Title: A Time for Miracles (1/1)
Disclaimer: All characters are the property of John Wells and Edward Allen Bernero. I wish they were mine but unfortunately they're not.
Summary: Ty and Sully share a very special Christmas.
Note: This story was written as a Third Watch Secret Santa gift for Mucada at Livejournal and she's given me her permission to post it. Happy Holidays to all of you.
******
Ty had just zippered up his jacket and had his hand on the doorknob when he heard his roommate's voice in the background. "Ty? Where are you going? I thought you were off today?"
He turned around and saw Carlos, still bleary-eyed with his hair tousled from sleep, looking at him in confusion. "I am off. I'm going to the hospital," he replied quietly.
Carlos nodded slowly. He supposed he had known that was where Ty was going, but even though he understood, he was becoming really worried about Ty. He was at the hospital constantly, sleeping very little and eating even less. "It's Christmas Eve, Ty...Maybe you should stay here or go be with your family."
Ty shook his head, a look of pain in his eyes. "It's Christmas Eve, Carlos...that's exactly why I have to be at the hospital."
"How about I cook you up something to eat before you go?"
Ty shook his head. "I'm really not hungry, Carlos...I'll see you later, okay? Merry Christmas."
"Merry Christmas, Ty."
******
Ten minutes later, Ty was in his car heading back to the hospital. The route was overly familiar to him now. He had driven it every day for the past two and a half weeks...ever since the day that Sully had been shot...
He still remembered with amazing clarity every frightening detail of what had happened. One minute he and Sully had been chasing a perp down an alleyway and the next, Sully had been down on the ground with a bullet in his head.
His partner had lost consciousness immediately...Ty hadn't even had a chance to talk to him, to tell him how much he meant to him...
As he had held Sully in his arms, frantically praying for the paramedics to arrive, Ty had gotten a bitter taste of what Sully must have gone through when he himself had been shot and when his father had been shot.
It hadn't been fun.
It wasn't anything he wanted to go through again...
******
"How's he doing, Sara?" Ty greeted the rosy-cheeked nurse quietly as he stepped into Sully's ICU room. "Any change?"
"No change yet, Officer Davis." Sara smiled warmly at the young officer, who by now was a familiar figure to her as well as all the other nurses in the ICU. "I'm still optimistic though. Any day now he'll be opening those eyes of his."
Ty nodded and watched as Sara made her way out of the room. The surgeons had removed the bullet from Sully's head without complications, but there were still no guarantees. Each day he came to the hospital with renewed hope and each day he went home disappointed. He knew that as the days went by, the chances grew dimmer for Sully's recovery, but somehow today he felt that things might be different. It was Christmas Eve...a time for miracles.
"Hey, Sul," he said softly as he lowered himself into the chair by his partner's bedside. "It's Christmas Eve...cold out there. They say it might even snow later. We could have a white Christmas."
He took Sully's hand, his eyes fixed on the older man's face, watching for the slightest movement, the tiniest sign that his partner might have heard his words. "I wanted to bring you a little tree I got, but you're not allowed to have them in the ICU. You just need to get out of here and into a regular room." He knew that Sully didn't particularly care about Christmas, or so he said anyhow, but Ty was still convinced that deep down inside he really did care. After Tatiana had died, it just hadn't been very easy for him. When things like that happened to a person, it dragged you down, made it harder to care about things.
"I know you might not feel like waking up just yet...but, I'd really like it if you would. So Sully...it might be selfish, but...even if you don't want to wake up for yourself right now...it'd be the greatest Christmas present in the world if you could wake up for me..." Ty nibbled on his lip as he studied Sully's face once again, but there was still nothing to indicate that his partner had heard him.
"You know...there was a time when I didn't really care all that much about Christmas myself..." he said softly as his mind drifted back in time to a Christmas many years ago, when he was just a boy. "I know you remember it too..."
******
"Sweetheart, why don't you have some cheese and crackers to tide you over until dinner?" Maggie smiled down at her 11-year-old son who was slouched on the living room couch, sullenly staring at the miniature train that was chugging around the Christmas tree.
"I'm not hungry."
