I See You

42

The cold water down his throat made Nicola feel better, not for long, but it was an incredible feeling, he had to admit to that. Lena was standing next to him, she had a worried look on his face and behind her, Nicola could hear Ryan and Junior talking like nothing wrong was happening in the Severide kitchen.

Nicola, who despite being the one with the worst wound, had been the only one who had been able to watch everything from afar, the strange looks Ryan gave Lena and Junior, the way he muttered under his breath when the other two were not looking, the way he ranted about Lena having the fault in everything.

His brain had started to put the clues together, his body was shutting down but his brain had almost everything figured out.

Lena took the cup away from Nicola once he had drank all the water, she placed it over the kitchen island and looked down at his leg, Nicola didn’t dare look down, he didn’t feel strong enough to see all his blood rolling down his leg. Lena watched in silent horror, the growing in size puddle that had started to form under Nicola’s chair, the blood kept coming, slowly, but she didn’t know how long they would be there.

“He is going to die here” Lena thought, she looked up at Nicola, who had closed his eyes again and was leaning over his hand against the kitchen island. “Nick?” she whispered.

Nicola opened his eyes slowly, he couldn’t do it as fast as he wanted, his eyeballs moved aimlessly for a few seconds and then focused on Lena. Lena gave him a soft smile and took his hand, Nicola tried to curl his fingers around her small hand but his body couldn’t lose energy on those kinds of things.

“Still breathing” whispered Nicola, Lena gave his hand a gentle squeeze.

“You are gonna be fine” she whispered “I promise”

Nicola smiled and for a second his eyes rolled to the back of his head and then returned to look at Lena, she was trying hard not to freak out but it was growing difficult with each passing second in which Nicola lost his connection to reality.

“Stop talking to him!” Ryan’s voice echoed over Junior’s shoulder, Lena turned around rapidly and looked at Ryan, she had almost forgotten that he was there.

“I’m sorry” she said, her voice coming out hoarse and painful “I was just trying to make sure he was ok”

“He has been shot, of course he is not ok” barked Ryan, anger rose in Lena.

“You shot him” she whispered “I’m trying to make sure you don’t get in more trouble, Ryan”

“I’m not in trouble” snapped Ryan “I’m the one with the gun” he wave the gun in front of his face and Junior and Lena held their breaths.

“If he dies you will be in trouble” explained Lena “You don’t want that do you?”

“Stop talking!” roared Ryan, the gun pointed at Nicola, Lena stood in front of her boyfriend, hoping Ryan wouldn’t shoot him again “You need to shut up”

“She will” said Junior, “She won’t talk to anyone, not Nicola, not you and not me”

Ryan lowered the gun and turned his eyes to Junior “You promise?” whispered Ryan, suddenly sounding like a child.

“Yes, Ryan, I promise you” smiled Junior, he felt his lips quiver but he hoped Ryan didn’t notice, he didn’t, “When have I lied to you?”

“Ok” said Ryan “I trust you” he scratch his neck with his free hand.

“Why is he scratching himself to much?” thought Junior.

Ryan turned to look at Lena and narrowed his eyes, Lena nodded to him, confirming that she wouldn’t be talking to anyone anymore, just like Junior had said.