Chapter Eight

Back in the waiting room, without Rico there, Gina slowly starts to cry. She pulls her knees up to her chest and crosses her arms on top of them. She buries her face in her arms and starts to cry even more. Everyone else is so caught up in their own thoughts that no one hears her, except for Castillo. He gets up and goes and sits next to Gina in Rico's vacated spot. He slowly wraps his arms around her so not to startle her. She grabs his hand closest to hers and just holds it. She continues to cry but not as much as before. Through her tears she sees the look on Castillo's face.

"How are you holding up Sir?" she asks trying to start a conversation.

"I've been better. But I think I'm doing a little better than you are at the moment."

"That's true. I just keep thinking about how all this happened to Trudy and now to Sonny. I'm starting to wonder who's going to be next."

At that moment Zito and Switek come back to life and look at her with scared eyes.

"No one else is getting hurt. We're going to find this guy and stop him before he hurts someone again. I'm wondering if Barton is in on this or not. Because both the guys work for him, but we don't know if it is the same guy or not…" he says getting cut short by Gina.

"With all do respect Sir, I really don't want to think about any of that right now. If that's all right with you?" she asks.

"It's all right. I was just thinking aloud. Sorry."

"It's ok. I am starting to wonder where Rico is. He's been gone for almost two hours now."

"I know. I'm starting to wonder myself. Maybe one of us should go look for him," says Zito.

Right at that moment the door opens and in walks Rico. Gina jumps out of Castillo's arms and runs into Rico's.

"Where have you been? We were starting to get worried."

"I just went and walked around. And I went and saw Trudy. Guess what?"

"She's awake?" asks Zito.

"Yes, but when I left about 10 minutes ago she had fallen back asleep."

"That's good. We should go see her in a few hours. You know, to let her get some sleep first," says Gina.

"I told her what happened. She started crying. I was going to tell her while she was still unconscious but I fell asleep for about 20 minutes and she woke me up. None of the doctors have come, have they?"

"No, none of them," says Castillo.

"He's still in surgery," says Switek.

"What's taking them so long? They should have at least sent a nurse in here to tell us something. Unless…" Gina says.

"Unless what?" asks Zito.

"Unless something else is wrong besides what Rico overheard from the paramedics. Unless the doctors don't know how to fix what's wrong with him. Unless it's too far along in the surgery to let someone come out. Or unless he's…" She falls to her knees and starts to cry again. Rico kneels down on the floor next to her and asks "Unless what Gina?"

"Unless he's already dead and they are just trying to clean him up before anyone sees him."

At that sentence Zito turns very pale, Switek puts his head in his hands, and Castillo starts to meditate again. Gina and Rico get up long enough for Gina to run out the door and into the hallway. Everyone looks up in surprise as Rico chases after her.

"Gina stop! Wait for me!" he yells.

Gina just keeps running and ignores Rico's screams. She runs out of the hospital and into the parking lot. Rico runs after her and grabs her shoulders. He turns her around and sees the tears running down her face.

"I can't do it anymore. I can't wait to see if the doctor is going to say he's going to live or if he's already dead. I just can't!" she screams.

Rico wraps his arms around her and holds her close. He starts kissing the top of her head to calm her down. She starts shaking and her knees buckle. Rico tightens his grip on her to keep her from falling to the pavement.

She looks up at him and sees the fear in his eyes. He can't wait any longer either, she thinks to herself. She starts to push him away and he lets her go. "I need to sit down," she says.

"Okay, let's go sit on that bench." He takes her hand and leads her to the bench.

"I'm sorry about running out of there. I just couldn't stand to be in there any more. Thanks for coming after me."

"Your welcome. I was just making sure you were going to be all right. You are going to be all right aren't you?" he asks raising his eyebrow.

"Time will tell my friend, time will tell. I just wish we had some kind of news on how his condition is. Guess we're just going to have to wait a little bit longer."

"Guess we are. But at least some good news is that Trudy's awake and she's going to be just fine."

"Yeah that is good news." She looks him in the eyes and sees something she's never seen before when she looks at him. She sees a different kind of friendship. The one where secrets really are kept between two people. Then one where friends care for each other like family. The one where one fleeting moment consumes a lifetime. And in that moment Gina realizes that she can overcome anything that the world dishes out at her.

She turns to Rico and rests her head on his shoulder. He wraps his arm around her shoulders. She tilts her head up and kisses him on the cheek. Rico, still holding her hand, squeezes it tighter. He leans his head back enough to let it rest on the back of the bench. He starts to listen to the sound of Gina's breathing and looks down to find that she has fallen asleep. He bends his head down to hers and kisses her lightly and softly on the cheek, as to not wake her. Then he sits back and listens to the breeze blowing ever so softly. Soon enough he is asleep too.

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Tensions are high as Zito's paces all over the waiting room.

"Where are they? Rico should have brought her back by now? What's taking them so long?" asks Zito rather impatiently.

"Larry, take it easy. They'll be back when they're ready. They are both trying to cool off and if they hear you going crazy like this it might upset Gina again," says Switek watching Zito.

