Abby groaned as she opened her eyes, a bright light burning her vision as she winced in pain. Quickly running through a mental self-check, she realized she must have hit her head on the corner of the bed. Turning her head to the side, she frowned for a moment at the sight of a dark red stain on the wood floor. In her disoriented state, it took her a moment to focus her eyes and see the scene in front of her.

"Oh my God," she muttered in shock, ignoring the pain as she scrambled to her knees. "Brody!"

Quickly grabbing the shirt he'd discarded on the floor earlier, Abby frantically pressed it to his chest. "Oh God, Brody…open your eyes," she pleaded, not even looking up as the apartment door crashed open and Matt and a team of agents poured inside.

"Abby!" Matt shouted as he rushed to her side. "Are you alright?"

Abby nodded quickly. "Call an ambulance, now!"

"It's already on its way," Matt assured her, trying to take her place over his wound as she shook him off.

"I'm staying, Matt," she said determinedly. "Back off."

Matt shook his head and looked around, his gaze settling on the shattered window a few feet away. "You're not safe here, Abby," he pointed out.

"You think I give a damn about that right now?" Abby shouted angrily. "I'm not leaving him!"

Feeling a slight movement beneath her hands, Abby looked down just as Brody's eyelids fluttered open.

"Go…" he gasped out. "'S not…not safe…"

Abby shook her head. "You're not the only stubborn one in this relationship. I'm not leaving you like this."

"Abs…please…"

"Just hang on," Abby pleaded. "Help's on its way."

Richie's heart was racing as he and Steve practically sprinted from his patrol car toward the crowd gathered at the front of Brody's apartment building. Pushing their way through the onlookers, they made it to the door just in time for it to swing open as the paramedics wheeled a stretcher out toward a waiting ambulance.

"Brody!" Richie exclaimed in shock, pushing his way past a few remaining onlookers to get to the stretcher.

"Officer, I need you to step back," one of the paramedics instructed impatiently.

"That's my partner," Richie said frantically.

The paramedic hesitated, staring at Richie as though he were sizing him up, before nodding and stepping to the side so Richie could approach the stretcher.

"Brody?" Richie's voice was shaky as he put his hand on his friend's shoulder.

"Richie…" Brody struggled to get the word out. "Abby…"

Richie shook his head. "I'm not mad, Brody. Not anymore. Just…"

"No…Abby's…" Brody tried to take another deep breath as he fought to get his message across. "Upstairs…not safe…"

"Abby's here?" Richie asked in surprise.

Brody nodded slowly, wincing in pain at the movement.

"We have to move him now," the paramedic insisted, starting to roll the stretcher toward the ambulance.

Richie watched as they opened the doors to the ambulance, and glanced anxiously back and forth between the stretcher and the apartment building behind them.

"Go," Steve said knowingly, startling Richie slightly. He'd almost forgotten that his brother had even come with him.

"What?"

"Go with Brody," Steve instructed. "I'll take care of Abby."

"You're sure?"

"Go," Steve repeated. "Call me as soon as you know anything."

"We need to get you back to the safe house," Matt said, taking Abby's elbow to lead her to the door after the paramedics had taken Brody out.

"That's the only intelligent thing I've heard out of your mouth all day." Jen's clear, angry voice echoed in the quiet apartment as she stepped through the doorway and looked around.

"Jen…" Matt said, a clear warning tone in his voice.

"I'll deal with you later," Jen interrupted angrily. "Abby, let's go. Now."

Abby shook her head. "I'm not going back."

"Don't be absurd, of course you're coming back. You're emotional, I understand that, but I'm not negotiating your safety, Abby. You're coming back to the safe house."

"No, Jen." Abby shook her elbow out of Matt's grasp. "I'm done."

"Abby, don't be irrational here," Jen said. "In less than forty-eight hours, you'll be on the stand testifying against Luis Mariano. You need to be at the safe house. I promise you that you'll be safe there."

As Abby stared at her handler, she felt something inside of her snap. "You promise me? What, you mean like how you promised that my family would be safe? Because you did promise that Jen. Or have you forgotten that?"

"Abby…"

"No, don't defend her, Matt," Abby snapped. "I don't care how good you think she is at her job. When I agreed to be a part of this, you knew that my biggest concern was making sure no one I loved got hurt. You both swore to me that that wasn't going to happen. You swore that my family would be safe."

"No, Abby, we didn't," Jen said. "If that's what you heard, I'm sorry for that. But all I promised you was that historically, the Marianos have not gone after informants' families."

"Yeah, well, that didn't stand up tonight, did it?"

"Technically, it did," Jen said. "From what I understand, the shooter wasn't aiming for John Brody. He was aiming for you."

Abby shook her head angrily. "I can't do this, Jen."

"Abby, you can't back out now," Jen insisted. "After everything you've put in, all the work, all the hours, all the years…you can't walk away now."

"I'll still testify at the trial, you don't have to worry about that. But I can't leave my family, I just can't."

"Abby, you're being completely irrational," Jen snapped impatiently.

"I don't expect you to understand, Jen, and I don't really care if you do. I'm done."

Abby turned away and quickly headed toward the door, nearly running straight into Steve as he entered the apartment.

"Abby," Steve breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of his sister, but his voice still echoes his concern. "Are you alright?"

Abby shook her head as she hugged her brother. "Take me home, Steve."

Abby glanced around anxiously as she stepped out of Steve's patrol car in front of her parents' house. Before she'd even had a chance to shut the door, Steve was at her side, his arm around her waist as he quickly ushered her off the sidewalk and toward the front door.

"God, I missed this place," Abby muttered softly, leaning into him.

"Yeah, well, everyone missed you here."

Abby nodded, smiling in relief as the front door opened and her mother appeared on the front porch.

"Oh, Abby," Sheila sighed, rushing down the front steps and wrapping her arms around her daughter.

Abby slowly relaxed into her mother's arms, the tears welling up in her eyes as she held her tightly. Glancing over her mother's shoulder, she smiled wearily as she saw her father and Donnie coming through the front door to join them. She sighed as she let her head come to rest on Sheila's shoulder. It never ceased to amaze her that no matter how bad life got, this always felt right. After five months away, she was finally home.