"I NEED A DOCTOR!!!!!" Mike yelled as he ran into the hospital emergency room while carrying his girlfriend in his arms. 

The mission he and his girlfriend and their team were on had completely went to shit. His girlfriend engaged in a shootout to protect them all, and in the process, had taken multiple gunshot wounds to the abdomen. The trauma repeating in Mike's head as he ran into the hospital and placed his girl on the gurney before the doctors and nurses ran off to the surgery room to try to save her life. Mike stood in the Emergency Room watching the love of his life being taken away. The rest of the team had came bursting in right behind him, some with tears in their eyes, and others with rage on their face for the men responsible for the current situation. 

"Where did they take her?" Zack, one of the men on the team, asked. 

"To surgery. They don't know if she's going to make it with how much blood..." Mike didn't finish his sentence as his knees became weak and tears flooded down his face while he collapsed to the floor. The guys caught him and they all became caught in a group hug. 

"She's going to be fine. She has to be. She's the toughest out of us all and she won't go down without a fight." Zack spoke, trying to convince himself of a positive outcome. 

The guys waited in a secluded waiting room when President Asher came bursting in. 

"What the hell happened out there?! Is she going to be okay?!" Asher spoke with many emotions flooding through him. 

"The mission went to shit and we became engaged in a shootout. She covered us and kept firing shot after shot then she fell down with gunshots in her abdomen. She managed to kill all but two of them. We took care of them while Banning took off with her." Ryan, another team member, told the President. 

Asher's eyes filled up with tears at the commitment that the woman had for her team and the mission along with the fear, that the woman who had became a good friend, was fighting for her life. The men sat down and waited for hours before a doctor came out. 

"We managed to stop the bleeding and remove the bullets. She's in a coma and don't know when or if she'll wake up. It's up to her now to keep fighting, but we give her a 5% chance of making it. You guys can see her now and we do encourage you to talk to her in case she can hear. Be gentle with her but you can also hold her hand or some other form of physical contact. She's in room 212." The doctor told them with sympathy in his eyes before he turned around and left. 

The guys ran to her room not caring about how they looked. The second they made it to her room their eyes filled with tears seeing all the machines she was hooked up to along with all of the needles in her skin. They stood around her bed, holding onto each other just staring at her pale skin. 

Nine days had passed and she was still in a coma. Mike was sitting in a chair beside the bed and holding her hand. The others were just staring down at floor or at the ceiling, constantly replaying the events in their heads. Mike felt his girlfriend's hand twitch and he sat up abruptly. His gaze moved from their hands to her face and his breath hitched in his throat the second he seen her eyes flutter open. 

"Baby???" Mike whispered while tears fell down his cheeks. 

"M...Mike" She whispered in a hoarse voice then she began crying. 

"HEY SOMEONE GET IN HERE!!!" Zack yelled once he was in the hallway. 

The doctor and nurses came rushing in to check on the woman. 

"How are you feeling?" The doctor asked her while the nurses checked her vitals to make sure everything was where it should be. 

"I'm just sore from...and my throat is scratchy." She replied. 

The doctor held a cup of water with a straw up to her mouth. She drank close to half of it before slightly moving to get comfortable again. Everyone's eyes were on her, but she wasn't bothered by it. 

"You're going to need a lot of physical therapy once you're completely healed. It's going to be a long road but you'll get back to normal before you know it. I'm also going to prescribe you medication for the pain whenever we deem you good enough to go home. We'll bring you some food here shortly and more water." The doctor told her before walking out to continue his rounds. 

The guys each took a turn at kissing her forehead and briefly speaking to her so Mike could have his chance. The guys left to head down to the vending machines to get some snacks and drinks and to stretch their legs. Mike just sobbed while holding onto his girlfriend's hand. 

"I'm so glad you have a fighting spirit and fought to stay here, because I love you so much and I can't live this life without you." Mike managed to compose himself enough to tell her. 

"I'm never going down without a fight and you know that. I wouldn't ever dream of leaving you here by yourself because I love you so much and I'm not selfish.  What kind of woman would I be if I didn't stick by her man's side and protect him the same way he protects her? I love you Michael Banning and I'm not going anywhere." Her fierce gaze held eye contact with his.

Five more days had passed and the nurses were encouraging the young woman to walk with a walker for assistance. It was hard and it hurt like hell, but her stubbornness wouldn't let her give up. She could walk a little better but she knew she still had a long was to go and more tense physical therapy to do as well. 

"We can release you today since you've been improving greatly. I know it's going to be a long road but you've shown you can do it and pretty soon you'll be back to normal." The nurse gave her a bright smile, to which the young woman couldn't help but give a smile in return. 

It was three hours and one evaluation later that the doctor did confirm that the woman could go home, but had to stay resting in bed for the next month with minimal exercise like walking around the house and the yard and no lifting anything heavy. She completed the paperwork and thanked the doctors and nurses for saving her life before leaving. Mike had the pickup truck pulled up by the doors while a nurse wheeled her out. Mike opened the door and carefully picked his girlfriend up and placed her in the seat. He carefully shut the door and got back into the truck. Twenty five minutes later they were home and, once again, Mike carried his lover inside the house and to the bedroom. Once he carefully placed her on the bed, he then went to grab her stuff and came back into the room. 

"Do you want me to help you change your clothes?" He softly asked her. 

"Yes please. Can you also please wash me off with a rag? I feel so disgusting.." Her soft voice becoming a whisper. 

Mike didn't respond as he carefully helped her get out of her clothing before grabbing all new clothing. He then grabbed a washrag and held it under warm water for a minute before grabbing a towel and making his way back into the bedroom. He carefully started washing her body then dried her off and began applying the lotion she grabbed from her nightstand drawer. Once that task was done with, he helped her put her clothing on. Mike made his way to the bathroom after cleaning up. After throwing the dirty rag, clothing, and towel into the dirty hamper, his clothing was the last thing to be removed. His shirt going into the trashcan and the rest going into the hamper. Mike started the shower, hopping in once it was warm enough. He began lathering his body with soap and started scrubbing all of the dirt and blood off before moving onto washing his hair. He quickly finished up and got out to dry off then began putting new clothing on and made his way back to their room. Mike helped her get under the covers before he did the same. 

"I know the next few months are going to be hard, but I know you got this. We will all be there with you. I will be there with you. I know you will probably also need therapy to help with everything that you went through. Regardless of what the situation is, I will be there every step of the way. I love you and I thought I'd never get to tell you that again." Mike sobbed out while squeezing her hand. 

She squeezed his hand back before replying. "I have time to figure all that out but I will need you by my side through it all. I can't do this by myself. I love you Mike and there's nobody else I'd rather have with me than you. We just have to take it one day at a time because I think that's all I can handle at the moment. I know I was in a coma but I need more sleep, so let's just stop thinking about all of that and just focus on the right here, right now." His girlfriend closed her eyes, still holding his hand. Mike couldn't refrain from leaning forward and kissing her. His hand rested on her cheek while hers held onto his wrist. He fell asleep facing her while she fell asleep on her back, the both of them still holding hands.