AN - Hello! Here's the next installment. Not too much action in this one - just a lot of uncertainty. If there is anything I can do better, please, leave a review. I hope you like it. /K.
Lexington Avenue, past midnight, June 14th
"Danny!" Jamie almost yelled and Eddie more or less stopped dead in her tracks at the sight before them. They hurried down the narrow aisle, covering the humps on the floor with their weapons. Eddie checked for a pulse in the stranger's neck and shook her head while Jamie grabbed his brother's shoulders and turned him around.
"12-David to Central, 10-13, officer down. Shots fired, suspect is down. I repeat, officer down at this location!" Eddie reported into the radio on her shoulder. She didn't hear the confirmation but concentrated on her partner and his brother. Danny's closed eyes didn't frighten Jamie nearly as much at the huge gash above his right eye. Blood streamed down his face and something white glared back at Jamie from underneath blood. Realization dawned upon him and he wanted to throw up.
"No, no, no, this can't be happening," Jamie muttered under his breath. His brother had been grazed by a bullet! In the head! With trembling fingers he felt for a pulse in the crook of Danny's neck and almost sighed with relief when a tiny bit of the fear disappeared.
"Jamie!" Eddie yelled to get her partner's attention. He tore his eyes from Danny to look at her for a second. "I called for a bus, it's a minute out," she told him when she stuffed a dishtowel in his hands. Jamie pressed it to the wound with shaking hands just as the door was flung open again and a sea of officers spilled through it, guns drawn and ready. Jamie hardly even realized they were there until Eddie pulled him away.
"No… Danny… no… stop," he cried out when the paramedics stepped in and started working on the wounded detective.
"Jamie, listen to me… Jamie… Jamie!" Eddie tried and had to yell at him once again before he looked at her. "You will go with him in the bus, all right, look at me, Jamie. You will call your family," Eddie had lowered her voice and kept her eyes on Jamie's. He kept looking over her shoulder, at Danny's still form, and nodded.
"I-I can't c-call them," he mumbled, when he realized he was panicking. Eddie put a hand on his shoulders and turned his head to look at her again. She nodded and put a brave smile on her face.
"Deep breaths, Reagan. Calm down," she said and did the breathing exercise with him. "Give me your phone, I'll take care of it. Deep breaths," she said once again.
Bay Ridge, 12.30 am, June 14th
Frank woke up with a jolt when his phone started shrilling in the silence. He knew these kind of calls was only of the bad kind and didn't actually want to answer but he flicked on the lights and grabbed the phone.
"Garrett, what is it?" he asked in a gruff voice, tainted by sleep and worry.
"Frank… there's no easy way to say this…" the DCPI began hesitantly.
"What is it?" Frank repeated again. He didn't like where this was going, but he hurried to his clothes.
"Uhm… before midnight, Officers Reagan and Janko called in a 10-85. One suspect, five civilians and a detective inside. Five minutes later, Officer Janko called in a 10-13. Early reports says a shot was fired and the suspect died," Garrett reported. Frank didn't answer, he couldn't. The thought of losing his youngest son was devastating. He gulped down the lump in his throat and cleared it with a gruff sound.
"Status?" he asked, already pacing on the floor in the bedroom.
"Unclear. Rushed to St. Vincent's," Garrett replied. "Be ready in five," he continued and Frank disconnected the call. He was just about to toss the phone on the night stand when it shrilled again. His heart skipped a beat when he saw Jamie's picture and name on the caller ID.
"Jamie! What happened? Are you all right?" he asked, his heart was racing all over the place.
"Commissioner?" came the careful response and Frank stopped dead in surprise, in horror.
"Officer Janko?" he asked, when his brain finally started working again and he recognized the voice.
"Yes, Sir. Jamie is fine, I think. They are on the way to the hospital," Eddie replied. There was something in her voice that put Frank on the edge.
