Chapter Text
Charlie doesn’t think he’s ever been so stressed out in his life. He’s spent the past week cleaning his entire house in preparation for his daughter’s arrival. He wants her to like it here, wants her to want to stay and build a life with him. He knows this is his last chance to really form a bond with her before she goes to college and doesn’t need him at all. He even thought about decorating her room for her but thought better of it, he never liked his dad meddling in his stuff when he was a teen.
He tries to put Bella’s arrival out of his mind, at least for now, he’s supposed to go out for drinks with some of the new officers tonight and he’s trying to get ready. It’s proving to be more difficult than he thought. It has been a while since he ‘went out’ for any reason. Before he convinced Bella to come live with him his life was pretty monotonous to be honest, just the same routine of work, sleep and whatever is on tv to fill the time in between. He doesn’t even go out to dinner anymore, why would he? So he can be the one guy in the restaurant dining alone? No thanks, he would much rather stay home with a beer and a tv dinner.
As he shaves Charlie looks in the mirror and thinks about all the prospects of tonight, he could actually have fun for the first time in a while, he could make some friends other than Billy, he could even meet someone, but he knows he won’t. Putting himself out there is just not something Charlie wants to do again.
What ridiculous thoughts, Charlie thinks as he shakes his head at his own reflection. He fixes the collar of his blue button up one last time and is out of things to stall with, he actually has to leave now. He puts on his jacket with a sigh and grabs his keys and wallet on his way out the door. Tonight will probably be relatively uneventful, he reassures himself.
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Charlie enters the bar and immediately spots his coworkers at a booth near the back, many of them already have drinks in their hands, he may be a bit late.
They greet him loudly as he sits down. “Hey! Chief! We were just wondering if you were actually gonna show up or not.” Shouts officer hendricks, one of the rookies that seems to have taken an odd liking to Charlie, always trying to get him to participate in things outside of the office.
“I said I’d come, didn't I?” was Charlie's reply right before the waitress came over to get his order.
After the waitress, Katlyn, had walked away, Charlie looked around the table to see who else had shown up. There was Teddy, another rookie, David, who had been on the force for about ten years now, Michael, who was actually a new transfer from the precinct in Tacoma, and lastly Darrell, who Charlie has been friendly with since they were in the academy together.
‘See? This isn’t so bad, we know these guys’ charlie thinks.
“So, what have I missed?” Charlie asks, as a way of starting the conversation. Hendricks immediately jumps into a story about how before Charlie had got there he had dared Teddy to go talk to a girl at the bar and how Teddy had actually managed to get her number. This caused Teddy to blush and for the tips of his large ears to turn red.
Charlie smiles a bit as he takes a sip of the bud light the waitress just handed him and leans back to hear the, probably over exaggerated, story.
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Charlie lets out a breathy laugh as he fumbles with his keys to unlock the front door. The night had been an overall success, he would say. They had drank, and laughed, and Charlie hadn’t been pushed too far out of his comfort zone, but it was good for him. He needed this.
Charlie finally stumbles through his doorway and hobbles up the stairs. Once in his bedroom he collapses onto the comforter without bothering to take off his pants or shoes. He is very tired.
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The next thing he knows he is waking up with chest pain and tingling up his arm, his groggy mind takes a minute to figure out what’s going on but he knows, this is a heart attack. It's just like how everyone describes it, yet worse, because there's also the fear and panic of it actually happening to you.
He tries to stay calm and grabs the land line on his bedside table, dialing 911. “Hello this is 911, what is your emergency?”
“I’m having a heart attack.” Charlie grunts out as he holds his chest.
“Okay and what is your address sir?” asks the voice.
Charlie quickly spits out his address from memory.
“Alright an ambulance is on its way, are you alright to wait sir?”
“Yeah, yeah I’m fine” Charlie replies as he hangs up the phone and focuses on his breathing while he waits for the ambulance. He really hopes he doesn’t die. Not like this.
The ambulance arrives in what feels like hours, spent alone and in pain. The EMTs quickly put him on a gurney and strap on an oxygen mask, it helps. They strap him in as they ask him basic medical questions like blood type and family history.
He tries to relax as he lays back, he’s in the hands of professionals now, he’s gonna be okay. Telling himself that doesn’t really work.
In what seems like a second they are loading him into the ambulance and he is losing consciousness. One of his last thoughts before he goes under is that he’ll have no one to go to his funeral.
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The first thing he can really focus on after he suddenly wakes up is a pair of golden eyes staring right at him. He’s never seen eyes like that before.