Chapter Text
“I do not miss LA traffic,” Michael said grumpily.
“Because Miami’s traffic is so much better,” David quipped back.
Michael rolled his eyes at his husband, “Forgive me if I’m a little antsy and impatient to get there, but I would like to see my best friend. You know the one who I thought had died, but then miraculously came back to life except no one told me about it until a whole three weeks after his resurrection.”
“Can I remind you, for the thousandth time, you were in an induced coma in ICU for a big chunk of those three weeks,” David said and Michael could hear the weariness in his voice. He didn’t care, he was still pissed.
“I had not gone under the knife when he came back,” Michael muttered.
“But you were on bed rest with very strong medical advice to not raise your blood pressure before the operation you were due to have a day later. Forgive us for being mindful of your heart rate.”
Michael folded his arms, they’d had this conversation, he’d had it with his kids, he’d had it with Athena. He’d even had it with Bobby.
He was still pissed.
“You not think that the prospect seeing Bobby again might have given me an impetus to get through the operation?”
“Your husband and kids not enough?” David said and Michael could hear the stretch of his patience in his voice, “And anyway, you’re here aren’t you?”
“And yet nowhere near their new house,” Michael grumbled.
David reached over and grabbed his hand, an affectionate smile on his face, “We’ll be there soon.”
Michael sighed, “It’s just, I was too poorly to be there for the funeral. I couldn’t support Athena and the kids, and then he comes back and I’m still just….absolutely useless.”
“Athena and the kids had a whole village when Bobby died, what they needed was to not lose you too and for you to be there for them for all of those parts in between.”
“I know,” Michael sighed, “I just…,he’s been back for two months and I haven’t even….” he trailed off, not even sure what it was he was trying to say.
When he got the news about Bobby, from Beatrice of all people, he’d felt like the bottom had dropped out of his world. He knew, better than most, the risks faced by first responders, but Athena and the 118 in particular had always seemed to come through them. The poster boys and girls for the miracle, for second chances, for hope through trauma. He’d maybe started to believe that they were invincible.
He'd wanted to go to Athena and the kids so badly but he’d had such a bad reaction to the chemotherapy and radiotherapy there was no way he was going to be allowed to travel.
In the end the kids had travelled to him, bringing their grandparents back after the funeral.
Harry and May had been broken in a way he had never seen them and he felt powerless in the face of their grief. Bobby hadn’t been just a stepfather, he’d been another parent who the kids loved more than anything.
They loved David, he knew that, but it was different with Bobby. They’d been kids when Bobby had come into their lives, he’d helped to guide them, to shape them. It had been difficult to watch in those early weeks and months as Bobby became a fixture in their lives. He’d had such a paternal ease about him and a beautiful quiet way with the kids, particularly Harry.
And it had hurt the first time that his son had run to Bobby when he was upset but Michael had learned to feel grateful for their relationship and ended up cherishing it. When Athena and Michael felt like they were hitting a brick wall with their son, they could always rely on Bobby to find a chink in Harry’s armour.
After Bobby had died, he could see his son was unmoored, not helped by Michael’s illness and the prospect of losing another parent and Harry had seemed so unreachable. Athena was pulling away from everyone, taking undercover work on top of her regular shifts. May stuck in the middle, weighed down by her own grief.
So when Harry announced he was going to the academy, he’d had mixed feelings. His son entering the profession that had killed Bobby didn’t exactly give him the warm and fuzzies, but the change in Harry had been instant.
He’d always idolised Bobby and Michael couldn’t deny that if Harry was going to walk in anyone’s footsteps, he could do worse than Bobby Nash’s.
It had not gone down well with Athena at first, and May was again stuck in the middle, and Michael felt helpless, unable to help his ex-wife to see reason. It had been Harry himself in the end, with a quiet, patient determination that he hadn’t got from him or Athena. It was all Bobby.
Michael had been too ill to make Harry’s passing out ceremony from the academy but Buck had live streamed it for him and David. He’d beamed with pride as they’d read out his name. Harry Grant-Nash.
The 5th generation of Nash firefighters and he’d known Bobby would have beamed with pride.
And Michael himself was proud, but it was also hard to not be consumed with grief. Grief that Bobby wasn’t there to witness it. That he would never know that his place in their blended family was so cemented the kids had decided to add his name to theirs.
He’d asked David if they’d ever be able to celebrate big life events without the weight of grief of Bobby’s absence.
“The thing about grief,” David had said, “Isn’t that it ever diminishes, but you get used to navigating life with the hole that has been created. It becomes part of you. Doesn’t mean you can’t celebrate or be joyful, but it’s joy that is aware of the absence.”
Then two days after the ceremony the miracle happened.
The miracle no one had told Michael about for weeks.
Bobby had been found alive. A complex set of events that involved Moira Blake, Tripp Hauser and a private research company that the army had used to clear the lab and process Bobby’s supposed body.
