Levi had just gotten to work and was doing his behind-the-bar cleaning routine while Armin counted out his till when the policeman came into the bar. Levi and Armin exchanged glances and Levi broke off from his cleaning to meet the man at the bar.

"What can I get you, officer?" Levi was puzzled. While they did get the local constabulary in there they never ever came in uniform. This was also a cop he didn't recognize. He also didn't sit.

"Does a …" he consulted a small notebook, "Levi Ackerman work here?"

Levi had a moment of panic. Oh, shit. What had he done? He cleared his throat. "I'm Levi Ackerman."

"Mr. Ackerman, there was an attempted robbery at the Empire tonight."

Fuck! Levi hadn't been near any 'Empire.' Was he a suspect?

"There were shots fired, Mr. Ackerman."

Levi didn't even own a gun. He opened his mouth to protest.

"One of the employees was struck. Twice."

Abruptly Levi put two and two together. He knew he had recognized that name. The Empire was the fancy hotel where Erwin worked.

Levi's world suddenly spun and he felt dizzy, weak. His knees buckled and he grabbed onto the bar for support.

"Erwin …"

The officer tucked his notebook into his breast pocket. "Do you know an Erwin Smith? He gave us your name."

"Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck! Is he OK? Is Erwin alright?"

"Mr. Smith said he had no one else to notify. Said you were his husband." The man looked deeply skeptical. "I'm here to take you to the hospital."

Armin had appeared at Levi's elbow. He laid a small hand on Levi's arm. Erwin stared helplessly at him, sick. "Go. I've got everything here. Go."

Levi leaped out of the squad car as soon as it stopped at the curb outside the ER and ran in. He pounded on the counter, startling the two women there. "Smith? Erwin Smith? He was brought in about an hour ago." Levi swallowed dryly. "Gunshot? I need to see him now! I'm Levi Ackerman, his … husband."

The women regrouped smoothly. One of them checked her computer. "Mr. Smith is in surgery, Sir. You can go to the post-op waiting room. Second floor."

Levi sprinted for the elevators.

The wait was agonizing. No one seemed to have any information. The phlegmatic nurse was impervious to his panic. "Please just have a seat, Mr. Ackerman. The doctor will come to talk to you when Mr. Smith is out of surgery.

So Levi waited. He paced. He tried to be calm. He tried sitting in one of the soothingly colored chairs. He paced some more.

The other people waiting for news stared at him. They were all tired looking, sad, anxious. A few of the women sobbed, quietly.

After a half-hour Levi got a cup of crappy tea out of the vending machine. It reminded Levi of him and Erwin waiting for Erwin's bus. He recalled their phone sex while Erwin had been away and Levi had to fight back tears. He wanted to wash his hands. Badly. He looked at the bathrooms but was afraid to leave in case the doctor came out.

Eventually, he settled in one of the chairs, the one closest to the doors to the surgery suites. He jumped up every time a doctor came out but it was never Erwin's. Another half-hour crept by.

Eventually, another doctor came out. He was an old, burly guy with a beard and blood—so much blood—on his scrubs. "Mr. Ackerman?"

Levi leaped up so quickly he spilled his cold tea all over his boots and the floor. "I'm Levi Ackerman. Is he alright? Is Erwin OK? Jesus, that's a lot of blood …"

Levi had reached out and was gripping the man by the arm, painfully tight.

"Mr. Ackerman, I'm Dr. Zackly. Mr. Smith came through the surgery well."

Levi's breath left his body in a rush.

"We removed two bullets, one from his thigh—very close to the femoral artery and the bone but it miraculously didn't hit either—and one from his lower leg."

Levi went white as a sheet. "Will he … will he be alright?"

"He's in the ICU right now. We had to do some very detailed work on the lower leg. The bullet had shattered the bone. He's heavily sedated right now. The ICU staff can give you an idea of when you can see him."

Levi moved to the fourth floor, to the tiny ICU waiting room. A nurse brought him another cup of tea and another nurse followed soon after. "He'll be out for a while and we won't be allowing visitors till he's stable. Why don't you go home Mr. Ackerman? Come back in the morning?

Levi chewed his lip and thought about it. There was no way he could see Erwin tonight and he had to go take care of Rose.

He took the bus home.

Levi fed Rose, checked on the kittens, and paced some more. This was 100 times worse than when Erwin had gone to his training seminar. He seemed to see small indications of Erwin everywhere. He went to the kitchenette and listlessly looked through the cupboards. He just wasn't hungry.

Then he spotted Erwin's chips. He got them down. Cool Ranch Doritos. Erwin loved those vile things. Abruptly he sat down at the table and, cradling the bag of junk food, he began crying. He felt a small pressure on his knee. It was Rose, standing on her back legs, her small white feet on his leg.

"Oh, Rosie. Daddy's sick. He's very sick. A bad man hurt him and now he-he's in the hospital. I don't know when he'll be home."

Rose meowed and Levi startled. He'd only heard her meow once, ever. It made him cry harder.

Later, much later, Levi was on the couch, the bottle of Jack Daniels held loosely in his hand. He'd not bothered with a glass. The TV was on, murmuring in the background. He wasn't even sure what show it was.

