A/N By chapter 5 the chapters will be much more Reddington centered I promise.
Meet Cute
Chapter 3
Getting into his car, telling himself he didn't want to get involved, Raymond started driving. He made it almost all the way home before deciding to double back.
OOO
Despite being the one that had been shot, it still fell to Mr. Kaplan to be the one to take charge and try to calm them down. "Everybody just needs to take a deep breath and not panic. Everything is going to be fine. I sent Annie to Mercy Hospital. I know a guy there, Benny. He works in the blood bank. She should be back soon. We get the bullet out, get a few pints of blood in me and everything will be fine."
At her insistence, they moved her into the bathroom, into the tub.
"The clean up will be much easier this way." Mr. Kaplan assured them.
Jimmy was looking almost as pale as Mr. Kaplan. "She didn't want to get the car dirty. She made me take the shower curtain from the apartment. The whole car ride down here, she was wrapped in it. She said that way if she didn't -" Jimmy couldn't finish.
Brimley told him. "Jimmy, you need to get rid of that."
"I will. It's in the trunk for now."
After getting her blazer and blouse off, Sam asked. "Kate, what the hell did they shoot you with? There's a string coming out of your side!"
Brimley was married. His face contorted. "Is that what I think it is? Is that a tampon?"
"It worked to contain the bleeding – for the most part – didn't it?"
Sam didn't like the looks of it. "Mr. Kaplan, I really think we need to get you to a hospital."
Kate refused. "Sam, I'm not going to the hospital. You know how I feel about hospitals."
"I know, Kate, but this isn't a simple through and through. This is bad. This is really bad."
"Nohospitals."
"Mr. Kaplan, I know you don't like hospitals, but I don't see much of an option here."
"Sam, I said no hospitals!"
"Listen, if this is because of the lesbian thing – I can take care of that. I can tell them I'm your brother. That way as your next of kin, they would let me decide medical treatment and who gets in to see you. I can make sure they let Annie in and -"
Jimmy spoke up. "- Sam, if you take her to the hospital with a gun shot wound the police will get involved."
Sam didn't care. "So let them. I'll make up a story. It was an accident. I was cleaning my gun and it went off."
Ever thinking ahead, Mr. Kaplan pointed out. "And when they ask to see the gun?"
"I'll tell them I was upset. I tossed it. Or I just left it there and someone must have found it and taken it. Or I'll tell them … I don't know what I'll tell them, but I'll come up with something!"
"No. You won't."
"Kate -"
"Sam, I'm not stepping foot in another hospital. Not tonight. Not ever. You know that and you know why."
When Sam went quiet, Mr. Kaplan moved on. "Okay so … who wants to get to dig out the bullet?"
Brimley mirthlessly pointed out. "That's usually your job, Kate."
"Well congratulations, Teddy. Today, it gets to be your job."
Sam agreed. "Teddy, you've got the steadiest hands. Go get Kate's kit from the office downstairs."
Brimley nodded and stepped out. He returned a minute later with the black doctor's bag and two tumblers of amber looking fluid – a straw in one. "Take a sip."
"No." Kate turned her head away as he offered her the one with the straw.
"Would you prefer vodka? You need to drink this. I'm not digging into you with either of us sober."
Kate shook her head. "I'm fine."
"Sure … except for the little hole in your side full of lead." Looking at her some more, Brimley shook his head. "I think we should wait until Annie gets back and we get a couple of those pints of blood in you before I go digging."
On that at least, Kate didn't argue. She nodded her agreement.
Half because they needed to know what kind of hole they were in, half to keep her focused and talking, Sam asked. "What happened after you got shot?"
"I took the money and torched the van – with the bodies and all the other evidence in it. There was nothing left of mine at the bank - I grabbed my purse and brought it with me when they took me out of the bank at gunpoint and I had already removed my application and other paperwork from the bank's files in anticipation of Thursday, but I still went back to the bank so I could tell them what happened – well a version of what happened."
Sam didn't understand. "Why would you do that?"
"So I could send the police on a snipe hunt. I told the police that there were four men. The two who came into the bank and two more waiting outside in the van. I told them that I managed to escape when the robbers started arguing amongst themselves and shooting each other.