He’d been held against his will for 9 months at a lab in Hamilton, Montana. It was only the actions of a caring health care worker, tasked with looking after Bobby, who could no longer bear the knowledge that they were complicit in illegal human experimentation, reported the situation to the police.
A joint Hamilton Police Department/FBI taskforce had raided the private lab and had found Bobby in a medical room where he’d been kept sedated for long periods of time. He had little memory of his time in the lab. He’d been well looked after, even under sedation they had managed to keep a decent level of muscle tone through neuromuscular electrical stimulation and passive stimulation. David had been impressed. For criminals they had looked after him, physically at least.
And now he was home. The news broken to Athena through her Captain and Rick, Hen and Karen at her side. Athena had been stunned, understandably, Hen had described her as stoic, which had worried them all. It was only when she had finally set eyes on Bobby, escorted back to LA by the FBI, that she had collapsed in his arms in grief and relief.
It was a dream come true for everyone, beyond wildest dreams. But it had also been traumatic. Athena, the kids and the 118 had been grieving for 9 months, had gone through unimaginable pain while trying to navigate a world without Bobby. And then he was back. His place at the 118 taken by Chimney, Hen partnered with Eddie, Buck with Ravi and his step-son the probie.
Bobby admitted to having mixed feelings about Harry following in his footsteps, pride certainly but also concern. He’d wanted to make sure Harry had made the decision for himself and not out of some need to honour the parent he had lost. Harry had explained himself with the same patience and respect he’d shown to Athena months before and Bobby had been convinced that he’d made the decision for the right reasons.
But it was when the kids had announced their name change that it had sent Bobby into a spin. Bobby had called him immediately, wanting to check he wasn’t offended or upset. Michael had calmed him down, had said he thought about suggesting it himself before Harry’s announcement, desperate for the family to find some way to honour what he’d meant to all of them. Having the kids share their family name was better than the family tattoos they’d laughed about getting one drunken bachelor night with Buck via zoom.
Once reassured Bobby had been overwhelmed, Michael could hear the tears Bobby was trying to stifle.
“You do get it, don’t you?” Michael had said to him, “You’re not a step anything, Bobby. You are an essential part of this family, to Athena, to May and Harry. And to me. We don’t work all that well without you.”
“You just missed my pancakes,” Bobby had quipped, his voice thick with emotion.
The memory made him smile. They really had missed his pancakes.
“Looks like we are here,” David announced shaking Michael out of his reverie.
“It is still beyond me why she moved to an apartment building,” Michael muttered as he looked up at the building.
“And maybe let’s not have that argument again,” David warned, obviously scarred from when Athena had announced her new purchase and Michael, tired from his treatment had questioned why a woman that loved her garden and open space sold her dream home to move to an apartment half way up a building.
Athena had been in no mood for the debate and the conversation had spiralled downwards from there.
“Is that your way of saying that I need to be on my best behaviour?” Michael asked his husband.
“I’m saying that everything is still pretty raw and, it might just be me, but I think everyone is still processing the trauma of the past nine months.”
“Or not processing,” Michael suggested, knowing his ex wife well, and David tilted his head in acknowledgement.
---9-1-1---
“You look awful,” Athena said without preamble as she welcomed them both into her home.
Michael rolled his eyes at her, “A mixture of LA traffic and having to walk up four flights of stairs because the elevator is out.”
Athena looked at him puzzled, “The elevator isn’t out.”
Michael spun to give his husband an accusing eye.
“Climbing stairs is a good exercise for your recovery,” David stated, with no guilt.
“I thought we were trying to not raise my blood pressure?”
“That was before your operation, now, slightly raised BP and pulse is good for you.”
“I think you make stuff up just as you go along,” Michael replied.
Athena laughed at them and directed David to drop the bags in the spare room.
Michael looked around, “Where’s my man?”
Athena’s smile dropped and she turned toward the kitchen, “He’s on his way. He had a meeting.”
“Oh,” Michael said, disappointed and Athena gave him a sympathetic smile in response.
“How’s he doing?” he asked and Athena’s smile dropped again and Michael frowned at her. But before he could ask the buzzer went.
Athena went to answer it and he was surprised to hear Bobby’s voice through the speaker.
“Hey,” Bobby’s voice sounded hesitant.
“Hey, door’s open,” Athena replied and buzzed him in.
Michael’s frown got deeper.
“He forget his key?” Michael asked and noted that Athena didn’t answer and instead went back to the kitchen to finish making coffee, her back to the door.
“Athena?”
“Did I hear Bobby’s voice?” David asked as he came out of the bedroom, looking around. David was almost as anxious to see Bobby in the flesh as he was. Almost.
Michael noticed Athena, her back still toward them and Michael’s eyes darted between her and David meaningfully. David, not having the powers of mind reading just looked back confused.
