Work Text:
Colin Peterson was freaking out.
He risked another glance behind him before pounding on the door again.
“Come on, open the damn door,” he grumbled, giving the corner a few swift kicks. He hunched his shoulders down when he heard a car turn into the parking lot behind him.
The door pulled open and Colin immediately pushed his way inside only to be slammed up against the entryway wall.
“Peterson, what the hell are you doing here?” Diego asked. Colin saw the flash of a knife in his hand.
“Is that any way to greet your partner?” he asked. Colin was shaking but he’d never been so grateful to be held at knifepoint. He raised his hands slightly, in case Diego made a move on him. “I need your help.”
“How do you even know where I live?”
“Your address is in your personnel file at the station,” Colin said. “Diego, please, I don’t know who else I can trust.”
Diego stared at him a long moment before releasing him. Colin breathed a sigh of relief and made his way to the couch. He’d never been in Diego’s apartment before but it seemed to fit him, basic and utilitarian. Living room, kitchen, bedroom. Weird mask embroidery on the wall.
“There’s a coverup at the precinct,” he started as Diego moved into the kitchen to get something to drink. “You know how I like to look into old missing persons cases?”
“Yeah, you seriously need some hobbies,” Diego said which Colin didn’t think was fair given how he tried to poke through the files when Colin was away from his desk.
“Well, I think I found something,” Colin said. From the kitchen, he heard Diego close a microwave door and start heating something. “I didn’t want to tell you earlier because, well, I wasn’t sure it was anything. But there was this connection, this building that these girls lived in. The reason we didn’t catch it is because it wasn’t where they lived when they went missing, but it was in their other records. And several of them were reported missing someone using that building phone number.”
“Peterson. Those women were on and off the streets. It wouldn’t be surprising if a few of them ended up in the same half-way house.”
“I know!” Colin said in exasperation. “But I thought I’d just look into it, see if I could put up some flyers or something, get the current residents in contact with some resources to break the cycle, you know?” He could feel Diego rolling his eyes, even if he couldn’t see it. “But I went to the place and it isn’t a halfway house—it’s a club. And the number for the building office just goes to the phone behind the bar.”
Diego walked back into the living room with two steaming mugs. Colin’s hands still shook even as he wrapped them around the mug. Colin took an eager sip, hoping it would calm his nerves.
“Is this hot chocolate?”
“I’m all out of coffee. So, the place was a club,” Diego prompted, sitting down next to him.
“Yeah. And when I go back to the precinct and try to pull the files again, they’re gone. I couldn’t find the copies I’d pulled earlier and the digital copies don’t show up in the database either. It’s like all of them just disappeared, but the only people who have access to both the evidence records and the ability to amend the computer files—”
“Are police officers,” Diego finished.
“My name is all over the sign-out logs. Whoever scrubbed the records is going to know who I am and where to find me,” he admitted. “When I was reading the files… Patch and Beaman worked some of those missing person cases, Diego. We sit across from them in the bullpen. Beaman even told me not to waste my time on those cases. I don’t know who could be in on this.”
Colin knew he was taking a gamble with Diego. They’d been partners a few months but Colin would never go as far as to call them friends. They didn’t hang out after work and during stakeouts Diego almost refused to talk about himself. As far as Colin knew, Diego could have been the one deleting the information.
“…How did you know you could trust me?” Diego asked, face looking drawn.
“Keen detective instinct?” Colin suggested and Diego snorted into his mug.
Colin’s nerves were frayed, mainly due to the threat on his life. He’d reached his threshold for not freaking out about three hours ago. “I don’t know, okay! Maybe you put rat poison in this hot cocoa and this is how I die and the last thing I’ll think is that it’s weird you sleep in two-piece pajama sets! All I know is that this morning I was going to an apartment on Fourth Avenue to put up some flyers and the next thing I know I’m being followed on my walk home. I took all these buses and trains and then I walked here hoping that every time I passed an alley someone wasn’t going to jump out and murder me!”
“There’s hot cocoa?” someone behind them asked and Colin leapt to his feet, moving so quickly he almost tripped over the coffee table.
“Shit—Klaus, go back to bed,” Diego said, getting up to meet him.
Klaus seemed to have appeared out of thin air. But while Colin had never seen a ghost before, he didn’t think they spirited around in neon briefs and an open robe.
“But I want cocoa,” Klaus said.
“You need to go back to sleep,” Diego said with a hand on his shoulder, ushering him back into the bedroom.
The single bedroom.
Colin stood there for a moment dumbfounded as he listened to the hushed conversation between the two of them. Diego explained that he was someone from work and Klaus seemed tired enough to go back to bed easily.
