Chapter 20

Delphine is laying on the step out the front of her house. Images of herself and Cosima run through her head, tears stream down her face as she contemplates that this is the end for her.

"I'm sorry Cosima my love! I'm sorry I couldn't do more for you! I love you!" She whispers into the darkness that is threatening to overtake her. Pain sears through her body as Delphine struggles to get her mobile out of her pocket. She needed to make the call. It was now or never.

Somewhere in her head she heard sirens, she couldn't tell if they were real or not. 'They are not for you!' Her mind mocked her.

Looking hard at the phone screen Delphine read slowly through her contacts making sure that she found the right one. Tapping at the screen she waits for the call to go through. After what feels like forever the call is answered.

"Delphine? Why are you calling?" Cosima asks.

"I-I-I-I-I-I'm sorry Cosi-Cosima!" Delphine says in barely a whisper.

"Delphine?!" Panic starting to form in Cosima's voice.

"I-I-I-I-I-I'm hurt Cosi-Cosima, I need help. Please help me!" Begged Delphine.

The sirens that had seemed so far away moments ago now sounded so loud.

"What do you mean hurt? Delphine? I'm coming over now! Stay on the phone with me Delphine!" Cosima shouted, fear rising in her belly.

"I-I-I-I w-w-w-will try Cosima, please hurry!" Delphine replied before going silent.

"Delphine? Delphine answer me baby, please answer me!" Urgency sounded in Cosima's voice as she flew out of her home. She knew Delphine wouldn't take such a big risk lightly. Things ran through Cosima's mind as she flagged down a black cab to take her to Delphine. She still had the phone to her ear. She gasped as she listened to the events unfolding the other end of the call.

"OK there is a hell of a lot of blood! We need to find the source of the bleed. The call came through as a shooting so are the police on the way?" The paramedic asked his colleague.

"Yeah, I heard that they would be here a couple of minutes after us. They are sending the matrix team too just in case the shooter decides to have a pop again." The female colleague replied.

"I think we may need to intubate her. We need to help her as much as possible. Grab the kit from the truck. Get PC plod over there to help you with the trolley. We are going to have to move her as soon as we can." The male paramedic said.

'DELPHINE!' Cosima's heart screamed.

The paramedics carried out the intubation easily. Then started to find the gunshot wound to try and stem the blood flow. Delphine knew people were there but couldn't do anything. He body felt as if it didn't belong to her anymore. She looked out of the corner of her eye and saw the crowd gathering outside of her home, people rubbernecking to get a good view of her being worked on. Sending videos to Facebook and all other social media outlets. One figure stood away from the main crowd. Felix was sweating profusely. He had been ordered to comeback. She had wanted to know that he had done what he was supposed to do. If he didn't then the police would conveniently find out that he was the shooter.

Out of nowhere a loud continuous beep made him jump out of his skin. Felix recognised it from all the trashy hospital dramas that he watched at home. Taking his phone out of his pocket he dialled the pre-set number, he waited to be connected. Once he was he simply said "She's Gone!" Before hanging up and walking away from the scene*

Cosima rounded the corner to a media frenzy and commotion as there were so many police cutting off the entry into the street. She caught sight of Delphine being wheeled towards the ambulance. She gave the taxi driver some money and exited the taxi quickly and ran towards the ambulance.

"WAIT! DON'T GO YET! LET ME COME WITH YOU!" She shouted.

"Who are you?" The female paramedic asked suspiciously.

"I'm her partner. Her name is Delphine Cormier!" Cosima said letting them know she did actually know Delphine.

"OK get in! We don't have time to stand about and argue the toss on this." The paramedic sighed. "The police will follow us. Make sure there is no danger to us on the way to the hospital." She told her colleague.

"OK, they do know we are going to King's don't they?" He asked.

"Yes they do. I am not that stupid and if they are following us they will know anyway!" The woman said sounding pissed at her colleague for asking such a stupid question.

"Buckle up, we are going to have to motor it if we want to save her life!" He replied getting back to business.

Cosima sat opposite Delphine, taking her hand in her own. "I'm here now baby, I'm here like I promised, and I would never let you down. Just please don't leave me yet! We can get through this together. Please don't leave me, please don't stop fighting. I'm here always. I love you!"

