Steve and Catherine had situated themselves in Azucena's hospital room, when Catherine's phone rang. Catherine looked at the screen of the phone, "It's Mary."

Steve held out his hand for the phone. He had waited too long and she must have found something out, "Hey Mare."

"You are telling people the wedding is off because of a family emergency, What the hell is going on? Are you and Catherine breaking up?" She hadn't taken a breath between any of the questions, and that didn't surprise Steve at all.

"Catherine and I are going to get married, just not this weekend."

"Then what the hell is this family emergency? Aunt Deb called me when she couldn't get ahold of you and I had no clue what she was talking about."

"I was going to call you earlier, but the day got away from me. I received a phone call from the Marshalls, WoFat has been captured."

"Well that is great news!" Exclaimed Mary.

"It wasn't to start with." Explained Steve, as he continued to tell Mary about the events of the day. By the time he had finished the story, he could hear the quiet tears on the other side of the line, "But she's okay right? She's going to wake up?"

"The doctor's think she will wake up in the next few days, but we won't know until then if she suffered any brain damage due to the brain swelling."

"What can I do to help?"

"Honestly, not much. Catherine and I are hanging out at the hospital until she wakes up. Our goal is to take her home because she no longer has to be in the program."

"What about Mom? She can come back, right?"

"I asked 'Cena's caseworker when they would inform mom about WoFat's capture. She's looking into it for me."

"That means we will all be back on the island." He could hear the happiness in Mary's voice. It was good news to Mary, but Steve honestly wasn't certain how he felt about having Doris back in his life. The last few months had been much less stressful without having to deal with Doris and the drama that accompanied her.

Steve wasn't as enthusiastic with his response, but he wanted Mary to be happy, "Yes, we will all be back on the island."

"I can fly out to Roswell tomorrow morning." Mary offered, willing to sit in the hospital with her brother and sister. They would do the same for her.

"There's no pressure Mary. If you can get away and want to, feel free to. If not, Catherine and I have this covered.

"I'll text you tomorrow with what time my flight gets in. I assume you don't have a car, so I'll catch an Uber to the hospital."

"Sounds good Mary, see you tomorrow." Steve hung up the phone and leaned back into the hospital recliner. He was exhausted, emotionally and physically. It had been a long day and the sun was beginning to set in Roswell. He closed his eyes for just a moment and fell asleep.

$#$#$#$#$#$#

Marshall Shannon returned to the hospital first thing Thursday morning. She arrived with a tray of black coffee for Steve and Catherine, "I didn't get a call from the hospital, so how did the night go?"

Steve and Catherine graciously accepted the coffee and Catherine spoke up, "She hasn't woken up, but her vitals stayed pretty even all night. We will call it a success."

"Every little victory counts." Agreed Mary, and then continued, holding out a single key "I should have offered you the keys to her place last night, but I didn't leave the office until 1 this morning."

Steve accepted the keys, "Thank you, my other sister is flying in today. So when she shows up, we might go snag a shower and a quick nap at her place."

Mary nodded and then took a deep breath, she wasn't certain how she was going to break the news on the two pieces of information she had. So she thought she would start with the toughest first, "I tied in with various departments last night and it was the Marshall's Services who removed the images of your sister from the Dark Web. However, they were blocked from reaching out to me by another government agency."

Steve jumped at the mention of 'another government agency' and asked, "It was the CIA, wasn't it.'

"I hate to say this and you will want to strangle me, but I'm not at liberty to say." Mary said, as she nodded her head in affirmation.

Steve was so disgusted with the CIA and he could tell Mary was as well, as she continued, "If I had know about this, I would have moved her again or we would have done something more to change her physical appearance. Nothing I can say will undo what happened and honest to God, your sister is one of my favorite witnesses."

Steve tried to calm the woman, "It's not your fault. Our family has been screwed over by the CIA more than once and WoFat is protected by many different organizations and agencies. Did you happen to find anything out about our mother?"

Mary's expression changed to a very uncomfortable grimace, "Yeah, Doris McGarrett never officially joined the program. She arrived in the city of where we were relocating her to and she refused to sign the Memorandum of Understanding. From what I read in the files, she said she would be safer on her own and disappeared."

Steve's jaw dropped at the information presented to him, Doris had opted out of the Program and was off somewhere hiding on her own accord. While it shocked Steve in some manner, he told himself he shouldn't have been surprised. Doris wasn't going to live her life by someone else's rules, so her joining the Program wouldn't have worked out well for her. Now he had to tell Mary that their mom wasn't coming home right now, if ever.

He knew Doris felt awkward around her grown children. He really began to wonder if she would ever reappear in their lives or if when they last saw her was their final time with her. Now he didn't know what to feel, his family was completely exhausting at time.

$#$#$#$#$#

Mary had arrived, hugs were exchanged, and Steve told Mary about Doris skipping out on Witness Protection. It was a gut punch to Mary, and Steve was surprised when Mary stated, "I don't think we will ever see her again. She's done with us, isn't she?"

