Sharon sighed softly as she entered the children's hospital, absently fiddling with the ring on her finger. She could have sent Tao or Sykes to interview their victim, but she needed them at the crime scene more. She waved her badge at the receptionist to get the info on the victim, barely withholding another sigh.

"It's so sad," the receptionist murmured. "How screwed up does someone have to be to shoot up a school?"

"I know," Sharon replied, her head shaking slightly.

"I hope you catch him."

"We will." Her voice was firm and she managed a reassuring smile.

She turned and hurried through the bustling hospital to the fourth floor, easily spotting the victim's room by the parents sobbing outside. She steeled herself as she approached them, hating this part of her job more than anything else.

"Mr. and Mrs. Dawson? I'm Commander Sharon Raydor with the LAPD." She extended her hand and received a brief, weak shake in response, before she slipped her hand into her skirt pocket. "If you don't mind, I would like to speak to your daughter. If there's anything she can tell me, it could be instrumental in finding the shooter."

Mrs. Dawson nodded and wiped at her eyes. "I-of course... Of course." She sniffled.

"Why don't you both find some coffee?" She suggested.

The husband reluctantly agreed, his arm sliding around his wife as they glanced in at their daughter and then slowly walked away. Sharon took a deep breath and then walked into the room.

She hated the site before her. A seven year old had no business being in a hospital, especially with a gunshot wound. Sharon's heart ached, but she shoved it down and allowed a calm but reassuring demeanor to come over her face.

"Abbie?"

The little girl's eyes fluttered and then opened, fear and pain evident on her face. "Where's Daddy?" Her voice was soft and her fingers cling to a small stuffed bunny.

"Your parents will be right back, Abbie." Sharon pulled a chair close to the bed and took a seat, crossing one leg over the other.

"Who are you?"

"My name is Sharon." She offered a small smile and pulled her badge out once more. "I'm a police officer." She showed her badge to Abbie and allowed the girl to take it.

"Ooooh..." Abbie ran her fingers over the metal, inspecting every inch before she handed it back.

"May I ask you a few questions? I'd really like to find who did this to you." She didn't know how much the girl remembered or had processed, but she didn't want to be responsible for telling the child that many of her friends were dead.

"Umm..." Abbie hugged her bunny close and winced in pain.

"It's okay," Sharon soothed, reaching out to rub her arm. "Just tell me what you remember. If you don't, that's okay too."

It took a few more minutes of reassurance before Abbie started to talk, but Sharon was patient. She was amazed by how much the young girl remembered. As she left the room, she resolved to give her team at least a week off when this was over. They would need the time with their families to recover from the brutality of this case.

She ran her fingers through her hair, her mind racing with the new info Abbie provided. She stepped into the elevator and pressed the button for the lobby.

"Elevator's goin' up," someone muttered.

She raised her eyes to the man beside her and cleared her throat. The elevator doors were already closing. "Guess I'll wait then," she replied.

The hair on the back of her neck stood up but she didn't know why. Her gaze subtly roamed over the man but nothing stuck out to her. He wore a large leather jacket, but the weather was chilly enough to warrant it. Shaking it off, she crossed her arms and was silent as the elevator moved up to the ninth floor. She felt the man's eyes on her and shifted to grab her phone from her purse, quickly looking up when she heard a growl from the man.

"You're a damn cop, aren't you?" He reached out, grabbing her gun from its holster before she could even react. "What're you doing here?" He moved forward, backing her into the corner of the already small elevator.

"I-I was interviewing a victim." She cleared her throat and stood up straighter, her eyes glancing down to her gun in his grasp.

"A victim? Of what?" He stared her down, his eyes cold but focused.

"School shooting."

"Goddamnit!" He yelled and hit his fist against the elevator wall hard enough for the entire elevator to give a small shake. Sharon instinctively reached out to grab the railing. "Who is it? Who survived?"

Her mind raced, trying to connect the dots while trying to stay calm. One question jumped to the forefront of her mind: why was the school shooter at the hospital, clearly with awful intentions.

"A student," she reluctantly answered.

He shook his head, but seemed to calm down a minuscule amount. "You're coming with me." He shoved her gun into the back of his pants and grabbed her arm as the doors opened, tugging her onto the quiet floor.

