Chapter 66
Everything moved in slow motion, as Matt watched his brother and Jessica fall face first to the floor. He wasn't even sure what had happened. He and Vince had had Shane under control as Jeff helped Jessica to the door. The next thing he knew, Shane had somehow managed to knock both of them off of him and reached for the gun. He fired so quickly that Matt only had a moment to warn his brother. Now, there was only silence. He looked at his brother covering Jessica, and let out a sigh of relief as he saw them start to move.
"Are you okay?" Jeff said slowly getting off of her.
"You're hurting me." She whispered.
"Sorry." He started to get up and she turned to look at him.
"You're bleeding." She told him. Jeff looked down at the blood on his shirt and his face went pale. It wasn't his.
"Baby." He whispered gently turning Jessica over until he saw it. He stared in shock as the blood rushed out of her side. "Matt get over here!"
"Oh god," Matt said when he saw the blood.
"What? What's going on?" Shane asked.
"You shot her!" Matt yelled.
"No." He sunk to his knees in disbelief.
"Jeff?" Jessica called out softly.
"You're going to be okay." He told her. He ripped off his shirt and pressed it against her wound. The cloth quickly changed from blue to red. "Somebody help me!" Matt ran to the door.
"Don't open that door!" Shane yelled jumping up. Matt ignored him grabbing the handle. Desperate he shot off another round, this time in the air and everyone froze. "Get away from the door!" He lowered the gun so it now pointed at Matt.
"Shane, she needs help." Vince told him.
"Nobody goes anywhere! The police."
"Then just let Jessica out. Let her get to the hospital."
"No! If she goes out they come in. She stays. We can help her." Shane went over to her but Jeff pushed him away.
"Don't you touch her!" Jeff pulled her closer to him, and Jessica moaned. "I'm sorry." He looked at her face. Her skin was ashen.
"It hurts."
"You're going to be fine." He tried to reassure her.
"I'm sorry." She told him weakly.
"For what?"
"For the fight, back at the house. I shouldn't have let it end like that. I'm sorry I didn't forgive you."
"Don't worry, it's forgotten." He told her caressing her face.
"I was stupid."
"We both were but its okay. We've got plenty of time to make it up to one another. You'll see."
"Yea." She tried to smile. She took a deep breath. "Oh my god." Jeff felt helpless as her face clenched with pain.
"Hey come on, just look at me. Okay, focus on me." He told her. She tried to do as he said but her vision was becoming blurry and she started to feel a chill.
"It's cold." She told him. He held her tighter trying to give her warmth. He looked to Shane.
"She needs to get out of here." He said but Shane just stared at Jessica, mumbling incoherently.
"Jeff," She called out and he returned his attention back to her. "I love you."
"I love you too." He said with tears in his eyes. "Just hold on, please, for me. Don't leave me." This was not happening, he thought as eyelids started to droop. He had to do something.
"To hell with you." He said to Shane then picked Jessica up into his arms. "Matt get the door." He ordered to his brother. Shane started to protest but then stopped.
"We're coming out!" Vince yelled through the window. "We need an ambulance!"
Matt swung open the door then gave his brother a hand getting out of the house. Several agents came running up to them as they came down the stairs. They tried to take Jessica away, but Jeff refused to let go carrying her all the way to the ambulance at the end of the driveway. Matt had to hold him back to let the paramedics check her out.
"This wasn't supposed to happen." Matt heard Shane say. He looked to the house and saw Shane being escorted out with his hands behind his back. "I was never going to hurt her. I love her. We were going to be together. You can ask her. Jess I love you!" He called out to her as they put him in the back of a patrol car.
"We need to get her to the hospital immediately." One of the paramedics said.
"Go." Matt told his brother. "I'll follow you." Jeff nodded numbly and climbed into the back of the van. He reached out and took Jessica's hand being mindful to stay out of the paramedic's way.
