Avery is in the OR with Willis performing the surgery. Angus is assisting as they are short staffed in the OR. Whilst she is doing that, Jesse calls Owen to inform him of what happened. He sits at the OR nurse's station, brings up Avery's file and dials Owen's number.

In L.A., everyone is anxiously waiting at the 126. Owen couldn't get hold of the hospital when he tried to call them. Owen's phone rings. He gets it out and looks at it.

'It's a private number.' Owen states, his phone shaking. 'I don't know if I can answer it, what if-'

'I'll answer.' T.K. tells him, extending his hand. Owen smiles gratefully and hands his phone to his son. T.K. accepts the call and puts the phone to his ear. 'Hello?'

'Hello. My name is Jesse Sallander, I'm a nurse from Angel's Memorial E.R. Am I speaking with Owen Strand?' Jesse starts.

'No. This is his son, T.K.' T.K. replies. 'He was a bit hesitant to answer because of my sister. Is she- is she okay?'

'Avery was injured in the shooting. She sustained some serious injuries and is currently in surgery.' Jesse informs him.

'How bad is it?' T.K. asks.

'I'd rather not discuss that over the phone. I know you live in Austin. How soon do you think you can get to L.A.?' Jesse says.

'We can leave tonight.' T.K. tells him. 'What about Megan Sheppard? Her friend. Is she okay? We're practically family to her.'

'I haven't been treating Megan but she was also injured. I will get one of the nurses or doctors that have been treating you to give you a call as soon as they can.' Jesse explains.

'Okay, thank you.' T.K. nods.

'If anything changes I will be sure to let you know or have someone else let you know.'

'Thank you, I appreciate it.'

'Have a safe journey.' Jesse says.

'Thanks, bye.'

'Bye.' Jesse hangs up and T.K. hands the phone back to Owen.

'What did they say?' Owen questions. T.K. sits down, sighs and runs his hands through his hair.

'Avery and Megan were both injured in the shooting.' T.K. informs them.

'How bad?' Carlos asks.

'The nurse said Ave's injuries were serious, she's in surgery. He couldn't give me much information on Megan because he didn't treat her so he's going to get someone who did treat her to call as soon as they can.' T.K. replies.

'How are you getting to L.A?' Judd queries.

'We'll drive.' Owen responds. 'We'll make like one stop on the way to rest. If we do leave tonight we'll be there the day after tomorrow.'

'We're out of rotation. Why don't you two go now? Get packed.' Judd suggests. 'I'll look after everything here.'

'You sure?' Owen asks Judd.

'Of course.' Judd nods.

'Thank you.' Owen smiles slightly. He stands up and so does T.K. 'Let's go.' He nods at his son. He then looks at Jason. 'Come on.' Jason stands up. 'You can come with us. Ave and Megan would want you there.'

'Thanks.' Jason nods. 'I'll let my mom know.' T.K. walks up to Carlos and kisses him.

'We'll keep you all updated.' T.K. tells everyone. They all nod, say their goodbyes and Jason, T.K. and Owen leave.

.

Back in L.A., Willis is still performing Avery's surgery.

'This girl is lucky to be alive.' He states. 'Aortic injury, one of her kidneys is severely damaged so we'll have to take that out.' He adds. 'How we doing for blood?' He looks at the anesthesiologist.

'Almost out.' He informs Willis, looking at the units of blood hanging up.

'Let's hang two more units.' Willis looks at a nurse before going back to the surgery.

'Momma informed the family.' Angus tells Willis. 'They're coming from L.A.'

'Your brother treated Avery before, didn't he?' Willis asks Angus. 'What happened?'

'Freak accident.' Angus states. 'Her mom lost control of the car, they fell into a quarry. They were there for hours. Mom died on impact, and Avery came out with a broken bone and collapsed lung. She was lucky to be alive then too.'

'It seems she's full of luck.' Willis chuckles slightly.

