Written by: Dallas Walsh

The morning air is crisp in Kelsey Lake, but the sun is slowly rising as it should be another beautiful summer day. Lexington Rockwell slowly parks his baby blue Lamborghini in the driveway of the Rockwell Mansion and emerges from his expensive car. He takes a deep breath of the fresh air and exhales, hoping that his Uncle Nathan Lockhart is in a good mood today.

He's hoping that Nathan will hear him out and let him come back to Rockwell Mining to work. After his former lover, Mateo Santos, planned to drive Lex crazy and he kidnapped his half-brother, Houston Blackmore, Lex decided that he should leave working at Blackmore Ltd. He thought a good break from the corporate world would be a good idea, but the more he thought about it, the more he realized that he should be back at Rockwell Mining in some capacity. Ever since Nathan took over the company from MacKenzie Rockwell, he knows that the company has been hurting, so Lex wants to see if he can support and help with anything. The last thing he wants is for the Rockwell company to suffer because Nathan, not Mac, is in charge.

He opens the front door of the house that he grew up and looks around. Despite Nathan now being the head of the household, the mansion hasn't changed much. He is grateful for that; he would hate for Nathan to have made a lot of design changes to the home that he has loved for most of his life. It would have made visiting the mansion difficult; the fact that it looks the same gives Lex some peace of mind.

"Okay, let's see where Nathan could be," Lex whispers to himself as he moves towards the living room. He enters the large room and looks around but doesn't see any sign of life yet. There's not even a fresh pot of coffee at the bar, which seems unusual for this time of the day.

Lex moves around to the front of the sofa and gasps out loud. "Oh my God!" he says as he sees Nathan laying on the ground in a pool of blood. "Nathan? What the hell? Nathan?"

Lex bends down and puts his ear to Nathan's mouth. "Okay, he's breathing but barely. Hang on Nathan, I'll get you some help," Lex tells his Uncle as he pulls out his cell phone and dials 9-1-1.

"Yes, this is Lexington Rockwell," he tells the operator. "I'm at the Rockwell mansion and I need an ambulance! My uncle Nathan has been shot!"

***

A short time later, Lex welcomes his family, Mac Rockwell, Cole Rockwell, Stacey Rockwell and Lucinda Rockwell into the waiting room of the hospital while they await some news about Nathan.

"I just can't believe that someone went into the mansion and shot Levi," Lucinda's lower lips quivers as she thinks about her youngest son being shot by someone. While her youngest son has, repeatedly, told her that he goes by Nathan now, Lucinda still calls him by his birth name, Levi. "Who would do this?"

"Do you really have to ask that?" Mac asks his mother quickly. "Nathan has made one enemy after another since he showed up in town. There could any number of people that could have shot him."

"That's enough Mac!" Lucinda turns and looks at him. "This is not the time for you, or anyone, to be pointing fingers at Levi. We need to stick together until we know what is going on with him."

"Do you know how long he had been laying there, in the living room, I mean?" Stacey asks Lex.

"I have no idea. I just arrived at the mansion this morning and found him. I'm surprised none of the staff had found him before but apparently Nathan had requested that they start later than normal."

"I guess all we can do is just pray that he makes it," Cole tells his family. "Since we just lost Slate, it doesn't seem fair that we would lose his father so quickly after."

Lucinda covers her mouth as tears flood her eyes thinking about the possibility of losing her son so quickly after losing her grandson, Slate Lockhart, who drown in the pool at the Rockwell mansion recently.

"He has to be alright," she whispers to herself. "He just has to be."

***

"I must admit, I was surprised to get a call from you this morning asking to meet me for breakfast," Lydia Rockwell smirks over to Kent Blackmore as they sit across from one another at a table at the country club. Lydia slowly picks up her Bloody Mary and takes a healthy sip of it as she recalls how the previous day she demanded a divorce from her new husband because she found out that he slept with Stacey the morning of their wedding. Lydia refuses to stay with a man that has slept with her daughter; and, to get even, she told him that she would go to the press with all the sorted details of Kent's affair with her daughter, unless he gave her full control of Blackmore Ltd.

"Did you think that you would lay a bombshell like that on me and not want to discuss it further?" Kent asks her before he takes a bite from his fruit cup.

"I don't think there's much to discuss, Kent," Lydia replies to him before she takes another sip of her drink. "I told you what I wanted and if you think I'm going to back down…"

"You want my company for fuck sakes!" Kent hisses back to her. "I build Blackmore Ltd. from the ground up, Lydia. And, you damn well know that!"

