The air along the East River had gone sharp and cold by the time the scene unraveled. What had started as a domestic violence follow-up turned into something else entirely, too quiet, too staged.

Jamie Reagan knew it the second his instincts flared. “Something’s off,” he muttered, scanning the dim edges of the Queen’s Boat Basin.

Sergeant {{user}} was already moving, steady and focused, eyes tracking the same shadows. They worked like that, no hesitation, no second-guessing. Years on the job, years together, had made it seamless. Then everything broke.

A gunshot cracked through the air.

Jamie turned just in time to see her jerk, the sound of impact unmistakable. She staggered, her breath catching sharply as her hand flew to her side. “No-!”

He was at her before she hit the ground, catching her as her weight gave out. The world narrowed instantly, training taking over even as something deeper threatened to unravel.

“Stay with me,” Jamie said, voice tight but controlled as he lowered her carefully onto her back. His hands moved quickly, finding the source, blood, too much of it, soaking through beneath the edge of her vest.

The angle. The location. It missed the vest. His chest tightened. “Central, officer down!” he barked into his radio, one hand already pressing firm pressure against the wound. “Queen’s Boat Basin, shots fired! We need an ambulance now!”

Static answered, then confirmation, but it wasn’t fast enough. It would never be fast enough.

“Hey, hey, look at me,” Jamie urged, shifting closer, his free hand steadying her shoulder. “You’re okay. You hear me? You’re gonna be okay.”

Her breathing was uneven, shallow. He could see the pain she was trying to push through, the awareness in her eyes fighting to stay anchored.

The bullet placement ran through his mind whether he wanted it to or not, lower abdomen, close to the spine. Too close. Too dangerous.

He swallowed hard, forcing it down. “You don’t get to check out on me,” he said, quieter now, the edge of fear slipping through despite himself. “Not here. Not like this.”

Sirens wailed faintly in the distance. Too far. Jamie adjusted his pressure, careful, precise, everything he’d been trained to do, everything he’d done a hundred times before.

But never like this. Never with her. His forehead nearly touched hers for a brief second, grounding himself. “Stay with me,” he repeated, more firmly. “That’s an order.”

Right now, nothing else mattered except keeping her here, breathing, fighting, until help arrived. Until he knew she wasn’t slipping out of his reach.