The lieutenant reached the ambulance just in time and slipped in before they closed the back doors. "I'm coming with you" he said climbing on.

"Sir," the young paramedic started to protest.

"I'm coming with you and that's final, so get this thing going" he glared and the paramedic just made him room and started connecting Flynn to the machines. He was trying to put the oxygen mask on him, but the lieutenant was wriggling his head.

"Sir, you need to stay still"

Andy had his eyes closed, sweat was dripping down his face as he started murmuring in a state of delirium.

"Flynn!" Provenza shouted. "Flynn, don't you dare die on me. Remember our pact: no one dies until we're pensioners, no dying on the job. We're supposed to go to the beach and flirt with all the young women.

"Sharon..." he muttered and Provenza looked at him with big surprised eyes. "Sharon... I'm sorry..." and with those last few words he rolled his head to the side and a flat beeping sound filled the ambulance.

"He's coding" they tried to restart his heart beat again while they arrived at the ER entrance.

When the doors were opened, Provenza jumped out of the way.

"Male, gunshot wound in the chest, he's been coding for less than a minute." The paramedic explained while the doctors took over.

"He is a cop!" Provenza pointed out at them and the doctors nodded in understanding as they pushed the gurney away and Provenza saw them disappear behind doors.

He ran his hands over his face and started pacing up and down. This wasn't supposed to happen. What exactly happened anyway?

"Sir?" a nurse approached him and he stopped abruptly "I'm sorry" she gave him an apologetic look. "You can wait in this area if you want." she showed him a secluded room. "I'll imagine others will come?"

"Yeah," he nodded. "There was a shootout, but Flynn" he gulped "I think he was the only cop who got hit. Some gang members were hit. Did they arrive here?" he asked.

"I don't think so" the woman frowned. "I'll check it for you, In the meanwhile, is there any family member we should contact?"

"I..." Provenza didn't know. Years before, he and Flynn put each other as emergency contact in the medical insurance policy. It was easier that way. Provenza had four ex-wives while Flynn wasn't exactly on friendly terms with his and he didn't want to bother the kids. He knew he was trying to rebuilt that relationship, but would he want his kids to know? Yeah, he thought someone should call Nicole.

"I'll make the calls" he dismissed the nurse and she nodded leaving him alone.

He had been sitting on a chair staring at the white wall for nearly twenty minutes when the captain joined him.

"Lieutenant Provenza!" came the shriek from his commanding officer. " Everyone is looking for you and let me tell you; they are also very angry. You know you should have stayed at the crime scene, FID will have a field day"

"I was following an injured fellow officer" he snapped getting up from his chair angrily. He really didn't need Mrs. Rule Book shouting at him.

"You should have sent someone else" She replied back trying not to look startled by the senior lieutenant reaction.

"It's Flynn we're talking about" he shouted even louder.

Sharon paused and gulped. When she had heard that Flynn got shot, she had to grip her desk tightly in order not to fall. She had quickly stood tall and put a strong front and walked out the office, ignoring Rusty's shouts. She knew she should have driven to the crime scene, but once she had started the car, she took the direction of the hospital, she needed to be there with him. She needed to know more. But when she got the hospital, Captain Sharon Raydor walked in, but now the mask was slowly slipping away and Sharon took over.

"How is he?" she whispered afraid of the answer. She could see the fear in Provenza's blue eyes.

"I don't know" he looked down pausing. "He was coding when we got here"

"Oh God" she gasped and brought a hand to her lips. The situation finally hit her, Andy was seriously injured. She quickly sat on a free chair.

"They haven't come back with news, that should be a good sign" he sat down too.

"What happened?" she asked, trying to hide her distress.

"Did you go to crime scene?"

"No, I've just spoken with Mike on the phone. He told me it was an ambush."

