Chapter Six
"No way!" Brianna said. The girl sat down in the living room chair, stunned. She hadn't expected to hear Avery was actually her sister by blood. "is-s Justin gonna come after her, too?" She asked, her voice shaking.
"No," Drew said, quickly wrapping his arms around his daughter. "He already gave up his rights. He can't take Avery."
Brianna was trembling. "But we still have to wait for a judge to say she stays for good."
"Yes, but we only have to wait three more days."
All the family was waiting for a stroke of a pen but it was all everyone, except Avery could think about.
Three Days Later..
The adoption hearing conflicted with Avery's two hour nap.
She slept through the whole proceeding in Rick's arms. Even sleeping she attracted attention, looking adorable in a satin emerald green dress and matching head band. The judge even made Brianna a part of the proceeding, asking the teen if she would be patient with Avery even if Avery was 'annoying' as she grew up.
Brianna smiled and said yes or at least she would try to. The judge said that answer was good enough and with one signature, Avery Jade Alister-Lincoln was officially a part of their family. That signature lifted a ton of bricks from the family's shoulders. There was so going to be a party that weekend.
But tonight Drew was back at work.
Chaos started not even an hour into his shift. There was a shooting in a store parking lot across the street from the ER. Several people had superficial or non life threatening injuries. But two people were severely injured. One woman was shot in the face and abdomen. The facial wound as bad as it looked being a through and through, the bullet entering one cheek and exiting the other. The two bullets in her abdomen being the threat to her survival. The other, a man in his forties was shot in the top back of his neck, the bullet travelling downward. Remarkably the man was still conscious although he was unable to move or speak. He was unable to breathe without assistance before he was moved from the parking lot.
Both patients' vital signs was fading fast. Drew was astonished that both survived the move to the hospital yards away. Scott assisted the neurosurgeon to try to save the life of the man with the gunshot wound to his neck. Sadly he didn't make it. The other shooting victim was more fortunate, even if she didn't think so in the hours after her surgery. She had lost a kidney and would also require a colostomy bag the rest of her life. The shooter was still at large, paramedics and doctors, namely Drew, Paul and T.C. had taken enormous risk by running over there before police could arrive to offer cover. Unlike T.C., who felt a rush from this and similar situations, Drew only saw it as something he had to do and was relieved he got out alive, considering the scene was not secure and the shooter could have been in a mass of people in the parking lot. His focus was on the man he was trying to save, a part of his brain thought about his family.
Drew had to calm himself with the realization that any "what if"'s in his mind hadn't happened.
"I didn't get a chance to ask you," T.C. said when things settled. "How did this morning go?"
Drew grinned. "Great. Rick and I officially have a new daughter."
"That's great, man. I know you guys and Brianna must be thrilled." Everyone knew Brianna and Avery were half-sisters and said it was great they got to grow up together.
The relative peacefulness wouldn't last too long, the shooting would have lingering effects on the staff on the scene for months after the bullets stopped flying.