A/N: Hey guys!! I hope you all enjoy this chapter!! Leave me a review and let me know how I'm doing with this story! Thanks guys!

Disclaimer: I do not own The Rookie or its characters.

Chapter 3

Lucy was frantically pacing back and forth across the waiting room in the hospital. A nurse came from behind the desk and approached Nolan, who was sitting in a chair against the wall.

"Excuse me, your friend is upsetting some of the other patrons waiting. Can you try and get her to stop pacing?"

Nolan nodded and stood, walking over to Lucy. "Hey, let's take a walk outside. You could use some fresh air."

"No," she started, emotion strong in her voice, "I need to be here in case something happens."

"Lucy, it's been half an hour. They're not going to have news for us anytime soon."

"I can't, Nolan. I have to stay, please?" She said, her voice breaking.

The nurse, who had watched the interaction, spoke to Nolan, "actually, sir, we have a private waiting room, let me go see if it's open right now. If it is, you can wait in there."

He gave her a grateful look, "that would be great."

A few minutes later the nurse was leading Nolan and Lucy down the hall, and she opened a door to a small waiting room with chairs lining the walls. "This should work for you guys."

Nolan answered, "Thank you. We have other officers on their way here to wait, and our Sergeant is in the bathroom cleaning up—"

"I'll bring them all in here when they arrive," she said and left.

Lucy continued pacing the length of the room and Nolan watched her for a minute before saying, "why don't you sit, Lucy? You're going to wear yourself down."

She just shook her head. Nolan stood up and walked over to her and gently rested both of his hands on her shoulders, forcing her to look him in the eyes.

"Listen to me, Lucy. Bradford is strong, he's going to fight his way back to us. He knows how much we all care about him."

"If I would've said something sooner it wouldn't have gotten this bad. I could tell something was wrong with him but I didn't say anything." She said, blinking away the tears that sprung to her eyes.

"You couldn't have said anything that would've made him get checked out before those other guys were arrested. He's a natural protector, he's going to do whatever it takes to keep his friends safe, and that's what he did today."

Lucy nodded and wiped the tears from her eyes, "you're right. He even saved me from the explosion. He dove on top of me right as it went off."

"I know. He really cares about you, Lucy."

"I care about him too. More than I thought I did."

Nolan led her to a row of chairs and they sat, trying to prepare themselves for any news they might have to receive.

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A few minutes later the door to the waiting room opened and Lucy and Nolan looked up to see Grey walking to a chair across from them.

"Haven't heard anything?" He questioned. They both shook their heads, and all three sat in silence until the door opened again.

This time, Lopez, Wesley, and West came walking in. Lopez rushed right to them, "How is he?"

"We haven't heard anything," Nolan answered, "when we got here they took him back to surgery and we haven't been told anything else. Where's Harper?"

"She has her daughter this weekend, so she had to go, but she said to call her with updates when we know anything."

Then they all settled in for a long agonizing wait.

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A few hours later Grey had gone to use the restroom, and as he was returning to the waiting room he spotted a doctor walking down the hall.

The doctor looked tired and discouraged. The look on the doctor's face was not a hopeful look, probably meaning that whatever news he was about to tell someone wasn't good.

Grey was silently hoping that the doctor wouldn't go into the private waiting room where his officers were waiting. He didn't get that lucky. He watched the doctor stop outside the private waiting room door and take a deep breath, and his face changed from discouraged to not much emotion at all. Then he opened the door and went in. Grey rushed down the hall to the room, so he was there to hear the news.

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Everyone looked up as the door to the waiting room opened. A doctor with a stoic expression walked in, shortly followed by Grey.

"I'm Doctor Larry Hatfield, the nurse told me you all are here for Officer Tim Bradford." Everyone nodded, so he continued, "Officer Bradford made it through surgery," everyone showed some form of relief— letting out a breath they were holding in, visibly relaxing their features— everyone except Grey.

He had seen the doctor before he put on his poker face, he knew there was a "but" coming, so he steeled himself for what they were about to hear.

"When we got him to the OR he had lost a lot of blood, and was in hypovolemic shock. Applying the tourniquet when you did most likely saved his life. We had to give him blood transfusions before we could begin to address the wound. He had a sharp piece of metal embedded in his mid-thigh. It had nicked the femoral artery, so when we removed it it started bleeding heavily. He almost didn't recover from that, but he did. We repaired the artery, and the torn quad muscle around it, and stitched the wound."

The doctor paused and Grey knew the bad news was coming next.

"Now, I don't want to be too blunt, but this type of wound has a very high risk for infection, which can also lead to an infection in the bloodstream. We're going to monitor Officer Bradford for any signs of infection, but if he does develop one, I'm very worried about if his body will be able to recover from it. The first 48 to 72 hours are crucial for his body to fight off infection, so we will be watching him carefully. He is being moved into the ICU. Do you all have any questions?"

Grey was the first to speak, "if Officer Bradford doesn't get an infection, what will recovery look like?"

"Recovery won't be easy as the muscles in his leg will need to heal and he will need to do physical therapy to gain strength back, but considering he is healthy and fit it would probably take between 1 to 3 months, and I don't see any reason that he wouldn't make a full recovery, again all of this only applies if he doesn't get an infection."

When no one else spoke right away, Lucy asked the question they were all desperate to know the answer to, "When can we see him?"

"Protocol usually only allows immediate family members into the ICU, but considering the situation, I can allow two of you at a time to visit, and only for a few minutes."

They all nodded and decided that Lopez and Wesley would go first, Grey and West would go next, and Lucy and Nolan insisted on going last.

After the others visited Bradford, Lucy and Nolan were taken to his room. Lucy walked in first and her breath hitched when she saw Bradford laying motionless in the hospital bed. She wasn't used to seeing him vulnerable like that, and it broke her heart.

Bradford was rugged, tough, and stubborn, and to see him injured, and be told by his doctor that he didn't know what the next 72 hours would hold for Bradford was harder than Lucy imagined.

Nolan waited by the door to give Lucy some privacy while she held Bradford's hand, and talked to him, "Bradford, I know you can fight through this. You have to get better and come back to us. Your seat at roll call between Lopez and Harper will always be open for you." She was fighting back tears, "thank you for saving me, Tim. You mean a lot to me, so you need to be okay... please..."

After a few more minutes she turned to leave. Now, all she was able to do was go home and wait. Lucy hated waiting. Impatience was one of her characteristics that she didn't like. But, she was willing to wait for Bradford. As long as he held on. So, she went home to wait. Wait restlessly, as Tim laid in the hospital bed fighting for his life.

I hope you enjoyed! The last chapter/epilogue will hopefully be finished and posted tomorrow!