"You should have thought of that before you started having sex with my daughter!" she says, trying not to raise her voice too loudly. "It's bad enough Kent, that you are the father to my granddaughter, but to continue the affair? It's disgusting!"

Kent sighs heavily back to her. No matter how hard he has tried over the last few months, he hasn't been able to shake the feelings that he has developed for Stacey. He knows that it has been wrong for him to be in love with Stacey, considering that she is Lydia's daughter, and because she shares a son with his son, Houston Blackmore, but he can't help it. And, he believes she feels the same way.

"You have no right to point fingers about your sexual partners," Kent looks back at her. "Have you forgotten your tryst with my son, Houston?"

"That was completely different, and you damn well know it!"

"You still fucked him, Lydia."

"I'm not having this conversation, Kent," Lydia replies to him sternly. "Are you going to give me Blackmore Ltd. or am I calling the Kelsey Lake Times and telling them everything?"

"Ugh, you're a deplorable bitch, you know that? I don't know what I ever saw in you," Kent spits back to her. "But fine, you win, okay? I'll give you the damn company, but if you hurt one hair on Stacey's head or breath a word of this to anyone, I will come for you, and you do not want that, trust me."

Lydia purses her lips together with a sly grin. "Nice doing business with you, as always, Kent."

***

Cole Rockwell opens the door to the main office of Rockwell Mining and moves inside. While he is awaiting word about Nathan, he decided to come to the office to see if there was anything pressing going on. With the CEO currently in the hospital following being shot, he thought someone should look after the day to day until the board appoints a new leader.

"Okay, what's going on around here?" Cole asks himself as he turns on the work laptop and opens the emails.

"Cole, what are you doing here?" Celeste Baldwin asks as she opens the door to the office and moves inside. The last person she expected to see in the office is Cole; she can't help but recall that Cole had disguised himself as Richard Coleman, which included wearing a fat suit, to try to get information as to what Nathan was up as the CEO. She knows that the entire Rockwell family was not happy when Nathan took over, but she was very fond of him as he gave her a second chance after she had a stint in jail.

"Celeste," Cole stands up from behind the desk. "I'm just checking up on things. Have you not heard the news?"

"News?" Celeste crosses her arms across her chest. "What news?"

"Nathan," Cole replies to her quickly. "He's been shot. He's at the hospital now."

"Oh?" Celeste gulps back to him. "Nathan was shot? My goodness."

"Are you okay? I thought you'd be more upset by this news?" Cole notes her odd reaction.

"I'm stunned, of course," Celeste tells him. "It's just…I don't know, the entire Rockwell family hated him. I guess, in the back of my mind, I just assumed this was going to happen eventually. Mac hated him so much."

"What are you suggesting? You think my father did this to Nathan?" Cole asks her in surprise.

"I don't know," Celeste shakes her head back to him as she shuts her eyes for a moment and thinks back to a few nights earlier.

[FLASH]

"You…you want to kill my nephew?" Sabine asks Nathan as they stand in the living room of the Rockwell mansion.

"I know he's your family, but, please darling, see this from my point of view, this is eye for eye."

Outside the living room, Celeste freezes overhearing the conversation between Sabine and Nathan unfold. She was hoping to talk to Nathan but quickly realizes that it is not a good time. She can't get it out of her mind that Nathan is thinking about killing Cole, however, the man that she recently started being intimate with again.

[FLASH]

"I just think Nathan, despite my affection for him, might have this coming," Celeste looks back at Cole, who arches his eyebrow back to her.

***

Lucinda emerges from the hospital chapel and slowly clutches the large pearls that are around her neck. She just finished praying, which she rarely does, that her son survives this shooting.

Mac moves up to his mother and immediately pulls her into a hug. "How are you holding up, Lucinda?"

"I am your mother!" she hisses back at him. "I know you've been angry with me, Mac, about how I have handled this entire situation, but God Damnit, this is not the time for that!"

"I'm sorry," Mac looks back at her. "I know that you're worried about Nathan. I should have been more sensitive."

"I am so worried that I'm going to lose my child," Lucinda tells Mac as a tear falls down her cheek. "I don't think I could handle losing Levi again, MacKenzie. I don't think I'm strong enough."

Mac pulls her back into a hug as another tear falls down her cheek. "You're the strongest woman I know," Mac whispers to her. "No matter what happens, you will get through this and I will be right here for you, regardless."

