The doors of the hospital burst open and several paramedics rushed in bringing a stretcher carrying Starr's unconscious form with them. It had been only a few minutes since the hit and run, but Starr's condition had already gotten worse. Her injuries were severe and even with the rapid response of the paramedics her chances of survival seemed grim at best. As the paramedics rushed in emergency personnel moved to assist them, led by a particularly gruff doctor who was in charge of the ER.

"What have we got?" the doctor asked, glancing at the paramedics.

"Female victim, early twenties, multiple fractures and lacerations, likely internal damage as well." the head paramedic answered. "She was hit by a car."

"Damn it." the ER doctor said, his tone irritated. "Get her to an exam room and prep her for surgery." He spoke to the nurses, though at least one of the paramedics moved to assist. The ER doctor turned to face Jude and the others, who had just come into the room.

"Who are you?" he asked, his tone gruff as his stern gaze passed over Jude.

"I'm her fiancée." Jude answered, his voice choked with emotion. "And these are my friends. Please, you have to help her."

"I'll do all I can." the doctor said. "But I won't make any promises. I'm Dr. Gomes, by the way. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll go treat your fiancée."

Jude nodded and Dr. Gomes left, heading for the exam room the nurses had taken Starr to, leaving Jude with a hollow feeling in the pit of his stomach. As soon as Dr. Gomes had disappeared from his line of sight he turned to the others and broke down, the weight of the situation finally getting to him.


As Jude struggled to maintain his composure, Dr. Gomes began the process of trying to save Starr's life. The situation was grim, but Dr. Gomes was used to dealing with situations like this. He had worked in the ER for ten years now and had seen more than his fair share of car crash victims in his time. Still, Starr was one of the worst he had seen in a long time. Her injuries were even more severe than the paramedic had described and Dr. Gomes wasn't sure if he'd be able to save her. But he would be damned if he didn't try.

Starr was already hooked up to machines and her vitals had stabilized for the moment, but Dr. Gomes was well aware that her condition could change at any moment. To that end he moved quickly to assess her injuries, finding that she had suffered severe head trauma in addition to her other injuries. Recognizing that he couldn't proceed with any other procedures until the swelling in Starr's brain had been dealt with, Dr. Gomes made the decision to open her skull to relieve the pressure. It wasn't a pleasant decision, but it would increase Starr's odds of survival and Dr. Gomes had no other choice, so he ordered his assistants to perform a decompressive craniectomy.

Once the swelling in Starr's brain had been dealt with Dr. Gomes turned his attention to the next most serious of her injuries. A quick scan performed by the nurses had revealed multiple lacerations to Starr's liver, which was beginning to fail as a result of the damage. Dr. Gomes made the decision to perform surgery to repair the damage, though he knew full well the risks involved with such a procedure. Still, he had little choice in the matter. If Starr was going to live her liver had to repaired and Dr. Gomes would see that it was done.


While Dr. Gomes fought to save Starr's life, Jude and the others sat in the waiting room trying not to think about the worst case scenarios. It was hard not to imagine Starr succumbing to her injuries, but none of them were willing mention that possibility out loud. Still, it was obvious from the grim silence in the waiting room that all of them were thinking about that possibility.

"God, how did this happen?" Caitlin said, finally breaking the silence.

"Some asshole hit Starr with his car, that's how it happened Cait." Jonesy said, his tone a mixture of disbelief and anger.

"I know that." Caitlin snapped, rolling her eyes. "What I meant was, how could this happen? Everything was going so well and now..." She trailed off, not wanting to finish her sentence.

"Yeah, it sucks." Nikki said. "But all we can do is hope that Starr is strong enough to pull through this."

"Of course she is." Jen said. "Starr is one of the strongest people any of us have ever met. She will make it through this. One way or another, she will survive."

"How can you know that for sure?" Jude asked, his tone hollow.

"I just have a feeling." Jen answered, not quite meeting Jude's sorrowful gaze.

"You just have a feeling?" Jude asked, incredulous. "Are you kidding me? Did you not see how badly Starr was injured? And now you're gonna sit there and tell me you have a feeling she's gonna survive?"

"Jude, calm down." Nikki said. "Jen's just trying to help. Besides, you have to have a little faith. Just because things look bleak right now doesn't mean you should give up hope. Starr could still make it through this."

"Don't tell me that." Jude said, his tone hysterical. "Don't tell me it's going to be okay. You can't know that for sure and I don't want to get my hopes up only to have them crushed when we get the news that Starr is dead."

"And we understand that." Caitlin said. "But Nikki and Jen are right. You can't give up hope yet. I mean, okay sure, we don't know for sure if Starr is going to live or not, but I believe that if we give up hope now then we're just helping to make it harder for her to pull through."

"Based on what?" Jude asked. "That our positive emotions will somehow leak out into the universe and give Starr some kind of extra strength? Is that it Cait? Because that's bullshit."

"What are you talking about dude?" Jonesy asked, with an incredulous glance at Jude. "I thought you believed in all that positive energy stuff?"