Diego’s secrecy started to make a lot more sense. The one thing that Colin could say he knew about Diego with certainty was how much being a police officer meant to him. Despite the dry comments and undertones of bitterness, he legitimately wanted to help people. It was the reason Colin trusted him to help now.
“Uh, sorry about that,” Diego said, pulling the bedroom door shut behind him. “That’s, uh… Klaus. He and I are, uh, well… He’s my brother?”
“Oh,” Colin nodded while the two of them stared each other down.
“And-- He’s, um, out of rehab and I’m just helping him get back on his feet, you know?” Diego said, making a vague gesture with his hands.
Colin stared. The two of them didn’t look the least bit related. But if Diego wanted to keep his relationship secret, Colin could at least do him the courtesy of not prying.
Colin understood. He understood why Diego was so secretive about his private life and about his past. He always brushed any talk of family and Colin got the impression there was a larger reason they weren't close. It was a sad truth that having a male partner wouldn’t help Diego’s career and if he wanted to stay in the closet then Colin really, really understood. He was similarly inclined.
Diego took a deep breath and looked up at Colin. “You think the same guys who killed those girls are in the department and are now after you now?” he asked and Colin snapped back to the present. The present where his life was very much still in danger. He nodded. “Okay. So, here’s what we’re going to do…”
☂
It had admittedly been a while since Chuck Beaman went to the gym.
There was one at work but it was more of a glorified supply closet with a rickety treadmill and a weight rack missing some dumbbells. But some time between his New Year’s Resolution and Colin Peterson accidentally discovering a human trafficking ring, Beaman slacked off on a few workout sessions.
If there was one thing he learned on that case, it was that his entire mission plan went out the window when he was punched in the face.
He hated that feeling of shock and a split second was all the advantage his adversary needed. Beaman was lucky he had Eudora watching his back or else he could have ended up dead in that warehouse. Diego suggested he take a self defense class but Beaman had gravitated towards organized fighting instead.
He’d opted for an amateur boxing league run out of a local gym. When he heard they had a few fights Friday night, Beaman decided to make the trip downtown to check it out.
“Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Kraken!”
Beaman wished he could say he was surprised Diego would be in a place like this but given the way he’d taken out those goons at the warehouse, it really made sense.
Diego was in a pair of gym shorts with a protective helmet and gloves. His opponent looked bigger than him but by the first punch, it was clear they were an even match.
The crowd shouted on the two boxers, cheering whenever one landed a solid hit. It was pretty clear most of them were pulling for “The Kraken” and Beaman chuckled to himself. He knew Eudora would get a kick out of the nickname.
“Come on, Diego, hit him harder! Punch him in the face!” screamed a man in Diego’s corner. He didn’t look like the other fighters, a little too thin and wiry. But dressed in a tank top and a hint of eyeliner, he didn’t look like the other spectators either.
When the round ended and they when to their corners, he was right there with a towel and a bottle of water for Diego. Beaman watched as he blotted carefully a cut on Diego’s cheek while he seemed to scream more encouragement at him. The man pressed a kiss to the side of his helmet, put a mouthguard back between Diego’s teeth, and shoved him out towards the ring for the next round.
It didn’t last long. Diego came out swinging and two hits later the other guy was on the ground. The crowd cheered as Diego held up his hands but no one was as loud as the guy in skinny jeans who rushed into the ring after him to grab Diego in a hug.
Beaman had seen enough. He let the couple celebrate and made his way to the door with a smile.
The next day at work, Diego brought in a box of Griddy’s doughnuts and put them on his desk, directly across from Beaman.
It felt like a test. While his excursion to the boxing gym was educational, Beaman ultimately decided he’d enjoy Jiu Jitsu more and signed up for a class closer to his apartment. He swore he’d go to the gym after work, it was just that the doughnuts smelled phenomenal.
Beaman cleared his throat. “So. What are the doughnuts for?”
“These doughnuts are exclusively for people who don’t ask what happened to my face,” Diego said though Beaman was a little more interested in why his shirt was buttoned up to the collar. He was even wearing a tie for once. Diego nudged the box towards him. “And you, Chuck, have earned one.”
“There’s nothing wrong with being concerned for your coworkers,” Eudora said, sitting down with a huff.
Beaman took pity on her and tore the doughnut in half, passing part of it to Eudora.
Diego narrowed his eyes at them. “Traitor.”
Before Eudora could respond, the door to Captain Waterson’s officer banged open. “Harris!” he shouted out at the bullpen and Diego groaned. “In here, now!”
Diego dragged himself up from his desk chair and pointed at his partner. “Colin, there better be ten doughnuts in there when I get back. You’re in charge of guarding them.”
