Shots rang out through the Impact Zone, the scream of the crowd was deafening. Everyone in the backstage area stopped, none of them knew what was going on. AJ Styles froze where he stood, talking to Petey Williams. He noticed security rushing past him, and from the direction they were headed and the speed they were traveling, AJ knew that something was terribly wrong. He turned his attention to the monitor, just behind Petey’s head, and his entire body went numb. Christopher Daniels, a man AJ had only been dating for about three months, lay in the middle of the ring, blood pouring from in between his fingers where his hand desperately clung to the wound in his chest.

AJ headed for the tunnel that would lead him to the side of his fallen angel, and was abruptly stopped. He felt arms around his waist, and he struggled to free himself of his captor. “You can’t go out there!” The voice rang out in AJ ear. “Someone out there’s got a gun. You go out there and we’ll probably have two people going to the hospital.”

“Let me go!” AJ screamed, turning his head to find Raven holding him firmly in place. “He needs me! Let me go!”

“He needs you to stay healthy, AJ.” Raven said, holding AJ tightly to his chest. “He doesn’t need or want you to go out there and put yourself in harms way. The paramedics are out there, they’ll have him back here soon. Then I’ll let you go. I promise.”

Raven’s words fell on deaf ears, as AJ continued to fight with everything he had to free himself. Raven held firm to him, though. Only letting him go when the paramedics came wheeling Chris back on a gurney. Chris’s body was pale, from loss of blood, and the medical team around him kept saying things that were scaring AJ to the point of collapse. AJ didn’t have any kind of medical training what so ever, but he’d watched enough medical dramas to know that words like stat, chest cavity, and bleeding out were not good signs.

AJ gathered all the courage he had and got to his feet, rushing behind the men that he had to trust to save his love’s life. The men loaded Chris in an ambulance, in to much of a rush to hear AJ behind them saying, “He’s my boyfriend, I have to go with him!” The ambulance doors shut and it sped out of the parking garage.

AJ stood there for a mere second, feeling his courage and will drain from his body, when he heard, “Get in!”

Jerry Lynn sat behind the wheel of his rental car. AJ quickly got in, not even realizing who was driving. They sped out of the garage and were quickly on the heels of the ambulance. “What the hell happened?” AJ said, outloud, honestly not even realizing there was anyone else there with him. “It was suppose to be a job. Chris was just suppose to go out there and job to Kevin. What happened?”

“Somehow, someone got a gun into the arena.” Jerry said, reaching over and taking AJ’s trembling hand in his. As the creator of the X Division, Jerry had grown attached to all the athletes that wrestled in it. He couldn’t imagine what AJ was feeling right now, and as much as he cared for him, Jerry secretly wished he never would. “We’ll be there in just a minute.”

The rest of the ten minute car ride felt like an eternity to both men. When they pulled into the emergency room parking lot, AJ was out of the car before Jerry even had it stopped. He rushed into the hospital behind Chris, and was quickly stopped yet again. “Sir you’ll need to fill out some papers and talk to the nurse.” A man said, gently taking hold of AJ’s arm and guiding him to a desk.

Nurses began firing question’s at AJ at a rate that would make a calm man nervous. He answered them to the best of his knowledge. He never really realized how little he knew about Chris. He didn’t know Chris’s blood type, or any of his family medical history. He wasn’t even really sure what had happened. He remembered someone mentioned something about a gun, but that was about it. “When can I see him?” AJ said, after the nurses were done with their inquisition.

“Someone will be out to talk to you in a few minutes, sir.” One nurse said, before disappearing into the back and leaving AJ to stand there and contemplate a life without Chris. It was unthinkable. AJ and Chris had only been dating a few months, but they’d been friends for years. Memories of the past and thoughts of what their future held, and what would need to be done if something went wrong fired through AJ’s head like they’d been shot from a machine gun. He hit his knees as the vision of Chris laying in a casket flashed through his mind, his body racked his body.

A few minutes later, strong arms wrapped around AJ and lifted him off his knees. “I’m sorry AJ.” Kevin Nash said, guiding AJ to a chair in the waiting room, where most of the TNA roster had gathered, keeping vigil and praying. “I wish I could have protected him from this.”

“I can’t lose him, Kevin.” AJ said, breaking down into sobs on Kevin’s chest, relying on Kevin to hold him up. “I just can’t.”

The men sat in that waiting room most of the night, holding hands, crying, and remembering Chris. Around three in the morning, a man dressed as a doctor came out. “Mr. Styles?” He said, looking around the crowded waiting room.

AJ stood up and approached the man. “Is Chris alright?” AJ asked, holding his breath, and preparing for the worst.

“It was touchy for a while.” The doctor said, looking around the room again and realizing that all these men were here for his patient. “We had to give him some blood, but he was lucky. The bullet missed his heart. He’s still going to need some substantial recovery time, though.”

“Can I see him?” AJ said, feeling an overwhelming urge that he had to see Chris to make everything the doctor was telling him true.

“Sure.” The doctor said, putting his hand in the small of AJ’s back and guiding him to the elevator. “He’s in intensive care right now, and he’s been asking for you.”

AJ smiled for the first time since he’d kissed Chris and told him to be careful in his match. He walked into Chris’s room and saw his big blue eyes, wide open. “Angel, how you feelin’” AJ asked, trying to hide the tears in his voice.

Chris turned his head slowly and saw the look on AJ’s face. “Babe, I’m fine.” He said in a raspy voice. “They said I was lucky. I keep telling them luck had nothing to do with it. I’m the fallen angel after all.”

AJ smiled and sat down in a chair next to Chris’s bed, where he would spend the next week of his life. He didn’t care, though. Chris was going to make a full recovery, and they were going to grow old together. AJ had always called Chris angel, even when they were just friends. He still wasn’t sure if Chris acted like an angel, but he was sure that he had one looking over his shoulder.