Danny Ross exploded into the emergency room, casting his eyes left and right as he searched for someone who might know what was going on. Challenged by a nurse as to his right to be there, he pulled out his badge. "Captain Danny Ross...two of my detectives were brought in from Central Park tonight. Detectives Goren and Eames."

The nurse nodded, familiar with both cases. "They are both in surgery, captain. So is the woman they believe was with them."

Ross looked confused for a moment. "Woman? What woman?"

"Um...Chandler...or Chauncey...something like that."

"Chambers? Marcy Chambers?"

"Yes, that's it.."

He pressed the heel of his right hand against his temple in a futile attempt to stave off the headache building behind his eyes. "Can you tell me their conditions?"

"I'm sorry, captain. They were not my patients. The only thing I can tell you is that they were sent up very quickly. At least one of them was critical, but I couldn't say who. The surgical waiting room is on the second floor..."

"Yes, yes...I know where it is." He started off, adding a quick 'thank you' as an after thought.

Ross paced the surgical waiting room, wondering why the hell Marcy Chambers had been anywhere near the site of a shooting. Even if she was working with Goren and Eames, she was still a civilian. Eames, in particular, should know better. Then he wondered why Goren had been there and not home, where he was supposed to be. That left Eames, who was heading off for lunch the last he knew. He hated being out of the loop more than anything, and Eames knew that.

He was surprised when Mike Logan came into the room twenty minutes later. "What happened?" he asked, concern etched in his face. "I missed a call from Goren and when I get back to the squad they tell me he's been involved in a shooting. I thought he was on sick leave."

"He was. Do you know anything about this, Logan?"

"Not a thing, Cap. When I talked to Goren this morning, he had no intention of going anyplace."

Ross studied him for a moment, decided he was honestly baffled, and then resumed his pacing. And they waited.

The first news they got was about Eames. The bullet passed cleanly through her side. Although blood loss complicated matters initially, she stabilized and would recover completely. Her surgeon promised to find out about Goren and Chambers and send out word.

A nurse brought them news about Goren a half hour later. After finding a bullet hole in his cast, they found a bullet lodged near the bone in his forearm. So they removed the cast and the bullet, setting a half-cast splint in place so the swelling could go down and they could put on a new cast. A bullet had also grazed his head, but the problem causing them the most time and concern was his knee. They would have to get back to Ross on that one.

Finally, a surgeon came to speak to them about Marcy. No one had been able to tell him exactly what had happened, but she had received a knife blade in her upper right abdomen. The knife had sliced through both her liver and her spleen. The surgeons had immediately removed the severely damaged spleen to help minimize her blood loss before turning their efforts to saving her liver. A person can live with no spleen. No one can survive without a liver. The damage, however, had been too much. In spite of all their efforts, they lost her on the operating table, six hours into a surgery they should never have tried but had to.

Logan sat heavily at the news. "Aw, man..."

Ross looked at him, curious. Did he want to get into the reasons for his dismay with Ross? Absolutely not. Both Goren and Eames would tear him apart. He knew that Eames was past the psychic issue. What she couldn't get past was the fact that Goren really liked Marcy. Even he could see it, as dense as he could sometimes be. Whether or not his friend had ever acted on his attraction, he had no idea, but this one was going to be a hard loss for him.

"Do you know something I don't know, Logan?"

I know lots of things you don't know, he thought to himself. But to Ross he simply shook his head. "She was a really nice person, cap. We all liked her. It's going to be a bitter pill to swallow for all of us."

Ross nodded. He understood that. He, too, had liked Marcy. "I want to know what she was doing there. She should never have been at the scene of a shooting."

Logan looked at his hands. "Have you ever tried to tell a woman what to do, Captain? I mean, one you have no authority over?"

"I want you to piece it all together, detective. Find out what happened and give me a full report as soon as you can get the information. By the time the locals got there, it was over. The details will have to come from Goren and Eames."

"Has anyone called Eames' family?"

"I don't think so. Do you need the numbers?"

