"Abby, we've got the victims of a shooting coming in!" Chuny called, poking her head around the staff room door. "We need you out here." Abby sighed, and lifted herself out of the couch. It was nearly the end of her shift, and she just wanted to go home. She was hoping to get away in time to have tea with Holly, but if there was a shooting that was unlikely to happen. She'd most likely have to stay in late into the night. Last night she'd been on the night shift, so hadn't been able to perform her motherly duties, and that also meant she'd been half asleep when Carter took Holly out to nursery on his way to work.

She made her way to admit, running a hand through her hair. "Abby, Susan, you take the first rig, I'll take the second. Chuny, you're with me," Kerry called, walking out towards the doors. Abby followed her quickly, arriving in the ambulance bay just as the first rig arrived. "What have we got?" Susan asked, as they unloaded the patient, a middle aged woman. The paramedic reeled off a list to Susan, as they rushed through to the trauma room with the woman.

"Do you know what happened?" Abby asked, and the woman nodded, taking a deep breath from the oxygen mask.

"My son.he's 10.we were shopping, and he bumped into a man. His bag fell on the floor, and some packages fell out. I.I think they were drugs. And then he just got a gun out. He shot me, I tried to stop him shooting Darren, and he shot me. Darren, what happened to Darren?" The woman was starting to get anxious and Abby helped her lie back on the gurney.

"It's okay ma'am, we'll find out."

***

"Darren, I want Darren!" the woman screamed, thrashing about.

"Please, you have to keep still." Susan turned to Abby. "Abby, can you go find out what's happening with her son?"

"Yeah, sure." She pulled her gloves off, and made her way towards the door.

"There were other people too.a man who tried to help us. Can you find out about him, please?" Abby nodded, and exited the room.

"Hey, Jerry," she called, approaching the desk clerk. "Have we had a 10 year old boy called Darren come in from the shooting? We've got his mother in trauma room 1, and she's asking for him."

"Erm." he stuttered, looking down at the computer.

"Is something wrong Jerry?"

"It hurts! I want my Mummy!" a little girl's scream came from trauma room 2. Abby stared straight ahead at Jerry, the anger boiling up inside her. She'd know that voice anywhere.

"Why the hell didn't you tell me, Jerry?" She didn't wait for his answer, but turned and rushed towards the trauma room, trying to stop the tears which were beginning to fill her eyes.

"It hurts to breathe!" the little girl lying on the gurney screamed. Abby stared at her small body, and the blood that surrounded her chest area.

"Holly!" She ran up to her daughter, not knowing what else to do. "Holly, it's okay, Mummy's here now."

"It hurts." She turned her head to look at her mother, and Abby could see the tears rolling down her cheeks.

"I know, I know sweetie. But you know that Dr. Weaver's a real good doctor, and she's going to make you all better." She looked pointedly at the doctor.

"Your Mum's right Holly, we're going to get you all patched up." Holly smiled slightly, and Abby took her hand.

"What about Daddy?" she asked, staring at Abby.

"What do you mean sweetie?"

"Daddy, he was hurt real bad.he wouldn't talk to me." She started to sob once more. "What's happened to him Mummy?"

"He's gonna be fine," Abby tried to reassure her daughter, while at the same time feeling very insecure herself.

"Hey, have you got any other victims to come in?" Kerry shouted to a paramedic who was passing the door. He stepped inside and shook his head.

"You've got these two, Mercy have three more, and the father of the girl was DOA." He slipped away, not knowing what the words he'd just said meant.

"Are they talking about Daddy?" Holly asked, looking at Abby. "What's DOA mean?" Abby just stared straight ahead, unable to do or say anything. Surely not? So much had happened to them, they'd always been fine. He couldn't just be.No, he'd been stabbed, he survived that, he could survive a simple bullet. "Mummy? Has Daddy gone to sleep?" Abby nodded, putting a hand to her face.

"Yeah, forever," she whispered, stroking her daughter's hair.

"Daddy's dead?" Abby could see little Holly's eyes fill with tears, and she tried to brush them away.

"Don't cry, Holly, don't cry. We're going to be just fine, everything's fine."

"Then why are you crying?" She didn't answer, just watched her daughter. Their daughter. At least she still had Holly.

"Chuny, can you call up to surgery? And get someone to go help Dr. Lewis."

"Surgery?!" Abby looked up, shocked. "It's that bad?"

"The bullet penetrated Holly's lung, which is why she's finding it hard to breathe. I suspect the bullet is now lodged in one of the veins near the heart, and it could possible travel to the heart. We need to perform surgery before."

"Don't talk at me like I'm stupid Kerry!" she yelled, angry. "I know what you're talking about, I'm a nurse in case you hadn't noticed."

Chuny came back over from the phone. "Dr. Romano's coming down."

***

"The GSW woman went up to surgery, she's going to be fine," Susan said, entering the staff room and seeing Abby sitting on the sofa. "Abby, are you okay?"

