1Forgotten Love and Goodbyes - Ch.10

Leon rode in silence holding Akisha's hand. He watched her fragile body lying there wanting so bad to hold her. Her face was so ghostly white that she looked dead, if not for the small faint beeps of the heart monitor; she would've appeared that way. "Don't worry pal, she's gonna make it, even with her condition, she'll fight her way through. My name's Peter by the way."

"Leon, I'm her..."

"Boyfriend, I presumed that. You're probably wondering how I know her, it's a long story. To make it short, my wife was her nurse at birth; she was there to help deliver her. It's remarkable really, when at the time she was just fresh out of medical school. Both Akisha and her mother almost didn't make it, but they both had a strong spirit. Had Akisha not been delivered by c-section, they wouldn't have made it."

"You said she was a hemophiliac?"

"Yeah, only it's a minor case. She can heal small cuts and scrapes, but anything larger is difficult, like gun shot wounds."

"Is she going to survive, will she be okay?"

"I'm sure she will, as soon as we start pumping blood into her, she should be fine."

"Thanks, I'm just worried about her, she means everything to me and I'm scared to lose her."

"We should be all right, plus when we get there, you'll have to also deal with the police, they'll want to know what happened."

"Sure thing, I'll make sure they know everything." They soon arrived at the hospital and Roger and Peter opened the doors and jumped out. They pulled out the stretcher and wheeled it inside, Leon followed close behind.

Inside the hospital there was a team of doctors and nurses waiting to help out. As they wheeled her to an available room, they conversed with Peter and his team on the events of the shooting. Leon followed behind them, lost in the medical lingo. When they finally reached the room they wheeled her inside and the medical team right away began working on her. Leon stood outside the room, watching through the window as they worked on her. He fought hard to hold back the tears welling up in his eyes, until it became too bearable and he let them out. "Excuse me Mr. Turner?" said a voice behind him.

Leon wiped the tears from his face. "Uh yes?" he said turning to face a policewomen and her partner.

"I'm Officer Locker and this is my partner Officer Francis," said the blond policewomen as she gestured to her red headed partner. "We want to question you about the shooting that took place at the Guarez residence."

"Yeah sure thing," replied Leon as he wiped the last of the tears from his face.

"Could you follow us please?" said Officer Francis as he led Leon to an empty room that had a table, some chairs and a TV and VCR in the corner.

"Please sit down Mr. Turner," said Locker as Leon complied, "please now explain to us what happened at the house." Leon cleared his throat and began telling the events of the shooting. "Do you happen to know where Rico Sanchez went after he shot your girlfriend?"

"No ma'am, he was gone by the time I regained consciousness. I was told by the daughter Cheryl that he took off after the shooting."

"Well I'm please to tell you that we found Mr. Sanchez and are planning to charge him with attempted first degree murder."

"Charge him with murder?" said a confused Leon.

"Yes, according to witnesses they claim that Rico was attempting to shoot you with the notion of death, but your girlfriend pushed you out of the way and ended up taking the bullet. Am I correct about this?"

"Yes ma'am I know that was his intention."

"We would like you to come down to the station and formally make a statement on the events," said Officer Francis who noticed the look of disappointment of Leon's face. "I know you're not ready to leave and do this now, since your girlfriend is fighting for her life and you want to be here for her in case she may recover."

"You have to understand Leon that if you don't do this now, there's a chance that we may have to release Rico once the 48 hour detention period is up?"

"Release him?" said a worried Leon.

"Yes unless we have some form of physical evidence to prove that he's responsible, then we have to let him go and therefore can't charge him."

"Officers, sorry to interrupt but I have some good news," said another officer coming into the room.

"What is it Constable?" said Locker.

"A witness just arrived here with here this," he showed them a mini-cam, "it's got footage of the shooting."

"Well let's take a look," said Locker as the constable connected the mini-cam to the TV in the corner. He pressed play and the footage began to play. Leon watched in disgust, the events still fresh in his mind. His heart broke as he watched Akisha push him out of the way and take the bullet for him, her body hitting the ground in a slump. The last image was of Rico taking off. "Well Mr. Turner is looks like we have all the evidence we need to formally charge Rico Sanchez of his crime."

"We'll contact you if we have any further questions," the three left Leon in the room alone. Leon took a moment to reflect on what had just happened. He was please to know that Rico was going to jail for the shooting and would probably be there for the next ten to twenty years. This meant that there'd be no involvement on Rico's part; it was Mario that he'd have to deal with. Leon got up and decided to go and see if there were any changes in Akisha's condition.

When Leon walked into the lobby, he found the rest of the team there waiting for him. Benny was the first to notice him and he got up and gave Leon a hug, the rest of the team followed suit. Tai asked if his mini-cam had been successful in convicting Rico. Leon as first was confused and then realized what Tai was talking about. Leon said that the footage had successfully convicted Rico and that he was going to jail for attempted first degree murder. The group was interrupted by a doctor who entered the room. "Excuse me which one of you is Leon Turner?"

"I am," said Leon raising his hand.

"Could I see you for a moment?"

"Yeah sure, I'll be back guys."

"Don't worry, we'll be waiting," said Benny.

"Thanks replied Leon as he followed the doctor to a room down the hall.

"Mr. Turner I am Dr. Livingston, I'm the doctor who operated on Akisha Vasquez."

"Operated?" said a shocked Leon.

"Yes my team and I were able to remove the bullet from Ms. Vasquez's abdomen and stop the bleeding. As you know she's also a minor hemophiliac and with a large wound like this she's unable to replace any blood loss."

"Yes I am aware of it."

"Well we were able to begin a blood transfusion, but have a minor problem."

"What kind of problem?" Leon said, beginning to get worried.

"Well Akisha has a rare blood type and we unfortunately don't have an enough supply for her. We need to do a live transfusion."

"I'll do it, I'm ready."

"I understand that you're willing to do it, but I need to make sure I have other options. Do you know of any friends she may have that would be willing to do a blood test to see if they'd be a possible donor?"

"The rest of our friends are those who were waiting in the lobby, I know they'd be willing to."

"Excellent, we'll go and meet them then," said Dr. Livingston as they headed back to the lobby. Once there the doctor informed them of the situation. Naturally everyone wanted to volunteer, so the doctor led them to a room where they each got a blood sample taken. The doctor informed them that it would take a few hours and suggested that they head home and get some rest. Benny offered to house everyone, to which they all agreed. Piling into their cars, they headed to Benny's house.

To be continued