Author's Note: I binge watched the second season of this show over the weekend and couldn't resist writing something. This takes place after TK and Carlos have officially moved in together, but ignoring everything else going on.

"I thought it was good," Carlos argued half-heartedly. TK cackled at that poor attempt at convincing him that he actually enjoyed the improv show they'd just been subjected to. There was a new officer in Carlos' department who'd invited him out to watch him perform and his sweet boyfriend had been too polite to refuse. TK had gone with him, since it was one of their increasingly rare nights off together and it didn't matter what they did, as long as they spent the time with each other.

"You're going to need to practice that more before you see him at work," TK chuckled, grabbing Carlos' hand and kissing his knuckles. They were walking home from the club, since it was only a few miles away and it was such a nice night. TK was starting to feel like the only air he ever breathed was filled with smoke and he needed a night like this, with cool winds and the man he loved. "How are you such a bad liar?"

"What are you talking about? I'm a great liar, I just prefer not to," Carlos insisted, giving him a playful shove.

"Okay, lie to me right now," TK challenged, raising an eyebrow. Carlos huffed, looking up at the sky as he thought of something to say.

"How about this? I hate the way you crinkle your nose all cute when you smell something I'm cooking," Carlos offered. TK snorted in amusement, bumping his forehead against Carlos' shoulder.

"You literally used the word cute. You expect me to believe that?"

"Maybe I'm not good at lying when it comes to you."

"Because I know you so well?"

"Because I love you too much." TK felt a warmth bloom inside his chest, just like it always did when he heard those words from his boyfriend. He would never tire of it.

"How about we go inside and you can show me just how much you love me?" TK suggested, pulling Carlos to the door by the front of his shirt.

"Don't mind if I do," Carlos purred, capturing his lips in a passionate kiss as they both fumbled to get the key into the lock. They probably should've waited until they actually got into the house before starting their makeout session, but sometimes it was impossible to wait. It was hard enough resisting sometimes when they met up on calls while on duty. But there was nothing stopping them now.

"How about we take some inspiration from that improv show?" TK proposed when they finally made it through the door and kicked it closed behind them. Carlos had him pressed against the wall and was kissing all along his neck. "What should the setting of our next scene be?"

"The bedroom," Carlos panted, unbuttoning the top button of TK's shirt.

"How about the kitchen?" a menacing voice growled. Both of them jolted in surprise, turning in unison to find a man in their kitchen with a gun pointed at them. Carlos instinctively put himself between him and the danger, analyzing the situation.

"Who are you?" Carlos demanded, putting all of his authority in his voice. For a second it almost felt like they weren't the ones who were helpless. But Carlos didn't have his gun and they had nowhere to go.

"Of course you don't remember me. Why would you? You probably ruin lives like mine everyday!" the man spat, thrusting the gun in their direction for emphasis. TK sucked in a sharp breath, thinking back to the time not so long ago that he'd been held at gunpoint. He hadn't gotten shot, thank goodness, but he'd gotten a concussion thanks to the gun slamming into the side of his head. Guns weren't his favorite at the moment.

"How about we talk about it? Maybe I can help you?" Carlos offered, switching his tone to something more understanding. The man was obviously volatile, so maybe a friend would be better in this situation.

"How about you move a little closer? And don't try any funny business! Don't think I won't shoot you," the man ordered, pointing to a spot that was near the staircase. TK hated moving further from the exit, but they weren't in a position to refuse. They moved slowly together, with Carlos keeping one arm back so TK would stay behind him. He wanted to be strong and stand by Carlos' side, but he was scared. Running into a burning building or hopping across a minefield was nothing. But this was a nightmare.

"Do you think you could let my friend go? He doesn't have anything to do with this," Carlos asked, sending the man a hopeful look. The last thing TK wanted was to leave Carlos here, but it would give him a chance to call for help. He felt his cell phone sitting heavy in his pocket. So close, but impossible to take advantage of without being noticed.

"Friend? Looked liked more than that, based on that display when you walked in," the man sneered, looking at both of them in disgust. "He stays. It'll be nice for you to spend your last moments together." TK felt like crying and raging. They had just gotten through their latest crisis. He'd just moved in and this was supposed to be the best time in their lives. They were home. Things like this shouldn't happen at home.

