Don was holding David while yelling into his radio for the ambulance that he'd been promised. The girlfriend was dead from Don's bullet, her friend had gone, and he was putting pressure on the hole in David's side to stop the bleeding, but perhaps harder than he should be because David grunted and grabbed at Don's arm.
"Sorry, man," he said. "Where the fuck is that ambulance?"
"S'okay, Don," David got out between gritted teeth.
Don never lost it like this but on top of everything over the last week he couldn't help but worry that he'd caused this, that perhaps he hadn't watched David's back as closely as he should, even though he'd actually been in the other room when psycho-chick had jumped out of the bathroom and let off a series of shots at David on her way out the door.
"At least she was a really crappy shot," Don said, hoping to distract David from the pain he was so obviously in, though he didn't think it really worked.
And then finally, finally, the paramedics were there. Don stepped back reluctantly as they did their job, and then he followed the ambulance to the hospital.
On arrival David was whisked away into surgery. Don washed David's blood off his hands, which was really not a good thing to have to do, called Colby, and settled down to wait. He had no news by the time Colby arrived. He looked pale and shocked, and as Don got to his feet to meet him, it was apparent he was absolutely furious.
"What the hell happened?" he demanded, right up in Don's space.
"We got called out to Cortese's –"
"Why the fuck didn't you call us back in? Or SWAT? Or LAPD?"
"Colby –"
"You went there on your own –"
"Colby." The tone of his voice finally got through to Colby.
Don stared at him until he dropped his eyes, and only then continued. "We got a call that there'd been a disturbance," he said. "Nothing about shots fired. Nothing that any one of us hasn't responded to a million times before."
"I should have been there."
"He wasn't on his own," Don snapped, stung.
"Well I wasn't with him," Colby flung back. "How the hell did this happen?"
Don wanted to pull rank on Colby, to get him to settle down and to listen, because this wasn't about them, this was work. But he had the feeling that if he did that, if he shut Colby down in this situation in a way that Colby couldn't fight back against, then he'd be setting them up for all sorts of problems.
So instead Don sat down in one of the hard plastic chairs, and started to tell Colby, calmly and factually, what had happened. Colby eventually unwound enough to sit down beside Don as he listened. And as Don told it, it became clear to him as well as to Colby that there was nothing either he or David could have done differently to have prevented this, short of going in with a full task force and they'd had no information to suggest that would be necessary.
They ended up hunched next to each other in the too small plastic chairs, waiting for news.
.
Finally a doctor came through and spoke to them. It sounded like David had gotten off fairly lightly in the circumstances, though he was going to have to stay in the hospital for at least the next forty-eight hours. They could see him, but they shouldn't stay for long, and he'd likely still be drowsy from the anaesthetic.
Drowsy was one word; almost completely out of it was a little more accurate.
"Hey, buddy," Colby said as he approached the bed, and gripped David's arm. "Can't trust you to go anywhere without me, can I?"
"Gonna have to now," David said.
Colby squeezed his arm. "Don't be dumb. It's just a through and through that bounced a bit. Bullets do that."
David grunted and closed his eyes.
"Feel better soon," Don said from the doorway "We'll let you get some sleep now."
Colby took the hint and with a few more words and a lingering squeeze to David's arm, he followed Don out of the room.
They weren't even out of the hospital when Don's phone went again. LAPD had picked up the girlfriend's friend, and she was undergoing treatment for the bullet David had managed to put in her.
She'd keep till morning, Don figured, so they went back to his place and tried to eat the takeout that Colby had bought several hours before. Neither of them were too hungry - Don because he'd been there when David had been shot, and Colby because he hadn't been. Colby had settled down a bit having spoken to David, but was still a long way from his usual calm self. Seeing him like this made Don realise how calm he usually was.
It was when they were in bed and the light was out that Colby mumbled something into Don's collarbone, and Don realised that part of Colby's agitation was due to the fact that Don too could have been shot. He held Colby till Colby finally fell asleep, holding on to Don tightly. Don didn't sleep all that well the rest of the night because of the oversized limpet he seemed to have gotten attached to him who followed him all round the bed, even when fast asleep. Actually, though Don would never tell this to anyone, ever, it was kind of nice.
.
Next day Don had to deal with the girlfriend's friend – no way was he letting any other member of his team at her, because he couldn't be held responsible for the consequences – and deal with getting the SAC the information he wanted for this damn harassment complaint and deal with Charlie's latest enthusiastic explanation of whatever the hell he'd done to narrow down David's search. It didn't matter that the search was no longer necessary – the girlfriend had been driving the vehicle and it had been found at the house – because it didn't make the math any less elegant. And potentially useful for the future, Don had to admit.
