The first thing Brian was aware of when he woke the next morning was the kink in his neck and the pain in his back from sleeping on the sofa. He could vaguely remember falling asleep a little after two in the morning after getting a call that Lindsay had crashed but they were able to stablize her and that the doctor thinks Michael will be waking up soon. He had wanted to go out and get drunk and fucked up but he had a little girl to think about. A little girl who as Brian opened his eyes, was currently sitting Indian style on the floor between the coffee table and sofa near his head and just staring at him.
"I want to go see Justin."
Brian caught the wobble of her voice, it he also noted the demanding tone. He sighed and shuffled into a sitting position as Molly crawled onto the sofa where his head had just been. Sitting on her knees, she leaned forward, closer to him. Brian was use to being around Molly and the girl was not shy around him anymore but she rarely got any closer then just sitting next to him while watching TV. Now she was practically sitting on his lap and staring up at him.
"I want to go see Justin."
Brian nodded, "How about some breakfast first?"
"No. Justin first."
"Mol, it's seven in the morning."
"So."
"So shower and breakfast first." He stood and cracked his back.
"No!" Molly yelled, also standing up. "I want to go and see my brother, right now!"
Brian rolled his eyes. Molly was definitally like her older brother. Brian turned to look down at the little girl whose eyes were brimmed with unshed tears and he knew he was lost.
"Fine. At least a shower and we'll pick something up on the way to the hospital."
Molly crossed her arms, "Fine."
"Good, you first. You know where you're clothes are?"
"Duh."
Molly stomped her way through the bedroom and over to the dresser, pulling the bottom most drawer open to grab her clothes. She slammed the dresser drawer clothes and headed into the bathroom, closing the door a little to harshly. Brian winced at every loud sound but didn't move until he heard the water in the shower running. He then groaned and made his way to the coffee machine to start it. He was going to need a lot of aspirin and coffee to live through the terror he knew was Molly Taylor.
By the time they both had their showers and were ready to go, Molly had gone from angry to screaming to crying to angry again to something Brian didn't know what the fuck it was; all the while he had three cups of coffee and had taken four extra strenth aspirins already. So not the have the wrath or tears of one Molly Taylor again, he didn't fight her on where to get breakfast and went straight to the nearest McDonald's. He ordered himself another coffee while she got the pancakes and an orange juice. She thankfully ate the pancakes without syrup so he didn't have to worry about her getting it all over his jeep.
She sat silently eating during the drive to the hospital. When they were parked and out of the jeep, she quickly took hold on Brian's hand in an almost death grip as they headed into the building. Brian couldn't blame her. He didn't exactly want to be there either. They made it to the third floor where Justin, Lindsay and Michael all had their own rooms. Debbie, Ben and Melanie were all sitting in the halls but all three were cleaned up and in different clothes then the day before.
"Brian." Ben noticed them first, "Hello Molly."
"Hi." Molly whispered.
Brian knew that she wasn't shy around the gang. She had been around them enough through the diner and family dinners and when they would just randomly show up at the loft when she was there. Brian looked down at her before turning back to the other family members.
"Any other news?" He asked.
Melanie shook her head, "None of them have crashed since last night but none have woken up yet either."
Brian nodded, "Where are Gus and J.R.?"
"With Emmett." Melanie replied, "I was wondering if you..."
Brian cut her off, "I'll pick them up after Molly sees Justin. They can stay with us as long as they need to."
"Thank you."
"Where's Justin?" Molly asked, looking up at Brian and making her seem like she was five years old again.
"I'll take her in." Melanie stood, "I think Daphne is in there right now."
"Thanks."
Molly released Brian's hand and took Melanie's as they headed down the hall and walked into a room on the left. Brian sat down next to Debbie and instantly took her hand into his own. He squeezed her hand and she returned it before turning to look at him.
"Did you tell her?"
Brian nodded, "She beat the shit out of me and cried herself to sleep. She stayed asleep the rest of the day and night."
"It's not right. That little girl has been through so much. She's lost her mother and now she could..."
Brian cut her off, "Don't. Just don't."
Debbie closed her mouth after looking at him again and nodded. They all fell silent as they just sat there. A few minutes later Daphne came walking down the hall and sat on Brian's right, instantly resting her head on his shoulder and taking his free hand in both of hers.
"How did she seem when she came into the room?" Brian asked, not taking his eyes away from the door down the hall.
"She started crying and wanted to run over to him but Melanie had told her that she couldn't. She was sitting in the chair holding his hand and talking when I left." Daphne replied barely above a whisper.
"She shouldn't even be in there." Ben noted.
"I don't give a shit. Justin is the only family she has left." Brian replied, "Besides us. She just lost her mother. If the doctor or nurses try to cause trouble I'll deal with it."
Daphne giggled, "I'm sure punching out the doctor would solve the problem."
"That was one time." Brian defended himself, "He was hitting on Justin while we were there after he had an allergic reaction to something."
"You punched a doctor?" Ben asked
"More like kicked his ass," Daphne laughed. "I had just walked in after getting the call from Jennifer that Justin had a bad reaction to something. Justin had jumped out of bed to hold Brian back. I think he got in two good punches and possible a kick to the doctor's ribs before security was called."
"What happened?"
Brian shrugged, "The doctor didn't press charges and I wasn't thrown out of the hospital."
"Justin sweet talked his way with both the doctor and security officer." Daphne added, "A different doctor came in later and made sure to stay at least ten feet away from Brian and from Justin until he had to check something."
They all laughed and it felt good for a minute before they all turned to see Justin's hospital door open and Molly come running down the hall, tears running down her face. As she was just about to pass them and keep running, Brian leaned forward out of his chair, landing hard on his knee on the floor he caught her around the middle with his arm. She shruggled for a minute before realizing that Brian was the one holding her. She turned and wrapped her arms around his neck and cried into his jacket Melanie came down the hall looking a little worse for ware.
"I'm sorry, she got a little angry and then just bolted when I told her she couldn't stay longer." Melanie explained.
"It's okay." Brian stated as he ran his free hand through Molly's hair and tried to calm the young girl down.
It was almost two hours later and rounding on lunchtime when Brian and Molly left the hospital, heading to Debbie's to pick up Gus and the baby. Brian had gone in to see Justin for a few minutes after calming Molly down and leaving her with Daphne. He couldn't believe how pale Justin looked when the blond was already really pale to begin with. The only thing that stopped Brian from finally breaking down and crying himself was the fact of the constant beeping of the heart monitor and that a nurse had walked in not a minute after him. He also checked on Lindsay and Michael each for a few minutes before he headed back to the group in the hall. Ben had gone in to sit with Michael once again and Melanie was outside on her phone talking with Emmett.
After picking Gus and Jenny Rebecca up from Emmett, after lunch of course, they went back to the loft to pick up Brian's things and then headed to Melanie and Lindsay's to pick up things for the kids before making their way to Jennifer's where they were going to be staying for a while. Brian still needed to get a hold of Jennifer's main lawyer about her funeral and other arrangements but he didn't want to deal with all that just yet. He set up Gus and Jenny Rebecca in Justin's old room, a room that had only been used for a month after the bashing before Justin had moved back in with Brian while Molly went to lay down in her own room. Brian suspected she had gone into Jennifer's room instead.