"What's your name?" Carlos calmly asked, as if he wasn't just told he was going to die. TK felt completely useless in this situation. He should be creating a diversion or helping in some way, but he didn't know what to do. He'd been more of a hindrance than anything when he'd been abducted with his team. Going for the fire alarm had been a terrible call he hadn't really thought through. It wasn't as if their captors would've heard the alarm go off and throw their hands up in surrender. Carlos was trained for this and he had to trust that he knew what to do.

"Travis Walton. Ring any bells?" the man, Travis, ground out. TK could see the wheels turning in Carlos' mind, trying to sort through the hundreds of calls he went on every year. It was so much easier to remember the details of the events, instead of the names and faces.

"Domestic?" Carlos mumbled. Travis snarled, stomping forward and pressing the barrel of the gun to Carlos' forehead. TK could feel himself shaking and Carlos put his hands to his sides, inching a bit further away from him. TK knew that Carlos was trying to put space between him and the shooter, to protect him, but he needed Carlos close. He grew colder every time the distance grew.

"The bitch lied, but you people always take the woman's side!" Travis shouted, jabbing the gun into Carlos' skull. TK held his breath as his vision zeroed in on nothing but the sight of the gun that could take his boyfriend's life at any moment. All it would take was the twitch of a finger to take his whole world away.

"I'm sorry," Carlos said evenly. He was so steady. TK was going to shatter, but Carlos was strong.

"You're sorry," Travis scoffed, taking a few steps back as he chuckled mirthlessly. Statistics started whirring in TK's brain of the chances of survival from a gunshot wound at different distances. The further away the better they were of course, but it still depended a lot on where the shot landed. A headshot was bad no matter what, but people usually aimed for the chest. There was more space to hit if you weren't an experienced shooter. Still dangerous, but more of a chance for the victim to get lucky and make it out alive. TK knew all about that. Was Carlos going to need some of that luck too?

"Let's talk so we can figure out how to get you help," Carlos said, moving another few inches away from TK. Too far to reach.

"Talking won't do shit!" Travis spat.

"And neither will hurting us," Carlos pointed out. "That will only make things worse for everyone. But you haven't done anything you can't come back from yet. You still have a chance."

"I never had a chance," Travis mumbled. The sound of the gun going off didn't even register at first. It was as if time stopped and all TK could see was Carlos' face. From those soulful brown eyes, to his soft lips. This was the man he loved more than anything in the world. And now he was losing him.

"Carlos!" TK cried out, rushing over and dropping to his knees. There was a hole slightly off from the center of his chest. It wasn't directly over his heart, but that didn't give TK much comfort at the moment. Bullets did damage no matter where they hit. "No, no, you're okay. It's okay, you're gonna be okay."

"T-" Carlos choked out, his eyes wide in shock.

"Don't try to talk, okay? I've got you," TK soothed, grabbing a towel off a nearby table and pressing it to the wound. Carlos whimpered in pain and the sound cut through TK like a knife. He was hurting him, but it had to be done. "Stay awake for me."

"Get away from him!" Travis demanded, shoving the gun against the back of TK's head. TK ignored him. There was no way he was leaving Carlos' side.

"We're gonna make it out of this. You gotta tell Officer Anders how much you loved his improv, remember? I'm never gonna be able to tell him that with a straight face," TK babbled, watching helplessly as Carlos' blinks became more sluggish. "Come on, stay with me. You need to keep driving my dad nuts by calling him Captain Strand instead of Owen."

"I'm not gonna tell you again," Travis growled, pacing a few steps away in frustration.

"TK… love you," Carlos gasped out haltingly. TK sobbed, feeling tears roll down his face.

"I love you too. So, so much," TK whimpered, sending Carlos one last watery smile as his eyes slipped closed and didn't reopen. "Carlos."

"Don't worry, you'll see him again soon," Travis intoned. There were two more bangs in quick succession, then a loud thud. TK glanced back, finding Travis lying on the floor with a neat hole in his temple. He stared at the man in shock for a moment before the realization that the threat was gone set in. TK's training kicked in and he got to work. He pulled his phone out of his pocket, smearing blood on the screen as he dialed the number of the one person he knew he could count on in this situation.

"Hey son, how is your night off going?" his dad asked cheerfully.

