"I'm going out," Jay announced smoothly as he sauntered through the front room.

"Okay," Nate replied, rapidly tapping on his Xbox controller and leaning around his brother to see the TV.

Well, that was easy.

Jay climbed quickly back into his truck and gunned the engine. He peeled out of the driveway and headed over to the big house for the first time since he dropped Zoey off there two weeks before. Alvey was waiting for him in the kitchen when he came in.

"Where is she?" Jay asked, and Alvey clapped a hand on Jay's shoulder.

"Lisa's upstairs with her," he muttered, shaking his head. He threw back a gulp of scotch.

Jay jogged up the flight of stairs. He could hear Lisa talking softly, as though she was trying to calm a scared animal. He followed her voice down the hall to Zoey's room. The overhead light was off, but the warm desk lamp was on, dimly illuminating one corner of the room. Lisa was crouched in the doorway of the bathroom.

"Hey," Jay muttered.

Lisa turned to him and gave a tight smile. "Jay's here," she told Zoey. "You wanna see him?" There was just silence. Lisa turned back to him and motioned him over.

Jay's stomach sank in fear. He didn't want to know what was around that corner. He peeked in the door, thinking maybe Zoey had been drinking again and was puking, but what he saw – he definitely hadn't expected this.

Lisa was on the floor because Zoey was curled up in a ball in the shower. The shower curtain was drawn back and Zee was naked, leaning her head against the tile wall with her knees pulled up to her chest. Jay could tell just from looking at her sides that she'd lost weight since he'd left her here.

"What the fuck happened," Jay breathed, looking at the shell of his little sister.

"Your dad yelled at her at dinner. She's running a low-grade fever… I think she's got mono. But I can't get her out of the shower."

Jay ran a hand over his hair and stepped forward to his sister. This wasn't the first time he'd seen her naked – they were a pretty liberal household when it came to privacy and nudity, not to mention the fact that Jay had literally raised the kid.

"Hey," he began, kneeling down next to the tub. He reached a hand out to run over her hair, but she flinched away before his fingers even got near her. "Okay," Jay murmured, understanding then why Lisa had been using that tone. He held his palms up in front of him. "Okay, Zee. I'm not gonna hurt you, I swear. Just… you're shivering. Aren't you freezing?"

"I tried that," Lisa sighed.

Jay ignored her. He reached behind himself, pulled a towel down from the rack, and stepped into the shower behind his sister. "It's okay," he whispered as she tried to shrink away from him again. "Shh, Zee, it's okay." He draped the towel around her shoulders and then maneuvered around to the front of her to squat. She buried her forehead in her knees, and Jay could see that it was out of fear. "You're not in trouble," Jay promised, and he looked to Lisa, willing her to confirm his words.

"Jay's right," she agreed, her eyes still on Zoey's brother. "Your dad's not angry at you. He's worried about you." It was a lie, but Lisa wished it could be the truth.

About a minute of silence passed. Zoey's shivering slowed under the terry cloth but didn't cease. Jay reached forward to tug the dry edges of the towel around her legs.

"Why was Alvey yelling?" Jay finally asked.

"She's been in her room the whole fucking time she's been here," Lisa began quietly, not taking her gaze off the girl. "She doesn't come out. She won't eat with us, won't eat at all, really. Your dad actually got her to come downstairs for dinner tonight, which was a fucking miracle in itself. But she didn't eat, and she wouldn't talk, and your dad wasn't having it. Like I said, he yelled at her. So she came back up here and got in the shower. That was over an hour ago, and when I asked her through the door if she was okay, and she didn't answer... I didn't know if something bad had happened, so I came in, and I found her like this. The water was really fucking cold, so I turned it off, but she still won't talk, and I can't get her to move. Your dad wanted me to just leave her here, said she'd get out eventually, but I couldn't."

Jay shut his eyes and took a deep breath. Lisa reached out to touch his arm, but he pulled it away. "Why didn't you call me fucking earlier? Like a week and a half ago?" he asked bitterly.

"I don't know," Lisa replied, sounding guilty. "Your dad didn't want me to. He said she was just being a teenager, and I believed him at first."

Jay scoffed. "Right. You know her, Lis. You know she's not like this."

"I thought she was just upset about Nate or embarrassed about the whole alcohol and Valium thing," Lisa confessed. "I guess I was wrong."

"Yeah, no shit," Jay bit back. He sighed and then softened his voice. "Zee, can you stand up?"

His sister remained frozen.

