#llnwrites

"Visitor?" Ai Di asked in confusion but stepped out of line and followed the guard anyway. He had been here a week so far and there had been no contact from anyone on the outside other than his lawyer the Boss had set him up with.

"Hm," The guard nodded in confirmation, "Your brother is here to see you."

'Brother?!' Ai Di caught himself before he tripped over in shock, 'Chen Yi was here?'

"Through here," The guard directed Ai Di to the visitor's room.

Ai Di sat down and waited for Chen Yi to be led in, a small grain of hope growing in his chest at the chance to see him again. Moments passed and Ai Di grew restless, his leg bounced and fingers tapped against the table.

But that hope was crushed when Ze Rui walked into the room instead of Chen Yi.

"Brother," ZeRui smiled at Ai Di as he sat down, "It's good to see that prison is treating you well."

Ze Rui was dressed in his teacher's get up, all glasses and smart pressed shirt with slacks. Prim and proper, definitely not looking like someone that was associated with gangsters daily. Some family tie documentation could have easily been faked in order for Ze Rui to see Ai Di.

“I wasn't expecting to see you here,” Ai Di tilted his head to the side and frowned, trying to piece together why Ze Rui was here, “How’s the rest of the family?” Ai Di probed.

“Our cousin is recovering nicely from his injury,” Ze Rui smiled knowingly, “He should be out of the hospital within the week.”

‘Chen Yi is okay then,’ Ai Di sighed in relief.

“And the ones that hurt him?”

“Uncle says not to worry, that he’ll be going after them to the full extent of the law.”

‘The Boss will deal with them personally then,’ Ai Di nodded to himself, as much as he wanted to get revenge for Chen Yi, he was in no position to do so himself.

Minutes passed and Ze Rui continued to update Ai Di on the ongoing deals of the gang through carefully coded wording. But soon enough Ai Di grew bored, he knew there was some other reason Ze Rui was here.

“As much as I love to see family,” Ai Di lent forward and rested his chin on his upturned hand, “I’m sure you're heading somewhere with all this small talk. Why don’t you get to the real reason for seeing me? Considering no one else has.”

“Ah, Ai Di, you’re too clever for me.”

“Doubt it,” Ai Di scrunched up his nose, “You’re just being -” Ai Di just waved his hand around, “- pretty heavy handed with your approach.”

“You caught me,” Ze Rui raised his hands in defeat, “I need to ask a favour of you.”

Ai Di raised an eyebrow at the request, “I don’t think I can do much for you from where I’m sitting.”

“Oh Ai Di,” Ze Rui reached over and took a hold of Ai Di’s free hand, “You’re in the best position to help me.” The blonde frowned at those words, “Before you turn me down, consider this: you say yes to my favour and when you get out in four years time, you can ask anything of me and I won’t ask any questions.”

Ai Di mulled over Ze Rui’s words, but he knew a good deal when he was offered one, “What do you want me to do.”

Ze Rui smiled and pulled up a plain box that he had kept on the floor. He pushed it towards Ai Di and began to explain.

---

Hours later Ai Di found himself back in his cell, laying on his stiff mattress and staring at the ceiling. His former cellmate had been removed a mere 30 minutes after he had gotten back from his time with Ze Rui, and his prison bank account had been loaded with a sizable sum of money. Tomorrow he would use the money to make the room a bit more comfortable.

He was startled out of his thoughts when a guard banged on the door.

“Hands and feet where I can see them,” The guard called out.

Ai Di rolled his eyes and sighed, but nevertheless pulled himself up to a seated position on the edge of his cot, hands folded neatly onto his knees. The small window at eye height slid open and the guard grunted with approval. Ai Di heard the door unlock and then slid open.

“You’ve got a new cellmate, prisoner,” The guard grunted, “Try not to break this one.”

“I didn’t break the last one,” Ai Di rolled his eyes with a smirk, “I barely even touched him.”

“Of course you didn’t,” The guard agreed stiffly, as he stepped aside to reveal Ai Di’s new cellmate, “He just nearly brained himself trying to get out of the room when we told him he was moving.”

“Sounds like a him problem,” Ai Di replied with a shrug.