Steve was running that through his head as he opened to door to 'Cena's little apartment. Him and Catherine entered the little place and as bare as it was, it reminded him of his kid sister. The place felt warm and homey. Her handmade quilt from Jack and Clara's house was draped over the corner of the sofa. Her little brass mouse that had sat on her dresser in her bedroom sat on the little shelf that divided the kitchen from the living room. Half of her kitchen table was covered in medical books from the local library, the other half cleared for eating meals.

Everything was incredibly tidy, just like she was at home. The only difference was her breakfast plate was sitting in the kitchen sink and a frying pan was sitting on the top of the stove and her toaster sitting out on the counter. There were bits of egg stuck to the pan. Her apartment was the same it had been the morning of WoFat getting his hands on her.

Steve stood in her kitchen, based on the physical evidence of the attack and what he had heard on the phone, he thought about everything she had endured. This was truly going to traumatize her. He couldn't imagine how she was going to get past this attack and feel safe and secure.

Catherine saw him stuck in his thoughts, she wrapped her arms around him, "Go take a shower sailor."

He hugged her tightly, kissed her, and wandered off to the bathroom to get cleaned up.

Friday . . .

Saturday . . .

Sunday

Mary had just returned with more coffee and magazines, when Steve felt a subtle squeeze on his hand. It wasn't strong, but more of a stirring of his unconscious sister. His attention was pulled from his copy of Guns and Ammo, and focused on the battered face of his unconscious sister.

Her head was turned in his direction, and he watched as one of her eyes slowly fluttered open, the other too swollen to function. His heart was in his throat with relief, "Hey you, it's good to see you awake."

She continued to look at him, fully taking in his appearance. Her voice was weak and gravelly, from all the screaming, "Estás real?"

Are you real? He understood the question and why she was asking it. He was honestly thrilled to tell her, "Yes, I'm real, and I'm not going anywhere."

"¿Donde estamos?" She asked, confusion prevalent in her facial expressions, or what one could call facial expressions with all her bruising and swelling.

Where are we? This didn't surprise Steve at all, he figured there was quite a bit of confusion swirling in her head after everything she had endured and being unconscious for a few days.

At this question, the doctor entered the room, standing between Catherine and Mary on the other side of the room. He didn't interrupt the interaction between the siblings, but merely observed his patient. Steve saw the doctor nod at him to continue, "We're in the ICU ward of Roswell General."

He watched her reaction to the information, he could tell she was surprised. He could also see concern and fatigue in her features, but she powered through, "Por qué y por qué me cuerpo me duele?"

Why and why does my body hurt? This surprised Steve, he didn't know if it was because she had just woken from the coma and was still foggy, or if she legitimately didn't remember her encounter with WoFat. He knew he couldn't tell her everything, as he didn't want to shape her memories. She had to work through the memories and tell them what happened. This was Five-0 standard operating procedure, but it was hard to do it to his sister.

The doctor walked towards the siblings, and Azucena was startled when she noticed the older man and he started talking to her. She gripped Steve's hand a little tighter, but her strength was next to nothing.

"What do you remember?" The doctor asked her, trying his best to come off as harmless.

Azucena looked from the doctor and back to Steve. He could tell she was struggling to remember, frustrated and overwhelmed. He could see tears begin to well in her good eye. He tried to reassure her, "You're safe here and I'm not going anywhere."

"Something bad happened, didn't it?" She fearfully questioned, finally switching over to English. The doctor was happy to see her language skills were still fully functioning.

Steve nodded, he didn't know how much to tell her, so he kept it simple. He gently thumbed the back of her hand, trying to provide comfort without causing more pain, "You were attacked. Do you remember that?"

She closed her eye, and tried to think back to what had happened. What had caused her body all the pain she was feeling? What had happened to cause Steve to be standing next to her in the ICU ward of the Roswell hospital. Everything was a blank and it was scaring her. What had happened?

She reopened her good eye and looked at her brother and whispered, "No, what happened?"

Steve knew with everything she had experienced in her life, she would want to know what happened to her. The fear of not knowing what had happened to her would cause her to imagine things far worse than what had recently happened. He was afraid she would think of Woods and what he had done to her. He looked to the doctor, hoping the man would tell him what he should share.

The doctor spoke up, "You were held hostage and tortured. Do you remember any of that."

The tears started streaming and it became difficult to breathe. The two words hostage and torture told her WoFat had been involved. She had to be in pretty bad shape if the Marshall's had flown Steve out to be with her.

He had found her. Which meant once she healed, she would have to move to another city and start all over. No Mary, no Marshall, no Lydia. Nothing but herself and the scars of whatever WoFat had done to her this time; she was terrified, "Not again Steve. I can't start over again. Please, please I can't do this again."

Steve tried to calm her down, "Hey, hey, hey, you're safe. He isn't here. He is in a SuperMax Prison in Maine. He isn't anywhere near us."

While Steve worked to calm her, which was having mixed results, the doctor grabbed an oxygen mask, and tried to place it over her mouth and nose. This only exacerbated the situation, as Azucena didn't want someone she didn't know touching her or being near her. She struggled to pull her face away from the mask, while pleading with Steve, "No, please no. I want to go home! I don't want to start over again."

