I really think is the last chapter I want to do for these. Although if someone would like to request a specific prompt/interaction within this AU please let me know :)
Skipper frowned as he looked at Rico's pale form surrounded by an array of machines and monitors. He knew that he had overstepped when he gave permission to attempt an emergency removal, but hearing that there were signs that the flowers were dying at the root couldn't be ignored and Rico had kept him as power of attorney for medical emergencies.
He couldn't even be mad that Rico had hid his condition for so long. Not when he himself had waited so long before electing to have the flowers removed.
Except Rico hadn't wanted the flowers removed which meant he either never planned to confess or that the feelings hadn't been mutual or at least he hadn't believed they were mutual because the dying flowers told otherwise. Yet, it was too much to think about. Especially when Kowalski was also in a hospital bed just one floor below under observation as the flowers withered in his chest.
It should have been obvious and Skipper couldn't fight the guilt he felt about not noticing it sooner, especially when had his suspicions months ago. Now it felt like he'd made a grave mistake in not trusting his instincts and not taking immediate action. He should have pushed the issue when he first found evidence that one of his men was hiding something. Had he really failed his role as a leader so badly?
And that wasn't even touching on the fact that it wasn't just one of his men who had been suffering, but two: Rico and Kowalski.
That also should have been obvious and looking back on it he couldn't believe he had missed it even though it made sense the pair had entirely with love being blind and all that. How many times had he found them asleep on the couch at 4 in the morning? Or in the garage working on the car together seamlessly? There were even the silent conversations they had in just a glance. It really had been obvious even if he couldn't pinpoint when the bond between the pair had slipped into something more.
Or, Skipper thought as he briefly touched the scar that ran down his chest, I didn't want to see it. And wasn't that another hidden truth that he had to face. The pair reminded him of his youth, when he was a fresh faced recruit along with Hans. Back then he had believed they'd become something more as they forged a bond as they put out fires that would spark international disasters. He remembered the nights they spent together, laughing and joking as they worked late into the night, and the promises they made to each other. The petals had started and Skipper waited for a perfect moment that never came. Instead of Hans having his back, the other man had driven a metaphorical knife through it.
"Skippa?" Private's concerned voice pulled him from his thoughts. "Are you alright? I know you said your shoulder was fine, but if it's bothering you, you really should get it checked."
"No, it's not that," Skipper replied vividly, recalling how they'd forced the door open to get to Kowalski when the man wouldn't respond. "Just trying to figure out how I missed it."
"It's not your fault. How were any of us supposed to figure it out?" Private looked at Rico with an expression of fondness and frustration. "He is the best at keeping secrets."
"True. Doesn't make it any easier though," Skipper sighed already dreading the imagined aftermath. Fully prepared for Rico to hate him or that the dying flowers weren't the result of mutual affections.
Private frowned and settled into the second chair next to Skipper. He couldn't quite remember the last time he'd seen his leader look so defeated. "It doesn't, but at least we can focus on the fact that we didn't lose them. Besides, someone is going to have to hold Kowalski together because he was already agonizing over how he's going to make everything up to Rico."
Skipper chuckled although it was bittersweet since he knew how stir-crazy Kowalski could get, but he couldn't imagine having nothing but the realization that he'd nearly lost Rico to stew on. "The second he gets cleared he's going to be up here and we're not going to be able to get him to leave."
"Isn't that how he's always been though, especially when it came to Rico?" Private asked, letting the much lighter-hearted conversation lift the dour mood.
"From day one," Skipper answered and for the first time in the last several chaotic hours felt like everything could finally start to mend.