I'm sorry about the long wait for an update! I got banned for a week because of my spelling!Here is my next installment, so I hope you find it worth the wait! Oh, and sorry to those of you who are big Sucre fans, but I'm willing to bet that when the escape really does go down, someone will get killed, and C-note isn't an important enough character for anyone to care! Thanks for the great reviews everyone. Keep 'em coming!

Loyalties-Ch.8

Veronica had just fallen asleep after watching David Letterman, when she was jerked back into consciousness by the loud pounding at her door. Glancing at her bedside clock as she rose from bed, she wondered who could possibly be visiting at this hour.

LJ most likely, she deducted with a sigh. Must've lost his key, again. Ever since his mother's death, he had been living with her frequently coming home at all hours of the night.

His erratic behavior seemed to have only gotten worse since Lincoln and Michael's escape from prison. She was starting to wonder if her offer for him to stay with her had been a mistake. She loved him like family, but she was frustrated with her feelings of helplessness where he was concerned.

The knocking continued getting louder and more frantic as she slowly made her way to the front door. Then she realized the knocking was not coming from the front but the back instead.

Why would he be at the back door?

I hope he hasn't been doing anything he shouldn't, she thought frowning worriedly.

"Alright, I'm coming!" she yelled, sleepiness and frustration making her generally even-tempered demeanor disappear.

She reached the back door and pulled it open while saying, "Look L.J., this coming home whenever you feel like it has got to sto-" her sentence cut off mid-word when she saw who was standing on her back porch,

"Lincoln." she said, staring wide eyed in a shocked whisper.

She hadn't seen or heard from him since the escape, and the last thing she ever expected was to find him on her back porch at 2 am.

"Wha-what are you doing here?" she asked, when the shock had passed somewhat.

"I know this is a shock, Veronica, but we need your help." he replied nervously.

"Yeah, this is a shock. You escape from prison, and I haven't heard from you or that brother of yours for days. For all I knew, you could be dead!" she said angrily, letting her pent up feelings out. "My god, Lincoln, you haven't even tried to get in touch with your son! Do you have any idea how this is effecting him! His mother did just get killed not long ago!"

"Veronica, you're right. I should have tried to call or something, but honestly a lot has happened and calling to check in was the last thing on my mind." he said truthfully.

"The last thing, huh? Well, what do you want? You do realize that since I was Michael's lawyer it is quite possible that the police could be watching my house, don't you?" she asked.

"There's no one watching your house." she heard someone say from the shadows behind Lincoln.

"Who is that?" she asked. "You didn't bring your prison buddies here too did you?" she asked angrily. "That would be a really stu-"

"Just shut up for a minute, Veronica, we don't have time for this! Now I said we need your help, so are you going to help or not?" he asked quickly.

"Fine, but if they are watching here, and they find you, don't blame me." she replied hesitantly, opening the door wider in an invitation to enter.

Lincoln disappeared into the darkness again as two slightly familiar men entered her house.

"Hello, thank you for opening your home to us." the older one, a longhaired man said in a lazy drawl.

"Yeah, whatever." she replied, wondering where Lincoln had went.

Then he came back into view, carefully cradling his brother in his arms.

"Michael, oh my god, what happened to him?" she asked, leading them to her bedroom, where Lincoln gently lowered him to the bed.

She turned on the lamp beside her bed, and gasped when she saw the younger of the brothers clearly for the first time.

His face was pale, with huge black circles around his eyes, and his face was covered with a thin sheen of sweat. He was shaking, while mumbling incoherently. His eyes open, staring at nothing with a, glazed, vacant look.

"It's okay Michael." Veronica said in a soothing tone, as she put her hand to his forehead and felt the heat radiating from him. He moaned pitifully and she turned to look at Lincoln, who was staring at his brother with a distressed expression on his handsome daze.

"Once again, I will ask. What. Happened. To. Him?" she repeated slowly.

"He got shot during the escape." Lincoln answered, lowering his eyes guiltily from her gaze.

"He got shot, when? But that was days ago!" she exclaimed, looking Michael over to try and locate the wound.

"It's his back." Lincoln said quietly, "He shot him in his back."

He rolled Michael onto his side. She pulled up his shirt and finally saw the offensive hole in his lower back, and with a sharp intake of breath, covered her mouth with her hand.

"Oh, Michael." she whispered, seeing how bad his condition truly was.

"There was a doctor at the hotel who took the bullet out, but he didn't have any medicine or anything to give him afterwards." Lincoln said quietly. "And I couldn't take him to the hospital because we're probably on 'America's Most Wanted' by now. I'm sorry for coming here and involving you, but I didn't know where else I could take him." he added, looking at her with such helplessness in his eyes that she felt her heart breaking just seeing it.

"It's okay, Lincoln, you know I will do anything I can to help. I love both of you, but I'm not a doctor. What can I do?" she said, putting her hand on his shoulder.

"Don't you have an uncle who is though?" he asked. "Martin, isn't it?"

