Notes/Warnings: Takes off from S2E8 and goes AU.
Spoilers: Seasons 1 & 2, especially S2E8 - but I don't think it'd be anything that'd ruin the show completely for you
"He needs an attitude adjustment." I remember Carlos saying that to Kiera and Dillon after I left the meeting. I was barely in earshot when he said it, but I have better than average hearing and I doubt he knew that I'd heard him. I'd just bullied my way onto their task force again and had rather bluntly threatened Kiera with accusations. At the time, his remark made me chuckle. Not anymore.
Over the next few weeks I worked closely with Kiera, trying to figure out her connection with Liber8, a new terrorist group, and prove her guilt, all while using her to try and stop them. I'd been so certain of a connection, and I was right - just not in the way I'd originally anticipated. Our partnership was an uneasy one for her, but I enjoyed the game. Liked watching her squirm. ...if I'd known she really was a good guy it might of been different. But, then again, who the hell could ever of predicted time traveling?
I think it'd be easier to start the day I got shot. Kiera sent me out on what was actually an important clue. She thought of it as busy work to get me out of her hair; I don't know, maybe she knew it'd be useful. I went to a small local law firm; they'd been doing some illegal paperwork related to our case - I can't really go into it, case pending - I worked my way up to the man in charge. I demanded he get me some files, and while he was out I texted Kiera, gave her my location and an update. Next thing I know, our suspect is rushing at me with a gun….
"Gardiner."
It's Kiera's voice. My eyes don't want to open. God, it's cold. Colder than cold.
"Gardiner, can you hear me?"
She sounds worried. She says something else, but it's muffled. I can hear other voices. Everything is blurred and the lights are too bright, it hurts my eyes.
"C'mon buddy."
That's Carlos' voice. Why the hell is he calling me buddy? One of the last times we spoke I threatened him.
My eyes can finally make out blobs and I squint towards the blob that I'm pretty sure is Carlos.
"There he is," Carlos says in an encouraging voice. "You ok?" He pats my arm. The touch feels so warm. I can't believe how cold I am.
"Freezing," I tell him. My teeth start chattering after I speak, or maybe they'd been chattering the entire time.
Something warm is wrapped around me, I figure from the smell of leather that it's a jacket. The blob that looks like Carlos helps me into a sitting position. Something fluffy and warm is wrapped around me, over the jacket. I cringe, every inch of me is waking up and is in pain. That's when I realize I'm on a table. I'm about to ask why when the Carlos blob wraps his arms around me and pulls me to his chest. I try to push away, but I don't have the strength. I realize I can feel my legs and feet again, and then wonder why I couldn't feel them before.
"We need to get your temperature back up," he tells me, and he starts briskly rubbing my arms and back to get my circulation going.
Carlos seems so much bigger than before, but I've never been this close to him and my vision is still fucked up. My head feels so heavy, I can't help but lean against him.
I come to again, I feel much warmer. I don't know how long I was out, but I immediately remember that I'm leaning against Carlos. He's still working on getting my circulation going. A good amount of time passes with me leaning into him, but I have no idea how long. I must have fallen into a frozen pond and gotten hypothermia, I don't remember being near a pond. I don't remember much of anything. None of this makes any sense. I hate it when things don't make sense.
"What the hell happened?"
"We lost you for awhile there," Kiera tells me, "we got there just in time." In typical Kiera fashion, she stops talking after not really telling me anything at all.
"Tell me what happened," I bark at her. Why does she always have to be so vague? Answer a fucking question directly, Kiera.
Carlos stops the rubbing, puts his hand on the back of my neck and gives it a squeeze and the slightest of shakes. I know it's meant as a warning, but the day I start taking orders from a detective...
My visions snaps back into place. Everyone is….is everyone bigger?
"What the hell happened?" What the fuck? This can't be my eyes. Am I smaller?
"Calm down," Carlos orders. He gives me a stern look and is right in my face. The guy is huge. "You've been through a lot, try and stay calm," he tells me much more gently. He goes back to the rubbing.
I feel my pulse even out.
"Okay," I say. My voice quivers, but I don't care. This is all really freaky, and my body is still cold.
"Okay," Carlos mimics, he gives me a reassuring grin. It calms me.
I look around and don't recognize where I'm at. There are computers everywhere, slick and expensive furnishings - but, it's all in what looks like a warehouse. The whackjob witness from the bombing is there, the one who says he's a time traveler, and so is the Alec Sadler kid.