The guard gave the new cellmate a slight shove into the cell, before he slammed the door shut behind him, “Behave,” The guard called out before leaving the two cellmates to get to know each other.

Ai Di’s eyes rovered over his new cellmate, the other man stood still and silent in the middle of the cell, while never taking his eyes off the ground.

“So,” Ai Di kicked his feet out in amusement, “How do you feel about cake?”

His cellmates' whole body flinched in surprise, his head jerked up to meet Ai Di’s gaze.

“I just had a visit from my brother,” Ai Di began to explain as he pulled out the box Ze Rui had given him, “House rules say that things you get from family are meant to be shared with cellmates. So, how do you feel about cake?”

The other man opened and closed his mouth a few times, before he finally asked, “What type of cake?”

“Strawberry cake.” Ai Di watched as his cellmate gasped softly in surprise and sat down on the edge of his own cot. Ai Di nodded before taking out one of the two slices of cake and handed it over, “My brother will be very happy that I’m sharing his gift.”

“Thank you,” The other man said, “I’m Bai Zong Yi.”

They had been called out to a simple car crash involving a van and a little two-seater. When they arrived on the scene, the firefighters were in the beginnings of wedging open the door of the more severely injured driver. With the other driver already seated on the curb, blood oozing from a head wound and a female firefighter crouched down low, talking softly to her.

“Captain Rogers! Over here!” The fire captain, Jonathan Martin, called out waving the paramedics over.

Captain Rogers nodded towards the fire captain, “With me,” She gestured to her on loan recruits. “Gillian please head over to the driver on the curb and assess the situation. Strand, you are going to check on the mum in the van and go from there. I’m going to check in with Captain Martin.”

“Yes Captain.”

“Yes Cap.”

Nancy and TK grabbed their medbags before exiting the ambulance and trailed behind their captain, eyes trained on the crash in front of them. It wasn’t the worst crash they had been called to. Nancy smiled at TK and bumped his shoulder before going over to her patient.

TK rolled his eyes and smirked back, before making his way to his own patient. A patient that the firefighters were lifting out of the driver’s seat of the van and placing her on a waiting gurney. TK frowned, it looked like he’d have to do his assessment while on the move.

“Hello ma’am, my name’s TK,” TK placed his bag on the ground near the van, took hold of a penlight and shined it into her eyes, “Can you tell your name?”

“S-stacy,” The woman groaned, as the gurney was slowly moved away from the van.

“Nice to meet you Stacy,” TK began to check over the mother, noticing the bleeding wound on her head, “Can you tell me where you are hurting?”

“Mmh, my h-head and b-back.”

“Well, we’re gonna get you to the hospital and get that looked at. But I’m going to put a stop to the bleeding from your head,” TK quickly ducked back to his bag and grabbed the necessary equipment he needed.

With swift and skilled hands, TK makes short work of the injury, stemming the bleeding with a dressing, “How does that feel?”

Stacy’s eyes fluttered, “B-better.”

“That’s good,” TK smiled down to his patient and turned to one of the firefighters, his turnout coat reading Ritter, who was standing at the edge of the crash site, “Can you help me load her into the ambulance?”

“Uh, sure,” Ritter blinked and grabbed a hold of the end of the gurney and began rolling it towards one of the waiting ambulances.

TK took a few steps forward before he realised that his bag was still on the floor near the van.

“Hey, Ritter, give me a sec. Forgot my bag.”

There was a grunt of acknowledgement from the firefighter as he kept the gurney rolling to safety, TK spun on his heel and headed back towards the van. The bag was exactly where he had left it, near the front door of the van. Bending down to pick it, TK frowned and took a deep breath, he could smell petrol and it was strong. Looking around, TK tried to see the source of the smell, but he was pulled from his search by the voice of the fire captain yelling caught his attention.

“Get out of there!” A warning yelled out across the street.

But the call came too late.

TK frowned as he turned to look at the front of the van, his eyes widened as the engine sparked and quickly burst into flames. That was only a visual warning TK got before the entire engine exploded outward. TK only just managed to turn his body away from the blast before his body was thrown to the floor. TK let out a yelp as his head slammed into the asphalt, his vision swam and piercing pain radiated throughout his entire head. TK knew he had another injury to add to his tally.

