I'm curious if anyone noticed the cameo appearance I did in the last chapter...

After what seemed like hours, Darcy finally left. Tara didn't even dignify a response as Darcy nodded at her while walking past. She slipped back into the room to her seat. Bobby looked peaceful. She hoped he hadn't been able to hear whatever sob story Darcy had fed him in her absence. She was idly scrolling through her phone when there was a knock at the door.

"Need some relief?" Jack asked.

"You made it," Tara said, relieved.

"Barely. Big shootout at the cottage. Ed was killed..." Jack trailed off. Tara was shocked. She felt terrible for Pauline.

"Is everyone else...?"

"They're okay. They'll be stopping by eventually. I insisted they get cleaned up and settled before coming here. I just couldn't wait anymore. How's he doing?" Jack took the chair Darcy had been sitting in.

"Same I guess," she replied. "There isn't much activity going on right now. He's just healing."

"We didn't get Jessie," Jack said quietly. "Nobody knows where he disappeared to. We've got eyes out for him, but he could be long gone by now." Tara felt a flicker of fear. She had wanted him arrested for killing that poor girl and hurting Bobby.

"If he's careless, we'll get him," she said. She hoped he was very careless. She wanted to testify and put him away forever.

"Go home," Jack insisted. "Get some proper rest. I'll call if he wakes up."

"Are you sure? I don't mind really," Tara said. Jack gave her a stern look. "Okay, okay, I'm going. Make sure you do call me."

"I just said I would," Jack laughed. "I swear it."

"All right," Tara said, getting up. "I'll be back in the morning."

"Fine with me."

Tara left albeit begrudgingly as she wanted to be there when Bobby woke up. She didn't want him to think she'd abandoned him. All the way home she felt like she was being watched. It was unnerving after a while. Every time she stopped to look, there was nothing there. She chalked it up to lack of sleep and paranoia after the events the night before. She hadn't realized how much she wanted to change and shower after all. Maybe she'd just have a quick nap too before heading back.

John

"Come on, pick up!" John shouted into his phone angrily. It was his twentieth time calling Billy since they'd left the cottage. Jane was driving. "Asshole!"

"He won't answer you," Jane said, "he's too ashamed."

"Well, he needs to get over it," John said, tossing his phone to the backseat. "He's just being stupid now."

"Give him some space. He'll come around," Jane reassured him. She smiled at him. He sighed roughly in return and looked out the window.

"Maddy can't wait to see you," Jane offered. She had texted her daughter before leaving. They were almost home.

"I can't wait to see her too."

They didn't talk much after that. Jane knew he needed to process what had happened, and he appreciated that she respected that.

At the office

"Knew I'd find you here," Lucy said, approaching Myles at his desk. He smiled grimly. He hadn't felt like going home. He wasn't sure why he came here. He wasn't accomplishing anything. Lucy came around to his side and sat on the edge of the desk.

"Talk to me," she said simply. He shook his head.

"I don't know what to say," he replied. He looked at her, resting on his elbows and lacing his fingers together.

"You could tell me how you're doing," Lucy pressed. Myles guffawed.

"How I'm doing? I think you know the answer to that already," he said.

"I still want to hear it from you." He looked at her, exasperated with her pushiness.

"Fine. I'm miserable. I'm angry. I'm guilty. I'm a failure at my job, my life, and my friends," Myles rambled. "I'm a worthless piece of garbage who does not deserve this badge or anything else in this life. You happy now?"

"Yes, cos now I know what I'm working with," Lucy replied lightly. Myles just rolled his eyes, sighing.

"Here we go," he muttered. Lucy chose to ignore that.

"You are most definitely not a failure. If you're a failure, then we all are. Any one of us could have changed how we handled Pauline and Ed, but we didn't. We couldn't! It would have blown our cover."

"It was already blown before we even got there," Myles pointed out.

"Whatever. We didn't know that! Anyway, you need to let it go. You can't keep this locked inside forever. It will destroy you."

"I don't care," Myles said dully.

"Yes, you do," Lucy said back.

"I don't want to care at this moment in time," Myles reiterated.

"Okay. Then don't right now. Just promise me you will care tomorrow."

"I'll try."

"That's the best I can hope for," Lucy said, patting his hands. She moved to leave and was halfway across the room when he stopped her.

"Did you think about it?" he asked. She turned around slowly.

"A little," she said carefully.

"And?"

"I think...I think we need to not rush into things," she said, watching his reaction.

"You're not saying no," he pointed out.

"No, I'm not, but I'm thinking the timing isn't right at this moment..." Lucy trailed off.

"Oh," Myles said. He scratched the back of his head. "I see."

"Don't you agree?"

"I guess, yea," Myles said. "When will it be right?"

"I think we'll both know when it happens," Lucy said. She hated doing this to him, but she honestly wasn't ready to jump back into a relationship with him. She still harbored hurt feelings from his betrayal the first time.

"What if it never happens?" he asked, breaking into her thoughts.

"Let's just spend some more time together for now, okay? As good friends?" Lucy said. He nodded. It was better than nothing he supposed.

Sue

She found Jack at the hospital where she suspected he would be. He looked up when she came in.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, getting up and hugging her.

"I wanted to see you. I knew you'd be here with him," she said, looking over at Bobby. He looked like he was simply asleep not in a state of unconsciousness that he might never surface from.

"I appreciate the company," Jack said, smiling. They sat down, holding hands.

"So how are we going to go about this?" Sue asked.

"Well," Jack started. "I'm going to look into stepping down from my role as your manager and passing it on to D. I think he'd be the better guy to hand it off to."

"Will he want it?" Sue asked. She didn't know if he would.

