Falling Through the Cracks

Chapter 8

The next time he woke, the scenery had changed again. Sam and Kensi were gone, but Deeks was still in one of the chairs drawn up close to his bed, fast asleep. Deciding to use the time to see if he could catch up with what had happened recently, find the memories and put the pieces together, Callen continued to watch the younger man.

Bro.

He still remembered Deeks calling him that earlier. Deeks had once laughingly told Callen and Sam that he had always wondered how it would feel to have older brothers that he hated and that he now knew after they had teased him mercilessly. For a long time there had been a certain feeling of brotherhood between them, within the team, but it hadn't been overly strong.

They way the word had rolled off of Deeks' tongue earlier though had been different from before. It was familiar, gentle and easy.

Also, while he hadn't been focused on it, there had been an answering feeling of kinship and brotherhood within himself that Callen had noticed but not dwelled on upon hearing the address.

Watching the younger man now, asleep in the chair, his hair lacking its usual shine, his features drawn and tight, his body angled slightly sideway in the chair to take pressure off his right side, Callen was somewhat startled at the strong emotions that rolled through him. One stood out, something he had felt only once or twice before - years and years ago when he had been in foster care and put himself out there: protectiveness of a younger sibling.

Deeks didn't require his protection, was a capable individual in his own right, and yet something had developed between them that had shifted his perception.

Callen allowed his eye to fall closed again, exhaustion and medication both dragging on him. Still, he didn't give in to the darkness that hovered at the edge of his consciousness, instead continuing his quiet contemplation.

Snatches of the undercover operation they had been on together slowly started appearing. Two charismatic leaders - unusual for a radical group where normally only one alpha male held the reins, but it worked in this setting somehow - and a bunch of white supremacists.

He distantly remembered conversations between Deeks and himself, shared feelings of anger, loathing and disgust. He remembered reminding each other of the necessity of playing along, however abhorrent it felt. And he remembered getting sucked further into his charismatic team mate's orbit, the deepening feelings of brotherhood. He remembered many quiet discussions about things that had no part in their op, but that tied them closer together than before. Memories that he had shared with the younger man that he had never shared with anyone before - neither with Sam nor with Hetty. They had both shared such things, had both made an effort to get closer to each other at first and had then later slid effortlessly into the kinship… a kinship that felt more real than it should, a kinship that felt good.

Callen smiled slightly to himself and blinked his eye open again, checking on the younger man. This undercover had changed something between them and he felt himself hoping it would remain. He watched as Deeks shifted slightly, his breathing hitching before he slowly blinked his eyes open and glanced around before his eyes returned to Callen, "hey," he muttered and stretched somewhat carefully.

Callen gave him a small grin, "sleeping on the job, are you?" he teased.

There was a breathless second before an indistinct sound came from between Deeks' lips, somewhat strangled and pained. There was a wide eyed expression on the man's features and Callen felt his own smile fall. Deeks looked like he'd been punched in the gut before he pushed up, the chair tumbling over.

Callen called out to him, surprise and urgency making him more alert as he tried to reach for the man who now turned and basically bolted from the room.

He watched him go, calling after him, wondering what had just happened and cursing his inability to follow.

Xxxxxxx

Stepping out of the elevator, Sam and Kensi recoiled when they were nearly bowled over by a blurry figure sprinting past them. Despite the split second they had before he was past, Sam noted the expression on Deeks' features. It was an expression he had never seen before on the man, an expression he didn't know to put a name to. If he was pushed to describe it, he would consider attributes like 'guilt', 'pain' and 'despair' all rolled into one.

He shared a glance with Kensi before giving her a nod in Deeks' direction, wordlessly asking her to follow him while he checked on his own partner.

Striding into the ICU room that held G, ready for a fight to protect the man in the hospital bed, he found his partner trying unsuccessfully to flop onto his side. He could only guess that G was trying to get up despite being essentially chained to the bed due to the fixator and the broken leg, never mind all the other medical equipment and tubes connecting him to various machines.

"G?" he asked, finding no external threat in the room, and therefore focusing on his partner.

Callen's attention instantly snapped to Sam, his features drawn with pain and worry. "Where did he go?" he asked somewhat breathlessly.

Sam tilted his head to the side. He stepped over to the bed and put a restraining hand on G's good shoulder, keeping him down before he hurt himself further. "Kensi followed him. She'll take care of him," he told his partner. "What happened?"

