Chapter 4

As Caitlin gave Hawke another sip of water, she could feel the heat radiating from his body. She and Sam talked with him awhile to calm him as he suddenly became a bit agitated. Little by little his speech became erratic and it was apparent to them that he was delirious.

"Why did you do that Caitlin?" he asked, his voice shaking.

Caitlin looked at Sam and then back at Hawke. "Do what?" she replied while gently stroking his hair.

"Come and get me," he said. "You shouldn't have come."

Caitlin shrugged her shoulders. "You mean in the store?"

"Store? What store?" asked Hawke before continuing. "Where am I?"

"We're locked in a storeroom remember?" Caitlin said softly. "Shhh….take it easy."

Sam drenched a new towel with cool water and Caitlin placed it on Hawke's forehead. He gave her a second one to wipe his face with as the sweat was beading down his flushed cheeks.

"The fever is pretty high now," said Sam. "I pray they find us soon."

"Cait, why did you come?" he asked her again.

"Why did I come where?" she replied, wanting to answer him but knowing he wasn't in his right frame of mind.

"Horn…..why did you come?" he asked. "Too dangerous…..could have killed you."

Caitlin looked down and noticed he was staring up at her. His eyes were glazed over but she could tell he was trying to focus on her. "I couldn't leave you there," she replied. "I would do anything for you."

"Why?" he asked softly. "Why….." he said again as he drifted off.

Tears ran down Caitlin's face. "Because I love you," she whispered, knowing he couldn't hear her. "I always will."

A few moments later, Sam and Caitlin heard loud noises coming from outside of the storeroom.

"String! Caitlin!" yelled Dom.

"Dom!" Caitlin yelled back. "We're in here! Hurry, String's hurt!"

A few minutes later they heard the lock being removed from the door and Dom rushed in.

"Thank God you're here," Caitlin told him as she jumped up and gave him a hug. "Hawke's been shot. He's pretty bad off."

"Amelia, Sam's wife just called the police and an ambulance," Dom told them.

"How did you know how to find us?" asked Caitlin.

"When you didn't call or come back, I got worried so I headed to the last place I knew you'd been and saw that the jeep was still here," replied Dom. "I called Sam's house and Amelia said he should still be here too. When he didn't answer, she came out with the keys. That's when we saw the place had been shot up."

Sam jumped up as Amelia ran into the storeroom. She jumped into his arms and hugged him tightly. "I was so worried," she told him. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," replied Sam. "Poor String was shot and we need to get him to the hospital."

Dom squatted down by Hawke on the floor. "How bad is it?" he asked Sam.

"The bullet went through but there seems to be a pretty bad infection," replied Sam.

The next half hour seemed as though it were in slow motion for Caitlin. The police and an ambulance came quickly. Hawke was taken to the hospital and she followed along with Dom. String was immediately whisked away while the two sat in the waiting room.

"Honey, are you okay?" asked Dom when he finally noticed that Caitlin had a small bandage on her forehead. "Where you hurt?"

"I'm fine," she insisted.

"I think she needs to be checked out," said Sam as he came down the hall with his wife and overheard their conversation. "She was unconscious for several minutes after the shooting."

"Come on," Dom said as he stood up and grabbed her hand. "Let's go and have the doctor take a look at you."

Caitlin shook her head. "Dom, I'm fine," she insisted again. "I'm just worried about Hawke."

"He's being taken care of," replied Dom. "Right now, you're my concern."

"But Dom…" Caitlin tried to object but Santini wouldn't listen to her. He kept a tight hold of her hand and pulled her down the hall to the nurse's station to find a doctor to check her out.

One more chapter should finish this one. I'll try to have it up later tonight or tomorrow night. :o)