Alec picked her up and the blood trickled from her body, splashing gently on the floor. Crimson stains marred Alec's shirt as her thick blood seeped from her body. Logan and Joshua rushed to his side to help, but he growled and they backed away. "Don't touch her!" he yelled.

He moved slowly and walked past them, not looking at either one of them.

He turned to Ray's aunt. "Is there somewhere I can put her?"

"Upstairs, follow me." She stood up and took Ray's hand whispering for him to go to his room, he didn't need to see anymore than what he had already.

Alec followed the woman into a large bedroom. "Put her down here." The woman pointed to the soft queen bed and Alec set her down slowly as to not tear the wound further. Running his blood caked fingers through his hair, he looked at the woman sadly. "We have to help her, she can't die!"

The look in his eyes broke the woman's heart. She put a reassuring hand on his forearm. "I used to be a nurse, it's been over twenty years, but you never forget this sort of training." She smiled reassuringly. Alec stayed with her and applied pressure to the wound while the woman went for supplies. She came back into the room with what appeared to be surgeons tools and that's exactly what they were upon further examination. She set down a bowl of boiling water and an armful of gauze. She doused the wound with iodine and went about removing the bullet. After only finding small fragments of metal she was forced to sew up the wound. The woman shook her head. "You should change."

Alec barely looked at her. "I'll be fine."

"I'm sure you will, but if she gets an infection because of you..."

Alec looked up and stripped his shirt and pants without a second thought. He sat back down on the bed in just his boxers and took Max's hand.

"You've been hurt," Ray's aunt said when she moved to pick up his discarded clothes.

"What?" He asked.

She touched his side and he winced in pain, finally looking at the large tear in his abdomen. "Let me take a look at that."

"It's fine," he lied and turned back to Max.

"You're not helping her if you're too weak to take care of yourself. When she comes out of this, she'll need someone to rely on and it won't be you, if you don't get that dealt with."

Alec grudgingly stood and let her examine him. "Yup, that'll have to be sown up too, and I bet that's where our bullet went."

Standing stone faced against the bathroom sink, Alec kept his eye on the bed where Max lay as his wound was cleaned and mended.

"All done," The petite woman announced, looking up at the larger man.

"Thanks," Alec mumbled. He ran his fingers through his hair again and realized he was covered in blood. He looked at his trembling hands, a mixture of his own and Max's red plasma covering them.

"Take a shower, you'll feel better," the woman offered.

"I'm okay," Alec told her, looking back up at Max's sleeping form.

"I'll watch her for you." She sighed and felt relief when he agreed.

Alec turned on the water and didn't seem to notice it was scalding hot, as he stripped off his boxers and stepped in. He washed fast, trying not to watch the flow of blood as it went down the drain. Grabbing a towel, he wrapped it around his waist and stepped back into the bedroom.

"Feel better?"

Alec shook his head. "No. How is she?"

"The same. I'll wash these clothes for you. I cleaned her up and changed her while you showered," the woman admitted. Alec's eyes flashed to Max, he would have thought the situation comical had Max not been so badly hurt.

"Max would never wear pink." He smiled a little.

Ray's aunt returned his smile. "She looks good in it though."

"Yeah. Yeah she does." He passed her and went to Max's side, taking her hand. "Come on Max, wake up!" he whispered.

"I'll give you some time alone," the lady said, walking out of the room and shutting the door behind her.

"This is a new look for you." Alec teased, wishing she would wake up and give him a good smack for his sarcastic comment. He rested his palm against her pale face. She looked so small, so weak.

"Why'd you do it Max?" He asked running a finger over her lips. She had saved him. Threw herself in the line of fire and nearly lost her life doing so, all for him. Why? "I love you, Max," he confessed, his voice barely audible. "You can't leave me. I don't need you to love me back. You can love Logan and have ten kids, as long as you're happy. But you have to wake up first." Alec stroked her hair back and stifled the tears that were forming in his eyes. He wiped furiously at the few that had managed to escape.

Slowly, Alec managed to lay down on the bed, still just adorned in only a towel, despite the burn emanating from his abdomen from the movements.

Tbc....