"They?" he asked suspiciously, now his heart was sprinting even more. Eddie went quiet for a second. "They?" Frank asked again, prompting her to respond.
"Detective Reagan… he was graced by a bullet… in the head…" Eddie sighed at last. Frank stopped moving and grabbed for the railing on the stairs. The plainclothes detective had been Danny. He had managed to put on clothes and move in a trance, since the first call woke him up, but now he had to sit down before his legs betrayed him. Once again he swallowed a lump in his throat and moved down the stairs on wobbly legs.
"I'm on my way," he mumbled.
"And Detective Reagan's family, Sir?" Eddie asked, bringing him out of his trance, making him think.
"Will you bring Linda and the boys to the hospital, please?" he asked, knowing that Linda would appreciate a familiar face.
"Of course, Sir," Eddie replied.
"Thank you, Officer Janko," he continued and lowered his hand. Henry materialized in the doorway.
"Is it bad?" he asked, grumpily.
"It's… Danny," Frank sighed, like it was an explanation, when he threw on his coat and hurried out the door.
Staten Island, 01.00 am, June 14th
Eddie froze as soon as she had knocked on the door. She hadn't thought about how she was going to tell Linda. She had met her only a couple of time, and being woken up by an officer at the door was most likely the worst nightmare ever. She breathed out when a light flickered inside the door and she heard the lock click. Linda opened the door and as soon as she saw Eddie her face cringed in fear.
"Danny?" she asked, already on the verge of crying. Eddie swallowed a lump in her throat and nodded.
"He was grazed by a bullet… in the head, he's in surgery now," Eddie said. Linda nodded silently and dried her eyes, snuffled a few times.
"Come on inside, Eddie," she said and opened the door all the way up. Eddie closed it behind her when Linda jogged up the stairs. Eddie heard feet shuffling and low voices. She looked around the peaceful living room, which clearly was decorated by Linda. Feet padded on the stairs and Eddie turned to see the trio walk down, dressed in a hurry and hair still a mess.
"You must be Jack and Sean?" Eddie smiled and took a step forward. The two young teenage boys nodded, sleepily and obviously scared. "I'm Eddie, Uncle Jamie's partner," she explained and they nodded again.
"Is dad going to be all right?" Sean asked bluntly and Eddie hesitated.
"I don't want to lie to you… it is bad," she replied honestly.
"Come on, boys, we have to hurry," Linda rushed them along and smiled bravely at Eddie.
St. Vincent's, 02.00 am, June 14th
"Frank?" Linda called when she and the boys entered the waiting room. Eddie had dropped them of and would come inside as soon as she had parked the car. Frank turned around when he heard her voice.
"He's still in surgery…" Frank mumbled in her hair when he hugged her tight. Jack and Sean were next in line. Since Frank had arrived, he had been pacing back and forth while Garrett had been on the phone, trying to sort out the media. "The doctors said that we should prepare ourselves for the worst," Frank said and had to pinch the bridge of his nose and breathe out slowly. All the tears Linda had been holding back threatened to break free when the door opened and Baez rushed in with a grim face full of guilt.
"I came as soon as I heard… how is he?" she asked when she approached the Reagan's huddled together.
"The doctors are not optimistic," Frank continued and glanced over at the other door. He swallowed a lump in his throat. "Even if he survives, we can't rule out any damage to the brain," he finished. It had been hard for him to say the last one. All he could do was remembering Joe. Eddie almost ran through the open door and then stopped dead in her tracks when she saw the group in the corner. That couldn't be any good news, she determined.
"Sir," she snapped to attention, but relaxed immediately when Frank nodded and took a few steps towards her.
"Thank you, Officer Janko," Frank said tensely and Eddie nodded.
"Not good?" Eddie asked and glanced at Linda and Baez behind him. Frank shook his head. "And Jamie? Have you talked with him, yet?" she asked after swallowing a big lump in her throat.
