Emily and Rebecca MacManus were laughing as they came home from their mother's house, but they shut up as soon as they heard strange noises coming from their living room. Glad that they had left Rebecca's twin daughters with their mother, the twin sisters nodded to each other, each of them pulling out a small handgun and creeping toward their living room.
Chris paced the floor of his friends' living room, waiting for their wives to come home. He was worried about that girl he had found, anxious to go see how she was doing.
'Damn it!' he shouted in frustration, 'would you hurry up and come home already?!'
'Are we in a hurry to die, asshole?' Rebecca asked calmly as she and Emily stepped into the living room with their guns levelled at him.
Chris looked over, the worry not leaving his eyes even as his face relaxed slightly.
'You must be Emily and Rebecca...' he said softly.
'You've got about two seconds to explain yourself,' Emily spoke up.
Chris sighed.
'Connor and Murphy asked me to wait here for you,' he said calmly, 'we have to go meet up with them at the hospital.'
Chris ignored the guns pointed at him, heading toward the door, but the twins blocked his path.
'Are they hurt?!' Emily demanded, her voice full of worry.
Chris nodded.
'They're fine,' he said, 'just worried. Can we go now? Please?'
Rebecca gasped
'Oh, my God…' she whispered, 'it's Alyssa…something happened to Alyssa…'
Emily growled.
'WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER?!'
Rebecca sighed. She placed her gun back in her holster, moving to calm her sister.
'Calm down, Em…' she said softly, 'stress isn't good for the baby…'
Emily nodded. She put her gun away, her eyes still narrowed. Rebecca sighed.
'I know our husbands would not have left you alone in our home if you were the one who hurt Alyssa,' she said, 'who are you, and what happened?'
Chris sighed, running a hand through his hair.
'My name is Chris Michaels, and I'm from San Antonio,' he said, 'I'm the son of Shawn Michaels and the brother of Hayley Michaels. I used to work with Connor and Murphy at the meat packing plant. I was on a run in the park earlier, and I found Alyssa. Someone beat the hell out of her. I wanted to call an ambulance and the police, but she insisted that I bring her here. Connor was gonna call someone named Simon to come take care of her, but Alyssa started bleeding really bad. They rushed her to the hospital in Connor's car.'
'What the hell are we waiting for?!'
Rebecca grabbed Emily's hand and hurried to the garage, not knowing or caring if Chris was following them or not. She helped Emily into the passenger side of her purple and gold Ford F-150 before hurrying around to slide in behind the wheel.
Chris caught the passenger door just before it shut, helping Emily scoot over on the seat so that he could slide in beside her.
'How long will it take us to get to the hospital?' he asked
'About fifteen minutes or so,' Emily answered, staring nervously out the windshield. One hand rested on her pregnant stomach, leaning forward as if to urge the truck to go faster.
Rebecca barely got the truck parked and shut off before Chris threw the passenger door open. He helped Emily out, urging the two girls to hurry as all three of them headed inside. He rushed over to the information desk and found out that Alyssa had been taken up to the twelfth floor. He ushered the twins onto the nearest elevator and pushed the button for the correct floor.
'Connor!' Rebecca shouted, spotting her husband and Murphy pacing the floor as soon as the three of them stepped off the elevator. She rushed into Connor's arms.
'How is she?' she asked anxiously, 'where is she?'
'We donna know,' Connor admitted, 'she's still in surgery.'
Murphy wrapped his arms around Emily and buried his face in her neck, crying.
'She looks so weak…' he sobbed, 'so...'elpless…'
Emily looked over at Connor as she held Murphy, both of them doing their best to console their sobbing spouses.
'What happened, Connor?' she asked, leading them over to the chairs.
Connor sighed, sitting down in another chair and pulling Rebecca into his lap.
''m no' sure…' he said, cradling Rebecca's head to his shoulder, 'all we know is tha' Chris foun' 'er in th' park, an' she was mumblin' sometin' 'bout a guy named Francesco.'
'We're gonna kill de bas'ard,' Murphy stated, clenching his hands into fists, 'jus' as soon as we fin' ou' who 'e is.'
"You won't be doing it alone,' Chris finally spoke up, 'I want a piece of the bastard that did this to her.'
The five of them looked up as a throat was cleared.
Dr. Simon Tam stepped over to the group, rubbing the back of his neck. He looked tired, as if he had been working hard. He held up his hands when all five of them started to talk at once.
'She's being taken into a private room to recover…' he said, 'she's not conscious right now, but you can all go sit with her as soon as they get her settled in. Murphy, I have you listed as her guardian, with your last name.'