He was face down on the asphalt, trying to stop the world spinning, when he gasped as he felt a pair of strong hands gripped him under his armpits and hauled his body away from the burning van. His vision swam and he could definitely feel blood oozing down his face.

'Carlos is going to kill me,' TK thought to himself as he felt himself lose the battle to stay conscious.

-----

An underdetermined amount of time later, TK managed to drag himself back to the land of the living. As he opened his eyes, he immediately could tell that something wasn't quite right. TK frowned at the white roof of the familiar room of a hospital, he could feel someone’s hands gently pressing against his head, checking on the bandages that encircled his head wound. But that wasn’t what was bothering him.

It was the distinct lack of noise that usually accompanied his visits to a hospital.

TK attempted to voice that he was awake to those around him, but he stopped when no sound escaped his mouth. He tried again, but he heard nothing. Beginning to freak out slightly, TK attempted to push himself to a sitting position, but was stopped by a familiar hand pressed firmly, but gently on his shoulder, guiding him back down to lay on the bed.

Carlos’ relieved face came into view and TK was very happy to see his boyfriend. But he blinked up at Carlos as his boyfriend began to speak to him. His lips moved and TK could vaguely make out what he was saying, but TK frowned when he heard absolutely nothing. With shaky hands, he pressed them to his ears, checking for damage.

“No, no, no,” TK muttered to himself, not that he heard it. He clicked his fingers right next to his ear, hoping to hear something, anything, but still he heard nothing.

Panic began to build. He continued to click, one hand after another. It was only a matter of time, he’d definitely hear something.

TK was startled out of his panic, when strong hands grabbed his own and held them lightly against his chest. He had completely forgotten that Carlos was there. Concern was plainly painted across Carlos’ face, TK tried to focus when Carlos began to speak again. He recalled an old friend back in New York that had been hard of hearing since birth and her attempts to teach him to read lips and some basic words in ASL. Looking towards Carlos’ lips, TK focused on trying to work out what his boyfriend was saying, but his mouth was moving too fast for TK to follow.

TK pulled his hands free from Carlos’ grip and pressed them up to cover Carlos’ mouth, halting whatever he was saying.

“Slow down,” TK felt his mouth move, but still no sound came out but hoped that he spoke loud enough for Carlos to hear.

Carlos paused and frowned at TK’s request. Gently pulling TK’s hands away from his mouth, he tried again.

“TK . . . you . . . okay?” This time Carlos spoke slowly and TK was able to follow along a bit better. He still missed a few words here and there, but he got the general gist of what Carlos was asking.

But he had more pressing issues.

“Carlos, I can’t hear anything.”

The only thing that TK could focus on was getting to his first aid kit in the bathroom and stopping the bleeding. Then maybe he would remember to call for an ambulance. TK pressed hard down on the stab wound causing blood to seep out through his fingers. TK stumbled through the hallway, dropping his bag in the middle of the doorway. Using the walls for support, TK was unaware that he left a bloody handprint on the hallway towards the bathroom.

Finally he managed to get to the bathroom and push his way through the door. TK leaned heavily onto the sink as he gritted his teeth through the pain, bloody hands gripping the edge of the porcelain. Now came the hard part, the first aid kit was in the cupboard - under the sink. TK knew that it was going to be painful to get it, but he really did need it to stop the bleeding.

Hunched over, TK breathed through gritted teeth and used his free hand to reach down and attempt to open the cupboard. It took him a few attempts before the cupboard door was pried open, sharp pain hindering his attempts. TK sighed in relief when he saw the first aid kit sitting where he had left it from the last time he had used it.

Gripping the strap, TK pulled the kit up and placed it on the edge of the sink. With a shaky hand he opened it up and pulled out bandages, gauze, an alcohol base cleanser and some tape, everything he thought he needed to stop the bleeding.

TK hissed in pain, as he ripped open the bottom half of his shirt, carefully avoiding knocking the knife still sticking out of his gut. TK gasped at the sight of his stomach. Blood continued to ooze out of his stab wound, staining his skin, the bottom of his shirt and the top of his jeans.