One of the ICU nurses dashed into the room to help, Mary and Catherine standing to the side of the bed watching with horror as the situation unfolded. Steve decided to take control of the situation as things were continuing to deteriorate and he could tell this was costing his sister an incredible amount of energy. The doctor dictated some form of sedative to the nurse, but Steve stiffly stepped between his sister and the doctor.

He took the oxygen mask from the doctor and removed it from his sister's face. He sat down on the edge of her bed and she stopped fighting against the oxygen mask. Removing the doctor from physical contact with Azucena was already deescalating the situation. He maintained eye contact with her, "You're coming home with Catherine and me, but you need to calm down. So we are going to breath, like we used to."

She looked at him, and at the words of "coming home with Catherine and me" her body visibly relaxed. That was what she needed to hear, she needed to know she was going to be able to go home and be with her family.

He took a long deep breath, knowing she would mimic him. They had done this more times than he could count in the middle of the night, thanks to WoFat. He continued to hold her hand, while his other hand held the oxygen mask over her nose and mouth. She matched each of his breaths. They weren't deep, but they weren't the panicked breathing he had seen earlier.

He was done waiting for the doctor to tell him what he should and shouldn't say. So as Azucena continued to calm down, he told her what he thought was important, "WoFat has been taken to prison. He isn't anywhere near us, and you are going to come home with Catherine and me when they release you from the hospital, understand?"

She nodded her head slightly in understanding, taking another breath. The two Marshalls walked into the room, followed by the nurse with the syringe. As she approached the IV bag, Azucena began to become anxious and twitchy. Steve looked to the nurse, he knew the sedative was a bad idea right now. She would be plagued by nightmares, whether she remembered what happened with WoFat this time around or not.

Steve spoke up before the nurse could touch the IV in Azucena's hand, "Please don't inject that into her IV, a sedative is only going to make things worse."

The nurse looked to the doctor and he nodded to her to take a step back. Steve continued to try and calm the young woman.

"We don't know how WoFat found you, but he hurt you pretty badly."

Azucena spoke up, lost in the sea of faces she was finally noticing and beginning to panic again, "Too many people."

Catherine and Mary understood why she was overwhelmed, she felt trapped and the volume of people didn't help. Catherine looked to Steve, "We'll be in the waiting room."

Mary and Marshall followed Catherine and Mary out of the room. The doctor looked to the nurse and motioned for her to exit the room. The doctor stepped away from his patient and towards the foot of the bed. He was impressed with this man and how he knew what would help the young woman.

After everyone had disappeared, Steve looked to his sister, "Better?"

She nodded and continued to breath in the oxygen he held to her face. When she had finally calmed down enough, he set the mask on the other side of the bed, away from her. "What do you want to know?"

"I can come home?" She questioned, needing to hear it again. She was hoping he hadn't just been telling her that to calm her down.

"Yes, Mary and Marshall told me the day I arrived. You don't have to hide anymore. He's in a SuperMax prison in Maine."

She digested the information he shared with her, and then asked the question she didn't really want to know. But she needed to know and she could already feel most of the injuries, "How bad?"

"You had some brain swelling from a blow to the back of your head. The doctors fixed that." He paused, from everything he had just witnessed, she didn't appear to have any brain damage, but he wasn't a doctor. He took a deep breath to share the rest of her injuries, "two broken ribs, a gunshot wound to the chest, but your broken rib stopped it from causing major damage. You have multiple cuts from a knife across your whole body, lacerations around both of your wrists from the chains he used to restrain you. You also have some cuts to your face and two severely, swollen black eyes."

She felt every injury, she honestly didn't need him to tell her, but she was thankful he didn't keep anything from her. Their relationship had always been based on truth and trust. Steve would always be honest with her, and she needed the truth right now

"How do you feel?" He asked, debating if she would need more pain killers or sedatives. She would need sleep, but with sleep came the nightmares of WoFat and Woods.

"Like I have had the shit beat out of me." She answered, exhausted. "But so relieved I can finally come home."

He smiled at that, she was just as happy as he was for her to come home.

"Pain medicine?" He questioned, knowing it would be a trade off between the pain she was feeling and the nightmares that normally accompanied it. He was honestly surprised with her response, "Yes, but please don't leave."

He knew she was worried about the nightmares that would come, but her asking him to stay would ensure they would work through them, like they always had. He gently squeezed her hand, "I'm not going anywhere."

The doctor disappeared and quickly returned with a different syringe and injected it to her IV. Steve sat next to her, holding her hand, as he watched the drug take ahold of her and allow her to be pain free for a little while longer. She quickly fell back asleep.

$#$#$#$#$

Thanks for continuing to read! Notes are always appreciated. :-)

Stephanie - I was so thrilled to see your note and know that you have continued reading this story! It thrills me to no end to know you are reading this.

Elle - You're so right, Steve doesn't realize how gritty and tough she is. He is going to be blown away by her in the near future.