In his panicked haste, Bauer accidentally hit his side against the edge of the table. He muttered a quick pained ‘shit’, before ultimately resuming his mission of trying to find something, anything that could help out in that dire situation. Blueprints that showcased how the sleeping pods were built were strewn across the table, along with seemingly all of Bauer’s tools. He needed to find a way to fix this.

He needed to find a way to help you.

“Go see if you can find anythin’ that can help us.” When Cartwright made no haste to comply with his request, he was met with the loud banging of tools being thrown to the floor. “Are you deaf? Fuckin’ go!” Bauer roared, effectively scaring his companion into doing what he asked.

Bauer grabbed a screwdriver from the tools that were littered across the floor—although he was not sure what use he had for it—as well as one of the blueprints from the table and rushed back to your sleeping pod. He placed the paper on top of the glass, his ocean-like eyes flickering down to look at your sleeping form. You were deep in slumber, the drug that kept you asleep not having worn off yet. And if Bauer did not find a way to get you out of that pod, you were going to suffocate.

“Fuck,” he mumbled to himself. He looked over the prints that showed how the sleeping chambers had been built, trying to figure out how to fix the problem—the pod would not open, and he had discovered that if he attempted to open it, the air would leave the pod and you would slowly suffocate. However, if he simply left you there, you would suffocate, too.

He did not know what to do. He was at his wit’s end. His throat was constricting as he tried to right back the tears that burned his eyes. Why did it have to be you? You were the genius when it came to thing like this. Why could it not have been him in your place? You would have been able to figure out how to fix the situation. Him… He was not sure he would be able to.

Bauer closed his eyes. Unwillingly, he thought back to the moment the two of you had made it official. Well, as official as two people could make it when you were stuck underground with only one other person who would know about your relationship.

You giggled as Bauer pressed kisses to your flushed skin, his arms encircling your waist. “Vince…” you trailed off, leaning your head back against his chest.

He repeated your name in a similar fashion, his chuckles vibrating against the exposed flesh of your shoulder. “What?”

“We can’t do a round two. We already wasted enough time with round one,” you reminded him. You turned around in his embrace and gently cupped his cheek in your hands, his stubble grazing against your palm.

Bauer turned his head and pressed a soft kiss to your wrist, his hands falling down to your hips to pull you closer. “We can make it quick…” he trailed off suggestively, leaning his forehead against yours and bumping your nose with his.

You laughed lightly and gently pushed him back. “Woah there, tiger. We have responsibilities.”

He scoffed and rolled his eyes. “To hell with responsibilities. I wanna spend time with the most gorgeous woman in this place.”

“I’m the only woman in this place,” you pointed out.

“Doesn’t make you any less gorgeous,” he retorted. He wrapped his arms around you again and pulled you flush against his chest. “And now I get to call you mine.”

“Is that so?” you asked with a small smile, although you did not mind the sound of that at all.

“Yup,” Bauer confirmed with a grin. “All mine. And I’m never lettin’ you go.”

“You promise? I don’t like lying.”

“Pinky promise. I’d never lie like that.” He pressed a kiss to your lips. “I promise I won’t let anythin’ happen to you, either.”

Bauer’s eyes snapped open again. He forced himself not to dwell on the past. You were in trouble now, in the present. Not the past. He had made a promise to keep you safe, and by god, he was going to keep it. Even if he has to figure out a way to break the glass to your chamber and let you use his pod instead. He would offer up his life for your’s in a heartbeat.

“What do I do, Darlin’?” he questioned, his eyes trailing over your unconscious form. “How do I fix this?”

Naturally, all he got in response was silence. It made him even more frustrated. He had to fight against the urge to break something. He wished that some force could knock the knowledge on how to help you into his brain. He needed to know how to help in this emergency.

“For fuck’s sake!” he yelled angrily, gripping his hair as he realized that the blueprint was of no help. At that moment, the thing was merely a stupid piece of paper. It gave him absolutely no insight to how he could potentially open the pod. “Stupid piece of shit!”

“Calm down, Vince.”

Bauer lifted his head, shutting his eyes tightly. Your voice echoed in his head, anchoring him from whatever dark place he was descending to. He had to have a clear head if he wanted to be of any use.

“Calm down,” he muttered to himself, his grip on the screwdriver in his hand tightening. “Calm down. Just think. What would she do in this situation?”

Bauer lowered his head to rest against the glass of your sleeping pod, both as a way to force himself to focus and as a way to bring him some closure. You were still there. You were not gone yet. And by doing that, more memories flooded his mind.

“What’re you doin’?” Bauer questioned, leaning back in his chair as he threw the ball against the wall, caught it, and repeat.

You looked up from the book in your hands and gazed into his beautiful cerulean eyes. “Reading,” you stated matter-of-factly.

Bauer rolled his eyes at your response. “No shit,” he retorted playfully, a smirk playing at the corners of his mouth, “but what are you readin’?”

You lifted your book for him to see. “A manual. It’s pretty interesting.”

“You’re such a nerd,” Bauer said with a chuckle, rolling his chair to be closer to you.

You scoffed and softly punched him on his arm, laughing when he overdramatized it. “You’re such a dork.” You sighed and leaned your head against his shoulder. “It’s good that I read this. It tells us what to do in case of emergencies. If the air runs out, if we need to get certain doors to open, if there’s a problem with the pods, things like that. Now I know what to do if we ever run into these problems.”

“I stand correct. You are a nerd,” Bauer began, pressing a soft kiss to your temple. “But you’re my nerd. And I’m not even gonna lie, you talkin’ to me, showin’ off how smart you are… It does things to me.”

A laugh emitted from your chest. “Is that so?”

“Damn straight.” Bauer turned your head and crashed his lips against yours for a deep kiss. The book fell from your hands in favour for you to cup his cheeks, your tongue slipping into his mouth.

“The book!”

Bauer practically shoved himself away from your pod, the screwdriver falling to the ground with a loud ‘clink’. He rushed over to the locker that held some of your things and flung it open, quickly beginning to search for the one thing that could potentially hold the answers to the problem at hand. However, despite the revelation that he could potentially find something that could help, it was not that easy to find it. It was not in the locker.

The timer on the wall was steadily counting down, precious seconds ticking by until it was time to go to sleep again. Bauer knew he had to act fast. The next place he looked was the drawer where your singular extra change of clothes were. Once again, no luck.

The man tried not to let his hope dwindle. It would not do anyone any good if he were to throw in the towel. He needed to think. Where else could you have put it?

He let his feet lead him to the trunk at the far end of the room. When he opened it, he was met with a meager select few objects. However, on closer inspection, his eyes caught the glint of a brown hardback cover.

“Yes!” Bauer exclaimed excitedly when he picked up the object and it was, indeed, the very same book he had been trying to locate.

“What? Did you find something?”

The sound of Cartwright’s voice made Bauer turn around. He quickly looked at the index at the front of the book and flipped to the page where all the information regarding the sleeping pods began. His eyes scanned through everything, and thankfully, he found exactly what he needed; a way to get you out, and without having to risk anything else.

“Read this to me,” Bauer instructed his companion, shoving the book into his hands and showing him where he needed to start reading.

He did not give Cartwright time to process what was happening. Bauer rushed over to the array of tools that were littered across the room, picking up a flathead screwdriver and rushing back over to your pod. He pressed a hand against the glass, his brows furrowed together.

