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Chapter 17
Scott and Garcia arrived at the scene where Chris's car had been found. Street officers were positioned all around the area as well as some reporters from the local news channels. Garcia pushed past them all and looked over the car.
Scott: "Where are they?" He asked in an annoyed tone.
Garcia: "I wish I knew, Scott."
Officer: "Sir," the officer started as she stepped forward, "We found a cell phone. It's been broadcasting."
Garcia: "Where?"
Officer: "down a path that way," The officer pointed towards a fenceline near the zoo.
Garcia and Scott started down the path when they heard the gunshot. They rushed down the path to find the source of the gunshot.
***Meanwhile***
Karen rushed over to where Chris lay on the ground, his tan shirt drenched in red from the blood he was losing. Her instincts as a doctor kept her from becoming irrational in her fear.
She unbuttoned his shirt and pulled the material away from his wound. She examined the wound as she spoke to him, "Chris? Talk to me, please?"
He took a breath against the pain and spoke through a strained voice, "How bad?"
Karen: "You're losing a lot of blood, Chris," She said tearing some dry cloth from his shirt and placing it over the wound, "Upper right quadrant, looks like the bullet may have caught a rib on the way in."
Chris: "Thank you."
Karen: "For what?"
Chris: "If you hadn't hit her arm," He groaned in pain, "She'd have killed me.
Karen looked up at Chris and tried to hide how terrified that he still might die. Chris caught the terror in her eyes and frowned.
Chris: "That bad, huh?"
Karen: "Yeah, Chris. It's bad," She said starting to get up, "I've got to go get some help."
Chris: "No, Karen," He said grabbing her hand, "Don't leave me."
Karen: "Chris, I've got to get an ambulance for you.'
Chris: "Karen, please," He begged, holding her hand, "I don't want to die alone."
Karen: "Chris," She said sinking to the ground beside him and taking him in her arms. She cradled his head in her arms, "You're not going to die."
Chris started to say something but couldn't as he slipped out of consciousness.
"Chris, Chris," She nudged him before checking his pulse, seeing he was still alive.
There's no time for
us
There's no place for
us
What is this thing
that builds our dreams
Yet slips away from
us
"Chris, wake up," She begged as tears slipped down her cheek. She smoothed his hair with her hand, trying to will him to open his eyes.
Who wants to live forever
Who wants to live
forever....?
"Chris, you have to wake up for me," Karen said cupping his cheek, "I'd really like it if you looked up at me with those sexy brown eyes."
There's no chance for
us
It's all been decided
for us
This world has only
one sweet moment
Set aside for us
"Chris, please," She sobbed, terrifed at the thought of losing him, "Please, Chris. I need you to wake up. You have to wake up."
Who wants to live forever
Who wants to live
forever
Who dares to love
forever
When love must die
"Chris," She said touching his cheek as she held him to her, "Come on baby," She whispered, rocking him gently, "Chris, please.'
But touch my tears
with your lips
Touch my world with
your fingertips
And we can have forever
And we can love forever
Forever is our today
"Chris," She whispered, placing his cheek to hers, "I'd tell you I hated you just to have you kiss me right now, but I'm afraid that would be the last thing I'd get to say to you," She pressed her lips to his in a soft kiss, "Chris, I love you."
Who wants to live forever
Who wants to live
forever
Forever is our today
Who waits forever
anyway?
"I love you and I intend to spend a lot more time with you. So you can't leave me. I'm not about to let Julie take you away from me."
Scott: "Karen!" He called out.
Karen looked up: "Scott! Scott, we're on the foot bridge. Get an ambulance!"
Scott: "Are you hurt?"
Karen: "No, but Chris has been shot!"
Scott and Garcia ran up to Karen who still held Chris.
Scott: "You're okay?"
Karen: "I'm fine. Get an ambulance."
Garcia: "It's on the way," He answered listening to his radio, "Karen, where's Julie?"
Karen: "Down there," She pointed to the edge of the bridge.
Garcia walked to the edge of the bridge and looked down to the water, "Where?"
