1. Sideways

Finn had seen this woman around town for the last three years and never had the courage to speak with her until today, when he finally didn't have a choice.  He didn't have a freakin' choice!  Fate made sure of that.  

There was something about her that terrified Finn although it was extremely allusive.  Maybe it was her mannerisms; standoffish, cool, aloof.   Maybe it was her beauty; her freckled cheeks that blush so easily, her smile or her gorgeous wavy red hair.  No! It was her eyes that bore into his soul and were constantly saying, 'Stay away!'

None of that mattered now!  None of it! He needed to focus on her and not his rejected or hurt feelings.  He was not the type of man to leave someone in need because his ego had been bashed or bruised. 

He let out a deep breath, that he didn't realize he was holding, as he assessed the situation.  

Her black SUV was sideways in the middle of the road.  She had been sideswiped out of nowhere and the force of the impact twisted the doorframe metal.  By the look of the skid marks, whoever did this pushed her SUV for about 30 or 40 feet.

He saw the stunned look in her face as he came upon the scene.  He pulled behind her vehicle and jumped out of his shiny new Chevy pickup leaving the door ajar and the keys in the ignition, ignoring the pinging sound going off incessantly.  

He didn't hear any of the background noises as he ran to the driver's side focusing only on her.  Reaching for the handle, he tried to open the door several times before it even budged.  He braced his foot on the passenger door to increase his leverage and finally he stumbled backwards with the open door.  

The air bag had released and she was trying to free herself and was in the middle of a panic attack as he opened the door.  Once again he evaluated the situation, his heart stopped when he took in all of the blood but he quickly snapped out of his daze and said, "LiIi! Lili James! I need you to stop struggling and stay calm."

He continued to try to calm her down and took her hands in his.  His instincts were in overdrive because he would later realize, he was so afraid of her, that he never would have had the courage to take her hands into his.  Not in a bleeping million years.  

Needing to get help on the way, he switched her hands into his left hand while grabbing his phone and called for an ambulance.  He then immediately reached in his front flannel pocket for his pocket knife and sliced the airbag to deflate it.  

Lili was stammering and was starting to go into shock while Finn was inspecting her to find where she was bleeding from.  He found several open wounds that caused the bleeding and he let go of her hands to put pressure on them and waited with her until the rescue crew arrived.

"Lili, look at me.  I need you to breathe.  That's it.  Keep breathing and stay with me."  He kept whispering to her to stay with him and that he wasn't going anywhere.

Blood was streaming down her face and into her eyes then mixing with her tears, when Finn carefully wiped them away.  She leaned into his hand and mumbled, "Hal.  It was Hal."  Closing her eyes she let out a small and desperate cry.  

Finn tensed all over his body when she mentioned Hal's name as thoughts of teaching the bastard a lesson consumed him.  In the moment he didn't even realize how irrational that thought was, especially since they had never spoken before today.  Finn had been fighting his own demons and didn't need to bring anyone else down the rabbit hole with him.  

She was so scared as she looked into his soft brown eyes and she was barely able to speak, but she managed to say, "Finn, he…". Closing her eyes she tried again, "Finn, he hurt me for years.  Escaping."  She squeezed his arm and leaned her head on his shoulder and stayed there crying with him as the EMTs were pulling up with their sirens blaring away.  

He was still kneeling by her side trying to comfort her when Jude arrived with the EMT crew and Finn needed to step aside as they started to evaluate her.  

Turning around he saw Billy getting out of his police cruiser making his way over to discuss the situation.  Billy assessed him and saw blood all over Finn, before asking, "What happened? Are you hurt too?"

Finn shrugged his shoulders as he answered, "I found her car smashed in the middle of the road, sideswiped.  This looks like a hit and run but I didn't have a chance to evaluate her car for all of the damage.  She's pretty banged up so I focused on trying to stem her bleeding until the EMTs arrived."

Nodding Billy replied, "Head home and get cleaned up and stay at home until I come by for a statement.  I don't want you calling around and spreading gossip."  

Finn ignored Billy's last statement, replying with "Hey Billy, just as the EMT arrived she told me that it was Hal that hit her vehicle."

"What the bloody hell is going on with those two?" Billy said as he hit his beat up cowboy hat on his leg.

Finn shrugged and wasn't sure what more to say and just as he was heading to his car, Jude yelled out to him, "Hey Finn!  Come here a moment."

He looked over and they had Lili out of the car and a team of medics were triaging her before heading to the hospital.  He watched as they placed an oxygen mask over her face and noticed her eyes growing large with fright.

He wanted to run back over to her and hold her hand again but he restrained himself and walked slowly over to Jude asking, "What's up?"

Jude turned his head towards Lili and Finn's eyes followed and his heart felt like it was being strangled as he saw her blood mixed into her red hair and smudged across her face.  True confusion washed over him as he processed the scene and the words that he just heard.

"She wants what?" he questioned.  He eyes turned to Jude and then back to Lili's and he felt his heart skip several beats.  Finally he replied, "Can you take my car to the hospital and I will go with her?"

Before Jude could even reply, he said, "The keys are in the ignition."  Finn headed to the ambulance and jumped up asking the crew where he could sit then buckled in before turning his attention to Lili.  

He couldn't hold her hand because of all of the wires and IVs now hooked up to her so he placed his hand on her shoulder and leaned in and whispered in her ear, "I will stay with you as long as they will let me and as long as you want me by your side."

Her eyes looked at him with frantic anxiety and just as the ambulance shut the door and started to drive away they heard a gun blast and watched in horror as the glass in the back door of the ambulance shattered into a thousand shards of projectiles.