"I told them I ran so I didn't know who won the gunfight. I gave them a very vague description of the four men, but I refused to go to the hospital or the station. Instead, I had the detectives take me back to my apartment. I wiped down the entire place. There are no prints and nothing left there to connect back to me or any of you."
"After you were shot?" Sam asked. "You did all this after you were shot?"
Brimley asked Jimmy the question Sam was wondering. "Where were you in all this?"
There was a beat before Kate answered for him. "I sent him on a few errands to get ready for Thursday."
Sam wasn't buying it, but now wasn't the time. He didn't like the way Kate was getting winded just trying to talk.
"It's like I said - everybody just needs to stay calm. There is nothing to worry about. Sam and Brimley, you two are in the clear. You two weren't even in New York yet. As long as no one panics and does something stupid we will all be fine. In a way, this was fortuitous."
"Fortuitous? How?" Brimley asked.
"That schtick – robbing banks and kidnapping one of the tellers for ransom – it was played out. We had been doing it for years. It was time to find another one. This way, if anyone ever makes the connection, they'll pin it on these guys."
"Somehow I don't see Annie or Dom seeing you getting shot as fortuitous."
Kate ignored the comment.
Jimmy shook his head. "I don't like this."
"I am the only one with any skin in the game at the moment. Do I look worried?"
"You're Mr. Kaplan. You never look worried. We got out of New York clean, but what about that guy who was here tonight?"
"He's nobody for you to concern yourself with, Jimmy."
"What guy?" Sam asked.
"When we got back to the house, there was a guy here with Annie. When he came outside, he noticed the New York plates on the car. He said he travels to New York often. Asked for one of my cards."
Mr. Kaplan frowned. "Jimmy, if he has any doubts he'll call you in New York. You need to be there when he does. You should head back tonight."
Jimmy tried to argue. "I'm not leaving until I know you're going to be alright."
"Yes, you are." Mr. Kaplan wasn't having it. "I dropped most of the proceeds of the robbery in one of those curbside mail collection boxes around the corner from where I torched the van. It's going to raise questions if that money is found. You need to be back in NY to collect that money before the next Post Office pick up at ten tomorrow morning.
"In fact, you should go now. I don't want the car still here in case he comes back."
Jimmy didn't look happy about it, but with a last lingering look, he left the overcrowded bathroom.
Sam watched Kate shift trying to find a more comfortable position. Sam said it again. "Kate, we need to get you to a hospital. We'll be with you the whole time, but -"
Kate interrupted him. "- Annie will be back soon with the blood. Teddy is going to get the bullet out so there is really no reason for you to hang around, Sam. You should head out."
Sam got the hint. He dropped the idea.
Frustrated, feeling like he wanted to punch the wall, he instead ran a hand through his hair. "What can we do here? Now while we wait for Annie to get back? There has to be something we can do now."
Frowning, Kate looked at him a moment before letting out a shaky breath. "Sam?"
"Yeah?"
"Have you done anything or anyone stupid lately?"
"Asks the lady in the bathtub with the bullet in her side." She looked a mess. Sam brushed the hair out of her face before answering more seriously. "Nothing stupid on my end of late."
"We could do a field transfusion."
As soon as she said it, Sam started rolling up his sleeve.
Kate directed Teddy on what to get out of the bag.
She tried to get the needle in herself, but her hand was shaking too much. Sam stopped her. He held her hand. There was no warmth in it. "Just talk Teddy through it."
"Keep squeezing your hand into a fist and then releasing. It keeps the blood flowing. Eight to ten minutes is a pint. Don't go longer than twelve."
"Sure. Let me borrow your watch to keep track." Sam slipped her wristwatch off before she could realize what he was doing.
Teddy glanced his way around the ten minute mark, but neither said anything. Kate didn't exactly pink up, but she did lose that ghastly pallor. Still, Sam found it concerning that they made it almost to twenty minutes before Kate questioned the time."