Karen: "She's down there. I pushed her when she shot Chris," She explained hearing the sirens coming near, "She was going to shoot me too."
Garcia shined his flashlight down into the water and saw Julie floating against a leg of the bridge, "Is she dead?"
Karen: "I don't know," She admitted as the ambulance arrived on the foot path. The paramedics got out of the vehicle and rushed over to them. She explained his condition to the medics as they moved to the ambulance.
Scott: "Karen, come with me. We'll take you to GH," He said touching her arm.
Karen: "No. I'm not leaving him, Scott," She said climbing into the ambulance alongside Chris, "Meet us at GH."
Scott: "Karen.." He started.
Karen: "No, I can't leave him, Scott," She said taking a stethescope from the medic and examining Chris before the medics closed the door and took off for GH.
Chapter 18
Eve slipped into her jacket as she stepped into the ER spotting Kevin, Ellen, and Matt there with several nurses hovering nearby.
Eve: "Why don't I like what I"m walking into?"
Kevin met her and took her aside: "They found Karen and Chris."
Eve: "Good," She breathed a sigh of relief, "Thank god. Are they okay? Where's Julie?"
Kevin: "Julie's dead. They pulled her body from the river in the old city zoo."
Eve: "The city zoo?" She asked then self-replied, "Chris said somewhere with bars. Are they okay?"
Kevin: "Karen's fine. She's shaken but physically they say she's fine."
Eve: "Well good. I'm going to pat Chris on the back when they get here," She smiled.
Kevin: "Eve, Chris was shot. They're bringing him in an ambulance."
Eve: "Shot?" She asked her smile quickly fading, "How bad?"
Kevin: "He's lost a lot of blood."
Eve: "Oh god," She said spotting Lucy coming into the ER.
Lucy walked over to them: "They're not here yet?"
Kevin: "Any moment now," He said putting his arm around Eve as she leaned into him.
Eve: "What happened?" She asked worriedly.
Kevin: "We don't know," He replied as the ambulance pulled up to the door.
The doors flew open as the paramedics brought Chris in. Matt met with them as they went into a trauma room. Karen tried to follow in after them but Ellen stopped her.
Ellen: "Karen, lets get you examined while Matt checks on Chris."
Karen: "No, I'm fine," She said trying to get by Ellen, "I need to stay with him."
Ellen: "Karen, let Matt treat him."
Scott: "Yeah, get yourself checked out, Karen," He said joining them.
Eve walked over to Karen and place her hand on her shoulder.
Eve: "Ellen, I'll take care of Karen. You go help Matt."
Ellen nodded before helping Matt. Eve looked her over.
Eve: "Are you hurt?"
Scott: "Of course, she is. Look at that bump on her head."
Karen: "I'm fine. Julie hit me with a gun."
Eve: "Have you been drowsy or dizzy?"
Karen: "No."
Eve: "When's the last time you ate?"
Karen: "Yesterday."
Eve: "We'll get you something."
Karen: "Thanks," She said continuing to watch Matt and Ellen work over Chris.
Ellen came back out: "He's stable, but he's lost a lot of blood. We're going to take him to surgery."
Karen: "I want to see him before you do. Can I?"
Ellen: "Yeah, but make it quick."
Karen nodded and went inside. Chris had IVs running into each arm, heart monitors, pulse ox, and a chest tube taped to him. She bent her lips to his ear, "Hey you, don't you leave me. I love you and I am not ready for this to be over. You've given me back a part of myself that I thought I'd lose forever. You've made me whole again, Chris. so I want you to stay with me. You get through this surgery and when you're healed, I'm going to finish our agreement."
Matt: "It's time."
Karen nodded, kissing Chris's cheek: "I love you."
Matt and Ellen met Dr. Boardman in the hall as they took Chris to surgery. Karen stood in the trauma room and looked down at her hands still covered in blood. She sank to her knees in relief, emotional exhaustion and fear.
Chapter 19
Scott: "His version of trying to help nods some work!" He said standing against the desk.
Lucy: "But they are safe now," She said trying to calm him down for Karen's benefit.
Eve: "But will Chris stay that way?" She asked holding Kevin's arms around her.
