Chapter Eighty Five: Blood

When you were standing in the wake of devastation
When you were waiting on the edge of the unknown
And with the cataclysm raining down
Insides crying, "Save me now!"
You were there, impossibly alone

Linkin Park - Iridescent

The blood was still on his hands, Roman could see the vivid red streaks on his palms as he stared down at his trembling digits. He couldn't stop shaking, his entire body was trembling as he relived the past couple of hours over and over again like some sick kind of video replaying in his mind.

Kayla lying in the snow on her back, the packed white slush turning a vivid pink underneath her as she rasped and fought for breath. His instincts had kicked in, over riding the panic that lanced through him as he dropped to his knees alongside her, stripping off the navy blue suit jacket and pressing it to the puckered hole just under Kayla's breast bone.

"Hey Kayla." he soothed, his hand maintaining the pressure on her sternum as his thumb chased away the tears that leaked from her wide doe brown eyes and trailed down the apple of her soft cheek. "Hey Kay, I'm here."

Distantly he could hear Gabe's frantic voice in his ear as he yelled into his cellphone for an ambulance. Kayla's tortured eyes met his, her lips parting as she tried to speak, her chest jerking with short wet breathes. Sean's voice lowered an octave, his tone becoming tender as her weak bloody fingers grasped the sleeve of his shirt leaving bloody red finger prints on the cuff.

"I've got you." he murmured. "You are going to be ok."

Her life was slipping away underneath his hands, he could feel it draining out of her underneath his hands and he was powerless to stop it. Her long eyelashes were fluttering closed against her sullen cheek as she tried to speak once more. Sean leaned forward his blond head bent closely, barely making out the words as Kayla repeated them.

"Took...her."

He didn't understand what that meant and if he was honest he didn't care. The cop in him had shut down and he was simply the man who wanted to help his lover in the best way possible. Yet the words had kept ringing in his head as he sat in the ambulance watching the paramedics work on Kayla. He'd made a point of staying out of their way, his azure eyes had been locked on her pretty features hidden away underneath the oxygen mask. The words had been important to Kayla, important enough that she had made sure he heard them.

"Sean."

Roman twisted his head at the sound of his name and flinched as he saw Phillip Sharpe approaching, black overcoat billowing behind him as stalked towards the young patrolman full of purpose. He could already see the torment fermenting in his pained blue eyes as he took in the drying blood stains that marred the younger man's crisp white shirt. He felt like the breath had been knocked out of him as he stared at Sean's slumped shoulders and bleak expression in dismay.

Disbelief washed over him as Sean screwed up his eyes tightly, opening and closing his mouth to speak but emitting no words. Sean tilted his head away, clenching his jaw, Phil eyed the balled fists on his lap as he struggled to compose himself, his entire body starting to quake. His eyes rose sky wards before the basest of words left his mouth.

"Kayla." he choked, shaking his head.

"Sean?" Phil questioned, swallowed hard against the heavy ache in his chest.

"They've taken her into surgery." Sean's voice, a ragged whisper as he spoke, looking down at his quivering hands. "There was so much blood..."

Phil closed his eyes, his hands coming to rest on his hips as he sucked in a deep breath and prayed for strength. Every single impulse in him was urging him to lash out and hit something, to destroy something, to respond to this violent act with one of his own. He wanted to track down the bastard who had hurt his daughter and eviscerate them.

Sean was falling to pieces in front of him. He could see the other man trying to hold it all together, struggling all the time, fighting with his grief, His eyes were red rimmed and glistening as he bowed his head, his knuckles were stained white against the blood on his hands.

He dropped down into the seat next to Sean, bending his head close so the other man could hear the quiet murmur of his voice.

"This is Kayla we're talking about." Phil stated, his voice trembling just a little under his own bravado. "She's strong, and she's tough and she's stubborn as hell. She came back the first time, she'll do it again."

The memories were flashing in front of his eyes like scenes from a photograph. Those diligent features fixed in concentration as she sat at the kitchen table studying while he cooked. The sound of her laugh when he flicked water at her while they washed the dishes. He would give anything right now to hear that musical sound.

Phil pressed his hands together as if in prayer, his forehead coming to rest upon them. He was not a praying man but he was willing to make amends if it meant that his daughter would live. He would do whatever it took to see that beautiful smile of hers all over again.

God...

Please don't let her die.

Hey guys, I hope you enjoy this little insight to what Roman's going through right now.

Soccer: Thank you for taking the time to catch up and review. I'm really glad that you are sticking with story and that your enjoying it, it's been great fun to write!

Western: Thank you so much for your kind words and for taking the time to review!

Nat: I tried to figure out what would really destroy Antonio and the next few chapters is what I have come up with. You'll have to wait and see but sometimes there aren't any happy endings. We touch on Brett a few times and you'll have to wait and see how Antonio handles it.

Lauren: lol I am cackling evilly about how the suspense is killing you Mwhahahahaa! Thank you so much for sticking with this story and for enjoying it. It's fun to see how you interact with it and I value your opinion.

Anime: Sadly it only gets worse for the two of them :( I have some evil still in store for the two of them. As you can see Kayla's not doing well either at the min so you'll have to wait and see how that plays out. Roman's main focus at the moment if having Kayla pull through, he has no idea anyone else is missing yet and I really feel for him and Phil in this chapter, I can imagine Roman a complete mess with blood on him looking like hell.