Peterson gave a lazy salute but otherwise didn’t look up from the file he was reading—likely another cold case.
“Hey Peterson,” Beaman swiveled his chair around towards him. “You and Diego have been partnered up a few months now. Did he ever mention if he’s seeing someone?”
Peterson hesitated. “You don’t think that bruise is from someone he’s dating, do you?” he asked softly and with good reason given how gossip spread through the bullpen like wildfire.
“No, no, nothing like that,” Beaman assured him. “It’s just, I went to this gym the other night and Diego was there with this guy. Kind of skinny with weird tattoos? And I was thinking, he’s been a lot happier the last few weeks.”
“That might have just been the case, though,” Eudora pointed out. “Diego is never happier than when he’s taking down a pile of scumbags. Maybe now that it’s over, he’ll go back to his regularly scheduled level of bitchiness.”
“Nah, it’s more than that,” Beaman argued. “He brought us doughnuts and cracked a joke. These are not the actions of a man who is reveling in the feeling of putting away some dirty cops or mobsters. These are the actions of a man getting laid.”
Eudora laughed at that and flipped open the doughnut box to survey the selection and looked delighted when Peterson didn’t stop her.
“But it wouldn’t be a problem, right,” Peterson said, staring directly at Beaman.
Beaman always thought the kid was a little odd. A little too intense. Now that he had the full force of that stare turned against him, it only reminded him why Peterson was the only person to last more than a month as Diego’s partner. They both had a penchant for stare downs, cold cases, and never letting anything go.
“If he was dating some guy, there’d be nothing to say about it. Right, Chuck?” Peterson repeated, an edge to his voice.
“Yeah, man, of course not,” Beaman rushed to say. The last thing he needed in the office was either of them as an enemy. “It’d be fine.”
“You two better not be starting rumors,” Eudora warned. “Diego’s a good officer. Kind of a pain in the ass sometimes, but it’s not any of our business who he spends his personal time with. Now, let’s focus on something more important. Who’s started the betting pool on how Diego got injured?”
☂
“Do you get the feeling this is some sort of punishment?” Eudora asked Diego as he parked the car.
She couldn’t think of a single other reason why she would have to investigate a break in with him.
It’s not that they didn’t get along, in fact he was probably her closest friend in the precinct besides her partner. They had different opinions on what constituted good policework, but they’d gone out for drinks a few times. Eudora even helped Diego pick out a tasteful bracelet as a gift for his mother last week.
But their little task force—Diego, Peterson, Beaman, and herself—had taken on much bigger crimes than some petty theft.
“Well, the call said the violin that was stolen was worth $15,000,” Diego shrugged. “Let’s just get some statements and get out of here. I told Colin I’d drop by his place after work with some cold medicine.”
“Don’t worry, Beaman said he’d go check up on him when he’s finished with his court thing,” Eudora said, walking up the marble steps to the Icarus Theater.
Diego went to talk to the stage crew in case any of them saw something suspicious which left Eudora dealing with the musicians.
By the third witness statement, Eudora was certain the case was some sort of punishment. The first-chair violinist was convinced one of the other performers stole her violin in an effort to sabotage her solo that night. Eudora listened attentively and took notes on everything she said, especially the parts about her violin being insured and having multiple spares. But in the interest of being thorough, Eudora interviewed a few other musicians as well.
“Can you think of anyone else who might have wanted to take Helen Cho’s violin?” Eudora asked another violinist.
“Not really,” the girl said with a shrug. “I don’t think anyone is trying to sabotage her, either. It’s her first night as the first chair, and I think she’s just nervous. It’s an expensive instrument, someone probably knew she had it and just wanted a quick buck.”
“Thank you so much for your time, Ms. Hargreeves. Do you have a number we can contact you at we have any follow up questions for the investigation?” Eudora asked, jotting down her information.
“Hey Patch, I finished interviewing the staff if you’re ready to get out of here,” Diego said, flipping back through his notes as he approached the two of them.
“Yep, I think we have everything we need to get this report started,” she agreed. The theater was starting to get busy in preparation for the show that night and Eudora was ready to just go home.
“Diego?” the violinist asked carefully. “What are you doing here?”
When Diego looked up at their witness, Eudora saw the both of them freeze.
“Come on, Patch, let’s get out of here,” he said, voice suddenly cold. “We don’t need to bother with a statement when I’m sure we can read all about it in her next book.” He went to turn away but the violinist reached out to grab his arm.
“Diego, wait,” she said and he yanked his arm away from her. “That’s not fair. I’ve been talking to Klaus and he told me he’s staying with you. I just wanted to say—”
“Since when do you and Klaus spend time together?”
