Mike waited for a doctor to see him impatiently. He'd told Mercedes that he didn't need anyone with him but he'd been mistaken. Now he was alone & thoughts of Marcy raced through his mind.

He thought back to when they'd first met & smirked. Even back then she'd been a menace. As their nannies had rushed into the park's river to fish Marcy & Mal, everyone had stood stupefied & speechless. Then he'd started laughing. His grasp of English was poor & he hadn't learned Italian yet so he didn't know what she had told her mother but when she'd stripped his brother & raced into the water, he found it funny beyond belief. Who did that?! Answer: Marcy.

After their mothers reamed her out (with her looking equal parts confused & uncaring), they'd been introduced. She peered into his face & said something before taking his hand. He'd been thrown off because she didn't do anything but hold it. He'd looked to his dad, who told him to greet her properly. So he bowed & kissed her hand. She burst out in giggles then kissed Mal on the cheek, which made both boys flush.

Her mother had told her to be ladylike. He didn't know what that meant but Marcy had pouted & eyed the dirt angrily. He was still holding her hand so he squeezed it & pointed to the swings. She'd brightened immediately & he pushed her on the swings until Mal took over. He went to get a camera & took a picture of her. Marcus was sitting close to him so he turned & asked why her eyes were dark green. Since Marcus had known enough Japanese, he'd answered that she was different & special. Mike had liked that. She looked nearly identical to one of his three favorite people in the world so that was a plus in his book. But her eyes & personality was a change of pace.

He had his moments when he wanted to be naughty but it was frowned upon. Mal was still only a year old, two months before his second birthday so he was good without trying. Mike was a whole three years & nearly four. He didn't always want to follow the rules. Eat his dinner. Watch his brother. Be nice to the nanny. Bribes only went so far when he just wanted to misbehave.

But here was this little two year old, who dived headfirst into trouble with a smile. He loved Quinn & Mercedes already but they were as good as Mal. Mercedes wouldn't know how to be naughty if the idea presented itself with a big purple ribbon. Quinn had inklings but in the end, she wouldn't do it. Mal was like Mercedes through & through. He wasn't getting in trouble for nothing.

Mike wanted someone to get in trouble with & he'd found his partner in crime. Boy, had they gotten in trouble over the years!

The families weren't really all that used to having their children around all the time.

Laura was born in Sweden & they'd lived there until Judy was pregnant with Quinn. Russell wanted his second child born in his home country so they'd travelled to England, where they lived for two years before moving to Lima.

Marc was used to Germany & America but the Jones' globe hopped a lot before Marcy was born. When Mercedes was born, he was living with his paternal grandparents more often than not. When Marcy was born, they'd been together in Greece but Marcus had work so he took Marc back to the States with him. He worked while Marc was with his grandparents.

Rose hadn't wanted to be alone with two babies so she'd gone to Italy so her mother could baby her & left the two with caregivers in Greece. When Mercedes's second birthday rolled around, Rose took her to France with her for nearly a year while Marcy was with a convent in Ireland. When the summer before preschool started, the Jones clan moved to Lima together.

Mike & his family had been in Japan until the summer before preschool. His parents had married there & wanted to continue being there but hated being around their families. When they found out they had went to the same college (& enjoyed fond memories), they decided to move to Lima.

Though the trio lived within walking distance, they never knew until the first day of preschool. It was fate. Fate that threw them together. Fate that made them stronger. Fate that had them someone to lean on when they weren't strong enough to stand alone. They depended on each other. They needed each other.

Their parents hadn't stopped travelling. They had just found more people to pawn their kids off on without looking like bad parents. The kids were shipped all over during their formative years & only just started being in the same place at the same time in middle school. They had spent time in more countries than they even knew but they'd always had each other. They could always pick up a phone or pen & know a sibling would be able to receive their message.

Mike wasn't sure if Marcy could receive his message now. His partner in crime, his twin was down for the count & he wasn't sure why. They weren't taught consequences or bad things happening to them. In fact, they were taught that being a Fabanges meant the rules didn't apply to them. They had to find out the hard way that the things they were taught were wrong. At this point in time, they were trying to sort through it all & figure out how to be productive members of society & good people.

What if Marcy didn't get that chance? He knew she had a lot of behavioral problems but that didn't mean that she didn't deserve the chance to be better. No one else might be able to see it but he knew she was trying. He was right there with her. Trying to block his father's words & his mother's emotions. It was hard & confusing & sometimes all he wanted to do was get high or fight.

Marcy was always down for both. He could always count on getting high in private with her or tag-teaming some idiot who thought he could get over on the "minorities". They were basically the same person. There were times when he thought something & it came out her mouth seconds later or he'd put out a hand, only for her to trip & need it. They were one. They shared similar tastes in a lot of different things.

Music, art, dance, jokes, women, the way they dealt with emotions & protected Mercedes from everyone. They were the same person. He loved that he had that. He didn't want it to go away. Sure, she was being operated on now but that didn't mean she would make it. She had too many injuries & too few blood cells. After operating then stabilizing her, she required more surgery to fix prior damages & ones sustained from the operation. It was more than he was comfortable with. Any one of those surgeries could end her life.

