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Zane was still a" "Sometimes Not as s," Deuce pointed out with a nod

Zane nodded "Yeah," he agreed

"If you hadn’t been hurt on the job, would you enjoy it htfully

Zane considered who to This was Ty’s brother, after all, not just some random bureau psychiatrist "No," he admitted quietly

Deuce pursed his lips and nodded Then he leaned toward Zane slightly "Is Ty a good partner?" he asked

"You were there when I told your ood partner"

"That’s what you toldfor the real answer"

Zane frowned slightly, not sure what Deuce wanted to hear "Why would I lie about that?"

"So he’s a good partner," Deuce concluded with a nod He looked at Zane unflinchingly, studying him "Are you?" he finally asked

Zane was a little surprised by the question "I hope so "

"Of course," Deuce agreed with a shrug of one shoulder and a smile "But are you?"

"I don’t know," Zane answered defensively

"Sure you do You knohat it takes Are you soht?"

Zane caught hi with his fears a lot in the for soht now, it ood partner," Deuce translated for hiether, embarrassed and at a loss for words "Has anyone ever threatened you over saying that word?"

"Not that I recall," Deuce answered sincerely He was still shtfully "As a shrink, we’re trained to listen and ask the relevant questions, not so ht you didn’t like to be called a shrink," Zane said with a weak soes," Deuce ad to offer advice to you now despite being a shrink, okay? It’s good to be honest with yourself And harsh, to a point After that point it gets unhealthy," he said with a wince and a shrug "But so yourself I tell Ty all the time, just admit that you’re an asshole andto enjoy the line of conversation and raured the worst of his nightmares was that sometime, somewhere, he wouldn’t be able to protect the people he cared about--and that they’d be taken away from him as a result As to how to fix it? God only knew, because Zane sure didn’t

"Once you ad, then you can begin searching for the reason why," Deuce went on "And once you’ve found that, you can begin to take steps towardit better So, tell yourself you’re an asshole, stop being an asshole, your problelazes over on me at that point," he added with a frown "Kinda like you are"

"That’s because he’s an asshole," Zane said with a small ss off so easily Itharder and shaking his head "Ty takes things to heart," he told Zane, his voice losing the light, carefree tone and becos he takes hard for about a er Especially issues of fault Failures hit him hard, but he processes them well They don’t stick to him See, some people, they’re sticky like Velcro You’re sticky Your problems stick to you like fuzzballs from the laundry; you take them everywhere with you and people can see the sticks to hi at Deuce oddly, but he couldn’t stop himself "You know, I don’t knohat’s worse, that you just said that or that it actually rinned "You just have to pick off the fuzzballs," he advised

"I never was really good with laundry," Zane said with a self-deprecating laugh "Not really good with dealing with ‘things’, either"

Deuce hu the laundrythe laundry analogy for the laugh factor?" Zane asked as he wrinkled his nose "If we are, I’ll say I’d rather duet about it"

"You don’t want a tiny little Oriental guy dealing with your fuzzballs," Deuce argued, barely restraining a laugh "It’s one ofas Zane did laugh "I should write it down" He paused for a longany headway here?" he asked seriously

"I hear what you’re saying But it’s nothing I didn’t already know," Zane said He kneas wrong He just didn’t kno to fix it, so he’d taken to ignoring it

Deuce nodded in understanding "So what you’re saying is you don’t reat one"

Zane’s face went very still as a flash of pain streaked through his chest "I’ve been a good partner when it counted"

"It always counts, Zane," Deuce hed, dropped his eyes, and then closed theood measure "Yeah," he whispered

Deuce reached out and patted hiet into the whys, you knohere to find et a breath into his lungs, Zane looked up at Deuce He thought he should say so to be said He settled on nodding and s weakly

Deuce smiled lopsidedly at him "Good, now help et down, but it’s no da back up I just roll around like a turtle on its shell ’til somebody shoves me with a stick"

Zane couldn’t help but snort and smile "I’m not sure I’m in much better shape," he admitted "Your dad sets a fast pace"

"He always has," Deuce acknowledged

Zane snorted, got to his feet fairly easily, and then offered Deuce an arrip, and he pulled himself to his feet with Zane’s help He clapped Zane on the back and turned to head for the tree line again to gather more firewood

Zane watched hi, what happened?" he asked impulsively

Deuce turned and looked back at hi, you h as he turned back to face Zane "I went over the handlebars of a ht smile "Got pinned between the bike and a tree Broke all kinds of bones and tore some tendons below the knee Couldn’t be fixed to where I don’t limp"