Chapter 5

"Rach…I-" he gasped. Rachel took a step back and felt Puck's weight bring her down to the ground. She looked over his shoulder and saw Rod Johnson standing with her pistol in his hand.

"It's Johnson, stay low," she whispered into his ear. He mutely nodded back and stared into her eyes, tears threatening to fall from the pain.

"Hello you two, I thought you would get yourselves out sooner or later," he said grimly.

"What do you want with us?"

"I stuffed up and now I've got to cover up all my evidence. They were going to kill me and I can't let them get to me. I've been in this business too long. This stupid girl just had to screw it all up," he said and took several steps towards them. Rachel could make out his features in the orange glow of the dusk and he looked as ragged as herself and Puck.

"They're going to find you, the NYPD I mean," Rachel said, trying to put on a brave face while trying to force Puck off of her.

"Not if I get rid of you first," he said and aimed the shotgun at her. Puck felt Rachel's heart beat increase from underneath him and tried to move to cover her completely.

"Puck, stop it," Rachel said.

"There's no point for both of us to go," he winced.

"Shut up." Puck looked down at the woman who looked more like a scared child than the invincible detective he knew.

"Damn it," Johnson said as he heard the rumble of a familiar sound.

"It's a helicopter," Rachel said softly to her fallen friend. Her hair began to blow violently as the blades of the aircraft disrupted the previously peaceful landscape, minus the gun toting nutjob. The helicopter landed and two other vehicles pulled up beside it.

"Rod Johnson," a voice said. Rachel tried to get a better look at who was talking but she could only see dark clothes and aviators.

"Please, don't take me to him. If he could just give me another chance," Johnson begged.

"You know the rules, there is no such thing as chance. You screwed up; it's you that's got to pay. You brought the NYPD into this mess and now you're going to have a private consult with the boss himself," the man continued.

"Please-" he begged again but he was shot. Johnson gasped as he pulled out the tranquilizer dart from his neck and tried to combat the drowsiness that started to bring him under. The man looked at the two detectives in quite a compromising position.

"The boss gave no order for your execution. You will be joined soon by your fellow detectives. We'd appreciate if you left this meeting to yourself." Rachel stared blankly at him and didn't say a word, even as he got into his car and drove off. She knew Flynn and Michaels were close; the sirens were already starting to give her a headache, or more of a headache that she already had.

"Rach…god it hurts," he said.

"Hold on, they're on their way," Rachel whispered.

"If I don-don't make it, make sure that my family is kept sa-safe," he murmured.

"Stop talking, you're going to be fine," Rachel said although she wasn't a hundred percent sure she believed in what she was saying.

"Promise me," he said, slowly losing conscious.

"Why should I promise you when it's not going to happen. Flynn is on his way and he's probably brought half the hospital with him!" Rachel said, trying to keep her partner awake.

"Please," he groaned from under hooded eyelids.

"Puck?" She asked.

No response.

"Puck? Wake up!"

No response

"God damn it, please Puck, this world still needs you, your family needs you, the department needs you, hell even I still need you!"

The sirens drew closer; she prayed they would make it in time. She stared into his grimy face and like it was all in slow motion, his body was lifted off of her by people she did not know. She faintly heard the soft voice of Mason, who was trying to shove a water bottle down her throat. She watched in denial as Puck was strapped into a stretcher and taken away in the rescue helicopter and refused to speak, not until she knew he was okay.

"Berry?" Michaels said as he cautiously walked towards where she sat in the back of a rescue vehicle.

"She's not really talking," Mason said.

"Fair enough. Flynn has gone with Puck to the hospital. He's going to call if any news comes up. We've called in a crime team which is coming down to do a sweep of the house. They will want a statement off you so just tell me when you're up for it," Michaels said. He quickly turned his head to make sure no one was focused on him then took two steps forward to embrace the younger detective in a hug. "You scared the shit out of us. I don't think Flynn is going to let you out of his sight for months." Rachel nimbly hugged back and when they broke apart, accepted a gulp of water.

"We're driving you to the hospital, well the rescue team is. They want to monitor you on the way there. We'll be behind, all right," Mason said. Rachel nodded once before allowing a woman around the same age as her to lead her away.

"Miss Berry is quite dehydrated and she was held captive for a week, so we've been gentle with putting fluids into her. She'll have to stay away from very solid food for a while when she is released. Try to keep her on soups or noodles for a couple of weeks to get her body back to a healthy state. Her psychological health however is a different story. I've ordered a psychologist, who is with her at the moment. She seems to be suffering from PTSD. She does not respond to any of the questions we ask or nor does she show any signs that she is aware of what is happening around her. It is debatable how much information she actually absorbs when she is told something. Is there any news on her partner?" Dr. Corday asked.