"Yes." she answered hesitantly, "But I don't know if he'd be willing to help in a situation like this."

"You have to talk him into helping! And now, look at Michael. He's not going to last much longer, and I won't let him die like this!" Lincoln said loudly. "He didn't deserve this happening to him!"

"Okay, okay, I'll call Martin, just calm down. I'll do my best." she said, and then, picking up her bedside phone, left the room so her uncle wouldn't hear Michael's moans of pain.

She decided not to tell him the whole truth until she had him at her house. She knew that no doctor could refuse helping Michael after seeing the state he was in, especially one who had been in the profession as long as Uncle Martin.

He finally picked up the phone after she let it ring a long time, and she launched into her tale she had come up with, saying LJ had gotten into a fight and had gotten hurt badly and she couldn't take him to the hospital because the police were searching for him.

She knew Martin had a soft spot for the rebellious teen and wouldn't be able to say no, and she was right.

After promising he would be there as quickly as possible, they hung up, and she went back to the bedroom to tell Lincoln.

"He's coming, but I didn't exactly tell him the truth, so when he gets here you're going to have to let me talk to him before you come out." she said, then remembering Lincoln and Michael had not come along, asked Lincoln, "Is there any way you can get your two friends to leave? I know that you're all tired, but Martin won't help with a houseful of escapees. "She finished with a helpless shrug."

"Yeah, I think I can manage that." he replied. Looking at Michael once more, he went to the living room where the other two men were, leaving Veronica alone to watch Michael.

She didn't know what had happened to the brothers in the last few days, but she really did love them, and didn't want anything to happen to either of them.

She thought, looking at Michael with affection, how during her time as his lawyer, she had started to once again think of him as her little brother.

She went into the bathroom and got a washcloth, and wet it, then brought it back, wiping his face with it, before easing his shirt off of him and wiping his chest also, wondering again, how much it had hurt to get the intricate tattoo put on it.

She then went to her drawer and pulled out one of her ex's shirts and eased it on him, and pulled the cover up around him with a sigh. Maybe he could rest a little better now, she hoped. The woman turned her back shortly but whipped back around when she heard Michael speak clearly for the first time.

"Veronica?" he asked in a hoarse whisper.

"Yeah. Hey, Michael. "she replied, sitting down softly on the bed beside him.

"W-why are we here?" he asked, with a confused look on his face. "Where's Lincoln?"

"He's in the living room talking to your two friends. He'll be right back, I promise." she replied.

"Oh, okay."

"And the reason you're here is your brother. He brought you so we could get you some help. My uncle, who's a doctor, is on his way, and he's going to fix you up." she continued lightly, sounding more sure than she actually felt.

"It's too late to fix m-me." he said sadly.

"No, it's not! Don't talk like that! You've made it this far, so you're not giving up now." she said emphatically." I don't know what's went on these last few days, but I do know that if anything happens to you, Lincoln will never be able to forgive himself. So you're just going to have to fight this okay?"

"Okay." he replied after a pause, then looked at something over her shoulder, and she turned to find Lincoln standing behind her.

"Hey, bro. "he said softly, rubbing Michael's short hair affectionately.

"Hey."

"They're gone." Lincoln said, looking at Veronica, "It was hard to do, because, believe it or not, they didn't want to leave old Mikey here without knowing he was okay, but after I gave them your number and told them to call tomorrow night, they finally agreed. They have plans they want to get started on anyway."

"Good." was her only reply.

They heard the front door open, and heard LJ's voice, "Hey, Veronica, what's going on? Why are the lights on?" he asked, walking into her bedroom. "Dad." he said stopping short. "Uncle Michael, you're here." he stated in disbelief.

"Hey, LJ," Lincoln said in a voice thick with emotion, and was shocked when his son ran and hugged him tightly, saying. "I missed you, dad."

"Yeah, I missed you too." he said, hugging him back.

When LJ finally pulled away, he moved to hug Michael, but seeing the drawn expression on his uncle's face, hesitated.

"S'okay." Michael said, lifting his arms slightly, and LJ hugged him too.

"You okay, Uncle Michael?" he asked worriedly.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Michael replied, not wanting to worry his nephew. "J-just a little under the weather."

Then the doorbell rang, and Veronica quickly got up from where she was sitting.

"LJ, that's my uncle Martin. You remember meeting him before right?" she asked.

"Yeah, that old dude who's a doctor." he replied in typical teenage fashion.

"That's the one. He's here to help Michael, but I need to talk to him alone first. So you and your dad stay in here with Michael until I come get you alright?"

"Sure, no problem." LJ answered with a shrug.

Leaving the room, Veronica heard Lincoln ask LJ, "Why are you just now coming in this late at night?" and couldn't help but smile.

Then moving to open the front door, thought grimly, here goes nothing.

TBC

I know lots of you asked me not to bring Sara into this, so I used Veronica instead, so I hope ya'll don't mind too much! I'm going to wrap everything up next chapter, and hopefully I won't keep you waiting as long this time or disappoint you with the ending! R&R!