Dear Ex Wife Please take me back by The Every Woman

ATHENA

The shot rings out.

I brace for the pain, for the heat of the bullet tearing through my flesh.

But it never comes.

I'm still standing.

I'm still breathing.

Frozen.

My heart slams against my ribs as the world slows around me.

And then-

"No!"

A body crashes into mine, shoving me hard to the side.

I stumble, catching myself against the edge of a table.

That's when I hear it, a guttural gasp, the sound of someone choking on breath. The thud of a body hitting marble.

Blood splatters.

I look down my body and realize it's not mine.

My eyes widen as I turn.

Someone took the bullet.

For me.

From the corner of my eye, I can see Leah screaming, thrashing, wild-eyed like a mad woman.. But the officers are on her now, four of them tackling her to the ground, ripping the gun from her hands.

My ears ring.

The voices fade.

name, but it sounds like it's

blur, hitting me all at

A gun.

Shoot.

Not me.

side and see Sloane lying in her

a scream as I rush

you hurt?" I hear Alex's panicked voice as he reaches me. I only shake my head as I push through the people

beside her, blood soaking into the

my God!" I hear Ariana's

stay with me," I whisper, my hands already

There's so much blood.

Too much.

breathing is shallow, and her lips are trembling as she blinks up at me. Her skin is

my voice loud enough to split the air. But no one moves. "Give her fucking space! Dammit!" Alex's deep voice booms and that does it. The people crowding us stumble back, startled by the

in me

over the wound. It's just below the ribs, lower the spine. A

been shot near the T12 region," I mutter to myself. "If the bullet touched her

me, breathless, his hands already pulling out the gauze and a clotting agent from the emergency pack

don't question why he has it. Right

hold pressure," he says, his

a long time and this is the first time

slightly as I check her vitals. "The pulse is weak,

that. I won't let her die." He says

the wound temporarily by clamping what I

a stretcher!" lan screams toward

appear seconds later, loading her

me come in-" I begin to climb into the ambulance after her,

can." the lead medic says gently. "You're emotionally involved. We can't risk your

I won't do the operation myself." lan

when did lan and

vice but

Not now.

"Dr. Quinn-"

through. We can't waste Any moment!" I say and the