Promises
         Chapter 22 
 

Danny moved slowly, thinking, hoping, even praying this was just another one of his nightmares. But when he opened his eyes and saw Michelle's motionless body beneath him, he knew this was his worst nightmare come true.
"Michelle," he groaned, patting her face, noticing a trickle of blood and the deep bruise already forming on her forehead. "Baby, please wake up."
As he rolled off of her, his heart stopped. There was blood all over her chest. "Oh my God!" he screamed. "Carlos! I need help! Carlos!" He turned his attention back to Michelle.
"Baby, can you hear me. Please open your eyes."
Slowly, her eyes fluttered open. "Danny," her voice cracked.
"It's okay, Michelle," his voice thick with worry. "Carlos is going to get help."
"What happened?" she said slowly.
"There was someone with a gun," he explained as she tried to sit up. "Don't move!"
"My head hurts," she groaned as her eyes drifted down. She moved her hand to touch her chest. As she pulled her hand back for closer examination, she began to shake as she realized her hand was covered in blood. "Danny…"
"It's okay," his voice got weaker. "Help is on the way. You're going to be okay."
"Danny, it's not me," she cried. "This isn't my blood. It's yours!"
He closed his eyes as his fear for her eased and the searing pain in his arm became unbearable. She sat up quickly, holding on to him tightly. "Lay back and let me see."
She eased his jacket off and tore his shirt to find a bullet wound in his upper shoulder. "I'm okay," he groaned.
"The bullet didn't go all the way through," she ignored him. "We've got to get you to the hospital. Where is Carlos?"
"I'm right here," he said breathlessly, dragging a body behind him.
"Who is that?" Danny moaned.
"This is the gunman," he explained.
"Is he alive?" Danny questioned.
"Yes," Carlos said. "I got him in the leg and…"
"I don't give a damn about him," Michelle shouted. "My husband has been shot. Carlos, give me your phone."
Carlos released his grasp on the body he was dragging and threw Michelle his cell phone. "Boss, where did he hit you?"
"In the shoulder," Danny coughed as he heard Michelle talking to the 911 operator. "Carlos, look after Michelle. I think she hit her head when I knocked her down." Danny stopped, trying to catch his breath.
"Don't worry about her," Carlos whispered. "I'll take care of her."
Michelle threw the phone on the ground and turned her attention back to Danny. "Carlos, look in the trunk of Danny's car and get a blanket or something I can wrap around him." He hesitated, looking at the still body beside him. "He's not going anywhere," she screamed. "Go!"
Carlos stood up and ran to the back of the car. Michelle tried to ignore the increasing pounding in her head. She squeezed her eyes tight, trying to keep everything from spinning. Danny opened his eyes long enough to see how pale she had become.
"Michelle," he gasped. "What's wrong?"
She opened her eyes at the sound of his voice. "I'm just putting pressure on your shoulder to slow the bleeding."
"Something's wrong with…" he stopped as Carlos reappeared with a blanket.
Michelle grabbed the blanket from him and spread it out over Danny's body. She looked up as she heard the sirens in the distance. "The ambulance is almost here." He began to say something else, but he could feel himself slipping out of consciousness. "No, Danny, please! Stay with me Danny! Please! I love you so much! Help is almost here."
Moments later the ambulance roared to a stop behind them. Michelle wouldn't leave his side as the paramedics prepared to move him. "Miss, you have to back up."
"I can't," she said as her reserve quickly crumbled and the flood of tears fell from her eyes. She had been stoic when she was attending to Danny, running only on adrenaline, but now she was a bystander as the paramedics took care of her husband.
Carlos came up behind her and gently lifted her to her feet. "Let them do their work," he said.
He didn't let go of her as the paramedics put Danny on a stretcher and rolled him to the back of the ambulance. She shook free from Carlos and followed them.
He grabbed her arm again as she stumbled, climbing into the back of the ambulance. "I'm fine," she said. "I'm going with my husband to the hospital. You take care of whoever that is over there."
Carlos watched at the ambulance roared away and then turned his attention back to the paramedics who were attending the man lying on the ground. "The police will want this man kept under guard at all times."
"Well, the police will have to handle that," one paramedic said. "Our job is to try to save this man's leg."
Before Carlos could say another word, he heard the police pull up. He met them halfway and explained the situation. He handed them the gun he had confiscated and then gave his statement about what had happened. As the ambulance took this man to the hospital, Carlos followed close behind.

