Raylan was more than exhausted; he was dead on his feet. The case he'd been working on for the last 2 weeks had finally come to a close but there'd been more shooting, more bodies and he'd listened to Art rant and rave at him for over half an hour. After everything; coming back to this god forsaken motel room was the highlight of his day. He unlocked the door and stepped inside, tossing the key and food he'd picked up on his way back because he couldn't actually remember when he'd last eaten on the small table provided and kicked the door closed behind him.
"Well I can see that you've had a wonderful day." A voice said and his hand went automatically to his holster, somewhat slower than he would've liked but if they had wanted to shoot him he was sure they would've done so before now, making him aware of there presence told him that he wasn't really in all that much danger.
"Jesus Christ Boyd, what the hell are you doing here?" He hadn't seen much of Boyd the last few weeks, he didn't know if that had been a good thing or a bad thing.
"Waiting for you." Raylan sighed but removed the weapon and placed it on the table, placing his hat alongside it.
"I'm not really in the mood for whatever you have in store for me today Boyd; if there's a gun on your person and you find the need to use it on me then I will not reach for mine as I'm so fucking tired." He struggled to take his jacket and tie off and they both landed somewhere in the direction of the chair, if they fell to the floor then he didn't make to pick them up. He didn't know that Boyd had watched them both fall to the floor and frown.
"I thought that we were past wanting to shoot each other when we crossed paths with one another." Boyd's voice came whilst Raylan headed to the bathroom, taking his shirt off and turning the water on. He splashed water on his face and cleaned his hands of the dirt and what he was pretty sure was blood on them but whether it was his own or someone else's he didn't know.
"Jesus what the hell happened to you?" Boyd's voice was closer than he expected and when he looked up and into the mirror sure enough Boyd was at the door. He could see some of the bruises showing up now, dark and ugly on his skin and he guessed that whatever Boyd was seeing on his back must've been bad as well. Hell he didn't even want to see what damage he had there, the front was bad enough and he was sure that the lighting in the bathroom wasn't helping.
"All in a days work Boyd, all in a days work." He was tired and now, even after he had brought the food for himself he wasn't hungry, it might keep for a day.
"Jesus, do you look like this when I'm through with you?" Raylan couldn't help it, he laughed.
Boyd was pulled out of sleep a few hours later when he heard a sound, he pulled himself upright and glanced beside him to see Raylan still dead to the world, the man had downed half a bottle of whatever he had in the cupboard and a handful of pills before crashing head first onto the bed and that was where he remained. Reaching for his own gun, sitting on the bedside table he flicked the safety off and got to his feet, heading over to the window and pulling the curtain back slightly, glancing out to see that across the way someone was getting pissed off at the vending machine. He couldn't help but smile when he saw them give it a few kicks because he himself had done it once or twice. Sighing he returned to the bed, placing the safety back on the gun and returning it to it's spot. He tuned his ears to listen to the deep breathing of the person lying beside him and then turned his head to the side he looked at Raylan, sure with all the years spent apart they had changed but now…without the hat, the badge and the tie he was still Raylan, still the man he'd dug coal with, still the man who he'd want in his corner and damn it if Raylan had done just that, risking not only his job but also his life. Boyd knew that he could never repay the man but knowing Raylan…well things would eventually even out.
The buzzing of the alarm woke Boyd a few hours later; he rolled over to slam the alarm off and noticed that Raylan was still on the bed next to him and that the sheer volume hadn't even made him twitch. He had to lean over the other man in order to silence the alarm and on pulling back Boyd placed his hand on his back, since Raylan was still in the same position as last night he had to make sure he wasn't bloody dead next to him, however he felt the slight rise and fall that told him the other was still breathing and sure enough, when he put some pressure on a bruise, which he had seen the night before Raylan let out a groan, just enough to bring him around.
"We heading into work today Deputy Marshall?" he asked, the words rolling off his tongue as if trying to get some kind of reaction out of the other man, it worked but not in the way he hoped it would.
"What time is it?"
"7 in the AM."
"Damn, I just got fucking back." Boyd was leaning against the headboard and widened his eyes.
"Actually, you've been doing a very good impersonation of a corpse for the last 7 or so hours." Boyd replied, waiting for the eventual opening of ones eyes that would give him an idea of just how drunk or medicated he still was, the fact that Raylan's voice was still sounding like gravel didn't give him much to go on. Boyd decided to give the man a few more minutes to give him time to ground himself and got up, heading to the bathroom. However on arrival back to the bed just a minute later Raylan was in the exact same spot he'd been left in, or close to it as he now seemed to have buried his head further into the pillow, as if escaping the suns rays that hadn't even made the blinds yet. Raylan had managed to change into sweatpants the night before and pull back the covers before the alcohol and pills had taken over, the covers were now laying around his waist, exposing his back to the room and now Boyd could see that the bruises which he thought were bad last night were even worse in the morning light.
