A/N: I couldn't resist tossing this up before I turn in for the night. I'm terrible about waiting to post things because I hate keeping people in the dark about what happens next, maybe because I hate being left in suspense myself... On another note, I really like writing this story. Fanfiction and music videos will probably be my salvation until Season 5 starts.

Spike charged Emily, throwing her against the wall of the narrow space as the gun went off, and wrestled the gun away from her.

"Status!" Greg's voice demanded urgently.

"No harm, Boss," Spike panted as he handcuffed Emily's hands together. "Subject contained."

"Jules?" Greg prompted after a brief pause.

Seconds ticked by, feeling like years, and then Spike turned his head to look over his shoulder at Jules. He had to angle his head downward to catch sight of her. "Oh God, Jules! Winnie, we need EMS out here stat! Officer down!" He dropped to his knees beside her. "Oh God…"

"Spike, what's happening?" Sam panted as he practically flew down the remaining flights of stairs with Greg on his heels. In his head, an array of thoughts ranging from 'Please don't die on me' to 'I want you to have my kids' bounced around from wall to wall, creating an almost audible clamor to fill the seemingly unending silence on Spike's end of the line. He nearly tore the truck's door off its hinges opening it, and his heart dropped to the floor once he did.

Spike's hands were covered in blood and wrapped around Jules's neck as he tried desperately to staunch the flow of blood while simultaneously avoiding her helpless gaze. He'd be no good to her if he focused on her face instead of keeping her alive. "Where's EMS?" he screamed.

"Already en route," Winnie's voice responded as Greg pushed past a frozen Sam. The approaching sirens confirmed her words. They had to have already been on their way when Spike demanded them. Perhaps summoned for the dead man on the roof. He could wait.

"Sarge…"

"Jules, God, save your strength, okay?"

"Sarge…sorry…don't…blame yourself."

Greg let out a sound that might have been mistaken for a laugh by anyone who couldn't see the look of pain on his face. She knew him so well. Even though he'd never even laid eyes on Emily Ames or even spoken a word directly to her, she he'd blame himself for Jules's failure to get through to her. Maybe even for those reasons exactly, he would. "Don't worry about me, Jules, we're gonna make sure you're okay."

"You be…okay. You, too…Spike."

The weakness in her voice spurred Sam into action and he moved inside, knelt down next to Spike who was relentlessly trying to control the bleeding. She was not checking out on him. Not now. Not today. They were all going home today. Maybe not literally, but…damn it she was in the truck. In the god damn truck! She was supposed to be safe in here, out of the line of fire. "Jules, help's on the way. Just hang on, okay?"

"Sam…"

"Shhh…don't. Don't say it. You're going to be okay. You don't have to tell me to be strong and move on because you aren't going to die on me. Do you hear me? You will not die," he willed her.

Her eyes fluttered. "I love you," she breathed, her voice barely there.

"I love you." Sam could feel his mouth forming the words, but any energy it would have taken to sound them out was being expended on stopping himself from sitting there crying when he was on the job.

They all heard the screech of tires. Greg was on his feet in an instant to wave the paramedics inside. Sam stood, then reached for Emily Ames and pulled her to her feet before leaving the van, dragging her along with him, to get out of their way. The paramedics quickly collected Jules and rushed her toward the ambulance on a gurney.

Ed had forced the SIU agent who was taking him for a debriefing to wait so he could catch a glimpse of Jules. He watched with his jaw clenched as the paramedics ran off with her. She didn't look good. He wanted to go to the hospital with the others, but he didn't have a choice. He'd been forced to shoot Scott Ames when he'd raised his gun to do that very same thing to the man who had once been his friend, and now Ed had paperwork to fill out, routine questions to answer. If he'd known the outcome would be this, he'd be hard-pressed to say whether he still would have taken the shot and done his job. The rules said civilians' safety came first, team member safety came last, but it was Jules. How many times was she going to get shot because of him and walk away from it? Had she just gotten lucky last time? Part of him wanted to say yes, he would have done his job no matter what, but the part of him who was a man, who loved his team as an extension of his family, who loved Jules as an extension of his family, rebelled against it. The truth was, he didn't know what he would have done. He just wished Jules hadn't gotten hurt as a direct result from his actions.

Sam stiffly marched Emily over to an unoccupied paramedic on Greg's orders as Spike stumbled out of the van with blood gloved hands and haunted eyes. "Spike? You okay?" he asked the officer, resting a hand on either shoulder in a bid to gain his attention.

Spike seemingly looked his boss in the eye, but he was really looking somewhere beyond him. "I didn't…I tried the best I could. I think the bullet hit the carotid. I was trying to plug it with my finger so she wouldn't bleed out… I didn't…couldn't talk to her…I didn't say goodbye. After Lew, I swore I'd never…that I'd never miss that chance again…"

"Hey, look at me. You hearing me? Hey!" Greg waited for Spike's eyes to slide into focus and for a curt nod. "Jules is alive right now, probably because of you. She's going to be okay because of what you did with these two hands," he insisted, grabbing hold of those very hands, still warm and sticky with blood. "This isn't the same as what happened to Lew. You didn't need to say goodbye."

Wanting, no, needing for that to be true, Spike nodded. "Yeah. Okay."

A/N: 3rd cliffhanger in a row. Don't hate me, it's necessary until I decide which version of the next chapter is going up... Speaking of which, I leaning on using one and tweaking the other into a one-shot. I'll have to sleep on it.