A/N: I'm not a doctor or a nurse and google is my only friend to research anything medical and injury related. i'm really trying to be as realistic as possible. so, pretty please with a cherry on top, don't butcher me or my story.

Chapter Ten : Gunshot Wound

If there was one thing Theresa loved just as much as her family, then it is her job. Being a Seal has never really felt like a job. It was somewhere where she didn't pretend, she just was. And the fact those around her loved and appreciated her for it was a big added bonus. Part of her job, sometimes includes swimming. Which is another thing Theresa loves.

What she doesn't love, is swimming is possibly shark infested waters, but it comes with the job. As she slowly swims through the water - hair in two braids so that it wouldn't come into her eyes as she swam - Theresa grins into her mouth piece that helps her breath underwater and glances through her goggles in Sonny's direction.

If this was a normal exersise instead of a mission, she would have tugged on his leg, if for no other reason than to hear him screech like banshee when he gets to the surface.

They reached the boat and was making their way to the surface when Jason suddenly stopped swimming. The whole of Bravo came to a halt with their Chief, waiting for him to give them a silent order. She watched him signal something to Ray, but the water was to dark to make it out and Theresa waited as Ray signaled Sonny, who signaled Trent, who signaled her and Brock.

Theresa's eyes widened for a second before she mentally scowled. There was hostiles waiting at their infil point. Which means that they would have to swim around the boat and get on the boat from the other side.

Great.

Just freaking great.

On the starboard side of the Centaurus, Bravo surfaces silently.

"All right, looks like the party got a lot bigger than expected, huh?" Jason deadpanned, his voice low but still audible to his team.

"That's what happens when people don't RSVP." Ray responded in mock disappointment.

"People nowadays." Theresa tsked. "No manners whatsoever."

"As opposed to you?" Brock snorted from besides her.

"Never said I had manners." The female retorted instantly, and much more smug than she should have been.

"Cut it out, you two." Jason chided without any real heat - he was just glad to see them back to normal. The last thing he needs right now is a feud between the two members of his team that has never faught before. He looked at Ray. "How long until we reestablish comms?"

"At least a few minutes." Bravo Two answered.

"Our situation has changed. Can't get to the hostages unseen. Gonna have to do this quick and dirty." Jason told his team.

"My two favorite words: quick and dirty." Sonny commented as he started hoisting the hook with a ladder attatched into the air and up the side of the boat, hooking it over the ledge of the vessel.

"I thought it was boobs and beer." Theresa shrugged lightly, the muffled snickers around making her supress a smile.

"On you, Ray." Sonny said with a smile in his voice. Ray made his way up, Sonny following him, then Trent, after him it was Brock and Theresa followed her best friend, and she was followed by Jason.

When Theresa pulled herself up the side of the boat, keeping her weight of her feet so that she wouldn't make any noise when her feet hit the slippery deck, she saw a body. Eying for a second, she realised it was Ray's handiwork. He was first on board, after all.

Her ears caught indistinct talking nearby and her whole body tensed as she gripped her rifle, eyes scanning the boat as fast as she could, spotting and counting hostiles as she went. She cursed under her breath when she noticed that their guns doesn't have silencers.

"Bravo 1, this is TOC. Be advised, multiple hostiles have boarded the Centaurus." Eric's voice came through their comms the moment they reestablished.

"Yeah, we got that." Jason acknowledged. "Moved infil to starboard side."

"Bravo 1, we got 12 hostiles on deck." Blackburn informed them.

"Any visual on the hostages?" Jason questioned, holding up his rifle and eyes scanning the boat as well.

"None topside, but four hostiles just went inside." answered Eric.

"They're rounding them up for transport." Hayes concluded.

"Bravo Team, this is Alpha. We're in position on the stern." Alpha One's - Scott Carter, who was nicknamed Full Metal, for a reason Theresa struggled to get out of him to this day - voice came through the comms.

"Alpha, hold." Jason ordered.

"None of these mopes have suppressers." Sonny noted. "It's gonna get real loud if they start firing."

"There goes the 'stealth' part of our plan." Theresa huffed sulkily. She hates it when their plan goes to shit and they have to improvise. Then again, it's half the job, while the other half is avoiding getting killed.

"TOC, this is Bravo 1. You better get our exfil up and going 'cause this whole island is about to know we're here." Jason radioed in.

"Copy that." The Master Chief said, pausing for a moment to think before ordering, "Alpha, want you to beeline for the bridge. We're going below decks. Stand by."

"Roger that." Alpha One confirmed.

"Move." Jason ordered and like a well oiled machine Bravo moved in unison. For a few seconds, the boat was blissfully silent. Well, as silent as it could be with men talking and laughing nearby as the team of Seal's silently closed in on them, their deaths seconds away.