"Look, I know you don't want me to touch you right now, but I gotta get you out of here. You can stand up, or I can pick you up. What do you want to do?"

Zoey raised her head just enough to look at him. She looked exhausted – her eyes were slightly sunken, and purple lines had appeared underneath them. She blinked so slowly that it made Jay's stomach hurt. Her facial expression made the decision for him. "Alright, come on," he murmured.

He leaned forward in the tub and reached just far enough to wrap one arm around Zoey's back and the other under her legs. He lifted her to his chest and slowly stood up. Normally, she would either protest or sling an arm over his shoulders, but she stayed perfectly still. "I'm not gonna hurt you," he reassured her again, so quietly that he was almost inaudible, even in the echoing tile room. He stepped out of the tub and carried Zoey into the main part of her bedroom. He gingerly set her feet on the carpet and kept a tight arm around her waist to keep her from sinking back to the floor.

"I'm gonna change her sheets," Lisa said, and Jay chuckled darkly.

"No, she's coming with me."

"Jay."

"I'm not leaving her. Not again."

Lisa stared at him a moment and then nodded. "Here," she offered, opening a drawer and handing Jay a pair of underwear.

"She'll want pajamas," Jay noted, and Lisa nodded.

"I know."

"Something soft," Jay requested of Lisa as he helped Zoey step into her panties. "You got it, girl," he encouraged Zoey, a gentle smile on his lips. "We're gonna go home, okay? I'm gonna take you home."

Zoey dug her nails into Jay's forearm, right over his tattoo, and he looked up at her face.

"Ow, what? What? You wanna stay here?"

No, she didn't. Zoey didn't want to stay at her dad's for one more second. But going home meant walking through the room where Walker had… No. No. Zoey couldn't go home.

"Here, hold on, hold on," Jay instructed softly. He pulled a worn purple t-shirt over Zoey's head and, ignoring her resistance, tugged her arms through the holes. Then, even though she was far too old, he scooped her up like a child. He lifted her under the arms and fitted her against his front.

She had no idea the impact that the motion of him lifting her would have on her mind and memory, but it really did make her feel like a little kid again. And if Jay was there, if Jay was holding her, that meant she was going to be okay. She was safe and loved and taken care of. No scraped knee or mean girl on the bus mattered anymore. Everything was fine. She shut her eyes and lowered her head onto his shoulder, nuzzling her forehead against his neck.

"There's my girl," he whispered. "It's okay, I'm here now. I've got you. I've got you."

She rested her hands on his shoulders just like she used to. His skin was so cool against hers, and she wanted to melt into him and cry and tell him everything. It was as if all her pain had just disappeared, blown away with the ocean breeze. She was safe now. But before Zoey could make a move, the door creaked.

Zoey jumped. Her father was standing there, eyebrows raised as he looked at his children. Zoey blushed scarlet with embarrassment and slid down out of Jay's grasp. She crossed her arms protectively over her chest and looked down at the carpet.

"What's the verdict?" Alvey asked.

"She's still not talking," Lisa replied. Zoey had forgotten she was even in the room. "But Jay's taking care of her."

"Yeah, I can see that," Alvey remarked sarcastically. "She's not a baby, you know."

"I know," Jay returned easily. "But look at her, Dad. Just…. look at her."

Jay moved to brush some of her hair out of her face so Alvey could see her eyes, but Zoey flinched so hard that even Alvey was paying attention now.

"Zee, I'm not gonna hurt you," Jay whispered. "I promise. I would never hurt you."

Zoey ached inside. She pulled her arms tighter to herself and went to sit on the corner of her bed.

"What's wrong, huh?" Jay asked. "Did something happen?"

Zoey ducked her head and waited for the questions to stop. Jay, of course, wasn't bothered by her silence. He just wanted answers so he could make her feel better. She felt him come closer and crouch down in front of her, and she pulled her legs away from him. He shifted his weight back to give her the illusion of more space between them.

"Zee… I wanna help you. We all do, okay? But we can't do that if we don't know what's going on." He held the back of his hand to her forehead. "Lis is right, you're pretty warm. Do you feel bad? Is that why you don't wanna talk? Your throat hurts?"

Several seconds passed in silence.

"Okay, well. Can you tell me why you don't want to go home?"

Zoey stared hard at the carpet.

"Did something happen there?"

Fear flickered through her eyes.

Jay tilted his head, understanding. "Zee, what happened at home?"

More, longer silence.

"Did… did Nate do something?"

Zoey shook her head, and Alvey exhaled audibly in the doorway.