“Just wait a little while longer,” he whispered so that Cartwright would not hear. “I’ll get you out. I promise.” He turned around to face the other man, a spark of determination swimming around in his ocean-like pools. “Start readin’.”

Cartwright, who cleverly sensed that it would do him no good to argue, nodded and shifted his attention to the pages of the book in his hands. “Okay. So if you look beneath the pod, there should be a little hatch-like thing. It says here that it’s not easy to open, so—”

Before Cartwright could even finish his sentence, Bauer had the hatch open. It revealed a keypad, and by pressing the bright red button, the screen flickered to life. “Now what?”

Cartwright hesitated for a moment, completely taken aback by the fact that Bauer was working at lighting speed, but he quickly shook himself from his thoughts. “Um, next you activate the keypad—”

“I already did that. C’mon, what’s after that?”

“Jesus, can you give me a chance?” Cartwright snapped, glaring at the man that was crouched in front of your chamber.

Bauer returned his glare with one just as fiery. “Can you hurry the fuck up? We wouldn’t even need to do this if you hadn’t fucked shit up in the first place!”

The man inhaled sharply. The urge to retort was strong, but he held his tongue and instead continued on. “You gotta enter a code. Ten digits.” He looked back up at Bauer and was met with an impatient look. “Okay. No need to look at me like that.”

“I’ll tell you what. We can talk all about looks after we get her outta this fuckin’ thing.”

Cartwright sighed and tried to keep his cool. “Okay. So it’s 7-6-0…”

Bauer typed those numbers out onto the keypad. “7-6-0,” he repeated to himself.

“2-1-9…”

“2-1-9.”

“8-5-7-3.”

“8-5-7-3.”

The screen flashed green, showing that the code had worked. Bauer breathed a sigh of relief. However, it was short-lived when he noticed that the pod was not opening, and you were still in a deep slumber.

“It didn’t work,” Bauer muttered to himself, before raising his voice in panic. “It didn’t work. Why didn’t it work?!”

Cartwright was flipping through the pages hastily. “I don’t know! That should have worked!”

“Well, clearly it didn’t!” Bauer exclaimed, raising from the ground and stalking over to Cartwright to grab the book. “You must have missed somethin’!”

“I didn’t miss anything!”

“You—”

Their argument got cut short. Behind them, the pod hissed as the air left it, an all too familiar sign that it was going to open. Bauer dropped the book on the ground and rushed forward. He peered over the pod like he had done many times before when he had waited for you to wake up, although this time, instead of waiting for you with his signature playful smirk, a worried frown was in its place instead.

The seconds that passed felt like an eternity. However, when your eyes opened and you gasped for air, Bauer could feel the relief wash over him like tidal waves. The door that held you from his reach opened way too slowly for his liking. When it finally did, though, he brought you into his arms, holding you tightly against him.

“Vince?” you asked hoarsely, utterly confused by the way he was acting. “What’s wrong? What happened?”

Bauer shook his head and pressed his lips against your head, fighting against the lump that formed in his throat. “You’re okay. You’re okay.”

You frowned. “Of course I am.” You slowly turned yourself around in his arms, gazing into his eyes. “What’s going on?”

Bauer simply sent you a strained smile. “Let’s get you up and going first. Then I’ll fill you in, okay?” When you made no move to agree, Bauer cupped your cheeks in his hands. “I promise.”

You slowly nodded in agreement. “Okay.”

“Christ, Bauer, I need to pee!” You kicked your right heel against the door, still padding around barefoot after waking and stretching. Your legs were already starting to get chilly from the air conditioning, your sleep shorts not providing much coverage in that area. You already knew that your nipples could cut glass behind the fabric of your thin camisole and the man on the other side of the door would hone in on them immediately. Even before you began the job, you had never known someone to be so ridiculously, insatiably horny. 

You, Bauer, and Cartwright had grown close over the years. 

Several years. 

Four hours per year.

Maintenance engineers, the three of you. Keeping up with mundane, routine tasks to ensure that the special individuals on the levels below you survived until the world’s air was again breathable. It wasn’t much of an existence and was a choice you questioned constantly during your four hours per year. Still, you did what needed to be done. The tasks were divided between the three of you and you completed them within the time frame—

—which was counting down minute by minute while you had yet to even empty your bladder. “Bauer!”

You heard Cartwright chuckle behind you as his fingers clacked away over the keys at the control station. “He does give us the opportunity.”

“Don’t you dare take his side!” You leaned against the wall and  pounded a fist against the door. “I’m removing this lock instead of eating today, I swear to god!” The toilet flushed behind the metal, but you knew the man enough to know he was at least hygienic and would wash his hands, likely even going the extra mile to prepare his toothbrush before granting you access—simply to be extra annoying. Just when you thought about grabbing the garbage can beside the control panel, the door flew inward to reveal Vincent Bauer, still longjohn clad, with his precious Playboy folded beneath his arm and his toothbrush nestled in his cheek.

“Mornin’, C-cup.” He grinned around the tool, blue eyes flitting down to your breasts and back up. You had called it. You’d never tell him he had got the size correct. 

“Get outta the way!” You grabbed his ratty t-shirt and pulled him forward only to shove him to the side, rolling your eyes at the sound of his chuckles while you disappeared into the bathroom. The moan that vibrated from your throat as you finally felt the relief of an empty bladder, well—it was borderline erotic. There came a goddamn from the other side of the door that had you stifling your own laughter. You sat on the toilet for a few more moments, rubbing the sleep from your eyes and just contemplating life or rather, the lack thereof. You wondered if you’d ever see the sun again, feel the rain, smell a flower. It was a futile train of thought but one you found yourself boarding every cycle. With a heavy sigh, you finished up and washed your hands, avoiding the mirror as you always did. Quickly brushing your teeth, you rinsed your mouth and flung open the door. 

“You sure you were just takin’ a piss in there?” Bauer didn’t look away from his damn magazine, but he had an eyebrow arched. The man reminded you of a teenager, the way he was perched on the table, swinging his legs while he scanned the pages. “Sounded like somethin’ else.”

“Not everyone feels the need to be in a constant state of orgasm, Vin.” You shook your head fondly, crossing in front of him to make your way to your locker, his foot stretching out to tap against your ass as you passed by. Cartwright would never get away with calling him that. You had insisted upon it when Bauer had stopped using your last name. He’d tried to backpedal but absolutely not. Even when he had reverted to your last name, Vin had stuck. Eventually, you had both settled on a first name basis, even if you used a variation of his. 

“Well, that’s boring.” He casually replied.

Another roll of your eyes as you pulled your clothing from the locker and traipsed over to the small medication storage unit that was kept on the maintenance level. You hated your injections. It was a battle to convince yourself to continue to use them when they always hurt so badly. The pain was fleeting but still intense. The cocktail all but shut down your reproductive system, dissolving the lining of your uterus, thus avoiding the need for a monthly cycle and any concern of pregnancy should you enter into a sexual relationship with one of your coworkers. It was that or a hysterectomy when you accepted the job. 

Why were they so worried about your body deciding to function properly for two hours anyway? It was like being in a state of cryogenic sleep, it was unlikely your uterus would ever work properly, even IF the world became inhabitable again. 

You couldn’t be honest and say you hadn’t thought about it, with Bauer. Cartwright, something was just off about him, no matter how much you enjoyed his company. Vin, though, was a completely different story. It was undeniable that he was attractive. Built sturdy with lean muscle and shoulders for days, he was definitely the one to handle the heavy lifting that was required. You didn't mind watching him do it either. 

