Chapter Text
Markus had turned his non essential notifications on do not disturb, he did it frequently when he was working late.
Everyone knew he was working late, so they knew they couldn’t get through to him tonight.
He told everyone that mattered, he was working late at least.
Well North, Josh, and Simon said goodbye when they left so they know.
And everyone else can find out through them.
Why did he still feel like he was forgetting something? It was already 2 in the morning so no one should be calling him.
He didn’t miss any meetings today and he doesn’t have to speak with the president of the united states until 11:30 tomorrow morning. There’s nothing pressing that should be demanding his attention.
It was probably just late and he needs to sleep soon, he hopes Connor took tonight to-
Connor.
Oh fuck.
Oh my god.
He quickly opened his messages, turning do not disturb off. It was an overwhelming flood from so many different individuals. Most were angry.
Lieutenant in Law
5 missed calls and 14 missed messages
Latest message 01:13
You’re so fucking lucky I left my gun in the precinct. You ever make him cry like that again, I’ll end you.
Nines (scary)
2 missed calls and 10 missed messages
Latest message 12:30
You’re only alive because Connor needs me.
Joshwa
6 missed calls and 19 missed messages
Latest message 01:01
Dude, I know work is important to you but this is just fucked up. You need to get your priorities straight.
Seeman
4 missed calls and 12 missed messages
Latest Message 12:49
Nice going, asshole.
Up North
8 missed calls and 20 missed messages
Latest Message 02:01
I’m on my way to Jericho. You better be ready.
Connor (husband!) <3
14 missed calls and 36 missed messages
Latest message 12:09
Hey, North told me where you were. Sorry for bugging you, I guess. Would be nice if you could text back but I know where your priorities lay I guess. I’m going to bed, Nines, Josh, and Simon are sleeping over so, yeah. I guess I’ll see you whenever you’re done with…whatever this is.
Connor never ended a text without an ‘I love you’ or a ‘goodnight’ if they were spending the night apart. Most of the texts were along a panicky vein, worried about Markus and where he was, how he couldn’t find him, and…
How he missed their anniversary.
Their first wedding anniversary.
Oh god, Connor was so looking forward to this too. He had a whole evening planned and everything.
Fuck, North is on the way.
He looked down at the mess of proposals and paperwork on his desk and shoved everything into a pile as he quickly started getting ready to leave-
“MARKUS!” He heard North scream at him.
“Oh fuck.” He cursed, grabbing his keys and fleeing his office. North is walking with vengeance over to him. “I know, shit, I know-”
“Do you? Do you really know? Because I just had to comfort your sobbing husband while we tried to fucking find you all night. His father took a police car out to search for you, you’re lucky I was able to track your stupid fucking tablet here or else you’d have two very angry cops at your door instead of me.” North slapped him. “I never want to see my best friend cry like that again. He was in pure hell, several panic attacks, you know what he sees in his line of work and you let him think you were missing? He was absolutely hysterical, I thought we were going to have to call an ambulance for him. Honestly, getting him to calm down was harder than the meeting with the president was. Get your ass in gear, I’m taking you home and you’re going to fucking make it up to him tomorrow.”
Markus didn’t have anything to say as he was dragged out. He was exhausted, being a politician is hard work and he’s really starting to climb the ladder. It’s been a lot of long nights and excruciating paperwork but his husband understood, he knew what he was fighting for right? He was always so supportive, he…he always understood.
Connor was his entire world, his everything. They met when Connor was a secret service agent that was assigned to guard him after an assassination attempt after he was elected governor of Michigan. They had to spend a week together straight in Washington DC and they really got to know each other. That was three years ago and they were still so happy.
Connor’s job is…taxing. He’s no longer a bodyguard and works with his father as a field detective, specializing in homicide. He was only a bodyguard because he was put on leave after he made history as the youngest detective in the country and solved the world’s biggest case of serial murders in the span of two days when the entire force had been working on it for three years.
