When Kim passed out, Jack had the moment of total disconnect from reality. Everything was quiet and his vision was narrowed to Kim and her face. He looked at her face uncomprehending: why were her eyes closed again? He stared at her until he saw a flutter of lashes against her skin. Suddenly, the world around him had sound and movement again. He quickly run his hands over her body. There were no bullet wounds that he could see. She was unconscious, but not wounded. Jack was clutching Kim to him, holding her close. She had to be OK.

He heard his name being called and turned to see Sledge standing over him with a gun in his hand. Bobby and the other two guys were all standing nearby. "How are you guys?"

"She is unconscious. I think she has a bad concussion and she is bruised, but I can't tell if anything else is wrong."

"What about you? You took a crazy jump there kid. Anything hurts?"

Jack just shook his head. "You sure? Your hand..."

"It's fine. We need to get her to the hospital. Are you guys OK?"

"All good. We called in the FBI. They'd need to see all this." Sledge pointed around himself.

Jack followed his movements. Leona was unconscious on the ground, with handcuffs on her. The man, who must have been her accomplice, was lying on his back, a pool of blood growing larger around his head. Jack never saw a dead body before and for a brief moment he was sick to his stomach. He looked away and asked, "will you get in trouble for killing the man?"

"Well, there is obviously self-defense and defense of others..." Sledge trailed off.

"He won't get into trouble. I shot him," Bobby announced.

Sledge quickly looked at him. "You sure Bobby?"

"Yes, they'll see a distraught father, who took a crazy chance to save his girl and shot a man, who held a gun. Even if prosecutors decide to bring the case against me, chances are the jury might see it my way."

"Well, in that case, I and my men will leave now. On foot. You would need the car to get to the hospital."

Sledge and the other were gone and Jack and Bobby were left to wait for the FBI to show up. Kim was looking paler and paler by the second and Jack was worried that there was something terribly wrong with her.

She had to be OK.

Finally be stood up with Kim in his arms.

"Bobby, I need to get her to the hospital. You'll be OK by yourself here?"

Bobby waived a gun in his hand, "yeah, of course. Go. Take care of her. I'll call others and her parents. And have someone look at your hand."

Jack nodded and left carrying Kim close tho his chest. She was light and he hoisted her high, so that her head was on his shoulder and not jostled too much. He was careful not to disturb any of her visible bruises. He swallowed hard. She had to be OK.

He drove as quickly as he could without disturbing her too much. She lay on the reclined passenger seat and from this angle she looked like she was asleep. If you could ignore her dirty and bloody clothes and messed up hands and wrists. It obvious to him now that she was tied up and somehow managed to break free. For a second he imagined it, Kim tied up and being beaten, and he had to grit his teeth and forcible think of the road lest his heartache for her and the violent need to go back and pay back Leona overwhelmed him. She needed him. He needed her.

She had to be OK.

He got the Seaford hospital and stopped the car the emergency entrance. He was out of the door and carrying Kim in record time. The triage nurse took a look at him and started shouting orders. Jack didn't know what picture they presented just then. Him dressed in all black, dirty, with a grim expression on his face, and cradling an unconscious girl tenderly.

Everything moved fast afterwards. Kim was transferred to the gurney and taken to the room. Nurse was asking him question about Kim's injuries and they all looked at him weirdly when they got to her hands with make shift brass knuckles. He just shrugged his shoulders, "I don't know what happened here. She had those on when I found her."

The nurse muttered something about police and Jack said, "The FBI is on their way."

More weird looks and then Kim was taken in. Before the nurse left, she said she'd send someone to look at his hand.

It was all too much like the last time Kim was in the hospital. Jack waited, paced, tried to keep himself distracted from fearful thoughts.

"Jack!" He jumped and turned to face Kim's parents, his own parents, and his friends. Kim's mother ran to him and hugged him crying into his chest. "Thank you, thank you, thank you... How is she? How are you?"

Before he could answer, Chuck and Jack's parents came up. His mom was hugging him too and his shirt was getting wet from all the tears. Chuck patted him on the back, "thank you, son."

"It wasn't just me. Milton and Bryn, they figured where she was kept."

"I know son. Still, thank you..."

Milton and Bryn looked away shy and Ricky nodded at Jack from where he was. The pop star looked haggard and Jack knew that he was worried. He came to him and told him about Sledge and others coming on foot.