‘This outfit was going to have to go straight into the trash,’ TK thought to himself, as he prepared himself to pour the cleaner onto the open wound.

TK let out a horrible shout, as the alcohol was poured down his front. The pain knocked him off his feet and TK found himself thumping down to the floor, the cleanser bottle rolling away from TK’s slacked gripped.

Reaching up with shaky hands, TK pulled down the gauze and he pressed it as hard as he could to his wound. With his free hand, he grabbed for the bandages and attempted to wrap it over the gauze and around the protruding knife, securing it in place.

TK let out a deep sigh as he finished his task, but looking around the bathroom, he winced at the sight that surrounded him. Blood pooled around where he sat, bloody hand prints painted the sink and the cupboard handles, while a trail of blood led from his seated position and out towards the hallway. It looked like a murder scene.

Leaning back against the bathroom wall, TK pressed his hand to the bandages and debated whether or not to call for an ambulance. The paramedic in him knew that he was in danger due to the blood loss and he was in dire need of a blood transfusion. But the other part of him didn’t want to worry anyone. It was the middle of the day, everyone was at work not the best time to call anyone. The blood loss wasn’t letting him think clearly at all.

A moment passed and TK could feel himself beginning to grow cold and his head started to get heavier. He struggled to keep his eyes open. With a groan TK attempted to pat his pockets for his phone, it was definitely time to call for help before things got worse.

TK frowned when he came up empty and then sighed, “That’s right,” He muttered to himself, “I got mugged. No phone.”

Just his luck, when he wants to call for help, he’s unable too. TK blinked slowly, each time it was harder and harder to keep them open. His mind grows foggy with each passing moment. TK knew that going to sleep would be bad, it was hard to remember why sleeping was bad.

TK jerked his head up when he felt it drop down to his chest. The movement caused a sharp pain to erupt from his stomach. TK gasped out loud, as his whole body burned.

‘That’s right, I was stabbed,’ He thought as he poked the bandages, hissing at the pain he brought upon himself, ‘Not a good idea.’

He reminded himself that Carlos should be home soon, his shift was over at 1pm, if he could wait until then everything would be fine. TK could feel himself struggling to think clearly, his eyes grew heavier and he finally let himself slip into unconsciousness. A small smile graced his face as he heard the front door open, before the darkness completely took him.

“Babe, I’m hom-”

“LAFD!” Eddie called out, as he knocked on the third door on their list.

The door opened a crack and a face peeked out, “What do you want?” The man inside looked annoyed at being disturbed.

“Sir,” Eddie started, “A gas leak has been reported and you are required to leave the premises.”

The man narrowed his eyes, debating whether or not to believe Eddie’s words. But after a few moments, the man nodded and exited his apartment. He followed Ravi’s directions down the stairs and to the tent set up, where numerous other residents were standing and waiting.

Eddie sighed in relief, that the man hadn’t fought him on the issue.

“Next door?” Ravi questioned.

Eddie nodded. They went on for a few more minutes before they came upon the last door of the whole motel.

“LAFD! There’s been a reported gas leak,” Eddie bangs on the door, but frowns when he hears no movement from within the apartment, “Are we sure the owner is home?” He turned and asked Ravi.

Ravi blinked, looking down at his list and nodded, “Yeah, the landlord says the man renting this place hasn’t left in two days.”

“Okay,” Eddie sighs and places his hand on the doorknob intending to open it just a crack, “Sir? If you’re in here it’s not safe, we need you to comes wit-”

There was a click and Eddie’s eyes widened.

His body moved before he could even think about it. The door swings open and Eddie is throwing himself backwards, as far and as fast as he can go and taking Ravi down with him. He puts himself between Ravi and the door, protecting the younger man with his own body. The noise is deafening as a large fireball erupts from the room, splintering the door outwards off its hinges and into a million little pieces. Heat burns his back, as Eddie feels himself fly through the air, bouncing hard off the railing of the balcony, then he’s hitting the ground.

There’s a moment where Eddie is in complete darkness, having hit his head against the ground. But Eddie fights his way back to the light and pushes through the pain. He awakens to find wood splinters and smoke raining down around him. Eddie can vaguely hear yelling and shouting coming from the ground floor. In the back of his head, he knows it's only a matter of time before someone comes to get them.

