Work Text
“Busy Night at the hospital?”
Tyme chuckled, it was the furthest from that, and that was why he always chose to work the night shift, especially if Great was working late at the cafe…
“I don’t want to be that person, but I hope some sort of an accident happens or else I might die of boredom…”
“I will pretend I didn’t hear you asking for trouble…”
“And I won’t tell your boss that you have been on the phone for the better part of 15 minutes… Oh Wait, you are the boss…”
Great Chuckled, uttering "gotta go" hastily before hanging up…
None of it was new, which was the beauty of what Tyme’s life had come to be.
He didn’t have to worry about someone stabbing him in the back, about someone ruining the small and comfortable life he had built with Great in the aftermath of all that had happened.
Great who almost broke down in tears once the judge let him walk away with community service and bail instead of serving jail time…
Great who had been to the door of death and back, choosing to change to fulfill the image of a life he saw in his dreams, not that Tyme didn’t share the notion, but out of the two of them, Great displayed way more self-control than Tyme did, and he was the one usually keeping Tyme off his life long-suppressed anger…
The person he loved the most, and the only other person in their small world…
Tyme shook his head and put his phone away, realizing that Great probably wouldn’t call back anytime soon; a client must have come in.
He walked around for a bit before he ended up in front of Den’s office, walking in without knocking…
“How is it coming along?” Tyme asked
Things had been promising with Den, with Tyme’s and Great’s input, several other doctors looking into the same topic around the globe had reached out with patients who shared similar experiences, and what started to be side research was now consuming all of Den’s free time, much to Lukwa - his girlfriend’s - annoyance…
Den hummed without actually answering, Tyme chuckled as he took the vacant chair in front of his desk, and looked through several of the papers scattered around the desk.
“You keep coming back to Great’s testimony…”
Den hummed, eyes moving from the screen of his laptop to meet Tyme’s…
“He is special, his life didn’t change, not fully, but he could see the possibilities, regret caused that, he said as much, he said that he wanted to change things, so much that one option was hardly enough for him to work through… It’s kinda interesting if you look at it physiologically…”
“Don’t let him hear you say that or you and Lukwa will be banned from the cafe, and you know how much she likes that spot…”
“Hey!! It’s science, he agreed with most of what I said, He was indecisive regarding his life, he wanted it to change but didn’t know what needed to change exactly…”
Tyme hummed, They had talked about it before, not in-depth, not like Den usually did, they wanted the experience to change them, and unlike Den, they wouldn’t benefit from dissecting whatever had happened more than they should…
Tyme decided that he might as well change the topic since he was unlikely to stop Den from talking about his research unless he spoke of his girlfriend.
“So? Working the night? Isn’t your girlfriend annoyed by that?”
Tyme asked playfully, Den must have caught on, because he raised an eyebrow before answering.
“She is spending the night with a couple of friends, Or how else would I do that, How about you? Where’s your partner?”
Tyme smiled…
“Working as well…”
Den’s smile widened…
“Let me guess, you will go collect him at the end of your shift, take him home, and enjoy a slow waking up tomorrow… Lovey Dovey GreatTyme?”
Tyme hit Den’s shoulder with the back of his hand from across the desk…
“Hey, Don’t hate the player… Hate the game…”
Their light banter was interrupted when Tyme’s phone went off ringing…
He pulled it out of his pocket, surprised to see it was Great again…
“Hey? Great?”
He heard shuffling without any sounds, the sound of broken glass before the line went out made his blood turn to ice in his veins…
—
“I am pretty sure, there’s nothing wrong, you are just over-anxious…”
Den tried to soothe Tyme’s nerves as both of them stood at the entrance of the hospital…
Following the abruptly ended call, Tyme had rushed to leave the office, heading to the entrance in hopes he could leave the shift and go check on his partner…
Den followed him, stopped him from leaving…
“Keep trying to call him, it might have been a butt dial… and a glass broke or something, don’t just worry too much…”
Tyme didn’t say anything, trying several times to call Great without coming through…
“Didn’t you say he usually kept his phone silent while he worked?”
“He did…”
“Then there you have it… it was probably a butt dial, he didn’t notice you answering or calling back yet…”
Tyme wanted to believe him, wanted to shake the panic inside him that something had gone wrong with Great, But the painful tug in his heart prevented him from doing so, prevented him from believing everything was just… normal…
“You probably right… I might just be deflecting past incidents”
He said to Den in a small voice, not believing a word he was uttering…
Den pulled him towards his office, offering to send someone to buy him a drink to calm his nerves till Great managed to notice his phone and call back…
Tyme took him up on his offer, moving towards the office, when Den didn’t move with him, he turned to look back at him, and noticed that Den was staring at the entrance with wide eyes…
“Great…”
Tyme turned, expecting it to be a joke…
Expect it wasn’t…
Great was walking towards the hospital entrance… one of his arms holding onto the other, and even in the dim light of the entrance, Tyme could see blood… on his face… on his hands… on his shoulder…
He ran to him without another thought, barely managing to reach him as his knees buckled down painfully on the floor…
“Great! Great! What happened? Who did this to you?”
“Police…”
Great uttered before he coughed up blood on Tyme’s white coat, Tyme heard Den scream for a gurney, but his entire focus was on assessing Great’s injuries…
“We will call the police… Who did this?”
Great’s eyes opened and closed sluggishly for a second, before he sagged, falling forward into Tyme’s arms…
—
To be a doctor was different once you were on the receiving end of medical care, it was even worse when it was someone you loved who was hurt…
Den hardly managed to stop Tyme from walking into the OR, hardly managed to keep him away from being the one to operate on Great himself…
“You won’t take it… Just watch and wait… He will be fine, I promise you…”
Tyme trusted Den as a doctor and a friend, but leaving his partner’s life in his hands was more than he could bear, which made the following hours a test in patience…
A test that barely ended the minute Great was wheeled out of the OR, into the ICU…
“How bad is it?”
