New Year's Hawke
"Ugh," said Hawke as he picked up the payphone and called Dom. "Dom, we've gone to three places and we can't find what you wanted."
"Try one more place," pleaded Dom. "I know Sammy's out on highway seven will have it. He always carries it. You should have gone there first. I can't make this recipe without it and I really wanted it for tonight."
Hawke sighed deeply. "Fine, we'll try there but if they don't have it, we're heading back to the cabin. It's getting late and everything will be closed soon."
"Fine, fine," said Dom. "See you when you get here."
Caitlin laughed at the disgusted look on Hawke's face. "One more place huh?" she asked. "Okay, let's get going."
They climbed back into the red, white, and blue jeep and headed to the next store.
"He said to try Sammy's. I don't know why Dom has to make this stuff every New Year's Eve," complained Hawke. "You'd think he'd get tired of it and try something new."
Caitlin shrugged. "I guess he like traditions," she replied. "There's nothing wrong with that."
"I guess not," replied Hawke. "I just wish he'd thought about what he needed ahead of time instead of making us drive all around for it at the minute."
"Come on," said Caitlin. "It's down the road. It won't take us long."
Within minutes, the two reached their destination. Caitlin looked at the sign on the door and jumped out of the jeep. "He's closing in ten minutes so we'd better hurry," she said.
Hawke jumped out and followed her to the door, grabbing it and opening it for her.
Caitlin called out to the man behind the counter as they entered. "Hey Sam," she yelled. "Happy New Year!"
Sam smiled. "Let me guess," he said. "Dom needs his secret ingredient again."
Hawke laughed. "Yeah, he does this to me every New Year's Eve. You'd think I'd have learned by now. We've been all over town."
"You know I always carry that for Dom," chided Sam. "It's on isle seven at the end."
"Thanks," replied Hawke as he headed to the back of the small store.
Caitlin waited for him up at the counter. "So what are your plans for the night?" she asked Sam.
"Oh, just going to do some inventory for a couple of hours and then have a quiet evening with the wife," he replied with a smile. "It's my favorite way to spend New Year's Eve."
Caitlin smiled. "A quiet night sounds nice," she replied. "You two have been married quite some time now huh?"
"Oh yeah," he replied. "Going on forty-five years now."
Before Caitlin could reply, a man wearing a ski mask and carrying a gun stormed into the store. He told them to stay where they were as he turned, locked the door behind him and changed the open sign to closed.
"Look," said Sam. "There isn't a lot of money in here but you're welcome to it. Just take it and leave."
Hawke, who had been so busy concentrating on getting the correct ingredients for Dom hadn't noticed the situation until he was heading back towards the front of the store.
Startled, the man whirled around and shot at Hawke. Caitlin couldn't help but scream out Hawke's name. When she ran to help him, the man shot out several bottles above her head as a warning. One of the bottles fell and hit her on the head, knocking her to the ground.
"Don't make me shoot a woman!" screamed the man. "I don't believe in hurting women."
Sam tried to stay calm. "Here, come and get what you want," he told the man. "Please just let me check on my friends."
"Go ahead," said the man as he ran behind the counter and began scooping up the money from the register.
Sam stopped beside Caitlin first. He felt that her pulse was strong but she had a cut above her right eye and she was unconscious. Next he moved quickly to Hawke. He had been shot in the left side.
"Cait!" Hawke called out, his breathing labored.
"She'll be fine," said Sam. "You need to keep still."
Sam watched as the man finished emptying the register. "You have a safe?" asked the man. "I want access to your safe."
"I'll show you," he replied. "But will you please let me go to the next isle and get some medical supplies?"
"Open your safe and you can get all the supplies you need," said the man.
Sam obliged the man, showing him the safe in the back office. While he was gone, Hawke moved slowly over to Caitlin, trying to avoid further injury with all of the glass that surrounded her on the floor.
When they came back out the man yelled. "I didn't tell you to move," he told Hawke. "Go get what you need old man. I'm going to put the three of you back in that storage room before I leave."
Sam grabbed a small hand basket and filled it up with as much medical supplies as he could.
"Take that to the back room and then carry them back there," the man demanded.
Sam picked up Caitlin and carried her to the room. He gently placed her on the floor before going back to get Hawke.
When he got back to String, he was alarmed at the amount of blood he seemed to have lost. "Look, my friend here needs to get to the hospital soon," he told the man. "I'm sure you don't want a murder rap hanging over you."
The man smirked. "What makes you think I don't already have a murder rap old man," he replied. "One more isn't going to change anything."
Sam threw Hawke's arm around his neck and helped him to the storage room. Once inside, the man slammed the door behind him and he could hear the padlock being placed on the hinge and clicked shut.
Looking down at Caitlin and Hawke, the knowledge from all his years as a medic quickly kicked in. "This is not how I wanted to spend my New Year's Eve," he said softly.