Eddie’s ears are ringing when he finally opens his eyes fully and he shakes his head to clear it, with no success. Blinking down, he notices Ravi, safely tucked underneath him, looking dazed and confused up at the roof, but otherwise looking fine. Eddie opens his mouth to try and ask if he’s okay, but no sound comes out, instead Eddie groans in pain.

A sharp, burning pain rips through his side. Eddie moves his hands to where the pain is coming from , but flinches horribly when he comes into contact with a large shard of shrapnel protruding from his side. His instincts are telling to remove the thing that is causing him pain but the medical side is telling him to leave it if he wants to make it to the hospital with most of his blood.

So focused on his injury, Eddie barely notices when Ravi is slipping out from under him and calling for help from any paramedic available, all while making sure to keep Eddie awake.

Moments later there is a flurry of movement around him and Eddie is eased onto his back by Ravi and Chimney. Hen is there pressing gauze to and around the most prominent shrapnel piece, her lips are moving as she gives orders but Eddie still can’t hear a thing over the buzzing in his ears. Hands carefully check around the injured area to check for any other impalements and Eddie can tell that there’s more when the stinging starts to register.

“-uck, is going to kill me,” Ravi’s fretting was the first words that Eddie hears, after the buzzing in his ears dies down.

Eddie blinks at the mention of Buck and tries to focus on the conversation happening above him, but he doesn’t last very long and finds himself getting pulled into the darkness. Hen had administered some morphine to take the edge off and it worked beautifully. Eddie hopes Buck is there the next time he wakes up.

“No he won’t,” Hen reassures Ravi, while working to stop the bleeding.

“His boyfriend got hurt protecting me,” Ravi stressed, as he handed things to Hen as she requested them, “I think he’ll take that personally. He’ll never take a day off again without Eddie.”

“Hmm, true. But,” Chimney said, while placing the c-collar around Eddie’s neck and moving him, with the help of Ravi, onto the backboard, “Good news is you don’t have to tell him.”

Ravi paled dramatically at the mere thought of telling Buck that Eddie had been hurt again while on the job.

“Cap, gets the privilege of that job,” Chimney smirks at the look on Ravi’s face, “But, just a little advice, you might want to steer clear of him until Eddie is out of the hospital.”

Satisfied with where Eddie was, Buck disappeared down the hallway to retrieve the first aid kit from the bathroom. He returned moments later, to find Eddie struggling to remove his sling one handed.

“Let me help with that,” Buck dropped the first aid kit onto the couch and reached over to release the sling’s clasp.

Placing the sling next to the kit, Buck took a look at Eddie’s shirt and winced at what he saw. A large amount of blood had seeped across his shirt, staining the grey button up. Buck could only guess that some of the stitches had ruptured.

“Can I?” Buck asked, gesturing to the buttons off Eddie’s shirt.

Eddie only shrugged, but quickly regretted the action and winced slightly, “Go ahead.”

With swift fingers, Buck undid the buttons of the shirt, gently he pulled it open and slipped it off Eddie’s shoulders. Dropping the shirt to the floor, Buck could see blood seeping through the bandages that were wrapped around Eddie’s chest and shoulder.

“What were you doing when Christopher noticed the bleeding?” Buck asked as he began to unravel the bandages.

“Nothing much,” Eddie gritted his teeth as Buck manoeuvred around his injury, “Took a shower, helped Chris get ready for school, made breakfast. You know, the usual. Then Carla arrived and took Christopher to school. He must have called you in the car.”

“You’re meant to be taking it easy Eddie,” Buck pointed out with concern, “You’ve been out of the hospital how long? I know I was at work but you could have waited for Carla, you know she’s happy to help.”

“I know how to look after myself and our kid. I have done this before,” Eddie snapped, “I’m not useless.”

“Hey,” Buck raised his hands in mock surrender, “I never said that. I know you’re quite capable, you've proved that time and time again.” Buck took the soiled bandages and placed them on the floor next to his feet, so he could get rid of them later, “It’s just you’re not 100% at the moment. You’ve been out of hospital for, what, 4 days now, you’re allowed to ask for help. Bobby says I could have another week off, to help you with the transition of being back home. I’ve got the leave saved up.”

