Back in a jiff? Seriously? Albert was torn between exhaustion and confusion as Cooper let himself out the door and locked it behind him.

Exhaustion won, and Albert sat back down, careful to avoid moving his left arm, still strapped to his body. He let out a breath and distantly wished that he had gotten something to drink and turned down the air conditioner before sitting because realistically, he'd be there a while before attending to anything else.

The air conditioner whirred on.

Thank fuck for Cooper.

Other than that, the apartment was silent. No beeping from heart monitors, no road noise, no Cooper. Just Albert, sitting in the middle of the couch. Tired. Alone. Still.

tp

The noise of the door closing woke Albert up violently. The movement caused a gasp of pain and Albert reaching toward his bad shoulder in an attempt to drive it away, door momentarily forgotten.

"Shit on a stick!"

"Albert!" Cooper rushed over, dropping bags on the floor. "Albert, look at me, are you okay? What can I do?"

Albert opened his scrunched eyes to see Coop's worried face inches from his own, his hands hovering in between them, hesitant to touch. He slowly started to relax his muscles, trying to avoid more painful movement.

Albert has seen Coop's worried face far too often in the past few days.

The pain was dulling back down from the sudden tensing and Albert could think again. "No, Coop, I'm ok. Just moved wrong."

Cooper decided on forward motion for his hands and they ended up on Albert's right arm and his chest, just barely touching the sling. His hands were warm and still. They both took a moment to calm down from the upset.

"I'm so tired of this I could die," said Albert.

"Don't even joke about it, my friend. I couldn't bear it," said Coop.

Albert felt warm on the inside now too, and gave a half nod of recognition. "What did you bring me?"

Still crouching over Albert, Cooper replied. "Only the best Chinese in town! And some supplies from the store. And my bags."

"Your bags?" Albert asked, but Cooper was already back to the door. Albert smelled a whiff of Chinese food from his favorite take out place and his stomach gave a low growl.

"The food!" Cooper checked the contents. "Only slightly damaged. A crab rangoon has escaped the wrapping, but is undamaged. The rest can wait, are you hungry Albert?"

"You bet your ass I am." Albert slowly scooted to the edge of the couch, still still from his awkward nap, and managed to stand while Coop started to set the small two-person table next to the kitchen. "Where did you throw my meds, Coop? This hurts like no other, I should've had a dose an hour ago."

"I'll get them, Albert, you go sit at the table and I'll be right back."

Albert did as he was told, too tired to argue about it or point out what a mother hen Cooper was being.

Cooper came back with the bottle, sat it down, realized that Albert can't really open the bottle, opened it for him, sat it down again, looked at it a moment, and decided to tip a pill out and set it in front of Albert, set the bottle back down, and then began to unpack the food.

Eating was slow on Albert's part, as he was enjoying the warm food and the silence. Cooper had finished first, and was making himself busy with more flitting to and fro across Albert's small apartment. A loud bang alerted Albert to Cooper moving things around in the kitchen.

"Coop," started Albert.

"You know, Albert, I consider you a friend, and most of my friends call me Dale," he called back from his crouched position next to the sink.

"Okay," said Albert more slowly, taking another bite of his food before continuing. "Dale, what are you doing in my kitchen right now?" Albert was proud that his voice fit perfectly around saying Dale, even though his heart jumped at the sound.

"Cleaning! Albert, I'm cleaning and rearranging and -" another crash "- at least attempting to and, Albert," a pause, "I don't really know what I'm doing," finished Cooper, emerging from the kitchen doorway to face Albert. "I'm experiencing an uptake in nervous energy and I was attempting to relax it with movement. Obviously, that course of action did not have the desired effect."

Albert chewed on his last bite of food, downing the rest of his water with it. "Use that extra energy to throw the rest of this mess in the trash, and grab us a couple beers. I'll meet you on the couch."

"Is that wise, considering the medication you're on?"

A precise glance from Albert as he was rising from his seat spurred Cooper into action. "I gotta take a leak," said Albert. Cooper being in his apartment still was weird, but Albert wasn't used to having anyone but himself in the apartment. Actually, there hadn't been anyone but the movers since he moved in.

Moments later, Albert emerged from the hallway and saw Cooper sitting, straight backed, on the couch, two beers on the coffee table in front of him, both open, both on coasters he'd scavenged from god knows where.

"God, Coop, take a breath." Albert sat to Cooper's left, instinctively keeping his damaged arm protected against any sudden Cooper movements.

"Dale," said Coop.

"Fine," replied Albert. "Dale. Hand me my beer, Dale. God, that's weird to say."

Silence stretched out as Albert leaned back slightly against the sofa and nursed his beer. Eventually, Cooper did the same, falling backwards into a semblance of relaxation that Albert knew he was feigning.

"Been a hell of a week, Coop," Albert said to the stale silence.

Cooper gave a low hum of agreement.

The silence stretched on as they sipped their beers, not really invested in drinking but not knowing what else to do.

"You know you can leave now, right?" started Albert again. "I'm a grown man who can get to bed by myself, and you've honestly done more than enough to help me out today. It's been a stressful week, and you've got work to get back to the day after tomorrow so you need rest." He continued, a moment later, "Thank you, though. Seriously. Not just anyone would put up with me for so long and I really appreciate it."

"I took a personal leave through next week," said Cooper, still looking over the coffee table in front of them.

