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Lily could barely draw breath as she clung to Scorpius's solid form, her hands in a death grip around his waist and clutching his t-shirt, face buried in his chest, just below his neck, in a feeble attempt to combat the terrifying fear. She felt her knees wobbling dangerously, and locked her arms tighter around the tall blond, clinging with fervor to the very real form of the one man she'd come to rely upon in myriad ways, without even meaning to.
The redhead had certainly never meant to fall for Scorpius. He'd seemed like a good rebound, and little else, after her last relationship had fallen apart and she'd been mourning its loss. But the universe had sent her the perfect man to not only let her find out the truth about Harvey cheating on her, but in the aftermath, make her feel safe again, and to renew her trust in the opposite sex. And Lily wasn't foolish enough to ignore the obvious signs that Scorpius was pretty much perfect for her, not to mention the furthest possible man from rebound material she'd ever seen. If anything, it was as if she'd been biding her time for someone just like the handsome blond she held close to come into her life, right as she was starting to feel like she'd found her place in life and herself.
She shuddered as she felt one of his hands curl protectively around her back, and then the other reaching slowly behind to where his gun was holstered. "Don't fucking move!" came the shrill, almost unfamiliar scream from Harvey's lips, even as they pulled back in a sneer.
Scorpius, tempted though he was to look down and ensure Lily was actually alright, because he was all but positive she would probably be on the verge of, if not already in a fully blown, panic attack at the level of stress and possible violence, focused on his adversary. The man had the manic, crazy gleam in his eye that hinted at some sort of mental issue, but the more pressing issue was most certainly the .45 Colt that was being waved around like it was a toy. It was also obvious to Scorpius that the man had no idea the kind of power his weapon of choice truly held, because the tall blond was all but certain that even if the man, who seemed inebriated or worse, managed to pull off a shot, he'd be in some serious discomfort afterward.
"No one's moving," Scorpius said in as calm a voice as he could muster, given the way a terrified Lily clung to him, and halted his movements. He tried to force out the traitorous voice that whispered this asshole would take away the one woman he'd met who might be able to make him feel whole again, but still, the thoughts crept in. Slowly, he removed the hand from behind his back, even as the bastard before him waved his firearm haphazardly, gesturing for the blond to show both hands. Scorpius held them both out, palms up, arm still curved around the frightened redhead.
"Step away from my woman," Harvey demanded, and Scorpius grit his teeth, going utterly still, even as he bit down hard on the urge to refute that last bit of the bastard's statement. That Lily could ever belong to this pathetic excuse of a man before them was so laughable it made him almost sick to contemplate. That at one point in the not so distant past and for multiple years, she'd not been his, but had actually been with the crazed bastard standing six feet away. "Do it! Now!" the other man screamed, a vein pulsing in his temple.
Scorpius made to step back, but Lily clung to him tighter still, moving with him as he shifted his weight, and the blond didn't even dare breathe as he felt a small hand silently unholster his firearm. "Lily," he said in a low, warning tone, even as he felt Lily draw a slow, deep breath. "Lily, don't-" he began, lips barely moving, picturing just how the scene would unfold as he felt the redhead shift, the cool metal of his Ruger brushing across his back as Lily stiffened when Harvey screamed at her to move once more.
"I fucking said get away from him!" Harvey hollered, and the redhead gulped as the metallic clicking sound of a hammer being cocked back filled the deathly silence after the manic scream.
She lifted her face from Scorpius's neck, gulping again as she looked up into steady, dark grey eyes that begged her silently not to do anything foolish. The weight of the Ruger in her hand, still hidden behind his back, felt unnatural, the contours of the handle a foreign sensation, even though she'd lost count of the number of times she'd handled it in recent months. She wasn't even entirely sure what she was going to do with it. The logical thing to do was push it into Scorpius's grip without her psychotic ex seeing, but that didn't seem at all doable in her current situation. And, she had to admit, there was a large part of her frothing in anger and fury that Harvey, ever so casually, actually thought her a helpless damsel enough he could point a weapon at her and the blond, and then just get away with it. That somehow she wouldn't be as strong or powerful as a man, or be able to wield a weapon with any sort of comparable skill. Lily had never liked being talked down to, or at, as though she were less than or an idiot, but now, hearing Harvey telling her what to do, demanding it, and expecting her to be too afraid to do anything about it, left her seeing red with fury.