“I don’t want you doing that,” Eddie sighs.

“I know, but I can if I want too. It’s my choice,” Buck looked at Eddie’s bullet wound, it didn’t look too bad, it was still red and raw. There was blood staining the skin of Eddie’s chest, but luckily he hadn’t pulled any of his stitches out, “Looks like you’re in luck,” Buck said with a smile.

“Yeah? What does Dr Buckley say?”

“Yep,” Buck replied, “No need for another trip to the hospital, nothing’s been pulled out or broken. You must have just aggravated the wound with everything you did this morning.”

“Well that is good news.”

“Definitely,” Buck sighed in relief, “I’ll clean it and replace the bandage. And then we’ll have to talk about what you need from me to make things easier around here for you.”

“Buck,” Eddie sighed deeply, “I don’t want you giving up work to play nursemaid to me, I’ll be fine. I am fine. Patch me up and go back to work.”

“Well, about that,” Buck pulled the alcohol swabs out of the first aid kit and began to wipe down Eddie’s chest, removing all the blood, all while Eddie winced each time Buck got to close the bullet wound, “Bobby told me not to come back today, apparently I was distracted.”

“Buck.”

“So you’re stuck with me, lucky you,” Buck smirked and pressed a quick kiss to Eddie’s lips, “That means you have all day to try and convince me to not take time off.”

Eddie rolled his eyes at Buck’s words but smiled at the caring tone of his voice.

“I wish you luck,” Buck leant forward and happily gave Eddie another kiss, “You’ll need it, I’ve heard that I can be quite stubborn.”

Ice drops clung to his eyelashes as TK glanced around his surroundings, he grimaced as he noticed that he was completely alone. TK knew that he was truly screwed if he didn’t get warm soon, frostbite and hypothermia was bound to hit soon, especially with the wind starting to pick up.

Pushing himself to his knees, TK hissed as his shivering grew worse. His whole body jerked, causing him to bite his lip and blood began to drip down his face. The cold air solidified the blood before it could make it down his chin.

“Fuck,” TK hissed, rubbing his hands up and down his arms, as fast as he could, trying to get any warmth into his body. Logically he knew he needed to get warm, his life depended on it, but the friction he was creating just wasn’t enough to make a dent in the deep seated cold he could feel down to his bones.

“Get up TK,” He said to himself through clenched teeth, in an attempt to not bite off his tongue, “This isn’t the end. Get up and walk.”

Pressing his hands to the ground, TK forced himself to stand up. He needed to get back to his team. One foot in front of the other, his legs shook painfully and he stumbled into a tree but TK pressed forward. Around the pond and to the left - he was sure of it - then he’d been back with Tommy and Nancy. They would know how to get warm, they were good like that.

TK stumbled again, catching himself on a large boulder. Cursing to himself as he started to lose feeling in his left foot. Now was not the time for frostbite to show up. TK blinked and looked around, confused on why he was out in the snow. A moment passed with TK standing still in a daze, snow clung to eyelashes and lips, before he shook his head harshly, trying to clear the fog.

‘Get to Tommy and Nancy,’ He thought to himself with a frown, not expecting to be so affected by the cold, ‘That was, no it is, the plan. Don’t stop and get to Tommy and Nancy.’

He panted harshly as he pushed himself off the boulder.

“TK!”

He jerked at the faint sound of someone calling his name.

“TK!”

TK turned and pushed his way to where he thought the sound was coming from. A few more steps and he’ll stop for a rest, his body beginning to grow tired. Then something strange happened. TK looked down at his hands and noticed that they stopped shaking. In fact his whole body had stopped shivering.

“Not good,” TK mumbled to himself and began fumbling with the zipper on his jacket, planning to remove frozen clothes.

Not shivering meant he had lost too much body heat. He should have taken off his wet clothes as soon as he had pulled himself out of the pond. Shaking his head at his own stupidity, TK threw his jacket to the ground with a thump. The thing barely moved as it hit the ground, frozen solid. TK continued to remove his uniform, as each article of clothing came off, the more tired he grew.

