Hello again. We're so close to the end now, I'm kinda half relieved, half saddened by that. I've had such a mental block on the last couple chapters I hope they've turned out alright for everyone. Haven't decided yet whether to end it here or give you some sort of epilogue – what do you think?

Hinaths – Very sorry for making you wait for this update – I hope you enjoy it ;)

Chapter Nine

"So, what's my prognosis?"

Beth asked her Doctor as he placed her chart back at the end of the bed. It had been almost a week since she'd woken from the coma and she was now able to sit up in bed.

"You'll live."

He said, a smile on his face.

"I guessed that. When can I get up?"

She'd asked the question to him for the last three days in hopes she'd get the answer she was looking for.

"I suppose I could get the nurses to bring a wheelchair in today if you like."

He said with a smirk as he saw the shock on her face. She hadn't been expecting the answer to be yes.

"Seriously?"

"Seriously. Your leg is healing well; you're gonna need physio on it before you'll be able to walk on it, but that won't be until your chest wounds heal up some more. How's it feeling today?"

"Itchy. And it throbs when I breathe but it doesn't hurt as much as it was."

"It's going to be like that for a while I'm afraid. You've got a lot of healing to do."

She nodded, understanding.

"Greg coming in later?"

She shook her head.

"He's got to work, apparently he's used up pretty much all his holiday being here with me."

He could tell she didn't seem to know what to think about this.

"He cares for you. A lot, I could tell. He barely left your side."

"I know. We've been best friends for like forever it seems. My parents will be in later though, they're just packing."

"Packing?"

"Yeah, they've got to get back – work and everything. They didn't want to but I told them to go, I said I'd be okay – there's nothing much they can do anyway."

"Then lets give them something to celebrate when they come back, and get you in that wheelchair. I think maybe even a short trip outside would be okay as well."

"Yeah? That's great." She smiled. "Thanks."

He put his hand on her arm and gave it a comforting squeeze.

"I'll go get the nurses."

She nodded and watched as he walked out the door. She looked around the quiet room, surrounded by flowers, cards and gifts. It was one of the first times she'd been alone since the whole event had happened, she realised. She looked up at the ceiling, trying to recall the event. She still couldn't remember being shot, the last thing she could was starting her shift that day which apparently was a few hours before it happened. Before she could think anymore a couple nurses came in with a wheelchair.

When her parents arrived they were happy and relieved to see her up out of bed and took her for a trip around the building in the lovely weather. It was a nice way to spent their last day together for at least 3 weeks which was when they'd be able to come back. They left her in the wheelchair over by the open window where she'd be able to see the sun setting. She stayed still for a moment, enjoying the quiet, then looked up out of the window at the purples and pinks in the sky. A loud bang jolted Beth out of her peaceful thoughts and she found memories bombarding her mind, as she gripped the arms of the wheelchair.

Greg strode down the corridor of Beth's ward with a smile on his face and flowers in his hands. They were Beth's favourites – red roses. She was always a traditional girl, he thought. And if he was going to show her how he felt, he knew flowers were always going to be a sure bet to start with. He was going to take her mothers advice to tell her. And because he knew how she already felt he didn't have the fear of being out on a limp where she wasn't. He needed her to know that he loved her too. He pushed open Beth's door slowly, just in case she was asleep and frowned when he saw the empty bed. He opened the door further and spotted her by the window.

"Hey! You're up! That's great!"

He went over to her and stepped into her view. The smile on his face disappeared immediately and he felt a lump in his throat as he knelt down next to her.

"Beth? Beth, what's wrong?"

There was a mild tremor chasing up and down her frame. Her expression was blank, and her skin was beyond pale. Her jaw was tightly clenched and a white line was traced around her quaking lips, but the most startling sight was her eyes; they were huge, unfocused, with a fine sheen of tears. And the expression they held made Greg's heart go out to her.

"Beth."

He tried again gently as he put a hand on her arm. The warm touched seemed to bring her back and she inhaled quickly, her eyes darting to look right into his.

"Are you okay?"

He all but whispered. She didn't trust herself to answer, merely nodded slowly.

"What happened? Do you need a Doctor?"

