Ruxs sat at the breakfast bar in his task force uniform, drinking a very strong cup of coffee while he watched Green shuffle around in the kitchen making breakfast. He knew his partner, knew him better than he knew himself. He was stressing himself about Curtis, thinking it was his fault that Curtis was not grieving. When Ruxs lost his grandmother it took him six months before he could really grieve because he had to immediately take care of his self-destructive mom. There’s no rulebook to follow when you’ve lost a loved one. Everyone grieved at their own pace and in their own time. Green needed to understand that.

Curtis bounded down the stairs fully dressed and full of energy, with his book bag over his shoulder. “Morning,” he said cheerfully.

“Good morning,” Ruxs said first, Green just standing there staring unbelievably.

“Wow. That smells great. I’ll take mine to go,” Curtis said pulling the juice container out of the refrigerator.

Oh boy. Ruxs knew this wasn’t going to be good.

“Hey Dad. I see you’re in your ‘I’m about to take down some bad guys gear’.”

Ruxs ruffled Curtis’ hair when he went by him.

Green stopped flipping Curtis’ favorite bananas foster pancakes, and watched him flit around the kitchen like he couldn’t wait to get out the door. “Curtis. Where are you going?”

“School. Where else? It’s Friday. I’ve already missed one day.”

“I know. But I called your school and told them you needed some time off.”

Curtis slammed the juice carton down. “Why’d you do that? I didn’t ask you to do that!”

Green looked at his son sadly. “Curtis it’s okay. It’s excused. You can go back next week. Just a few days, okay. I think you should stay home and —”

“Hell no! I’m going to school,” Curtis yelled. “Hey!” Ruxs barked, standing and glaring at Curtis.

Green put his hand up to stop him. “It’s okay, Mark. He’s right. I shouldn’t have assumed.” Green moved the pan to the back burner, turning off the stove. “Have a good day Curtis.”

Ruxs watched Green leave the kitchen and take the stairs two at a time. Ruxs turned and faced Curtis, his face heating with anger. Curtis looked like he was sad for upsetting Green like that, but Ruxs was going to make sure he was sad, apologetic, remorseful, and most of all, educated that he was to never hurt that man again.

He walked around the counter to face Curtis. “Now you listen and you listen good, because I’m not going to repeat this. Under no circumstance are you allowed to talk to him like that,” Ruxs hissed, yanking Curtis’ book bag off his shoulder.

Curtis looked defiantly at him. “You think you can stop me from going to school.”

“I think I can stop you from seeing eighteen.” Ruxs fumed. “Do you have any idea what that man – what we all went through the ten hours that you were gone? It hurt us all. But it almost killed him.” Ruxs pointed upstairs.

Curtis looked down at his brand new shoes. “I’m sorry.”

“You should be,” Ruxs said sternly, his voice hard. Ruxs put both hands on Curtis’ shoulders. “Look, buddy. No one is saying you have to sit in your room and cry for your mom all day. But staying busy isn’t going to make your situation disappear.”

Curtis sighed sadly. “I can’t believe I treated him like that.”

Ruxs patted Curtis on his slumped shoulders. “You’re upset, it’s understandable. But don’t push your only support away.”

“That’s the thing. I’m not upset.”

Ruxs pulled back and looked into those expressive blue eyes. “What do you mean?”

“I don’t want to talk to anyone. I’m so… so. I’m so ashamed because the only thing I could think about when they took me to that group place was how sad I’d be to be away from you guys. I wasn’t sad about… about my mom just dying.”

Ruxs pulled Curtis over to the breakfast bar and sat him down. He went into the kitchen and made him a plate of pancakes and set it in front of him. Green’s mom always told him being served comfort food was like a hug from someone that loved you. Curtis grinned at him and dug into the food. He fixed himself another cup of coffee and sat beside him to listen.

“So you’re not upset about your mom dying and you were afraid to tell us.”

“No. I’m a little upset, but most of all I’m relieved. She’s been in so much pain. She was on dialysis for years, her body rejected transplant after transplant, and then she had to wait in a hospital to die slowly. She’s finally resting peacefully and she’s with her mom now. I know she’s with grandma, cause when I saw her body in the morgue…” Curtis paused looking off like he was bringing the image up in his mind. “Her mouth was curved in a little smile.”

Ruxs nodded his head that he understood.

