CHAPTER 3

The entire car ride Maddie was an emotional wreck. Her sister's eyes were closed, but she was restless, struggling against the pain. Jack could sense Maddie's fear, and glanced in the rear-view mirror at the girl. "Eve's going to be fine, kid," he assured as he slid out his phone. "This is Officer Snyder. I'm about nine minutes out; I'm bringing in an" he glanced at Maddie again "injury victim. Female, late twenties. More details when we arrive."

"Jack." Maddie had finally found her voice. "Is she…"

"She going to be fine, honey. How are you?"

"I'm okay. I just—" she was interrupted by her sister's cries.

"No, please, don't. I'm sorry! I…" Eve jerked suddenly, and the pain shocked her back into consciousness. She looked at Jack and then back at Maddie. "Did Louis..?" she trailed off, not wanting to know the answer. "Maddie, are you okay?"

"Yeah, Eve, I'm fine. How are you?" Maddie was feeling less concerned now. Eve was talking, she was alert. She was going to be fine.

"Eh, nothing a couple of aspirin can't fix." She leaned back and closed her eyes. Nudging Jack, she chuckled softly. "Shouldn't we be taking Maddie to school?"

Jack and Maddie looked at her curiously. "Eve, I don't need to go to school."

"C'mon, Maddie, you don't want to end up like your brother, do you? Seriously, Henry, turn the car around."

Henry? Jack glanced at the young girl in the backseat, her face white and her eyes wide. She had realized it, too; Eve wasn't thinking straight. As he pulled into the parking lot of the hospital, he tried to assure the both of them. "We're here, girls. Everything is going to be fine." Eve nodded, her head resting back on the seat and her eyes closed.

"You walk her in, Henry. I'm going to," she paused to take a breath, and Jack worried at how deliberate it sounded. "I'm just going to," she breathed again, coughed weakly, and attempted to continue. "I'm…"

Maddie was out of the car and opening Eve's door before Jack was. She stopped to stare at her sister, who had stopped talking all together and seemed to be very focused on breathing. She began to cough again, more harshly this time, and Jack nudged Maddie out of the way so he could get Eve out of the car. She wheezed and coughed again. "Jack," she whispered.

She was back. Jack and Maddie both sighed with relief. "Yes, darling," he replied, leaning down to her.

"Maddie," she struggled to speak and her eyes began to close again against her will, "she shouldn't," pause again, followed by coughing. Jack began to lift her out of the car and became more concerned with how she was breathing. Eve made eye contact with the man holding her in his arms and conveyed what she meant. She shouldn't be here for this. Then she lay her head against his chest and closed her eyes, concentrating on each breath.

"Go tell them we're here," Jack instructed the teenager calmly. Maddie's eyes were on her sister, and he could tell that she was as worried as he was. "Go on, honey. We'll be right there." He looked down at the woman in his arms. "She's gone. We're going to get you help, Eve."

With all the strength she could muster, Eve lifted her head and took to biggest breath she could. "Keep Maddie safe, please," she pleaded with her last ounce of energy before letting go. Then her body went slack in Jack's arms. He looked at her in horror and then broke out into a run, sprinting closer to the doors of the emergency room with a now unconscious woman in his arms.

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When Jack ran in, breathless, everyone took notice. A doctor rushed to his side and orderlies brought a gurney and began to slide Eve out of his arms. "She was beaten," Jack began, "by her husband. I don't know the extent of her injuries. She said she was unconscious for a while, and that her head hurt. She was dizzy, and she thought I was her brother." He paused to take a breath, and then remembered, "When we got here, she was having trouble breathing." The doctor nodded and rushed off with Eve down the hall, leaving Jack and Maddie standing there, staring at the swinging doors.

The doctor came to find them two grueling hours later. Maddie had fallen asleep in the waiting room—the combination of worry and boredom sapping the energy out of her in the early afternoon—and was resting on Jack's shoulder. Jack shook her slightly so he could get up, and she muttered in her sleep. "No, Louis. Stop. No." Her voice was small, but it worried Jack greatly. What is wrong with that man? He murmured to her softly as he shifted out from under her, and she remained asleep.

"Officer Snyder, it says here you brought in Mrs. Browning," the doctor started. "But her next of kin, her husband, is not here?"

"I would prefer if you dealt with me. We have reason to suspect that her husband may not be the best person to help her right now."

The doctor nodded knowingly. "She sustained some serious injuries: some broken bones, a serious concussion, internal bleeding. Honestly, it's a small miracle she made it here." The look on Jack's face made him continue quickly. "But she should be fine. She's asleep now, but we patched her up, and we are rehydrating her now and giving her some medication."