Callen reluctantly sank back into the mattress, his eye closing, his features tightening in a way that Sam knew meant he was in pain. "Dunno," his partner whispered, blinking his good eye open again. "He was sleeping. When he woke up, I teased him," he said, "asked if he was sleeping on the job."

Sam winced and rubbed a hand across his forehead. Leave it to his partner to say just the thing that would set Deeks off. When he glanced back at G, he found one clear blue eye staring at him, the other straining to open. Despite the swollen eye and all of the other injuries, it was the most coherent he had seen his partner since he had woken up.

"What, Sam?" Callen asked. "Why did that set him off?"

Sam picked up the chair that must have toppled over when Deeks stood and sank down into it, holding his partner's gaze. "Because he's blaming himself for not having your back, for landing you here."

He watched the impact of the words, watched his partner practically recoil, "why would he think that? What the hell happened?"

Sam knew that his partner didn't remember much of what had happened before he had woken up in hospital. They had not spoken in detail - Callen had been too out of it for that before - but he wondered if he should have pushed some more, wondered if he should have prodded.

Xxxxxxx

Sam had given him the bare backbones of what Deeks had told them and an answering feeling of agreement had risen within him, letting him know in his gut that it was exactly what had happened. He was certain the memories would come back, remembered the brief snatches of memory he had had when he had first seen Deeks after waking up: the memory of a heated fight that had felt staged, the way they had withdrawn from each other out of necessity even though it had felt wrong… not in regards to the op they were on but in regards to the personal relationship that had developed.

Sam told him that they didn't know why Deeks felt so guilty and kept on insisting he didn't have Callen's back. From an outside standpoint, the decision to put distance between them had been made together and had been logical. Callen agreed, both from a tactical standpoint as well as the more personal firsthand experience of having been in contact with their targets. He knew he wouldn't have agreed to putting distance between Deeks and himself if he'd had any reservations. He was still the senior agent, the team leader and ultimately the decision would have been his.

"Get him back here," he told Sam. He was flagging, completely exhausted and yet he pushed on. Needed to push on… for Deeks' sake.

"You're dead on your feet, G. You need to rest," Sam told him softly and Callen knew that his partner was looking out for him - in the immediate sense that his body really needed the rest and the more abstract sense that Sam probably wasn't sure if he could get Deeks back into the room, unaware of the Detective's current mood.

"We need to hash that out," Callen countered, "he needs to get that out of his system before it overwhelms him. Get him back here."

Sam sighed and nodded, probably knowing that he wouldn't win this fight.

Callen narrowed his eye at him, "and wake me up or so help me God, you will regret it." He saw the way Sam's shoulders fell, knew he had caught his partner in a contemplation to let him rest if he dozed off in the time it took to return their Detective into this room. He locked eyes with his partner until Sam capitulated and nodded in agreement. Callen returned the nod and let his eye fall closed, deciding to conserve his energy and shoring himself up for the upcoming discussion with Deeks.

Xxxxxxx

"He's asleep. He needs to rest. We should leave him in peace, Sam."

The soft, but half frantic voice dragged him from oblivion, an instinctive reaction of both - his ever present situational awareness coupled with caution bordering on paranoia and on the other hand a reaction to the distress in his team member's voice. Callen blinked his good eye open, finding Sam practically pushing the reluctant Detective into the ICU room… under quiet but a multitude of protest. He didn't see Kensi, but had a feeling she was close by.

Callen returned Sam's stare when his partner turned his focus on him without letting go of Deeks. He gave his friend a nod of appreciation.

Callen drew in a careful breath, using the discomfort from his ribs to wake himself up further. Then he turned his focus onto Deeks. "Sit," he ordered, putting enough steel into his voice to have the Detective react instantly - with a bit of a push from Sam. Wide eyes stared back at him.

Callen glanced at his partner. "Leave," he issued a second order, tilting his head towards the door.

Sam gauged him for a second, but Callen didn't back down and eventually, Sam stepped back out of the room, taking Kensi along who by now had appeared in the doorway.

He turned his focus back on Deeks, silent seconds ticking by before Callen narrowed his eye at the younger man. "Start talking," he requested simply, the third curt order within just a few moments.

