(a/n) I will be updating this story regularly. It is my take on things that happened immediately after the gunshots in the season two finale. Please let me know how you like it, tell me it sucks, tell me you love it. Just let me know. Thanks for reading.

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Spencer was on the ground.

Spencer was on the ground, and with that, I was thrown into hysterics. What could I do?

"Aiden!" I caught his eye, and he barreled over Spencer, covering her body with her own.

Someone pulled me down onto the ground, knees hitting gravel, body hitting nature's floor. Screaming filled my ears, but I knew they weren't my own. My teeth had clamped down on my lip, all the adrenaline in my body needing an outlet and finding one in that simple movement.

Three more gunshots, and I had drawn blood. I let it fill my mouth as I heard the sound of car tires squealing, then dead silence. More frightening than anything. I didn't move an inch, though every part of my brain was screaming at me to get up. Get up, you coward.

Someone cried out, and I peeked my head up, looking around as my pulse pounded. I spat out a mouthful of blood and pulled myself to my feet, glancing around in a daze. People looked terrified, eyes roaming to and from each other with tears unshed, unified in a tragedy that was entirely unexpected but would leave them shaken for nights to come. The air still rang from bullets shot.

I stumbled my way through the crowd, avoiding eye contact. I had just one goal. Find Spencer. There was chaos now, things were getting louder, but my vision tunneled, leading to one spot.

Aiden was rolling off of Spencer, and his shirt was soaked in bright red blood. My stomach clenched, a bucket of icewater replacing my insides.

"Aiden?"

He looked down at his shirt, dumbfounded. His eyes were glazed over, and my bottom lip began to shake.

"Aiden? Did she...did she.."

I let my eyes fall away from his and down toward her crumpled form, and in a flash, I was next to her. Blood stained the front of her dress, and her eyes were squeezed shut. As long as I live, I'll never forget the sound she was making. Like a dying animal.

"Spencer."

Tears waiting to spill clogged my throat, but I promised myself I wouldn't cry. I reached out to touch her face and her eyes shot open, startling me. They were a brilliant blue.

"Ash..."

I knew immediately that she understood the enormity of the situation, and also, that she was in a lot of pain.

"I'm shot."

Her voice was weak. She began to cry, wincing through her tears.

"Spencer, shhh, shhh." I told her calmly, my voice taking on an odd quality, devoid of emotion.

"Someone call an ambulance!" I heard Aiden screaming behind me, and this seemed to scare Spencer. I reached down to hold her, but her whimpering told me that she couldn't bear to be touched. I cringed, grabbing her hand and placing it over my chest.

"You're gonna be fine, Spence...'cause, you're not hurt...and you feel that?" I held onto her eyes with my own, covering her blood stained hand with mine, holding it over my heart. "That's my heart...feel it? That's my heart, and it's yours, too...so you're gonna be okay...can you feel it?"

She nodded, her eyes mirroring all the fright I felt in my own. This night, this was supposed to be our night. Our night to be Ashley and Spencer, in love, with nothing else to care about but each other. How had this happened? Spencer was a vision, an angel splattered with blood and fear.

"It hurts. It hurts so bad."

Her face is twisted in pain, and her eyes close.

"Spencer. Spencer, you have to keep your eyes open."

I tighten my grip on her hand, my heart beginning to beat faster. Impossible, it seemed, but it happened. My pulse thundered in my ears. Her eyes opened, but not fully.

"Like that. Just, ah, just keep breathing...like this." I let her feel the rise and fall of my chest with her hand, and her eyes begin to close again. "Spencer! Breathe with me, 'kay? We're gonna breathe together..."

Her eyes flutter open weakly, and she struggles to take a breath. I hear ambulances in the distance, and she does, too. She lets go of my hand, and slowly lets her fingers touch my lip.

"You're bleeding."

She says it softly, then her eyes close and her hand drops. My eyes go wide.

"Spence!" My eyes dare travel down to her stomach, where the blood is steadily growing in a small puddle. I let myself touch the red muck, the stuff pouring from Spencer's stomach in mass amounts. Her chest rises and falls.

The sirens wail, becoming closer, and I'm still holding Spencer's hand over my chest, staring dumbly at my stained fingers. "You'll be okay." I manage to say, before being pushed out of the way by strong arms.

The paramedics surround Spencer, and I feel arms wrap around me. I look at the scene surrounding us, letting Aiden rock my gently in his arms.

"Ash. Are you okay?"

I ignore him. What a stupid question.

People are staring at Spencer, people are crying, and I don't want to know if anyone else is hurt.

"We got a steady pulse. Let's load her up."

I look over Aiden's shoulder, watching Spencer being placed delicately on a stretcher. Her eyes are closed, and his grip tightens on me, both of us seeing her being wheeled away.

"She's..."

I don't finish my thought, instead, I catch Spencer's eyes shoot open, zeroing in and finding me in the crowd. I wriggle myself out of Aiden's grasp immediately, but by then, they're closing the doors on her.

"We have to follow her."

"Ash, you're covered in..."

He doesn't want to say it, and I look down, my entire upper body smeared in blood.

"I don't care." I push past him. "We have to go with her."

Someone shoulder checks me violently, and I spin around. Glen Carlin meets me with a frenzied expression, hanging up his cell phone.

"You aren't going anywhere, bitch. Stay with him." He looks like he's been crying, and then he pushes past me angrily and heads to the parking lot, where Clay is bringing the car around. I didn't bring my car.

I turn to Aiden. "Give me your keys."

"I'm not - "

"Give me those goddamn keys right now!" I let myself scream at him. "This is all your fault! You stupid, selfish, motherfucker!"

He looks like I slapped him, then reaches into his pocket and holds his keys out to me. I grab them, glaring daggers at him.

"I'm sorry." He appears shaken. "Do you want me to come with you?"

I turn on my heel, not caring at all how he feels at the moment, and head for the car.

I have to get to Spencer, before I fall apart.