Partners

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Everything hurt. Andrea could hear gunshots and Chad screaming her name, the sound of enraged disbelief in his voice making her worried. What was wrong? She lifted a hand to her chest, where the worst of the pain was centered and her fingers came away wet with blood. Oh.

The sharp cracks of gunfire stopped and then Chad was falling heavily to his knees beside her, sliding an arm behind her neck to support her head. “Andy,” he choked, then broke off to look around behind them. “Get the fucking car started, goddammit!”

“Okay?” she asked weakly, lifting her hand to touch the bloody gash on his face. “Didn’t….didn’t get the…the clips.”

He brushed her hand away, and she protested as Chad gathered her into his arms to lift her. “Hopper, make sure he stays up in the front seat with you,” he ordered sharply before looking back down at her. “It’s okay, baby. You’re going to be fine…Hopper! ”

She was vaguely aware of Meredith whining as Chad lifted her into the back seat and came around to get in the other door. He cradled her in his arms, shouting something at Hopper and pressing a wad of cloth against the gunshot wound. “Hurts,” Andrea complained.

Chad cupped her face with one hand, stroking her cheek with his thumb. “I know it does, baby.” She’d never heard him so upset and tried to lift a hand to cover his, but couldn’t make herself move. “Don’t try to move, I’ve got you.”

Andrea looked up at him, feeling something wet fall onto her face – surely he wasn’t…? “Bad, huh?”

“It’s just a scratch. You’ll be fine.” Up in the front seat, she could hear Hopper giving the code for ‘officer down’ over the radio.

“Liar.” She smiled fondly up at him. Andrea opened her mouth to say something else when the car hit a bump and the sharp surge of pain made her cry out. It hurt so much…another, sharper jolt made her bite her lip to keep from screaming.

Chad shifted to cushion her against his body, pressing the heel of his hand against her chest. “Hang on, Andy. God, I’m so sorry.”

The numbness was spreading, and it was starting to become hard to keep her eyes open. She hurt, and all she wanted to do was to go to sleep. Andrea’s eyes flew open suddenly at the sharp crack of Chad’s palm against her cheek. Why was he hitting her? A part of her mind registered that he’d been trying to shake her before he’d resorted to slapping her face. She tried to tell Chad not to hit her, to just let her sleep, but now he was yelling. He was so angry, and crying. Let me go to sleep. “So tired…”

“You have to stay awake, Andy. Stay with me, Andy, please,” Chad pleaded.

Through the blur of traffic lights and the distant sound of the SWAT SUV’s siren, Andrea was finally unable to keep her eyes open no matter how Chad begged and swore.

_ _ _ _ _ _


Chad threw the back door open as Hopper slammed on the brakes outside the emergency room entrance, cradling Andrea’s limp form in his arms and nearly knocking the automatic doors off the tracks when they didn’t open fast enough. Several nurses were there to take her from him, and he watched helplessly as Andrea was laid on a gurney and her shirt cut open. There was so much blood – how could she have so much blood? She was so small…

“Come on man, they need some room,” a voice said, and Chad turned his head to see Hopper standing there with a hand on his arm. “She’s gonna be okay, Chad.”

He wished he was half as sure, but seeing his ex-partner suddenly reminded him of the plans they’d set in motion. Not that they really mattered to him now. “What…what about the Grand Jury?” he asked numbly.

“I’m gonna head on over there now,” Hopper said, checking his gun quickly. “Rita’s car is here, but I could use some backup.”

Chad shook his head. “I can’t, I need to be here if…”

Hopper nodded and clapped him on the shoulder. “Alright, man. Don’t do anything too stupid, huh?” he ran off, and Chad moved toward the waiting area as another nurse approached him.

“Chad? Chad, what happened? Someone said that Andrea was shot?” Rita asked. “You’re bleeding!”

He brushed her hands away tiredly. “I’m okay. Most of it’s….it isn’t mine.”

“I’m so sorry,” Rita said, taking his hands in hers. “I know how much she means to you, and-”

“Do you? Do you really?” Chad interrupted. “None of this would have happened if-” he broke off suddenly. Detweiler. No one had been sent after Detweiler. “I have to go. I’ll be back as soon as I can.” Don’t anything too stupid, huh?

“What’s going on? I thought everything was fixed,” Rita started.

Chad overrode her protests. “There’s something I forgot to do. Take care of her for me.”

His ex-wife nodded in confusion. “Of course.”

Eyes flicking from the road to the clock in the dashboard continuously, Chad finally stopped the car a few houses down from Detweiler’s – nothing would tip the bastard off quite like having a SUV riddled with bullet holes parking just outside – and reached past Meredith for the bag he kept extra clips in. The pitbull whined at him hopefully and Chad gestured to him. “Come on, then.”

Merry jumped out of the car and followed at his heels as Chad walked down the sidewalk towards the house – they passed a woman who was clearly planning on giving him a piece of her mind for allowing a dog to run loose, but after she got a good look at him she took off back into her house. He thumbed the catch on his holster and eased the gun slightly – he’d have to draw it quickly once he got inside – before he pressed the doorbell.

