Why are you limping?
A/N So I have quite a few hurt!Carlos stories half-written but I am going to get on completing them as soon as I can. Here is the first of at least a few more to come. Enjoy and leave a review if you want. I own nothing as usual.
"Come on Reyes, he needs to train, please just a quick session. Everyone is supposed to know how to work with the dogs too" one of the younger officers had been pleading with Carlos for the last 10 minutes trying to get him to act as the criminal for the K9 training exercise. He knew that he was going to have to do it eventually because he was supposed to have experience with the dogs, but he hadn't planned on it being today that he got the chance to get chased down by an angry Belgian Malinois.
"Fine, I've got half an hour before I really have to be gone so let's get this done" he agreed. He'd been hoping to have time to pick up some drinks for the guys before he headed over to the firehouse but looked like he was just going to have to show up to lunch empty handed. He took the heavy bite-proof jacket from the other officer and shrugged it on walking outside.
"So, you've just got to wait until I tell you and then you run away, and he will chase you down. He knows what he's doing just hold your right arm out slightly and he should latch on there. Then he'll pull you down and you wait for me to come over and I'll tell him to release" the officer quickly reiterated the process and Carlos nodded. He moved away slightly and started shouting at the dog, trying to be as intimidating as he could and when the officer nodded, he turned sprinting away from them as quickly as he could holding his arm out slightly.
As expected, he felt a sudden pressure on his forearm and the dog bit down hard onto his arm and he grit his teeth as he could feel bruises forming even through the suit, but he knew the training was necessary. What he didn't expect was for the dog to lose its grip and go swinging out past him rolling along the floor before regaining its footing and charging straight back at him. Carlos barely had time to look at the dog let alone get his arm up and within seconds the pain in his arm was forgotten.
The dog ducked low growling fiercely and latched on tightly to the back of Carlos's ankle. He could have sworn he could feel each tooth sinking into his flesh and the bones crushing force in the dog's jaws clamped down on his leg. He fell to the ground face down gritting his teeth stubbornly as the dog continued holding onto his leg, but he refused to cry out knowing it would more than likely excite the dog.
The other officer finally materialised at this point and Carlos had nearly forgotten anyone was there in that moment but was now immensely grateful that he wasn't alone with this dog. The handler shouted commands at the dog angrily trying to drag it backwards but when it didn't release Carlos's leg was dragged with him and he finally couldn't hold back any longer letting out a choked gasping sound as his ankle burned with pain. It only took a few more seconds before the dog finally released but the damage was already done. As soon as his leg was free Carlos scrambled forwards getting to his feet automatically and turning to face the dog again.
"What the hell?!" Carlos half shouted, but he was too shocked by what just happened to really know how to react.
"Oh my god! He is trained to take people down however he has to I'm sorry I didn't think you'd need the full suit I swear. Oh god I'm going to get skinned alive for this. Are you ok?" if anything the younger officer looked more shocked as he clipped the leash back onto the dog and pulled him back putting him in a down-stay.
"I don't know, hang on" Carlos said slowly pulling off the heavy jacket and lowering himself down to sit on the ground and carefully rolled up his pantleg to get a look at his leg. Instantly he could see blood but looking at it, it didn't seem as bad as it felt. He had multiple puncture wounds some of which were ripped open slightly but none of it seemed to be too deep and he could probably just wash it and wrap it himself and worst comes to worst he was going to see TK anyway so he could just give in and ask him for help later after dinner.
"Well, it's not good, but I think I can handle it on my own. You cannot let this happen again though, they'll pull you from the K9 units" Carlos warned him getting a hurried nod in response before the officer picked up the jacket and pulled the dog away with him heading straight back for the kennels.
Carlos sighed watching the duo disappear and shook his head slightly before beginning to limp back inside. His lower leg was beginning to ache fiercely and though he could probably justify an ER trip for this he really wasn't in the mood for all the paperwork and so instead he grabbed his normal jacket and headed for the car park. He had a first aid kit in his trunk and so by the time he got to his car he grabbed it and lowered himself into the driver's seat leaving his legs hanging out onto the floor as he opened the kit. It wasn't really designed for this level of injury but there were disinfectant wipes, gauze and an ace bandage so he figured it would have to do for now.
