Almost Goodbye


"Is he comfortable?" Cassie asked, sitting by Theo's bed in the hospital as one of the nurses came round to check.

"Yeah." The nurse nodded with a sympathetic smile, "Can I get you anything? A drink or something to eat?" She asked.

"N-No… no, I don't think I could stomach anything right now." Cassie shook her head as the nurse nodded.

"Well just let us know if there's anything we can do." She said, walking out of the room as Cassie turned back to Theo, taking his hand in hers and holding it tightly.

She wasn't sure if all the sympathetic smiles she was getting was because they knew something she didn't, or if they just felt sorry for her. She didn't have to be told that her husband wasn't in great shape right now. Most likely closer to death than to life.

"Please don't give up on me." She whispered. She couldn't believe the last thing they said to each other was in an argument. She couldn't have that being their last memory together. Part of her just felt numb. She wasn't sure yet if that was a good thing or not.

"Chase needs you in his life." She nodded, feeling like she was swallowing a brick as she tried not to break down, "He loves you so much and he… he's gonna be waiting for you to come home so I need you to come home." She nodded, "Please." She whispered quietly.

She turned around when she heard the door open, noticing her big sister walking into the room.

"Hey." Thea said quietly.

"Hey." Cassie nodded.

"Your face doesn't look too good." Thea walked further into the room.

"Doesn't feel great either." Cassie nodded, "I've not had stitches in my eyebrow in years." She realised, brushing her fingers against the stitches along her eyebrows. She was badly bruised and beaten. But that didn't mean she lost the fight.

"Did you get checked over?" Thea asked, drawing up a seat next to Cassie's by the bed.

"Yeah. Nothing is broken." Cassie said, "I'll live." She turned to her sister, "How about you?"

"I'm as good as new." Thea assured, tucking a strand of her hair behind her sister's ear.

"If you weren't there he'd be dead." Cassie nodded, looking on at Theo, "I wouldn't have been able to do all the things you did." She turned to her, "You were really brave." She said as Thea smiled, "Thank you."

Thea took her hand in hers and squeezed it tightly as Cassie leaned her head on her shoulder. They were both physically and emotionally exhausted.

"He'll pull through." Thea nodded, looking on at Theo.

"I don't know." Cassie said quietly, "He was out of it for so long. He coded twice in surgery." She said, "And then again when he got out."

"That only proves that he's fighting." Thea nodded.

"You don't have to bullshit with me." Cassie assured her.

"I'm not." Thea said, "He's made it this far." She nodded positively.

"I can't lose him." She whispered.

"You won't." Thea shook her head, "What happened with you and-"

"Brock." Cassie informed her, "He beat me up. Obviously." She shook her head, taking her head from her sister's shoulder, "I think I have a slight concussion, actually." She nodded, feeling light-headed as she moved her head.

"Just for the hell of it?" Thea asked.

"Well did he look like someone who does things for logical reasons?" Cassie asked her.

"Point taken." Thea nodded, "That's the last time I do anything for that fat lazy coroner." She attempted to joke, turning to her sister who was staring at Theo.

"If I lose him…" Cassie said, "I don't think he'll come back this time round." She turned to Thea who didn't say anything.

"You're not going to lose him." Thea shook her head. She didn't know that for sure, but she couldn't say otherwise to her sister.

She turned around when she heard the door open, noticing her parents walking into the room. Cassie also turned around, suddenly feeling like it was finally ok to cry and break down now that her parents were here.

She stood up and wound up in her mother's arms, crying as loud as she had all day as AJ held her tightly with relief, and with heartache as she heard how painful her cries were.


"How is she doing?" Jude asked later, sitting outside the hospital with Thea and Dominic who had arrived earlier after being contacted about the shooting. Jude hadn't gone to check in on Cassie yet, figuring it was best to leave her with their parents for the time being.

"Not great." Thea said, sitting on one of the benches outside the hospital. It had gone dark outside but she couldn't be sure what time it was. Today had felt like the longest day of her life.

"How did you even end up there?" Jude asked. It came as a shock, a horrible one, when they found out Thea had also been in the police station during the shooting.

"The coroner at the hospital asked me to drop by some files." Thea said, "Normally I don't do anything for other people but I figured I could see if Cass wanted to grab lunch or something." She shrugged.

"How long were you in there for?" Dominic sighed.

"Hours." Thea nodded, "She's a little worse for wear." She told Jude, "Cassie."

"Have they checked her over?" Jude asked.

"Yeah. No broken bones. Just… lots of bruises. Possibly a concussion." Thea said.

"What about Theo?" Dominic asked as Thea just shook her head.

"It's not good." Thea said, "I did… I did everything I could." She spoke to herself. She kept trying to go over it all in her head. Trying to make sure she hadn't missed something out. Make sure she had done every single thing she could to help Theo.

