The pizza arrived soon after and they all ate in relative silence finding it hard not to bring up a subject that didn't upset anyone. After eating a couple slices of pizza Patrick went upstairs to check on Jessie. Grace told him it would be a little longer before she would wake up but it didn't matter. He just wanted to see her. To be close to her and make sure she was okay.

Even in the low light of her bedside table lamp, he could see how pale she was. He sat down on the bed next to her taking her hand in his. "I'm sorry...I'm so sorry." He told her as his tears fell. He reached up with his other hand and ran his fingers through her hair while he sobbed quietly.

"Pat, you okay?" Robert asked from Jessie's doorway.

Patrick looked startled for a moment. He wiped at his eyes with the palm of his hand. "I'm fine, Bobby."

"Well, you don't look it." He moved closer. "You've been up here for almost a half hour."

"A half hour? I must have lost track of time."

"It's okay...you're exhausted." Robert nodded towards the other side of Jessie's bed. "Why don't you get some sleep too."

"No, I'm fine...actually I'm still kind of hungry."

"There's plenty of pizza left...and I don't know about you but I could use a drink."

Patrick smiled at the understatement. "Okay." He was still holding Jessie's hand, he brought it up to his lips and kissed the top of it softly, then he leaned down and kissed her forehead. "I love you, kiddo. Sleep as long as you need to."

Having finished eating Bailey, Sam, Grace, George, and John were sitting around the coffee table looking over the evidence the CSU tech had brought earlier. John was looking at the crime scene photos and hadn't noticed Patrick and Robert coming back from upstairs. When Bailey cleared his throat he looked up at him noticing his sideways glance towards his father and Robert. He picked up the photos and slid them back into the envelope.

"Those are the pictures from Sal's place, right?" Patrick asked him.

John nodded. He cursed silently knowing what was coming next.

"I want to see them."

John cringed and Bailey spoke up. "I don't think that's a very good idea. You're too close and you're obviously upset."

"Bailey's right. Don't do that to yourself, Pat."

"How could you say that, Bobby, after what Jessie has been through? She saw it first hand...but I shouldn't see the pictures? I need to see what happened. I want to know what shook her up so badly. I want to see what she saw. How can I help her through it if I don't see for myself?"

"You can help by just being there for-"

"It's not enough, Bobby." He looked at Bailey. "I want to see those photos."

Bailey looked at Sam for help. She gave it a try.

"Patrick, you don't need to see those pictures to help Jessie...all you have to do is talk to her...talk her through it...make sure she doesn't bottle everything up. Isn't knowing her reaction to what happened enough?"

"Look, Jessie is not the only reason I need to see the pictures. I've known Sal for over twenty years, we were friends...hell, we were brothers. I need to see what he went through. He died because of me...I owe it to him to see how it happened. He would've done the same for me." Patrick went to the couch and sat down next to John. "Please, give me the photos."

John knew it was a mistake, but he also knew Patrick wasn't going to take 'no' for an answer. He gave it one more try. "Dad, please don't."

A warm feeling started on his chest and spread throughout his body when John called him 'Dad'. He wanted to hug him and forget about the pictures but he couldn't. He had to see them...for Jessie and for Sal. "John..."

John handed them to him and sat back on the couch. He shook his head pinching the bridge of his nose. 'Not good.' He thought to himself.

Patrick made it through the first two photos before he lost it. The third one was a close-up, full view, photo of Sal. He saw the lifeless eyes, the gaping wounds, the oozing shot-gun blast, and the destroyed feet. Staring at it, Bailey's words kept playing over and over in his head 'They're going to try to kill you all.' He stopped seeing Sal in the picture. He saw Robert...John...and God help him, he saw Jessie. That was it. Something broke inside him. He dropped the photos, his body shaking from the gut-wrenching sobs that escaped him. "Jessie, that could be Jessie." He managed to get out before he lost himself in his grief.

John put an arm around him pulling him close. He leaned towards him so his forehead rested on the side of Patrick's head. "That can't be Jessie," He told him gently. "Because I'm not going to let anything happen to her...not to you or Robert either."

Jessie opened her eyes and squinted against the semi-darkness. She tried to focus. First her eyes then, her thoughts. She was warm and in her own bed but she felt weird. Disoriented. Weak. She sat up and felt the protest from her stomach that the movement caused. It felt like she had been doing crunches all day. She looked over at her alarm clock. It was 7:45 p.m. She'd been back in Boston for over five hours. 'What the hell?' She thought. She remembered the hotel in Georgia. She remembered the flight home. She remembered walking into the penthouse with Patrick. He had wanted her to stay home but she was going to the tracks with Sal. Sal. It was like running into a brick wall. All at once she was bombarded with the images of what they had done to him. She felt cold. John. John had held her and made her forget, even if it was just for a minute.

She jumped out of bed and ran from her room to the stairs. Concentrating on not falling down them, she ran down the stairs not looking up until she reached the bottom. When she did look up she froze. Patrick was sitting in between John and Robert, his head on Robert's shoulder, sobbing...hard.

They all heard her coming down the stairs, well all but Patrick, and they looked at one another, each wondering what was going to happen next. When she stopped at the bottom of the stairs, looking like a deer caught in headlights, Bailey stepped towards her.

"Patrick's okay...he's just upset."

Jessie didn't look at him, she looked at the pictures that were lying on the coffee table in front of Patrick. Even from where she was she could see what they were pictures of, she looked away from them quickly. "He saw...he saw what happened to...to Sal." It hurt to say his name and the image that came with it made her shiver.

"Yes." Bailey moved closer and Jessie backed away. He looked at John and motioned, with his eyes, towards Jessie.

"Go on," Robert told him. "I have Patrick."

Patrick didn't even notice when John let him go. He wasn't aware of anything. He was too lost in his own hurt.

"Hey," John stood up and walked towards her. "He'll be fine in a little while...he just has to get it all out right now. You okay?"

"He saw..."

"I know...but he'll be alright. I promise."

"I can't help him...can I?"

"No, Jess, not right now."

She looked over at Grace. "You'll take care of him, won't you? You'll make sure he's okay?"

Grace understood that she was worried about his physical well-being. "Of course I will, honey. Do you feel alright?"

She didn't, but it was nothing like what she felt at Sal's. "Just tired. I'm gonna go back to my room." Looking back at Patrick she quickly turned and ran up the stairs.

John followed.

Tbc...