"He went to clean himself up…" Frank sighed. He had been too worried about Danny to even find the courage to talk with Jamie. He didn't know what to do, if Jamie saw his pain. Eddie nodded and straightened her back, ready to ask a question, but Frank cut her off. "Go," he nodded, sensing her intentions and then she hurried to the door. Not long after she got an update from a doctor and found the toilet where Jamie was sitting on the floor between the sinks with his knees pulled up to his chest. The sight of him felt like a punch in the stomach.
"Jamie," she whispered when she kneeled in front of him and put her hands on his knees. He lifted his gaze and looked at her with red eyes and a pale face.
"Danny?" he asked with a feeble voice. Eddie took a deep breath.
"If he makes it through the surgery, they're talking about brain damage. That is, if he wakes up from coma," she said and looked him in the eyes. She had never seen him in this much pain. Jamie nodded distantly and lifted his shaking hands in front of him. He stared at the blood on his fingers. Danny's blood. Eddie grabbed his hands in hers and looked him in the eyes. "Let's get this off and go back, all right?" she asked calmly and helped him to his feet. It took them ten minutes to wash all the dried blood of his hands and they were silent all the time.
"Thank you, Eddie," Jamie whispered when Eddie tore another paper towel out of the box on the wall and finished his face.
"Don't mention it," she said absently when she ruffled his hair back to normal. She tried to smile, but it only became a grimace.
"That's better," she commented and corrected his hair one last time before she opened the door. They walked back in silence and Jamie was practically assaulted by a tearful Erin when they came through the doors. The two of them hugged it out for a long time until Erin pulled away with a few sobs. Eddie turned to Frank and handed him Jamie's phone. "Keep an eye on him, please," she mumbled when Frank accepted the phone with a nod and Eddie left the waiting room. Renzulli was breathing down her neck, detectives wanted to know what happened in that diner and right now, she was the only one capable of answering.
St. Vincent's, 08.00 am, June 14th
Linda had fallen asleep in the early hours, like Jack and Sean, all of them exhausted and scared. Frank had stopped pacing and was sitting in the corner, eyes dry and back hurting. Henry had made and his entrance sometime in the middle of the night and was still up and walking every few minutes, the situation had made him more pale and ten years older in just a few hours. Nicky had folded herself together in a chair, looking at family photos on her phone. Baez and Erin had been staring into the air for the last few hours and Jamie had been walking back and forth in front of the door, still wearing his uniform. A doctor had informed them, that the surgery had gone well and it gave them more hope that he would survive though they were still worried about the possible damage to the brain.
"Family of Detective Reagan?" a relatively young blonde asked when she opened the door. The whole family practically leapt to their feet, waiting in silence for the update. "I'm Dr. Callaghan, the neurologist treating Mr. Reagan. I've looked at the new scans of his brain and so far, they are still looking good. There is no bleeding, the swelling is minimal and I estimate that we're just looking at a very severe concussion," she reported. Linda almost started crying when she hugged her two boys. The relief that washed over them could fill the room with tears. "We're not out of the woods yet, and we are keeping him heavily sedated for a few more hours, to let the brain rest. If we don't run into any complications, you should be able to visit him in the afternoon," the blonde finished with a calm smile.
"Thank you, Dr. Callaghan," Frank managed to choke out before she left.
"I don't ever think I've been so scared in all of my life," Linda laughed nervously when Erin hugged her tightly. Frank had walked over to where Jamie had deflated on a chair and sat down next to him.
"I think, she wants to know," he said in his normal low-key voice. Jamie turned his head to look at his father with a curious look in his eyes. Frank nodded to the phone in Jamie's hand. He had returned it to him earlier in the morning. "Officer Janko…" Frank explained. He knew that was what Jamie was thinking about. "Be sure to give her thanks from me," he continued and got to his feet again.
"What for?" Jamie asked, still confused.
"She'll know what for," Frank replied and gave Jamie a warm smile.
