Nick runs up to Lori and unties her. He hold her in his arms and gives her a soft kiss on the lips. "Lori, don't worry, I'm here, everything is gonna be okay."
"Nick..." Lori is so weak.
A tremendous gun fight starts. Although the bad guys out numbered the LAPD, many of them are shot down by the cops. Nick holds Lori tightly so that she won't be hit by any bullets. More than 30 bullets are running in the air every second. While the other guys are still firing with the bad guys, Mandy picks up a gun and finds out where Nick and Lori are, then she goes up to them. "So... there you are!"
Nick slowly lies Lori down and stands up. Mandy goes up to him and kicks him. Nick hits the ground. He is about to take his gun out, but he finds out that he has dropped it just now when Mandy kicked him. He knows it's somewhere near him but he cannot get it.
Mandy holds her gun up, pointing at Nick.
"Nick, I love you. I'm asking you one more time, will you love me? If you say yes, I won't kill you and we can get away this place and go to somewhere we want to..."
Without hesitating, Nick replies, "Mandy, you and I will never be, besides, I only love Lori, even though you're gonna kill me, my answer will be the same no matter how many times you ask."
"Why Nick, Why? Is she worth it?"
"Yes." This word hits Mandy heart, as well as Lori's.
"Goodbye then, Nick." Mandy is ready to shoot Nick. He closes his eyes.
Lori is seeing all these. Just as Mandy fires towards Nick, Lori uses her last effort to runs up to Nick. "NO!!!"
Once again, silence fills up the air, just like during the operation more than a year ago...
Nick slowly opens his eyes. He knows he's not injured at all. He thought Lori has saved him again, by shooting Mandy down before she shoots him. He's expecting to see Lori smiling at him. But instead, when he fully opens his eyes, he sees Lori dropping to the ground, bleeding really bad on her chest. Lori stood in front of Nick when Mandy fired her gun and has taken the bullet for him.
With tears in his eyes, Nick picks up his gun that he finds on the ground and shoots Mandy down. Mandy drops dead to the ground. Nick holds Lori up, "Lori... don't close your eyes... don't leave me..." He kisses Lori.
"Nick... I..." she faints away.
She is brought to the ER. Everybody is waiting impatiently outside the ER. Once the light turns off, Nick runs up to the doctor.
"How was she?"
"Are you guys her family?"
"No... but I'm her boyfriend."
"Okay... the bullet went really close to her heart. She has lost a huge amount of blood which leads to a short vacuum in her brain for a short period of time. We've done everything we can. Now it depends on the patient's spirit to lives her life. We're not sure whether she's gonna wake up or not. All I can tell you is that the chance is really small and you guys should prepare for the worst. We're sorry."
Michelle and Melissa cry so badly. All of them go to Lori's room. Nick sits himself down next to Lori's bed, wipes away his own tears, holds her hand and says, "Lori... I know you will wake up... I know you can make it, I'll wait for you no matter how long it takes..."
~ At the hospital -- 8 months later -- 2:00 pm ~
It has been 8 months already. In this 8 months, no matter what, Nick would comes to the hospital and stay with Lori until the visiting hours are over. He talks to her, reads her magazines, hoping that one day Lori will gives him some response rather than lying there motionless.
It's such a sunny day today, Nick comes and visits Lori as usual. He hears a song on the radio, "Lori, hey... how are you today? You look good. You know what, the singer who sang 'I Need You Tonight' has a new single out, it's a very nice song, you wanna hear a bit of it? okay... sorry if I sing bad..." And Nick starts to sing part of the song to Lori.
If
I don't have you
To hold on to
I can't go on
This world alone
Baby it's true
If you said goodbye
Girl, I would die
I'm a star with no light
A day with no night
If I don't have you
Nick cries, the song represents exactly what he's feeling right now.
"Lori... please wake up..." His tears drop on Lori's hand.
