Six shots. That's what Steve heard ringing in the air, one right after the other and causing panic straight away, people were running all over the place outside the courthouse in state of panic. But not Steve, drawing his gun out it's holster he followed the sound in which the gunshots had come from. They had come from opposite the courthouse, from the street and Steve caught sight of an old beat up buick that started speeding away and he started to run after it. Steve ran but even before he reached the top of the street, the car was screeching away, getting further away until it disappeared out of sight. Steve looked all around, he was pretty sure that this had been some kind of drive by shooting and the shooter was no doubt in the car but he had to be sure. He scanned the front of the courthouse around to see if there was anyone else suspicious hanging around but he couldn't spot anything. Most people had run for cover when the shooting had happened and even if there was anyone suspicious or involved hanging around, they were probably long gone. Holstering his gun, Steve headed back over to the entrance of the courthouse to where the shots had been directed and he could hear someone yelling for help. Yelling for someone to call an ambulance and running over to help, Steve was taken aback. Steve was stunned by what he saw as none of his training had ever prepared him for what was laid out right in front of him. Three people had been shot, two of them were minor. One had taken a bullet to the arm, another one was dead. Steve could see that straight away despite people attempting to do CPR. Then the last person… It was Emma. She had been one of the people shot. Pushing past the people who had gathered around, Steve made his way to Emma and once he had, he dropped to his knees and motioned for the person who was trying to take care of Emma to get out of his way.
"Hey babe…" Steve began giving Emma a reassuring smile as he took over placing pressure of her wound, from what he could see Emma had been shot in the middle section of her chest. On her left side but Steve couldn't tell whether the bullet had been a through and through as there seemed to be blood everywhere. Steve was no doctor but he had seen his fair share of gunshot wounds, even been shot a few times himself and given Emma's wound, the bullet could have hit either her liver or her kidney.
"Steve." Emma muttered and Steve could see the panic in her eyes, no doubt she hadn't seen this coming. This wasn't what was supposed to happen. Steve had come here to surprise Emma and take her out for lunch, to do something that a normal boyfriend would do. Since her birthday was soon approaching, the last few months they had their ups and downs so Steve wanted to make a big effort for Emma's birthday. To try and show her how much she meant to him, as words weren't enough. He wanted to show Emma the amount in which he cared for her. Steve didn't expect to come across this, or be by Emma's side whilst she could be bleeding to death right in front of him.
"Don't talk Em, everything will be okay… You are going to be fine." Steve told Emma looking her dead straight in the eye, so she would believe him. So she wouldn't freak out and get her blood pressure up or worse go into shock. Keeping Emma calm and relax was important at the moment until the paramedics got here as she needed to go to the hospital. Steve wasn't a doctor, Emma was going to need surgery because this wasn't serious. This wasn't an instance he could do one of his patch up jobs to hold for a few hours until he was ready to go to the hospital. Emma needed a doctor and she needed one now. "Somebody call an ambulance!"
"It hurts." Emma whimpered and Steve could feel his heart skidding around in his chest, years of training had meant that he could keep a level head in intense situations. Steve was trying to put all those years of training into practice but this wasn't some covert mission, where he could put his emotions to the side so he could do his work to the best of his ability without any emotional complications. This wasn't like that as it was emotional for him. He was in a situation that was emotional compromising as he was trying to keep his girlfriend, the woman he lived alive after she had been shot. Emma was scared, she was terrified and in a lot of pain, Steve could see that in her eyes. Steve could never admit this out loud but he was scared as well.
"I know it does, I have to keep put pressure on it but you are doing so good Em." Steve stated as he kept putting direct pressure on the wound with his hands to help stem blood, there was still blood coming from somewhere. Steve couldn't remember the last time that he had ever felt so helpless before. He was doing his best but it didn't seem to be enough. If he could, he would have picked Emma up and carried her to his truck to drive her to the hospital but he knew if he did that, there was a good chance that she could bleed out. He couldn't move her. Steve was worried about what would happen if he attempted that and he wasn't going to risk Emma's life like that. They would wait for an ambulance.
"Harry…" Emma quietly moaned as groaned in pain and Steve wanted to do something, anything to make her feel better. He wanted to take her hand or gently stroke her cheek. Just something to provide her with the tiniest bit of comfort but right now he couldn't as his hands were otherwise preoccupied with covering her wound.
