Chapter 6
The next morning when Steve's hand searched the cold bed, he slowly opened his eyes and looked around the dimly lit room. "Jess," he said worriedly.
"In here," Jesse said as Steve realized the water in the shower was running. "Turning off the water, Jesse slung a towel around himself as he stepped out.
"What are you doing?" Steve said as Jesse looked up at the taller man.
"Uh, taking a shower," Jesse said with a grin. "Don't worry, I'm fine. My equilibrium has returned to normal. I guess that's what happens when you get fourteen hours of solid sleep."
"Well the way you were passed out last night, Dad said to just leave you be," Steve said watching Jesse walk through the bedroom to his dresser.
"It definitely helped but now I'm starving," he said chuckling. "Guess, I missed dinner last night."
"You head upstairs, smells like dad's already got breakfast going," Steve said pulling a coat and shirt from the closet. "I got to get ready for work."
"Okay," Jesse said putting his clothes on before making his way upstairs and to the kitchen where Mark was just finishing breakfast. "Morning," Jesse said as Mark looked at him appraisingly. "Equilibrium's back to normal."
Mark smiled as Jesse snatched a piece of bacon. "I bet you're hungry," he said looking at the time. "It must have been the sleep."
"Fourteen hours to be exact," Jesse said with a grin.
"Obviously you needed it," Mark said smiling. "Sit down, breakfast is ready."
Jesse took a seat at the table while Mark brought over his plate and set it down in front of him. "Looks great," he said digging in. "This is great, thanks."
Mark soon joined him as Steve came rushing upstairs still putting his jacket on. Setting his gun and badge on the table in front of them, he threw on his coat and grabbed a biscuit. "What?" Steve asked as Jesse gave him a serious look. "You okay?"
"Uh, yeah," Jesse said feeling sheepish as he looked at the gun and badge. "It's just, I never really thought about how dangerous you being a cop really is."
"It never bothered you before," Steve said in surprise.
"We weren't going to be married before," Jesse said swallowing the lump in his throat.
"I got to go or I'm going to be late," Steve said putting a hand on Jesse's shoulder. "We'll talk more about this later."
"Okay," Jesse said as Steve leaned down and kissed him on the lips. "Be careful,"Jesse whispered as Steve nodded. "Bye dad," he said taking his badge and gun as he headed out to his truck.
Mark smiled as the front door closed. "I'd like to say, you'll get used to it," he said.
"Have you?" Jesse asked curiously.
"Nope," Mark said taking their plates. "Get ready, you're coming with me to the hospital. I want to take those stitches out and do a new CT scan."
"Okay," Jesse said smiling. "I could see a few patients while I'm there."
"No you won't," Mark said sternly. "You're still a patient yourself remember."
Jesse grinned. "Okay, Doc," he said heading downstairs as Mark threw the dish towel at him and chuckled.
Amanda was standing at the nurses station nearest the ER when Mark and Jesse walked in.
"Hey guys," she said hugging Jesse. "You look a lot better than the last time I saw you," she said smiling at the baseball cap Jesse was wearing. "What's this?" She said in surprise as she pulled the cap off. "You cut your hair off."
"Yeah," he said grinning. "I wanted it to grow back even. So I figured, I'd shave off the rest and it'll all grown back together."
"Makes you look a whole lot younger," Amanda giggled. "Shouldn't you be in school."
"Ha!" Jesse said smirking. "You're funny."
Mark grinned as he led Jesse into a treatment room.
"So what's new?" Amanda asked as Mark gathered the stuff he needed to remove Jesse's stitches.
"Saw my dad yesterday," Jesse said all smiles. "Told him about the wedding," he said grinning. "He actually knew I was gay, can you believe that!"
"No," Amanda said a bit sarcastically as Mark chuckled. "Jesse honey, we all knew."
"Was it really that obvious?" he asked in surprise.
"Anytime you were around Steve it was," Amanda said with a giggle.
"Ah man," Jesse said with a smile.
"Okay," Mark said taking the stitches out of Jesse's head one by one. "It's closed and looking good," he said cleaning the area after. "Go down for that CT scan and you can spend the rest of the day skulking around."
"Fun," Jesse said getting off the table. "I'll see you later Mark."
"I'll tag along," Amanda said smiling as she and Jesse headed to the elevator.
Once inside, Jesse looked at Amanda. "You ever worry about Ron?" he asked with a sigh. "Because of his job."
"Sometimes," Amanda said with a nod. "Especially when he's chasing bombers and other terrorists. Why do you ask?"
"When I first met Steve," Jesse said with a smile. "I thought he had the coolest job ever but now, I just keep thinking how dangerous it is," he said quietly. "I don't want to ever get that call, Amanda," he whispered. "I can't lose my spouse, it would kill me."