A/N – someone will die in this chapter – read on to find out who.
Allie had collected Sarah from Orion's office as promised and the young girl hadn't been able to tear herself away from Allie's side ever since. Sarah was now curled up asleep in Allie's lap. It had been a long day for the young girl.
Allie had since learned that Sarah was Portman's sister, the older lady was his mother and the guy with the gun was indeed his father.
Mrs Portman was being treated for shock and had yet to say anything to Allie but Allie couldn't shake the nagging feeling that Mrs Portman really didn't like her that much.
"Miss Taylor may I have a word with you for a minute please?" a doctor wearing surgical scrubs emerged from the double doors leading to the emergency room.
Allie shifted Sarah over to Julie and followed the doctor into a private room.
"I understand from the police that you were the one who initially treated a Michael Portman at the scene" the doctor flipped through his notes.
"That's the guy who got shot?" Allie asked. She didn't know what the guys name was, only that he was Sarah and Dean's father.
"Yes" the doctor looked up at her.
"Well then yes. I noticed he'd been shot after I'd checked that Dean hadn't been hurt" Allie replied wearily. This doctor was starting to sound really strange to her.
"Are you and Dean Portman close?" the doctor pressed on.
"I don't see what that's got to do with anything but yeah we are" Allie replied.
"Good well Dean's awake and he's been calling for you for quite some time now. I just had to make sure you were the right person" the doctor laughed as his little joke went down like a lead balloon.
Geez doctors have the weirdest sense of humour Allie thought as what he'd just said sunk in. She'd honestly thought she was in some kind of trouble.
"Wait, Deans awake!" she exclaimed jumping up from her seat.
"Yes" the doctor confirmed.
"I can see him?" she asked hopefully.
"We don't normally allow this as its family members only but since he's asked for no one else but you we'll make an exception just this once" the doctor said.
Allie felt like kissing the guy she was so happy. She'd been worried sick about Portman ever since he'd blacked out on the ice.
The doctor led her into the emergency cubicles and sure enough there was Portman giving the poor nurse hell.
"I need to see Allie" he was practically yelling.
"Calm down Mr Portman we'll see what we can do" the nurse sounded frustrated.
"I need to see her now" Portman persisted. Allie recognised his "frustrated" face.
"Leave the poor woman alone you big meanie" Allie laughed when Portman's face brightened up.
"Allie!" he exclaimed.
"Thank god you're here, he's been driving us nuts" the nurse rolled her eyes and laughed when she realised that Portman would no longer be bothering her with his requests.
"That's when you just dig the needle in a little deeper to get him to shut up" Allie whispered causing the nurse to laugh again.
"You should be a nurse!" she laughed collecting her tray of rubbish.
"Nah that would mean I'd have to put up with more than one big whinger like him" Allie laughed as the nurse left the cubicle.
"Baby be nice to me I'm in the hospital" Dean pouted.
Allie shook her head as she sat down on the edge of his bed "And I remember telling you not to scare me again so what do you do, you go and fall over and get yourself admitted"
Portman laughed when he saw she was joking then he suddenly turned serious.
"Have the police told you?" he asked.
"Told me what?" Allie replied. The police hadn't even interviewed her yet.
"He's dead. They couldn't save him" Portman said softly. He wasn't sure how he felt about the news. Sure the guy was his father but he'd just held his entire family hostage and was about to kill them.
"I'm so sorry" Allie replied laying next to him on the bed and wrapping her arms around him.
"Does my mom know?" Portman suddenly asked.
"I'm not sure, she hasn't said anything to me since we got here" Allie replied truthfully.
"I was afraid of that" Portman answered.
"Afraid of what?" Allie asked confused. Was there more to this story that she didn't know about.
"Remember how I told you that Danielle had gone and told my mom that she was my girlfriend?"
Allie nodded slowly "Yes"
"Well my mom really liked her and don't take this personally babe cos its just the way she is but she gets ideas into her head that I should be with whoever she wants me to be with, and she wanted me to be with Danielle" Portman explained wrapping his arms around Allie even tighter for comfort.
"Personally I couldn't think of anything worse but yeah, I was afraid she was gonna be funny with you, I'm sorry" Portman soothed as he stroked her hair.
"Its okay but do you ever listen to your mom?" Allie asked cheekily.
"Pft as if, if I want you I'm gonna have you" Portman said firmly.
"Oh is that right?" Allie challenged with a slight smirk.
