"Mark!" She cried out in horror and immediately knelt down next to him. Harold watched with wide eyes. This boy had just saved his daughter's life! "Mark!" Flora cried worriedly and held him close. Mark slumped against her chest and groaned as he wrapped an arm around his abdomen. Blood began to soak his shirt.

"That's what you get!" Laughed the gangster. "It looks like you've got the slut for yourself, grandpa!" The gang had filled their pockets with enough money and they ran out of the bar, yodeling. The room was dead silent. The only sound was Flora's sobbing.

"Mark. Oh shit." She sobbed. Mark looked at her with panicked eyes. "Sh. Calm down, darling." She whispered, trembling, and looked with wide eyes at Mark's stomach, from which blood was pouring out. "Lie down, darling." She said worriedly and helped Mark to lie on his back. Mark gasped sharply as a stab of pain shot through his body. "Sh. I'm here." Flora whimpered and gently stroked his cheek. "You don't have to be afraid."

"Flo." Mark breathed weakly. More and more blood poured out of the bullet wound. It had left his body through his stomach, but miraculously Flora was unharmed.

"Sh. Sh. Calm down." She unbuttoned his shirt, sobbing, revealing the bloody wound. Mark coughed a little, the blood getting more. Flora looked down at the wound with wide eyes. "Call a doctor!" She screamed angrily. "Please! Someone call an ambulance!" The bartender nodded immediately and rushed to the phone. The people all stood around Mark, looking down at the young man with concern.

"Let me through!" They suddenly heard an angry voice before John stood next to Flora. "Fucking hell. What the hell happened?" John asked with wide eyes as he looked down at his friend. Mark coughed weakly again and grimaced.

"Mark was... he was shot." Flora whimpered with tears in her eyes. She was still holding Mark's hand.

"Sh. Calm down, Flo. Breathe deeply." The bassist said and knelt down next to her. He took off his sweater and pressed it tightly against Mark's stomach. The guitarist groaned in agony and tried to push John away.

"John, you bloody bastard." He gasped. Flora couldn't help but giggle a little. Harold still stood rooted to the spot before slowly kneeling next to his daughter and placing a hand on Mark's cheek. Mark swallowed shakily. His breathing had increased rapidly. Blood was collecting under his body. He began to shake violently.

"You saved her." Harold whispered quietly. "You saved my daughter's life." Mark looked at him.

"I love her." He gasped and bit his lower lip hard as John pressed harder on the wound. "I would always save her." Flora cried as she took Mark's hand and squeezed it tightly.

"Thank you for that." Harold said quietly. "She was right. You're something special." Mark smiled painfully. His breathing quickened again.

"Hey. Look at me." John commanded firmly. His father was a military doctor, which is why John had often heard stories from him about how to behave if there was a gunshot wound. Mark turned his head tensely and looked up at his curly-haired friend. John pulled the blood-soaked sweater back from the wound and looked at it with concern. "You have a stomach wound. The bullet probably severed your intestines. You're losing a hell of a lot blood." John put a hand on his forehead. "You have to breathe calmly and calm down if you don't want to bleed out on this damn floor." Mark took a startled breath. "Flo, you have to calm him down immediately. He's losing too much blood." John pressed the sweater back onto the wound.

"Where's the damn ambulance!?" Someone from the crowd shouted worriedly.

"Flo." Mark gasped.

"I'm here, darling." She hummed, squeezing his hand gently.

"Flo, I...I love you." He said, shaking. "I will always love you and I..."

"Sh." She put her index finger on his lower lip. "You're going to survive this, do you hear me?" She said firmly. "Stop saying goodbye right now."

"I love you so much." Mark began to sob brokenly. John looked at him worriedly. "I...I don't want to leave you." Flora felt tears in her eyes and placed her hand on his cheek. She kissed him firmly on the lips.

"You're not going to leave me, do you hear me? You're going to live. The ambulance will be here any second." Harold knelt next to his daughter, worried, and watched the whole thing. The two had really loved each other. Mark winced in pain again.

"I love you, my Juliet." Mark whispered. Flora looked at him with wide eyes. They had always called each other Romeo and Juliet because they found it funny and their relationship had felt just as hopeless as Romeo and Juliet's. Mark's eyes began to close.

"Mark!" Flora screamed in horror and slapped him hard on the cheek. "Don't you dare! You are my Romeo! You must not die!" At that moment, paramedics came in with a large stretcher. Two of the paramedics ran towards the young man at the pool table, while the other two ran with the stretcher to Mark. They examined him briefly before immediately putting him on the stretcher. Mark groaned in pain.

"I love you." He breathed weakly to Flora as the paramedics hurriedly pushed him out to the ambulance. Flora began to sob and looked down at her blood-stained hands. Harold put a worried hand on her shoulder.

"Darling..."

"This is all your fault!" She screamed angrily and pulled away from him before taking John's hand and urging him to drive her to the hospital. She would not give up on her Romeo so easily. Never.

*

Flora sat in the waiting room, sobbing and holding onto John. She was still covered in blood. The front of her white blouse was bloody, as were her hands. John's forearms and hands were also bloody. The people in the waiting room looked at the two of them worriedly. John had pulled Flora to his chest and was gently stroking her back when the door to the waiting room opened and Louisa came in with her husband Erwin.

"Oh honey. What happened?" She asked worriedly. Her eyes widened when she saw the blood on the two young people. "Is that..." Flora sobbed even harder and continued to cling to John.

"Sh. He'll be fine." He hummed and squeezed her shoulder.

"What if he dies?" She sobbed brokenly and looked up at John. The bassist smiled gently at her.

"He won't. Mark is a tough guy. He'll make it." He said confidently. Louisia stood there rooted to the spot. She hadn't been told what had happened. The lady on the phone had just asked her to come to the hospital immediately. And now that she saw John and Flora so devastated, she knew it had to be pretty serious.