The girl seemed taken aback by his tone but she tried to push through. “We get a cup of coffee every week or so. You should come. We haven’t spoken in—”
“Believe me when I say spending time with you is the last thing I want to do, Vanya,” he told her in a voice Eudora only recognized from how he talked to criminals once he had them in handcuffs. The violinist wilted in front of them and Eudora couldn’t help but feel bad for her.
“How long is it going to take you to realize that the best thing you can do is to just leave us the hell alone! Stay away from Klaus and me,” Diego warned her and the girl nodded frantically. Diego glanced back towards Eudora. “I’ll wait for you outside.”
Eudora and Vanya stood there a moment after Diego stormed off. When Eudora looked at her again, she could see tears welling up in her eyes.
“I should go,” Eudora said eventually. She wasn’t sure if she should apologize for Diego’s behavior or leave before she made things worse. Vanya just nodded as Eudora turned and jogged to catch up to Diego.
He was pacing back and forth on the sidewalk outside the theater. Eudora put a hand on his shoulder and turned him roughly towards her. “What the hell, Harris? Since when do you go around threatening witnesses?” she demanded.
“I’m pulling myself from this case. Personal factors,” Diego told her. Diego took every single case that crossed his desk personally but never once had he recused himself, especially not over something as mundane as a missing violin.
“What’s going on with you? Talk to me. Partners have to trust each other,” she reminded him. “Who was that girl?”
“It doesn’t matter who she is,” he said, brushing her hand off his shoulder. “She’s a bad fucking omen, Patch. And she’s going to send Klaus spiraling right back onto the street and I’m not going to let that happen.”
Eudora had met Klaus a few times, most recently as a holiday party in the department. He was entertaining and lively and when offered a drink he’d made a joke about being a recovering addict that was somehow more funny than awkward. Eudora remembered that even though Diego hadn’t introduced him as his partner, he looked at Klaus like he hung the moon and kept an arm around him all evening. Since then, the topic of Klaus only really came up in reference to dinner plans or weekend antics but Diego always sounded fond (and a little exasperated) when he mentioned him.
Eudora’s head spun as she tried to put together the pieces of their latest interaction while also trying to remember the administrative regs on dropping case. If he formally removed himself from the case, he’d have to explain in detail why to Captain Waterson. Eudora knew that the two of them didn’t get along and Diego looked like he was chewing glass at the prospect of having to talk to the man.
“We can make this work,” she told him. “You only interviewed crew and staff and I stuck to the musicians. We’re going to go back to the precinct and type everything up and then I’m going to file the formal report, okay? It’ll be out of our hands by Monday morning.”
If Eudora filed the final report, Diego wouldn’t have to go on record as dropping the case.
“Patch, are you breaking the rules for me?” he asked, mouth quirked up in half a smile.
“Not breaking. Bending,” she corrected. Eudora would have to do all the follow up on her own and it wasn’t standard protocol, but it wasn’t technically against the rules for her to take the lead on it. “Let’s get back to the precinct now, okay?”
Diego sighed and nodded. “The faster we’re done here, the better.”
☂
Beaman was out celebrating!
He and Eudora were officially the first of their police academy class to be promoted to Detective. They hadn’t done the ceremony yet but Captain Waterson informed them earlier that day.
Colin and Diego insisted on taking them out for a few celebratory drinks even though it was bullshit they hadn’t all been promoted together. Sure, technically Eudora was his assigned partner, but the two of them worked with Colin and Diego on almost all of their cases. Whatever beef Harris had with their Captain, it was enough to hold the two of them back from the first round of promotions.
More than getting passed up for promotion, something seemed off with Diego. He’d been withdrawn the last few days and no one couldn’t figure out why. Colin actually came to Beaman to ask if something happened while he was out sick but when Beaman asked Eudora, all she would say is that it was something personal about their last case.
Which didn’t even make sense because Diego “Take Every Case Personally” Harris was clearly affected on other cases, especially the ones involving kids, but he never once offered to drop out of them. Then suddenly Eudora was scrubbing his name from everything to do with a missing violin?
Beaman entered the bar alone and told himself to stop thinking about Diego with his cut jawline and perfect arms and mysterious scars. He’d already gone out with his coworkers but Beaman felt like celebrating with company of a different kind.
That bar was busy for a Thursday. The music was loud and neon lights bounced off the rainbow flags hung up on the walls. A few men gave him appreciative smiles as he made his way to the bar and Beaman smiled back.
Beaman was trying to wave down the attention of the bartender when he heard a familiar sound a few feet behind him.