"You're going to be okay." He whispered to her but she didn't respond. "Just hold on. Please God, I can't lose her now." He leaned over and kissed he forehead.
As soon as the ambulance pulled into the hospital they were greeted by several doctors and nurses. Jeff tried to follow along as the paramedics described Jessica's condition. They mentioned gunshot wound, loss of blood, shock. The doctor checked her out as they pushed the gurney into the emergency room. One of the nurses came up to Jeff as she was wheeled into a trauma room.
"You're going to have to wait out here." She said closing the door on him. Jeff stared through the window as Jessica was hooked up to monitors and IV's. The minutes ticked by for Jeff as he watched them move quickly around the room. Finally the nurse came out and opened both doors.
"Sir, you have to step back." She ordered gently moving Jeff out of the way. He watched as Jessica was brought out.
"Is she okay?" He asked but no one would answer. "Please, somebody tell me something." One of the doctors said something to the nurse and she came back over to him.
"They're taking her up to surgery now to remove the bullet."
"How is she?"
"You'll have to wait for the doctor. If you follow me, I can take you to the waiting room."
"I don't want to leave her." Jeff said.
"She's in good hands." She smiled at him. "Follow me." Jeff let her lead him to a waiting room but when they got there, a reporter was already waiting.
"Mr. Hardy, what happened?" The woman asked pushing a tape recorder into his face.
"You're not allowed in here!" The nurse scolded her motioning for security.
"Is she going to die?" The woman asked as she was being pulled away. Jeff just watched not able to say anything.
"The doctor will be here as soon as he can. We'll make sure you have no more interruptions. Can I get you anything?"
"Is she going to die?" He repeated the reporter's question.
"The doctor will be with you shortly." She said again gently squeezing his arm trying to reassure him. "Just hang on." He watched her leave then sunk down in one of the cold chairs to wait.
"She's going to be okay." He said. "She has to be." He closed his eyes, and made a silent prayer.
When he could sit no longer, he started to pace the room as time dragged on. Eventually Matt, Amy and Stephanie arrived. They each gave him a hug and tried to keep him occupied but nothing worked.
"What the hell is taking so long?" Jeff yelled. Matt had been trying his best to console his brother but it wasn't helping. Jeff was becoming more desperate as time dragged on. He watched his brother walk around the room and had to look away. Both boys were covered in blood, her blood. They looked up as Agent Miller walked into the room. He looked to Jeff.
"Shane is in custody. He's going to be gone for a long time. How's Jessica?"
"They haven't come in yet." Matt told him.
"Let me go see if I can speed this up." He went back out and headed to the nurse's station.
"Jeff, please sit down." Matt asked.
"It shouldn't take this long." He said shaking his head. "What if something went wrong?"
"This is a good hospital." Stephanie said. "I'm sure everything's going to be fine."
"They're sending someone down now." Agent Miller said stepping back into the room. He sat down in the corner.
"Why are you here?" Jeff asked him.
"I'm just making sure everything's okay." He told him and Jeff nodded. "Besides, I have some questions, but it can wait. Shane's not going anywhere."
"We're is he?" Stephanie asked.
"He's in the precinct. Your parents are there."
"They should be here." Jeff said angrily.
"Jeff, don't start." Matt warned him. Jeff was going to argue but a doctor finally came in.
"How is she?" He asked fearing the worst.
"We were able to remove the bullet. There was a lot of blood loss but thankfully the bullet didn't cause any internal damage." The doctor smiled at him. "She's going to be fine."
"Thank god." Jeff said and hugged his brother. "Can I see her?"
"She's still in recovery."
"Please?"Jeff looked hopefully at the doctor.
"Doc, they've been through a lot." Miller told him. The doctor paused then finally nodded.
"I'll make an exception. But only you, the rest of you will have to wait till we get her into a room." Jeff turned to Agent Miller.
"Thank you." He said and Miller nodded. Jeff followed the doctor out.