The smile left Maggie's lips and she sighed softly as she headed back into the kitchen to check on the turkey. This Christmas, the first since her husband had been killed, was difficult for all of them, but Ty was taking it extremely hard. Her two daughters were able to talk things out, but Ty kept his feelings buried deep inside. She wasn't sure how to draw him out.
Maggie had just taken the turkey out of the oven and was basting it when the doorbell rang. "Ty, sweetheart, will you get that?" she called out from the kitchen.
Ty got up from the couch and shuffled over to the front door. He opened it and saw the man who had used to be his dad's partner. "Hi, Officer Sullivan," he mumbled, standing aside so the man could enter the house.
"Hello there, Ty." Sully came inside and greeted Ty's sisters before turning back to Ty. "Was Santa good to you this year?" he joked.
"Santa?" Ty asked, giving Sully an incredulous look. "I don't believe in Santa anymore. I'm too old for that."
"Yeah...yeah I guess you are," Sully said.
"John! I'm so glad you could come." Maggie smiled widely as she walked into the living room.
"Hello, Maggie. How are you?" Sully smiled back at her, drawing her into a warm embrace.
"You know...just taking things one day at a time," she replied.
Sully nodded. He understood completely. It was the same for him. He was riding without a partner these days, but often found himself turning to the empty seat in the RMP, all set to tell Ty Sr. some little story or talk about the latest ballgame, only to realize that he was alone.
Maggie beckoned to Sully, ushering him over to a corner of the room. "John... I was wondering..." she began hesitantly. "Ty...he isn't doing very well with any of this..."
"You want me to talk to him?" Sully asked.
She nodded. "If you don't mind. Sometimes I think he's lost in a house with all women...He doesn't open up to me the way he used to...the way the girls do..."
Sully glanced over at Ty who had turned on the television and was watching a Christmas parade. "He was really close to his dad. Why don't I take him out for a walk and I can give him that present I told you about. It's out in the car."
"Thank you, John." Maggie said, smiling at him. "Ty's lucky to have you in his life."
******
"Did my mom ask you to talk to me?" Ty asked as he and Sully slowly walked down the street.
"She's worried about you."
"She doesn't have to be. I'm fine."
Sully nodded. "I know you are, but you know how moms are. They worry about their kids. Its in the mom handbook."
A glimmer of a smile appeared on Ty's lips, but vanished as quickly as it came. "I miss my dad," he whispered.
"I know you do," Sully said, wrapping his arm around the boy's shoulder. "I miss him too."
"You do?" Ty asked, turning his head to gaze up at Sully.
"Of course I do," Sully stated gruffly. "He was my partner. Your dad was like a brother to me."
Ty nodded. "It's not fair what happened to him."
"I know it's not fair, kiddo." Sully ruffled the boy's hair as they turned and started back towards the house. "It's a hard pill to swallow, but life isn't fair sometimes."
"My dad...he knew I loved him, didn't he?" Ty nibbled on his lip anxiously as he finally voiced a question that had been disturbing him for months now.
"Of course he did," Sully answered, a note of certainty in his voice. "He was very proud of you, Ty. He was always talking about you, how well you were doing in school...all about your latest football or baseball games. He knew you loved him and he loved you very much as well."
"Thanks, Officer Sullivan." Ty smiled shyly up at Sully.
"No problem," Sully said. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his set of keys then handed them to Ty. "Why don't you run on over to my car. I have some presents for you and your family in the back seat. You can help me bring them inside."
Ty took the keys from Sully and ran over to the car, quickly unlocking the back door. When he saw what was inside, his face lit up with joy. An excited German shepherd puppy, with a red ribbon around its neck, went bounding into Ty's waiting arms.
"Is he for me?" Ty asked, turned towards Sully as the dog wriggled around in his arms and licked Ty's face.
Sully nodded, a smile on his face. "Yes. Only thing is that he's not a he. He's a she."
"What about my mom?" Ty asked with a worried look as he stroked the puppy's soft fur. "What if she won't let me keep her?"
"I already talked to your mom," Sully said. "She said it was fine."
"Really? Thank you so much, Officer Sullivan." Ty looked up at Sully, his eyes shining. "I love her."
"I'm glad you like her," Sully said, pleased to see a smile on the boy's face. "You know, Ty...dogs are really good listeners. You can pretty much talk to them about anything at all."