Once he was completely naked, TK looked down at his hands. He frowned at the blue tinge they were sporting. Taking off his wet clothes should have helped. Maybe he needed to sit down and think things through.

“TK!”

He felt so tired, a small voice in the back of his head that strangely sounded like Carlos was telling not to close his eyes. He dropped down into a snowbank, he barely flinched when his back connected with the snow. The Carlos in his head continued to warn him about the dangers of falling asleep but the pull of the darkness was getting too strong.

TK lay there, blinking slowly up at the grey sky, each time getting harder and harder to keep his eyes open.

“TK!”

Time crawled by. It took him a while but TK finally noticed that he wasn’t feeling the cold anymore. That was good, confirming to himself that it was the right decision to take off his clothes. If he really thought about it, he wasn’t really feeling much of anything. But that was a problem for another day. Right now, TK was debating whether or not to go to sleep and wait the snow out.

It wasn’t really a tough decision. TK lacked the necessary energy to stand back up and he figured that if he stayed in the one spot, someone was bound to find him sooner or later.

“TK!”

He could already hear someone calling his name, they’d be here soon.

“TK!”

It felt like hours, but TK finally gave in. He let his eyes fall shut. The voices were closer now, it was safe to sink into the darkness.

Captain Mehta forces Buck to the ground, covering his body with his own and pressing his head down, all while yelling into his radio about shots fired.

"Get down! Shots fired. A firefighter is down! I repeat, a firefighter is down!"

Buck forces his head up and watches as blood begins to pool alarmingly quickly around Eddie's fallen body, staining the asphalt a sickly crimson. Buck knows that time is of the essence, if Eddie has a chance of survival he needs medical help now. His eyes flicker towards the firetruck and he spys the gap underneath, Buck thinks that it could be used as cover.

With that in mind, Buck pushes himself out from under Captain Mehta and rolls straight under the truck. The quickest way from point A to point B is a straight line, that's what he tells himself as he pushes forward.

“Come on, Eddie,” Buck calls out, as he begins crawling towards the front of the truck, “Stay down! I’m gonna come! I got you!” The hard asphalt digs into his palms as drags himself forward.

Warding off his own memories of being crushed and pressing forward, any hesitation could mean deadly consequences for Eddie. With his eyes focused entirely on his fallen friend, Buck pays little attention to the calls and shouts from the other firefighters.

He’s almost there, Buck throws himself out from the cover of the truck and calls out to Eddie. “Eddie, hang on. Eddie . . .”. Hand reaching out, Buck’s fingers graze the tips of Eddie’s, a bit more and he’ll be able to pull Eddie to safety. That was the only thought running through Buck’s head.

Buck stretched out a little more. So focused on his target, Buck gasps out in shock as he feels someone grab his ankles and jerks his body harshly back under the cover of the truck.

And leaving Eddie still bleeding out in the middle of the street.

“What the fu-!” He spits out, turning to yell at the person who had grabbed him and had stopped him rescuing Eddie.

Another shot rings out, cutting Buck off. The bullet impacted the space where Buck’s hand had just been.

“You can thank me later,” It’s Captain Mehta, who had climbed under the firetruck to drag Buck back to safety, “After those first few shots were fired, he didn’t fire anything. He must have seen you go for the rescue and waited until you were out of cover to try again.”

“What are you saying?” Buck asked, teeth gritted in frustration, “If we don’t get to Eddie soon, it’ll be too late for him.”

“I know," Captain Mehta sighed, "However, think about it, Eddie is in the perfect position, in the middle of a pretty open area. The sniper wants someone to rescue him. When someone does, they’re a sitting duck and he gets a free shot at another person.”

“So what! We just leave Eddie there to bleed out?!”

“Of course we're not doing that,” Mehta reassured Buck, “We just need to be smart about it. We have the amount of time it takes for the sniper to take a shot and reload to grab Eddie and get him under here. Can you do that?”

“Of course I can,” Buck didn’t even hesitate, his mind going into overtime trying to calculate the window of time that he would have.

This time he wouldn’t fail.