"We are a couple of minutes away from the hospital now. You do understand you won't be allowed further than the waiting area in the A&E don't you?" The paramedic said to Cosima. She nodded blindly. She didn't want to leave Delphine's side but knew she would only be in the way if she tried to stay with her.

"Also the police will want to talk to you, see if you can shed any light on why anyone would want to shoot Delphine!"

Again Cosima just nodded. She couldn't find any words to say.

The ambulance screeched to a halt and the other paramedic came to the back door and they got Delphine out and wheeled her in quickly through the doors. There were a swarm of doctors and nurses waiting to treat her. She stood in the middle of the ambulance willing her feet to move.

Cosima finally made her way into the building. She went to the desk and asked if there was somewhere more private she could wait. She explained about her anxiety and how she could be struck by a crippling attack at any time. She knew she would probably suffer at some point in the near future but she tried to put the thought to the back of her mind. She knew she had to concentrate on Delphine, and making sure that Delphine pulled through this. She suddenly realised that she needed to call Paul. He was the closest thing to family that Delphine had.

Hands shaking she took out her phone. She scrolled down her contacts until she reached Paul. Tapping the green phone icon she waited for the phone to connect. After a few ring the call was answered.

"Hello, Paul Deardon?"

"Paul, it's Delphine she is hurt!" Cosima blurted out.

"Who is this?" Paul said angrily down the phone.

"Paul its Cosima. Delphine's been hurt, she is in hospital, she has been shot we don't know if she will make it!" Cosima sobbed.

"What the fuck happened? I only spoke to her this morning and everything was ok!" Paul demanded.

"I don't know, she rang me before ….." Cosima couldn't continue.

"Before what Cosima? Please tell me!" Paul begged her.

"I was at home. She called me. As you know she shouldn't be in contact with me as that is part of her bail conditions. I thought it was strange, she just said she had been hurt. I didn't know how badly but knew it was bad enough that she would risk everything to ring me. I got to hers and there were police and ambulances everywhere. She's been shot Paul. Someone has shot our Delphine!" Cosima explained tears streaming down her face.

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! I'm going to ring Beth and we will be down as soon as we can. Just keep me updated OK!" Paul demanded.

"You know I will Paul. Please just try and get here soon. I don't think I can do this on my own!" Cosima pleaded to her girlfriend's best friend.

"Call Felix to be there with you until we get there. Don't be alone please!" Paul said.

"OK!" Cosima conceded.

"See you soon. Remember keep me updated, any little thing!" Paul emphasised.

Paul finished the call. Cosima just sat and cradled the phone. Any thought of calling Felix vanished from her head. All she wanted was to know about Delphine and be with her.

Cosima paced the room she was in. The anxiety building up inside her. No one had been in to see her and let her know what was going on. She decided to go out and ask at the desk if there was any news. On leaving her little comfort zone Cosima was hit by so much noise. Police were everywhere. After getting no joy from the desk a doctor had made his way over towards her.

"Are you Delphine Cormier's Partner?" He asked.

"Yes. I am Cosima. Is Delphine alright?" Cosima asked her heart sinking.

"I'm Doctor Olivier; I have been dealing with Delphine. I have come to let you know she is currently in surgery. She has suffered significant damage to her liver. We are doing all we can to repair it. There is a strong chance that she will lose the liver and have to go on the transplant list. She has lost a lot of blood and that is our main concern at the moment. We are doing all we can to replace it and stop the bleeding. At this moment the next 36 hours are critical. The police have been asking questions too. Is it alright if I send them your way?" Doctor Olivier explained compassionately.

Cosima nodded again words escaped her. She could still lose her Delphine.

"OK Cosima I will give you a bit of time to process what I have told you before I send the police your way, but I must warn you, you will not like what they are going to say."

"Thank you!" Cosima whispered hoarsely.

Doctor Olivier left her and Cosima made her way back towards the room. Shutting the door behind her she broke down.

A/N hey guys sorry it's been a long time coming I know, so many things have been going on and I kind lost the flow with this story. I am now back on it because I hopefully want to have this finished before season 5 starts. Thank you to everyone who has helped get this story to over 4000 views, I was gobsmacked to say the least when that happened.

Thank you all for your continued support. Much love to you all.