Den hesitated, before pulling Tyme away from Great’s gurney and aside…
“Let them take him to the ICU, and come with me to the office, we will have to report this anyway, and you will have to talk to the police…”
Tyme followed Den to the office in a daze, he was a doctor, a good one at that, he knew Great and he had hardly recovered from their ordeal…
Great was hardly back on his feet, hardly even healthy if the vitamins and the immunity posters Tyme kept pushing on him were any indication…
“Den?”
“Listen! We both understand that an injury after the injury he had sustained from his gunshot will be a bit harder in the recovery, but yet I am pretty sure he will make it…”
“Then what is the problem?”
Den swallowed hard…
“He will… He is… in a coma…”
Tyme felt cold all of a sudden like all life was draining out of him, before he dropped to his usual chair by Den’s desk.
“a coma…”
“it's… not as bad as it sounds, He has a bad concussion, the blood loss due to the gunshot wound, and the internal bleeding was a bit severe… there was an array of other injuries, bruises, cuts…”
Tyme looked up at Den…
“He had been assaulted…”
Den nodded…
“I think what you heard on the phone was someone attacking him, we have to report this…”
Tyme nodded aimlessly, barely listening as Den called the police and reported the assault…
—
Tyme had zoned out following what Den had said while Den reported the assault, He was pulled out only when He heard one of the nurses coming into Den’s office to report on Great’s condition in the ICU…
“I want to see him…”
Den nodded in understanding, lowering the headset away from his ear…
“Take Doctor Tyme to see his partner…”
The nurse nodded sympathetically towards Tyme, everyone knew Great, if not for the previous incident, then for the fact that more times than not Tyme’s night shifts ended with Great walking in carrying takeout from the cafe leftovers for the entire night staff…
“He is strong, Doctor Tyme… He will pull through…”
Tyme nodded without even listening, pushing the button for the sliding door of the ICU the nurse led him to and walking into the room…
The sight wasn’t different from the last time, yet so many things had changed, last time he walked into an ICU to see Great, He wasn't his partner, there were so many things wrong with them, so many things on the stack, it made it all hurt worse, they had finally got everything under control, finally got a life to live.
He moved closer to the bed, taking in the bandages rounding Great’s forehead, the lack of the hospital gown on his upper body, and the bandages covering his shoulder.
His eyes lingered on the surgical scar in the middle of Great’s midsection, and the bandages covering another spot where they had to operate on Great to stop the internal bleeding…
And that wasn’t even half of it, he could see the skin darkening into blue bruises on several spots, including Great’s neck…
Handprints… clear as day, around his neck…
It wasn’t just an assault… someone had tried to kill Great…
—
“Are you sure you didn’t hear anything else?”
The Police officer asked Tyme for what was probably the tenth time since he had arrived at the hospital.
Tyme and Den discovered that someone had already reported the assault because the cafe was in shambles, the neighbors in the area had heard fighting sounds and the entire thing was already reported before Den did.
But that didn’t help them a single bit…
“The CCTV was shattered, and we didn’t find any of the harddisks, we are checking the surrounding areas for their own recording of anyone shady coming into the cafe, when was the last time you called the victim and he answered?”
“Great…”
“What?”
“His name is Great…”
“Oh Yeah, Great… When was the last time you called Great?”
Tyme showed him his call log, his answered call, and every other time he called after Great called him and he heard the shuffling…
“We will treat this as an attempted theft that had gone wrong for the time being, till we prove otherwise… We will keep you updated…”
Tyme nodded, there was no other reason the Officer would say anything differently, in normal circumstances, there was no reason for anyone to think of the entire incident as anything different than that…
But something inside Tyme screamed that this wasn’t a theft that had gone wrong…
—
“You will have to go back home eventually, you know you cannot just live in the hospital…”
Den grumbled as he patted Tyme awake on what had been the third day since Great’s incident.
Tyme shook the sleep out of his eyes, leaning back on his chair, eyes flickering between the machines and Great’s face…
“No changes?”
Den shook his head, handing Tyme the chart for Great’s vitals…
“It’s normal in similar cases… Recovery is harder and more time-consuming, the healing and the skin mending rate will also be affected… He is weaker, you know so yourself.”
Tyme nodded, he had heard that - and said it - more times than he liked, but it was the truth, and he had to accept it.
“No News from the police yet?”
Tyme shook his head, he wasn’t surprised there was nothing to report back, with the lack of evidence and the victim in a coma, there was nothing the police could do except for spinning in circles.
“I think I might take some time today, go home, shower, check with the police, and then come back…”
Den patted his back, nodding…
“Do that… If there’s any development here, I will let you know…”
Tyme didn’t doubt that he would…
—
“Has anyone seen Officer Win?”
Tyme wasn’t surprised that looking through the officer’s unit, he had ended up going to the exact same Unit he knew Great had gone to report what had happened with Dome, fate had that kind of twisted way of doing things, but he was surprised when he asked about Win and was met with nothing but a confused look from all the people around him…
“Who are you looking for, Sir?” Asked a Junior officer taking pity on the reception officer who Tyme had initially asked.
“Officer Win… The tall officer…”
The Junior officer frowned, looking at Tyme in confusion…
“He was… discharged a bit ago… are you a friend of his?”
It was Tyme’s turn to be confused…
“Why?”
“Resigned… He handed in his resignation and walked away, We tried to communicate with him several times but his phone is always off…”
Tyme was stopped from asking further questions when the officer in charge of Great’s case walked into the unit, eyes landing on Tyme…
“Doctor Tyme… I was about to call you, but there has been a development… Mind if we share a private word in my office?”
The Officer ushered Tyme to a private office, making sure to close the door behind him, before he took the seat behind the desk, and asked Tyme to do the same…
“What is it?”
“Is the name Warit familiar to you?”
Tyme frowned… He had hoped he wouldn’t have to hear that name again in his life, not since the man was paralyzed and probably bound to spend the rest of his days in a wheelchair not even able to speak…
“Yeah… He killed my parents…”
The Officer nodded…
“So I have heard… Have you heard or seen him lately? or his daughter?”
