He bowed his head and shivered. After a moment he forced himself up again and pulled Zane to his feet with difficulty.
“I need you, Ty, more than anything,” Zane admitted hoarsely as the elevator came into sight.
Ty closed his eyes, leaning against Zane and rallying with the unexpected words. He took more of the other man’s weight on himself and practically dragged his gasping partner toward the doors of the service elevator. By the time he managed to get them inside and rising toward what he prayed would be help, Zane was no longer breathing.
y walked slowly down the sterile hallway of the hospital, watching his feet carefully so as not to think too hard about why he was here. After T traversing what he knew had to be the longest hallway in history, he found the room and stepped into the doorway, unconsciously biting his lip as he looked at the still figure on the bed.
He swallowed heavily and made his way slowly into the room, stopping at the bedside and looking down. Zane looked awful. His skin—what of it wasn’t mottled with ugly bruises—was an unhealthy gray color under the soft light of the hospital room. Ty fought back the urge to feel sorry for himself as he sat down beside the bed and looked at the myriad of tubes and IVs that attached to Zane’s hands and arms.
Hopped up, Zane hadn’t realized that he’d torn his hands all to hell on the bricks, and the further abuse to his broken arm had meant surgery to fix it.
The bandages around his palms and fingers glared white against his dark tan.
He’d been in the hospital for a week and still looked this bad; like death warmed over. And the cliché fit. The overdose had done a real number on him. By the time the EMTs had gotten to them, Zane had been in full cardiac arrest.
But he was alive, and that was all that Ty cared about. He sat silently, merely watching Zane as he slept. After a while, his vision unfocused and he was simply staring at the hospital blanket that covered Zane’s still body as he sat by his side.
“Hey.”
Ty winced at the soft word.
He hadn’t had a chance to see Zane since they had taken him out of that service elevator. During the past week, no one would let him see his partner until he himself was officially discharged, and he had only just been released himself. They had merely told him that Zane was alive, and left it at that. During the time he’d been confined to his hospital bed, Ty’d had a lot of time to think about what he wanted to say to Zane. Ever aware of the prying ears and eyes around them, though, he bit back the more tender words he might have said. They didn’t feel right on his tongue, anyway.
“Hey,” he echoed hollowly.
Zane’s dark eyes were sunken, but they were open, mostly clear and focused. “How’re you?” he whispered.
“Horrible,” Ty managed to answer with a weak smile. “They tell me I’m not allowed to kick your ass yet.”
One brow slowly edged up in question. “Kiss my ass, did you say?”
Zane’s eyes twinkled and the corners of his mouth turned up slightly.
Ty glanced over his shoulder quickly and then stood to press a kiss to Zane’s lips. “I thought we’d lost you,” he muttered accusingly.
Zane brightened a little after the kiss. “I’m too stubborn to die when I have a reason to live,” he murmured, watching Ty reverently.
“You damn well better be,” Ty murmured as he sat back down, wringing his hands together as if he wanted to do something else with them.
“’Cause I’m gonna beat the living shit out of you later.”
“Promises, promises,” Zane said quietly. “I owe you a hell of a beating, too.” He paused for a moment as they just stared at each other.
“Wanna call it even?”
Ty made a show of thinking over the offer and then smiled slightly.
The smile fell slowly, and he looked over Zane seriously. “You are getting out of here, right?” he asked softly.
“Yeah. You are waiting for me, right?” Zane asked.
Ty’s lips compressed into a thin line and he looked away, flushing guiltily. Zane tilted his head to the side, and his smile turned slightly sad.
After everything they’d been through, even after what he’d just said, it appeared that the military mind-set was far too ingrained for Ty to be comfortable admitting what he felt for his lover now that the dire situation had passed. Zane wondered if he even felt anything at all.
“Either way.” Zane sighed tiredly, letting his eyes close. “Let me know.”
“They’re not gonna let me stick around,” Ty said softly as he lowered his head.
Zane stilled for a long moment, then opened his eyes to see Ty at the bedside, head bowed. “ ‘They’ being the Bureau,” he said, not questioning.
Ty looked back up at him with open desperation, as if he were begging Zane to tell him what to do.
Pure joy swelled quietly inside Zane. “You don’t want to go,” he realized, lifting his hand with difficulty to brush Ty’s cheek.
“Not right now,” Ty whispered in something close to outrage. “What, you thought I’d just leave your sorry ass after all this?” he asked incredulously.
Zane shook his head slowly, smile reappearing. “Sorry. Little slow.
I’ll blame the drugs they gave me to counteract the drugs,” he murmured. He didn’t have to be scared. All of a sudden it was easy to accept that. “You care about my sorry ass,” he added quietly, turning eyes that spoke volumes on Ty.
Ty was silent, his knuckles turning white as he clasped his hands together. “I do,” he finally agreed. “And stop forgetting it,” he chided gently.
Rather than replying right away, Zane turned his head fully to the side so he could rest and watch Ty at the same time. He studied the bed hair and the thinner face, dark with stubble. He realized Ty must have come straight here from being released. But to Zane, he was gorgeous. “Okay,” he agreed, then licked his lips. “So they’re sending you off somewhere?” he asked, back to the “they.”
“Lecture circuit,” Ty answered bitterly. “Again.” He looked away and then lowered his head, blushing deeply. “They can’t put me on a case until …
they’re sure I won’t freak out in the dark.” He sighed and closed his eyes, unable to look back up. “They had to leave me a nightlight,” he admitted sheepishly.
“C’mon and look at me, Ty,” Zane murmured.
Ty didn’t respond, other than to open his eyes. He stared at the thin blanket over Zane’s body for what seemed an eternity before slowly raising his eyes to meet Zane’s.