. “That’s good news, eh?” He had sat on the edge of Daniel’s bed as soon as he could, careful not to touch any parts of Daniel that would cause him pain.
“We have your old room ready, Daniel,” Melissa said.
Chris’s heart skipped a beat. He’d kind of been hoping that somehow he could be involved in Daniel’s care. What Daniel said next made Chris feel like jelly inside.
“It’s okay, Mom,” he began. “I’m staying with Chris.”
Melissa didn’t miss a step, only continued pulling on her jacket. “It’s your choice, sweetheart.” Kisses were exchanged, promises to visit the next day were made, and then they were finally gone. It was now just Daniel half dozing and Chris bright-eyed and focused on the small patch of skin on his lover’s chest that the hospital gown revealed. He couldn’t help but touch, reassured by the fluttering pulse in Daniel’s neck.
Where was Daniel going to sleep in his tiny room? Would there actually be space for an invalid in his bed at Amelia’s? Would Daniel even want to share? If nothing else, Ame had a sofa bed in her sitting room.
“What are you thinking about?” Daniel asked roughly and coughed. “You look so serious.”
“Are you sure you want to be with me when you get out? I mean, you have friends with big places, and geez, Daniel, don’t your parents have this huge mansion-townhouse-place? And you also have your own place…?”
>
Daniel frowned up at him, moving his untethered hand to grasp at Chris’s shirt and pull his head closer.
“I like your place. And… I love you,” he whispered. “Where else would I want to be?”
Chapter 16
Christmas Day
When Chris was a child, Christmas had been the defining moment of his year.
Presents stacked high under a tree and waking so early it was still jet black outside the window. He would meet Andy at the top of the stairs and the brothers would stare through the open banister and discuss in heated whispers what they could see under the tree. When he had discovered Santa wasn’t real it still didn’t stop him from ever anticipating the excitement of such a special day.
Today though, was the best Christmas Day of his entire life. The most perfect awakening he could imagine, especially considering everything that had happened.
Waking in a darkened room, he focused on the soft breathing of the man lying next to him. Daniel hadn’t slept that well as evidenced by the sheets bunched and twisted around him and the dampness of sweat on his warm skin. He hadn’t outright refused pain medication, but he was stubborn as heck over it and Chris had had a fight on his hands to get Daniel to relax.
“Morning.” Daniel’s sleep-rough voice flowed over Chris, and with a smile Chris turned on his side fully.
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