His voice seemed so far away, just a murmur that she could barely make out. "Higgins? Come on, girl, open your eyes."

Girl? He only was bold enough to use such an epithet when he was truly worried and feared her dying over her killing him. That thought made her want to fight, both to calm him and to tell him off.

She struggled through the dark, following his voice upward until suddenly she felt herself rooted back within her body and by God did it hurt.

The moment Juliet cracked her eyes open, her skull flared with fire and she winced.

"Higgins?"

She flinched at the sound of his voice. "Magnum," she bit out through pain-clenched teeth, "must you talk so loud?"

"I'm talking normally," Magnum quipped back, but though he spoke with levity, she could hear the heavy relief in his tone.

"Precisely." Higgins took a steeling breath and pushed herself slowly upward until she was propped up on her elbows, bracing as her vision swam. Concussion, definitely a concussion. She grit her teeth and went to sit all the way up.

"Easy," Magnum cautioned, his steadying hand hovering just behind her shoulder blade should she need help.

Higgins' vision tilted again and nausea twisted her stomach. She reached up and pressed a hand to the center point of her aching skull - the left side, directly above her temple, right at the hairline. Sticky warmth immediately met her fingers and she cringed. Blood.

"What happened? I came in and you were on the—"

It came back to her in a sickening rush and propelled her immediately to her feet as she gasped, "Apollo!" She swayed the moment she was upright and had to grip the nearby chair to keep from careening right back down.

"Higgins, whoa!" Magnum started, catching her by the elbow to steady her. "What—"

She cut him off again, pulling herself free of his grip and stumbling toward the open doors leading out onto the back lanai. "Apollo!" she repeated.

Magnum was following at her shoulder. "What about Apollo?" he asked, but he didn't need her to answer before it became clear.

Lying on his side in the grass just beyond the end of the veranda was Apollo.

Juliet felt her chest seize with fear. She staggered over as quickly as she could, dropping to her knees beside him. She reached out, but froze for half a moment, afraid that it might have already been over, but then he took a labored breath.

She heard Magnum curse behind her.

Apollo had what was clearly a bullet wound where the neck met the withers on the right side of his body. There was no exit. At first glance in the nighttime light, it was difficult to see against his dark fur. If it weren't for the sticky glisten of his blood, it might have taken Higgins longer to locate it. She pressed her hand to the wound and the dog whined, whipping his head up in clear pain.

"Easy, lad," Higgins soothed, her heart hammering with anxiety. She glanced back at Magnum to see he was already on the phone, calling for help.

"Katsumoto is on his way. So is EMS," he told her, ear still to his phone.

She frowned. "There isn't time. He needs to go to the emergency vet right now. I can call Doctor Ulani. She can meet us there." She could feel how labored Apollo's breathing was under her fingers and her hand was wet with his blood.

"EMS is for you, Higgins," he told her, moving to her side and crouching. "I'll take the dog."

She ignored him. He was out of his mind if he thought she was leaving Apollo. She shifted her weight back so she could see how best to pick the dog up.

"Higgins—"

"I'm not leaving him, Magnum," she snapped, whipping her head around to give him a look, but then immediately regretting the action when her vision instantly swam. She closed her eyes for a few seconds waiting for the dizziness to pass before reopening them and meeting Magnum's concerned gaze. "Now," she said, "are you going to help me with him or am I to do it on my own?"

Magnum's brow furrowed, but after a moment, it was clear he understood that she would not budge on this. "Alright," he acquiesced, his word huffed out with worried irritation. "Scratch that, Katsumoto. You can take her statement at…" he glanced at her for the location.

"Verdant Palms Veterinary Emergency," Higgins filled in.

Magnum repeated it back, then nodded as if the man on the phone could see him before he hung up. "Okay, I've got him, Higgins."

As soon as Magnum reached for him, the dog growled and it heartened Higgins to hear it. It meant he still had fight left in him. "Hush now, Apollo, it's alright. Let him," she soothed. The Doberman's shiny white teeth disappeared as he relaxed his snarl.

