Work Text:
TK
TK smiled proudly at the TV as he and Lou Two watched the news segment showing Carlos on the press conference that had been held by the Texas Rangers after solving their month-long armored car heist case. One that had resulted in one fatality and a several injuries. A few of which the 126 had responded to.
This was the first case that Chief Bridges had let Carlos take the lead on and Carlos had definitely been feeling a whole new level of pressure on the job than he had previously dealt with as a patrol officer. He had spent several long nights in the office, sometimes bringing his files home to continue working on while TK tried to help or slept on him while he worked. TK couldn’t believe that an offhand comment about traffic backing up had led Carlos to the suspects, but his husband had good instincts.
Last night, Carlos had told him that they were working on a plan to try to catch the suspects in the act, that he and the soup guy would be the bait. It wasn’t like it was a surprise to TK that Carlos would be in danger on the job, they both were on a daily basis. They had talked about the realities of what could happen should the men act in the way that they had in their last attempt. It also wasn’t lost on either of them who would most likely be on the call if things went wrong if the bad guys kept to their preferred section of Austin.
TK had spent several hours listening to the radio calls a little more closely than he usually did, hoping that one wouldn’t come requesting the 126 for assistance and that things would go the way that the rangers had planned. He didn’t pray often, but he did that day.
He couldn’t tell anyone else why he had been so on edge each time the bells had rung. He tried to distract himself with inventory, cleaning the ambulance several times over, and playing games with Mateo and Paul in their down time. He purposely avoided spending alone time with his far too astute partner, she had the annoying ability to read him like a book.
When his shift had ended without them being called to another armored car heist attempt, he had been both relieved. He had also been a little worried that there would his next shift would be filled the same way until the men were caught. He took notice of the absence of his husband’s car in his designated space and went up to their home.
He walked into the loft, placing his phone on the table in front of the couch, grabbing the remote to turn on the TV for background noise while he figured out what to make for dinner. He went over to check on Lou Two, taking him out of his tank and letting him settle on TK’s shoulder. The two of them walked to the kitchen, TK pulling out a bowl of peppers.
He was about to grab the container of live crickets from the shelf away from their food when he heard the news come on and the newscaster mentioned the case that Carlos had been working on. He and Lou Two went over to the couch, the crickets still sitting on their shelf, relieved to see his husband’s beautiful face on the screen, standing near the chief and other rangers.
He had a feeling that the man on the other side of the chief was the ranger named after soup, he could see why Carlos was both annoyed by him while respecting him at the same time. You could see that the man was full of arrogance, but that it had been earned. He wondered how his husband felt about the other ranger now that they had been able to solve the case working together instead of against each other.
When his husband’s ring tone went off on his phone, TK smiled as he answered, he loved to hear the voice of his favorite person, especially if that meant he was on his way home. It only took a minute for TK to realize that now that Carlos’ official case was over, he was going to jump back into his unofficial case.
After hanging up the phone, TK realized that he had just been waving the pepper in his hand at Lou Two instead of trying to feed it to him. Lou wasn’t super fond of the peppers anyway, but they did like to try to let him try new foods. He took the bowl back to the refrigerator and took the crickets off the shelf, taking Lou and the crickets back to his tank for this part of the feeding.
“The Case” was always there. TK completely understood why. He also knew that a large portion of why Carlos had chosen to join the rangers was so that he could get access to the file on his father’s murder. He knew that Carlos needed answers before he could fully grieve, fully accept their new reality. It had been almost a year since the night of their rehearsal dinner and his father-in-law’s murder. Almost a year of dead-end leads, no witnesses coming forward, no answers.
The Case haunted his husband constantly. He knew the pain of losing a parent suddenly, but at least in TK’s case, he had all those answers that Carlos was still missing. He knew who had killed his mother, how and why it had happened. TK’s mom’s death had been sudden just like Gabriel’s had been, but they had been vastly different in how they happened.
TK’s mom had been killed while taking his baby brother for a walk, her death had been completely accidental. The man responsible had immediately called for help, tried to help her, had helped calm his baby brother. His mother’s accidental killer had already been brought to justice, if that’s what it could be called. He hadn’t had to see the blood stains on the ground, he hadn’t even seen her body after her death due to the plane ride from hell.
Carlos only had the how. Gabriel had been murdered in his own home, right in front of his wife. Carlos had been on the phone with his mom when the shot had gone off, TK could still hear Carlos screaming into the phone for his mom. TK and Carlos had immediately gotten in the car, heading straight for Carlos’ childhood home.
Carlos had seen his parents house surrounded in flashing lights, first responders from several agencies on the scene already. He had to hear as the chief, his father’s boss, had told him that someone had shot him in his own home. He had seen his father’s tuxedo clad body being placed onto a gurney and covered with a white sheet. TK hadn’t been able to stop Carlos from looking towards the front door, hadn’t been able to block his view of the blood staining the wood floor of the entry way in time.
The first few days following Gabriel’s murder had been a fog for Carlos. He had gotten so lost in the need for vengeance that he hadn’t been able to see how far off the rails he had gone. TK had been terrified that Carlos would do something that he couldn’t take back, that he would let his emotions lead him instead of the gut that he had always trusted.
He had almost felt like he had been betraying Carlos when he went to his own father for advice. He would always be grateful that his father and a few others had been able to get through to Carlos in a way that he hadn’t been. When Carlos had come home after speaking with Owen, TK had been worried that he had overstepped, but also so very relieved that Carlos was home.