"Where are we?" Everyone but Carlos flinches at the question. Now we're getting somewhere.
"That's not important," Kiera says.
"I think it is important," I tell her. Anything that makes her squirm is definitely important. I hear Carlos sigh at me, but I ignore him and stare Kiera down.
"This is my place," Alec says. "I work here."
I look around again, this is way too elaborate for him to afford. Someone big is funding this kid.
"Why are we here?" This time everyone squirms.
I then remember the suspect coming at me with a gun. I start to look down at myself, but Carlos catches my chin in his hand. It's such a shocking gesture for a man to do to another man that I can't help but stare at him dumbly.
"Hey buddy," there it is again, buddy. What the hell is going on? "we've got some things to talk about."
"I'll say," I tell him as I yank my chin out of his hand. I don't feel quite as vulnerable as before.
Carlos gives me a momentary irritated look and then he seems to catch himself. I don't like the look of pity on his face, but maybe I can use it to my advantage. I start to look down at myself again, and again he reaches out to stop me. I duck him and try to slap his hand away.
"Knock it off," I yell at him.
He cants his head to the side in irritation and says "I'm trying to help you." Carlos is a little scary when he's mad, but I'm sure I am, too.
"I don't need your help," I growl back. That's when I notice my voice doesn't sound right. The bass and grit are both gone. I realize that maybe there really isn't anything wrong with my eyes. I look down before he can grab hold of me and see blood splattered clothes that are too big. My clothes. That's right, I remember the suspect aiming at me, I heard the pop of his gun before I could get one off. Holy shit. I got shot. Why didn't they take me to a hospital? Why are my clothes too big? ….these are...yea, these are my clothes.
"What's happening?" My voice cracks, like it did during puberty. Oh god. I look down again, and Carlos turns me towards him and puts a hand on each of my shoulders.
"We're not sure," Carlos finally says.
"What the fuck do you mean you're not sure?" I need a mirror. "Where's a mirror?" I try to slide off the table, but Carlos is right in front of me, holding me in place.
"Try to stay calm."
"Get the hell off me!" I try to push him off with all my strength, but he doesn't budge. I need to see my face in a mirror.
"Ohhh….ohhh, I did my part, it's time for me to go," the whackjob witness says and runs up the stairs. We all pause to watch him go. He's completely insane.
"You need to calm down," Carlos tells me in a soothing voice as he wraps a big hand around each of my wrists to keep me still. Nobody is moving to get me a mirror. No one's telling me a goddamn thing. I've had enough - I kick Carlos in the knee, and he doubles over on top of me.
"Gardiner, you little shit!" Kiera yells. She's behind me on the other side of the table and she reaches for me; I try to squirm away from under Carlos.
I'm halfway off the table when Carlos grabs me by my left arm and pulls me to him. In that instant, my trousers, with fastened belt and all, hit the floor. My body is much slimmer now. I catch my boxers with my free hand around mid thigh, but it's impossible to hike them back up with only one free arm. I'm standing and I see that I'm a good four inches shorter than before. At least.
I look up at Carlos. He's towering over me and he's pissed. He looks down at my predicament and gets a satisfied look on his face. I'm spun around and tucked under his left arm. I yell "Don't!" I grew up in the 60s and 70s, I know where this is going and I'm not about to just let it happen. He wants to pop me one on the chin? Okay. But not this. Before he lands one I try to kick him again, but he's ready and moves.
"You keep making this worse," he tells me. I feel the back of my suit jacket get pushed up, and then my dress shirt. I try again to hike up my boxers, but he pulls them free of my hand and I feel them land at my ankles. Carlos tucks my right arm under my stomach and out of the way. I look up at Kiera, and she folds her arms and gives me a satisfied smirk. I feel my face burn in shame and then remember Alec. He's getting a perfect view behind me.
"Ah!" The first swat lands, and I realize my pain tolerance is shot to shit from whatever happened to me. "Ow!" That one makes my eyes sting. I try twisting away, but the next swat doesn't fall.
"Are you gonna do that again?"
"Is someone gonna tell me what the hell happened to me?" That might not be the wisest response, but I need to know. I grit my teeth and wait.
"Gardiner," Carlos says in a warning voice. "C'mon now, you've been through enough for one day. Answer my question, okay?"