Juliet met Magnum's eyes and gave a nod. He took a breath and slipped his one arm beneath the dog, tucking it behind his front legs, and then placed the other behind Apollo's hindquarters, scooping him up in a careful, fluid motion. Higgins rose with him, a guiding hand hovering at Apollo's head. "Okay," Magnum said as he blew out a seemingly relieved breath, no doubt because Apollo had listened and not chewed his face off.

Through the house was the fastest way to get to the vehicles and Magnum immediately turned in that direction, but Juliet paused and scoured the dark yard with her eyes. "Zeus!" she called and waited, waited to hear his answering bark.

Silence.

She frowned and her stomach twisted further. "Zeus, come here, lad!" But again, nothing. She was conflicted. She knew she couldn't linger, not if they were going to save Apollo's life, but what if Zeus was out there just as injured? She whistled, but still no reply.

"Higgins…" Magnum said softly.

She clenched her jaw. "I know."

"I'll call Rick and TC. They can come look for Zeus and meet HPD here, okay? But we gotta go."

"Yes," she answered, trying to sound as sensible as possible, "of course."

Magnum nodded in return and they moved off, heading through the house and out to the cars. They paused at the Range Rover.

"I...I— the keys. I don't—" Juliet frowned deeply and pressed a hand to the side of her head, trying to ward off the pounding. Of course she didn't have the keys. They were inside.

The concerned look Magnum was giving her was not helping the situation either, but before she could retreat to go retrieve the keys or snap at him that she was fine, he turned his eyes to the Ferrari that he'd left parked beside the Range Rover and said, "Get in."

She didn't argue, there wasn't time. She got into the passenger side seat and he carefully lowered Apollo down to her. An awkward fit, but that didn't matter. As soon as the dog was in her lap, she returned her hand to his wound as she had been doing before, hoping to keep him from losing any more blood. Magnum jogged around the other side and got in. The Ferrari's twin-turbocharged V8 roared to life and they were gone.

The ride to the emergency vet was something of an anxious blur to Juliet. She had called Dr. Ulani and Magnum had called Rick and TC, but beyond that, it was just flashes of lights and sounds and a heavy, tightly-coiling weight in her gut. The only thing she was focused on was the up and down motion of Apollo's chest.

She hadn't even realized they'd arrived until Magnum was suddenly trying to lift the dog back out of her arms. "Higgins, let go." She blinked and looked up at him. His expression softened when she met his eyes. "We're here," he told her, "C'mon."

Juliet stared at him for a second or two longer than necessary before relinquishing her hold on Apollo so Magnum could pick him back up. She knew she was operating slower than usual, her abused brain taking more time to process what was going on, and she hated it. It made her feel vulnerable.

The looks she got from the office staff of clinic when they walked inside did not help her feel any better either. They took in Magnum and Apollo and were clearly concerned, but when they looked at Higgins, they seemed shocked. Juliet wondered for a moment how she must have appeared to elicit such looks out of the women.

The older of the two receptionists recovered faster and picked up the phone to page a code blue. A tech came out and they were ushered straight back to the X-ray suite where Dr. Ulani was already waiting. "Right here," she said, indicating to the table and with the guidance of one of the two techs in the room, Magnum lowered Apollo onto the table.

Dr. Ulani was visually assessing the dog and her expression was not a hopeful one. She brought her eyes up to meet Higgins' anxious gaze. "How long ago did this happen?" she questioned.

There was a pause and Higgins frowned. "Uh..." She looked down at her watch - 1:03am. She frowned, closing her eyes, trying to remember. She had just been leaving the study when she'd been confronted by her attackers. That had been… a little after midnight, she recalled. She'd been up later than she'd wanted, she remembered, working on something for Magnum. "I'm not entirely sure. Less than an hour, but just barely?"

Dr. Ulani nodded, expression solemn. "Okay," she said. "We will do everything we can and we'll keep you updated with each step."

Higgins knew Ulani was the best of the best, that's why she was the one on call for Zeus and Apollo, but still, the squeezing in Juliet's chest and the rushed thrumming of her heart didn't lessen. "Thank you," she managed to get out.

