Tee came awake to a constant beeping; she was clearly in the hospital. An encouraging thought seeing as she had been shot. A voice also cleared through the fog in her mind. Keeping her eyes closed she listened. She recognized the voice immediately. It was Joe. He was here with her.
"Yes Mr. Ho I will most definitely call if there are any changes." "No sir she won't be alone. I'm not leaving her side." Joe was talking on the phone, talking to her father no less. "Yes sir, I will." She heard the click of him closing his cell phone as he sighed and took her hand.
Tee slowly opened her eyes to find Joe with his head bent and his forehead resting against his hands hold hers. "Hey there Public don't you have work to do?"
Joe's head snapped up and his eyes shot to hers. "You're awake." Before she knew it he was on his feet beside her bed. He reached for the call button on the opposite side of the bed but Tee grabbed his wrist to stop him.
"I'm not up for company just yet and you didn't answer my question Mr. Public." Tee said calmly.
Joe glared at her. It was the glare that sent their agents running to get things done and had the bad guys spilling their guts to him in a heartbeat. Unfortunately for Joe the glare never had worked on her. "You just woke up, two days might I add, after a major surgery which was after you received a high caliber GSW. Not to mention a high speed military helicopter acting as a patient transfer as soon as you were stable from LA here to Nashville. Doctor. Now."
"Answer the damn question Joseph Quincy Public!" Tee growled. She hated when he avoided her questions. "Up until now nothing short of the bat tower being destroyed by a bomb would keep you from going into work. So why aren't you at work?"
"That's not true; while you were undercover I never went into the office."
Tee glared at him. He was running circles around her question, she knew it and he knew she knew it. "You were still working only in LA instead of in Nashville."
Joe sighed. "Tee you were just shot, what makes you think for a second I should be at the office?"
"Oh I don't know. Could it maybe be because terrorists never sleep? Or maybe because me getting shot doesn't mean that the bad guys are going to take a break? Maybe it's because I'm just one person and in the grand scheme of what we do I don't matter?"
"You are the one that matters the most." He said softly, so softly that Tee was almost sure she imagined it.
Tee looked at Joe, completely shocked. "I'm sorry, what?" When Joe didn't reply Tee continued to hold his gaze. "We're having a communication error here Quincy. Because I'm almost positive what I'm hearing is not what you're saying?"
"I love you Tee. I don't know when or how it happened but I do love you. Hell I practically worship you. When that guy hit you it was all I could do not to tell Tina and Steele to shoot." He cupped her cheek. "You went down and the world stopped. I felt like I couldn't breathe. Then when you passed out at one point I couldn't tell if you were breathing or not. Tee I can't lose you. I just can't." He shook his head with that last bit causing a few strands of hair to escape his ponytail.
For a moment Tee was completely frozen, but only a moment before deciding that this was it, she finally had to be honest with him about how she felt. Reaching up she moved the strands that had been freed from the ponytail away from his face. "I know what you mean Joe. If you left, whether dead or just gone, it would definitely ruin my day. What do we do now?" She asked. She knew she couldn't just go back to the way things were. There was no way, so where did that leave them?
Joe leaned his head down to rest his forehead against hers. "We get your doctor in here to check you out," Tee smiled, she couldn't help teasing him which was why she was wagging her eyebrows at him. Joe made a sound in his throat that could only be described as a growl before he continued, "medically. We get you well enough that you can go home. I stay with you until you are back to 100% in my opinion. Oh, and when your strong enough I take you on a date." He smiled that million dollar smile down at her.
Tee laughed at the promise in his features. "Why not as soon as I get out, why wait until later?"
Joe gave her his shit-eating grin that made her weak in the knees even while lying down. "Because Tiger the things I plan to do to you at the end of that date are definitely not conducive to healing a GSW." Without another word Joe kissed her lips.
Tee moaned at the contact. It wasn't until he broke the kiss that she noticed he had pressed the call button for the doctor. "Traitor." She snarled.
Joe smiled and kissed her forehead. "Only because I care. I'll make it up to you after he leaves, I promise."
"Just so you can't say I didn't warn you; that will involve food that is not from the cafeteria, actual clothing instead of this gown thing and lots of coffee, chocolate, and kissing."
Before Joe could respond the doctor walked in. Tee smiled when out of the corner of her eye she saw Joe shifting trying to make his obvious arousal less obvious. What had her smiling even more was Joe's reaction when the doctor started hitting on her. It wasn't even that covert kind of flirting. Nope, right in front of Joe it was all out flirting, which ended with a covert date request. At which point before Tee could tell him no, it seemed Joe could no longer stand staying to the side. He came right up to the bed kissed her lips and told her how happy he was that the bullet hadn't done major damage. The doctor quickly said goodbye and left.
