AN/ Greetings my fellow Wasabi Warriors... Chapter 18 is here!

A lot of you have been wondering what happened to Kim. This chapter will give you the answers. I just wanna make one thing clear though, since this chapter starts with Kim's pov... Kim doesn't know about Alan therefore she simply calls him Mark. Just so you don't get too confused. I've written Mark's name on purpose although Alan is clearly present...

I also want to say thanks for all your reviews. They really inspire me and keeps me writing:)

And a also a special thanks to MrsCharlieAckles who helped me with the title for this chapter:) (If you havn't read any of her storys, you really should btw... They're really good.)

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Kickin' it.

Chapter 18

An Unexpected Helping Hand

Kim's pov.

My heart pounded like crazy, as I tried to think of what to do. Mark had wrapt his arm around my throat, while he awkwardly was balancing the shotgun in his other, still aiming it at Jack. I struggled to get free, but not too much though; afraid that he might pull the trigger if I did any sudden movements.

Everything felt so unreal, never in my life had I seen Jack so scared and helpless. Never in my life had I been this scared and helpless. As I pulled on Mark's arm a bit more, I could feel how he tensed and changed his body posture, which caused Jack's eyes to widen in horror.

"Well, well Jack…" Mark said in a new more confident way. "It's payback time."

Jack shook his head. "No… no, please don't…" I could see tears were starting to form in his eyes, which only caused me even more distress. What could he possibly be so scared of, that it would cause him to cry? "…please…I'll do anything…"

"Good. Then you won't have a problem paying back what you owe me."

"What's he talking about Jack?" I asked worriedly, but received no answer.

"Why don't you tell her Jack?" Mark asked seriously. "Why don't you tell her how you 'Mr oh so perfect' caused Mark the greatest loss of his life?" His voice got louder as he spoke. "Why don't you tell her how you ruined him and everything he ever loved?!"

I was really confused and scared now; searching for an answer I looked into Jack's eyes waiting for him to say something.

"I'm sorry." Jack said. "Whatever I've done, I'm sorry for it." His voice was trembling. "I've learned my lesson. Please let her go."

"Apologizing won't make any difference." Mark said bitterly. "It won't bring her back! You KILLED her!" He exclaimed making me jump slightly, shocked by the accusation. This got to be some mistake. Jack never killed anyone.

"What…?! I didn't do…!" Jack started but was cut of.

"Of course you did and her life can only be repaid by…" He trailed of and turned his shotgun away from Jack and pointed it towards me instead. I realized where this was going and if I was gonna do anything, this was probably my last and only chance.

"NO! NO!" Jack screamed, struggling to get free. "PLEASE! DON'T!" I tried my best to shut his desperate cries out, as the sound of them was breaking my heart.

I quickly turned and kicked the firearm from under, pointing it towards the ceiling.

"BANG!" The sound was deafening and it scared the daylights out of me. A burning pain spread across my left side, increasing by the second. The man holding me had loosened his grip in surprise, which gave me the opportunity to twist myself out of his hold. I clutched my side, feeling my hand getting wet as the blood had made it through my layers of clothes. I searched comfort in Jack's eyes, but was only met with the same fear and worry that flooded through me.

"Run!" He yelled and I did just that. Trying to block out the pain, I ran for my life up the stairs, already hearing Mark coming after me. Being slightly disoriented when I got to the ground floor, I stopped for a very short moment, before locating the door that would lead out from this horrible house. Rushing over to it, I reached for the handle but was jerked backwards just before I was able to grab it.

"I've got you now, Blondie." Mark hissed in triumph as he held on to my arm, while fumbling a little with the shotgun he had brought with him. I quickly grabbed his wrist and twisted it, causing him to let go of me and stumble backwards. He looked a bit surprised, before he launched himself at me again as I struggled to unlock the door. His left hand landed right on my wound sending painful weaves through it. Grabbing hold of my cardigan he desperately tried to prevent me from escaping. I slipped right out of it though before bursting through the front door, leaving Mark with only a garment in his hand. He frustratingly threw the cardigan on the floor and hurried after me. I was a good step ahead of him though. Gasping for air I pushed my body to the limit, running as fast as I possibly could.