She shook her head again and moved her hand to take his comfortingly. He squeezed back, trying not to rush her for an answer. Something had obviously affected her badly.

"I just...I remember what happened. It all came flooding back."

"Being shot?"

She nodded.

"I remember protecting that boy, and trying to calm the woman down, she looked scared and I remember thinking I didn't think she'd do anything, she was wavering and I could tell I almost got through to her when something spooked her. I can remember the noise and it was like someone had shoved me backwards. For a while I thought she'd missed me because there wasn't any pain, only numbness, and then I remember everyone around me and I knew it was bad from their faces, and then there was pain, so much pain, and I could see Cath standing over me."

She looked back up at Greg, her eyes focusing again. He was looking at her concerned, a frown wrinkling his brow. Beth saw the concern and tried to put him at ease.

"It's okay. I'm okay, it's good that I can remember. You wanna hear something ironic though?"

"What's that?"

"It was a car backfiring that brought it all back."

Greg laughed, for what seemed like the first time in years and Beth found the sound infinitely comforting. There seemed to be some link with backfiring cars and flashbacks, Greg thought. That's what had set him off all those weeks ago, months ago it seemed.

"So, you're okay? Honestly?"

"Honestly."

"Liar. You're forgetting I recently spend some time in one of these places myself."

She smiled at him as best she could muster, while she certainly wasn't ready to really contemplate what had happened, she was okay with the fact that she was concentrating on getting herself physically better first,

"I'm as okay as I can be right now – is that a better answer for you?"

"Much better. If you wanna talk, I'm here."

"Thanks Greg. Don't know what I'd do without you."

"Feelings mutual."

He said giving her a stare that hit the core of her soul, making her shiver. She shoved the feeling aside, promising herself she wouldn't think about that until she was better. Greg however was revelling in the emotions he felt when he stared that deep into her. Who knew these feelings had even existed before? How had he even managed to live without them? He could only describe it as never having had chocolate in your life, and not knowing what you were missing until you finally decided to take a bite after almost three decades without it, and wondering how you ever survived. Suddenly remembering the flowers he'd placed on the floor before he'd taken her arm, he picked them up and held them up in front of her.

"For you."

Her eyes lit up in awe, happiness and a little confusion as she took the flowers from him and stared at them.

"For what?"

"I'd have thought that was obvious. They're to cheer you up. I know they're your favourite."

She nodded to that.

"Thank you."

She said quietly, staring at them.

"I'll put them in some water," He said holding his hand out; she gave them back to him and he crossed to her bedside table to take out some old, dying flowers to replace them with the bright red roses. "I've brought a couple games with me as well, figured you'd be getting really bored right about now."

"Scrabble?"

She questioned. He smiled and produced the scrabble game from the bag he'd had slung on his back.

There was blood, lots of blood, and pain. The pain was radiating through her whole body as she stared up into the faces of the Doctor's around her. They weren't doing anything, just standing and looking, tutting a little as they contemplated her wounds.

"I'm afraid there's nothing more we can do. I think we're just going to have to put her down."

Beth stared at them in shock. Put her down? Like some dog or something? She tried to shake her head but she couldn't move, it was hard enough just to think with the pain coming in waves and growing in intensity. She heard a click and her eyes darting to the side as she saw another Doctor loading up a gun. Fear overcame the pain and she started to hyperventilate. She tried to tell him no, that she was okay, that she didn't need to die, she could fight this. She heard the bullets click in place as she tried to get someone's attention but no-one was looking. Then the man with the gun came into view. He looked sad as he raised the gun to her head. Finally Beth managed to scream but it was stolen from her as the bullet exploded from the gun –

- And she woke, the scream still on her lips and almost went to sit up. Pain exploded in her chest as she moved and she realised she'd ripped a couple stitches out. She tried to lay still and control her shallow breathing, realising now that it had just been a dream when the door opened and Michael and a nurse came running in, having heard her cry.

"Beth. What is it? What's wrong?"

She stared at him, wide eyed and tried to speak, but couldn't. She looked down at her chest to see blood pooling out onto her gown and the Doctor understood.

"Okay Beth, let's take a look."

Gently him and the nurse pulled the loose gown down far enough so that they could get to the blood soaked bandage and they removed it to check the damage.

