Mom's phone went off, and she sees Lisa's number.
"It's Lissy."
We all look at her and I sit myself straight, does that mean the plan has worked? I am worried about Johnny. I have send him a message, but have not gotten a reply, and he always replies immediately. I have a bad feeling about this.
"Hey sweetie, are you okay?"
"I am mom, the plan didn't go as we first thought it would, but I'm free now."
"Where are you? Where's your father and the rest?"
"I'm with Billy at the police station, they asked me if I wanted to answer some questions, I got a lot of evidence for them as well."
"And dad?"
"Dad is with the others, Johnny got shot."
Mom gasps and holds her hand over her mouth. She looks at me and I stand up and went to her. I keep looking at her face. She moves her phone a little, so I can listen as well.
"Is he still alive?"
"He is, dad said the bullet didn't hit anything vital, I think they're at the hospital now."
I start to cry when I heard that, my man got shot? This is not happening! I do not want to lose him. I must be dreaming, please let it not be true. I need to sit down. I don't feel so good. The light-headedness is coming up again. Pops quickly came to me and grabs me. I look at him and everything became a blur. I try to grab him but it blackened in front of my eyes.
"Baby!"
Amanda quickly helps pops to put me down on the couch.
"What happened to Baby, mom?"
"She fainted, we'll be going to the hospital, let me know when you're done there, then I can tell you if we're at the hospital or at Kellerman's."
"Okay, mom."
Mom ends the call.
"We need to go to the hospital. This is not good for the baby. The stress will be too much, and I want to be sure that Baby is alright."
Pops nods and lifts me up on his arms. The rest stands up as well, Amanda is helping Penny.
"What happened?"
Mom looks at nana.
"Johnny got shot."
"No!"
Penny shouts, Amanda quickly grabs her and tries to keep her steady as Penny burst out. Nana went to her as well. Penny looks at mom.
"Please, tell me that's not true."
"It is, I'm so sorry, Penny."
"Is he dead?"
"No, let us pray he will survive."
"Let's go ladies."
Pops walks outside with me on his arms. Mom and nana follow him, and Amanda helps Penny with walking by letting Penny lean on her.
Jake is talking to the doctor who came to look at Johnny, he is telling him what happened, and about Johnny's situation. They move Johnny onto a hospital bed. A nurse attaches the machine so the doctors can see the heartbeat, heart rate, and blood pressure. She looks at the screen.
"He needs to get the bullet removed immediately."
"His heart rate is stable, doc, but his blood pressure is high."
The doctor looks at the monitor, then he checks on Johnny's reactions in his eyes. He lifts Johnny's shirt up, but does not see any bullet holes.
"The bullet is still inside his body, give me an echo machine, quick!"
The nurse nods and quickly walks away. Jake looks from Johnny to the doctor, Ron is holding his son's hand as he keeps looking at his son's face with tears in his eyes. He let his other hand stroke Johnny's hair back a bit. Wishing that everything will be alright again. Then he leans in to give his son a kiss on his forehead.
"Stay strong son, if not for me, then for Baby and your baby."
He whispers when the nurse came back with the echo machine. The doctor quickly put lube on the censor while the nurse plugs it in.
"You think the bullet is travelling in his body?"
Jake asks as he assist the doctor by tearing Johnny's shirt apart.
"If it didn't came out than that's a possibility, let's hope it didn't got got into his blood stream."
The doctor put the censor on Johnny's chest, and together with Jake he looks at the monitor while the doctor moves the censor. He stops moving when they see the bullet.
"There, it looks like it has travelled towards his left lung, he has blood in his lung, that means that the lung is punctured, he needs surgery right now."
Ron starts to cry harder when he hears what the doctor says. The doctor gives the censor to the nurse, on that moment Johnny starts to breath with great difficulty.
Stay strong, son, please."
"I need to incubate him."
Jake takes the incubation tool, the nurse opens a draw and takes a tube. She turns to give it to him. Ron is watching Jake incubating the tube, the nurse attaches the balloon for manual air support as soon as Jake is done, she starts to give Johnny air. The other doctor puts the bed off its breaks.
"Let's go."
"You need me there?"
"No, Jake, I got my nurses and dr. Chang. You've got your holiday, and you've been a great help already."
"Keep me updated, please."
"I will."
