This is my first attempt at a MED fic and I blame my writing partner Child of Loki for it. :). She and I started watching the different Chicago Series at the same time and well it's a taken a bit of a hold on me. A few things if you've never read my fics: I enjoy peril/hurt/comfort but not death. My favorite MED characters are Natalie, Will, and Clarke. I adore Clarke from his stint on Fire and Will for his red hair. Yes, I'm hoping for a Manstead pairing. :)

It was crazy how the littlest things circulated through the hospital grapevine. But given the ritual meeting place that was Molly's it wasn't all that surprising. Even when nothing in particular was happening the smallest things were misconstrued like the way Jeff Clarke was looking at Sarah Reese. Did they have a thing? Then there was Nina Shore she looked especially giddy today. She was holding her left hand talking to Maggie made Dr. Natalie Manning wonder if Will had stepped up and proposed (no offense to Nina, but Will wasn't the marrying type). More power to her if she had ended up being the one who managed to get him to settle down.

Jeff and Will, they both seemed happy in their respective relationships and Natalie was happy for them or at least she tried to be. Two men, one she had been with and one she wanted to be with. Yet, she had pushed them both away.

She watched Sarah and Nina for a moment more and then forced her gaze away. Her chest was growing tight and heart was beginning to hammer. Over the past year, she'd come to recognize the onset of stress induced cardio myopathy or more correctly, broken heart syndrome.

This was silly. She had done her grieving so why was she afraid of it coming back now? She had made her piece with losing Jeff (Manning), had tried to move on with Clarke and was content to keep her ever growing feelings for Halstead at bay.

Closing her eyes she took in breath and blew it out slowly before fingering the rim of her wine glass.

"You want another one?" Natalie looked up into the big brown eyes of Gabriella Dawson and smiled. The firefighter/bar owner had something that the doctor could only dream about: a healthy husband that loved her unconditionally. God Willingly, Gabby and Matt would have the opportunity to grow old together.

"No, two's my limit. I've got an early shift tomorrow."

"That sucks," Gabby said, palming the bar. "So, I'm sorry that things didn't work out with you and Clarke."

"Jeff's a great guy," Natalie said, reaching for her purse so that she could pay her tab. "He was exactly what I needed when I needed it and I'll never forget that. But now it's time for both of us to move on." She handed Gabby a twenty. Her words must have sounded so selfish, but there really wasn't any other way to explain it. Jeff Clarke had helped the hole in her heart to close, making her realize that something more than a lifetime of grief was waiting for her. For that she would be forever thankful.

"Well, for what it's worth, I think he needed you too." Gabby said forcing the doctor to look over her shoulder just in time to see Clarke's hand slide over Sarah's.

"Sarah's lucky." Natalie hopped off of the barstool and headed for the door.

The arctic chill of the Chicago winter bit through her jeans and slapped at her face. Crossing her arms over her chest, she started down the street to her car. As luck would have it, Molly's was packed forcing her to park about half a block down and around the corner from the entrance.

A voice called out to her as she approached her white Volvo XC-60. It was Will Halstead. Smiling, she looked up him. For the moment, she was thankful he was facing her blocking the harsh wind. A small sprig of his flaming auburn hair stood up, tousled to wrong side and Natalie had a sudden urge to push it back into the its proper place.

"I thought you were working an all-nighter," she said, keeping her hands to herself.

Will shoved his hands into his coat pocket, dipping his head . "I got into an argument with a patient's family so Goodwin sent me home early."

"Oh ouch," Natalie made a face. "What happened?"

She watched his face light up into a bit of a mischievous grin. "As it turns out, I knew the patient's sister when I lived in New York. She was a patient of mine and we-"

He drifted off for a moment. "We sort of dated."

"I'm beginning to see the picture."

She watched him frown and cock his head. "No, I don't think you do."

"Then explain it to me."

"No offense, but you look like you don't want to hear it." There was a bit of bite to his tone, one that she recognized. It felt like he was starting to unconsciously take everything out on her again. He'd stopped for a while, but lately it seemed like he'd started back up again.

"I'm just really cold. But we can get into my car and talk if you like," She watched him quirk his mouth to one side, debating.

"Nina's waiting inside and you probably need to get home to Owen." There was truth in that. Natalie had promised the babysitter she would be home by midnight, but seeing Will had just been raked over the coals by Goodwin it might be worth the cost of a little overtime in order to preserve their friendship.

Now it was her turn to give him a quirky grin. "I have to warm up the car anyways," she said, of the ice that had formed on her windshield. "It'll be at least a fifteen minute wait." The truth was she would rather have his company than to sit in freezing car all alone. If she would have been smart she would have turn on the engine half a block ago

"I'll scrape the ice off for you and you can be on your way to Owen in ten," he promised, moving towards the passenger side.

Natalie stepped off the curb and immediately felt her stomach plummet as she noticed the driver's side rear tire. "Crap!" she had a flat.

"Wait a minute. Did you just say just say crap?" Will looked at her a bit bemused and automatically she felt her face flush. Was it really so surprising to him that he needed to point out her swearing?

"It's cute, Nat, really but there has to be reason."

"I have a flat tire." She held out her hand as he stepped off the curb and circled around.

Let me help you change it," He said, rubbing his chin.

For some stupid reason, she felt her face burn with embarrassment. Ok, so it wasn't a stupid reason. It was obvious he was trying to be chivalrous. But there was a part of her that really couldn't envision him changing a tire in the ice and snow. "I can't let you do that."

