A/N: Hello everyone! As promised, the sequel is here! I was actually going to wait a bit to post the first chapter of this, but since the story is pretty much done, I figured there'd be no harm in posting it now. :P And for anyone who hasn't read Be Alright, you don't have to read that story for this one to make sense, but it does provide more context.

I hope you all enjoy!

"Sir, we're going to need you to step outside," my partner says. It's obvious he's losing patience with the situation fast. We've been out here several times in the last few months though, so I can't blame him. This dude is a total tool.

"Or what?" the man says, sticking his chest out at Kendall and me. "This is my house and I ain't done nothing wrong."

"Sir, there was a 9-1-1 call placed by one of your neighbors. They said they heard a man and woman yelling and noises that sounded like things getting tossed around. After the previous calls lately, we need to at least check in with your wife," Kendall says.

The man sneaks one look behind himself, before turning back with an insincere smile. "Officers, look, my neighbors are being dramatic. Couples fight sometimes. There's nothing to be worried about here. I'm sorry they wasted your time."

Okay, so that's how it's going to be. "Sir, we need to see your wife and hear from her own mouth that everything is fine," I growl, speaking up for the first time.

"Fine," he spits, spittle shooting from his mouth. "Georgia, give the police officers a holler so they know you're okay."

"No, I'm not okay, you son of a bitch," comes the scathing reply as a woman hurries toward the door with a swollen eye. He puts his arms up on either side of the door, grabbing the frame and trying to bar her from getting to us.

"Ma'am, what are your injuries?" Kendall asks as he tries to peer around this asshole who's taken at least one shot at his wife.

"It ain't no concern of yours," the man says, the volume of his words coming up.

"He's beating me! He's crazy! I want out of this house right now, officers," the woman yells from behind him.

"Sir, I'm going to need you to step out of the house," I say.

Then all hell breaks loose as he lunges at me. My attempt to remain steady goes unanswered when my foot slides off the back of the porch sending us both careening out into the yard. My arms encircle him, but the impact of the hit onto my back with him on top of me knocks the breath out of my lungs for an instant, giving him enough time to scramble to his feet and run for the middle of his yard. As I'm hauling myself to my feet, I hear Kendall yell, "Ma'am, stay inside!"

I faintly hear her screaming, "Don't hurt my husband," but I'm too focused on the husband who is in the middle of the yard hollering obscenities and threats of suing as he backs toward our squad car. Kendall and I exchange a glance, always in sync with each other. Instead of making a direct line to the man, I circle around the right as Kendall comes off the porch to go to the left. There's no way we're letting this guy get away from us. As we both take off at a full sprint toward him, the man scampers in the middle, back toward the house, before turning and pulling a gun out of the back of his jeans.

What the fuck?

We've never even had to take one of them in before. It's always been noise complaints and worried calls from neighbors, but this is the first time there have been signs of abuse, so for him to have a gun is an escalation we weren't prepared for. "Kendall, get behind the car!" I yell as the man swings the gun around, not pointing at any clear target. The minute I call out to my partner, the gunman focuses in on him and shoots, hitting him right between the eyes. "Kendall!" I scream.

Sitting straight up, sweat pouring down my face, my whole bed damp with it, I shake myself awake. It's another nightmare, just a bad dream. The man didn't shoot my partner. We're both okay. We're alive. Needing nothing more than to take a piss and get some water, I sit up and swing...no, I can't swing my legs off the bed, and the memory of the night comes back. Kendall didn't get shot. The last thing I really remember was the man waving the gun around and then pain. Brain-melting, suffocating pain. I can't walk. I may never walk again. Slumping back into my bed, I ignore the need to quench my thirst and stare up into the darkness.

One call-a routine call-a house we'd been to many times before and my life will never be the same. The nightmare changes every night, how it plays out is never the same, but I can't go back to sleep. Not now. Not in the dark. The phantom pain chases me, the one in my head and the one in my lower body, and I struggle to catch my breath-praying for morning to come…

"Just leave me alone. How many times do I have to tell you I'm not hungry?" I ask the CNA from where my head is buried under a pillow. I hate when this particular young lady is on duty because she hovers until I have to scream at her to go away. Then I feel like a jerk when she gets upset, but damn, how many times do we have to do this?