"I do." Jude snapped, obviously irritated by the topic of conversation. "But I don't want to rely on that as the basis for whether or not Starr survives. Because sometimes the universe is cruel. Sometimes bad things happen even when you fill the universe with positive energy and what if this is one of those situations? How am I supposed to deal with that?"

"With the help of your friends." Wyatt answered. "We'll all be there for you Jude, no matter what happens, we'll help you through it. You know that, right?"

"Yes." Jude answered, his tone sullen again. "I know that."

"Good, because they're right, you know?" said a familiar voice from across the room.

The entire group froze and then, one by one, they turned to find Marlowe and Troy standing in the doorway watching them with looks of concern.

"What the hell are you two doing here?" Wyatt asked, glaring at them.

"We heard about Starr and we wanted to lend our support." Marlowe answered.

"Yeah, well, we don't need your support." Wyatt muttered. "So why don't you fuck off."

"Wyatt, don't be an ass." Nikki said. "They're just concerned about Starr's wellbeing is all. It's no different from why we're here."

"Yeah, and we could use as much support as we can get." Jude said.

"Thank you." Marlowe said, as she and Troy sat beside the Gang. Nikki and Jude just nodded, both of them unwilling to be any more friendly than they had to be.

"How is she?" Troy asked, his gaze passing over the entire group.

"We don't know." Jude answered. "She's been in surgery this whole time and no one has told us anything."

"Well, that's not bad news at least." Marlowe said. "No news is better than bad news."

"Yeah, I guess that's true." Jude conceded. "Still, it would be nice if someone told us something about how she's doing."


At that same moment, in the operating room, Dr. Gomes was struggling to repair the damage to Starr's internal organs. He had patched up her liver, for the most part, but she was still showing signs of liver failure. On top of that there was still the damage to her other organs to deal with and Dr. Gomes was beginning to worry he was fighting a losing battle.

At that moment however Starr suddenly came to, her eyes fluttering open, much to Dr. Gomes' surprise. "Where...where am I?" she asked, her voice horse.

"You are in surgery." Dr. Gomes answered. "You were hit by a car and we've been trying to save you ever since. Do you have a name?"

"My...my name is Starr." Starr answered, her voice a whisper.

"Well Starr, my name is Dr. Gomes and I'm going to do everything I can to help you, okay?" Dr. Gomes said.

"Okay." Starr said, her voice still a whisper. "Thank-" Her voice cut off abruptly as her chest hitched and then her heart monitor flat-lined.

"Oh shit, paddles!" Dr. Gomes shouted as the nurses scrambled to get the defibrillator ready. One of the nurses handed the paddles to Dr. Gomes who shouted, "Clear!" before zapping Starr with a powerful jolt of electricity.

Starr's body jerked but did not respond. Dr. Gomes charged the paddles again and gave Starr another jolt of electricity. "Come on, damn it." he said through gritted teeth. "Don't quit on me now Starr." For a third time he charged the paddles, but again he failed to get a response from Starr and it was then that he realized she was gone. "Call it." he muttered, hanging his head in shame.

One of the nurses glanced at her watch and made the call. "Time of death, 4:36 AM." The nurse leaned in and closed Starr's eyes, shutting out their blank, lifeless gaze, while another nurse shut off each of the machines in turn.

Dr. Gomes gave Starr's body one last sorrowful glance and then he turned and headed towards the waiting room to give Starr's friends the news.


Moments later, Dr. Gomes entered the waiting room to find Starr's friends gathered in one corner, all of them silent. Jude looked up as the doctor walked over to them, his expression hopeful, but he could immediately tell from Dr. Gomes' expression that the news wasn't good.

"Starr, is she...?" Jude asked, his question trailing off into silence.

"She's gone." Dr. Gomes answered. "I am sorry. I did everything I could, but her injuries were too severe."

Jude stared at the doctor for a moment, barely able to process what he was hearing. And then he collapsed to the floor, the emotional floodgates bursting under the pressure of his sorrow. Dr. Gomes placed a hand on Jude's shoulder and squeezed. "I'm sorry." he said again, but Jude seemed not to hear him.

"We'll take it from here." Jonesy said, stepping forward and pulling Jude to his feet. There was no anger in Jonesy's tone and he met Dr. Gomes' gaze as he spoke. "Thank you for trying."

Dr. Gomes nodded and took his leave, regretting every second of his struggle to save Starr and knowing that he could have done more. As soon as he was gone Jonesy led Jude from the waiting room, the others following in silence. Once they were outside Caitlin embraced Jude in a powerful hug, tears rolling down her cheeks as she did. And in that moment, as sorrow consumed them all, Jude realized that his dreams were shattered and he would never know happiness again.

A/N: Well, there you go. Now you know what the tragedy mentioned in the summary is. Starr is dead and she and Jude will obviously not be getting married now. I know it sucks, but sometimes these things have to happen in stories. And keep in mind that their may be another reason why I chose to kill Starr off, though you'll have to wait to find out what that reason is. Also, a decompressive craniectomy is an actual medical procedure that is used to relieve the pressure caused by severe brain injuries or strokes.