Ron steps back when they push the bed away, bringing Johnny to an operation room. Jake lays his hand on Ron's shoulder and inhales deeply. Ron sees his son disappearing in the elevator and then look at Jake's face.
"Will my son survive?"
"Dr. Mendez is very skilled in these cases, let us hope for the best."
Ron nods, Jake pushes Ron a little and they went to the waiting room, where Jamie is sitting down. He has been very distant and quiet since the happening, he keeps seeing Johnny face over and over again. Ron sees him crying and sits down next to him, but Jamie did not look up at him. Jake went to the reception desk to talk to the nurse. Ron lays his hand on Jamie's shoulder who only starts to cry harder. Jamie found his voice back.
"It's my fault."
"No, son, it's not your fault."
"If I hadn't run away with her, then mom never would have pulled the trigger."
"She would've pulled the trigger anyway, if not at you than at me."
Ron lays his arm around Jamie's shoulder now, making him turn a little so they can hug.
"Your brother protected you."
"Why?"
"Because you're family, you're his brother."
"But I did bad things, he shouldn't have saved me."
"No matter what bad things you did, my son will always give his life to those who are close to his heart. Believe me, your brother loves you."
"I don't deserve his love."
"Let us hope he will survive."
Jamie nods at that and they hug tightly again. Jake went to them when he then sees mom coming inside with me, my grandparents, Penny and Amanda. He quickly came to us and looks at me. I'm still unconscious. He looks at pops and then at the rest.
"What happened?"
"Baby heard the news about Johnny and fainted."
"Nurse, a bed!"
Dad took me over on his arm and turns, he quickly went to the nurse who guides him to a bed. He lays me down on it and checks my reactions while the nurse puts me on the machine to check my heart rate and blood pressure.
"She's stable, doc."
"Good, let's try to wake her up so I can do a full checkup."
Another doctor came to the bed and looks at me.
"I can take it over, Jake."
"No, I want to check on my own daughter."
"What happened?"
"She fainted, she can't handle stress."
"Is she working too hard?"
"She's pregnant, it nearly went wrong about a week ago."
"Congratulations, you must be proud of her."
"I am, thanks, her boyfriend is in surgery now."
"You mean the one who got shot?"
"Yes, Baby needs rest, any stress can be fatal to the baby, and they want to keep it."
"Can I do anything?"
"No, it will be alright. Thanks for offering."
"Let me know if you need me."
"I will."
The doctor nods and smiles, they look at me as I move my head a little and groan as I slowly open my eyes. Dad immediately checks on my eyes. I try to orientate myself, I see dad checking up on me.
"Dad?"
"I'm here, pumpkin, you're gonna be alright."
"What happened?"
"You fainted, you need rest."
Then I remember the phone-call, and I wanted to sit straight, but dad gently push me back down. I look at him again, being worried about Johnny.
"Where's Johnny?"
"He's in surgery now."
I start to cry. Dad tries to calm me down, but it is not working. No matter how many times he is telling me I need to calm down and that I need to rest, I want to be with Johnny, I want to know if he will survive. Mom came to me, and I look at her. She hugs me as I am still sobbing because I am so worried about Johnny. I never thought it would be so painful to know that my boyfriend is fighting for his life. Mom is still hugging me while I look back at dad.
"Will he be alright, dad?"
He tries to give me a small smile, I guess he is worried too, but he nods. I inhale deeply and let the air go out slowly as I close my eyes while I lay my head against mom her shoulder. I feel her giving me a kiss on my head. I know I can trust dad. If he says that my man will be alright, I must believe it, though it does not take my worry away.
"Did he really got shot?"
I asked after a few moment of reassurance from mom her hugs. She let me go and I move so I could hug dad as well.
"Yes, but the bullet stayed in his body, that's why he's in surgery."
I close my eyes as I silently make a prayer for my boyfriend. Let us hope, dear reader, that there will not be any complication during the surgery, and that he gets out of surgery soon as well. I let dod go and sit myself more comfortable on the bed when a nurse came to us with a bottle of water. I smile a little as she gives it to me. Dad smiles and pushes some hair out of my face, just like he did when I was a little girl.
"You need to drink, your father said that you're pregnant so we can't give you anything that makes you feel calm."
"Let me check on you, pumpkin."
