I do not own any of the characters and am just taking them out to play.

Chapter 16

Dom, Michael, and Marella arrived at the Good Samaritan Hospital in Brasilia, Brazil in the early evening. They rushed up to the surgery ward where they found McKinley waiting for them.

"What's happening with Hawke?" Michael anxiously asked McKinley as soon as he spotted him.

"Hawke's still in surgery. He's been in there just about since we got here about two hours ago."

"Any word on how he is?" Dom asked quickly.

"No, they're playing everything close to the chest."

Michael turned to Marella, "Go and see if you can find out anything." With that, Marella rushed off to see the nurse in charge of the surgery department.

Dom and Michael sat down to wait for Marella to return.

"How come Cait didn't come with you?" Michael ventured knowing that he might be walking into a mine field.

Dom thought for a couple of minutes before answering, "I think that she's afraid. Afraid of Horn, afraid of putting Nicky out there for someone to take advantage of, afraid of Hawke…"

"What do you mean afraid of Hawke?"

"I think she's afraid he might die and then she'll blame herself. Right now I think she's dealing with a lot of guilt—guilt about getting pregnant, then not telling Hawke about Nicky sooner, letting Hawke go after Nicky without a better plan,…" Dom stopped as he saw Marella coming back.

"What's going on?" Michael asked as soon as Marella reached them.

Marella looked like she would rather be any place but there as she said, "It isn't looking too good. The doctors removed a bullet from his shoulder. Now they're working on the other one."

Dom was almost too afraid to ask, but he stammered, "Where's the other one?"

"It's lodged up against his spine. It's going to be a very long surgery to get to that bullet if they can even get it out," Marella stated. Then taking a deep breath, she went on, "They think that even if they get it out, he'll be paralyzed from the waist down."

Dom sank down onto the couch that was behind him. "No, that can't be true. String wouldn't be able to live like that." He put his head down into his hands.

Marella sat down beside him to try to comfort him. She looked up at Michael for some reassurances, but didn't get any.

"Dom, do you want me to call Cait and let her know what's going on?" Michael asked.

Dom looked up, "No, I'll call her in a little while. I just need to get my head around this before I talk to her."

Michael motioned for Marella to walk with him. When they were out of Dom's hearing, he said, "Go back in and keep an eye on what's going on. Let us know what you see in there and what you hear. I'll stay here with Dom."

Marella nodded, "I don't think the news is going to be good, but I'll keep you informed."

She then moved back towards the operating room while Michael went and sat down with Dom on the couch.

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Just a little over 9 hours later, Marella came out of the operating room with a doctor. Dom immediately shot to his feet and walked towards the doctor. Marella paused to introduce him, "Dom, Michael, this is Dr. Scott. He operated on Hawke."

Dom took a breath to calm himself and then asked, "How is he, doc?"

"Let's go over and sit down while we discuss this. I've been on my feet for the last 11 hours," he said as he moved into the waiting room and took a seat.

"The news isn't good. We almost lost Mr. Hawke a few times during the surgery, but he survived it. We got both of the bullets out, but I'm afraid that Mr. Hawke is going to be permanently paralyzed from the waist down. I'm sorry that the news isn't better."

Dr. Scott looked at the three people facing him and saw that the news had upset each one of them. He went on, saying, "With therapy, he should be able to get around in a wheelchair…"

Dom couldn't sit still any longer. He got up and walked away from where the doctor was sitting. Marella went after him.

Michael watched the two of them walk away, then turned to the doctor, "Dr. Scott, thank you for the news. What's going to happen now?" Michael queried.

"Right now the nurses are getting him ready to be moved into the ICU Unit where we'll be able to keep a close watch on him. We'll keep him in there until he regains consciousness and then we'll see about moving him into a regular room. After that, he needs to regain his strength and then start therapy."

"All right." Michael stood as the doctor stood up and shook his hand. "Thank you again."

Michael paused before heading over to where Marella was consoling Dom. This was not good news for Hawke, Dom, or Cait. Well, he'd deal with it, he thought as he moved towards Dom and Marella.

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Dom hung up the phone in the private office that Michael had gotten for him so that he could call Cait and tell her about Hawke's condition. It had been a very difficult conversation. Cait had been inconsolable when Dom told her about Hawke. He really couldn't blame her because he felt pretty much the same way himself.

He put his head down on the table and wept. He had been expecting bad news about Nicky, but not about his own son. It just hurt too much. But now he at least knew how String had felt when he was attempting to rescue Nicky and why it had meant so much.

Taking a deep breath, he raised his head off the table and knuckled his eyes dry. Now the hard work would begin. He needed to go and sit with String until he woke up and see him through this mess. Getting up, he headed out the door.