They had shot him, her dearest informant, twice in the stomach, and he was most likely going to die. She was holding him, his head in her lap as she tried to minimise the bleeding, but not achieving much. He was dying, on the verge of being killed.
That stupid man thought he'd killed him, at least. Makkari should have known that Ikaris was bad news, that he wasn't going to stop at anything. That he would betray her and the whole department, that he was in league with the guys they were trying to put away. That they weren't going to be able to make an arrest and stop that big ass fucking crime operation ("the emergence" who did these guys think they were?) without any losses.
And this guy had killed Ajak, who had been his own boss, just to not put the operation in danger. She should have known that her asset, who was key in preventing everything from going down (he was going to use some skills he had to convince this new boss, Tiamut, to delay everything until she and her department had enough evidence to convict him) was in real (excessive, too much) danger.
She was a cop, for god's sakes, she should have known this was coming. Maybe she had been too close, too close to Ajak and Ikaris who she'd worked with for ages. And definitely too close to Druig, her informant, to be able to to see beyond, stop this awful attack from happening.
Which was just a big pity, because Makkari was absolutely in love with this guy.
And that was an awful idea, she knew, maybe enough to take away her badge for good, or at least give her a few good years of suspension. You were not to develop feelings for a confidential informant, specially one who walked the line between legal and illegal so very often. He was on their side, she knew, and she had enough stuff to convince the others, but... he was a troubled and troubling guy. (and what she felt was kind of troubling, too. What about the rules she'd always lived by? why did they not matter at all when he was around?)
And now he was bleeding out on that street corner, looking at her with those blue eyes that awoke something wild and feral in her. Like now, because this was absolutely horrible, breathtaking. He was in pain, he was hurt and dying and that stupid man was at fault. She wanted to tear Ikaris to pieces, former friend or not, "doing it for the good of the mission, you'll see" or not, ignoring whatever excuse he would give. Fuck him. He had to pay for what he'd done.
She was putting pressure on Druig's wounds, but there was so much blood. Her hands were soaked, it was red and awful and she didn't want to think about, but if he lost consciousness... Then maybe he wouldn't wake up again. This was such bullshit, this was absolutely wrong. Druig had put himself in the line for them and to help, and how was he paid? With two gunshots to the stomach. She hated all of it, how still he was, how much blood was stil coming out no matter what she did, the absolute broken hearted look in his pale eyes.
Where on Earth was that ambulance?
Makkari so often wished for super speed, so she wouldn't have to wait for so long, to be able to do the things herself, and faster. She hated waiting. She hated anything slow and specially in a situation like this where some seconds could make the difference between life and death. WHERE WAS THE AMBULANCE.
There was so much pain in Druig's eyes and she wanted to say something comforting and helpful, but she couldn't sign with her hands pressing down on his wounds. She hoped that her eyes spoke enough, that she could transmit, communicate all that she wanted, she needed...
"I love you too" he said, with a thread of a voice, before passing out.
Makkari let out one raw, uncontrolled scream.
*
When he woke up, he wasn't sure of where he was, or what had happened. Everything was blurry, it was as if his head had been buried in sand, almost as if he'd actually died and come back. Ugh.
He was in a bed. There was a constant beeping. He looked around... and saw her.
Agent Makkari, lady of her dreams, co-worker, cop.
Hey, you're back. How are you feeling?
I'm not dead?
You flatlined for a couple of minutes, but came back. Scared the hell out of me!
Sorry about that. he made a little cringey expression and Makkari smiled and... was it all too much, too many feelings? Perhaps. What the hell was she going to do about this, about him, about her job, about all of it? She had no idea.
But Sersi had stopped most of the emergence, Ikaris had offed himself apparently, and this meant that they didn't need to worry about that for a while. Tiamut was gone, Ikaris was gone but Druig wasn't, and honestly, in this moment, that was everything that mattered to Makkari. That he was okay, that they were both whole and together.
They would figure out the future later, when he got of the hospital. Maybe she wasn¡t sure that the force was a place for her with all those rotten apples... maybe she could use up her vacation days to go on a fancy holiday with him (and maybe her friend Thena too. She'd been through so much) and would try to forget about this whole business.
End of a chapter, beginning of a new one.
Hey she signed, to get his attention, what do you prefer, the beach or the mountain?
He drew one of his little smiles, made a tiny bit more loopy because of painkillers but still so very him, and signed
All of them.
Maybe that wasn't a bad idea. Maybe, after almost dying and saving the world, they could visit everything.
Even space, just for them.