***

A few hours later, Sabine Andrews is pacing back and forth in the waiting room of the hospital while Mac and Lucinda are cuddled next to one another in corner. Sabine is so worried that her fiancé will not survive the shooting; she is praying that he pulls through, especially since she is pregnant. Of course, it is in the back of her mind that Mac could also be the father of her unborn child because they slept together the night before her engagement party to Nathan.

"My God, this waiting is killing me," Sabine finally says as she puts her hands on her hips and looks at Mac and Lucinda. "Why is this surgery taking so long?"

"He lost a lot of blood," Mac replies to her as he stands up and faces her. "The doctors also have to remove the bullet, or bullets, we just have to be patient."

"I know," Sabine looks back at him with worry all over her face. "I just find myself going to the worse possible places."

"We have to stay positive," Lucinda stands up and moves closer to her son's fiancé. "Levi is a strong man, he has to survive, he just has too."

Before Sabine can respond, a doctor moves into the waiting room. "Mrs. Rockwell, your son, Nathan, is out of surgery."

Lucinda quickly walks up to the young doctor. "How is he? How is my son?"

"He survived," the doctor responds quickly to her. "He lost a lot of blood and as a result, he has fallen into a coma."

"A coma?" Sabine gasps back to him. "How long are you expecting him to be in a coma?"

"These things take time," the doctor tells her. "But the rest is the best thing for him right now; it will give his body time to heal."

"So, to understand you," Lucinda sternly looks back at him. "He's alive, in a coma but you expect him to come out of the coma?"

The doctor nods back to her. "Yes, we just don't have an exact time frame on when he will emerge from the coma."

"Thank God," Lucinda turns and hugs Mac again, who nods to the doctor. "He will pull through this, I know he will."

***

A short time later, Sabine is in the small chapel in the hospital. She moves up to the candles and lights one before she falls to her knees and clasps her hands together.

"I know I don't talk to you that often," she whispers to herself as she closes her eyes. "But I need your guidance right now, God," she continues to pray.

"Nathan was shot," she tries not to choke on her words. "He's in a coma now, but I need him to pull through. I'm carrying his child; he's going to be a father again. He must be there for this child. And, I know what you're going to say, Mac could be the father, but I know in my heart of hearts that Nathan is the father. He must be, there's no other option. So please, God, whatever you must do to help him survive, please, please do it. I need him. Our baby needs him."

***

Lex paces back and forth in the living room of the Rockwell mansion as he awaits news on Nathan's status. While is walks back and forth, he can't help but think about a few days earlier when he, himself, was at the hospital after Mateo Santos brainwashed him into kidnapping Houston. Once he was discharged, Lex was leaving the hospital and he thought that he saw his dead husband, Jarek Williams, at the hospital.

"It is impossible," Lex whispers to himself as he moves to the bar and pours himself a brandy. He takes a long sip of it as he wonders if he could have just been seeing things; he was there when Jarek fell off the balcony from the second level of the Rockwell mansion. He knows that there is no way that Jarek could have survived that fall. "Jarek is dead. He can't be alive, there's no way."

But the image of seeing the man that looked just like his husband continues to haunt Lex.

"But that nurse did look like Jarek," he says before he takes another sip of his brandy. "I have to figure out the truth. I have too."

***

At the bar of the country club, Carmen Santos sits with a champagne cocktail in front of her. She is scrolling through her phone while she enjoys her drink. She keeps thinking about how much loss she has had in the last few weeks; first her husband, Slate Lockhart, slipped and fell into the swimming pool at the Rockwell mansion and he ended up drowning; then, her brother, Mateo Santos, was shot and killed on the Blue Belle boat as he was brainwashing Lex into kidnapping Houston. Mateo had hoped that Lex would have killed Houston so he would spend the rest of his life in jail as a way to get revenge on him for Lex trying to kill Mateo in Cabo the previous year.

"With Mateo and Slate dead, what is left for me in this pathetic town?" she asks herself as she takes a sip of her cocktail. "This place has brought me nothing but bad luck. Maybe it's time I pack my bags and get the hell out of here."

Before she can say anything else, her cell phone starts to ring. "Carmen Lockhart," she says into her phone. "Really? Are you sure?" she gasps as she listens to the person on the other end. "Of course, I am interested. Anything to help my family. Yes, thank you very much!"