Klaus laughed loudly and leaned into the space of another man at the bar. Beaman glanced around for Diego but he’d left the last place with Peterson nearly an hour ago.
Klaus had his fingers wrapped loosely around a glass and was making bedroom eyes at some stranger. Beaman pushed away from the bar and moved beside him, putting an arm around Klaus’ shoulders.
“Hey Klaus, long time no see. Let’s catch up,” he had to shout to be heard above the music but the other guy seemed to get the idea and backed away from the two of them.
Klaus narrowed his eyes at him but before Beaman could say anything, Klaus was taking his hand and pulling him towards the back of the bar. The floors were sticky but it was decidedly quieter. And darker. A few couples nearby were audibly taking advantage of that fact.
“I like your shirt. It’s a little cold out for mesh this time of year, isn’t it?” Beaman said.
“Danke,” Klaus smiled at him but it was a little too wide.
“What are you doing here, Klaus?” Beaman leaned forward to check if his pupils were over-dilated but he couldn’t tell if the alcohol he smelled was from Klaus or the bar itself.
Klaus let out a giddy laugh and leaned in closer to him. “Not everyone has the shoulders to fill out a jacket like that. Tell me, Officer Beaman, do you keep handcuffs on that belt?”
“Klaus, what are you doing? Have you been drinking?” Beaman asked him.
Klaus just rolled his eyes. “Now you sound like Diego. He also thinks he knows what’s best for everyone.”
“Is he here with you?”
“Nope,” Klaus grinned, winding a hand in his tie. Beaman felt himself be tugged in closer while Klaus tilted his mouth up to meet his. “But you’re not here with anyone either, are you?”
Beaman tried to swallow but his mouth had suddenly gone dry. Klaus’ eyes were half hooded and Beaman glanced down at his lips, parting his own. With Klaus so close, it was hard to think of anything other than how good he looked in those leather pants and how long it had been since he’d so much as kissed someone.
“What Diego doesn’t know won’t hurt him,” Klaus muttered.
Beaman cleared his throat and took a sharp step back only to feel his back hit the wall. “Klaus. What are you doing?”
Klaus paused and his gaze slid to the right of Beaman. He scoffed loudly. “I can do whatever the hell I want, thank you very much,” he said.
Beaman followed his eyes but no one was there. Beaman didn’t know what Klaus had taken but he seriously wasn’t in the right mind for what he was offering. Klaus stared at the empty space until a look of shame crossed his face.
“Come on, Klaus, let me take you home,” Beaman said softly.
“That’s what I’ve been trying to get you to do,” Klaus grumbled but his shoulders sagged. “I’m tired.”
“I know. It’s going to be okay,” Beaman promised, putting an arm around his shoulders and leading him out of the bar.
Beaman got into the taxi with him, not convinced Klaus would make it home on his own. Klaus just leaned on his shoulder in the back seat and kept muttering to himself, holding up half a conversation Beaman found impossible to follow.
Beaman paid and asked the driver to wait while he got Klaus upstairs.
Diego yanked the door open as soon as he knocked.
“Klaus!” Diego immediately pulled the other man into a crushing hug. Klaus wrapped his arms around Diego too and buried his head against his shoulder. “I’m sorry. I’m so fucking sorry. I thought you were gone.”
“That’s because you’re an idiot,” Klaus muttered against him.
Beaman hovered awkwardly in the doorway, unsure if he should leave yet. Klaus didn’t look quite steady on his feet and Beaman was pretty sure he’d taken something but he didn’t know what. He didn’t know if he should tell Diego, but when he thought about how close he’d been to kissing Klaus, Beaman wasn’t sure he could even face Diego.
“My cab’s waiting…” he said as Diego and Klaus finally pulled apart.
“I think we’ve got it from here,” Diego said, looking at him seriously. “Thank you for bringing him home, Chuck.”
“Don’t mention it,” he said weakly, turning to go home alone.
☂
Eudora hated when they split up for missions. Ever since their promotions, the Captain had been trying out different combinations of Eudora, Diego, Beaman, and Peterson to see who worked best together. Eudora and Diego were tasked with investigating an autobody shop they suspected of disassembling stolen vehicles and selling off the parts.
Eudora discovered the shop was connected to a local gang as a source of income and getaway cars. The plan was for Diego to go in undercover and ask a few questions about the operation. As much as she hated to admit it, the scar on the side of his face and his swagger got him into an uncomfortably high number of questionable places.
Unfortunately, Eudora was relegated to the surveillance van with a tech and she’d spent most of the evening wishing Colin or Beaman could have tagged along with them, if only for their conversation. Instead she was stuck listening to Diego literally talk shop with a bunch of criminals. He knew a disconcerting amount on how to get rid of serials numbers.
