Free Love is Always Write Anthology Volume 5 by Various Authors Page A

Vodder.
    It was a simple question, yet somehow not one Tyler was expecting. "No, I've got it." Keeping a firm grip on Ben, Tyler led him out to the array of ambulances on the street.
    Ben was laid on a stretcher in the back of the ambulance so the EMT could try to stop the nose bleed. Tyler held Ben's hand as he was examined. "Is he all right?" he asked the medic.
    "I've almost got the bleeding under control. He could probably use an X-ray, just to make sure there's no break around the eye socket. I'm not sure about the nose either," said the EMT. "Ben, you're still shaking pretty hard. How 'bout a blanket?"
    Ben nodded. The EMT spread a blanket over top of him.
    "I'm not letting you out of my sight for a while," said Tyler.
    Whitson stepped up into the ambulance. "The body count is two. The other two are en route to the hospital. No word yet on their condition."
    "Thanks for the update."
    "Is your partner gonna be okay?" Whitson asked.
    "I think so." It felt disturbingly weird not to deny the relationship.
    "Are you going to the hospital with him?"
    "Yeah."
    "Okay, I'll pass the word." Whitson turned to jump down.
    "Hey, Paul, does it matter that… that my SO is a guy?"
    "Zub, why the hell would I care who you sleep with? I'd be more worried about what the brass thinks that you didn't stand down because you had a personal stake in one of the hostages."
    "There is that problem."
    "Go take care of your boyfriend. Worry about getting reamed a new one by the higher ups later." Whitson stepped down out of the ambulance."
    ****
    "Let me help," said Tyler. They were back in Ben's apartment and Tyler was having a hard time comprehending that it had only been about ten hours since they had last been here. Ben was struggling to strip out of his heavily blood stained shirt. Tyler grabbed Ben's hands and held them.
    Ben looked at their hands. "I've still got blood all under my fingernails."
    Tyler hugged Ben's hands to his chest. "It could have been so much worse."
    "How do you face stuff like that every day?"
    "Training, and I'm generally one of the guys with a big gun in my hand and six teammates watching my back." Tyler slowly let go of Ben's hands and finished unbuttoning Ben's shirt for him, easing it off the rest of the way. There was dried blood on Ben's chest where the blood had soaked through.
    "Yeah, I guess there is that," Ben said.
    "How 'bout we take a shower and get you cleaned up?"
    Ben nodded.
    In the bathroom, Ben stood looking in the mirror as the water in the shower warmed up. Tyler rested his chin on Ben's shoulder from behind and wrapped both arms around Ben's body. Ben touched his cheekbone. The swelling around his eye was developing into amazing shades of black-purple.
    "I would have bet on my nose being broken," Ben said.
    "The doctor seemed to think your eye socket caught more of the blow, hence the hairline fracture there." Tyler nuzzled into the side of Ben's neck.
    "I don't guess you can put a cast on a broken face."
    "No, but if it was worse, you'd be having a plastic surgeon wire your bones back together."
    "Why does that sound like you know way too much about that?"
    "It happened to one of the guys on the team. Come get in the shower." Tyler guided Ben under the water. He gently helped wash the dried blood off the various parts of Ben's body, watching red-brown stained water flow away. Every time Tyler touched his lover, it twisted the knot in his gut a little tighter. He'd been on ops where the hostages were critically injured. Tyler tilted his head and kissed Ben. "I love you. I love you and I should have told you a long time ago. I thought I was scared, but I didn't understand what scared meant until I saw you in that bank today half covered in blood."
    "It was… bad," Ben whispered.
    Tyler stood holding him for a long number of minutes before they finally got out.
    ****
    Back in the bedroom, Ben sat on the bed and pulled on a clean pair of boxers. He glanced at Ty, who was coming back out of the