Tom ran in the room and dropped to the floor beside his son immediately stripping off his over shirt, folding it and pressing it to the bullet wound. Grimacing when Hal cried out at the pressure the father looked to where his son's hands were chained to a sort of cabinet. It would be difficult to get those off and they needed to do it soon but he still had the bullet wound to worry about.

A flash of white bandage caught the professors eye and he realized someone must have stitched and dressed the cut that Pope had inflicted, which meant medical supplies could still be nearby. Radioing Weaver long enough to tell them to bring the bolt cutters, Tom looked down sadly at his son. There were bruises and marks all over his face and there were lines of pain on the kids face that were so set it looked like they would never fade.

"I'm gonna come right back kid I just have to find something to use as a pressure bandage okay Hal, I'll be right back." Hal was already weakly calling out to him but Tom couldn't afford to look back, sprinting from the room he desperately looked around for something that could help.

The professor found some cloths and a pillow in one of the trashed rooms and headed back to where his son was still bleeding out.

Tom was beginning to get desperate. Hal was losing too much blood and he couldn't stop it, couldn't even untie his son or get him moved to somewhere safer. Mason looked to his eldest and ran his hand through the kids hair.

"I'm here Hal, I won't leave you again. I'm so sorry son this shouldn't have happened but Anne's gonna come and fix you right up and you'll be okay. Everything's gonna be just fine."

Tom was known for his general sense of optimism, more his stubbornness really, about anything concerning his boys but looking at his eldest son now it was hard to see them getting out of this with a good outcome.

The kid was trying so hard to be strong but he was in so much pain and tears were making tracks in the dirt on his face. All of Tom's energy, strength and hope left him in that moment. His son shouldn't have been bleeding out on a dirty floor of some abandoned bowling alley.

Still pressing on his son's blood soaked stomach, the professor pressed a kiss to his boys' forehead as his own tears ran down his cheeks. Hal's eyes were unfocused and each time he blinked Tom was worried his eyes would stay closed. He didn't know what else to do but put pressure on the wound and keep Hal awake.

"Open your eyes Hal, stay awake kid come on." It didn't even look like Hal was seeing him or anything else anymore, Tom didn't even know if he could hear him.

Hal's eyes slipped shut just before the sound of a car engine came from outside. Tom didn't know if it was Pope or Weaver and stood protectively over his son. Anne came through the door though, followed closely by Weaver, Maggie and Ben. Tom relaxed his defensive stance and flopped back to the ground with his now unconscious boy, tears running down his face in earnest now.

Anne gasped when she saw the battered teenager but went immediately to work, calling Weaver over with the bolt cutters. Tom shuffled back to let them work, releasing his hold on the now blood soaked jacket over Hal's stomach.

The father heard a horrified cry from Maggie and Ben as they stood behind him.

"Oh God Hal."

"What did Pope do to him?" Tom couldn't even answer his middle child, only wiped his face with his shirt and watched as the chains slipped from Hal's bruised and bloodied hands.

Anne assessed Hal and determined that Surgery needed and it needed to happen now.

"I need to take the bullet out before we move him and he's already lost too much blood so we don't have much time Tom." When the president didn't say anything Weaver led him out of the room and sat him on one of the couches.

"We'll take care of him Tom you just sit here and we'll come get you when it's done."

Tom didn't want to leave his son but he didn't think he could bear watching them cut into him either. So Tom sat on that couch with his head in his hands and prayed he wouldn't lose his son.

….

Anne was a pediatrician, not a surgeon but this war had brought out the best in her and she was the finest army medic the second Mass could have hoped for. The young woman was efficient and skillful as she removed the bullet from the boy.

Weaver assisted in any way he could but mostly watched in awe or Dr Glass. Tom had come back in after a while and sat beside Hal, taking his hand in his and taking Ben's in his other.

He just prayed he wouldn't have to go home to tell Mattie that he lost his big brother.

Anne finally finished and ordered everyone to load up her patient in the truck to take him back to the second Mass.

Tom knew that Anne was hoping for some reaction from Hal when he was lifted into the truck-bed because she frowned when the boy remained motionless. He hadn't made any movements or noise and Tom knew it wasn't a good sign.

Maggie sat in the truck bed as the boys lowered Hal down so she could cradle his head in her lap. He made no noise as she stroked back his hair and she allowed only a few tears to escape as she looked down at the man that had been by her side through this war, covered in blood and barely hanging on. As everyone else climbed into the truck she lent down and pressed a kiss to his forehead and hoped it wouldn't be the last time she did so.