"Look, Officer Diamond," she starts.

"Don't call me that." Yanking the pillow off my face down to my chest, I sneer at her. "No one knows if I'll ever walk again, so saying that only pisses me off. If it's supposed to make me push harder, be more optimistic, piss rainbows and sunshine, well...it doesn't. Take that happy crap out of here."

She blinks slowly as she wilts in front of me, shoulders hunching. "Okay, Shane. It's my job to get you to eat and-"

"Part of your job is to make sure the patients eat?" I interrupt.

"No," she says, eyeing me warily. "Part of my job has become making sure that you specifically eat. You need your strength and-"

I wave her off before she can say more. "Yeah, yeah, I know. I've been hearing the same lecture every morning. And I'm telling you I'm not hungry. Can you please...can you please just leave me alone now? I'm tired." Then I roll over, dismissing her. It's not that I don't know I'm being rude. I'm being a total dick, but I can't help it. I squeeze my eyes shut and reach back out for sleep…

"Dude! How can you still be asleep? It's after noon already," I hear my brother James say, startling me awake.

Fighting the brain fog, I blink several times trying to adjust to the sunlight flooding my room. "Why are my blinds open?" I ask, my voice coming out rough after my morning nap.

"I opened them because it's after noon. They told me you refused to eat breakfast and couldn't even get you to wake up for lunch. What's going on, Shay? You missed your scheduled workout this morning. Don't you want them to send home?"

His voice sounds so sad I don't even want to face him, but I promised his boyfriend, my best friend and work partner Kendall, that I would do better with my twin. He had moved away for college when we were eighteen, and I'd been disappointed when he didn't come back a couple of years ago after becoming a veterinarian, but instead, chose to stay in the town he'd gone to college. It was only five or six hours away, depending on traffic, but we both had lives and didn't see each other often. After our parents died our senior year in a car accident, I'd always assumed it would end up being us against the world, but for years we'd led separate lives. Now, after me getting shot on the job during a domestic dispute, he had moved back home for good. I'm happy he's home, and even happier that while I was in a coma for over a month, he and Kendall had made a love connection and moved in together last week, but…

"I'm sorry, Jay. I just woke up and I'm really tired and just couldn't find the motivation."

"What's wrong?" His face transforms from upset to one of concern. "Is there something going on you're not telling me?"

I scrub my hand down my face, not wanting to talk about the nightmares that are keeping me from sleeping at night. "No. I'm sorry." Dropping my hands to my side, I stare up at the ceiling. "I don't mean to worry you."

James' hand grabs mine. "You have to do better, Shay. You have to at least try. You'll never get on your feet if you're not even willing to get out of bed."

"But what if it doesn't matter? What if I never walk again?" I ask softly.

He doesn't let my hand go, but his face is suddenly over the top of mine. "You won't know unless you try. You have to want it, and I know you. This isn't you. You've never given up a day in your life. You're a fighter. What can I do? How can I help?"

"You're doing it now." Using our clasped hands to tug him off his feet, he squeaks as I pull him down so that I can hug him. I may not be able to use my legs, and I may not be doing what I'm supposed to for regaining mobility in the bottom half of my body, but I have been working with arm weights. There's a long way to go before I'll regain the muscle I lost while in a coma, and although my brother's a runner, he's pretty muscled as well, so I know he's exaggerating me pulling him over a little, but I love him for it.

"We're going to get through this, Shane," James whispers in my ear.

"I know."

Too bad I don't believe it.

Walking into the living room, I find two of my favorite people: James, my best friend and the only family I have, and his boyfriend Kendall, my new friend who's really kind and sweet and perfect for James. They're cuddling on the couch with a pile of pets around them-a three-legged pit bull and two kittens-watching TV and whispering. I sorta feel bad interrupting, so I decide to go back to my room and wait to talk to them.

As I turn, James says, "Did you hear from them, D?"

I stop in my tracks and face them with a big smile. "I got the job!"

James lets out a loud squeal and jumps up, crashing into me as he pulls me into a hug. I can't help but laugh at him and squeeze him back.

"So you're staying? You're really moving here?" He whispers.