"Yeah, you could say that. When we got there it was all quiet, we immediately knew something was wrong. We suited up and soon as we stepped inside the warehouse they started shooting at us. We called for backup and tried to return fire while waiting. Flynn got hit on the chest three times but the vest stopped the bullets. I rushed towards him and he was talking and saying it was all fine. It was when it was all finished and he started to get up that he collapsed and then I saw the blood. The entry wound was right underneath his armpit, where the vest doesn't cover." he paused "But it doesn't make sense: from where he and the shooters were standing it was impossible for him to be hit there" he was shaking his head. "It doesn't make sense!"

"Tao and Sanchez with SID are working the scene."

"Are the gang members we've arrested talking?"

"No, not yet. They have lawyered up. Amy can't interrogate them all at once and last I heard Rios on the phone, she was screaming about something" she paused. "You know you have to give report to FID, right?"

"Yes.. well, if they want to talk to me they can come here. I'm not moving until I know something" he felt her laying a hand on his arm "Should we call his kids? I didn't know what to do."

"Oh right" she sighed. "I'm pretty sure Nicole would like to be here" As the captian it was her duty to call her officers' family members in cases like this "I'll give her a call"

In that moment her phone in her hand rang and they saw Taylor's name on the screen. She quickly dismissed his call earning a surprised look from Provenza.

"He called your name" he suddenly told her before she could make the call.

"What?" she shook her heat

"Andy, he called your name in the ambulance. Said something about being sorry"

"That man certainly has a strong guilty complex" she sighed. That was one of the things that made Flynn different from her husband Jack. Flynn was always trying to make amends with everyone, Jack never stood around long enough to even bother. She shook her head, when did she start comparing Flynn to her husband?

"What happened at the Nutcracker?" Provenza brought her back from her thoughts.

"What do you know?" she was planning on giving more than she needed to, that was Andy's story to tell.

"Just that he inadvertently made his family believe that things between you two were more than friendly and when Nicole invited both of you to the theatre, he didn't want to disappointment her. I pretty sure he made a Flynn's mess out of it, like he usually does." He gave a small chuckle. He usually part of those messes.

She joined him. "He did"

"What I can't understand is why you're not pissed at him?" he stared at her seriously.

She looked at him in question.

"If it had been anybody else in the squad getting shot, you wouldn't be sitting here avoiding Taylor's phone calls"

"I don't like what you're implying lieutenant, so you better knock it off before it becomes inappropriate" she stood straight in the chair defensively. Was he right? Why was she here? Would it have been the same if Amy or Tao or Sanchez had been shot?

Like a sudden thunder, the waiting room door slammed opened.

"Have you two completely lost your minds?" A very angry Assistant Chief Taylor was standing at the door. "You can't just sit and hide here and forget you've got a job. You" he pointed a finger at Raydor. "You need to go back to your office and coordinate your team. While you were here instead of the crime scene the finished processing and don't know what to do next. While you..." he turned his head towards Provenza. "You need to speak to FID and pray they don't decide to suspend you for leaving the scene"

Provenza stood up and walked menacingly towards his superior. "Like I told the captain, if FID wants to talk to me they know where to find me, I'm not leaving my partner."

Taylor sighed. "Lieutenant..."

"No," he shouted. "It's Flynn we're talking about. You know, you used to be friends once, if you ever had friends. I'm following one simple code rule: you don't leave your partner behind"

Taylor stared at him and he knew he wasn't going to win. "Okay, you can stay and I'll send Detective Elliot here. But captain..." he turned back to look at Sharon. "... you must go back to Major Crimes, this is not an option."

She slowly got up and nodded. "Okay, let me just make a call to Flynn's family and then I'll go back to work" she gathered her bag and swirled towards Provenza. "if you have any news..."

"I'll call you" he finished for her, his eyes unreadable. The argument wasn't finished. He was going to let her ruin his friend's life. He suspected that Flynn had a small crush on their captain. Who wouldn't? Even if she got on his nerves, he had to admit that she was a very beautiful woman and Flynn had been spending too much time with her outside work. Not to mention all the times he saw him follow her around the office like a lost stray dog. No, that woman was trouble, she was the devil and he wasn't going to let Flynn get burnt.