Tyme shook his head…
“Where have you been for the past couple of days, Doctor Tyme? Is there anyone who can vouch for your whereabouts?”
“yes… I have been in the hospital, I actually didn’t go home since Great was admitted to the hospital…”
“So you didn’t leave the hospital to change? at all?”
“No… I only left today to change and see if you have any developments… You can check my logs in the hospital, I haven’t logged out for the past 3 days…”
The frown on the officer’s forehead deepened…
“What does my whereabouts have to do with anything?”
The Officer hesitated…
“There has been an… an incident sometime at dawn today…”
“What type of incident? And What does it have to do with Great? or Me?”
“It has everything to do with you, Doctor. Warit and his Daughter were killed today…”
—
“Killed?” Shouted Den…
Tyme shushed him, looking around to see if anyone had heard them…
“Shot… Both of them… The guards and everyone didn’t see anyone coming or going, and again all the CCTVs in the house and around it are either broken or missing their harddisks…”
“That’s… not good…”
Tyme nodded, He didn’t feel bad exactly about Warit’s death - Great would have berated him that he was a human soul, and any soul, evil as it was, deserved some justice - but the way things were similar to what had happened to Great was alarming, to say the least…
“And?”
“And The Police is now investigating any and everyone involved with Warit again…”
“Do we know anyone who is involved with them?”
Tyme shook his head in denial, elaborating.
“I heard that nothing had been happening since his accident, he had been home-bound and so was his daughter, and with Korn dead, Great’s parents unable to return, there’s no one that comes instantly to mind”
“It doesn’t have to be someone you know, he had collected quite the enemies…”
“Yeah, but why would anyone want to kill Great? If the two incidents are related…”
“To get back at his parents? I thought those and your parents were all partners…”
Tyme frowned, He didn’t like that thought and didn’t want to linger on it for long… There was no way in hell Great’s parents would be able to come back to the country without facing jail time, and the mere idea that Great might be hunted down for what his parents had done scared Tyme to the bones.
“Wait! If you are here, Who is sitting with Great? You told me someone was with him…”
Den’s smile widened and grew dreamier and Tyme had his answer…
“Lukwa is sitting with him, isn’t she?”
Den nodded, and Tyme breathed a sigh of relief…
“She didn’t have to, Why did you call her?”
“I didn’t, she offered when she heard that you hadn’t left the hospital in three days…”
Tyme shook his head fondly, a small pain in his heart was blossoming.
“You are smitten aren’t you?”
Den hummed, his smile growing more starry-eyed
“The right woman through and through…”
Tyme chuckled… the pain in his heart reminded him that he hadn’t heard Great’s voice in 3 days, He was lucky they had that electric feeder for the cat, or else Great would have killed him if anything had happened to the cat, while he refused to sit foot back in the house.
He would do anything to hear Great berate him about spoiling the cat, or about overworking himself to the ground… Or just see him reading one of those books he keeps accumulating…
He would do anything to hear him again, to see him waking up and alive…
“He will be ok…” Den said softly.
Tyme nodded… He hoped He would.
—
“It’s not going good…”
Tyme said as he wiped Great’s skin down, He had come to check on him, and Lukwa pushed him out of the room as soon as he walked in.
“Finish your work, come sit with your boyfriend, I know for a fact if you step into this room you are not going to do anything for days again, and I do believe at the very least you need a shower, Doc”
She was right, and even Tyme knew that…
So He spent the rest of his shift walking around the hospital, everyone seemed in a kahoot about not giving him any cases, so the rest of his shift was spent between checking on old patients, and doing paperwork…
By the time it was time to clock out, one of the nurses pulled the paperwork literally from his hand…
“Go… Doctor Den said to make sure you don’t spend a minute here if you don’t need to…”
He was grateful… more grateful as he jumped in the shower in the doctor's quarters and made himself fell a bit more human, clearing his head and focusing on the only thing that mattered at the moment.
Great waking up…
It was a couple of hours later when he walked into the room and found Den checking Great again…
“Anything?”
“When did you become so impatient? He needs his time, his body needs more time than last time to recover let alone recuperate…”
Tyme looked at the chart in Den’s hand…
“No Brain damage?”
Den shook his head…
“I ran every possible test… He is asleep because he needs time to recover, his body needs its time, There’s nothing other than this, if there’s anything else, then we will tackle it once he is awake…”
Tyme nodded…
Den turned, and patted his shoulder, stopping in his tracks out of the room.
“Ah, Clean him up, I don’t think I need to ask a nurse to do it, right?”
Tyme raised an eyebrow challengingly at Den, who smiled and just walked out, it was only then did Tyme realized that Den had left him all the supplies he would need…
He took off his white coat, dropping it on the chair before he wet the wash towel and went about washing his partner…
“I thought by now either you would wake up and tell us who did this to you, or the police would have figured something out…”
He placed Great’s uninjured arm back down under the covers, moving to clean the other arm…
“I miss you… So much…”
He leaned in and kissed the side of Great’s head… hoping that like last time, his voice would pull him out of whatever dream he was having…
—
Tyme was not surprised when the Police officer - Wee - Called him again, but he was definitely surprised by what he said…
“Remember Title?”
“Yeah… Wasn’t he Great’s friend? The one who Killed Tonkala’s brother?”
“Yeah, The one… His father was shot dead in his house… Once again, I have to ask, Where have you been last night?”
Tyme shook his head, it was getting bigger and bigger, yet Tyme felt like he was missing something pretty obvious…
“I didn’t leave the hospital since I came to it… after leaving the police station…”
The Officer hummed…
“I believe you… Warit and his daughter might have been personal, but there’s no reason for you to try to take that man out, but things are getting quite complicated now, is there any development in Great’s state? He is the only person who seemed to manage to survive that attempt somehow, provided we consider that all of what happened is connected one way or another…”
“Still not awake yet… We don’t know when he will wake up, there are no traces of brain damage, so… it’s hard to give you an exact time”
Tyme heard the officer sigh over the phone before his curiosity took over.
“Do you mind if I asked how he was killed?”