"I'm not fucking playing around, goddamn it!" Harvey snarled, making Lily's grip tighten around her own weapon. "Get. The fuck. Away. From. Him. …NOW!"
Scorpius gave her, when she met his stormy gaze once more, the tiniest nod of encouragement, and Lily unwound her arms properly from around his strong frame, hating the sense of loss that echoed from her heart through her body. She sucked in a shaky breath, holding her right hand in front of her, licking too dry lips as she peeked down at the black metal in her grasp, and backed one measured step away from Scorpius, still turned away from Harvey.
"Finally," Harvey spat, then laughed maniacally. "About fucking time you listened to reason, Lily. Now, turn around and walk slowly toward me." Lily glanced up at Scorpius one last time, face hardening as she caught the panic in his eyes and saw the muscle ticking in his jaw that indicated he was furious.
"It's fine," she whispered, tempted to kiss him to reassure him, but instead, forced a bland expression and turned, both arms tucked behind her back, hiding the one thing she hoped Harvey wouldn't notice. She flinched as she found herself staring down the barrel of her ex's weapon, the hammer drawn back menacingly and Harvey's finger resting confidently on the trigger. "You're being dramatic, Harvey," she said as calmly as possible. His bloodshot blue eyes met her hazel ones, and he laughed again.
"Dramatic would be shooting this fucker, Lily. Now get the fuck over here," Harvey scoffed, even as she took two small, measured steps toward him. "Hurry up," Harvey barked, startling the redhead into flinching again, gesturing her to his side as he waved the gun again. "Now," he added in a growl, then smiled widely once more at Scorpius, on whom he had his gun trained once more. Lily took another pair of steps, feeling her courage wavering. You can do this. You can finish this right now.
Lily paused, almost halfway between the two men, one of whom held the other at gunpoint, and tried to sound rational and believably serious, instead of on the verge of losing her shit, like she felt. "You know," she murmured, affecting a thoughtful expression, and gulping down her nerves that had both hands trembling, "a please would be nice."
Harvey scoffed at her, smiling in an eerily similar way to the way he used to grin at her, what felt like a lifetime ago, and goosebumps erupted down Lily's arms, her palms sweating as a terrifying realization hit her. This man, this probably psychotic man, haphazardly pointing a gun at the other who held her heart and, hopefully, her future, was completely off his rocker. And utterly competent to shoot one or both of them. He would, no matter how well she listened to his directives, never be completely sane, and quite possibly never had. Nor had he been sorry for whatever means he'd take to achieve his own ends. Hell, he'd cheated on her for months with zero remorse, stalked her, harassed her, tried to ruin her life entirely in a futile effort to win her back, and was now aiming a large, powerful firearm at her. And now, seeing him through this new lens, Lily felt herself, almost, pitying him.
"A please is something you'll have to earn, Lily," Harvey said, with a cruel grin, then his face went blank, an emotionless mask carved into stone, and the redhead instantly felt her heart drop. "Show me your hands," he said in a soft, deadly voice, and without even looking away from his eyes, Lily could feel him shifting the gun to point at her instead.
Fear and fury and outright panic fought within the redhead for a long moment, but she swallowed her emotions down, trying to focus herself, along with recalling everything Scorpius had ever told her about shooting. "Harvey," she began steadily, but it appeared her ex wasn't as trusting as he'd tried to seem of her motivations.
"Show me your motherfucking hands, Lily!" The redhead, who'd gulped and winced at the decibel of Harvey's scream, glanced across at Mr. Kim's door, hoping and praying he'd overheard by now and was calling the cops. A glance behind her showed Scorpius, jaw set in stone, staring at Harvey and the weapon he wielded.
Lily knew she couldn't bluff her way out of the situation, no matter what tack she might try, and she really didn't want to test Harvey's patience. So in one swift movement, one she'd practised and, somehow, gotten oddly familiar with despite her earlier hesitance, she had Scorpius's Ruger out in her default grip, the safety off, and her finger resting steady at a pound of pressure already on the five pound trigger. It was fully loaded, as always, and despite the fact she could feel the strain of hefting such a large gun in her wrist, she kept her arm and aim steady. "Surprise," she said darkly, even as Harvey's eyes bulged, and his face slowly began to pale from where it had reddened in his fury.