"I guess that's true," Ty said. "But what if you need someone to talk back and not just to listen?"
"Then you can talk to your mom...or to me..."
"To you?" Ty asked, looking up at Sully again. "I could talk to you? That would be okay?"
"That would definitely be okay," Sully said, nodding. "If you ever feel like you need to talk to someone and you can't talk to your mother or your sisters, I want you to come to me."
"Thank you, Officer Sullivan."
"And Ty?"
"Yes?"
"You don't have to call me, Officer Sullivan...you can just call me Sully..."
"Thanks...Sully," Ty said, smiling up at Sully once more.
******
"I don't think I ever told you just how much that meant to me," Ty said softly as his thoughts came back into the present. "Not just the dog...but that you said I could talk to you whenever I needed to... It really meant a lot... Thanks, Sul..."
"You're welcome."
The voice was soft, nothing more than a quiet whisper. At first Ty was afraid he had just imagined it. "Sul? Are you awake?"
"Course I'm awake," Sully said hoarsely as he slowly opened his eyes, squinting against the light that had been lost to him for so many days. "How could anyone sleep with you babbling on?"
Ty grinned as he reached for the call button. "I'm going to let the nurses know you're awake so they can get your doctor to come and check you out."
******
Ty waited patiently as the doctor examined his partner while Sara stood in the background, smiling away. Finally the doctor departed after telling them that things looked very good.
"Is there anything I can get for you, Officer Sullivan?" Sara asked.
Sully considered her request for a few moments. "Well, something to eat might be good."
She nodded and laughed. "I think I can arrange that." She glanced over in Ty's direction. "You've got a very loyal partner there. He's been here sitting with you every single day. Never missed one."
Sully nodded, a faint smile on his lips and Ty lowered his head, feeling his cheeks flush. "Okay then, I'm going to leave you two officers alone for a while. I'll be back soon with some dinner. I'll see if I can rustle up something for you too," she said to Ty.
"Thanks, Sara," Ty replied. He then turned his head toward his partner. "Man, Sul...I am so glad you're awake."
"You didn't think it would be that easy to get rid of me, did you?" Sully asked smiling at his partner. He couldn't help but notice how tired the younger man looked. Obviously the days since Sully had been shot had taken their toll on him. "You look like you can use a good night's sleep. Maybe you'll get one tonight?"
Ty nodded, not really even paying attention to what Sully had said. "I'm really sorry about what happened that day, Sul," he said, guilt apparent in his voice and in the look he gave his partner. "I just...I didn't see the gun...I..."
Sully raised his hand. "Come on, Ty. Don't. It happened and it wasn't your fault. I'm going to be fine. I don't want you feeling guilty about this, okay?"
Ty hesitated a bit before he nodded slowly. "I...I'm just really glad you're okay. You really scared me."
"I know," Sully stated quietly. No one knew better than him the hell you went through when your partner was shot. "But I'm okay. You can stop worrying about it now. So, what day is it now? How long have I been out?"
"It's Christmas Eve, Sul..."
Sully's eyes widened in surprise. "Christmas Eve? Wow...guess my Christmas shopping is going to be a little bit late," he said with a grin.
Ty smiled back at his partner. "I think people will understand." He settled back into the chair, feeling more relaxed than he had since the moment his partner had been shot. "I'm sorry it's so dreary in here, but if everything goes well, they'll be transferring you to a regular room tomorrow. I have a little tree for you and some things for you and my mom will want to come by too. If you're good, maybe she'll even bring you some turkey and a piece of pie."
"I don't want anyone going to any fuss," Sully protested.
"Come on, Sul...I know its not your favorite holiday, but it is Christmas and we want to make it a nice one for you, okay? Can't you just let us?
Sully nodded. He could see how much Ty wanted it and it didn't seem worth bickering about. As a matter of fact, suddenly the idea of spending Christmas with people he cared about actually seemed like a rather nice idea. "I'd like that," he said softly.
"You would?" Ty asked, giving his partner a surprised look before he corrected himself. "I mean, good."
"Merry Christmas, Ty," Sully said as he chuckled softly.