The distance between me and the man who chased me became longer and I couldn't hear his footsteps anymore. Realizing that he must've stopped to…oh no…

I threw myself on the ground behind a parked car at the same time as the shot rang through the air. My jeans ripped as my knees came in contact with the asphalt. Ignoring the pain I pushed myself to my feet again and took of running once more, relieved that he'd missed me.

I turned at the first crossing I got to, trying to lose him. I didn't know if I was still being followed, but not willing to take any chances I kept going. Suddenly the road was lightened by the headlights of a car that was gaining on me from behind. My fear reached even higher levels causing a few tears to escape from my eyes, as my legs just couldn't go fast enough to outrun the approaching vehicle.

"Kim!" A familiar voice came from the car that was now driving next to me. I glanced at the seventeen year old boy, the voice belonged to and I can honestly say that I've never been so happy to see him. Relieved I slowed down to a halt as the car stopped almost immediately. I opened the door and jumped in the backseat. Before I managed to close the door again, the car was already accelerating.

"What happened?!" Eddie practically yelled out the question, sitting in the passenger seat, "Was that a gun firing?" He looked at me as if he didn't believe his eyes. No wonder, because I was mess, with my ripped clothes, tangled hair and red face with tear streaks running down most of it. My uncharacteristic behaviour just added on to it, as I cried quite hard and I had trouble to breathe normally from all the running. Eddie's never seen me cry before, in fact none of my friends really had.

"Are you okay, Kim?" Austin asked concerned, shooting me a glance through the rear view mirror.

I let go of the wound on my side, which I had been clutching without even noticing it. My hand was covered in blood, just as I had feard. I put it back quickly to press on the wound again, trying to keep the blood from escaping my body.

"I…I don't know…" I answered truthfully. My mind quickly went back to the gun firing and Mark and… "Jack!" I exclaimed, receiving confused looks from both Austin and Eddie.

"Did Jack hurt you?" Austin asked trying to hid his anger that had started to grow by that thought.

What?!

"No…of course not." I said my voice shaking. "He's in danger…"

"What are you talking about?" Eddie wondered, worry reflecting in his voice. "You found Jack?"

"Yes…" I wiped a few tears away revealing the wound for a split second.

"Wow! Kim you're bleeding!" Eddie realized, a disgust expression on his face. Austin gave me a worried look before stepping on it, taking us further and further away from the man who wanted to kill me and the terrible basement, but also further away from Jack.

"We have to go back." I gasped, afraid that Mark would do something terrible to Jack, who wouldn't have the slightest chance to get away.

"No, we have to get you to a hospital." Austin insisted.

"But you don't understand." I shook my head. "His life is at stake."

"Your life is at stake." He said firmly, as he speeded down the road. I couldn't really argue with him on that. I didn't know how bad my injury was. The blood and the pain scared me, but the thought about what might happen to Jack was even more terrifying. I needed to go back.

'But what if you're seriously hurt?' A small voice inside my head argued.

'Yeah…but what if Jack's getting hurt…' I countered. '…or worse…' The tears welled up again.

'There's really nothing you can do.' The tiny voice said.

'Not now…But I could've… I could have fought Mark. I could've saved my best friend. Instead I ran, leaving Jack behind in the hands of a maniac. What kind of a horrible friend am I?' Not really being able to stop it, I let a sob escape my lips. Austin noticed.

"Everything's gonna be okay." He said soothingly. "We'll get you to the hospital and we'll call the cops to go after the man who chased you." He took out his phone from his pocket, still holding his other hand on the wheel. "...Ok?"

Something popped up in my head right then, not really paying any attention to what Austin just had said.

"How come you came driving this way? Eddie's house isn't in this direction at all." I noticed Eddie giving Austin a look, as if they were hiding something. "Were you following me?"

Austin sighed knowing that he would have to tell me the truth.

