Provenza raced through the streets of L.A. until he arrived at Rusty's school. As soon as Rusty spied the
car he grabbed up his backpack, rushed over, and got in. Provenza could tell that he had been crying.
Neither said a word to each other, as they raced off towards the hospital. Provenza had barely slid the car into the parking space, before Rusty flung the door open, jumped out, and took off running towards the entrance. Provenza hurriedly turned off the car, got out, and rushed after Rusty as fast as he could.
"Rusty, wait up kid" he said yelling out to him, but Rusty wasn't paying any attention, and had already gone inside. He ran up to the front desk.
"Sharon Raydor, Captain Sharon Raydor, I need to know where she is" said Rusty apprehensively.
"Young man, just calm down okay" said the nurse.
"No, I will not calm down, I need to know where my mom is?" yelled Rusty.
Provenza had just come in and had heard Rusty refer to Sharon as his mom. He knew that she and the kid were very close, and yes she was his legal guardian for the time being, but he had never heard Rusty refer to Sharon Raydor as his mother. He quickly walked over and intervened.
Provenza cleared his throat. "Excuse me" he said to the nurse.
"Yes, how can I help you?" she asked.
Provenza showed the woman his badge. "I need any details you have on Captain Sharon Raydor" he said.
"Of course just let me check" she said as she walked over to her computer and began to type rapidly. "Here it is, they just brought her in about a half –hour ago, she's currently in surgery" the nurse responded.
"What floor?" inquired Provenza. "Second floor" replied the nurse.
Provenza motioned towards Rusty and they both got on the elevator. As soon as the elevator doors opened on the second floor, Rusty was off in a flash. He spotted the squad in the nearest waiting room. Sanchez was pacing back and forth; Sykes was leaned against a wall running her fingers through her nervously, Tao was sitting in one of the chairs just staring at the ground. And then Rusty's gaze fell on Flynn. His white shirt was covered in blood as were his hands and he was sitting silently with his head in his hands.
"Oh my God is that her blood?" he asked starting to tear up again.
This caused Flynn to look up.
Provenza reached out to put a hand on his shoulder, but he jerked away.
"I think I'm gonna be sick" said Rusty as he raced off towards the closest bathroom.
Provenza started to go after him, but Andy stopped him. "I got him" he said heading off after Rusty.
He tapped on the stall door. "Go away" said Rusty.
"Come on kid, open up" said Flynn.
"Nothing you can say to me will make me feel any better, so save your breath" said Rusty.
"Look, Rusty, I'm not gonna stand here and tell you that everything is gonna be okay, because I don't honestly know that it is, but sitting in here by yourself isn't gonna do you any good either" said Flynn, sympathetically.
Then Flynn heard movement on the other side of the stall door, as Rusty unlocked the door, and did the unthinkable. He opened the door and rushed out throwing his arms around Flynn, burying his face in his shirt, sobbing. Flynn was very surprised at this, but nevertheless wrapped his arms around Rusty and started to rub circles on his back.
"I can't lose her Lieutenant Flynn; she's the only one who's ever given a damn about me, It's not fair" said Rusty through his tears.
"I know kid, I know" replied Andy, trying to keep himself from getting choked up.
Rusty lifted his head for just a moment and looked up at Flynn. "How bad is it, really?" he asked
"Rusty" he sighed. "Just tell me" he demanded, backing away from Flynn and staring him straight in the face.
"She took a bullet in the abdomen; she lost a lot of blood Rusty" said Flynn. "Until we here from the doctor, I can't say for sure, it could go either way" said Flynn.
Rusty nodded in acknowledgement.
"Why don't we go back and wait with the others okay" said Flynn, motioning for Rusty to follow him.
"Okay" said Rusty trying to wipe the tears away, as he followed Lieutenant Flynn back to the waiting room.
They sat down in the available chairs. No sooner than they had sat down they heard the click of heels coming their way. They looked up to see former Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson, walking towards them.
Andy was really surprised to see her. He walked toward her to greet her. She wrapped him in a hug.
"Andy, I came as soon as I heard, how is she?" asked Brenda.
He just shook his head. "We don't know yet, she's still in surgery" replied Andy.
"Well Damnit, how did this happen Andy?" asked Brenda.
"We were working a case, out chasing a lead, Sharon and I stayed to check the perimeter, while the rest of the team went through the warehouse. I started to get the feeling that something wasn't right, like we were on some sort of wild goose chase. That's when I noticed a glint coming from the roof of the building across the street. "I tried….God…. I tried to warn her, but she went down before I even got her name out" said Flynn starting to break down, but trying to force himself not to in front of his former boss.
Brenda knew that Andy probably blamed himself for what happened.
"Andy I know what you're thinking and it wasn't your fault" she said empathetically.
"Oh, really, you sure about that Chief, cause it seems to me that if I would have noticed the shooter a little quicker, Sharon Raydor wouldn't have been bleeding out on the concrete, she wouldn't be fighting for her life, and we wouldn't be here having this conversation right now, so you tell me how it's not my fault, go ahead, I'm all ears" he said angrily.
At this point everyone was staring at them, including Rusty.
Brenda was taken aback. "Andy I…" she began, but he stopped her.
"Please, just don't okay" he said holding his hand up.
Brenda took the hint and went and sat in the empty chair beside Rusty.
"Brenda, you came" he said glad to see her.
"Of course I did she said smiling encouragingly and placing her hand on top of his.
Provenza went over to talk to Flynn. "Flynn you should probably go home and change, and we should get your clothes into evidence.
"Louie, I can't just leave right now" replied Flynn.
"Andy, none of us are going anywhere right now, we'll let you know when we hear anything" said Provenza.
"Look, I'm staying, I'll go and change after we find out her condition" said Andy stubbornly.
"Alright" replied Provenza, presumably defeated.
They all stayed in their respective spots for hours and none said a word. Everyone looked up when they heard footsteps coming towards them. An exhausted looking, brunette woman in scrubs was heading there way.
"Sharon Raydor" she said.
Everyone stood up, Rusty squeezed Brenda's hand.
"Hi, I'm Doctor Mason, Are you the family?" she said.
"We work with Captain Raydor, I'm Lieutenant Andy Flynn" Andy responded. The doctor shook his hand.
"How is she?" asked Andy, afraid of what the answer might be.
The doctor sighed.
"Just give it to us straight, please" said Andy, somewhat perturbed.
"She made it through surgery, but it's a miracle, she went into cardiac arrest twice, and we almost lost her; She's stable for now, but still in critical condition. The bullet lacerated her small intestine and did minor damage to the pancreas, and she's lost a lot of blood and is going to need a transfusion" Said Doctor Mason.
Brenda was holding Rusty closely, as he was starting to break down again.
"Do you know her blood type?" asked Doctor Mason.
Everybody just looked at each other for an answer. Then Andy spoke up.
"It's B positive" said Andy, as everyone stared at him with bewilderment.
"Are any of you B positive?" asked the doctor.
"I am, I'll do it" said Andy. All eyes were on him again.
"Are you sure you're up to it Lieutenant?" asked the doctor.
"Yes, I'm very up to it, I want to do this" said Andy.
"Alright then, I'll get you the necessary paperwork to fill out and then we'll get started, I'll come and get you when I need you" said Doctor Mason.
"I'll be waiting" replied Andy. With that, the doctor headed off and left Andy and the others to themselves once again.