“Yes.You’ll see your family soon.”
“Thank you,” Tom murmured faintly.
“Rest,” Rocko said before going back to bandaging his leg.
Apollo knew he’d never get used to witnessing the pain humans inflicted on innocent people, but he’d be damned if he ever stopped fighting to stop it.
***
Rocko
He could hear Mary crying from inside the spare bedroom.They’d reunited husband and wife, and Renee had begun healing him.He’d live, but the cost to this innocent small family was dire.Those fuckers got off easy, meeting a quick end when they deserved to have suffered as much as these innocent people had.Tom’s only crime was being seen using his powers to save a fellow worker’s life from a falling beam.This shit had to end.
“You okay?”Apollo asked as he joined Rocko, who was sitting on the deck.
It was still dark out, well before dawn, and Rocko’s mind wouldn’t settle.He’d never been a vindictive man or prone to violence unless necessary.He upheld the law and fought for what was right.Now all he wanted to do was rage at the injustices and make those people pay.
“I’m having a crisis of faith in my chosen profession.”
“I see.”
Apollo sat in the chair beside Rocko.His silent strength and calm settled over Rocko.
“I have to admit I was worried about what you saw me do,” Apollo said, surprising Rocko.
“You mean with that guard?”
“Yes.I stopped his heart with one thought.Disrupted his heart’s rhythm with my touch until it seized inside his chest.”
“If anything, I might have been jealous.My abilities center around my overstuffed brain.It’s either my memory or my ability to read and track people.Nothing physically useful.”Rocko raked his palm down his face.”Shit, now I’m sounding like Hendrix.What the fuck is wrong with me?”
Rocko realized his crisis might involve more than his profession.Was he finally losing his mind?Become full?Maybe he’d snapped and didn’t realize it yet.
Apollo held out his hand.“Come with me.”
Without a second thought, Rocko took Apollo’s hand and followed him back inside the house, up the stairs, and to their bedroom.As soon as he shut the door, Apollo turned and, without saying a word, began unbuttoning Rocko’s shirt, then his jeans, and slid them off along with his underwear.Rocko was all for a bit of distraction, but was now the right time?
“Get in bed,” Apollo ordered before he could ask any questions.
Rocko crawled into bed, and when he turned, he found his lover hadn’t gotten naked; he still had his boxer briefs on.
“Why do you still have your clothes on?”
“Because this is about you, not me.Now lie down on your stomach.”
Confused, Rocko did as he was told.The bed dipped on Apollo’s side, and then he heard the click of a bottle cap.Moments later, Apollo’s warm palms were sliding across his back as he scented something close to eucalyptus.
“What’s that?”he asked.
“It’s a massage oil Renee created for me to use on my sore muscles when we were building like crazy earlier this year.By the time I’d make it to bed, my arms and legs were so stiff I could barely sleep, and there was no way I’d ask Renee to use her healing powers on something so frivolous.So she created this for me to use when I was having a hard time getting my muscles to loosen.”
A moan slipped out of Rocko’s mouth as Apollo rubbed and squeezed his tense neck.He hadn’t realized how much tension he was holding in his muscles.With every squeeze, his body slowly melted until he was a puddle, and somehow, he could think more clearly.
“You’re a good person and an excellent detective,” Apollo stated, his voice low.“Don’t allow these people to make you second-guess who you are.You’ve been under a great deal of stress this past week, between being bombarded with visions from hell, having to relive other people’s shit, and figuring out what it all means while trying to save an innocent man’s life.You may wish you had a more physical ability, but without you, Tom would be a dead man right now instead of being downstairs with his family.Sure, I can end some asshole’s life, but you can save one.”
Rocko remembered saying something similar to Hendrix when he’d first arrived.The stress and confusion of the last weeks had drastically affected him in ways he hadn’t even noticed until it all came to a head tonight.He’d lost sight of his true self, and it took the man he was falling in love with to remind him of who he was and what he stood for.
In that moment, Rocko knew he wasn’t leaving.Apollo would have to kick him off the property to make him leave, and as his eyes grew heavier, he held on to that declaration as his guiding light.This was his home.