"You know you can tell me anything, right?" Jay asked. "No matter what."

She remained silent.

"Do you want me to leave?"

Zoey looked up at him with wide eyes and firmly shook her head again.

"Okay, hey. Hey. I'm not going anywhere if you don't want me to," he assured her. "I just don't know what you need right now. I wanna make sure I'm covering all my bases, right?"

Zoey nodded slowly, agreeing. She just wanted to close her eyes and sleep.

"I missed you," Jay stated playfully, tilting his head.

Zoey slowly lifted her right hand and drew an X over the left side of her chest. Jay gave her a smile and made the motion back.

"What's that?" Alvey asked.

Zoey climbed under her covers and propped her pillow up on the wall as Jay explained.

"Means 'I love you.' When she was a kid and I took her to kindergarten, she'd do that after she got out of the car before I drove away. We do it if Nate's asleep, too." He glanced at his sister. "Zee, wait. Your hair."

She turned around so her back was to him, and he grabbed the comb off of her nightstand. He started at the ends and then moved up to the roots, carefully dragging the comb in smooth strokes through her hair. "It's so long now," he observed.

She gave a slight nod and pulled one of her knees to her chest.

"You want a French braid?" he asked, leaning around to see her face.

Zoey shrugged and then nodded.

"I'll give you two," Jay smiled. "How's that sound?"

When she didn't answer, Jay glanced at Lisa and then at Alvey. They were both watching the exchange intently.

Jay parted Zoey's hair in the middle and started plaiting the very top. Alvey was expecting it to be a mess, but the sections were even, and the pattern was damn near perfect. As Jay wove, he spoke. He told her about what she'd missed at the house, what Nate had been up to, and the funny time that Nate had, in his painkiller-induced haze, tried to go for a ride on his bike. Jay claimed he'd had to wrestle Nate off of it and half-carry the confused boy back into the house. He talked about how when the first Wednesday without her came, they hadn't known what to do about dinner. Hadn't even thought about it. So they wound up ordering a pizza, but when it finally got to the house, it was cold. Their lives weren't really that interesting, especially when they were apart, but Jay could always make a mountain out of a molehill when it came to entertaining his kids.

"Hair tie," Jay requested again as he reached the end of the second French braid, and Zoey pulled the second elastic off her wrist and handed it over her shoulder to him. "Thaaank you. Alright, you're done." He gave two quick tugs on the right pigtail.

She turned slightly toward him, nodding her thanks as she situated herself against the wall.

"Are you gonna sleep?" Jay asked.

She nodded again.

"Like that? Is it comfortable?" She ignored him, but he moved over to the side a little bit to make more room for her legs anyway. "Alright. Hey, we'll go to the clinic in the morning, okay?"

Zoey shook her head, exhausted.

"I know you're tired, sweet girl, I know. But we gotta get you better, yeah? They can give you medicine and make it stop hurting."

Zoey swallowed thickly. This wasn't just some sore throat. No one could take her pain away.

"Get some sleep, okay? Lie down. Or – or sit back, I guess. You want me to stay til you fall asleep?"

Zoey shook her head – it could be hours, with the way she'd been sleeping.

"Okay," Jay muttered, trying to hide his worry. He stood up and walked to the doorway to stand with Lisa and his father. "I'll see you in the morning, yeah?"

"Night, Zee," Lisa bid from the doorway.

"Love you," Jay murmured. The door clicked shut behind him.

Across town, Ryan was brushing his teeth with his roommate, Keith. Ryan's eyes wandered away from the mirror and down to the little stuffed animal Keith always seemed to be carrying around.

"Don't stare at the bear," Keith muttered.

"Sorry, bro." The sound of toothbrush bristles scrubbing against teeth filled the air again for a moment, and then Ryan asked, "Do you bring him everywhere with you?"

Keith nodded. "He was a gift from my mother. The only time I didn't have him was when I was locked up."

"Does your mother come to visit you much here?"

"No, she's dead," Keith said easily.

"Oh shit, man, I'm sorry. When did she pass?"

"A couple weeks after she gave me the bear. I was almost 10." Keith's lips turned up slightly at the corners as he remembered her. "She was the best. She was the smartest person I've ever met, and she was only 32, so she was still very pretty. I don't mean pretty just because my mom, but pretty like if you saw her, you'd think, 'that's a pretty lady.'"

"Yeah." Ryan nodded around a mouthful of toothpaste. "That's pretty young, man. Was she ill?"

