Josh walked into his parents home and let out a sigh. He had a change of clothes here for emergencies and this definitely was one. His house was on the outskirts of town and he didn't want to waste any time, he needed to get back to her as soon as possible.
"Josh what happened to you? Are you alright?" Jane asked as she looked at his clothes and saw the pain that had settled over him.
"I'm fine, I'd be more worried about Grace if I was you," Josh whispered as she looked over at him.
"What happened to Grace?" Jane asked as he started shedding his clothes on his way to the bathroom.
"She's in surgery. She was forced to stab herself by the same monster that killed Baker," Josh whispered as Jane looked down at the ground. She could not believe it, but the grief that was on Josh's face spoke of the truth, it really had happened.
"Why are you here then?" Jane asked as Josh looked down at his clothes.
"Tommy sent me home to take a shower and get into some clean clothes. It's probably to keep anyone from figuring out why I'd be there, covered in her blood," Josh said as Jane nodded.
"You know, your father and I…I understand why this is important to you," Jane said as Josh looked over at her in confusion.
"We'll talk about it later, I've got to take a shower and get back," Josh said as Jane nodded and then watched him sprint to his old bathroom.
"Okay, we will," Jane called after him as she looked around the kitchen. Josh was not going to be around here any until Grace was out of the hospital and even then he was going to spend more time with her than them. He loved her, even he knew that much.
Josh soaked himself in the shower and let out a sigh. The water was still red around him and he was waiting for it to turn pink before it turned clear. He had no clue that that much blood had gotten on him in the time that he was holding her, but obviously it had. He tried to clear his mind and just closed his eyes. That was not a good thing as memories started flashing through his mind and his eyes quickly opened.
"Just let her live," Josh whispered to himself as the water soaked over him and he began scrubbing away at the blood, eager to get back to the hospital in a hurry.
"Praying would be good, but I've never heard you do that before in a situation like this," Jeremy said as he walked into the bathroom. "What are you doing here? This isn't the normal place you would come to shower. The water not working at your house?"
"More like this house was closer than mine to the hospital," Josh said as Jeremy shook his head.
"What's going on at the hospital?" Jeremy asked as Josh sighed. Most of his family didn't know about his relationship with Grace and he couldn't risk telling them.
"My past life is coming back to haunt me," Josh whispered as his brother pulled open the curtain and looked at him. "My girlfriend, she was…stabbed is an understatement…I can't…I don't know how to explain it."
"You're finally going to admit that you were a ranger to me now are you?" Jeremy asked as Josh gave him a confused look.
"I'm not sure that I can admit that," Josh said as Jeremy laughed.
"Is your girlfriend one of the current ones? That would make her a little bit too young for you," Jeremy said as Josh sighed and then looked down at the water pooling at his feet, which was miraculously clear. "A lot too young for you judging by that look."
"Four years exactly," Josh said as he turned off the water.
"I guess you need a towel," Jeremy muttered as he passed it to Josh and he toweled off in the shower. "Is she pretty?"
"Yeah, but I'd call it beautiful instead of pretty," Josh said as he stepped out of the shower and looked over at his older brother. "I'd tell you her name, but I can't. Not for another few months."
"She's a student? Josh, you'd never do something like that, unless…" Jeremy said as he looked away. "You love her?"
"Yeah, for awhile, I can't tell you until she graduates, sorry," Josh whispered as he stared at him.
"Grace Oliver," Jeremy said as Josh stepped away from him in shock. "You're not very good at keeping your secrets, but not many people would notice it. I'm your brother, I would. At least the other two haven't figured it out, they might actually tell someone."
"Jeremy, don't tell them, please," Josh said as he shrugged.
"I don't think I'm going to, she is pretty and she does love you, I can tell that much, plus she's really hurt," Jeremy said as Josh stared at him. He could not believe that his brother knew all of that and was willing to stay quiet even.
"I need to be heading back," Josh said as Jeremy grabbed his shoulder.
"It's not your fault, she's going to be fine and I'll keep quiet until you're ready to admit your secret to everyone," Jeremy said as Josh nodded. "She's going to be fine, Josh."
"I hope that you're right," Josh said as he began changing and his brother just shook his head.
"I'm sure that everything will be fine," Jeremy said as Josh closed his eyes. "Hey, she's got a chance, a good chance."
"Only because of the fact she's a ranger and this has happened before, to Baker," Josh said as Jeremy looked over at him. "I lost my best friend to this bastard, I can't lose her."
"She'll be fine," Jeremy whispered as he watched his younger brother storm out of the bathroom and he sighed. Josh should have never fallen in love with a student, but he had and there wasn't much that could be done about that.
"Josh, you okay?" Jane asked as he walked back into the living room and looked at his shoes. They were worse off than the majority of his clothes.
"I need shoes," Josh said as Jeremy walked into the room.
"You always were a person that would rather be barefoot," Jane said as Josh looked over at him.
"I don't really have that choice at a hospital and I never thought to get an extra pair of shoes over here," Josh said as Jeremy sat down and then threw the shoes over at him. "Not my size."
"That doesn't really matter right now, you want to get back to the hospital," Jane said as Josh nodded.
"What were you going to tell me?" Josh asked as Jane let out a sigh.
"My last year of high school, your dad was my teacher, we'd been dating for three years at that point, it was before all those fun laws we have now. Neither of us knew what to do, so we stayed together, broke every rule that we could during that time. I can't say anything to you about that," Jane said as two of her sons stared at her in shock.
"Wow," Jeremy murmured as Josh just stared at her.
"Now you know," Jane whispered as Josh nodded and he then walked out of the house.
"Is he going to be okay?" Jeremy asked as Jane nodded her head.
"She's not dead, he is going to survive this, no matter what," Jane said as Jeremy barely nodded. Josh was one of his younger brothers, but he was the one that had had to grow up the fastest and now he knew why. This was all going to work out, they all knew that he couldn't deal with another death, not now, definitely not her.
