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“Jenna? Jenna are you okay?! Jenna!”

Jenna stared at Rami’s arm, her mouth open in a silent scream. There were two holes in his arm the bullets lodged inside, and blood was beginning to soak his shirt.

“Jenna! Answer me! Are you okay?!”

He had just gotten shot and he was asking if she was okay!?

“Oh my God Rami!” she exclaimed, and as people started to walk by, he turned slightly so his injured arm was out of their view.

“Don’t freak out.” He warned.

“Rami! You just got hit!”

“I realize that.” He said glancing down the street, and cursing under his breath. “He got away.” He muttered punching the side of the ice cream shop, and wincing slightly. As he turned his head to inspect his arm, Jenna just stood there petrified.

Rami had just gotten shot in the middle of a crowded New York sidewalk.

No one had noticed.

The man had gotten away.

Rami was acting like he had just gotten a paper cut.

And she wasn’t supposed to freak out!?

“We need to get you out of here.” He glanced uneasily down the street again, “now.”

“But what about your arm!? You have to get to the hospital!” she exclaimed, and he shook his head.

“We need to get you home. Give me your jacket.” He ordered, and as she slipped off her sweater and handed it to him, he slung it over his arm so it covered the holes the bullets had made. If the situation wasn’t so terrifying, it would have been kind of comical to see such a buff man with a pink fluffy sweater slung over his arm.

After making sure his injury wasn’t showing, Rami stepped into the street and whistled for a taxi.

“Don’t say a word.” He said as one pulled to a stop and as they got in the car, she sat there trembling.

Why had that man shot at them!?

Was he trying to shoot Jenna?!

Was Rami going to be okay!?

WHY HAD NOBODY NOTICED!?

By the time they had reached home, she was in full on freak out mode, and she had to practically run to keep up with Rami’s pace. As they entered the house, Rami stormed towards the kitchen.

“RANA!” he bellowed loudly, before stripping off his shirt, and as Jenna caught a glimpse of just how dire his wounds were, she swayed slightly on her feet.

“Oh my God.” She mumbled, and Rami glanced over at her.

“Sit down before you hurt yourself.” He ordered, and as she hurriedly sunk into one of the dining room chairs, he stood at the bottom of the stairs.

“RANA! GET DOWN HERE!” he shouted again. “Put your head between your knees. You’re looking like you’re going to faint.” He told Jenna, and as she did what she was told, she heard footsteps coming down the steps.

“What do you want Rami?” Rana asked irritably, and Jenna glanced up as her sister in law came into the room. At first Rana didn’t notice the wounds, and seeing Rami shirtless, she rolled her eyes. “Seriously? Put a shirt on.” She said in annoyance, but when he turned his arm towards her, her face paled, and she rushed across the room towards him. “Sit.” She ordered, and he did, wincing as she poked gently at his arm.

“Can you take them out?” he asked, and she nodded.

“Let me get my bag.” She said, her face still pale, and as she dashed out of the room, Jenna looked at Rami. His face was pinched in pain, he was breathing heavily, and sweat was coating his face and body.

“Do you want me to get Hudayfah?” she asked after a few seconds, and he shook his head.

“No.” he said roughly, and her heart skipped a beat to hear the pain in his voice. Soon they heard Rana running back down the stairs, and she opened her doctor’s bag slipping on gloves, and rummaging around.

“I don’t have any drugs so this is going to hurt.” She warned, and Rami’s head slumped slightly.

“Just take them out.” He whispered hoarsely, and she nodded grimly.

“Jenna, go to the backyard and get a thick stick for him to bite on.” She said, and Jenna practically tripped over her chair in her haste to go outside.

***

Rana waited until Jenna was no longer in the room before turning back to Rami.

“What the hell Rami?” she demanded, and he sighed.

“Some guy. I don’t know if he was targeting me or Jenna. At least he didn’t get my heart. That would have been messy.” He said, attempting to joke, and she shook her head.

“It’s not funny.”

“First time I’ve gotten shot! You think it would have happened well before twenty nine.”

“Rami,” she said through clenched teeth, “stop making it a joke.”

“Just trying to lighten the mood Rana. No need to get mad at me like always!”

“You just got shot! Stop joking for once!” She shouted at him, and he glanced at her, surprised by her anger.

“You’re right. I’m just trying to take my mind off of how much this is going to hurt.”

She didn’t respond, opening an alcohol swab and beginning to clean his arm. He winced as she made contact with the opening of one of the wounds, then the other, and she began to rip open a pair of tweezers.

“It’s going to get worse.” She said in a clipped tone.

“I know.”

“Can you handle it?”

“I don’t have a choice. I don’t really want to have bullets in my arm for the rest of my life.”

“How did nobody notice you got shot?”

“He had a silencer on the gun. Plus we were at that ice cream shop the one with the benches in the corner. There wasn’t anyone around.”

They were both silent until Jenna returned, and Rana glanced up momentarily.

“Wrap it in a towel please.” She said, and Jenna hurriedly grabbed a towel from one of the drawers before wrapping the stick in it. As she handed it to Rami he took it with a grateful smile.

“Thanks.”

Jenna shook her head, avoiding looking at his arm.

“Thank you. You saved me.”

He shrugged.

“No big deal.”

“Shouldn’t you go to the hospital?” Jenna asked worriedly.

“No.” both Rana and Rami said in unison, and Jenna looked at them in surprise.

“Why not?”

“When someone comes in with a gunshot wound, they are required by law to report it to the police. The last thing we need is an investigation.” Rami said.

“But shouldn’t the police be involved?! Some guy was after us!” Jenna protested.

“If you have trouble with blood, I suggest you leave the room.” Rana said, ignoring her sister’s question, and Jenna stared at them in disbelief for a few seconds before stalking out of the room.