"Raylan." Boyd said and the Marshall didn't move.
"Raylan." He said louder and gave the bed a kick to go along with it, he grinned when the man jumped, however it was clear that Raylan was going nowhere anytime soon. If it were any other day Raylan would be instantly alert and the fact that he remained where he was told Boyd that he trusted Boyd to keep watch, that and perhaps he was still incapacitated in some way.
"Where's your phone Raylan? I'll let your boss know you're not coming in today." He was met with silence again.
"Raylan?" He sighed and then headed over to where the man's jacket was lying next to the chair from the night before, picking it up and finding the phone in the inner pocket. He flicked through the phonebook, seeing 'Art' and dialed. Whilst he waited for it connect he placed the jacket on the back on the chair and slung the tie over it. He thought momentarily taking the call outside but then if Raylan was out cold he had nothing to worry about, if he was somehow, actually conscious then maybe he might start getting some answers.
"Raylan, just what in the hell do you think you're doing? I told you to take a week off. You can't be that bored already can you?" Art said as he answered and Boyd's eyebrows rose. He might actually start to like Raylan's boss if this was the way he answered calls from certain Marshalls and Boyd knew that Raylan had been pulled over the coals once or twice from his boss since getting here.
"Actually, this is Boyd Crowder; I was just letting you know that Raylan wouldn't be making it in today." Art chuckled on the other end.
"Mr Crowder, I appreciate the phone call but I did tell Raylan not to bother coming in, I'm running out of people for him to shoot to be honest." The edges of Boyd's mouth turned up at that comment, Raylan sure was trigger happy at times.
"Well considering that I'm actually having a little trouble getting anything out of him I thought it best to at least let you know. He didn't mention that he had been given time off."
"Took me a good 20minutes to convince him to take this time off, hell the only time he's ever taken sick leave is because of a bullet and even then he's too damn stubborn and comes in before he should. Tell him I don't want him giving me anymore damn paperwork. I've got a tonne from last night thank you. You also have my permission to cuff him with his own god damn cuffs if he thinks about coming in before next week."
"I'll take that under advisement. However, if I'm not asking too much…what the hell happened yesterday?" he heard the other man sigh.
"Raylan got the shit kicked out of him twice that I'm aware of. I'm also led to believe that he was thrown from a moving vehicle and was used as a human shield. But then in Raylan's book it's just another day. Although one of these days it's gonna be his last if he keeps up this damn martyr complex of his." Boyd looked at Raylan who was still on the bed; head buried in the pillow and sighed. He knew the man took risks but lately they were more along the line of stupid and unnecessary.
"Mr Crowder, I know you've got your own problems with the law and everything but Raylan trusts you, even after everything you've been through he still trusts you and I'm lead to believe that because of that trust or whatever it is that you two have is the only reason Raylan isn't dead. I may not trust you but I have to trust Raylan and if he says that you ain't that bad well I gotta take his word for it. It's probably the only reason why I'm not tracking you down and dragging you in, because if I did that then Givens might go off the rail even more and I'm really not in the mood to deal with that."
"He always give you this much trouble?" Boyd still didn't know much about of when before Raylan came back, only the shooting in Miami and a few other little things.
"Hell I call it a win when I get through a week without him shooting someone. Damn paperwork seems to have tripled whilst he's been here. Maybe you can start talking some bloody sense into him."
"I'll see what I can do." Boyd quickly said his goodbye and hung up, tossing the phone onto the table.
"What the hell am I gonna do with you Raylan?" he whispered before running a hand over his face and heading to the bathroom for a shower.
Boyd had been flicking through the few channels the motel got when Raylan groaned a few hours later, flicking the TV off he turned his head and watched as the other man opened his eyes, them eventually falling on Boyd.
"Jesus Christ I thought it was all a dream."
"Afraid not, I'm still here." Boyd replied, a grin on his face.
"What time is it?"
"10:30am, you gonna remain awake more than 30seconds this time?" Raylan frowned.
"What do you mean?"
"You don't remember waking earlier?"
"Should I?" Boyd just shook his head and Raylan slowly sat up.
"You need some painkillers or did you take them all last night?" He didn't know how many the man had taken but he knew it was more than the recommended dose.
"I think I have a few left, what about a drink?" The shot, or rather the half a bottle had been to help take the edge off.
"Oh no, I'm gonna keep that shit away from you for a few days. I only allowed it last night because it looked like you really needed it to help take the edge off." Raylan had finally succeeded in getting to his feet and shuffled, yes shuffled to the bathroom before closing the door over.