"Yes, we were following you."

"You were following her. You." Eddie pointed at Austin. "Not me…" I gave Austin a glare.

"It's just that…you acted so strange outside the dojo… I needed to make sure…"

"You followed me?!" I cut him of. "I can't believe it."

"Hey, just be thankful I did." Austin defended. I knew I should be thankful and I actually was, but I still can't believe he felt the need to follow me. "Now, are we gonna call the cops or not?" He asked.

I nodded, meeting his eyes in the rear view mirror.

"Do you wanna make the call or would you rather one of us do it?" He offered holding up his phone. I thought about that for a moment, not sure if I could pull myself together enough to talk to the police. When I didn't give Austin any answer, he sighed and dialled 911. I don't recall much of the call at all. I somehow managed to give Austin enough information for him to retell what had happened, before we arrived at the hospital. I felt calmer knowing that someone was going to come to Jack's rescue and I could focus on myself a little more. I needed time to heal both physically and emotionally, I knew that, even though I would have wanted to turn around and go and get Jack this instance.

Once at the hospital, they almost immediately got me ready for surgery, while Austin and Eddie contacted my family and our friends back at the dojo. The last thing that went through my head before heading off to a very deep sleep was a small but deeply sincere prayer for Jack…

I was a little confused to see the white walls as I opened my eyes, knowing that they didn't belong to my room. The beeping sound coming from the monitor I was connected to, made me frown, realizing where I was.

Not recalling anything that could have possibly gotten me into this situation I turned slightly. My side stung by the movement, causing me to moan.

Yeah, I was definitely hurt… My head felt heavy and I struggled to think straight, searching my memory. At first everything was a blur, really, not making any sense at all. But as the minutes past, little by little the scenes of yesterday's traumatic events came back to me. I remembered the sound of the gun firing. I remembered Mark, the man who tried to kill me. I remembered the fear and the pain, and that dreadful basement. And I remembered my best friend, all scared and broken. My eyes went wide. Where was he? I needed to know what had happened to him. Had they found him? Was he safe?

The door opened and a nurse walked up to me, causing me to temporarily let go of the thoughts that ran through my head.

"I see that you're awake." She stated, checking the monitors. "How are you feeling today?"

"Fine, I think…" I answered. "A bit tired though." She gave me a smile.

"That's no wonder; after all you've been through…" She said kindly. "The doctor will be here any minute. He will answer all your questions about the surgery. That is if you have any…" I frowned, I hadn't really thought about that. All that filled my mind were the terrible things that had happened yesterday. It still felt as if it hadn't really taken place though. The fear that had been so real just hours ago seemed so far away now as I lay safely tucked in, in a soft hospital bed with white sheets. Everything felt more like a dream actually, all but one thing –Jack. I could still feel his arms around me as he'd embraced me and his voice still rang in my ears. The warmth of his body so close to mine and the way he had leaned on my shoulder, soaking it with tears, all the emotions that had showed on his face…everything was so vivid.

Lost in my thoughts I didn't notice the nurse leaving, nor the doctor that entered the room.

"Hi, I'm doctor Rickford. How are you feeling, miss Crawford?" He wondered, standing next to my bed. I snapped back to reality by the sound of his voice.

"Fine." I said, looking up at him with a forced smile on my face, knowing that if I didn't complain about anything, there was a chance of getting home earlier. I wasn't really lying either, I actually felt pretty okay and I wasn't in that much pain.

"Well that's good." He smiled, before turning his face into a more serious expression. "Do you recall anything of what happened yesterday?" I gave him a nod. "You've been shot with a shotgun… from what it looks like, although none of the shot had gone very deep…" He made a short pause, probably hoping that I would fill in with more details. I didn't say anything though. "Anyway, we got all of the shot removed, there were nine of them to be exact and we made a few stitches. Luckily no vital organs were harmed." He smiled again and I felt so relieved. "You're gonna make a full recovery out of this. You can consider yourself very lucky."

I relaxed as I heard the good news. I hadn't even noticed that I had been bracing myself for what he had to say.

