Title: Eyes Wide Open
Author: Catherine Benson
Disclaimer: All of the characters used in this story do not belong to me.
Author's Note: I wrote this the day before the finale, but because of technical complications, I wasn't able to post until now. It was just my take on what the finale might have been like, before I saw it.
Feedback: Yes, please.
She called his name as she ran around the corner, her heart racing and her mouth dry. She had to find him. She had to warn him.
"Woody!" Her voice echoed through the dark warehouse, but the only response that came was her own alto coming back to her. And silence. The silence was deafening. Not hear anything save for her own footsteps and her own anxious thoughts. He was here, he had to be here. She had checked everywhere else. He had told her that he knew where the sniper was. She had asked him not to go, to wait for backup, but Woody hadn't listened. He had torn off, like she had done so many times before, in search of the bad-guy. The cop-killer.
She turned the corner, her panic increasing with every hastened step she took.
"Woody," she called again, desperate to hear him say something. Anything. 'I love you, Jordan' would be nice, she thought, but anything would do. She just needed to hear his voice.
A grunt. She heard a grunt. Or maybe she just thought she heard it, maybe she was projecting her own hopes onto the situation. She didn't care. It didn't matter whether it was real or not. She needed to find out, regardless.
She rounded another corned into a semi-lit room and stopped dead in her tracks when she saw him. On the floor. Not moving. Blood. Lots of blood. Another grunt.
"Woody!"
Without hesitation, she ran to him, kneeling by his side and staring at the wound in his chest. He looked up at her, faintly, his eyes drooping and not focusing on her face.
"Woody, oh God, Woody…" her voice trailed off as she looked at him, barely comprehending the situation. And then it hit her. He had been shot.
As quickly as she could, she removed her jacket and pressed it to the bullet hole, hoping to stop the blood flow. She pulled her cell phone from her pocket and dialed 911.
"I need a bus to 1411 Meadow St. Off of Hames…. Not ten minutes! I need it now. Damn it, now! I needed it ten minutes ago… well you tell your people to shove it. I've got an officer down, and he needs help. He's lost a lot of blood… that's what a thought."
She hung up angrily. Now. She needed them now, he needed help now. She looked down at his face, so pale and drained. He couldn't die. He couldn't die. She couldn't let him die. Not like this.
His eyes fluttered, closing. She pulled his head onto her lap and smacked his cheek, causing his eyes to open once more. "Do not close those eyes, Woody. Woody, damnit, do not die on me. I am not going to let you die on me. I am not going to lose you. Not to them. Not to some fucking criminal with some fucking gun."
He smiled faintly at her. "Watch the language," he whispered hoarsely.
She lowered her head and spoke quietly, feeling the tears hiding behind her eyes. "I can't lose you, Woody, I can't."
"You'll… be… fine," he managed. Again he closed his eyes, giving up.
"No, I won't." Her voice raised again, nearly shouting. "No. No, no, no, no, no, no. Open your eyes. Woody, open your damn eyes or I'll shoot you myself. You can't leave me. Every person I have ever cared about has left me. My mom, my dad, everyone. Not you too."
He did nothing, lying motionless in her lap. She felt him breathing shallowly, and knew he was alive. Flitting in and out of , but alive. For now. She glanced at her watch. Only two minutes had passed since she had called for the EMT's. He wasn't going to make it. Not if he couldn't stay conscious.
Her voice fell to a whisper. "Don't leave me, Woody. Open your eyes. If you love me, open your eyes."
Looking down at him, she saw his eyelids raise.