"Of course you can, it'll only take a few minutes."

"But I don't have a spare." She confessed letting her eyes drift to the front tire. It had been a hard winter and she'd been meaning to get it replaced but with her schedule and having to take care of Owen, she hadn't had the time.

"Ok…then, you can take my car." Will chuckled, fishing out his keys. "I can ride home with Nina and in the morning I'll pick up a spare and we can trade cars at work.

"No, Wil…"

"I'm not taking no for an answer." He took her hand into his and placed the keys to his BMW Z4 in her palm. It was a sweet ride. One she'd though he'd been meaning to sell to offset his financial issues which were supposedly his reasoning for moving in with Nina so quickly.

She couldn't help but flash her best smile as she gave up her own. "Thank you."

"I'll help you get the car seat." He started to move towards the back of the car and she touched his arm.

"It's ok, I have a spare one at home." She held onto his arm longer than she meant to their eyes meeting. Will Halstead had the most mesmerizing set of brown eyes she had ever seen. Every time she looked at them they seemed to capture her, peeling back walls.

"Ok, see you tomorrow then," he said, glancing down at her hand.

"See you tomorrow," she replied, letting another smile meet her eyes as they parted. Taking a step forward, a large hand touched her shoulder.

"Hey, Nat. Don't wreck my car."

"I'll try not to," she was grinning as she crossed the street in the direction of the handsome midnight colored BMW, it's hue, shining underneath the streetlight. Clicking the auto-unlock, she laughed as a hand came down on her shoulder once again.

"You don't have to worry about your-" Natalie turned around and gasped. All she could see was the long barrel large gun pointed straight at her face.

Oh God!

"You Will Halstead's girl?" Wordlessly, she shook her head. She wanted to scream but nothing but terrified squeaks were coming out. She tried to glance over the man's shoulder for any sign of Will but he was too tall. Will was probably safe and warm inside of Molly's cozy up to Nina with a drink in hand.

"How come you drivin' his car then?" She opened her mouth but it was his words that came out.

"Don't matter." In one fluid movement, the gunman pressed his forearm into her throat, pinning her against the car, the hand with the gun slipping to her abdomen. Natalie heard the ping of the bullet tearing through the car door before she felt the blinding pain.

It had gone straight through her stomach and exited out her back.

"HEY!" A shout exploded and suddenly, she was sinking to the asphalt. The sound of her assailant's shoes were pounding down the street.

"Dr. Manning? Jesus!" A pair of hands touched her and Natalie looked up into the kind but worn face of Christopher Herrmann. Her jaw quivered, she was still too paralyzed with fear to speak. She lifted her hands, but they were shaking so badly that she couldn't move them properly.

"Hang, Doc, just hang on," The veteran firefighter, removed his coat and shoved over her stomach, guiding her hands. "Put pressure on this. I don't have my phone, but I'm going to go back to Molly's and call for help."

"M-my…my ph-phone's in my purse," she finally managed, shifting her eyes to where her Michael Kors tote sat inches from her head.

Christopher reached for her bag. "My wife, Cindy, would kill me if she knew I went through your purse. But don't worry, the ambo is on its way." There was pause as he called 9-1-1. "I'm going to call Dawson too. There's a lot of a good people inside who know a lot more about gunshot wounds than I do. "

Natalie nodded squeezing her eyes shut. When she opened them again, Will, Clarke, Sarah, Nina and Dawson were all huddled around her. Clarke's hands had taken the place of Herrmann's, sinking deep into her stomach.

She groaned as Will pressed his fingers into the side of her neck and then clutched her face.

"Stay with me, Nat. You hear me?"

Somehow she managed to nod, but she was fading. Reaching up, her hand curled around his larger wrist.

"S-Sorry a-bout your c-car."

Will cracked a small smile. "We'll talk about that later. Right now-"

Tired. She felt so tired. She didn't want to release the grip on his arm but unconsciously, her arm dropped and everything went black.

"Natalie?" The tips of Will's fingers dug into her cheeks. Forcing her eyes open, she saw two of him.

"Owen," she whimpered, fighting the darkness. "I need to get-"

"Maggie's on it," Clarke's voice floated over the din of the quite hum that had started in her ears. Natalie blinked again and Will was handing Maggie her car keys. Owen would be in good hands with the charge nurse until Helen could be notified.

Will tilted her head a little, recapturing her attention. "See we've got everything taken of. Owen is safe and so are you. We're going to get you to MED and I'm going to patch you up."

"Where's the ambo?" Christopher Herrmann's voice was one that couldn't be missed. The father of five was of one of the most amazing people that Natalie had ever had the pleasure of meeting. He was the kind of man that would give the shirt off of his back to help another human being.

"Accident, skidded on the ice! They have to dispatch another one! " Gabby shouted right before a quite hush blanketed the scene.

What? Deep sleep was starting to claim her. Against her will, her head started to loll until Will jerked it upward, "C'mon, on Natalie don't do this."

Don't do this? How was she supposed to stop it? If this were a mass shooting with limited resources, she would be black tagged already. Abdominal wounds tended to bleed out quickly and although most through and throughs were usually clean, there was still a massive hole in her stomach and in her back. She was too far gone and could feel herself slipping.

"Will..." What was happening? Belligerent pain shot through Natalie's limp body. Will's strong arms were scooping her up. "No worries, Clarke and I've got this. We're taking his truck."