Chapter Text
“I think this may have been a bad idea, Joey,” Natalie said as she stacked dishes, attempting to steady them despite the shakiness of her own hands.
“It’ll be fine,” Joey responded as he quickly removed a few of the plates from the top of the stack, “just remember why you’re doing this. You want Liam to have a family…to have people around him that love him and care about him.”
Natalie sighed and looked up at the ceiling, “yeah, you’re right, I do, but have you looked into that room in there? There’s enough tension in there to choke someone. I’m afraid all Liam is going to see tonight is the beginning of World War Three.”
Joey smiled at her and picked up the stack of cloth napkins, “You worry too much. Tonight is going to be fine. What’s the worst that could happen?”
The conversation was awkward to say the least. The majority of the meal occurred in silence with an occasional attempt at small talk. Suddenly the silence was broken by the sound of a cell phone.
Nora glanced over at Bo, who reached into his pocket, “Sorry,” he muttered as he stood from the table and walked to the other room.
“Bo Buchanan,” he said into the phone, secretly happy to be rescued from the awkwardness of the dinner.
“What? When? Alright..Alright. I’ll be right there.” He turned to return to the table, but Nora was right behind him.
“What’s going on,” she asked, her voiced hushed?
Bo eased her further into the living room. “Listen, I don’t know all the details, but apparently one of the guys from lockup escaped tonight….went looking for some payback and found it.”
Nora looked at him, her eyes concerned. “Bo, what happened,” she asked? Bo glanced back at the table, “He busted into John McBain’s hotel room and started shooting…Grazed John but hit the woman he was with,” he said, his voice somber.
Nora was stunned, “Are you going to tell Natalie,” she asked quietly? “It’s a hell of a thing to tell her,”
Bo responded before grabbing his phone again, “I’m going to try to get some more details first. No sense in worrying everybody if there’s nothing to worry about”.
Nora looked back at Natalie. As their eyes met, Natalie knew something was wrong. She approached Nora and began to question her.
Nora glanced back at Bo who was engrossed in his conversation. “I don’t really know a lot of the details,” Nora said quietly, “but there was an accident tonight at John’s place.”
Natalie’s eyes widened. She started to speak, but words wouldn’t come. “Is he,” she said, before her voice betrayed her again.
Nora put up her hand to stop her, “A man escaped from lockup,” she said, attempting to answer the inevitable questions before they were asked, “he went over to John’s looking for some sort of revenge,” she said quietly, shaking her head, “He’s ok. The bullet just grazed him.”
Nora stopped them, considering that perhaps she had said enough.
Natalie noticed Nora’s hesitation. “What else,” she said, her voice strained, “What aren’t you telling me Nora?”
Nora sighed, “Honey, the important thing here is that John is ok, and Bo is trying to find out some more details. Let’s wait until he finishes and talk to him.”
Natalie couldn’t wait…not another second. “No, Nora. You know more than what you’re telling me. What is it? Is it worse? Is John hurt,” Natalie began to scream.
Joey stood from the table, immediately rushing to his sister’s side. “Hey,” he said as he touched her shoulder, “what’s going on?”
Nora sighed and spoke to Joey calmly. “Some guy from escaped from lockup tonight, busted into John McBain’s hotel room and started shooting,” she said, making the whole sordid story as short as possible.
Joey looked down at his sister, “Oh God, Natalie,” he said, his voice full of caring and concern, “is he ok?”
Natalie looked at Joey, “She says he is, but there’s something else…something she’s not telling me.”
As the silence fell upon the three, Bo’s words were becoming more forceful. “I need someone to tell me something,” he said, his voice annoyed with the incompetence of the operator, “Someone has to know how she’s doing. Cramer,” he said with a sigh, “Kelly Cramer.”
~
“Kelly,” Natalie and Joey, said in unison, both for very different reasons.
“He was with Kelly,” Natalie said, as she paced the floor, “I can’t believe he was with Kelly”.
Aubrey joined the group, annoyed at hearing the name she’d grown so weary of. “What is it,” she asked, trying to feign concern.
Joey could barely speak. His mind felt as if it might explode. The only thing he could hear was her Bo saying her name over and over again. “Kelly Cramer,” he said softly, as if saying it would make the noise in his head go away.
Aubrey looked back into the dining area and over at Cutter who cut his eyes at her as if to say, ‘play the loving wife, Aubrey’. “Yes, honey,” she said, sliding her hand over his shoulder, “What about Kelly”?
“She was,” he paused, unable to continue, “I think she was…” Before he could finish the group heard Bo’s cell phone click to close. Joey quickly closed the distance between them, “What’s going on, Bo? What about Kelly? Is she hurt? What happened?”
The questions seemed to pour from him, one after another. He was unable to stop, unable to pause, unable to do anything except ask those stupid questions.
Bo put his hands on Joey’s shoulders, “I’ll talk to you in a minute,” he said, trying to be as kind as possible, “Right now, I’ve got to call Dorian.”
