Chapter Seven

Zito pulls up to the hospital and lets Gina out to try and find the others. She rushes inside and sees the nurse from earlier.

"Excuse me? Have you seen two detectives come in here with an injured one?" she asks rather hurriedly.

"They're in a private room. I told them that I would show you to them when you got here. Is the tall, thin detective with you?" she asks.

"Right here!" Zito says trying to catch his breath.

"Follow me," says the nurse.

She takes them down a hall and opens the door to the room. Rico and Castillo jump up out of their seats, thinking it was the doctor. But what they saw was a relief too. Zito and Gina walk into the room as Rico takes a step forward. Gina rushes into his arms and hugs him as if she will never let him go. Rico embraces her and says "It's all right. We're positive he'll be all right."

They release each other when the door opens again and Switek comes in.

"Where have you been?" asks Castillo.

"Walking all over this hospital. Doing a little thinking you know?" he replies.

Everyone finds somewhere to sit. Castillo and Zito in chairs. Switek was sitting on the edge of the table, but moves to the floor. Rico and Gina are sitting on the couch. He has his arm around her shoulders, mainly to keep her calm and to keep himself from shaking. Zito starts staring into Gina's eyes again, and she lets him. Castillo looks like he's meditating. Switek is staring off into space.

Rico is going over in his head what he would have done if he and Sonny were switched. He finally comes to the solution that he wouldn't have done anything differently. It wouldn't matter if the two of them were switched. One of them would still be in the hospital, fighting between life and death. He only wishes it was him and not Sonny. But all that went away in a puff of blue smoke and the glint of light off a dagger. He begins to remember the day before when he looked at Sonny after he had just woken up. He remembers that something was wrong with Sonny and he just couldn't tell what it was. But he thinks he knows now. If only he could be sure…if only.

"Hey man? You okay?" asks Switek coming back to earth.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I was just thinking," he answers.

"About?" asks Zito.

"That we all know Sonny will pull through this. He's done it before."

"True, but nothing he's gone through is anywhere near as bad as this," returns Castillo.

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Up until now the worst thing that Sonny Crockett had to go through was learning to be Sonny Crockett again.

About two years ago he got into a fight with a dealer he was after. They started with guns but soon started using fists. They were on the deck of an old ship. They started pushing and punching until the dealer lost his balance. He fell over the side and took Sonny with him, he grabbed Sonny's shirt as he fell overboard. Sonny hit his head on the side of the ship on the way to the water. He survived, but ended up with amnesia. For over two weeks he thought he was his drug dealer counterpart. It turned out that he was never found out to be a cop by any of the other dealers because they, as well as himself, thought he really was Sonny Burnett. He used that to his advantage and made an even bigger name for himself. He started to remember bits and pieces of his life that same day that Rico was to try and sell him some drugs.

They met in an old, abandoned light tower. Rico was the first one there, but when Sonny showed up he was delighted to see that he was still alive. Rico asked him if he remembered who he was. Sonny said yes and also that he was a cop. Sonny started to shoot at Rico, but he got away. Two days later Sonny walked into the station under his own free will. Everyone was shocked to see him come in. They were going to arrest him, but he had almost all of his memory back. He said that he could help get the others that he was working with so that they could arrest them. Castillo was reluctant to let Sonny even try such a scheme. But Rico persuaded him otherwise. So they let him go. The next day the bust was set and the cops got everybody except for two, Sonny and an even bigger dealer turned cop killer. Rico went after the dealer while Sonny made a getaway. Rico and the dealer ended up on a bridge and started wrestling. They flipped each other off the bridge, but only the dealer lost his grip. Rico hung there for what felt like and eternity to him. Sonny walked up to the edge of the bridge and looked down at Rico. Rico pleaded with Sonny to help him, but Sonny just stood there looking at him. Finally he grabbed Rico's wrist and started pulling Rico back onto the bridge. Once on the bridge they hugged each other and Sonny was back, better than ever.

