Page 24 of Hack
Once in the car, he took a minute to just relax in the silence. It had been a long day, hell, even a long week. He'd spent the last four days working with Archer during the day and the team at night. He was beat. He still had a ton to do, but he just couldn't bring himself to do any of it.
He pulled his car onto the road, hoping that Archer wouldn't be upset if they took a day off. They'd both been going through the files, linking information, building spreadsheets, and talking over ideas. There hadn't been any major breakthroughs, but they had managed to find a few new leads to follow. If he was tired, Archer probably was too. It was time for them to step back for a day or two and clear their heads.
He was picking up the tracking devices the day after tomorrow, so that would at least give Archer a chance to get away and place them. He was almost jealous of him getting to have a change of scenery for a day or two.
He kept the radio off, enjoying the silence as he made his way home, thankful he didn't live too far away. His head was pounding, and his plan was to head straight for the Tylenol before grabbing a shower and heading to bed.
The lights in the living room were still on when he pulled into the driveway, letting him know that despite it being nearly one in the morning, Archer was still up. It wasn't a surprise. The guy didn't sleep a lot, and was always reading over something to do with the case.
He made his way inside and paused in the doorway to the living room, seeing Archer with a file on his lap. "Have a good night?"
Archer set the file aside. "Just going back over the stuff about the flowers. There's something there nagging me, but I don't know what it is."
Carter nodded. "No offense, but I've got a killer headache tonight. I'm going to drug up and head into bed."
Archer sat up straighter. "Tension in your shoulders?"
"How'd ya know?" Carter started for the kitchen, wanting his pills.
"With the amount of time you spend on the computer, it's not hard to figure out." Archer followed him into the kitchen and stood against the counter as Carter poured a few pills into his palm. "Will you let me help you? I took a massage therapy class years ago to help a friend with his migraines. I know this is different, but I think it will help."
"I'll take anything right now to get rid of this pain. It's mostly in my left shoulder. It seizes up and causes this if I spend too much time on the computer without taking a break." Carter swallowed the pills down with a glass of water. "You okay doing this in my room? Once I hit the bed, I'm not going to move."
"Wherever you're comfortable," Archer told him. "Do you have any lotion or anything?"
Carter smirked. "By the bed." He was sure he didn't have to explain why it was there. Most men had some kind of lotion or lube at the bedside.
"Then go get changed for bed. I'll turn off things out here and lock up while you get ready. I won't bother you for long. It's been a few years since I've done this, but I was trained just for this reason. It can't hurt to try."
Carter didn't have the energy to talk. "I just need to change into my sweats. I don't have it in me to shower tonight. Come in when you're ready." He made his way to his room. As strange as it was to have Archer offer to give him a massage, if he could ease the headache and muscle strain, it would be worth it. He was willing to do anything to ease the pain. He'd never had a migraine before, but if it was worse than this, he felt for people who did get them.
Quickly changing out of his clothes, he slipped on a pair of sweatpants, then quickly brushed his teeth before going over and flopping on the bed on his stomach.
He must have nearly fallen asleep because he didn't hear Archer come in. When he heard him beside him, he startled.
"Sorry, want me to go?" Archer asked.
"No, please. It's the left shoulder mostly. If you can just…" He wasn't sure what he needed other than it to stop hurting. It was as if he could feel the muscle in his shoulder with a straight shot to his brain where the thundering pain was.
"I've got you. I'm going to turn off the light and just leave the hall light on, then I'm going to work your back and shoulders. If you fall asleep, I'll shut the door and leave you until you wake." Archer's voice got farther away, then the light went off and only the soft glow from the hallway filled the room.
The darkness relaxed him. Hell, maybe this was a migraine if being out of the light seemed to help so much. He didn't care what it was as long as it went away. He kept his eyes closed as he heard Archer at the nightstand, probably getting the bottle of lotion there, then he heard what sounded like hands rubbing together, then very softly, Archer touched his shoulder.
"Just relax and try and focus on nothing." Archer's voice was soft, a huge change from the gravelly voice he was used to hearing.
Carter concentrated on his breathing because it seemed to calm him. The more he focused on the in and out of his breath, the slower he breathed. Archer's hands were firm against his shoulder, pressing hard enough to get into the muscle, but not too hard to where he was in more pain. It was as if somehow Archer knew exactly where the tension was because he went right to that spot and worked his hands over Carter's skin, instantly easing some of the tightness.
He had no idea how long Archer worked. Hands moved from his shoulders, over his back, around the sides of his neck, then to the base of his skull before starting over again. The headache eased, the muscles relaxed, and for the first time in months, Carter was able to just lay there without a million things going through his mind. The pain was down to a dull ache as he continued to focus on his breathing.
God, this felt good.
Maybe he needed to go get a massage every few weeks to keep the headaches from coming. Better yet, maybe he needed to force himself to take more time off work so that he wasn't spending nearly twenty hours a day at the keyboard, stressing over keeping his team safe, and making sure that another team member didn't end up in jail.
He forced thoughts of Dyson from his mind. Memories of the teammate who'd been arrested would cause him to tense up faster than any other thing he could think about. The guilt he had at his arrest still plagued him. It was something he'd never forgive himself for.
"Whatever you just thought about, stop it. Your whole body tightened." Archer's voice was a whisper.
The guy was good at reading him. He pushed the thoughts from his mind and followed Archer's touch across his back, enjoying the way he moved his fingers up and down his spine, then back to his neck. Maybe he could hire Archer to do this regularly. He was in Heaven. As his body finally gave in to the exhaustion and sleep started to cloud his head, he let all thoughts go and let the nothingness consume him.
