"Excuse me? My name is Noëlle Reyan Jones. I got a call about Edit Janko; I'm her emergency contact. I want to see her."

"Miss Jones, we appreciate your concern for your sister and I'm sure she does as well. However, officer Janko is still in surgery at this time. For the time being, please take a seat. I'll send a doctor out to speak with you soon."

Frustrated, Reyan turned to look over the waiting room. Cops. So many cops. She picked out one of the last available seats and dropped into it with a heavy sigh. The young man next to her glanced over curiously. His hands were streaked with dried blood, as was his hair. It looked like he'd been running his hands anxiously through it, wiping the blood off in the process.

"What?" Reyan asked him harshly.

"You're Eddie's sister. She never mentioned a sister. Always thought she was an only child. Didn't sound like she had much in the way of family, how she talked."

"I'm not her sister. I'm her best friend. Closest thing she's got to a sister though... Who are you?"

He cracked a small smile. "Officer Jamison Reagan. Janko's partner," he offered, extending his hand. "I was there, y'know, when this all happened. Feels like it's my fault. I should have seen it coming..."

Reyan shook her head slowly. "You're Jamie? I should've guessed," she leaned back in her chair. "Eddie talks about you nonstop, you have no idea. It's ridiculous; I've never heard her talk about anyone as much as she does you."

"She talks about me? Really?"

"Are you kidding? I live in Cali, you know? And she gets off a tour at six in the morning your time sometimes, so I get texts at three am:

'rey you'll never believe what jamie said today. he thinks i shouldn't remake jaws! i mean are you kidding? it'd be 12 times better with cgi'

"But she never realizes I get those at 3 until after she wakes up and she'll keep apologizing for it. I don't mind really. It's nice of her - she cares and she wants to tell me about her day, y'know. Anyways, I don't have much of a set schedule either, so sometimes I'm at work at 3am and sometimes I'll have just gotten home to go to bed, but either way, I like the updates. They let me know Eddie's safe. Can't always check up on her from the other side of the country, but we both send each other those little 'here's what happened' texts and it's weirdly reassuring... I'm ranting now, sorry."

"No, no! It's okay. It's keeping my mind off what's happening in that operating room, so I'll take it," Jamie looks anxiously towards the doors. "It still doesn't quite feel real. I expect her to rush in, asking me what's happened, who got shot. But she won't. Because it's her this time. And instead of a life update last night, you got a call from St. Victor's hospital in Manhattan, telling you that she wasn't safe. I'm supposed to keep her safe. We're partners. I could have seen it coming! She couldn't have!"

"Reagan," Reyan says quietly, putting a hand gently on his arm. He manages to keep his composure, but still looks like he's about to start crying. "You two were off duty. No one would have seen that coming. You can't keep her safe every second of every day. I can't either, no matter how much I wish I could. You can't blame yourself for something that wasn't your fault. The only people to blame are the ones who took a shot at an innocent, off duty cop. You gotta understand that, okay?"

"Understanding it isn't going to make me feel any less guilty," he mutters, rolling his eyes.

"Don't roll your eyes at me! I'm trying to help. That's hard for me," she places a hand over her heart in mock hurt.

"Yes, mom..."

"Anyways," Rey flicks her right wrist up to check the time, "according to my calculations, it should be about seven-thirty in the morning on New York time. However, it still feels like four-thirty to me, so I'm going to try to get some sleep."

"Good luck with that."

"Here's to hoping, right?"