"Damn straight it is" Portman ignored the pain in his left shoulder as he leant across to kiss his girl.
"Hello?" Fulton's soft voice came on the phone.
"Fult? Its Julie, um I don't know how to say this but Portman's been hurt" Julie twisted the phone cord in between her fingers. How do you tell someone their best friend in the entire world has been hurt.
"Jules you have to be kidding" Fulton's voice was on the other end of the phone.
Julie took a deep breath before answering.
"No I'm serious Fult, he's in the hospital, I think you'd better get down here now" Julie explained ignoring the impatient tapping of the foot of a guy standing behind her.
That is so damn rude Julie thought.
"Should I bring the Ducks?" Fulton asked knowing that Charlie would have a coronary if he was the last one to find out.
"Yeah good idea, I think Allie might be in there with him right now but the Ducks always cheer everyone up" Julie agreed.
The guy shoved his wrist in Julie's face and tapped his watch.
"I can tell time you moron, but I was here first so wait your turn!" Julie lost her temper.
"Huh?" Fulton asked confused.
Julie waited for the guy to retreat several steps before she answered.
"Nothing just an incredibly rude man trying to interrupt our conversation, so anyway yeah, round up the Ducks cos they'll want to know about it" Julie continued.
"Okay then I'll see you soon Jules" Fulton said softly before he hung up the phone.
"Bye Fult" she said to the dial tone.
She actually had half a mind to continue talking into the phone just to piss the asshole behind her off but instead she hung up the phone.
"Its about time, some of us have important phone calls to make" the guy said rudely as he pushed past Julie.
"Jackass" Julie muttered as she walked back to the waiting area. As much as she would love to introduce the guys face to her fist she'd promised Sarah she wouldn't be too long making the call.
"Hey guys the rinks been blocked off by the cops, lots of important looking people, heaps of that yellow tape they use on CSI, its freakin' awesome!" Averman exclaimed breathlessly as he burst through the doors to the common room where majority of the Ducks were congregated.
"What!" Adam exclaimed. If the police had sealed the rink then they wouldn't be able to practice tomorrow afternoon.
Connie poked him in the ribs; she knew exactly what Adam was thinking.
"Do you know what happened?" Charlie asked before Adam had a chance to say "ow!"
Before Averman could answer the question Fulton burst through the door.
"Guys Julie just called, Portman's in the hospital" Fulton was out of breath.
"What?" Adam exclaimed again. This time it was a question rather than an outburst.
The others just stared open mouthed at Fulton.
"Come on lets go!" Connie urged the rest of the Ducks to quit staring and move it.
In true Ducks style they eventually made it to the hospital after numerous arguments about who was driving and who was riding with who so now Charlie and Linda weren't speaking, Connie was on the verge of decking Averman and Adam was still bummed that the rink had been blocked off.
Upon seeing the half happy half annoyed group, Julie had enough sense not to ask what took them so long.
"How is he?" Fulton rushed up to her.
"He's okay I think, I don't know they haven't said anything and Allie hasn't come back yet" Julie explained gently patting Fulton's arm.
"Where'd Allie go?" Sarah interrupted suddenly realising that she wasn't there. She'd been asleep when the doctor had taken Allie to see Portman.
"She's with Dean right now sweetie" Julie explained gently.
"Allie's sister?" Fulton cast a quick glance down to the young girl.
"No Portman's can't you see the resemblance?" Julie raised her eyebrow at Fulton, was he really that dumb?
"Oh yeah, right. Hi I'm Fulton" Fulton said to the little girl sitting next to Julie.
"I know, you're Beanie's friend" Sarah replied trying not to giggle when she saw Fulton's eyes boggle when she used Dean's nickname.
"That's right honey" Julie replied softly.
She looked over at Fulton and was gutted to see him looking so down. It was easy to see he was deep in thought. She let him be for the moment.
"Damn it why didn't he say anything" Fulton cursed suddenly sinking down on the chair next to Julie's.
"He probably didn't want to scare anyone, not even Allie knew about this" Julie explained.
Fulton nodded glumly acknowledging that he thought Julie was right. If Allie didn't know then Portman had wanted to keep it to himself.
Still, it didn't stop him from being worried about his friend.
"Hey he's fine" Julie placed an arm around Fulton's shoulder. She tried not to let the hurt show as he shied away from her.
"Jules, what about Jesse?" Fulton asked uncomfortably. He didn't want to step on anyone's toes. He'd had enough fights lately to last him a lifetime.
