"What was that?" Santana placed one hand on the side of the booth as she looked around the lattice enclosed space towards the kitchen. She could see Frankie though the small window gesturing wildly with his hands."Uh ohhh..someone is in troubleeee." Santana laughed as she watched Frankie's face get redder and redder. She and Rachel could hear him cursing in French when the door opened and the hostess who had seated them earlier came out with a pained expression on her face.
"I'm so sorry Ms. Lopez and Ms. Berry, two of our waiters, one of which was carrying your dessert, crashed into each other. Chef Frankie is going to prepare you fresh ones as soon as possible. Is there anything at all I can do for you while you wait?" Santana was struggling to not laugh. Yes she had worked in a diner before and she knew the ends and outs of working in a kitchen and trying to deliver food. The first rule you learn in any kitchen is to always pay attention. Sure accidents happen and it royally sucked when they did, but that didn't make it any less funny to Santana. She was positive that a few people had laughed at her during her first week at the diner when she had dropped a tray full of drinks and someone's food. Plus, she could always leave a very large tip for secretly laughing, that was sure to more than make up for it.
"It's perfectly fine. We don't mind the wait and I think we are good for now." Rachel assured the hostess who scurried off as soon as she realized that the women didn't need anything. This was her first big night and being responsible for two celebrities such as Santana and Rachel was a little overwhelming, she could understand how Masyn had gotten distracted.
Rachel and Santana settled back down into their booth to wait on their dessert. They began to look at the photo album again, Rachel more so than Santana since Santana couldn't help but to keep looking at her ring. She had no idea that Rachel was going to do this tonight, she never expected a ring of her own. Santana had just been happy to give Rachel a ring.
The couple's happy bubble was burst once again when they heard a slam come from the front of the restaurant.
Jasper was running full speed down the lobby stairs, he had hoped that by changing direction and exiting out the front that he would throw the two goons off of his trail. As he was running down the stairs he suddenly remembered that Rachel and Santana were in the restaurant, hopefully they hadn't left after they heard the gun shot. Jasper continued to take as many steps as he could to reach the doors faster. Once he hit the bottom step, Jasper stumbled and sent himself sliding straight into the side entrance doors of the restaurant. Everyone inside froze and looked his way with wide eyes.
These people didn't need to be looking at him. With one hand on the floor pushing himself up, Jasper grasped his gun in his right hand and aimed directly at the booth in the back. If this was the only shot he was going to have he was damn well going to take it.
Santana stood up and moved around the table to exit the booth. Something was going on, she could feel it just like she had mentioned to Rachel earlier. Her eyes widened she saw Jasper laying on the floor in the lobby. What in the hell was he doing? Santana reached for her holster as soon as she saw what Jasper was doing. The two security guards from Duncan's team must have seen what was happening too as they both were on their feet in an instant.
"Santana, what's going..." Rachel's words trailed off as she took in the scene before her. Santana had her gun drawn. Two of their security guards was running out of the front doors and around the front of the building to try and apprehend Jasper without him seeing them. What they didn't see was the fact that Jasper already had his gun drawn and was aiming it...right at Santana and Rachel.
Jasper smiled when he seen that both Santana and Rachel were now in his direct line of fire. He shifted his gun position slightly to the right and placed his finger on the trigger giving it a hard pull. The sound of guns echoed off the walls as people behind him began to scream and run for cover. The one who mattered was done for..dead. His uncle was going to be so proud of him. Jasper didn't have long to revel in his accomplishment as he felt a white hot fire spread all along his side and torso. Dropping his gun, another shot rang out as Jasper reached his right hand down to his ribs and gasped when he saw blood. There was no mistaken that he too had been shot. Jasper's eyes rolled back in his head as he felt four bodies dive on top of him. It was totally worth it, it was all finally over and his uncle wouldn't have to worry anymore.
Santana didn't even think as she saw Jasper move his hand and pull the trigger. She knew he wasn't aiming at her, he was aiming at Rachel. With little time to react, Santana aimed and pulled the trigger of her own pistol while pushing Rachel behind her trying to protect her. Santana had moved so quickly that she didn't realize that when she pushed, Rachel had taken a hold of her hand and was pulling Santana with her. They landed with a hard thud on top of one another on the floor.
Rachel had tears streaming down her face as she looked up at Santana. Or so Santana thought. Rachel was looking a little past Santana at her hand. Rachel moved her fingers, she couldn't believe what she was seeing. Her left hand was covered in blood. There was no way it was hers, the only other person it could belong to was..."Santana." Rachel whispered. "You've been shot."
"What?" Santana asked confused as she tried to push herself off of Rachel. She could hear James and Sean screaming about shots fired and the shooter was injured but alive and being placed in cuffs but they needed back up.
"You've been shot!" Rachel screamed as she tried to scramble out from under Santana so that she could see for herself.