Dirty jokes aside, he was respectful toward you, never touching you in a way you didn’t mind. In the world before, he would have been a walking sexual harassment charge, but not there. You didn't mind his verbal advances, though you couldn’t be sure he even meant them. The two of you were family, which was a dilemma because you shouldn’t picture family piledriving your cunt with the thick cock you knew hung behind the fabric of his work pants. 

“Y/N.” The man that was just unknowingly responsible for the ache between your thighs was snapping his fingers in front of your face. Shaking your head, you blinked at him. “I asked if you wanted me to do it.” Vincent had given you the injection a few times, when you just had lacked the nerve to do it yourself. Even if he didn’t perform the task, he always stood nearby and offered an arm or a shoulder for you to squeeze during the peak of the pain. A few times, he’d caught you when your legs gave out. 

Licking your lips, you considered him before nodding and handing him the alcohol prep and syringe. “No jokes, okay?” Your voice shook when the cold pad was swiped over the skin of your abdomen, just to the left of your navel. Bauer nodded and pulled the cap from the auto-inject syringe, pressing the end into your flesh and watching your eyes, waiting for permission to activate the device. “Do it.” A click hiss signaled the cocktail entering your system. It was painless at first, but you knew what was to come, a hand already on Vincent’s bicep. A quick glance at his face revealed his lips moving in a silent countdown. He had this down to a science, knew exactly when to expect the onslaught.

When the burn of the chemical inside you struck, seconds felt like hours. You knew you had shouted. Bauer had told you with a stricken expression once that you always cried out. In reality, it was over as quickly as it started, leaving you trembling with a grip tight enough to bruise the man. It was one of the times you had gone boneless, finding your face pressed against his sternum and his arms hooked beneath yours.

“Already over. On your feet.” He urged, encouragement in every syllable. It was easy to go back to business as usual, his palm clapping your shoulder before he had strode over to slip his work attire over his shirt and longjohns. Zipping up the outer layer over his torso, he smirked at you. “You got somethin’ against bras? Not that I’m complain’ but the ladies are always lettin’ us know when it’s too cold in here.”

“Shut up, Vin.” You laughed, stepping into your pants. Glancing at the clock, it read 1:42.

You could hear Bauer belting out some song from down the hall, likely off key and with more enthusiasm than you ever seemed to be able to conjure in that life. When you came down for the job, you had passed the physical and psych eval with flying colors; no substantial family history, no red flags. You had been a perfect candidate before those doors had sealed. Nothing could have prepared you for floating through time, losing years without aging. Even with the two other individuals keeping you company, you had never felt so lonely, trapped, starved for human touch. More than the occasional pat on the back from Cartwright or even the hugs from Bauer. 

You adjusted your weight a little more evenly on the rickety old step-stool, balancing the vent grille in one hand and the new filter in the other. Switching to free up one hand, you plucked the old filter out and made to toss it over your shoulder to grab afterwards. With the sudden shift, the stupid stool tilted beneath you, gravity deciding that it would no longer be your friend and down you tumbled. “Shit!” 

Expecting the hard metal of the grated floor, you were quite surprised to land against something firmly soft with an oomf beside your ear. You clutched the grille and filter to your chest like treasure, blinking big eyes up at Bauer while he arched a brow in return. “If you wanted me to hold you, all you had to do was say so.” He chuckled, already letting your legs slide off of his arm. God, he was warm. 

“Thank you.” You said softly before clearing your throat and stepping out of his space. “Hey, would you—” With a quick gesture of your hand, you indicated the duct that he could easily reach without the deathtrap stool.

Vincent snorted and moved the toolbox to the other hand. “Give it here.” He didn’t even sit down his burden before positioning the filter and holding his hand out expectantly, wiggling his fingers for the grille. You passed it over and sighed in defeat when he popped into place with an ease that made you sneer at him. With that smug grin of his, he turned down the hall toward the other door. “You’re welcome!” He called over his shoulder. 

“Asshole!” You smiled. You picked up the discarded filter and reached for your tool box, the cold handle instantly making you feel the warmth of the body you had just been pressed against. He felt so nice. God, it would have been like heaven to just stay there for the next—

1:13

You sighed. There was still so much to do. You still needed to—

The pulse between your legs happened so suddenly that you gasped. Biting your lip, a rush of warmth came with the next one. You couldn’t remember that last time you had been aroused but it was definitely before those doors had sealed. Maybe you could make an excuse to go back up and hide in the bathroom, take a page from Bauer’s book. Not literally. Those magazines were filthy. 

No way. There wasn’t time for this shit. You had a job to do and there was no way you were gonna let a little thing like sex-brain get in the way of that. Lifting the box, you hadn’t taken two steps before that door opened and Bauer traipsed out, wiping sweat from his brow with his free hand. He had his head bobbing to the music in his headphones—much too loud since you could hear it. 

Watching him move, you pictured him how you saw him every time you woke up. T-shirt with the sleeves loose around biceps that flexed when he did his pushups. Longjohns that were loose enough to only provide a teasing glimpse of an outline. He always talked a big game but you wondered if he could back it up. 

You blinked, the thoughts dissolving as quickly as you allowed them to intrude. Bauer was looking right at you with an arched brow and a mischievous grin. 

“What?” 

He reached up and moved the headphones to sit around his neck. “You’re starin’. Somethin’ on your mind?” 

God, he was attractive. A rush of heat traveled from deep in your belly straight to your core. You shook your head minutely. This was Bauer. Vin. Sure, he was a huge flirt but you doubted he was really interested. 

“Still starin’.” He chuckled. 

Maybe if you came off as playful, he would give you some sign that you could get a little more serious. “Oh, just wondering if those magazines really get the job done.”

With a tilt of his head, he bent sideways to place his toolbox on the floor. “You got my attention.” He crossed his arms, hands tucked into his armpits, and stood impossibly straighter. 

You shrugged, shooting for nonchalant. “Just seems like it’d be a constant disappointment. Jerking off like a teenager when a real pussy would be so much better.”

He chuckled. “You offerin’, C-cup?”

It took all you had to keep your voice from shaking. “Maybe.” It was almost comical the way his expression morphed into something between shocked and hopeful. You took a step toward him but he closed the distance in just a few long strides. 

“Maybe isn’t yes or no.” He was a hair’s breadth away, the proximity making your skin burn and your heartrate accelerate. 

“Yes.” You whispered, hating how it sounded more like a question. Still, Bauer made no attempt to advance. 

“Gotta be sure, doll. We live together in a place where it’d be difficult not to see each other if we make a mistake.” The sight of his tongue raking across his lips made you weak in the knees. 

“I don’t want to fuck up our friendship, you know.” You chewed your bottom lip for a moment, reaching out to toy with the zipper on his uniform jacket. “But I’ve—noticed you for a long time now. Well, as long as four hours a year allows.” You laughed. He didn’t, but the corners of his mouth lifted. “Yes. Yes, I’m sure.”

His lips were on yours within a heartbeat, large hands cradling each side of your neck. There was absolutely no stopping the moan that slipped so easily from your mouth and into his, providing the opening he needed to slide his tongue past your teeth. The two muscles tangled, battling. He tasted of the cigarettes he always somehow managed to find, along with the mint toothpaste that was well stocked in the supply closet. 

You were pulling at the zipper of his pants when he caught your wrists and pulled back to free your lips enough to watch you pout. 

