A/N Hey guys :D

Ok, so in the grand scheme of things, this isn't a very important chapter, but if you (like me lol) are a fan of the Kim/Toby things that's going on, this is a good chapter :D

I know things have started to slow down a little, but there are a few things that need to happen in my mind for the rest of it to continue. I don't know if that even makes sense? :s haha But anyway, yeah...just bear with me haha ;)

Let me know what you think!

xoloveJBox

"Kimmy, I don't know about this." Seth told her uncomfortably for the hundredth time, as they made their way through the overly sterile corridors of the hospital.

"Neither do I," she replied, hearing her heart beat violently in her ears and a cold, clammy sweat on her palms as she wrung them uneasily. "But we have to do something Seth."

"And you think this is going to help?"

"I don't know!" Kim hissed "Do you have a better idea?"

Kim took his silence as a no. God, she hated hospitals.

"You could have waited in the car." She added quietly, which again elicited no response. They walked briskly through the corridors, with Kim looking down at the scribble of black ink on her hand. Macalister Hayden's room was somewhere deep in the building, and while she didn't want to admit it, she really didn't have any idea why she was there. Kim had spent the night worried about her brother. She couldn't get the images of Ryan's bruises, or the sounds of his deafening silence out of her head for long enough to sleep. She'd never felt so useless in her life. After hours of self debating, she decided she was going to come to the hospital, through she didn't know what for. With a definite plan in mind, she had finally drifted off into sleep, but had been far from restful.

The time had passed by in a haze, and Kim couldn't remember convincing Seth to drive her, or even the journey itself. She wanted to run, to get away from the horrid place and hide under her bed, but more than anything, she wanted Ryan back where he was supposed to be, and that wasn't going to happen unless someone did something.

Kim looked again at the number on her hand and stopped. They had gone past the right room and had to go back a few paces. When they looked through the large window that showed them inside the room, if they hadn't known any better, Seth and Kim wouldn't have said that the man lying there was the same one they'd seen. Even from through the closed door, they could hear the dings and whirrs from the machinery. The sun shone into the room, but it did nothing to lighten the atmosphere. The wires and cables made Mac look robotic or alien or...Kim couldn't find any better way to describe it. Even from where they stood, the cuts and bruises were all too visible, but they both knew that wasn't the extent of the problems.

Kim wasn't sure what she had been expecting to see, but the sight in front of her hadn't been it. She pressed her head against the cool glass and sighed dejectedly.

"This was just mindless violence Seth," She whispered "Ryan didn't do this. He couldn't."

Seth couldn't speak. He tried to make his mind and mouth communicate with each other, to let Kim know that he's heard her and that he agreed, but he was too shocked by the image in front of him. What kind of person could do this to another human being?

"Kim? What are you doing here?" came a voice behind them, making them both jump. Seth and Kim spun around to see Toby standing there, a cup of coffee in his hand and a bewildered expression on his face.

"Toby!" Kim exclaimed, caught off-guard by his sudden appearance. She tried to remember the lame excuse she had thought of, but she knew it wasn't going to be good enough, so she decided to go with something else.

"I came to see you; to see if you were ok." While it wasn't the complete truth, it wasn't entirely a lie either. At the end of the day, Toby was her best friend, and she couldn't even begin to imagine what he was going through.

"Kimmy, you can't be here." Toby replied quietly, looking back up the corridor nervously.

"What was it you said to me when I didn't call you when I was in the hospital? 'Your problem's my problem'? That works both ways Toby, and regardless of what's going on with our brothers, I care about you." Kim told him seriously.

"I know but if-" he started, but he was cut off by a sharp, booming voice.

"What the hell are they doing here?" it hollered, and Toby cringed slightly.

"They're just leaving Jamie." Toby replied simply, throwing covertly pleading looks to Kim and Seth. Riddled with confusion, Kim looked at the voice's body. It was big. Very big, with broad, muscley shoulders and thick, heavy looking arms. His head and face looked like a slightly squarer replica of Toby's, and Kim assumed it was one of his brothers.

"That doesn't answer the question." Jamie spat as he stomped over to them, his feet hitting the ground with a series of resounding thuds.

"I came to see if Toby needed anything." Kim told him calmly. If all of Toby's brothers were like Jamie, Kim could understand why Toby had never introduced her to them.

"Toby doesn't need anything from you, except to see your brother punished for what he did to Mac."

"There's no definite proof that Ryan did anything." Kim replied. She still spoke with an element of self-management, but she could hear the blood pulsing a little quicker in her ears.

"There were plenty of witnesses!"

"Including the two of us!" Kim yelled, and she could feel her grip on her control slipping as she indicated to herself and Seth. "We were there, and Mac was fine when we left."

"Run along little girl, before I do something I'll regret." Jamie growled.

"Hey, I'm big enough to knock you on your ass!"

As the two took a step towards each other menacingly, Seth and Toby had to step between them. Seth knew that Kim could give a good fight if she wanted to, and the situation would only be heightened by her discomfort from her setting. But Jamie was a lot larger than Kim. He could have broken her in half, and Seth knew that just because she could, it didn't mean she should.

"Let's get out of here." He murmured quietly in her ear, hoping she would listen. For a minute, she continued to throw Jamie deadly glares, which he happily reciprocated with his chest puffed out intimidatingly, and his younger brother trying to get him to take a step backwards. Eventually, though, she nodded, and Seth gave a small sigh of relief.

"Toby, you know where I am if you need anything, any time." She said in a low, serious tone before turning. As they walked away, Kim could hear Toby chastising his brother, but as they turned the corner at the end of the corridor, she heard Toby call her name.

"Kim, wait up!" he yelled, and when she turned, Kim saw him jogging towards her.

"I'm sorry," she said simply as a blanket of guilt sudden enveloped her with the realisation of what she'd actually done. "I shouldn't have come."

"It's ok," Toby replied as he slowly wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly. "I'm glad you came. I know how much you hate hospitals and it means a lot that you would come. Thank you." He finished with a light peck on her cheek before unravelling and turning away. Kim didn't know when all this mess was going to end, or even if it would at all, but at least Toby was one less thing on a lot list that she had to worry about.