"If you'll follow me, I'll take you to the waiting room," the tech who had brought them back said, standing by the door and holding it open.

Juliet was reluctant, so reluctant. She didn't want to leave her poor boy's side, but then she felt a gentle grip find her elbow and guide her away just enough for her to find her own momentum before letting go. Magnum stayed at her shoulder and the pair followed the tech out.

The waiting room wasn't vacant even at such a late hour, there were several pet parents waiting for news on their animals. Verdant Palms Veterinary Emergency was one of the very few emergency vets on the island and accidents happened at all hours of the day and night. As they walked out the door leading into the back, eyes darted up from around the room. More strange looks, but Juliet was just too exhausted to care.

Magnum must have noticed because he motioned her to the closest free chair and softly said, "Here, sit down for a minute."

Juliet was drained enough that she didn't argue with him. She slid achingly down into the chair and blew out a long, strained breath. When Magnum didn't sit down as well, she brought her eyes up to look at him. He was glancing about the room.

"I'll be right back," he told her before she could question him and then he headed back out the front door.

Higgins sat there silently. Her surging adrenaline was starting to wane and she could feel its absence throughout her body. Everything ached, her face, her ribs, her hands. She looked down at her clenched fists to see bruised and bloodied knuckles. She remembered it, remembered swinging them, connecting with flesh. She didn't remember them hurting, but then she rarely did when in a fight for her life. The adrenaline and the stakes were always too high to pay attention to the little things like splitting knuckles.

Of all the things though, her head was the worst. It sang with angry, angry pain. Everything was too bright, too loud, and her vision swam with every adjustment of her head which was both disorienting and nauseating. She'd thought was concussed before, now she was absolutely sure of it.

Magnum stepped in front of her and she blinked at the suddenness of his reappearance. She immediately spied a first aid kit in his hand and she realized he must have gotten it out of the car. She took a breath. "I look that bad?"

A conflicted look passed over his face as if he wasn't sure if he should answer honestly or if the question was a trap. After a beat, he settled with, "Come with me."

Juliet frowned, but gingerly pushed herself into a standing position. Once again, Magnum was right at her shoulder, a step closer than he normally stood. He directed her across the waiting room to the single, All Genders bathroom and pushed the door open. She flinched when he flicked the light on inside, then a second time when she actually saw herself in the mirror.

She blew out a slow breath. There was blood, blood in her hair, blood down the side of her face and neck, blood down her champagne blouse. On her hands, on her arms. Everywhere. "I'd wondered at the looks I was receiving." She leaned closer to the mirror and tentatively lifted some of her crimson-stained hair to try to get a better look at the source of the mess.

"Bloody hell," she murmured after a moment, dropping her hand from her head and bracing against the counter.

"Quite literally," Magnum chimed, and Higgins snapped him a look in the reflection of the mirror.

He quirked his lips just slightly to one side, hardly repentant.

Turning around to face him, she held a hand out to him for the first aid kit, but instead of handing it over, he pulled it farther away from her and made a "move it" motion with his free hand. She frowned at him, but was honestly far too exhausted to argue with him on the matter. She sidestepped, allowing him entrance into the bathroom as well. The door shut behind them.

It wasn't a tall counter so she was able to carefully slide herself back onto it without twisting her sore ribs too much and it was also wide enough there was still plenty of room next to the sink for Magnum to put the kit down.

He flipped it open and peered at the contents inside for a brief moment before grabbing a punch of paper towels from the nearby dispenser and running them under the water. He stepped in front of her and looked her over, seemingly trying to decide where to start first.

He met her eyes, a questioning look within his own. He was asking for permission. She offered him a tired, "It's fine, Magnum," before he leaned in slightly and began to gently wipe away the blood off the side of her face. After a few moments, his eyes darted back to hers and he asked, "Now, wanna tell me what happened?"

Juliet took as deep a breath as she could manage and began, "They were looking for the location of your client…"


TO BE CONTINUED...