Their wedding had been one of both joy and sadness. They had both wished for the parent that was no longer able to be their to witness them getting married. But it had also been full of all of the people that loved and supported them through everything that they had been through over the past few years.
TK was worried about how much The Case haunted his husband. He understood why it did, but it still worried him. He knew from experience now, that Carlos would be at the office by himself for at least a few hours, that he would probably just wait until he got home to eat instead of taking care of himself. He would make a quick sandwich and get into bed, letting all of his worries follow him into his dreams, or more likely, nightmares.
TK knew that he could do what his husband had asked of him and not wait up for him, and sometimes he didn’t. If he had a shift the next day or if he simply fell asleep on the couch waiting for Carlos to get home, but times like tonight, when he heard a specific tone in his husband’s voice, he did stay up.
TK finished feeding Lou Two the crickets and put the container back on their shelf. He got out the ingredients for one of Andrea’s recipes, one of Carlos’ favorite comfort foods and started their dinner, one that they would eat together whenever Carlos was able to pull himself away from the file that haunted him.
He did know that if anyone would solve this case, it was Carlos. TK just hoped that Carlos didn’t lose himself in the process. He hoped he got the answers that he so desperately needed.
Carlos
Carlos glanced at his watch, noting that it had been about three hours since he had talked to his husband. He rubbed his eyes as he closed the file on his desk. It didn’t seem to matter how many times he looked at this file, how many times he stared at his father’s autopsy photos, he wasn’t finding the answers needed.
It had been almost a year and there were still no real answers, only more questions. He knew that part of his decision to join the rangers was to solve this case as it seemed like no one else was interested in doing so. It was the rangers job to solve this case, but it was like they kept dropping the ball.
He placed the file back in the order he kept it, witness statements, including his mother’s at the bottom, case notes next, then the crime scene photos, leaving the autopsy photo for the top.
In some ways it made it easier to see that picture first, the man in the photo looked like his father, but different. He was gray, dead on a cold metal table. He always made sure to keep the picture that had the sheet covering the bullet would on top. He didn’t need the reminder of the actual wound to know that his father was gone.
His stomach rumbled as he recalled TK’s request that he not eat his dinner out of a vending machine. He closed his eyes as he recalled the many meals he had eaten from the machines here at the office late at night when everyone had left. The many nights he had missed with his family and friends as he tried to solve this case.
He knew that both his husband and mother were worried about him. Neither of them had outright said anything to him yet, but he knew that they were both concerned that he was letting his father’s unsolved murder over take him. He couldn’t say that those concerns were unfounded.
He just needed someone that he could trust to help him. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust his husband or mom, but they didn’t have the same resources that another ranger would have. He looked over at Ranger Campbell’s desk, wondering if he might turn out to be the one to help him.
He had heard the respect that the ranger had for his father in his voice as they had spoken a few hours ago. He had also agreed with the ranger’s assessment of his father. He had been relentless, he had been brilliant, and he had been an insufferable pain in the ass when he wanted to be. That had been the most honest description of his father that any of the rangers had said to him. It had also been the first time he had genuinely laughed while talking about him with another ranger. Maybe it was time to take down some of his walls when it came to his new coworker and see what comes of it.
He closed the file and placed it back in the bottom drawer of his desk and locked it up for the night. It would still be there when he came in tomorrow. He picked up his phone and keys, leaving his office and finally heading home. Home to a sleeping husband and a quick sandwich before he joined TK in their bed. When he pulled into the parking lot, he saw that his husband had left a light on for him. He smiled at that.
When he got off of the elevator on their floor, he smelled the familiar scent of his mom’s tortilla soup coming from the direction of their home, then he heard the faint music playing the closer he got to the door. He unlocked the door to see TK sitting on the couch with a book, listening to Selena and reading a magazine with Lou Two on his shoulder.
“Hey baby.” TK said as he looked up at him with a smile.
“Hey.” Carlos replied, surprised that TK had stayed up. He still stood by the door as TK took Lou Two back to his tank and walked towards him. Carlos melted into his husband’s arms as they wrapped around him.
TK pulled back and said “Why don’t you go take a relaxing shower while I dish up our dinner then we can go to bed.”
“I told you that you didn’t have to wait up for me.” Carlos said softly as he followed his husband’s directions.
“I know” TK answered with a smile, “I did it anyway.”
Carlos smiled as he walked into the bathroom, stripping off the clothes that he had been wearing all day. He turned the water on as hot as he could stand it and washed the stress and worries of the day away. When he was finished, he spotted the clothes that TK had left for him on the counter, he got dressed and followed the aroma of the soup to the dining room where TK was waiting for him. He kissed Carlos again before having him sit down, he served him a huge bowl of his favorite soup before grabbing his own.
Carlos listened to TK chat about firehouse gossip and relished in this time alone with him. He had been sad when their lunch the other day had been cut short, but this was more than making up for it. He had needed this more than he thought.
Once they finished eating, TK took both bowls to the kitchen, rinsing them out to be washed in the morning. Then he came back to the table and reached out for Carlos’ hand. Carlos willingly followed his husband to their bedroom, both of them stripping to their boxer briefs and getting into bed. TK pulled him close, kissing him sweetly before wrapping his arms around Carlos again, rubbing his back.
“Love you TK.” Carlos said sleepily, enjoying the relaxing feeling of his husband’s hands on his back as he was lulled into sleep while his husband whispered in his ear.
“I love you too baby. Go to sleep, I am right here.”
Carlos did as his husband instructed and left his and their worries for another day. Tonight, he didn’t have any nightmares from the case that haunted him, he finally had some peaceful rest, safe in his husband’s arms.