"Dad, Carlos has been shot," TK choked out, feeling nauseous at having said it out loud. He heard his dad shouting through the phone for everyone to get into the truck.

"Where are you?"

"Home," TK whimpered. Would this ever feel like home again? Not if Carlos didn't make it.

"Okay, you're doing so good," Owen said soothingly. TK's lip trembled at the sound of his dad's voice. He needed him here. "Are you in danger? I need to know what we're walking into."

"No," TK replied, feeling Travis' dead eyes staring a hole into his back. Why did he have to hurt Carlos when he was just going to kill himself in the end?

"Where was Carlos hit?"

"Ch-chest," TK gasped, feeling his own lungs seize at the ramifications of that. He heard his dad hissing demands to drive faster.

"Is he breathing?" Owen asked, his voice a bit more strained than TK was used to hearing. He'd had years of experience as the captain, making hard decisions with poise and certainty. But this was different. This was family.

"Y-yes," TK replied. He couldn't tell if they were getting shallower because he was too focused on keeping pressure on the wound, even though his arms felt so weak.

"Son, are you injured?" his dad asked quietly. TK's chest was on fire, but he knew that was the feeling of his heart breaking.

"I can't lose him, dad," TK wept, sucking in desperate breaths between sobs. He wouldn't survive in this world without Carlos.

"We're only a few minutes away. Keep talking to me, okay?" his dad pressed. He didn't want to talk, unless Carlos was awake to answer. TK was getting so tired and each breath was harder to come by than the last. Maybe their lives were tied together and if Carlos died, he would float away as well. Maybe that wouldn't be so bad.

"I need him."

"I know."

"He can't leave me."

"He won't. He's a fighter."

"He's the best. He's the strongest, bravest, best man I know. I need to get a chance to tell him that again," TK slurred, dipping his head so he could rest his ear against Carlos' heart. The sound of it beating was soothing and TK's eyes started fluttering. He could just fall asleep and join Carlos wherever he was. Anything was better than being left behind.

"TK, we're on your street. Just hang on a little bit longer." But he couldn't. TK couldn't even respond one last time to his dad. Everything else faded besides his love who was laying underneath him.

"I think he's waking up."

"I'll go get a nurse."

"TK, can you hear me? Open your eyes son."

TK woke up like he usually did when he was in the hospital, panicked and a little combative. He jerked awake, freezing when his vision was filled with the face of his dad.

"Dad?" TK rasped, blinking rapidly as he tried to get his bearings.

"Yeah kid."

"Carlos. Where is he?" TK asked in desperation, trying to push himself out of the bed. He needed to get to his boyfriend. He had to save him.

"TK, it's okay. He's right here," his dad said, shifting a little so TK could look over to his right. There was another hospital bed a few feet away and on it was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen.

"Carlos," TK choked out, feeling the tears spill out again as his boyfriend smiled over at him. "You're alright."

"Thanks to you," Carlos murmured, looking over at him with affection.

"What happened?"

"What do you remember?" his dad asked.

"Travis, the gunman, shot Carlos," TK whispered, trembling as he remembered the fear he felt in that moment. It was the scariest moment of his life, trumping anything that had happened to him. "Then he killed himself."

"Don't you think you're forgetting something?"

"Like what? I put pressure on the wound and called you, but I don't remember you showing up," TK replied, frowning in confusion. "What did I miss?"

"Oh, just the fact that you were shot as well. In the back, almost point blank range," Owen said, running his hands through his hair as he took in the look of surprise on his face. "You really didn't notice that?"

"No," TK whispered. He remembered hearing two shots, but he didn't think much of it at the time. All he could focus on was making sure Carlos was okay.

"When we got to your house, you were resting your head on his chest. You made eye contact with me for a moment, but then you passed out. I think you were holding on until help got there, because you never let up on the pressure on Carlos' wound," his dad explained.

"You saved my life," Carlos added, sending him a look of pride and appreciation. TK could feel his nostrils flare as he tried to hold back another wave of tears. This was too close.

"He's actually in a better condition than you are," Owen pointed out. "Tell me son, do you have a grudge against that particular lung that I need to know about?"

"Huh?"

"Why don't I just run through both of your prognoses?" his dad offered, giving him an exasperated smile. "Carlos' bullet wound somehow missed all of his vital organs, but they had to do a little bit of surgery to remove the bullet from where it was lodged against his ribs. Your first aid kept him from bleeding out too heavily."