Then utter chaos erupted when Jason spotted a gunman and shot him down. The moment he went down, a man shouted and gunfire came from all directions. Spotting a gunman walking on the level above them, Theresa shot him down while Ray shot down a hostile that came down the stairs that was next to the door that lead below deck.

"Bravo Team making entry." Jason reported for TOC as the rest of Bravo followed their leader and their 2IC. "Bravo Team making entry." Jason repeated as men shouted in the distance.

"Alpha Team is going to the bridge." Carter's voice came through the comms.

It was silent below deck as Bravo cleared room for room, looking for the hostages. They were halfway through the halfway that they entered from when Alpha one's voice came through their comms again. "Alpha Team is approaching the bridge."

"Bravo 1, this is Alpha 1." Carter called.

"Go for Bravo 1." Jason answered.

"Bridge is secure, over." Alpha One informed him.

"Copy, Alpha 1."

"Bad guys know we're here. Hostages don't have much time." Ray told them all. Jason gave Trent - who was watching their 12 - the signal to move onto the next room.

They were barely down the hallway when Jason's radio crackled, Eric's voice coming through. "Bravo 1, this is TOC."

"Go for Bravo 1."

"Your exfil boats are four mikes out." Eric reported.

"Hold what you got." Jason told him. "We haven't located the hostages yet."

"Can't we split up?" Theresa asked in a whisper as they went down a staircase. "We'd cover more ground that way."

"You see anywhere to split to, little lady?" Sonny grumbled as they cleared yet another empty room.

"It was just a suggestion." Theresa rolled her eyes as they rounded into a kitchen. "No need to be pissy about it."

They cleared the kitchen, walked the short hallway that led to the next room and hit the jackpot. Trent shot down one hostage-taker as he walked into the next room and Jason took down another as the rest of Bravo filed into the room. The last hostile grabs one of the hostages before he could be shot down.

"Hey!" Jason yells at the hostage-taker. "Two and six on me." He ordered before taking of after the gunman and the hostage.

"Vince! Vince! Vince!" Theresa heard a woman wailing and quickly came to the conclusion that it must be the Doctor's fiance.

The three Bravo members followed the hostage taker until their path came to a halt when they hostage-taker locked himself in a room that didn't have another breach point except for the window.

"We breach, the hostage dies." said Ray.

"Can't leave him here." Jason stated and the two nodded in agreement. "Maybe we can talk him out."

"What if I go in unarmed?" Theresa suggested, head tilted in thought.

Jason shook his head vigorously, "No, no, no, not an option."

"He may not see me as much of a threat as you two." Theresa tried to reason in vain.

"Because you're a woman?" Ray asked knowingly, giving her a careful look.

She clenched her jaw, a dark glint in her eyes, but ultimately just nodded. "Exactly."

Theresa absolutely hated it when someone judged her just because of her gender. And to boot, it pissed her of to no end. But right now, if it worked in their favour, she was willing to roll with it.

"TOC to Bravo 1." Mandy's voice over the comms caught their attention. "I have multiple hostiles inbound. Two minutes from the port. You need to exfil those hostages immediately."

"Copy, TOC." Jason replied.

"Bravo 6 to TOC, we have a runner with a human shield." Theresa spat back to Mandy. She heard Trent calling in that she, Ray and Jason were going after the last hostage and hostage taker. Was the CIA being purposefully ignorant of that? Or was she just being a pain in the ass?

Maybe it was neither and because she was ticked off over her spiralling thoughts, she was letting dislike of the spook getting the best of her.

"Copy, Bravo 6." Eric's calming voice came through the comms. He heard the aggitation in Theresa's voice and knew that if Mandy gave her a snappy reply, the fourth of July would have come early this year.

"So much for talking him out." Ray grumbled.

"Sniper overwatch, anyone got a shot?" asked Jason.

"Negative. Bravo has the only breach point." Came the expected answer.

The hostage screamed for help from inside the room. The next moment Jason got this look on his face. Theresa groaned, knowing that something crazy is going to come out of his mouth.

Ray's thoughts seemed to go in the same direction as the female Seal's. "Oh, no. It's that look again."

"It's not the only way in." Jason gave them a ghost of a grin.

Mere minutes later, Brock and Trent was watching the door where the hostage and hostage taker was while Ray, Sonny, Jason and Theresa was up on the deck, near the side of the roped.

Sonny was knotting a rope while Ray and Jason argued lightly amongst themselves.

"Well, that's a pretty tight shot, brother." Ray pointed out and Theresa had to agree. If he was even a milimeter of, the hostage was dead.

"Well, you know what, I've made tighter."

