"I got a clear shot boss…"

"No, fourth! Hold your fire!"

Lowering what seemed to be his [Heckler and Koch upgraded SA80] assault rifle, the leader or 'Trisk' as he liked to be called extended his hand in a calming manner before softly speaking with a deep voice;

"Ben… Ben look at me…"

"It's all over…" He said…

"*Sobbing* I didn't want it to end like this…"

"It wasn't supposed to end like this…"

"Put your daughter down and step away…" Trisk calmly urged…

"I am sorry!" Ben said sobbing softly…

"It's okay…"

Trisk tried to calm him as he saw Ben turn to place his little daughter gently on the ground, but it wasn't until he turned around to face them, that they noticed he was wearing a suicide vest, and just before they could react, he pressed the trigger;

"Noooo!"

Trisk jumped towards him trying to contain the blast radius and save everyone in the process, but was he too late?

Boom!

...

Creak! Kree! Skree!

The sound of what seemed to be the fast moving wheel of a cart blasted into Sam's ears, and from the volume of this sound he could tell that he was in a hallway…

Then he difficultly opened his eyelids like as if there was a hundred pound load placed over them, and the only thing he could make out were moderately large squares of bright lights speeding across his face…

Then he squinted a little lower and made out two figures who seemed to be running after him, but after taking another look, he noticed that their hands were attached to something he was currently laying on, and that was when all these details clicked in his mind;

"I am being rushed through an emergency hallway!"

The moment this thought crossed his mind, his eventual deduction was then confirmed by the two figures who were yelling;

"Coming through!"

"Out of the way!"

The voices of a male and female doctor blasted through the hallway, scaring everyone out of their way…

The noise completely woke Sam up and it was at this present moment that several bouts of immense pain assaulted his senses, from the tip of his hair to the sole of his foot…

[Feminine Voice on Speaker] - "Dr. McGoldrick, surgery room please!"

Sam shut his eyes as they moved him from the trawley onto the surgery bed, as he came under a bright and nearly blinding circular light causing him to squint his pain riddled eyes…

Then just as about some seconds later, the shadow of a feminine head came over his face, blocking the bright light, and finally allowing him to open his eyes a little; and lo and behold, Sam saw one of the most beautiful faces he had ever seen in his life…

Though her head was covered by a blue cap, the little strand that spilled out of the sides revealed a blonde, smooth, bone-straight hair...

Smoothly slanted eyebrows sitting atop two cat-slanted eyes that were blue in color and finally, two black painted lips which looked like a masterpiece that hung on the walls of a royal mansion…

This face, was a face to behold…

"Am I dead!?" He asked…

"Nope. Not under my watch!"

The doctor said with a sweet smile, one that made Sam wanna stay awake a little while longer…

"Then why am I being tended to by an angel?" He spoke with great difficulty and revealed a pain-filled but sincere smile that showed his bloodied teeth…

The doctor instantly revealed a subtle but muffled smile while her brows were arched revealing the current state of her pained heart, followed by a drop of water which entered Sam's mouth and tasted a little salty…

She looked at his current state and another wave of heartache struck her heart, but it only took a couple of seconds, a deep sniff and finally a single wipe of her left eye before the pained expression on her face was replaced by a determined one;

"He saved seven lives today, we at least owe him this one…"

She spoke like a heroine talking to her army before entering a life-or-death battle…

"Yes ma'am!" A male voice and two female voice echoed in unison…

"You are gonna be ok…"

She said as she pulled a blue mask over her face and prepared to begin his session…

Something stabbed Sam on his left lap, but the cocktail of pain he was having at this point didn't even make him feel it...

Then about three seconds later, he felt his heart slow down, the pains all over his body started to vanish and then began to feel sleepy, and then he finally fell asleep moments later…

...

"Screens go off, shoes go on, and it's school time…"

A very familiar lady switched off the TV in the front of what seemed to be her kids as she placed their shoes before them;

"Where is Sam I need him to come fix my computer…"

"He is in the bathroom…" The little girl replied;

"He's been talking to himself…" The little boy added…

...

"Hi, my name is Sam…"

"Good morning, I am Sam…"

"Hi, I am Sam…"

"Morning, my name is Sam…"

"Ah, screw it, I'm just gonna high-five the guy…"

A deep acapella echoed out of a door, which from its pitch and volume signified that, behind that door was a bathroom…

"You okay?"

The female voice that just spoke to the two kids earlier drifted in from the side as the seven foot tall Sam looked over to the entrance and saw a face that made him smile every single day since he had been hospitalized…

It was the same face he smiled at even when he was in deep pain…

Yup, it was Dr. McGoldrick! Apparently, she had been utterly surprised that Sam could even make it, not to talk of stand on two feet; or more precisely, one and a half feet…

After the surgery, Sam had been incomplete on several front, his right leg from the knee downwards had been amputated, his left leg though was still functional, came with a slight discomfort, he had suffered a third degree burn on his right arm and finally, he had several internal injuries that were still healing…

All in all, he was in such a mess that no one within the surgery room that day thought he was going to survive…

But just like the big man he was, with a strong soul and will to live, he pulled through, and whenever he was asked how he was able to do it, he just kept repeating;

"I needed to see Dr. McGoldrick's face one more time…"

Seeing that it was the doctor who kept their brave soldier alive, the military chose the same Dr. McGoldrick to be in charge of Sam's rehabilitation, especially with his new prosthetic right leg, and as a result, this meant they spent many months together, and half of all that time alone, working Sam back to full fitness…

Just the tenacity to get back out there and not to sulk behind closed doors made Dr. McGoldrick begin to take a liken to him…

Then about six months ago when he heard that, the two kids he was able to rescue that day were gonna be shipped to a foster home, Sam refused to let them go and decided to take them in as his own since he didn't even have a girlfriend not to talk of a wife or finally kids…

This action became the hot knife through the ice which was Dr. McGoldrick's heart, and the fact that she can get to live and sleep and bathe with a hero whilst taking care of the little ones he saved, which served as a testimony every time she looked at them, made spending the rest of her life with Sam a great idea, and as fate would have it, Sam was also interested…