"Merry Christmas, Sul."
Disclaimer: All characters are the property of John Wells and Edward Allen Bernero. I wish they were mine but unfortunately they're not.
Summary: Ty and Sully share a very special Christmas.
Note: This story was written as a Third Watch Secret Santa gift for Mucada at Livejournal and she's given me her permission to post it. Happy Holidays to all of you.
******
Ty had just zippered up his jacket and had his hand on the doorknob when he heard his roommate's voice in the background. "Ty? Where are you going? I thought you were off today?"
He turned around and saw Carlos, still bleary-eyed with his hair tousled from sleep, looking at him in confusion. "I am off. I'm going to the hospital," he replied quietly.
Carlos nodded slowly. He supposed he had known that was where Ty was going, but even though he understood, he was becoming really worried about Ty. He was at the hospital constantly, sleeping very little and eating even less. "It's Christmas Eve, Ty...Maybe you should stay here or go be with your family."
Ty shook his head, a look of pain in his eyes. "It's Christmas Eve, Carlos...that's exactly why I have to be at the hospital."
"How about I cook you up something to eat before you go?"
Ty shook his head. "I'm really not hungry, Carlos...I'll see you later, okay? Merry Christmas."
"Merry Christmas, Ty."
******
Ten minutes later, Ty was in his car heading back to the hospital. The route was overly familiar to him now. He had driven it every day for the past two and a half weeks...ever since the day that Sully had been shot...
He still remembered with amazing clarity every frightening detail of what had happened. One minute he and Sully had been chasing a perp down an alleyway and the next, Sully had been down on the ground with a bullet in his head.
His partner had lost consciousness immediately...Ty hadn't even had a chance to talk to him, to tell him how much he meant to him...
As he had held Sully in his arms, frantically praying for the paramedics to arrive, Ty had gotten a bitter taste of what Sully must have gone through when he himself had been shot and when his father had been shot.
It hadn't been fun.
It wasn't anything he wanted to go through again...
******
"How's he doing, Sara?" Ty greeted the rosy-cheeked nurse quietly as he stepped into Sully's ICU room. "Any change?"
"No change yet, Officer Davis." Sara smiled warmly at the young officer, who by now was a familiar figure to her as well as all the other nurses in the ICU. "I'm still optimistic though. Any day now he'll be opening those eyes of his."
Ty nodded and watched as Sara made her way out of the room. The surgeons had removed the bullet from Sully's head without complications, but there were still no guarantees. Each day he came to the hospital with renewed hope and each day he went home disappointed. He knew that as the days went by, the chances grew dimmer for Sully's recovery, but somehow today he felt that things might be different. It was Christmas Eve...a time for miracles.
"Hey, Sul," he said softly as he lowered himself into the chair by his partner's bedside. "It's Christmas Eve...cold out there. They say it might even snow later. We could have a white Christmas."
He took Sully's hand, his eyes fixed on the older man's face, watching for the slightest movement, the tiniest sign that his partner might have heard his words. "I wanted to bring you a little tree I got, but you're not allowed to have them in the ICU. You just need to get out of here and into a regular room." He knew that Sully didn't particularly care about Christmas, or so he said anyhow, but Ty was still convinced that deep down inside he really did care. After Tatiana had died, it just hadn't been very easy for him. When things like that happened to a person, it dragged you down, made it harder to care about things.
"I know you might not feel like waking up just yet...but, I'd really like it if you would. So Sully...it might be selfish, but...even if you don't want to wake up for yourself right now...it'd be the greatest Christmas present in the world if you could wake up for me..." Ty nibbled on his lip as he studied Sully's face once again, but there was still nothing to indicate that his partner had heard him.
"You know...there was a time when I didn't really care all that much about Christmas myself..." he said softly as his mind drifted back in time to a Christmas many years ago, when he was just a boy. "I know you remember it too..."
******
"Sweetheart, why don't you have some cheese and crackers to tide you over until dinner?" Maggie smiled down at her 11-year-old son who was slouched on the living room couch, sullenly staring at the miniature train that was chugging around the Christmas tree.
"I'm not hungry."