He had seen a lot of really awful things, at only 20 years old, fresh out of the police academy. But then he got a job with his (adopted) father, and he loves his job but his life is constantly on the line and he has seen some really awful shit. A lot of his cases are brutal and while Connor is trained on how to handle it. It gets too much sometimes but family as well as his friends and Markus make a good support system. He didn’t have a good home life before meeting Hank while he was in the police academy. He was treated as a soldier from a young age and his mother, Amanda, was horribly cruel to him and downright abusive.
Recently, it’s been a downward slope. Connor and his father have been working long hours trying to solve this string of serial murders and it’s been very emotionally exhausting. Every wrong turn he’s been reverting back to his fear of being punished. He’s been having nightmares and Markus and him have been so looking forward to spending this quality time together.
How could he do this to his husband? How could he make him feel so abandoned? North was trying to stay calm while driving but he could see her anger.
“North, I’m-” Markus started but North cut him off.
“Fucking save it for Connor.” North snapped. “The last thing I will say about work tonight, the meeting with the president is at 11:30 and after that, you will be going straight home and making it up to him. Buy him flowers and dinner and take his ass to bed and rock his world for all I care. Just make it up to him. He deserves better than this, Markus. You’re better than this.”
That was the last thing she said to him on that drive.
Coming home was not as relieving as it usually was. North had to go back home to her own wife and daughter with the promise of picking him up at 11 am tomorrow. He entered the house that he and Connor shared, quietly so as to not wake anyone.
He was heartbroken to look into their living room to find a whole slumber party set up. Josh and Simon were laying head to foot on one couch sharing a blanket. Nines was asleep in the armchair looking almost as stoic as ever. The chair was positioned right behind Connor on the couch, his hand still in Connor’s hair like he fell asleep comforting his brother. Connor was…
Connor was curled up on the couch with their giant Great Pyrenees named Captain. They were quite literally cuddled up, Connor looked crushed by his weight.
Markus kissed his husband’s head gently before putting his stuff down and going to bed. He barely slept but at least came up with a game plan for tomorrow.
—--------------------------
Markus was disappointed to know Connor had to go into the office the next morning before coming with them. He was hoping to snag a moment of alone time with his husband to grovel for forgiveness but Connor basically was running around getting ready for work and he didn’t even see him before he was out the door and Markus could hear the hum of his and Nines’s motorcycles flying down the road.
He guess he just had to wait to see him after work today. The meeting was long and excruciatingly boring. Markus wanted to ditch everything and just go straight home but they made significant progress on a few legislative measures Markus wanted to get started on so he was happy.
He decided tonight he would redo their anniversary, picking up flowers and then heading to get food for dinner.
However, he got the worst call of his life at 4. He answered quickly as it was his father in law and Hank never calls unless it’s an emergency or if it’s Connor from Hank’s phone. He was grocery shopping for dinner that night and had just gotten back in his car.
“Hank?” Markus greeted confused.
“Markus, you need to hear this from me first before the hospital calls.” Hank’s hurried voice spoke, sounding like he’s running. “CLEAR THE WAY, AMBULANCE INCOMING!”
“Hank what? What’s wrong-”
“Connor’s been shot.” Hank’s voice broke as he spoke, Markus’s world...
Stopped. He couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t think, he couldn’t-
Fuck.
He just couldn’t.
“What-”
“The ambulance is here, he’s-” Hank sniffled as he seemingly sat down. “We don’t know yet, he’s been shot in the shoulder, the side, and the leg. Nines and Gavin made some makeshift tunicates that slowed the bleeding but he’s not out of the woods.” Hank sobbed quietly. “I just- we are doing everything we can to save him, I won’t stop fighting for his life-.”
“Which hospital?” Markus spoke robotically, almost as if he was disconnected from his own body.
“St. Luke’s.” There were a few more voices and Hank was back on the move and Markus could hear him kneeling down. “Hey bud, hey. I’m here. It’s okay, I didn’t leave. I was getting the doctors.”
