Don't own them :)


Chapter 29

One month later

Dean paced back and forth outside the courtroom doors. The time had come for him and Heidi to testify against Peter and Patrick. Heidi sat on a bench, Jordan's arm wrapped around her shoulders. He was whispering confidence boosting words into her ear, giving her words of encouragement. He knew that she was going to great on the stand; he just wanted her to know that.

"Are you okay, Dean?" Heidi asked. She looked almost as worried for him as she did for herself.

"Yeah, I'm okay. I just wish that I knew how long we were going to wait." Dean had wished that Chase, Lara or Lachie could have come with him. He was not usually someone that needed a large amount of support, but he would have liked to have them here. Lara was needed at work, since Chase was out with the flu. Lachie was equally needed at rescue, since Dean, Heidi and Jordan had come to court. Lachie's day in court to testify was the next day, as was Chase's.

"Mr. Gallagher?" A booming voice came from the doorway. "Your turn."

Dean shot Heidi a small smile and walked into the court. He had already testified numerous times in his life; his job almost required it. Sometimes he needed to back up the ambos in court. He did it gladly every time. This was the first time, however, that he was testifying for a personal matter. He didn't want to admit it, although he had to Lara this morning, that he was nervous, and a tad worried.

He took his spot on the witness stand and was sworn in. He took a sip of water and waiting for the onslaught of questions to begin.

"Mr. Gallagher, do you recall the events of…" Dean blocked out the question, formulating his answer.

"Yes, I do. We had gone up north to a friend's cottage, because our friend Heidi was being threatened by her ex-boyfriend's mother, and we wanted to get her out of harms way. It was my night to stay up and keep watch. Heidi had come outside for a quick chat because she couldn't sleep, and was outside for a few minutes at most. Next thing we knew, we were bashed over the head and carted away. I woke up to find myself tied up, in the trunk of a car."

"Was Miss Wilson with you?"

"Yes, I was finally able to determine that she was. I couldn't really move my hands or legs, but I bumped her with my shoulder. She was still unconscious."

"What happened next?"

"I pretended to be unconscious as they carried us into some warehouse. I didn't know what was going on and I didn't want to do anything that would cause injury to Heidi."

"SO you didn't try to fight?"

"How could I? I had my hands tied behind my back and my ankles taped. It wasn't worth it at that point."

"What happened then?"

"We were tied to a couple of chairs, and they tried to get me to speak. They were trying to rile us into a fight, but it wasn't working. Finally, to get me really angry, they hit Heidi across the face; which in the end brought her back to consciousness. They roughed us up a little, and then put us back to back. Heidi noticed that some of the ropes weren't too tight and managed to get my hands untied. I untied myself, and then untied her. That was when Elizabeth came in with a gun." Dean paused to drink some water. His mouth had gone suddenly dry. Maybe it was the fact that he was discussing his own brush with death, he wasn't sure. "I pushed Heidi out of the way, and got shot in the shoulder. The rest after that was a bit of a blur. I remember Heidi checking my pulse, and then I blacked out. "

"So you saved Miss Wilson's life?"

"We're a family at Rescue, of course I did. I would do it again too." Dean cleared his throat and shot the lawyer a look with his sharp blue eyes.

The lawyer cleared his throat, feeling the scrutiny of Dean's gaze. "Right. Prosecution has not more questions."

The defense lawyer stood. "We have no questions at this time, your honour."

The judge nodded. "You may step down."

Dean stood on surprisingly shaky legs. He wasn't used to that reaction, but he hadn't liked the lawyer's questions and he was worried about the questions that were headed Heidi's way. He walked to the back of the room and took a seat in the last row. He wanted to be here where Heidi could see him. Jordan would surely take the spot next to him.

Sure enough, Heidi walked through the doors and took her spot on the witness stand. Jordan slid into the seat next to him. They watched as Heidi fidgeted nervously.

"Miss Wilson, do you remember the events of the night you and Mr. Gallagher were taken?"

"Vividly." Heidi spat. "I had gone outside to see Dean. We had gone up north to escape what could have been a potentially horrible situation here." Heidi went on to give the same details as Dean. "When she shot him, my heart nearly stopped. He had saved my life. I didn't know what to do, but I knew that I didn't want to die. When she came at me afterwards, I thought for sure that that was it." She took a shaky breath. "Something distracted her, which I later discovered that it was our Rescue colleagues that had found us. It was the only distraction that I needed. I flew at her, tackling her around the legs. We went down the floor and struggled for the gun. It went off, hitting the rafters above. I finally got the gun away from her and she asked me not to shoot her."

"Did you?"

Heidi shook her head. "No. I didn't want to be like her and the rest of the family. I was a bigger person than that."

"Go on." The lawyer encouraged.

"When three of our colleagues broke in, it distracted me. She got the gun away from me. I managed to scramble away, but not before she shot me in the arm. If I hadn't have been moving, she would have killed me for sure. Our colleague, and Dean's brother, Lachie Gallagher, shot her. She was taking aim again was going to shoot us all. After he shot her, he attempted to revive her and come to her aid, but it was too late."

"This was not your first kidnapping, was it, Miss Wilson."

Heidi's face crumbled a little. "No… It was my second kidnapping at the hands of that family."

"When was the first one?"

"About a month before."

"What happened?"

" I had started dating Mac when he gave me chopper lessons. I didn't realize that he was the jealous type until it was too late. He started getting physical, and eventually, I tried to break it off with him. He didn't take too kindly to that. He took me from my friend Lara's place, but not before he targeted numerous members of our team. He used chloroform on me and Lara. He tied both of us up and dragged me out into the middle of nowhere." Heidi's face told of her rage. Tears pooled in her eyes, but she didn't let them fall. She proceeded to explain everything that Mac had done to her and Mac's eventual death.

"No further questions," the prosecution stated.

The defense lawyer stood up. "Miss Wilson, is it true that you were close with the defendants?"

"Yes, once upon a time I was. That was until the kidnappings."

"Did you lead Mac on with your relationship? Make him think that you were going to get back together with him?"

Heidi thought her eyes were going to bug out her head. "Never. I was very clear and direct with Mac when I decided that it was over."

"Did you do anything to incite his rage?"

"What?" Heidi asked shocked. "I did nothing wrong. The only mistake I made was ever entering into a relationship with him."

"Were you not cheating on him?" The defense lawyer asked, narrowing his beady eyes at her.

"Never! He had a hard time believing that I didn't, but I never did. He was profoundly jealous of Jordan, Dean and Chase, my colleagues at Rescue. But as I explained to him, he was my boyfriend. The others were my colleagues."

"Are you not engaged to Jordan Zwitkoswki now?"

Heidi gulped. "Yes, but that was because we finally admitted how we truly felt about each other, but that was after Mac had died. I was never, ever, unfaithful to him. I just wish I could say the same about him."

Dean and Jordan looked at each other, shocked. They had heard lots of details about Mac, but had not realized that he had cheated on her too. They continued to watch Heidi, who was still holding it together.

The lawyer realized that he wasn't going to get anything from Heidi that could help his clients and stopped his questioning. "No further questions, you honour."

"You may step down, Miss Wilson."

Heidi nodded and slowly stood. She felt like her knees were knocking, but she didn't want to show Peter and Patrick that they had gotten to her. Her back was straight as she walked back to where Jordan and Dean were seated.

"It's all your fault!" A strangled cry shot out from across the courtroom. Heidi turned in the direction of the voice. It had come from Patrick. Heidi realized very quickly that he had a gun, and it was pointed at her.