The hospital was a blur for Kate. Doug had been found at his girlfriend's apartment and arrested. Kate had been able to find an attorney willing to sit in on the interrogation with him. She sat like a statue in the waiting room, paying no mind to her surroundings. Her cast and clothes were dirty, covered in a layer of sweat. Her leg was aching and possibly fractured beyond what it was before. Nurses tried to help her and communicate with her with no such luck. She was alone. She had tried to call Krista, Jem's sister, only to find out that Krista was too high to drive and feared being searched by the police. Her good knee bounced wildly as she stared at the grains of the door. She bit down on her lower lip imagining Jem laying in her lap again. She was angry with herself for not noticing something was wrong with him. She felt like it was her fault. Rubbing her hands on her thighs, her eyes lit up as she watched the surgeon walk out of the doors. "Can I go see him?" she asked, looking hopefully up at him. The surgeon swallowed hard and pulled the strings on his gown loose.

"I'm very sorry, miss, but he didn't make it through the surgery. His wound was too large," the surgeon spoke, trying to keep eye contact with her. Her eyes fell to the ground as she slowly let herself slip away. The entire world seemed to dissolve, the lines becoming foggy… He was gone. Tears found their familiar place on her cheeks. A nasty ball of burning emotion lodged itself into her chest. She held her face as she cried, trying to think of the times she had feared to hear those words. She remembered the nights he had been shot in the stomach and they considered it to be fatal. She tried to remember kissing him for the last time, before he left her house. Memories of them together played in her head. "Would you like to see him?" he asked calmly. She nodded, barely able to understand him. He reached down to help her up and steady her. She walked slowly beside him, her hands gripping his arm. Each step seemed to pull her closer to floor. "Here we are," he told her, stopping just before a closed door. She stared at the numbers on the plaque beside the door for a long time, unable to make the walk inside. Part of her tried to think that she would walk in and find him sitting in bed laughing, with a silly smirk on his face. The pain in her chest when she realized that wasn't going to happen spread across her body. It was a cold and awful feeling. The doctor turned the knob and opened the door, holding onto her as he walked in. She stood still for a second, feeling the still air flow out of the room and onto her skin. Her feet felt heavy as she lifted them to walk into the room. Her eyes refused to focus on the body lying on the bed.

The air she had breathed in quickly escaped her when she finally looked at him. He was still, pale, with a large amount of gauze over his right shoulder. His silver chain and cross were caked in dark red blood. His mouth was lifeless. It burned straight through her to see him that way. Her stomach churned as her hand touched his cool skin. Jem's skin used to be warm. It was her heater on the nights when the weather was so cold. She struggled to get into bed beside him. She put her head on his chest and ran her hand over his jaw, trying her best to keep herself from crying and screaming out. His once beating heart remained still. Her mind tried to pretend he was asleep as small sobs escaped her… he was really gone.

The funeral was hard. Kate had barely eaten in days. Doug had managed to escape imprisonment by Kate's saving face and pleading with the Mayor. She resigned shortly after Doug was pardoned. Fergie was arrested due to black mail and the murdering of his four men. He confessed to killing them in order to throw off his own plan to rob Fenway Park.

Kate sat still next to Doug on the hard metal folding chair, gripping Doug's hand as she looked into the only picture of Jim smiling. The casket was closed and only the silver cross and necklace laid on top of it. There was a loud creak as Jem was lowered into the ground. Doug patted Kate's hand as she squeezed his. Her eyes began to water as she thought of how lonely he would be in the ground like that. He wouldn't be close to anyone. It scared the life out of her. A few lone stray tears fell down her cheek as she listened to Jem's favorite drinking song "Parting Glass" played by The Pogues. The fighting Irishman was finally done fighting. No more battles. No more hurt. Just rest and darkness.

I do have an alternate ending, where Jem lives. Let me know if you'd like to see it. If not, I'm not gonna waste my time to type it all out when I can get started on something else. :) Thank you all for reading. It's been wonderful to be back in the writing scene. It's my escape and I love it. It's been great to have all of this support in your darkest time of writing. Love to each of you!