"No. I just need her phone or his. If I can get in touch with her dad or her sister, they'll handle the rest."

"And what about Goren?"

"You know he's got nobody, captain. Nobody, but Eames. I think she already knows he's hurt."

Ross frowned. "What about his brother?"

Logan shook his head. "He wants nothing to do with his brother, and no one knows where to find him, besides."

"Try. Legally, the brother is his next of kin. I'll get you their personal effects. You can be responsible for them."

Logan watched the captain walk away. Even if he could locate Frank, Goren would kill him for doing it. As far as Goren was concerned, he had no next of kin, aside from his partner. He had changed all his paperwork after his mother's death to reflect that. If anything ever happened to him, Eames was his sole beneficiary.

After Ross brought him their phones, badges, and other personal items, Logan thumbed through the contact list on Eames' phone until he found her father's number, which he dialed into his own phone and called. He informed the retired cop of his daughter's injury and the positive outcome of her surgery. John Eames' relief did not surprise him, but what came after did. He asked about Goren. Logan told him what he knew, adding that he was still in surgery. He promised John he would still be there when he arrived and ended the call. It wasn't like he had anywhere else to be tonight anyway. He'd canceled his date when he'd gotten word of an officer involved shooting in the park. The missed call from Goren and his failure to answer his callback gave him a bad feeling.

Once Goren was out of surgery and Logan was assured he had not suffered a career-ending injury, he sought out information about the gunman, knowing Goren would ask. The man who took Marcy's life would live. Not for the first time, Logan reflected on the universal injustice of life, knowing that what he saw as a travesty, Goren would take as another blow in a series of hits life had dealt him lately. He found himself wishing there was some way to spare him, but there wasn't. Eames, he knew, would also worry, if only because she cared deeply about her partner and knew how he was.

He found out the room Eames had been transferred to, relieved that Goren's room would be nearby, and he went to wait for her to waken, a harbinger of ill tidings. Sometimes, life really sucked.

When Eames woke, the first person she saw at her bedside was her father. The second person was Logan, and his presence there, instead of her partner, made her already sore gut tighten. Both men greeted her with soft affection, and she voiced her biggest concern with a single word. "Bobby?"

Logan said, "He's going to be okay. They transferred him up here about a half hour ago. He's two doors down and he hasn't fully woken yet. I've been checking on him."

She moistened her lips. "How badly was he hurt?"

"He's not so bad. His knee was the worst of it."

But Eames wasn't stupid. She heard the hesitancy in his voice. "What?" Then it dawned on her. "Marcy? How is she?"

Logan looked at John before he returned his attention to Eames. "Um...she didn't make out as well, Alex."

"No...tell me she's going to be all right."

Logan shook his head. "I can't do that, sweetheart."

"Oh, my God...no...Mike..."

"She died in the operating room, Alex."

Eames closed her eyes as tears filled them and Marcy's last words came back to her. I changed this one.

Her premonitions could be changed...but someone had to die. Whether she meant to or not, Marcy had died in Goren's place. This loss would be hard enough for her partner to take. There was no way she was going to tell him exactly why Marcy had died. He accepted guilt far too readily. She still didn't know if she put any stock in psychic premonitions, but Marcy had believed it. And given time to deal with her jealousy, Eames was certain she would have come to truly like her. Now that chance had been taken from her, and she regretted its passing, even knowing what it meant for her relationship with her partner: one more obstacle in a recent series of obstacles they had so far managed to navigate successfully. This one, though, could have meant happiness for him, and she would be petty to begrudge him that.

She looked at her father and then at Logan. "I have to be the one to tell him," she said.

"That works for me," Logan agreed. "I wasn't looking forward to that conversation."

"Go check on him, Mike. I want to know when he's awake."

He recognized the determination in her face, and he chose not to argue. Once he was gone from the room, John addressed his daughter. "Alex, you need to take it easy."

She rested back against the pillows and sighed heavily. "Dad, he can't hear about this from anyone but me. Bobby isn't stupid. He'll figure it out on his own if everyone avoids answering his questions."