Twelve hours later, Avery is in the ICU. She had arrested a couple of times during the surgery and so she has been kept on the ventilator and sedated. During the surgery, Willis had repaired the aorta and fixed the other damage caused by the bullets and removed the damaged kidney. Willis is sitting at the nurse's station writing up notes when Mike sits down next to him.

'How's Avery's friend?' Willis asks him.

'Megan? She made it out of surgery without complications.' Mike tells him. 'Everything should be fine. What about Avery?'

'The damage was extensive.' Willis states. 'I was able to fix most of the damage but I had to remove her right kidney. We lost her a couple of times during the surgery so we're keeping her sedated and on the vent for about a week and re-evaluate then.' He adds. 'So, Megan's your daughter?'

'I only found out recently.' Mike rubs his face. 'When I heard those gunshots, my first thought was to find her.'

'If I had a daughter, I would be the same.' Willis says. 'Does Megan have any other family?'

'Avery's family is pretty much her family.' Mike laughs slightly. 'From what Megan has told me anyway. When I met up with Megan the other day, Avery was there to make sure I wasn't, and I quote, "a serial killer" and then she practically threatened me if I hurt her.' He laughs slightly. 'Those two girls really do look out for each other.'

Just over a day later, T.K., Jason and Owen are arriving in L.A. They head to the hotel to freshen up before making their way to Angels Memorial. When they arrive at the hospital, they are led to the ICU waiting room. Shortly after, Mike walks in and they all stand up.

'You must be T.K. and Owen Strand.' Mike starts, recognising them from pictures Megan had shown him.

'Yeah. You must be Mike Leighton.' Owen replies, shaking his head. T.K. also shakes his hand. 'This is Jason. He's Avery's best friend.'

'And a friend of Megan's.' Jason adds quietly.

'How are they?' T.K. asks, desperate for information.

'Both girls were shot. Avery's injuries were worse than Megan's. They're both in the ICU. Avery is still intubated and sedated. I don't know much about her condition so I will find her doctor to update you.' Mike informs them.

'And Megan?' Jason speaks up before Owen or T.K. can.

'She's doing okay. She didn't realise that she'd been shot because she was too focused on helping Avery.'

'Sounds like Megan.' T.K. laughs slightly.

'She was shot in the abdomen. She was taken into surgery to fix the damage which went well. She's currently partially sedated to avoid her getting agitated so she's sleeping at the moment.' Mike tells them. 'I'll show you to Avery's room.' He leads them through the ICU and stops outside Avery's room. 'Megan is a few doors down.' They look into Avery's room and see she's hooked up to the vent, has multiple IV lines giving her pain meds, saline and some other medication as well as blood. 'I'll find Avery's doctor for you so he can give you a better update on her condition.'

'Thank you.' Owen nods.

'We'll go and see Megan in a bit.' T.K. adds before he walks into Avery's room with Owen and Jason. They all take a seat. Owen holds onto Avery's hand.

'We're right here, Ave.' He says quietly, squeezing her hand.

'This is going to affect her.' Jason states. 'Mentally.' He adds.

'We know.' T.K. nods his head. 'We're going to be keeping a close eye on her.'

'How are you holding up?' Owen asks Jason.

'Honestly,' Jason exhales, 'I don't know.' He shakes his head. 'She'll be okay.' He states, more for himself than for Owen and T.K.

After half an hour, Willis approaches Avery's room. He knocks on the door frame and Owen, T.K. and Jason look at him.

'Owen and T.K. Strand?' He asks as he walks in.

'Yeah.' Owen and T.K. both nod.

'I'm Dr Willis. I was the doctor that treated Avery in the ER and operated on her.' He introduces himself.

'Owen.' Owen tells Willis.

'T.K.' T.K. adds so that Willis knows who is who. 'This is Jason. He's Avery's best friend and a friend of Megan's.'

'Are you comfortable with me discussing Avery's condition in front of him?' Willis asks.

'Yeah.' Owen nods. 'How bad is it?'

