31. Sam

“What do you have over there?” Rodney’s voice carries across the rec room. I’m not exactly hiding, just not broadcasting what I’m eating for my evening snack.

“Don’t worry about it!” I shout back. I take another bite of my Rice Krispies treat. I’m one lucky fucker to have a man who makes me snacks. Especially one who’s willing to come hang out with a bunch of Neanderthals just to give them to me.

“You asshole! You hid some of those marshmallow things for yourself,” Rodney says, right over my shoulder. I jump in surprise and shove the last one into my mouth just in case he has any plans to steal it from me.

“Of course, I did!” The words come out more like Ah Kor I Id with how big of a bite I took, which I’m currently trying to turn smaller.

“You think he’d make more next week?” Rick asks.

“Oh, could he make pie next time? No… A chocolate cake,” Brody suggests.

“He doesn’t take requests. He’ll make whatever he feels like,” I argue when I finally swallow my bite.

“Fine,” Brody pouts. His ideas spark a debate between him, Rodney, and Rick about which type of dessert is best. I roll my eyes at their ridiculous behavior. I shoot a text to Carter, telling him the guys are fighting over what dessert he should bring next time. I haven’t heard from him since he left this afternoon.

I’m worried he started working again since he’s been so caught up in this database issue. He tends to get hyperfocused when he works outside of regular hours. Sometimes, he’ll work for a few hours without realizing that much time has passed.

Tucker catches my eye walking down the hallway. I jump up from my chair to flag him down.

“Cap, you got a minute?”

Tucker stops outside his office. “Always.”

I follow him inside and sit in his extra chair in the corner. “Is there any chance you’ve heard from the nurses about that baby girl we rescued?”

“Shit, yeah. We had that semi-truck crash the other day, and I forgot to tell you. The nurses said her recovery hasn’t been easy, but they’re optimistic she’ll be okay.”

“Did they find any family to take her in?”

“They’re still waiting on dental records to come back on the parents.”

I cringe. That’s awful. “What caused the fire?”

“Investigators think it was a candle and faulty smoke detectors. Their guess is the parents fell asleep while the baby was napping, and the candle caught the drapes on fire.”

“Jesus. How shitty is that?”

“Tell me about it. Natalie hates that I don’t let us have candles in the house, but after she heard this story, she was more than happy to find an alternative. Although, I’m not sure it’s any better. Have you heard of those woo-woo oils? Natalie has dived headfirst into them, and now, everything in our house smells like old people. Noah and I are about to revolt.”

My drops back in a laugh. “Yes, I’m very aware of essential oils. My mom has tried to get me started on them.” I pull my phone out of my back pocket to look something up. “Have her check out these candles. They smell great, but if they fall over or whatever, they go out immediately.”

Tucker scrolls through the site. “You are a lifesaver. Send that link to me. I’ll buy it for her as if I’m giving her a gift. She’ll start using it purely because I bought it for her.”

“You’ve got your wife figured out,” I tease.

“It’s the only way we’ve survived this long.”

“You ready for the baby?” If I remember right, she’s due to have the baby in a few weeks.

“Not even close. I’m scared shitless, but I keep reminding myself that I’m a first responder, so if anything happens, I can fall back on my training.”

I grin at him. “You’re gonna be great. You’ve kept Noah alive this long. He seems like a well-adjusted kid.”

“Yeah, but he’s six. And weirdly independent. All I have to do is make sure he doesn’t run with scissors.”

I snort. “Who knew our big bad captain would be laid low by a baby?”

“Shut up.”

I stand from my chair, but before I leave, I make sure he knows he’ll be fine. “Cap, you’re one of the best men I’ve ever met. Even if you gave your baby boy the bare minimum of effort, it would still be more than most kids get from their dads.”

Tucker’s shoulders soften. “Thanks, Sam.”

“Anytime.” I walk out of his office and decide to call Carter. I still haven’t heard from him, which is strange. My phone rings out until his voicemail picks up. Worry starts to intrude, but I’m probably being dramatic. There are any number of reasons Carter wouldn’t have responded to me.

If I don’t hear from him in another couple of hours, maybe I’ll text Nolan to go check on him.

I only made it an hour before texting Nolan. After calling Carter a couple more times without getting an answer, I couldn’t stop myself. It’s been hours since he was here at the station. He didn’t even let me know he’d made it home. Even if his phone died, he would’ve texted me once it was charged.

I’m probably being paranoid, but something about this isn’t right. He doesn’t go this long without checking in. Nolan agreed to run over to his house for me. I’m grateful he’s got the flexibility to do it and that he doesn’t think I’m crazy.