"Once we get you to a hospital and have the doctors take care of you, we'll have him brought down. Don't worry about it Em, I'll call Kim or I will go and pick him up myself and bring him to you." Steve assured Emma with a small smile before glancing over to the other victims, the guy who had taken a bullet to the arm seemed fine enough. People were taking care of him, security from the courthouse had arrived and were taking over, which meant Steve could just focus on Emma.
"T-That's not what I'm talking about Steve." Emma replied with a small cough and Steve knew where this was heading and he didn't like it one bit. This wasn't going to happen, they were not going to do this as Emma wasn't going to die. Whatever she had to say about what would happen to Harry in her death could wait as Steve wasn't going to let her die.
"We're not doing this Em, we are not having this conversation because you're going to be fine. You are not die, you are not dying on me Emma as I am not letting you go so easily, not after I just got you back. S whatever it is you want to say, I don't care because I am not listening to any of it. That can wait until after your better because your not dying today Emma." Steve instructed because the way Emma was going on, sounded like she was getting ready to lay out her final wishes and say goodbye like she was never going to see him again. Steve refused to let Emma give up so easily as she had survived so much more than this. Emma had survived losing her husband, then her best friend then all the trouble with Matt. She had survived all of that so Steve knew she could survive this. Emma was the strongest women he knew and she couldn't die, not like this and not today. She had too much to live for.
"S-Steven… If you love me, the way I think you do then you will just this once do as I say without arguing." Emma pleaded as she placed her hands over his own ones which were covering her wound. Her voice was all shaky and just by looking into her dark eyes, Steve could see the tears threatening to spill. The look she gave him broke Steve's heart
"Okay." Steve weakly admitted, ignoring everything else around him as the only thing that mattered to him right now was Emma, keeping her alive and listening to what she had to say. Preferably Steve would have preferred her not to say anything at all, keep quiet to preserve her energy but she was adamant about this and she had asked him not to fight her on this one, so he wouldn't.
"H-Harry, he goes to Danny and Kim… I've made sure of it. T-They will do right by him, Kim will tell him all about George and Danny will do the same about me. The two of them will raise him like he is their own and make sure that he knows who we were and that his parents loved him. I want him to be raise here Steve, Harry likes it here and by staying here he will be close to Grace who is his closest relative in age." Emma quietly uttered, just loud enough for Steve to hear as her eyes continued to well up. It was heartbreaking. "In my home office, inside the safe there is everything that they will need. Life insurance papers, everything. The combination is 32-24-34… "
"Not your birthday, huh?" Steve questioned which caused Emma to laugh, followed shortly by her wincing a lot in pain.
"My measurements. I-I'd thought I'd be different and go for something less obvious, don't tell Danny."
"I knew there was a reason why I liked you so much." Steve joked in an effort to keep Emma's spirits up as the conversation had taken a rather morbid turn which Steve didn't like. He didn't want to talk about any of this as it meant imagining a world without Emma in any of their lives. He understood why was she was doing this, naturally and a part of him couldn't help but admire Emma for always putting Harry first. People tended to react differently to being shot, someone people cried out in pain, some people wailed about not wanting to die. Emma wanted to make sure that her son was taken care of.
"Promise me you'll look out for him." Emma uttered.
"We will both look out for him as your going to be fine Em, you are not going to die. Everything will be okay and once this is over, I promise that I won't let anyone hurt you every again. Everything will be fine, I promise. You'll be okay Em, I will keep you and Harry safe no matter what." Steve began before stopping when he became aware of a sound in the distance background. The sound of sirens. "Can you hear that Emma? Help is on it's way you just have to hold on a little longer babe."
"S-Steven… You promise me right now."
"I promise." Steve gently replied and Emma looked at him for the longest moment, before giving him the saddest smile that Steve had ever seen before in his life. Emma smiled before her eyes shut. Steve felt his heart fall out of his chest and it seemed like the longest five seconds of his life before Emma's eyes fluttered open again and Steve let out a breath he didn't even know he was holding. But then Emma's eyes shut again, this time of it's own accord and they didn't open. "Emma look at me! Emma, open your eyes… EMMA!"