I'm so excited that there is finally a Common Law section on here!
I own nothing except a heart that loves this show and an imagination.
His feet hit the pavement like his car hit the light pole just a few minutes ago. Hard and fast. His breath burned in his throat, while anger and what he would never recognize as fear constricted his chest, trying to deny his lungs of the precious air they screamed for. His heart wasn't in the battle, not for air anyway. His heart hammered, each blow making his legs move faster, his feet hit harder, as he ran down the street after the man that would bring forth a part of Wes that even he wasn't ready to let go.
His heart didn't want air. His heart wanted retribution. His hands wanted to serve it.
He reached out, his feet still pounding into the pavement, until his arms wrapped around the man his mind had deemed as the man responsible for tearing down the world Wes had worked so diligently to build. He stumbled, his world cracked. He felt the man fight against him and the cracks became deeper.
He was suddenly on the ground on his back looking up at the man and images flashed in the man's black orbs with a vengeance all their own. His own memories played like an old silent film, flickering on a black screen. They lashed out at him, making welts at first that burned with desolation, until the man's face split into a taunting grin and dug into his wounds.
He tasted the oddly satisfying flavor of metallic as he clenched his jaw, making his teeth grind in a way that helped him ride through the pain and rally some sort strength. He swallowed the little amount of blood gathering in the sides of his mouth, before pushing the man off of him and turning the tables. He kicked the man's gun away before reaching for his own and pulling it from his waistband. He showed it the man, who laid underneath him, and pushed against the man's throat with his other arm. He watched the black orbs that had looked down at him with dominance moments before, swirl into wide, pleading eyes. He smirked and tossed his gun to the side. He felt the man relax under him and pressed harder on the man's throat. A grin played across his face that was foreign to his features. The lines in his face shook under the stress of being pushed into a place they never had been. They never outlined a smile of menacing retribution.
Until that moment. The moment where Wes found his world standing down, instead at attention. The moment where Wes was just a colonel without a lieutenant. The moment where Wes was a war without an army.
His fingers curled into his palm and his knuckles found the man's cheekbone with a nauseating crack. He lifted his fist and brought it down again with the force of the crumbling world upon his shoulders. Then he hit him again. And again. And again.
The numbness that had already captivated his mind ghosted across his body and repelled all of his strength into his arms that connected over and over with the man's face, until something strong and concrete wrapped around his chest.
He punched harder thinking it was the man below him. He bucked and kicked, when he felt himself being dragged away from the man he wanted his world to crumble down on and crush to death. It wasn't until he could feel the cold, wet pavement snaking through the threads of his ruined shirt that he was able to blink and see someone standing over him. He expected black orbs to be staring down at him like the barrel of a gun, but instead blue eyes looked at him like the morning sky he never thought he would live to see again.
The silent movie was over. It stopped flickering and reality swirled into focus sharp and clear with sound he hadn't realized he had missed.
"Wes? Wes! Are you with me? Are you ok?"
He blinked and stared up at the new man crouching down next to him. He felt his chest expand with hope, before it recoiled with something he couldn't quite place.
"Wes? Come on, man. Say something."
Wes blinked again before slowly lifting his forearm off the ground to hold up his hand. He felt the man's hand grab his with strength.
"I swear Wes, if you don't answer me I'm going to run you over with the police car myself."
"Th-thought you were dead." He found his voice with an airy laugh that almost carried delirium.
"Dead? Man, you're the one that just wrecked your car then got out and chased a man down just to beat him to death. But, no. You're right. If I were dead, I would come back just to haunt your crazy ass."
He felt a hand lightly slap his face. He grimaced and tried to turn away, but Travis stopped him.
"Hey man, stop. Ambulance is almost here."
Wes grinned, this time his features pulled it off with ease. "That sounds like concern Travis."
"You're delirious. You must have hit your head pretty hard when you crashed. I'm just following protocol. You know how Captain Sutton is. I figured this way he will only chew your ass out for this not mine. Besides, when we have to tell this to Dr. Ryan she will clearly see that you're the reason we don't get along."
"First, You've never followed protocol. Second, how is my car?"
"Umm, well...you know I'm sure she'll be fine. The heated cup holders were still turned on."
"Yes, because that's all that matters."
"See, I knew you'd come around eventually. You know they're awesome."
Wes rolled his eyes and tried to sit up, but groaned as pain shot through him.
"Be still." Travis ordered.
He decided just to lay there.
"For the record, I'm laying here because it's easier to restrain myself from killing you rather than the fact you told me to or because I can't sit up without having a painful reminder of why I hate having you as my partner."
Travis scoffed and threw his arms out to the side. "What did I do except keep you from breaking your hand on that guy's cheekbone?" He pointed over his shoulder to the unconscious man on the ground.
"You, Travis, decided to step out from cover during a shootout in which I believed you to be dead when that guy, that didn't have that strong of a cheekbone seeing as how I at least fractured it with the first blow, shot at you and you fell. You caused all of this."
"I didn't even get shot. You thought that I did and your concern for me drove you mad."
Travis cockily smirked at him. Wes rolled his eyes.
"Now you're the one who is delirious. I was just doing my job."
"Yeah?" Travis asked, a genuine smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth.
"Yeah." Wes nodded and grinned back.
The sound of the ambulance could be heard getting closer. Travis laid a hand on Wes' shoulder. "Yeah."
His vision swayed and swirled, but his mind just went with it. His features dropped from the grin as consciousness floated away and his body relaxed into oblivion. Wes was still in the war, but he had his army. The cracks in his world still existed, but they were a lot easier to deal with when Travis pushed him to repair them.
AN: Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think! :)