“Same thing… Shot down in his house, CCTV taken out… it’s pretty much the same set of moves… Doctor Tyme, I don’t mean to scare you, but If I were you I would be very careful, someone is out there killing people related to Tonkala’s case… or to Great’s old case… I don’t know, all I know is that you need to make sure you and him are safe…”
“Don’t worry… I can protect my own pretty well…”
and Tyme meant it, He will protect Great from this mess, whatever this mess was.
—
“The Only common factor is Tonkala… but what Warit has to do with this…” Den asked as he heard the tale Tyme had…
“I don’t know… It’s the only angle that doesn’t fit things being related to Tonkala and his brother… something about that… just seems to be weird… I don’t know much about Korn, Great talks about him fondly, but he too kept himself away from his brother once he became heavily involved in their parent’s work, so there's no way to connect the dots, we are missing too much info to be able to see anything clearly.”
Den leaned back in his chair… looking at Tyme in confusion…
“What’s the relation between Great and all of that, he had been prosecuted already, on his own accord, and he walked as a free man from the court, who holds a grudge now? Who has the power to know all the details and all the people involved?”
Tyme shook his head…
“I thought maybe an old worker of the betting scheme, but it wouldn’t make any sense to hurt Title’s father…”
“We are missing something important…”
Tyme hummed…
It had been a week… a week where he slept and woke up in the hospital, where everyone could see him, a week without Great waking up…
And it had been such a long week…
“You really need to go home and rest a bit, my friend…” Den said in a soft voice…
Tyme shook his head, rubbing his eyes with the pads of his fingers…
“I don’t want to leave him alone…”
The rest of the sentence went without saying, that he didn’t plan to leave him alone, both of them had no one in the world but each other…
Den’s answer was interrupted when a nurse opened the door without knocking…
“Doctors… I think Great is waking up…”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Tyme felt like his legs were not carrying him fast enough to see his partner…
He practically ran from Den's office to Great's room in record time before he paused by the door, bracing himself for any kind of mishap, that he might see.
"He is gonna be ok… I am sure…" Den said, putting a reassuring hand on Tyme's shoulder.
Tyme took a deep breath before he opened the door to Great's room…
a nurse was taking his vitals, writing them down as Tyme walked and Great turned to him, he was still lying down flat in bed, a nasal tube was under his nose and he coughed when he caught sight of Tyme and tried to speak, which made Tyme practically run to his side.
"Tyme…"
Tyme took Great's outstretched hand, leaning on him and pressing his lips to his forehead, Great hummed, eyes sliding close.
"How are you feeling?"
"Like I got hit by a speeding car… What happened?"
Tyme looked at Den for a second, and Den frowned before coming close to Tyme and Great.
"N'Great, Do you know who I am?"
"Yeah… Doc…"
Den nodded, turning to Tyme.
"And you know who that is, right?"
"Yeah… Tyme…"
"And you both are?"
"My partner, Doc…"
Den nodded…
"Do you know what day this is?"
Great hesitated, turning his head to look at Tyme.
"How long was I asleep for?"
"Almost a week…"
"Oh…"
Tyme hummed, hand rubbing soothing circles on Great's hand.
"What is the last thing you remember?"
Great frowned for a bit… before he answered the exact answer Tyme had feared.
"I was… on the phone with Tyme…"
"And then?"
Great frowned, he seemed to be struggling to remember what had happened, and in a twisted way Tyme was glad he didn't remember, He himself wasn't sure he was ever going to forget Tyme collapsing in his arms covered in blood like that.
"Nothing… I don't remember anything after that…"
Den nodded, eyeing Tyme without adding a single thing, and Tyme took the hint that he needed to leave Great and follow Den out of the room.
"I will be back in a second, Love."
Great hummed, eyes following Tyme as he walked out of the room, and pulled the door ajar behind him.
"Trauma or head injury?"
Den sighed before answering, pulling his glasses off his face and rubbing his eyes.
"a mixture of both probably… We are far from him being fully stable and on his way to recovery, but for the time being, we can tell the police as much so they won't bother him. His memory of what had happened is unreliable now, and it might remain like that for a bit, if they were counting on him to solve it for them, then they would be disappointed."
"It's not that they are getting anywhere… I have a feeling that without Great remembering anything, the entire thing with those accidents will go cold and the cases will be closed…"
"Not that I don't feel for those people… but the priority is to know what happened with Great, I don't see how any of that be related to him, we left no stone unturned with that already…"
Tyme nodded, looking longingly at the room and its occupant.
"Go back inside, I won't inform anyone of anything anyway till the morning, so we will cross that bridge when we get there…"
Tyme nodded, and smiled gratefully, before going back inside, taking the seat next to Great's bed, his eyes were opening and closing sluggishly.
"What happened?"
"Never mind that it's not important now, the most important part is you are awake."
Great hummed, eyes sliding closed again and Tyme thought he had gone back under till he spoke again.
"I gave you quite a scare, didn't I?"
Tyme chuckled, and he was surprised at how wet it sounded to his own ears, he was closer to crying tears of relief than he thought he would be.
"A bad scare…"
Great tightened his hold on Tyme's hand, he was weak, Tyme felt the tremors running through his hand, the effort he needed to keep his hand up.
"Sorry, I don't recall what happened, it seems to be important…"
"Doesn't matter as long as I have you back… anything else can be solved later…"
"You got me back alright, it wasn't like I was going to choose anything other than this."
Tyme paused, looking at Great with something akin to panic.
"Did you… like last time?"
"No, But I heard you talk a couple of times, It didn't make any sense but it was reassuring to hear your voice… it was pretty dark other than this… no dreams this time…"
"I do wonder why though, Den would grill you about it later, I believe…"
"I think I have an idea…"
Tyme smiled tenderly at him.
"Tell me."
"I have you here, there's nothing better than that, No dream can compare to that."
If that made Tyme's tears cascade down his face, it was only for him and Great to know.
—
"He is still unfit for an interview?"
Officer Wee asked Den over the phone, Den was staring at Tyme across his desk as he sat there waiting for the verdict.
