Daniel's last call was to home. Tanya answered it. Much to her parent's dismay, she had finally figured out that the caller ID would tell her who was calling. There went her parents' reason for not answering the phone that she didn't know if it was someone she was allowed to talk to or a stranger. Now she was checking and screening calls to see if she could get them or leave them for Mommy. Maybe they shouldn't have had a second child. One extremely precocious child was plenty. Daniel often wondered how his parents handled having four.

"DADDY!" Tanya squealed into the phone. "I made Zachary pretty!" In the background he heard Cyra's sigh of disgust. God, he wanted to be there right now. He wanted to be with his wife and daughter and infant son and not in a trauma room waiting for the dying.

"Tan, I need to talk to Mommy," Daniel said, trying to keep his voice steady. Unfortunately, Tanya was far too much her father's daughter.

"Why are you sad?" she questioned with the perfect innocence of a child.

"Because Aunt Heather and Uncle Cole are sick," he managed to answer.

"Oh," she said. "Tell them not to spit out their medicine or they will get a spanking and not get better."

"I will," he promised. "Now go get Mommy for me."

Before Tanya could respond, the phone was yanked away and Cyra picked up. "You go clean your room right now, young lady," she ordered the little girl.

"But Mommy!" Tanya protested.

"GO!" Daniel could almost see her standing in the family room, her finger pointing, dark eyes snapping.

Cyra let out a small groan. "I swear," she said, "If our son grows up to be gay, it's all your daughter's fault. I go into the kitchen for five minutes, just five minutes, and she's already got him in one of her doll dresses *again*. But then this time she decides he's not pretty enough. She gets out that glitter makeup stuff that Liz sent to her and now the poor baby is covered in it. I know I should be glad she doesn't hate her brother and trying to smother him, but this is getting ridiculous." She paused to take a breath. "So what's up with you?"

Daniel couldn't say anything for a few seconds. He didn't care that Tanya was dressing up her little brother despite the number of times that she had been told that was a major no-no. Home was always a little crazy with the kids, but right then he wished he could be there more than anything.

"Daniel, what's wrong?" Cyra questioned. She knew her husband. It wasn't unusual for him to call during the day, but even when he was going to have to tell her that he was tearing off to some war-torn country somewhere in the world and wasn't sure when he would be back, she had never gotten this kind of vibe off of him.

"I'm...I'm at St. Luke's," he finally said, desperately trying to keep control. He had been okay until faced with the natural sweetness and compassion of his wife. "Heather and Cole were brought in a little bit ago. They...both of them had been shot."

"Oh dear God in Heaven," Cyra gasped out. "What happened? Are they okay?" She thought for a second. "And what are they doing in New York?"

"I don't know why they were here," Daniel answered honestly. "Nobody knew. Heather had already been taken up to surgery when I got here. But, uh, Cole's not doing so well. Xander's already called Janice."

"Oh no," Cyra said softly. "They're going to be okay, right? I mean, Jhondie's got them, so they should be good." Zachary had to be delivered by an emergency c-section and most surgeons wouldn't have been able to get him out in time before the cord around his neck would have caused brain damage. Jhondie had done the surgery herself in the E.R. rather than waiting for one of the OB surgeons and an OR, flying through the surgery in record speed and getting him out. Testing later had shown absolutely no indication of any damage at all.

"Heather, I think so," Daniel replied. "I don't think she was hurt too bad. Jhondie's got Cole in surgery right now. If Xander and I hadn't been able to get here and give blood...he wouldn't have made it that far." Cyra was almost crying at hearing the sheer pain in her husband's voice.

"I'm going to call Carmella and then I'll be there," Cyra promised. Carmella was a teenager that lived down the street. The sixteen year old was the oldest of the seven children her Italian parents had created, so she could handle any age child. And she never said no to babysitting, no matter the time of day or night. She was home schooled, so if it was noon or midnight, she was ready. She had explained that if she were home, then she would be expected to watch kids for free. If she went to the Raleigh's then she not only got paid to watch kids, but she also got to watch what she wanted to on TV.

"Cyra, you might not want to," Daniel warned. "Things had to be said in the ER about Cole and blood and a lot of people know now. If the media gets wind, and I don't see how they won't, it's going to be a circus."

Cyra closed her eyes. She had been waiting for this in one way or another. Daniel's article used fake names and places for everyone, and other media outlets had been desperate to find just one of his sources. They had resorted to some dirty tricks, including that Congressional hearing where one of them had managed to plant a bug at Daniel's table. Nothing had succeeded. Cyra knew how important publishing this article had been to Daniel, but she had wished he didn't have to. She wanted her kids to grow up normal, not as freak attractions. But had Daniel not written it and another genetics program started, her kids would have been the first targets to use.

"I'll see you in a few," Cyra repeated.

"Love you, baby."

"Love you too."

Daniel hung up his phone and let Carolyn disconnect him from the blood drawing equipment. She had quite wisely not tried to reprimand either of them for using cell phones in a hospital. Xander had already removed the needle from his arm and was pacing as he talked on his cell phone, making the girl even more nervous. Someone is scrubs came in and grabbed the bags of blood, but he was in far too much of a hurry to give them an update. Xander snapped off his phone and sat back down. Now what?

Justin finally came back in the room. "Okay," he announced. "Heather is already in surgery and from what I heard, she's not in life-threatening danger. She's got Dr. Ramirez working on her, and next to Jhondie, he's the best surgeon in this place. They were saying that she was awake and talking before they took her up, so that's a good sign." His voice lowered. "And she was also kinetically kicking the crap out of anyone trying to give Cole blood, so she's in good shape."