"How long do I have to stay?" I asked, crossing my fingers. Hopefully it wouldn't be that long.

"If you're stable and nothing unexpected occurs, then you'll probably be able to leave tomorrow already."

I know that that was considered as a very short time at the hospital after being shot (technically I hadn't really been shot though…) but right then it felt like tomorrow was an eternity away.

A sudden knock on the door made both of our heads turn towards it. The door opened and the same nurse that had been in here just moments earlier, peeked through it.

"Excuse me, Miss Crawford. You have some visitors."

I smiled, stupidly hoping that Jack would be one of them, even though I knew that that would be almost impossible. But still I couldn't help but feel disappointed when he didn't show and I had a hard time covering up my emotions as my mum and dad walked into the room, followed by Austin and Eddie.

"Hey sweetie. We've been so worried." Mum said walking up to me. She gave me an awkward hug, since I was still half lying, half sitting and not really willing to move as it caused the stiches to hurt.

"How are you feeling?" Dad asked over her shoulder.

"Fine." I answered the same question for the third time this morning and I've only been awake for half an hour. I could see that dad wasn't really satisfied with the answer though, as he waited for me to continue. "I'm just tired and it hurts a little when I move, but other than that I'm feeling okay." I said as mum let go of me. Her eyes were watering but she also had a big smile spread across her face.

"We're just glad you're okay, honey." She said softly, stroking my hair. "You've kept us up all night." I hadn't noticed before, but now I saw how tired both her and dad looked. Had they really been up all night?

My eyes wandered from my parents to the two teenage boys who were standing right behind them.

"Hi Kim." Austin greeted when I met his gaze, a smile appearing on his face.

"Hi…" I smiled back. "Have you guys also been here all night?" I wondered.

"No." Austin shook his head. "We left after Mr and Mrs Crawford here arrived, but we drove back the first thing in the morning."

"Yeah we wanted to make sure everything was alright." Eddie nodded. "The rest of the Wasabi Warriors are on their way here too."

I smiled at that, for a moment thinking that the rest of the warriors included Jack like it used to. Remembering everything that had happened I quickly realized that he wasn't gonna come and my smile disappeared again.

"Where's Jack?" I blurted out the question at the same time it popped up in my head, ignoring the slightly hurt expression on Austin's face. "Did they find him? Is he okay?"

"Honey…" Mum started as she took my hand in hers, the way she use to do when she's about to tell me something that she knew I wasn't going to like. I know that she does it to calm me, but the gesture had the opposite effect on me as I had started to recognize this pattern since long ago. Holding my breath I waited for her to continue. "The police have been searching the house for clues and such all night..." I looked at her confused.

"Clues for what? They must've found him there, right?" I asked worried that they would answer my last question with a 'no' or something worse... None of them said anything right away, causing my heart rate to increase. "Right?" I tried again.

"Sweetie…" my mum sighed. "The house was empty. No one was home."

"But… but I saw…"

"No one doubts you." My father reassured. "There is enough evidence already that he really was there. The neighbours had heard the gun firing, you went to surgery and the blood they found in the basement…" Mum gave him a look to get him to stop rambling on about it, but I had already heard enough to understand that something serious must have happened.

"What blood?" My eyes darting back and forth between them before landing on my mum as she was the first to speak.

"They found blood stains on the floor, but since you were there when you got hurt, it's most likely yours. All your father is saying is that everyone believes you and they're going to continue to search for Jack." She said hopefully, trying to cheer me up.

I just stared at them all, trying to get my head around everything. Why hadn't they found him yet? Was he still with Mark? If so I needed to get out of here as soon as possible. I needed to go and find him. Who knows what he's might be going through as I'm just lying here being useless?

That's all for now... Hope you liked it.

And YAY Kim's not dead:) Sorry for keeping you in suspense for so long, but I thought that Jack's emotions would feel more real if you actually believed that she was dead...

Please don't forget to review. You'll get a sneak peek of the next chapter if you do.

/MJ