"You've ripped a couple stitches, but I get the feeling you knew that already. It's okay, we'll get them fixed." He looked at the nurse. "Call down and let them know we need to bring Beth back in for stitches." She nodded and left the room as the Doctor found and replaced her bandages, watching Beth as a couple tears slid from her eyes and down the side of her face.

"You okay? You need something for the pain?"

She gave an subtle nod. He put a hand on her shoulder and gave it a squeeze before leaving the room to retrieve some painkillers for her. Beth stared at the ceiling, reliving the dream as it stayed vivid in her mind. She couldn't get it to go away. She always hated those dreams, the ones that affected you so badly that they seemed to stay with you for the rest of the day. When he returned, he gave her the painkiller, then got her transported out to get her stitches sorted. When she finally got back after also being checked for other damage, he took a seat on the chair next to the bed.

"Feeling better now?"

"Yeah."

"Would you like to talk about it?"

"No."

"Okay, let me rephrase that – I'd like to know what it was that made you scream back then and rip your stitches."

She gave him a sideways glance, then looked across the room with a slight vacant expression.

"I just had a dream, that's all." He gave her a look. "Oh, all right, a nightmare then. There's nothing more to tell."

There was a definite full stop at the end of her sentence that warned him not to continue. He gave a sigh.

"Okay Beth, you win. I won't pry any further. But I know what you must be going through, I've seen it enough times to know. And sooner or later you'll have to face it."

"I know." She replied back, quietly. "I will. I just...I need some time."

She pleaded, hoping he'd get the hint. He did.

"I'll leave you to get some more sleep. I can get you something to help with that if you want?"

"No, it's okay."

"All right then. Good night Beth."

"Hm, night."

She waited until the door had closed, then closed her eyes and took a long slow sigh. It was still hard to even contemplate the idea that she'd been shot, but at the same time she knew she wouldn't do anything different. She'd saved that boys life by stepping in the way, but at the same time she couldn't help but try to suppress the emotions welling inside of her, screaming to get out. The emotions and feelings that hated the woman, that hated that boy, that situation; why did it have to be her? Why did her life have to be the one that was put in jeopardy? She mentally slapped herself, pulling herself out of these painful thoughts – there was no need to go down that route. She just needed to give herself time to recover from her injuries, then she'd be back on track. She could go back to her boss, make sure he sorted out her resignation, contact her friends and colleagues in Africa and get reassigned, then everything will be everything. A small voice in the back of her head answered, but she clamped down on it, ignoring it as she tried to clear her mind to sleep.

On his way home from his night shift Greg stopped in at the hospital to check on Beth before he went home to sleep. Thinking about maybe taking her for a spin around the hospital in her wheelchair, he was surprised to find her still in bed when he got there, and looking rather worse for wear. She had grey shadows under her eyes as if she hadn't slept and the eyes themselves were slightly bloodshot and slightly glazed from tiredness. She looked over at him when he entered and tried a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.

"Greg, hey, I didn't expect you this morning."

"What's happened?"

She gave him a confused look.

"Nothing's happened, why do you ask?"

"Because you look like hell."

"Gee, thanks for that."

She replied sarcastically.

"What are friends for? I thought you'd have been out of bed again, I know how stir crazy you've been going."

Beth didn't answer but a voice came from behind him and he turned to see her Doctor standing in the doorway.

"She's not allowed, not for another day or two."

"Why?"

Greg asked, looking from one to the other. Michael, realising that Beth wasn't going to answer again, spoke up.

"Because she ripped out a couple stitches in her chest last night."

Michael turned and left the room, leaving them to talk.

"How?" Greg aimed the question at Beth as he moved closer to her. "How?"

He tried again. She looked at him.

"It was nothing. Just a nightmare that's all. Not uncommon for someone that's been through a traumatic experience."

Greg sat down, worry emanating from him.

"Tell me about it. What did you see?"

"Nothing, it was stupid."

"Not so stupid I think, what was it?"

"It was just some Doctors looking over me just after I'd been shot. They said there was nothing they could do and that they'd have to put me down, then another guy loaded a gun and shot me, and I woke up. I told you it was stupid." When Greg did nothing more than stare at her she continued. "Look, I'm okay Greg, I told you yesterday I was fine. I just need some time to heal so I can get my life back on track and put this all behind me."