"It will be even worse if you cause more problems for yourself by trying to do too much."

"I don't want to do anything but visit my partner. If they want to take me in a wheelchair, fine. But I have to see him."

John knew well how stubborn his daughter was. He consented with a sigh. "We'll get you over to see him. But then I want you to take it easy. Deal?"

Reluctantly she nodded. Her emotions were in a turmoil, and she wasn't sure how to sort through them. She had to talk to Goren.

Logan returned and informed her, "He's out of it, Alex. They don't expect him to come around until sometime tomorrow, so get your rest."

"Will you stay with him, Mike, and let me know when they let him wake up? Please."

"Sure."

Logan sighed and resigned himself to a long, uncomfortable night in a hospital bedside chair. He began to consider the ways Goren could repay him. He was such a sucker for a please from a pretty woman.

When Goren woke, he was first aware of a deep, burning pain in his knee that was close to overwhelming, and he groaned deeply. He felt a powerful urge to move his knee and when he did, the pain intensified almost to the point of making him vomit. In addition to the pain in his knee, he also had to cope with a pounding headache and a dull throb in his arm. Gradually and with great effort, he got past the pain, and he looked around the room for his partner. He was surprised, instead, to find Logan at his bedside, wanting to help but not knowing what he could do. "Mike..." he said softly, his voice hoarse from the breathing tube that had been in place through the prolonged surgery.

Logan stretched his stiff back as he stood up. "Hey, pal. How are you feeling?"

"Like hell."

"I imagine. Is there anything I can get you?"

Goren nodded. "Eames."

Of course, Logan thought with a smile. "She's two rooms down the hall. Do you feel up for another visitor?"

"Her? Anytime."

"I knew that's what you'd say. Hang tight and I'll get her in here."

He grabbed Logan's arm. "What about Marcy? Where is she?"

Logan looked away. "I'll find out for you, okay? Do you want me to get a nurse in here?"

He nodded. "That...would be a good idea, thanks."

"You got it. I'll be right back."

Goren wondered at Logan's evasiveness. He wasn't one to avoid a subject. But he was in too much pain to give it much thought, so he settled back and waited for Eames.

Logan's first destination was the nurses' station. "Hey, whoever's taking care of Goren...he's awake and he's in a lot of pain."

One of the nurses nodded at him. "I'll be right in."

"Good. While you're at it, his partner wants to see him."

"Oh, I don't know about getting her up just yet..."

"Well, either you people are going to take care of it, or she's going to get up on her own and take care of it herself. Your choice. You've got ten minutes, tops, to make your decision or you'll be chasing her down the hall."

A few minutes later, a nurse entered Eames' room with a wheelchair. "I called your doctor and he said if you can tolerate it, we can take you to visit your partner, but he wants you to make it brief, for both of your sakes. Rest is the best thing for you. Remember, you are only 18 hours out from a serious operation."

Reluctantly, Eames consented. She let the nurse and her father help her from the bed into the wheelchair. John laid a folded blanket across her lap. She kissed his cheek, glad he had returned that morning after breakfast. "Thanks, Dad."

"I'll wait here for you, sweetheart."

The nurse pushed her into the hall, where Logan was waiting outside Goren's room. He said to the nurse, "His pain is getting worse. I'll take her in if you can get him something to make him more comfortable."

She looked at him for a moment before she finally let him take the wheelchair. She walked off down the hall. Logan grumbled under his breath, and Eames looked up at him. "Why are you in the hall?"

"Because he wants to know where Marcy is and I suck at lying to him. Don't ask me why. I just can't lie to him."

She gave him a tired smile. "Thank you, Mike."

"Are you sure you're up to this?"

She wasn't sure because she knew how draining interacting with her partner could be. She felt badly for hoping his post-operative condition would key down his intensity. She knew that she couldn't delay telling him what had happened. Besides, she needed to see him, to judge for herself his condition and state of mind. "I have to see him."

Logan understood. "Prepare yourself, Alex. He is in a hell of a lot of pain."

