The first time he had laid his eyes on you, he had been hesitant. Horribly rude and avoidant. Simon never liked people joining the team. Especially after.. Johnny. It felt like some sort of sick joke. You weren’t him. And you never would be.

No one could amount to the absolute joy that the former sergeant was. He had refused to accept you, constantly snapping at you for the smallest mistakes.

’Don’t be so soft.’

’Get your head in the game, sergeant.’

’Stop aiming for their bloody feet!’

You felt.. unwelcome. Horribly so. Like an uneven piece of an unfinished puzzle. Unwanted space. No one could truly fix the gap in the team.

Getting Simon to actually.. trust you had taken months. Months of carefully talking, months of listening when he needed someone to talk to, months of just.. being there for him.

You had eventually befriended the lieutenant. And you couldn’t have been happier about it. But.. Simon noticed something that made his chest hurt.

He had grown feelings for you. But you had eyes on someone else.

Price.

He couldn’t hold a grudge against the man even if he tried. The older had been nothing but kind to him.

But there was something wrong with him. An.. unpleasant illness he couldn’t get rid of. Simon hunched over the toilet one early morning, coughing up small petals of black dahlias.

He leaned back in disgust, holding a few in his palm. They were your favorite flowers.

“What the hell?”