"Detective sit down," orders Castillo eyeing Zito.

"Yes sir. I'm sorry sir," says Zito as he goes to sit on the couch.

"It's okay Detective. We're all a little tense at the moment.

"Should we go look for them?" asks Switek.

"No, let them be alone for a little bit longer. Let them calm their nerves," says Castillo.

Right at that moment there's a knock on the door and everyone in the room holds their breaths. Castillo goes to the door and opens it. "May I come in?" asks a doctor wearing a green surgical uniform.

"Please," says Castillo.

"Thank you. My name is Dr. Alan Richards," he says as he goes to shake hands with the occupants of the room.

"I'm Lieutenant Castillo. They are Detectives Zito and Switek. How is he Doctor?" asks Castillo as he points to Zito and Switek.

"Please sit down first. I need a seat myself, as you already know I've been standing up for at least 3 hours now. Detective Crockett…Crockett right?" asks the doctor to make sure he has the right notes on hand.

"Yes Sir, Crockett," says Castillo as the Detectives all find a seat.

"Well as you all know Detective Crockett is not in the best of shape right now. He's lost a lot of blood and has a punctured right lung. But that surprisingly was not the worst of it. I don't know how he did it, but the man that stabbed him managed to severe one of Crockett's arteries. That was the main reason why he's lost a lot of blood. We've managed to reconnect the artery and mend the puncture wound. While in surgery he lost so much blood that he had a seizure and ended up in a coma once we had him back in a more stable situation."

"Is he going to be alright?" asks Switek.

"Right now he's still in critical condition because with how much blood he's lost he's still at a risk for either a heart attack or a seizure from shock. We are watching him closely to make sure that doesn't happen again. We have him, at the moment, on a constant blood drip to replace some of the blood that he lost and a ventilator until he can breathe on his own. All we can do for now is just sit and wait. See if he snaps out of it and wakes up to help himself fight for his life."

"Can we see him?" asks Zito.

"Not at the moment. The nurses are still cleaning him up from surgery and trying to get him settled into his room. I would have to say maybe another hour or so. I'll send a nurse in, when I think he won't be in any immediate danger of a seizure, to let you see him for a few minutes. That way his body can adjust to being on the ventilator," explains the doctor as he gets up and heads for the door.

"Thank you Doctor, for everything," says Castillo as he gets up with the doctor.

"It's nothing. I'm just doing my job, just like Detective Crockett was. We both try to save people but every action has an equal reaction and unfortunately his reaction came. Luckily I'm here for him as well as all of you, his friends," he says as he reaches out his hand to Castillo.

"So true Doctor. So true. Again thank you. I don't think he would have even made it this far without all of your help," says Castillo shaking Dr. Richards' hand.

"Like I said 'It's nothing'. I do it every day. I'm going to go and see if they've moved him into the ICU yet. I should be sending a nurse in here in the next couple of hours," he says as he walks out the door.

All three men slowly form the same look on their faces. And suddenly Zito looks up from the spot on the floor that he was staring at.

"Should I go find Gina and Rico now? Now that the doctor's been in?" he asks.

"Yes, they need to know how he's doing. Zito you go find them. I think I'm going to go check on Trudy, see how she's doing. Switek you stay here just in case the doctor or a nurse comes back with more news, ok?" asks Castillo getting up with Zito.

"Yes Sir."

With that Zito and Castillo exit the room, Castillo to Trudy's room and Zito to the parking lot.

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Castillo enters Trudy's room but finds her asleep. He pulls the only chair in the room up next to her bed and sits there. He looks at her face while she sleeps. She looks so peaceful, he thinks to himself. If only the rest of us could have peace like that. They're all worried about Sonny, about catching the dealer, about getting that scum off the streets of Miami. He lays his head against the back of the chair and slowly drifts off to sleep.

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Zito searches the parking lot for Gina and Rico. He looks from one end to the other and finally sees them. They are sitting on a bench. Zito rushes over to them and notices that they are asleep in each others arms. He stops suddenly and just stares at them. He can't believe it. Thousands of thoughts run through his head, but he's not sure which one is right. Oh well…they need to be told what the doctor told us, he thinks. He walks over to the bench and lightly nudges Rico to wake him up. Rico stirs but doesn't wake up. Zito says his name and Rico jumps, waking Gina in the process.

"Zito? What are you doing out here?" asks Rico with a startled look on his face.

"Has the doctor come?" asks Gina jumping to her feet.

"Yes, he talked to us about 20 minutes ago. Come on let's go inside, me and Switek will explain what the doctor told us."

"Okay," says Gina walking for the door.

"Wait, where's Castillo?" asks Rico as Gina stops and turns at the sound of his voice.

"He went to go see Trudy. He'll be back in a little while. Come on, Gina looks like she's getting cold."

"I'm just nervous," she says as she wraps her arms around herself.

Rico and Zito give each other a look and then look at her.

"Okay so I am a little cold, can we go in now?" as she motions with her shoulders to the door.

Rico and Zito start laughing as they walk Gina to the entrance to the Emergency Ward of the hospital.