“Not here.” Bauer looked up at a camera that was conveniently placed right at the end of the hall. “Don’t want Cartwright playin’ with the wizard’s staff while he watches us.” With a pointed look toward the camera that would have made you laugh at literally any other time, Bauer grabbed your waist and hoisted you up, your legs anchoring around his midsection. Your arms wound around his neck to hold yourself securely to his body while he twisted the wheel lock to open the door of the room he had exited only moments before. He pulled the door closed behind him and pressed you against it. You maintained your hold on him until he pushed on your thighs, urging you to drop your boots to the floor. 

It was a frenzy of sloppy kisses as you removed your jacket—leaving your camisole—and shed your work pants and sleep shorts. Bauer was less interested in removing his clothes, simply pulling down his pants and the longjohns underneath just enough to free his cock, stroking the already hard length as he stepped toward you.

“Sorry about the quickie, C-cup. Time isn’t exactly on our side here.”

“Less talking.” You lifted your right leg and curved it over his hip, driving the heel of your foot against the back of his thigh to bring him flush against your body. Kissing you with a hunger that ignited a fire in your belly, Bauer bent his knees slightly so he could obtain a firm hold on the backs of your thighs and lifted you to your previous position. You could feel the heat of his cock through the thin fabric of your panties, the hardness pressed against your folds. “Fuck me already, Vin.”

“Don’t need to tell me twice.” Gripping his shaft, he used his pinky to shove your panties to the side and entered you in one swift thrust that had you both moaning lewdly. “Christ fuck.”

It felt like he was splitting you in two. True, it had been a long time since you’d felt a cock inside you, but it had never felt like this. The first thrust punched a sound from you that you couldn’t even accurately describe. The fullness was a feeling you hadn’t even realized you had missed so intensely until he was moving inside you, his lips attached to your neck, your collarbone. 

“Goddamn, you feel so good.” He grunted, his large hands squeezing your ass, kneading and spreading you open. With your back against the wall and his solid grip below you, it was easy for him to lean back, his eyes locked on where he slid in and out of you with ease. “Come on, baby. Wanna watch you cum on my cock.”

The dark maintenance room was lit by only a single red light, which somehow contributed to the ambience of the moment. Bathed in scarlet as his skin met yours again and again, Bauer was beautiful. Your heavy-lidded eyes watched him, lips parted and brow furrowed in concentration. The perspiration beading on his skin glistened, his hair damp with it. You rewarded his efforts with sounds that had him groaning against your flesh, his thrusts quickening. 

Your hand nearly left his shoulder, the thought of rubbing your swollen clit a mere fleeting consideration once you felt the first vibrations of your climax approaching from his cock alone. The knot in your belly was tight, soon to snap. 

“Cum for me. That’s it, pretty girl.” He cooed, his fingers sliding into the cleft of your ass to spread you impossibly wider. His breathy encouragement was influencing you in all the right ways. 

“Fuck, Vin, I’m gonna cum.” First, your legs began to shake, tingling with the first sensations of your orgasm. “Oh god, oh shit.” Your nails dug into his shoulders, your clit beginning to throb. Without even a single brush to the sensitive nub, you began to cum, shouting his name and pressing your back hard against the door to angle your hips upward. The new angle allowed him to hit the deepest spot inside of you, each thrust prolonging the pleasure coursing through your cunt, your stomach, down to your toes. 

“Fuck, girl. Squeezin’ me like that—I’m gonna—fuck!” His hips stuttered, his grip tightening to borderline painful, only spurring you onward in your blissful journey. Distantly, you felt the warmth fill you, the pressure flowing against each and every nerve deep inside. Vincent pressed himself against you, his head dropping to your shoulder, each breath a heavy pant against your neck. Your hips jerked sporadically as you came down from wherever he had sent you, his cock still pulsing inside of you. “God—goddamn.” He rasped.

You grinned, still catching your own breath. “Better than a magazine?” He didn’t answer, not right away. He remained just as he was until you could no longer feel his heart galloping against your own chest. When he straightened, his blue eyes were thoughtful, with something you couldn’t name twinkling behind the vivid color. His quickly softening cock slipped free of you as he placed you on your feet, pulling up his longjohns and pants with one hand while he bent to snatch up your clothing and hand it to you.

Bauer zipped up his work pants. “Don’t think I’ll be needing Miss 1979 anymore.” He jested while tucking a strand of hair behind your ear. “This a one-time thing?” His eyes were dancing over your face, hard to read, but you could have sworn you caught a flicker of hope there.

“I hope not.”

When he kissed you then, it felt different and in the best way possible.

“I’ve got our cocktails ready.” 

Cartwright was loading the mixture into the correct receptacle above each bed. Though you found yourself loath to enter the chamber, there was no avoiding it. At your locker, you peeled off your uniform, the chilly air much more uncomfortable than it had been when it had attempted to cool your body while Bauer had been inside of you. 

Risking a glance, you spotted Vincent at his own storage space, a magazine in his hand. His tongue dragged across his bottom lip, his eyes narrowed in thought. After a moment, he twisted to drop the publication into the garbage can behind him. 

Without moving your head, your eyes slid over to Cartwright, his mouth agape. When your sights moved back to Bauer, he was hanging his jacket inside the locker, a smirk painted over his features. He knew you were watching him, the little shit. 

Glancing at the clock, it read 0:12. 

You always dreaded going back into the chamber, frozen in time, feeling so much older with each emergence though your body hadn’t changed. Now, you wondered if the 6 months of forced sleep would bring about an awkwardness that preceded the dissolution of your friendship with Bauer. Maybe you had made a mistake. You had let your baser needs outweigh logic and reason and at what cost?

“See you soon.” Cartwright was already prepped and lying on the table, his voice muffled by the plastic cylinder. You gave him a soft smile and a nod, turning toward your own chamber as your comrade’s began to close. Your hand had barely touched the metal when your opposite wrist was snagged and you were spun around, your chest pressed snugly against Vincent’s. You heard Cartwright’s exclamations as his chamber closed, the “hey, you two are—oh my god—that’s why he threw away—” making you chuckle against Bauer’s mouth after you were drawn in for a kiss. 

By the time the two of you separated, you were breathless and the clock was at 0:06. You were cutting it close but could you really complain? Hell no. 

“See ya in six months, C-cup.” He damn near whispered, a fingertip fondly tracing your jaw. Your anxiety melted with each tender sweep of the digit, your eyes fluttering closed. “Go on now.” Spinning you, he gave your ass a slap and backed toward his own table. 

“Asshole.” You laughed, climbing up into the chamber. Inserting the needle into your arm and the cannula below your nose, you laid back and shifted to get comfortable. Rolling your head to the side, you watched Bauer do the same before meeting your gaze. 

“Night.” He said with a smile and a twinkle in his eyes.

“Night, Vin.” You continued holding his gaze until the metal closed in around you. As you began to feel the effects of the cocktail, your mind growing hazy and your eyes fluttering closed, you could only focus on the image of Bauer’s smile that had been etched into your memory, the ghostly whisper of his hands in your skin. You began to drift off, the uplifted corners of your mouth slowly relaxing. 

Maybe you could enjoy living life two hours at a time after all.  

The capsule opens with a soft beeping sound, your ears are strained by the change of compression in the atmosphere around you. You breathe in deeply through your nose as the thermal sheath leaves your body and you are able to sit up on your bed, slowly. A groan escapes you and you carefully remove the IV from your arm.

"Everything okay, honey?" You hear not far from where you are.

You raise your head, looking for its owner, and smile half-sideways as his blue gaze bores into you, glowing brightly.

