Everything happened so fast. There were so many people and they moved so fast all I could see were blurs. All I remember was the sound of my own voice when Soul collapsed.

"Somebody please help us! He's been shot!"

There were so many doctors and nurses huddled around Soul that I couldn't see what they were doing to him. His prone form was loaded onto a gurney and wheeled away. I tried to follow, but a nurse grabbed my arm.

"Ma'am are you hurt?"

The nurse prodded at my hairline. I winced, but that paled in comparison to what Soul was going through.

"We are going to do our best to help your friend. In the meantime, we need to get you examined. That gash on your head may need stitches."

I craned my neck, trying to see where they had taken Soul as the nurse led me to an examination room. The wait for the doctor seemed to go on forever. My eyelids started to get heavy. A nap didn't sound so bad. It had been a very trying day.

"Ma'am, I'm afraid I can't let you sleep. It looks like you've had some head trauma." A kind, yet unfamiliar voice roused me from my floating consciousness.

"Can you tell me your name?"

"It's Maka. Maka Albarn."

"What happened to you and the young man that came in with you?"

I couldn't figure out what to say. I didn't want the police looking for Blackstar, at least not yet. I wanted to get everything straightened out with him. The best course of action was to avoid the question all together. Besides, I still didn't know how Soul was doing.

"Is Soul going to be alright?"

"Right now he's still in surgery."

The tears started to sting my eyes. The doctor shook his head and sighed.

"I want to run a couple of tests on you. I'm almost positive that you have a concussion and that cut on your head needs stitches. I also want to make sure you don't have any internal bleeding."

I nodded.

"Do you have anyone that we can contact?"

"No."

"I see. A nurse will be here shortly to take you to have those tests done."

The doctor left and I pulled out my phone that I managed to grab before we left my apartment. I searched through my contacts until I found the one I was looking for and hit the call button.

"Hello?"

"Hi Wes, its Maka."

"This is an unexpected surprise. How are you?"

I wasn't sure how long I could maintain my composure, so I needed to make this quick.

"Not so good. It's about Soul." My voice cracked when I said his name.

"What happened? Is he alright?"

"Soul was shot tonight. I don't know how he is yet. The doctor said he was still in surgery."

"I'm sure he'll pull through just fine. Soul is a fighter." Wes' voice was strained.

"You should be here Wes. He is your little brother."

"Soul told us long ago that he didn't want anything to do with us. We are his family and he just left. Our mother was devastated. He deserted us."

"Soul has told me very little about what happened before he left, but you cannot desert him now."

Tears began to slide down my cheeks.

"Maka, I appreciate you letting me know what happened, however, I can't be there. I trust that you will keep me updated on his recovery."

"But Wes…" The line died.

A nurse came in with a wheelchair.

"Maka Albarn?"

"Yes."

She smiled kindly at me. "We are going to do an x-ray and a MRI. If both of those come back clean, you'll be free to go."

Both tests went pretty quickly and I found myself back in the examination room waiting for the doctor again. The doctor entered the room followed by two police officers. I'm pretty sure I looked really confused. The doctor spoke.

"Maka, first of all, you have a concussion and that gash on your head will need about five or six stitched. I want to keep you here overnight for observation. Secondly, your x-rays are very concerning to me. You have quite a few healed breaks. The ones that are most alarming are the breaks in your ribs. You currently have hairline fractures in three of your ribs. All of them have been completely broken at least twice. All of them look fairly recent, a couple of months apart. You are actually still healing from some of them. All of this is consistent with a pattern of extreme physical abuse."

"Okay."

The doctor turned and made quiet conversation with the two officers. I wasn't sure what they wanted me to say or do. I continued to stare at the three of them in silence. One of the officers was taller than the other two men. He had light brown hair and hazel eyes. His name tag stated that he was Officer James. He broke away from the others and sat down in front of me.

"The hospital is obligated by law to report all gun shot wounds to the police."

I was still lost. "This has something to do with Soul?"

The brown-haired man studied me intently. "Did you shoot him because he was abusing you?"

"Soul has never hit me and I don't even know how to shoot a gun!"

"You don't have to protect him. I'm sure the judge will see it as self defense."

I was in shock. "I didn't shoot him! He was protecting me. That's how we ended up here tonight."

I was hyperventilating and getting hysterical. The doctor stood between us.

"Maka please calm down." He turned to the officer. "I told you not to get her riled up. She has had a very traumatic evening. You have done enough damage tonight. I have to ask you to leave."

The wound on my head must have been agitated in my hysteria; I felt warm fluid trickle down my face. The physician shooed the policemen out of the room and shut the door. He looked at me with a compassionate expression as he started working on the cut.

"I believe you. I saw the two of you when you came in. That young man obviously cares about you very much. Someone that in love would never hit the object of their affection."

"Is he out of surgery yet?"

"As soon as I finish up here and get you admitted, I'll check on him."

I smiled at him gratefully. "Thank you."

When he finished stitching up my head wound, a nurse got me settled into a room. The bed was far from comfortable but I was exhausted. I fell asleep while silently praying that I wouldn't lose Soul.

A/N:Chapter 4 is finally here! Thank you for all the great feedback. You guys are fantastic! I know some of you will wonder what happened to Maka's family. All will be revealed in the next chapter. Also, let me know if the POV switching is confusing. I'm trying to make it as clear as possible who's doing the speaking. Anywho, thanks for reading! Don't forget to hit that shiney blue review button. You know you want to :)

~Dawne-Sharlotte