Written for skybren89 in response to this lovely prompt message:
"Hiiii. I just wanted to say I love your fics! Bobby and Athena are my favorite couple. Im so annoyed theres not as many as the other couples. I was wondering if you could maybe write a fic about what happened after athena found bobby shot and how she has nightmare about it after all is done and bobby is home? Many fics focus on athenas attack but none on Bobbys and I love your style of writing and would love to read a story like this from you"
Ask and ye shall receive 😊
Based on Through the Fire by Chaka Khan (lyrics/dream sequence in italics)
Hopefully I did the topics and characters justice. Enjoy!
To the limit, to the wall
For a chance to be with you
I'd gladly risk it all
The pounding of her heart thudded louder with each step that she took. The building was encased in a soft orange glow. Even being dressed in flame retardant gear did little to quell the discomfort of walking through the flames. She heard his voice getting closer, signaling she was in the right direction. Her finger tips tightened around the grip of her hand gun, index finger lightly grazing the trigger, ready for what she knows is coming next.
She's knows the he's not going down with out a fight.
And she knew as soon as her boots hit the roof top that she and her husband were leaving this building. Alive.
The sight of his face brought her comfort as she spotted him through the glass. Just a few more steps and this would all be over. As soon as she got in the doorway she went unnoticed, pulling up her gun to aim.
But it was too late.
Ethan fired before she was able to shoot him. Finding her voice as she began to hyperventilate, "Bo-Bobby!" She squeaked out, in disbelief. She whipped off her helmet, tossing it before running to where her husband lay. Slumped forward , lifeless, as the blood rushed from the bullet in his forehead. In disbelief, she cried "Bobby! Bobby! Oh god, no!"
Athena gasped and sat up quickly. Her head spun at the action as her vision cleared, coming into her surroundings. She was in her bedroom and it had to be the middle of the night. She quickly looked to her left and saw her husband sleeping soundly, thankful not to have woken him. The pain medication made him sleep a little harder than usual. She grabbed the bottle of water to push down the rising bile in her throat.
She knew it was only a matter of time before the nightmares started. It was her fourth this week. The premise was different each time, some had her arriving to the scene, others, like this one, would start with her geared up in the building. But the endgame was always the same: his death. Whether she was told about it, heard the gunshot, or witnessed it for herself, it was always an inevitability.
She rubbed her tired eyes, shaking the remnants of the dream from her mind. He was still alive. No thanks to you.
Looking towards her sleeping husband, she lightly brushed her fingers across his forehead and down his cheek. She placed a hand on his chest, lingering at the feel of the steady thump of his heart under her palm. Pulling the sheet and comforter down further, she slid closer to him and cuddled into his side. Lifting his arm just enough to slide underneath, she was careful not to disturb his stitches. She settled his arm around her, wrapped his arm around her waist, wrapped her arm around his waist, and settled her head against his chest, pulling the covers back up around them. The steady rhythm of his heartbeat lulled her into a sense of security, and, eventually, to sleep.
Through whatever, come what may
For a chance at loving you
I'd take it all the way
Athena awoke from a dreamless sleep to her sunlit bedroom. Her husband was no longer next to her. "Bobby," she called out as she sat up, thinking he may have been in the bathroom. When no response came after a few seconds she was about to call out again, when she heard the clanking of pots in the kitchen. She got up and left her bedroom. As soon as she opened the door, the aroma of various breakfast foods hit her and she could spot her husband standing at the stove.
"Good morning," Bobby said as she walked into the kitchen. She looked around at all the food on the island, more than enough for the two of them.
"I don't know what to be more concerned with: all the efforts this looked like it took or the fact that you're cooking bacon shirtless."
Booby chuckled, "don't worry I'm not over doing it or aggravating my injury too much. I just got tired of laying around. It's been two weeks. I needed to do something."
"Tired of being pampered by your wife?"
"Never. I'm just ready to return the pampering, that's all, and get back to our usual give and take," as he turned to her he kissed her on the forehead, "but I don't think I'm ready to give up showering together just yet."
"We did that before you were injured."
"Yeah, but there were a lot of extras before, now its actually just you and I showering together."
"You're terrible," Athena said as she sat at the island and plated some food.
"And you love me anyway." He leaned against the counter and she heard the grunt of pain.
Pausing her movements almost immediately, she asked, "are you okay?"
"Yeah, yeah. I'm okay. I just leaned against the counter in a way that pushed against my stitches. It's fine."
Her eyes immediately gravitated to his wound, fixated on the gauze and tape covering the seven stitches. The sight of the wound, the flames, Ethan's face, her husband sweating, struggling to stay conscious. She was found herself transported back to that night. Heart beating faster. This all could have been prevented if he still had that bullet proof vest on. All because you got cocky, thinking you had the right guy.
"Athena. Athena!" She inhaled sharply as reality rematerialized in front of her, not knowing she'd zoned out. Dropping the fork in her grip, she felt the string of the impression made in her hand. "I called you several times. You zoned out on me. What's wrong?" Looking up, she met Bobby's worried eyes. Fuck. The last thing she wanted was to worry him. She was going to respond when he said, "and don't you dare say 'nothing'."
Athena sighed running her hands over her face. They'd already had this conversation, pushing back and lying here was not going to help. Full honesty and disclosure. "I… can't stop thinking about that night and," she looked at her husband, avoiding his eyes, "and how much of it was was my fault."
He reached out and grabbed her hand. "Your fault? Baby, you had nothing to do with Ethan. You couldn't have-"
She slid her fingers from his. "But I'm the reason you have a bullet hole in your side. I was the one that notified SWAT. I was the one that relayed the message to dispatch and you that we'd gotten the guy, before we even questioned him, so sure that it was the right guy. If I just waited… I'm sure Ethan would have made that call, but you damn sure would have had that vest on."
Bobby put his hand under her chin and lifted her head up. She still avoided looking in his eyes, "Athena, look at me," he commanded softly. Reluctantly, her eyes met his and she saw nothing but compassion there. "I wanted to look directly in your eyes as I said this. This is not on you. As much as I truly believe that the LAPD wouldn't be able to function properly without you, I know you weren't the final authority on that decision. What you did do is work damn hard to find out who that sniper was. Every decision you made lead you to the right person. None of you had any reason to believe that you had the wrong guy. No one blames you. I certainly don't."
"You could have died."
"I could have. I'm not going to waste time arguing that fact, but that's a reality we all live with daily. I still hold the opinion that L.A. is insane and our jobs are very dangerous, sometimes made even more dangerous by situations like these," he grabbed her hand and brought it to his lips, kissing her fingers, "I learned a long time ago that living in hypotheticals is useless."
"I know. I know you're right. It's just…" she trailed off.
"I know. Trust me, I know. And I'm in no way trying to diminish the effect this has. I know these things take time and I know for a fact that if the roles were reversed I'd be the same, most likely worse. I just wanted to make sure you knew that you weren't getting rid of me that easily.
"Good. Because I'm still too young to be a widow."
"And I'm not planning on making you one anytime soon," he leaned in to kiss her, "I'm here to lean on. We got each other."
Athena felt a little better after talking it out with Bobby. There's still more healing to do, for the both of them. She needed to talk about the nightmares as well. And she would, but for now, she made herself focus on the man in front of her.
Right down to the wire
Even through the fire
Let me know what you think!
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