A/N: Update! Thank you for the reviews, y'all! That means, Chloe, Freckles929, and odeepblue! Love you guys!

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Chapter 21: Escape Routes & Blaze

Sara's POV:

"Brooklyn Marie Waters, what in the Hell happened to you? You and Taj both look like you got beaten down by a gang of thugs!" I exclaimed to the woman lay there in the hospital bed.

"Just let it go, Sara." Forever the ornery person she is, Brooke crossed her arms and stared away. "We're fine."

"Yeah Brooke. Sitting in a hospital bed and looking like you are right now really spells out 'fine' in my book too." I remarked sarcastically. "Taj won't speak, so I'm counting on you to tell me the truth. Brooke, I've been your sister since you were five... You can trust me with whatever it is that's going on in your life right now. I can help you."

"Help? Who said anything about help?" Brooke made the 'What the Hell are you talking about' face toward me with her eyebrows bunched together. "I'm not in a situation that requires any help, Sar. So will you please put your little CSI instincts on pause until you get back to work? Damn."

"Could you two please just stop fighting already? It's giving me a headache!" Jay signed from his seat on the couch. "Brooke's right Sara... You do need to lay off the CSI part of you. Brooke is not in any kind of trouble... Or at least the kind of trouble you're accusing her off. And trust me, I know what you're thinking."

"Jay, I'm just concerned." I don't know how many times more I could say that. "We're a family, and... We're supposed to protect and help each other."

"But Sara... We're not in a position where we need help." Jay replied in sign. "Would I lie to you?"

The fact that Jason was the one inquiring my trust now had me believing everything was all right. But a look back at Brooke's mangled and bruised face jarred my emotions as I thought once again of all the positions she could be in right now. Abusive relationships, gang violence, repercussions of getting out of a gang... They flowed through my mind like words flow out of a freestyler's mouth.

"Sara... Don't stand there looking like you're tryna solve the world's problems..." Brooke said softly with compassion in her tone. "This is me. And this is you. There ain't a damn thing different about us now that there was back then. So that means, if I ever needed anything – any help – I would come to you in a heartbeat. So..." Brooke held in a breath, promptly letting it out with the rise and fall of her shoulders. "You don't have to worry."

Realizing the sincerity of her words, or what I hoped to be sincerity, I started to tell her that I had to be on my way, as I was on duty right now technically. With a sentiment of goodbyes accompanied with hugs, Jay and I left the room and met up with a very horror struck Taj back out in the hallway.

"What's wrong with you? Ghosts don't exist Taj." I teased him, tapping him on the shoulder.

"Ha. Ha. Very funny." Taj was hasty to regain his posture for a quick moment before turning back into a jittery mess as he glanced up and down the hallways. "I'll be right back."

Disappearing into the room, I arched an eyebrow at him as I decided to wait for him. Taj sure was a strange guy at times...

So wasn't BJ... My conscience spoke softly.

A wave of sadness filled me as I pondered how I was going to break this news to Taj. He couldn't walk around his entire life thinking BJ was still alive. I know people say it's better to live in hope than despair, but I owed Taj just as much to be the one to tell him. But, when was the right time to tell someone that someone they loved was laying on a cold slab in a morgue at the place you work?

Thankful for every distraction I could get, I had to admit this one left me confused. Two uniformed officers came marching through the halls, a piece of paper in their hands searching for a certain room number. I wanted to live in the oblivious bliss of not thinking that the cops were searching for a certain bi-colored African-American woman by the name of Brooke Waters, but when the officers stopped at the sight of me and the room number next to the door, my fears were confirmed.

"Officer Carlson. Officer Johnson..." I greeted, knowing both officers only formally. "Who are you looking for?"

"Hey Sara. A... Brooke Water?" Carlson read off of the paper he held. "Wanted for questioning." A beat passed before he spoke his mind. "What are you doing here visiting a witness? You're not working the case."

Please Brooke... If this is anything serious, you'll be in more trouble than just with the law.

Brooke's POV:

"What! Oh Hell no!"

"Damn Brooke, you've got yourself in some serious trouble now." Taj commented, pacing about the sterile hospital room. "How are you going to get outta here? Jump?"

