Thanks for all the great reviews… Here's round two!

Ten minutes later the ambulance had arrived and EMS workers rushed into the store.

            "Sir we need to take him to the hospital," Chris Patrick, the head EMS worker on the scene said as he approached Elliot.

            Elliot was so focused on Dickie that he didn't even notice the Ambulance workers on the scene.

            "Sir?"

            Elliot looked up for the first time since the shooting.

            "What? Oh yea."  Elliot was reluctant to give them Dickie even though he knew that they had to rush him to the hospital.  Elliot let them take over but was hovering close by.  A million things were running through his mind the foremost was what he had done wrong.  He was a cop; he should have been able to stop this from happening.

Everyone was so focused on Dickie that no one noticed the perp run from the store and hop in a getaway car.

"What happened?"  Joe asked.

            "Some stupid kid got in the way so I shot him." Mike said.

            "What if they recognized you?" Joe asked nervously.

            "Who's gonna recognize him.  He was wearing a stocking." Phil said from the back.

            Both Mike and Joe were kids looking to get into a local gang.  Phil was one of the leaders of the gang.  Their fist test had been to hold up a convenience store with Joe driving the getaway car.  Phil was sure Mike would be no problem but Joe was another story.  So far Joe had done okay but he was going to be keeping a close eye on him.

Since Elliot was shaky the EMS workers decided to take him to the hospital as well. He rode along side Dickie the whole way there.  Frank thought that in his condition Elliot wouldn't be thinking clearly and decided to call Kathy.  He told that her something had happened but thought it was better she hear what exactly it was from Elliot and told her to call him on his cell phone.

            "Kathy its Frank D'Amico."

            "Hey Frank.  How's it going?"  Kathy was a little worried why Frank would be calling her.  Elliot and Dickie should have already left his store and be on their way home.

            "Not too good.  Something happened.  You need to call Elliot on his cell right away."

            "What happened?"  Now Kathy was really worried.  Why wasn't Elliot calling her himself?

            "Just call Elliot it's better if he tells you."

            Kathy Hung up the phone and dialed Elliot's number.

            Elliot was sitting in the waiting room of ER when his cell phone rang.  Normally he would never have had his cell phone on in a hospital but that had been one of the last things on his mind.

            "Stabler."

            "Elliot?"  Kathy asked nervously.

            "Kathy," Elliot said relived to hear her voice.

            "Elliot what's going on?  Frank called me and told me that something happened.  What is it?"

            How was he going to tell her how much he had failed her?  How he had allowed their only son to get shot on his watch.

            "Kathy its Dickie… He…He," Elliot was having trouble getting the words out as tears streamed down his face.

            "What?" Kathy was desperate she could hear Elliot's voice breaking on the other end of the line and knew it had to be bad.

            "Ell?  What's wrong?"

            "Kathy he… He was shot."

            It was if those three simple words had shattered Kathy Stabler's life.  She cried out and dropped the phone in shock.

            "Kathy?"  Her sister Barbara called from the other room.

            "Is everything okay?"  When she got no response she went into the kitchen.

            She saw her sister curled up on the floor sobbing.  She ran right over.

            "Kathy?  What's wrong?"  Barbara noticed the phone off the hook and picked it up.

            "Hello?"  She called into the phone to see if anyone was still on the line.

            "Kathy?"  Elliot asked.  He knew that she was upset and didn't know how to comfort her over the phone.

            "Elliot, its Barbara.  What's going on?  Kathy's sitting here sobbing."

            Elliot didn't know what to say.  To say he felt guilty was a gross understatement.  He could hear the worry in Barbara's voice and he felt the pain in Kathy's.  This was all his fault.  If he had just acted quicker, talked faster maybe he could have prevented this.

            "Barbara, its Dickie.  He was shot.  I'm down at Mercy General now."

            Barbara was shocked.  Her only nephew shot.

            "Elliot, Kathy needs to be with you.  I'm going to bring her right over.  I'll have Maureen watch the girls."

            Barbara hung up the phone and took a moment to compose herself.  She knew her sister would not be up to making any decisions at the moment so she was taking charge.

            "Kathy," Barbara said as she hugged her sister.

            "You need to be with your husband.  Come on.  I am going to take you to the hospital.  I'll have Maureen watch the girls."

            Kathy stood on shaky legs understanding the importance of what her sister was saying.

            "Okay?"

            Kathy shook her head affirmative and went to get her shoes and jacket.  She was still visibly shaken but tried not to show it so she wouldn't frighten the girls.

            "Maureen.  I need to go out with you mom for a little while. Would you mind watching the girls?"

            "Sure we're just watching movies anyway."

            "Great we'll be back later."

            Barbara led her sister to the car and took off toward the hospital.