Scott: "He even screws that up and gets himself shot. What an idiot," He said in distaste.
Karen: "Shut up Scott!" She shouted as she rejoined them, having overheard his last comment. "He saved my life. That bullet was meant for me!"
Scott: "So now he's a hero?"
Karen: "Yes as a matter of fact, he is. If it hadn't been for Chris, I'd be dead right now."
Scott: "You don't know that."
Karen: "Yes I do. Not that you give a damn. I'm obviously not very important to you Scott."
Scott: "I just think you ought to have better sense that to get mixed up with a loser like Ramsey."
Karen: "He is not a loser! He is a wonderful man and I love him!"
Lucy stepped between them.
Lucy: "Scott, just calm down."
Scott ignored Lucy: "Love? You obviously don't know the meaning of the word if you're with him."
Karen: "I do know. It means putting your life before someone else's Scott. It means doing anything you can for them. And that's exactly what Chris did for me. Julie had the gun at my head and she was going to pull the trigger. Chris prodded her and provoked her...." She said looking down at her blood stained hands, "He did this for me," She held up her hands for view, "See.....I have his blood on my hands because he saved my life. He kept Julie from hurting me. So Scott, I don't give a damn what you want or how you feel or what you think about Chris."
Scott: "Karen, I don't think he's what you deserve."
Karen: "Are you saying I don't deserve love, Scott?"
Scott: "He just wanted to save his own hide."
Karen: "How is that possible?!? He placed his life in danger to save mine. He knew that he could get Julie's attention away from me. He saved my life," She said with tears in her eyes, anger no less evident, "He loves me and he only wanted to protect me."
Scott: "You're not thinking clearly."
Lucy: "It sound to me that she's thinking very clearly, Scott. And she's feeling very strongly about it."
Karen: "I've never felt more strongly about anything. If you can't see that I love him and that he loves me, then that's just too bad, Scott. I'm not going to give up the love that Chris and I have just because you don't like it."
Scott: "You can't be serious, Karen. And you're not going to stay with him."
Eve: "She's an adult, Scott. She can love and be with him if she wants to."
Karen: "That's exactly right. I love Chris and I'm going to be with him," She said walking away from the crowd.
Eve turned to Kevin: "Could you pick her up something to eat?"
Kevin: "Yes, of course. Are you going to go speak with her?"
Eve: "Yes. Chris is my best friend and I think he could use me and Karen together thinking about him."
Eve walked down the hall and into the on-call room where Karen leaned against a locker.
Eve: "You're exhausted."
Karen: "From fear," She forced a smile then let it fade, "I can't lose him Eve."
Eve: "He said the exact same thing about you yesterday," She said with a weak smile.
Karen smiled softly in reply, taking a set of scrubs from her locker.
Eve: "Kevin's going to get you something to eat."
Karen: "Thanks," She said softly, "I'm going to get cleaned up."
Eve: "I'll go check on Chris's condition while you do that," She said starting toward the door.
Karen: "Eve," She started before Eve turned to look at her, "Thank you," She said before going into the showers.
Chapter 20
Karen walked out of the on-call room and into the hall. She pulled her still damp hair back into a pony tail as she saw Eve. Eve met her half-way down the hall.
Eve: "Garcia's looking for you."
Karen nodded: "How's Chris?"
Eve: "Stable. They're still looking for the bullet."
Karen: "Where's Garcia?" She asked relieved that Chris was still okay.
Eve walked with Karen down to the waiting room where Garcia sat with Lucy, Kevin, and Scott.
Garcia: "How are you Karen?"
Karen: "Tried and hungry," She said with a tired smile.
Kevin: "I went to the Recovery Room and got you some soup," He said handing the package of food to her.
Karen: "Thanks Kevin. I appreciate this."
Garcia: "I need to ask you some questions."
She nodded as she took a seat on the sofa beside Lucy and began to slowly eat the soup.
Garcia: "When did Julie first appear?"
Karen: "I was with Chris at his apartment. I was leaving and then she grabbed me outside of the elevator. She took me to my car and then I woke up at the zoo."
