"There was a chemical fire in a warehouse full of accelerants. The fire marshal gets called automatically." Erin's jaw tightened. "What the hell were you thinking, going in there alone?"
Lena tried to remember how much time had passed, how long Erin had been sitting here. The light coming through the hospital room window looked like late afternoon, maybe early evening. "How long have I been here?"
"Six hours. You've got a concussion, two cracked ribs, and about fifteen stitches in your temple." Erin's voice stayed clinical, but Lena could hear the fear underneath. "The doctor said you're lucky. A few inches to the left and that debris would have caved in your skull."
"Martin Cross?"
"He was arrested three blocks from the warehouse. Patrol picked him up trying to hot-wire a car." Erin's expression hardened. "He's talking. Claims you attacked him unprovoked."
Lena tried to push herself up despite the pain, needing to explain, but Erin held up a hand.
"Julia's handling it. She's been here twice, pacing the hallway and cursing your decision-making abilities. Or lack thereof." Erin's mouth curved in what might have been a smile under different circumstances. "I told her what I found at the scene: accelerant storage, chemical equipment, and evidence of planned destruction. Cross was there to destroy evidence, not because you ambushed him."
"You assessed the scene?"
"I did my job." The words carried weight, a reminder of everything that had been said between them. "The building's atotal loss, but we recovered enough evidence to piece together what he was doing. Chemical analysis will take time, but it's clear he was storing components for sophisticated incendiary devices."
Lena closed her eyes, trying to process the implications. "He said someone was paying him for building information through anonymous dead drops."
"Julia mentioned that. Cross gave up his source in the building safety department—Danny Morrison. They picked him up an hour ago." Erin's voice softened slightly. "Morrison's cooperating and says he had no idea Cross was selling the information he shared and thought they were just catching up over drinks."
"And the person buying the information?"
"We’re still working on that. But Cross kept records of the drop locations and payment amounts. It's enough to build a case, even if we don't have the buyer yet."
They sat in silence for a moment, the weight of professional information exchanged but personal wounds still raw between them. Lena could see the exhaustion in Erin's posture in the way she held herself carefully distant despite being close enough to touch.
"You didn't have to stay," Lena said finally.
"Yes, I did." Erin's response was immediate, fierce. "You were unconscious in a hospital bed. Of course I had to stay."
"Even after Friday?"
Erin was quiet for a long moment, studying her hands. When she looked up, her eyes were bright with unshed tears. "When I saw you being loaded into that ambulance, covered in blood and soot, unconscious..." She stopped, swallowed hard. "Nothing else mattered. Not the fight, not what you said to Hallie, nothing. I just needed you to be okay."
"Erin—"
"No, let me finish." Erin's voice gained strength. "I was furious with you. Iamfurious with you. What you did today—pursuing a dangerous suspect alone, walking into an unknown warehouse without backup—it's exactly what you were afraid I'd do. Exactly what you tried to protect me from."
She looked down at her hospital blanket. She'd done everything she'd been terrified Erin would do and made every reckless choice she'd tried to prevent. "I know."
"Do you? Because six hours ago, I thought I was going to lose you, and it wouldn't have been because you trusted me too much or gave me too much autonomy. It would have been because you couldn't trust me at all."
Lena felt tears starting, hot and unwelcome. "I was trying to prove I could solve it without?—"
"Without me." Erin's voice was steady, but Lena could see her hands shaking. "You'd rather risk dying alone than admit you needed help."
"That's not—" Lena stopped. It was exactly that. She'd chosen fear and control over everything else. "You're right."
"I know I'm right. The question is what we do about it."
Lena studied Erin's face, taking in the exhaustion and soot stains that told the story of the last six hours. Despite everything between them, Erin had done her job at the fire scene, followed the ambulance to the hospital, and kept vigil instead of walking away. She was here, asking what came next instead of giving up on them entirely.
"I was wrong," Lena said. "Not just about today. About everything—going to Hallie, trying to protect you from your own job, thinking I knew better than you did."
"Lena—"
"Let me say this." Lena struggled to sit up despite the pain in her ribs. "I wasn't protecting you. I was protecting myself. I wasterrified of losing you, so I tried to control everything instead of trusting you."