He rolled his pantleg back up pulling off his shoe and rolled down his sock grimacing at the already congealed blood that had soaked into his sock on the walk to the car. He wiped away the worst of the blood getting a better look at the wounds and could clearly make out the indentation of each tooth with 4 main puncture wounds, two on each side where the canines had sunk in. The back of his ankle was ripped open pretty well in general, but it seemed to be the deeper wounds that were leaking the most blood. The whole joint felt achy and stiff but blessedly the wounds themselves didn't hurt nearly as much now that the initial rush had died down. He pressed gauze onto either side of his ankle and then roughly wrapped the bandage around his ankle before tying it off higher up on his leg so he could roll his pants down over it. It's not that he wanted to hide the injury, but this was one of his first official times of seeing the 126 as TK's boyfriend and he wanted things to go well. He may not have a choice about telling them though in the end, he swore Michelle could smell a hangnail from a mile off.
Once he was done with that, he pulled his sock back up enough to get his shoe back on and chucked the first aid kit into the passenger footwell before beginning the drive to the firehouse. He was already running slightly late but knew that timings were always flexible in their professions so TK would understand. He pulled up outside and turned the engine off and opened the door only at the last-minute remembering to grab the first aid kit and toss it back in the trunk before he headed for the entrance. He was limping slightly as he approached the doors but as soon as he rounded the corner to be in view of the others he tried to walk as normally as possible.
"Carlos, I was beginning to wonder if you would make it" Owen walked over, reaching out to shake his hand and Carlos took it firmly smiling.
"Yeah sorry, I was planning on getting drinks, but you know how it goes, I could barely get away to be here" Carlos joked. Marjan and Mateo nodded to him as they headed for the kitchen and Carlos followed them his stomach already rumbling.
"Come on get it while it's still hot" Judd shouted from the kitchen and Carlos frowned curiously at Owen.
"He made chilli don't worry I'm pretty sure he can handle that" Owen explained, and Carlos laughed.
"I heard that. Hey, Carlos what's going on there?" Judd asked frowning just as Carlos was moving to kiss the top of TK's head and stand behind his boyfriend who was already sitting at the table.
"What do you mean?" Carlos asked, genuinely confused for a moment, since he'd barely been in the room a minute.
"Oh, I'm sorry were you leaving a trail of blood last time you were here" Judd finished pointing at his leg with a chilli-coated wooden spoon.
"Damn it, am I? I thought I'd wrapped it…" Carlos looked down seeing he had indeed left several drops of blood on the concrete floor and he probably had been limping slightly. Pulling his pant leg up slightly he could feel his sock was wet, so no doubt blood had soaked though the bandage.
"What? Let me see?" TK was up and moving round immediately to kneel next to him, but Carlos waved a hand.
"It's ok, it's not major. I thought I'd wrapped it well enough" he said but Michelle walked in at this point and he knew he was going to lose the battle for a quiet meal.
"What did I hear about blood?" she said leaning over Judd's shoulder to look at the food.
"Ok alright, I had to help train one of the dogs and it missed. He was meant to go for my arm where it was protected but when he couldn't keep hold there, he grabbed my ankle. It didn't look too bad though" Carlos explained.
"You got bitten by a dog?" TK said in confusion, but as he rolled up the pant leg and found the bloody bandage, his confusion turned to determination.
"This doesn't look minor. Michelle can you grab a kit?" TK asked, already trying to pull of Carlos's shoe but he pulled his leg back and hobbled back a step, he kept a hand on the back of his chair not wanting to set his foot down though since TK pulling at it had caused the pain to surge again.
"Come on guys, can't we just leave it, I can take care of myself" he pleaded one last time, but Judd settled that quickly.
"You ain't getting none of my chilli till you've stopped bleeding" Judd said decisively pulling the pan closer to him.
"Plus, you are getting blood all over my new station and I wanted it to at least get a few months before that happened" Owen said appearing behind him and spun the chair around pushing him back down by his shoulder.
