The EMTs met John halfway through the lobby and he laid Jessie gently on the gurney. "She's not hurt," John told them as they started checking her vitals. "She fainted. She's in shock."

"Let's get her outside by the truck...the fresh air will do her some good." The one EMT told the other and John.

John nodded and followed them outside where they stopped at the back of their ambulance. "Uh...Rodriguez." He read the name tag of the EMT who was flashing his penlight in Jessie's eyes. "She's okay, right?"

"Her stats are normal..." He checked her pulse again. "What caused the fainting?"

"A friend of hers was murdered...she found the body."

"Was she unconscious when you found her?"

"No. She threw up a lot and was cold and shakey...the crime scene is pretty bad...a lot of blood...she fainted when she saw our M.E. going over the body."

"Hey, Rodriguez, she's waking up." The other EMT had been watching her as Rodriguez talked to John.

"Billy, get some Gatorade...it's in the back left corner of the truck by the I.V. poles." Rodriguez leaned in towards Jessie. "How do you feel?"

"Tired," Jessie answered groggily. "Where's John?"

"I'm right here, kiddo." John got down on one knee next to the gurney. He pushed hair off her forehead. "You fainted."

Jessie nodded solemnly and started to sit up.

"Whoa, whoa...take it slow. Here drink some of this." Rodriguez helped her sit up and gave her the Gatorade.

"Thanks." She took a long drink and looked towards Sal's building.

"Hey," John put his hand on the side of her face and turned her to face him. The dark, haunted look was back in her eyes. "Don't think about him like that."

"What they did to him...there was so much blood-"

John put his hands on her shoulders. He could feel her trembling. "Don't. Jess, try not to think about -"

Jessie pushed him away as the Gatorade came back up and when that was all through she started to dry heave again. Her stomach muscles were already sore from her first round of dry heaving, so she wrapped her arm around it trying desperately to make it stop. "John.."

John was behind her in an instant. He sat down and wrapped his arms around her leaning her back against him. "It's okay," He whispered in her ear. "I got you...I'm right here. Deep breaths, remember? Slow deep breaths." He looked at Rodriguez. "Can you give her something? Something to calm her down?"

"I can give her a sedative but she should go to the hospital so they could monitor her in case of a reaction."

"No!" Jessie shouted. She was struggling to stop dry heaving, so that she could talk, but fighting it hurt her stomach even more. "No hospital..please John."

"Jessie, you have to give yourself a break you're in pain, it could get worse."

"I'll be okay..." She doubled over and curled up as her stomach muscles knotted in pain. "Make it stop, John...please...like you did before"

John pulled her back up so she was leaning against him again. "You have to see something else.." He told her. "That day in the break room...remember?...playing Doom on George's computer. You showed George that tunnel with all the ammo and he was calling himself 'Rambo'..." It was working but not as quickly as he wanted it to, he gave Rodriguez a pleading look. "Just give her the sedative, will you? Look, her doctor's upstairs, she's an M.E., she could look after Jessie when we get her home. I'll take full responsibility for anything that happens. I'll even give it to her if you feel you can't."

Rodriguez looked from John to Jessie and watched her struggle in pain as she continued to dry heave. "Okay, okay...I'll give her the sedative." He went inside the ambulance and came back out with a syringe. "You better take care of her and take her to the hospital if something goes wrong."

"I will. She's my sister...I'm not gonna let anything happen to her." He put his chin on Jessie's shoulder and spoke in her ear. "He's gonna give you something to help you calm down. You'll sleep for a while." He nodded towards Rodriguez and held one of Jessie's arms so he could administer the sedative.

"It should only take a few minutes," Rodriguez said stepping back.

They waited. The dry heaving stopped and John felt her body relax against him. He loosened his hold on her and she looked up at him. She was fighting to stay awake.

"No hospital...promise." She said sleepily.

"I promise. Don't fight it." He said rocking her. "I'll take you home...sleep now."

A moment later he felt her go completely limp against him. Her breathing was deep and steady. She had given in to the sedative.

John realized he didn't like the feeling of her feeling so lifeless in his arms. It scared him, especially after what happened to Sal. He turned her so that she was facing him, so he could see that she was just sleeping and he could feel her breath on him. He kissed her forehead, her skin felt warm and it reassured him. The scary feeling went away. He looked up at Rodriguez. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Rodriguez looked towards the building. "It's bad in there, huh? To cause a reaction like that..."

"It's bad. They really made a mess of the victim and what makes it worse is that she was really close to him. She loved him a lot."

That's tough...I hope she'll be okay."

"She will...I'll make sure of it."

"How's she doing?" Bailey asked as John as he, Grace and Sam came up behind him.

"Still not good." John nodded towards Rodriguez. "He gave her a sedative. You guys did up there?"

"Yeah. Nathan's gonna stick around and handle the cleanup and get the security tapes put on discs. Let's get her to the hospital and get her checked out."

John shook his head. "No. I promised her no hospital. I'm taking her home."

"John, it's just a precaution-"

"Grace can check her out and make sure she's okay...right Grace? I promised, Bailey."

"Grace?"

"It's alright, Bailey, I'll look after her," Grace told him.

"Okay, let's get her home. I'll call Patrick and give him an update. We'll need to discuss getting everyone to a safe-house also."

John stood up cradling Jessie in his arms and followed the others to the VCTF van.


Patrick O'Doyle's penthouse

Patrick had been pacing back and forth in front of the door since Bailey's call telling them they were on there way back. He told him Jessie was fine but she was in shock and had to be sedated. He didn't go into details about what had happened to Sal but he was told that the crime scene would have been pretty horrific for anyone to see and Jessie was very shaken by it. So he paced. He believed that Jessie was alright but he wouldn't rest until he saw her for himself.

"Pat, sit down before you give yourself a heart attack," Robert told him from the window. He had been standing by it, watching for the VCTF van to pull up since Bailey called. "She's fine, Bailey said so."

"Sure, she's not hurt," Patrick was still pacing. "But what she saw, Bobby...dammit, she doesn't sleep as it is."

"She's stronger than you think, she'll be okay." Robert caught a glimpse of a car pulling up, so he looked, and saw the VCTF van come to a stop. "They're here." He told Patrick. He watched as Bailey, Grace, Sam, and John, who was carrying Jessie, entered the building.

Patrick opened the door so they could walk right in. He didn't stop pacing until Bailey walked in followed by John.

"She's okay. She's just sleeping." John told him.

Patrick stood in front of her and brushed his hand along her cheek. She looked peaceful. He looked her over from head to toe and was satisfied that she wasn't harmed in any way. 'Well not physically.' He thought sadly. "Thank you for bringing her home."

"Why don't we get her to bed, She'll be asleep for quite some time." Grace put her hand on Patrick's shoulder. "She's going to be fine." She smiled at him.

Patrick nodded, smiling back. "Her room is upstairs."

John and Grace followed Patrick to Jessie's room. He laid Jessie down gently and started to pull the covers up over her.

"Wait, John." Grace turned to Patrick. "Can you get her something I can change her into? She shouldn't be left in those clothes."

Patrick looked Jessie over once more and saw that her shirt and jeans both had vomit on them. He went to Jessie's dresser and pulled out a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt. "These okay?"

"They're fine."

John came out of the bathroom with a damp washcloth and a dry towel. He gave them to Grace and put his arm around Patrick. "Grace will take care of Jessie, c'mon let's go downstairs."

Patrick leaned down and kissed Jessie's forehead and cheek. "I love you." He whispered.

"I'll be down in a few minutes," Grace said as John and Patrick left the room.


Tbc...