Michelle held Danny's hand the entire way to the hospital. She kept talking to him, hoping he would open his eyes, but he never did. As the paramedics pulled up to the hospital and wheeled Danny through the ER doors, she wouldn't let go of his hand. Suddenly, someone from behind pulled her away. She was about to turn around and shout a few obscenities when she saw it was Rick. He grabbed her shoulders and held her at arms length.
"I heard they were bringing Danny in," his eyes looked her over, noticing all the blood. "You weren't hit were you?"
"No," she cried, turning to look for Danny. "Rick, Danny…"
Her voice broke and new tears flooded her eyes. "He's going to be okay," he pulled her into his arms.
He held her close as she sobbed in his arms. "I have to go see him."
"Michelle, you…" he stopped as he pulled her back and looked her in the eyes. "Look at me."
"What?" she said, as her red, puffy eyes looked up at him. He rubbed his fingers over the rather large bump that was forming on her head. "Ouch!"
"You need to have that looked at," he said. "I don't like the way your eyes look."
"Rick, I'm fine," she shouted. "My husband is the one who has been shot!"
"Michelle, you probably have a concussion!" he shouted back. "You need to be examined."
"I am not going anywhere until I know my husband is okay," she glared at him.
Rick abruptly tore his eyes away from Michelle when he saw them wheeling Danny out of the exam room. Michelle turned too and rushed over to his side.
"Where are you taking him?" she begged.
"Surgery," a doctor explained.
Rick came over and pulled her back. "Let me go!" she yelled.
"Michael, this is my sister and her husband," Rick explained. "Are you assisting?"
"Yes," Michael explained. "I'll let you know as soon as I know anything."
Rick nodded as Michael rounded the corner to follow the others. "Michelle," he turned her around to face him. "They're taking him to surgery to remove the bullet," he explained. "He's going to be fine."
"Why is he still unconscious?" she asked through her tears.
"It could be any a number of reasons," he said. "Come on, you need to sit down."
"I want to go upstairs and wait by the surgery department," she said.
"We will in a minute," he said. "But first I want you to sit down for a minute."
She let him lead her to a chair in the waiting room. Before they could sit down, Abby and Ed burst into the room.
"Michelle, honey, are you okay?" Ed asked. She couldn't get the words out so she just wrapped her arms around her father and cried in his arms. "Shh!" he tried to console her. "Everything's going to be okay."
Abby pulled Rick to the side out of Michelle's earshot. "Rick, what's going on? What happened?"
"I don't know all the details," he sighed. "Michelle's been hysterical since she got here. All I know is Danny was shot in the shoulder. He's in surgery right now. Michael is assisting and he said he would let us know as soon as he could."
"Is he going to be okay?" she asked.
"I don't know, Abby," he said. "I didn't get a chance to look at him too close because I was worried about Michelle. She must have hit her head somehow. She's got a huge knot on her head and she probably has a concussion. But she won't let anyone examine her until she knows something about Danny."
"Rick," Ed walked over. "I want you to find an exam room and look Michelle over. It looks like she's got a concussion so you better do a CT scan."
"I know Dad," he said. "I told her that, but she said she wasn't going anywhere until she knew something about Danny."
"Let me talk to her," Abby said. "Maybe I can convince her."
Before any of them could make their way back to Michelle, she was stumbling to her feet. Rick rushed over as she swayed and grabbed her by the arm.
"Michelle you are hurt," he demanded. "If you won't let someone look you over for your sake, do it for your baby's sake and for Danny's. What would Danny say if he knew you were hurt and you wouldn't do anything about it?"
"He would say to take care of yourself," Carlos walked up behind them.
Michelle quickly turned to face him. "Where is he?" she demanded.
While everyone else was confused, Carlos knew who she was talking about. "The police have him guarded," he explained. "He's not going anywhere."
"Where is he?" she repeated more forcefully.
"The doctors are examining him over there," he pointed to a nearby exam room.
Before anyone could stop her she headed over to the room and barged in.
"Hey, you can't be in here," someone demanded.
Michelle glared down into the face of the man who had shot her husband. "Why? Why did you do this? Who put you up to this?"
"I'm not saying anything without my lawyer," he charged.
"You'll pay for this," she said through gritted teeth. "And you can tell whoever is behind this, that they won't get away with this either. I promise you, I will make sure of that."