He let out a sigh as the doctor came in. "Michael Chang Jr.?"

"Mike." He corrected.

"Hi, Mike. Sorry, it's taken so long. There's a little girl upstairs that caused a lot of uproar." The doctor shook his head.

"That's my sister."

The doctor stilled. "Oh. Uh… I'm sorry. They're doing everything they can."

Mike stared him down until he stopped talking. "Could you just look at my knee so I can go back up to see her?"

The doctor gulped. "Okay. How about you lie back & tell me where it hurts?"

Mike rolled his eyes before doing so but forgot about his lashes. "Ow!"

"I haven't touched you yet." The doctor frowned. "Does your back hurt, too? Was there a mass accident?"

Mike almost laughed. "Something like that."

The doctor moved the paper gown & jumped back when he saw Mike's knee. "Oh my word!"

Mike didn't find that amusing. "I'm fine. My sister just wants me to see you. I can leave."

The doctor composed himself. "You're going to need X-rays. Can I look at your back?"

"No." Mike said swiftly.

The doctor drew his brows together seriously. "Young man, I need to see your back."

"No."

"Do I have to call security?"

"Do you want me to walk out?" Mike shot back.

"Can you?!"

Mike thought seriously. He could but it would hurt like a mother. "You don't need to see my back. I came in here for my leg."

"You don't know me." The doctor said decisively. "You don't trust me. How about I have your sister's doctor on call? She's under the knife right now so he isn't with her."

Mike thought about it. Puck had told them some lie so he could be in the clear. "Okay."

The doctor nodded before stepping out. He came back in shortly. "He's on his way. Can you show me your back now?"

Mike shook his dark head stubbornly.

Luckily, Marcy's doctor knocked then entered. "Hello. You're Mike, right?"

Mike nodded. "Yeah. How's my sister?"

"She was doing well the last time I saw her." He confirmed. "There's a lot to fix."

Mike knew that. "He wants to see my back."

"Do you have pain in your abdominal area & back?" He stuck his hands in his pockets. Mike nodded. "Do your ribs hurt?" Mike nodded again. "Okay, let's take a look. I promise, you'll be alright & up to see your sister soon."

Mike took off the paper gown. He wasn't cold in his boxers like others might have been. He counted that as another thing he & Marcy had in common. People called them vampires because of their cool skin & high temperature.

Marcy's doctor helped his doctor look him over & took stock of his injuries. Because he hadn't been dropped nearly fifty feet, his body wasn't as bad as his green eyed sibling. "Bandage your ribs, align your back & a soft cast for your knee. You need to be off it for at least two weeks."

Mike frowned. "I have basketball."

His doctor glared at him. "Your health is more important!"

I don't recall asking for your opinion! Mike glared right back. "I have basketball."

Marcy's doctor could see where the girl got her stubbornness. "Try to sit out as much as you can. If you don't take care of it, you'll never play basketball again."

Mike rolled his eyes. "Fine." A knock sounded at the door.

His doctor went to open it. "Hello?"

Mercedes slipped in. "Mikey!"

"Mercy? Why are you down here? Is she okay?" He tried to slide off the table but the doctors tried to hold him back. It would have been a fight if Mercedes hadn't pushed him back herself.

"She's still in surgery." She rubbed his shoulder. "I just wanted to come see you."

He squinted. "I'm not a child-"

She waved a hand. "Shut up. I wasn't about to let my big brother sit in this room by himself."

"What about your husband?"

She shrugged. "He's probably upstairs or outside smoking. I swear, you'd think I was made of glass. Won't let me go anywhere by myself!"

"You married him."

She side-eyed him. "I'm ignoring that because you're hurt."

"I'm so hurt, Mercy!" He laid his head on her shoulder & pouted.

The doctors watched him as he milked sympathy from her. "My poor baby! Do you want me to bring you something? Bubbie is on her way. We can go get something."

'No." His mouth twisted. "I'm fine."

Mercedes turned to the two stuck doctors. "What's wrong with him?"

Marcy's doctor cleared his throat & told her. "Can you see to it that he rests?"

She nodded as she rubbed her stomach. She seemed to do it more as she became stressed. "Mikey is stubborn-" She ignored his gasp of outrage. "& hates making a fuss. I'll make sure he remains healthy."

Mike was extremely pissed. "Shouldn't you make sure you're healthy?! You're the pregnant one!"

"I can look after you both." She replied crisply. "Now stop fighting them & let them do their jobs. I'm going to go see if Noah is outside. I'll be back soon."

The trio watched as she left quickly. Mike was fuming. "She's not the boss of me!"

Marcy's doctor refused to smile but boy did he want to! "She's just looking after you."

Mike glared at him. "You need to be looking after my other sister."

A small sign of the smile sneaked out as he turned to the other doctor. "I believe you have everything under control now. See you upstairs, Mike."

Mike glared at his doctor as the man left. "What?!"

"Interesting family." Was his only remark.

Damn straight! & we're all going to be fine!