Michelle reappeared with the med-kit and Carlos sighed. He was outnumbered in this case and he knew they were probably right. Michelle was already crouching in front of him reaching for his laces, so he made it easier for her and extended his leg out towards her allowing her to remove his shoe. His sock that had been a dark blue already was now black and he reached down to pull up his pantleg again for her. She peeled off his sock and at this point she turned reaching for a pair of gloves.
The bandage he'd put on was soaked through already and he could hear the tension in the room as the others carefully pretended not to be watching what was going on, except for Judd who'd turned off the stove and come around leaning on the counter to get a better view.
"It wasn't bleeding that much before" he said hesitantly.
"Yeah, that tends to happen when you just ignore wounds. How long ago did this happen?" Michelle's tone clearly said she wasn't messing around.
"About half an hour ago" he said.
"So, you've bled this much in half an hour and you thought it was minor? Carlos sweetie, I think it's time for a refresher course courtesy of moi" Michelle grinned evilly, and he knew he was in for a rough time when she decided to give him this refresher. She unwrapped the soaked bandage and pulled the gauze off his ankle and he was caught off guard hissing loudly and instinctively trying to pull his leg back as the gauze ripped off of the wounds. Blood began to sluggishly drip out onto the floor.
"Easy, I'm not trying to hurt you. Yeah, I can see your achilles Reyes, how hard did this dog bite you?" Michelle said leaning closer to get a good look at the wound. He was surprised at this new information, but he had thought he'd seen something under the skin at his heel where it had been ripped.
"Really, cool. Can I see?" Mateo spoke up before Carlos could respond and he had to hold back a laugh at the excited expression on the kids face before he clapped a hand over his mouth shocked at what he'd said.
"Mateo, you know I like the enthusiasm, but your bedside manner could do with some work" Michelle laughed out loud.
"Wow yeah. You can as well" Marjan joined in having moved slowly to crouch down and look at his ankle. Soon enough everyone had cycled through to get a look at his leg before Michelle turned back to the kit beside her.
"Ok, so I think you probably don't need to go to hospital assuming you're up to date on tetanus and I'm assuming the dog definitely wasn't rabid" Michelle said getting a hurried nod from Carlos.
"Yes, I really don't want the hassle of all that paperwork. Can you just clean it and wrap it for me?" he asked her, giving his best pleading face.
"Just for you I suppose so. This is going to be easier if you lie down though. Guys can you help him over to the couch, try not to get any more blood on the cap's new house Chico" she teased, glancing up at Owen. Carlos huffed a slight laugh not sure how serious she was about the blood, but Owen didn't look so angry, so he figured she was joking. He pushed himself to his feet and was only slightly surprised when Judd and TK took one of his arms each and helped him to hop across the short distance to the sofa. They lowered him down gingerly and he waited as Michelle lay down an absorbent pad in preparation for what was to come. He turned slowly so that he was laying on his side and lifted his legs up onto the sofa but stayed turned around just enough so that he could see Michelle. It was incredibly uncomfortable staying twisted around but he wanted to know what was going on and didn't particularly like the idea of being laid down in the firehouse in general, almost making him feel vulnerable even though he knew no one there was going to hurt him.
"All the way Carino, I can't get a good angle like that. Just relax" Michelle encouraged, and he groaned softly but did as he was told and rolled all the way, so he was laid on his front and his injured leg was laid on the pad. He still propped himself up on his elbows and was trying to turn back to see her when TK appeared crouching in front of him.
"You know if I didn't know any better, I'd say you think she's going to hurt you. Just lay down and it'll be over soon babe" TK teased him softly reaching out to hold Carlos's hand and pulled his head around gently, so he was facing forwards. Michelle's gloved hands on his ankle made him jump slightly but he didn't make a sound as she began cleaning out the wounds. It stung viciously and he would normally have been swearing but he didn't want to show how much it was hurting him especially in front of the members of the firehouse who though he knew fairly well he wanted to maintain the image of a tough police officer.