"I believe he would. It's the only thing I can think of unless you had another idea..." Jack looked at her. Sue was mentally squirming right now. She was thinking about what John had spoken with her about before. "Sue?"

"I was offered a job with Homeland Security," she blurted out. He was stunned. "John thought it would be a good idea, the Thomas Team." She laughed a little. "I mean, it's a crazy idea. I don't know if I could stand working with my brothers every day, but it would be another option for us."

"Is that something you want?" Jack asked. He wasn't sure he liked having her off the team altogether, but he couldn't stand the idea of D saying no and being stuck again either.

"I was thinking of trying it," Sue replied honestly. Jack just nodded slowly. "Are you upset?"

"No!" he said. "No, not at all. I'm just...thinking." He scrunched his brow, showing her. She laughed.

"I'd still see you every day," she pointed out. "Just not at work."

"I know. I think you should do it," he said to her.

"Really?" she asked, surprised.

"Yea. Go for it. I mean, I know they're family and will drive you crazy, but this way it solves our problem, and that is the most important thing on my mind right now."

"If there's a different position that comes up with the FBI, I'd come back," Sue promised.

"I know you would," he said, giving her a crooked smile. "Come on, let's go get something to eat. I hear cafeteria food is good for...well, nothing." Sue laughed. He pulled her up, and she kissed him right there because she could. There was no way of describing the feeling she had with being able to do this simple gesture. They walked hand in hand, both feeling the exact same way.

Billy

He was walking, hands tucked into his pockets. He always enjoyed walking around D.C. at nighttime. People were different it seemed. He felt his phone buzz again. John most likely. He wasn't ready to talk to his big brother just yet. He still had a lot of thinking to do. He wasn't really paying attention to the squeal of tires behind him. He was lost in thought. The impact, however, grabbed his full attention. He didn't really know what was happening. All he felt was pain, pain, pain, the sense of flying, and a very harsh landing. He rolled and flipped a few times before coming to a complete stop, staring at the sky. He heard footsteps approaching, and he already knew it wasn't going to be good. Just like in every action movie he'd seen, he received a kick in his side. Then another.

"Think you can just kill my Gramps and get away with it?" Jessie demanded.

"Didn't...kill...anyone," Billy got out between kicks.

"That's not what I heard. You're a real son of a bitch you know that?"

"I get that...a lot," Billy gasped. Jessie threw his head back laughing.

"You're a funny guy. You know what I do with funny guys?" Jessie asked, leaning down into Billy's face. "I kill them. I use their corpse to send a message to the rest of the bastards involved that I'm coming for them too. You hear me okay?" Jessie slapped Billy's face hard. He was losing consciousness. He wondered if he'd somehow see Bobby in the same place-limbo.

"Glad we understand each other," Jessie was saying. Billy heard the click of the gun being loaded. He barely felt the shot hit him as he was falling deeper into the darkness. He assumed the internal bleeding was killing him first. The tires squealed away, and then there was nothing.

John

"Where are you going?" Jane asked. "Maddy wants to see you..."

"I gotta find Billy," John interrupted her. She looked at him, concerned at his sudden abruptness.

"Why?"

"I just have to. It's a brother thing. I'll be back," he promised, kissing her and then leaving. He knew Maddy would be upset he didn't say hello, but this couldn't wait.
"Charlie?" he said into his phone. "You awake?"

"I am now," Charlie said groggily. "Why are you calling me at this un-Godly hour?"

"Where's Billy?"

"I don't know. He wouldn't talk to me either."

"Come on. You two are tight. I know you know where he is or at least what he does when he's upset. Tell me."

"I swear I don't..."

"Charlie," John stopped him. "If you don't tell me, I'm putting you on desk duty for a whole year."

"You can't do that!" Charlie spluttered.

"Yes, I can. I'm the boss, remember? Where's Billy?"

"Last I knew, he goes for a walk at night."

"Where?"

Charlie gave him the details, and John stepped on the gas. He had a sickly vibe something was wrong. He wasn't sure what, but it was there. He came flying to the park Charlie had described, and got out. He started running in a random direction, but his gut knew it wasn't random.

"Billy!" he shouted, getting a huff from the run. He rounded the corner and saw what his gut had already confirmed. "BILLY!" He sprinted faster, sliding to a stop beside his brother. Billy was covered in blood and not responding.

"Not on my watch you don't," John said. He started CPR. "Come on, man. Come on!" He heard sirens approaching and wondered how it could be when he never called EMS.

"Don't die on me you bastard!" he shouted at Billy. "We're not finished here, and you damn well know it!" He didn't hear the paramedics behind him.

"Sir? Sir! You need to stop now," one was saying. They pulled him off. "Let us take over now, ok?"

"No! Not okay!" John yelled back. "That's my brother!"

"Sir, just step aside with this officer," the other paramedic said, tugging at his arm. John allowed him to direct him to the officer only because he knew he couldn't afford being arrested for assaulting a paramedic right now.

"John," the officer said, recognizing him. "What's happened?"

"I don't know," John replied, watching as the paramedic continued CPR while the other got the stretcher ready. "I found him like this." John caught sight of a flash of light to his left. He spun his head around, catching sight of a man with a camera. "What the hell is that?!"

"Reporter," the officer confirmed. She left to ward the guy off. John was fuming. His brother's crime scene wasn't a damn peep show for someone who just wanted a story. He twisted back to see Billy being loaded into the ambulance. He ran over and hopped in the back with them.

"Sir..."

"I'm family. I'm allowed," John cut him off. They didn't argue. They drove at the speed of light to the nearest hospital. John noticed there was a very faint blip on the screen, showing that Billy was still alive, but he didn't know if it would stay that way. He rested his head in his hands. He was the big brother. He was supposed to protect his siblings from the bad wolves of life, and he had failed. He dreaded calling their parents.