Imagine a buddietommy world where after THAT episode, rather than drive home in that beat up car, Tommy drove to meet them and drove his guys back home. Perfection.
Ask and you shall receive.
The mediocre shine of the headlights bathed Tommy’s too cold body in light as the banged up sedan rolled to a stop. The belly of the car gave a guttural whine that told Tommy the transmission was about seconds away from giving out and he tried not to grimace as the brakes squealed with a dying wheeze. The pit in his stomach that hadn't quite closed yet only tightened at the thought of what could've happened if they'd been driving out in the middle of nowhere when the old thing eventually gave out. But with that thought came the reminder of why there was a pit in the first place and the nausea that had been burning like battery acid in the back of his throat nearly made him hurl that questionable gas station burrito he'd eaten only because his vision had started to double.
The headlights flickered, going impossibly dimmer before mustering up the strength to brighten, when the car was shifted into park and Tommy pushed himself up off his bumper as the driver side door opened.
Nerves Tommy wasn't used too crawled up his skin and settled into his veins. There'd been a time when he thought they were excitement. Something that he hadn't felt in a long time that marched through his blood and wrapped around his heart and lungs to squeeze until he couldn't sit still.
And they still were. But there was something else there too. Something that had warped them until they were twisted up like vines and dug thorns into his muscles the moment he'd answered that nervous, stuttering phone call.
That had been his first indicator that something was wrong. Eddie never stuttered. He paused, he went quiet, he sometimes said the wrong things the wrong way around the foot he managed to shove in his mouth, but he never stuttered. He never muttered like he was afraid to be heard.
The second had been his gasp of pain he couldn't quite bite off even though he'd tried.
As he walked closer, Tommy could understand that gasp now. Bruises marred Eddie's face beneath scabbed over cuts that cut across his skin. Walking was perhaps a kinder word than what Eddie was really doing which was more a hunched over limp as he hugged his arm to his stomach and Tommy could only see the torn up skin that had left blood stains on the cuffs of his hoodie.
Eddie moved like he was in pain. He probably was. Five hours in a car after an understandable but still inadvisable jail break from the hospital where he'd trekked across the desert? Yeah, Tommy was pretty sure in pain didn't even cover it.
The faintest tremble of his bottom lip only made a small appearance before Eddie muscled his jaw into submission and Tommy's heart broke all over again as they met in the middle.
"Hey," Tommy said because what did you say to someone who had just gone through everything Eddie had.
Eddie's eyes were a mix of exhaustion and emotion he was trying so hard to hold back. He sniffed and his lips rolled as he swallowed whatever had fallen into the back of his throat before a broken, "hey" croaked out of Eddie in reply.
It was all it took for the beat between them to shatter and Tommy held open his arms as Eddie tipped into his embrace. The sound of pain got lost in the muscles of his shoulder as Eddie shoved his face there but if Tommy even thought about letting him go, it quickly was shoved away at the way Eddie sagged into his weight.
"Oh honey." Tommy breathed when the hitch from Eddie's breath made his whole body flinch.
"I'm okay," Eddie said, muffled still in safety of Tommy's shoulder. It was a lie. The rough, thick way Eddie's voice betrayed him was proof of that even without all the cuts and bruises and the scent of blood in his soft brown tufts of hair. "I'm okay. Buck, he's—"
Eddie flinched like the words were razor wires in his throat.
Tommy sucked in a breath as that tightness in his chest squeezed again. He looked towards the car but didn't see any sign of his boyfriend anywhere. The sky was still dark and Evan was the embodiment of sunshine and Tommy couldn't see any sun for miles.
Eddie pulled away and rubbed a rough hand over his eyes.
"He's..." Eddie stopped and steadied himself and Tommy settled a hand on the curve of his waist so he knew he didn't have to. Not anymore. But Eddie cleared his throat and rubbed his hand over his face again to push away the exhaustion settling onto him. "He's asleep. I need to wake him up so he can walk around but he... Tommy, they..."
Tommy didn't know everything. Just the basics from what little he could get from Chimney after Eddie had gone radio silent and then Buck had called Maddie in the back of an ambulance. They'd been chased off the road, Eddie had been left for dead while some psycho couple had dragged Evan out the wreckage and taken him to the middle of nowhere, and then they had locked in him a room or a shed or something, tied up and dying until Eddie had found him. Tommy knew there was more and he knew he didn't want to know the more. But he'd have to. If they had any chance of climbing out of this nightmare together, he would have to know everything eventually.
But everything could wait until they get home.
"I got him," Tommy said, pressing a kiss to Eddie's temple for strength. "There's some blankets in the truck so you can sleep while I drive, okay?"
"Yeah," Eddie said, his voice doing that funny thing again like it was one wrong breath from giving out. "Okay."
Tommy made sure Eddie got in okay before he turned back to the sedan and tried not to drown in the warped nerves eating him whole.
The headlights went out as he stepped towards the car and Tommy didn't know if it was the battery giving out or just the car acknowledging that its part in this journey was over. It was staying in that parking lot until it was towed and put to rest once Tommy left with both his boys.
The sight of Evan curled up in the passenger seat broke Tommy's heart into a million pieces. If Eddie looked rough, nothing compared to Evan. His whole face was one big bruise with cuts from the glass marring every inch of him. His body was curled inward like he was trying to make himself small and twitching with his every inhale brought with it nothing but pain and fear. It was one thing to know that Evan had taken the brunt of the impact when the car flipped. It was another to see it.
He didn't stir when Tommy opened the door but Tommy crouched down before he roused him anyway. Evan didn't need someone looming over him after what he'd been through, even if all Tommy wanted to do was take him into his arms and never let him go. He settled a hand over the curve of Evan's neck to protect him from startling if he woke and then curled around Evan's fingers before bringing them to his lips.
Tommy had to force himself not to focus on the darkening bruises encircling Evan's wrists and he kissed his fingertips.
"Evan," Tommy said quietly, kissing his fingers, his knuckles, his palm. "Baby, wake up."
The sound that whined out Evan was one full of suffering. His nose scrunched up and his body twitched before freezing as if he was caught in the murky in-between of being awake and scared to stay that way.
"Wake up, baby," Tommy said, caressing his cheek. "It's me."
Long lashed fluttered as Evan slowly opened his eyes and Tommy pointedly didn't linger on the way Evan held his breath as he tried to process where he was. When he knew he wasn't there, that he was safe, Evan exhaled slowly before turning into Tommy's palm and looking at him.
"T-Tommy?" He asked, like he didn't quite believe that he wasn't dreaming.
Tommy's eyes burned with a sudden sharp pressure and he couldn't hold himself back anymore. Relief was like a knife and it was cutting up Tommy's insides to shreds.
He leaned up and kissed Evan's birthmark to prove to them both that they were real.
"I'm here, baby," Tommy said, pressing another kiss against his cheek. "You're safe."
"Eddie?" Buck asked, his eyes looking around for any sign of him.
"He's in the truck," Tommy said. "Let's get you home, okay?"
Buck shuddered as if the thought alone was enough to rattle him apart at the seams.
"Okay," he said and Tommy felt like he could finally breathe.
