"Em? Hey Em?" Frank said, interrupting her train of thought.

"What's wrong?" Emily questioned, she was almost afraid to hear the answer.

"The doctor's here," he replied, pointing to the surgeon coming down the hallway.

Emily jumped up to meet the surgeon, a rush of emotion came over her and she had to fight back the tears once again.

"How is he?" she pleaded, the urgency in her voice was unmistakable.

The scrub-clad surgeon glanced down at Emily and then scanned the room, taking a quick look at everyone there. All five pairs of eyes were staring straight at him, waiting patiently for a response.

"He's… stable, for now," the surgeon began, a sigh of relief came from came from each member of the CNU.

"Agent Flannery isn't completely out the woods just yet, his injuries were and still are life threatening and he is unconscious. The bullet entered through his left side between the fifth and sixth rib," he motioned to his side, indicating the whereabouts of Matt's injury. "It punctured his lung and tore through the uppermost part of his liver."

He took a deep breath and continued, "we inserted a chest tube to release the air from his lung, that should be able to come out in a about a day or so. We repaired the damage to his liver as best we could, but the rest is up to him. We just have to wait and see if he regains consciousness."

The surgeon reached out and touched Emily shoulder, it was a small, but comforting gesture, "He's young and strong, he should pull through this just fine."

"Thank you" Emily said, still unsure of the fate of her partner.

"They're moving him to intensive care, you can go see him if you'd like." With that, the doctor turned and made his was back down the long hallway.

Em pushed open the heavy wooden door leading into the ICU room where Matt was recovering for surgery. The shrill beep of the heart monitor echoed through the dimly lit room.

When her partner came into view Emily inhaled deeply, not expecting what she saw. There were tubes and wires attached to every piece of exposed skin and several more were tucked away under his hospital gown.

As she slowly approached Matt, Emily paused taking in the scene before her. She reached for his hand, but stopped-almost afraid to touch him. Instead, she leaned in and ran her fingers through his charcoal hair, she kissed his forehead softly. A stray tear fell on his pillow and Emily stood up quickly, wiping her eyes. She hadn't even realized she'd begun to cry again.

Emily sat quietly in the only chair in the small room. She was close enough to touch him if she tried-not that she did. She pulled her knees up against her and hugged them tightly--watching Matt's chest rise and fall with every breath.

As she stared at him, the rest of the day's events floated through her mind.

As she watched apprehensively Emily was vaguely aware of Cheryl's hand on her arm-keeping her from running over to her partner. She noticed one paramedic shake his head slowly, but at the direction of another, continued CPR.

"He's still not breathing" the paramedic shouted to his partner who'd gone to retrieve a defibrillator, in hopes of starting Matt's heart.

"No..." Emily managed, shaking her head furiously, "NO!" She brought her hand to her mouth to stop herself from yelling. Cheryl saw the white rush over the negotiators face as she begin to tremble--from adrenaline or fear or some combination of the two. Cheryl wrapped her arms around the her just in time as Emily's knees buckled beneath her and the two collapsed to the ground.

Cheryl held Emily close as she tried to console her, "Em, it's going to be okay," she murmured, attempting to sound confident in her statement.

The EMT returned and quickly powered up the defibrillator, "Clear" he yelled as he place the paddles on Matt's chest and sent 300 volts of electricity coursing through his body.

Nothing.

"350. Clear," the paramedic said again after increasing the voltage.

Nothing.

"One more time. Charging, 400. Clear."

The paramedic placed the stethoscope over Matt's heart hoping to find the faintest sign of life.

"We've got a rhythm, it's shallow, but it's there" he said letting out the deep breath he'd been holding in. "Let's get him out of here before we loose that heart beat," he continued.

Emily's head shot up from where it was cradled in her hands. She stared in disbelief as, within seconds, they had transported Matt from the ground to a stretcher and hurried towards the awaiting ambulance.

"Wait" Emily said as she climbed to her feet and made her way to the ambulance. "Wait. I have to go with him" she insisted to the EMT who was climbing into the rig along with her partner.

"Ma'am, I'm afraid I can't let you ride in here" he replied, not waiting for a response he closed the double doors and the vehicle left, lights and sirens blaring.

Emily looked down at the gravel beneath her feet, it was stained with Matt's blood. She bent over and picked up the shredded t-shirt that had been cut off of him and held it tight against her chest. Cheryl slowly walked up behind her and placed a comforting hand on her arm.

After scanning her from head to toe and noticing Emily's blood soaked clothes, another EMT hurried over to where she was standing with Cheryl, "Miss, are you hurt?"

Cheryl's grip on the negotiator tightened and Emily finally answered, "N-no... I need to go--" she began pointing in the direction the ambulance had gone.

The EMT reached up and gently touched a spot on Emily's forehead, she winced and pulled away, "Really... I'm fine... I just-I need to see Matt."

"Come with me. Let me check you out, make sure you're okay. Then you can go to the hospital and see your friend."

"Emily, please listen to him. Just let them check you over and I'll drive you to the hospital myself" Cheryl pleaded.

Not wanting to waste anymore time, Emily conceded and followed after the EMT.