Your heart stopped.

It had been 45 minutes since the doctor had left her alone with her untouched cup of lukewarm coffee, his words still swimming around her, circling her, closing her in.

Your heart stopped.

She had been shot. It was almost laughable, Allie Dunham, the girl from the right side of the tracks with a stellar education and enviable job had been shot in her own house by a kid. He was 22 and he had ruined his life all because of a grudge...because of a game.

Sighing and leaning back into the comfort of her pillow, Allie let her hand drift lower and felt the bandages on her side. It was the tiniest of scars, they had assured her, nothing to worry about. She had been lucky; they'd called her number and were treating her as dead weight. Yet here she was, breathing, wincing, alive and well enough to know that she needed a damn good cup of coffee.

"Mrs Dunham?"

She blinked and turned her head towards the door, pulling off the oxygen mask and wincing as the frayed elastic pinched her cheeks.

"You've got some visitors,"

Pete stepped through the door and she thought her heart might stop again. Jesus Christ, what had happened to him? He was so pale, so gaunt, everything about him was alien. The playful twinkle she loved in his eyes was gone, replaced with something haunted and cold. He seemed to slump against the wall as he met her eyes and shook his head slightly, the breath leaving his body painfully. She didn't want to think about when he had last eaten or slept.

"Hi," she half whispered, unsure of her own voice.

"You look like shit," he told her, the tiniest of twinkles creeping back into his eyes.

"And yet still better than you," Allie coughed, the smile tugging on the dry skin of her lips and cracking them open. "What does that say?"

She couldn't have blinked more than once before she was in his arms, his face buried in her neck, his tears cascading down onto her hospital gown and making her shiver. But it wasn't enough to make her pull away, nothing could do that right now.

"Allie,"

He sobbed and her heart broke, the pain ripping through her chest worse than anything she had felt since waking up. Physical pain she could cope with, wounds healed, pills worked, stitches held everything together but this...nothing could cure this.

"I know, baby," she whispered, stroking the back of his neck.

"I lost you," he choked. "They told me...I had to let you go. I had to tell Poppy...I wanted it to be me," he cried harder. "Every night I would watch you dying and I wanted it to be me,"

Shaking her head, Allie pulled back slightly and cupped his face in her hands; her husband, her best friend. The man who had saved her life in every respect since the moment he had met her. She owed him everything.

"You brought me back," she told him firmly. "You and Poppy and Alex, you brought me back here. I don't know where I was, I don't know what happened but I know why I'm here now. And I need you. So neither of us is dying, alright, that's a deal we strike here and now,"

"I picked out your clothes," he whispered, her fingertips tracing his lips. "I..."

"First off, whoever the hell gave you that job is going to find themselves in my place very soon," she looked him in the eye. "Tell me you didn't touch my shoes, because you know I'll kill you myself. Right here."

Against his better judgement, Pete laughed, leaning his head against her shoulder and closing his eyes when she kissed his neck softly. He could feel her pulse throbbing in her neck and felt his own slow down for the first time in months. She was ok, he could breathe now. He sat up slightly and gauged her carefully, wanting to kiss her but not sure how delicate she was.

The decision was made for him as she leant down and kissed him hard, ignoring the agony in her ribs as her lungs begged her to pull back and breathe. But this was the most alive she had been in so long, this is what she needed, if there was one thing that could keep her alive, it was Pete Dunham.

"So, not that I'm not happy to have you to myself," she pulled back just enough to lick her lips. "But who'd you bring with you?"

Her voice rose in hope and he winced, knowing she wanted to see the kids; but he couldn't bring them here, not until he was sure what she could be like. The night Poppy had come to the hospital with him and against his wishes, rushed out of Harry's arms and into the room with him and seen Allie laying in bed covered in blood and tubes, she had screamed and not slept for almost a week. Even now she woke up screaming, her tiny hands tearing holes in his arms as she clutched at him desperately and wept for him to make it go away.

The familiar bile rose in his throat and he turned his head away, not wanting Allie to know any of that. It would kill her.

"I brought Harry with me," he smiled. "Your dad is on his way,"

Brushing her hair off of her face, Pete shook his head and let out a breath.

"Fuck me, you're beautiful,"

Allie laughed and tried not to let it turn into a coughing fit, clutching her side subtly so Pete wouldn't notice.

"Oh yeah, the post comatose look is all the rage at Prada this season," she blew a strand of hair out of her face and pouted at him. "Note how my oxygen mask compliments the blue tint in my lips and the various IV's in my arms,"

"All the fucking medical marvels these days and yet they can't remove your sarcasm gene," he snorted. "Well I truly am fucked, aren't I?"

"You, Dunham wouldn't have me any other way," she grinned.

"Never in a million years," he winked at her. "I'm going to go get your brother before he paces a fucking hole in the floor,"

Allie laughed and smiled gently when she noticed that he hadn't moved an inch and there was still a faint look of fear in his eyes.

"Hey," she tilted his chin up and met his eyes warmly. "I'm not going anywhere. I'll be here when you come back,"

"You promise?" he gulped and again her heart broke. He looked so vulnerable, so scared.

"I promise," she kissed him. "Now bugger off and get me a decent coffee,"

He snorted, standing up and leaning down to kiss the top of her head before hesitantly making his way to the door; he felt steady on his feet for the first time in weeks yet at the same time more than aware he needed sleep and food. Grimacing at the state of his shirt, he rolled his eyes. And maybe a shower.

Allie watched the door shut behind him and smiled, leaning back against the pillow once more and turning her head to look out of the window, the cascade of rain down the glass making her eyes grow heavy. Her mother had always told her that rain was the best lullaby in the world and as her eyes began to drift shut, she smiled, wishing she was here right now.

The door creaked open again and Allie laughed, opening her eyes and turning to face her husband and her brother.

"That was bloody quick, where were you, right outside the d-..."

"I just need five minutes. No one knows I'm here, they can't know...I just...I need five minutes,"

Allie stared at the woman for a long moment, her blood running cold and the machine next to her bleeping excessively, letting her know as though she didn't already from the way her heart was trying to slam its way through her ribs that her pulse had elevated somewhat.

"Please," Sarah Hatcher begged her, pulling the hood of her coat down with trembling fingers as she turned and locked the door behind her. "Please."

EEEP! Sorry its taken so long to write this, I actually ended up having an operation which is super fun and strong pain killers do NOT make for a good muse when writing fics so, I hope you enjoyed this. I'm off to post another chapter of Rise...so be sure to check that out too. Love you guys! EL xx