"You are so bad." She laughed at him.
"What did you exactly expect me to do? He was hitting on my girlfriend in front of me. I had to do something."
Tee nearly choked on her happiness at being called his girlfriend in a non-undercover capacity. "Okay Public, clothing and food. Oh and don't worry about picking up chocolate just grab my stash in the apartment. I'm sure you remember where that is seeing as last time you were over you almost cleaned me out."
"I'm not leaving." Joe said with the same finality he used on their agents.
"Then how do you suppose you are getting me real food and real clothing? Chocolate I'll grant you can be bought in a vending machine and assuming that I'm in the General there's a decent coffee shop just over on the campus. But my apartment is across town."
"I'm not leaving."
Tee playfully grabbed the collar of Joe's shirt and pulled him down so they were nose to nose. "Go get me my clothing and some food or you're going to be waiting until that date before you and I have any, and I stress the word any physical contact."
"Demon." Joe said smiling as he kissed her.
"Yes I know. But demon I am, demon I have always been, and demon you fell in love with." Tee smiled as their lips met.
When Joe pulled away this time it was only enough that he could speak. "Fine, but you and I are staying talking on the phone until I am back in this room." Joe reached behind him to the waist band of his jeans. "Keep Tessa under your pillow until I get back. Shoot anyone who comes through that door you don't trust."
"You're actually telling me to shoot? Where's a calendar? I have to mark this date down to remember for the rest of my days. Joe is telling me to shoot instead of telling me to hold fire. The apocalypse must be near." Tee laughed as Joe put the gun under her pillow.
"Smartass. I mean it Tee. Anyone you don't trust or don't like the look of shoot. I thought I lost you once today I am not willing to repeat the experience for really. Here take this too." Joe pushed her cell phone in her hand. "I'll call as soon as I am in the car and will stay on the line until I am parked downstairs again."
"So how many agents are guarding the door?" Tee smirked, knowing full well that they did not have the man power to spare but that Joe would have already tried to make it work.
"Unfortunately with the Fratelli I couldn't spare anyone. I was going to try and find a private security company but instead of having to convince Carlos and Retter to take over they volunteered." Joe kissed her lips again. "I'll be back soon."
While Tee waited for the phone to ring she thought back over the years since she and Joe Public had been partnered together, since they started BAD Tee couldn't remember Joe having a single girlfriend. Albeit with their schedules, relationships were tenuous at best, look at Gotthead. But to be honest she couldn't remember another woman since the first time they had been in this situation a year after starting the agency and that had been a relationship he had started while they were in the CIA still.
Not even any one night stands. Not that she was complaining of course, since she had been in love with the man since the day they had met and any time he had dated she died a little. Which if she was being honest was why she had never dated or had any casual relations; she hurt at the mere idea of being with anyone other than Joe. In her eyes there was only one Joe Public and no one was ever going to even come close to measuring up. Suddenly the phone rang.
"Hello?"
"Shoot anyone since I left?"
"A spider on the roof, it was moving closer to being over the bed and it looked like it wanted to drop in my lap. Since you my ever trusty spider killer isn't here, so I was forced to shoot the unnatural thing."
"Tiger I will never ever understand how a woman who faces down death to the point she orders herself shot is afraid of spiders."
"It's not natural to have eight legs. What do they need all those legs for anyway? I mean really, what can be accomplished with eight legs that you can't do with two?"
"I assure you Tee having eight legs is quite natural to the spider."
"Well we were talking about me and not the spider." Tee heard horns honking in the background. "Public we went over this earlier you dying, bad plan. How about driving like a sane person for once?"
"I drive just fine Tiger."
"Please slow down while you have the phone in your hand." Tee let the genuine concern through in her voice. "Please for me."
Joe huffed. "Fine. You better be damn glad I love you. Fuck, but I'm not doing the limit, I am not taking any more time than absolutely necessary away from you. I don't like leaving you on your own with only Tessa. Hell I don't like you anywhere I'm not, never have."
"You know that explains so much."
"And here I thought I disguised it so well."
"If it makes you feel any better I never would have guessed you love me."
"Part of me's wants to say that's what make me a good agent and the other part wants to curse at all the time with you I've wasted."
"Well unless you know something Public that I don't know ours days are not over yet."
