A/N: I felt like I should do a "previously on" so here it is:

After Winnie is rescued from a violent kidnapping, and she believes she knows who orchestrated the kidnapping and decides to take matters into her own hands. Meanwhile Team One responds to a particularly disturbing suicide intervention, which makes Ed rethink a recent decision he had made. While on her way to meet her mom, who is in severe pain, Megan gets side tracked and must talk down a violent individual without any help or assistance.

Sounds like fun, doesn't it?

The Security guard brought Megan to the emergency room, where a man held a 12 gauge shotgun.

"Stay back." She said to the guard, as she took cover behind a semi-transparent wall, "Sir, my name is Megan Perrasmith, and I'm with the Strategic Response Unit- mind telling me what's going on here?"

"Isn't that just great, eh?" he yelled, "Your team is searching for my records and has a sniper on me, eh? I saw what happened at First York Plaza a few years ago."

"That's right." Megan lied, "You know a lot about us then. Why don't we cut to the chase, and save us the trouble and tell us who you are and what you want?"

"But no one is listening to me!"

"I'm listening to you sir, and you have my full attention."

A cruiser drove Winnie back to her home. On the drive back Winnie was deep in thought.

I wonder who thought 'hey, let's kidnap a police dispatcher and demand a half million dollars. It worked on Dog Day Afternoon, did it not?' Yeah, right. Why email Spike though? Why kidnap me? There has to be easier people to extort for money. And why Spike?

"We're here." The officer said, "You should try to rest Miss- you've had an exciting day, from what I hear."

Winnie got out and the cruiser left.

He's the only person I can think of…

Winnie entered her house, and immediately went upstairs to her bedroom. Once there, she opened her closet door, and keyed in the lock combination to a small safe that was bolted to the shelf and wall.

Once the door opened, she grabbed a small handgun and its magazine beside it.

In one motion, she slipped the magazine in and racked a bullet into the chamber, ready to fire.

"Ma'am, is there anybody we should contact?" a nurse asked Jules, as she was carted into a private room, "Husband- anybody?"

"My daughter….but she's at work…ahhhhhh!" Jules cried out in pain, "My baby…"

Another nurse came in with an IV drip machine and a bag of medications, "We're going to start you on a heavy IV drip of magnesium, ok Mrs. Perrasmith?" the nurse explained, "It's going to counteract any negative effects you've been feeling. I've contacted your OB/GYN. She's seeing a few patients right now, but she'll be up as soon as possible. Once she's here she's going to do a pelvic exam."

"How is my…" Jules started.

"The doctor on staff, Doctor Joanne Tate is going to come in and perform an ultrasound to check on your baby, make sure everything is ok."

"My name- you wanted my name, right?" the man asked Megan.

"Yes." Came her response.

"I'm surprised you don't have it yet- it's James. James Hunter."

"Thank you James. Why don't you tell me why I'm here?"

That was a lie, and Megan knew it. How long can I keep lying to him? Rule number one of engagement- do not lie. I know why I'm here- and it's not to see him, it's to see my mom, who is probably in pain.

"All I want is someone to listen…to understand that I'm pissed off! Pissed off because…"

"What?" Megan asked aloud, as a nurse passed her the files on James Hunter, "Why are you pissed off James?"

"My wife- four weeks ago, she had a heart attack. I called 911, and started CPR, mouth to mouth you know? The ambulance came and took her to the hospital. By the time they got here- she was dead."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Megan said, working a new angle in the negotiations, "It hurts to see someone pass on."

"That's not the worst part. The worst part is, I get a bill today, saying I have to pay for the ambulance ride. I have to pay! I have to pay for the negligence and recklessness of the EMTs who failed to keep my wife alive! And I'm expected to pay?"

Megan chanced a look around the corner to James Hunter. He had the shotgun pointed in her general direction.

"Why don't you come out where I can see you, coward?" he continued, "Don't worry, I'm sure your sniper will kill me before there's any real threat to you."

Ed and Spike responded to the suicide intervention call. Spike secured the scene, while Ed started engaging the woman in suicide intervention.

"Hey, my name is Ed Lane, and I work with the Strategic Response Unit. I'm here to help you, ok?"

"Right," the woman said, without looking back to Ed, "That's what the other officer said a few weeks ago."

"What are you talking about?" Ed asked.

The woman turned her head to see Ed. "You…" she said, "It's your fault!"

Ed recognized the woman too. From an attempted rape a few weeks ago- Ed had made the decision to go less lethal on the suspect, rather than lethal, which Megan and him had discussed.

"Why didn't you go lethal?" Megan asked.

"It was a decision that I made." Ed replied.

"So is that the decisions you make when women are being violated?" Megan asked, "Because he's going to spend a year in prison because it was only attempted rape. Then he's going to be on the National

Sexual Offenders list, but as soon as he does a Sexual Rehabilitation course, he'll be removed from the NSO. What's to stop him from trying it again once that's all over?"