"No, she was fine" Keith replied. He spat into the sink and turned the water on. "My dad killed her with a hammer when she was asleep and then shot himself in the backyard."

Ryan's eyes widened in horror. He stood stock still, stunned, and stared at his roommate.

Keith sighed and turned to Ryan. "I'm gonna go to the kitchen and look for some yogurt. If I find some do you want any?"

"Um, no," Ryan mumbled, still shocked. "No, I'm great, thanks."

"Okay," Keith replied, and he disappeared out of the bathroom.

Ryan stared at his reflection in the mirror. Shit. Things with Keith made a lot more sense.

At Navy Street, Nate had found himself a spot on his dad's couch. He was messing with the clunky video camera Alvey had handed him a few minutes prior and waiting for instructions.

Alvey stopped scribbling, set down his pen, and limped across the room to the mini fridge.

"What happened to your leg?" Nate inquired curiously.

Alvey huffed. "I hurt it training," he explained, pulling a water bottle out. He looked pointedly over at Nate as he hobbled back to his desk. "And don't say anything smart." He settled back into his desk chair."What about you? How's rehab going?"

"It's good," Nate answered absentmindedly, not looking up from the camera.

"Yeah? You like your PT?"

"Yeah, she seems alright."

"She," Alvey grinned mischievously. "What's her name?"

"Tatiana," Nate replied.

"Come on," Alvey chuckled. "That's her real name?"

"Uh, yeah. I guess."

"Is Tatiana a hooker?"

Nate shook his head at his father as he laughed. "I don't understand how you get 'hooker' from that name."

"You can get 'hooker' from anything, son. Ta-ti-ana," he repeated slowly, clicking his pen. "Doesn't matter. As long as she's taking care of you. I need you healthy and training as soon as possible."

"Yeah, I know," Nate agreed. He cleared his throat. "Hey how's, um. How's Zebra?" Nate asked. It was the first time he'd mentioned her to Alvey since she'd moved back in with him two weeks before.

Alvey took a moment to form his answer. "She's… I don't know. I don't know."

"Well, what does that mean?" Nate asked sharply.

"She's just... not really acting like herself."

"Jay said she was drinking," Nate prompted.

"Just the one night. She hasn't done it since."

"Well, how come she won't pick up the phone when I call? She won't even answer my texts."

"She's not feeling well," Alvey replied, messing with the papers on his desk. "Look, your brother's taking care of her."

"Jay?" Nate asked, eyebrows raised.

"No, your other brother," Alvey deadpanned. "Yes, Jay."

"How? He hasn't even seen her."

"He spent the night last night. He's still at my place."

"It's that bad?" Nate asked quietly.

Alvey didn't reply.

"Dad."

The older man looked up at his favorite child.

"What's wrong with her?"

Alvey sighed and shook his head. "We don't know, son. Lisa thinks she has mono. She's been running a fever, I guess. Jay's gonna take her to a doctor today."

"This isn't that kind of problem," Nate muttered, looking down at his sneakers. "I can feel it, okay? I know you think it's bullshit, but I've felt her wake up in the middle of the night, and I know this isn't something medicine and a fucking pat on the back will fix. Somebody needs to fucking do something, cause this is only gonna get worse."

"We're working on it," Alvey assured quietly, surprised by his son's input. That was the most he'd heard Nate speak at once in several weeks. "And look. I may not have believed you before, but after Zoey started screaming in the middle of the gym and then directed me to the exact spot where you were bleeding out on the pavement… I believe you now."

Nate was a little taken aback at his father's account. Jay had definitely downplayed what had happened when Nate had asked him about it, then. There was no screaming in the gym in Jay's version of the story, and Dad wouldn't exaggerate about that.

Alvey settled back in his chair. "How's the camera?" he asked.

"Camera's a piece of shit," Nate answered, his voice still a little hard. He was thankful for the change of subject, though. "I could get a better image on my phone. We should just use that."

"We're not using your phone."

"Why not?"

"Because your phone is a pubic hair away from the Internet, and I can't have that video leaking."

Nate gave a small smile at his father's choice of words.

"We're using the camera," Alvey demanded.

Nate pressed the On button, and the small ding it made brought Nate back to birthday parties and holidays when his father and siblings all lived in one house. It reminded him of candy-filled piñatas and ice cubes clinking in lemonade and the smell of freshly mowed grass. His birthday was in late May and Zoey's was the first day of August, and the guys from the gym used to come down for barbecues, fireworks, pool days, and the Fourth of July, so it always seemed to be summer when the old video camera was pulled out. Nate ached momentarily for a night in the pool with sparklers and bang snaps.