Murphy nodded.
'Tha's good, Simon. Tank ye,' he said, ''ow bad is she?'
Simon sighed.
'She has a severe concussion, a fractured cheekbone on the left side, a shattered left hand, three broken ribs on her left side, two broken ribs on her right side, a severely sprained right ankle, and more bruises and cuts all over her body than any of us really want to think about. She was raped, and one of her broken ribs punctured her lung. She's on oxygen and will be for a while.'
Rebecca wiped at her tears, looking up at their friend.
'What about the baby, Simon?' she asked, 'is the baby okay?'
Simon slowly nodded.
'I tried everything, but the damage was too severe.'
He looked up as his nurse, and girlfriend, approached them.
'What is it, Sara Doll?' he asked.
The brunette sighed.
'I just wanted to let you know that the girl is settled into Room 1217,' she said.
Simon nodded. Sara smiled sadly at the MacManus family.
'It's nice to see all of you again,' she said softly, 'I'm just sorry it's under these circumstances.'
'Is she awake?' Connor asked.
Sara shook her head.
'Between the anaesthesia and the trauma, I wouldn't worry if she doesn't wake up for several hours yet…' she whispered.
Simon gave them all an encouraging smile.
'Your young friend is going to be in a lot of emotional and physical pain for a long time after she wakes up, but she's going to be okay. Why don't the five of you go look in on her? Sarah and I have other patients we have to check on, but we'll be back in a little while to see how she's doing.'
SEVERAL HOURS LATER
Alyssa groaned, her hands moving on top of the white blanket that had been tucked in around her. Her eyes fluttered as she slowly started to come around.
"Hey," Murphy spoke softly. He carefully took the hand that wasn't in a cast in his, being cautious of the IV in the back of it.
'Sleepin' Beau'y is finally awake.'
He leaned over and kissed the bandage that was wrapped around her forehead.
Alyssa groaned again, her eyes finally opening. She licked her dry lips, looking around at the five people surrounding the bed she was on. She saw the television sitting on a stand that was hanging from the wall and heard the beeping sounds of some kind of machines.
'What happened?' she mumbled, 'where am I?'
She attempted to sit up.
Rebecca put her hands on Alyssa's shoulders and gently pushed her down.
'Relax, Alyssa. You're safe,' she said, 'you're in the hospital. Simon fixed you up.'
'Ye gonna be jes' fine, Lyssa,' Connor assured her, resting one of his hands lightly on the leg that was closest to him.
Emily patted Alyssa's other leg.
'How much do you remember, sweetie?' she asked.
Alyssa winced as she swallowed.
'I remember going down to the park to walk around and try to...clear my head…'
She shivered lightly, her hand tightening around Murphy's.
'Someone followed me.'
'Aye,' Connor responded, 'do ye know who 'e was? Did ye see 'im a' all?'
Alyssa whimpered, tears sliding down her cheeks as she nodded.
'He…' she whispered, 'he's a man who paid Dad for…'
'Shh…' Rebecca's voice was soothing as she straightened the blanket. She kissed Alyssa's cheek, 'this wasn't the first time he's hurt you, has it?'
Alyssa whimpered again, reaching for Murphy as much as the tubes and wires that had her attached to monitors would allow.
Murphy got up and slid himself carefully onto the bed beside her. He wrapped his arms around her and stroked the part of her hair not covered by the bandage.
'Who is 'e, lass?"
Alyssa shook in Murphy's arms.
'His name is Francesco Clavetti,' she answered, 'he used to...pay...at least once a week. He's always been really rough, but Dad and Salvatore made him regret the one time he got too rough. They got pissed, because I couldn't work for two weeks that time. He never got that rough with me again... until today.'
'We're gonna fin' th' bas'ard. We promise ye, Lyssa,' Connor stated with conviction.
Alyssa peeked over the top of Murphy's arm and attempted a smile.
'I know you will, Connor.'
Her eyes fell on the guy standing at the foot of the bed. He hadn't said anything yet, but she had a feeling that she would recognize his voice if he ever did speak. As he looked into her eyes, she remembered why he seemed so familiar.
'You! You were there...in the park. You took me home.'
Chris nodded, gripping the foot board of the bed.
'I'm glad you're gonna be okay.'
Alyssa clung a little tighter to Murphy.
'Who are you? Why are you here?'
Chris sighed. '
My name is Chris, and I just wanted to make sure that you were okay.'
He turned toward the door, preparing to leave.
'I won't bother you again, Alyssa.'