"He's still in surgery, the bullet ripped through muscle tissue but they've so far confirmed that it hasn't hit his spinal cord. Thank god, to say the least," Mason told the doctor.

"Sounds like steady progress. I need to check on another patient so if anything happens, such as Rachel responding to words or her eyes focusing on something in particular, try to get in contact with me. It would be in your best interests as PTSD patients are known to be quite violent. To them, it's like they jumped from one place to another; in her case, a crime scene to a hospital. You can go in when the psychologist is finished with her." Dr. Corday nodded before walking down the corridor and disappearing around a corner. The psychologist left the private room, notepad in hand and told them that little progress had been made. Michaels, Flynn and Mason entered the room and Rachel was leaning back against the raised bed, staring out the window.

"Hey Berry," Michaels greeted her. She made no movement to recognize his voice and Michaels looked at Mason and Flynn for support.

"How've you been? The doctors tell us that Puck's spinal cord is intact and that they're fixing his wound up as we speak. So far, it's a high percentage of success, although he's going to have to stay away from active duty for a while," Mason said. Rachel blinked once but said nothing.

"Come on Rachel, please." Flynn said almost desperately. He still had a slight chance of losing one of his team members but he was determined not to lose both of them. The hours during Puck's surgery was spent hanging around the hospital, none of them willing to leave in case something came up. Mason spent most of her time talking about everything that sprang to mind and she was later joined by Waters, who was happy to escape the morgue for a couple of hours. Michaels and Flynn would migrate between the detectives, checking on Rachel and making sure she wasn't alone and standing outside the O.R. awaiting news. Dr. Corday watched the NYPD detectives sadly and personally hoped that they would both come out of the ordeal where they could move on.

The blinding light was the first thing he saw when he opened his eyes. The smell was definitely a change from the dust and grime that he had been breathing in for the past couple of days. In fact, it smelt really clean, almost too clean. Then his memories bitch slapped him across the face. He wanted to spring up and make sure he was all right. A burning sensation ripped through him and he felt a numbing pain come from his back.

"Ow," he grimaced as he realized that moving wasn't such a great idea.

"Oh, Detective Puckerman. As you have probably just noticed, movement is to be kept to a minimum for the next couple of days," a doctor said, walking in.

"Hello," he greeted and realized that even speaking hurt.

"I'm Doctor Frederick. My team and I performed a surgery on your back to remove the bullet and to repair damaged tissue. It missed your spinal cord so we expect you to be able to have full use of your legs but it damaged your muscles so they're going to take time to repair." Puck nodded weakly.

"Is Rachel here?"

"Detective Berry? Yes, she's under surveillance. She's been here for almost 18 hours and so have your fellow NYPD members. I believe Detective Flynn wants to talk to you," Dr. Frederick said. He left and Puck smiled slightly as he saw his boss walk in.

"You gave us all a bit of a scare, Puckerman," he said.

"Yeah, I think I gave myself a bit of a scare."

"Don't worry, we'll cover for you until you get back. The boss has been informed that there were no casualties and he is trying to organize a team to try and find the people who took the man who did this," Flynn continued.

"No point, they've probably killed him by now," Puck said matter-of-factly.

"How do you know that?"

"They weren't there to rescue him, they were there to kill him. Well, I think they were there to kill him. They didn't sound pleased, at least. You should ask Rachel, she was actually watching."

"Okay," Flynn said a little less enthusiastically for Puck's liking.

"What?"

"Nothing, Puck, I should leave you so you can get some rest," Flynn said before patting him lightly on his undamaged shoulder.

"What is wrong with Rachel?" Puck said, meeting his eyes.

"She's not hurt, she's just a little shaken up by everything."

"Shaken up."

"Okay, she's been diagnosed with PTSD and she's not talking to anyone. Waters and Mason have been with her but she's just sitting there. Maybe once you are able to move again, you can go see her. I think she was afraid you had died on her back on that road."

"God, I need to see her now!"

"You can't. I will ask your doctor when you can be allowed to move but right now, you need to heal that shoulder of yours." Puck huffed as Flynn walked out of his room. He tried to force himself to go to sleep in the hope that when he woke up, he could go visit his partner to assure her that everything was going to be okay.

