Hey guys, BlueWolf Leader here. Sorry this one took a little longer than expected. We had to put my dog down due to kidney failure. It's just been a really shitty weekend for me. I hope you guys like this story. Thanks to those of you who have favorited it, and those of you who have reviewed on it. Your desperate cries for more really help keep me going. Hope you enjoy!

Here we go again

Jade's POV

"Ow! Fuck! OW! Stop fucking around and piece me together you bastards!" the damn doctors were poking and prodding around in my stomach. Robbie had handcuffed me to the hospital bed so I wouldn't rip them apart limb by limb. He was standing over in the corner, their only defense if I break out. I had lost so much blood; it was a wonder how I still had the strength to threaten and yell.

"Miss West, if you don't stop moving, we won't be able to patch you up as good as new! Don't make me sedate you. I know you require being awake for surgeries, but I will if you keep this up." The young doctor emphasized his point when he held up a tranquilizer. I momentarily stopped writhing in agony, but recommenced my torturous movements. His assistants were digging around in my stomach, almost like they had never seen inside a body before.

"Damnit, you sons of a bitch! Fix me already; I don't have time for you to fuck around!" One of them pulled out a pair of pliers or something, and started weaving it into my skin. Luckily for them, my shoulders and legs were strapped to the bed, keeping me from arching off of it in pain. "Are you almost done yet?"

"Miss West, this is your second time in here in less than twenty-four hours. You could at least give us the courtesy of being patient while we do our jobs." He was starting to sound like a whiny sixteen year-old Robbie.

"YOU haven't done jack shit. You've been standing there with a needle up your ass while these bimbos have been stitching me together. Are you even a real doctor? Ow! You shithead!" I tried to swing out at the nurse who had cut a little too close to my skin with the scissors.

"All done, Jade. Calm down, will ya? Cat's still getting fixed up." Robbie was looking off to the side. The sight of blood made him nervous, unlike me. I wanted to keep whatever I spilled. Damn ground kept soaking it all up.

"Is she doing okay?" my voice and expression softened. I hadn't seen her since I passed out. The only thing that woke me up was the stretching and pulling of my tummy flesh. Robbie frowned, but nodded. "I want to see her. Now."

"You just got done with surgery, Miss West. You are not going anywhere until you are fit to do so." The doctor's voice droned.

"Robbie, grab me some gauze and wrap me up. Unhook me from this damn bed. I want out of here ASAP." He hurried to finish his orders, pulling out a key to unlock the handcuffs. He removed the rest of the restraints and I sat up. I held out my arms as he wrapped a long piece of gauze and cloth around my midsection. "There, all better. Now, if you don't mind, Doc, I'm going to see a friend of mine."

"Jade, it is highly inadvisable that you leave your hospital bed at this point in time. You still need to recover from your wound!" I swung my legs over to the side of the bed and hopped off. I reached for my spare bag of clothes. It's kind of funny, I'm in here more often than at my own house. I keep a bag here just in case. I went and changed quickly, then set out for Cat's room.

"Cat's in the eastern sector; she was moved out of the ICU an hour ago." Robbie stated as he hurried to match my pace.

"How long was I out?" I glanced at him from the corner of my eye. He moved to where I was following him, then turned around and walked backwards in front of me.

"Almost three hours, so it's about 2030 now. Cat should be sleeping right now." He turned back around and led me to Cat's room. E69, I heard Robbie snicker. I shook my head and entered, not waiting to sign the visitor's list.

"Cat, you feeling any better?" I walked into the dimly lit room, looking for my little redheaded girl. She was curled up in a ball in her bed, the sheets wrapped tightly around her. She was shivering uncontrollably, and I could only imagine what she was thinking of at that moment. I reached out to touch her shoulder, only to be stopped by Andre.

"Not that one. That one had to be fixed, remember?" I silently thanked him for stopping my careless action. I moved to lie down next to her on the bed, pressing up against her back, hoping she would notice and turn over.

"Cat, can you hear me? It's Jade, that girl that you haven't seen since we almost did it." I was trying to sound funny, without Andre and Robbie catching on to what I was mentioning. Her shoulders rose and fell slowly, rhythmically. She must be asleep. I'll just wait here until she wakes up. "Did you fix the situation, Andre?"

"Yep, Danny's going to be in jail for a long time. Cat will never have to worry about him. You, on the other hand, got lucky that he was a poor shot and missed your aortic artery in you abdomen. If he had just barely nicked that sucker, you'd have been a goner." He brushed his dreds back over his head. He let out a sigh of relief as he positioned himself in the chair better. Robbie moved to stand guard at the door like the good friend he is. I looked at Cat's sleeping form. She looked so peaceful, despite all the shit that happened to her recently. I can't believe how strong she is. She reminds me of me, which is a scary thought. Maybe she's a distorted mirror image of me. She's just what I should be, and I'm her guardian angel. I just couldn't save her in time before her world shattered around her.

