Chapter 13

Alex had ducked as soon as he had seen Jamie strain against the wires. When he had suddenly heard the two distinct shots fired, he looked up. Alex yelled as Jamie's body shuddered with the force of the two bullets and then fell to the floor.

After Dylan had fired the shots, everyone started to shoot at once. The SAS soldiers began to fire on Dylan's men who were not as prepared. Dylan began to run out the back and his men decided to follow. Alex crouched and ran to Jamie's side.

Jamie had known that her actions would get her killed, but the pain from the gun shots was unbearable. She had fallen hard to the floor, and it was getting harder and harder to breathe. The world was getting foggy. She barely noticed Dylan's smirk as he ran past her. That didn't matter, she had stopped him. She had not given into Dylan. It was a first and she had paid the price. Suddenly a shadow fell over her and Jamie squinted, trying to make out who it was.

"Jamie. Oh crap." It was Alex's voice. He knelt down by her side and began to move her outer shirt so he could see the wound more clearly. "Just hold in there. I think one of the medics is coming."

Jamie tried to move her head, but it was already too much of an effort. "I … stopped…. Him," she managed to gasp out, but that just caused her wounds to hurt even more.

"Jamie, please try not to speak, you'll just waste energy." Jamie could tell Alex was worried. "I am going to put pressure on the wounds to stop the bleeding, it will probably hurt." Jamie tried to nod, but at that moment Alex pushed her bundled up shirt against her chest and she let out a mumbled yell and her vision went. One of the other soldiers came up to help Alex.

"How is she?" the soldier asked.

"I put pressure on it and I think she blacked out," Alex replied, his voice shaking. This was too much like what he had gone through not that long ago.

"Let's see if we can get her attention back," the soldier said calmly. "Her name is Jamie?"

Alex nodded. "Jamie Falcon." The soldier turned back to Jamie and started to tap her face, trying to bring her back to consciousness. After a while her eyelids fluttered, and then opened and Alex breathed a sigh of relief. Jamie's breathing was still shallow and she was looking pale, but she was awake.

"There we are," the medic said confidently. "Now Miss Falcon, I need you to stay with me, alright?"

"Ye…yes," Jamie managed to whisper. The medic continued to check her vital signs and radio back to the other medics for what would be needed. Jamie tried to keep her eyes open, but it was so hard. She was in more pain than ever before and sleep would be the excuse she needed. Jamie managed to catch a glimpse of Alex's worried face next to her and she tried to take his hand, but all she could manage was to wave her fingers feebly. Luckily, Alex saw her fingers move and guessed what she wanted. He took her hand and squeezed gently. Alex could feel how weak Jamie was just by holding her hand. The other medics were on their way.

"Hold in there," Alex told her. "You'll be fine."

Jamie looked at him, her eyes fluttering. "Th…..thank…..you…" she managed before she sunk into painless unconsciousness. Alex continued to hold her hand and was allowed to go with her to the hospital before she was rushed into emergency surgery and he was sent to be checked over. Once the doctors were done with him, Alex decided he had better give Jack a call. Jack was surprised that Alex had been able to find another teenager who was in a similar situation to his.

"She was raised as a terrorist?" was Jack's continual question throughout the conversation.

"Yes, but she basically sabotaged their whole mission," Alex answered. "It's almost like she really wanted to get out."

"Well I suppose she would want to get out," Jack replied seriously. "You want to stop working for MI6, why would this be any different." Alex thought about that. It had never occurred to him that way. Alex told Jack he would stay at the hospital for a while to see how Jamie was doing and Jack said she would come over and then they could get something to eat. Alex hung up the phone and turned to see Ben Daniels coming towards him.

"Have you heard anything about how she is doing?" Alex asked immediately. Ben shook his head.

"I think they are still in the operating room. She was losing a lot of blood and with the proximity of the bullets to her heart… it could be dangerous," Ben said calmly. "It's a good thing that Dylan wasn't a very good shot though."

Alex had to nod in agreement with that. If either of Dylan's bullets had actually found their target, Jamie would already be dead. Alex took a deep sigh.

"I do have some good news though," said Ben as he took a seat on the bench near the phone. Alex looked at him and took a seat on the other side of the bench. "We caught Dylan. He wasn't doing a very good job at getting away. He's locked up now for terrorism and attempted murder and with Jamie's information he won't be getting out of prison anytime soon." Alex allowed himself a smile.

"Good, now Jamie won't have to worry about him coming after her." Alex took a minute. "He abused her, you know."

Ben looked surprised. "If so she did a very good job at standing up to him back there. I don't know if I would have been able to be as calm as she was in that situation. Seems like you and she are made of similar stuff, huh?"

"I guess so," murmured Alex. The two of them sat in a comfortable silence for a while. Alex was enjoying the chance to just sit and relax. These past few days had been completely crazy. He was still trying to figure out what had happened. Finally, after a long while, one of the doctors came over to the pair of them.

"Mr. Daniels?" the doctor asked. Ben nodded and stood up.

"How is Jamie?"

"She seems to be doing well. We had a scare during the operation; her heart stopped for a fairly long period of time, but it came back online. Now we just have to keep a very careful eye on her, but she should be fine again in time."

Ben and Alex both gave sighs of relief. "Thank you, doctor. Is there any way we could see her?" Ben asked.

"Of course, but she won't be awake for a while. Between her own exhaustion and the anesthesia, she is fairly unresponsive. Follow me." And the doctor led them down a corridor to a room with the curtains drawn and an SAS soldier on guard. Ben nodded to the other soldier and led the way into the room.

Alex didn't know what he had expected to see, but his breath caught as he looked at her. There were tubes everywhere and an oxygen mask was strapped to her face. Jamie's left wrist was now in a cast and settled next to her. The monitors were beeping softly, letting the nurses know how she was doing and morphine dripped slowly into her system so the pain would be bearable. Alex approached the bed slowly. He could already see where bruises were appearing brightly against her pale skin. Dylan's damage would be long lasting, but would hopefully fade.

"She's a strong one if she can survive all of this," commented Ben as he looked at her. "Luckily the doctors feel that she has a strong chance." Ben clapped a hand on Alex's shoulder and left him with her. It wasn't until Jack came in that Alex moved from the chair by the bed. It was the first time that he had really seen someone so close to his age experience exactly what he had gone through so many times before. Not that he would ever wish this sort of life on anyone, but Alex realized that this was what he must have looked like after his run in with Scorpia's sniper. Alex jumped when there was a soft knock on the door. He relaxed quickly when he realized it was Jack.

"What are you doing in here? I thought you weren't hurt badly," said Jack as she came in. She looked him over before giving him a tight hug. "Why do you keep worrying me? I'll be gray before my time!" Alex smiled at that comment and disentangled himself from her hug.

"Jack, this is Jamie. The girl I was telling you about." Alex indicated the bed and Jack took a step closer to look at her. She put a hand over her mouth.

"She looks even worse than you did after the sniper," Jack said quietly and she reached out and moved a piece of hair off of Jamie's forehead. "You said her parents did this to her?" Alex nodded and anger burned in Jack's eyes. "Good thing she is out of that situation now. Hopefully she will be placed with someone who will care about her." Jack took a deep breath and turned her attention back to Alex. "I know you feel responsible for her, but I think you should get away from the hospital for now. How about we go get something to eat and then you can visit her again tomorrow?" Alex nodded and allowed Jack to steer him out of the room and off to dinner.