Greg, understanding Beth, and what she was doing, tried to talk some sense into her.

"Beth, after what you've been through it's not just physical injuries you need to sort out. I really wish you'd talk to me about it, because I want to help, you're my best friend."

"I know, and I appreciate that. But I don't need to talk about it – I did what I did, I saved a boys life, and I wouldn't do it any other way if I had the chance. Now," She said, ending the conversation. "You've been at work all night and I can see the tiredness in your eyes so I suggest you go home and get some sleep before work tonight."

Greg knew she was trying to get rid of him, and for once, he decided to respect her wishes. But he wasn't about to give in that easily. He'd be back, and with someway of opening her up, because until then, she wasn't going to get any better.

That night Greg hatched a plan on how to get her to open up, and while he knew that he was going to cause her great pain, he knew that it was the only way to help her. His heart had almost broken at having seen her in the state she was in. He wanted to help mend her, so that morning after his shift, knowing that he didn't have work the next night which meant he needed to stay up for longer, he headed into the hospital with a mission.

She was back in the wheelchair he noticed, and looking even paler and more drawn and he felt his heart-strings pull. It amazed him how long she'd managed to hide her feelings from him, because he was really struggling even after only a couple weeks of knowing his true feelings, and it made him realise how strong willed she could be at times.

"Morning hon. How ya feeling this morning?"

She turned and gave him a weak smile.

"Hi. I'm good. The Doc says my wounds are healing nicely and that the stitches I had to have replaced haven't set me back by much."

"That's good news."

He pulled the chair up to where she was sitting by the window and took a seat next to her.

"The police rang Cath this morning." He said, putting his plan into action. "They mentioned about her statement about what happened. Now that you're awake they can go on with the court case. They'll probably be around soon to get your statement."

Her eyes darting away from him and out the window as she nodded.

"They said there's no rush though. They have enough evidence and statements to be getting on with, whenever you're ready they said."

She didn't reply. Something was welling inside her and she wasn't sure what it was.

"They've got the woman up in the psych ward at the moment. Apparently she's got quite severe depression and she lost her son recently." Greg saw Beth looking uncomfortable, her lips clamped together stopping something from escaping. "The boy's fine though, he was apparently the woman's son's best friend and she blamed him for some reason. Not that he had anything to do with her son's death, from what I've gathered. But I suppose you knew that from what the woman was saying to him that day."

Whatever he was doing, it was working. He could see Beth trying to suppress some emotions linked with his words, making her think about that day, that moment. Her eyes appeared to have a held back sheen as if she was forcing the tears back.

"We found out the gun had belonged to her husband who's also died a couple years back. I heard one Doctor saying that they should have taken her in long before she got this bad – then maybe none of this would have happened."

That seemed to do the trick as she looked down, her teeth biting into her lower lip. He said her name, once, twice, very gently as he leaned towards her.

She didn't reply, she couldn't, she was too scared to open her mouth in fear of what would come out. She couldn't lose control now, she had to keep herself together, keep herself strong to get through it. She didn't want to face it. She felt a warm touch on her arm and saw that he had placed his hand on her gently.

"Beth...it's okay to cry."

She knew that he knew, but tried to cover. She looked at him, a determination sweeping through her to prove she was okay, because she had to be, especially in front of him. She couldn't be the weak one, not after so long of being the strong one.

"I know, I'm fine."

She looked away.

"Beth, it's okay to cry."

He said, trying again.

"I know. I heard you."

She said not looking at him.

"No, I don't think you did. It's okay to cry, Beth."

She looked at him, angry that he was pushing her buttons, touching all the little places that only he seemed able to reach. It wasn't fair that he was using that against her now.

"I said I'm fine, Gregory."

She said a bit too strongly. Greg knew he'd almost hit the spot when he got his Sunday best name, something his parents used to do when he was in trouble. He ignored it and kept going, even though it was hurting him to do it.

"Beth...listen to me sweetheart, it's all right to cry."

"Stop it Greg! I get the picture! I'm fine, I'm okay! I just need some time, and peace and quiet!"