Santana screamed out in agony as she placed her right hand on the floor to try and raise herself up more so that Rachel could sit up. Turning to look over her shoulder, Santana sighed in relief when she seen that yes she had been shot but it was only a graze. "I'm okay. I'm okay, it's only a graze." Santana gritted her teeth as she put her weight onto her left hand and was able to push herself up on her knees. Rachel who was now also sitting up, moved around Santana to grab a napkin off the table. There wasn't much that she knew about first aid, but she did know to apply pressure to a bleeding wound. Rachel was crying harder now as she tried to hold Santana's arm and apply pressure at the same time without hurting Santana even more.
Seeing the agony on Rachel's face, Santana reached out and placed her left hand on top of Rachel's and helped her press down. She wanted to scream again, the pain was setting in as her adrenaline wore off, but that would only scare Rachel even more and she didn't want to do that at all.
"Hey..look at me." Santana waited for Rachel to make eye contact. "I'm okay. It's like a super bad case of road rash, no biggy."
"No biggy?!" Rachel could feel the rage setting in. How could Santana just brush this off?! "You fell on top me of trying to protect me from this! Santana you literally took a bullet for me?! It's more than just a no biggy! Why would you do something so stupid! If he had pulled the trigger a fraction of a second later or if I hadn't of pulled you with me you would have been dead dammit! Dead!" Rachel weakly pounded her fist on Santana's chest.
"I'm not dead. If I had been a fraction of a second slower, he would have killed you! I would gladly take a grazed bullet wound over not losing you any day! I told you before I would do whatever I could to protect you and I will not apologize for that." Santana pulled Rachel closer to her body and held her.
Rachel shifted her eyes to look out of the shattered glass door. Jasper was being loaded onto a stretcher. When had an ambulance gotten here? Why was an EMT not looking at Santana's arm? Rachel was shook from her thoughts when Leroy and Bayani approached them. They both were breathing heavy.
"Are you two alright?" Leroy asked as he leaned forward and rested his hands on his knees. From his vantage point he couldn't see Santana's arm.
"I'm fine. Santana needs help...she's..she's been shot." Rachel could feel the words getting hung in her throat. It felt like every emotion from the wreck was once again playing through her mind. The fear of losing Santana again was trying to consume her. This would make twice that Santana had put herself in extreme danger to protect her.
Rachel vaguely heard her father yelling that they needed a medic. She needed reassurance that Santana was still there. Rachel rested her head on Santana's chest and listened to her heart beat, it was beating fast at the moment. This was all so overwhelming, something in Jasper had finally snapped. Santana had taken a bullet for her. The only word that came to mind to describe all of this was...crazy. Was the nightmare that had been lingering in the back of their heads finally over? Could they all move on with their lives and never have to worry about any of this ever again? Time would only tell.
Santana hissed in pain as Dr. Rose covered her with a lead apron so that she could make sure that Santana had indeed only been grazed by a bullet. Now that all of her adrenaline was officially gone, her arm was throbbing. Could this night get any worse? Santana shook the thought from her head, if she was morbid she could come up with a thousand and one ways that the night could get worse. However, she wasn't going to think like that. She was safe, Rachel and Leroy were safe, everyone was safe now.
Rachel held her breath as she watched Dr. Rose position Santana so that she could get the best x-ray possible to make sure there were no bullet fragments or an actual bullet in Santana's arm. She could tell from the look on Santana's face that she was in pain. It had taken some convincing to even get Santana to come and see Dr. Rose, the woman was just going to go home! Rachel had been livid and after a spat about letting at least the medic check her out, Rachel had climbed in the jeep to drive and just when Santana thought they were going to go on home, Rachel had turned and headed straight for the clinic thankful that Dr. Rose was still there.
"Okay..I think we got it. Let me take this off and then nurse Kim will take you back to your room. If it's clean then we will stitch you up and you can be on your way Santana." Dr. Rose spoke quietly like she always did. She motioned for the nurse to step closer towards Santana who growled at the woman.
"I can walk just fine by myself." Santana scoffed as she left the x-ray lab holding the bandage that the medic had placed on her arm.
"Santana don't be rude." Rachel scolded as she followed along back down the blue carpeted hallway.
"I wouldn't have to be rude if you had just taken me home like you said you would. The medic even said it wasn't as bad as it looked when it was bleeding." Santana rolled her eyes as she kept walking, ignoring the staring from nurse Kim.
"Stop it." Rachel took two long steps to get in front of Santana to stop her from walking away. "I know you're tired and you're hurting, but that's never an excuse to be mean. Especially to me. Now we're going to go in there and get that cleaned and stitched up, then we are going to go home and relax because I know we won't be sleeping for a while. We had an amazing night until the end, let's get back to that amazing part, at least for tonight. I'm sure Chief Sylvester will come by in the morning." Rachel looked into Santana's eyes trying to convey just how much she needed for this night to end on somewhat of a better note.
"I'm sorry I snapped at you." Santana muttered as she looked down at the floor in disappointment in herself.
"Santana...stop demeaning yourself like that. I know that's what you do when you look at the floor after you apologize." Rachel waited for Santana to look up. It took a moment but finally once Santana did look up, Rachel kissed her lightly on the lips. "It's okay. We're okay." Santana didn't say anything else, she just nodded and followed nurse Kim back to her room as Rachel laced their fingers together with Santana's good hand. Things would be okay.