His head was pounding by the time Megan caught his eye and nodded meaningfully towards Colby's desk. Colby was working diligently at his computer, but even from across the bullpen Don could see the tension in him. He realised suddenly that he was treating Colby more harshly than he would if there were no Don and Colby; in trying not to show favouritism he was going too far the other way.
He let Colby go, knowing he'd make tracks straight for the hospital, and Megan and Liz weren't that far behind, eager to see David for themselves now the case was wrapped up except for the last bits of paperwork. Don had to finish up the bullshit stuff for the SAC, but once that was done he too headed over to the hospital. The gift shop was just as sucky as he'd deduced it was from his own stay, but he got David a Hello Kitty balloon anyway because revenge was sweet.
Of course, he hadn't really thought that one through, because he was the one who had to get it David's room, past the vast number of people who seemed to stalk this place just to side-eye him and snigger. Where was Colby when you needed him?
As if that was ever in doubt. He heard Colby's voice as he approached David's room, and jerked to a halt when he heard Colby mention his name.
"I don't have a problem with you and Don," David said, sounding defensive.
"So what's going on?" Colby said. "Because something's wrong."
Don would never normally eavesdrop on any member of his team, but this was different. He inched forward just enough to see into the room while staying out of their eye line. David was propped up against a stack of pillows, looking more himself than he had last night, and Colby was sprawled in the chair next to the bed. As Don watched, he put his feet up on David's bed and stretched out in his chair, making himself completely vulnerable and non-threatening.
"It's stupid," David said.
"Consider the source."
"Very funny."
Colby stayed quiet.
"Look, it's nothing, okay?" David said at last. "It's just damn annoying that you can't even keep it out of the office when you spend the whole time outside of work with each other."
"We do not spend the whole time –" Colby started indignantly.
"Yeah, you do."
Colby frowned slightly.
"And get your feet off the bed – that's unhygienic," David said, pushing ineffectually at them.
Colby did as he was told, for once, and straightened in his seat. "You want to see that new X-Men movie this weekend, assuming the docs spring you?"
"Not really."
"Seriously? I thought you'd have been all over it."
"Do you have any idea how badly it bastardises the source material?"
"You're going to pass up Famke Janssen in leather? Man, and I thought you were straight."
"I am straight. Just because I don't jump at the chance of spending my weekend in a darkened room watching Hollywood's butchering of a classic with a guy who's going to be inhaling popcorn like it's going out of fashion, that does not mean I suddenly stop being straight."
"If you say so. So what's the problem?"
"What about Don?"
"What about Don?" Colby asked. "He's not invited – it's not like we can bitch about the boss in front of him, is it?"
David looked unconvinced.
"Not everything's about Don," Colby said. "It's just, you know what it's like, when there's someone and it's all new." He shrugged apologetically. "Guess I got a bit caught up in it all."
"Tell me about it," David said. "The two of you are sickening. Just get to old married couple status or break up already, would you?"
"And miss out on all that sex? You're kidding, right?"
"Okay, TMI. He's my boss, you know."
"Mine too," Colby pointed out, and paused to consider. "Which does make things kind of interesting in bed."
"Stop talking. Now."
"You're still on for Saturday?" Colby said
"So long as you promise not to make me think about Don having sex."
"You buy the popcorn and it's a deal."
Don retreated down the corridor before his luck ran out and he got spotted. He took a random turn or two, and ended up in an empty waiting area, where he sat down heavily in one of the ubiquitous hard plastic chairs, still clutching that damn balloon. Shit. How could he have got it so wrong? But even through the sickness at how badly he'd wronged David, he could feel the relief bubbling up. He hadn't been wrong in his reading of David all this time. He'd just made a rookie mistake – compiling evidence and arranging it to fit a pattern he'd seen way too many times before, without letting himself allow that, very occasionally, a case might come along that seemed to follow the same pattern but actually didn't.
He'd got it wrong, badly wrong, but it was hard to be objective when the stakes were so personal. And harder still to give one more person the benefit of the doubt when, all the other times he'd tried, it had ended so badly.
He sat there a while longer, feeling the tension he'd been carrying around slowly melt until he was breathing deeply and easily, something he hadn't been able to do of late. He needed to see David, to put things right after what he'd said in the office, but he'd just take a moment and let himself relax fully for the first time in five days.