A/N; Uh… wow. Yeah… never expected to not update this for as long as I did… my muse kinda shriveled up and died, then went onto other things. Thankfully I had most of this chapter typed up already, but it’s short. Moving on. You know the drill.

It had been another couple of more months, and James had surprised himself by enjoying Jack’s company around the station. While he got his job as a normal officer back, he also took time training new cadets. Jack had moved onto working in the K-9 unit, training the dogs. Jack often dropped by James’ office several times, and the two would talk for a while, then of on their respective ways. The day had gone on just like the others had.

James had just finished laughing at one of Jack’s stories involving Catherine. “Is that a fact?”

Jack nodded. “Yeah. Sicked her dogs on me and everything!”

“You’re an idiot.” James shook his head, then laughed, seeing Jack opening his mouth. “But you’ve been called worse, I know.”

Jack opened his hands, since they were folded and grinned. “You’ve got it.”

The two looked up, still smiling when Andrew opened the door and stepped inside. They failed to notice he looked extremely pale. “Andy, come sit with us. Long time no see.” James greeted cheerfully, although the last bit was a stretch, being that he had seen Andrew and Kelsi just about two hours before when the two had to be called out on a public disturbance call.

“Uh, no, Jim. I think I’ll skip that for now…” Andrew replied, poking at the floor with his toe.

James, being the one who knew Andrew longer, as well as being his best friend, realized something was wrong… really wrong. If something was wrong, Andrew would be quiet for a little bit, then when asked, say “nothing”, shrug it off, then go back to work. The way Andrew was acting, there was something seriously wrong. “What’s wrong?”

Andrew opened his mouth, then closed it, then looked back down, searching for words.

James and Jack exchanged worried looked before looking back at the redhead. “Andrew…?”

“It’s Kelsi, James…” Andrew replied, only letting his eyes meet James’ for a couple of seconds.

James glanced by the door, now getting more worried. Usually when it was just Andrew and Kelsi, they would’ve stopped by either together, or Kelsi would only be a few seconds behind Andrew. His eyes went back to Andrew. “What about her?”

Andrew looked back at him. “You might want to come with me… now.” He insisted before leaving.

James frowned. “What’s gotten into him? What about Kelsi?” he got up and immediately went outside after Andrew, closing the door, nearly in Jack’s face, since the other man had also gotten up. “Andrew?!” he caught up with his friend and grabbed his shoulder to slow the man down. “What’s going on? What’s wrong with Kelsi?”

Andrew took a deep breath. “It’s Barbossa and his boys… they escaped… they were the culprits of that call she and I left for… there was a shootout…” he took another deep breath. “She got shot, Jim. It’s not looking good for her.” Andrew replied, still going as fast as before.

James paled and stared at him, stopping but only for a moment. “What hospital?” he started to match Andrew’s strides, hell bent on seeing her, no matter what condition he was in. He had always been there for her, and even if she was now in a hell of a lot of pain or worse, he wasn’t going to end that record.

“Augustine,” Andrew replied. “I thought you might want to-“

“You’re damn right I do. You still have to work?” James asked.

“No. Day ended because I got a graze and straight out refused to work until I told you and found out what you wanted to do, or if you needed me to do anything.”

“Get Molly out of school. She’s smart, and I don’t want her to flip on the T.V and see that her mom was hurt on the news or something.” James replied

“I’ll have to call you in a few minutes to confirm it’s okay for me to take her out, then.” Andrew pointed out.

“Then call me. I just need to get to her.” James replied.

Andrew nodded. The two went out the front door, then headed to their respective cars to get to their destinations.

Within a few minutes and after the said phone call, James was at the hospital, waiting for Andrew and Molly to come by. He was in a panic being that Kelsi had been taken out of surgery a few minutes before, but was only doing somewhat better, so he obviously couldn’t see her. He had nearly doubled over when he had heard she had been in surgery for two hours. Granted, it was nothing compared to some, but it just seemed… too long. He shook his head. She had gotten shot. One of Barbossa’s bastards had shot her. Anger flared up within him, wondering if Kelsi getting shot was some type of revenge against him and Jack. He scowled, figuring that was indeed the case. The friendship that he and Jack had come up suddenly didn’t seem to matter one bit whatsoever. He glanced up when he heard “Dad!” followed by “Jim!” in two voices he knew. A moment later, he recognized Molly’s weight hit his side, hugging him. He put an arm around her.

“What’s going on? Uncle Andy said mom got hurt… does that mean ‘shot’ in police language?” she asked.

James looked at Andrew, who shrugged. “Yes, unfortunately. I’ve been waiting a while. A doctor or nurse should be right out to tell us what’s going on.”

As if on cue, one of the doctors came out of the room they had brought Kelsi to. James rose from his seat. “Is she?”

The doctor nodded. “She’s stable, but she still hasn’t woken yet.”

“Can we…?” Andrew began, then caught the doctor’s questioning look. He pointed at himself. “Friend of her’s….” he pointed to Molly. “Her daughter.”

The doctor nodded. “It should be fine. Go right in.”

The three exchanged looks before going into the hospital room. They all winced simultaneously, seeing Kelsi hooked up to various machines, and there was an oxygen mask over most of her face, then a few raised spot on her stomach under the hospital gown, indicating bandages. James looked back at Andrew, who merely raised his head slightly in a ‘go on’ motion. James nodded and pulled over a chair by the bed. Seeing her in the condition she was in just tore him apart. He glanced at her hand that wasn’t attached to an I.V. He smiled weakly, remembering when she had told hm how much she hated the things. He took her free hand. “Kel, I just really want you to hang in there, alright? If not for yourself, then for Molly and I, for Andy, Hell, even for Shadow. We can’t lose you now… I can’t lose you now…” he bit his lip… I love you too much too lose you…”

Andrew looked up. If it had been under any circumstance, at that admission, he would’ve started jumping up and down screaming ‘I told you so’. Now he just made a weak smile of his own and rested his arms on Molly’s shoulders, trying to take the girl’s attention off of her mother since it looked like she was just short of a breakdown. “You wanna add anything, Mols?”

Molly shook her head.

Andrew sighed. “You want out, don’t you?”

Molly nodded quickly.

Andrew and James exchanged looks. “I’ll take her home if you wanna stay for a while.” Andrew offered. The only reply he got was a nod. “Alright. Mols, say bye to your dad. I’ll take ya home.”

Molly did, and the two were on their way.

--

After a few minutes of just sitting by Kelsi’s beside, the door re-opened. James figured it was Andrew and Molly coming back, or one of the doctors, so he looked up, but instantly regretted it, seeing it was Jack. “Get out of this room. Now.” He growled.

“But-“ Jack began.

“Out, Sparrow! I’m not telling you again!” James replied.

Jack gaped for a bit, then snapped out of it. “I came as soon as I could. I’m as stunned as you are-“

“Hector had an inside man, Sparrow! Andrew found that out. She’s here because we got caught up with you!” James cut him off.

Jack struggled to find words. “But I didn’t… I would’ve… Jamie-“

“Don’t call me that. As far as I’m concerned, I’m not even James to you anymore. It’s Officer Norrington, and I don’t want to see you around the station any time soon, either.

Jack opened his mouth, then closed it. “…I’m sorry.” He mumbled before leaving.

James glared at the door after it closed, then looked back at Kelsi before collapsing into a heap in the chair beside him. “Shit…”