She puts her phone down as a grin comes across her face. "With Slate dead and Nathan in the hospital, I was just appointed the CEO of Rockwell Mining because I am, technically, the next of kin," she whispers as she finishes her cocktail and immediately orders another one. "Maybe this town isn't so bad after all."

***

"There's no word on Nathan yet?" Kent asks Stacey as she moves into the penthouse that he lives in. Kent hasn't heard the latest on Nathan's shooting so he is hoping that Stacey will be able to give him some news.

"I just got a call from my Dad," Stacey replies to him as she pours herself a brandy from the bar. "Nathan survived surgery but is in a coma. The doctor expects him to wake up, but they have no idea when."

"That is good news, the fact that he survived and should wake up?"

"That's how we are taking it," Stacey tells him. "Between you and I, I wouldn't have cared if the son of a bitch had died. Nathan Lockhart has done nothing but cause problems since he arrived in this town."

Kent chuckles back to her. "I wish that was the only drama going on right now. I, too, am dealing with a problem."

Stacey arches her eyebrow back to him. "What is your problem? Can I help with anything?"

Kent shakes his head back to her. "I wish there was something you could do, but I don't think there's anything any one can do."

"Well, what is it? What's going on?"

Kent bites his tongue as he knows that he shouldn't say everything to Stacey because he has no idea how Lydia would react if he told her daughter the truth about their pending divorce.

"I am just afraid that I am about to lose everything, Stacey," Kent admits to her, thinking about how he will have to give up his company to Lydia to ensure she doesn't go to the press with his affair with Stacey. "And I have no idea how to stop that from happening."

***

Lucinda slowly opens the door to Nathan's hospital room and looks at her son, who is sleeping in the bed. She slowly moves closer to him as she studies all of the tubes that he has running into him. She knows that they are all helping keep him alive, but she is having a hard time seeing her child in this status.

She sits down next to him and grabs his hand. "Levi, it's me," she whispers to him before she kisses his hand. "It's your mother. You're in the hospital, someone shot you."

She looks at his face, which has no movement. "You went into surgery, but you survived because you are a survivor. But Levi, you are not out of the woods just yet; you must come out of this coma. You must open your eyes and tell us all who did this to you. I want the son of a bitch who did this to you to pay; I will make sure they will. No one does this to a member of my family and gets away with it!"

Lucinda looks at Nathan one more time and squeezes his hand again. "Please Levi, please wake up. Please come back to me."

***

Mac slowly stands up from the chair in the waiting room and runs his hand through his hair. After hours of wondering if Nathan was going to survive, he feels like there is a light at the end of the tunnel. While he and Nathan have never gotten a long, he didn't want him to die; he knows that Lucinda would be shattered if that happens.

"MacKenzie Rockwell?" a voice calls out at the entry way to the waiting room.

Mac looks over and sees a beautiful woman standing in front of him. "That would be me. Can I help you with something?"

"I'm detective Helena Grant," the police officer informs him. "If you don't mind, I'd like to ask you a few questions."

Mac gulps heavily back to her. "What, exactly, is this about Detective Grant?"

"The shooting of your brother," Helena replies to him quickly. "I have multiple witnesses that claim they heard you threaten to kill your brother at his engagement party. I'd really like to hear your side of things. So, can I ask you a few questions?"

"I, uh, of course," Mac uneasily nods to her. "I have nothing to hide, nothing at all."

"Good, then you can start by telling me where you were last night around 9:30pm."

"I was in my hotel suite."

"We're you alone?"

"I was," Mac tells her. "But just because no one can confirm that I was there, doesn't mean I shot my brother, detective."

"I didn't say it did," Helena smiles back to him. "But interesting that is your next reply to me. Very interesting."

Outside of the waiting room, Sabine leans up against the wall and takes a deep breath, wondering if Mac did this to her fiancé. She puts her hand on her stomach and bites her lip as she realizes that if anyone knew she was pregnant, it would add more complications to this tale.

***

A short time later, Sabine is rushing towards the elevator as she wants to see her daughter, Quinn Cunningham, when the doors open and Celeste Baldwin emerges in front of her.

Sabine, immediately, feels her blood boil at the sight of Celeste; she recalls numerous times that she caught Nathan and Celeste in a, seemingly, close encounter. No matter how many times Sabine told Celeste to stay away from Nathan, there she was.

"What the hell do you think you're doing here?" Sabine asks Celeste as she crosses her arms over her chest.