"Good morning, Bauer." You greet him watching as he shakes his head, brushing his hair out in front of his eyes.

You met Bauer the same day you started your mission, you were divided into groups, with different qualities, skills and academics, you would all have a new purpose. Each pair would be sent to different bunkers that you yourselves had adapted, perfected and prepared for the next few years of your life ahead of you. The Earth had become an uninhabitable pit due to the selfishness of the human being, disabling its existence, but they had studied that it would be a passing thing, they did not know exactly when they would be able to step on Earth again, but that would be the goal of your mission, to keep the most important, most relevant and wise people in the world to be able to make things better in the next world.

Or so you were told.

At first meeting your partner was complicated, he seemed annoyed and angry with the world, later you would find out why, but even so, the first encounters were tense and uncomfortable. As time went on and you were the only beings you could communicate with, you both agreed to get along as best you could. After a couple of attempts, Bauer surprised you by being a funny man, with an acid and somewhat spicy humor, but pleasant and without making you feel uncomfortable, he was sincere and was not ashamed of what he thought, sometimes he woke up from the capsule annoyed, not wanting to talk, he just took his cigarette and went to work, as the minutes passed his mood was changing and while you were preparing the Sleepers, he suddenly spoke to you through your communicator, scaring you.

"Bauer I told you not to do that again!" You reproached him, hearing him laugh.

"And how funny would it be if I listened to you?" he would reply many times, some of them right behind you, seeing him that disgusting proud smile for having achieved his goal.

Your mission was to keep alive the people who would conquer the future when the world was habitable again, you had two hours to do it, you with your medical expertise made sure that all the Sleepers were still alive inside their capsules, Bauer kept the facility and the coexistence in perfect conditions so that everything would run its course. Little by little your friendship was forged and over time, it became something more.

You never talked about it, simply a mutual agreement, the facility and the Dormers came first, then with the minutes you had left, you would dedicate some time to each other. Sometimes Bauer would finish before you, he would come over and hug you spreading kisses down your neck making you lose track of what you were doing, other times it was you that wouldn't let him finish his task, kneeling in front of him, with your mouth full.

"Fuck, girl, this place is going to fall apart if I don't..." Sometimes he couldn't finish the sentence, cumming.

"Good morning." He greets you back by carefully getting up from the table to walk over to you and you kiss each other slowly. "I know it sounds corny as fuck, but I missed you." He whispers against your lips and a chuckle escapes you, shaking your head.

"You can be a lot of things, Bauer, but never cheesy..." You joke and see him look at you offended, but something catches your attention. "Wait, what?" you look over his shoulder and suddenly you're afraid.

The clock is at zero, neither forward, nor backward, the air is not charged, the lights are still on, the supply has not been cut off, everything is working, but the clock is not moving. You look at the air vents, something is coming through them, but they are certainly not connected to the common supply. You turn away from him to check that everything is okay, that there hasn't been a system failure, Bauer keeps looking at the diagnostics for you, the computer keeps pulling up new records.

"B-Bauer..." You call out to him with wide eyes.

"What, what's going on?" he walks over to you and then discovers what you're looking at. "Fuck..."

The toxicity levels of the air outside is in the green zone on the controller, it's not even close to half the clock, the level is surprisingly low, but that's not all, there's a soft beeping coming from somewhere and on the cameras you see the Sleepers, starting to incorporate into their tanks.

Oxygen regenerates outside, the world is safe again. The mission has come to an end.

"Oh shit." Grunts Bauer as you rush out to the lower facility to check that everyone is okay.

There is a new step, a new beginning, now everything is blank again, the manual has no more advancement than what you guys know, they never gave you anything else in case the future was closer than they had planned.

Bauer gets going, putting on his overalls, he helps you to check that all the people are well, that no one has any strange symptoms because they have been lying down for so long, asleep. Little by little everything is working, connecting, you explain to them what has happened, many of them already know, others seem confused, as if they had only been asleep for a couple of hours. You know that feeling, you have been living it all that time while protecting the facilities.

"I'll go out first." Your partner tells you, grabbing the special suit to go outside. "I'll check that everything is okay, that it wasn't a system failure." He explains and you look at him nervously.

"Bauer... it could be dangerous..."

"If we don't, we have to put all these people back to sleep, reboot the system..."

"I know, I know, but..."

"Hey..." His hands caress your cheeks. "It's going to be okay, trust me."

You nod your head and let him put his helmet on before walking out of the area leaving you there with all those people.

It's been two years after that, and you still feel goosebumps rise on your skin every time you open your eyes and the sun warms your face. The memory of the first time you left the bunker after so many years locked up, when you got out helped by Bauer, the Earth reduced to ashes, the almost deserted and inhospitable environment, a bluish and yellowish haze surrounded all your surroundings, but it was not toxic, it was not unpleasant, it did not damage your lungs or produce abrasive rashes on your skin, so it was true, everything seemed to return to normal little by little.

What surprised you most was to see the other facilities open up and join you.

Now there are about ten thousand of you passing the Earth again, a very poor number for all of you who were once, you had also lost in that period of time some of those illustrious people you had protected, some diseases had mutated becoming more aggressive and your immune systems were weakened to the time of hibernation, some had simply gone mad and could not stand the pressure of living this way. But it was not all bad, there were also births, some babies now growing strong and adapting their existence to the new world. The serums you used to sleep had a formula that blocked the menstrual period of the women, by no longer taking the serum, little by little they all recovered their cycles.

But yours not. At least not yet.

You and Bauer, your relationship is different now, you haven't grown apart, but there are so many things to do that your preferences are different. Or so you think. You know that your partner was married, that he had children, maybe he misses all that, maybe he wants or needs to start a family again, you wouldn't mind being that person with whom he could share his life forever, but now you are not the only one. Now there are more women out there.

You shuffle nervously in your seat, as a medical specialty, you help other renowned doctors to help your co-workers when they come with a problem, luckily things have calmed down a lot after the last year, but you always have to keep your guard up. You work in the bunker, it is the most sterilized area, you use them for important things, research, development and hospitalization, Bauer is part of the engineering team, they are in charge of expanding the city, fixing the less deteriorated buildings, giving them a second chance for all of you, there are exploration groups that keep traveling from one place to another looking for any survivor, water samples or any animal that does not represent a mortal threat for all of you. In two years you have come a long way, but there is still too much to do.

"That will be enough for today." You hear your companion beside you. "It's late, the night is cold these days, we should head home."

"Sure. See you tomorrow." You say goodbye, gathering your things.

You look at the clock, the one that used to count your hours of life, now it is back to tell you your working day, the days still have the same hours, curiously, in the calendar you measured the first day you all woke up as day 1 of the year Zero and since then you have been governed by the change of the seasons, the lunar and solar cycles, the tides, you try to make everything have a sense similar to before the world changed.

You put on your jacket properly, thankful that the clothing in the bunkers is prepared for extreme weather. As you return to the outside, you immediately recognize Bauer's ringing voice, he is waiting for you outside. Unconsciously your heart starts beating much faster as you quicken your pace to get outside to meet him. His work area is further away from your bunker, but when he's finished, he's gone to find you, it's those little details that always make you smile when you think of him, those little signs of affection, of bonding between you, as if you were still in the care period of the Sleeping Ones. Alone, you and him.

