Good Enough (9-1-1) Part Eight
Imagine: Imagine leaving LA after feeling like an outsider in your relationship with Bobby and Athena as they seem to pull away and distance themselves from you. Only to find that it is almost impossible to actually walk away.
Warnings: Angst with happy ending, AU, Bisexual Athena, BDSM
Pairings: Bobby Nash x Reader x Athena Grant
Word count: 2,192 words
Universe: 9-1-1
Reader gender: Female
Tagged:@graniairish @madhatter-crazyasahatter-blog @4everflowercore @blueskyredrosegrey @agathaharknessfan96 @ljej95@yoshinorecommends@horsedragonllama@forever2ne1@clayzayden@multifandomlesbianic
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Part: 8/10
He had not expected this. It was one of the few options that he had never fully considered. It had always been a possibility, but Bobby hated to think of you, curled up in the sterile white sheets of a hospital bed. Injured and alone, such a horrible fate that he’d never wished upon anyone, let alone someone to truly care about. He was grateful for the shot in the dark that had been Michael’s message.
The man would never truly know the depths of his gratitude for such a slight gesture of kindness when he reached out. This had been the ray of hope that he had desperately held out for even if it wasn’t directly from her. It was a start, with a destination on the edge of the horizon with a logical end in sight.
There was just one problem that stood in his way: an unmovable object. He was still ten hours away from the end of his shift. His feet were glued to the spot, as if he had been shackled down, chaining him to the firehouse. He had a duty to perform, one that he could not escape from. This would not override that sacred vow that he had made all those years ago back in Minnesota and then again when he had taken charge of the 118.
His personal desire to rush to her side would feel like a dereliction of duty, putting his own wants and needs above the proud men and women that served alongside him. Simply put, Bobby had to push down his personal feelings. However, there was one thing that he could do in a moment such as this. Pass on that information to another to continue on in his place, do what he could not, no matter how much he wished that he could. To take you into his arms, hold you close, and never let you go.
As he typed out the message, the image formed in his mind. It would be something to hold on to, to make it through the day. For now, that would be enough until he could make his way to the hospital and to her. Maybe it was time to have that conversation, the one that he had been avoiding. Maybe it was time to step out of the shadows and stand proudly in the light flanked by his two lady loves.
No more clandestine meetings or whispered words in dark corners. An end to playing pretend and hiding what he truly felt. Bobby desired nothing more than to shout it from the rooftops. Like he had almost done under the influence in the days prior. The realisation of those heart-breaking revelations and stolen moments was almost too much to bear. For the carpet had been pulled out from under his feet with your disappearance. Bobby knew that all he could do now was look ahead to the future. One that he could see as clear as day and standing there smiling back at him was Athena with her fingers interlocked with his own. However, to his right stood another with fingers interweaved with his left hand.
May, Harry, and Michael joined them, beaming brighter than he had ever seen before. His family, his home. This shift would be agonisingly slow, time to inch ahead, minute by minute as he waited out the clock. “I’m coming,” He whispered, urging himself onwards. He just needed to wait it out, but he would get there. He most certainly would.
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Fear chilled her blood and ice filled her to the brim as she made her way through the corridor. Its sterile, white-washed walls were not a comfort. Far from it, it was a harsh reminder of what she had almost lost not long ago. Athena hated hospitals on a profoundly personal level. Yet, on a more professional basis, the cop in her was awed by the sheer number of daily miracles within these hallowed halls.
Hospitals were as much a beginning as they were an end. Life started and concluded each second of each day. How close she had come to losing May, her darling daughter, within one, but that had been her darkest days. This would be far from a repeat of this fact she was crystal clear on. Bobby’s text had been straight to the point, but a wealth of information lay within its many paragraphs. He steadily relayed all that he had gleaned from her ex-husband. There was no underlying disdain or frustration at the mere fact that he had chosen to reach out to her new beau.
To be brutally honest, she could easily see the reasoning behind such a choice. That man knew her inside and out. It was rational and coolly logical to place on such shoulders as Bobby. She would have done the same if she had been in Michael’s shoes, standing on the outside, looking inwards. Not quite seeing what lay just out of sight, but not blind enough to ignore a few more obvious signs. Instead, a warmth blossomed, and a love that never died resurfaced. This was just another occasion when Athena was reminded of how happy she was to have had those years together, how wonderful her life had been and still been with Michael. He was no longer walking by her side in the same role.
No longer the husband, but still very much her best friend and companion in the trying time that more than likely lay ahead. He was there when she needed someone. He’d always be in her life; she was impossibly sure of this. Those restless nights had cooled long ago, but the affection and love had simply changed and grown over the years for the better. She could finally see that now, as clear as day.
Michael’s messages twinned with the information she had gained from her colleague, revealing another piece of the story. The thread was twisting with every step she took, entangling her up in the web with her lover firmly perched in the middle like a spider patiently awaiting its unsuspecting prey. The only difference between the cop and the fly was a semblance of what lay ahead. She might not yet hold the true extent of the reasoning behind what had led her, but she had the drive to uncover the whole truth and nothing but the truth from the horse’s mouth.