Ed remembered her name.

"Why do you want to kill yourself today Susan?"

"He'll get out, and he'll try to do it again. There's only one way to stop it."

"Susan- this isn't the way to stop it." Ed argued, "There are other ways. You could testify to his Corrections Officer, and maybe the court will lengthen his sentence. If he gets out, and you think he's going to try it again, you can get a restraining order. Everything is better than this Susan."

"No- this is the only way."

The doctor came in and started the ultrasound.

"I'm sorry about the delay, Mrs. Perrasmith. There's a minor security incident in the ER."

Jules looked concerned, "What?"

"It is nothing to worry about dear, there is a police officer and she's…."

"What?" Jules asked, as she tried to look at the monitor.

The doctor pulled a stool over and sat beside Jules. "Mrs. Perrasmith, I have some news based on the results of the ultrasound."

"What is it? Is there something wrong?"

"Mrs. Perrasmith, you need to prepare yourself, because in all likelihood, you may have to give birth today."

"But, she's under-developed, would she…?"

"Don't worry." The doctor said, as she picked up the clipboard, "I'm ordering another IV drug which will help with the pain, but hopefully will also prevent the possibility of your daughter being born today."

Winnie got into her car and drove. She drove to the same place that she was going when she was kidnapped.

She got out of the car and approached the door. Before she knocked, she ensured that the gun was within easy reach.

After knocking, a man, with her same complexion and height, but with short buzz cut hair answered.

"Winnie…" he said, "Why are you here?"

Winnie drew out the gun, "Don't even! Don't even try to pretend like you care! Get inside Jesse, get inside the house!"

Jesse backed into the house. Winnie followed and shut the door behind her.

"What's this all about WinWin?" Jesse asked her, using her nickname.

"Don't play dumb Jesse." Winnie said, as she gained confidence and pointed the gun at him.

"Come on out-coward!" James Hunter jeered at Megan, "Why don't you come out, eh?"

Megan understood the situation. She couldn't expose herself, especially when she had no backup, and no way of contacting anyone for assistance.

"I can't do that James." Megan informed him, "So this is about your wife. You don't want to pay for her final bills. Everyone copes in their own way James, but taking a gun into a hospital, that's a bit extreme, even for you, right?"

"You don't know me!"

"I know enough about you." Megan said, "Your gun, 24 inch fluted barrel, covered in a Duckblind camo. You're also wearing a camo coat in the same type of camo. I'm going to venture a guess that you're a duck hunter, right, and that you've done it for a while, because that Winchester, it has to be at least 30 years old."

"That's right." James said, "You know guns?"

"Yeah, I do. My dad taught me a lot about guns growing up- the safe operation and everything. I'm sure you know all about that, right?"

"Yeah."

"So why don't you lower the gun a bit, because, the way I'm seeing things, your sight is aimed right at that wall over there, and something tells me you don't intend to shoot that wall."

James lowered the gun.

"Thank you James, I appreciate it." Megan said, "Why don't you tell me why you're really here today? Does it have anything to do with the coroner's report? Did you know that the coroner reported that your wife died due to cardiac pressure, and they believe that the pressure was put on by the person who performed CPR?"

"Shut up, and come out, coward."

"I can't do that."

"Yes you can!" he screamed.

"James," Megan started, "Why don't I tell you why I think you're here? I think you're here because you believe what the coroner found and you want to absolve yourself by being shot here today. Right?"

"That's not it." James muttered.

Megan stayed crouched down, but her right hand dropped down and grasped the grip on her sidearm, as she slowly pulled it out.

"Susan- this is not the way!" Ed yelled at her.

"Yes it is!" she screamed back, "I kill myself, and then he can never touch me again."

"And what's to stop him from touching someone else?" Ed asked, "Eh? You jump, you die. He gets out and he goes after someone else- another innocent person. Only that time- he might finish it. Why don't you come down? We can make sure he doesn't come after you again, and you can make sure he sees justice- isn't that fair?"

"No!" Susan yelled, as she edged closer, "All my life, I've followed the decisions made by other people! This is my decision, to protect myself. I don't care about other people; I just want to make sure he can never touch me again!'

Ed edged closer to her.

"Don't come any closer, or I'll jump!"

Winnie kept the gun pointed at Jesse.

"What's going on Win-"

"Don't even!" Winnie yelled him, stopping him from calling her by the nickname, "Don't."

"I'm just trying to understand." Jesse replied.

"Understand this! I come home, every night, and I just want to talk about my day. But you didn't want to talk, so you just stay at your place. Its starts pissing you off so much, that you consider breaking up with me. But then you remember- 'I'm nothing without her'. That's when you cooked up the idea of having me kidnapped and asking for a half a million!"

"What are you saying?" Jesse asked, "Are you hearing yourself?"

"In the Strategic Response Unit, we're trained to shoot to kill. A lot of people think that it's just the officers of the teams who get trained, but the dispatchers get trained to. We're trained to shoot people, Jesse. You want to know how that feels?"

