Eames was pacing the surgical waiting room as Logan and Barek watched. Neither of them knew what to say, so they opted for silence. When the captain arrived, Logan saw him first, saw the dark and angry look on his face and said, "Oh, shit."

Barek and Eames looked toward the door. Deakins approached the three detectives. "What the hell is going on?"

They looked at one another, not quite sure what to say or who should say it. The captain waited, not patiently. Finally Eames said, "It's not their faults. It's mine."

"You shot your partner?"

"No, of course not. His brother shot him."

"The same brother who filed the police brutality report against the two of you? The one who kidnapped you?"

"Bobby only has one brother."

"And again you two called Logan."

"Hey," Logan objected. "It's not like they grabbed a rookie from the Academy or some yahoo off the street."

"No," Barek answered. "They grabbed a yahoo from the squad."

Deakins was still angry. "So what happened tonight? How did one of my detectives get shot and only Logan and Barek showed up at the scene?"

"I didn't call it in as an 'officer needs assistance' or an 'officer down' call.I called Mike as soon as Bill showed up."

Deakins threw his hands up in the air. "What the hell..."

"Captain, this wasn't a case. This was personal. We did not want to bring the whole department in on it."

"And now your partner may die. Happy?"

Eames looked like he had physically struck her, and he immediately felt bad. "Alex...I'm sorry. I didn't mean that."

She shook her head. "But you're right. I...should never have listened to him. I should have let you know what was going on."

She turned and walked off. Logan looked from Deakins to Barek and walked over to Eames, sliding an arm over her shoulders and dipping his head toward hers. "Hey, don't do this to yourself. Wait until he gets back on his feet and give him what for, but don't take this on your shoulders. I'm just as guilty of doing it his way as you are. Ok?"

She looked at him. "Why did you do it his way, Mike?"

"Because he made sense to me."

She nodded. "He made sense to me, too. And I'm going to kick his ass for manipulating us like that."

Logan laughed softly. "I'm sure he'll look forward to that."

"Alex..."

She turned to look at Deakins. "He broke into the apartment during the night," she said. "And he came back to get what he wanted."

"What did he want? Was it worth all this just to keep something from him?"

"Bobby thought so."

"So what did he want?"

"Me, for one. And that just makes me sick to my stomach. And he wanted to know where their mother is. Bobby was protecting both of us."

Deakins sighed heavily. "I wish I had known he was a real threat. How badly hurtwas Goren?"

She shook her head. "I don't know. He was shot in the side, and there was a lot of blood. He didn't stay conscious long. They got both of them right to surgery as soon as they stabilized them in the ER. Then they treated Mike and we came up here to wait."

Deakins looked at Logan. "What happened to you?"

"Flesh wound in the arm. It's nothing. They put a bandaid on it and I'm good to go."

"So this mutt shot two of my detectives. What happened to him?"

Logan shrugged. "We heard the first shot and kicked in the door. He started shooting at us and we shot back. He took one in the chest and one in the gut."

"Which one of you hit him?"

Barek answered, "We both did."

Deakins rubbed his forehead. "I can't wait to see the reports on these. Where are your guns?"

"Eames has them."

She just nodded. "They're down in the glove box of the car."

Eames sat down, burying her face in her hands. Deakins sat beside her. "Why didn't you call me?" he asked quietly.

She took a deep, unsteady breath. "You know how he is. This was about his family, his past. He would never have even brought me into it if his brother hadn't."

"Why did he call Logan?"

"He trusts Mike. And Mike came right over, no questions asked. He drove him all over after Bill and never complained. He helped him keep himself in check when he had no idea what was going on when Bill had me. When I called him, he was on his way before he had even hung up the phone. That's loyalty, and you know what that means to Bobby. This wasn't a case and had nothing to do with the job. There was no reason to involve you or anyone else. Mike was brought in as a friend, not a fellow officer."

"And you?"

How to explain that... "I'm his partner. I am important to him. Bobby's feelings for me are complicated and his brother...misinterpreted things. He thought he could use me effectively against Bobby. He was right, but for the wrong reasons."

Deakins nodded. He could accept that. He nodded at her clothes. "You weren't hurt, were you?"

She looked down, noticing for the first time the blood that covered her clothes. She shook her head. "It's not my blood. I tried to control his bleeding. Bill never knew I was there. He showed up at the door and I hid in the bedroom and called Logan."

"He wasn't able to talk his brother down?"