"So what brings you here Boyd? Or did you answer that last night?" his voice was slightly muffled from the closed door but Boyd was able to answer.
"If you can believe it Raylan, I actually came to check up on you. Haven't seen you round for awhile, was kinda worried that all the rumors floating round might be true."
"What rumors?" Raylan asked as he came back out of the bathroom.
"That you'd met your match, and lost."
"Surely you know better than to listen to rumors Boyd." He wore a grin on his face but Boyd was sure it was part grimace as well; he must've been hurting by now because surely the painkillers would've worn off. He was also aware that just moving was an issue at the moment so the quicker Boyd got him sitting or laying down the better.
"Considering I hadn't seen hide or hair of you I thought it in my best interests and of my fellow criminal friends to at least check up on your welfare."
"Mighty considerate of you Boyd. You can tell your friends that I am still alive and that I'm coming for them when I am in need. Don't you let them think they're cocky and not paying attention."
"Wouldn't dream of it." Boyd made his way over to where Raylan was and handed him some pills from the container, he had swiped it from the bathroom earlier because he was not trusting Raylan to self medicate today, tomorrow perhaps but today, no way. If Raylan asked then Boyd would use his own words against him. 'it was justified', damn just how many times had he heard those words come from the man's mouth?
"You want to eat your dinner with those pills? When was the last time you ate something?"
"No damn idea. Bought that on my way back here last night then when I got to the door just didn't feel like it. Still don't feel like it actually."
"Well that's too bad because you do need to eat something with those pills. After them and the alcohol last night, I'm not letting you self medicate."
"Who made you boss?"
"I did. Now shut up and eat." Raylan was handed one of his sandwiches he'd picked up from the local deli, sighing he opened it and took a bite. It was a little stale but after a few bites he didn't notice anymore, just how hungry he was.
"Good huh?"
"Might be plain but tastes good." Raylan replied, sitting back down on the bed. He didn't want to admit it out loud, especially to Boyd but he wasn't really feeling too steady on his feet.
"Art said that you got beat up twice yesterday, what happened?" Raylan gave him a look, since when had Boyd talked to Art?
"I called him earlier to tell him you wouldn't be in."
"He gave me the rest of the week."
"I know, now. You were too busy playing dead to tell me so I had to call him."
"I'd hardly call it a fair fight when there's one of me and 6 of them."
"6? You're lucky you didn't get yourself killed."
"Hence the second round. Thankfully Tim arrived with his reinforcement."
"Reinforcement?"
"Sniper rifle." Boyd nodded.
Half an hour later Raylan was lying back on the bed, this time on his side because he couldn't figure out which way was worse, his front of his back but last night he'd been too tired to think about that when he'd crashed, Boyd was lying next to him, watching him closely, watching for the painkillers to really kick in and knock him out and considering that Raylan's blinking was getting slower and the time between the question to responses were getting longer, Boyd figured he didn't have much longer to wait.
"Raylan Givens." He waited till Raylan's eyes made their way back to Boyd's face before he continued.
"Why do you continually put yourself in harms way?" he asked and Raylan gave a grin, the medication was working, lowering the other mans defenses and this was the only time he'd get honest answers. He almost felt guilty to drugging him so much, almost.
"Because if I don't do it then who will. If I die whilst doing it, I just hope I'd done something good. Besides, I like giving Art more paperwork." Boyd sighed.
"He said his paperwork has tripled since you got here." Raylan seemed to think for a moment.
"Probably right."
"Is it possible for you to handle a situation without pulling your weapon? I mean you told me that you only pulled your weapon to kill; now you've shot me and I'm still here. How many others are that lucky?" Raylan moved slightly, focusing his gaze back on Boyd as he'd started to drift, the medication doing it's best to pull him under but he knew he had to answer the other man.
"I only pull when I intend to kill. You I didn't want to kill but I was forced to use it. I said you'd pay to find out." Boyd nodded. The night at the table in Ava's house came back to him.
"That I understand, but you have to understand something Raylan…I cannot afford to lose you. You're the only one on my side and without you I'll do something stupid."
"You do something stupid every other day."
"Not on weekends, I do like my rest." Raylan grinned but his eyes slid closed, he couldn't fight against the pills anymore.
"Will you still be here when I resurface?"
"If Art hasn't arrested me then yes I will be here."
"Boyd Crowder…"
"Yes Raylan?"
"I love you."
"I love you too. Now get some sleep." Boyd bent over and gave him a kiss on the lips.
"Fucking Kentucky." Raylan murmured as sleep overtook him and Boyd smiled, he waited till Raylan was completely under before murmuring.
"If you hadn't been reassigned then who knows where we'd both be."
The End.