"Not yet, He is barely awake let alone able to utter a couple of words without tiring himself out, his current state and the medication he is on will make anything he says up to refute by anyone let alone a judge…"
The officer hummed, and Den held his breath as he waited for his answer.
"How long will this be then?"
"A Couple more days, I promise to call once his state is stable enough…"
"I am counting on him to find our killer, Doc… If everything is as connected as Doctor Tyme had implied…"
"Any new developments in the case?"
"None, The trail has gone cold for the most part, there's still an unanswered question though…"
"Which is?"
"Whoever killed those people, How did they get past the security like that? The question is still unanswered for the most part…"
Den hummed before he wished the officer luck and hung up.
"Any new developments?"
Tyme asked, but the expression on his face told Den that he probably didn't expect much, if there was anything, they wouldn't have waited on their fours for Great to wake up…
"None… They believe since the trail had gone cold it was probably not related to Great…"
Tyme hummed but didn't say anything…
"Why are you here and not with him again?"
"He is asleep… and I wanted to know what the officer would say…"
Den smirked…
"Speaking of the officer, I don't think he will wait for long, you know, He will give us a day or two at most before he will corner both you and Great…"
"I wasn't counting on much time, to be honest, I was worried that he wouldn't even spare us that day or two…"
"I don't think so, He will give you a day or two, before he would come, hoping that whatever Great had to say would either result in a breakthrough in the case or separate the killings from whatever had happened to Great…"
Tyme nodded, He knew as much as, had seen the police work on several other cases while he was working in the hospital to know that they usually hoped that the victim either had solid proof or everything just got wrapped up and shoved in a drawer to be forever forgotten.
"Cannot say I am sad whoever died did though, horrible as you said they were…"
"A murder is a murder… if everything is connected, then whoever did this almost took Great away from me as well…"
Den stared at Tyme for a long moment…
"You did change… in a good way…"
If Tyme blushed… Den wasn't ever going to let him outlive it.
—
Great pushed against a man… pushed against his face, his neck, tried to pry his hands away from around his neck as his breath faded…
He pulled at the mask he was wearing, and saw his face…
But instead of eyes and mouth… the man had no features… no face… his face was blank without anything in it…
"Great!!"
His dream faded, eyes opening, staring directly into Tyme's brown pools of softness and worry…
He tried to call out to him, but his throat was scratchy and it hurt as if the dream was reality and his throat was still adapting to the lack of pressure…
"Here!! Drink slowly…"
Tyme placed a straw to his lips, and urged Great to drink the barely cool water, before pulling back when Great coughed.
"Easy!! Easy!!"
He wiped across Great's lips with the tips of his fingers, standing close waiting for Great to get his breathing back under control.
"Help me sit up?"
Tyme seemed to snap out of something before he nodded and pressed the buttons on the side of the bed till Great was sitting slightly upright before Tyme moved to fix the pillows behind him.
"Better?"
"Way Better…"
Great could breathe, the nasal tube was removed sometime while he slept, and while he was numb for the most part, he knew he needed to be careful moving around…
"Don't worry, I am here, I won't let you move the wrong way, it's why I asked them to place your arm in a sling, I was worried you would wake up and want to move it…"
Great smiled, looking at the soft smile on Tyme's face with something akin to adoration, he missed him, and if he had missed him while he was asleep, he didn't begin to know what it would have felt like for Tyme to watch as he slept to heal again too soon after the first incident.
"Come close?"
Tyme went without further prompting, sitting across from Great, reaching out and tangling one of his hands with Great's good one, careful not to disrupt the IV link or the heart monitor.
"A bit more closer?"
Tyme shook his head fondly, shuffling close enough that Great would simply just lean forward and press his head to Tyme's shoulder…
Tyme wrapped the hand that was not tangled with Great's around his back, letting his balm rest on the back of his head, carding through the short hair there.
"I am sorry for the scare…"
"Nothing to be sorry for, I am glad you are ok, I am happy you are awake and with me…"
Great hummed, rubbing the side of his face against Tyme's skin, inhaling him, willing away the terror of what he had just seen in his dreams…
"Was it a nightmare?"
Great pulled back, searching Tyme's eyes for something before asking.
"What happened? Why do I have a feeling you are hiding something from me."
Tyme shook his head, before asking.
"You don't remember anything?"
"Not much… I wouldn't have asked if I remember… But that doesn't answer my question though, you seem to know something I don't."
"Well… you walked into the hospital, clenching your arm, blood soaking through your clothes, and just collapsed…"
"Just that?"
"Yeah… Police think it was a failed robbery, they don't have any other leads…"
"I didn't say anything?"
"No… You asked us to call for the police and then faded on me, other than that, the CCTV in the cafe was all smashed, and the surrounding CCTV didn't pick up anything…"
Great leaned back, and Tyme knew something was a mess.
"What did you see in that nightmare?"
"Someone choking me… they were wearing a mask, and when I took the mask off, their face had no features…"
"No features?"
Great nodded, eyes on his and Tyme's intertwined hands…
"Den said that the trauma might have caused a memory block…"
"I am not sure… I don't know… I feel like there's something urgent"
Tyme leaned closer, and kissed his forehead…
"It doesn't matter, the most important thing is you waking up…"
Great smiled at him, he could see Tyme physically loosening like a load was being removed bit by bit off his chest.
"Did you sleep? You look tired…"
Tyme hummed.
"Here and there, Whenever I was in the room here, I usually got some rest while watching over you…"
"You didn't go home, Did you?"
Great said with a knowing look, and Tyme simply shrugged.
"What would I do there on my own with you here?"
Great shook his head, before he pulled Tyme from the hand he was holding.
"Since you didn't go home, and plan not to, might as well make you get some sleep…"
Tyme went easily with him, lying down next to him, one of his arms wrapped around him as he drifted to sleep…
"Tyme?"
Tyme hummed, eyes closed…
"I missed you too…"
If Den shoved Tyme off the bed the next morning, it would only be amusing for Great as he watched both of them banter to no end.