He ignored her request to be left alone and shook his head, repeating it again.

"It's okay to cry. It's okay to show your feelings."

"Stop it! Stop it!

He could see her wavering. Tears shining in her eyes. She pushed at his chest as he got closer, trying to get him to go away but he held himself still and strong, not taking his eyes off her. He took her hands in his, holding them tight to his chest.

"It's okay to cry." She tried to pull away from him. "It's okay to cry. It's okay to cry."

The tears started to fall against her will.

"I can't – I can't!"

It was too late, she was too far gone to pull herself back. He saw her give in, felt her arms stop pulling and her body start to sink in her seat and he leaned forwards and gently pulled her into him as best he could, using his strength to hold her tight to him as she started to cry out loud.

"Shh, shh, it's okay, let it out, let it out. Let everything out. I'm here, I'm here. I've got you. I've got you. Shh..."

He rocked her gently as she released all the pent-up emotions she'd trapped inside her, relieved that he'd finally gotten her to open up and he knew that it was the step she needed to get over everything.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

It was quite some time later when Beth had finally calmed down, having let out all the pent up feelings. Greg pulled away and looked into her eyes. She looked up at him and gave him an appreciating, yet embarrassed smile.

"Better?"

She nodded.

"Thank you. I feel...lighter."

She said, trying to rub the remaining tears from her eyes. Greg pulled a pack of tissues out of his pocket and handed her one.

"You needed to face it before you could recover from it."

She nodded, using the tissue to wipe her eyes and made herself feel more presentable.

"I know, I know that now. I didn't think I needed to face anything, but I know now that I didn't want to because if I did it would make it real, you know? It wasn't real before, it hadn't really happened...But when you started talking about it, it made it real. I was really shot."

"Yes, you were."

He replied, even though he knew it had been a rhetorical question.

"I don't know what I'd do without you, Greg, you're my best friend."

This was the opening he'd been looking for, and while it was earlier than intended, he took it all the same.

"You could always go back to Africa and find out."

She looked at him with a frown.

"What do you mean?"

"You handed in your notice didn't you? Said you were going back to Africa. Why? I thought you were happy here?"

"I am. Look, can we discuss this some other time?"

"Beth, you like living in Vegas, yes?"

"Yes – "

He butted in.

"And you like working at the hospital? You've got some good friends here?"

"Yes – "

He stopped her mid sentence again.

"So, why leave?"

She turned away from him in an obvious attempt to compose herself. She didn't need this now. She'd been managed to deal with her feelings about him okay up until now. Why'd he have to start questioning her motives?

"I still think there's things I can help with over there, they still need my help."

"Let someone else help. Beth, I could see how it affected you when you came back, it almost tore you apart being over there for so long, in all the chaos and suffering."

"Look, it's nothing, it doesn't matter now anyway."

Yes, it does.

He thought. He looked at her, staring out the window, and realised that now was the time.

"Why didn't you tell me I was in love with you."

It wasn't a question. It was the honest truth. He saw her freeze in place, then her eyes darted towards him in utter shock.

"What?"

He beamed a smile at her, and said in all honesty,

"I love you."

He took her hand again and lifted it to his lips, kissing her palm, then cradling it between his own two hands. Beth could do nothing but stare at him, completely speechless.

"But...but...you never noticed me...you saw never saw me like that..."

"How could I have been so blind, eh? Beth..."

He lifted one of his hands, cupped her chin and gently urged her towards him and into their first kiss. His lips tingled like electricity at the touch and he knew she could feel it too. A couple tears slid down her cheek as she was overwhelmed with thoughts and feelings that she couldn't process. Pulling back just enough, Greg looked at her again, a smile on his face. She tried to smile back through the happy tears with a small laugh and sniffed slightly. He laughed himself as he wiped away her tears.

"Aww, you silly thing." He said affectionately "Why didn't you say anything?"

"I didn't know how to tell you."

She said quietly.

"Tell me now."

She smiled at that.

"I love you."

They leaned in, their foreheads touching and just stayed that way, letting the happiness and love sweep through them both.

Well? Would you like an epilogue, or do you think i should end it here? Any thoughts?