"Yeah, just fine," she sniffed. "Considering my husband just died and my daughter's in surgery, I'm just fine and dandy." Susan stared at her friend, unable to comprehend what she meant.

"Carter."

"Straight through the heart, they said. He was trying to help the kid." She stopped, and stared up at the ceiling. "He was doing his job, helping someone, and he got shot. That's not supposed to happen Susan."

"Did he.did he come into County?"

"DOA." She shuddered involuntarily, tears streaming from her eyes. "I didn't even get to say goodbye. I couldn't tell him I loved him, just once more.god, I sound like such a clique."

"Abby, that's not cliqued if it's true." Susan wiped away the tears that were filling her own eyes and sat down next to her.

"I love him so much," she whispered. "What am I going to do Susan?"

"Come here," she opened her arms up to her friend, and just let her cry, holding her tight.

"Abby." The door opened, and Romano stepped inside.

"You're finished already?" she sniffed, wiping her tears on her sleeve and pulling away from Susan.

"Abby, by the time we'd got up to surgery, the bullet was right by Holly's heart. We opened her chest up, and tried to fish the bullet out, but it was right round the back. She went into v-fib, and despite our best efforts we were unable to stabilise the heart. The oxygen didn't reach her brain, and so she stopped breathing. I'm sorry Abby, there was nothing we could do." Abby watched surgeon, more tears falling.

"She.she died?" Romano nodded.

"I'm so sorry. If you have any questions, just.don't hesitate to ask." He turned and opened the door, leaving the room quietly.

"What's just happened to me Susan?" She paused, staring straight ahead. "Is it possible to have your whole world torn away from you in less than an hour? An hour ago, I was sitting right here, hoping that I'd be home in time to have tea with Holly, and now I don't have a Holly to have tea with." Susan pulled her friend into a hug once more.

"We're friends Abby, just talk, whatever you want. But I'm not going anywhere."

"Thanks," she sniffed. "She was only four. That's too young to die. She hadn't even started to live, and now." She was overcome with sobs once more, and just cried onto Susan shoulder. "I told Carter that I didn't want kids, you know. And I refused his proposal the first time. I was happy as we were, I thought we'd just ruin everything if we changed it. But then, somehow I found myself married to Carter with a daughter. I'm not sure how that happened." Susan smiled comfortingly. "And just thinking about it now, the last five years have been the best years of my life. All my childhood I had to deal with my mother's bipolar disorder, and then I was in an awful marriage, became a drunk, and basically screwed up my life."

"That all lead you to Carter," Susan said, tears still shimmering in her eyes.

"I know. And I didn't realise until I met Carter that I never knew what happiness was before, in my whole life. The last five years we were so happy."

"Then remember the last five years."

"But I don't have anything left, nothing at all."

"You have memories," Susan smiled, releasing Abby from the hug and looking at her pointedly. "Remember how you were so happy together."

"You know, he once told me there's not such thing as being too happy. I guess he was wrong."

***

"Mummy. Mummy. Mummy." Abby could hear the voice calling her, pulling her to the land of the waking. She tried to resist it, to stay in her slumbering state, but the voice continued. "Mummy, wake up." She felt the bed move beneath her, as something sat on it. Or someone. "Mummy!"

"She's sleepy Hol, she was up late last night."

"I wanna say bye." Abby groaned.

"Morning," she mumbled, burying her head in the pillow. "What time is it?"

"Me and Daddy are about to go," Holly explained, bouncing on the bed where she sat at Abby's feet.

"It's half eight," Carter provided. Abby propped herself up on her elbows, and looked at her husband and daughter. Holly looked so cute in her jeans and pink jumper, with her hair up in two bunches. There was something not quite right though.

"Carter, you can't use red ribbons with a pink jumper!" she exclaimed drowsily. "Holly, go get the blue ones off the shelf." The little girl ran off, leaving her parents behind.

"And there I was thinking I'd done a good job," he winked at her, and she laughed.

"Clashing colours isn't good."

"Here Mummy!" Holly jumped back onto the bed and passed Abby the ribbons, which she tied around her hair.

"There, all ready for nursery," she said, placing the red ribbons on the dressing table. She couldn't help noticing that Holly was growing up rather fast. Soon she'd be starting school, both an exciting and scary thought for Abby. "You gonna give me a hug before you go, then monkey?" she asked, opening her arms up. Holly grinned, and hugged her tightly, before leaping off the bed.

"Bye Mummy! I'll see you later." She bounded out of the room and down the hallway to get her shoes and coat.

"I'm going to go and see Gamma after I've dropped madam off, so I'll see you this evening." Abby nodded. "What time does your shift end?"

"I should be off by five. See you later, yeah?" She smiled at him, and he bent down, kissing her.

"Yeah, see you." He turned and walked towards the door. When in the doorway he stopped and turned around. "Love you."

"I love you too. I love you. I love you so much." She looked around the now empty room, at the spot where her husband had been standing just now. Swinging her legs over the side of the bed, she slowly stood up. She turned towards the dressing table, deciding to put the ribbons back in Holly's room. There were no red ribbons.

***