In the end, he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
“Hey what are you guys doing here?” was the only warning Eudora had before gunfire erupted from inside the garage.
Eudora was out of the van and calling for backup immediately but by then the gunfire had already stopped.
She was supposed to wait for backup. Eudora knew there was a procedure for this but she couldn’t leave Diego in there alone. She drew her weapon, clearing the corner as she entered the garage.
Eudora had responded to shootings before, but this looked more like a massacre. There were bodies all across the floor and none of them were moving.
“Patch!” she heard a call from behind one of the cars and she lowered her gun as she moved toward him.
Propped up behind an American muscle car was Diego, one hand pressed over his abdomen. There was an overturned toolbox with a tray of wrenches beside him. Diego hadn’t been armed heading in. Had he been throwing wrenches at the gunmen?
Eudora’s attention shifted immediately when she realized he bleeding.
“Shit, Diego. Shit shit shit,” she said, dropping into a crouch to put pressure on his wound. It looked like a graze but there was too much blood for it to be so minor. “Talk to me. Tell me what happened.”
“You were right about the gang connection,” he said, groaning when Eudora pressed against his side. She quickly looked him over for other injuries and realized one of his legs was shot as well. It was bleeding a lot faster than his abdomen.
“I need you to hold pressure here while I hold your leg, okay?”
Diego closed his eyes and winced when Eudora started to lean her body weight against his leg. The bleeding was coming from his thigh, too high for her to really elevate it so pressure was her only option. Diego whined when she leaned down against him. “Come on, Diego, don’t be a wuss about it,” she said, trying to get him to focus.
“Next time you can be the one who goes undercover,” he told her. His voice sounded fainter than before.
“No, no, no, none of that. Come on, partner, talk to me,” she said. “You’re not allowed to lose consciousness because I’m not hauling your ass into the recovery position, okay,” she said but Diego didn’t respond. “Come on, man. Don’t do this. Tell me about something. Talk to me about Klaus. How'd you two meet, huh?”
"We grew up together," Diego said, sounding confused.
"I guess that's why the two of you are so close."
There was a lot of blood. It was all over her hands and she could feel it warm and sticky, soaking into her pants where she knelt. Eudora was struck with the absurd thought she’d never be able to wear them again.
“Diego?” she asked as she heard the paramedics rush in. “Over here!” she called.
The paramedics knew what they were doing and drew her away from his body as they got to work. She wanted to go with him but the paramedics loaded him into the ambulance and off to the hospitals before she could get the words out.
The officers arriving on the scene worked quickly to secure it and ushered her outside. She had to go back to the precinct and as much as Eudora tried to speed through her statement, they wouldn’t let her leave until she’d recounted every detail of their mission.
It was hours before she was able to make it to the hospital.
It was long past visiting hours but the hospital was expecting them and the nurse gave her directions to his room anyway.
There was only one bed in the room and in it was Diego, passed out and in a papery hospital gown. If the machines beeping softly by his bedside were any indication, he was alive and sleeping soundly. Eudora felt some of the tension coiled up in her finally start to relax.
“He just finished surgery,” Klaus said from where he was bent over the bed, one hand holding onto Diego’s and the other resting softly in his hair. “The doctor said he’s going to be okay.”
Colin was curled up in a chair in the corner, sleeping as well with a jacket draped over him. It looked suspiciously like Beaman’s, who was leaned up against the wall looking like he was trying not to doze off.
“If you guys want to head home, I can stay here with him,” Eudora told him softly. Klaus couldn’t drive which meant either Beaman or Colin had gone to deliver the news to him and taken him to the hospital. They must have all been at there for hours.
“We’re okay here,” Beaman said with a tired smile.
Eudora hadn’t realized how exhausted she was until she saw Diego alive. She swayed a little on her feet and Beaman gave her a sympathetic smile. Even Klaus noticed how tired she was because he got out of his chair and nudged Diego up to the railing of the hospital bed, careful not to jostle his leg. Though with the medication he was on, there was little chance Diego would have even felt it.
Klaus gently maneuvered himself to lay down next to Diego, curling around his body slightly and tugging the hospital blanket over them.
Eudora knew it might be the drugs, but she’d never seen Diego look so peaceful.
She lowered herself into Klaus’ vacated chair and between the dimmed-out lights and the rhythmic beeps of the machines, Eudora found herself drifting off as well.
Hours later, Eudora woke to a crick in her neck and the sounds of an argument outside the hospital room door.
“Remember, we don’t want it to feel like an ambush,” a voice outside said.
Without hesitation, Colin jumped up to stand in front of the door and Beamen moved to cover where Diego and Klaus were still asleep. Eudora stood in front of the hospital bed, ready to go for her weapon if things turned violent.