—
As Den expected, the Police officer didn't spare them more than two days… a day and a half to be exact…
"Are you sure you cannot remember anything?"
Great shook his head, trying to be patient as he answered the officer's questions for the third or fourth time, repeating the same words all over again.
Den was sitting with him in the room, a buffer between the officer and Great, since Tyme wouldn't bear it if Great got overwhelmed and might do something that they all would regret later.
"I told you all I could remember, I would be more than happy to tell you who it was and be done with it, but I can barely remember coming to the hospital where my partner works let alone the face of the attacker…"
The Officer Sighed… nodding to Den and Great before telling Great to contact him if he had any further info, making his way out of the room, Tyme was already waiting outside the door.
"Doc, Walk with me for a bit!"
Tyme looked at Den, who nodded to Tyme and went back to stay with Great in his room.
"Do you have an explanation for this? You two are not hiding anything, right?"
"Me and My Colleague think that it was a memory block due to the blood loss, the Concussion, and whatever had happened… He is not faking it, there's a chunk missing in his memory, I talked to him several times about it, he doesn't remember the person, he can tell you what happened, but he cannot seem to recall the person…"
"I can see as much… I am sorry to inform you though that with the lack of intel from his side, We might end up with a case going cold on our hands, especially with the killings stopping since then."
Tyme nodded, stopping just before the hospital gate.
"Take care of your partner, Doc! It might be nothing, and it might be everything…"
Tyme nodded, watching as the officer left, his words echoing in Tyme's mind.
It might be nothing, and it might be everything.
—
Tyme helped Great sit on the bed in their room, pushing him to lean against the pillows that he had carefully arranged on their bed.
It has been almost another week since Great woke up, between Great slow recovery and the lack of any new updates from Officer Wee, things seemed to settle into a slow and pretty normal rhythm.
And with the normality, Tyme lowered his guard, slowly…
"Any pain?"
Great sighed, Tyme had asked that at the very least a dozen times since they left the hospital, and most likely won't stop asking for days to come.
"I am ok, Tyme…"
Tyme hummed, watching Great move around with careful ease, before turning to Den and his girlfriend who were standing by the door.
"Let's leave them to settle, We will be in the kitchen, Tyme. Howl if you need anything!"
Tyme nodded, grateful as he sat next to Great on the bed.
"Are you sure you are not in any sort of pain?"
Great nodded, leaning back on the pillows, and sighing.
"It's good to be back home…"
Tyme hummed, settling next to Great and pulling him against his chest.
"It's even better that I am here with you…"
"I do recall that you didn't come home without me, so I guess you are exaggerating, Doc."
Tyme chuckled, pressing a kiss to the side of Great's face and getting off the bed.
"Cheeky, Rest a bit, I will go check on them so that they don't set the house on fire…"
Great leaned back, allowing Tyme to pull the covers over him as he closed his eyes and settled against the pillows, but before Tyme could pull back, Great pulled him close from his arm and leaned to press a kiss to his lips.
"What is that for?"
Great peaked his lips again.
"Just felt like it… I do miss you as well…"
Tyme leaned his forehead against Great's, cupping his chest with one of his hands.
"Then, Let's send them away so I can cuddle with you…"
Great Chuckled.
"Don't be mean, they are only trying to help."
"They are not helping if I am not able to take good care of you now, don't you think?"
Great didn't reply, the silence stretched and Tyme was more tempted than ever to just let Den get the hint and leave.
"Go… We have all the time in the world."
Tyme sighed before pulling back.
"I will be back soon…"
Great nodded, leaned on the pillows, and closed his eyes.
Tyme pulled the curtains close, and walked out of the room, keeping the door ajar so he could hear if Great needed anything.
He found Den and Lukwa sitting in the living room, talking quietly between themselves, Den hushed her with a look and both turned to look at Tyme.
"He fell asleep?"
"He is resting, I know it was too early to allow him to be out of the hospital but he was going a little steer crazy…"
"I am sure you will keep a really close eye on him, You are taking a couple of days off, aren't you?"
Tyme nodded, sitting across from the couple, eyeing them
"What were you talking about that needed to be stopped when I came?"
Lukwa looked at Den who nodded before she spoke.
"I was telling Den that it might not be safe for both of you to stay here for the time being…"
"Why?"
"Because if the person who did that to Great is not caught, and it's the same person who had done all those… murders… then it's not safe, they might try again."
"I think he had more than a solid chance to do something while we were in the hospital, with a flux of people who could come and go anything they wanted, We are blowing this out of proportion…"
Den and Lukwa looked at each other before Den shrugged.
"If you believe so, My Friend… We will leave you two to rest, Call up if you need anything, there's enough things in the fridge to feed a small army, take good care of your boyfriend and yourself…"
Tyme followed the two to the door, locking it behind them before he padded to his sleeping partner in the room.
He changed into his sleeping clothes and pulled the covers off his side, pulling Great slightly against his chest, and was asleep before he knew it.
—
"I was thinking of going to check on the cafe… I don't think you went to see the extent of the damage there since then…"
Tyme paused carding his fingers in the wet strands of Great's hair, moving to look at his partner.
"What invited the notion? I thought it could wait for a bit…"
"I have been home for a couple of days now, and I think it might be time to see the extent of the damage and get it repaired while I am recovering, it's not like I can do anything there for the time being…"
Tyme hummed, going back to moving his fingers in Great's hair as he washed it for him.
It was true that they had been back home for a couple of days already, and while Great had been asleep more than awake, Tyme had been thinking about exactly that - among other things - and hadn't Great asked for it, he would have sent someone to survey the place, if not going himself.
"You will have to go back to work soon anyway, I don't expect your vacation will last forever."
"That doesn't mean that I want you out and about, staying in the cafe when you should be resting and recovering…"
"I don't think I can if I want… Just thinking of keeping an eye on the status of the place, at the very least get everything back in order…"
Tyme hummed, pouring water over Great's hair to wash the studs away.
