Conrad sat holding her hand, not letting it go, like a beacon for her to follow back to the surface, like a lighthouse bringing her to safety from the storm. He thought back to all the moments they had spent together and the memories they had made. He knew. Heck, he had known for a while now, that he wanted her in his life until he took his last breath.

Marshall turned and looked out in the hallway through the window. Diego was standing just behind it with two men in suits. He quietly left the room and joined them. They spoke for a few minutes before Marshall returned inside the room.

"Conrad?"

Conrad didn't acknowledge his calling, concentrating on the only thing that mattered, Julia.

"Son," said Marshall as he walked over to him and placed his hand on his shoulder. "The FBI needs to talk to you."

Conrad looked at his father from over his shoulder. "The FBI?"

Marshall swallowed. "Julia wasn't there by chance. She was investigating Red Rock Medical and what she discovered, followed by what happened to you both, has made this a federal case."

Conrad looked back at Julia.

"But why?" asked Conrad.

"She had her reasons, and it will be for her to explain why. In the meantime, we need your help to get Kim and Cain."

Conrad nodded and delicately placed Julia's hand on the bed before letting it go. He stood, planted a kiss on her forehead and followed his father out of the room where the two federal agents introduced themselves and then asked him questions.

Muffled sounds and voices, sore throat, and pain. If it hadn't been for the beeping monitors she knew, and were comforting, indicating her patients were still alive, she would have thought she was dead, and it was heaven.

She had never really been a fervent believer in a heaven or hell. But after 9/11, she had come to believe both existed. She had seen hell and had only hoped her parents had met up in heaven.

She cleared her throat. God it was sore and dry like sand. Still with her eyes closed her hand slid gently toward her abdomen over the bed sheets. She could feel the bandages through them. She thanked her guardian angel for the fact that she was there and had made it. She had tried to stay as optimistic as she could have been after being shot, but she remembered that her last thought had been one of regret as she accepted her fate.

Her eyes opened slowly, although her eyelids were heavy. They closed instantaneously. She tried to open them again determined to keep them open this time. Even though she was alive, she was worried about what had happened to Conrad. Maybe just as they had tried with her, they might have tried to eliminate him, and it was enough of an incentive to make her keep trying.

'Open your eyes', she told herself.

She opened her eyes as his name escaped from her mouth in a raspy tone. "Conrad?"

Marshall who was facing the window of the hospital room, as he and Conrad spoke to the federal agents, noticed that she had her eyes open. He gently touched Conrad's arms to interrupt him. "Conrad." He cocked his head toward the room and Conrad turned around.

Relief filled him and without excusing himself, he left the two men and his father in the corridor as he slid the door open and walked inside.

Their eyes connected immediately and seeing him alive and unharmed, she could no longer contain the emotions that surfaced. She started to cry and in two big steps he was sitting on the bed, his arms around her protectively and pulling her gently into his chest.

The feel of her warm body against his was such a relief. He caressed her hair as she continued to cry softly against him.

"Shh. I'm right here. It's over. I won't let anything happen to you."

He felt her pull back and he let her, still holding her in his arms. Her wet eyes searched his and he placed his forehead against hers as one of his hands reached up gently and wiped away some of her tears.

"I thought I'd lost you," he said.

"I was so worried about you," she said, "I thought Cain would have killed you in the end."

"He tried, but you and I are stronger than anything, Cain, Kim or Red Rock Medical, can do to us."

He cupped her face and kissed her and even though she was weak and tired, he felt her answer back.

When he pulled back, she turned her head toward the corridor and saw Marshall talking with two men and Diego. He had pulled through. He had told her they would come for her, and they had. He had held his side of the promise, which had been to do everything he could to protect her when she was going to go against Red Rock Medical. She didn't blame him for what had happened, she had done everything on her own free will, he had just facilitated things and believed that by joining their forces, they would succeed.

She turned back to look at Conrad who had followed her gaze out of the room. "What happened?"

Conrad swallowed. The events had been playing in his head repeatedly and it wasn't something that he had enjoyed.

"After you became unconscious, Kim and Cain decided to get rid of the evidence and set the room on fire before leaving us inside. Luckily, my father, Randolph, AJ, and Al found us in time and brought us out to safety."

She instinctively looked down at her abdomen.

"You were in bad shape. We almost lost you."

She took a deep breath. "How bad am I?"

"You lost a lot of blood and we had to put the massive transfusion protocol in place. Al had to resect part of your intestine. Randolph had to remove your gallbladder and kidney; they were too damaged by the bullets."

He knew it was a lot to take in and if he could, he would have preferred, after what she had endured, to not bombard her with that kind of information, but it was Julia, and he knew she needed to know. Even though it was more invasive than they would have preferred, she was alive which was nothing short of a miracle.

He said nothing while the information sunk in. Whether as a patient or a doctor, but then she nodded in understanding.

"I can live a perfectly normal life without all of those."

Conrad took her hand in his. "Yes, and I'm going to be there every step of the way throughout your recovery."

"I didn't know I was one of your patients again," she said trying to smile.

"Baby, you are much more than that. You are my entire world. A world that would have had no meaning in it if you had died. A world where I wouldn't have been able to breathe."

She raised her hand slowly and touched his face. "Wow, that's one amazing love declaration."

He kissed her hand. "And it's only the beginning. When you were unconscious, I told you something I promised I would tell you when you could hear it."

"What was it?"

His eyes bore deep into hers and she could feel the importance of what he was about to tell her. "I love you."

The heart monitor started to beep faster, and he looked up at it. "Ok, maybe I shouldn't have told you that until you were in better shape."

"I beg to differ. The way my heart is beating right now, should be an indication of how I feel about you and what you've just said."

She leaned in toward him. "I love you, Conrad."

He kissed her again and took her in his arms. Never! Never, would he let anyone hurt her, ever again. It was a promise he was making to himself. And if anyone dared to, he would tear them to pieces.