For Them, We Must

Enough of this, please.

"What happened?" She yelled.

"He came through the back," John said. "I guess they met each other?"

"I wasn't there!" Oakley shook her head.

"Oakley..." Kayce said quietly.

"He must have thought you were!" John said.

"He shot Kayce?" Oakley asked, tears welling up in her eyes now.

"I came back when I heard the gunfire," John shook his head.

"Oakley..."

"Did Kayce shoot him?" Oakley asked John.

"I don't know, Oakley!" John yelled.

"Oaks!" Kayce grunted.

Oakley looked back down and saw Kayce with half-lidded eyes looking up at her. She leaned her head closer to him.

"Save your strength," Oakley told him. "Just keep breathing...in and out."

"Oakley," Kayce wheezed.

"What did I just say?" Oakley sniffed, glancing at her blood-stained hands now. "How much longer?"

"Fifteen minutes out!" The pilot called back.

"Look at me," Oakley told Kayce. "Focus on me...and focus on..."

Oakley thought for a minute.

"Focus on all we will do this summer...at camp," Oakley said. "You still owe me a hot springs trip...and we need to take all the kids riding..."

A tear dropped from Oakley's nose onto Kayce's cheek. His eyes were heavy as he looked up at her. Oakley noticed his muscles weren't as strained as they had been. He wasn't fighting back as much.

"A-And we need to go swimming," Oakley said. "And more fishing for the boys...and fuck, you so owe me the biggest night out of dancing in your life!"

Kayce's blinks were getting longer.

"Kayce!" Oakley said. "Look at me."

His dull eyes opened slightly.

"K-Kayce..." Oakley was crying now. "Please...Kayce, please stay with me. Please don't leave me...please...I-I can't..."

John reached out and held Oakley's shoulder while he reached down with his other and helped her apply pressure on Kayce's wound. She felt her stomach drop as the helicopter descended.

"I love you," Oakley whispered out. "I love you, Kayce." 

When they touched the ground, Kayce shut his eyes and didn't open them back.

**

Oakley's head rested against her fist as she sat in the chair. John was right next to her as they waited in the hallway. They could have gone down to Beth's room, but Oakley wasn't moving from the door they rushed Kayce through two hours ago. Oakley knew she had Kayce's blood all over her, but refused the nurses to look her over when they pressed. She wasn't the one who had been shot.

John's phone dinged and he pulled it out of his vest. His fingers typed away at the screen as Oakley's eyes looked down at the floor again. She didn't have her phone with her and Oakley's mind went to Tate and the twins. She knew she had scared Tate, but she wouldn't have been able to handle him and Kaye at the same time...and she needed someone with the twins. Her mom might be there, but knew this lifestyle.

"Do you want a coffee?" John asked gruffly.

Oakley looked over at him as he stood up. He waited, looking down at Oakley. She shook her head back and forth, not feeling like she could keep anything down right now. John walked slowly down the hall. As Oakley watched him, she thought about the fact he now had two children in this hospital.