"What the fuck is that?" he whispered, blue gaze darting from the barrel of the Ruger to Lily's furious hazel gaze. The redhead took a slow step backward, hoping she could get to Scorpius and hand off his weapon, because her nerves were shot to hell already.
"This is me leveling the playing field, Harvey," she said, sliding back another slow step, trying to remain casual, even as she felt her anxiety churning, barely contained, in her chest. "Put the gun down," she said, not daring to risk motioning with her firearm, lest she lose aim or nerve. "Just put your gun down, and you can walk out of here like none of this ever happened, Harvey. Just go, and none of this ever has to go any further," she said, a slightly hysterical edge creeping into her tone.
Harvey merely blinked, and then, to her shock, threw his head back and began laughing. It was a crazed, maniacal sort of laugh, and made goosebumps erupt down Lily's neck again, her mouth parting in horror. Even as she was stricken with horror, the redhead swiftly took two more steps back, feeling Scorpius surge forward, standing against her back, swiftly reaching for the Ruger. Abruptly, Harvey stopped laughing, and, seeing the protective hold Scorpius had on Lily once more, scowled, looking far more unhinged than even when he'd been laughing hysterically.
"You'll never have him, Lily," Harvey shouted. "You hear me? Never!" And then, in a moment where time seemed to slow, hazel eyes widened in terror. Like a dream, she felt Scorpius's arm, like an iron band around her middle, pull her sideways, even as she saw Harvey's face contort and heard a loud blast of sound. For what felt like a long moment, the redhead was in limbo, her ears ringing in the aftermath of Harvey's shot and from the inhuman bellow Scorpius made behind her. Like fireworks far away she heard the return double pop of another weapon being fired, and then Lily became aware of a growing heat on her right side, just below her ribcage.
She put a hand to the burning spot, her pulse dragging slowly, even as her head swum and her senses shorted out. She looked down at her fingers in detached wonder and horror, seeing what looked like red paint on them. Lily wondered absently how there was paint on her, and where it might have come from, and then time seemed to speed back up as realization hit. It wasn't paint on her fingers, the ones she'd just pressed to the throbbing, burning sensation that blossomed over the side of her abdomen. It was blood. Her blood.
She looked back up as sound and understanding caught back up with her, hearing the howling, inhuman screams of Harvey a mere six feet away, where he was crumpled on the ground. But over that, she registered Scorpius's voice, rough and laced with panic, asking her if she could hear him, and if she was going to be able to hold on just a few more minutes, and if she thought she might be going into shock.
"He shot me," she finally breathed, most definitely in shock, looking down at the large red stain on her dress, pooling around what looked like a huge cigarette burn mark. "The bastard actually shot me!" And as she realized it, and spoke the words aloud, Lily realized just how far things had gone, and how bad it really had been, with Harvey. She also realized how much she was terrified that now she'd finally found someone to love, who loved her back, and didn't simply covet her while also taking her for granted, she would lose them. And then it truly hit her, as her shock began to fade, and her side began to burn. She winced as her brain finally received the response from her nerve endings properly as pain lanced through her, sharp and stabbing, burning and absolutely terrifying. "Ow! Oh fuck, fuck." She heard the wail of distant sirens, but it barely registered as she doubled over in pain.
"You're alright, honey, you're going to be fine," Scorpius said, even as his voice wobbled, and she watched him turn to the stairs. "You'll make it, it's not that bad," he said, gulping and looking far more flustered and scared than Lily had ever seen him as he quickly turned back.
"Jus' a flesh wound," Lily said, starting to feel dizzy, and winced as her head throbbed at Harvey continued screams. "I'm sure i's gonna be fine," she slurred, slumping to her knees despite Scorpius's hold on her. She looked up into his dark grey eyes as he knelt with her, pushing hard against where she'd been shot, even as her eyelids began to droop.
