Greg slumped down in his seat the weight of the last hours events draining from his body like water running down a drain, his mind was going frantic he watched as Dr Armstrong come out of the ICU, stop in front of Sophie and engage in a brief conversation he saw Sophie nodding and as the Dr finished she burst into tears and ran towards the doors of the ICU. As Greg sat motionless in his seat his world stood still Eddie had died it was all Sophie's reaction could mean, all of it had come to nothing, he had failed his friend in the worse way possible. Taking off his baseball cap Greg put his head in his hands only to have his thoughts interrupted a few minutes later by the giant of a Dr who had been treating Ed

"Sorry Sgt Parker but you need to know that Edward regain consciousness a while ago, he is very confused and in a lot of discomfort"

Greg looked up not sure as to whether he had heard the Dr correctly "His awake, I thought...I thought when Sophie burst into tears I thought he had..." he couldn't even bring himself to say the word that would finish his sentence.

"Oh god no I can assure you that against all the odds Edward is very much alive, you have a very strong and determined individual there Sgt Parker, he is already breathing unaided, but he is far from out of the woods yet, there does seem to be some memory loss but that is not uncommon with this type of traumatic event and may return in time or it may need you and the rest of your team to fill in the blanks for him.

"How much does he remember Dr" Greg ask feeling decidedly uncomfortable

"Only that he had been shot, if he has remembered anything else he hasn't said but like I say when he came to he was in a great deal of distress and confusion so it may take time for him to put all the pieces together, the bodies natural defence when it goes through injuries such as Edward's is to close down that part of the brain and shut those memories out but only time will tell, but we will deal with this as time goes on, and I will of course keep you up dated and let you know if anything changes"

"Can I see him" Greg asked wanting nothing more than to see for himself that Eddie was really back in the land of the living if only just.

"I'm afraid that decision is up to Mrs Lane, I know you said she was angry with you but that was at the worse moment of her life, she thought she was going to lose her husband and the father of her children, we all say things in the heat of the moment and regret them later, as we both well know, in those potentially life change situations they usually go one of two ways shut down completely or lash out at the people closes to them and I'm afraid you and your team were the recipients of the latter." Greg nodded and the Dr continued, I'm sure once she has spoken with Edward and seen for herself that he is actual on the road to recovery even if it is going to be a long and slow process, but give her a little time I'm sure she will come round"

Greg looked and shook his head "I know your right Dr, but she has put up with so much not just from Eddie but also from the team as well and I think this might be the final straw for her, I'm really not sure if she can take much more"

The put his hands in the pockets of his white coat and taking a few seconds to replay the Dr confirmed what Greg already knew "I don't think you stay married to the city's top sniper for as long as Mrs Lane has without being very resilient, you may just be about to undertake the hardest negotiation of your entire career Sgt, but for the time being I would think your team will be please to know that their colleague has taken a huge step forward,

Just before Dr Armstrong departed towards the elevator Greg shook his hand thanked him for all his hard work and for most of all saving Ed's life then switching on his comms he asked Winnie to patch him through to the rest of the team.

As Greg's ear piece broke into life he gave them the news that they had all been waiting for, that their friend hadn't give up and has found the heart and strength to push his way through.

"Right guys where are we with finding this girl" Greg asked his focus now turning from helping his friend survive to finding girl that shot his Team Leader.

"We are following up a lead, one of the school kids think they know her name, so we are on our way there now Sgt" replied Spike

"Good keep me informed"

"Boss have you had a chance to talk to Ed yet?" Sam asked not sure if he wanted to know the answer.

Hearing the hesitation in Sam's voice Greg know exactly where this conversation was going "No Sam, Sophie is with him at the moment so I haven't had the chance, and at the moment I think the best thing is to give her time"

"But boss" came Sam's snapped response

"Sam we're not going there now, we need to find this girl, and when the time is right we will talk to Eddie and Sophie together and sort this out, so for now you need to concentrate on that and only that do you understand me"

As the radio silence continued Greg asked again "do you understand me Sam"

Letting go with a heavy sight all Sam replied with was a "Copy that"

In the ICU Sophie looked at Ed in shock she could count on one hand the amount of times she had seen him cry, the day that his father had passed away, and on the day that the team had lost Lewis to a bomb call, when the children were born and she would never forget that fateful day when he had come home and told her he needed to talked and with that he had completely broken down and told her that 6 months previous he had been forced to take the lethal shot resulting in the ending of the promising life of an 18 year old girl, taking him in her arms she had rocked him backwards and forwards like a child as he sobbed uncontrollably as every Scorpio shot Ed had ever taken, every call he had never been able to resolve without loss of life had come bubbling to the surface and the tough external shell that Ed had build around himself as some form of armour had finally cracked and it all came flooding out, she knew the cost he had paid for letting her in and in that instant Sophie had known in her heart that whatever it took she would get him through it no matter how long it took.

Waiting for her to gather her thoughts Eddie spoke in a broke whisper "How long have I been here?"

"Nearly two days" Sophie replied trying to remember "God Eddie I was so scared, I thought this time you wouldn't make it back to us, I thought you had left me and the kids on our own"

"Never" Eddie replied trying to put a smile on his face and holding tightly onto her hand, as if it was the only thing securing him to the world.