This update is a little more toned down than usual but don't worry, this isn't the end. This is only a bridge to act 2. My best friend and I have come up with a handful of devious ideas to still throw into the mix. I'm super excited to jump into the next portion and even more so by Prodigal Son returning in less than a week. Let me know what y'all think!

"It doesn't make sense." Gil moves his gaze from Jessica in her hospital bed to Malcolm, pacing across the small room. Ainsley sits on the chair, eyes trained on mother and chewing on her nail but she nods almost absentmindedly at his statement. He's been on this rant for an hour. Each second he grows more agitated. "When she came in she was angry Gil. Ask Ainsley, she was screaming 'where is he' and waving the knife."

The unspoken sentence lingers between the siblings with a single gaze. I've never seen her like that. It's not a shock, Jessica composed her anger around them, he remembers one instance. Where a poor reporter thought that ambushing her for an exclusive was a good idea. All while he had taken them out one lonely Christmas only 2 years after Martin's imprisonment. She'd been icely polite until the man turned to Malcolm, asking him how he felt. Still her smile remained, at least until Gil coaxed the children away with the promise of hot chocolate and sweets.

That night she looked lighter than she had in months.

"She didn't see me." Malcolm admits, maybe for the first time with the fear threaded in his voice. Ainsley's eyes flash to him, concern twisting her brows. Gil knows that sight will haunt his nightmares for a while. "It wasn't hallucinations. She knew where she was."

"How?"

"I don't know. But she sidestepped the divet in the tile that she almost twisted her ankle on last month." Malcolm rakes both hands through his hair in frustration. "She knew she was at the precinct."

"What about when she collapsed?" Gil speaks up now. "She begged me to find 'him' and said she got him out." Malcolm pivots again, his pace picking up as his mind races. "She had to be talking about another victim."

Ainsley's breath catches then, a light flashing in her head. "What if she was talking about two different people?"

Malcolm gapes, Gil sees him swallow the lump that formed in his throat. "You think she saw the killers?" She nods turning back to Jessica. She takes her mother's hand pressing her lips to her knuckles.

It'd been hours since the surgeries. The surgeons had successfully removed the bullet from her abdomen but infection was their main concern. The warnings of the extent of brain injury lingers on all of their minds. They won't know more until she wakes.

If she wakes.

Gil shakes his head at the thought. He won't allow himself to think like that yet. Not with Malcolm and Ainsley in the same room, minds haunted all the same. "You two, go get food." They both protest but he shuts them down with a single look. "Get me-"

"Black coffee." The two nod in unison bringing a small smile to his lips. As they leave Gil allows the events to weigh on him. He runs his thumb across her scraped jaw biting the inside of his cheek. "Come on Jess." He whispers into the room. "You gotta help us now. We can't do this without you."

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The incessant beeping is what pulls Jessica above the surface again. The first thing she realizes is that she feels very heavy. Her eyes don't want to open, distantly she hears Gil's voice calling to her.

It comes back all at once. Her escape, Freddy, collapsing into Gil's arms. She hums, testing her voice. It aches and makes her feel like she needs to cough but she feels it rumble in her chest. Finally, her eyes open. It hurts like hell, blinking the dimmed room into focus. He leans over her, a smile on his face.

"Hey Jess." He looks to the door. A thought crosses his mind before turning back to her. "Do you know where you are?"

"Hospital." Detest laces her tone even through her slurred speech. She hated hospitals as a kid, then Martin came into her life. She grew an appreciation, and then hated them again in a twisted cycle. She cranes her head searching the room, "Where?"

"Ainsley and Malcolm went to get food. They've got Dani and JT with them as details." She relaxes, tempted to fall back into the darkness knowing they are safe. "Do you want me to call them?"

She shakes her head, knowing Malcolm he's been working for days straight, hardly a meal in between. If he's getting food, then he needs to eat. "How long have I been out?"

"About 9 hours."

"That's the most I've slept in 20 years." She jokes. The fogginess clears a little and she remembers. "Freddy." She turns to Gil who immediately puts his hands on her shoulders.

"Hey easy." His eyes jump to the heart monitor, the beeping increasing significantly. "Take it easy Jess. Is Freddy who you were trying to tell me about?"

She nods frantically. "I woke up and he was there. I cut us both out but he wanted to split up." Guilt punches her in the chest. "We split up. I didn't want to but he said it was our best chance. I heard a man scream and I ran." The air feels too thin suddenly and the beeping just keeps getting louder.

"Jessica, look at me." Her jaw snaps shut and she does. "Breathe with me." He takes a deep breath in. She would laugh if panic wasn't gripping her ribcage painfully. "Remember?" She nods slightly following his steps.

Panic attacks had become a frequency after Martin. Gil had found her stuck in the middle of them more than she cares to admit. She holds her breath, her head swimming. Letting it out ebbs the panic though the guilt still gnaws painfully.

"Do you know where they held you? Do you remember?"

"Beverly Construction. The apartment complex being built, the one I was telling you about that I was thinking of bidding on."

"Good." He runs his thumb over her knuckles. "Do you remember anything else?"

"Yes." She opens her mouth but the thoughts won't piece together. There are images in her head but none of them make sense. The wreck, glass flying everywhere and the smell of smoke burning her nose. The darkness before being overwhelmed by white light. The glint of the knife reflecting her terrified gaze back at her.

"It's ok. You're still coming out of sedation. It may take a while." She wants to cry. She knows she saw more. She knows more. "I'll text Colette and her men will scan the construction site. They may not be there anymore but they may have left something behind." She wishes it was enough.

"Mom?" Ainsley's voice makes her head whip to the door. Her daughter's lower lip trembles, "Mom?" In three steps she's to her bed, the box of food thrown carelessly into the chair as she kneels by her side. Jessica tries to reach out to her but her arm only flips, the meds still battling her every effort to stay awake. Ainsley grabs her hand guiding it to her cheek so that Jessica's fingers tangle into the blonde curls.

"Mom." Malcolm's whisper is almost immediately after Ainsley's. Gil scoots aside allowing him room. He takes the food and coffee out of her son's hands before they can slip to the floor in his rush to get to her. He mimics Ainsley's actions but pulls her other hand to his lips, she feels his smile on the back of her hand. Tears of relief sting her eyes.

"Hi." She smiles at them both, her fingers brushing their skin. They're safe, they're here with her. She did it, she made it back to her family. She wipes away Malcolm's tears as they come down his face despite his careful control. Ainsley tips first burying her head into her shoulder. Her hand is pinned, caught in her daughters grasp but she can't bring herself to care.

Over their shoulders she spies Gil. With one look he comes closer, with one hand on Malcolm's shoulders and the other on her head he joins the family embrace. Her guilt still weighs on her. She's missing something, something important is gone.

Right now, though, her family is enough. They are enough.