'When Avery was brought into the ER, she had already lost a lot of blood. She arrested in the ER but we got her back. Shortly after, we discovered an aortic injury so we clamped it and rushed her up to the OR as soon as it was available. When I got in there, I found that the damage was extensive. Her right kidney was damaged beyond repair so we had to remove that. We were able to repair the aorta and I'm not anticipating any mobility issues. We will have to wait and see until she wakes up. All of the other damage was easily repaired.' Willis explains. 'During surgery, she arrested a couple more times so we want to keep her sedated and on the vent until the end of the week which is when we will reassess.' Owen, T.K. and Jason take a moment to process what they've been told. 'We're still transfusing her with blood and giving her fluids. She's having pain relief administered regularly. When she wakes up we'll set up patient controlled analgesia. She's not out of the woods at the moment. Her blood pressure is still quite low and so is her heart rate. We're hoping her blood pressure will return to normal in the next day or so. If it does get too high, there is a risk of the stitches in the aorta blowing out.' Willis finishes. 'Any questions?'

'What's the management for the aortic injury?' Owen questions. 'Will she need to be on any medication?'

'I've consulted with our cardiothoracic team. Due to the nature of the injury, her aorta is quite delicate so she'll need to be keeping an eye on her blood pressure once she's discharged. She may need to be put on medication to manage her blood pressure but that's a "wait and see" situation.' Willis replies.

'How long will she be here for?' T.K. questions.

'It's hard to say.' Willis shakes his head. 'I know you are from Austin. In an ideal situation, we would transfer Avery there via chopper but she's not stable enough. Do you have somewhere to stay for a long period of time, just in case?'

'We're staying at a hotel.' Owen says. 'Jason's mom was able to pull some strings and we can stay there for as long as we need to.' Willis looks at Jason, confused.

'My mom was the CEO of a business with my dad. They used to book out this hotel a lot for conferences, so they owed her a favour, so to speak.' Jason explains.

'Right.' Willis nods. 'That's good. I saw in Avery's chart that she's got an eating disorder?'

'She's recovering.' Owen nods. 'She's eating more and more each week.'

'As you can already tell, we've had to place her with a feeding tube.' Willis points out. 'Would Avery want it to be in when she wakes up.' Owen and T.K. look at Jason since he has more experience.

'No.' Jason shakes his head. 'She'll only just try and pull it out and do more damage to herself. She's done it before.'

'We will take that out when we're lightening the sedation then.' Willis nods. 'I'll come back and check on Avery a bit later on. Let the nurse's know if you need anything.' He then leaves.

A couple of days have passed. A few hours after sitting with Avery, T.K. had gone to sit with Megan. Megan's condition has deteriorated slightly after having a pulmonary embolism but she's stable now. Avery is now relatively stable though she's not yet out of the woods. Megan hasn't been able to go and see Avery because of both teens' conditions so she has been relying on updates from Owen, T.K. and Jason about how she is. T.K. and Owen have also been updating the 126 and Carlos on their condition and Jason has been keeping his mom updated on their conditions, though mainly Avery's.

Jason, T.K. and Owen are getting breakfast in a restaurant before heading to the hospital. Since Jason's mom is paying for the hotel, Owen and T.K. have been trying to convince Jason to tell him mom they'll cover half of it.

'She's not going to budge.' Jason laughs, shaking his head. 'My mom sees Ave as a second daughter. We lost my sister a few years ago and since then she hasn't stopped spoiling Ave, I mean, she'd spoil Ave when my sister was alive anyway. She wants you to not worry about paying for accommodation whilst Ave is in hospital here.'

'So even if we attempt to send her money, she'll send it right back?' Owen asks.

'Yep.' Jason nods.

'And it's best that we just give up trying?' T.K. adds.

'Pretty much.' Jason laughs. 'Like Ave, she's stubborn.' They finish up their breakfast, pay and make their way to the hospital.

.

As they are stepping off the elevator to the ICU, alarms start blaring.

Code blue, treatment 3. Code blue, treatment 3

'That's Avery's room.' They all say in unison before rushing over.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Uh-oh

Don't forget to head over to DharmaWinter's page to read Megan's perspective :)

Much love