AN: This story can be read as a follow on from Aimed In The Wrong Direction, or it works on its own too. This first chapter is a retelling of Brax and Zac's scene at the end of the episode that aired on 09.09.13 (the one where Brax decides to help Zac save the twins from the cult). All the dialogue comes directly from the show. The next few chapters will also be rewrites of scenes, but then I plan to write some original stuff after that. Enjoy!

Brax was a man of action. He was a problem solver and he was good at it. Most of his problems were solvable, one way or another. And those that weren't? Well, he could usually make himself feel better by hitting someone. He'd tried that, but Casey was still in the hospital and there was nothing Brax could do to fix this particular problem. Casey would either get better or he wouldn't. He hated the thought of his baby brother being stuck in a chair for the rest of his life and he hated these feelings of helplessness and inadequacy. He walked into Angelo's looking for a drink, there had to be some perks to owning a bar, didn't there? The bar tender poured him a shot and he downed it immediately, maybe this way he could at least forget about his unsolvable problem for a little while.

"Bad day?" Brax turned his attention to the man who'd spoken, it was Zac. Suddenly drinking himself into oblivion seemed like a dumb idea.

"You could say that," Brax replied, pouring himself a second drink. He picked up his glass, but left the bottle, and made his way over to the other man. Despite what other dramas Zac may have caused, Brax had never forgotten what he had done for Casey. "What's up with you?"

"Ever feel like you've hit a brick wall?"

"Occasionally," Brax sighed, "just every day of my life."

"How's it goin' at the hospital?"

"They're doin' all they can but if the patient doesn't want help there's not a lot you can do." Brax threw the rest of his drink down, hoping to fight the overwhelming frustration off.

"Oh, don't sell yourself short, at least you're trying. Casey's lucky you know, I'm not convinced my brother'd do the same for me."

"You got a brother?" Brax asked, interested in learning more about Zac. The man was kind of an enigma. He was a high school teacher who'd done time and though he often acted as though he didn't think much of the Braxton's, he had willingly lost a job he loved to protect Casey. He was an intriguing mix of hard and soft.

"Yeah, oh yeah he's a great guy, today he took out a restraining order on me." There it was again, that unexpected mix.

"What'd you sleep with his wife or somethin'?" Zac did seem to have a thing for unavailable women.

"Very funny." And despite his obvious worry Zac smiled, and Brax liked that he'd been the one to cause it, they didn't need to be miserable bastards all the time. "To tell you the truth I'm trying to take his kids off him."

"I thought my family was dysfunctional."

"Yeah, he's not thinkin' straight and I reckon the kids are in danger. And they live on this weird commune and they're not allowed phone calls or contact with people on the outside and my nephew asked for my help but now I can't get in contact with him." And here was Brax's answer. A problem he could solve, and a reason to solve it.

"Well, what does ya gut tell ya?"

"That something really bad's going on, not that I can do anything about it, I've never felt more useless in my life," not to Brax, "I'm out of ideas." Zac raised his beer to his lips and swallowed a mouthful, probably hoping as Brax had, to find comfort in the alcohol. And for a little while he might even find it, but it wouldn't solve anything.

"Well here's one...go get em."

"What?"

"We'll go get 'em," Brax repeated, more certain with every moment that passed that this was the best course of action, "I'll help ya."