"I'm so sorry I couldn't get there faster, Cat. This is all my fault. I should've kept running; I shouldn't have passed out after that first shot. I'm tougher than that. I should have sucked it up, and run after that van for all I'm worth. I just hope, no I pray, that you can forgive me. I'll be here, even if you hate my guts. I'll always watch over you, no matter what." I reached out to take a few strands of her velvet cupcake hair in my hands and let it slip through my fingers, just like my opportunity at a relationship with her did. I nuzzled her neck, and loosely laid an arm across her waist. I'll wait until you wake up.

2200 hours. Cat's POV

"Andre, you think she'll wake up anytime soon? Jade just looks so lost without her knowing that she's alright." I heard Robbie whisper from behind me. I shifted onto my back, wincing as I moved my left shoulder. I tensed when I realized that there was an arm around my waist. I looked to my left to see a napping Jade. She looked so serene. Her normal grimace was nowhere to be found on her placid face. I reached up and traced her jawline with my right hand, seeing as my left hand was incapable of moving. She opened her blue eyes slowly, fluttering them to get used to the bright light. I smiled at her, trying not to show how traumatized I felt, how traumatized I was after this ordeal.

"Morning, sunshine." She squinted at me, confused. She glanced at the clock, then back at me.

"It's nine o'clock, Cat. It's pitch black outside. There's nothing sunny about it." She grinned that Cheshire grin when she caught me off guard. I yawned, closing my eyes briefly.

"Well, it might as well be morning. I'm tired." Jade brushed a few strands of my hair out of my face, but held onto them. She had a look on her face, and it sure as hell-oops-confused me. It was a tormented and sad look, like she had believed that she had lost me forever. "What's the matter, Jade?"

"I took too long." She caressed my face, frowned deeply and she squinted her eyes. She looked like she was going to cry, but Jade never cries. "You wouldn't be in this position if I hadn't come sooner. You would be okay, not with a hole in your shoulder. You wouldn't be scared to go out at night, or terrified of what the next guy you see will do to you. I could have prevented that, if I hadn't been such a wimp and passed out after that first gun shot."

"Jade, don't blame yourself. In fact, I'm surprised you are. Usually, you find someone else to pin all your problems on. Frequently, it's Robbie. There was nothing you could really do. The van was going too fast, and Danny had caught us at an opportune moment. We were both distracted, you, more so than I. I'm just glad you got there before he could kill me." My voice slowly disappeared. The images from earlier were creeping back in. I shook my head vigorously to try and be rid of them. They faded away, but I knew they would return. "All that matters to me, is that you came, and you're still here. I couldn't be happier."

"Well, I'll make it up to you some day. So what did they do to your shoulder?" Jade was distracted, but what exactly was she thinking about. Her eyes were glazed over, and her hand was just combing through my hair thoughtlessly.

"I think they had to fix the cartilage or something. I don't know. They used an awful lot of big words. My little cat-sized brain couldn't handle it. Haha! Get it? Cat-sized brain and I'm Cat?" I giggled, then winced when I jostled my shoulder. "Owww…Didn't you get something done to your shoulder?"

"Yeah, they put a metal ball in the socket. Just call me tin can." She replied sarcastically. I poked her in her right shoulder, trying to see if I could feel the metallic entity.

"Hey, we could be twins! Separated from birth or something! We don't look anything alike. We could be fra-fer-fara"

"Fraternal?" She helped me out.

"Yeah! That word. See? Your right shoulder got hurt, and my left shoulder got hurt! Haha" She was humoring me because I knew she didn't think it was that funny. That sad look crossed her face again before she snapped back to her military bearing. I hated that she had to hide what she was feeling. She was such a fun person to hang out with, let alone kiss. She was completely clueless when it came to romancing and the like. Beck was the one who usually initiated that kind of stuff with her. It just never seemed right for him and her to be together. That's where I came in. I wanted her to be mine. I was already her best friend, and I could tell that he just wasn't her type. He was always trying to force her to be something she just can't be to others. She can't be outright nice to a stranger. You have to work at it. Her animosity towards Tori was evident, yet she did her best to keep it at bay, for Beck's sake. I know that I can make her happy. She just hasn't given me a chance yet. I really want to finish what I started back there, but my body needs a break. I've had too much to deal with these past few days. My mind was slowly drifting back into that gloomy memory, and I had to concentrate really hard to chase it away.

"Cat, how's about we get some more sleep, hm? I'm a little tired. I just wanted to see if you were okay." I could tell she was exhausted. She'll have to tell me the details that she's allowed to tell later. I gave her a reassuring nod, before turning back over and snuggling into her. She spooned up behind me and lazily wrapped an arm around my waist. "Much better. Good night, Cat."

"Good night, Jade" my eyes slowly closed and I became dead to the world.

0800 Jade's POV

"Get the hell away from my daughter you slut!" I jerked up and away from Cat. In doing so, I fell off of the bed and onto my back.

"OW! Who the fuck are- Oh shit." I looked up at the one man I did not expect to see. Mr. Valentine, Mayor of Hollywood, California. He was not a happy man. Oh fuck, how am I going to explain this?

Thanks for reading you guys! I really do hope you enjoy. Reviews would really brighten up my day, and trust me, I'm going to need it. This week will be tough without my black dog Mattie. RIP Mattie. Please Review you guys! I'll try to update as soon as possible! BlueWolf Leader~ Out