"Honey, he's fine. Flynn's talked to him and he's awake and everything," Waters said to the still stoic Rachel, who was staring blankly ahead. "Okay sweetie, you really need to start talking. I know it's hard but Puck's apparently wracking his brain with worry. He's determined to walk over here himself if you don't start doing normal stuff soon." Rachel blinked twice but said nothing.

"What do you think she saw?" Mason asked her colleague.

"No idea but it must've been terrible. Either the thought of what they were going to do to Puck's shooter or the aspect of having someone shot in front of you and then being trapped underneath them," Waters said, stroking Rachel's messy hair sympathetically.

"Can you stay with her for a minute, I'm going to get some coffee," Mason said and took Rachel's hand for a moment and gave it a soft kiss before putting it back in its place and walking out. Waters shook her head and picked up a book she had been reading. When she was turning the forth page, she heard a sound. It was a sigh. That had been the first noise Rachel had made since she arrived in the hospital.

"Rach, honey?" Rachel turned her head to look directly at the assistant coroner. Waters beamed at her and was ready to jump up and hug her. She had heard her and had actually responded.

"Hey Eleanor, what's going on?"

"Do you remember anything?" Waters gasped. She was talking and Eleanor was ready to start dancing on the spot.

"I was out in the middle of nowhere and a gun went off. There was a helicopter and then Selene was there and then I'm here talking to you," Rachel replied.

"That's good. You just sit here alright, I'm going to get Dr. Corday, she's the one keeping an eye on you. She wanted me to go get her whenever you said something." Waters practically skipped out of the room. When she returned with a flustered Dr. Corday, Rachel had to be given a quick psych evaluation by a psychologist that Corday had asked to come in.

"How are you feeling?"

"A bit sore, hurts here and there but nothing major. Got a bit of a headache but I think you'd expect that after being in the middle of god knows where without enough water," Rachel replied simply.

"Good, now what's the last thing you remembered before you woke up?"

"Mason was trying to get me to drink water and then I walked away with some rescuers. I was in their van and then nothing. I was here talking to Eleanor."

"I see. Do you feel nauseous?"

"Not really," Rachel said truthfully.

"Yes, I think it was some minor PTSD but that can be expected after what you've been through," the psychologist said.

"PTSD?"

"Yeah, you've been out of it for a while, completely zombie like," Waters told her.

"Creepy. Well I'm better now. When can I leave?"

"We'd like to keep you under surveillance for another 24 hours and then we'll see, all right?" Corday said, smiling, and then left to go give Flynn and Michaels the good news. She found them in the waiting area, dozing slightly or in Michaels case, snoring loudly. "Excuse me gentlemen, Miss Berry is awake and talking. She's currently with your female co-workers and seems to be making great progress." Flynn stumbled to his feet and grinned. His team was going to be fine. He knew it was going to take a while but things would be back to normal. He allowed Michaels to go ahead but he felt that he had to pay a visit to Puck first.

"Hey Puck, Rachel's awake and she seems to be fine. She just had some PTSD and from the sound of her progress, she'll be getting out soon," Flynn said as he walked into Puck's room. Puck smiled gently and nodded.

"That's good. Can't have her staring out windows and thinking of rainbows and bunnies for the rest of her life," he said as he poorly attempted a joke.

"That would be a tragedy, wouldn't it?"

"I really want to see her. Can you ask Dr. Frederick to have me moved or something? I just want to tell her myself that I'm going to be fine. She was freaking out on the road and I just wanted to apologize for scaring her," Puck said.

"I'll ask." Flynn made the arrangements with Dr. Corday and Dr. Frederick, who at first told him that it was breaking hospital rules, but felt compassionate enough to let this one slide. Puck was wheeled into Rachel's room where he saw her talking animatedly with Waters and Mason about some chick flick movie that he recalls had been advertised half way through the Super Bowl. She looked at him, a smile still on her face and nodded.

"Hey Rach, how are you?"

"Very well, thank you for asking. And you are?"

And we have reached the end to yet another depressing Chapter. Thanks to Peter once again. We've all had internet problems so that was the cause of delay (her end as well as mine). I'm off to Australia so if you live in Brisbane, you might see me, just shout out Hong Konger and if I turn around, you've found me. Hi-Five is for anyone that does find me.

I've been a little slack, I've got an English speech to do tomorrow and I've been addicted to neopets (I won't tell you my age merely because it's quite embarrassing). If you do play, its Sierra_Song (My DW Gamma Forest Name) If you try to change those words into names, you've got my real name but I'm not sure who is sad enough to try.

Thanks again to all reviewers, alerters etc. (You've heard it all before). And to my fellow fanficers, is anyone else getting a bit annoyed with the Doc Manager? I am :(