Connor expertly swerved the car to a stop and jumped out along with Annabeth. At any other time, he would have gloated on how perfect he controlled the car, but right now, Katie and Travis were in trouble.

The duo ran in through the broken down door and split up. Annabeth went left towards the basement and Connor went straight, towards the living room and kitchen.

He heard footsteps clambering around upstairs and turned to the kitchen stairs instead of the living room.

"Annabeth up here!" he shouted.

"God fucking dammit!" a voice exclaimed from upstairs. Connor's blood froze. That wasn't Travis's voice, nor was it Katie.

He bounded up the stairs two at a time just in time to see someone with a ridiculous beige coat run into his room. Connor followed and saw two things. His brother's body on the floor, his eyes closed, and blood pooling around him, was the first and most important thing. Connor was sure his brother was dead. The other, was the killer trying to jump out the window.

Connor could feel rage and despair cloud his mind. Without thinking, he jumped onto the killer and caught his foot. With incredible anger, he pulled the body fully into the house and slammed him onto the floor.

He punched the guy once, twice, three times until he lost count. All he could think was kill. This son-of-a-bitch was the reason his brother was lying in a pile of his own blood and the only thing Connor saw was red, raw fury.

Travis's killer put his hand up to cover up his bloody face, but Connor punched through him. Both were screaming at each other, the killer pleading mercy, Connor sobbing and screeching incoherently.

Connor felt arms around him, arms that were trying to stop him from killing the man who killed his only brother. He tried to break loose, but the arms were insistent.

Once he was pulled off, he glared through his tears at Annabeth Chase. She was saying words to him, but he couldn't hear her though the sirens outside and the pounding in his ears.

Travis.

Connor scrambled towards his brother and full out bawled. There was a bloody knife next to Travis body, and it was clear that he was stabbed in the arm. Connor put his hand on the fatal wound, but tore his hand away immediately.

There was still blood flowing out of the wound. That had to mean that Travis was alive. Just barely, but that was enough.

"Travis! Travis, you're alive!" Connor shouted.

He heard a strangled laugh and looked down at his brother. His mouth barely moved, but he was able to choke out a "Duh."

First responders ran into the room with their stretchers and Connor immediately stepped away from his brother. He knew the bare minimum of first aid, and he was glad to let those with more extensive knowledge take over.

Travis and Lenard were both wheeled out of the house on stretches, immobile and unconscious, and suddenly it hit Connor.

"Where's Katie? Did you see her?"

Annabeth smiled. "She's at the station. Who do you think called the ambulance?"

Connor breathed a sigh of relief. Thank God, he thought. He dug into his pockets, pulled out the car keys, and stood up. "I'm going to go make sure Travis is okay. See you there?"

"Of course," Annabeth nodded. "I'll get Katie and we'll meet you there."

"Annabeth!" Katie shouted, seeing the blonde woman walk into the police station. She hopped out of her seat and rushed up to her bombarding her with questions. "Where's Travis? Is he okay? Was he hurt? Did you guys arrest Lenard? Where is Travis? Oh, god he's hurt, isn't he? Is he okay?"

Annabeth blinked. "I didn't catch any of that. When Connor and I got to his house, Travis and Lenard were upstairs and Travis was injured. Both Travis and Lenard are on their way to the hospital and Lenard will be arrested the minute he gets released from the hospital. I hope I answered one of your questions."

"He's in the hospital? Will he be okay?" Katie asked.

"I think so."

"Can we go see him?"

"What do you think I'm here for?" Annabeth retorted with a smile.

The two of them got into Travis's car, which he left ant Connor's, and drove over to the hospital ten minutes away. Katie kept looking out the window twiddling with her thumbs.

She felt numb. For two years she was in a relationship with a man who would eventually kill two people and try to kill her. She remembered something she said to Travis when they first met.

"If you think that I will leave everything I've done for my plant business, my friends, my boyfriend, my life!" she had said. The irony of her words almost made her want to laugh. She didn't want to leave her boyfriend, but it turned out that he was the reason she had to leave in the first place.

It occurred to her that when Lenard threatened to break up with her, it wasn't because he didn't like being placed under Katie's mother. It was because if she left, he wouldn't be able to kill her.

What if she hadn't agreed to enter witness protection? Would she already be—

"Katie, we're here," Annabeth announced. Pushing every though of anything and everything that wasn't Travis and if he was alright out of her head, Katie sprinted as fast as she could into the hospital.

At the front desk, an unhappy looking woman glared as Katie ran in. "No running!"

Katie stopped at the desk. "I'm sorry, but can you tell me where to find Travis Stoll?"

"Name?"

"Katie Gardner." The nurse stared at her disapprovingly, but looked down a second later at a piece of paper.

"Very well. He's in room 302."

"Thank you so much!" Katie said and took off at the same speed she came in.

"No running!" the woman shouted again.