Title: A Faraway Dream
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Carl Hickman/Louis Daniel
Fandom: Crossing Lines
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 492
Disclaimer: This is entirely a product of my own imagination, and I make no profit from it. I do not own the lovely Carl Hickman or Louis Daniel, unfortunately, just borrowing them for a while. Please do not sue.

***

He was back in Paris, with his team, with his friends. Back where he belonged.

But Louis couldn't help feeling that everyone was too concerned about him.

"Carl, I am fine," he said for what felt like the hundredth time as his lover's hands moved over him, searching for broken bones or blood. Fortunately, there were none to find.

"You took way too much of a chance," Carl told him, his voice stern. "You shouldn't have been there, Louis. That's the last time we let you go alone into a situation that could get you killed." Louis could hear the relief in Carl's voice, and it made him smile.

The time that he'd spent on that undercover mission already seemed like a dream; it was as though it had happened to someone else long ago, not him.

And now, they had enough evidence to put those murderers away for good.

Yes, Carl was right -- he had taken a terrible risk. But he had come out of it alive, if not completely unscathed, and everything was going to work out. It was the last time he intended to take such a risk; he wouldn't go on another mission like that on his own.

He had done a lot of thinking while he'd been undercover, and he had come to the conclusion that his life with Carl, their future, was something that he didn't want to risk again.

His team had been right. He might not have felt that he had much to live for in the past, but now, he had a future to build with someone he loved. A future that he shouldn't risk.

This would be the last time he'd go out into the field -- at least without any backup. He'd known that it could be risky, and it had proven to be so. He would have to let Carl give him all of those stored-up "I told you so's" when they got home, but somehow, Louis didn't think he would mind.

He was just happy to be back where he belonged.

He was happy to be alive, and safe -- and to know that he would be able to go home with Carl, to relax in his lover's arms and know that life was good.

He'd been lucky to get out of the situation he'd been in without being shot -- as it was, he had a lot of bruises, and a graze on his shoulder where a bullet had whizzed by him. But other than being stiff and a little bloody, it was nothing serious -- all in all, he'd been extremely fortunate.

All of what he'd dealt with undercover already seemed like a faraway dream, one that he would have to make a report on, and then push it away.

As he took Carl's hand and smiled at him, Louis let himself relax.

The dream was over -- and now his real life could finally begin.

***