"No, I don't."

"Then admit it! Admit you hired a pair of thugs to kidnap me and ask for a half million dollars."

Jesse took a step back.

"Ok- I hired Randy and Cody to take you, rough you up. But I didn't ask for a half a million dollars Winnie."

"Put your hands on your head!" Winnie yelled, as she came closer, and dug out a pair of handcuffs from her purse. "Do not move!"

Megan gained confidence as she drew out her sidearm. In one movement, she darted out behind her cover, and stood up, with the full sized pistol trained on James Hunter.

"You're not going to shoot me James." Megan reasoned, "You know why? Because you are a good person who bad things have happened to. You haven't shot anyone today, and you don't have to. You want to see justice? Take a civil suit to the EMT association."

James teared up, as he handed Megan the gun, "I don't want to kill anyone."

"Put your hands on your head, slowly, and do not move." Megan said, as she carefully put the shotgun on the floor and continue approaching James.

Once she was close enough, she grabbed a pair of handcuffs and cuffed him.

"James Hunter, you're under arrest for public endangerment, and the improper use of a sporting firearm. Anything you say or do can be used against you in a court of law. Do you understand?"

Finally, Jules' OB/GYN came and did the pelvic exam. Once she was completed, she went out in the hallway and had a discussion with the doctor on duty. Jules could see them. It seemed at first the OB was arguing, but then was agreeing with the doctor. Now she was signing some forms that the doctor gave her.

Together the OB/GYN and the doctor entered.

"Mrs. Perrasmith-" the doctor said, "Your baby is having difficulty breathing, which is causing her to be in distress. We need to perform an emergency C-section. Once your child is out of the womb, we can start giving her direct medications, and if we have to, microscopic surgeries to repair the under-developed lungs."

Jules looked to her OB/GYN.

"I'll be there the whole time." She said to Jules, "To assist in the surgery."

"Ok." Jules said, "Where's my daughter? She should be here by now."

"I don't know Mrs. Perrasmith, what's her name?" the doctor asked.

"Megan. Megan Perrasmith."

"Ok, we'll see if we can track her down. In the meantime, we have to get you down to the OR to start preparing for the surgery."

"I'm not consenting until I see my daughter." Jules stated.

Using a phone on the wall, Megan called in another police unit, who came to pick up the suspect and his gun. After signing the transfer of custody paperwork, Megan heard a page over the intercom in the hospital.

"Megan Perrasmith, I repeat, Mrs. Megan Perrasmith, if you are in the building, please report to Room D1211."

"I have to go." Megan said quickly to the officer, as she handed him James' shotgun.

She approached the elevator, but it quickly closed on her.

Beside the elevator she looked at the directory.

D-Wing- 5th floor.

She bounded up the stairs, with all of her equipment on, puzzling several people that she passed.

Once on the 5th floor, she saw a large nurses' station.

"Hi," she said, as she approached the station, "I'm Megan Perrasmith. I heard the page. Is my mother here?"

A nurse showed her to the room.

"Mom." Megan said, as she gave her a big hug, "What's going on, are you ok?"

Megan took in the scene. There were two doctors she didn't recognize in the room, and it looked like they were waiting for something to happen.

"I have to have a C-section. There's something wrong with the baby." Jules said, with a few tears.

Megan immediately held her mother's hand and said, "You have to be strong ma. For dad."

Jules nodded to Megan and then to the doctors, "I'm ready."

Ed couldn't stop it from happening.

A car had zipped by the barricades that Spike had directed the officers to setup. The car caught Ed's attention, as he had to dodge out of the way to avoid being hit.

When Ed looked back to the ledge, where Susan was, she was gone.

Ed went to the edge and looked down to the ground below. What he saw was something that he had only seen once before, and it was on a training video in the Police Academy.

With his anger at himself building up, he punched the cement wall on the bridge, followed by several kicks with his boots. He was angry at failing to properly intervene on this suicide. He was angry at Dr. Toft for instilling doubt into his mind about every decision he made. He was angry at Clark, who kept on defying him.

He kept on punching and kicking cement, until Spike came up beside him, and tried to stop him, but he just pushed Spike to the ground and continuing wailing on the unyielding cement wall. Finally, Spike stood back up, and with the help of Greg, who had just arrived on scene, they managed to put a pair of handcuffs on Ed.

Down in the operating room prep area, Megan stood beside the stretcher, holding her mom's hand.

"Are you scared?" Megan asked.

Jules nodded.

"Are you?" Jules asked.

"What if something happens to you mom?" Megan replied, tearing up, "I don't want to be alone."

"You won't be." Jules stated, "Because nothing is going to happen to me. You know why? Because he's watching- your dad is watching, and I believe he won't let anything happen, ok?"

Megan nodded, as a few surgical nurses came over and started to cart the stretcher into the nearest set of doors that had a huge decal on them stating 'Authorized Personnel Only'.