“I think she was happy to go too. So many don’t get to say goodbye before someone passes. I did. She knew I’d be taken care of. She loved you guys ever since she met you. She knew I’d be with you all. So that’s what I’m saying. I don’t need to grieve. I want to celebrate. My mom is finally happy.”

Ruxs hugged Curtis to him. “There’s absolutely nothing wrong about that. And I understand.” Ruxs held Curtis at arm’s length, his gaze serious. “Someone else would understand that too.”

Curtis squeezed his eyes shut. “I can’t believe I yelled at him.”

“Me either,” Ruxs said sternly, pulling Curtis into a headlock. “Now get your ass up there and apologize to my boyfriend.”

Curtis chuckled. “I knew you guys were boyfriends.”

“No you didn’t.”

“You guys have been boyfriends for years,” Curtis said, laughing on his way up the stairs. “You just hadn’t admitted it until now.”

Ruxs pulled off his bulletproof vest and tossed it in the pile with the others. He was so ready to get home. The bust was a huge success; there were no casualties on either side. Not even any gunfire. They’d taken out the snipers on the roof first with rubber bullets, their team swooping in fast and quietly to restrain them. Then they’d breached the warehouse, moving in through every exit, blocking them in just as the deal was completed. It would’ve been suicidal for Chainz or his crew to try to run or even draw their weapons. God was the best at planning raids and seizures. He always went for the strategy that minimized threat and kept his team out of danger as much as possible.

Ruxs did have the good luck to bust a French bastard in his jaw with the butt of his shotgun when he got loose from the SWAT member who was restraining him and reached for his secondary weapon. That was fun. Green would’ve loved to have seen that. His mind went back to Green and Curtis for the hundredth time today. He was only able to get in a brief phone call before they’d left the precinct and sent him a quick text when it was over. He knew he’d be worrying.

Syn was standing at the front of the conference going over the final details for their report while God and Day were in the captain’s office.

“Okay. Just twenty more minutes guys and then you can get out of here,” Syn said loudly.

Ruxs looked at his watch. It was almost midnight. He pulled out his cell and sent another text.

I love you

He vaguely listened to his sergeant has he waited for his phone to vibrate with a return text. A second later his screen illuminated.

I love you back. Come home.

Ruxs smiled and typed back. Hour tops.

He put his phone back in the side pocket of his black cargo pants and finished signing off on his own paperwork.  Syn dismissed all them with a final, “I expect everyone to be at the graveside no later than eight tomorrow. Also please, all of you try to be available to come to the funeral repast tomorrow afternoon at God and Day’s house. We want to support Curtis as much as possible.”

“He’s not having a wake or church service?” Charles, one of their demolitions experts asked.

“No,” Vickie answered for Syn. “In her will she asked for a small graveside service and a repast so Curtis could be with his friends. Since she had no other family and her body was withered and worn by the end, she didn’t want a viewing. So we’re honoring her wishes.”

Everyone nodded their heads in agreement. A few more of the guys stopped to ask him how Green and Curtis were doing, offering more help if needed. Ruxs graciously thanked them, inching out the door at the same time so he could get home. He needed to be with the man he loved. Needed to reassure Green he was indeed okay and unharmed.

The parking lot was almost empty except for the graveyard shift. Right before Ruxs got to Green’s truck, which he’d driven today, Ro jogged up to him. “Hey Ruxs, I didn’t get a chance to tell you earlier.”

“Hey, what’s up Ro?”

“Um. I don’t know if you wanted to know or not and since I didn’t want to bother Green.” Ro stumbled looking uneasy.

“It’s cool, Ronowski. Spit it out.”

“Um. Jacob posted bond yesterday. I had him tailed for a little while. First he went to your mom’s house. He used a key. It looked like he only grabbed some clothes, according to the officer. Then he, um.” Ro paused.

“He what?”

“He went to visit your mom. He stayed the whole half an hour she’s allowed.”

Ruxs ran his hand through his short hair. The last thing he wanted was Jacob trying to talk his mom out of doing her sentence in rehab, but he wasn’t able to see her. Green already had the restraining order in place. “Shit.”

“Don’t worry about it, bro. Your mom will be transported to her facility in a couple days and Jacob’s on borrowed time, dude. He made bail, but I’m sure he’ll have to serve some time, if only for violating his probation. It’s all good. I just wanted to let you know.”

“Thanks Ro.”

“No problem.”

Ruxs floored it out of the parking lot, needing Green more than ever right now. Had his mom and Jacob really been in love? It made Ruxs’ stomach turn just thinking about it.