A/N: Thanks again for all the reviews and support I've gotten for this story. I'm sorry for the big cliffhanger in the last chapter, it was so much fun though, but I promise that will be the last big cliffhanger for awhile. So, without further ado, here is the chapter. :)

Chapter Eighteen

Casualties

The past ten minutes had been a blur for Rebecca. The police had stormed the house almost as soon as Adam hit the floor. It was amazing how fast they were able to seize control over the situation. They ushered the three of them over to the couch, out of the way, while one officer knelt quickly by Adam to check his pulse. He yelled over his shoulder to get the paramedics in here now. Another officer picked up the gun that was now lying on the floor and put it into a plastic bag. Rebecca's heart started to beat faster as she realized that Ty's fingerprints must be on the gun.

The paramedics were in the house now, two of them kneeling next to Adam. He was regaining consciousness now, moaning in pain. There was so much blood, soaking through his jeans and puddling on the floor underneath him. The paramedics were trying to stabilize his leg, but he kept swatting them away and mumbling stuff Rebecca couldn't hear. After a few more minutes, Adam lay his head back down on the floor in defeat or exhaustion. His face was pale and sweat gleamed on his skin as he turned his head to the side. Adam's eyes glistened when he saw Rebecca sitting on the couch, and it looked like he wanted to say something, but didn't. Rebecca was the first to turn away.

"This feels surreal, like it's not really happening," Rebecca whispered, not to anyone in particular. AJ had fallen asleep a few minutes ago, his head in the crook of her elbow.

"Well, it's all over now," Caleb said, turning to face her.

"Thank you, for being here, for coming with me, I..." Rebecca drifted off, not knowing what else to say.

"There was no way I was going to let you come here alone," Caleb told her, his eyes flickering down to AJ, then back up to her. "Especially, considering the way things turned out."

They lapsed into an awkward silence. Rebecca could tell Caleb wanted to say something more, but there was something stopping him. She hated all this tension between them, but she knew that it was because of her. They had both been preoccupied with saving AJ that they hadn't given any thought to anything else. Now, that AJ was safe and Adam was in custody, they didn't really know where they stood with each other. Rebecca did know that if anybody was to say something first, it would have to be her.

"You should get that looked at," Caleb said suddenly. Rebecca blinked, confusedly, until he pointed to the cut on the side of her face.

"Oh," Rebecca mumbled, touching the cut with her finger. The bleeding had stopped, her skin felt pulled taut from where the blood had dried. Caleb called for a paramedic, and Rebecca realized, deflatedly, that the moment had passed.

The paramedics had just lifted Adam onto the gurney and started wheeling him toward the door. One stopped, however, and started walking over to them, medical bag in hand. He was a young man about in his mid-twenties with cropped brown hair and blue eyes. He was slim, but muscular, the sleeves of his medical jacket were rolled up to his elbows. His eyes were tired looking, like he'd seen this way too many times for being so young, but yet, he had an easy smile on his face.

No sooner had the paramedic knelt down in front of Rebecca, then, two officers walked over to take Ty and Caleb's statements. Rebecca watched them leave with her eyes as the paramedic dabbed her cut with an alcoholic swab. She flinched slightly at the sting and the paramedic whispered an apology. Automatically, Rebecca liked him. Which made it easier for her to ask what she had been wanting to since the ambulance arrived.

"Is Adam going to be ok? The guy who was shot?" Rebecca asked him.

The paramedic dropped the swab into his bag and picked up a medical bandage. "You're lucky, it doesn't look that deep, so you won't need stitches." he told her, ignoring her question, as he unwrapped the bandage. He was quiet as he put the bandage on the cut and Rebecca flinched again as it pulled her skin tight. All the while, she tried to be patient, but it was hard when Adam's life could be on the line. The paramedic started gathering his stuff back up, stuffing them into his bag.

"Is he going to be ok?" she repeated the question.

He sighed, realizing she wasn't going to stop asking. "It was bad," the paramedic explained, reluctantly. "The bullet nicked an artery in his leg, and he'd already lost a lot of blood when we got here. We were able to get the bleeding under control and he's stable."