"I heard that Nathan was shot last night," Celeste replies to her quickly. "I came as soon as I heard."

"Well, you're not needed here, Celeste," Sabine tells her matter of factly. "I am Nathan's fiancé, in case you have forgotten."

Celeste chuckles back to her. "How could I forget? You remind me at every chance you get. You know, Sabine, if you've agreed to marry someone, you should have more trust in them."

"How dare you! My fiancé is fighting for his life! You're not welcome here, you vial creature! Get out of here and don't come back, do you understand me?!"

"Fine, I'll go, but I will get updates on Nathan," Celeste says to her. "He gave me my second chance, I'll be dammed if I turn my back on him now."

***

"I know you have a million questions, but I promise you, I can explain," Quinn Cunningham tells Deacon Cooper as they stand facing one another in his hotel suite. The last few hours have been a blur for her as Deacon's parents, Dyhannah and Chase Cooper, interrupted their wedding with the news that Marat Kafelinkov, not Deacon, is the father of her unborn child.

"You better start explaining," Deacon huffs back to her. "I was about to marry you, Quinn. I was about to give our child a family, only to learn that I'm the father? Marat is? What the hell is going on? My parents, they were right about you all along!"

Quinn tries to keep her lower lip from quivering too much. She can't believe that this is happening, but she has to make things right.

"No," Quinn shakes her head back to him. "That's where you're wrong; that's where you're all wrong. You are the father, Deacon. Did I sleep with Marat in New York? Yes, we did. But it was just once. And, I was on the pill at the time. Marat is not the father of my baby."

"So, my parents are what? Lying to us?"

"Yes!" Quinn shrieks back to him. "Your parents have hated me ever since they knew that you and I got together. Your mother will do anything to make me appear to be the bad guy in this situation, Deacon, and you can't deny that."

"I don't know what to think," he admits to her. "I think I need time, Quinn. I need time to wrap my head around this and figure out what I'm going to do next."

Quinn rolls her eyes back to him. "If you think I'm going to lose you because your mother and father hate me, you have another thing coming, Deacon. We are getting closer to the baby being born, so you better not take long deciding what the hell you want to do. But I will be damned if your mother will ruin my future for me. And you can tell her that much!"

***

Marat Kafelinkov sits the bar of the country club and orders a double scotch. His mind is racing about the fact that Dyhannah and Chase announced that he, not Deacon, is the father of Quinn's unborn child. He only never imagined that when he went to New York and had an one night stand with a beautiful woman that it would result in her getting pregnant. He never believed that he would be a father again, but here he is.

"I bet you are looking forward to that drink," Dyhannah Cooper moves up to her former lover and sits next to Marat at the bar before she orders her own drink. "I am sorry that I blindsided you with this news, Marat. That wasn't my intention at all."

Marat uneasily sighs back to her. "It's not just me that you blindsided, Dyhannah," he replies to her quickly. "You caught everyone off guard."

Dyhannah slowly takes a sip of her champagne cocktail. "Chase and I were just desperate to prevent Deacon from marrying Quinn without knowing the truth about the baby. We had to protect him, surely you can understand that?"

"I have to ask you a serious question," Marat looks back at her before he takes a sip of his scotch. "What makes you believe that I am the father of Quinn's baby? You have proof that we slept together but that certainly doesn't mean that I am the father of her child."

Dyhannah takes a sip of her drink before she looks back at Marat. "I know because I can't believe that my son is going to be a father with that woman. I know in the very core of my being that you're the father, Marat."

Marat shakes his head back to her in disbelief. "I think we need concrete proof," Marat tells her. "We need to know for sure that I am the father of that baby."

***

A short time later, Marat opens the front door to the guest house that is on the estate of the Rockwell mansion. He moves inside and looks around for Stacey, who has been living in the guest house since all of the Rockwell's moved out of the mansion once Nathan took over as the head of the house.

"Stacey, are you here?" he asks as he sees no one in the living room.

Stacey quickly emerges from the bedroom and looks at Marat. "I'm here, sorry, I was just putting Poppy down for her nap. I'm glad that you're here because I think we need to talk, don't you?"

Marat looks back at her with intent. "Yea, we do need to talk. I can't believe that Dyhannah and Chase interrupted that wedding with this information that I am the father of Quinn's child; they actually have no proof that I am the father."

"Did you sleep with Quinn?" Stacey asks him quickly. "Because if you did, then there's a good chance that you did father her baby."