"Good for her," Xander growled, ignoring the black look Daniel shot him. "I want to know who the a$$hole was that wanted to give up on Cole."

Justin thought for a second. "Probably Ricker. But you can't kill him because Jhondie still needs him." Not really, but if she tried running the E.R and handling her other duties, he wasn't ever going to see her outside this hospital again.

"I can wait," Xander snapped. The poor nurse went white and scrambled out of the room.

"Xander," Justin said calmly, in what Daniel recognized as his "interview voice", "What you are going to do is calm down and go into the surgical waiting room and do exactly that. Wait. Ricker's not Jhondie. He's not a surgeon and he sure as hell doesn't understand X-6 physiology. Now has everyone been called?"

"Yeah," Daniel answered. "Mom and Dad will be on the next flight out. Liz and Cam probably won't be too far behind." He looked at Xander. "Were you able to get a hold of Cray?"

Xander nodded. "He said he would be here on the next flight." Cray had recently received a stunning promotion and they weren't sure if he would be able to get away even for an emergency like this. None of them had ever expected to be put into a major command position. Anything they ever did would have to be covert. Xander had been able to excel, but then again, the CIA was mostly covert ops. Cray had gone into the Navy's sub program and eventually become an XO on a sub. He never tried to go further because he knew that if he went up for a command three times and didn't get it, he would be out of the program all together. His commander knew the full situation and made sure the right people would support the nomination. Four months ago, Cray received orders to take over his own sub. He hadn't been convinced that it was a brilliantly done practical joke by one of his brothers until he actually took the sub out for the first time and everyone was calling him captain. But despite the responsibility, he wasn't going to forget his roots and when an X-6 emergency called, he was going to answer it.

"What about Tynell?" Justin asked. Daniel was too concerned about his sister to be an investigator right then, but Justin couldn't help but wonder what Heather and Cole were doing together in New York City.

"Ty didn't answer," Xander supplied. "Lon said he put in an emergency notice to him to call." He was pacing again. "Have you heard anything from Jhondie yet?"

Not likely we're going to hear anything for hours, Justin thought. He wasn't a doctor by any means, but after being married to one for so long and spending time with them, you got a feeling for how bad a situation really was and not just what the staff was saying. But he said, "Just that Cole's in surgery. They'll call into surgical waiting with updates."

Justin led the two men into the waiting room. Time had a curious habit of slowing once someone walked through those doors. It was some kind of anomaly that outside time moved at a regular speed, but in there minutes suddenly spun themselves out into hours. The volunteer at the desk occasionally cast them a sympathetic smile, but it wasn't a comfort. There was another family in the room, discussing their family member's minor operation that he was having. Xander's pacing was making them nervous as they huddled together.

After some time, a woman in a sharp business suit entered, looking around and smiling when she spotted Justin. He smiled warmly back at her. "Good morning, Erica," he greeted when she approached. She was one of the hospital's family liaisons and worked with families and any legal, psych, or media. With the situation at hand, she was glad that she knew one of the people involved, especially considering that he was married to the chief of staff. From what she had heard from the rumors flying around, Dr. Carter seemed to know these people as well. Maybe Justin was their liaison to the "normal" world.

"Justin," she greeted. "I hate to bother you, but there are some, ah, issues."

"I figured there would be." They had Xander and Daniel's attention now. Xander stopped pacing to sit down. Another family had come in but his frequent glares had them curled up in the far corner away from the small group.

"First," she explained, "The police are here wanting to know more information. I told them that both of the victims are in surgery now, so they are going to have to wait until their doctors say they are well enough to be questioned."

"Did they say what happened?" Daniel asked quickly.

"No," she replied, her nose wrinkling to show annoyance at the police. "It's an official investigation at the moment."

"I'll have Lon talk to them," Xander said. Erica smiled, not knowing who Lon was or how that would help, but the gentleman seemed to know what he was talking about.

"The other thing is press," she continued in a lower voice. "I am aware that the situation is a bit, ah, unusual. I'm not sure who has said what or what was overheard perhaps, but the vultures are already circling." She blushed. "No offense." Justin almost laughed. His caliber of journalism was much higher than the majority of publications out there.

"Keep them out of here," Daniel snapped before Xander could say a word. He knew that Xander's method of dealing with a microphone in his face was going to be far more brutal and direct than 'no comment'. And with the way Daniel was feeling, he might just follow his uncle's lead.

"Actually, hospital policy is that three reporters are allowed in for extraordinary circumstances," Justin said. "They aren't allowed in rooms unless invited by the family and they can only stay in the common areas, not say, in the back of the emergency room with the patients." He reached into his suit coat's inner pocket and pulled out his press credentials. "Too bad Logan isn't here or else we would have all three spots taken." Daniel's relief was evident. He hadn't thought about the fact that him and Justin qualified as press.

"So where does that mean the third one is going to be?" Xander demanded.

"Mike will stay back," Daniel said to him. He turned to Erica. "Tell Mike DuChant of the Post that he's the third and make sure he talks to Justin first." She nodded; glad to hear that they knew whom they wanted. The others would whine and complain, but they wouldn't get in. And anyone that had a sudden illness requiring them to go to the ER would soon wish they had gone to another hospital. One good colonoscopy would change his views on the world forever.

Erica left and made sure they were left alone. Xander had to leave for a few minutes when the cleaner team arrived to take care of the trauma room. He gave them their instructions and was back upstairs to wait once more. Justin took a minute to step out and talk to Mike. He was told that if he would be a good boy and stay in the cafeteria, he was going to get to be part of the story of a lifetime. Mike was the kind of guy that would beat up his own mother for a hot story, but he knew when to be patient. For a story like this, he would endure the lousy coffee forever if need be.