A/N: There were just SO MANY reviews for this chapter, I had to post again. Thanks for the support...and lack of flames for shooting Sam.

William and Helen O'Neill paced the waiting room as they prayed to God that Sam would be alright. Jack had gotten out of surgery a few minutes before, but they were still waiting on word about Sam.

A woman named Heather had called them about an hour before, telling them that their son and his girlfriend had just been shot by some girl. Most of his siblings were already asleep, so Joel just told them to go and he'd watch them. They didn't need to be told twice. At the hospital, a police officer met them and started asking them questions about their son's relationship with a young woman named Carrie Smith.

Helen's face went lax as she heard the name, "She's his ex-girlfriend. They broke up three months ago. What does Carrie have to do with any of this?"

The police officer sighed, "Carrie Smith was the shooter. Do you know of any reason why she might want to kill Ms. Carter?"

"Carrie wanted to be with Jack – and she wanted Sam out of the way," a voice said from behind the officer. The Sahlberg's walked up, Peter supporting his wife.

"And you are?" Officer Wilkes asked.

"I'm Anne Sahlberg, their English teacher. Helen, William, I just heard on the news."

"What did it say?" Helen asked, wondering why Anne would travel all that way – their house was about fifteen minutes away.

"Just that two people were shot in Sam apartment building. I thought it might be some of my students, and it looks like I was right. Oh, God, I'd hoped I wasn't."

The officer called their attention back to him by asking, "Can you give me any information as to why Ms. Smith would feel it necessary to kill Ms. Carter?"

Anne looked down, "Carrie always overreacted when it came to Jack. Oh, God. Are they all alright?"

"Mr. O'Neill will be fine – he was just shot in the arm. Ms. Carter, however, was shot just a few millimeters away from her heart. Right now she's in surgery to repair the damage, and it's going to be a hard road back, but she can make it."

"And Carrie?" Anne asked, concern evident. She knew what the news had said…but maybe they had gotten it wrong.

"She's dead. After shooting both of her victims, she shot herself in the head at point blank range," the officer read off the information from his notepad he was taking notes down on.

"Mr. and Mrs. O'Neill?" a doctor still dressed in the bloody scrubs of a surgeon asked as she walked up.

Helen and William turned around to talk to her, Mrs. Sahlberg standing close to hear the news of Samantha Carter.

The doctor gestured to the chairs near them, "You might want to sit down. I'm Dr. Carlson, Samantha's surgeon."

"Sam," Anne said forcefully. "Her name is Sam."

Dr. Carlson nodded, "Okay. Sam's in the ICU right now. She's alive, but there's going to be a long fight ahead of her. Both of you are Jack's parents, right?"

Helen nodded mutely, waiting for her to continue. "There was a lot of damage done to Sam. We were able to stop the internal bleeding, but the bullet lodged itself close to her heart and we're not sure how long she's going to survive."

Dr. Carlson stopped as she let the news sink in, "It would be best if you contacted her parents and family as soon as possible and let them know. I'm really, very sorry."

William went into military mode, hiding his fear for the young woman he had just met that day, but loved like a daughter. "Thank you, Doctor."

Officer Wilkes looked down at the traumatized people, "We'll be in contact with you. Goodnight."

General O'Neill went to the payphone and dialed his base, Duluth Air National Guard, "Sergeant? This is General O'Neill. I want to know all flights scheduled to land in Duluth from Russia that have not left yet…Get me in contact with the AE in Russia…Hello, I'm looking for Colonel Jacob Carter…Colonel Carter? You need to get on the next flight out of Russia and back to Minnesota…I'm ordering you to, Colonel…Why? Because Sam was just shot and the doctors aren't sure how long she has left! That's why. See you in fourteen hours!"

Jacob ran to get Belle and off they were to the airport. About ten minutes later, they were flying over Europe back to the States.

Belle looked as her grandfather with concern. "Grandpa? Why are we going back to see Auntie Sam?"

Jacob looked at the little girl. He hadn't told her much, just that they were going to see Sam again. Now was as good a time as any to tell her, "Belle, come here." He lifted her up onto his lap and continued, "Do you remember Jack? Well…Auntie Sam and Mr. Jack were hurt really bad a couple hours ago."

"Is she going to go and keep Grandma company in heaven?"

Jacob felt tears come to his eyes as he hugged his granddaughter close, "Oh, God, I hope she doesn't go yet."

Belle hugged her grandpa back just as tight, "Me, too, Grandpa."

Mr. and Mrs. Robert Smith drove their car down to the hospital in silence. The police officer that had come to their door told them that their daughter had shot two schoolmates before killing herself. Neither of them could believe their Caroline could do such a thing and were on the way to identify the body.

The doctor and officer who led the Smith's to their daughter's body were silent, only saying as much as the Smith's needed, or asked to know about what had happened.

The one thought that kept on replaying itself in Rebekah Smith's mind was, "Carrie wouldn't do this, she couldn't have done this. Carrie was – is a good girl."

"Oh my God," Robert said as the mortician pulled back the sheet that covered his daughter's pale, dead face with a bullet hole on one side. "Carrie."

Rebekah couldn't say anything; the tears running down her face had forced her to her knees as she looked away from the body of her only daughter. Why? Why would her daughter – good, liked, healthy…why would she do something like this?

Robert was the one who spoke, his voice broken, "What…what happened?"

The officer, Anika Thompson, responded in a somber voice, "Ms. Smith was waiting for Ms. Carter to arrive home from Thanksgiving. When she showed up with Mr. O'Neill, he's told us that when he saw the gun pointed at Ms. Carter's chest he leapt in front of her, trying to pull her out of the way. The shot fired by Ms. Smith went through Mr. O'Neill's upper arm and lodged itself near Ms. Carter's heart. She then shot herself in the head once at point blank range."

The sobs of the grieving parents rang throughout the morgue. Grief that their daughter was dead and grief that she had tried to kill someone else.

A/N: Reviews? Please?