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look. "You sit and don't move."
    Horse sat. With Barton there, he trusted this cop was going to ask questions first and arrest people second.
    The EMTs pushed their way through the crowd, and the cop pointed to Jim. "One guy says he was shot up with something, another says he has epilepsy. We haven't gotten to the bottom of it yet."
    "There's an injection mark on his neck," Horse told them. "We were in the service together. He doesn't have epilepsy."
    The EMT checked Jim's neck, nodded. "There is. We need to get him to the hospital and we need to know what he was given." The EMTs started getting Jim onto the backboard and Horse sighed in relief as the cops turned their attention to Andy.
    "I'm going with him," Horse announced, to the EMTs, to the cops, to Barton, he didn't care who was listening.
    "He's my husband!" Andy insisted loudly.
    Horse knew better. They might have been together, but they'd never had papers. "Jim's not married. This asshole kicked him out when he came home with his arm blown off." And he was going to go after Andy again, cops and all, if the guy didn't shut the fuck up.
    The EMT's raised Jim on the backboard and put him on the stretcher; one of the cops cleared a path for them. Horse put Andy at his six and followed the stretcher out of the restaurant.
    One of the cops grabbed Horse's arm. "Sir. Sir, you have to--"
    "I'm going with Jim." They could arrest him later.
    He kept going, watching the EMTs put Jim in the back.
    "Only one of you can come with us," the guy told him and...son of a bitch, Andy had followed them as they brought Jim to the ambulance.
    "I'm his husband! I'm going with him!" Andy was practically foaming at the mouth at this point.
    Horse just pushed up into the ambulance. "I'm that one. Where do I sit?"
    "Right here, sir." The EMT pointed at a bench, and Horse sat.
    The ambulance sped off. The EMT worked on Jim, taking his vitals, checking his pupils. "Do you know what he was injected with?"
    Horse shook his head. "I don't know. As soon as he was injected, Jim started slurring his words and his knees buckled out from under him. He never lost consciousness, though."
    "He's sure out now." The EMT strapped a blood pressure cuff on Jim, and then ran an IV.
    "Oh God." Horse grabbed hold of Jim's hand. "Come on, baby. Don't you dare let him win. You come back to me. You do it, Soldier."
    Jim's heart rate sped, the beeping on the monitor increasing, Jim fighting for him.
    "Keep talking, man," the EMT told Horse.
    Yeah, he could do that. "You owe me a dessert and a dance."
    Jim's eyelashes fluttered.
    "That's it. Come on..." The EMT glanced at Horse. "Jim, is it?"
    "Yeah, yeah. Jim." Horse squeezed Jim's hand. "The beach needs you, baby."
    He could see Jim trying to answer, lips opening and closing.
    "I know you're trying to talk to me. Keep trying. Don't you dare give up."
    "Ho..."
    That was it. That was his stubborn lover.
    "Is that all you've got, Soldier?"
    "Hor..." Jim swallowed hard, fighting to speak.
    Horse squeezed Jim's hand again. "You got it, you got it."
    "Not... not mar...not to him."
    "Damn right you're not. Don't worry, I'm not going to let him near you."
    Jim relaxed, nodding.
    Horse smiled at the EMT. "He's awake."
    "He is. You're doing great. Just keep him talking. We'll be there in three minutes."
    Three minutes seemed an awfully long time under the circumstances. "Did you know Andy brought the doctor with him? Was this guy someone you knew?"
    Jim blinked at him, eyes moving wildly.
    "Sorry, sorry. I'm just babbling, I didn't mean to upset you." It had been the first thing that had popped into his head once he knew Jim was still with him.
    "No. No. No doctor."
    "He's not touching you, I promise." Horse had Jim's back. Would have had Jim's back even if he they weren't together.
    "No lie. You. You love."
    "That's right. I'm not lying. And I love you, too." The words just shot out of him, and it felt right, normal.
    "'kay." Jim nodded to him, appearing to calm down.
    "Yeah,