They all sat waiting again. Jack's mom was pestering him about his hand and trying to get him to eat something. He waived it all off and eventually the doctor came out. It was the same young Asian American doctor from the last time.

"Family of Kim Crawford?" at everyone's nods she continued. "She has a third degree concussion, various cuts and contusions. We will need an MRI to see how bad the concussion is and X-rays to determine if she has fractures of wrists and knees. She is dehydrated and we believe she had been given drugs to keep her sedated." Doctor's delivery was clinical, but her voice was soft and her eyes were even softer. "After the tests are completed, she will be taken to her room here. You can see her then."

She turned to leave, but then caught sight of Jack. "Did anyone check your hand?"

"There is nothing wrong with my..." Jack trailed off as he lifted his hands. His left wrist was looking kind of funny. It was purpling and there was something poking out, where it shouldn't. "Huh... Well, that looks strange."

The doctor took his hand and started prodding it. "Do you feel any pain? Any discomfort?"

Jack was about to shake his head, but was overtaken by shivers. It was how he sometimes felt after the matches; he knew it was just the adrenaline letting down and he simply tried to breath through it, but it was not enough. His brain, finally no longer in constant worry over Kim, started processing all the things that happened in the last several days and Jack could not stop the shivers and shaking of his hands. Now his hand hurt. A lot. So did his shoulder and he recalled that he did fall on them pretty hard when he jumped from the balcony.

"We need to X-ray your wrist," the doctor was firm, but Jack was already shaking his head no.

"No, I need to see Kim when she is out of tests."

"It'll be a while. We need to do an MRI. You'll be done with your test long before she is. Come now, don't argue. The sooner you are done, the sooner you can come back here. I'll send the nurse with orders." the doctor left and Jack looked around to see a mass of curious and grateful faces.

"Dude, did you not see or feel your hand being all funky? How did you even do that?" Jerry was staring at Jack in awe.

"I didn't feel anything. There was the balcony that I jumped from. I think that's when it happened, but there were bullets flying, so..." Jack stopped talking because his mother started sobbing quietly and others stared at him like they never saw him before.

He was grateful when the nurse showed up to take him to do the test.


When he got back, with a brand new cast on his wrist and taped up shoulder, the crowd grew with addition of Rudy, Bobby, his security and the FBI agent, who worked on Kim's disappearance. Apparently, he was here to accommodate Bobby's request to see Kim and then to take Bobby off for questioning. When the nurse came in she was taken aback to see such a large crowd.

"The patient is asleep. Only family members for now."

Kim's parents and Bobby left to see Kim and Jack was left with the rest of the group looking at him.

"What happened out there Jack? Was it Leona? Bobby only said that you found Kim and were on the way to the hospital..." Milton asked him and Jack was stumped at what exactly to tell his friends. He was not sure he could tell them about the dead man.

"It was Leona. She had one guy helping her. Kim already broke free from wherever they were holding her and when we got in, she was fighting Leona. Kim got her down, but her accomplice had a gun and started shooting. I am not sure what exactly happened: I just ran to Kim and the next thing I know, Leona was handcuffed and her assistant was unconscious."

There, thought Jack, this was truthful and vague enough.

All other questions had to wait because Bobby returned with the FBI agent. Jack was wanted for questioning as well, but he outright refused to come until Kim woke up. They stared at each other for a moment, and the then the agent nodded and left.

Slowly, one by one, people started leaving since there was not much to do, but to wait. Chuck left Kim's room and offered that Jack can take his place. He himself wanted to talk to the police and FBI. He left and Jack was alone with Ricky in the waiting room.

"You know Jack, I envy you. Not because you have Kim, but because you love her and she you. People talk about it a lot, but not many actually get to experience it. You literally jumped from the balcony for her and did not care about bullets."

"I don't know what to say to that. Kim... she is... She told me once that we have thousand of days of memories between us... I don't know when I knew I loved her, but now I think that I always have... She is everything and being without her is not an option I want to consider." Jack trailed off feeling oddly exposed having said all of that to Ricky.

The other man just nodded. After a long silence he finally said, "Was that all that happened there? Why they need to talk to Bobby?"

Jack sighed and quietly said, "Leona's accomplice has been shot dead. I am not sure who did it, but Bobby decided to claim that it was him. At that moment, when I jumped and the guy fired a gun, Kim fell and I thought that she was shot. I think Sledge thought so too and fired his gun. Only his aim was true..."

