The blaring of her phone bought her out of the daily morning chaos in the McCord household.

"Hello?" she asked.

"Hi, is this Stephanie McCord?" a man asked.

"Yes this is she, may I ask who's calling?" she asks curiously.

"This is Doctor Russell, I called because you're an emergency contact for Brandon Wilkins," he says.

"Y-yes I am, is everything okay?" she stutters and decides to take the conversation to a secluded area where no one else can eavesdrop.

"I'm sorry to tell you, but he's been injured. We're rushing him to emergency surgery, but that's just to stop the bleeding and to hold off until you can come here and sign papers and give us consent to continue with further surgeries. When's the fastest you can get here?" he asks and she's thrown for a loop at how fast her world is spinning.

"I…I…can be there within two days I suppose. Please keep him alive," she rushes out.

"I'll do my best ma'am, safe travels," he says.

"Wait! Can I speak to him?" she asks before he can hang up.

"He's unconscious right now, but after surgery if he wakes before you get here, I will have him call you immediately," he reasons.

"Okay, thank you so much," she says softly as a tear streams down her face and presses the end button.

"Stevie!" she hears her father call. She brushes a tear off her face and schools her features before returning to the kitchen.

"Yeah dad," she replies as she steps in to see everyone eating.

"Is everything okay?" he asks taking in her tense form.

"Everything's perfect. I um have to get ready for work," she lies and rushes upstairs before anyone has a chance to say anything else. She locks her bedroom door and begins to pack a suitcase, not knowing how long she'd be over there.

"Bye sweetie!" she hears her mother yell from downstairs but she ignores it, her mind consumed with the thoughts of him. She clicks on her computer and purchases tickets to Germany that leaves in five hours. After he hears the rest of her family leave the house, she checks outside to make sure they're gone and hoping the security detail on her isn't here yet. She escapes by cab and is soon going through the metal detectors and security checks.

"Flight 590 Boarding to Germany," she hears the calling for her plane and passes along her boarding pass to the woman. She ends up stuck on an 8-hour flight next to a fat, balding man who snores louder than the wings of the plane cutting through turbulence. She finally landed in Frankfurt at 12:18 am the next day since their time zone was 5 hours ahead of what she was used to. She ordered a cab to take her immediately to the hospital, which turned into an hour and a half drive.

"Danke," she said to the driver and handed him the money with a nice tip.

"Hello, I'm Stephanie McCord, I'm here for Brandon Wilkins," she says to the receptionist dressed in Army ACUs.

"I'll be right with you, please take a seat," she replies and Stevie goes to sit in the waiting room. She hears her stomach rumble letting her know that she hadn't eaten all day, but she's determined to make sure he's alright before she takes a bit of anything.

"Stephanie McCord?" she hears the voice from the man she spoke to on the phone and stands to face a middle-aged man, around the same age as her dad with his similar build.

"Yes," she says and holds out her hand for him to shake.

"Nice to meet you, I just wish they were under better circumstances. Brandon seems to be in stable but critical condition since we last spoke. We stopped the internal bleeding and fixed up his leg…" the doctor rambles.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but what happened?" she asks.

"Well I don't know the specifics since it's mostly classified information, but he sustained a bullet to the head that we aren't able to remove just yet due to the swelling in his brain, there are clean breaks in his right tibia and fibula, he also was shot in the chest but the impact caused him to suffer internal bleeding which we were able to treat. We put him in a medically induced coma and also punctured holes in his skull to release some of the pressure," he says and I go to sit down as he follows. "I know this is a lot to take in".

"You think?" she says a little harshly. "I'm sorry, it's just, I can't believe this is happening".

"I understand," he says and goes silent, waiting for her to speak.

"So what do I need to sign?" she asks.

"Well once we have a better look at his CAT scans we'll be able to come up with a course of action, but it will be for brain surgery," he says and she lets out a deep sigh.

"Can I see him?" she asks timidly.

"Yes, I'll show you his room," he says and stands. She follows suit and drags her luggage to the elevator. He presses the fifth floor button, which she guesses is the ICU.

"Don't be intimidated by the tubes and machines, he can hear everything you say, or so I hear," he smiles and tries to comfort her. After he leaves, she lets out a big sob.

"It isn't suppose to be this way," she cries and walks to his beside and grabs his hand to caress her cheek. His hand seemed heavier than she last remembers and his beard had grown. Although he was more muscular, the image of him with machines surrounding him made him look small and vulnerable. She couldn't cry, she had to be his rock, his safety net; she has to be strong for him. The buzzing of her phone brings her out of her element and she looks at it to see twenty missed calls and five voice messages all from her parents of course. She walks out to the hallway to call her father back.

"Where the hell are you, and don't lie," he says in a voice he's only used once before on her.

"I'm in Germany," she replies back tiredly without a hint of fear.

"What the hell are you doing in Germany?" she hears her mother ask. "You can't just up and leave the country without talking to anyone and without your security detail, it's not safe".

"I know, I just have business to take care of here," she says.

"Business to take care of?" her father repeats confused.

"Are you in trouble? What business?" her mom asks.

"No I'm not in trouble," she says evading the second question.

"What business do you have in Germany young lady?" her father asks.

"A friend from high school needed my help. Listen I'm really tired and I have to go," she says and hangs up the phone, feeling bad for lying and not wanting to go into detail with their questions.

"Please get better fast Brandon, or else we'll both be dead," she says from the glass outside looking into his room.