“Is that him? Can I talk to him?” Markus asked, starting the drive to hopefully meet them at the hospital. Hank put him on speaker. “Connor?!”
“We’re all here, kid, we’re all here for you.” Hank whispered. Markus could hear more tears coming from more people.
“I don-” Connor coughs.
“Shhh, Con, please don’t talk. Save your strength. You need your strength.” Nines pleaded through tears. “Just keep holding on. Keep your eyes open.”
“Oh Con, my love, my light, you’ll be okay. They’re going to take care of you and I’ll meet you there. You’ll be okay.” Markus rambled as he drove. “I love you, kitten, I really do.”
“OVER HERE!” Gavin shouted and the phone was overwhelmed with more voices and urgency. Hank, Nines, and Gavin were pushed away.
“I’m on my way.” Markus spoke, trying to wipe his own tears away.
“We’ll meet you there. Fuck.” Nines started sobbing, loud and hysterical.
“Come here, bud.” Gavin sniffled, hugging the man.
“He’s being loaded into the ambulance right now. We’re following behind. ETA is five minutes.” Hank hung up abruptly but Markus currently didn’t care. He just cared about getting there. He was in a terrified haze, shaking and sobbing. He couldn’t lose Connor, he couldn’t. He loved him so much and Connor was so young, he had such a long life ahead of him. No, Connor couldn’t- Not today.
By the time he pulled in and parked, the ambulance pulled in too with Hank’s old beater quickly chasing behind. Hank parked, illegally, as Markus was rushing to where they were unloading Connor. He almost threw up at the sight, sobbing heavily. Three separate paramedics were holding pressure on the bullet wounds as he struggled to breath through an oxygen mask. They were rushing to get him back. Markus, Hank, and Nines were then confined to the waiting room.
It was silent for a while, no one else was there as this was the trauma center.
Hank then leaned forward, he’d been crying, his eyes were still puffy and red. He wasn’t even trying to wipe the tears away.
“He-” Hank whispered. “He did an incredible thing today.” Nines nodded, still trying to calm down. Connor was his only living relative and he loved him more than anything. He would rather die a thousand painful deaths and then burn in every layer of hell before watching Connor lose his life today. Markus took his hand to try and comfort the both of them.
“It was really something only he would do.” Nine sniffled with a small, humorless laugh. “Fuck, he’s such an idiot.” Hank took both of their hands.
“We found our guys. We thought there was just one.” Hank explained, Markus wasn’t sure he was ready to hear this but Hank needs this, Nines needs this. His husband deserved his story being told. “We had him cornered, Connor heard something strange from the attic. He went up, stupidly we let him go alone, we thought we got him so what else was there to worry about.” Hank took a deep breath. “There were about 57 people in the attic, tied up and beaten and ready to become their next victims. Connor called for backup as he cut the main ropes holding them all together.”
“Oh god.” Nines cried again.
“The second guy was also up there with him. He shot Connor three times but Connor fought him off. Both criminals are in police custody and all 57 hostages were saved and relatively unharmed.” Hank wiped his eyes. “If it weren’t for him, all those people lived and more people would be safe. Over his career, Connor by himself has saved over 10,000 innocent civilians. If he di-” Hank takes a deep breath. “If he…passes on today. He will go a hero.” Markus was sobbing again at this.
How fucking-
How is this fair?
How could his husband, his beautiful husband, be so stupidly selfless? He couldn’t dream of losing him, he couldn’t, Connor couldn’t go.
Nines and Markus leaned on each other as they cried. Hank stepped outside to take a smoke.
In the end, Connor was in emergency surgery for 4 hours. 4 excruciating hours of waiting and panicking and hoping for the best but preparing for the worst. They didn’t really speak much. None of them could do much but stare at the wall and wait.
“Connor Anderson-Manfred?” An exhausted doctor calls out. None of them think they’ve ever moved so fast. “Come with me.” Dread filled them as they followed the doctor down a corridor into an empty office.
“He’s gone, isn’t he?” Nines sniffled, deadpanned and angry. “My brother’s gone?”