"I…" Deeks hedged, glancing away before his eyes flickered back to Callen, "I don't know what you mean. I mean, what do you want to talk about? The weather is lousy outside. Be glad you're laid up in here." There was a hiss and a wince from the man, obviously uncomfortable with what he had said, "that came out wrong," he backpedalled, "I mean… maybe I should…" Deeks stood from the chair, a deer-in-the-headlights-look on his face.

While Callen had been intent to let the younger man ramble on for a while, using the moments to shore himself up and at the same time to try and gauge Deeks' state of mind more accurately, he knew he had to act now, so Deeks didn't run out on him again. He narrowed his one good eye and stared at the Detective, "sit your ass down," he said, his voice a low growl. He didn't use that tone of voice often, but Deeks knew better than to disregard the demand anyhow. The Detective plopped back down into the chair, less a conscious decision and more an instinctive and conditioned reaction to his team leader's order.

When Deeks opened his mouth to say something, Callen lifted a hand in a stopping motion. "No," he muttered, "you had your chance. Now it's my turn."

There was an audible click as Deeks shut his mouth and Callen would swear he sank deeper into the chair, his shoulders hunched, reminiscent of a dog mistreated, cowering and awaiting further punishment. The only one dishing out punishment though was the man himself.

"Sam said you felt guilty for this," Callen intoned neutrally, glancing down at himself before turning his eye back to the Detective.

Deeks followed his glance skittishly before his eyes danced away from Callen, looking anywhere but at him.

Callen sighed internally. This was worse than he thought. Deeks couldn't seem take in his injuries now that he was awake, even though Sam had told him that Deeks had sat with him while Kensi and Sam worked the crime scene. He decided the kid gloves would be coming off and to face this head-on. "Look at me, Deeks," he murmured, more a gentle nudge than a direct order, "I'm injured, not dead. I've had worse and I got back on my feet. I will be alright."

He waited, letting the silence settle between them as he gave the younger man the time to process this. He watched as Deeks eyes swung over to him and back away several times. The man wasn't prone to biting his nails, but he was just a short distance away from doing that as it seemed. There was anguish in his features, but also a slight easing in his frame when Callen's words slowly penetrated his guilt ridden mind.

He spoke again, his voice even more gentle. "I will be alright, brother."

This time, Deeks' eyes flew over to him, startled, hopeful and delighted all at once.

It suddenly got easier to read the man, to look behind the wall of guilt and get to the core of the problem. Callen had a hunch, and he chose to follow it, once more shedding the kid gloves, bouncing back between reassurance and straight forward question to keep the younger man unbalanced to hopefully get to the heart of the problem.

"Back to the topic," Callen stated, steeling himself again, knowing this might hurt the other man, but also knowing he had to provoke him, "Sam said you felt responsible for me being here. Why? What did you do? Where did you go wrong?" he asked, firming his voice but keeping the undertone of an accusation out of the questions. Simply by putting them out there, the wording itself should be enough to trigger a response. Deeks was doing the blaming and accusations himself. There was no need to add to that with adding a certain tone of voice. Still, the questions would impact, were harsh in itself considering the man felt guilty about this situation.

Deeks winced and seemed to shrink back into the chair. He glanced down at his hands, his shoulders hunched again. "I wasn't there to back you up," he muttered and Callen only heard the words because he was completely focused on the younger man.

Callen tilted his head slightly to the side, "I wasn't there to back you up either when you were hurt," he responded evenly.

Deeks glanced up and away again, "I wasn't…"

Callen's good eye narrowed on its own volition, "bullshit," he interrupted forcefully before Deeks could lie any further, "I'm on medication, Deeks, not stupid," he snapped. "You're favoring your right side, upper chest, probably your back. I suspect a GSW." He simply put the statement out there, waiting for what the Detective would do.

Deeks shrugged one shoulder - the left one - uncomfortably, and continued to glance down, remaining silent.

This was like interrogating a reluctant suspect and he barely refrained from rolling his eye. Usually they couldn't get Deeks to shut up, but now, he was very word-weary when Callen would rather he talked. Drawing a slow breath, his hand going to his side to support his ribs, Callen waited another moment for Deeks to say something. When he didn't, he gave him another gentle nudge, "talk to me, Deeks."

"We shouldn't have separated," Deeks muttered.

"Why not? It was a valid plan and we both agreed," Callen said simply.

"It left you open to this," Deeks exclaimed and stood suddenly, his chair once more scraping on the floor and making Callen wince at the noise. The Detective drew a hand through his hair in frustration.

