Hi!

Wow, I am so glad you guys are all enjoying my story!

RedLion2~ Thank you so much for your never ending support and reviews!

Craze & KarenVForce~ My first two fanfics were actually K&A, but I have to admit, I'm not too impressed with my first fic.  My second fic was a fluffy song fic about the two of them.  I've been thinking about your recommendation and I've already started putting the fic together in my mind.  So watch for one coming soon ;-)

QuikerKookie, Queen Merla, Anony ~ You guys are awesome!  Thanks!


I really do enjoy and appreciate your reviews.  Thank you so much!

Enjoy,

Failte

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Lance felt his sister-in-law shaking uncontrollably as Keith knelt beside Pidge.  "Come on kiddo, I need you to stay with me.  Becs, I need you to walk."

"Lance?"  She whispered.

"Yeah, snap out of it," he said harshly.  "We need your help."

Bewildered, Becca looked down at the smoking blaster in her hand and then at the two men lying on the floor.  The weapon slipped from her hand as she saw the dark pool gathering beneath Pidge.  "Oh God!  What happened?"

"You shot Cheyen," Lance told her.  "Right after he shot Pidge."

She remembered the jolt that had shaken her arm as the blaster discharged.  There had been two quick flashes she now realized had been blaster shots.  She had shot a man. 

Keith pulled out his communicator and was contacting Dr. Gorma, warning him that they were bringing in two wounded men.

Lance knelt beside Cheyen and checked for a pulse.

"Is he dead?"  Becca asked.

"There's a pulse."

She shifted her gaze to Pidge and snapped out of her shock.  Rushing over, she took in the dark stains spreading across his chest and under his head.  "Lance, give me your shirt."

He looked up, "What?"

"Now Lance!"

He pulled his t-shirt over his head and watched as she folded it and pressed it to the wound in Pidge's shoulder.  "It looks like he hit his head when he fell."

Keith snapped his communicator shut, "Caleb and Hunk are on their way.  The power's up, but we're running on the generators for now.  How's Cheyen?"

"He's alive," Lance said.  "But it looks like Annie Oakley here got a clean shot into his stomach."

Becca felt sick.  Stomach injuries like that were almost always fatal.  She had killed a man.

Keith turned at the sound of running feet.

"Oh man," Hunk stopped and ran a shaky hand through his hair.  "How bad is it?"

"Hunk, help me carry Pidge to the hospital.  Lance, you and Caleb get Cheyen."

"Yes, sir."  Lance took Caleb's jacket and pressed it to Cheyen's stomach.

"Wait a second," Becca stopped them.  "Hunk, give your belt."  She wrapped it across Pidge's chest, holding the makeshift bandage in place, trying to ignore his quiet groan.  "Hurry, get him to the hospital before he comes to."

They made it to the hospital wing in record time.  Dr. Gorma met them and did a quick examination.  Since it appeared that Cheyen was more gravely injured, he assigned Nurse Helene to attend to Pidge.

"Damned traitor!"  Lance hissed pacing the waiting room.  "How can he be worse off than Pidge?  Did you see all the blood from his head wound?"

"Head wounds always bleed a lot and look worse than they actually are."  Becca whispered.

"I'm going to go and get us back on full power," Caleb excused himself.

Keith nodded and turned to Becca, "What happened?"

She looked at him with a hollow expression, "We, uh, we were heading to Castle Control when, uh, Cheyen showed up."  She rubbed a hand over her eyes.  "He said he had heard some noises and had gone to investigate.  I don't know what happened, but Pidge knew he was the traitor and was trying to get him to go to Castle Control when he attacked Pidge."

Darcy hurried into the waiting room and handed Schuyler to Lance before running over to Becca and hugging her.  "Oh, God, Rebecca!  Are you okay?"

"I'm fine."

Darcy pulled back and studied her sister.  Becca was pale and wide eyed.  "What happened?"  She whispered.

Tired of reliving it, Becca shook her head.

"We'll figure out what all happened when Pidge comes to," Keith spoke up.

