Title: At the Center of Everything
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Carl Hickman/Louis Daniel
Fandom: Crossing Lines
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 499
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.

***

This wasn't really where he wanted to be.

Louis sighed softly, knowing that he had made a mistake when he had decided to be the one who headed this mission. He should have let someone else do it.

He had too much in his life to live for now -- he had Carl, and the second chance he'd wanted for years. Why had he been so foolish as to put himself at risk, to put everything he wanted to build with Carl in their future at risk? Why had he wanted to play the hero?

Perhaps because he still felt guilty over not protecting his wife and child in the past. But he should be over that by now. Neither death had been his fault.

Still, the guilt lingered, making him do stupid things.

He couldn't back out of this now; he was at the eye of the hurricane, in the center, and it was too last to send anyone else in, even as a backup for him.

He had to see this through, had to get past the danger and survive. He had to make it out of here, get back to Carl and the life they were building together. They already had a strong foundation; now they were putting together the rest of their future, brick by brick.

It had been foolish to risk that future, foolish to do this. Michael had known it, and had tried to warn him. Louis was sure that Carl had known it, too.

But his boyfriend had let him do what he had to do; Carl knew that he wouldn't back down. The man knew him all too well, possibly better than he knew himself.

Did Carl know that he would be having second thoughts about what he was doing? Did Carl even begin to guess how much he regretted putting his life, and their future, at risk? If he did, then he had been a brave man indeed to let Louis do this.

At least he wasn't being shot at, he told himself, placing a hand on his shoulder. It was as though he could still feel the pain from the last time he had taken a bullet.

He could easily be shot again if his deception was discovered.

No, he wasn't going to let that happen, Louis told himself firmly. He had done things like this before, and he had always come out safe and intact.

He would do so again. He wasn't going to be caught -- he would be cautious, and he would manage to get the information they so badly needed. By the time he had that information and was out of here, it would be too late for their enemies to do anything.

At the moment, he was in the center of everything, at the eye of the hurricane. But he would he out of here soon enough, and back with Carl, where he belonged.

Louis just prayed that things would go as he planned.

***