Red

Chapter Thirty Two

Veronica POV:

There's an officer asking me what happened. How I knew the kid who shot Chandler. How I knew Jason Dean. Duke tells them to get lost. Then she's trying to soothe me, but I can see that she's starting to get worried, too. Of course she's worried. Chandler was just shot. My wife was just shot. 

Duke says something about getting clean clothes, and then she's gone. It's all starting to sink in more and more as time passes. I just want to see her. I want to see her smiling at me, telling me that I'm okay, and that she's okay. I want to hear her laugh. I want her to hold my hand and lie down with me in bed at home. I want to never let go of that feeling. I want to never let go of her.

Macnamara walks in with the clothes. Her dad must have given her time off. I would hope so, seeing as her best friend is in the hospital with a bullet in her stomach. She's crying already, and when she reaches me, she puts the clothes on the chair, taking my hands.

"I'm sorry," she whispers, tears still running down her face.

"It's all my fault, Mac," I tell her, and the lump in my throat is back. I feel like I'm going to be sick again, and so I take the clothes, rushing to the bathroom. 

  *** FOR SOME REASON I FEEL THE NEED TO PUT A TW HERE AS IT GETS PRETTY GRAPHIC***  

I put the clean clothes down on the bar right near the toilet, and then I'm retching into the toilet bowl, tears starting to form in my eyes again. I can smell something metallic, and I know it's the blood. It makes me gag, and I nearly have to hunch over the toilet again. When I feel okay to do so, I strip off the pajamas, rolling them up and throwing them into the trashcan near the door. Where the hell else am I supposed to put them? I grab a paper towel from the dispenser and soak it, beginning to scrub at my skin that's also stained red from the blood. I'm scrubbing until the red of the blood changes to the pink of raw skin. Once I'm finished, it burns, but I don't care. I toss the paper towel into the trash, getting the dry clothes and changing into them.

***END OF TW***

I go back out where Mac is, and when I get back to my chair, she wraps her arms around me. I hug her back, letting the tears fall freely down my cheeks. 

"It's not your fault," she tells me, smoothing my hair with her hand. "None of this is your fault."

"Y-you don't understand," I manage. "The person who did this... He liked me in high school. He asked me to be with him, essentially, but I had Chandler so I told him no. He started threatening me and following us around and... When Kurt and Ram committed suicide, I came back to my house because school was cancelled, and he... he'd completely destroyed my room, and there was a note, and... he killed them, Mac. He shot them."

"He... he was stalking you?" Mac asks, looking scared now. "Oh my God. I'm so sorry."

"He didn't contact me for years, and then I saw him at the wedding," I explain. "I thought I was just being paranoid, but I should have done something. I should have called the cops. I don't know why I didn't. I was just afraid he'd hurt me or Chandler, but now it's too late to be afraid because he..." My voice trails off, and the tears are coming faster now. Mac pulls me into another hug.

"It's not your fault," she whispers. "I know you think it is, but it's not. It's just not."

***

Chandler POV:

Terrified, I stumble back out of the doorway to where Kurt was earlier. He's not here anymore. "Kurt!" I call out, but I get no response. "Kurt, what the fuck was that? Where's Veronica?"

"That should have worked," I hear him say behind me. I turn quickly, startled. I roll my eyes, crossing my arms.

"Okay, no more of that 'appearing behind me' shit," I tell him. "Where is Veronica?"

"She was supposed to be there. I don't know what went wrong," he explains. "What happened to you, anyway? What's with all of the blood? It's kind of fucking creepy."

As soon as he asks about the blood, the memories come flooding back. The texts. Seeing the guy with the gun in our driveway. Running outside to stop him. The bullet. I was shot. God fucking damn it, I was shot. I remember a second shot after the first one. Did he kill Veronica? Suddenly, all I can see is Veronica trying to protect me and getting shot herself. Is that why she wasn't there? Was she shot? Is she dead? 

I feel the panic rising in my chest, and everything is fading around me. The hallway is disappearing, and there's a darkness coming over me. I hear Kurt trying to pull me out of it. It's not working. 

The world around me fades to black.

***

Veronica POV:

"Can I see her?" I ask the nurse who comes out to talk to me. It's the only thing on my mind.

"I'm so sorry, Miss," the nurse says. "It appears that the bullet may have caused some complications, and her heart rate just went up to an alarmingly high rate. She's going to need emergency surgery. She's on her way to the OR now."

"Is she going to be okay?" I ask. I know I must look frantic, but she has to understand. This is my wife. We have a daughter. We've been together for almost six years. I love her. She has to make it through this.

"We're going to do everything we can," the nurse says, but I can see the sad look on her face. Oh God. What if they can't save her? What if she dies on the operating table? What if I never see her again? As these thoughts flood my mind, I feel Mac's hands leading me to the chair that I was sitting in before. She lets me lean my head on her shoulder, and I cry.

All I want is to see Chandler again.

***

A/N:

This is the most angsty chapter I have ever written, and I am legitimately sorry about it. By the way, I just thought I'd clarify, when Chandler says "the world fades to black", SHE IS NOT DYING. She's sort of just going through trauma, and the darkness is sort of like a nightmare? Hence why her heart rate goes up significantly (but also because she's having complications, BUT SHE WILL BE FINE). I will not kill her, okay? I promise. Leave a vote if you want to and a comment if you feel like it!

Thanks for reading!

-LittleMissBlitz