As he spoke, the detective in Jack came out, studying the doctor's every word, every movement, for something that would hint to Eve's true condition. "When can we see her?"

"Soon," the doctor reassured. "Just let her rest for now. You could come back later on this evening, perhaps…"

"I'm not going anywhere."

The doctor continued, "There's really nothing you can do at point. She needs her sleep, and it looks like that girl over there may need some rest as well." Jack followed the doctor's gaze to Maddie. What was he going to do with the teenager while they waited for Eve? Henry! They had to call Henry. He should know where his sisters were. Suddenly, Jack became aware of the doctor in front of him, awaiting an answer. "She'll be all right alone for a little while," the doctor repeated.

"I'd really like to see her before I go." Jack refused to back down. At the consent of the doctor, he continued, "I will be putting an officer at Mrs. Browning's door while I am gone." With that, he turned to Maddie. "I'll be right back," he whispered before disappearing down the hall to Eve's room.

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Fifteen minutes later, Maddie woke up with a start. She looked around frantically to take in her surroundings, desperate to figure out where she was. Louis wasn't here, she reassured herself. But she was in a hospital, and he had hurt Eve. She shook her head to clear it before getting up and then wandered down the hall.

She peeked into rooms until she saw it, Officer Snyder holding the hand of…someone, she couldn't see around all the monitors. She moved sluggishly to the doorway, blinking her eyes to confirm what she suspected. There was Eve, a tube down her throat, beeping machines an assurance that she was alive. It barely looked like her sister, bruised and broken, so small-looking on the hospital bed.

Silently, Maddie stood in the doorway, trying to catch her breath. Officer Snyder was still talking to his sister, speaking in hushed tones. She perked up when she heard her name. "…Maddie is so worried about you. She was a wreck in the waiting room. Honestly, so was I. Why didn't you tell me what was going on, that he was hurting you?" Jack took a shaky breath, and jumped when Maddie cleared her throat in the doorway. "Hey, Maddie," he whispered, lowering Eve's hand and walking toward her. "The doctor said she's going to be fine. That was some great help you gave me on the way here."

"Can—can…" Maddie wasn't entirely sure what she was trying to say, but Officer Snyder filled her in.

"Your sister is resting now. They say she will probably wake up this evening, but she will need to be in the hospital for a few days still." Jack wanted desperately to assuage Maddie's fears, but he didn't want to lie to her, either. "Oh, um, Maddie," Jack continued, suddenly remembering. "Do you have Henry's number? I think we should call him and let him know."

"Yes," Maddie confirmed, not taking her eyes off Eve. "I'll call him."

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Forty-five minutes later, Henry was rushing down the hall of the hospital, loudly announcing his presence and questioning the whereabouts of his sisters. Jack heard him and, attempting not to wake Eve and Maddie, rushed out of the room to meet him. In a hushed tone, he filled Henry in on what had happened and, in an odd display of friendship and brotherly concern, shared Maddie's half asleep utterings and his fears that Louis had hurt more than just Eve.

"Henry!" Maddie exclaimed, rushing to her brother and rubbing sleep from her eyes. She hugged him tightly before pulling back. "Eve…"

Holding Maddie's hand, Henry walked to his other sister's bedside. Finally getting a good look at Eve, he had to struggle not to physically recoil. Catching his breath, he assured his little sister as best he could. "Eve's going to be fine," he insisted. "We've all been through much worse than this."

Jack hung back, observing the family scene. This was not the first time he had heard a mention of the Colemans' (and Browning, he supposed, since that was Eve's current last name) less-than-idyllic childhood. The fact that Eve had been her teenage sister's legal guardian, and before that Henry's, as well, since she was eighteen was not something that was easy to overlook. And although Maddie and Eve, at least until recently, had seemed well-adjusted, little things that all three of the siblings had done since he met them suddenly began to make sense. They were lucky to have each other, Jack thought.

He wished he knew the details of Eve's life, however bad they were, and could have been there for her, before… But that was that, and now he had to focus on what he could do. He could be there for Eve now, and what she needed the most right now was someone to take on care of her younger siblings until she could again. Placing a supportive hand on Henry's shoulder, he held out an olive branch to the man with whom he had never seen eye to eye. "Henry, let's go grab some food in the cafeteria. Maddie and I can fill you in."

And, with a final look from three people who cared about her so much, Eve was alone.

END CHAPTER 3

Well, there's the next installment...hope it didn't disappoint...