Thank you for all the reviews and the discussions. A special thank you to deedee2011 for all her positive (always) comments.

Sorry so late, but here you go.

WARNING: THIS UPDATE MAY TRIGGER SOME. PLEASE PROCEED WITH CAUTION.

Book Three, Part Twenty Two - Deathly Calm

EPOV

"A.J. get out of here!" I screamed as I immediately went to block Bella from this psycho.

It was almost deathly calm in that OR when he walked in. Most people would scream and run for it. Only one of us really made a sound.

"Whoa!" Dr. Torres yelled as her hands went up in the air. Adams dropped the pickups and the sutures. Bokie and the other nurses froze in terror. Dr. Whitlock sat where he was, his eyes focused on the man with intent. He was sizing him up to see how hard it would be to take him down. I hope he didn't do anything stupid.

What scared me most was Rose and Bella.

They paused for a millisecond and then went right back to work, intent on saving Lucy. That was their number one priority. For Rose, it was because no one died on her table; For Bella, she was a mother and that was someone's daughter. Different reasons, same goal and they weren't about to let someone stop them from reaching that goal.

Bella shook me off and kept on suctioning.

"Get away from her!" He screamed.

Rose jumped and Bella let out a breath but they didn't stop. I stopped watching Bella and did what Jasper did. I sized up the man.

I wanted to look up to see if A.J. had left like I had told her but I was afraid to bring attention to her. If he saw her he could get to her before she could get down the stairs leading to the gallery.

I couldn't chance that.

The man leaped forward, the hand holding the gun shaking as his own hand shook, aiming it at Rose and Bella. Rose shook a little herself but kept on working, a tear trailing down her cheekbone and disappearing into her surgical mask.

"I said move away from the bitch!"

"What's your name?"

All of our heads swooshed towards Bella as her soft, calm voice echoed in the quiet room.

"None of your fucking business." He said.

"Now that is where you are wrong. It is my business because you are in my OR." She told him.

What the hell was she doing?

He turned his gun towards her and I instinctively moved. He then pointed it at me.

"Move away from the table or I will shoot her." He told me.

I stayed put. He put the gun flush up to Rose's temple. She made a gargled desperate sound.

I still stayed put.

He cocked his head to the side and then smiled mockingly.

"Ah, so you like the mouthy one, huh?" He said.

I stayed quiet, my jaw hurting from all the clenching I was doing to keep from running my own mouth and getting all of us killed.

"Lucy was mouthy. Bitch never shut up. At first, it was cute. Then it was annoying. I wanted out…"

"But she got pregnant." Bella interrupted.

"Shut the fuck up, Bitch!" He screamed at her. "Get away from her. I won't let her ruin my life!"

The gun was on Bella again.

"No." She told him defiantly.

We were definitely going to have a talk about this later.

He reached for her and I moved forward to block him. Gun be damned. He was not touching my girl.

He eyed me warily and out of the corner of my eye I noticed Jasper move. He shot me a meaningful look and I blinked in acknowledgement. I would keep his occupied while Jasper made his move.

"Don't touch her." I said.

He raised the gun up.

"If you are dead, you can't stop me and she is a hot little thing." He said.

"You lay one hand on her and I will make sure you are tortured. You will be begging for death." I threatened.

"Okay, since no one wants to take me seriously, I will kill one person every five minutes in the room until she is dead. Starting…now."

He raised his arm up and aimed it at Dr. Torres, who moved back slightly, terror evident in her dark eyes.

"Wait a minute. I am not touching her." She objected.

"Yeah, well…" He shrugged. He aimed, put his finger on the trigger and pulled.

A.J.'s POV

"A.J., get out of here!" Dad screamed, moving towards Mom. My eyes locked on the man for a split second and then I ran out of there. I had to find…someone…anyone to help.

My whole life was in that room.

My footsteps sounded on the steps and I pushed forward as I ran to the OR closest to my mom and dad's. I grabbed a surgical mask and put it over my face as I pushed the door open.

Everyone looked at me.

"A.J.! What are you doing in here? Get out." James said sternly, looking at me only briefly.

"Uncle James." I moaned.

The tone of my voice must have alerted him because he focused on me.

"What's wrong A.J.?" He asked.

"I…He…They…"

"A.J.?" Aunt Leah said softly.

"Aunt Leah?" I whispered brokenly.

"What's wrong Baby?" She asked.

And then it just all spilled out.

"It was so crazy and so I was looking for Mom or Dad to get permission to go home with Jake cause I knew that they would be awhile. I found them in OR One and I went up to the gallery to ask over the speaker and I was interested in what they were doing so I watched a little while and…and…then…he…oh god." I started breathing heavy.

James abandoned his instruments to the person beside him and reached for me, the blood on his gloves staining the sleeves of my shirt.

"What happened?" He asked.

"A guy walked in."

"Okay, was he a doctor?"

I shook my head.

"A nurse?"

Again a head shake.

"A civilian?' He asked.

I nodded.

"A.J.! Please tell me what is wrong."

"He had a gun, Uncle James. He had a gun and he is in there with my parents." I sobbed.

"Oh…oh my god. No. Nonononono." Leah started chanting.

"A.J., are you sure?" He asked.

I nodded.

"Fuck." He whispered.

"Someone alert Brandon that we have a Code White." He yelled.

A nurse ran for the door, swiping past me as she did.

"Are they gonna be okay?" I asked, brokenly.

"Yes. A.J., they are going to be fine. You did great, coming in here to get me." He assured me.

I felt a little calmer.

That is until I heard the gun go off…

Oops, I did it again...(bet that song will be stuck in your head tonight. You're welcome :D)