He felt sick to his stomach as he entered the hospital room and saw the love of his life that broken.

The love of his life laid looking out the window, he had a hospital gown on his left arm, but the right sleeve was just tucked in at his side. His right arm was carefully placed on top of a bunch of pillows. It was covered in bandages from his wrist and almost to his shoulder, and there were metal rods poking out from the bandages, connected by other metal rods. The hand of his right arm was discolored and swollen, so was his shoulder. His gaze looked distant, even though Metal couldn't see his eyes from where he was.

"Shitty weather, right?" he swallowed hard as he pulled a chair over next to Trent's bed. He didn't know what to say, for once conversation with Trent wasn't the easiest thing in the world.

Trent didn't answer.

Metal felt like crying, but that wouldn't help Trent any. "T. Is it okay if I touch your left hand?"

Trent didn't look away from the window, didn't say anything, didn't nod or shake his head. What he did on the other hand was twist his left hand with his palm facing up. A silent invitation of sorts.

"Is your left arm hurt in any way?" Metal asked as he carefully held Trent's hand.

Trent shook his head, but just a fraction.

"Want to tell me what happened?"

Trent shook his head again, his eyes still set on a point a few miles outside his window.

Metal nodded a little, he doubted he would have wanted to talk about it if the roles were reversed.

The tears finally won out, Metal didn't care about wiping them away. Holding on to Trent's left hand with both of his were much more important.

After sitting like that for what felt like an eternity, he gently lifted Trent's hand with his. Worried that Trent's left arm was hurt even though he claimed it wasn't . Trent was still looking out the window with a thousand yard stare.

He pressed Trent's hand to his lips, salty tears streaming silently down his cheeks.

Next time he looked up he was looking straight into tear-rimmed hazel eyes.

"Hey…" he choked out, "You scared me."

"Don't…" Trent sniffled, and it damn near broke Metal's heart, "Don't leave me."

It felt like someone had switched off all his muscles, the sheer pain of the thought that Trent worried about him leaving, especially when he was hurt.

"I won't." Metal whispered back, trying to keep his voice from cracking, "You don't have to worry about that."

"Promise?"

"You want me to get down on one knee?" Metal winked, even though he still had tears falling from his eyes, "I'll get down on one knee. Might have to figure out what to do about work and our brothers, but… I want you. That's not gonna change."

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Jason was glad he had come alone. He had entered the room after knocking carefully on the door, but he had not been prepared to see what he saw.

"Shhh… He just fell asleep…" Metal almost choked out, "He was exhausted."

The red, puffy eyes and the way Metal held Trent's good hand like his life depended on it put him out of commission for a short minute.

"-You?"

Metal swallowed hard, before he answered in a raspy voice, evidence that he had cried a lot that day, "Don't tell."

Jason shook his head a little as he stepped over to the foot end of the bed, "This is why you jumped teams?"

"-Don't tell." Metal's voice held a warning Jason didn't want to experience as he closed his eyes and swallowed hard.

Jason nodded, "I wouldn't rid SEAL of two of its finest operators. I won't tell."

"Thanks." Metal almost whispered back, before he sniffed a bit.

"How long?" Jason asked, eyeing the way Metal held Trent's hand.

"2001." Metal rubbed one of his thumbs gently against the back of one of Trent's fingers, "Tried to make it work on the same team for a while."

Jason nodded.

"I almost thought I'd lost him." Metal took a deep breath before he looked over at Jason, "I've never been scared like this before."

Jason nodded a little, "Hey, I've got an idea… I'll text the rest of Bravo team, say Trent's tired and visits will have to wait until tomorrow. Does that sound good to you?"

Metal nodded a little and looked over at his partner. "Wouldn't be a lie, that's for sure."

Jason gave Metal a good pat on the shoulder.

"Stay, please." Metal requested when Jason was about to head towards the door, "I need to talk to you, fresh Alpha-1 to fresh Bravo-1…"

Jason nodded a little and leaned against the wall.

"I'm shipping out in two weeks." Metal informed, trapping his lower lip between his teeth.

Jason nodded a little.

"I feel I need to be here. Take care of him." Metal took a shaky breath, "Any ideas?"

"I could be your proxy." Jason shrugged, "I could either take your spot on the tour, say you twist your ankle pretty bad or something… Or, I could keep an eye on Trent."

Metal blew some air out in a way which sounded like laughter, "Since when did any of us stay home for a twisted ankle…"

Jason shook his head as he slowly glided down the wall. Soon enough he was sitting hunched back on his heels against the wall. He got his phone out and started typing, then he put it away.

"There, text sent. You don't have to worry about anyone else showing up today."

"Thanks."

Jason nodded.

Metal pressed his lips against Trent's hand once more, it no longer mattered if Jason saw this side of them.

"Can you promise me you'll take care of him while I'm overseas?"

Jason nodded.

"Try to pull his head out of that dark pit it might…" Metal grimaced as if his own head suddenly hurt, "Promise to try and make him see that there's… It's not the end, okay?"

"Yeah…" Jason nodded, "I'll do my best."

"Thank you." Metal nodded, "Bro, I don't know how I'm gonna survive this deployment…"

"You'll get through it." Jason sighed, "It'll be over before you know it, and when you're back, he'll probably feel a bit better as well."

Metal nodded, "Feels wrong knowing I'm gonna leave him while he's like this, even if it's just for a few months."

"He'll understand."

Metal nodded, another set of tears threatening to roll from his eyes, "I'm just wondering if my heart will understand…"

Jason nodded in silence.