The door clicked shut behind me, I stayed still, not looking around, not making eye contact with Josh.
"I don't have the plague", he joked.
He's still the same, I'm glad.
"If you're going to be rude then you can leave", he said.
"You don't mean that", I said.
"I don't want you to treat me all weird. I told the others that, they were all nice and shit."
That got a chuckle out of me.
"You like to be treated like you're special."
"Yeah, only when something happens do people treat you like royalty", he said in an annoyed tone.
I finally looked at him.
"Be honest. Am I less sexy now that my hair is gone?"
His hair really was gone, not bald but shaved down. Some kind of neck brace held him steady and it looks like he has to spend some time sitting up, that includes sleep as well.
"You know staring isn't nice."
I didn't notice I was staring, I didn't know what to say.
"Come over here", he said.
"Josh I--"
"Don't. I'm trying to be positive so don't kill the mood. I don't know how long I'm going to be like this..."
I walked over to him.
"The surgery went well so you'll be up and walking soon, right?"
He closed his eyes, letting out a sigh.
"I can't feel my legs."
My heart skipped a beat.
"What?"
"You heard me. I can't feel my legs so that means I'm a useless fuck!"
The room went quiet.
"There are people who start off not feeling their legs and then they can walk so--"
"What if that's not me?! You saw with your own damn eyes! I fell right on my head, my spine got fucked up so the odds of me walking are slim. They said they can't tell right away if the sugery fixed me. I'm done Tyler. I'm not your partner anymore, I'm not an officer, I'm--"
"You don't know that! You always tell me not to give up and here you are saying those words to yourself!"
"If you can't see, my situation is different than yours!"
"It's not!"
We stared at each other, our chests rising and falling quickly due to our anger.
"I know it's hard, I know better than anyone else and you know that. I'm not going to let you sit here and act like your life is over because that's what I did years ago and you saved me...remember? I was ready to throw it all away because I thought Andy was gone, I thought I had no chance. The odds were against me but look now. He's alive. The odds of getting him back are higher than ever. It's the same for you. Do whatever the fuck you can to get out of that bed and walk! I can't save Andy alone."
I'm not sure how much time passed as we sat in silence. An hour maybe or two. I was sitting on the couch by the window just staring into the night sky. Josh had his eyes closed but he didn't fall asleep even though he should. I didn't mean to rile him up but he had to know that giving up wasn't an option. He didn't let me give up, I won't let him.
"I'm not being negative, it's just a possibility. If I really can't walk...what next", Josh asked.
"We'll figure something out, your life isn't over just because you can't walk."
"They do have cars that you can drive without your feet. I could be the first cop to have his ride tricked out like that."
I chuckled.
"There you go. Your high-speed chases aren't over."
"I'm gonna get that guy that did this to me and whoever broke into my house. Amy kicked his ass quick thanks to the basic martial arts I taught her. They were dumb enough to send a bitch of a guy like that just because she's a woman. I made sure my girl can stand on her own even though she was tough already."
"Yeah, Amy is tougher than she looks", I said.
"I worry about being a burden to her. I don't want her to take care of me like this."
"You know you could never be a burden to her."
"Yeah but still, after all this shit is over I want to take her out, maybe travel a bit. She said she would like to go to Korea and Thailand to learn more about where she came from. She doesn't want her parents to give her a bad impression of where she came from, you know?"
"That makes sense. If she's doing that, shouldn't you do the same and go see your dad in Germany?"
"She's not seeing her parents she's just learning about where she came from. I can go visit Germany and learn about beer or whatever but I'm not seeing that piece of shit. If I do I'll punch his face in."
I gave Josh a look.
"If I were you I would see for myself what he's like. Maybe you're wrong. Your mom never told you anything about him."
"My mom didn't tell me because he isn't worth talking about."
"Did she say that?"
"No but still."
"Then you don't know for sure."
He let out a sigh.
"I'll think about that, is that good enough", he asked in an annoyed tone.
"Yes."
"Anyway, what happened after I blacked out? That guy got away I assume?"
"Yeah, he did...after I shot up his car."
"Seriously!? Damn it, I wish I saw!"
"I was pissed. I wasn't thinking right but I don't regret it."
"I would be pissed too if this happened to you. You showed him though, they should know better than to mess with us."
"It leaves us with a lot of questions, why were you a target? Maybe it's because we are close, maybe a warning to me?"
"Now they are getting dirty. They're trying to scare you into stopping the case or something. Maybe they did something drastic, maybe they are the ones who are scared", Josh said.
"Scared and drastic. I wonder if Javier can get in contact with Andy to find out what's going on."
"Yeah."
"Anyway, you should get some sleep. Don't waste your energy thinking about this."
"I am tired, I won't have a good sleep though because they have to come in to check on me. It sucks."
"It won't be forever."
"You're leaving", Josh asked.
"What? Need me to stay?"
"Unless you're planning to finally get down on Sarina--"
"Shut up!"
He started laughing and then winced.
"Ow!"
"You deserve that."
"Asshole."
I chuckled again.
I got up to go to the closet to grab a blanket and pillow.
"Thanks", Josh said.
"No problem."
I made myself comfortable on the couch and then dosed off.
~
The next morning I woke up to the sound of my phone going off.
"Ugh! Who the hell is calling you so early", Josh groaned.
"I don't know", I said in a groggy voice.
I reached into my pocket to pull out my phone.
"It's Remmy", I said as I sat up straight.
I put my phone on speaker when I answered.
"Yeah."
"Hurry up and turn on the news, you need to see this."
I look at Josh. He picked up the remote to turn on the T.V. My heart stopped when I saw who was on the news.
"That's--"
"Andy", I said.
I stood up.
"Who's he standing next to", Josh asked.
Andy was dressed in a black suit and was standing next to an older guy, also dressed in a suit.
"I'm happy to have this opportunity to officially introduce our organization. I know people still have mixed feelings when it comes to our organization but as time went on, the public can see we mean no harm. Greenwaters' crime rate has dropped to near zero thanks to Cosen. The public finally feels safe again, children can play outside without a care. We strive to make communities safe again and offer protection. While we can't stop criminality entirely, we can be the ones to deal with it since we have experience in that area. We will have systems set up so all crime stays out of the city while our heroic officers and other emergency personnel handle more important matters. Promoting Cosen isn't the only task I wanted to publicly announce, as you can see I am an old man and I can not look after Cosen forever. That's why this young man standing next to me will keep Cosen alive. Ladies and gentlemen let me introduce to you the new face of Cosen and my newly adopted son, Andy Coddway."
"What the hell!", Josh shouted.
I couldn't speak, my blood was boiling. I finally get to see the man, the one who took my family away from me. He's doing it again, the last person left in my family is the one he's taking for himself.
"We have officially settled down in Greenwaters so please make us feel welcome..."
"The bastards were sending us a message they're here", Josh said.
"He's not his son, he never will be. I'll kill him with my bare hands! He did me a huge favor by showing his face. I won't forget it."