"Comes to?"  Allura waddled into the room.  "What happened?"

Keith jumped to his feet and helped her to the chair beside Becca, "Sit down, take it easy."

She rolled her eyes, "I'm fine Keith, what happened?"

"Is anyone else coming?"

"Nanny is putting Cady down and Koran is staying to help Caleb."

With a sigh, Keith told Darcy and Allura all that he knew.  "We'll get the rest of the details from Pidge when he comes to."

Allura sat back and folded her hands over her abdomen, closing her eyes.

"You should go to bed," Keith told her.

"I want to see what they say about Pidge."

"No, come on, you need to rest.  Don't push yourself, this has been a very stressful day.  You and the babies need to rest."

She took the hands he offered and allowed him to pull her to her feet.  "I will only agree to this if you come and tell me how Pidge is doing."

"I promise."  Keith turned to the others.  "I'll be back."

Lance nodded, "Good night, Allura."

"Good night guys," she unsuccessfully tried to stifle a yawn and leaned on Keith as he led her out the door.

Darcy wrapped her arm around Becca's shoulders, "You want to talk about it?"

"I shot a man."  She whispered.

Darcy squeezed her, "You only did what you had to do.  You probably saved Pidge's life."

"I've spent the past four years preparing myself to go into medicine, to save lives."

Lance stopped pacing and sat in the chair on the other side of her, "Becca, don't beat yourself up over this.  He had it coming.  Considering the circumstances, you did the right thing."

In her mind, Becca relived what had happened just a few minutes earlier and felt the bile rise in her throat.  Jumping to her feet, she ran to the bathroom down the hall.

The lights flickered and then came back on full force.

"Looks like Caleb has us back on main power," Lance muttered, looking down at Schuyler in his arms.

"I think you should put her to bed."  Darcy whispered.

"I'm not going to leave her alone."

"Put her in the nursery with Cady, Nanny will be there and I'm sure Keith is going to put someone in the hall.  He won't leave Allura alone."

"But who?  We don't know if Cheyen was working alone."

"Maybe Caleb?"

Lance nodded, "Alright."

"And honey, see if you can find a toothbrush."

"What?"

Darcy nodded towards the bathroom, "I think Becca's going to need one."

When she emerged from the bathroom, Becca saw only Hunk and Darcy left.  "Where is everyone?"

"Lance went to put the baby down, he's going to bring you a toothbrush."

"Thanks."

"He and Keith will be back soon."

She fell into the chair beside her sister and stared at the wall.  "No word?"

"Not yet," Hunk muttered.

Becca rubbed her hands nervously on her thighs, "I've never even fired a gun before."

"It was a hell of a shot."  Hunk told her.

"And yet that doesn't make me feel any better.  I could've…I could've killed him."

"You still harping on that?"  Lance asked as he entered the room.

"Thanks for being so understanding."

He handed her a toothbrush and toothpaste, "It wasn't your fault, Becs, you acted on instinct."

"Is the baby down?"  Darcy asked as Becca returned to the bathroom.


"Yeah, Keith's going to hang out until Caleb gets up there and then he'll be back."

"Pidge's wounds didn't look too bad, did they?"  Hunk asked.

Lance sat down beside Darcy, "I don't know man, there was a lot of blood."

Hunk sighed and leaned his head back on the wall, closing his eyes.

Darcy leaned her head on Lance's shoulder while he wrapped his arm around her.  When Becca returned, she sat down and they all waited in silence for word on their friend.

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It was half an hour before Nurse Helene emerged from Pidge's room.

"How is he?"  Keith asked.

"He'll be fine.  It was a clean shot through the shoulder, he had thirty two stitches and that arm will be out of commission for the time being.  He's going to have a rather nasty headache for awhile too, but none of this was life threatening."

Becca let out a shaky sigh and felt Darcy grasp her hand.

"Is he awake?"  Keith asked.

"He is, but he is also heavily drugged, so he won't be awake for much longer.  I know you want to talk to him, but he isn't up to being interviewed right now."  Nurse Helene told him.  "He asked to see Miss Barlow."