I look from the nurse to dad, upon seeing his face, I give him a nod. I open the bottle and drink some water, mom is smiling and takes my free hand. I inhale deeply as dad is doing a checkup. I feel fine now, but I guess dad is just wanting to be sure everything is alright. He is a doctor after all. I think dad is right about me needing to rest, and avoiding stress. I think about my company, my employees, and Amanda. She cannot do the lessons alone, she needs help. And Jamie will start working for me soon as well.
"Baby, stop thinking about work."
I look at mom and see her expression.
"I need to talk to Amanda, she can't do the lessons alone, she's still learning. Max has to know what happened, he might as well stop the contract early this year."
"Baby, what did I told you?"
I inhale deeply and look down. I feel her pushing some hair out of my face, making me to look back up at her, I see her smile.
"I'm proud of you, sweetie, but I want you to try not to think so much of work and take some rest, listen to your father."
"I'll try."
I say that with a deep sigh. I see Amanda and Penny coming to me. Pops and nana have joined Ron and Jamie, to hear the whole story of what has happened at the quarry. I watch Penny grabbing the bed and moving herself closer. I guess the cast is getting in her way, but her leg is not fully healed yet. She grabs my hand, I give her a little smile.
"Hey."
"Hey, Penny."
She looks at my face, and I can see her tears. I pull her in for a tight hug. She must be so worried about Johnny. The rest is watching us.
"He's going to be alright."
"I really hope so."
She let me go and looks at dad, he gives her a nod. I see her inhaling deeply and she looks back at me. I give her a little smile and squeeze her hand. Mom takes Amanda's hands, who is looking at dad.
"Where's Lisa?"
"She went with the cops and Billy to the police station, they wanted to ask her some questions."
I see Amanda exhaling deeply, feeling relieved that Lisa seems to be alright. She must have been missing my sister very much, I bet she cannot wait to see her again. I hope Lisa and Billy will be here soon. I let Penny's hand go and reach out to Amanda, she came closer and we hug.
"You'll be soon with my sister."
"Thanks, Baby, for everything you do."
"But we need to look for a solution to the fact that you can't give lessons on your own, you're still learning."
"I know, what should we do?"
"I was thinking…"
I could not finish my sentence as Penny interrupted me. We look at her.
"I can help Amanda."
"But you're having your holiday."
"I only got a holiday because I got my leg broken, Baby, and I'm bored most of the time. I would like to help Amanda out and guide her."
"Alright, make sure you let her communicate with you, not only with the lessons, but also with the administrative stuff."
"I will, don't worry, Baby."
"Thanks, Penny."
Penny looks at Amanda with a little smile, who gives her a little smile back. Mom clears her throat.
"Let's go girls, let's wait for more news, Baby needs to rest now."
They nod at mom. I wave a little as I watch them walking away. I look at dad again who is looking at the screen for a moment. I watch him, I can see he is worried about me, and about Johnny as well. I move a little and take his hand.
"Dad."
He looks at my me with a smile, squeezing my hand a little.
"You need a break, I can see you haven't taken a break yet."
"I'm fine, pumpkin."
"You're worried."
"I am, about you, and about Johnny."
A tear escapes and I quickly rub it away. I inhale deeply as I think. So far no one has told me anything about how it actually happened that Johnny got shot.
"How did it happen?"
"Baby, you need to rest now."
"Please dad, I don't think I'll be able to rest well if I don't know how it happened."
Dad looks at my face, and after a moment he sits down on the bed. He takes my hand.
"Ron, Jamie and Billy can tell you the whole story, pumpkin, I only know that he got shot in his back by his mother because he wanted to protect Jamie."
I inhale deeply when I listen to him. I know Johnny always gives his life for those he loves. I have seen how they both have been bonding over the last week. They seem to understand each other very much. Johnny has let Jamie into his heart, otherwise he would have never done a thing like taking a bullet for his brother. Dad sees that I start to smile a little. He squeezes my hand a little.
"Johnny has given his life for his brother."
"He's a hero, pumpkin."
"He is. A superhero."
"You must be proud of him, I know I am."
I giggle a little while a few tears are falling down on my cheeks, these are proud tears, I am so proud of my boyfriend. Dad gives me a kiss on my forehead.
"Can I see Jamie and Ron, please?"
"I'll get them."