Sharon stumbled along beside him as he strode to the nurse's station. His attention was focused on his task, allowing her to slip her hand into her purse. Her fingers brushed her phone and she pressed down on the side buttons, relieved when she felt the emergency mode activate, knowing it would tell both emergency operators and Andy. She managed to slip her phone from her purse to her pocket.

"Where's Dr. Norris?" The man demanded, his grip tightening on Sharon's arm, but out of sight of the nurse.

"He's currently with another patient," the nurse calmly replied, barely glancing up.

"Call him out here. Now."

"I can't do that."

"What about now?" The man pulled another gun from his jacket and aimed it at the nurse's head, finally getting her attention.

"S-sir... there's no need for that..." She swallowed, her eyes glancing to Sharon.

"Call him. Now."

The nurse meekly nodded, one hand reaching for her phone. Sharon saw her other hand reach under the desk and felt the man stiffen beside her when he noticed too.

"Don't do it," Sharon tried, but it was too late.

The man fired one shot, its sound muffled by the silencer, and the nurse fell backwards. He immediately turned and hit Sharon with the butt of the gun. She felt pain blossom out from her forehead, quickly followed by the stinging cool of blood. She would've stumbled if the man didn't maintain his tight grip on her.

"You'll shut your mouth." He shifted his grip on her and grabbed her purse, tossing it back down the hallway. He made sure it was far out of reach before he shoved her into the nurse's station. "Sit down and I swear to god if you move, I'll kill you and everyone else in this ward."

Sharon swallowed and nodded, sinking into the previously occupied chair. She gently touched her head and winced, but was relieved that her hand came away with only a small amount of blood on it. She looked back at the dead nurse but quickly turned away. Bodies didn't usually bother her, but then again, she usually didn't witness their murder. She could feel nausea starting to rise and tried to swallow it down. Her phone started to vibrate and without looking, she knew it was Andy. She didn't dare try to take her phone out, and instead tried to reassure herself that her team knows her location and she could hold on until then.

Her thoughts were interrupted when the man returned from locking down one side of the ward. "Go find the other nurses," he ordered. "Round them up here and maybe I'll let them live."

Sharon nodded and slowly stood up, her head pounding. She leaned against the desk to stabilize herself, but kept her gaze on her captor. He stared back, his eyes seeming even colder than before.

"Why are you doing this?" She risked asking.

"I told you to shut up." His eyes narrowed and she nodded in response, remaining silent as she moved around the desk.

She started down the hallway, glancing into each room for signs of anyone. After the first few rooms, she realized where they were. Room after room held a small, frail child in a coma. She swallowed and forced herself to keep going, grateful the ward appeared to be mostly empty. She was almost at the other end of the ward when she found the second nurse's station and the two nurses staffed there.

"Oh, my god, are you okay?" The older nurse quickly approached her, but Sharon waved her off.

"I'm fine. Please listen to me." She took a deep breath, trying to think straight through the pain. "My name is Sharon Raydor and I'm a commander with the LAPD. There is a man here who wants to find a Dr. Norris. He's already murdered the other nurse and I believe he may have shot up a school earlier today." She ran out of breath and leaned against the desk. "I need you to come with me and stay quiet so he doesn't hurt you."

The nurses looked at each other in fear, but the older one nodded. Sharon managed a weak reassuring smile. "I've already notified my team and emergency operators. It shouldn't take them long to get here. And I don't believe any of the children here are in danger." The nurse nodded again and the three slowly made their way back to their captor.

He was pacing back and forth when they arrived, but stopped and glared at them. "Is that all of them?" He demanded.

"There's only four nurses stationed here, Mr. Walker. You know this." The older nurse faced the man calmly and Sharon looked at her.

"Shut up!" Mr. Walker grabbed his hair and tugged, his eyes squeezing shut. "This is all your fault! You couldn't do shit and my daughter had to suffer! Now call Dr. Norris down."

Sharon cleared her throat. "Mr. Walker, what happened to your daughter?" She allowed genuine concern to enter her voice, but her gaze was hard as she watched him.

"What do you care?"

"I'm a parent too," she answered. "I know that your children mean absolutely everything to you." She blinked and wiped a drop of blood away from her eye. "But I'm also a cop and a witness. I can testify to what you've said in here and how you acted. That you were doing all of this for your daughter. A jury will be sympathetic to a loving parent."