My eyes shot up from the place in my hands were they resided, now gleaming with mischievous intent and resolve. Knowing that his harmless comment had sparked an idea in my corrupt mind, Taj's facial expression took on a very apprehensive tone to it. "Brooke, you have gotta be kidding me."

"Hey Sara. A... Brooke Waters?" A voice greeted my sister from just outside the door.

"C'mon Taj. I can't get locked up. I got too many things to get done instead of bustin' heads with the scum of the Earth in jail." I pleaded, grabbing my dirty clothes beside me to swap for this rag of a gown.

Putting his back to me for privacy sake, I rushed to relieve myself of the hospital gown to put on my normal clothes, in all of their bloody and torn glory. Sara, who was stationed outside, seemed to be questioning the officers about what they wanted with me. If it wasn't for the fact that I was trying to escape, I would kill them for telling Sara half truths that they knew nothing about. But I had more pressing issues to tend to at the moment thanks to Taj who was the bright one who gave my actual name away instead of an alias. Moron.

"Brooke, this isn't good." Taj further persuaded.

"What was your first clue in the conclusion, doc?" I hissed sarcastically, tugging up and buttoning my jeans.

Ignoring my harsh comment, Taj picked up from where he left off. "Your ribs are broken and so isn't your wrist. Better yet, how are you going to land safely?" Tossing his arms up only to let them fall back to his side with a slap, exasperation coated his deep voice. "We're three levels up in this place!"

Peering out the window, a few feet away was a tree planted for my convenience. It'll have to do.

Taking no heed to his attempts to dissuade me, I crept toward the door while steering clear of the small peeping window in the door. Silently securing the door shut by placing a chair under the doorknob, I crept my way back to Taj. Snatching him by the shirt and twirling him to face me, I rested the side of my face against his to whisper into his left ear. "And unless you wanna be interrogated and charged with aiding a wanted criminal, I suggest you jump too."

Pulling back and shooting me a gaze to suggest I was psychotic, the alarmed look in his eyes amused me only slightly. "You are crazy." Taj proclaimed. "You are beyond help."

"True. But you still love me." I grinned, kissing him softly with a little tease added on for good measure.

Backing up to the door, Taj eventually and reluctantly joined me and the moment the doorknob jiggled, signifying the cops wanted in, I took off in a run first for the single pane glass window. Springing off of the cushions on the couch, I rotated to my side and braced myself for the crash, the glass, and the fall after it all.

I felt the glass shards tear against the back of my neck and forehead. It stung and the impact of my body against the thick glass left the right side of my body numb. It was worth it in the end, I figured, when I latched onto the closest outstretched tree branch the vegetation had to offer me. Faster than the speed of light or sound, I scrambled on top of the branch and pushed myself back until my back hit the sturdy trunk. Adrenaline coursed through my veins, more of a visitor there than my own blood it seemed now, as I observed Taj mimicking my heart thumping stunt.

My bi-colored eyes widened in terror, however, when Taj's pant leg snagged itself on a jagged edge of glass in the window and was now stumbling through the air, ungracefully. Wrapping my right arm and both legs about the branch I was stationed on, I hung like a sloth and extended my free arm out to my fallen friend.

"Taj!"

My hand barely connected with his, holding onto him by what felt like a very thin thread, and his weight didn't do anything to strengthen my grip. My shoes dug into the bristle bark when I attempted to place myself on top of the branch once more, only causing me to lose my grip on my place and Taj. Breaking into a strained sweat, I frantically tried to find that easy way out that was always there if you searched hard enough. A place to direct Taj so he wouldn't make a pancake on the ground three floors below us.

C'mon... C'mon...

A fruitless endeavor was made to try and pull him up with my bare strength in my weaker arm, leaving me with the slightest of grips on him. My cool, calm, and collected facade was crumbling down like a ton of bricks as the clamminess of my hand subsequently caused us to slip further apart.

Time to take a gamble. The thought that popped into my mind abruptly made me say to myself internally.