Each step felt heavier than the one that came before, unlike Bobby, who felt as if he was sinking to the bottom of the ocean, dragged down by the guilt of the many what if’s, unanswered questions clouding his mind as he carried on through with the duties of the day? Athena was determined, placing aside those feelings for now for a quieter moment at the end of the day. When she could simply scream into the void, releasing all those pent-up emotions, all that hurt clawing away as it tried to find a way out.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------- “This was never how I wanted things to go,” you muttered softly to yourself as you limped into the sparsely occupied waiting room of the discharge lounge. This was where you got off, as your unforeseen stay in the hospital had come to its inevitable conclusion.
Yet as the chill of loneliness and sting of reality crept in. You had to live with your choices. You had hand selected this fork in the road. No matter how much it cut, you had done this and there was no coming back from that.
It was time to re-emerge and find your place in the world, where within society you belonged, as LA was no longer home. In your mind, you had nothing left here. This had been a delayed takeoff. This was your second attempt, but underneath the cool level of confidence that you had in your decision, niggled a small sliver of hesitation. Could you go back and hash out the issue? Fix what they had broken in the relationship. Each one of them was equally responsible for their part in the throuple’s downfall.
You shook your head, pushing the notion away. There was no way around the crack that had been forming at the very heart of the foundations. You just need to keep the thought of what was over the horizon in the very forefront of your mind. Focus on what lay ahead, not on what you were leaving behind. No matter how much it broke your heart to do so but this would be better for things yet to come. Or at the least, that’s what you continued to repeat like a mantra until it stuck.
You clung tirelessly to those words as you ease yourself into one of the most uncomfortable plastic seats ever conceived. For until the taxi that the hospital had organised arrived to cart you off the nearest train station, you would remain in this area of the hospital. With a big blue boot on your left foot supporting the healing appendage, and a few scraps and bruises littered across your flesh that were barely visible. Your mind continues to recycle the same doubt filled thoughts, but you need to focus on what came next.
On finding a new job, a new apartment all whilst crashing on your older brother’s sofa. It was a temporary fix and a new start. He hadn’t expected such a call, but would never turn you away. The two of you hadn’t been as close as you once had been. Time and distance brought a silence and awkwardness as you grew apart. A few heated disagreements had deepened the chasm. However, when push came to shove, the two of you had been drawn back together. Blood was thicker than water and you loved your brother. The past remained firmly behind you, in the rearview mirror.
You had already alerted him through the daily update, letting him know that you were being discharged ahead of schedule. You were starting on your journey out to him and would keep him posted as you inched closer.
The sound of the doors on the other side of the room sliding open caught your attention. Lifting your head and turning in the direction of the sound. Not sure what you would find, another patient arriving or a staff member being called away. Your eyes widened, shocked at the sight standing in the doorway. Athena Grant in all her glory. The eye of the storm was passing as the chaos of hundred mile winds returned. You would need to batten down the hatches and prepare for what lay ahead. A fight of a lifetime, one that you had done everything to avoid.
You tried to make out the expression displayed on her face, but you found it next to impossible. Athena had one hell of a poker face. This worried you, as the next few minutes could go in any direction.
At the mere sight of her, shame washed over you as you never considered this outcome. Athena had led the charge, searching hell and highwater to locate you. Never daring to think that she wasn’t ready to let you go. If she was here, then Bobby would be that far behind.
As you anxiously played with the hem of your shirt, you waited for her to make the first move. Trying to calm your already frayed nerves, but that seemed impossible now. For there was no way out, no alternative option to escape your choice head on. As you held your head high, square your shoulders and readied yourself for the emotional, driven verbal assault that would undoubtedly follow.
No amount of apologies could plaster this gaping wound that you had inflicted with poorly thought through choices.You hadn’t considered the fallout that would follow in the hours, days, or weeks after fleeing the very state that had your home. This had been lingering on the horizon, awaiting this moment, and now it had come barrelling at high speed, laser fixed upon the target stuck to your back. It had been inching closer, bringing you and Athena back together.
Thoughts of Bobby re-emerged. Was he on duty? He had to be. It would explain why he wasn’t standing shoulder to shoulder with the cop as a united front. How long would it be before he entered the picture? For if she knew of your location, then surely he did too.
As sand trickled through in the hourglass, it wouldn’t be long now. Time had turned against you. This was the beginning of the end and you were far from ready, but that no longer mattered. You had to face the consequences of your impulsive actions. There was no way out, no way back. They needed answers, and you held them under lock and key. It was time to give them up.
It was the least you could do, all things considered. It was time to release your hold upon their collective hearts and allow them to move on with their lives without you in it. Regardless of the anger and frustration aimed squarely in your direction, you would soldier on through.
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