Garcia: "Was Julie alone?"
Karen: "Yes. Until she brought Chris in."
Garcia: "How did she get Chris there?"
Karen: "I'm not sure exactly but he had been drugged."
Garcia: "Did she tell you why she kidnapped you?"
Karen: "To offer a trade to Scott for Christina......and because I was seeing Chris."
Garcia: "Did she call anyone else?"
Karen: "She said she was going to call Rachel Locke but I never heard her make the call."
Garcia: "How did you end up on the foot bridge?"
Karen: "Chris got us out of the cell and we were going toward the gate. That's when Julie showed up and grabbed me," She said fighting the fear that she was still feeling, "She put the gun under my chin and said she was going to kill me. She pulled back the hammer and then Chris started provoking her. He distracted her from killing me. She got angry and turned the gun on him. I pushed her arm away but she got off the shot. I pushed her backwards and that's when she fell over the bridge."
Garcia: "Then what happened?"
Karen: "I started checking Chris's wound and then you and Scott showed up."
Scott: "You're not going to charge her with manslaughter, are you?"
Garcia: "It's not my call. It's Dara's, but I don't think there's any charge to be made," He said closing his notepad and switched off the tape recorder.
Karen: "Thank you for everything you did."
Garcia: "I"m just glad you're safe. How's Dr. Ramsey?"
Matt appeared at the door, "He's in recovery."
Karen converged on Matt: "How is he?"
Matt: "He's doing just fine. The bullet missed all the major organs. It did clip a rib and send some bone fragments flying, but otherwise, he's fine."
Karen: "Thank god," She breathed, "Can I go see him?"
Matt looked at her for a moment then smiled: "You're the chief resident. You tell me."
She smiled and kissed his cheek before leaving and going into recovery. She walked over to his bed where a nurse was adjusting an IV and Karen took his hand. She pulled over a stool and sat beside the bed, holding his hand and brushing a fallen strand of hair from his forehead.
Chris opened his eyes weakly as he half-smiled in a weak attempt.
Chris: "I died and went straight to heaven."
Karen: "Hey you," She said with a smile as she saw his eyes that opened for a few moments then closed again, "If you wanted to get my undivided attention, I can think of much better ways."
Chris broke a weak grin: "You'll have to teach me when I get out of here," He said in a weak voice with an accompanying weak smile, "Are you okay?"
Karen: "I'm doing just fine," She said touching his cheek, "You saved my life."
Chris: "I couldn't let her hurt you," He said closing his eyes as she squeezed his hand, "I'd do anything for you, Karen."
Karen: "I know you would Chris," She said as she watched him, "You should get some rest."
Chris: "Karen, there's something I need to tell you."
Karen: "What's that?"
Chris: "Come here," He said motioning for her to lean closer.
Karen complied with her hand still on his cheek: "What?"
He opened his eyes and looked into hers, "I love you, Karen."
She felt tears rise to her eyes as she smiled. She had already known that he loved her, but to hear him say it made her feel enveloped in happiness.
Karen: "I love you too, Chris," She said touching his cheek before she kissed him softly.
Chris: "Stay with me for a while."
Karen: "I'm not going anywhere," She said holding his hand as he went to sleep.
Chapter 21 -- February 14, 2000 -- St. Valentine's Day
Chris lay in his bed with a crowd of nurse's standing between him and the door.
Chris: "You ladies shouldn't have...even if I am the most charming doctor on staff."
Amy: "Chris, you never let that ego take a rest, do you?" She asked with a smile.
Chris: "Why should I when I have beautiful women bringing me chocolates?" He asked taking one from a box.
Bobbie: "Don't let Matt know we let you have those. He'd freak out."
Chris: "Harmon wouldn't know a good course of treatment if it slapped him upside the head."
Amy: "Chris! You are horrible."
Chris: "I am not," He said in false pouting, "You like me that way."
Bobbie: "Like might be a strong word. Tolerate is maybe a more appropriate one."
Chris: "I think I'm hurt," He said acting injured.