"AY dios mio!" he exclaimed unable to help the way his body tensed as something was poured over his ankle and every exposed nerve ending in the wounds lit up like a Christmas tree. "Little warning would be good?" he said through gritted teeth trying to turn again to see what Michelle was doing but he couldn't get far enough around before TK was pulling him back again.
"Hey, it hurts more when you know it's coming. I'm nearly done now" Michelle said. Carlos looked around and was glad to note that Judd had gone back to the stove and Mateo, Marjan and Paul were sat over at the dining table chatting quietly clearly pretending to ignore them. Owen was just barely visible in his peripheral vision standing behind Michelle watching what she was doing.
A few more minutes passed with Michelle cleaning the wounds before he heard her beginning to put some things back in the kit. TK glanced up from where he was still crouched using his thumb to rub the back of Carlos's hand and nodded to someone before standing up.
"Right Carlos, I just want to wrap this up for you now and so TK can you hold the gauze in place?" Michelle instructed. Now with no-one to stop him Carlos turned around and was surprised by how much blood was coating the pad on the sofa. TK lifted his leg up slightly and held the gauze down against his ankle as Michelle wrapped an ace bandage around his foot going up to a few inches above his ankle joint. The bandage was much tighter than he'd previously wrapped it and felt more secure in its place.
"Ok, you can turn over now, keep your leg up" Michelle instructed, and he rolled over careful not to set his leg down on the sofa. He sat up as Michelle and TK wrapped the used packages up in the pad and disposed of everything. He planted his hands on either side of him and pushed up onto his feet setting his injured foot down gently. He expected the ankle to hurt, but what he wasn't anticipating was the head rush from changing positions so quickly and the dizziness that overtook his senses. He felt himself go pale and locked eyes with Owen who was only a few feet away from him. He didn't even have to say anything to him before the firefighter had lunged forwards and grabbed him as he began to fall.
"Easy does it, just sit down for a minute. You're ok" Owen repeated the soothing phrases to him as he lowered him back down onto the couch. His head was spinning, and he could barely see anything past the spots that had overtaken his vision, so he was immensely grateful for the support as he sat back against the couch his head flopping back and hitting the wall with a soft thud. He focussed on taking deep breaths as his vision slowly cleared but before it could he felt a hand on his wrist and he was pulled around so that he was laying down on the couch, pillows seeming to appear out of nowhere.
"That wasn't the smartest idea 'los" Michelle's reprimanding tone was the first thing to break through to him and he managed to focus on her as she crouched next to him.
"Really, thought it was genius" he mumbled breathily but he was feeling better by the second. Someone was lifting his injured foot up and it was set down on another pillow just as his eyes focussed enough to see that it was TK. Glancing around, he saw everyone had given up their pretences of not paying attention and were standing around him.
"I'm fine, just a head rush" he explained pulling his hands away from Michelle and pushing himself to sit up slightly ignoring the slight unsteady feeling that accompanied the motion.
"Yeah well, you can stay there for a bit now. I'll grab you a drink and you need to finish that and some food before you are going anywhere" TK said his tone insistent.
"Didn't realise there was such good service here, I'll be sure to give you a good review on yelp" he teased softly rubbing a hand over his face and feeling the cold sweat that had broken out across his skin.
"Yeah, well normally you're supposed to call us, and we come to you, but this would make our response times even shorter if everyone came to us" Judd joked as he walked back over to the kitchen area and got out bowls. He used a ladle to fill two bowls and after setting one at the dining table, he brought one over and set it on the coffee table just as Michelle returned with a Gatorade that she held out to him. He took it and twisted the cap off taking a few sips before letting the bottle rest on his thigh.
"Don't think you want most of the emergencies happening here though. Thanks guys, sorry I really didn't mean to ruin things like this" Carlos said smiling sheepishly as the others went to grab bowls of chilli.
"Ahh what are you ruining, this is a normal day for us just like Michelle said. Don't get any more blood on my firehouse and we'll call it even" Owen said holding out a hand for Carlos to shake and he took it smirking at the deal that he hoped would be easy to keep.