"Sure you have, Romeo." Sonny retorted easily, making Theresa snicker before turning to Jason with a serious look.

"I can make the shot." She took a step closer to him.

"Tessa-" Jason started protesting, but didn't get very far before she cut him off.

"We don't have time to argue about this, Jace. I know you're the Chief, and what you say, goes, but I'm smaller, faster and just as good a shot as you." Theresa held her hand out to Sonny for the rope, eyes locked on Jason's.

Jason caved like a house of cards under her unwavering gaze and her expert reasoning, knowing that even with all of her determination, if he said no, she would step aside and let him do it. He nodded shortly, "Do it."

Sonny handed her the rope and Theresa gave him a grin.

"Bravo 1, this is TOC. You've got trucks rolling up at your dock. They are not friendly. I repeat: they are not friendly." Eric's voice came through comms.

"Fuck." Theresa swore under her breath.

"Ray, Sonny, buy us some time." Jason ordered.

"Copy that." They stated in unison before leaving.

Theresa quickly clipped the rope to her uniform and walked to the ledge. She climbed over board and looked at Jason - who was holding her life line of rope.

"Don't let go." Theresa teased with a light grin.

But Jason didn't smile, eyes and voice deadly serious when he spoke. "Never."

Revving engines, men shouting and automatic gunfire made their way to Theresa's ears as she used her feet as support to lower herself to the window of the room the hostage was being held in. Theresa wasn't worried, she knew Ray and Sonny had her back.

"Bravo 2 to Bravo 1. Not gonna be able to hold them all off." Ray said just as Theresa stopped besides the window. She took out her glock that had a supresser before pushing off the boat and swinging so that she was outside the window. Theresa flicked on her laser and aimed inside the . "Bravo 6, you need to take that shot." Came Ray's voice in her ear.

"Working on it." Theresa answered as she tired to take aim, but the gunman was moving around to much and she was worried about hitting the hostage.

"Work faster." Ray said verging on snappy.

"Can't do a whole lot when my shot is gonna put a hole in the hostage's brain." Theresa shot back, the sound of the water sloshing against the boat echoing in her ears along with her heartbeat. Then, for a split second, the man stopped moving, but it was his biggest mistake and all the time the female needed to pull her trigger and take him out.

"Target's down." Theresa told them.

"Get him out of there. Now." Jason ordered. Trent and Brock breached a second later and she gave them a thumbs up before tugging once on her rope, signaling Jason to pull her up.

Just when Theresa was about jump onto the ground and off the ledge, something hit her right side, the force of it sending her barreling forward and she nearly slipped on the deck. She gripped Jason's bicep to steady herself, cutting off the yelp that wanted to escape her throat.

"You good?" Jason asked with slightly raised brows.

"Slipped." She explained before pushing the nagging feeling that it was something else, to the back of her mind. Bullets is striking and ricocheting around them and she didn't have time to analyse a feeling right now.

"Time to go!" said Ray.

"Bravo team, this is Alpha. We'll cover your exfil." Alpha One informed them.

After that, it was an explosion of gunfire - automatic and otherwise - and shouts and screams as Ray, Sonny, Jason and Theresa ran to the exfil point with the remaining hostages, shooting down bad guys as they went. All the while, Theresa ignored the nagging voice in her head that was screaming that something is wrong. She could figure it out later.

Right now, she needed to worry about getting to exfil and watch her brothers backs in the process.

Not even when they were on the boat, were they safe. The hostiles kept shooting at them and Bravo shot back.

"Alpha boat, coming in hot." Jason informed them.

"That's what I'm talking about." Theresa grinned as she put down her rifle, watching as Alpha boat's automatic gunfire easily took down the hostiles that was shooting at Bravo and Alpha.

"Everybody okay?" Jason asked, eyes glancing over every one of the hostages - mind pulling forward images of the last time he was on a boat. The time he lost Nate.

"Thank you." Dr. Julia Clark said as she hugged her fiance tightly.

"Couple of hostages are dinged up, but overall, we're good." Sonny raised his voice so that he could be heard over the wind.

"Just like we drew it up, huh?" Ray asked with a cheery grin, causing Brock snort and Trent to huff a chuckle.

"That dude is gonna need so much counseling." Theresa muttered, resting her head against Jason's shoulder, suddenly feeling a little breathless and lightheaded, nodding to the scientist that was not only kidnapped and had a gun put to his head, but felt the weight of a dead man on him and warm blood splatter against his skin.

Jason chuckled lowly, wrapping an arm around Theresa's shoulders, giving her a more comfortable position to rest in.