"He's got one of his many girlfriends to look after him. I'm just glad I'm not one of them" Julie said laughing softly when she saw Fulton's expression. At first it was disbelief, then anger, then amusement and now relief.
"I think I'm back with Scooter though" she explained gently waiting for Fulton to react. She didn't want to keep secrets from him.
The reaction wasn't what she expected.
"That's great Jules" Fulton replied with a genuine smile.
"You really mean that?" she asked.
"I really mean it, you guys were, I mean are great together" Fulton replied. He knew Scooter made Julie happy.
"Thanks Fult" Julie gave Fulton a quick hug.
Things were back on track for the two friends.
Mrs Portman stared at the doors leading to where her son was.
She was annoyed that the doctor had taken that little tramp to see Dean and not her. Didn't they know a boy needed his mother?
She glanced over at her daughter who had pried herself away from that Julie girl and was now watching the rest of the unruly teenagers congregate in the waiting area with great interest.
Honestly, her Deanie couldn't possibly associate with such filth. If she had've known she would have never allowed him to come to Eden Hall.
"I'd better go, I bet your mom's dying to see how you are" Allie reluctantly sat up well aware that the doctors had bent the rules for her and she didn't want to get anyone into trouble.
"Well I'm dying to see you" Portman faked a cough.
"Nice try" Allie laughed kissing his forehead.
"Was worth a shot" Portman sulked.
"I'll come back later, try not to annoy the nurses baby" Allie laughed giving him one more kiss before she left the room.
Portman stared after her.
That's the girl I'm gonna marry one day
It was nice having her around to take his mind off of his father's death. The news was shocking yet relieving at the same time. As awful as that sounded Portman had to remind himself that his father was three seconds away from killing him when Allie screamed and stopped him.
Yeah but its my fault he got shot and killed, I practically pulled the trigger.
Portman couldn't help but blame himself. If he hadn't have struggled with his father then maybe he'd still be alive and him and Sarah would have two parents and his mother would still have a husband.
Sarah's probably better off without a father like that anyway
Portman wished he could turn off the little 'voices' in his head that were having an argument. One half of him felt like it was his fault that his father was dead and the other half was telling him that it wasn't his fault and that they were all better off anyway.
He leant back into his bed and waited for whoever the next visitor was.
Fulton's head snapped up when he heard the doors opening.
He was relieved to find it was Allie walking out.
"Allie!' the Ducks gathered around her asking questions.
"How is he?" and "What happened?" seemed to be the main ones.
"He's fine" Allie would only answer the first question. It was up to Portman to tell the others what happened.
"Mrs Portman?" Allie gently approached the older woman.
"Yes" Mrs Portman snapped. Allie tried not to let it worry her too much after remembering what Portman had told her. Stupid Danielle again! Allie thought bitterly.
"Dean wants to see you" Allie replied softly. She didn't dare touch the older woman.
"Come on Sarah lets go see Dean" Mrs Portman called to her daughter who'd wrapped herself around Allie's legs again.
"Is he okay? He's not like all lying there with tubes hanging out is he?" Sarah asked Allie fearfully.
Allie laughed "No sweetie he's fine. He'll probably be home in a day or two" she reassured the young girl.
She watched the pair go into the emergency room waiting for the doors to close again before she collapsed down next to Fulton.
"You okay?" Fulton asked worried about his friend's girl.
"Yeah, long day" Allie replied feeling the adrenaline leaving her body. Instead of feeling good like she had when she was with Dean she now felt heavy and tired.
She felt Fulton's arm wrap around her shoulders and his voice whispering.
"Want me to wake you when he calls for you?" he asked.
Allie nodded "Thanks Fulton" she replied knowing exactly why Julie had him as one of her best friends.
She closed her eyes and relaxed into Fulton's shoulder. He smelled similar to Portman and wondered whether he used the same cologne.
After what seemed like thirty seconds but was actually an hour and a half later the doors burst open startling Allie awake.
She rubbed her eyes trying to focus on the screaming woman who was coming towards her.
It took her a few seconds to wake up and realise that it was Mrs Portman screaming obscenities at her.
Dean was fully clothed trying to restrain his mother and Sarah was crying her eyes out.
"What's going on?" Allie asked thoroughly confused.
Mrs Portman waved a finger in her face and got so close that their noses were just inches apart.
"You listen to me girl and you listen good, you killed my husband and I wont let you get away with it" she threatened loud enough for Allie, Portman, Sarah and the rest of the Ducks to hear.