The alarm blares, forcing me to push away my thoughts about Carter. We suit up and are on the truck within minutes. Daniel maneuvers us out to a major crash on the highway. There are three cars spread across the median. One person slammed on their brakes, causing the two cars behind them to crash into each other. It’s a mess of car parts and glass. The injuries are minimal, thankfully, but two of the drivers are heading to the hospital to make sure they don’t have any internal bleeding. We had to pry open both of their doors because of the damage to their cars. It was ugly.

Tucker waves his hand in the air to get my attention. He has his phone pressed to his ear, his face a mask of concentration. At least, until he looks up at me when I get close. Then his eyes change to sadness.

“What’s going on?” I manage to keep my voice from wobbling on pure hope that it’s nothing horrible.

“It’s Carter. Nolan found him at his house. Someone assaulted him. It’s bad, Sam. Real bad.”

The blood drains from my face as the news sinks in. He was assaulted? “How bad? What are they saying?”

“I don’t know specifics. Nolan just said he was unconscious and covered in bruises when he found Carter. The ambulance just got to the hospital, so they’ll know more soon.”

“I have to go. I need to be there.” My throat tightens. It takes a few tries for me to swallow down the emotions bubbling up in my stomach.

“I know. Adam is already on his way to get you. He should be here in a few minutes.”

“Okay. Yeah, okay. Good. Are you sure? There’s no one to take my spot.”

“If we get another call tonight, I’ll get the on-call guys to come in and help. It’s fine. You won’t be any good to me anyway.”

I nod. It’s then I realize Carter is Tucker’s family, too. “Are you going to be okay? Can you come with us?”

“I’ll be fine. I’m worried about him, but you need to be there more than I do. Natalie is going to send me updates.”

“Okay.”

Adam’s silver Audi pulls up a bit later, and I quickly shuck off my turnout gear. Tucker lets me know he’ll make sure it gets put away properly before I jump into Adam’s car.

“Any updates?” I ask him as he pulls away from the scene.

“Not yet. They’re still running through all the tests.”

I blow out a breath. What will I do if he’s not okay?

“He’s going to be fine,” Adam says. I’m not sure if I asked my question aloud or if he’s just interpreting my silence for the anxiety it is. “One time, when he was six, Nolan kicked a soccer ball at Carter’s head. He ducked and ended up cracking his forehead on the corner of the wall. He needed five stitches, and even the doctor was impressed by how fast he healed. Another time, when he was in his teens, he fell out of a tree because one of his friends was being an asshole. He broke his leg in two places. Ended up being totally fine, though.”

I appreciate Adam’s stories for what they are. Silly anecdotes about Carter’s healing ability to get my mind off the current situation. It’s not working exactly, but it’s nice to hear about things that happened to Carter when he was little.

Fifteen minutes later, we’re pulling into the parking lot of Westlake General Hospital. Adam calls his mom to find out where they’re waiting. He hasn’t been admitted yet since they’re still figuring out what he needs, so they’re all hanging out in the ER waiting room until they know where they need to go for sure.

Cindy looks up when we enter. She rushes over and squeezes me in a tight hug. I grit my teeth to keep from falling apart in her arms, even though I want to so badly. Then she’s grabbing Adam while keeping a tight grip on my arm.

“Have you heard anything?” Adam asks the question I couldn’t manage on my own.

“All we know is they’ve taken him back for scans. They’re worried about his brain and internal organs.”

“How long ago did they take him?”

“It’s been an hour? Maybe longer. I’m not quite sure.”

We follow her deeper into the waiting room. I’m surprised when I get hugs from everyone. Sara, Natalie, Ellie, Nolan, and even Tilly give me an affectionate squeeze on my arm while Matthew pulls me into his chest. I’m only just now realizing that they see me as part of their family. I’m not just some boyfriend who’s worried about Carter. He means so much more to me, and his family seems to recognize that. It makes me feel incredibly loved and included. Especially when I need a support system the most.

“Cindy?” I turn around to find a tiny woman no taller than five feet with dark hair approaching our group. This must be the person who’s been updating everyone since Carter came into the ER. “Is it okay to give you an update here, or do you want to go somewhere else?”

“Here is fine. We’re all family. What’s happening?”

“He has a punctured lung, so we are prepping him for surgery. As of right now, his brain seems to be fine, but he took a lot of damage to his skull. We’ll be monitoring that until we’re confident he’s out of the woods. I’ll have a nurse bring you an update on the surgery, but it’ll be a little while.”

“Thanks, Dia,” Cindy responds. In the back of my mind, I wonder if Cindy knows her well or just happens to know her name from earlier. I’m too worried about Carter to ask, though.

Without any words, we all find chairs and settle in for the wait.

Please be okay.

I can’t lose him. I only just found him.