Francis didn't make a sounds, only jumped to push her out of the way in time, blocking anything that was coming.
He would feel a sharp pain in his side and Poppy gasped, turning to look at him. "Francis! Francis, no!"
He winced, taking in air sharply as he fell to his knees, his hand traveling to his side as he took shuddery breaths.
Poppy shot the scout in the throat and he gasped before going down. She turned back to him, her hand on his face. "No, no, no. Francis Craw. No. No. What did you do? What did you do?!"
"Of course it does," she said, pulling up his shirt to investigate the wound. "You got shot. Goddamnit, Francis! How could you do this?"
His voice sounded tired, and his breathing slowed a bit. "I.. I needed to save you. They were gonna- Ah.. hurt you."
"Then you should have let them!" she said furiously, pulling out a vial. "You should have let them shoot! You promised me. You promised me!"
"I couldn't let them," he told her, smiling weakly. "You're our medic." He paused his hand brushing her face. "I'm coming home."
She shook her head, focusing on the wound, hastily wiping the tears out of her eyes. "You don't get to come home in a casket. That's breaking the promise."
He rested his head back, looking up at the sky. "I promised I'd come home," he said quietly, going a bit pale. "I'm gonna."
"You'd better," she said, her voice shaking as she injected the site with a pain killer. "I can't... You need to stay with me, okay? Talk to me about our future. The wedding, or.. or.. I don't know. Kids or something. Talk to me."
"Three kids. Good. Okay. Good. Three kids. What are their names?" she asked as she began to work on extracting the bullet.
He frowned, tears forming at the corner of his eyes. "I don't know. I don't know. Am I going to die? I don't want to die, but I think I might. I can't break my promise."
"You're not going to die," she said fiercely wiping away his tears with her free hand. "You're not. Okay? You can't break your promise to me. Tell me more about the three kids."
"Well.. If they share even a fraction of you.. that would be enough to make them amazing. Just a fragment of your mind.."
He gave a sigh, his voice cracking slightly as his mind began sluggish. "Mm. Some like me. Some like you."
She heard him slow and visibly panicked. "Francis, don't fall asleep, okay? Keep talking to me. Talk about things you like. Things that make you happy."