He missed Erwin. Really missed him. What would he have done if he'd been killed? If he hadn't made it through surgery? Dr. Zackly had reassured him that Erwin's injuries, while bad, weren't likely to be life-threatening. But what if he took a turn for the worse? What if his injuries got infected? Dr. Zackly had warned him that even if everything went well, Erwin was looking at months of physical therapy and he might walk with a limp for the rest of his life.

How would Erwin react? What would become of his job? Levi wasn't even sure if Erwin had insurance. How would they afford his medical bills? Levi was an old hand at medical bills. They could drain your whole life from you.

He gulped bourbon straight from the mouth of the bottle and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. He stared at his hand, stomach turning. He'd have to wash that off. He struggled up and tacked to the sink.

Again.

Levi woke a few hours later, the empty bottle propped between his thighs. He blearily showered, shaved, pulled gloves over his abused hands, and set off for the hospital. It was 6 am.

About ten o'clock a nurse came into the ICU waiting room. Levi, inured to the comings and goings of doctors and nurses, never there for him, looked wearily up.

"Mr. Ackerman?"

Levi jumped up.

"Mr. Smith is awake if you'd like to see him."

The ICU was a nightmarish place. The lights were kept lowered except for lamps at the nurses' station. Everybody spoke in whispers. Wheeled hospital beds ringed the walls, almost all of them with a patient bundled up like a mummy. Machines beeped and clicked and murmured quietly. It smelled like disinfectant and sickness and death.

Levi balked. His skin itched. He had the overwhelming desire to flee, to run home, and shower in the hottest water he could stand.

No. He was there for Erwin.

The nurse waited patiently for him. Apparently, it was a common reaction. Levi adjusted, taking deep breaths to calm himself. The nurse led him to a bed and, smiling kindly, left him.

Levi was floored. He gripped the bed rail, his hands stinging at the intense pressure.

Erwin looked so small. His normal bulk seemed diminished and he lay covered completely by blankets except for his right leg. Levi quickly averted his eyes, swallowing hard, then forced himself to look again. Erwin's leg, as white as the surrounding sheets, had been shaved and both gruesome wounds—long incisions where the doctors had had to cut him open to dig out the bullets and make repairs—looked raw and bruised. Drain tubes exited both incisions and there was an external stabilizer on his lower leg, the metal pins disappearing into his skin.

For a horrible moment, Levi was sure he would vomit. He swayed, gripping the bed rail even more tightly. He forced himself to walk hand over hand to the head of the bed where Erwin's head lay, turned away from him, his face as pale as death, deep purple smudges under each eye.

Levi gulped, swallowing down bile. "Erwin?"

Erwin's pale blond lashes trembled.

"Erwin? It's Levi."

Erwin's eyes fluttered open. He turned his head.

"Levi. You came."

Tears dripped down Levi's face.

They wouldn't let him stay long. Erwin was on powerful pain killers and was loopy as hell so there wasn't much conversation.

"How are you?"

"Hurts."

"I'm so sorry. I … I missed you."

Erwin smiled weakly. "Missed you. How's Rosie?"

"She's fine. She and the kittens miss you too." Levi wiped at his eyes fiercely. "Is there anything I can do?"

"Will you hol' m'hand?" he raised his left hand a few inches.

Levi nodded and reached out for it then changed his mind. He stripped off his glove angrily and reached out again, taking Erwin's hand in his bare, reddened one. "I've got it."

Erwin smiled again. "You bin washing again." He rubbed his thumb over Levi's rough knuckles.

"Yeah."

"Don' worry. I'll be fine."

Levi nodded. "Yeah. Fine. You'll be home soon. Rosie will be so glad. I … I'll be so glad."

Erwin was nodding off again. "Don' worry …"

"Erwin. I want to tell you something. Erwin?"

He was asleep.

Levi returned to work that night. He needed the money. Armin graciously let Levi take two of his shifts a week and Reiner and Connie both gave him modest gifts of money in a plain envelope. Levi was touched.

Since the shooting had occurred in the Hotel, the company's insurance paid the lion's share of Erwin's bill but it didn't cover all of it.

They moved Erwin into his own room at the end of the first week and the drain tubes and stitches came out a week later. Levi visited every day.

A few days later Levi showed up and Erwin looked pale and sweaty.

"What's going on? You look like shit. Are you OK?"

"Started physical therapy today. It was hell."

Levi glanced around and pulled a small bag of potato chips out from inside his jacket. Erwin grinned. "You're gonna make me fat."

"You'll still look damn good." Levi stripped the glove off of his left hand and grabbed Erwin's. Erwin admired their joined hands for a moment.

"You've come a long way, husband of mine."

Levi blushed. "Shut up, idiot."

Erwin turned suddenly sober. He gently disengaged his hand and fiddled with the bag of chips. "Say, Levi. I'm really sorry we fought. Before."

"S'OK."

"I meant what I said. I love you, Levi."

Levi went even redder and looked anywhere but at Erwin.

"I love you too, you irritating bastard," he whispered.