This is deviating from the fluff, so let me know what you think. Thank you for reading.
Still don't own a damn thing.
The hand on her shoulder made her open her eyes to find Benji standing with a mug;
"Here.", he gently handed it to her and sat down beside her.
She barely noticed Luther coming to sit on the other side;
"He'll be fine.", his voice quieter than normal;
"Yeah...", Benji added, trying to sound calm, "...he's been through worse, you know."
She was still trying to comprehend what had happened;
"It was one second's difference. One second. If I saw that guy..."
"Don't.", Luther interjected, "Don't even think about it.
All us were there. None of us saw him, hell, I was the one incharge of the cameras."
"Yeah...", Benji added as well, "...and I was ten feet away and I didn't see him."
"And I..,"
They looked up to see Brandt, who bend down in front of her, "...I was standing next to him. I was supposed to be on the lookout and I couldn't see the man who shot Ethan."
She closed her eyes trying to erase the events of the past few hours, but failing miserably.
"If there is one thing we know for certain, is that he is a fighter...", Brandt said with the confidence they all needed to hear, "...and he will be fine."
That actually helped and for a moment her mind drifted;
"I never said it back."
"What?", Benji asked as he heard her mumble to herself.
For the first time in a few hours she looked up,
"I didn't say it back. It was true. but it was too soon, so I thought maybe in a few weeks time and then we were called back and I never got to say it back."
The three men looked at each other;
"You got any idea what she's saying?", Luther asked the other two;
"Not a clue."
"No idea."
They sat in silence for the next three hours waiting patiently and then they saw a man walk towards them;
They stood up and let her take the lead.
She held her breath as the doctor started to explain, he'll make it through, that's all she heard, that's all she needed to hear and as soon as he finished;
"Can I see him?"
The doctor allowed one of them and she looked at the three men standing behind;
"Go. Before you crumble down.", Luther told her before she got a word out.
"Thank you.", she said with a small gracious smile.
As she entered the room, for a second, it was hard to recognise the man on the bed.
As she came to stand by his side, the doctor started explaining something about something, but all her focus was on his face, which looked different with the mask and the few bruises, but, he was there and he was breathing and it was okay.