All he could do now was wait. He went to the waiting area and sat down on the red plastic seat in the corner by the window. Billy felt drained, tired, but at the same time wired on emotions that were almost overwhelmingly strong. Concern for Alex, guilt for the woman behind that counter. He didn't even know her name. Anger towards the two deceased perpetrators that had tried to rob that little bodega only a couple of blocks away from his firehouse. But there was something else that Billy didn't want to admit. Fear. Fear of loosing Alex. Billy bent forward and let his face rest in his hands which were resting on his knees.

"Excuse me, is this seat taken?" he heard a voice and looked up.

It was Nurse Mary Proctor. A familiar face. She held a cup of coffee in her hand.

"I thought maybe you'd like some." She offered it to him.

Billy took it gratefully and thanked her. He took a deep gulp of the hot liquid and it felt good. It felt alive.

"No news yet, but I will let you know as soon as I hear anything," the Afro-American Nurse let him know. She knew Walsh for years now, seeing him occasionally when the firefighters were bringing someone in, mostly one of their own. But she had rarely seen Walsh this way. The last time had been when Bobby Caffey had been shot.

"If there's anything I can do…," she offered.

Billy looked up.

"Thank you…"

Mary Proctor knew better than to tell him everything would turn out okay and that Alex would be coming fine when this was over. So she said nothing and turned to go.

"Mary…?" she heard Billy behind him and turned around to face him again.

"Can you tell me? How could that shoulder wound be so bad?" He had to know.

Mary sat down beside him.

"It wasn't just a GSW to the shoulder. She was hit pretty badly to the abdomen. She had lost a lot of blood. You did CPR?"

He nodded weakly.
"That's what got her here. She wouldn't have had a chance without you. You saved her."

Billy laughed slightly. Mary looked at him, confused.

"Doesn't look like it did much good, did it?"

The Nurse almost jumped up and pointed her finger at Walsh.

"I don't wanna hear that from you, understand me? She needs all the help she can get! Now the doctors upstairs are doing all they can – so you better change your attitude there!"

Billy just looked at her with surprise in his eyes.

"I know you feel helpless right now, like you couldn't do anything to help her. But you can. Be there for her. I know she's fighting for her life up there as we speak."

Now it was Mary's turn to be surprised when Walsh got up and handed her that cup back.

"Can I wait upstairs?" he asked, the tiredness suddenly gone.

"Sure…they have a waiting area too. Second floor, left from the elevators."

And with that, she watched him go.

Hours went by. Walsh was either up, walking around in circles, or sitting down, trying to focus his mind onto reading. It wouldn't work. Finally, his body overpowered his mind and he fall asleep in one of the chairs.

It was a restless sleep, his mind processing what had been happening that day. Quickly, the much needed sleep turned into a nightmare.

He saw a man in blue hospital scrubs coming out the automatic OR door. He pulled off his hair cover and went over to Walsh.

"Are you with Miss Taylor?" he asked.

Quickly, Billy got to his feet. "Yes."

By the look on the doctor's face, he knew.

"We did everything we could…"

Billy didn't hear the rest. He felt like the floor was moving. It couldn't be. Not Alex. He stumbled backwards and almost crashed into the plastic seats behind him. Billy covered his eyes with his hand and just let emotions flow.