https://youtu.be/41P8UxneDJE

Chapter Thirty: .45 These Dreams

When the shit really hits the fan it's funny what people end up thinking about. Such mundane things—things that shouldn't be important at the time— like Damien's flirting or the inappropriate jokes, but it was all pretend. Pretending that everything was okay, and maybe that's how people deal with bad situations. If we didn't joke we'd crack, but Bailey couldn't think anymore.

"Bailey, that was a gunshot," Matt whispered.

All she could do was stare at the open bedroom door and nod. Matt walked towards her and reached for Bailey's hand. She clamped down tightly, crushing his fingers together. Her whole body was shivering like she'd just gotten out of a freezer.

Matt, still holding Bailey's hand, walked forward and peeked out the door. "I can't see anything," Matt said. "Bailey, get Sam and go into the closet. I'm going to—"

Bailey dropped his hand and pushed him back towards the bed. She ran out the door and quietly shut it before tiptoeing to the top of the stairs. The first thing she saw was the red stain on the white carpeted stairs pooling around Damien.

"There you are!"

Bailey flinched at the shrill, exaggerated happiness in the male voice. He stood over Damien's body, dressed in green scrubs and blood splattered tennis shoes. In his right hand he clutched something small, shiny, and black.

"Slowly come down the stairs," he said.

"Y-you're my nurse," Bailey stuttered and tried to calm her breathing.

He shrugged. "Bingo. Imagine my surprise when I had to take care of you after I tried to run you off the road. I was pretty ticked you didn't die." He paused and gestured down at Damien, "If this fucking kid hadn't been up your ass I could've finished it then!"

Her lips trembled and tears pooled down her cheeks as her teeth chattered from shivering. The smell of burning paper and firecrackers was thick as she glanced down at Damien. She bit her lip as she saw the small movement of his chest rising and falling.

"Come down the stairs. Don't make me repeat myself again."

Slowly, she took a step and another until she was standing over Damien. Bailey watched as he struggled to keep his eyes open. "Please stay awake," Bailey pleaded with him. "Don't leave me, okay?"

"Come on! You're coming with me. I'm not gonna let a little bitch like you ruin everything for me," he said with a snarl. He ran the fingers of his free hand through his straw colored hair. "You just couldn't let things go could you? I'm not the killer in this chapter. This wasn't supposed to be me. Damn it! Come here!"

Bailey flinched away from Nurse Andrew's hand and fell to her knees next to Damien. With both of her hands she pushed against the bleeding wound in his shoulder. Damien's cry ended in rapid coughs and spittle's of blood slid down his jaw.

"I don't have time for this! Get up," he snapped. "It's time for him to die anyway. I can't have any witnesses."

It was that very thought that made Bailey glance up in time to see Derrick with a metal baseball bat. She'd never been so happy to see him. The sickening crack of the bat hitting Nurse Andrew's skull echoed. Derrick dropped the bat and he jolted forward, falling to the floor. He hugged Bailey from her side, careful not to pull her hands from Damien's bleeding wound.

"Where's Matt, baby?" Derrick whispered against the side of her temple.

"He's upstairs. He's safe. Where's Mom?"

"I'm right here," Gale said. Her voice was surprisingly sturdy as she knelt down to kiss Bailey's forehead and then quickly darted up the stairs. "Matthew!"

Bailey pressed harder against Damien's chest. "We have to get an ambulance."

Derrick pulled away from Bailey and reached into his khaki pants pocket to pull out his cell. His words to the operator jumbled together as Bailey focused on keeping Damien awake. She applied more pressure on the wound, purposefully making him feel the pain. His agony filled groan tore her heart.

"Déjà vu... only now, I'm saving you," Bailey said and offered a tear filled smile.

"Y-you are a d-dangerous girl to be around," Damien gasped the words out and made a noise that sounded like a choking chuckle.She bit her lip to keep it from trembling.

"I'll be offended when you aren't bleeding on my stairs."His smile was weak, but it was there.

"Damien, when all this is over you really need to take me out to dinner. I'm talking date stuff here, okay? Full out fancy restaurant where I'll have to dress up and everything. "

His fluttering eyes slipped open. "F-forgive me?"

Bailey nodded. "I will, but not if you die. If you die, I'll hate you forever."

The corner of his lip lifted in a sneer. "Wouldn't w-want-" he stopped to cough and spittle's of blood splattered against his chin, "that."

Wilson came just as the ambulance was almost leaving. Bailey told him everything she could think of before hopping into the back of ambulance with Damien. It was all hazy, like a slow-mo movie. The one thing Bailey knew was that she needed to stay with Damien. Wilson would help Gwen.

