The ride to the hospital felt like hours. Jessica and Sheriff Metzger rode in his car, sirens blaring behind the ambulance. The ride other than the sirens was silent. Neither said a word to each other and Jessica was still lost in her own world taking it all in. Mort almost crashed his car in the parking lot from trying to drive so fast. This jolted Jessica enough to blink. But she just sat there.

"Mrs. F.? It's time to go."

"Mort I-I can't go in there." She cried. "I'm afraid." Mort took his hat off and set it on the dashboard as he crawled back inside the car.

"Look." He sighed. "Jessica I know." He looked at her. "I know you're scared but we can't sit out here in the cold all night. Seth needs you Mrs. F. He needs you. Just like we see how you need him." Jessica looked up at Mort.

"Just like how I need him?" She asked, wondering if Mort was trying to say what she thought or if she was just tired. He simply smiled at her.

"Yeah, Jessica. I may not be the best observer but it doesn't take someone like you to see how much he loves you, and how much you love him." He paused. "And I'm not talking about friendship."

She chuckled through the tears streaming down her face. "Yes. Yes, I suppose you're right."

"I think that's part of why you're scared. You're afraid you won't be able to tell him." Mort told her. She didn't even bother to wipe the tears from her face.

"Mort I don't think I can do this without him."

"Then go inside with me. You won't have to do it without him because he's going to be alright. He's going to pull through. Because Seth is still in there and he knows he has to fight. He's going to fight to come back to you."

Jessica wiped her face and nodded as she opened the car door. Mort went around to help her out.

They walked into the hospital through the emergency room entrance. By the time they made it inside, Seth was already in surgery. Mort guided her over to a chair in a nearby empty waiting room and he sat down next to her.

The next couple of hours were filled with Jessica pacing the room, Mort calming her down when she cried, and him worrying himself about what would happen. He started to wonder if Seth in fact would not pull through.

"Mrs. F., I…need you to tell me what happened last night." He turned to face her. Jessica hesitated before nodding. She took a breath in.

"Seth and I were walking back to my house from dinner. On the way home, we both heard some strange noises every now and then but we thought nothing of it. We were just about to go inside the gate when This figure wearing all black just appeared. I don't know where he came from. The voice sounded like a male but he was wearing all black and I couldn't see his face. Anyway, he pulled out a gun and…h-he pointed it at m-me." She paused and swallowed a lump in her throat. "But then Seth, he-he just he just stepped in front of me, and-" she couldn't finish the sentence. She just couldn't say it. She burst into tears again and put her face in her hands.

"Okay. okay." Mort started as he brought his arms around her. "Shhh. It's alright. You don't have to say anymore."

"It should have been me!" She cried.

At that moment a doctor came out to the waiting room. Jessica and Mort immediately stood up.

"Seth?" She asked.

"Due to the amount of blood loss and the way the bullet entered his system it sent his body into shock. The bullet missed his heart by less than an inch and we got it removed successfully."

"Is there something you're not telling us?" Mort asked.

The doctor let out a sigh before continuing.

"We had to put him into a medically induced coma to keep him alive. He had a stroke during the operation. At this point, we have to prepare for the fact that he might not pull through. There is always hope."

Jessica closed her eyes and tried to take it all in. It was just too much. She felt hopeless. She felt her eyes welling up with tears again and then she felt Mort's arm wrap around her back. He sat her back down in the chair.

"Mort! I can't do this without him!"

"Hey, there's always hope."

"That doesn't make the situation any better!" She yelled. Mort stared at her, surprised that she'd yell at him. It was when she broke down again that he didn't care.

"I'm sorry."

"No, don't be sorry Mrs. F. It's three in the morning. We've been here for hours. You just went through something traumatic. You're tired. You need to go home and get some sleep.

"No Mort I have to stay with him."

"No. You need to rest. These chairs are no excuse for a bed. I'll stay with him. Andy will drive you home.

"But I-"

"No 'buts'. You need to go home." He paused. "You've been through enough."

Jessica reluctantly nodded her head. She felt as though if she spoke more tears would escape.

The ride back to her house with Andy was completely silent. Neither said a word until the car stopped outside her house. There was caution tape set up around the sidewalk. The blood-stained sidewalk made her mind shutter as she looked out the window. Andy went around and helped her out of the car.

"Mrs. Fletcher?" He asked.

"Oh yes, Andy?" She snapped out of it.

"I want you to call if you need anything. Anything at all."

"Thank you Andy I will." She tried to smile at him but it just wouldn't budge from her frown.

Walking inside her house and upstairs to her bedroom, she set her purse down on the chair. She went into the bathroom to wash her face and hands. After a few scrubs to no avail and noticing her hair had blood in it too, she got angry. Angry at nothing in particular. She screamed and cried as she held her face in her hands and sunk down on the bathroom floor where she eventually fell asleep.

The cold chair next to Seth's bedside in the hospital was occupied by Mort.

"Excuse me." A voice asked as he looked up. He saw a young resident nurse on staff there. "Unless this man is immediate family to you I'm going to have to ask you to leave." Mort stood up to where the nurse could see his badge.

"Well sheriff," she said, "You're not going to get any information for your case right n-"

"I'm not here for the case." Mort interrupted quietly.

"I see. So he is family."

"Yes." He replied. A few moments of silence were interrupted by the beeping monitor speeding up at a rate that almost shocked Mort before there was no longer a heartbeat showing. An alarm sounded over the hospital speakers

'Code Blue'

"Can I get some help in here?" The nurse asked as she ran over to help stabilize him. Almost on cue, a slew of other doctors and nurses entered the room and Mort was pushed out of the room little by little.

"Doc, you fight!" He called out.

"Fight Hazlitt! Fight!" The alarms didn't stop.

"Fight Doc!"