Disclaimer: - I don't own any of the characters of The Shield, they all belong to Shawn Ryan and FX.

Red – Chapter 2.

Claudette looked up sharply as the door to the waiting room clicked open, she stood as Captain Aceveda and The Chief entered the room. The Chief's face was schooled into a politician's mask of official concern, but Aceveda looked genuinely upset as he approached Claudette,

"How is he, have you heard anything yet?" He asked.

"They haven't told us anything, Vic's gone to try and find something out, but it looked bad really bad. He took a bullet to his chest, it got past his vest and…. well there was a lot of blood," as she said this Claudette glanced down at her still blood stained hands. Aceveda's eyes followed hers and she saw him wince at the red stains he saw there.

"Do you want to wash up," He asked just as the door opened to admit a frustrated looking Vic Mackey.

"What did they say, how is he?" Claudette asked him in a rush.

Vic sighed, "They wouldn't tell me anything except that they're still working on him in the ER, they're trying to stabilize him enough to get him to surgery. The nurse said that we have to wait here and that the doctor would be in to tell us everything as soon as he could. Sorry." He added sadly.

"Damn," Claudette muttered. She raised her hand to rub over her tired eyes and then saw the blood there and stopped herself. "I think I could do with a wash," she said as she shuddered slightly.

"Yeah me too," Vic agreed. "I wonder if they've got some scrubs or something I could borrow."

When he had knelt next to Dutch to keep pressure on his gunshot wound Vic had knelt in a pool of his blood and it had covered his trousers from the knees down and was rapidly drying and turning the material stiff and uncomfortable. When this was combined with the blood that also stained his hands and lower arms Vic felt filthy, sticky, and he could smell nothing but the overwhelming coppery stench of blood, the smell of death he thought involuntarily.

"When you get back I need to know what happened, IAD will be investigating plus the press will be all over it to." Aceveda stated. While he spoke he kept his gaze fixed on Mackey, trying to gauge his reaction.

"Fine," Vic replied. His eyes looking back at Aceveda, not wavering.

Claudette snorted in mild disgust, what was it with those two, everything had to be turned into a pissing contest between them. Well as far as she was concerned they could get on with it the only person she was interested in right now was her partner. She left them behind and went into the ladies room. She paused in front of the mirror looking at her reflection, as she stepped towards the sink to wash her hands she glanced down at them again. Dutch's blood had dried on them, bits flaking off and falling away as a fine dust, some of it had gathered in the creases in her fingers and her palms highlighting the whirls and loops there. Suddenly Claudette felt an overwhelming feeling of nausea; she only just made it to a stall before she began to vomit profusely. After several minutes of violent sickness she was finally left dry heaving and gasping for breath. When her stomach at last settled she rose a little unsteadily and made her way over to the sink. She wanted to wash out her mouth, but first she had to get rid of the red from her hands. Switching on the tap she thrust her hands under the rushing water, and stood transfixed as she watched the water swirling red, and then pink, and finally clear down the plughole. With her hands finally clean Claudette cupped them together to gather some water to wash out her mouth, and then she splashed some on her face. With hands that now trembled slightly she patted her face dry with a paper towel. Taking a deep steadying breath she left the restroom and returned to the waiting room. She found The Chief and Aceveda deep in conversation which came to an abrupt halt at her reappearance.

Aceveda rose and moved towards her,

"What happened out there Detective, this was supposed to be a routine bust?" He got no further as the door opened to admit a clean Vic Mackey and a blood stained doctor.

"You're here for Detective Wagenbach?" The doctor asked.

Claudette moved forward anxiously, trying unsuccessfully to read the expression on his face, trying to see if he had good or bad news.

"I'm his partner," she said before anyone else had the chance to speak. "How is he, is he OK?"