"Let's go together while I have time, We can ssurveyeverything together, so at the very least I can make sure you are not going to tear yourself apart trying to put everything back in order on your own…"
"There's the insurance money for the damages as well, maybe I will busy myself with that while you are away… all the paperwork waiting for me…"
"Good Idea… stick to the paperwork"
"I happen to be full of those…" Great smiled cheekily as Tyme helped him to stand and helped him put on a T-shirt before leading him back to their room and pulling a hair drying out of one of the drawers.
Tyme smiled as Great leaned his head on his stomach and allowed him to dry his hair in peace.
"I keep seeing the same thing, over and over…"
Tyme turned the hair dryer off and waited for Great to elaborate.
"What thing?"
"What happened in the cafe…"
"Nothing changes?"
Great shook his head.
"Same… No face, it's like my brain is trying to force me to remember, but… I don't…"
Tyme started caressing the back of his hand softly, anchoring him to the moment they were living in rather than the memories that were assaulting him.
"I hadn't meant to ask, because I didn't want to push you more than you need to, but do you recall anything else?"
"No… Someone walked in, I hung up the phone to go see who, and then…"
"And then what?"
"I think you know what happened after that… You said I came to the hospital…"
Tyme hummed.
"I do wonder how you managed to run away…"
Great looked up at Tyme, his eyes gaining a faraway look as if he was searching for something within himself.
"I… I grabbed a piece of glass… and slashed whoever that was, I don't remember how, but their grip loosened and I ran away…"
Tyme swallowed hard and nodded, pulling Great in his arms, Great leaned in and breathed in Tyme's skin.
"I am grateful…"
Great nodded, wrapping his good arm around Tyme's back and holding on.
They remained like that for a bit till Tyme pulled away and cupped Great's face, pressing a kiss on each of his eyes.
"What were you saying about the cafe?"
Great chuckled lightly…
If both of them spent the rest of the day running through plans to revive the cafe, it was only appropriate.
—
"Doctor Tyme?"
Tyme looked up from one of the patient's charts to see the last person he expected to come looking for him.
"Oh, Officer Win… Good to see you! How you have been? Where you have been?"
Win smiled at Tyme, but something looked wrong about the smile like it wasn't reaching his eyes, but Tyme dismissed that for the sake of knowing why Win was looking for him.
"What's the matter? Do you have a patient here?"
"What? No! I.. I was looking for you and… and Great, I heard from the station that there has been a robbery in the cafe, Is he ok?"
Tyme paused for a second, looking Win up and down, he looked a bit ragged, he was holding himself in a way that made Tyme think of people trying to bolt.
"I heard you were retired…"
Win laughed, and it had a mechanical quality in it like he was forcing it out.
"No, I took a long break… it was needed… after everything I have lost…"
Tyme paused and waited for him to elaborate, nodding Win just stared at him without saying anything.
"What?"
"You didn't tell me how was Great doing, Is he still in a hospital, I asked and they said he wasn't here…"
"He isn't…" Something told Tyme to not say anything else, to watch Win more closely.
"Where he is then?"
"Why you ask?"
"Well, I heard about the incident, and you know I have been involved with the entire case with… with… Tonkala… and everything is being investigated again…"
Tyme didn't remember anyone knowing about his doubts that whatever had happened to Great and the others had something to do with Tonkala, so it was quite alerting when Win seemed to say that.
"Oh…"
"So, Where he is?"
"I will… take you to him, Give me a second, let me log out and let someone know that I am leaving…"
Win nodded curtly, Tyme turned and headed toward Den's office, opening the door without knocking.
"What's the matter? You look like you saw a ghost…"
"Do as I tell you exactly… We don't have time…"
—
Tyme drove calmly… or as calmly as he managed to get himself to be…
"Are you sure he is waiting for you at home?"
"Yeah, He is still pretty banged up, We hardly leave the house…"
"Don't I know that…" Win whispered under his breath but it wasn't lost on Tyme.
"So, Where have you been, Officer? I went to ask about you in the station and no one seemed to know where you are…"
"I… I have been around, I… felt like I needed to leave, that no one seemed to understand how… how hurt I was… with all that had happened and all the people who went unpunished, I am sure you would understand so… and Tonkala… He could have been saved…"
"I am sorry, I didn't know you knew Tonkala before…"
"I wish I had known him longer… or earlier…"
Tyme hummed, eyes trained on the road, trying to dispel all the thoughts of Great's whereabouts away from his head andfocuss only on what he had to do.
"I am sorry for what happened, Great too never got over losing his brother that day…"
Win didn't answer, and Tyme could see his hands clenched into fists on his knees.
Tyme swallowed hard, before stopping the car in front of the house, getting out of it without a word, and waiting for Win to do the same, he sneaked a look at his phone, praying that Great wouldn't be back yet, or wouldn't decide on coming back anytime soon.
"Is he inside? I am not going to take much of your time, I need a moment with him…"
Tyme nodded without a word, walking towards the house and pulling a key out, opening the door and ushering Win in, before closing the door behind them, but not without noticing the gun in the back of his pants.
Win called Great's name a couple of times before he turned to Tyme.
"Where is he?"
"I don't know, Maybe he left before we came, last I saw him he was here and didn't plan to leave…"
"Call him then, and ask him to come back…"
"What's the matter? What's so urgent?"
Win pulled the gun out of his pants and pointed it at Tyme, his eyes glinting maddeningly.
"He is the last one… He has to pay too… he had to pay the price… Call him and ask him to come back!"
"Why? He did nothing wrong… He did nothing at all…"
"NOTHING? WHAT NOTHING? He was the brother of the person who caused Tonkala's death, he helped the killer hide Dome's body, He was part of that cursed family… HE HAS TO PAY!!"
"He did nothing… He paid his dues for what he had done, you owe him nothing…"
"HE HAS TO PAY!! LIKE ALL OF THEM, AND IF HE DOESN'T THEN YOU WILL… YOU AND HIM…"
Win took aim and Tyme didn't waste a second, he tackled him to the ground, and Win hit the ground hard, his gun flying away from his hand.