The door opened and Karen stepped inside. The nurses, Amy, and Bobbie watched as Karen walked around the bed and let down the rail. Chris watched her as she took off her lab coat and draped it over the foot of the bed as she kicked out of her sneakers. She crawled onto the bed, running her hand up his chest careful to avoid his incision as she lowered her lips to his in a slow, deep kiss. Chris wrapped his arm around Karen pulling her to him a bit more while his other hand cupped her cheek as they kissed. Amy's eyes widened as she watched the display. The nurses began to file out of the room slowly while Amy kept her eyes locked onto the couple. Bobbie grabbed Amy's arm and practically dragged her out of the room. As the door closed, the kiss slowly ended and Chris smiled as he looked into her eyes.
Chris: "What was that about?"
Karen: "I was marking my territory."
Chris: "I'm territory now?"
Karen: "Yes, and you're mine, baby," She said with a smile kissing him once more.
Chris: "I can deal with being territory," He said with a grin, "I mean . . you ran off all my admirers, so I can guess I focus all that energy on you."
Karen: "Focus all that energy on healing so you can get out of here."
Chris: "When is Harmon letting me go home anyway?"
Karen: "Tomorrow. If you're good."
Chris: "Me? Good? I didn't get a brain transplant. I was shot."
Karen: "Very funny," She said poking him in the chest, "I had to beg Matt to let you go home that early."
Chris: "You begged? For me? I'm flattered."
Karen: "You should be."
Chris laughed softly as he touched her cheek and looked from her lips to her eyes, "You've been around me way too much."
Karen: "Not nearly enough," She said pressing another kiss to his lips.
The door opened and Eve groaned.
Eve: "I see someone prescribed some TLC."
Karen: "I did," She said looking into his eyes, "I think it's just what he needs."
Eve watched the two of them and felt as if they didn't even know she existed. She smiled as she walked back out of the room.
Chris touched Karen's lips with a fingertip and smiled: "I love you."
She kissed his fingertip and smiled: "I love you."
Chris: "I've never felt this way before."
Karen: "I thought you said you'd been in love."
Chris: "Wasn't the same. Wasn't even close in comparison."
Karen: "You promised to tell me....so tell me."
Chris: "You still want to know?"
Karen: "Yes, I do. I know that you love me now so whoever this mystery woman was....she's not important anaymore."
Chris: "I thought I was in love with Eve."
Karen: "Eve?" She asked sitting back a bit, "Really?"
Chris: "Yeah. I thought that I was in love with her....but loving you, it's not even close to being the same thing. I was so scared when Julie pulled that gun. I knew that I couldn't let you go. I was so terrified that I'd lose you. I knew that losing you would be worse than dying myself."
Karen felt her eyes get misty as she kissed him once more: "But what about Eve?"
Chris: "What about her? She's my friend. That's all she was ever meant to be...and that's all I want her to be. You're everything I want."
Karen: "You're sure?"
Chris: "I've never been more sure in my life," He said kissing her once more.
Karen: "Good, because I'm very sure that you're the man I want in my life," She said touching his cheek as she kissed him, "And we have some unfinished business between us."
Chris: "What's that?" He asked meeting her gaze.
Karen: "There's the matter of an agreement we made."
Chris raised an eyebrow and smiled slowly: "Is this particular agreement in question THE agreement?"
Karen: "The very same," She said with a smile, "And it appears that the terms have been fulfilled."
Chris: "No more obligations?"
Karen: "No more."
Chris: "So where does that leave us?"
Karen: "That leaves us with something to look forward to when your six weeks of healing are done. I'm going to enjoy reaping the rewards of our contract," She said placing her hand on his chest as she leaned against him.
Chris: "Careful dear....my heart monitor will trip up if you keep this up," He smiled as she leaned in to kiss him.
Karen: "I'll give you CPR......with all my tender loving care," She smiled kissing him again.
Chris smiled as her lips pressed to his before he reached over and lowered the bed from the sitting position it had been in. They held onto one another and thought about the future that awaited them and the possibilities of their newly discovered love.
**Song Credit:
"Who Wants to Live Forever?" by Queen**