The ambulance arrived within seconds and Dempsey was pushed out of the way. He was numb and couldn't think clearly anymore. Chas took over, put him in the car and drove him to the local hospital seeing that his colleague and friend was in shock himself. As they arrived, Harry was rushed to the operating room: she had lost an awful lot of blood and her heart had stopped once in the ambulance. Dempsey couldn't see or hear anyone anymore, he was crushed, tears in his eyes that wouldn't even fall. He couldn't understand what was happening, Harry was on the other side of those doors and he was sitting here on one of those hideous plastic chairs his hands covered with her blood feeling useless. Chas dealt with everything and some 20 minutes later Spikings arrived and took one look at him and knew that Harry was not in a good way.
He sat next to him and spoke softly to his officer, who was quite clearly traumatised by the recent events, "Dempsey? What happened in there? How's Harry?"
"She stood in front of that damn car coming at full speed at her, she didn't move, Chief. I heard several bullets being fired, she had her gun in her hand so I assumed it was her and then O'Cryon's car flew into the river. It all happened so fast. I'm not sure how she got injured or who shot her. I was too far away and the fog was so thick. I don't know, I didn't see anything boss". And then the guilt reared its ugly head, all-consuming, and the tears started to fall. He didn't want to cry in front of the chief so moved to stand in front of the window.
"She's been shot several times in the stomach according to the medics and her heart stopped beating in the ambulance. They rushed her to the operating room. She's lost an awful lot of blood" and then he looked at his hands as though it was the first time he realised he was covered in his partner's blood, he choked and tears ran down his face.
"I wasn't there to stop them hurting her. She could die because I wasn't there", he was finding it hard to keep the guilt at bay, he should try and keep a lid on his emotions in front of his superior but right now the consequences didn't seem to matter anymore.
"Dempsey, don't do that! She's not dead yet, she's very much alive. The sergeant is a tough girl and she will need you when she wakes up. Let's wait to hear from her surgeon, shall we? I suggest you go freshen up in the bathroom and grab yourself a coffee. I'll wait here. I need to call her father, he will want to be here."
"Oh my god, Freddie, of course. What am I going to tell him?", the practicality of seeing Harry's dad seemed to have woken him up a bit and he walked towards the toilets. He washed Harry's blood away from his hands and as he watched her blood disappearing in the water, he fell apart seeing, again and again, his partner's blood all over her shirt as if he was by the docks again. She wasn't supposed to be lying on a hospital bed right now, they were supposed to spend that evening together in each other's arms after 6 weeks apart. How could it have gone so wrong? There was still so much he wanted to share with her, so much he had to tell her. He hadn't had a chance to tell her he loved her yet. Holding onto the basin for dear life his tears fell down as Chas entered the room.
"Dempsey, I'm so sorry, I know you're close but she's a fighter you know. I'm pretty sure she still has a lot of eye-rolling and shouting to do." Dempsey gave a chuckle at that image of his partner giving him one of her legendary telling off, "What I'd give to get a bullocking from her right now!".
"I know mate but we need to stay positive. Come on, let's go grab a coffee while we wait for more news."
As they sat at the hospital cafeteria, Dempsey realised that he had completely forgotten about Harry's request as she laid there bleeding in his arms.
"Chas….. when I was with Harry waiting for the ambulance, she asked me to get to a 10-year old girl called Ada. She said that she was among the girls. Any idea who she meant? I'm not sure she was completely with it, so it could be nothing but could you check whether there was a 10-year old girl among those we have recovered? It seems so young though." added Dempsey with a frown on his face.
"They were all quite young", agreed Chas "those disgusting bastards didn't seem to mind! But I'm going to make a phone call or two for you. Stay here. I'll let you know."
10 minutes later, Chas was back with the information. "So, yes, it appears there's a little girl quite a bit younger than the others. She's from some Eastern European country and has asked about Jacqueline several times and is quite tearful apparently. Jacqueline being Harry's undercover name, we can safely assume that this is the little girl you're looking for."
"OK, hum, I'll need to talk to her. Can you arrange for her to be brought back to the factory? Make sure she's not left in a cell or any other horrid place. Make sure they give her some food or something. I don't know what the link is with Harry but it's important to Harry so I'll do as she's asked. There's not much I can do here anyway. I just want to be here when Freddie arrives though so I'd better go back up and see if Spikings has got any news."
"OK, I'll head back and get things sorted personally. I've set up a direct line between the hospital and the factory so you can use that phone when you have any news about Harry. I'll keep the guys updated on the situation, they're all wondering what's happening and are worried. They all look up to Harry you know. She's the only one who can stand up to you!"
"Yup and they should remember that", Dempsey snorted.
As Dempsey walked back to the hospital corridor he saw Spikings talking to Freddie.
"Lord Winfield! I'm so sorry to meet you in those circumstances again",
"James, my boy, please call me Freddie. Spikings just updated me on the situation. It's all so dreadful.", he shook his dead slowly.
"Gentlemen, I'll leave you to it. I need to check on the progress of my team back at the office. I'll be back later but, Dempsey, I count on you to update me as soon as you have any news on the Sergeant."
"Of course, boss. Immediately"
Both men sat down, next to one another, waiting for the doctors to have some news, any news at all.