You stop as you reach outside, in front of you, Bauer is talking to a companion of yours, he smiles with his hands stuffed in the pockets of his work pants, she presses her work papers to her chest as she laughs and flirts, it looks like a scene from a teen movie, and you feel out of place. Your feet don't move, you just stand there, looking at them, not sure if you want to wait for them to finish talking or just step aside and leave without saying anything. But Bauer sees you, in one of those moments, when he smiles chewing his lip, his eyes search for you and then his attention to the other woman disappears completely to smile at you and raise his hand, waving at you. She stops talking too, following his gaze, discovering you, your stomach flips as you see the fear in her gaze, she knows she was doing something wrong, behind your back, she seems to want to tell him something else, but Bauer ignores her walking towards you. You have a few seconds ago put aside the worry of whether you are what Bauer needs, for the worry that his hand is bandaged.

"What happened to you?" You ask him worriedly.

"Hi to you too, did you have a good day?" he jokes giving you a kiss on the head.

"Hi, it's been a long day... How the hell did you do that to yourself?" you insist hearing him laugh.

"It's just a small cut, we're reusing the materials from some hibernation capsules and when separating the inner rings, I cut myself." He explains to you, shrugging, as if it's not important.

"Let me look at that." You ask, grabbing him by the wrist, walking back inside the bunker.

Bauer follows you without opening his mouth, with an amused smile, his eyes fixed on the back of your neck. He enjoys it when you take care of him, when you care, he loves to see how you smile when he comes to pick you up after work, how you welcome him home if his shift is at night and he comes home in the morning.

It's almost like coming home for real.

"Sit down." You ask him as you go to get some medical supplies.

He obeys by sitting at the table you used to use for eating, for checking diagnostics...for fucking. He grunts low at the thought of it, wherever he looks in that place, it all brings back memories of your times together, work was work, but fuck, Bauer loved the last twenty minutes on the clock, loved and hated them; on one hand it meant you had the time to yourselves, he's not proud, he knows that twenty minutes wasn't enough to show you what he could do with you, how he could make you feel, but he tried every time; on the other hand those twenty minutes meant that when the clock reached zero, you would go back to your capsules and go back to sleep for six more months, six months without seeing each other, at first he didn't care, but as time went by a strange feeling lodged in his stomach every time you lay down in your tanks and the hatches closed. What if they never opened again? What if you never saw each other again? What if it was all over and he hadn't told you everything he really felt?

"Show me your hand." Your voice, bringing him out of his thoughts, he lifts his head to see you sitting next to him and shows you his hand.

"Yes, ma'am." He smiles as you look sideways at him.

Carefully you undo the bandage little by little, unwrapping his hand, there is some blood on the cloth, but the wound doesn't seem very deep, a cut goes all the way across the palm of his hand, it still bleeds a little, but it doesn't worry you. You rest his hand in your lap opening new material to heal him and bandage him again.

"Thanks, I love having a nurse all to myself." He laughs and you snort in amusement.

"Idiot..."

"Maybe..." He leans towards you and kisses you slowly. "But I'm your idiot..."

You smile, but at the same time you are nervous, he kisses you again, you reciprocate his kiss by holding his hand when he touches your cheek, his hand on your thigh moves and you break the kiss slowly.

"Sometimes I miss being here, you know?" He confesses in a whisper causing you to look up at him. "Alone. You and me... with no one else knowing about us..." He continues to speak softly, his fingers playing with your hair.

"B-Bauer..."

"This place was ours, wasn't it? Maybe two hours every six months wasn't enough, but it was our home... don't you think?" He looks at you intently.

"D-don't say that... these people..." You try to be reasonable, he nods understanding you.

"I know, but sometimes I hate the way your boss looks at you." He confesses again, but this time he gets up, not giving you time to respond. "Let's go back, they'll be closing the doors soon and these days the night is getting cold."

You nod picking things up, leaving everything tidy again, Bauer takes your hand and the two of you leave the bunker. The walk home is silent, the sun is setting and the moon is beginning to appear, the glow creates an almost fantasy atmosphere, with all that dust in suspension acquiring new colors and lights. It is magical. Your body sticks a little closer to his, you feel a little cold in your hands and on the tips of your toes, it's something that always happens to you when you're nervous and the conversation with Bauer has left you a little upset, not in a bad way, you just feel that there are things you should keep talking about, but at the same time you're afraid of receiving an answer you don't want to hear.

"We're here." He tells you when you reach your house, you have rebuilt the least damaged part of an old New York City building turning it into a small house for yourselves, using still useful materials and things from the bunkers, for your small civilization it is enough. Bauer rests his hands on your shoulders and rubs your arms several times, intensely, a pleasant warmth comes over you and you laugh softly.

"Thank you."

"Are you better?" he asks you and you nod.

"Perfect, you're a perfect stove." You joke making him laugh too.

You separate, you go to the kitchen to prepare something to eat, at first you only had ration food, but the scouting parties kept finding animals and plants that were edible and didn't pose a threat to your system, adding them to your new diet. Electricity is still a difficult thing to control, you have managed to get some generators running, use elices from the wind fields to get power, but you still have a long way to go for that. You take out the jars of meat you have prepared, for better preservation, to add to the vegetables you are growing in your small fields. You feel Bauer settle in at the kitchen table to watch what you're doing.

"Do you know what Sarah was telling me earlier?" he says to you, breaking the small silence that has settled in the kitchen. Sarah is the partner he was talking to on the way out of the bunker. "Apparently her period is back."

You stop what you're doing, a shiver runs through you. You find it a little weird and awkward to walk up to someone and say, "Hey, my period's back." You know why it has, you saw it in her eyes when she saw you, she likes Bauer and would like to take advantage of her regained fertility with him.

"That's great, some women are worried about that."

"Yes, that's what she told me, she thought the serum had rendered her completely sterile." He shrugs. "I guess every woman will have her time..."

"We all have our times." You chuckle softly when you hear him snort.

"I'm happy for her, I imagine she was worried there would be some man she was interested in."

"Of course she is." You laugh in disbelief as you realize he doesn't know what you're talking about.

"Really? Who?" curiosity increases in his voice, he leans against the table as you turn around looking at him with raised eyebrows.

"Have you really not noticed or are you kidding me?" You ask him with mockery in your voice.

"Me? No, of course not, she didn't..."

"Bauer, I've seen her talking to you, the way she looks at you... it's obvious she likes you. A lot." You say turning back to dinner.

"She talks to everyone the same, I've never noticed any different treatment..."

"Maybe she doesn't have a definite type of taste in men, but she... she does want something with you."

"But I don't want anything with her." He assures you. "She's not my type."

You pause for a second, Bauer notices your hesitation, your doubt, he smiles because you're not looking at him, but he can sense that you've tensed, that there's something bothering you.

"Really?" you try to sound casual and it amuses the technician even more.

"Yes, I already have someone who fits my type of woman." He assures you, you tense up again, but you continue to prepare the food.

"I-I'm glad...now that there are so many of us...i-it's good to bond with others." You whisper, trying to believe what you're saying. "D-do I know her?"

"Her? Oh yes, of course..." He is amused by your attitude, you are jealous, annoyed, he can appreciate the trembling of your shoulders, of the stiffness of your whole being. He gets up from the table and walks towards you. "You know her very well... because it's you." His hands span your waist as you gasp at his touch and he pulls you away from the fire, resting your back against his chest.

"Bauer..."

"What's wrong? What's got you worried?" He speaks against your ear, very low.

"Nothing, it's just..." His hands caressing your waist make it hard for you to concentrate. "There are more women now... if you had interest in another..."

