The Boot (Book 1)

Chapter Twenty-Eight

TIM

There is a shrill, high-pitched ringing in my ears. My head is pounding. Darkness floods my vision as I try to make sense of something, anything. I can't entirely remember what happened. I was called to assist in a nearby hostage situation. The roads were backed up so the hostage team couldn't get there right away. And if there's one thing that hostages don't always have, it's time. Dispatch was looking for any officers in the area to help.

I arrived at the location, a local hotel, as fast as I could. Thankfully, I was still in uniform, so I didn't have to waste time getting my gear all ready to go.

As soon as I heard that there were children inside, something within me was activated. Maybe it was the fact that I was going to be a dad to my own children soon, but I just knew that I had to save them. Some sort of paternal instinct came over me.

I tactfully entered the building, creeping carefully into the lobby where the hostages were being held. I was hiding behind a big cement banister when a little girl, who couldn't have been older than four or five, saw me. I wave subtly and put a finger to my mouth, willing her to be quiet.

"Mommy, look! The policeman is here to save us!" she shouts excitedly, pointing over at me.

Shit.

The hostage taker spins around, and I feel my heart sink at who I saw.

"Mom?!"

She didn't even pause from the second that she spotted me. Immediately, she pulled the trigger. Once, twice, three times. It was at this moment that I realized my fatal mistake. In the rush to get inside, I forgot to put on my bulletproof vest. The first shot is in my shoulder. The second in my leg. And she made eye contact with me for a brief moment right before aiming right at my heart. Bang. I crumpled to the floor, darkness consuming me.

I've been fading in and out of consciousness for a while now, I'm not even sure how long it's been. I haven't been conscious at any one point for long enough for me to get some semblance of an idea of what happened after I was shot. Even when I tried piecing together what little memories I had together, it was still very evident that there were a lot of missing pieces to the story.

There was lots of shouting. Loud sirens. Panicked voices. Grunting. At some point, the paramedics found me. I wasn't awake for very long in the ambulance. I don't really know what happened in there. But they were struggling to save me. I could feel it.

As tired as I was, as much pain as I was in, I knew that I had to hold on. I had to keep fighting. Lucy needed me. Once our kids are born in a month or two, they'll need me too.

I blacked out once again sometime on the ambulance ride. When I wake up, I'm in a mobile hospital bed, being wheeled towards a set of metal double doors, with a big sign above them that reads 'OR.'

"Wh- What's happening?" I croak out. As my vision starts to return, I can see that among the doctors and nurses pushing the bed are my dad and Genn.

"Tim? Oh, thank God you're awake," Genn says through tears.

"You've been shot. There's still a bullet inside you. The doctors are taking you to an operating room to get it out of you," my dad explains.

"Mom..."

"What?"

"It was mom! She did this!"

"Shh, don't worry about it right now. Just make it through surgery, okay?" Genn says.

LUCY

The pain that I'm feeling right now is unlike anything I have ever felt before. It feels as though someone is ripping my uterus apart while it's on fire.

"Lucy!" John shouts, dropping to the ground beside me. "Help! We need help!"

"Tim! He's been shot!" I cry hysterically.

Nolan wrapped his arms around me like he was trying to hold me together when every instinct I had just wanted to fall apart. "Lucy, I know that you're scared, hell, I am too, but we need to focus on you right now."

"To hell with focusing on me! I'm fi-" I cut myself off as a scream rips through my throat and I throw my head back in anguish.

"Yeah, you're perfectly fine," Nolan says sarcastically.

"Tim needs me!" I argue, my breathing heavy as beads of sweat coat my forehead. "You need to be with Bailey! And Pete!"

John goes to wipe the sweat off of my forehead when he snaps his hand back. He puts his hand on my head again, checking my forehead and my cheeks. "You're burning up."

A nurse hurries over with a wheelchair. "Help me get her into the chair," he instructs, and the two of them pick me up carefully, placing me down in the wheelchair.

I scream again as yet another contraction hits me. "No! Stop! I'm fine! I need to see Tim!"

"You're in labor, Lucy!"

"I don't care! I want to see Tim!"

"He's not even here! And he would want you to take care of yourself."

"I'll take care of myself after I make sure that he's alright! It's way too early for these babies to come, anyway! Surely, they can wait a few hours."

"I'm sorry, miss, but it really can't," the nurse says.

"No! I won't! I refuse to push until Tim is alright."

"That's not an option. These babies are coming. Now."

"I want Tim!" I cry, my head falling against Nolan's arm.

"I know, Lucy. If there was anything I could do to instantly grant that wish, I would do it in a heartbeat. But I can't. What I can do is stay by your side this whole time."

I release a breath and nod reluctantly. As much as I need Tim right now, as much as I want nothing more than to personally make sure that he's okay, I know it isn't an option. Whether I like it or not, the babies are coming. Now.

Another nurse and a doctor join us as I am rushed back to the maternity ward and into a delivery room. "I can't do this, Nolan. I'm not ready to be a mom."

"Yes, you can. You're going to be a great mom."

Sebastian bursts into the room as the medical team is preparing for the birth.

"Oh, my God!"

I open my mouth to speak when yet another contraction hits me.

"She's in labor,"

"I have good news," Sebastian says. "Tim is alive. He's fighting. They're taking him into surgery now."

I'm relieved, but that doesn't stop the tears from falling down my cheeks.

"What's wrong?"

"I don't want to do this without him."

"But he is getting the help he needs. He's going to be okay."

"And that's great! But he should've been here for this! He deserves to be here to see his children be born. I needed him here. He's my partner. I don't want to do labor without him."

"I know, sis. But you don't have a choice."

"I need you to call everyone and fill them in. Her parents, Angela and Wesley, Celina, Aaron, Sergeant Gray, Nyla..." Nolan instructs, and Sebastian leaves to do it.

"I can't do this."

"Yes, you can."

Tears stream down my cheeks. "I'm scared,"

"I know, but you've got this. I've seen how far you've come since the day we started at the LAPD. You're a strong woman who has braved every challenge she has come across. You have overcome every obstacle life has thrown at you. This is just another challenge for you to conquer.

As much as we all wish Tim could be here for this, he can't. But he'd want to know that you were strong and brave. I can't wait to tell him what a champ you were for all of this when he wakes up."