He let out a short, bitter laugh. "Doesn't matter if a jury is sympathetic. It's not going to bring my Ella back to me." He shifted the gun and aimed it at a nurse. "Call Dr. Norris. I'm not asking again."

Sharon and the other nurse sat on the ground against the wall, watching while the doctor was paged down to their floor. The nurse took the opportunity to clean up Sharon's face, their hands briefly clasping together.

"What's your name?" Sharon murmured, giving the young woman's hand a brief but firm squeeze.

"Rose," she answered, her hands trembling.

"We'll get out of this, Rose, okay? We'll get you home safely."

Rose nodded and pulled her hands into her lap. Sharon gently ran her fingers over the small bandage on her forehead, wincing at how tender it was. The other nurse joined them after a moment, the three sitting quietly while the man paced in front of them. It was silent except for the steady beeping of heart monitors and the man's footsteps for several long minutes.

Finally, a few loud knocks sounded from the opposite end of the ward. Sharon knew immediately that it wouldn't be Dr. Norris on the other side of the door.

"Come with me." The man grabbed Rose and hauled her to her feet before he started down the hallway.

Sharon watched them go and then looked to the nurse's station. "Do you have any scalpels or syringes?" She faced the other nurse, her voice soft. "Anything?"

"Um... um." She managed a nod and pointed to a cart outside a room. "Third drawer."

"Warn me if he's coming back."

Slowly, Sharon stood up and approached the cart. She quietly opened the drawer and slipped a few scalpels into her pocket before she returned to her spot on the floor.

"Thing are likely to get ugly soon," she warned. "If the police or Mr. Walker starts firing, you need to get out of the way and hide. Try to take Rose with you too."

The woman swallowed and nodded silently.

They heard Mr. Walker's heavy footsteps and Rose's whimpering before they saw them. Mr. Walker threw Rose to the ground and instead grabbed Sharon before she could react and move away.

"What the hell did you do?" He demanded, his grip bruising. "How did they know where I am?" He pulled her close until their faces where inches apart.

Sharon forced herself not to flinch. "There are security cameras everywhere. It was only a matter of time before someone checked this floor."

"Bullshit!" Spittle landed on her face and her eyes fluttered closed for a moment.

He reached for his gun, but Sharon was faster with the scalpel. She popped the protective cap off in her pocket and stabbed it into his gut. He groaned, but his grip on her only tightened.

"You bitch!" He threw her to the ground, her head bouncing off the wall and floor. She cried out in pain, her arms instinctively going up to defend herself as all hell broke loose.

Sounds blended together: gunshots, yelling, crying, and cracking of wood and metal. Sharon crawled toward the closest room, managing to catch sight of the nurses doing the same thing. She slid the glass door shut and collapsed against the ground, confused when she felt her shirt damp and clinging to her. She pressed her hand against her stomach and stared at the blood the came away.

"Oh..." she let out a shaky breath and fumbled for her phone, tossing the extra scalpels out of her way to the floor.

She saw the numerous missed calls and texts from Andy, and even a few from Provenza. A missed call from Emily surprised her, but her body became aware of the pain at the same moment and her phone fell to the ground.

She curled in on herself and let out a small whimper, her entire body pounding with white hot pain.

"Sharon!" Her head tilted up at the familiar voice and she realized the cacophony had faded. "Sharon, where are you?"

She managed to reach up to slide the door open, her hand trailing blood on everything she touched. With the door open, she could hear footsteps rushing down the hallway toward her.

"I've got two nurses here!" Andy shouted, followed by a softer, "Are you both okay?"

The footsteps continued a moment later and then he was in front of her, kneeling down with his hands cupping her face.

"Sharon. Sharon, Jesus..." He held her face firmly and kissed her forehead. "Look at me, sweetheart. Stay with me." He leaned just head out of the room. "I need medical attention down here! Officer down!"

"Andy..." She raised a hand to rest over his, her body giving a sudden shudder.

"Hey... Hey, you're gonna be okay. Just keep your eyes on me, hm?" His voice shook, but his grip was firm. "This is going to hurt, babe. I'm sorry." He pulled his jacket off and pressed it to her side, pulling a weak yelp from Sharon. "I know, I know, I'm sorry."

Her eyes started to slide closed and despite Andy's pleas, she couldn't force them back open. The emptiness of being unconscious pulled at her and she slowly slipped away.