prettyyoungandbored

Jack walks through the door and is greeted by Gizmo and Elouise. He smiles tiredly, tossing the backpack onto the bench next to the door.

“Hey guys,” he greets them as he makes his way to the living room, ready to take off his prosthetic and get in a nap.

And maybe pretend today didn’t happen.

The cats follow him into the living room. He sits on the couch, taking of his shoes and then unclipping his prosthetic. He undoes his belt and slides off his pants, leaving him in his tee and black briefs.

He looks up and sees Gizmo and Elouise sitting there, watching him as if they found out what had happened at the hospital and were eager to hear his side of the story.

It’s then that Gizmo gets on the bed and settles on Elouise, however, jumps on the bed and settles on Jack’s lap.

She’s been attached to him since the PTSD nightmares became frequent. While Gizmo, ever the trusty sidekick, would provide him comfort, he let Elouise do the following around because someone needed to stay with Mom.

She would follow Jack everywhere. Last night, after another nightmare, she followed Jack into the living room and sat on his lap while he sat in the wheelchair. When Jack came back to bed, Elouise curled up right next to him.

Jack gently strokes Elouise’s fur, her purrs helping to center him. When Gizmo sees pets are happening, he moves to the other side of Jack and puts his paw on Jack’s upper thigh. Jack smiles and uses his other hand to pet Gizmo.

He looks up and sees the photo box he bought for him and Y/N in the shelves on the entertainment set, and thinks about how they’d been filling it up with photos and mementos from their relationship and marriage.

His eyes then shift to the record player she got him for their first Christmas and how they used it as background noise for cooking and at-home date nights. How sometimes, when he’d leave his prosthetic on, they’d slow dance to a song or two in the kitchen.

He then looks to the framed photo of him and Y/N smiling at each other from the party they had after their courthouse wedding.

All these relics reminded him that he had a life filled with love and he almost threw it away because of his fucking pride.

Tears burned his eyes as he lowered his head. Elouise pawed at his chest as Gizmo rubs his head against Jack’s side.

In the moment, he makes three promises to himself:

1.) He’s calling SWAT on Monday and getting off their list.

2.) He’s calling his therapist and scheduling an emergency session.