"I won't as long as you tell me what the hell is happening."
He chuckles. "Good enough."
I'm released and I stand up, my shirt and jacket fall back in place. Both are just long enough to cover me.
"I think I have something that'll fit him," Alec says. I turn to look at him and he nods in a friendly way.
I look back at Carlos as Alec walks off. "Well?" I ask him.
"You were shot," he tells me.
"I remember," I say.
"...and you sort of …. you died."
I look at him, expecting him to go on. "That doesn't explain any of this."
"You're going to need to have an open mind about this…"
"I survived death and I came back shrunk," I tell him, I can't help the sarcasm in my voice, "I think my mind's been opened."
"You remember what I told you in the apartment?" Kiera asks me.
I try not to roll my eyes. "About you being a time traveler?"
"I wasn't lying."
That can't be true. That doesn't make any sense. ...but then, what's happened to me doesn't make any sense - or, at least what I think happened to me. I don't say anything.
"I'm not the bad guy," she says, and it irritates me because that doesn't explain what happened to me either.
"What happened to me?"
Kiera stops and looks at me, her and Carlos have a silent conversation of facial expressions in which he urges her to do something she's unsure of. I begin to feel weak and look for a chair. My body just isn't acting normal.
"Whoa, I got ya," Carlos has me back on the table so fast that it makes my head spin.
"Do you have any water?" I ask. I suddenly feel like I'm dying of thirst.
Kiera nods and walks away.
"Do I need a hospital?" I ask Carlos.
"I don't know," he says. "Do you want me to take you?"
I shrug. I don't remember ever being this thirsty before, as though I might actually die from thirst.
Kiera is back with water, Carlos helps me sit up and drink it. I empty the glass quickly.
"I should've brought a pitcher," Kiera jokes to Carlos, and she's off with the glass again.
"How did this happen?" I ask him, and my voice sounds so small and pathetic. That's when I realize I'm close to tears. Carlos pulls me to his chest and wraps his arms around me again. He feels so warm, and I can feel the muscles under his shirt, and I feel safe here.
My breathing starts to even out when Kiera returns, she gives us a significant look as Carlos takes the glass from her. Fuck her. Carlos helps steady my hand while I drink. I finish all but about a third of it, then feel a bit queasy. Kiera takes the glass and walks off again after a look from Carlos.
"We found you dead. Kiera has a chip in her or something and can talk to Alec through it…" I look up at Carlos with what I guess is a bewildered look. "I know, it's crazy - you'll get used to it. Jason was here," Carlos nods at the stairs so that I know he means the whackjob, "and said that he could fix you so we brought you here."
"This is not fixed." I look over myself to emphasize that fact.
"Well, you're alive," Carlos chuckles. "Anyway, they've got this orange segmented metal thing, and - I don't understand it. One minute you were dead. They did a thing with it and the computer, and now you're like this."
Orange segmented metal thing? "What did they use?"
"I think these'll fit you," Alec says, handing me a pair of boxers, jeans, a tee shirt and a hoodie.
"Thanks." I'm in nothing from the waist down but socks, so I don't think twice about pulling on the boxers. I try to get off the table, but Carlos stops me.
"I don't trust ya to stand," he says, "let me help you."
And he does. He's so strong that he moves me easily. We get the boxers and jeans on before Kiera comes back. The jeans are a little long, but other than that they fit great. They're the black skinny jeans kids are wearing these days, and I'm not sure how I feel about that. I'm closing in on fifty, after all - or was.
I'm sitting on a duvet on the table, and I wrap it around my legs while Carlos starts to pull off my suit jacket. My body temperature is almost back to normal, but I'm still chilly.
I look down at myself when he gets my undershirt off. I'm surprised that I'm not covered in blood. My clothes are, but I'm clean. One more thing that makes no sense. I hold back a chuckle. It's been a good ten years since I've seen ribs or muscles. If anything good has come out of this it's losing the gut. I pull on the teeshirt and follow it with the hoodie. Both are dark grey and soft from multiple washings.
Alec holds out a mirror for me, and I reach out to grab it. Carlos grabs my hand.
"This is gonna be hard to take," he tells me.
"I kind of figured that out." I try to tug my hand free but can't. He huffs and then lets go. I grab the mirror and pull it to my chest, then look at Carlos. I can feel my hand shaking and I'm scared as hell. Carlos nods me on. I look into the mirror…