Alex took the first hit. It caught him by surprise, because he was usually the one who started fights—Jake was the one who broke them up. The blow snapped his head back, making him stagger, and he was struck by two simultaneous thoughts:

Jake got strong. And:

He's really mad.

Before Alex could recover, Jake turned on Eliot. He took the punch as Alex had, turning with the blow and stumbling a little to keep his feet, though Alex was sure he could have dodged. Eliot straightened, wiping a trickle of blood from his lip. "Alright, I deserve that. Can we talk now?"

"Talk?" Jake growled. He threw another punch, which Eliot made no move to avoid, and then rounded on Alex. "No, I don't want to talk. You had 30 years to try to talk to me. And now you're—what? You're on vacation together?"

Alex lifted his hands defensively. "That's not what this is. We didn't plan this."

"You just happened to be in the Philippines at the same time?"

"Actually, yes."

"Hold on now," Ernesto said. "We don't need to resort to violence." He held out his hands, but his glasses stayed on—so he wasn't serious about getting in between them.

Jake barely glanced at him. "Stay out of this."

"Kai?" Ernesto said. "Shouldn't we stop them?"

Kai just sighed, putting her hand on Ernesto's arm and guiding him away. "If they want to beat each other up, let them."

"But—"

"I'll get some ice. You referee."

As soon as Ernesto was out of the way, Jake lunged at Alex and tackled him to the sand. Dimly, he heard Ernesto pleading for them to talk things through, but Alex was quickly losing patience with the entire situation. He knew he wasn't perfect, that he'd made mistakes and that he deserved his fair share of blame for the way he and his brothers had turned out, but those decisions were made decades ago. If Jake wanted a conversation, fine, but he wasn't going to lie there and be a punching bag.

"Jake, stop!" Eliot growled, wrapping his arms around Jake's chest and hauling him upright. Alex scrambled to his feet, snarled, and threw his fist at Jake's jaw.

And—what the hell—he hit Eliot too.

The rest of the fight was a blur of fists and elbows, and Alex stopped caring who he punched. At some point Eliot gave up trying to stop them and joined in, sometimes trying to throw Jake and Alex away from each other, sometimes just knocking them down. Fighting them was both achingly familiar and completely alien—Jake still fought like he was in the middle of a bar on payday, though he'd clearly had some kind of training. But Eliot... Eliot scared him. On the surface he seemed to be using straightforward moves, but whenever Alex had a moment to pay attention, he saw practiced stances, advanced forms from a dozen different fighting styles, all blending together into something unique and deceptively simple. Eliot took as much punishment as either of them, but it always seemed like the blows he took were ones he'd planned to take.

Alex wasn't sure how long it lasted, but eventually all three of them ended up on their backs, staring at the sky and breathing hard. Bruises covered his body and his knuckles were sore, and there was sand caked to every visible patch of skin, but Alex felt an odd sense of contentment settle over him as he listened to the sounds of his brothers' breaths and the distant surf.

"Here." Alex looked up to see Kai toss an ice pack to Eliot, who caught it without lifting his head. She did the same for Jake and Alex, then crossed her arms and nodded to Ernesto. "There's coffee over there. Pull yourselves together. We still have work to do."

A fond smile worked at Alex's lips, but he hid it behind the ice pack. "She's right," he said. "Jake, you wanna tell us what you're doing here?"

Jake glared at him. "You first."

"I live here," Alex said, gesturing to the gift shop. "For about a year now. I'm retired."

"Kinda young for retirement, aren't you?" Eliot said.

Alex lifted his arm to show off his monitor. "Doctor's orders." When a flash of concern chased the anger from Jake's eyes, Alex added, "Hypertension. Nothing serious."

As if making up for his lapse, Jake sat up and turned away from Alex. "And you?"

"Here on a job," Eliot answered. "I didn't know Alex was here, Jake, I swear. This wasn't a planned meeting."

A frown settled over Jake's face, making the new bruise on his cheek stand out sharply. "Your turn," Alex said. "What are you doing here?"

Jake hitched one shoulder. "I'm here for work."

"I don't buy that," Kai said. "That's not how real life works. There's no way you both showed up at the same time, not by coincidence. No way I had to be the one to find you. It's like I'm stuck in a bad horror movie."

"You're telling me," Alex muttered.

"If I'd have known they were here," Jake said, pushing himself upright to look at Kai. "I wouldn't be."

"You can't mean that," Ernesto said.

"Don't I?" Something in Jake's expression shifted, and Alex caught a glimpse of the raw emotion that had fueled his outburst. He looked back at his brothers, eyes burning. "I thought you were dead, Eliot," Jake said thickly. "And Alex, there were times I thought the same of you. You both just left like... like you weren't leaving anything behind."

Eliot cleared his throat, propping himself up on his elbow and turning to face them both. "I'm sorry, Jake," he said, his voice low. "Alex. There were reasons I stayed away at first, but..." He coughed and shook his head, looking down at the sand. "I should have called. I know."

Damn... now Alex would have to make the same admission. And he knew it, he did—he just didn't want to say it. So he stood up, dusting the sand from his legs, and offered a hand to Jake. "Let's get some coffee," he said. "There'll be time to catch up when this is over."

"When what is over?" Jake asked. His voice was still wary, but he accepted Alex's hand without throwing another punch, so Alex took it as a victory.

"No," Kai said, her hands snapping to her hips. "I'm not going to try to solve this case around the three of you. Eliot can come with me to the station, and the rest of you do... whatever you do. Punch each other some more if you want. Just stay out of my case."

That last part was said with a glare at Alex, who sputtered indignantly. "You brought him to me! I didn't have anything to do with him interfering in your case."

"That's right," Kai said. "And you won't. I know you, Walker, and I'm not giving either of you the chance to get involved."

Jake made a face. "Walker?"

"Like the Texas Ranger," Ernesto said.

"Hey!" Alex pointed threateningly, but Ernesto just shrugged and offered him a coffee.

Kai watched the exchange, completely unamused. "Eliot," she said in a stern voice. "The rest of you, stay here."

"I'm not—" Alex started, but Eliot stood with a groan and waved him off.

"It's fine," he said. "You two talk. I'll be back soon."

He accepted a coffee from Ernesto before gesturing for Kai to lead, and then the two of them made their way up the beach toward the parking lot. "You're not going with?" Alex asked, shuffling through the sand to get his own coffee.

"Someone aught to keep an eye on you," Ernesto said. He took one of the drinks with his free hand and offered the last to Jake, who took it awkwardly.

"Thanks," he said. "Sorry for the..."

Ernesto smiled. "There's always plenty of excitement whenever Alex's family comes to visit."

"Who else has been here?" Jake asked.

"Uncle Danny," Alex answered. "And uh... Evelyn."

"Who's Evelyn?"

"My daughter."

Jake gaped at him. "You have kids?"

"A kid," Alex corrected. Ernesto was already making his way toward the gift shop, so Alex cleared his throat and gestured for Jake to follow. "Come on, let's go up to the shop. I'll fill you in on everything."