Sam's POV
...
The door squeaked open and I came face-to-face with Carl Marx. He looks at me and points his gun at me.
"Where is she?" He asks in a hushed tone.
I don't answer him.
"I said, WHERE IS SHE?!"
"You won't get to her. Over my dead body!"
"That can be arranged..."
He raised his gun to the ceiling and fired a shot. Andy screams from the closet.
"If I can't have her, NO ONE WILL!"
After saying that, he charges past me, opens the closet door, grabs Andy, and holds her against him. He has the gun to her head. There was blood on Andy's shirt, her stitches must have been pulled.
"Carl you need to let her go. More police officers are coming. If you want to stay alive I suggest you let her go."
"I can't live without her! You don't know how that feels!"
"Believe it or not Carl I do. Please just let her go."
I look Andy in the eyes and read her expression. She's sending me a signal. She wants me to take the shot. She nods in agreement. I can't do this. I can't hurt her. She gives me a stern look, like she knows what I'm thinking. If I want to save her, I have to hurt her.
I raise my gun and pull the trigger.
BANG!
I fire a bullet. I could only watch as it pierces Andy's shoulder. She lets out a bloodcurdling scream as she falls back against Carl. They both scream out in pain and hold onto their shoulders. Before I could react, Carl grabs Andy again and throws her head against the wall, rendering her unconscious with blood rolling down her temple.
"You shouldn't have gotten involved."
He looks me straight in the eyes then back down at Andy. She's losing too much blood. I need to end this and get her to a hospital. I hear sirens from a distance.
"Carl just put your gun down and your hands in the air!"
"Just tell her I'm sorry I couldn't make her happy. That's all I wanted for her. Please just tell her I love her..."
He raises the gun to his head and fires.
He's dead. It's all over. I hear Frank calling my name and I kneel down next to Andy and try to stem the blood flow from her temple and shoulder. Frank and the rest of 15 division come flying through the door, guns drawn, with paramedics behind them. They rush over to Andy and get her on a gurney.
She's going to hate it when she wakes up in a hospital again. After what's happened for the past couple weeks I don't think Andy will want to even see a hospital for a long, long time.
"Are you coming with her?" a paramedic asks me. I nod and sit next to Andy in the ambulance and we take off for the hospital.
"Do you think she will be okay?" I ask the paramedic.
"Her shoulder will probably need a lot of physical therapy but I'm worried about her head wound. We need to make sure she has no internal bleeding and we need to fix her stitches. She's a fighter she'll make it through."
We reach the ER and they take her away from me. Now all I can go is play the waiting game. Again...
...
The doctor emerges from the ER six hours later, ready with a damage report.
"We've retrieved the bullet from her shoulder and she will need to wear a sling for a few weeks. We fixed up her stitches, but I'm afraid that due to her head wound we had to place her in a medicine induced coma. She has swelling in her brain and we need to wait for that to go down before waking her. I'm very sorry."
I absorb all the information and my head feels like it's been hit by a bus.
"Can I see her?"
"Yes she's on the last door to your left down the hall."
I thank her and make my way to Andy's room. I need her to wake up soon. I have a very important question to ask her.
...
I woke up to a nurse walking in to check Andy's vitals. It's been six days since Andy's stalker died. Six days since Andy's been put in a coma. Six days since I've decided to ask her the question that will change both of our lives.
The doctor walks in and checks on Andy.
"She's healing very nicely. We're going to wake her up in a few hours and it should take an hour or two before she's conscious."
"Thank you doc."
She leaves and I put my head on Andy's hand.
"It's almost time to wake up Andy. Almost time..."
I yawn as sleep slowly starts to pull me into its grasp.
...
A few hours later, the doctor, nurses, and I stand in front of Andy's bed waiting for her to wake up. I could see her eyes moving underneath her eye lids like she's remembering what happened. She starts to move her hands and I rush to her bedside and hold her hand. She calms almost immediately as her eyes shoot open.
"Sam?" She says, her voice raspy from being unused.
"Yea Andy it's me. You're okay, Andy, you're okay."
"How are you feeling Ms. McNally?" The doctor asks.
"I feel fine. Just a headache."
"That's good! At your rate you'll be able to go home in a few days. We need to monitor your head wound and make sure there's no lasting damage. I'll be back in a few hours to check in you. In the meantime, you need to sleep."
"But I just woke up."
"You need real sleep Ms. McNally. Your body needs rest." She leaves after saying that.
"Sam-" I cut her off before she could finish.
"I'll be here when you wake up Andy. Sleep."
"I love you Sam."
"I love you too Andy."
I kiss her forehead and she slowly starts to drift asleep. I hold her hand and slowly but surely, I fall into the best sleep I've had in a long time.