Becca pushed herself up and followed the nurse on shaky legs. 

"He's fighting to stay awake, dear," Nurse Helene stopped outside the door.  "So don't stay too long, he needs to rest."

Pidge was lying back on the slightly reclined bed.  Stark white bandages were wrapped around his head and over his shoulder, across his chest.  His left arm was in a sling, resting on his stomach and his eyes were half closed.

"Hi," Becca whispered, crossing the room.

"Hi."

"How're you feeling?"

"Surprisingly good."

Becca picked up the pill bottle sitting on the bedside table and smiled when she read the label.  "No wonder.  I'd be surprised if you could feel anything at all right now."

"How're you doing?"

"Oh, I'm fine," she pulled the chair over beside his bed and sat down.

"What happened to Cheyen?"

Becca looked down at his bed, smoothing the sheet beneath her hands.  "I, uh, I shot him."

"You did?"

"Yeah, uh, Dr. Gorma is tending to him now."

"You shot him?"

"In the stomach."

Pidge watched her, noticing that she wouldn't look up at him, "Are you okay with this?"

"Lance said I only did what I had to do.  I don't even remember firing.  There was a jolt in my arm and a flash of light.  The next thing I knew, Lance was yelling at me to snap out of it."

Pidge laid his right hand over hers, "You probably saved my life, Becs."

She looked up at him shyly, "Well, you were pretty awesome, kicking some serious butt."

"Not bad for a coward, huh?"  He teased, hoping to get a smile out of her.

Instead of smiling, tears filled her eyes.  "I didn't really mean that, Pidge.  You are not a coward.  You are the bravest, smartest, strongest man I've ever known."

"You forgot handsome."

She shrugged, a tear sliding down her cheek, "I figure that's implied."

"Don't."  He whispered.

"I can't help it.  I said some terrible things…"

"Stop it, Becs.  You were right.  I was being a total coward.  I never wanted to break up with you."

"I guess it's a good thing I wouldn't let you."

"Yeah," he reached up with his right hand and cupped her cheek.  "It's been one hell of a night."

Becca placed her hand over his and tilted her face into his hand, "A regular emotional roller coaster."

"Maybe you should go to bed."

"I don't want to leave you," she whispered.

"I'll be here in the morning."

She studied his pale face and noticed how hard he was trying to stay awake.  "I'll be back first thing."

"You better be."

Becca leaned down and gently kissed him, "Good night, Pidge."

"Good night," he mumbled.

Darcy and Lance were the only ones still in the waiting room when she entered.


"How is he?"  Lance asked.

"Tired."

"But he'll be okay?"  Darcy asked.

Becca nodded.

Noticing the look on her sister's face, Darcy stood and hugged her tightly.  Becca cried into her shoulder while Lance pretended not to notice.

"I'm sorry," Becca whispered.

"Don't be," Darcy held her at arm's length. 

"But…but what kind of doctor will I be if I get this upset at the sight of blood."

"Rebecca," Darcy squeezed her shoulders.  "It's different when it's his blood."

Lance stood beside her, "She's right Becs, it's always different when it's someone you love.  You will be a great doctor."

"Come on, you need some sleep."  Darcy said.  "You can bunk with me tonight."

Becca nodded and let her sister lead her from the hospital.

"Keith and Lance are going to up all night," Darcy explained as they walked down the hall.  "Keith won't rest until they know if Cheyen was in this alone or if he had help."

"What have you heard about Cheyen?"

"Dr. Gorma took him in to surgery.  Lance is going to wait until he's out of it."

"How bad do you think he is?"

"I don't know, Bec."

Becca sighed as they entered the room, "Where's Schuyler?"

"She's staying with Nanny and Cady tonight.  You need some sleep and I hate being alone at night, so you're going to stay with me."

"I really love him, Darcy."  Becca admitted as she fell back across the bed.

Darcy couldn't help but smile, "He'll be fine."

"I know."

"Just wait until Dad hears about this."