I relied on my quickness and strength when I let go of the branch with my right arm, barely hanging on by my legs upside down now. Taking a hold of Taj's arm, it was a one second job to hoist him up to the abandoned branch so he could grasp it instead. After my one second was up, I found myself free falling head first to the ground. My quickness, though succeeding with the first task, failed me in the second part of my plan where I latched onto Taj's legs with mine to prevent me from falling.

"Brooke!" Taj's voice resonated above me like an angel from Heaven.

It's all over now. I hope I'm not one of those lucky people that miraculously survive for a short time before dying. I thought to myself, nausea settling in my stomach. If I thought my day was bad before, that'd just finalize the whole ordeal.

And strangely enough, though everyone always said that your life flashed before your eyes in near fatal or fatal experiences, the inside of my eyelids remained blanker than a cloudy night sky. There was nothing. No voices ran through my head of late beloveds, guiding me into that bright light at the end of the tunnel.

So much for the preparation of telling those voices that the light was not good for me. I couldn't help but think sarcastically. I had my whole speech ready and everything.

And yet, as I felt myself nearing the ground, I heard the chipping of bark. That's correct, bark. Tree bark, actually. And following that sound, I felt an arm snake and snatch me around my stomach, disturbing my broken ribs. Cursing loudly and feeling like the pain would do me in, I barely got a chance to feel grateful for whoever had saved me from my death from the amount of pain I was in. Now I wasn't even sure what would've been worse.

Turning my head to look up at Taj who was hugging the tree with one arm and his boots tearing a parallel path down the length of the tree trunk, he sent a look at me speaking of his apologies silently. He always was able to climb a tree like a monkey and get down one just as fast.

Jumping down the rest of the tree, a measly couple of feet, I found I couldn't stand on my shaky legs. The pain and the realization finally caught up with me that I almost died was now taking its toll, the pain more than the near-death experience. Throughout my life, I had more than a fair share of near-deaths, but that didn't mean that with every single one, it got easier to bear with. What you see in the movies is wrong in that regard.

But hearing a door being busted in three stories up through my heightened auditory sense was enough to get me stabilized enough to make the mad dash across the parking lot and out to the street. If I thought the pain in my ribs hurt only seconds ago, I didn't know anything. With every breath, I stumbled from the pain that shot through me. White pinpricks of light appeared before my eyes as I matched Taj's pace as we raced down the street away from the hospital.

As predicted, the sound of sirens blared through the morning air far behind us. And the final shot of pain had me down and out, sprawled out across the sidewalk. Exhausted, I couldn't find the energy to even attempt to lift myself off of the ground. Taj skidded to a stop a few feet in front of me before he turned back and go down at my side, looking down the street nervously.

"C'mon Brooke, you gotta get up." Taj urged, wrapping my right arm around his neck and pulling me up from the ground.

"Taj, just go." I instructed him, not refusing his help up.

"I'm not gonna abandon you like this." Taj said with resolution in his voice, taking out his cellphone and speed dialing a number. "Jen? Hey, I need you to come meet me a couple blocks down from Desert Palm Hospital, ASAP." Taj eased me away from the sidewalk toward a house's backyard. "Jen, this is serious. I need you to get down here like now, Jen. It's Brooke. Is that enough said?" Juggling the cellphone between his shoulder and ear, he lifted me up and over the wire fence and into a thick bush. "Okay, thank you."

Hanging up, he shoved the phone back into his pocket. "Jen's gonna be here soon."

"Taj, just go!" I urged him. "I'll be fine."

"A'ight, go to the Usual Spot. I'll be there waiting." Taj promised. "I love you."

I was taken aback by his words that I never replied before he began running, the sound of the sirens growing louder and the red and blue lights illuminating the streets as the squad cars raced the streets in search of us two. His closing comment rang through my head as the cop cars raced pass me.

I love you too.

Sara's POV:

I wasn't sure whether to be outraged with Brooke or worried about her. I sat in the backseat of the squad car with my younger brother, Officers Johnson and Carlson in the front seats pursuing my best friend and younger sister. There was no single emotion that could be said to describe what I was feeling at this moment. Betrayal was definitely one, and concern was a surefire other. Anger was mixed somewhere inside me now, and with anger came annoyance that I'd been lied to by the people that were supposed to be honest to me.

