Shadow Men – 72 – Anders and Grant

Anders grinned when they turned onto the lane leading up to the house. "Home, sweet home."

"Not literally, I hope," Grant replied, realizing he had no idea if Anders actually had a place to call home.

"No, but close enough at this point."

"Do you..?"

"Have a home? I've got a couple of places I stay between jobs, yeah."

Grant had the feeling from the tone of his voice Anders wasn't going to elaborate so for the time being he dropped the subject.

As the house came into view in the headlights Grant thought he saw someone pull back a curtain in a second floor window. He drove around to the side of the house, parked and was about to get out when a voice said menacingly, "Don't move. Keep your hands on the steering wheel where I can see them."

"Fuck," Anders growled.

"Told you we should have let them know we were coming," Grant pointed out as he did what Steele ordered.

"Yeah, yeah." Anders inched his window open so he could call out, "It's just us, damn it."

"Well hell." Steele lowered the rifle. "Don't you know better than to just drive up here with no warning?"

"That's what I told him," Grant said with a smirk as he got out of the car.

Anders was out by then and came over to join them.

"You look like death," Steele said as he looked Anders over with a critical eye.

"He refused to take his next dose of pills when he was supposed to because he didn't want to be asleep when we got here and…" Grant shot a look at Anders, "he won't let me check the wound. He says its fine but I'm beginning to doubt it."

"It is fine," Anders muttered, not looking at either of them.

"Get in the house, now!" Steele ordered. "I'll get Corrie to check it out."

Looking a bit like a kid who'd been caught with his hand in the cookie jar, Anders headed to the back door, closely followed by the others. He sat on the sofa when Steele pointed to it then Steele went up to get Corrie. She came down, sleepy-eyed, and told Anders to take his shirt off. Grumbling that he was fine, he did.

When she removed the bandages, she hissed in a breath. "Fine, my ass." The whole area was red and inflamed. "Didn't you get any antibiotics?"

"Actually, he didn't," Grant put in before Anders could reply. "The doctor said all he had on hand were pain pills."

"Why the hell didn't he give you a script then?" Corrie asked angrily.

"He did," Anders mumbled. "But no way was I going to get it filled. It would have been a red flag and you know it."

"He's got a point, unfortunately," Steele pointed out as he joined them.

Corrie nodded. "Let's get him downstairs and I'll see what I can do."

When they entered the basement room Grant immediately asked, "Where's Rafe?"

"Upstairs where he belongs," Steele told him with a smile. "He's still not mobile but at least he's not cooped up down here any more."

Corrie ordered Anders to sit on the edge of one of the beds. "Pills," she said tersely when he had.

"In the car," Grant replied. "I'll get them." He was back moments later with the bottle and a glass of water.

Corrie took the bottle, read the label and dumped three pills into Anders' hand. He cocked an eyebrow but took them.

"As soon as he's out I'll deal with the wound," Corrie told the others. "Grant, go get some sleep, you don't look much better than he does."

Grant wanted to protest but he knew she was right so he left. When he got to the second floor, he immediately went to check on Nicky. His son was curled up under the covers, just the top of his head showing. Grant sat down carefully on the edge of the bed, eased the covers back some and smiled. "You look like an angel," he whispered before he kissed Nicky's forehead.

Nicky stirred and opened his eyes sleepily. "Daddy!" Seconds later his arms were around Grant's neck. "Missed you, Daddy."

Grant hugged him back tightly. "Missed you too, a lot."

"Where's Anders?"

"Missed him too, huh?"

"Uh huh."

"You'll see him later, I promise."

"Are we going home now?"

"Well not right now," Grant said, ruffling his hair, "but soon, I hope."

"Good." Nicky yawned widely. "Tomorrow?"

"In a couple of days probably. Now lie down and go back to sleep."

When Grant yawned as well, Nicky said, "You too, Daddy."

"Planning on it." Grant waited until Nicky was settled, drew the covers back over his son and kissed his cheek. He smiled when he realized Nicky was already asleep again. He went to his own room where he quickly stripped and fell into bed.