For a bit Tyme seemed to get the upper hand, keeping Win on the ground with a couple of punches to his face, but Win's training and long years in the service were better than anything that Tyme expected, and before Tyme knew it he was on his back, Win's hands around his neck.
"YOU HAVE TO PAY, BOTH YOU HAVE TO PAY!!"
Tyme tried to shake him off, tried to his him and get him to lessen his hold, but the more he fought him off the more he squeezed his neck.
Tyme's vision was darkening around the edges when he heard the house door open and the sound of something hitting the ground before a gunshot bbrokethe silence.
But despite the pressure around his neck lessening, Tyme knew no more.
—
Tyme didn't remember the last time he saw his parents in a dream…
He had dreamt of them on and off over the years, seeking comfort in their memories whenever things were tough…
But it was the first time he saw his grandmother, she hadn't visited his dreams after he had woken up in the hospital, and as his life went back to normal.
"You did well, Child… You always do well…" She patted his cheek softly.
"I miss you, grandma" Tyme leaned into her touch.
"I miss you too, Child… But it's time to go back…"
Tyme gasped and opened his eyes, sitting up in bed…
"Easy… Easy… It's ok, you are fine…"
There were arms around him, pulling him against a chest, and a familiar smell of a person invaded his senses…
"Great…"
"It's ok, It's all over… It's fine…"
Tyme breathed in his partner for a bit, allowing himself to calm down and notice everything around him.
"What happened?"
Tyme loosened his hold and sat in front of him in bed, his arm out of the sling he had been wearing since he got out of the hospital, Tyme was about to berate him when his throat seized up and he started coughing.
Great reached the nightstand and got a glass of water, helping Tyme to drink some water to ease his coughing.
"What happened?"
"What happened is that you are an idiot…"
Great said with suppressed anger, Tyme stared at him for a long second waiting for him to elaborate.
"Why? Why would you do such a thing? Why would you lure him alone and think that you would be able to take care of it better than the police did… Why are you doing the same thing you promised not to do?"
Tyme lost his words for a second, he didn't know what to say to Great…
"He was… He is the one that attacked you…"
"Don't I know that… I already know he was the one that attacked me in the cafe, and he was behind those killings as well…"
"You know?"
"You have been asleep for a while, My Friend…"
Den walked into the room, interrupting Tyme's question.
"What happened? Did you call the police like I told you?"
"He called me, and the police, because he knew you were a self-sacrificing idiot and needed you to be stopped…"
Tyme leaned back on the pillows, exhausted already from the exchange.
"What happened?"
Great sighed, his shoulders dropping in annoyance, Den fixed something in the IV that Tyme had just noticed was in his arm before sitting in a vacant chair near the bed.
Great dropped on the side of the bed near Tyme's legs, his good arm cradling his other arm.
"I came back to the house, and Win was already squeezing the life out of you… I hit him with the first thing my hand landed on, he let you go but you had already passed out, he reached for his gun, but the police came and shot him in the arm, they took him away, the officer said he sang like a bird like how unfair it was what happened to Tonkala."
"What does Tonkala have to do with anything, he said that several times, and I didn't understand…"
"He attacked Great because of Dome and what happened to him, believing that whatever had happened with the court was hardly fair, and that Great must have done something to sway the court to spare him."
"What about the others?"
Den looked at Great, hesitated for a second but elaborated when Great gave him a curt nod.
"Warit and his daughter, he wanted to kill the daughter, he discovered she was in a relationship with Great's brother, and one of the reasons for what happened… He killed her and killed her father to put him out of his misery…"
"Title's father?"
"Because he hid the truth… He paid everyone to destroy the evidence of what had happened…"
Tyme sighed, closing his eyes for a second.
"Why? Why all of this?"
"He… He was the one that shot Tonkala…"
"WHAT?!"
"Tonkala took a bullet aimed for Great's brother… Win wanted to shoot him, and Tonkala took the bullet…"
"Good Grief…"
Silence stretched for a second before Den ushered Tyme that he would leave them both alone.
Tyme let the silence be for another beat before speaking again
"Are you hurt, Great? That arm shouldn't be out of the sling…"
"Blame yourself for that, leading a mass murderer to the house and thinking that you can outpower him on your own… WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?"
Great was looking at him intensely, like he wanted to pry into his mind to see why he would do such a thing.
"He was looking for you… He came to the hospital looking for you, all I could see was you walking in bloody that night because of him, his eagerness to get his hands on you… I wouldn't have let him anywhere near you…"
"But you would let him kill you, would let him take the last person I have from me…"
"I… I didn't think it would get to that… I thought I could waste time till the police arrived."
"Reckless… You are an idiot!"
Tyme hummed, Great was losing steam the more they talked.
"Sure, I am an idiot… Your idiot…"
Great sighed…
"Yeah… Mine… But Idiot all the same…"
"Not going to argue with that… Now stop being so far away and come here…"
Great shook his head, but moved to lie down next to Tyme, cradling his injured arm.
"Remind me to ask Den to look at that…"
"Sure, Later…"
Tyme hummed, content enough that everything was over, that Tyme was in his arms unharmed, that he wouldn't have to fear for their safety a second longer.
If Den came back to find both of them asleep, He wasn't one to say anything.
—
"Congrats on Reopening!!"
Lukwa squealed as she handed Great a bundle of flowers, Den behind her…
"Thanks, you shouldn't have bothered… C'mon, Go inside and join the party…"
Den nodded as he led Lukwa inside, Tyme came behind Great an arm wrapped around his waist.
"Things are looking good, Aren't they?"
Great hummed, turning to face Tyme.
"Things are perfect, You know what's even better?"
"Enlighten me…"
"You looking sharp, I saw at least a dozen women and men looking at you…"
Tyme smirked, leaning in and kissing Great on the cheek
"Unfortunately for them, I have a partner…"
Great shoved him playfully, going back to tend to the guests.
Tyme stood there watching as Great smiled at his guests, and for the first time in a while, things felt like they had settled.
and this time for good…
The end.