Chapter twenty-six

As Stef walks out to her car, her phones rings. Knowing that she's late, Stef picks up quickly, "Hi honey! I'm just-," Stef's smile disappears as the voice on the other end isn't Lena's.

"Ma'am, I'm calling from Memorial Hospital. I'm looking after Lena Adams Foster. Is this Stef, her next of kin?" The nurse calmly speaks to Stef.

"What's happened? Is she okay?" Stef nearly yells down the phone as she rushes into her car.

"Ma'am she's been shot." Stef can hear the nurse speak but nothing else sinks in. She is the police officer, carrying a gun all day and putting herself into dangerous situations. Lena was in their home…their home.

Stef turns on the engine and shakes her head, trying to clear the fog that was setting, Not now. I can panic later, she thinks, not wanting to crash on her way to the hospital. Using the lights and siren to her advantage, Stef makes it to the ER in record time.

Now she finds herself sitting in the emergency room, her head in her hands, terrified to do anything but wait. But then she remembers Ali's appointment. The pit of her stomach turns to knots as she quickly walks over to the receptionist.

"Hi, could you tell me if a little girl came in with Lena Adams Foster. Her name's Ali Highland, brown hair, green eyes, kind of short for her age." Her throat goes dry as the receptionist shakes her head.

"Mrs Adams Foster?" A voice cuts through the noise of the busy waiting room, causing Stef to jump. She turns around to look for the man who had called. He is tall and well-built for his age which Stef guesses to be early forties from the subtle greying of his hairline.

"Good afternoon, I'm Dr Peter Musgrove." Peter steps forward.

Stef finds herself torn between finding Ali and wanting to be with her wife. She takes a deep breath before running outside.

"Mike? Mike! Please, I need your help!" Mike was with Stef when she'd received the call about Lena and had gone to the house so someone will be there when the kids come home from school. "Did Ali walk home with everyone?"

"Stef, only Brandon is home but he got a lift with a friend. The others aren't back yet. They're probably just taking their time."

Stef sighs with relief, "Can you call me when they get home?"

"Yea sure. Look, Stef, leave the kids to me. Just go and be with your wife." Mike calmly responds to Stef, knowing that she can work herself up.

Stef is only now aware that Dr Musgrove has followed her outside. She turns around to face him.

"Mrs Adams Foster, could you follow me please?" Peter smiles politely to Stef who walks slightly behind, at a brisk pace.

"Please, could you just tell me how my wife is?" Stef finally asks whilst being ushered into a quiet office. The room has one small window making it feel very small.

Peter walks over and sits in one of the armchairs, gesturing for Stef to take the other, "Mrs Adams Foster,"

"Please, call me Stef." She quickly interrupts wishing for the formalities to be over.

"Stef, Lena was shot once, possibly with a small hand rifle." Noticing the police uniform he skips the part where he tries to tell family members that it could have been worse. "The bullet entered her right chest cavity, missing all of the main blood vessels, however, several ribs have been broken and, upon arrival, both lungs had collapsed."

Peter pauses to let her digest this information before he continues, "She'll need immediate surgery once we have stabilised her."

"Wait! She's…you haven't stabilised her?" The little colour Stef had left in her face drains away. Lena, the love of her life, is lying somewhere in this ER fighting for her life.

After being walked back out to the waiting room by a nurse, Stef phones Lena's parents, Dana and Stewart.

"Hello my darling, how are my grandkids?" Dana answers the phone.

"Dana I'm so s-sorry," Stef begins to speak, her voice catching in her throat, "It's Lena, she's been s-shot."

Silence on the other end begins to fill Stef with dread until Stewart takes the phone, "Stef, don't worry about a thing. We're leaving right now."

After a short goodbye, Stef puts the phone away and sits down as her legs begin to shake with fear.

"Are we ready?" The surgeon calmly steps forward, stretching out his right hand into which a nurse places a scalpel.

The operating theatre is quiet except for the occasional beeping coming from the numerous machines that are attached to Lena's still body. The beeping becomes more consistent. It's pace quickening. The noise beginning to fill the air.

"Pulse dropping." The anaesthetist calls out from the end of the operating table. Then the room is filled with the sound of a single drawn out beep, "No pulse."

"Okay shocking!" The surgeon turns his body around, picking up two paddles from the table beside him, "Clear!" He yells as everyone takes a step back. All activity pauses for a split second, everyone waiting to see if Lena's heart restarts, all eyes on the screen.

The room becomes quiet before a familiar beeping begins to fill the air again.

"She's back with us. Pulse rising to normal." The anaesthetist smiles up to everyone before the surgery continues on as planned.

Stef jumps as someone sits in the chair beside her. Looking up, she sees Dr Musgrove smiling at her.

"The surgeons were able to remove the bullet from Lena's right lung and she's been moved to intensive care. However, I have to inform you that your wife's heart stopped during surgery but they were able to shock her back into rhythm." Peter takes one of Stef's hands and gives it a gentle squeeze, "You can come and see her now."

Stef walks into the side room alone to see Lena lying in the hospital bed, hooked up to a ventilator and half a dozen other machines. Stef slowly walks to her side and sits down in the chair. Taking Lena's hand in hers, she lifts it up slightly before placing a soft kiss on the back of her hand.

"Oh, my love, my sweet, sweet love. I'm going to find out who did this to you." Stef looks down to Lena, tears forming at the thought of her being in so much pain, unable to breathe.

An hour of silence goes by when there is a knock at the door. Stef, without letting go of Lena, turns around to see Captain Roberts through the glass panel. Stef waves her in before turning back to face Lena.

"Stef I'm so sorry to do this but…" Captain Roberts pauses trying to find the right words, "Mike phoned me."

Stef quickly stands up, her heart rate rising, "Why? Has something happened?"

"Stef, Ali didn't come home from school. In fact, no one's seen her since this morning."