Even with the blood, Kate seemed to be fading. Sam tried to keep her awake and talking. "Now you sent Annie to go get the blood, but Annie faints at the sight of blood so how's that going to work? Do you tell them to put it in a little doggie bag for her?"
Kate shifted around again, but she didn't bother to open her eyes as she answered. "Well it looks a lot less suspicious than seeing her walking out of the hospital carrying little pouches of blood."
Teddy joined in on trying to keep her awake and talking. "Something I never understand about Annie and her fainting. How is it that when Annie's cracking someone over the head with something she doesn't pass out after the first hit?"
"She faints because of a drop of blood pressure. Get her angry enough and her blood pressure goes high enough that she doesn't faint until she starts to calm down."
"So what do four pints of premium go for these days on the black market?"
"A cabbage patch kid per."
"Come again?" Sam asked.
"They're these little dolls. They're kind of creepy, but the stores can't keep them in stock. At the moment, they're probably more valuable than gold. I have a pallet of them in the garage."
"Thank God my girls are all past that age."
When Mr. Kaplan shifted again trying to get comfortable, Brimley nudged him. When Sam looked his way, he didn't at all like the look on Brimley's face.
Sam followed Brimley's gaze to where the other man had been checking out Kate's legs as her little movements made her skirt ride higher.
Just when he thought the night couldn't get any worse. Sam tipped his head towards the door. He waited until Brimley had excused himself from the room before asking her.
"Kate, honey, is there something you're leaving out? Did something else happen in the van?"
"No."
"Were you shot anywhere else?"
"No."
"Okay. I'm going to get you out of the rest of these clothes just to be sure."
Opening her eyes, she looked at him quizzically. "Sam?"
"Kate ..."
Lifting her head with far too much effort, she followed his gaze. There was blood on her inner thigh.
Her expression crumbled. "Don't tell Annie."
Unsure if that was better or worse than what he initially thought, Sam cursed. "She doesn't know?"
"You know how she is. She gets too worked up, too excited and … she worries. I didn't want her to be sad if it didn't work out. I was holding off on telling her until the second trimester."
She didn't want Annie to be sad. Of course not. Annie being sad wasn't allowed as far as Kate was concerned. Sam bit back a sigh.
"How about the proud Papa?" Sam asked. "Does he know?"
Mr. Kaplan flashed him a look of irritation which he found preferable to the weepy look. "Sam, you know nobody likes to talk about how the sausage gets made."
"How far along are you? Were you?" Sam corrected himself.
"I don't know. Not more than four, maybe five weeks."
Completely out of his depth, Sam asked. "What do we do about it?"
She sighed. "Nothing. It's not exactly surprising. I did just get shot. It's a self cleaning oven. It should just take care of itself."
It sounded inadequate, but Sam didn't know what else to say. "I'm sorry."
She gestured to the linen closet. Sam pulled out a few fluffy towels and arranged them over and around her. It was something he should have already done to help keep her warm.
"You know I read a thing in a magazine about these places, these banks where you can go to get help with trying to have a baby. You can pick out the guy's hair and eye color. Even what school he went to."
"They require that you be married at those clinics. No singles and certainly no unnatural couplings."
Sam frowned. "If you wanted to go to one of those places instead of what you've been doing, I could go with you. We could tell them I'm your husband."
"What is this Chinatown? You're my brother. Your my husband. No, your my brother and my husband!"
"Is this the part where I get to slap you?" Sam asked.
She made a sound that was something like a chuckle and rubbed at her eyes.
Sam admitted. "I just don't like the idea of you going to some seedy hotel with an even seedier guy."
"Really Sam? You're picking now to bring that up?"
Sam shrugged.
"Sam, if you're wondering why you're not married and you don't have a girlfriend, it's because you have no sense of timing."
"Maybe, but right now I've got a captive audience." Sam reached out to brush the hair out of her face again. "I was just thinking … Teddy makes some pretty cute babies. Maybe -"
"- Oh wow! Sam, that is not going to happen."
"I'm just trying to look out for you."
"I know you are, but I'm fine."
Except for the part where she was bleeding to death in the bath tub. Where the hell was Annie?
tbc
A/N If you are reading be a dear and leave a review to let me know what you think.
