Disclaimer: Not mine.

A/N: Set after the season opener. Review, please.

Big Boys Don't Cry

Big boys don't cry. It's what his father used to tell him, before he left. It's what his mother used to tell him, in her more lucid moments, when she didn't think he was trying to kill her. It was a phrase he'd clung to his entire life, a measure of his control and the power he had over himself. The last time he'd cried had been when his dad had gone away.

That's why the tears running down his cheeks surprised him so much.

He didn't even notice them until her fingers came up to wipe them away. He'd been completely focused on the fact that she was finally waking up, no longer under the influence of the sedative they'd given her. Her wrists were bandaged heavily, and he could tell by the way she moved that her shoulders were probably killing her, but that just made the hand on his face more comforting.

"What's the matter, Bobby?" Her voice was rasping, hoarse from hours of disuse followed by yelling for help and drug induced sleep. "Didn't you get him?" Her eyes, which he knew must have been open to see his tears, were closed again.

He reached gently up to cover her hand with his. "Her. We got her."

"Jo?" She opened her eyes again, studying his expression.

"Yes." He didn't question how she knew; he'd long ago accepted that she only had to glance at him to know anything he did.

"That's why she never said a word." A wry smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. "I should have guessed."

"I should have known."

She sighed, in a very oh-great-here-we-go manner. "Bobby, it's not your fault. Don't blame yourself, because if you do I'll blame myself for your misery." He knew she was shamelessly playing on his emotions, but he still appreciated that she'd try.

"I'll do my best."

Her palm moved over his stubble. "Do you ever shave?" He could hear her voice getting sleepy again, and he was instantly annoyed at himself for letting her talk so much.

"Of course I do. Just not when I'm working."

Her last words before she drifted back off to sleep were, "You're always working."

He laid her hand carefully back down at her side and swiped at his eyes, which were starting to fill up again. Maybe big boys didn't cry, but men in love certainly did.