Bo turned to walk from the room, but Joey was after him in a flash. “Wait,” he said, grabbing his arm and turning him around, “Bo, please, is she ok? Is Kelly ok?”
Bo just looked at him. He didn’t have time..not now. “Joey, I’m sorry. I can’t talk to you know. I’ve got to call Dorian. There’s not any time to waste.”
~
It seemed like an eternity as he stood there, watching Bo dial the numbers on the phone. “Dammit,” he heard him swear, slamming the phone shut again. Looking back at Nora, he shook his head, “Nothing. No answer.”
Turning his attention to Joey, he took a deep breath, “Look, Joey, it’s not good. I don’t want to lie to you. She took a hit…a bad one.”
Joey just looked at him. Aubrey placed her hand on the small of his back. She actually felt a little sorry for him. He clearly loved this woman and it sounded as if this were really, really serious. Still, one look at Cutter, reminded her that this was no time for her humanity to get the better of her. She had a job to do.
“She’s not…She’s not going to…,” Joey couldn’t bring himself to say the words. Kelly couldn’t die. She couldn’t. Not with so much left to do…not with so much left unsaid.
Bo knew there was nothing else to be said, “I’m going to get to the hospital,” he said quietly, retrieving his coat from the rack by the door, “Natalie, I’ll be glad to give you a ride”.
Natalie looked up at him, her face still showing a mix of anger and relief. “John’s ok, you said, right,” she asked.
Bo nodded, understanding where the conversation was headed. “No,” she responded curtly, turning her back towards them, “Liam needs me here,” she said softly, her voice clearly showing the emotion threatening to spill out.
Joey looked over at her. “Nat,” he said, “Are you sure, you don’t want to…”
“Just go,” Natalie said, the anger and hurt now spilling over, “I just can’t deal with it now.”
Joey grabbed his jacket and headed out the door without so much as a glance towards Aubrey. Aubrey looked stunned and looked back at the table. Cutter didn’t look pleased. This was not good.
~
“That should do it,” the nurse said as she finished wrapping the gauze around John’s upper arm.
“Thanks,” he muttered gruffly and stood from the table. “Your papers are waiting outside,” she said, smiling, “sign them and you’re free to go.”
John just walked out. Go? He couldn’t go? Not now. Not when this was his fault. The officers at the scene had tried to help, telling him she was at the wrong place at the wrong time, but John knew better. He did this. Everything he touched ended up getting hurt. He was a mess and now he’d gone and hurt someone else.
Seeing a doctor pass by he tried to stop them, “Excuse me, Doc…Any news on Kelly Cramer,” he asked?
The doctor looked at him, eyeing the bandage on his eye as well as the recently split lip. “Are you family?,” he asked, his voice cold and unfeeling.
“No,” John said sadly, shaking his head.
“I’m sorry,” the doctor responded, though obviously not, “I can’t give you any information.” John slumped back into the chair, putting his head in his hands. He wasn’t family. He wasn’t anything. He was a man she’d tried to help and look how he’d repaid her. Leaning back in the chair, John stared up at the ceiling, “I never meant for this to happen,” he whispered.
“Too bad that doesn’t matter now,” Joey said, he voice full of venom and rage.
John turned his head to follow the voice. “Joey,” he said, standing up from the chair, “Do you have news of Kelly?,” he asked concerned.
Joey clenched his fists together. “No, John. I don’t. Bo is going to try and find out something. They won’t tell me anything. I’m not FAMILY,” he said, yelling the word towards the woman behind the counter, “but you’d better hope and pray she’s ok, because I swear to God John if she’s not….”
John just stared at him. “You’ll what?,” John said, his eyes dull, unaffected by Joey’s threat, “You’ll what? You’ll kill me? Go ahead. Save me the trouble. I just might do it myself.”
~
Pushing past John, Joey sat down in the straight hospital chair. John looked over at him. He had to admit, he was a mess too. “Look, Joey,” he said, “I”.
Joey stopped him, “Do you honestly think I want to hear anything you have to say right now? Because of you Kelly is back there somewhere? She’s hurt. She could be….,” his voice broke.
John spoke again, “Don’t say that,” he said, straightening in the chair, “Kelly is the strongest woman I know. She’s not going to die.”
Joey looked at John for a moment without speaking. “You wanna talk. Talk. Tell me. Tell me what happened,” he said.
John shook his head, “I don’t know, Joey. It all happened so fast. The door was kicked in and the shots started. I tried to get her out of the way. I did, I swear, but she was already hit. There wasn’t anything I could do,” he whispered, lowering his head.
Joey’s eyes were filled with tears, but he willed himself to continue, “Was she conscious? Did she say anything?,” he asked, trying to keep from breaking down.
John stared, reliving the moment as he held her head in his hands, trying desperately to stop the bleeding. He remembered her lips moving, as if she were trying to speak, and then the word, the single whispered word she managed, just before the EMTs arrived. “Yeah,” John said sadly, looking up at Joey, “she did say one thing. She said your name.”