Then everything was grey, now it's just static

Chapter 5

Things gradually settled and normalized between them and eventually the fear of another relapse became little more than a bad dream for both of them. Carlos got rid of all his pills; the only ones that helped him with the stress and occasional panic attacks were in his locker at the police station and he had asked Nancy to hold onto them for him. She didn't live too far away and if he needed anything, she had told him she was available for whatever they needed.

Knowing that under no circumstances was he a danger to TK put Carlos at ease, and that made things easier between the two of them.

For his part, TK began to stop thinking about Sadie's attack, the damn substance she had forced him to take, and he no longer felt that he was spending the day on the edge of a cliff, about to fall back into drugs.

Little by little he became more confident, happy with the life he had...the same as before, obviously, his life with Carlos, being a paramedic and thinking about his future. Everything was fine. Although if he thought about it, he now realized that, despite everything that had happened in their lives, his life was much more perfect than that of many people around him.

After a few AA meetings where he was able to get everything out of his system, he felt like a terrible weight was being lifted off his shoulders. It was time to get everything back on track.

To do so, he took a couple of days off; it had been a long time since he had taken a vacation and he needed to sleep and rest to start over. Even Carlos let him have those couple of days—he knew TK well enough to know when it was time to give him his space and when to worry about him more.

The first day he took a relaxing bath and spent a good part of the afternoon watching TV or reading the book he hadn't had a chance to start, leaving the task of tidying up the house for the next day.

Just as he had managed to make up his mind to clean the kitchen to start his day, someone rang the doorbell.

"Carlos, I assure you, you can leave me home alone for two days without me getting in trouble," he said as he approached the door, with his best smile waiting for his boyfriend.

Meeting Tommy was not what he expected.

"I hope I'm not disturbing you," his captain said.

"Not at all, come in."

TK stepped aside and expected to find the twins with them, but since their Uncle Julius had come back into their life, it seemed Tommy didn't need them as babysitters anymore.

Not that they were jealous of the girls' biological uncle when they had been taking care of them for the past year.

"Are the girls okay?"

"Yes, they're visiting my parents this weekend. That's why I took the opportunity to come. I want to talk to you."

No, it certainly wasn't what he had envisioned for his day off.

"Is everything all right? If I missed ordering something in the ambulance before I left the other day, I can come by tomorrow and fix it."

"No, don't worry. This is personal, that's why I wanted to talk it over with you away from the girls' ears."

TK invited her over for coffee and they settled on the couch in silence for a moment. He didn't know what to expect from that conversation. He was sure he was getting his whole life in order in the last few weeks.

"TK, I know what I'm about to ask you might be too much and, don't worry—if you want to say no, I'll understand." TK said nothing, he didn't know where that conversation was coming from or what to expect. "It's about my brother-in-law, I think Julius has a problem and I don't think I know anyone better than you to help him."