Harry didn't take his eyes away from Nikki as they crouched either side of the door, students huddled behind them in the corners away from the view of the window. He wanted to reach over and hold her hand, to tell her that it would be okay, but he didn't dare move for fear of spooking the students, or alerting the gunman outside. Nikki looked away from Harry when she felt Dr Jacobs' hand on her arm, missing the smile of thanks that Harry gave the older man.
"Are you okay?"
Nikki barely heard Stanley's voice, nodding once and moving her hand to put over his, before looking back at Harry, freezing when the handle of the door moved slightly. She gripped Stanley's hand, seeing the other man mouth something to Harry from the corner of her eye, Harry looking over to the desk where the key was sitting on the table. The handle on the door stopped wiggling, and there was soft footsteps outside of someone walking away, a few seconds of silence lingered.
"Do you think he's coming back?" Nikki asked Harry as quietly as she could, wanting to move to hold his hand, biting her lip when the baby sent a sharp kick up against her ribs as if in a warning to not move, their life was more important than holding Harry's hand at that very moment.
"I don't know"
"Do you think he knows we're here?"
"I don't know, but he's seen the key" Harry whispered back to her, keeping his eyes fixed on Nikki as he slowly pointed to the desk where the key laid, then to the few bags that were still sitting on desks. He knew that they would be fish in a barrel if the shooter managed to get in, they wouldn't stand a chance.
A loud shot made him duck and cover his head, the students screaming.
"He does now" he told them, pushing away from the wall and moving to the desk "Stanley help me get this desk against the door, Nikki open the window and get everyone out"
Nikki went to protest but she stood up, running around the desks to pull the blind up as more shots came through the glass of the window of the door, the students panicking and huddling together.
"Nikki get down!"
Nikki did as Harry shouted across the room at her to do, holding one of the students down as they curled up on the floor, more shots coming through the window until they stopped, the handle on the door rattling against the table as the shooter tried it a few more times, the room filled with the smell of smoke from the gun. The students curled up around her, sobbing quietly into their arms or legs, the shooter trying the door a few more times until a loud scream from the hallway sounded, and the handle was let go, footsteps in the hallway walking away before they heard a door at the end of the hallway open and then shut. Two gunshots sounded from down the corridor outside, and then silence.
"I think he's gone"
Nikki moved slowly to open the window properly again as Harry told the students to get out and onto the roof, her hands shaking as she pushed the window open and stepped back to let the students past her and out, pressing her hand to the side of her belly when the baby moved again. It was so much easier to pretend that the baby didn't exist at that time, she couldn't worry about the baby as well as herself and Harry, yet she knew that unborn babies were sensitive to everything that their mother was doing.
"Nikki?"
"I'm fine" Nikki told Harry, letting the last few students out of the window and looking at him as he got to her, putting his hands on her cheeks and then moving them to her belly "They're fine, probably wondering why their mum's heartbeat is so fast" she tried to joke with him, looking past him to the other adult in the room to try and distract the situation "Dr Jacobs?"
"Stanley, come on" Harry told the older man, walking over to him and frowning "Stanley?"
He leaned down to shake the man, his heart dropping when he saw the blood coating the man's shirt, putting his hands on the older man's neck to check for a pulse and hearing Nikki's whispered 'oh god' from where she was standing by the window.
"You need to get out"
"I'm not leaving you"
"Nikki.."
"Don't" she snapped, keeping her voice low despite how terrified she was, picking up her phone again and making her way over to kneel next to Harry by the wall again in case the shooter came back.
"Yes this is Dr Alexander" Nikki whispered over the phone to the man she had been contacting on the other end "Listen, there have been two fatalities that we are aware of but I think that there must be more" she continued in the same low voice, Harry wrapping his hand around her free one and gripping it tightly as she informed the operator that they had evacuated some students and they needed paramedics as quickly as possible.
Harry kept his eyes on Nikki's face as he listened to the conversation over the phone, he had to get her out, but he knew that she wouldn't leave without him. He also knew that they weren't going to send paramedics until the place was locked down and cleared, and that could be hours, whatever the operator on the other end of the phone was saying.
"They won't allow any paramedics in until they are sure there is no danger" he whispered to Nikki, shaking his head against the wall at the frown on Nikki's face "We're the only medics in the building"
"We should go out there shouldn't we?" Nikki told him without hesitation, despite how sick she felt at the thought, this was their job, they had trained to be doctors before they had trained to be pathologists.
"They won't let anyone else in for hours"
"Oh god" she leaned her head against the wall and closed her eyes, a laugh coming from her despite the entire situation "How are we going to explain this to the social worker"
She opened her eyes when she heard Harry's sigh and felt his hand on her cheek, pushing her hair away from her face.
"Please leave" he murmured, nodding to the window, ignoring the man on the other end of the phone who was calling Nikki's name "For me, for the baby" he moved his hand down to her belly, stroking it with his thumb.
"You know I can't do that Harry. I'm a doctor too as well as you"
He knew she would say that, and as much as he wanted to shout at her and tell her to get out of the bloody window, he knew she would never forgive him for treating her like that so he just nodded and leaned forward to kiss her on the forehead, closing his eyes and sighing.
"Do you think missing a social services meeting because you've been shot at is a good excuse?" he asked with a small laugh, kissing her forehead again when he heard Nikki's tearful laugh in return.
Kneeling on the floor next to the injured student, Nikki felt as though every second was dragging while they waited for Harry to return, unable to relax while she pressed the cloth against the boy's neck to stem the bleeding, while continuously keeping a lookout for the shooter at either end of the hallway.
"I..I want...my mum..."
"I know sweetheart" Nikki whispered to him, looking back at the teenager and stroking his hair with her free hand, her heart breaking for him, her mind wandering to Niall who was barely a few years younger than this young man pleading for his own mum "I know, but I'm going to do everything I can to get you to see her, okay?"
The boy barely nodded, keeping his head still against the wall as she continued to play with his hair, hoping that it would soothe him enough to keep him from making any sharp movements that might make his injuries worse. She did move her hand though when she felt the baby move into an uncomfortable position, wondering how on Earth they could be so awkward with their laying position when they were barely the size of a small fruit. She pressed her hand to her lower belly, trying to gently ease the baby somewhat and praying that they didn't move to press on her bladder, that was something she didn't need at that moment.
"How...how..far along...miss?"
"Doctor" she automatically replied, looking down both ends of the hallway again, keeping her voice low and praying that Harry was on his way back with something to help stem the flow of the blood from the boy's neck "Twenty-two weeks"
"You should..go"
"Ssh" Nikki hissed at him when she heard gunshots a few corridors away, there was no way she could move him to a room and hide them in time, it would probably kill him.
"Please..."
"Ssh" she snapped again, pressing her hand a little firmer on the wound on his neck, her heart feeling like it was in her throat. She was a doctor first and foremost, and nothing would make her leave a patient to die in a corridor when there was every chance that she could save his life "Listen, you keep awake, and I'll help you find the best internship that you want for your future job, understand?"
"I don't...want to...die. I want...my mum"
Nikki nodded quickly, stroking his hair again and closing her eyes.
"I know"
