Burnin' Up - Firefighter!Chris Evans x Reader

Part 10: Burning Bridges

Warnings: ANGST! Talk of Divorce! Language! Major Injury! Lots of Trauma being dealt with!

Chris hurt.

Chris hurt physically, mentally and emotionally. He had been signed off from work for 6 weeks so he could recover from his broken ribs, a relatively small price to pay considering the life he saved. That being said he got an earful from both his captain and his dad about taking unnecessary risks, he'd been suspended for 7 weeks effective immediately, which thankfully meant only 1 extra week on top of his recovery time.

But no matter how much he hurt he didn't regret any of his actions. He didn't regret running into the building to save that little girl. He didn't regret saying what he said to you, because it was the right thing. Every time a sliver of doubt wavered through his mind he had to remind him that, he did the right thing, it was better this way, no matter how much he hurt.

It had been a couple of weeks since his accident and he was trying to act positive. His family had been taking it in turns to visit and help him recover, doing jobs around the house that he couldn't do while his ribs were still healing. He forced a smile whenever they were over, playing the act he needed to play. But as soon as they were gone he went back to being his miserable self, not even dodger could pull him out of his foul mood.

He tried to keep the act up for as long as he could but he was getting more and more frustrated and irritable, snapping and growling in frustration when things didn't go his way.

"oh for fuck sake!" Chris growled when he knocked a bag of pasta onto the floor, he let out a sigh before bending down to grab it "shit" he winced when pain shot over his chest.

"here let me get it, go sit down," Lisa said gently, putting her hand on his shoulder and pushing him towards the island.

"I'm fine let me help" Chris protests trying to step back towards the stove.

"Christopher go sit down" Lisa states pointing over to the stool she wished he'd sit on.

Chris huffs in annoyance before moving to sit down at the island like he's told. Lisa watches him with a concerned eye before picking up the bag of pasta and returning to the meal they were cooking.

"do you need more painkillers?" she asks as she adds the pasta to the boiling pan.

"no, I took some recently, just waiting for them to kick in" Chris huffs rubbing his forehead tiredly.

"Okay, well why don't you go lie down while I finish up cooking dinner? It won't take long" Lisa offers.

"fine" he mutters pushing himself up and sulking out of the kitchen and into the living room.

Sitting down on the couch he rested his head back closing his eyes as he took a couple of deep breaths to rid his brain of all the noise. It was impossible. His despair was interrupted when he left something land in his lap, opening his eyes he found a tennis ball in his lap and Dodger sat waiting expectantly.

"no dodger not now" Chris sighs pushing the tennis ball off his lap.

Dodger quickly scrambled after it, grabbing it only to drop it back in Chris' lap "I said no Dodger" he grumbled putting the ball down on the couch next to him.

Dodger then lept onto the couch after the ball, his buffy tail repeatedly hitting Chris in the face. Chris growled in frustration trying to get dodger to stop but the mutt just wasn't listening, Chris had never had an issue with Dodger disobeying him before which just made his frustrations worse. He was close to completely snapping when Lisa walked in.

"Dodger down" she commands, dodger instantly listening and jumping down off of the couch "good boy"

She walks around the back of the couch holding out two bowls "I gave you an extra large portion to help recover" Lisa says passing him a bowl of her famous meatballs.