And then the door opened and there he was.
Later he would think how tense Bobby was as he came through the door, his slight pallor from nine months without sunlight still visible, his awkward glance around the open plan living room, his flickered gaze towards the kitchen before settling on Michael.
But in that moment all he saw was Bobby.
His game night partner. His best friend. His co-parent. His ex wife’s husband. His family.
His eyes blurred with tears and he threw his arms around Bobby tightly. He tried to convey silently just how much he meant to him, knowing he’d never adequately verbalise it.
They stood for some time before pulling away, Bobby’s tears equal to his own.
“Hey, Bobby,” Michael managed to ground out.
“Hello, Michael,” Bobby replied.
“Can I get in on the reunion?” David asked and Michael relinquished his friend so that his husband could greet him. He turned towards Athena with a smile and was surprised by the look on her face.
Longing.
It was brief. But it was there.
And then the shutters came down and her face returned to its impassivity it had held since their arrival as she turned back to the coffee maker.
When they finally all sat down, Bobby next to Michael, Athena at the head of the table and David opposite him the atmosphere felt strangely awkward.
“I do not know where to begin,” Michael said, breaking the tension.
“How about you tell us how you are doing?” Bobby asked seriously.
“As I've told you repeatedly on the phone, I am good,” he replied, laughing at Bobby’s unconvinced face, “I am, I promise. David can attest. The treatment shrunk the tumour enough that surgery could be done as safely as brain surgery can be.”
“And still no after effects?”
Michael shook his head with a smile, “Maybe a little forgetful.”
“That’s his age,” David quipped and received smirks from the others.
“It’s a miracle,” Bobby said.
“We’ve been getting our fair share of them,”
“How are you Bobby?” David asked.
Bobby shrugged, “It’s a process.”
“But are you processing?” Michael asked.
“Step by step,” Bobby said flicking his eyes briefly to Athena who was studiously studying the liquid in her mug.
This time David caught his eyes with his eyebrows raised.
Athena got up to go to the kitchen again and Michael and David watched as Bobby’s eyes followed her before his faced cleared and he turned back to Michael to ask him to fill him in on their Haiti projects.
Dinner continued in the same vein. Bobby asking lots of questions, turning the conversation towards the kids, the 118. Nothing that focused on him.
Michael knew his ex wife and her husband well enough to know that something was going on.
And then he finally stepped on a landmine.
“So are you going to go back to the 118?” he asked innocently, and briefly turned at the sound of a pan hitting the sink as Athena cleared up. Bobby again glancing somewhat anxiously towards the kitchen.
“Not the 118, that’s Chimney’s house now. I’m not sure what the future holds, I’ve got a meeting with Chief Simpson tomorrow to talk through some options.”
“What do you want to do?” David asked.
Bobby shrugged, “I have no idea. I’ve been a firefighter my entire life, and not entire sure what I am without it.”
There was another crash from the kitchen and this time Bobby winced.
Michael’s patience snapped, “Okay what is going on?”
“What?” Bobby looked at him, brows furrowed.
“Don’t what me Bobby Nash. You buzz to be let in to your own home, I don’t think you and your wife have barely said two words to each other for the past three hours, you haven’t touched each other once or even been close enough to touch.”
Bobby blinked at him and Michael noticed the crashing from the kitchen had stopped and there was an eery silence.
And then for the first time that evening Bobby addressed his wife directly.
“You haven’t told him?”
Michael turned to see Athena, her face carved as if from stone, and watched as she shrugged.
Bobby rolled his eyes in frustration, it was a look he had only very rarely seen Bobby give his wife. They didn’t have that kind of relationship.
“You didn’t think to give me a heads up?” Bobby asked accusingly.
“Why was it my responsibility in the first place?”
“You said you would handle it? You said it pretty clearly as I recall,” Bobby snarked. David’s mouth dropped at the tone and Michael was sure his own face mirrored his husbands.
“You know what Bobby, I know it’s your MO to run and leave me to clean up the mess, but he’s your friend too.”
Bobby shook his head wearily as if exhausted.
“On that note, I think it’s probably time I went home,” Bobby said as he stood.
“Home? Bobby you are home?” Michael said, confused.
Bobby looked at him sadly, “No, no I’m not.”
His head turned from Bobby to Athena like a ping pong ball. Athena’s face so tense a stranger would think it was unfeeling, but Michael knew better. She only got quiet when she was really mad. Or really hurt.
Bobby just looked heartbroken. And resigned.
“Will one of you tell me what the hell is going on,” Michael asked desperately.
Bobby sighed deeply and Michael watched as his eyes filled with tears.
“I don’t live here, Michael, I’m staying with Buck,” Bobby said and Michael could hear his heartbreak and felt his own crack at the pain in his friend’s voice at his next words.
“We’re separated.”