"Bailey-"

She turned at the sound of Wilson calling to her. "I don't wanna leave him," she shouted just as the doors shut.

Bailey bit her thumbnail, pacing in the waiting room. Damien was in surgery and his parents weren't answering their cell phones. The doctors and nurses wouldn't tell her anything because she wasn't family. Mom tried to explain the situation but the health staff kept calling it a HIPPA violation and without written consent from the patient – who was currently out and couldn't give his consent – or his parents, they couldn't tell us anything.

"Baby, you've got to sit down," Gale said.

Bailey leaned in to her mother's hand rubbing her lower back. "Mom, did you call the Atherton's with your cell phone?"

"I tried. Derrick's tried –"

Glancing over at her father, Bailey tried not to scowl at him. He saved her life. He saved Damien's, Matt's, probably Mom's too. Derrick Roberts was a cheating husband and recent deadbeat father in Bailey's eyes, but that status was being shadowed because he was becoming her hero again. She nodded her appreciation at her dad, and then turned to Deputy -now acting Sheriff- Davis sitting next to Matt, because it was either turn away or run over to hug her dad. Bailey wasn't ready for that.

"Wilson's gone over to the Atherton's to inform them what's going on and then he's going to where you said you found Samantha. I've got a few more officers going to back him up. Officer Wilson will get a hold of them," Deputy Davis said.

"No, he won't," Bailey mumbled.

"What?"

Bailey was just catching on to what she'd said herself. She blinked rapidly, but within a second of processing it she knew it to be true. Officer Wilson isn't going to make it to the Atherton's first. Bailey's stomach rolled as familiar electric blue eyes flashed in her mind. Wes Lambert is.

"I-I have to go the bathroom," Bailey said and darted out of the waiting room.

Once she reached the elevators she glanced behind her to make sure no one had followed her... she'd left so quickly they might just think she needed help. She heaved a sigh of relief when no one followed.

An older man held the elevator doors open and offered a smile as she turned back towards them. "What floor?" he asked.

"First." She bit her lip and glanced at the elderly man with white hair and bushy brows. "You wouldn't happen to know the number of a cab company, would you?"

He blinked his violet eyes at her and tilted his head. A small smile played over his lips. "I just happen to be a cab driver, little lady. Either it's your lucky day or you're psychic."

Bailey swallowed before letting out a nervous laugh. "You wouldn't happen to be related to a female fire-fighter would you?"

His smile widened. "Psychic then, I knew it had to be one or the other."

She exhaled slowly. "So what are you guys? Witches or something?"

He gave a belly jiggling laugh and shrugged. "It's just a gene. My daughter's like your little brother."

Bailey raised an eyebrow. "My little brother? How do you know I have a brother?"

"She talks about you and your family. It's a rare a gene and it isn't every day she finds someone similar to what she can do. It's even rarer to present in three people from an ability-challenged couple."

Bailey lifted her head, making eye contact. "What does your daughter say about us?"

"Eliza can't have kids so she connected with your brother first. She really enjoys visiting Matt. She first saw him at her boyfriend's dojo. He's a good kid. She talks to Matt frequently. She's teaching him how to walk."

"Um-he knows how to walk."

"Nah. He's just a kid. Took Eliza years to master her walking and she still gets lost sometimes. One time she got lost for an entire week in someone's consciousness and we had to give her a fluid and food IV. The mind is a tricky place."

The elevator dinged on the first floor. Bailey blinked at the opening doors. Millions of words were at the tip of her tongue, all scrambling to get out at once. It was scary. He made too much sense to Bailey to sound crazy. Or maybe she was crazy too. Like minds and all.

"Come on. I'll take you to that rich girl's house. Goes to show you money isn't everything... that girl is gonna have a hell of time the next few days. I'm Peter Hayes, by the way."

Bailey had so many questions she didn't know where to start. She shook her head rapidly, trying to keep up with Peter's long strides and rapidly changing train of thought. "Gwen? Are you talking about, Gwen?"

"Any other rich girl went missing lately?"

"How do you know this? Are you psychic?"

He shook his head. "I'm a telepath."

"A tele—hey, it's rude to read people's mind without their permission!" Bailey snapped. "I mean, I don't believe you. Tell me what I'm thinking right now!"

Please, let this guy be the male version of Phoebe Halliwell. The thought was so off the wall that if he did get it right she'd have to believe him.

He scratched the back of his head. "Who's Phoebe Halliwell?"

Holy shit, he is a telepath!

Bailey cleared her throat. "She's a good witch, Charmed, actually."

"Hmm, I'm not sure I'm that pretty, but I can guarantee I mean you no harm," he said, offering a genuine smile. "Now, let's get you to that girl's house."