"Not if I have anything to say about it. So what do you need at your place?"
"Let's see; underwear, bra, yoga pants, pjs, t-shirts, pair of jeans, shampoo, deodorant, body wash, moisturizer, toothbrush, toothpaste. I think that should cover it. Got that all?" She laughed.
"Probably not but you'll be on the phone with me anyway so it won't really matter."
"Don't worry about it, just grab my go bag." She laughed.
"Even better cuts the time here in half. I'll be at your building in about ten minutes."
"What?! Joe that's a half an hour drive on a good day and you haven't been gone fifteen minutes." Tee heard Joe chuckle over the phone. "You never even slowed down did you?"
"Not a chance, I do believe that I said I wasn't doing the limit. I simply took side streets where there was no one to honk their horns at me."
"You are so lucky I'm not there." Tee hissed. It was strange when she thought about. Joe taking a bullet would upset her but she knew he was likely to survive it and that it was a risk with their jobs. But the idea of him getting in a crash, it completely terrified her to a level that was shocking given all the deadly situations she'd been in over the years.
"I'm fine Tiger. Don't worry about it. I'm in more danger when you have a gun and I'm pissing you off then I am in this car."
Tee sighed. "Fine, just damn well don't get yourself killed."
"Are you saying you'd miss me?"
"I'd do a hell of a lot more than miss you and you know it."
"I know sweetheart."
"I like that."
"Like what?"
Tee could hear the car door slam as Joe got out. "When you call me sweetheart; it's different and I like the way it sounds when you say."
"Ahhhh, don't do get me excited only to remember that you're incapacitated. It ain't nice Tee."
"My hands and mouth work just fine Joe."
Joe groaned. "You really are the devil you know that. I think that mug Carlos gave you is true."
"Oh the one that says 'I jump out of bed and the devil looks up and thinks 'shit she's awake''. Is that the one?"
"Yeah that'd be it. Do you know how much I could use a cold shower while I'm here after just two sentences from you? Damn, I'm in trouble until you get better."
"Which sentence got you? Was it when I implied that I like hearing your voice or when I assured you that my mouth and hands still function properly?" Tee laughed at Joe quick intake of air. "You alright there Joe? It sounds like you might be hyperventilating."
"I'd be even better if we in a bed naked. You have one wicked tongue I ever tell you that?"
"It's even more wicked when it finds itself wrapped around something." Tee has seriously fighting the urge to laugh. She had a funny feel she knew exactly what Joe's pants currently looked like. She could just imagine his reaction to someone coming out into the hall on her floor.
SHIT! She forgot to remind him to look for her mother's car in the lot. "Joe! I forgot did you think to-"
"Look for your mother's car in the parking lot. Yes I did and it wasn't there. I take it she's still taking upon herself to get into the apartment and ambush you when you get home?"
"God, yes. It's the most annoying thing ever. If I have to hear her lecture one more time about marrying a good little Vietnamese boy I'm going to take the key she has and change all my numbers. Although I would pay to see the look on her face the first time I'm there with her and you stroll in on your own and I tell her that I don't need a good Vietnamese boy I got myself a good New Yorker boy."
"When this happens can we please make sure she does not have any weapons near her."
"Ah, baby I promise not to let her hurt you. But this time when I say don't move, don't move. I would be really put out if something happened to it."
"I second that feeling." Tee yawned as she heard the rattle of keys and a door opening and closing. "Okay, is the duffle where it used to be?"
"Yep and the chocolate's in the middle drawer in the kitchen."
"Okay got the bag, heading for the kitchen." He paused and Tee heard a drawer slide open. "Ok got the chocolate. I just have to grab dinner and then I'm heading back."
"What are you getting for dinner?" Tee asked as she listened to Joe lock her front door and jog down the stairs.
"That is a surprise." He said, Tee heard the car door open and close and the engine start.
"Please for the sake of my sanity while on the phone with me drive like normal sane people do."
Joe laughed. "I'll do my best."
"Which basically translates to you'll speed but you'll lay off the stupid stunts."
"You know me too well."
"It comes from being around you for years."
"Years that I wouldn't trade for anything in the world."
They talked for ten more minutes when Tee heard the car engine turn off. She heard Joe get out of the car and enter the store. "By the way, I noticed there was no security system in the apartment." Tee didn't hear him order but heard someone give him a total so she figured he went to one of their regular stops.
"I don't need one." She replied at she shifted on the bed to get more comfortable as she yawned and closed her eyes.