Page 4 of Watch Over Me

In the morning, he was going to have a talk with Todd, the suspected culprit, but for now, Eddie was stuck with a subpar coffee blend and way too many hours still to go before he could leave.

He glanced at the clock. James had been back already for about half an hour, but he hadn't come down to the comm center yet. He also hadn't turned his mic back on after dropping Ryan off, which… It wasn't a requirement or anything, Eddie had just grown used to it, that was all. And he liked his routines.

Half an hour delay was also nothing on its own—many times it had taken longer for James to drop in—but coupled with that silence on the line, Eddie was starting to worry.

The night had gone as smoothly as it could have, aside from the husband trying his luck with a young and impressionable political staffer. Had Eddie missed something? Had something happened between their signing off in the car and now? The trackers on both the car and James's comm link showed him arriving at the HQ in good time, at least, but it still left Eddie wondering.

Then he heard the familiar sound of the door opening behind him and smiled. He put his glasses back on and turnedaround right as James came in, holding the equipment bag in one hand and a big travel mug of deliciously smelling coffee in the other.

A wave of relief that washed over Eddie was as familiar as his heartbeat picking up its pace at the sight of James, safe, and whole, and here. Eddie had tried to talk himself out of worrying during those routine, not-that-dangerous shifts, but still, anytime James was out in the field, Eddie couldn't quite relax until he saw for himself that nothing bad had happened.

While he cared about all of his co-workers' safety and did his best to ensure it on his end of the job, he'd also stopped trying to convince himself that he wasn't treating James differently than the others. He wouldn't admit it out loud, of course, but it was still true.

"Hey," he said now, his shoulders dropping.

"Hey, here you go." James handed him the bag first, then the mug. "I started making myself coffee, then realized I probably shouldn't drink any more tonight, so I thought you could use it."

"My hero."

Shit. That sounded a little too honest, but maybe Eddie could pretend it was nothing more than a sign of his love for coffee.

James stilled at that, and, for a moment, Eddie thought he was about to say his goodbyes and leave straight away—something he hadn't done in months. But then he shook his head and sat on the nearby chair, the one Eddie had been calling James's for a while now, if only in his head.

Sure, other people used it sometimes, too, but no one as often and for as long as James, so Eddie figured it was justified.

"Didn't do a lot of saving tonight, so I'll take saving you from caffeine withdrawal as my heroic act of the day," James said, slumping in his seat as usual, stretching his long legs infront of him.

"You also saved a young staffer from making a mistake with that douchebag," Eddie pointed out, which turned out to be a bad move, since James frowned in reply.

"There'll be another one soon enough."

"You can save their lives, but you can't save their marriages," Eddie told him, putting out all the equipment from the bag, separating it into a few piles. He'd have to transfer all the data, then clean up and recharge everything before storing it away.

"I know," James whispered, so quiet Eddie barely heard it.

Maybe he wasn't supposed to hear it.

James was now staring at his boots as if they could give him an answer to whatever was eating at him. He'd showered and changed before coming here, which was obvious from the still wet hair and comfortable pair of trousers. He should probably go home or at least crash in one of the quiet rooms upstairs, but Eddie couldn't get himself to suggest that. He didn't want him to leave yet.

"You okay?" he asked, barely louder than James's voice, but loud enough for James to lift his head and meet his gaze.

Eddie held his breath, unable to look away. He stared into those blue eyes and waited—for what, he wasn't sure.

He knew what he wanted to happen. He'd known that for two years and eight months now. During that time, there were moments when he'd thought he might get what he wished for, and others, when he'd been absolutely sure he'd never have it.

Usually, though, he had no idea. No idea if he had a chance, no idea if James was interested, or if he'd ever do something even if he was… There were nights when the questions wouldn't leave Eddie's head, going in circles and pulling him down into the same old spirals. But other times,he was glad to have this, right here—James seeking him out after a shift, decompressing here, letting himself relax a bit. If a friendship was all they could have, that was fine. As far as he knew, James didn't have any friends outside of work, and Eddie wanted to be that person for him, the safe space where James could go to when he was tired or feeling down.

So Eddie asked, in those quiet moments, when it was just the two of them surrounded by the quiet hum of computers that meant comfort for him and, hopefully, for James as well. And oftentimes—not always, since there were nights when whatever was troubling James had seemed too big to get past his mouth—he answered.

"Perhaps I'm more tired than I thought," he said now before dropping his gaze to his boots again, severing their connection.

Eddie wished he could reach out and run a hand through James's dark brown hair, even darker now when it was still wet.

He reached out with the travel mug instead. "Do you want your coffee back?"

James shook his head. "No, I'd only get more twitchy and not actually more awake. Maybe I'll crash upstairs for a few hours before heading out. Probably shouldn't drive right now."

"You definitely shouldn't drive right now." Eddie pressed the mug to his chest and inhaled deeply. "You can nap here, if you want. We both know this chair is comfortable enough."

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