This is my contribution to the post Knockdown stories. It is slightly different but I hope you like it

Not Your Time

She stood silently watching the mayhem that was taking place around the grave site. Uniformed police officers were running this way and that, some with guns drawn others pulling down civilian mourners to the ground amongst the overturned chairs. There was shouting and screaming but those frantic sounds did not seem to reach her. For a moment she could not understand what was going on. What had caused this?

Her luminous green eyes slowly moved and focused upon the woman laying on the ground near the overturned lectern. The young woman was bleeding, an ever growing patch of blood marring the front of her uniform. The white gloves she wore were smeared with her blood, a jarring red. The colour was slowly draining from her face making her look pale. There was shock in the young woman's face and fear in her eyes. As she continued silently watching the young woman on the ground recognition hit her like a slap in the face. The young woman on the ground bleeding was her. Then she remembered.

Time had slowed down, had almost come to a stop.

The young woman's eyes were staring up at the man crouching beside her.

As she watched with unblinking eyes the scene in front of her she could feel the nameless cold slowly creeping into her. She could feel the woman's growing fear. She could feel the woman's pain. She could feel her shock, all of them like distant whispers.

She saw the desperation in the man's face. She wanted to reach out and place a comforting hand on his shoulder to tell him that everything would be all right, to ease the desperation that was creasing his face but she did not move.

She heard the words he spoke. His words, powerful and heartfelt was like a lifeline that the young woman desperately tried to cling to. It sent the fear scurrying to the edges. It held the darkness at bay.

His hand gently cradled her head as he continued speaking to her, willing her to hold on. She could feel the woman desperately trying to hold on but the ever powerful darkness was too strong to be kept at bay for long, it was creeping closer.

"He's a good man."

A smile came to her lips. "Yes, yes he is." She agreed the smile growing a little more on her face.

She dragged her eyes off the scene before her to the older woman standing close by. Her eyes widened. She never thought she would ever see that smiling face again.

"Mom."

"Katie."

She wanted to move over and wrap her arms around the woman she had not seen for a such a long, long time but found she could not move. Johanna beamed at her, and she felt a warmth caress her as if her mother's arms had enveloped her.

"Am I...?" she could not finish the question.

"No...dear." Johanna replied shaking her head. The older woman turned her gaze to the scene before them. Kate followed her gaze.

"I failed you mom." Kate said sadly.

"You have never failed me, dear." Johanna replied.

"But whenever we get close to finding your killer..."

Johanna cast a glance in the direction of her daughter and smiled at her.

"In time he will be found and caught." She said.

Kate nodded her head. Her eyes focused on the man kneeling beside the young woman.

"He seems so sad." Kate observed the smile slipping from her face.

"He doesn't want to lose you, dear."

Kate nodded her head in could feel his sadness and it matched her own.

"But he is much stronger than you think." Johanna added.

"He never fails to surprise." Kate agreed.

"He is a remarkable man."

"He can be exasperating."

"Yes, a nine year old on a sugar rush." Johanna chuckled, echoing Kate's words from long ago.

Kate gave her mother a tight lipped smile.

"Yet despite all of that he has remained at your side, hasn't he?"

"Yes, yes he has." Kate whispered.

"Even when you have tried to push him away, he always comes back."

Kate nodded her head a smile on her lips as all those times from before played across her thoughts.

"And he makes you smile and laugh, like no other. I never thought I'd see you laugh and smile again, sweetheart."

Kate nodded her head.

"And that scholarship he wants to set up in my name, that was a pleasant surprise."

"Yes it was. It was sweet of him."

"I like him, I like him a lot." Johanna declared.

"I do too."

Johanna turned to look at her daughter. "Just only like him?" She ventured, a knowing smile on her lips.

Kate looked at her mother feeling her cheeks colour with a sudden warmth.

"More than like." Kate confessed. "Much more."

Johanna nodded her head a little. She knew better than most how stubborn how her daughter could be but she smiled even more at her daughter for her confession of sorts.

"Kate...I love you."

Both mother and daughter heard what the man said to the young woman laying on the ground. Kate was stunned by the man's declaration. She felt the fear lessen.

"Finally." Johanna muttered.

Kate looked across to her mother. Johanna looked at her daughter with a raised eyebrow.

Johanna turned and started to walk away.

"Are you leaving?" Kate said looking anxiously at her mother.

"I must."

"Don't leave me." Kate pleaded, tears welling in her green eyes.

Johanna paused and looked back at her daughter. A bitter sweet smile settled on her face.

"I never left you sweetheart."

"But I'm scared."

"Don't be sweetheart. This isn't something you can't handle." Johanna's eyes slid over to the scene on the ground. "Your father still needs you. You have good friends who will stand with you through this."

Johanna's settled on the man cradling the young woman. "And he will not leave your side no matter how good or bad the journey gets."

"Don't go...please..."

"Katie..."

"I want to go with you."

Johanna smiled at her daughter. "Sweetheart I didn't come for you." She said quietly.

Kate was suddenly confused. She watched as her mother turned away from the scene before them and looked to the distance. Kate followed her mother's gaze and saw the older man standing near a tree. He was dressed in a neatly pressed NYPD uniform, the silver captain's bars glinted in the sun. The man looked bewildered at the scene unfolding all around him. Kate knew who the man was.

"Mom I want to come with you." Kate said firmly.

Johanna looked over her shoulder to her daughter and gave her a beautiful smile.

"It's not your time Katie." Johanna said.

Kate felt the tears well in her eyes as she stared at her mother. She desperately wanted to rush over to her but even now she could not move.

"Will I see you again, mom?" She asked desperately.

"In time we will see each other again, sweetheart."

"When?"

"That I don't know."

"I love you mom."

Johanna beamed at her daughter for several moments. "I love you too sweetheart. I am so proud of you."

Kate blinked back the tears. In that moment she saw her mother had reached the Captain. She spoke to him and the bewildered look on his face faded. Together they walked away and disappeared. Kate suddenly found herself on the ground, the shock and pain of the bullet wound hit her like a freight train.

She stared up at Rick's face clinging to his every word and wanting to tell him that everything would be all right but she found it too difficult to speak. The nameless cold and darkness enveloped her, claiming her but before as she was dragged under she continued to cling desperately to those three powerful words he had spoken to her.