Callen saw a shadow shift outside of the room and he shook his head when Sam peeked through the observation window. The shadow withdrew and Callen turned his attention back to Deeks. "Open to what? Being thrown out of a moving car? Pushed down a steep hill?" he asked, again not sugarcoating what had happened - or what they suspected had happened as his memory hadn't returned yet.

Again, Deeks flinched but remained silent.

"Deeks, you and I both know that it was the right decision to put some distance between our covers. It worked. We're both experienced in solo undercover operations and we both know how to handle ourselves," Callen told him calmly.

"And still this happened," Deeks exclaimed, moving back to the chair he had vacated and sinking into it, burying his face in his hand.

Callen watched him in sympathy, knowing his next question might be closing in on why this impacted so heavily with the Detective. "Have you ever not had your partner's back during a mission?" he asked quietly.

Deeks seemed to deflate in front of his eye, hunching over even further. There was a small shake of his head but no verbal reply.

Callen nodded to himself. In all the years with them, Deeks had never let anyone down. He had backed Kensi up even after he had been shot, when she had been the intended target and he raced down several flights of stairs and hospital corridors, pulling his stitches along the way, to make sure his partner was safe. Also, he had not hesitated in going after Sam in the whole Sidorov debacle. There were many more cases where he risked himself and as far as Callen was aware, he'd never not backed any of them up or been sloppy. So not being there to back his assigned partner up and having that partner badly injured would be a new experience… and not a pleasant one.

Callen remembered that pain, that guilt, that pressing feeling of horrified anguish.

"I was 23 when another agent got shot on my watch. I didn't particularly like him, but he was a good agent and someone I learned a lot from." He didn't look, but felt Deeks was watching him. "We chased a suspect down an alley in Bucharest and my partner was ahead of me by a few paces. When I turned the corner, he was facing off with the guy. Suspect looked like he was about to surrender when suddenly there was movement in my peripheral vision. The second man got off a shot before I took him down. I was too slow and I didn't follow protocol to the letter. It was my duty to watch my partner's back, to make sure the area was safe and I didn't." After all these years, the pain was still there, still raw and burning brightly.

"What happened to your partner?"

Callen took a slow and measured breath, feeling the fatigue from both… his memories and his current state. "Bullet damaged his spine. He was paralyzed after that. Took his own life three years later," he answered quietly.

The words impacted heavily with the younger man and Callen shook his head. "Deeks," he called softly, waiting for the younger man to raise his head and meet his eyes. Only when their gazes were connected, did he speak, "this was not your fault," Callen said calmly, enunciating each word slowly and carefully. "What happened to my partner in Bucharest was on me. This? Absolutely not. You couldn't have known and you weren't even close when this happened. We both know there's a high risk in undercover work and especially in solo missions. Still, we both agreed to go that way and there was nothing to suggest this would happen."

There was a slight easing of Deeks' frame, a little of the tension deflating upon knowing that Callen didn't blame him for this, but not completely, and Callen continued watching him, wondering what else was there. Before he could ask, Deeks glanced away.

"I still should have known," the other man murmured.

Callen frowned, "how? How should you have known?" he asked, wondering if there was something that Deeks wasn't telling him.

The blond got up from his chair again and slowly moved around the room, not quite pacing but still obviously needing to work off some agitation. When he started talking, it felt more like he was talking to himself instead of Callen. "I always knew when things got bad. Always knew when to be home so he wouldn't hurt her any worse."

There was a moment when he wanted to scoff and ridicule that Deeks wasn't psychic, wanted to tease the young man as they so often teased him about one thing or another, but he held his tongue and instead looked deeper. While Deeks was hinting at incidents that had happened years and years ago in his youth, something was important about this. The situation Deeks called up was so completely different to the current one that it shouldn't even be comparable, but somehow Deeks' brain connected those two and Callen knew he needed to find the common denominator to understand where the problem really came from. What Deeks had hinted at was one or another domestic situation where his mother was threatened and injured by his abusive father.

There was nothing domestic in their case, nothing that could link those two situations… unless…

Callen watched the other man closely, taking in the small signs, remembering bits and pieces of their mission, the way they had been drawn closer to each other, had felt comfortable with each other and sunken deeper and deeper into their roles as half-brothers.

Half-brothers.

Family.