The smile left Maggie's lips and she sighed softly as she headed back into the kitchen to check on the turkey. This Christmas, the first since her husband had been killed, was difficult for all of them, but Ty was taking it extremely hard. Her two daughters were able to talk things out, but Ty kept his feelings buried deep inside. She wasn't sure how to draw him out.
Maggie had just taken the turkey out of the oven and was basting it when the doorbell rang. "Ty, sweetheart, will you get that?" she called out from the kitchen.
Ty got up from the couch and shuffled over to the front door. He opened it and saw the man who had used to be his dad's partner. "Hi, Officer Sullivan," he mumbled, standing aside so the man could enter the house.
"Hello there, Ty." Sully came inside and greeted Ty's sisters before turning back to Ty. "Was Santa good to you this year?" he joked.
"Santa?" Ty asked, giving Sully an incredulous look. "I don't believe in Santa anymore. I'm too old for that."
"Yeah...yeah I guess you are," Sully said.
"John! I'm so glad you could come." Maggie smiled widely as she walked into the living room.
"Hello, Maggie. How are you?" Sully smiled back at her, drawing her into a warm embrace.
"You know...just taking things one day at a time," she replied.
Sully nodded. He understood completely. It was the same for him. He was riding without a partner these days, but often found himself turning to the empty seat in the RMP, all set to tell Ty Sr. some little story or talk about the latest ballgame, only to realize that he was alone.
Maggie beckoned to Sully, ushering him over to a corner of the room. "John... I was wondering..." she began hesitantly. "Ty...he isn't doing very well with any of this..."
"You want me to talk to him?" Sully asked.
She nodded. "If you don't mind. Sometimes I think he's lost in a house with all women...He doesn't open up to me the way he used to...the way the girls do..."
Sully glanced over at Ty who had turned on the television and was watching a Christmas parade. "He was really close to his dad. Why don't I take him out for a walk and I can give him that present I told you about. It's out in the car."
"Thank you, John." Maggie said, smiling at him. "Ty's lucky to have you in his life."
******
"Did my mom ask you to talk to me?" Ty asked as he and Sully slowly walked down the street.
"She's worried about you."
"She doesn't have to be. I'm fine."
Sully nodded. "I know you are, but you know how moms are. They worry about their kids. Its in the mom handbook."
A glimmer of a smile appeared on Ty's lips, but vanished as quickly as it came. "I miss my dad," he whispered.
"I know you do," Sully said, wrapping his arm around the boy's shoulder. "I miss him too."
"You do?" Ty asked, turning his head to gaze up at Sully.
"Of course I do," Sully stated gruffly. "He was my partner. Your dad was like a brother to me."
Ty nodded. "It's not fair what happened to him."
"I know it's not fair, kiddo." Sully ruffled the boy's hair as they turned and started back towards the house. "It's a hard pill to swallow, but life isn't fair sometimes."
"My dad...he knew I loved him, didn't he?" Ty nibbled on his lip anxiously as he finally voiced a question that had been disturbing him for months now.
"Of course he did," Sully answered, a note of certainty in his voice. "He was very proud of you, Ty. He was always talking about you, how well you were doing in school...all about your latest football or baseball games. He knew you loved him and he loved you very much as well."
"Thanks, Officer Sullivan." Ty smiled shyly up at Sully.
"No problem," Sully said. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his set of keys then handed them to Ty. "Why don't you run on over to my car. I have some presents for you and your family in the back seat. You can help me bring them inside."
Ty took the keys from Sully and ran over to the car, quickly unlocking the back door. When he saw what was inside, his face lit up with joy. An excited German shepherd puppy, with a red ribbon around its neck, went bounding into Ty's waiting arms.
"Is he for me?" Ty asked, turned towards Sully as the dog wriggled around in his arms and licked Ty's face.
Sully nodded, a smile on his face. "Yes. Only thing is that he's not a he. He's a she."
"What about my mom?" Ty asked with a worried look as he stroked the puppy's soft fur. "What if she won't let me keep her?"
"I already talked to your mom," Sully said. "She said it was fine."
"Really? Thank you so much, Officer Sullivan." Ty looked up at Sully, his eyes shining. "I love her."
"I'm glad you like her," Sully said, pleased to see a smile on the boy's face. "You know, Ty...dogs are really good listeners. You can pretty much talk to them about anything at all."
