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Chapter Seven: Life on the Line

When Rico comes back upstairs with my bag, I show him the text from Danny. Quickly grabbing my keys out of the bag, we rush back downstairs and down the street to my car. Getting in, I put the key in the ignition and drive as fast as I can without breaking the law to get to the hospital. Once I park the car, Rico and I hurry inside and to Jo's room. We see Danny leaning against the wall by Jo's door and he looks like he's been crying.

"What's wrong?" I ask.

"After Rico left this afternoon, Jo fell asleep. The doctors didn't think anything of it until her heart stopped. Kyle and Tess are getting something to drink, but yet again, they won't let anyone who isn't family in the room. Kyle wants all of us here so that he can talk to us about Monday again. If Jo doesn't make it through…" Danny cuts off as more tears come to his eyes and he gets choked up.

"Hey, she's going to make it through. She has to." Rico says quietly.

"Lacey, Rico, thank you both for coming back. I want all three of you outside, now." Chief Masterson says when he and Tess come back a minute later.

"Sir, Lacey and I weren't inside when Jo fell; we don't have any new information for you." Rico says quickly.

"I understand that Rico, but while my daughter's life is hanging in the balance, I want to make sure that I have every little bit of information that I can get so that justice can be served." The Chief says.

"Mr. Masterson, doesn't the diner have video surveillance? Couldn't you look at that to see what happened?" I ask quickly as Danny, Rico and I follow Jo's dad outside.

"They do, but we haven't gotten a chance to look over it. Every time that we try, something pulls us away." The Chief says.

"They do realize that you're trying to figure out what happened to your daughter, right?" Danny asks and I see him clench his hands into fists.

"It doesn't seem like they do." Rico comments sullenly.

"You're right Rico, it doesn't seem like they realize Jo is involved, but with Regina's murder still unsolved, they think that that takes precedence over everything else." He replies.

"Why don't we go there now? We can come with you, and if anyone is there at this time of night and tries to pull you away to work on Regina's case, we can tell them why you can't." I suggest.

"You know that I can't let you three actually view the footage, right?" He asks.

"Unless Jo doesn't make it, all it would be would be a father trying to make sure that his daughter is going to be okay with the help of her friends. Mr. Masterson, we want to help." I say. I made the wrong choice after Danny left in no longer being friends with Jo, but I am doing to do what I can to change that now.

"Okay, meet me at the station. I'm going to tell Tess where we're going." He says before heading back inside.

"Rico and I walked here this afternoon, so can you give us a ride to the station Lace?" Danny asks.

"Of course; Rico and I did come here together." I reply as I walk towards my car.

"Is everything okay with you two again? You were avoiding us Lacey." Danny asks looking between me and Rico.

"We're basically okay." Rico replies.

"You're basically okay? What's wrong?" Danny asks.

"Danny, can you please just drop it; at least for right now? We have a more pressing issue to deal with at the moment then if Rico and I are okay." I snap then sigh. "I'm sorry. I'm just worried about Jo." I say.

"It's understandable Lace. We'll talk about this once we know that Jo is going to be okay." Danny nods.

The drive from the hospital to the police station is a quiet one. None of us want to voice our fears on Jo's condition. None of us want to even think about what would happen if Jo didn't make it through. I know that Danny and Rico would be more affected by that then I would, but there is a part of me that blames me for this happening. If I hadn't left Jo behind to be friends with Regina, Sarita, Scott and Archie, then it wouldn't have mattered who Archie fooled around with, and Sarita wouldn't have felt the need to taunt me with her being with Archie, and then maybe Jo wouldn't have gotten hurt. As I come to a red light, I let out a sigh.

"Everything okay Lace?" Rico asks.

"I can't help feeling like this is my fault." I say.

"Lacey, you were outside… there's no way that you are to blame in any way." Danny says quickly.

"I just feel like if I hadn't abandoned her that this wouldn't have happened. You know domino effect." I say as the light turns green.

"If you want to look at it that way, then I would be to blame. But we can't think like this Lace. Jo needs us to stay positive. None of us are to blame for this. We are going to prove that Archie and/or Sarita had something to do with it." Danny says with a shake of his head.

After that, we didn't say anything else. Glancing over at Rico, he gives me a reassuring smile and takes my free hand in his and gives it a squeeze. As I pull into the parking lot of the police station, I catch Danny's eye in the rear view mirror and I see him smirk. I give him a look that tells him to shut up as we get out of the car.

"Oh come on Lacey, its sweet that you two like each other so much." Danny says and I push him away from me.

"Focus here Desai; we are trying to help save your girlfriend. It is not the time to make comments on mine and Rico's relationship." I say with a roll of my eyes.

"He hasn't said much Lacey." Rico points out as we meet up with him on the other side of the car.

"He gave me a look in the car when you took my hand." I explain as we walk into the building. It's practically empty, but there are officers here and there around the pit.