"John." Flora whimpered.

"What's wrong, Flo?" He asked tenderly.

"If he dies... I want you to tell my parents..."

"Stop it right now!" John shouted angrily. "You won't commit suicide and Mark won't die either!"

"I love him so much." Flora sobbed and clung to John again. The bassist sighed worriedly.

"I know. And he knows it too."

*

An hour later, they were picked up by a nurse and led into a meeting room.

"Are those your children?" Asked the doctor, pointing to Flora and John.

"No." Said Erwin.

"Then I'll have to ask you to wait outside because of doctor-patient confidentiality." Flora looked at Louisia pleadingly.

"It's fine." She said. "Flora's Mark's girlfriend and John's his best mate." The doctor nodded and let them both into his office as well.

"How is he?" Flora whimpered. The doctor took a deep breath.

"He's lost a lot of blood. Given his size, he should normally have 5 litres of blood in his body. At the moment he's at a little less than half of that." Flora whimpered worriedly. John took her hand reassuringly and squeezed it gently. "The bullet hit his intestines and a piece of his liver. I treated both and sterilized the wound."

"What happened?" Louisia asked, crying, and looked at John and Flora, as she still had no idea what was going on.

"He was shot. In his stomach." John said. Flora sobbed harder and he pulled her gently to him again. Louisia collapsed onto a chair with a gasp. Damn. That's why there was all the blood. "Will he make it?" The bassist asked worriedly.

"I can't promise that at the moment." The doctor said. "We've done our best and now we have to wait. He's partially unconscious because of the blood loss. That's one of the biggest problems at the moment."

"Can we see him?" Erwin asked.

"Of course." The doctor nodded. "But I have to warn you. He's in a lot of pain and will probably be partially unresponsive." The family nodded worriedly and made their way to the room they had been told about. Flora opened the door, shaking, and gasped when she saw Mark lying on the bed. He was paler than a sheet. He was lying on his back, a blanket pulled up to his chest. His arms were on the blanket. In the back of his hand was an IV of fluid hanging from a stand next to him. In the crook of his arm was a blood transfusion. Next to him was a heart monitor beeping. In his nose was a thin tube to help him breathe. He wasn't wearing a shirt, they could see his bare chest.

"My poor baby." Louisia sobbed, running towards him. Flora stood rooted to the spot in the doorway. She couldn't move. John looked at her worriedly.

"Are you okay?"

"W...what is that?" She sobbed. Her eyes were still fixed on the pale, silent figure in the bed.

"That's your Mark." John said gently, taking her hand. She shook her head, sobbing.

"That's not my Mark." She whimpered. John pulled her to the bed and took Flora's hand before placing it on Mark's. Mark's fingers twitched weakly. Flora sobbed when she felt the cool skin. She looked at John, who smiled encouragingly at her. She ran her fingertips through Mark's palm.

"See? That's your Mark." John said gently. "It's still the same boy." Flora sobbed weakly and reached out to stroke Mark's cheek. His eyes were closed, his features slightly tense. Louisia sat on the other side of the bed and held his hand tightly. Flora also sat down on a chair. They sat like that for quite a while before Mark moved a little. He opened his eyes weakly to blue slits before coughing weakly.

"Be careful, darling. You'll hurt yourself." Louisia said worriedly. Mark turned his head to the right and saw his mother and father.

"Mom? Dad?" He breathed weakly.

"Yes. We're here, darling." Louisia hummed and stroked his hand. "You're very sick. Do you remember?" Mark swallowed hard.

"Flo." He whispered weakly.

"I'm here, honey." She answered immediately. Mark turned his head to the left and could see John and Flora. Flo gently stroked the back of Mark's wired hand. She was afraid of ripping out a cable or something. "I'm here. And so is John." The bassist smiled at his buddy. "You've lost a lot of blood. How are you feeling?" Mark let out a weak groan and laid his head back on the bed.

"Nauseated." He muttered. "Dizzy." Flora gently stroked his bare shoulder.

"You'll feel better soon, don't worry." She said. Erwin stood up and told his wife to follow him. John also slowly left the room to make room for the young couple. Mark looked deep into Flora's green eyes. "I was so scared for you." She sobbed weakly as soon as they were alone. Mark raised his left hand and stroked her cheek with his fingertips.

"Don't worry, love." He whispered.

"What does the wound look like?" Flora asked worriedly. She took the end of the blanket and slowly pulled it off Mark's upper body. Mark was only wearing underpants. A thick white bandage was wrapped around his stomach. Flora carefully stroked the material with her fingertips. Mark flinched and gasped sharply. "I'm sorry!" Flora called worriedly. Mark put his hand on hers and placed it against the bandage before looking at her.

"I love you." He breathed. Flora smiled and leaned forward to kiss his forehead.

"I love you too. Rest, my Romeo." Mark smiled at her. Flora gently covered him and then stroked his hair. Mark hummed. "I love you."

"Come here." Mark murmured, shifting on the bed with a pained expression on his face. Flora looked at him questioningly. "Come here." He repeated with a smile.

"Are you sure? I don't want to hurt you." She said worriedly. Mark giggled and just nodded. She took off her shoes and then carefully climbed next to him. Mark lifted the blanket. She lay down next to him and laid her head on his chest. Mark raised his wired hand and placed it on Flora's shoulder to hold her close. "I love you." She said softly and kissed his jaw. Mark smiled and closed his eyes.

"I'm so tired." He whispered weakly.

"Rest, my love. Thank you."

"For what?" He asked in surprise.

"You saved my life." She said softly as she traced circles on his bare chest with her finger. Mark smiled weakly.

"I love you."