With that, the last piece of the proverbial puzzle fell into place. He remembered the delight and hope in Deeks' expression when Callen called him 'brother' earlier in their talk. This mission had resulted in a kinship neither of them had expected and he understood suddenly that Deeks didn't only feel guilty about supposedly not having his partner's back, but about not having his brother's back.

Callen remained silent, examining his own feelings upon that revelation, again finding the contentment he somehow remembered feeling during the mission in regards to the other man. There was something that glowed warmly inside when he realized the depth of Deeks connection to him. He had earlier thought that the undercover assignment had changed something between them and that he hoped the closeness would remain. The reluctance he might have expected considering his own history - the reluctance to get close to anybody - was missing, instead there was a feeling of comfort.

Closing his eye, he allowed himself to sink into the feeling, letting it blanket the exhaustion and pain that was tugging on him. He listened to the sounds of Deeks moving from one end of the room to the other, until the man suddenly stopped. Callen blearily blinked his eye open once more and found Deeks watching him. He gave the other a small smile. "Sit down, Deeks," he said softly, feeling his strength fade, but also feeling he needed to give the younger man something to help ease his pain. When the other sat down, he sighed softly, carefully. His eye fell closed and he let it, exhaustion once more dragging on him. "That guilt is not yours to carry. If anything, it's mine," he murmured, "it should have been my job to watch out for my younger brother."

There was a somewhat startled intake of breath beside him, but he wasn't able to force his eye open anymore, instead voluntarily gave himself over to the darkness that snuck up on him. He also didn't startle like he usually would when a hand unexpectedly landed on his forearm. Quiet words followed him into the darkness, "sleep, bro. I've got your back."

Xxxxxxx

Pain burned hotly when he woke the next time. He didn't have the strength to swallow the low moan, instead tried to focus on his breathing. It was an age old technique he had learned during his childhood.

Breathe through the pain. Pain is fluid. Breathing is constant.

He startled slightly and forced his eye open when fingers tightened around his forearm, not having noticed the weight of a hand on his arm previously.

"Painkillers are already on the way," Deeks told him quietly and Callen gave him a small nod, allowing his eyelid to fall closed once more and turning his focus back into himself.

He distantly heard Deeks talking. He didn't try to make sense of the words, instead allowed them to wash over him and yet they brought a measure of comfort. He knew his usual partner's voice inside and out, pitch, cadence and rumble. At the same time he found that he had come to know Deeks' voice just as well and it helped to provide a measure of comfort to ward off some of the pain.

Still, the pain was harsh, zinging up and down his nerves and he fought to distance himself from it, to compartmentalize. It was hard to do, his energy reserves stretched to the limit and beyond. His talk with Deeks before had sapped a lot of strength, but it had been necessary. He was paying for it now though.

He didn't notice anyone entering the room, only noticed another persons' presence when someone attached something to the shunt in the back of his hand and cool fluid entered his veins moments later.

"There," Deeks murmured, "they're bringing out the good stuff for you. Just relax and let it do its job."

He was waiting for it and it only took a few moments before the pain started to grow dull and then became distant. His breathing eased and he slowly relaxed, his iron grip on coherency also fading gradually. He allowed it, knew he needed to listen to his body and sink into oblivion.

Xxxxxxx

After he had practically forced Deeks back into G's ICU room and basically locked those two up together so they could work this out, Deeks had remained with their team leader for the rest of the day.

Both Kensi and Sam had watched from outside for a long time, first as Deeks and G were talking or rather hashing things out and then later watching over both men after Callen had nodded off. They had briefly checked with Deeks on whether or not he wanted to head out for a while, but the Detective had refused, had instead once more made himself comfortable in the chair beside G's hospital bed.

Even though G had dropped off to sleep, both Kensi and Sam had felt that they should withdraw for a while, leave Deeks alone to watch over his current partner.

The air inside the room seemed lighter though and Deeks' posture was different from before. It seemed that G had managed to get through to the younger man. Sam doubted that all was good yet, but at least, Deeks seemed to do better. After the last few days, it was a marked improvement already.

The call from Hetty was not entirely unexpected but still rather unwelcome. They were expected back in L.A. to close the case on their end. He had argued against leaving Callen up here alone as he wasn't in any condition to be flown out to L.A. yet. Hetty had countered that he wouldn't be alone. Deeks was on medical leave as well and she expected he would remain with Callen.