"Of course you did." Dominic said, wrapping his arm around her as she leaned into him, "From what I've heard, he wouldn't be here if you weren't there." Dominic said, kissing her head.

"I don't think he's gonna be here for much longer." Thea swallowed the lump in her throat as they sat in silence. None of them really knew what to say. Mostly they were still in shock.

"Where's Sean?" Dominic asked Jude quietly, keeping Thea in his arms.

"He was putting our bags at our parent's house." Jude said, "And he was probably going to see Jake. But I can only imagine how stressed that man is right now." She shook her head.

"Well yeah, a station full of dead cops." Dominic shook his head, "How did they even get in?" He asked.

"I have no idea." Thea said, "We were in Theo's office when we heard the gun shots. We locked ourselves in there." She explained. It was all starting to feel like a massive blur.

"And Cassie thinks it's to do with some case Theo had years ago?" Jude asked, trying to take in the information.

"Yeah." Thea nodded, "Theo arrested him and just recently he was released. I guess he held his grudge." She said.

"Where is he now?" Dominic asked.

"In custody. Cassie killed the other shooter, I think." Thea said, "I haven't actually spoke with her much." She admitted, "We were just trying to concentrate on saving Theo, and ourselves." She nodded.

"You must have been terrified." Jude shook her head. She couldn't imagine the situation. Her stomach jumped just at the thought of it.

"I tried to help as many people as I could." Thea nodded, "When he shoved me out of the office. People were hiding in offices… under desks." She said, "I tried to do everything I could-"

"Shh." Dominic pulled her close, "Of course you did." He nodded, holding her tightly as she hugged into him. He didn't want her to feel the weight of this on her shoulders because of her role as a doctor. That was enough to break a person and he wouldn't let this break her.


Meanwhile Cassie had eventually stopped crying in her mother's arms, figuring she'd simply ran out of tears. She was back to sitting on the chair by Theo's bed. Her parents had both been in the room for a while and had yet to speak much with her, because all she'd done since they got there was cry, understandably.

"Did they check you over?" AJ asked, pulling one of the other chairs over beside Cassie so she could sit beside her.

"Yeah." Cassie nodded, watching Theo's monitors closely, "No broken bones." She said as Punk looked over at her.

At times he couldn't even recognise her. Her face was badly beaten with a row of stitches along her eyebrow. It broke his heart to see her this way. Physically and emotionally. Mostly because they weren't used to it. She was so headstrong. He could probably count on one hand the amount of times he'd saw her cry properly.

"Where is Chase?" AJ asked quietly.

"Uh… Theo's mom picked him up." Cassie nodded, "But she wants to come here so… maybe you guys-"

"We'll get him." Punk nodded to her.

"I don't want him coming in here." Cassie said as AJ nodded, looking over at Theo.

"What are the doctors saying?" Punk asked.

"Nothing." Cassie whispered, "Which I know isn't good." She nodded, reaching over and taking Theo's hand, "They've done everything they can for him… but I don't know if it's enough." She said, "Might just be delaying the inevitable." She nodded, drying her tears, "His pulse was barely there… for so long." She shook her head.

AJ looked up at Punk with teary eyes, not anticipating that things were really this bad. When they had gotten word that Theo had been shot, they were terrified, but now seeing the situation up close, they were extremely terrified.

"He's hung on for this long. He can keep going." AJ nodded, rubbing Cassie's arm as Punk ran his hand over his face.

"I hope he's not in pain." Cassie squeaked, looking on at Theo who appeared peacefully still, "The nurse told me he was comfortable but how does she know?" She questioned.

"They know these things. He'll be comfortable." Punk assured her.

"Where is Jude?" Cassie looked up at him.

"She's outside with Thea. She wanted to give you a little space before coming in." Punk nodded.

"She was really brave." Cassie nodded, "Thea." She told them.

"You were both so brave." AJ caressed the back of her head, brushing her hand through her hair, "So brave." She shook her head. She couldn't imagine the emotional distress her two daughter's had been through today. Enough distress to last a lifetime no doubt.

"I think I just wanna be with him on my own." Cassie nodded to them both, drying her eyes.

"Ok." AJ nodded.

"Well we'll be here. Just outside." Punk said as Cassie nodded, watching them both leave the room reluctantly.

"Hey." Cassie whispered, shaking Theo's hand a little. It was so difficult not to hear his voice or see his eyes. To know that perhaps she never would again.

"You're not gonna do this to me, are you?" She swallowed the lump in her throat, "Cause it's been a really bad day and this might just tip me over the edge." She nodded, "But if you're in pain… if it's hurting and you're tired." She closed her eyes over, clasping her hand around his and raising it to her mouth, "Then it's ok." She cried, "It's ok, baby." She nodded, gasping a little from holding her breath as she cried.