"Right, because him giving you a look automatically means that he has a comment on our relationship." Rico says with a small smile and a shake of his head.

"Can we just drop it? We need to wait for Chief Masterson to get here." I say with a sigh.

"Can I help you kids?" one of the police officers asks.

"Oh, we're just meeting Kyle. He should be here shortly." Danny says quickly and Rico and I give him a look. He might be the only one that has the nerve to call Chief Masterson by his first name.

"Okay. Wait here though. We can't allow kids to be wandering about the station." The officer says.

"That makes total sense. We will wait right where we are for him to get here. Hey, were you aware that his daughter was in the hospital?" Danny asks and I spin around to stare at him in shock.

"Uh, no, I had no idea she was in the hospital. Is she okay?" the officer asks.

"Not really. You see, she was pushed or she fell at Johnny Cakes on Monday evening, and after waking up this afternoon from the coma that she had been in, she fell back asleep and then her heart stopped. Have you noticed the Chief acting frazzled at all this week?" Danny explains. I'm in complete shock at how Danny is talking to the officer and Rico just seems amused and confused at the same time.

"I'm sorry to hear that, and you know, I have noticed the Chief acting a little weird, I just thought that it had something to do with the Regina Crane investigation. You know we still haven't found the murder weapon in that." The officer says in a low voice.

"No, see, Kyle's been trying to take some time away from Regina's murder to watch the footage from the diner to see just what happened to his daughter, but every time that he does that, he gets pulled away on another useless lead for Regina's investigation. Does that seem fair to you? Stalling the Chief of Police in finding out what happened to his still living daughter to try and solve a murder case?" Danny asks.

"No, it doesn't. Why hasn't he said something to us? If he had said why he was trying to look at that footage, we would have left him alone. He never once said… well, I'll spread the word. Let the other officers know not to bug the Chief until we hear that his daughter is okay." The officer says before walking away.

Once she's out of ear shot, I start in on Danny.

"Have you lost your mind Desai? What is Chief Masterson going to say when he finds out that you did that?" I ask.

"Hey, at least I got it to start circulating around the station that Jo's in the hospital and to let the Chief look at the footage. I'm trying to help save my girlfriend, remember?" Danny asks.

"Guys, calm down. Chief Masterson just got here, we'll go with him to look at the footage and maybe Lacey can find something. But Lace, Danny's right, if the other officers know that something is seriously wrong in Chief Masterson's life that he's trying to figure out then it actually is helping Jo." Rico says as he places a hand on my shoulder and I feel myself relax.

"You two are perfect for each other." Danny mutters before turning to face Chief Masterson and explaining the situation that just occurred.

"Did he just say…?" I start to ask.

"Yeah, he did, but I would like to think that he's right about it." Rico says as he takes my hand and kisses it before following after Danny and Chief Masterson.

Once we get to Chief Masterson's office, he pulls up the footage from the diner and then lets me sit down. Since the footage starts at the beginning of the day, I have to fast forward some to get to the right time. As soon as I see myself practically run out of the diner and Rico follow, I just let it play. Zooming in, I see Archie and Danny arguing, but I focus more on Sarita's movements. There's a part of me that feels like Sarita pushed or tripped Jo that caused her to fall. Slowing the video down some, I watch as Jo stands up from the booth and goes to walk behind Danny. I watch Sarita push a chair into Jo's way and then watch, horrorstruck as Jo trips on the leg of the chair and then fall to the ground. I let out a small sob and turn to Rico. As he holds me and tries to calm me down, I kind of hear Danny and Chief Masterson talking to each other, but their voices are low and rushed, so I can't focus properly. After a couple minutes, my phone goes off in my pocket and I hastily pull it out.

Jo's okay. The doctors were able to restart her heart. – Tess

"Guys, I just got a text from Mrs. Masterson. Jo's okay. The doctors restarted her heart." I say over Danny and Chief Masterson.

Have you guys gotten a chance to look at the footage yet? – Tess

Yeah. Sarita pushed a chair into Jo's way, causing Jo to trip and then fall. – Lacey

"Chief Masterson, do what you have to do. I am going to go back to the hospital, and to make sure that they stay out of trouble, I'm taking these two with me." I say as I take Rico's hand in mine and then grab Danny's upper arm to pull him along.

"Please let Tess know that I will be there as soon as I can. If I don't get there some time tonight, then I will definitely be there first thing in the morning." Chief Masterson says with a grateful smile.

"Of course; we'll make sure to tell her sir." I say as I lead the guys out of the station and to my car. "Get in." I say once I unlock the car.

"Gees Lace. Rico, man, make sure you know what you are getting into with this one before you dive in head first." Danny comments as he gets into the back seat.

"I plan on doing just that Danny." Rico says with a smile.

"Desai, keep the comments about mine and Rico's relationship to yourself from now on, got it?" I ask as I glare at him in the rear view mirror.

"Got it Porter." Danny replies with a nod.