"Oh my god!" Connie exclaimed softly when she saw the lifeless face of Scooter staring back at her.

Fulton had reached Connie's side just as she finished pulling up the mask. "Holy shit" he exclaimed, his eyes going wide and mouth dropping open. He had always thought Scooter was one of the more sane Varsity members. Cole and Riley were meant to be the insane ones.

Connie looked up at Fulton "It makes sense" she said softly.

Fulton nodded "Yeah, I wish I had've seen it coming though, maybe we could have prevented it" he said thoughtfully.

Connie stood up and took his hand. "Fult, none of us could have done anything. It was all Scooter. He's the one who started the whole thing when he hit Julie" she reasoned patting his shoulder with her other hand for comfort.

Fulton thought about it for a moment "Yeah, you're right" he said turning away from Scooter's body.

Connie smiled at him "I'm always right. You should know that by now Reed" she said playfully punching him on the shoulder and walking towards Coach Orion who had just pulled up in his mini-van ready to take the remaining Ducks to the hospital.

Fulton smiled after her. How on earth does Guy put up with her? he wondered shaking his head and following Connie towards Coach Orion.

…………………………………………………………

"Gunshot victim wound located upper abdomen, lost a lot of blood. B/P……" the paramedics voice faded off inside Julie's head as she concentrated on Portman's face. They had managed to get his heart beating again but he was now being rushed into emergency surgery to repair the damage the gunshot had caused.

"Julie, this is Dr Friel. She's going to take a look at that cut on your arm" the paramedic said patting her on the shoulder on his way out. Julie looked up at the doctor and was surprised to find she couldn't be much older than 25.

"I'm an intern" Dr Friel stated simply as if she was reading Julie's thoughts.

"Oh" was all Julie could get out. She was too worried about Portman to make chit chat.

"Nasty cut you have there. Do you remember what happened?" Dr Friel asked sensing that Julie was still in shock and the police would be around to grill the poor girl some time soon.

"Knife wielding maniac. I'm the lucky one" Julie responded keeping her eyes on the floor.

"That young man was your friend? Or was he the knife wielding maniac?" Dr Friel continued as she inspected the gash on Julie's arm.

"Friend. Maniac is dead" Julie had now started staring ahead at the wall.

"Aw you poor thing. I'll tell you what. We'll stitch this wound, you get into bed and rest and I'll go see if I can find out anything about your friend down in theatre. Do we have a deal?" Dr Friel asked.

Julie nodded "That would be great" she whispered suddenly fearful. What if it was bad news? She wondered.

"He's in the best hands you know" Dr Friel added before leaving the room.

Julie nodded before closing her eyes and praying for Portman to recover.

………………………………………………

Loud chatter about what had happened that night in the emergency department waiting room had earned the Ducks dirty looks from other visitors and staff.

Coach Orion was talking to a doctor about Portman and Julie's condition considering he was the closest thing the two had to a parent in Minnesota since they were both from other states.

When he'd finished talking to the doctor he met the Ducks with "Keep it down, or you'll get kicked out".

"Sorry Coach"

"Okay guys, gather around" Coach Orion called as if he was calling for them to gather around at a hockey game.

"Portman's been in surgery for almost an hour now. They're not sure how he'll go. Now I'm not going to lie to you, he died once on the way over here" Coach Orion said gently as he looked around at the faces of the Ducks and could see them tear up when he told them Portman had died once already.

"Can we see Jules?" Connie asked hopefully.

Coach Orion shook his head "No, I'm afraid the police are with Julie now for questioning so I'm afraid we're just going to have to wait it out"

The Ducks groaned at the thought of not being able to see their friends but they nevertheless all sat back down and waited.

………………………………………….

The police had been questioning Julie now for close to half an hour. She knew they were only just doing their job but the longer they questioned her, the more Julie felt like she had done something wrong.

Just as she was going over the night's events for the third time Dr Friel came back in.

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to wrap it up. Julie needs rest" she explained and Julie felt relieved.

"Sure, no problem. Here's my card. We'll be in touch again Miss Gaffney" the first detective said handing Julie his card.

Julie simply nodded not knowing what to say.

When the police had gone Dr Friel broke into a huge grin. "He's out of surgery Julie, he made it" she said excitedly.

"He did?" Julie asked before it sunk in "He's alright?" she almost screamed.

"He's going to be sore for the next few weeks but he should be okay. I've pulled some strings and he'll be your roomie – that is if you want to put up with him" she said smiling.

Julie almost felt giddy "Thank you so much" she said jumping out of bed and throwing her arms around the intern doctor. She ignored the pain in her arm as she moved.

"You're welcome. Just don't bust the stitches" Dr Friel said looking pleased with herself.

……………………………………………….

By the time Julie eventually fell asleep Portman still hadn't been brought into her room. She was starting to worry again. What if there were complications again? What if he really wasn't alright?

She needn't worry though, when she woke up she looked over to see him staring at her with a silly grin on his face.

"Its about time Gaffney" he joked.

Julie sat up and shot him a fake evil look "You know its your fault I couldn't sleep last night. You had to bloody go and die on me didn't you" she said hoping he wasn't going to take offence.

"You worried about me Gaffney?" he teased with an eyebrow raised.

"Yes, the whole bloody hospital was worried about you last night" she said not wanting to take the bait.

"Aw that's alright precious, your secret's safe with me" he continued.

"What secret?" Julie wondered.

"That you want me bad" he laughed making Julie smile.

"Oh shut up, you're the one who said you loved me before you tried to croak it" she laughed getting out of bed and taking a seat on Portman's bed.

"And I meant every word of it Catlady" he said pulling her in close.

"And I meant it too" Julie said moving her face down towards his for their first kiss.