"No, don't close your eyes," Scorpius said firmly, and Lily smiled a tiny bit, wondering why it suddenly felt so cold. "Keep them open, look at me, Lily," he demanded, holding her face gently and tapping her cheek as her lashes fluttered again. "Just a tiny bit longer, Lily, don't leave me," he said firmly, although Lily could hear the wobble of worry in the last two words.
"'M here," she breathed, even as it felt like her eyes were being forced closed. "'M not goin' anywhere, Scor. Promise." She lifted a leaden arm and tried to touch his face, frowning as she streaked it with red.
"Hold on, Lily," Scorpius whispered to her, even as her eyes fell shut at long last, and darkness threatened to overtake her. She tried to hold on, to stay with Scorpius, because she knew, somewhere in a detached, logical section of her mind, passing out after being shot was bad, but the urge was too strong and her willpower was quickly evaporating. "Fourth floor!" he shouted over his shoulder, and even as Lily heard footsteps pounding up the stairs, and realized that Harvey had at least stopped screaming, she lost consciousness and went limp, like a ragdoll in Scorpius's arms.
Scorpius counted out the seconds of the six minute ride in the ambulance to the hospital. He didn't care that he technically lied when he said he was her husband, but there was absolutely no way he was being taken from her, especially not while she fought to hold on. And hell, he figured if she was game, he'd marry her the second she was released, alive and well, from hospital. He told himself firmly not to think anything but that Lily would be okay, because she was strong, and a fighter, and she was still holding on, despite being shot close range with a powerful weapon. Finally, as she was wheeled in to be prepared for emergency surgery, and he was forcibly pushed back, Scorpius felt the weight of what had just happened settle over him.
As he turned, barely hearing the nurse, or orderly, or whoever it may have been, talking at him and gesturing for him to sit in the waiting room down the hall, Scorpius was assaulted by memories. Memories he'd thought he'd kept down far enough he'd never think on them again. And while he'd been with Lily, though a short time it may have been, his thoughts had been consumed by nothing other than her, and how utterly amazingly perfectly she had managed to fit into his life. But now… Knowing that he might lose her, and she could never be his… It hurt to see the similarities between now and then. The cruel sense of deja-vu pushing everything closer to the surface.
Zakia. Merlin, he hadn't thought of her in years. He hadn't wanted to. Because as pleasant as those thoughts started out, inevitably, it would lead down the same road. So Scorpius, being the man he was, simply pushed every last memory of the first girl he was certain he'd ever loved down as far as possible, and busied himself with the present, instead of reminiscing, oftentimes not sober, about the past.
It had worked, too, and become a habit. The second he smelled gardenias, the flash of a saucy smile, brimful of confidence and utterly carefree would ripple at the edge of his thoughts, and he'd dutifully shove Zakia back away, where she belonged. Now, however, it appeared he'd been slack too long in Lily's thrall, finding himself just as drawn to her, if not perhaps moreso, and all the memories of Zakia came flooding back. The good and the bad.
The way she'd smile whenever they woke up together. The soft feeling of her hair across his hands as she blew him the first time. The tense lines of stress that appeared, one by one, on her face over the months they spent stealing time to be together. The last time he kissed her perfect, plump mouth. Watching her dark eyes flare as she'd sagged against him, shot in the chest where he'd snuck out to meet her in the rugged desert, the life slowly but surely fading from her as he held her in his arms and fought back the unmanly urge to sob. And then having to watch from the sidelines as her family, once he'd managed to bring her back to base, descended upon the army hospital, grieving and cursing him. He'd certainly felt, despite the language barrier, every last ounce of guilt weighing on him, like his presence around them, a foreigner who didn't belong, was the sole reason their daughter and sister had died.
His surroundings were different this time around, but the emotions that threatened to choke him now, as Lily was being operated on in an attempt to save her life, were all the same. The shame and guilt that his lack of reading the situation correctly, and lack of reacting in time, and most of all, his inability to protect the woman he loved. It was like reliving some of the darkest moments of his life all over again, and he felt his mental walls, the defenses he'd put up in an attempt to move on after the first time, crumbling to ash. And as all the pain he'd thought long buried, washed over him anew, Scorpius hung his head, put his face in his hands, and cried.
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