Red vs Blue fanfic: Attention to Detail (6/6)

[jennickels]

Chapter 6

People started running. Tourists and medics, security and sicko gawkers all rushing for a better view of the aftermath. Church moved, too—elbowing and forcing his way between couples and families.

“Look at me, Church! Up here!” The words bounced around his head followed by those memories that would always haunt him.

“Daddy, look at my dress. It floats. Daddy, you’re not looking.”

He finds her after the longest most terrifying fifteen minutes of any of his lives because, for all of his faults and all the pain he’s caused, Dr. Leonard Church loves his daughter. Church feels it deep in his bones. He screams her name—not just the Director, but Alpha and Epsilon and every other goddamn voice in his head. They all scream the same thing. “Sarah! Sarah, where are you?”

But the name that came out of Church’s mouth was something else. “Caboose! Caboose!” They made it to the fence surrounding the ride. Medics were everywhere, sirens wailing closer and closer. Security pushed onlookers back. Church was stuck.

“That’s my friend,” he shouted at the nearest guard who only shrugged. If he had a gun, he’d blow the guy’s head off. Well, maybe Church wouldn’t, but Wash or Carolina could take the shot.

Tucker and Wash, Carolina and the Reds suddenly surrounded him, each in various stages of shock. Even Wash, after everything he’d seen and done, appeared lost and overwhelmed. From the haunted look in his eyes, Church knew heard Epsilons ghosts—his ghosts—screaming inside his head, too.

“They won’t let us through,” Church said. Hands shaking, he barely even noticed Carolina reaching over to stop them—her touch gentle. Almost understanding. Did she remember?

“What do we do?” asked Tucker, sounding calm but worried.

Doc suddenly pushed to the front of the group. “Let me go. I’m a medic—they’ll let me through.”

And they did.

Church watched Doc slip past security, but his patience was used up. “Fuck this.” He reached out for the familiar feel of Doc’s mind. O’Malley had made a cozy nest there that glowed like a fucking Christmas tree to Church. He stayed only long enough to find another body nearby.

“Whoa,” Doc mumbled, staggering into the woman next to him.

She righted him. “Sorry,” Church said, his voice sounding weird. He’d never jumped into a female body before. “I needed a point of reference.”

“I understand.” He didn’t sound so sure, though. Church hated to do that to him. Omega was a bastard that really did a number on the mild-mannered medic. Even the few seconds in his brain showed that—it was almost as big a mess as Church’s, and apparently O’Malley left a piece of himself behind.

Doc muttered curses to himself when a group of bystanders blocked his path. Before Church could do anything, Doc twitched, turning into someone else. “Get out of my way, you imbeciles. Move. I’m a medic. Scat. Scamper. Yes, you in the ugly sweater get out of my way.”

Church didn’t know if he should laugh or feel guilty. At the moment, he was just grateful Omega turned out to be good for something. He clung to Doc, traveling in his wake as people parted like the Red Sea.

“Hey,” a guard yelled, stopping them. “You can’t be over here!”

“Out of my way, fool, or I’ll rip your skull out and beat you to death with it.”

“What?” The guard looked more confused than afraid. They really needed to get some new material.

“I’m a medic,” Doc said in his usual, squeaky voice. “The guy- the man that fell-” His voice cracked, but he pulled himself together. “He’s a friend of mine. His name’s Caboose, and I really, really-” O’Malley returned with an evil twist of his lips. “-need to get to him. Now bloody move out of my way.”

The guard backed away, leaving a space for them to pass. “Yes, yes, finally, you idiot. Move. Move. This is my assistant, let her through. Move!”

People scattered. Doc grabbed Church’s wrist and dragged him through. “Yes, thank you, good man,” O’Malley said to a guard that waved them over, followed by Doc’s hollered, “and have a nice day!”

Doc shook himself out. “God, I hate when that happens.”

“Sorry,” Church mumbled. “Omega was always the hothead of the family. But I’m kind of glad right now. Thank you for getting us through.”

Doc blinked at him. “He’s my friend, too, Church.”

They both stumbled to a stop a few feet from a body covered in a sheet.

“No.”

Church wasn’t sure which one of them said it or if it even mattered. They both sighed in relief as the sheet suddenly lifted and fell. Church hurried over, dropping to his knees next to Caboose’s head. He was still. Too still for Caboose who always fidgeted. But he was breathing.

“Caboose?” Doc said. “Caboose, can you hear me?”

