Title: The Forest

Chapter: 3

Scotty drove to the hospital in silence. He saw the red lights of Stillman's car in the rearview mirror and the red and blue lights of the ambulance up ahead. The notion calmed him for a moment before his hands began to tremble violently and tears welded up in his eyes. Oh god Lilly. How could this have happened?

He was foolish. Why did he hid his relationship with Christina from her? Why! He wished the he was on the gurney instead of her. Lilly had a lot to live for; everybody loved her. He didn't all he did was sleep around with barmaids. Look where that had gotten him.

At that moment he wished he possessed Supeman's X-ray vision. He wanted so badly to see through the ambulance doors. To know that she was okay, that the paramedics were taking care of her.

What were the odds that she would be okay? That she would ever be the same again? Stop thinking that way. She'll be okay. But the thoughts continued invading and one by one more tears welled up in his eyes. She wasn't going to be the same again. He could feel it. With that he surrendered and let the beckoning tears fall down his face.

The bitter saltwater touched his mouth and he wiped it away as he thought of the argument he and Lilly had in that lobby a few weeks earlier. "You lied to my face!" she had shouted. The blatant accusation hung in the air like the atomic bomb over Hiroshima. Why didn't he just apologize? Why didn't he just sorry and give her a hug?"

His heart continued racing as the ambulance finally stopped and the paramedics jumped out, taking Lilly with them. Scotty parked in the emergency room parking lot and followed the paramedics in.

He watched as they took her to the trauma room. But it all seemed to move in slow motion. Too slow. He wanted to run up to them and slap them. Tell them to move faster. But as he moved forward he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Scotty…"

It was Stillman, "Captain," he replied, his voice void of emotion. "They just took her into the trauma room."

Stillman motion with his hands for Scotty to follow him and he obeyed. They stood outside the window watching as the doctors worked on Lilly. Lilly's face didn't look calm. She looked like she was having a bad dream. Damn George.

She show continued as the doctors placed a tube down Lilly's throat and several intravenious tubes in her hands. This didn't look good.

One of the doctors turned away from Lilly and walked towards the door. He came out and faced Scotty and Stillman. "Are you hear with Detective Rush?"

"Yes," Stillman answered. All that Scotty could do was nod. "Can you tell us anything?"

"Well, to state the obvious, Lilly has a bullet in her brain. It's going to require several hours of surgery to remove it. "Does she have any family in the area?"

"No," Scotty whispered. "We're her family."

"I'll need you to sign a consent form for the surgery," the doctor said. "Is that okay with you?" The two men nodded. Their only female detective needed brain surgery. They couldn't manage an auditory response. "Alright, I'll have the burse bring the forms out to you."

With that the doctor turned to leave. "Can I see her for a minute?" Scotty asked.

"I don't see why not," he said. "Come with me."

Scotty followed the doctor into the trauma room where he was immediately assaulted by the sounds of several different machines. On a gurney lay Lilly. Her face was obscured by the portable ventilator attached to the gurney. Scotty reached out and took her hand in his larger one. He bent down and planted a kiss on her cheek before whispering in her ear.

"You…" he coked for a moment. "You're going to be okay Lil. I know it! Don't give up…keep fighting." He planted another kiss on her cheek before leaning up and using his free hand to push back her blonde bangs. He knew it would be a while before he could do this again. "Do you have a pair of scissors I can borrow?"

Without a word the doctor retrieved a pair of scissors and handed them to Scotty. With a nod Scotty accepted him. Removing his hand from Lilly's grasp he carefully located a lock of he hair and cut it off. He clutched it like a lifeline before handing the scissors back to the doctor.

"We should move," the doctor said.

"Okay thank you," said Scotty as the nurses and orderlies moved the gurney out of the room and towards the elevator at the end of the adjacent hallway.

He left the trauma room and walked back to where Stillman was. The nurse has brought over the forms and he was reading them over, signing where indicated. Scotty joined them.

"Are those the forms," he asked still holding the lock of Lilly's hair.

"You'll need to sign here sir," said the nurse.

With his hand trembling Scotty picked up the pen and signed the form. The nurse flipped the paper over and he initialed where indicated. The nurse turned the paper over again where he signed his last signature.

"Thank you sir," she said with a half-hearted smile. "The OR waiting room is on the third floor in the east wing."

"Thank you," Stillman said.

The nurse left as Very and Jefferies came running through the doors. "Where is she?" Vera asked. When a somber silence greeted him he asked again, "How is she?"

"They just brought her to the OR," Stillman said. "She needs a craniotomy."

"Oh god," said Jefferies as he thought back to the case he had worked with her earlier that year. The one with the African boy that was left in a playground. He remembered her face when he told her that he was the one would found him. Her eyes grew full of compassion and her lips parted like she was about to say something comforting. "Did they say anything else?"

"Nothing we didn't already know," Scotty said as he buried the hand that clutched the lock of hair further into his pocket. How he wished that he could turn back the clock and be standing at the excavation of the nine skulls with deer eyes in their sockets. He wanted to go back to that moment where she had forgiven him and he wanted to hold her close so that she would never leave him again. He ran a thumb over the hair and wished with all his might. But nothing happened, the clock didn't turn back and he was still standing outside the trauma room with his arms empty.

"Should we go upstairs?" asked Vera.

"Yeah," Scotty said as he and his coworkers headed to the elevator

Like it? Hate it? Let me know! I am going to try to get this up ASAP! I have the next couple of chapter worked out but I have to type them up.