"I guess that's true," Ty said. "But what if you need someone to talk back and not just to listen?"
"Then you can talk to your mom...or to me..."
"To you?" Ty asked, looking up at Sully again. "I could talk to you? That would be okay?"
"That would definitely be okay," Sully said, nodding. "If you ever feel like you need to talk to someone and you can't talk to your mother or your sisters, I want you to come to me."
"Thank you, Officer Sullivan."
"And Ty?"
"Yes?"
"You don't have to call me, Officer Sullivan...you can just call me Sully..."
"Thanks...Sully," Ty said, smiling up at Sully once more.
******
"I don't think I ever told you just how much that meant to me," Ty said softly as his thoughts came back into the present. "Not just the dog...but that you said I could talk to you whenever I needed to... It really meant a lot... Thanks, Sul..."
"You're welcome."
The voice was soft, nothing more than a quiet whisper. At first Ty was afraid he had just imagined it. "Sul? Are you awake?"
"Course I'm awake," Sully said hoarsely as he slowly opened his eyes, squinting against the light that had been lost to him for so many days. "How could anyone sleep with you babbling on?"
Ty grinned as he reached for the call button. "I'm going to let the nurses know you're awake so they can get your doctor to come and check you out."
******
Ty waited patiently as the doctor examined his partner while Sara stood in the background, smiling away. Finally the doctor departed after telling them that things looked very good.
"Is there anything I can get for you, Officer Sullivan?" Sara asked.
Sully considered her request for a few moments. "Well, something to eat might be good."
She nodded and laughed. "I think I can arrange that." She glanced over in Ty's direction. "You've got a very loyal partner there. He's been here sitting with you every single day. Never missed one."
Sully nodded, a faint smile on his lips and Ty lowered his head, feeling his cheeks flush. "Okay then, I'm going to leave you two officers alone for a while. I'll be back soon with some dinner. I'll see if I can rustle up something for you too," she said to Ty.
"Thanks, Sara," Ty replied. He then turned his head toward his partner. "Man, Sul...I am so glad you're awake."
"You didn't think it would be that easy to get rid of me, did you?" Sully asked smiling at his partner. He couldn't help but notice how tired the younger man looked. Obviously the days since Sully had been shot had taken their toll on him. "You look like you can use a good night's sleep. Maybe you'll get one tonight?"
Ty nodded, not really even paying attention to what Sully had said. "I'm really sorry about what happened that day, Sul," he said, guilt apparent in his voice and in the look he gave his partner. "I just...I didn't see the gun...I..."
Sully raised his hand. "Come on, Ty. Don't. It happened and it wasn't your fault. I'm going to be fine. I don't want you feeling guilty about this, okay?"
Ty hesitated a bit before he nodded slowly. "I...I'm just really glad you're okay. You really scared me."
"I know," Sully stated quietly. No one knew better than him the hell you went through when your partner was shot. "But I'm okay. You can stop worrying about it now. So, what day is it now? How long have I been out?"
"It's Christmas Eve, Sul..."
Sully's eyes widened in surprise. "Christmas Eve? Wow...guess my Christmas shopping is going to be a little bit late," he said with a grin.
Ty smiled back at his partner. "I think people will understand." He settled back into the chair, feeling more relaxed than he had since the moment his partner had been shot. "I'm sorry it's so dreary in here, but if everything goes well, they'll be transferring you to a regular room tomorrow. I have a little tree for you and some things for you and my mom will want to come by too. If you're good, maybe she'll even bring you some turkey and a piece of pie."
"I don't want anyone going to any fuss," Sully protested.
"Come on, Sul...I know its not your favorite holiday, but it is Christmas and we want to make it a nice one for you, okay? Can't you just let us?
Sully nodded. He could see how much Ty wanted it and it didn't seem worth bickering about. As a matter of fact, suddenly the idea of spending Christmas with people he cared about actually seemed like a rather nice idea. "I'd like that," he said softly.
"You would?" Ty asked, giving his partner a surprised look before he corrected himself. "I mean, good."
"Merry Christmas, Ty," Sully said as he chuckled softly.
"Merry Christmas, Sul."