“No, mama, I don’t wanna shuck the corn today.”

“Caboose,” Church said in his way-too-feminine voice. “Caboose, open your eyes.”

Doc concentrated on his scanner, mumbling to himself.

“Come on, Caboose. I’ve gone through too much shit to lose you now. I mean, I might get too used to not dying every goddamn month if you aren’t there to blow me up or shoot me in the head, but-” He couldn’t help the quiver in his voice.

Caboose’s lips moved. Church bent closer, and his friend’s mouth—corner caked in blood—turned up into a grin. “Tucker did it,” he rasped, and fuck it, Church was crying again. “Church, is that you?” Caboose asked, a little louder.

“Yeah, buddy, it’s me.”

Caboose’s smile widened. “Church! You’re a girl!”

Church laughed in relief, the terror slowly bleeding away. “You’re going to be okay, buddy. Just hang on. Doc is here—he’s going to fix you up and then we’re gonna go home.”

“To Blood Gulch?”

“To wherever the fuck you wanna go, Caboose.”

Caboose blinked up at Church. “I want to be wherever you are, Church.”

Doc paused to wipe his eyes and steady himself. Church watched his own tears fall, soaking Caboose’s hair. He focused on that one thing because he wouldn’t, couldn’t look at the man’s broken body.

Church had lived a lot of lives, and of all of his experiences, this ranked as the second most terrifying. The first ended a lot better.

“Sarah! Sarah, where are you?” His throat is raw from yelling, and his lashes are tangled with tears, blurring the world around him. “Shit, shit, shit. Where is she? Sarah?”

A wrinkled hand lands on his shoulder. “Are you looking for a little girl ‘bout yea high,” the old woman asks with a reassuring smile. “Red hair and blue dress?”

“Oh, god, yes. Have you seen her?”

The woman pats his arm. “She’s over there, spinnin’ for the ducks. Happy as a clam.”

He barely remembers to shout a thank you over his shoulder as he runs. He tops the hill, and sure enough, she’s down by the pond chattering to the ducks. The breath he’s been holding for the last five minutes whooshes out in a gush.

Of course, she would come here. This was their spot. Every time Allison came home, they raced to the pond to feed the ducks. All Sarah ever wanted to do was practice running so one of those times she’d finally be faster than Mommy.

“Sarah!”

“Daddy!” She waves high, oblivious to his distress. “Look at my dress, Daddy! Look how it floats!”

Church blinked away fresh tears. He tried not to think about how they celebrated Sarah’s sixth birthday the next week. Or how she never got to race her mother to that pond again.

He pushed and shoved and crammed those memories into the closet with Tex and Wash and everything else he didn’t have the capacity to deal with at the moment. He’d sort them and his ghosts out another day. If there was one thing Church knew how to do, it was compartmentalize.

Caboose’s breathing shallowed out, and for an agonizing moment, the terror seized him again. But the sheet continued to rise and fall. Church swore the man was invincible.

“I think he’s going to be okay,” Doc said softly. “It won’t be pretty or easy, but he’ll make it.”

Church sighed. “Hear that, Caboose? Doc thinks you’re gonna be just fine.”

“But, Church,” Caboose murmured. “Doc is a horrible doctor. You said so.”

Doc shook his head as Church chuckled. “It’s okay, Caboose. I think he’s learned a few things since then.”

Caboose laughed, too, but it quickly turned to coughs.

“Try not to move, buddy. They’re bringing a helicopter to take you to the hospital. How cool is that?”

“Neat.” Caboose forced one eye open to look at Church. “Will you be there, Church? So I’m not scared?”

Caboose knew how to throw an emotional sucker punch to the gut. “Of course. I’m not going anywhere.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.” And damn it, he meant it more than anything he’d ever sworn to before. He’d fucked up too many lives in the past. It was time to start doing something right. “Now you need to promise me you’ll do everything the doctors say and rest and not move around. Okay? I need you to get better and come home soon. Who else is going to take care of Mr. Bubbles and Fishy McSwimsalot?”

Caboose’s eye fluttered shut, but the smile stayed. “I love you, Church. You’re my best friend.”

“I love you, too, buddy. Now rest and get better.”

They missed all the signs—things that meant nothing to the average person, but for the Reds and Blues spelled disaster on the horizon. Nothing good ever came from not wearing armor or stealing bodies or getting drunk. Next time, they’d pay better attention to the details.

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