The large door opened, and a middle-aged woman peered around it. “Yes, how can I help-” her eyes widened as she looked up at him and she looked as if she might scream, so Chad hurriedly unclipped his badge from his belt and showed it to her.

“I need to speak with your husband, ma’am,” he said as politely as he could manage with the amount of rage flowing through his veins. This wasn’t going to be something he’d allow Conrad Detweiler to just walk away from.

She tried to close the door in his face. “If you’ll just wait here, I’ll get him-”

Chad shouldered it open. “I don’t think so.” Predictably, she went for a small table in the entryway and he yanked her back by grabbing the collar of her blouse – the drawer she’d tried to open fell on the floor, and amid a collection of photos and other papers, a gun clattered across the tiles. “Meredith,” he said sharply, snapping his fingers and pointing at the woman. “Guard.” Pulling handcuffs from his back pocket Chad cuffed her around the banister of the stairs and waited just long enough to watch Merry plant himself directly in front of her, growling.

Satisfied, Chad drew his gun and moved up the stairs where Detweiler was most likely in his study. He looked in each room as he walked past, then paused at a door near the end of the hall. Chad could hear the sounds of a newscast from inside. “…were taken into custody after entering the courtroom…” Raising his gun, he slammed into the door and nearly broke it off the hinges as it gave way.

Inside the room Detweiler jerked his head up from a shotgun, his eyes widening in disbelief. “You’re not getting away that easy,” Chad warned.

“Just what do you think you can do to stop me?” Detweiler asked, smirking. “You’re finished, Shelten.” His grip on the shotgun tightened, and he started to lift his arms.

“Maybe I am,” Chad admitted. “But I’m taking you with me whether or not I go down, you piece of shit.”

Detweiler feinted, trying to throw the gun up and bringing it to bear on him, but Chad was already moving. The first blast from the shotgun knocked a chunk out of the fireplace, but the second shell buried itself in the ceiling as Chad slammed his fist into Detweiler’s face and knocked the gun away with a second blow. The older man sprawled across the leather-covered armchair and Chad bent to retrieve the shotgun when agony shot through his side and he was knocked to the floor.

He rolled onto his back, trying to reach his gun as he saw that Detweiler’s wife was standing over him with another gun in her hands. How many did they have here? Chad wondered as she lifted it to aim at him. She pulled back the hammer… and fell forward as someone in the hall shot her in the back. “You okay, Lieutenant?” Justin Hawkins asked, rushing forward.

Detweiler began to regain consciousness as Chad pulled himself to his feet, shaking away his friend’s hands. “Get cuffs on him,” Chad panted, pressing his hand against his side and trying to make sure his legs would hold him up. He stared down at the dead woman lying over the threshold, forcing his mind to work. “I took her gun, cuffed her to the stairs and had Meredith watch her, how…?”

“I guess she had keys.” Justin hesitated briefly before pulling out a pair of handcuffs. “And another gun.”

Jesus. He closed his eyes briefly, then reopened them to watch Detweiler notice his wife’s body. For all Chad knew, the guy could really be grieving over her – he didn’t really have time to care. “Get him out of here.”

Footsteps in the hall made him turn to see Faith coming towards them. “Oh my God. Chad, are you…?” She ran past Justin to him, pulling his shirt out of his pants and yanking it up to examine the hole in his side.

“How’d you know I was here?” Chad asked, grabbing at the mantle of the fireplace as the pain nearly made him fall down. “And what about-”

His partner looked up at him with a slight smile on her face. “Dispatch got a call about a big guy looking like he’d just stepped out of a movie about an axe murderer. Have you seen yourself lately?” Straightening, Faith sobered. “We heard about Andy, Chad. I’m sorry.”

Chad laughed mirthlessly. “Yeah, me too.”

“Let’s get you back to the hospital, Big Do-” Faith broke off and cleared her throat. “I mean, let’s go.” Slipping an arm around his waist, she steered him to the staircase and barely kept him from falling down it. His eyes went to the blood-soaked section of carpet where Meredith must have been and though Faith’s arm tightened around him, she didn’t say anything. “Lieutenant Romero, I’m taking him back to the hospital,” Faith called as soon as she pushed the door open again.

Chad glanced over, not even able to feel surprise that Steve had come along. “What happened?” Romero demanded. “You look like shit, Lieutenant. I just had Jameson carry a dog out of here, and…”

“He’s been hit, sir,” Faith interrupted. “Once I get him back to the hospital, he won’t be going anywhere for a while. Justin’s bringing out the suspect now.”

Steve hesitated, then nodded. “Just make sure he stays there, Hawkins.”

“Yes, sir.”

Chad managed to get to the nearest SWAT car before the stress of the day caught up with him and he passed out as soon as he pulled the car door closed.


tbc…
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