This is for you, EKWTSM9. Thanks for all the help last night!
Mike had been awake for several minutes, his ears cued to the rhythmic beeping of nearby machines, undoubtedly recording his own life functions this time around.
Having spent some time to clear the fog out of his brain, he'd taken a physical inventory, grateful to find that he could still feel all of his limbs despite the immense pain shooting through his body each time he tried to move.
Strapped in a neck brace and with a nasal canula helping him come to his senses, Mike tried to open his eyes, but found it to cause the mother of all headaches.
He took in a deep breath, making the monitors nearby change their beeping rhythm, when he flinched in pain. Perhaps that's what it felt like to carry the weight of the world on one's shoulders.
Or at least the rubble of Mario's mansion.
Mike hesitated for a moment, when he noticed warm puffs of air hitting his cold fingers by his right side. Unable to move his head to investigate, he carefully raised his hand, his heart instantly warming when his fingers ran over a faint two-day stubble.
Feeling the immense weight of the worry about his partner's safety and whereabouts leave his battered body, Mike used his thumb to gently caress his cheek, until he felt him slowly come to.
"You think the taxpayers want to pay for you to sit here and sleep?", he croaked, surprised by how hoarse his voice sounded. Taking another stab at opening his eyes, Mike managed to keep the growing headache at bay enough to clear his vision and look around.
Steve's smiling features came into view, as the young Inspector slowly rose from his chair, keeping a hand near Mike's pillow to lean over the bed.
"And here I thought the pain meds would make you less grouchy. Must be those steroids getting you fired up already…"
Steve's broad smile almost hid the sizeable gauze pad on his right temple, along with the dark circles under his eyes, speaking bands about a long and stressful night.
Letting his eyes drift over his partner's red plaid dress shirt, Mike noticed his left arm in a sling, immediately remembering the machine gun fire they had to deal with.
"One of these days, you really gotta learn how to duck, Buddy Boy."
The words meant in lightheartedness seemed to in fact cause his partner to tense up. Seeing a wave of worry flood Steve's tired green eyes, Mike used all his energy to reach up and nudge his elbow reassuringly, before dropping his hand back down.
"The doctor said to try and give you some of these ice chips as soon as you come to. You feel up to eating some?"
Changing the topic entirely, Steve's voice had become strangely sterile.
"What I need is some coffee…", Mike argued, only to watch the young Inspector shake his head smilingly.
"Oh, you are off the good juice for a little while yet, my friend. At least until you are cleared to leave. They're keeping a close eye on some swelling in your neck and they got you on blood thinners. You'll be staying in bed for at least another couple of days, after that you'll be off duty for two weeks minimum."
"Listen to you lecture me. You're not my mother.", Mike grunted and took another deep breath, swallowing hard when the pain from his chest threatened to make him sick, "Tell me what the damage is before the doctor comes in using all these big and meaningless terms to try and scare me…"
"Well, word has it you are one lucky fella.", Steve explained, trying to sound casual, and yet, that haunted expression returned to his eyes almost instantly, "Besides the obvious, you've got a couple cracked ribs and some sizable bruises on your back. There's a little bit of swelling in your neck, so you'll stay in that brace until the steroids get that down again. They checked you for internal bleeding and even any brain hemorrhaging but couldn't find anything thankfully. Your shoulder and upper back took the brunt of the rubble crashing down on us. The doctor said he'd seen people getting pulled dead from the debris field Jacko found us in. He's pretty happy with your progress so they decided to pull you out of the sedation a bit earlier."
Feeling his newfound energy slowly starting to dissipate, Mike begrudgingly accepted the ice chip Steve put near his mouth, before searching his mind for all the unanswered questions.
"What about Mario? He made it out ok?"
"Yeah. He's in intensive care still. In and out of consciousness. They had to stich him up pretty good but the doctor thinks he has a decent chance to make a full recovery. I have a black and white in front of his door to keep him safe just in case…well, just in case something else comes up."
"Does he know what led up to all this?"
Steve nodded faintly, before sighing.
"Yeah. I talked to him for a few minutes this morning. He actually managed to thank us for saving his hide. Anyways…he wouldn't believe me at first, but I think he's starting to connect the dots. At any rate, I haven't talked to Olsen yet this evening but he's putting a task force together to deal with both, Frankie Scalino and Tony Lombardo. They're hoping to uncover a direct link between them and our hitman. Obviously neither of them is talking at this point, so we gotta get our evidence in other ways. Some information is beginning to trickle in on our hitman too…"
Steve paused, before taking an overdue breath.
"Ex-KGB. They called him the creative killer over in Russia. He left a blood trail behind a mile long. But much of the actual data is missing or intentionally removed. We're still trying to figure out his full name, birthdate, family, any of that stuff…but we're hitting lots of red tape. For all intents and purposes, he was a very dangerous man. And we may never find out who he really was and what caused him to choose this…career."
Mike nodded as much as the neck brace allowed, and felt his eyelids become heavy again. Noting his partner's grogginess, Steve reached forward and placed a warm hand on his chest, as if to help lull him back to sleep.
"I ehm…I am going to head home for a couple of hours. I need to take a shower and shave; I still have plaster dust in my hair and I haven't brushed my teeth since yesterday. But I'll be back as soon as I get done. Norm and Dan are on their way and they'll keep an eye on you while I am gone."
Summoning the last bit of energy he had left that evening, Mike reached up and wrapped his strong hand around the nape of Steve's neck, pulling his partner closer.
"You've left out the most important piece of information yet, Buddy Boy…"
He could tell that Steve was confused, when the young Inspector searched his blue eyes for any clues but found none.
"I…ehm…Nancy's back at the morgue working on what's left of our hitman…oh, and Scott Sorrensen found Clarence again. He's alright, just a bit shaken up from all of this…"
"That's not what I meant…", Mike said smilingly and tightened his grasp a little, "What's it feel like being thirty now?"
Steve became choked up almost immediately, the hand patting his chest beginning to tremble. Mike watched his partner clench his strong jaws for a second, fighting off the flood of emotions threatening to overwhelm him. Finally, the young Inspector drew in a deep breath, blinking away the tears and managing the broadest smile Mike had seen in quite a while.
"Like family…I feel like I finally have a family."