"She's my only child, you know."
"I know sir, …Freddie, she talks a lot about you and is certainly very fond of you."
"Ah young man, nothing quite compares to the way she smiles when she talks about you though", the old man winked with a smile in his eye.
"Hum, yeah well, it's quite reciprocal you know.", admitted shyly Dempsey to the older man, "She certainly has a way to make people's life brighter by just being here. Even when she tells me off for ruining the beautiful English language as she puts it.", that brought a sad smile to both their faces.
"Freddie, I'm really sorry, I wasn't able to protect her. I should have been there for her. I tried to convince her to not go undercover without me as back up but….."
"Let me guess, James….she refused your help, right? She's always been stubborn and extremely independent. After the death of her mum, she shut off from the world and refrained from showing any emotions. It was her way of dealing with the pain, I suppose. Her stupid ex-husband didn't help the matter further. I'm so glad she got rid of that weasel. I'm glad her taste in men has massively improved", the old man smiled as he looked up into the eyes of his daughter's partner.
Dempsey gave the old man a sad smile with a heavy sigh. "My relationship with Harriet is rather complicated I'm afraid". He was heartbroken. She was his world but how could he tell this to her father before even talking to her? Before even telling her how much he loved her? No, she needed to be alright because they had a life together to build and he was not giving up on that.
"James, I don't know if Harry ever mentioned it to you but a couple of months ago she made a change to her will?"
James' head popped up at the mere mention of Harry's will. He didn't want to talk about that but he couldn't possibly tell her dad to shut up, could he? His heart was racing, his eyes big like saucers.
"No, she didn't say anything to me. Why did she change her will, Freddie? She's not sick or anything, is she?"
"No, no, nothing like that, don't worry. She made you her next of kin, James. She consulted me before and I thought it was a splendid idea. You see I'm not getting any younger and if anything was to happen to Harriet in my absence, I'd like to know someone is there for her, taking the right decisions at the right time."
"Oh my god! She never told me. Why did she do that? Oh my god!", James crumbled in his seat. Did she really trust him that much? She really was the most amazing woman. He stood up suddenly restless and started pacing the corridor back and forth. "But what does it mean concretely?"
"It means that you'll have to make her last wishes come true."
"Her last wishes? What last wishes? I don't know her last wishes!"
"It's written in her will if the need was ever to arise but I know she was in favour of organ donation and would be unhappy to be kept artificially alive if nothing could be done to improve her situation. I'm sorry James, I thought you knew but obviously, she had not had the time to talk it through with you yet."
"All right…wow, it's a bit of a shock if I'm honest with you." Dempsey was completely blown away, it was a lot to take in. "But you're here so I'd rather those decisions are taken by you for now. Jeez, today's the day that keeps on giving."
The operating room suddenly opened and a surgeon still wearing his scrubs came out.
"Are you Miss Winfield's relatives?", he enquired.
"Yes, I'm her dad and this is her partner and next of kin, James. How is she, doctor?"
Dempsey was holding his breath, hoping to god that his partner would see another day.
"The operation lasted longer than we thought as her heart stopped beating again during the operation I'm afraid."
"Oh no", Dempsey breathed, "please no" starting to panic.
"The blood loss combined with the trauma to the body was the reason behind her heart stopping twice, she's otherwise healthy so her heart is strong and is not a concern to us. We've retrieved the bullets from her abdomen and luckily the damage is not too serious. Nothing that time nor patience can't heal. Although she's lost an awful lot of blood, she should be fine, probably weak and tired for the days to come. She will need a lot of rest and will not be able to go back to work for a few weeks. I will need to keep her monitored for the next 24 hours at least and then we will move her to her own bedroom. If things heal well she could be out of here in the next 5 or 6 days. A community nurse can come to her house to change the dressing every other day once she's released from the hospital. But we can discuss that when the time comes."
And Dempsey sent a silent thank you to the gods. He was suddenly feeling absolutely exhausted and sat down with his head in his hands, the relief was so intense. "Can we see her doctor, please?"
"Sure but only 5 minutes. She's sleeping anyway after the anaesthesia and will probably be sleeping till tomorrow morning. So if you come back tomorrow just before lunchtime, you will be able to see her properly then" offered the surgeon with a reassuring smile to both men.
They entered the reanimation room. There, in the barely lit room, Harry was lying on a bed surrounded by tubes and machines and if he hadn't heard the doctor say she was going to be fine, Dempsey would have thought he was here to say goodbye to his beloved partner. She was so pale. He watched her dad holding her hand, trying hard to hold his emotions together, he gave her a kiss on her forehead whispering he'll be back the next day. Then he told James that he was leaving them together and that Abbot will drive him back to his flat in London now if he needed him. James sat in the chair next to Harry's bed, looking at her. He looked at all the equipment and took her hand in his, kissing it with all the tenderness he was capable of "Oh Harry you scared me to death today. But the doctor said you'll be fine, princess." He let his head fall on her hand and his tears fell freely as he could finally touch her and feel her heartbeat under his fingers. "I'm going to go check on Ada now as you asked me to. I'll be back tomorrow and I hope to see your gorgeous eyes open then. I love you so much, babe", and with that, he kissed her cheek and left the room.