The door was opened to reveal an assortment of people all trying to push past one another to be the first into the room.
Eudora’s first thought was That guy is huge which was immediately followed by Is that Allison Hargreeves?
Despite the veritable giant standing in front of him, Colin didn’t back down and Eudora didn’t relax either. “Who are you and what are you doing here?”
“Luther, let me handle this,” Allison freaking Hargreeves said, sliding around him. Colin regarded her warily. “We came as soon as we heard Diego was injured. We’re his family.”
“Oh my God,” Eudora said to herself.
Colin and Beaman didn’t look like they understood what Allison said and kept positions blocking the visitors from Diego and Klaus. But they hadn’t been at the crime scene and seen the wrenches littered around. “Diego’s been lying. His last name is Hargreeves, not Harris.”
She was reeling. She had an Umbrella Academy lunchbox growing up. She used to play make-belief fighting crime with them.
Eudora watched as the realization hit her coworkers.
“So that means you all are…” Beaman gestured towards them.
“The Umbrella Academy, at your service,” a teenager said, stepping past his siblings.
Colin looked down at the hospital bed where Klaus was still sleeping soundly, wrapped halfway around Diego and still holding onto his hand. He looked back to Eudora. Then back at the bed. And back at Eudora.
Eudora stared back at him in shock.
Beaman cleared his throat. He looked a little pale. “We’re Diego’s partners from work,” he explained. “He was on an undercover mission with us before he was injured.”
“Well it looks like the lot of you are terrible at your jobs,” the teenager said. “What happened to him?”
“We can’t comment on an ongoing investigation,” Colin said and he and the teen squared up to each other.
“The important thing is that Diego is going to be okay,” Eudora interjected before she had to watch Colin get into a physical fight with a fifteen-year-old kid. “The doctors said they’d probably keep him a day or two here before releasing him.”
“We should bring him home,” Luther said. “We can take care of him there.”
“Why, so he can bust his stitches the first argument he gets into with Dad?” Allison asked, rolling her eyes.
“From a practical standpoint, what I’m saying is that we have the means to take care of him there and I can deal with Dad,” Luther told her. “The police are obviously worried about someone coming after him and we can protect him at the house. And you know how much Diego hates hospitals.”
“He hates the house, too,” Klaus said from the hospital bed, startling all of them. Klaus yawned and sat up in a languid stretch. “Why don’t we just wait for him to wake up and we can ask him what he wants?”
This time it was Colin who scoffed. Everyone turned to look at him but Colin just shrugged and crossed his arms. “What? You seriously think Diego is going to want to rest anywhere? He’s going to be clawing to get back to work as soon as he can prop himself up behind a desk.”
“He does have a point,” Beaman told the rest of them. “Diego doesn’t always make the smartest decisions.”
The entire family, including Klaus, nodded in agreement.
“Klaus, you’ve been taking care of him, right?” someone spoke up.
It was Vanya. The violinist from the Icarus Theater. Eudora watched as she stepped out from behind the rest of her siblings. Eudora vaguely remembered hearing she’d written some tell-all book about the Umbrella Academy, but she’d been too busy with work to ever read it. After what Diego said to her, Eudora was surprised she’d decided to come.
“You should keep looking after him, then. And the rest of us can come by and help,” Vanya suggested. She looked at Luther and drew herself up to her full height. “That way it won’t feel like an ambush.”
Klaus nodded in agreement. “Sounds fine to me. Though I don’t think this is what Diego meant when he said he wanted to start hosting company.”
One by one his siblings agreed, Luther eventually ceding to the majority. The conversation shifted to who would be by to visit first and the teenager, Five, started to draw up a schedule with shifts.
Three detectives had already been crowding the room but with the super siblings all reunited as well, it made the room practically suffocating. They had to remind the Hargreeves siblings to keep it down multiple times while they worked out their schedule. Eudora shared a look of disbelief with Beaman but at the very least, none of them were leaving Diego to wake up alone.
☂
Colin Peterson was freaking out.
It’s not a date. He kept telling himself that. Stop freaking out, it isn’t even a date.
Sure, Colin dressed up a little nicer than he normally would have. He wore a watch. But they’d gone to a nice place for dinner. And Saturday nights were busy so making a reservation was just the sensible thing to do. The fact that Beaman was in a suit jacket was probably just so he wouldn’t feel underdressed later at the theater.
But they had spent the thirty-minute walk from the restaurant to the Icarus Theater talking about Mahler’s style of composition even though Colin preferred Rachminoff. And for some reason his palms kept sweating even though the evening was a little cold and the weather looked like it would turn to rain.