The two young men sat silent again and Jack marveled at the twist of fate that made him contemplate Ricky as possibly one of his friends.


Their reverie was disturbed when Eric Stormer showed up. Jack scowled and started getting up and Ricky followed the suit. Eric raised his hands in mock surrender, "Wait! I am not here for the story. In fact, I am here to help."

Jack scoffed disbelieving. Eric continued, "you should know that pictures of you carrying Kim into the hospital looking all black-ops commando have already been posted on some fan sites."

Jack's jaw fell open and he stared at Eric in shock, "Black-ops commando?"

"Yes. And then the contingent of your usual friends and family came here. And then Ricky... People would be making up stories anyway. I can help. Let me get out the best story out there." Eric seemed sincere, his eyes were practically pleading.

"Why do yo want to help? What's in it for you?"

"I feel terrible. When I came across the car wreck, I thought it was because of me. That they tried to get away from me..."

"What? Why?"

"I followed Kim in LA and they spotted me and tried to evade... And then, that bodyguard, he was so upset... And after all the questioning, I figured that Kim was taken... I am glad you got her back... I am sorry I caused her so much headache... Plus, if I get to tell the story and quote you or Ricky directly, it would be a coup for me."

So Eric was remorseful, but also acted in self-interest.

"What are the stories out there now?" Ricky asked sharply.

"There are three prevalent theories. One, Kim was secretly seeing you in LA and got OD'ed. Two, she miscarried and people are split on whose baby it was. Third, and so far the most popular, is that Kim is actually terminally ill and is on her death bed."

What the hell? Jack looked at Eric, then Ricky, then back at Eric in shock. "Drugs, pregnancy or deathbed? How do people come out with such theories?"

"Well, the truth is much more unbelievable..." Ricky said and Jack chuckled unhappily in agreement.

"If they have the picture of me with Kim coming into the hospital, maybe we should try to work with that. Go with as much truth as possible. Say, Kim was in LA. I went with her. On the way back there was an accident. I brought her in. I even have the broken wrist as proof that I was in accident as well."

"OK, OK... That would work... I have some pictures from her time in LA..." at this Jack glared at Eric, who just shrugged his shoulders apologetically. "I have the footage of the car wreck. It looks very bad. Then the pictures of you coming in with Kim. All I need is a picture of you here with cast in view and then I can run with a story."

Jack sighed and nodded his head. It was part of the cover story now. Jack sat back heavily on the chair, elbows on his lap and head hung low. He felt Ricky plop down next to him and stretch out in the uncomfortable chair. The two young men did not realize it, but at the moment, they were a picture of weary, tired, anxious friends... Eric took the picture and mentally congratulated himself. It was one of the best photos he took in his life as the celebrity reporter. The two young men were attractive in a completely opposite ways. Jack was the epitome of tall, dark and handsome, and had the masculine aura about him that suited well for drama and action. Ricky had more of the elfin look about him: young, effervescent and beautiful like a dream. Together, they were devastating.


GossipGirls dot com

There was a lot of speculation in the last three days about Kim Crawford and Jack Brewer. After Kim's father, Bobby Wasabi, has insisted on putting his daughter in a private school (see the related story as reported by us first, here) the young woman was not seen of heard of. Similarly, her boyfriend and Bobby's protege Jack Brewer was not seen around. Some speculated that Kim was sick again (see the story on her hospitalization with food poisoning).

We have uncovered the truth! Kim and Jack were in a terrible car accident that left Kim with a concussion and Jack with a broken wrist. The young couple were in LA, where Kim was auditioning. [embedded pictures]

On the way back, their car was in an accident. [embedded pictures] It is unclear at this moment, what caused the accident. By all accounts the accident was bad and it is sheer luck that everyone walked away alive. There were four people in that car: Kim, Jack, the driver and Kim's bodyguard.

Later on, Jack was spotted bringing Kim into the hospital. [embedded pictures].

Kim's condition is stable and Jack only suffered a broken wrist. As you can see, the latest accident brought everyone to Kim's bedside. Her parents, Bobby, friends, and even Ricky Weaver were seen coming and going to and from the hospital. [embedded pictures]

We here at GossipGirls wish her and everyone speedy recovery. She has a faithful boyfriend and a loyal friend waiting anxiously for her. [embedded picture]