"We slept together once when I was in New York," Marat admits to him. "But that was before you and I got back together."

"And you didn't think it was important enough to tell me about this?" Stacey huffs back to him. "That information would have been good to know."

"Have you told me about all of your sexual experiences?" Marat asks her quickly, recalling how he overheard Stacey and Kent discussing their affair. He ended up telling Lydia about what he overheard but he and Stacey haven't had a proper talk about it. "You know that there are men in your past that you haven't told me about."

Stacey gulps back to him as she thinks about sleeping with Kent. "I didn't get pregnant, there's a difference."

"We don't know for sure that I am the father of that baby," Marat huffs back to her. "And, just because you didn't get pregnant doesn't mean that there's no impact to your actions, Stacey. So, you can stop being so judgmental because we both know that you have your own secrets."

***

Lex opens the door to the private investigator's firm and moves inside the office. The office is small and modestly decorated. There is a small desk, where there should be a receptionist, and one small office behind the receptionist desk.

Lex moves up to the desk but realizes that no one is working there. He sees a small bell on the counter, so he rings it a couple of times. Before too long, Casper Ross emerges from his office and looks at Lex.

"Hi, sorry, I was in my office," Casper tells Lex as he moves behind the desk. "As you can see, I'm short staffed right now. Anyways, that's not your problem. How are you? How can I help you?"

Lex looks back at the attractive private investigator. "I need help tracking someone down," Lex nods back to him, thinking that this might be the best way to find out if Jarek is alive and well. "I'm hoping that you can help me."

"I'm always willing to take on new cases," Casper replies to him. "Why don't you come into my office and we can go over the details of this person you're trying to find?"

***

The following morning, detective Helena Grant moves into the waiting room at the hospital and sees Mac giving Lucinda a cup of coffee. After she grilled Mac the previous day about Nathan's shooting; she was hoping to do the same with Lucinda today. Any information that could help her figure out who shot Nathan will be good for her.

Before she can say anything, a doctor moves past her and moves up to the Rockwell's. Helen quickly moves outside of the waiting room, but leans up against the wall so she can hear the update on the victim of the crime she is investigating.

"Good morning," the doctor says as he approaches Mac and Lucinda.

"Oh doctor," Lucinda stands up and looks at the doctor. "How is Levi this morning? Has he made any progress?"

"I do come with good news," the doctor tells them. "He is starting to wake up, which is a very good sign. We except him to be fully conscious within a few hours."

"Oh, thank God," Lucinda smiles back to him as Mac puts his hands on her shoulders. "Can we see him? Can I see my son?"

"Once he is fully awake, I will want to do an exam on him, but after that, you can see him."

"Thank you doctor, thank you for everything," Mac nods back to him as the doctor slowly walks away from them. Mac pulls Lucinda into a hug, while Helena quickly walks away from the waiting room and makes a beeline for Nathan's hospital room.

***

Carmen opens the door to the main office at Rockwell Mining and gets a huge grin on her face. She moves to the desk and sets her large purse down before she looks around the office. She puts her hands on her hips as she realizes that she is now in control of the massive organization.

"This company is mine," she whispers to herself as she gets a grin on her face. "This is finally going to be everything that I have deserved to get after all these years. I will take this company to new heights and everyone, including the Rockwell's, will have to admit that they were wrong about me."

She slowly sits down and turns on the laptop while she starts to wonder what her first plan of business will be.

"Whatever I decide, it has to be huge. I want my first order of business as CEO to make headlines," she tells herself. "I have to be the star of this company."

***

Helena moves up to the hospital room door and peers through the small window. Inside, she can see Nathan laying in his hospital bed with his eyes slowly opening. She looks behind her and doesn't see anyone, so she finds herself opening the hospital room door.

"Mr. Lockhart," she announces herself as she moves up to the hospital bed. "I'm detective Helena Grant. Can you hear me?"

Nathan's eyes struggle to focus but he nods back to her. "I…." he begins to say with a hoarse voice. "I…can…hear….you."

"Okay," she moves closer to his bed. "I want the person who did this to you to pay for what they did, Nathan. Do you know who shot you?"

"Yes," Nathan struggles to say to her.

"Who shot you, Nathan?" Helena asks him with intent. "Who did this to you?"

Nathan's eyes open wider as he looks at the detective. "M…Ma…Mac," he stutters. "Maaaccc shottttt meeeeee."