Title: I'm His Husband
Rating: PG13 for semi-graphic descriptions
Disclaimer: Any recognizable characters and/or places belong to Annie Proulx. No profit is being made
A/N: Alright, here it is, the not long awaited sequel to Ask and Thou Shalt Receive. If you have not read that, please go to my page and do so, as this will make no sense without reading the prequel. Hope you guys enjoy!
"Oh. My. God." Jack gripped Ennis under the arms and tugged him up, before he felt a pain in his lower abdomen. Blood bubbled out of his mouth as he spoke. He glared at the cashier. "Quick. Call 911." His experience in rodeo had helped him to act fast in a crisis. He laid Ennis down his side and noticed the bullet had gone straight through the man,it must've hit him in the stomach. He knew there must be a large bruise, and he must have internal bleeding, to be spitting blood.
The cashier stared on for a moment, until Francine let out a blood curdling shriek. Her hands were on her chest and tears were streaming down her face. "It's gonna be ok, Francine. I promise." Jack lied to the girl, hoping she would understand if his promise ended up not to be true.
He clasped one hand on each side of Ennis gun shot wound and pressed as hard as he could. Ennis stared up at him sadly; he knew the man was fading out of consciousness. "Try ta stay awake, bud. The ambulance should be here real soon." Ennis dribbled blood onto the floor in an ever growing puddle. While all of this was happening, Alma stood in the corner, choking back vomit, the gun waving in her hand,which was hanging ather side. "What have I done? What have I done!"
"I'll tell yeh what yeh've done!" Jack glanced up at her, not bothering to move from his kneeling position next to Ennis. Blood from his mouth splattered on the floor as he yelled at her. "You damn near killed Ennis! I hope yer right proud a yerself!"
She shook her head in disbelief and dropped the gun onto the ground at her side. The loud clattering sound was soon drowned out by a siren which was immediately followed by a fire engine, ambulance, and police car. Three men and a woman climbed out of the ambulance and ran into the store with a stretcher. "Where's the gun shot victim?" one man asked the greeter hurriedly.
The greeter looked shocked, then suddenly pointed to where Ennis lay, almost out of it. Jack was crying silently, trying not to let Junior or Francine see that he knew something was wrong. Of course the girls knew it was bad, but Jack could make them think it wasn't so dire of a situation, by just acting like the man Ennis had always wanted him to be.
The paramedics quickly and smoothly picked Ennis up and placed him on the stretcher. They put a neck brace on him, in case the bullet had hit any of his spinal cord. Then they motioned for Jack to follow them as they rushed out. He could see a police officer hand cuffing a sobbing Alma, and another person talking to Junior and Francine as he was rushed out.
Once they were in the ambulance and speeding to the hospital, the lady started talking to him. "I assume you're related to him?"
"Yes, I'm his..." Jack was tired of lies. Besides, he wasn't going to make something up for a man who couldn't hear him. "I'm his husband." The lady raised her eyebrows momentarily, then scribbled it onto a clipboard. "Of course." She nodded, then turned to the man who was connecting IVs to Ennis. "We'll have to do a lot of work on him. If he lives," Jack's face fell, he knew this was coming, "he'll be in ICU for a very long time. We'll also have to look you over. Do you know where the bullet is?"
Jack shook his head. He had no clue, nor did he care where it was. He just wanted Ennis to be well again, and to stop having to go to damn hospitals. He grasped Ennis pale hand and let his fingers search for a pulse. "Can you tell me about what happened?"
"Geeze, it's not that long of a story."
"Good, then we should be done by the time we get to the hospital." She urged him on quickly, wanting to do her job and be done with it.
"His ex-wife Alma was at the store, saw me put my hand on one of his daughter's backs, and thought I was gonna hurt 'em. She pointed the gun at me, and he jumped in front of the bullet."
"Oh."
"Stupid, wasn't it?"
"Well, yes. Honorable, but stupid. If it had hit you, it might have hit your stomach, and caused internal bleeding. But you got that anyways, didn't you?" She gestured as blood dripped from the side of his mouth. "When he jumped in front of it, with his back to it, there was a large chance it could hit his spine, or multiple vital organs."
"Wann't time to think about jus' then. Gotta do what yer gut tells yeh, in a situation like that."
"I suppose." She sighed as the ambulance slowed to stop in the emergency hull at the hospital. "James will take you both in. I'm sorry I can't stay with you."
Jack nodded and climbed out of the vehicle, trying not to jostle his pained stomach. "Have a good...life." He said, not trying to sound as odd as he did.
She nodded before pulling the door shut. He turned to the men wheeling Ennis' makeshift bed away quickly and jogged after them. The sudden movement aggravated his stomach, and he had to stop to vomit blood just outside the door before following them all inside.
"Ennis Del Mar. GSW. Mid lower abdomen. Jack Twist. GSWB. Possible internal bleeding." A doctor took a clipboard from the man rattling off nonsense and nodded.
"Thanks, we'll take it from here." He pointed Ennis to one room with 3 doctors, and a nurse pushed him there quickly. Then he showed Jack to another room, where he sat him down on another temporary bed.
"So, what happened?"
"I don' wanna say it all over again."
"Well, the story's right here. Just trying to make conversation. Can you lift up your shirt for me?"
"What?"
"You have a bruise from a bullet on your stomach, right?"
"Yeah..."
"I need to see it to treat you properly."
"Oh." Jack unbuttoned his shirt and winced at the pain caused by lifting it. Underneath the cloth was a large red bump, about 3 centimeters in diameter. And as he tugged it out from under his pants, a bullet fell to the floor, making a light tinkling sound.