"Looks like it," I whisper back.

He hugs me for a good minute before letting me go, and when he pulls away, his eyes look shiny. I can't blame him, I'm emotional, too. When James had decided he was moving back to Baltimore, I'd felt like my life was over. He's the only person I have left in my life that cares about me, and I'd been afraid of losing him. Luckily for me, my best friend is amazing, and even though we'd been cities apart, we talked constantly, and when he'd heard of a job opening for a physical therapist, he convinced me to apply. Now it looks like I'll be making the move from Ithaca, New York to Baltimore as well.

Kendall smiles at me from his spot on the couch. "Congratulations, Dak."

"Thanks."

"You're welcome to stay here as long as you like," he adds with a genuine smile.

My heart warms a little. It's so easy to see why James fell for the guy. As intimidating as he can be sometimes, he's like a big marshmallow. "I'll start looking for a rental this week. The guy asked when I could start, and I said anytime, so it looks like I'm starting on Monday."

"There's no rush," Kendall says.

James grabs my hands. "Seriously, you should stay with us for a little while. I like having you here."

I like it too, but I feel bad messing with their plans all the time. "I'll stay this week, but I gotta find somewhere soon so I can cancel my lease in Ithaca and bring all my stuff down."

James eyes me for a few seconds before his eyes light up. "What if you stay at my parents' old house? Shane isn't going to be home for a little while, so it's just sitting there."

"Um...shouldn't you talk to your brother about that first?"

James waves me away. "I will, but this will be awesome. You can house sit while he's at the rehab center. You'll be able to bring all your stuff here and everything. It's perfect."

Being stuck in that big house by myself sounds like I'll be having lots of lonely nights. But I'm used to the loneliness. Loneliness has become my constant companion, so it won't be much different than it is now. "Only if it's okay with you brother," I say after thinking it over for a few seconds.

"It'll be fine." James grins at me. "I'm so glad you're here."

I smile back. "Me too."

He pulls me onto the couch beside him as he snuggles back with Kendall. I watch as Kendall wraps an arm around James' shoulders and kisses his temple. The movement appears so natural and automatic that a small pang of jealousy ripples through me, but I push it away. I'm truly happy that my best friend found someone so great.

"We were talking about Shane before you came out," James says.

"What about him?" I snag the bowl of chips off the table and munch away on them.

"He's still not listening to the PTs. He's not even trying to get better."

James' dog, Peanut, climbs onto my lap, so I scratch behind his ears and grin at him. I love this dog. "Sometimes patients have a hard time accepting their new reality. Your brother went from being an independent badass who fights crime every day to being stuck in a hospital bed. That has to be hard to adjust to, you know?" Nala, one of the kittens, climbs on the back of the sofa and slides down to my shoulder, so I nuzzle her with my cheek.

James sighs. "I get it, but I don't know how to help him. He's only punishing himself by not listening. He's never going to walk again if he doesn't at least try."

I nod as the other cat, Simba, kneads my thigh and I pet him. "It can be hard to figure out how to motivate certain patients sometimes, but I'm sure his PTs will figure it out."

"Well, with you there now, I have more confidence in that."

I shoot him an appreciative smile. "I love your face."

He snorts and pokes me in the cheek. "I love yours, too."

Kendall shakes his head at us, but I can see his small smile. It's been such a relief that he isn't weird and jealous with how James and I act together. There was a guy I tried dating two years ago and it was a nightmare. He acted like a crazy jealous madman whenever James and I were together, so I'd ended up dumping him after only a few weeks. It sucked though, because he's been the only guy I've even tried with since I was in college.

When James puts his arm around me and pulls me in to snuggle up with them on the couch, I tense and wait for Kendall's reaction. But when nothing happens, I relax into James, and Kendall sends me a soft smile and pats my shoulder. I smile back and can't help but think how lucky James is and how happy I am that he found his soulmate.

A memory tries to break free of its chain in my head, but I hold it back so the pain doesn't cripple me. This is a happy day, and I'm going to keep it that way.

XxX

My first shift at Kindred Soul Rehabilitation Center went really well. I had easy patients all day, and the other physical therapists and nurses and everyone here seem like really good people. At least so far. We'll see how it is after I've been here for a few weeks, but it's looking good.

