Chapter Seven

Disclaimer: The song belongs to Sarah McLachlan, not me….enjoy!

A couple days after the attack, the shock wore off and the realization of what had actually happened set in. It hit Kim like a ton of bricks one night, maybe three days after the attack, just how far Michael was willing to go to get her back or to kill her. She had been cutting potatoes for dinner when it happened. Tommy had been sitting at the dining room table grading papers. She cut a piece off the potato and it fell into the bowl sitting in the sink and she looked down realizing that she'd accidentally cut her finger. The last time she saw blood was the last time Michael had beat her. She instantly dropped the knife and backed away from the sink.

Heaven bent to take my hand
And lead me through the fire
Be the long awaited answer
To a long and painful fight

"No." she said, near tears, staring at her hand. Tommy looked up at her, and at first didn't realize what was wrong. She was standing there staring at her hand and tears were falling down her cheeks. Normally she would've cursed and went the bathroom to clean and bandage the wound, but now she just stood there and stared at it. Tommy stood and she collapsed on the floor and cried, holding her head in her hands. Tommy went to her and sat next to her and put his arms around her.

"Sshh, it's okay. It'll be okay." He whispered, rocking her back and forth. She shook her head vigoursly.

"No," she said, swallowing hard, "it won't. It'll never be okay, Tommy." She turned to face him, "Don't you get it? It'll never be over, he will never let go, not unless I make him let go. I'll never be free, never…." She got up and walked down the hall to the bathroom. Tommy stood up and followed her.

"Kim, he's in jail, he can't get to you any more." Tommy said, soothingly, rubbing her shoulders.

"He himself is in jail, but that doesn't mean he's not going to stop sending his guys after me, after us. I can't keep putting you in danger and I can't keep putting Sami in danger. If anything happened to you two, I don't know what I'd do." She said, as she bandaged her finger. Tommy put his arms around her and kissed her neck.

"I will not let anything happen to you." He promised.

"I know you won't, Tommy, it's just….." she began, "I can't keep risking your life…or hers." She let her body rest against his as they stood in front of the bathroom sink, staring into the mirror.

Truth be told I've tried my best
But somewhere along the way
I got caught up in all there was to offer
And the cost was so much more than I could bear

"Do you see what I see?" he asked looking into the mirror.

"I don't know, what do you see?" Kim asked.

"I see the most beautiful woman I have ever met and I see more love in her eyes than I do anywhere else in the world." He said.

"You know what I see?" she asked, "I see a scared, tired, broken woman who is fighting or her future and can't escape the past." She left the bathroom and when back into the kitchen to finish cutting potatoes. Tommy leaned against the bathroom counter and looked into the mirror.

"You need to do a better job of convincing her." He told himself. He went out into the kitchen to talk to her some more when there was a knock at the door. He was walking down the hall, but Kimberly got to the door first. Everything seemed to go in slow motion. Tommy looked toward the door as Kim opened it. All he saw was an arm and then he heard the shot. Kimberly staggered back and fell to the floor. Tommy ran to the door, the blackest rage bubbling inside him, and he kicked the gun out of the persons hand, then he grabbed the persons arm pulled them into the house and swung them face first into a wall, knocking them out.

"Kim!" he ran to her side. She didn't move. He pulled his shirt off and pressed it to her upper abdomen, where she had been shot. Then he pulled his cell phone off of his belt and dialed 911.

"My fiancé has been shot….I need help now." He told the operator. Within ten minutes, Kimberly was being loaded into an ambulance, the guy with the gun was hand cuffed and put in a police car, he'd woken up as the police got there.

Though I've tried, I've fallen...
I have sunk so low
I have messed up
Better I should know
So don't come round here
And tell me I told you so...

Kim was rushed into surgery and Tommy called his parents to tell them. The offered to come home but Tommy told them to stay where they were because he didn't want Sami to see her mother like this. Then he called Jason, Aisha, Rocky, Adam, Tanya, Billy, Zack, and Kat, their old, but close friends and former teammates from high school. They all rushed to get there. Kat was the only one that didn't get there until night fall because she came from London.

We all begin with good intent
Love was raw and young
We believed that we could change ourselves
The past could be undone

Tommy sat in the waiting room, Jason on his left and Aisha on his right. He sat with his head in his hands, worrying….wondering if he had lost her or not.

"She's a fighter…she'll make it." Aisha was saying as the doctor came out. Tommy got up and made his way across the room to him.

But we carry on our backs the burden
Time always reveals
The lonely light of morning
The wound that would not heal
It's the bitter taste of losing everything
That I have held so dear.

"How is she?" Tommy immediately asked. The doctor's eyes fell. He looked up at Tommy, not sure really what to tell him.

"She made it through surgery just fine, but to be quiet honest, I'm not sure that she'll make it through the night. You should go see her. She shouldn't be alone." The Doctor told him. Tommy only nodded and turned back to his friends, his family.

I've fallen...
I have sunk so low
I have messed up
Better I should know
So don't come round here
And tell me I told you so...

"He said…um…she made it through the surgery, but...Uh…she might not make it through the night." Tommy told them. At those words he broke down and tears fell from his eyes. Aisha and Kat put their arms around him and held him as he cried and they cried with him. Jason and Adam and Rocky sat in the chairs behind them and cried as well.

Heaven bent to take my hand
Nowhere left to turn
I'm lost to those I thought were friends
To everyone I know

Tommy went to her room. He lost it when he saw her hooked up to so many machines. She looked so week and so fragile, he hated that. He pulled a chair up next to her bed and sat down and held her hand.

"Hey Beautiful," he whispered, caressing her forehead lightly. He kissed her hand and tears fell from his eyes, "You have to get better, okay. You have to….because I can't live without you. I need you so much. I can't lose you again." He sat there and cried, holding onto her hand as if it were his only lifeline.

Oh they turned their heads embarrassed
Pretend that they don't see
But it's one missed step
You'll slip before you know it
And there doesn't seem a way to be redeemed

Kat came in after him. She pulled up a chair next to him. He looked at her, her eyes red and puffy. She stared at Kim, wishing that she could kill the guy that did this to her.

"You know if she wakes up, this might look a little…." He began.

"Tommy, I know." She said, she swallowed hard, "I know everything."

"What?" he said, not understanding her completely.

"I've known about Michael and the way he treats her since the first time he hit her. I never told you, like Haley. I wanted to, but Kim begged me not to. She loved you too much, she still loves you too much." Kat said, she looked down at her hands in her lap, "She called me yesterday, while you were at work, she told me everything that had happened since she brought Sami to you. She said that she was pretty sure that something was going to happen soon. She had every intention of leaving tonight, because she didn't want you to get hurt. She said that she would come back to you when she was sure this whole thing was finished, if she survived." Tommy let Kat's words sink in. Then he looked up at her, anger and hate filled his eyes and Kat wasn't sure if it was because of what she said or because of the whole situation.

"Oh this ends now." He said, angrily, "I'm ending it, now. I will not lose her again, Kat. I'm going to make this stop."

"Tommy, you could get hurt. Are you crazy?" she protested, standing in front of him.

"Stay with her, call me if anything happens, you have my cell phone number." He said and walked out of the room. Kat sat back down in her chair, holding her head in her hands, tears running rivers down her cheeks. She wished now that she had never said anything to him. She held Kimberly's hand and cried.

"He loves you Kim. He's going to save you. I promise." Kat said to the still unconscious Kimberly.

Though I've tried, I've fallen...
I have sunk so low
I have messed up
Better I should know
So don't come round here
And tell me I told you so...