He swallowed back the nostalgia before he spoke. "Camera it is."

Ryan was in the van heading to work when all of a sudden, the van was stopping and the big guy with the dominoes tattooed on his arm was sliding the door open. "Wheeler! Get out."

Ryan moved to the door and stepped out onto Navy Street. Alvey was standing in front of the gym waiting for him. Ryan watched the van pull away.

"What are we doing?" Ryan asked, confused.

"I got a locker set up for you. Go get changed," Alvey instructed, slinging his arm around Ryan's shoulders.

"No, no, Dantzler's gonna write me up, man," Ryan muttered urgently.

"Dantzler is taken care of, my friend," Alvey grinned. "Now, go get changed, and let's get ready to crank some nuts."

Nate was sitting in a chair, video camera in hand, talking to Lisa. The two were bantering lightly back and forth and smiling, but the happy expression slid right off Lisa's face when the two men walked into the gym.

"Bye, Nate," Lisa said, giving his good knee a light pat.

"See ya," he replied. He looked a little put out as she walked away.

She gave Ryan a cold stare as she went past him.

"Where are you going?" Alvey asked her, snagging her by the arm.

"You said you wanted the gym closed," she answered with a hint of defiance.

"Yeah, but not you."

Ryan walked over to Nate and the two fighters shook hands as they both pretended to ignore the hushed conversation happening next to them.

"Alvey, I'm not mad, I'm just. I don't need to be around for this." She gave him a quick kiss on the lips and headed out the door.

"Ay, where's my kid?" he called after her.

Nate tried to act like his ears didn't perk up at that.

"Jay's got her," Lisa responded over her shoulder. "They went to the appointment."

"Good, good. I'll see you later?" Alvey asked.

"Eventually," she replied flippantly as she disappeared from view.

"I'm gonna see you later." Alvey turned to Ryan and shifted gears. "Alright, Wheeler, let's go."

Ryan went into the locker room and his eyes widened when he noticed that Alvey had taped 'Wheeler' onto Ryan's old locker. He stopped a few feet away and stared at it as if mentally preparing himself to step back into his old life. Ryan continued forward and tried to open the locker, but it stuck. The memories poured back in, and Ryan had to suppress a smile. He punched the top of the locker door, and it opened in one try.

True to his word, Alvey had left tape, a roll of pre-wrap, a pair of gloves, and some new shorts. Ryan peeled off his jeans and shorts, slid on the new shorts, and set to work wrapping his hands. When that was done, the fighter stared at his reflection in the foggy mirror. It was unbelievable how much he looked like his old self. Ryan shook himself out, shadow boxed a little, and then went back out to the oldest and youngest Kulina men.

As usual, Alvey wasted no time. He had Ryan in the cage right away and stared boxing with him while Nate filmed. Of course, Alvey wanted his old prodigy put fully to the test, so he didn't give him an inch. Ryan was pretty sure that Alvey didn't even know what 'going easy' was.

In less than two minutes, blood from Ryan's forehead was trickling down his right cheek. He could feel several bruises forming, but he was more focused on proving himself to Alvey.

"Wake up. Come on, move your head. Come on, move your head, move your head. Ay, watch my foot. Yep." Both men grunted as Ryan smashed into Alvey on the cage wall. "Ryan, make me post down. Where's your head? Where's your head? Come on! Where's your fucking – come on, come on." Alvey put Ryan in a headlock. "Breathe. Relax. Breathe." Alvey let go of Ryan when the buzzer sounded.

"Fuck!" Ryan exploded.

Nate looked nervously at his father, subtly gesturing to the camera.

"Shut it off," Alvey murmured to Nate.

"I'm fucking exhausted, man. I got no flexibility. I got no flow at all, man! You've got fucking training wheels on me, and I still can't keep up!"

"Oh, come on, man," Alvey replied. "You've been away from the game for five years."

"Bullshit! Bullshit, Alvey! You're fucking worried, too! You think I don't notice why the gym is empty?" Ryan sighed. "You don't even want Nate to film me cause I fucking suck so much."

"Trust the process," Alvey said loudly.

"It's a waste of time," Ryan bit back.

"Trust the process," Alvey insisted.

"It's a waste of time!"

Silence fell as the two men caught their breath.

"Dude, I don't fucking have it anymore, man," Ryan chuckled darkly.

"This is ALL you got."

Ryan tried to laugh.

"This is all you got," Alvey repeated, quietly this time. "We got a long way to go."