“I can’t believe you’ve never heard his Piano Concerto No. 2,” Colin said again. A slight drizzle started to fall but neither of them sped up, enjoying the discussion far too much.
“Now wait just a second, that isn’t what I said. All I said is that I can’t remember it,” Beaman smiled.
Colin swallowed. “I have it on a vinyl. You’ll know it at soon as it starts.”
“Maybe after the symphony, we can go back to your place and you can refresh my memory.”
…It might be a date.
Colin tried to come up with something clever to say back to him. What he ended up doing instead was a doubletake when he saw two figures walking ahead of them. “Is that Diego?”
Beaman seemed surprised to see them as well but jogged to meet up with them. It wasn’t difficult given Diego’s injury. He had one hand wrapped around a cane and the other threaded through Klaus’ arm. As much as Diego pretended to hate the cane, Colin secretly suspected he liked having something to poke people at work with. And as much as he loved cold cases, they were beginning to lose their minds on desk duty. Colin couldn’t wait for the day Diego was healthy enough to get back to real policework.
“Diego? And Klaus! It’s good to see you,” Beaman smiled.
“It’s good to see you too,” Klaus said, beaming. He was in a flowing blouse and fitted black pants with matching heels. Somehow, he didn’t look cold in the light rain though Colin noted he was carrying an umbrella for the two of them.
“You guys look pretty dressed up, heading anywhere tonight?” Colin asked, admiring Diego’s long olive coat and shined up shoes.
“Yes! We have tickets to the orchestra,” Klaus said. “Our sister Vanya is the second chair violin and got us tickets.”
“Oh,” Colin said. “We have tickets too.”
“Honestly I don’t know much about classical music but Diego loves the stuff,” Klaus said, leaning in like it was a secret while Diego rolled his eyes. “Can’t get enough of it.”
“We’re going to support Vanya,” Diego grumbled. “The whole family is gonna be there.”
“All the family who counts, anyway,” Klaus said with a dismissive wave. “And we’re going to support Vanya. We’re very proud,” he added with a pointed glare at Diego. “You gentlemen should go ahead of us, though. We’ll catch up before the curtain opens or the canon sounds or whatever they do to start these things.”
Colin and Beaman gave them a short goodbye before continuing down the block. They were nearing the theater as the rain picked up.
“You know, this might sound crazy, but I could’ve sworn Klaus and Diego were dating,” Beaman said as they walked.
“I thought the same thing!” Colin admitted in exasperation. “But before his entire family visited at the hospital—”
“And you almost got in a fight with that middle schooler.”
“—I completely thought Diego and Klaus were together.”
“Which is insane because Diego introduced him as his brother, but I just thought he was trying to be discrete about their relationship,” Beaman said.
The two of them shared a laugh as they walked, lapsing into silence after a few paces.
Colin cleared his throat a little. “…But they were all over each other at trivia night, right?” he said hesitantly.
“And I did accidentally walk in on them trying to slip into Waterson’s office during the holiday party.”
“Yeah, and I went over to their place one weekend for breakfast and Klaus cooked the entire thing in one of Diego’s shirts.”
“And then there are the notes Klaus packs into Diego’s lunches. I think he signs them with hearts.”
“Don’t forget when Klaus finished his GED and Diego bragged about it for like three straight weeks.”
“And, of course, Klaus crawling into the hospital bed,” Beaman finished.
The two of them slowed to a stop in the middle of the sidewalk.
“You don’t really think…” Colin started but he wasn’t sure how to end the sentence.
“I have no idea,” Beaman said. “I mean, normally I’d say no way, but after that Umbrella book and those things she wrote about Allison Hargreeves and her brother….”
The two of them looked at the corner they’d just turned and carefully walked back to it.
They both leaned forward to peer back down the street.
Diego and Klaus were stopped under a street light. Klaus had passed their umbrella to Diego and was fidgeting with the front of his coat so the collar would lay flat. When he finished, Klaus wound his fingers in Diego’s tie and gave him a little tug forward.
Beaman huffed out a laugh and when Colin looked at him, Beaman shrugged. “It’s nothing. I just recognize that move is all.”
When Colin looked back at to Klaus and Diego, he accidentally caught Diego’s eye.
Diego smirked at them and opened their umbrella. Holding direct eye contact with Colin, he tilted it down to block him and Klaus from view.
Colin couldn’t help but laugh again as he turned back to Beaman . “Honestly, that whole family seems a little bit unhinged. Let’s just get to the theater.”
Beaman laughed too and, feeling bold, Colin reached over to thread their fingers together as they made their way up the marble steps and out of the rain.