Rebecca let out a breath of relief. "So, he's going to make it?" she asked again.

The paramedic nodded, "He has a good chance."

Even after everything that Adam has done, Rebecca didn't want to see him die. That just wasn't the kind of person she was. She wanted to see him use this as a way to get his life back on track. Rebecca remembered the kind of man Adam had been, and she knew he could be that man again. He just needed a reason to change.

Rebecca was distracted by her thoughts, she hadn't noticed the paramedic leave and the police officer take his place until he spoke. "Miss?" the officer said. "Could I ask you a few questions about what happened here?"

"Um, sure," Rebecca replied, adjusted AJ in her arms.

"Good, I'm Officer Reynolds," the officer said, sitting down on the coffee table in front of her. "Can you go through the events that took place in the time leading to our arrival here?"

"Ok," Rebecca started, taking a deep breath. "Adam called me a few hours ago, he said 'We're waiting for you.' That was it. At first, I didn't know what that meant, but I knew he had my son. I thought about it and I realized that all Adam wanted was for all of us to be a family. So, I thought that this was where he must be, the house we used to live in." She gestured to the room around her.

Officer Reynolds had been viciously scribbling notes down into his notepad as she talked, now he looked up at her. "And you didn't think to call the police with this information?" he questioned.

"Because, I was afraid that if Adam even suspected that we called the police, he'd take AJ and run. I didn't want to risk my son's life." Rebecca answered, realizing now just dangerous an idea that had been. "We were going to call the police as soon as we got here."

"We try not encourage civilians to take on dangerous situations by themselves," Officer Reynolds chided her. "But what happened next?"

"Adam let me in when I arrived and then almost immediately when I came inside he hit me over the head with something," Rebecca explained, shuddering slightly over the memory. She swallowed before continuing, "When I came to, I was in the bedroom alone. I called out and Adam came in soon after. He started talking about how I lied and betrayed him. He knocked me down to the floor and that's when AJ came in. AJ said something about seeing Ty and Caleb outside and Adam heard him. He didn't like that, so he tied me to the bed and grabbed AJ." Rebecca closed her eyes for a moment, reminding herself that AJ was safe now in her arms.

"Take your time," Officer Reynolds said, surprisingly gentle.

"A few minutes later, Ty and Caleb came in and managed to untie me, but Adam was still there holding a knife to my son," Rebecca replied. AJ gave a small sigh and moved a little in his sleep. Rebecca hurried to finish before he woke up. "We managed to get AJ away from Adam, but we were still trapped, Adam wasn't just going to let us leave. That's when he pulled out the gun. He wanted me and AJ, to be a family like we were supposed to be, but he couldn't have anybody jeopardize that. He was going to kill them. Then, we heard the sirens and Adam got distracted for a moment, so Ty jumped him. They were fighting when the gun went off."

Rebecca took a deep breath as the officer finished writing his notes. "Mommy?" came the small voice. She looked down and saw AJ's deep brown eyes staring up at her. She could feel the smile spread across her face as she looked at her son, whole and healthy in her arms.

"Hey, baby," Rebecca whispered to him, smoothing his brown hair back. His eyes still seem glassy from sleep as he sat up a little.

"Thank you for your time," Officer Reynolds said, slipping his notepad into his coat pocket and standing up. "We'll be in touch if we need anything else from you."

Rebecca nodded as she watched him leave, then she turned back to her son. "How are you feeling? Does anything hurt?" she asked him.

AJ shook his head. "We go home?" he asked her.

"Yes, we're going home now, together," Rebecca told him, hugging him to her.

"Daddy?"

Rebecca glanced up in time to see Caleb come back inside the house. "Yeah, do you want to see him?" she asked, already knowing the answer.

AJ nodded and Rebecca put him down on the floor. She watched the toddler run over to Caleb and the two got reacquainted with each other. Rebecca smiled, knowing that her son had the best life he could have ahead of him. And, just like that she knew what she was going to do.

~OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO~

By the time Ty got home later that night, Amy had just put the twins to bed and was coming downstairs to wait for him. They had dinner over at Heartland and Amy had waited as long as she could for Ty to come back, but the twins were getting cranky. In the end, Amy had taken them home, so that they could go to bed. Now, Amy breathed a huge sigh of relief when she saw Ty step through the front door. She ran down the rest of the stairs and into Ty's arms.

"I'm so glad you're ok!" she exclaimed. "It was getting late, I thought maybe something had happened."

"Well, it did," Ty said, when they pulled apart. He walked her over to the couch in the living room and they both sat down. He glanced once around the room. "Where are the twins?"

"Sleeping," Amy replied simply. "They had wanted to stay up and wait for you, but sleep got the better of them. Now, what happened?"

"Adam, he was on to us from the start," Ty started, taking her hand in both of his and running his thumb over the back of her hand. "I really didn't think we were going to make out of there alive. He had a gun and he was acting completely unhinged, like a live wire that would explode at any moment. Luckily, the police came when they did, Adam was the only one shot. Nobody else was hurt."

"Well, I'm glad," Amy repeated, putting her other hand on top of his. "Are you hungry? I can make you something to eat?"

"No, I'm good," Ty declined. "I just want to go check on my children, you know, after everything that's happen, make sure they're alright."

"Ok," Amy nodded, knowing how he felt. Ty leaned in to kiss her, but right before their lips could touch, Amy's phone beeped with a new text message. Amy pulled out her phone and sighed when she read the message.

"Who is it?" Ty asked, his eyebrows drawing together in curiosity.

"Ahmed," Amy answered, putting the phone on the coffee table. "He's been texting me all afternoon. He wants to know how Autumn is doing, because there is a few shows coming up he'd like to put her in."

"How is Autumn doing?" Ty asked her.

"Great," Amy said. "She's doing great. She loves being out in the pasture with the other horses, but she also loves riding and jumping..." She shook her, unable to say anything else.

"So, what's the problem?"

Amy sighed, unsure whether she should say it. Ty put his arm around her shoulders, encouraging her. "It's just that...I don't think Autumn is mentally suited for that high competitive level Ahmed is aiming at. I saw her at Hillhurst and she was a bundle of nerves, pacing her stall and never standing still for more than a minute," Amy explained. "In the training sessions, she was worse, high head, stiff movements. She was constantly fighting the bit, bucking and rearing too. But here, from the moment she stepped off the trailer, she was relaxed, her whole state-of-being changed. I think she would be better suited showing at a local level, if at all."

"Are you going to tell Ahmed?" Ty asked her.

"I think I should," Amy answered, shrugging. "But he's not going to like it, I mean, he's spent a lot of money on her. And, it sounded like he really didn't want to sell her."

"Well, Ahmed's listened to you in the past, I don't see why he won't this time," Ty assured her, his hand rubbing her shoulder.

"Maybe," Amy muttered, her eyes downcast.

"Hey, we don't have to think about that right now," Ty said. He stood up and held his hand out to her. Amy smiled as she took his hand and let him pull her up. They ascended the staircase hand in hand. Lobo was lying in the hallway, as expected, and he watched them approach, his tailing thumping against the floor. Amy gave the dog a pat on the head as they passed.

Ty opened the twins' bedroom door quietly and crept inside, while Amy stayed by the door. The room was dark, save for the soft glow illuminating from the twins' night-light. Ty reached Jackson first, the toddler had rolled over onto his belly, his head turned to the side. His blanket had slid off, so Ty pulled it back up around him. He whispered into his son's ear and kissed him on the side of his head. Lily was next, and the little girl was clutching her stuffed Pinkie Pie to her small body. Ty gave her a kiss as well, whispering a good night as he did.

When Ty walked back over to Amy, she had a smile on her face. He enfolded his arms around and she rested her chin on his shoulder, her hands holding onto the back of his shirt. There were no need for words, each already knew what the other was thinking. Their family was safe and intact and no harm would come to them again.

A/N: Ok, it's not another cliffhanger, but I'm sorry that it's short. Please review, and tell me your thoughts. :)