Disclaimer: Not Mine.
Summary: What happens when there's no where for Martin Riggs to direct his anger. When its time to let his anger go. An idea from the Promo "Partners For Life."
o0o
Roger had finally found Riggs in Mexico. After a couple weeks of searching, help from Bailey, and knowing his partner well, he now stood outside the run down apartment building Riggs was staying at.
Hoping every moment during those weeks, he'd get to Riggs before he got himself killed or did something he'd regret, going after Tito Flores by himself.
Not expecting their reunion to be an easy one with the way things were left. Roger knew they'd work through it as thats what partners...friends...no what brothers do, as that's how Roger saw his and Martin's relationship to be.
Climbing the rickety steps to the second floor, Roger took a deep breath and knocked on the door.
"Roger!" Martin greeted him cheerfully with a big smile, asking. "What are you doing here?"
"Hey," Roger answered, happy to see his partner. "I came to talk," he said, stepping around Riggs after that greeting, wanting to set things right. Knowing Riggs was knee deep in something not good.
o0o
"What the hell are you doing?" Roger shouted, starring wide-eyed at Tito Flores, gagged and tied up in a chair.
"I think its pretty obvious. I'm going to kill the fucker!"
"No," Roger stated, knowing he had to talk him out of this.
"Of course I'm going to kill him. You know it's why I came here Roger. This fucker is done killing. He's done wrecking lives, you hear me?"
"I hear you Riggs. But he can be done, without killing him. Put Tito Flores away for the rest of his miserable life. The way you and I do, as detectives."
"The way we did, you mean."
"Listen, I want to fix that. I was wrong, you're my partner. No, you're a lot more than that Riggs, you're family and I should have had your back. Should have been there with you all the way through this."
"Well, you're here now," Martin answered, unable to hide what hearing those words meant.
"What?" Roger gave him a questioning look.
"You're here now, and thats what counts, " Martin stated, meeting Roger's eyes, asking softly. "We're good then right?"
"Yeah, we're good," Roger acknowledged warmly, with a sigh of relief.
"But we can't be partners anymore." Martin said.
"What? Why?" Roger asked, confused and upset.
"Because I'm going to kill Tito Loures and probably not leave Mexico alive after I do. So I appreciate you coming here, saying what you did. But you should go Roger. Go back to your family."
"No!" Roger answered.
"No? This is not up for debate."
"I'm not going anywhere," Roger answered firmly, folding his arms.
"You are cute when you get all stubborn like that Rog. But you need to go."
"No. You're not going to kill him."
"I'm not?" Martin said, feeling challenged, picking up his gun and pointing it at Tito's head, threatening to pull the trigger.
"Don't do this," Roger pleaded, beginning to toss out reason after reason as to why he shouldn't, stalling Riggs maybe for a moment or two.
But Roger knew he wasn't reaching him, not the way he had too. Desperate to find the right words to stop Riggs from doing something he'd regret for the rest of his life. Something he looked to be building himself up to do.
Roger shouted out his Hail Mary, "Riggs! I love you man!"
Which caught Riggs completely off guard, freezing him in place, momentarily.
Slowly turning around Riggs stepped towards Roger asking awkwardly if he'd just said he loved him.
Roger admitted, he had and wanted to know if his partner had something he wanted to say to him.
Martin hedged, but did admit he had something to say.
"Duck!" Martin yelled, shoving Roger out of the way, as a trio of men entered, guns drawn and began to open fire. Martin leaping to take cover behind a chair, returned fire, hitting one of the men in the shoulder, before he hit the floor.
Roger, gun out, took aim and down went the larger of the three men, a bullet in his leg. Writhing in pain, he tried reaching for the gun, when a couple of armed men in suits entered the room, one kicking the gun away, as they quickly identified themselves as FBI agents.
The third of the trio, who was Tito's personal body guard lifted both hands ,as he stood,having pushed his boss to the floor when he first entered, to protect him.
A couple of the local police entered, collecting weapons and handcuffing Tito's men. Back up soon arrived with a couple ambulances to accompany the two wounded gunmen to the hospital and the two officers left with them escorting Tito and his body guard to the Police station.
o0o
The FBI agents hung back for a few minutes to explain to Riggs and Murtaugh that the two of them, along with the two officers who just left had been working together for the past year on putting Tito away for good. That they had been keeping an eye on Riggs ever since he entered Mexico.
"Is he going to walk?" Riggs asked, quietly, the concern heard in his voice.
"No. Not this time," The older FBI agent replied. "We have enough on Loures to ensure he never gets out. No amount of money or favors will help him.
"Thank you," Martin said, finding some comfort in his reassurance.
"Thank you, for finding the bastard. Tito knew we were closing in on him, thats why he went underground. It was like he disappeared into thin air. We thought he might have left the country until we saw you'd found him, and I'm not even going to ask what you were planning to do with him since everything worked out fine. But somehow I think I should thank your partner."
"I'll do that," Martin eyed Roger with a slight smile, who responded. "No thanks necessary, thats what partners do for each other."
About to leave, the agent turned back around. "I know it seems impossible with what he's taken from you. But let go of the anger, even if you feel its all you got. Don't let Flores take away your chance to have a life. You see Detective Riggs, much like you, the four of us carry our own personal wound because of this man."
o0o
Roger stood by the window finishing up his conversation with Trish while Martin sat on the couch hunched over, head down in silence.
"Hey you want to get out of here? Head home?" Roger asked, taking a seat besides his partner. Not able to see anything but hair when he glanced over at Riggs. "Trish sends her love. She's making us a special surprise dinner."
Not getting any reaction Roger studied his partner a little closer. "Hey, under there, are you okay," he spoke in a soothing voice, placing a hand on his partner's back.
"I'm fine," Riggs said, the unsteadiness in his voice saying otherwise, quickly giving way to tears as he began to sob quietly.
"Come here," Roger spoke in a comforting manner, wrapping one arm around Martin's shoulder the other arm around his chest, tugging him closer, Roger rested his head gently on Martin's back. "I got you partner," he said softly, holding him while he cried. "I got you."
It wasn't long before Martin broke free, stood up, wiping his face away from view of Roger, as he grabbed the few things he had, throwing them in a duffel bag. Muttering an apology with eyes lowered he placed the apartment key on the table.
"Hey," Roger grabbed Martin's arm stopping him in place. "You don't have to ever apologize for your pain or anything else you are feeling. Okay?"
"Okay," Martin acknowledged, appreciatively, hesitating for a moment before saying. "Ditto."
"What?" Roger asked, giving him a puzzled look.
"Ditto!" Martin said, turning to face Roger before heading out the door. "I'm answering your question from earlier, Roger. You know when you asked if I had something I wanted to say."
"Ohh, Patrick Swayze. I get it!" Roger broke into a huge smile. Riggs had just told him, he loved him too.