“So you know?” Rami asked quietly, and Rana nodded.

“Of course.”

“How?”

“I’m Hudayfah’s sister. And a woman. I know when something is off, and something was definitely off about their relationship. So I made him tell me.”

Rami chuckled, before sucking in a deep breath as she prodded the entrance.

“They both are in pretty deep, and one is in fragments. Its going to hurt like hell.”

“Just do it Rana.” He said tersely, and she nodded.

“Ready?” she asked as she doused the tweezers in disinfectant. He swallowed deeply, his face paling, and he nodded before putting the stick in his mouth.

He practically bit through it the second she put the tweezers inside the one of the holes, a scream erupting from his chest as she began to dig the first bullet out. She had to dig pretty deep and soon he was gripping the counter, looking as if he could rip it apart with his bare hands. Finally, after five agonizing minutes, she pulled it out, and as she dropped it onto the counter with a loud clink, he let out a labored breath.

“Please let that be it.” He mumbled, his whole body slick with sweat and she paused to mop up the blood that was flowing down his arm before applying pressure to it. He drew in a quick breath, and dropped his head.

“Sorry, not only is the other one still in there, but like I said it’s in pieces. This is going to take longer.” She paused to look into his face. “Whenever you’re ready.” She said quietly.

“Ready.” He whispered, and as she began to pull out the first fragments of the bullet his muffled cries got louder, and his face paler. She tried to work as gently as possible but she needed to get it out of his body and fast. She didn’t know if it was laced with anything, and the last thing he needed was to be poisoned. Because Rami’s muscles were so big, the bullets hadn’t reached bone, but they had still nestled themselves quite tightly into his arm, some of the pieces were even pushed all the way through his muscle. It was worse than she had thought it would be, and just when she thought she had gotten the last of it out, she had to dig deeper to pull out more pieces.

She worked for the next twenty minutes, trying to block out his cries, trying to just focus on his wound.

Trying to keep it professional.

The last thing she needed was to get emotional.

But it was Rami that she was working on. Not some stranger, and the louder he got, the more she felt her own tears gathering in her eyes. Rami was a tough guy who attended to his physical well-being. He did consider himself a manly man and scoffed at anything he considered ‘wimpy’. So to hear him crying out was too much for her, and eventually she came to a stop, and glanced worriedly into his face, pausing to give him a moment to rest.

“Stay with me Rami.” She said gently as his eyes went out of focus, and she waited until he was looking at her face before dabbing at his forehead with a cloth.

“Rana,” he whispered, his whole body shaking, and she swallowed hard.

“I know. I’m so sorry.” She whispered back and he shook his head.

“Is it almost done?”

She glanced at the hole, relieved to see that there were only a few more small pieces left.

“Almost habibi.”

He sighed and put the stick back into his mouth, groaning as she dipped the tweezers back inside. Once she had gotten the last of it out, she put a cotton swab of alcohol inside both holes to clean them and he moaned, in too much pain to even cry out again.

“Do you want me to do the stitches right away or do you need a break?” she asked, trying not to show him that she was crying.

“Just get it over with.”

She nodded, and pulled out her needle and thread.

“Ready? The hard part is over now InshaAllah.”

“Yeah.” He mumbled, and she tried to work as quickly as she could, wincing every time he made a groaning sound. Once she had finished stitching him up, she wrapped his arm in gauze, securing it with some medical tape.

“Thanks.” He said with a relieved sigh.

“How do you feel?”

“I just got shot Rana. How do you think I feel?”

She began to gather up the blood soaked equipment, picking up the bullets with the tweezers and dropping them into a plastic bag.

“I meant do you feel sick? Feverish?”

He looked at her suspiciously.

“Why?”

She held up the plastic bag.

“I’m worried they were laced with something.”

He shook his head.

“I don’t feel any different.”

“It could be slow acting.” She poured alcohol onto the kitchen counter and began to disinfect. “I’ll write a prescription for both antibiotics and pain killers, and have these bullets sent to a friend of mine who works with toxins.”

“If I am poisoned do you really think antibiotic would help?”

She shrugged.

“It’s all we have for now.” She said as she moved over to the sink to wash her hands. He leaned against the island, with his eyes closed, trying to breathe, his arm still hurting like crazy, but his eyes flew open when he heard crying.

“Rana?” he asked and when he turned around, he was startled to see her slumped over the sink sobbing. “Why are you crying?” he asked, and she shook her head.

“I’m not.”

“Rana. I can see and hear you.” He said walking over to her, and she turned away from him, her whole body still shaking.” “Tell me.” He said after a few more seconds, and she spun around to face him.

“You got shot!” she exclaimed, her face streaked with tears.

“Yes I am aware of that.”

She shook her head.

“You don’t understand do you?” she whispered and he shook his head.

“Not really.”

“You got shot Rami! We might not have been lucky enough for it to just be your arm!” she turned away from him.

He smiled gently.

“Don’t cry. You think two small bullets could bring me down!? Haven’t you always said I’m as big as an ox?” he asked. “And as hard headed?” he added with a small smirk.

“Stop making it a joke. It’s not. You could have died.” She said hotly.

“Well you would finally be rid of me then!”

She shook her head.

“It’s not funny.” She whispered, the tears trailing down her cheeks, and his smile faded.

“Alright. I’m sorry.” He said, and she stepped away from him.

“I’m going to go write the prescriptions, and then I’ll go fill it.” She started to walk away from him, but he stepped in front of her, peering intently into her face.

“Tell me why you’re crying Rana.”

“I told you already.”

He shook his head.

“Tell me.” He whispered, and she looked at him for a moment before looking away.

“You know why.”

“I need you to say it.”

It was quiet in the room as the two of them stared at each other, before she turned away from him.



“I need to hurry before the pharmacy closes.”