"It did?"

"You saved me," Carlos said again.

"You are a bit more complicated. The bullet hit your lung, so it had to be reinflated again. The doctor assured me that everything went well and that it looks good, but your recovery may be a bit slower, since your lung was already a bit more fragile from past trauma," he explained, rubbing his cheek with his thumb and wiping away some of the tears. "You're going to be okay, but it was a near thing. Kind of a miracle actually that you held on as long as you did."

"I had to," TK murmured, looking back at Carlos. He would spend his last breath making sure Carlos was okay.

The doctor came in a few moments later, explaining everything his dad just had, but more in depth. He was going to be stuck in the hospital for a few more days, to give his body a chance to rest while on supplemental oxygen. After that, it would be a few weeks off of work again, but it didn't seem so bad this time, knowing Carlos would be by his side.

After the doctor left, his dad said his goodbyes, telling them that he and the others would be back to visit in the morning after they got some sleep. He kissed him on the top of his head, lingering for a few extra seconds as he appreciated that this didn't end in tragedy.

TK felt the exhaustion sinking into his bones now that they were finally alone. He wanted nothing more than to be with Carlos, but they were so far apart. It was just like when they were at the house and every inch felt like a mile.

"TK, are you alright? Do you need me to call the nurse?" Carlos asked in concern.

"What?" TK mumbled.

"You're crying," Carlos pointed out, wiping at the corner of his own eye as well. Now that it was brought to his attention, it was becoming uncontrollable. He hated this feeling. His profession forced him to see with so much clarity how wrong this could've gone. If Travis had been a better shot, or made sure that he'd finished the job before killing himself, neither of them would be here.

"I'm so sorry," TK choked out, closing his eyes in shame.

"Why on earth would you be sorry?" Carlos asked, staring at him in confusion.

"I was so scared, but I should've done more. I just stood there and let him shoot you."

"You did exactly what I wanted you to. You let me take control," Carlos soothed, resting his head back on his pillow. "I'm the one who is trained for situations like these. I should've done a better job, but there is nothing we can do about it now."

"But I should've-"

"How about you let me handle gunmen and you handle fires and first aid?" Carlos proposed, sending him a tired smile.

"I don't know if I can go through this again," TK admitted. Everything was piling up and he didn't know how to deal with it. He didn't want to fall back into old habits, but he also didn't want to turn into his father. TK loved his dad with all his heart, but he carried a lot of demons that would eventually pull him down to where he wouldn't be able to get back up again.

"We can get through anything, as long as we're together," Carlos insisted. TK reached his hand out, moaning in despair when Carlos was still out of reach. He needed to touch his warm skin to make this real.

"I need you," TK whispered. Carlos glanced around at the equipment surrounding his head, then down at the tubes and wires that connected him. He took a deep breath, bracing his chest with one hand as he carefully swung his legs over the side of the bed, shifting machines as he went along.

"What are you doing?" TK gasped, unsure if he should call a nurse to stop his boyfriend from doing more damage to himself.

"You were there for me when I needed you, so I'm going to return the favor," Carlos said simply, hoisting himself up on shaky legs. He flipped off a few of the monitors and detached some probes, grinning at him as TK looked on in surprise. "I know a few tricks." Carlos used his IV stand to steady himself as he walked the few steps over to TK's bed.

"You're crazy," TK admonished, sliding as best as he could in his bed to make room. Carlos gratefully climbed up, slotting his body next to TK's. They fit perfectly together, like always.

"For you," Carlos agreed, pressing their foreheads together once he got settled. "I love you." TK closed his eyes as the tears started falling again. He didn't think he'd ever cried so much in his life.

"I was so scared that I'd never hear you say that again. And that I'd never get to say it back," TK sobbed, reaching a hand up to rest against Carlos' neck. "I love you. So, so much."

"Get some rest, okay? I'll be here when you get up," Carlos said, kissing him tenderly on his eyelids.

"Do you promise?" TK whispered, feeling the pull of sleep finally taking him under. Carlos cupped his cheek with his hand, making TK feel warm for the first time since this whole ordeal started.

"I'm not going anywhere," Carlos murmured, intertwining their legs together. "I swear."