He pushed her into the room. Her first impression was that he had not been exaggerating. She could read the tension in his body as clearly as she could see the pain in his eyes when he looked at her. Logan maneuvered her as close to the bed as he could get her. She reached out her hand and he grasped it without hesitating. "Are...you all right?" he asked., his concern for her most prominent.

"I'm going to be fine. It was a clean wound. It hurts, but it could have been a lot worse. They told me you did a number to that knee."

He shrugged. "It will heal."

"If you let it. You need to listen to the doctors, Bobby."

"Have you..."

He paused and closed his eyes, groaning. His face was a mask of pain and his grip tightened on her hand, reflexively. She squeezed hid hand in response and waited for him to get a handle on the pain again. It took a few minutes.

Logan swore under his breath. "I'll go find that damn nurse."

He stormed from the room, determined. Eames allowed herself a small smile as she watched him leave. Then she turned her attention back to Goren. "Hang in there," she said softly, lightly caressing his arm.

He took a few deep breaths, then coughed. "I'm sorry..."

"Don't apologize. Joint surgery is very painful."

"Tell me about it. Eames, have you heard...anything...about Marcy?"

There was no sense delaying the inevitable. She nodded. "Yes. I heard."

With a frown, he searched her face. "What?"

She tightened her grip again as he moved in the bed, flaring the pain in his knee and driving him back into the pillows. He struggled for another minute, then managed, "Tell me."

She took a deep breath, gently stroking his hand. "He got her...with that knife...and they lost her, Bobby. She died in surgery."

He got very still. Eames became concerned, leaning closer and moving her hand to caress his abdomen. "I'm so sorry." When he didn't answer, she quietly begged, "Talk to me."

"Sh-she was there...because I wasn't able to drive..."

"Don't. Bobby, she should have listened to me and stayed by the castle. It was her choice to follow us, to place herself in danger. No one else made that choice for her. It was all on her."

The door opened and Logan returned with a nurse in tow. He immediately knew that Eames had told him. When Goren looked at him, he said, "I'm so sorry."

"You didn't want to tell me..."

"I promised Alex I wouldn't."

Eames continued to rub his abdomen.. "The news had to come from me, Bobby."

He met her eyes and held them until the nurse stepped into his line of vision with a soft apology. She cleaned a port on his IV line and slowly injected the contents of a syringe into the line. She said, "Give it a minute. This is strong stuff. This afternoon, you can start to take fluids and we'll see about getting you up tonight or tomorrow morning."

By the time she was done talking and stepped away from his side, he could feel the medicine begin to take hold. The pain retreated. He looked back at his partner. She watched the focus fade from his eyes and she reached forward to caress his cheek. "You need to let this one go, Bobby. She made a choice, and she knew what she was doing."

He held her gaze as he struggled against the medicine's sedating effects, but he didn't last long. His eyes slowly slid closed and he relaxed. Eames sighed and leaned back with a soft groan. "This is going to be a hard one for him, Mike."

He stepped up behind her. "They did seem to have a connection." He gently pulled the chair back from the bed. "Let's get you back to your room. I can stay in here with him, if you want."

"Let me know when he wakes up?"

"Sure, but these nurses aren't gonna like shuttling you back and forth. You need to rest and recover. Whatever comes of his grief, you'll have time to address it."

She knew he was right, but she also knew that with Goren, sooner was better than later. Back in her room, Logan stepped away and looked out the window as John and a nurse helped her back into bed. The nurse gave her a dose of painkiller and left after checking her vitals. Logan turned back from the window. John asked, "How did he take it?"

Eames answered, "I don't know yet. He needs time. I think that when it finally hits him, it's going to hit him hard."

"And I'll be in here post haste to get you in there," Logan promised, not particularly wanting to deal with his friend in that state.

Eames nodded, knowing she would be the one he needed to turn to when he dealt with his grief. She fully intended to share hers with him as well, as much as it surprised her that she felt the way she did. Right now, though, the medicine was catching up with her, and she slept.