Well, it doesn't help that you're in law. My conscience reasoned. If they are doing something illegal, you wouldn't particularly be the first person they'd go running to now.

Every time I stared across at Jay, he'd turn his head away out of guilt. Although I knew that I should be directing some of my emotions toward him, I couldn't bring myself to scold him.

"I'm sorry." Jason soon signed. "Don't be angry with me."

"I'm not Jay..." I assured the mute boy. "Just tell me the truth. What are you guys involved in?"

Jay clammed up. "I can't tell you. I really can't."

"Jay, there won't be repercussions if you tell me. We can put you guys under protection if that's what this is all about." I kept throwing out blind suggestions about something I had no idea about.

"Sara." Jay paused. "I just can't tell you. You're not supposed to know. No one is. I'm not even supposed to know."

"Jay." I said firmly. "If you don't tell me, you're gonna be in as much trouble as Brooke and Taj are in now."

There was a moment's hesitance in the albino boy as a fear flashed behind his eyes. But the look that followed that one was a sure one. "Then so be it. I refuse to talk."

Just great, I thought to myself. I can't even get my family to be truthful to me anymore.

Brooke's POV:

Long after the sirens had gotten out of earshot and the pain subsided to a dull throb every several seconds, I managed to claw my way up to my feet using the fence as my support. Jen would be here any moment, and there was no way she could see me in those bushes. Beside, I'm sure the people who occupied this house would appreciate me ruining there wonderful bush any longer.

Flopping over the fence, I used it again to get to my feet. When I was sure that I wouldn't fall over, I walked to the curb and plopped down on it. I sighed and grunted when I saw my Nissan Skyline pull up in front of me not even three whole seconds after I seated myself. Alex and Kylie hopped out of the passenger seat and were at my side in an instant.

"Auntie Brooke! What happened?!" Kylie questioned as she helped her brother get me back on my feet.

"Nothing baby." I lied to her, getting into the passenger seat.

The two kids scrambled across my lap and into the backseat, busying themselves with soothing a crying Roxas. It was to no avail. Instructing Alex to pass Roxas to me, I cradled the baby in my arms well above my damaged ribs and hushed him gently. Seeing through the dark of the car, Roxas finally recognized me and settled down, falling asleep within minutes of Jen taking off.

"I'm not even gonna bother to ask what happened. Just tell me where you need to go." Jen's voice was blank, masking her emotions.

"The Usual Spot." I replied. "Taj is supposed to be there if they didn't catch him."

"He's quicker than quick." Jen commented. "He'll make it."

The ride was silent. Something was troubling Jen, I just knew it. Call it the Mother's sixth sense. You can always tell when something is wrong with someone you care about. "What's wrong?"

Startled by my sudden question, it took Jen a second or two to process it. "It's Eric."

Having my undivided attention now, I gazed at Jen intently. "Don't tell me he showed up tonight."

"No, he didn't." Jen shook her head. "He called."

"What did he say? I swear, if he threatened you, I'm gonna..." I refrained from completing my threat while in the presence of the children.

"He did." Jen's facade crumbled down with the shaky breath she drew in. "But that wasn't all... He said... God, he said that he got to BJ and that if you or I didn't wise up soon that he'd come after Taj, you, me, and the kids." Jen's voice cracked, breaking down in tears instantly.

Numbness. One word, what I was feeling. Jen couldn't have possibly meant that BJ was dead. There was just no way. BJ, Blaze... Our Blaze. The goodhearted, loving, and tough Blaze who had a wife and a child on the way in less than a month. There was no way that he could be gone.

There was no way I could respond to that comment. I was too hurt for words, and too furious to even start the long string of curses and threats that usually ran out my mouth when Eric or anyone pissed me off to this extent. But there was just one surefire thought that circled my mind over and over.

I was gonna kill Eric and whoever else did this to Blaze. And not a damn soul was gonna stop me.

TBC...

A/N2: How's that for updating? Huh? HUH?! Lol. Hey, quick PA... I just posted a one-shot, Butterfly Kisses, could you please read&review? Haha, yes Chloe, I know you already have. Lol And check out this girl's work, forensicsgirl97! They are the shit!

Peace out, one love,
MC New York