It made Sam share a glance with Kensi… it was just another incident where they wondered just what their operations manager knew about any given situation. Deeks had once suggested that he considered Hetty being the Master of the universe and every now and again, Sam had to agree with that suspicion.

Xxxxxxx

Three days after waking, the day after Kensi and Sam left, Callen underwent another surgery, this time to exchange the external fixator against an internal stabilization system for his pelvis. He wasn't exactly sad to see the contraption go even if he knew he still had a long recovery ahead of him.

He had been able to remain awake for longer periods of time before, but the surgery threw him back under the bus and he missed lots of time over the next two days.

Usually he disliked having anyone around if he felt this low, his body in pain, his independent and free spirit tethered to a hospital bed, but he found Deeks was surprisingly good company. The younger man didn't always manage to draw him out of a bad mood, actually fled his hospital room once when Callen was especially hostile - so far, only Sam had been stoic enough to withstand his darkest moods - but Deeks still made being laid up less straining, entertaining him for long periods of time with inane chatter.

They had several more conversations about the case and about Deeks' reaction to it and he could see the younger man relaxing more and more, getting past his unwarranted guilt. Usually, Callen wasn't the talkative guy, giving Nate the slip whenever possible and sidestepping minefields of 'emotions' by pretending they weren't there, but Deeks needed to hash things out and Callen was determined to help.

It was another week before he was deemed stable enough to be brought back to L.A. on a medflight. He spent most of the flight drugged to the gills as turbulences shook the plane and made the pain spike. Again, Deeks was around, providing backup and distraction even though for the life of him, Callen later couldn't remember what he had been talking about.

Waking up in hospital and finding Sam by his bedside shouldn't feel so strange, but he actually expected someone else. Callen smiled wryly when Sam gave him a knowing grin and told him that Kensi had dragged her partner from the hospital so he could get some rest at home and some loving from his mutt who had obviously been pining for Deeks.

Xxxxxxx

When he was finally allowed to leave the hospital another five weeks after being relocated to L.A. and some intense rehab, he gave everyone the slip - much to Sam's anger he suspected - and took a cab to the beach. He needed some solitude outside of the hospital, a small breather and some time to himself.

While he had had lots and lots of time to himself at the hospital despite frequent visits from his team, he hadn't allowed himself to dwell on the memories of the mission outside of the good ones he'd had together with Deeks. He had remembered that fateful last day, remembered what had happened, but had decided to lock it away until further notice. Hospital wasn't the place to allow himself to focus on that, focus on that brief moment of terror as he realized their intention, that brief and horrible feeling of weightlessness before he hit the ground for the first time, tumbling down and down and down the slope, branches scratching his face, leaves crinkling as he fell and that sickening crunch of impacting with something half way down, instantaneously resulting in mind numbing agony before darkness swallowed him.

He hadn't been able focus on that in hospital, too trapped still in the aftermath of what had happened, but he also knew he needed to let the memories out before they consumed him. So escaping from the hospital was his only solution before Sam could fetch him and bring him home into the Hanna household to be pampered for a little while longer.

Sitting on the sand, watching the waves, listening to the endless song of the ocean withdrawing from the land only to roll back in again moments later gave him the stability to ground himself in the present while he allowed his mind to wander back in time. It wasn't even that he hoped to gain some insight into what had happened, just that he knew he had to let the memories out to run their course before he could settle them back into the back of his mind and forget about them, move past them.

Callen didn't turn when he heard several sets of footsteps approaching, knew he had been found by his team. Sam sank down on his right side, Deeks on his left with Kensi beside her partner. No one said anything and he was glad they didn't berate him for leaving on his own.

The silence surrounded them but he felt himself relaxing into the quiet company, something he usually shied away from. Still, this team had become family, including the two techs that had most likely found him in the first place and guided the rest of his team here while remaining in overwatch from Ops.

Callen smiled slightly to himself before straightening. "I could use a hand to get back up," he admitted, laughing softly when Sam rolled his eyes and started grumbling about inconsiderate and stupid idiots while standing. Reaching down together with Deeks, they carefully drew him to his feet and turned him around to face towards the parking lot, supporting him when he limped over the uneven sand, exhausted and yet calm in the presence of his friends.

Xxxxxxx

A/N: Happy New Year everyone. May 2021 bring less challenges and more 'normal'.