Okay, to start off with, I am sooooooooooooooooooooo sorry about making you all wait so long to continue reading. I'm back in school now so all of my stories are kinda on hold until I find a spare moment, like now. Other than that, please RR.

Disclaimer: I do not own these characters, only the plot.

Chpt. 3 – Broken Hands and Broken Hearts

"Yeah, that's great! Call me back if anything changes but otherwise I'll see you tomorrow..."

The phone conversation ended abruptly, rather the same way it had started only moments before. Placing the receiver back in its cradle on the wall Ginger Foutly turned and began her trek back up the stairs to her room. Reaching the second story landing, the second unknown sound of the day reached her ears.

"Oww....Frick...Oww...Stupid tape..."

Rounding the top of the stairs, Ginger followed her ever useful ears toward the source of this constant stream of painful moans and curses. Reaching the half-open door to the bathroom she could clearly see her younger sibling seated rather unceremoniously upon the toilet, attempting to bandage his now injured hand. After another curse and the removal of what appeared to be his third piece of medical tape Carl finally noticed the presence of his sister as she watched from the doorframe.

"Need some help?"

The statement, which many would have thought to be sarcastic coming from the lips of his older sibling, carried a tone of genuine caring. Not bothering to wait for an answer, Ginger entered the bathroom and moved over to kneel beside her little brother who, as she just now noticed, was still crying. Reaching up and wiping the tears from her sibling's eyes, Ginger speaks softly under her voice in the way that only a caring older sister can.

"It's gonna be okay, I promise, you just wait and see..."

Once again leaving a comment hanging in the evening air, Ginger takes Carl's now rather bloodied hand and, giving it one good look, opens the medical cabinet. Removing a rather large brown bottle and a bag of cotton balls she proceeds to soak a small amount of the liquid in the bottle into the cotton balls. Taking gentle hold of Carl's hand yet again, Ginger begins to clean his wounds, that is until...

"OWWWW!!! What the hell is that stuff?..."

Checking quickly Ginger reassures herself that Carl's scream did not shatter the mirror before responding.

"Hydrogen Peroxide, now sit still or it'll take even longer."

Returning to her work Ginger finishes cleaning the cuts on Carl's hand. There appears to be no really deep cuts, only long, thus producing a lot of blood, but it's nothing that should need stitches. Ginger's looking over of Carl's hand slowly turned into staring as she began to ponder what could possible cause him to punch a wall, how having one person removed from his life could cause him to do something like this. Her thought process was never finished as she was interrupted by her sibling.

"Ginger! If you're going to stare at my hand for any length of time you could at least read my palm or something."

Smiling to herself, glad that her brother seemed to retain his sense of humor even with all that was going on, Ginger grabbed the now mangled roll of medical tape from where her brother had laid it. Trimming off no more than she would need she retrieved a piece of gauze from the medical cabinet and set about the rather intricate task of bandaging a hand while attempting to leave function to it. Once she was satisfied that she had securely covered all of the cuts it was rather clear that it would be impossible for Carl to write properly for at least a few days. Realizing that fact for himself nearly a full minute after her, Carl began to protest.

"How the hell do you think I'm supposed to write with my hand all wrapped up like this?..."

"I don't know, but then again, I'm not the one who hit a wall,"

Ginger retaliated rather smoothly, as she had learned to do over the years of arguing with Carl. Yet unlike their normal squabble, there was no further retaliation from the younger Foutly. Instead Carl hung his head in a way that implied shame, or disgrace and made to slip past her and out the door. Not making it quite as far as he assumed he would though, he soon found his older sister's arm wrapped gently around his shoulders. Turning his head gently so that she could look him directly in his emerald green eyes, Ginger began to speak yet again in a tone that only an older sister could possibly muster.

"Don't worry, things will get better, I promise. You just wait and see, let your big sister handle all the details. You just go along for the ride."

Rather perplexed by his sister's comments, Carl was so caught up in thought that not only could he not seem to formulate a proper response, but he noticed the fact that Ginger had slowly lead him back to his own room. Smiling gently, Ginger pulled back the bedspread and helped, or rather pushed, Carl onto his bed. Wishing him goodnight Ginger turned the lights off and suddenly Carl realized just how much the night had taken out of him. Ginger smiled to herself as she watched her brother quickly drift off into sleep.

'He looks so innocent...When he's sleeping..."

So, what's going to happen. Maybe you should just keep checking back. I know I'm like totally cruel for making ya'll wait for what may be a very long time until I get the next chpt. Up. But I'm just mean like that. Latta.

MK