Jimmy Hickok/// Roses Have Thorns

Don't Leave Me

She didn't see him hiding behind the rock. She should've. It would have saved her time and maybe even her life. But just at the moment she was scanning for targets, she had heard Jimmy yell out in surprise. When Annie turned to look, she only caught a glimpse of he and another wrestling, before a shot fired. The noise is what got her at first, not the pain.

She had been in a pistol fight against two bank robbers. The riders were helping their favorite Marshal and it had seemed like an easy go. They would be unsuspecting and it would be a simple drag and lock. Only they didn't count on the whole family showing up and instead of two they were met with nine, and instead of unsuspecting, they were positioned and ready. So much for that plan.

Then the pain kicked in. Annie had screamed loudly, her cry stunning some of the riders. If one of them was to get hurt, it wouldn't have been Annie. She was too quick to the draw and too clean of a shot. But there she was. Her stomach bleeding out into the warm sand and gun fire surrounding her every move.

Annie crawled over to the rock she had been behind moments before, one hand desperately clutching her stomach. She tried to even her breathing and keep her tears to a minimum. The shots that had been on rapid fire before, were slowly starting to diminish and soon there was quiet.

"Annie." Cody breathed out. He had just now noticed the extent of her injury with a look to her pale face. He had been the closest rider to her cover, but as much as she loved one of her best friends, she wanted Jimmy to be next to her. It was as if he could read her thoughts and quickly drew the attention of the others. "Hey, guys!" He waved them down and Jimmy was one of the first to look over. He was already looking for Annie when he had noticed Cody.

Jimmy felt his feet move before his heart could release another beat. Within milliseconds he was at her side and looking at her injury. It had pierced through the left side of her abdomen and their was no exit wound. It was obvious that the bullet had curved slightly into the middle of her stomach and he knew there was no way he could remove it. The skin around the hole was singed and he realized that she was shot at close range by a man that now lay dead on the other side of the rock.

"Oh Annie." He mumbled, his eyes quickly saddening and his heart dropping. "Annie." His eyes began to water slightly.

"That bad, huh?" She tried to chuckle but could only managed a weak cough, that rocked Jimmy to his core.

He looked up at her. "No." He lied immediately. "You're fine. You just need a doc is all. Be fine in a couple days."

The other riders had gathered around her, all desperate to know the bitter truth. Annie was dying and quickly at that.

Annie moved her arm, wincing slightly at the adrenaline already running out, and reached out. Her hand grabbed Jimmy's gloved one. "I'm not goin' anywhere, Hickok." she mumbled. "Not without you. Hell can just wait for me."

He nodded at this and knew what she was asking. She didn't want to spend her last moments on a desert floor, waiting for her last breath to come. She was going to fight, just like she always had, even if it meant being in more pain. She would make it to the doctor and she would keep fighting.

"Alright, love." He whispered to her.

Just like that she was shot back in time to the first time she had called him her 'love'. It had just stuck after that. She would call him love more than she would call him by his name, though he would rarely say it back to her unless it was serious. It wasn't because he didn't love her. He would die for her. No, it was simply because he loved the way her name sounded on the end of his tongue and he couldn't bare to call her anything less beautiful.