When the boat came to a stop, Theresa's body felt heavy as she stood up, her heart thundering in her chest, but she pushed through the fuzziness that suddenly clouded her mind as she got of the boat and walked the the vehicles that was standing on a port. The drive back to the C-17 was silent and as the last effects of the adrenaline began to wear of, Theresa's side began throbbing. She took a deep breath - hiding the wince that wanted to take over her face and pushed through the pain.

Her eyes wanted to close but she willed them open. She couldn't go down yet. Her family wasn't completely out of harms way yet.

Arriving at the aircraft, Theresa got out of the car, her legs shaking with the effort it took to stood up straight. She clenched her fists and locked her jaw as she looked around. Her eyes spotted Eric and Lisa walking down the hangar of the C-17 with Mandy. Then she moved her head, gaze seeking out each member of her Bravo.

When she spotted all of them, the tight feeling in her chest loosened, but her heartbeat kept speeding up. A smile lifted on her lips as the world around her started to spin.

Safety.

Family.

Protection.

These feelings made Theresa Kane chest fill with a fuzzy warmth and she finally let her eyes close as she succumbed to the darkness, content to let her body hit the ground. The fact that her family was safe and all accounted for was the last thought she had.

SEAL TEAM

The moment Theresa's body hit the cement, the whole of Bravo team's hearts halted in their chest and they froze.

Trent snapped out of it first, springing into action and kneeled next to her. The medic cursed himself metally. He thought Theresa looked a little to pale on the ride back to the plane, but he thought she would have told him if she was injured. Maybe she didn't know. He easily spotted the blood on her khaki's. It was on the right side of her abodomen and he saw a gunshot wound on the side of her body, on the area above her hip.

It was probably from a bullet on the boat - which means she's been bleeding this whole time. Lifting her shirt he saw that it only looked like a flesh wound - no bullet stuck inside her. It wasn't bleeding a lot, but taking into account the fact that she's been steadily bleeding since they left the Centuarus, he was feeling very uncomfortable.

Ray snapped out of it next, kneeling on Theresa's left side, asking Trent what he could do to help.

Sonny was third and kneeled by her head. He lifted her head from the cold cement and let it rest on his knees.

Jason and Brock couldn't seem to shake off their shock and stood frozen as they stared at the unmoving form of Theresa.

"I need something to put pressure on the wound." Trent said and the next second, Brock snapped out of his shock and pulled of his shirt before handing it to Trent, who pushed it against the wound.

"What happened?" Eric demanded as he reached them, looking every bit as worried and concerned as the rest of Bravo.

"She must have gotten hit by a stray bullet as we ran to the boat." Jason guessed, just to keep his mind working and off the fact that Theresa was bleeding infront of him and he couldn't do anything about it.

"What now?" Brock asked frantically, looking like he was going to have a mental breakdown any second.

"Well, the wound isn't to deep, so if I can stop the bleed, I can stitch it and hopefully she'll be fine until we can get her back home and to a doctor, but I don't know how much blood she lost." Under his breath he inaudibly muttered, voice full of dread. "If she lost to much."

"What if it doesn't stop bleeding?" Ray asked, chest constricting because he had some idea what the medic's answer would be.

"Trent." Jason barked, finally snapping out of his stupor, hands clenched into fists in an attempt to stop them from shaking.

"She could go into hypovolemic shock." He uttered, thankful that he didn't trip over his words.

"And now, for the medically retarded, in English please." Sonny groused with a glower in Trent's direction.

Trent looked from the one fear filled face to another, a shakey sigh falling from his lips as he pushed to the wound with all of his might, hoping it will be enough for a clot to form so that the bleeding could stop. "She could bleed out and die."

Everyone on Bravo felt their hearts drop at the answer.

"Right now, I'd really like her to wake up." Trent told them, looking away and swallowing past the bile in his throat. He's seen gunshot wounds and treated hundreds of them. This time wasn't any different.

Except it was.

Because this wasn't just someone with a gunshot wound.

This was Theresa Kane, his kickass friend, his team mate who - despite being so young - walks into battle with them every time. Has their backs without blinking, would jump infront of a bullet for anyone on Bravo, because beneath her ice cold attitude and fiery glare and extremely short temper, lies a soul full of light and a heart of gold that he has no idea she maintains in their line of work.

He slapped against her cheek, called her name. Over and over, again and again, until she let out a pained groan, eyes starting to flutter.

"That's it, little lady, come on, open your eyes." Sonny coaxed gently, fingers running over her damp and still braided hair in what he hoped was a soothing motion.

It took sometime, but when she did, unfocused and tired and pain filled as they was, everyone present let out a sigh of relief.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

I hope this was okay.

Sneak peak for the next chapter:

"Get your hands the hell of me."

"You just said-"

"Yeah, that wasn't a real offer. You never heard of sarcasm before, Spenser?"