Sonny would be all right. But now if he can only convince the others of that. He just doesn't know if he is sure of it or not. He hopes that he is just as jittery as Sonny was back on the boat the previous day. He removes his arm from around Gina's shoulders and stands up.

"Where are you going?" asks Gina with a look of abandonment.

"I need to take a walk. Like Switek said 'To think things through.'"

He turns and leaves the room as quiet as it was when they got there. He walks out of the hospital and starts to wander around the parking lot. He starts to think to himself. I don't know how this could have happened. We did everything by the books, which was a first! I just don't understand. It couldn't have gone this wrong. It was supposed to be a little meet, nothing should have gone wrong! There is no way that I let this happen, right in front of my face. I should have warned Sonny sooner. But how when I didn't even see the guy until I turned on the headlights. But I should have. I should have gotten to Sonny faster. Maybe I could have stopped the guy. I didn't even pull my gun until it was too late, and it is protocol for an officer to pull his weapon when there is any hint of danger. But if I had pulled my gun we both would probably be dead right now. That's if he was packing more than just a knife. I still can't believe. Would he have done anything different if it was me instead of him? Probably not, there's just not that much that you can do. I just wish that this never even perspired. Eventually, over time, I'll find something wrong with this, and hopefully it is my doing and not his. Poor Sonny. No, poor brother.

When Rico comes back to reality he notices that he has walked around the hospital and decides to walk down the street. He notices a sign announcing a bar nearby. He follows the directions and finds the bar. He takes on look at it and decides to not enter. "The pain would overwhelm me," he says to himself.

He can't go in there, no matter how much he wants to. He knows that someone going into a bar is how all this started and he doesn't want to go through it all over again. He turns around and heads back to the hospital. When he sees the name of the hospital, lit up in neon lights, he slows down. He stops at a bench and sits down. He doesn't really want to go inside for fear he might have already missed the announcement of the inevitable. Hopefully that is not true. He stands to go into the hospital. He heads for the hall that their private room is in, but turns around and heads in the opposite direction. He's going to see Trudy. She should know, whether or not she's awake. Especially since the same guy could have done this to the both of them.

He pushes open the door to her room. Trudy lies on the bed with tubes and wires covering her body. She is still unconscious. Rico pulls up a chair to the side of the bed. He starts to talk to Trudy as if she was awake.

"I'm sorry I haven't been in to see you yet. We had another emergency and you're not going to like it. But I think I'll wait until you're awake for me to tell you. The doctor says you're going to be just fine. I feel so bad for everything that has happened in the past few days. I wish I had been there to stop the guy from hurting you. I just didn't make it. And I'm sorry you got hurt, but you're going to be all right. I'm sure of it."

He lays his head down on the bed and shuts his eyes.

He opens his eyes to the feeling of fingers in his hair.

"Rico?" asks a very groggy Trudy.

"Trudy, you're awake. That's wonderful. How do you feel?" he replies sitting straight up.

"I feel a little tired. What's wrong? Where's everyone else?" she asks.

Rico's eyes divert to the ceiling as if he's asking God how to put his next words.

"They are all downstairs in a private room," he answers.

"Why are they downstairs instead of up here with me?" she says rather hurt.

"Hey, it's not you. They have all come to see you. It's just…" he says placing a hand on her cheek.

"Just what?" she asks.

"Me and Rico had a meeting to sell some stuff and the guy double crossed us. He stabbed Sonny after the meeting was over. He's in surgery right now. I think he's been in there almost two hours now."

"Oh my God. I'm sorry that I sounded hurt, I had no idea," says Trudy, rather shocked.

"That's what I came up here to tell you but you were still unconscious. I wanted to wait until you were awake."

"Well is he going to be all right?"

"I don't know. But I should go back to them and see if the doctor has come in yet. And I'll be sure to tell them that you're awake. That should cheer them up."

"Okay, I'll be right here. Tell me if anything happens."

"I'll be sure to. Now you get some rest."

Rico gets up and puts the chair back where he got it from. As he walks out the door, he turns to see Trudy start to cry. He whispers to himself "It'll be all right, it'll be all right." He walks down the hall even more afraid then before.