"Why do you think this is only one way?" He asks you and you tense up. "What if one day you find a guy you like better than me? Are you going to live being miserable just because you won't tell me?"

"N-no! That's not what I meant... I was thinking about you, because..." Your cheeks start to redden and your fingers twitch nervously on top of his hands. "I like being with you, Bauer, you're a great partner and we understand each other well, but... I don't know if I could ever give you a family if that's what you want..."

"We're back to the same thing." He sighs and rocks your body in his arms, very slowly. "That decision isn't mine alone to make either, we're not bringing a baby into the world just because I want to have one, do you understand me?" he shrugs and kisses the top of your head. "For now we have this, and I like what we have, I don't want to be with anyone else, suddenly one day the serum stops having an effect on your system? Well, we'll think about it when the time comes." He assures you and you are suddenly relieved at his words.

"I wouldn't mind having a family with you..." You confess feeling his embrace tighten. "B-besides it's not like we have a lot of birth control now either..." You try to joke and he shakes his head.

"Nope. And don't sell me that shit about oral sex or getting it out before I cum, I like your pussy too much, I'd never get it out in time." he comes clean and you laugh feeling your face burn.

"Why do you always have to spoil romantic moments?" You feel him laugh behind you, he turns you around to look at you and kisses you.

"Because you were getting so nervous, your hands are freezing." He says grabbing both of your hands, it's an immediate reaction, when you feel really nervous, your hands and feet freeze. "I had to warm up the atmosphere a bit." He smiles wiggling his eyebrows.

"Bauer, the food..." You try to sound responsible, but he shushes you with a longer kiss.

"I got what I feel like eating right here." He whispers kissing you again, then your cheek, moving down your jaw towards your neck, you sigh and tilt your head giving him better access.

"L-let me turn off..." You gasp closing your eyes for a moment before breaking your embrace and turning off the gas you're cooking with.

The gas canisters you have are a tremendously scarce commodity, used only for the bare essentials, you don't want to waste it for a quick fuck, not that, not the food. Bauer entangles you in his arms again, this time your kiss is more intense, wilder. He guides you over and sits you on the kitchen table, without separating your lips. His hands move everywhere, roaming over every nook and cranny of your body.

Your clothes quickly end up on the kitchen floor, the heat invades the room, your bodies are wrapped in a thin layer of sweat. Gasps, grunts, groans, moans and curses are heard echoing through the house, the wet sound of your bodies rubbing together is even obscene.

But you both want more.

That morning you woke up a little dizzy, with a dull head and a churning stomach, you have a strange taste in your mouth, but you don't want to give it importance, the cold is coming and it is possible that your defenses are somewhat low, something that can be combated with some medication and rest, if in the course of the day you do not improve, you will talk to your colleagues.

However, when the leader of your group asks you to take some samples for testing, your world turns upside down. Your stomach compresses and your feet lose stability making you almost fall.

"Watch out!" They help you by grabbing your shoulders. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm just a little dizzy; my stomach is weird." You tell them trying to let go, but they guide you to one of the gurneys.

"Sit down, we're going to run some tests on you."

"I'm fine, I had a big dinner last night and it's getting cold, I might be a little lazy, I just need to rest..."

"Sounds good to me, but let's rule out everything we can, okay?"

"Okay..." You mumble even though you don't agree.

Your companions examine you, draw your blood for some tests and leave you lying on the gurney while they continue with their work, you feel frustrated because you are fine, you can continue working, it was just a dizzy spell.

"Do you want me to alert Bauer?" Hear Sarah suddenly at your side. "He's your partner, isn't he? Maybe he could have symptoms too."

"I said I'm fine..."

"Yeah, besides what you have, it's not contagious." Says another partner who looks excited. "You're pregnant."

If you weren't lying down, you're sure you would have fallen on your ass at the news. Pregnant? That's impossible, if you haven't even menstruated since you left the bunker. And you doubt very much that Bauer has a magic penis.

"There must be some mistake, I'm still on the serum, I haven't gotten my period back."

"Possibly your egg was fertilized before it detached from your uterus with your first period, according to this you're almost two months along." He looks at you curiously and you continue to be surprised. "Hence your dizziness, nausea and possibly increased appetite... am I wrong?"

"No..." You admit feeling a little embarrassed now.

"I'm going to alert Bauer." You are told by the same coworker who gave you the surprise.

"No, that's not necessary." You say quickly. "They had an important project today, I'm sure he's busy and..."

"Sector ABC 108, do you read me?" you hear your team leader speak over the radio.

"This is Sector ABC108, we read you." They answer on the other end.

"I'm asking for Bauer, is he available? I'm the team lead medic for Sector FGH231."

"Bauer here." You hear his canned voice on the other end of the radio. "Is everything all right, is something giving you trouble?"

"Not exactly, it's your partner, maybe you should come over, we need to talk." He tells him and there is a shrill beep. "Bauer?"

"He's run off, I guess he'll be there in a few minutes." Informs his partner.

"Great, sorry I stole him from you guys."

"No problem, we were just finishing up, I hope it's something good."

"Yes, yes it is." He cuts the transmission and looks at you, you sigh.

It wasn't necessary to tell if, you think, you know Bauer might have freaked out, put himself in the worst situation. On the other hand you're a little worried, you don't know how he's going to react when he finds out, you don't know what to expect, it's true that Bauer has made it clear to you that he would like to have a family with you, but maybe this is too hasty. It's not like you planned it either....

You hear his clumsy footsteps stumble against the front door, he curses through his teeth and you can't help but let out a chuckle. He appears through the door shaking the strands of hair stuck to his face, his eyes travel full speed around the room until he finds you sitting on the gurney, the grimace on his face turns into a confused and worried grimace.

"What's wrong?" He walks quickly over to you and holds your face in his hands. "Are you okay?" He touches your forehead as if to check that you don't have a fever.

"I'm fine, you shouldn't have come in such a hurry..."

"Why are you lying here? You've been so strange for a few days..."

"You've noticed it too..." You laugh softly and he's still confused. "I-I'm pregnant..." You tell him and you see his eyes widen.

"B-but..." He doesn't know how to say it without sounding wrong.

"You didn't give her time." Jokes the doctor in your group. "Do you want us to examine him? Let's check how he's doing?"

Your companions bring in the equipment to give you an ultrasound, Bauer still looks shocked, but you both hold your breath when you see the small lump on the screen.

You feel your eyes fill with tears, Bauer next to you squeezes your hand and kisses you on the cheek at the same time as your colleagues explain that the baby's development is fine, that everything is in order, now you are going to have to take things more calmly, but you are sure you won't be able to stop, you have never been good at being a calm person.

Bauer next to you kisses you again and his hand rests on your belly, caressing it, you look at each other and he rests his forehead against yours.

"I didn't know..."

"Hey, don't even think about apologizing or whatever it is you're doing right now." He stops you. "It's perfect, okay? It's ours, this is our family, and I wouldn't trade it for anything." He assures you and you smile kissing him again. "I love you..."

"I love you, Bauer..."

**************

.

The End.

.

.

Hope you liked it!

“Where’s the fuckin’ Narcan?!” You kept your fingers against Bauer’s neck, his pulse growing fainter as his breathing slowed. “Cartwright!” You snapped your fingers sharply, glare boring into the man across the small space. His eyes were wide as if in disbelief of what he had done. “Find the goddamn Narcan!” Regardless of his wound, Cartwright sprang into action. You’d need to watch him closely, not trusting him to be at your back.

