Chapter 17:

Sam's tension and concern grew more and more every time she had a look at her co-worker's face. He grew paler with every minute and she could literally see the power, the will to fight die down more and more. His breathing felt somehow wrong to her – low and shallow as it was – but there was no wonder about that. No wonder, when taking the blood that had started to pool under him into consideration.

She hadn't even realized it at first, as the injury to his back had barely been bleeding after all. She didn't even have to put a lot of pressure to it to stop that bit of bleeding she had first seen. But something had changed – she didn't know how or why – but the situation had decreased. Maybe he had moved around too much or maybe the bleeding had been blocked by something at first... Whatever it was that had kept the blood away, it was gone – and - as the shooting - that pooling of the red warm liquid underneath him, happened all of a sudden.

Unfortunately – she had nothing but her bare hands to put pressure on the now steadily bleeding wound and that wasn't much of a help. She knew it probably enhanced the chance of further difficulties even more. Her hands weren't clean, not sterile and putting them to an open wound would higher the risk of infection to an extend she didn't even wanna think about. She didn't wanna think about any more complications right now. Her only concern was to keep Danny awake.

She couldn't keep herself from trembling and it was not some kind of a physical reaction to the psychological trauma she was put through. She simply felt cold, freezing cold. She had given her coat to Danny to keep him warm, although he forcefully had insisted against it. But she hadn't listened to him – she knew as long as she couldn't stop the bleeding, he was in desperate need to be kept warm. If he would fall in a state of shock it was probably over – she had no idea how she was supposed to react then. But it was just bitterly cold and she couldn't keep herself from shivering.

She suddenly felt his eyes on her, giving her a look full of empathy and concern. He definitely didn't like how she felt right now and she knew he felt sorry and slightly guilty for having her freeze like that. She knew what he would be doing next, knew it since she had felt his eyes on her. He weakly pointed to her coat lying on top of him and keeping the cold from him – a sensation Samantha desperately wished for to feel right now.

"You can have it back, Sam!"

She needed almost all her will and power to not agree to his proposal. She had been close to just saying yes, grab the coat from him and huddle herself inside of it, feeling the warmth again. But she needed to stay strong, she couldn't give up her will now – for Danny's sake. She managed to put a little smile on her face, although she was pretty sure that it looked harried.

"No, it's okay. You definitely are in a greater need than I am."

"Sam..."

"How do you feel?"

She interrupted him quickly, not willing to argue with him once again. She didn't have the power to do that again – her will of letting him keep her goddamn coat was at the lowest point already and if he would start insisting once again, she would actually take it back- no matter what.

"I dunno – I feel tired I'd say..."

Panic rose in her once again as he announced this few little innocent words. This just couldn't be happening – she was trying so hard – keeping him warm, stopping the bleeding and taking care of him as good as possible under the current circumstances, but still it wouldn't help. She could feel her shivering get more violently as it mixed with a reaction to the psychological burden. She wouldn't let this happen – neither to her, nor to him – she needed to stay strong. She ordered herself to calm down and lowered her voice to a whisper as she talked to him.

"Don't you fall asleep on me – you understand that. As tired as you feel, but I won't ever forgive you, if you're gonna fall asleep on me. Fight against it, you have to!"

She knew, that if he would actually fall asleep and would lose consciousness it wouldn't take long until any help would be too late. As long as he stayed with her, stayed awake, she still had a chance to assure him and there still was the chance to get him to a hospital and to a team of doctors, who would take care of his injury. As long as he was awake, she would keep her faith – it was as simple as that. And if he wouldn't, she had no idea what she was supposed to do then, how she would react.

"I'm gonna try..."

"You're not gonna try, you're gonna do it."

"Okay..."

He wasn't willing to insist against her, fight against her demands or even make a sarcastic comment about it. She didn't like that – it was unlike him and it assured her once again in her believe, that he was losing more and more of his strength and will. This happened all too quickly, hell – it wasn't supposed to happen after all. But she wouldn't let him die, no matter what she had to do or how long it would still take the medics to get here – she wouldn't allow him to die on her... His choked words pulled her out of her desperate thoughts.

"Sam?"

"What is it? What's wrong?"

"I can't..., I don't..."

His whispered words and the choked tone of them, immediately frightened her as she believed he was no longer able to properly breathe. If he wouldn't get enough air or in an even worse case, would stop breathing, there was nothing she could do for him, not really. Of course she could still help him with his breathing, but she knew for sure that he would be in desperate need of immediate medical attention then and that was a thing they wouldn't get. They wouldn't send even a single ambulance in here, before the situation wasn't cleared.

"Tell me what's wrong. Please, Danny – try to calm down and tell me what's wrong..."

Somehow she managed to calm him as the panic she had seen in his eyes before died down. But she didn't like what she saw next either – desperation seemed to rush over him and left that expression on his face. At least she could still hear him breathe – not as deep and regularly as she wanted him to, but at least deep enough to get air. That hopefully – and knowing that filled her with a blissful relief – wasn't the problem.

"I,..., I don't,..., I don't feel my legs. I can't move..."