Since I'm off the clock, I head over to room 104 and knock on the door. When there's no answer, I crack the door a little and call out, "Hello?" I hear a huff of annoyance, but he doesn't answer me, so I push the door open. "Can I come in for a minute?"

"What are you doing here?" He barely looks at me, making me frown.

"I came to say hi and...thank you."

When Shane Diamond finally faces me, I'm struck motionless for a moment. He looks exactly like James, but with shorter hair. His brown hair is sticking up in every direction from lying in bed all day, his face is unshaven and scraggly-looking, and his hazel eyes are the exact shade as his twins. They're identical, so duh, but somehow he still looks...different from James. The main difference is how hardened his eyes are, his whole face, really. Where James is kind and open and always trying to make me smile, Shane is grumpy, closed off, and from the looks of it, he'd like to punch my lights out. His arms are crossed over his chest as he glares, and even though I shouldn't, I notice how big and toned they are. It's like someone cut James' hair and made a mean, grouchy version of him.

Shane scrutinizes me for a long moment before asking again, "What are you doing here?"

"I, um…" I walk further into the room and hold up the bag of sour gummies-his favorite-I brought for him. "Um...I wanted to thank you for letting me stay at your place while you're here, and...I wanted to see how you're feeling." I set the bag on the table beside his bed.

Shane eyes the gummies. "Thanks."

I nod and bite my lip, unsure of what to say or do. Coming up here without James had seemed like such a good idea earlier, but now I was second-guessing my decision. "Thank you for letting me stay at your house. If there's anything you need me to do while I'm there, just let me know. I mowed the lawn yesterday, and I plan on weeding your flower beds out front, but I wasn't sure what else needed to be done. So…" I shrug because staring at those hazel eyes when they're all hard is making me want to squirm. I've always thought my best friend was gorgeous, but somehow seeing his face on another man and looking all rugged was...doing weird things to me. He was scraggly and grumpy and pulling off the whole bad boy vibe well-totally a weakness of mine. Ugh. He might be even more gorgeous than James. I shake away the thought before it can grab hold and make me crazy.

"You don't need to do any of that. You don't need to do anything. I'll take care of it when I get home." Shane says, his jaw ticking.

Instead of pointing out the obvious-he's going to be here for weeks since he can't walk yet and if I let the grass keep growing, he'll come home to a freaking jungle-I nod. "Alright, well, if you think of anything, just let me know. James said he put my number in your phone already, so you can call or text me if you need to. And um...they said I can work with you even though we know each other, so...if you want, I can run you through your exercises tomorrow."

If possible, his glare turns angrier. "I don't care what you do."

"Okay, well...James apparently requested me for you because he said, and I quote, 'I want the best for Shane, and you're the best.' So it looks like he wants us working together. You know how he gets."

"And what would you know about my brother?"

Yeah, no. We're not doing this. Shane can kiss my ass.

"He's my family too, you know."

Shane narrows his eyes at me, but doesn't say anything-probably for the best since I'm sure it'd be something douchey.

With a single nod, I turn on my heel to head out, but stop to face him in the doorway. "Your brother is really worried about you, Shane, so maybe you should stop acting like a dick and start trying to help yourself."

I don't stick around to hear his reply. I probably shouldn't speak that way to a patient or to the guy whose house I'm living in, but...he's hurting James more than he knows and I'm not okay with that. Plus, he truly is being an ass. I've heard all the stories about him from the rest of the staff, and….they're not good.

Whatever. What's the worse he can do? Tell me to move out of his house? Fine. I'll find somewhere else to live if I have to. James would never let me be homeless, anyway.

At least I have one Diamond brother in my corner.

Done! So yeah, obviously things aren't off to a great start between Shane and Dak.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on the chapter, as well as if you happened to have a favorite part/moment!

Again, I hope you all enjoyed and that you all are doing well! I want to take a moment to say thank you again to everyone that read and supported Now and Forever! I was so nervous going into that story because it wasn't strictly BTR, but all of the love and support you all showed that story gave me the confidence to go forward with his sequel. :) The next chapter of this will most likely be up sometime next week.

Until then!

-Epically Obsessed