“No, no, no.” Bauer clumsily swatted at you. “You two—you go, clock’s tickin’.”

“It’s not.” You grabbed his face, his eyes fluttering to remain on you. “It’s not. While you two were battle royaling it all over the fucking facility, I was rerouting ventilation flow from ABC. There were two uncompromised ducts.”

“Great.” His injured hand fell to the metal floor with a thud while he pushed at you with the other, weak as a kitten. “You still—just go—I’m—” Bauer went silent, a longer pause between each breath before his chest just didn’t rise again.

“Cartwright!”

“I’ve got it! I’ve got it!” 

You snatched the syringe so quickly that you threw the man off balance, not caring if or where he fell. Cracking the cap off between your teeth, you jabbed the needle roughly into Bauer’s bicep. With your background, you were aware of what needed to be done. The anxiety of not being able to see Cartwright was heavily overpowered by the need to save Vincent. Disregarding your own safety entirely, you adjusted Bauer’s head and neck, pinched his nose, and began rescue breathing.

“Should it not—”

“Shut the fuck up, Cartwright.” You hissed between breaths. Narcan could take 2 to 3 minutes to begin counteracting the opioid in Vincent’s system, and that was only if you had injected him in time. “Come on, breathe.” You would not cry. You would not cry. 

“Rise n’ shine, puddin’ pop!” Bauer leaned over your chamber, smiling down at you. He was always the first to awaken. How? You had no idea since the timers on the chambers were all set identically. It was always Bauer, you, and then Cartwright. And it was always long enough for the man to already have gained his balance and gathered his wits, which you could definitely do without.

“Oh, god, go away.” You groaned, knowing your voice was muffled by the capsule.

“Don’t be like that already.” He grinned and chuckled at the weak raise of your middle finger.

“Cartwright.” You felt for a pulse, finding the slightest trace of a thrum beneath your fingertips. Two more breaths and then, with a single quick grab, you were raising Bauer’s gun and motioning for the other man to move. “I want you where I can see you. Now.” He stood, hands in the air and walked back toward the medical cart. “I don’t think so. Other way. Not gonna give you a chance to fuck me up too.” Lowering the gun, your eyes remained locked on man’s every movement while you continued to breathe for Vincent. “Sit. And don’t fucking move.”

“My god, give the poor thing a minute to recover before you break it.” You laughed, splicing the end of a wire as Vincent smacked you on the ass with his Playboy. You simply shook your head fondly. It had been years of these short intervals, enough time for the three of you to become close. For you to know about Bauer’s family when he hadn’t yet told Cartwright. He would, eventually.

“Maybe if you’d take the place of the magazine, I’d be too tired to hang that sock on the door.” His arm wound around your stomach as he made snorting noises against your neck, letting go just as quickly. He was harmless and you were comfortable around him, sarcastic and vulgar as he was.

“Maybe when we can breathe outside of this hole in the ground, I’ll think about it.”

“This isn’t what I wanted.” 

“Don’t feed me that bullshit. We saw the footage. You were—” Your words broke off into a sob when Vincent’s chest stuttered and he began to draw in wheezing breaths on his own. He wasn’t off the hook but he wasn’t dead. “Thank god.” You patted Bauer’s chest and raised the gun again. “You’re going to help me get him to the chambers. I’ve got the parts, I’m just debating on whether we’ll need a third one after all.”

“Y/N, please underst—”

“Don’t. You know he was right. You can’t be trusted. Get up.” You weren’t even sure your legs would hold you but you wouldn’t let him see you tremble. He was bigger than you, could likely overpower you even with an injury. “Where’s the Narcan? He may need more.” Cartwright jerked his chin at the medcart where three pre-filled syringes lay. Grabbing them, you placed them in the pocket of your coveralls and jerked the gun toward Bauer, your eyes flitting over to find him still breathing on his own. “You’ll have to haul him.”

“I’m not sure—”

“Well, get sure because I’m not taking my eyes off you.” The man swallowed hard and looked toward something or someone you couldn’t see but he proceeded to move where you had told him. “I don’t know what invisa-wife is telling you but I don’t recommend listening. If you so much as look at Vincent the wrong way or if he dies from this, I will open her chamber, shoot her in the face, and then lock you in there with her so you can both rot. Do you get me?”

“Yes—yes, I understand.”

“Good. Now get him up, nice and easy.” You’ve hurt him enough. You and Cartwright were all Bauer had left. Your father had been in a chamber at ABC, but there was no love lost there. Vincent and Cartwright had been your family. “Let’s just make sure everyone lives today, okay?”

Your legs were bouncing as you watched the clock tick down. Vincent was still breathing unassisted but he hadn’t woken. You were horrified to administer the sleep cocktail until he was at least conscious and could tell you his thoughts. He was already positioned on the chamber table, as was Cartwright; the difference being that the latter was handcuffed, wrists and ankles, with a chain weaving below the mat on his table. You had hidden the key. He wasn’t going anywhere unless you were awake to allow it.

“Please, Y/N, just let me explain.” He tried again, flinching when you slammed the gun down on the table behind you. 

“You were seeing hallucinations of a wife that you decided not to tell us—your supposed family—about even though she is one the reasons we’re cycling in and out of this hell. You went off into delulu-land and nearly let Vincent suffocate while I was trying to hardwire a way to buy us a little more time. And then you decided that because good ol’ Bauer was a little sore at you for nearly letting him check out early, that he was the bad guy. Did I miss anything?”

Cartwright opened his mouth but closed it, obviously seeing the futility in attempting to reason with you. Wise decision.

“Yeah, I didn’t think so.” Pushing to your feet, you grabbed up the tablet next to his chamber and began to type, scheduling his pod—the replacement that may or may not operate correctly to keep him alive—to open an hour later than your own and Vincent’s for the next cycle. You ignored his protests and watched the machine close in around him. “Night, night.”

“Y/N?”

You spun on your heels, nearly toppling over when you heard Bauer’s weak call. Leaning over him, much like he always did when you were waking up, you smoothed his dark hair away from his face. “Vincent, hey. Oh my god, you’re awake. Hey, how do you feel?” He looked pale, disoriented, and tired, but opted to give you a thumbs up. “Liar.”

“What happened?”

“Cartwright.” You nearly snarled. After a moment of squinting toward the ceiling, the memories must have surfaced because he was turning wide eyes toward you.

“You kill him?” You shook your head. “He sleepin’, then?”

“Yeah, put some extra time in so we’re awake first and I’ll have to unchain him.”  

The man angled his head to look at you in bewilderment, eyebrows shooting toward his hairline. “Unchain? Goddamn, you are kinky.” You smacked his shoulder.

“Shut up.” With a glance back at the clock, your face fell. “We have about eight minutes. I need to get situated too, but Bauer, I’m afraid—”

“I’ll be fine.” He gave you a lopsided smile and reached up to bump his knuckles against your jaw. “Just get it all done and I’ll see ya in six months, okay? Promise.” His smile held and after a moment, you wiped away a stray tear and returned the expression. It didn’t take long to hook everything up and set the chambers to auto-disengage in six months. You made sure Bauer was comfortable and then climbed into your own. 

“Sleep tight, asshat.” You smiled.

“You, too, puddin’ pop.” You laid back and waited for the timer to signal your capsules to close. “Hey, Y/N!” When you sat up slightly, Vincent was grinning at you. “You ripped up my ticket to paradise. Better be ready to book me another.”