"Oh shit."
The words were out of Lauren's mouth before she could move.
Roderick pulled himself out of the cruiser, holding onto the doorframe, his face emotionless except for the cringe of pain.
He looked up at Lauren and looked like he was drowning. Lauren could see three bloody wounds in his torso.
She nearly tripped running down the stairs to get to him, adrenaline pounding her ears. It was dark and the cruiser's headlights hadn't shut off yet, giving Lauren some light. Roderick clutched his side, putting pressure on one of his wounds.
Lauren slipped under his free arm, already dragging him to her house, hearing him wince and his ragged breathing punctuate every step.
"Jesus, Roderick," was all she managed to get out as she realized she was quickly becoming covered in his blood and that he was losing a lot of it.
Roderick chuckled through the pain. The bullet holes hurt like shit but he was trying to block it out. His cold demeanor had slipped back when he'd come back to consciousness and realized that he'd been shot by a follower. Joe Carroll hadn't even done it himself.
"What the hell happened?" Lauren asked, kicking the front door closed with her foot as they went through it.
"Well," Roderick said, taking a deep breath and realizing it hurt, "I took an insurance policy and it didn't pay off."
Lauren looked at him as she drug him into the kitchen.
"I took Joey Carroll," he finished as she slid him down onto the floor.
"Jesus Christ," Lauren muttered knowing fully well that this was how Roderick had gotten himself almost killed.
"Nope," Roderick smiled, his hands bloody, "Just me."
Lauren rolled her eyes, grabbing some paper towels, trying not to notice that her whole house was tracked in blood.
Roderick took a breath and winced, it even hurt to move.
"I have an emergency kit in the back of the car. Go get it," he ordered, back to his normal, in charge self.
Lauren got up, slipping in a pool of blood and ran out of the house. She grabbed the emergency kit out of the back of the cruiser and rushed back in, slipping on the same puddle.
She knelt down in front of Roderick, already pulling the kit open. As he started to give her directions, she was already cutting away his shirt, seeing fully well the bullet holes and flesh soaked in blood.
Lauren winced, ordering her adrenaline to keep control so her nerves wouldn't. She was usually queasy at the sight of blood and even passed out when getting it drawn but she couldn't let that happen now.
"Give me some gauze," Roderick commanded in a weak voice.
Lauren rummaged through the kit, finding a long strip and cutting it into three pieces. She handed it to him and he put pressure on the wound at his shoulder, cringing as he did.
"Oh my god," Lauren stammered, her hands starting to shake. She wasn't a nurse. She didn't know what to do. Roderick had been shot three times and was now bloody on her kitchen floor.
As if on cue, Roderick looked up through the hair in his eyes. "It's not so bad…"
"You need a hospital," Lauren said shakily, "I don't know what I'm doing…"
Roderick took a deep breath, pain surging, his eyes widening in the shock. "You'll be fine… get the forceps out."
Lauren did what she was told, wishing she could wash her hands and put her hair up but there would be no time for that. Hair in her eyes, she swatted it away, slicking it with blood.
She shook, everything in the bag becoming bloody as she fumbled for the forceps, pulling them out and then looking at Roderick.
He let his hand fall away from the wound at his shoulder. "The other bullets went straight through… this one has to come out."
He looked down at his shoulder.
Lauren looked at him. "No fucking way. There is no way that I'm digging around for a bullet!"
Roderick rolled his eyes. "The longer it stays in, the greater chance of infection. It has to come out."
Lauren whined, a face Roderick had never seen before, making him smile. Lauren wanted to hit him.
"Son of a bitch," she said in defeat, realizing she'd have to do it.
Roderick turned his head away to give her more room.
She put her left hand on his bicep to steady herself, the forceps in her right, ready.
Lauren took a deep breath and put the forceps in, feeling it push flesh and blood out of the way as it went deeper. She cringed and willed herself to get this over with. Roderick held his breath in pain and closed his eyes, trying to keep still.
"Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit," she kept saying, trying to apologize for the pain in some way.
Roderick started to breath heavily, trying to displace the pain and focus on his breathing. Every breath, however, forced the forceps deeper.
Finally, the forceps hit something solid. Lauren hoped it was the bullet and not a bone. She almost opened her mouth to ask Roderick what to do now but she didn't.
With the forceps neatly against the bullet, she opened them and slid them around the edges of the bullet, Roderick's eyes shooting open in pain.
She wanted to rip the bullet out and get this over with but she went slowly, sliding it out, Roderick convulsing in pain. As the bullet came out in the forceps, blood flooded behind it. She tossed the bloody forceps and bullet to the floor and traded them for gauze, pressing it against the wound.
Roderick's hung head slowly came up. His breathing was still labored, still pained. His vision was going blurry.
"That was horrible," she said wincing, "Now what?"
Roderick's skin felt cool against her hands. He gulped. "This is going to hurt like hell… but pour hydrogen peroxide straight into the wounds."
Lauren almost jumped to her feet. "Are you kidding me?"
Roderick smirked, wincing. "Do you have a better idea?"
Lauren shut her mouth, looking down at her arms, covered in blood up to the elbows. Taking the peroxide out of the kit, she pulled his hand away from his wounds and poured. He cringed, gritting his teeth and kicking his leg, eyes scrunched tightly shut.
When she was done, he finally relaxed as much as he could. He was sore, but no worse for wear. Lauren had taken out the bullet in his shoulder and the other two had gone straight through, missing vital organs.
He was glad he didn't have to ask her to stitch him up. He knew by experience it was better to let bullet wounds heal naturally than to stitch them, it kept the bacteria in.
He saw Lauren stand up and get warm water and paper towels. She began cleaning him, gently washing away the blood from his chest and his stomach. She knew it'd be impossible to get him into the shower to clean up.
He watched her clean him and take care of him. Any wounds he'd ever gotten, he'd dressed himself.
She had him cleaned and began to bandage his wounds, slathering antibiotic salve onto the gauze before pressing it against the wound and taping it. She guessed she'd have a few hours before having to change the dressings.
Roderick's eyes began getting weak as she finished, admiring her scar. Now they'd both been covered in each other's blood.
When she looked up at him, her brow was furrowed in concern.
"Thanks," he mumbled, looking behind her and seeing the slicks of blood across her floor.
Lauren shrugged. She shouldn't have been so surprised to see him showing up bloody and shot at her door.
He gave her a weak smile and touched her hand. It was the most affection he could muster.
Her adrenaline wouldn't let her smile back, her lip was still quivering and her nerves finally rose up. This scared the shit out of her and it was finally settling in. He, on the other hand, was calm and cool, keeping it together with three bullet wounds in him. She had held it together and gotten through it now here he was bandaged and weak on her floor.
Roderick looked up and met her gaze through a shield of hair. Although he would never say it, the look in his eyes told her exactly how much he felt for her.