"What?" Albert turned his head. "Why? Are you okay? I mean, that case we were on is still open and those dunces Cole replaced us with aren't going to get anywhere without you."

"I'm not leaving, Albert. I'm here until you're healed." Cooper took another sip of his beer, took Albert's empty from his hand, and set both down on the table in front of them. "I seriously doubt that you can manage to get that sling off without my help, not to mention changing the bandage on your wound and even bathing at this point. Albert, I'm here, and I'm not going anywhere. My bags are by the door. I'm fully prepared to sleep on the couch tonight and the next few nights and indefinitely until you are okay."

"Oh," said Albert. That's all he could really say because Cooper, no, Dale was right. He did need help. He just didn't expect to be offered any. "Really, Dale. Thank you. Um. Unexpected. But what's with the jittery mess you've been all night? I thought you wanted to bolt out of here as soon as you could to get some peace."

"Do you really think so little of yourself?"

"As a general rule, people don't like to be around me for long, so I suppose I have the facts to back up the claim. Plus, I'm a horrible patient." Albert suddenly wished for another beer, but didn't make a move to get up. "You're tired, I'm tired, and honestly, I could go on with reasons, but I have a feeling that you're not going to listen to any of them."

"I'm not people, Albert, and you aren't annoying to me. I care for you, deeply," Cooper let out a sigh.

Albert snorted, beginning to put up walls that medication, beer, and the lack of nicotine had weakened. "Alright then." Albert didn't want to have this conversation. He wanted a cigarette and ten hours of uninterrupted sleep.

"What? What's so unbelievable about that?" asked Cooper, finally turning to look at Albert next to him.

"Don't take offense, Coop. It's nice that you're my friend," Albert said, spitting out the last word. "Listen, you can leave. Get me out of this damn sling and into a t-shirt and go home. I've had enough care to last me." Albert felt a rush of needing to be alone again, ready to not have to deal with this situation, with Dale sitting there next to him, professing his deep care towards him as a friend. Albert was ready too crawl out of his skin with all the crap he was feeling at the moment, making him short and mean with Dale.

Cooper looked confused. "What's the matter Albert? Did I do something to upset you? I've just been trying to help."

"Yes, and you've helped quite enough." Albert tried to calm down, knowing that any more escalation at this point would just be bad and would make Dale want to stay even longer. "I can manage on my own."

"No you can't! I'm here! If I leave know, all I'm going to do is worry about you until I see you again! I don't see what the problem here is, Albert!" Cooper looked exasperated.

"Then deal with it!" Albert unleashed. "I"m tired of being around you! Just go, already."

"Why are you acting like this!?"

"Because it hurts, Coop!" Albert closed his eyes for a moment. Before Cooper could ask about his arm hurting, he let out a breath and continued. "It just fucking hurts, okay? It hurts to look at you and think about you and! It physically hurts when you're so damn close to me and caring so damn much all the damn time! It's just too much, okay? I was fucking shot the other day, excuse me if I'm a little overwhelmed with the sudden soap opera of emotions my life has become! Too much damn hurt and confusion and I just-"

Cooper cut him off with his mouth, kissing him suddenly. The moment called for passion and heat, but Coop was gentle, lightly touching Albert with one hand on his leg and the other just now making its way through Albert's short hair to the back of his head, holding him in place. Albert was stunned and tensed slightly at the burn in his shoulder from the movement.

Cooper was kissing him.

Whoa.

Albert kissed back.

Their mouths moved against each other in slow motion, dragging from one angle to the next. Albert's right arm moved up Dale's back to his shoulder, gripping it and bringing him closer. Albert's brain had gone from spitfire to frozen to rattled in a moment and he was still trying to compensate for the rapid changes. God, it was all he wanted in this moment to just tackle Dale back into the couch and continue on with activities indefinitely, but he was halted by the burning in his arm.

They broke apart for a breath.

"Shit," said Albert, and leaned back into the kiss. "Shit, shit, shit. Dale." He said between more presses of their mouths.

Coop opened his mouth against Albert's for only a moment before backing away, keeping his hand on Albert's leg.

"Albert -" he began.

"Shut up."

"No, wait a second, Albert, I just wanted to say that I care for you more than just a friend, even though I value our friendship above all else, I hope that-"

Albert twisted awkwardly and pulled Dale's arm back toward him and kissed him again, because dammit, and moved his arm to tilt Dale's neck to finally deepen the kiss.

"I get it," Albert said after a moment.

Cooper replied in a groan as Albert's hand explored his hair. Hands rubbed, grabbed, lightly touched all the territory that had been off limits just moments before. It was sensory overload for Albert, but he wasn't complaining. He only wished he had use of his other arm. This time, the kiss went on longer and deeper until both men were out of breath.

They broke apart and Albert leaned back against the couch again, more winded that Cooper from all the strain his body had been under the last few days. It was almost startling to look around the apartment again, realizing that nothing around them had changed while everything between them had.

"Well," said Albert. "That conversation took a turn."

Cooper's face had that thousand-watt smile since the kissing had commenced, and replied, "Yes, it did indeed my friend. A good turn, though, I take it?"

Albert flashed a smile at the look on Dale's face. "Come here and find out."

Instead of merely leaning over, Cooper went the extra mile with his newfound privileges and gracefully straddled Albert's lap in one smooth motion, taking his mouth again with more passion, but taking care not to jostle Albert too much.

Albert didn't mind either way.