"I'm not sure he even tried. It's...complicated."

He squeezed her shoulder. "Look, I have to get back. IAB is having a fit and I'd better deal with them so things don't come down on the four of you. I'll be back later."

She nodded and watched him stop to talk briefly with Logan and Barek and then leave.

They came over to her, each sitting on either side of her. Barek asked, "Is there anything we can do? You want something to eat or some coffee?"

She shook her head. "No, thanks. I appreciate you waiting here with me." She reached out and touched Logan's arm, where the sleeve of his dark jacket was bloody. "I'm sorry, Mike."

"Don't be. He got a helluva a lot worse than he gave."

And so they waited.

-------------------------------------------------------

Logan leafed through a magazine he had no interest in and dropped it on the table in front of him. Barek watched him. "What's the matter, Mike? Not interested in how to make your man happy in bed?"

Logan frowned. "What?"

She nodded at the magazine. "You don't strike me as a Cosmo type, but..."

He looked at the magazine for a second before it registered..."Very funny, Barek. Find me a Guns and Ammo or a Playboy and maybe..."

"Maybe you'll read the articles? Gotcha."

He watched her walk across the room toward the fish tank on the far side. "Ha ha. What makes you think I read the articles?"

She looked over her shoulder at him and smiled. He was impossible. Eames had finally succumbed to her exhaustion and was sleeping uneasily in a corner of the room. Logan kept an eye on her as he wandered around the room, looking for some way to keep busy. He hated waiting and he hated hospitals, and waiting in a hospital made him edgy and uptight.

"Excuse me?"

He turned to face the surgeon who'd come into the room. "Which patient are you here with?"

"Goren."

He nodded. "Which one?'

"Robert."

"Ok, things got a little confused in the ER. They're brothers, right?"

"Yeah."

"Which one is Robert?"

"The younger one, the cop. Shot in the side. His brother took it in the chest and abdomen."

Eames and Barek joined them as he wrote down what Logan had told him. "Ok. They're both still in surgery."

Eames was almost afraid to ask. "How is Bobby?"

"They're both...critical. The first brother that arrived..."

"That was Bobby."

"He's doing a little better than his brother. Bullet nicked the renal vein and he's lost a lot of blood, but he's stable. I'll let you know more when I know more."

They watched him leave. "I don't feel any better," Eames muttered.

Logan slid his arm around her shoulders. She turned toward him and let him hold her. Barek laid a hand on her shoulder and squeezed. She leaned closer. "He'll be all right, Alex."

"Sure he will," Logan agreed. "He's not gonna leave you, Alex. Isn't that what all this has been about? He isn't gonna let his brother win."

She stepped from his arms with a small smile and walked across the room to a window, where she wrapped her arms around herself and looked out into the twilight. Logan sighed and said softly, "I don't know what to do."

Barek smiled at him. "You've done everything you can. We both have. It's all up to him now. The best thing for her will be to hear he's going to be okay."

-----------------------------------------------

The sun had long set when another surgeon came to the waiting room. There were several people scattered about the room, all of them looking at him expectantly. He said, "Who's here with the two brothers?"

"We are," Logan replied as the three of them approached him. He sat down, waiting until Eames and Barek had seated themselves across from him. Logan stood by Eames. The surgeon's face was solemn. "We lost one of them about a half hour ago. I'm sorry."

Eames looked at him in horror, afraid to ask which one. So Logan asked, "Which brother was it?"

"The older one. His chest trauma was too extensive."

Eames dropped back against the chair in relief. "How is Bobby doing?"

"He's been transferred to the ICU. The bullet lodged in his spine. We were able to remove it but until he wakes up we cannot assess the extent of the damage."

Logan frowned. "What does that mean?"

"It means we don't know how bad it is. There's a chance he may not walk again. We have to wait and see."

Eames looked at Logan, then at Barek. She had no idea how to react to that. "Can we see him?"

The surgeon nodded. "He's not awake, and we haven't extubated him yet, so prepare yourselves for that. Come with me."

Logan squeezed her arm and leaned toward her. "He's tough, Alex. Don't worry until you know there's something to worry about."

She looked at him as they headed for the door after the doctor. "Mike, if he can't walk..."

"Don't jump the gun," Barek warned. "Wait and see how he does."

'He may not walk again...' The words echoed in her mind, bouncing around and gripping her in a vice of fear unlike any she had ever experienced. She had no idea how she was supposed to feel about this, and she was terrified for him...and for herself.