A/N I do not own John McBain or any of the other OLTL characters. All others are my own creation. Please don't sue cause I am broke and have nothing to be sued for anyway.

Chapter 8

Later that night Shelly woke every muscle aching and plagued with a raging thirst. Getting up she gasped when a hot sharp pain knifed through her abs, Looking down she saw that someone had bandaged her up again and had obviously taken care of her wound. Looking across the room she saw John McBain asleep on the couch and another man she recalled only vaguely sleeping in a chair. Putting her feet on the floor and standing up she was surprised when the room began to spin and she felt incredibly weak. Falling back down on the bed with a startled groan she lay back a little and tried to recover her senses.

John heard Shelly groan and was up and over to her before she could blink. "What are you doing?" He asked, his voice harsh with concern. With out her saying a word he gently picked her up and placed her in then bed.

"I wanted a drink," Shelly said in a voice laced with pain. Michael had also woken up and was leaning over Shelly with concern. "Who are you?" Shelly asked him. "What are you doing here?"

It was John who answered, "This is my brother Michael and he is here because I called him. He is a doctor, he took the bullet out and stitched you up."

Still looking at John Shelly asked, "He won't tell anyone where I am will he?"

"No I won't. But you need to tell us why you are afraid someone is after you and who shot you." Michael said.

Shelly looked at him weakly and took a sip of water. She wasn't sure she wanted anyone one else to know what happened to her. It would only put them in more danger. It was bad enough they found her here but if they knew what exactly went down it could mean their deaths.

Flash Back

Shelly ran from the house and down the street. Stopping at the corner she tried to decide where to go. She couldn't think. She just needed to get away. She heard someone call her name but didn't turn around. Starting to run again she headed for the place that she knew there would be not other people. She headed for the underpass about a mile out of town. No one ever went out there but here and it was calm and peaceful. Just the kind of place she needed right now.

Running straight to the water and looking down she saw herself in the water. She recognized her face but that was all. Her whole world was crumbling around her and there was nothing she could do about it. If she wasn't Michelle Falk then who was she? How did she define herself now? If she wasn't Gerald Falk's daughter, if she wasn't David or Jerry's sister who was she? Crumpling to the ground she put her face in her hands and began to cry.

After a while she straightened up and wiped her tears. There wasn't anything she could do about this, about the fact that she had been lied to her whole life but there was something she could do about Herbie. He had told her that the thug thing was a one-time venture and that's all he did. She was tired of being lied to, to be sure he was telling the truth she was gonna go pay him a visit. Maybe spy on him a bit, if he was telling the truth there would be nothing to see. But if not...

Well she didn't know what she would do if he wasn't telling the truth. At the very least she would dump him. Perhaps she already should have. She really liked Herbie but she couldn't be with him if he was a criminal. Sighing she got up and headed to the gym where Herbie hung out when he didn't have class.

It was a long walk to the gym but it helped Shelly clear her head. Opening the door quietly she stepped in. She was about to step in the main room when she heard a thud. Creeping the corner to peak around she stifled a horrified gasp. There was an older man tied to a chair and Herbie, her Herbie, standing there aiming a gun at him. Torn between the urge to turn and run and the urge to demand to know what the hell Herbie was doing she simply stood there watching the events unfold.

Fighting back the compulsion to retch Shelly looked on as Herbie shouted at the poor man in the chair. She didn't know who the man was but surely whoever he was he didn't deserve to be tortured like this. Standing there she saw that Herbie was not alone with the older man. There were several other people in the room looking on as Herbie suddenly lashed out and pistol-whipped the man in the face causing blood to gush from his nose. One of the men looking on nodded in approval at the action. He was older, mid forties probably, and had an authoritative air about him. He appeared to be in charge of the situation. Herbie looked to him for instruction on what to next. He seemed vaguely familiar to Shelly but she couldn't place him, she studied his face memorizing it for future reference.

Hoping that they were just going to scare or mildly hurt the helpless man she kept quiet knowing there was nothing she could do against so many. Herbie hit the man a few more times and asked him several questions. Then after looking at the boss Herbie simply shot the wounded man in the head the blood spraying onto the wall behind him. Shelly gagged and spun around and raced for the door. Mentally cursing when she bumped into something but didn't stop to find out what it was not realizing that she had left something behind, something that would lead them straight to her.

Panicked Shelly ran to the one place she felt safe. Pausing in her backyard fighting back tears and hysteria she suddenly remembered why she had left the house in the first place. She couldn't face them, couldn't put them in danger because of her. She had thought Herbie was a good person, had thought he just might be the man for her but she had been wrong. And that mistake might cost her everything. Climbing on the roof silently she prayed that she could sneak in with out alerting anyone to her presence. Gathering her things she silently bid farewell to everything she had ever known. Knowing that she needed to hide incase anyone came looking for her. The taking her cell phone and sticking it in her jacket pocket she planed to call the police as soon as she left town. She couldn't let Herbie get away with killing someone no matter what feelings she may have had for him. Climbing back out the window as silently as she had come Shelly headed for the bus station.

"Shelly?" John questioned breaking into her thoughts.

Shelly blinked and focused her eyes on John realizing that he had asked her something but not knowing what it was. "What?"

"Who shot you?" John asked getting to the most important question first.

"I don't know." She answered honestly, her voice trembling with the effort to speak.

Michael watched her face and noticed that she was still flushed. Sitting on the side of the bed next to her he reached over and put a hand on her forehead. "You still feel warm I need to take your temperature." Taking out an ear thermometer he turned her head gently and gently place it in her ear. Smiling a little when she jerked away with a "what the hell is that?" he explained what it was and how it worked.

Noting that Shelly still had a high fever and was almost falling asleep right there he turned to John and said, "This isn't the time. She needs to sleep."

Thanking God for the short reprieve Shelly drifted back to sleep after finishing off the water Michael had handed her, leaving the two men again wondering what had happened and why.

John watched Shelly sleep feeling more protective of her then he had thought possible. As an FBI agent he was trained to stay detached but this was different then anything he had ever dealt with before. For one Shelly was his sister even if she didn't know it yet and that made him feel responsible for her and there was just something about her, a vulnerability that she tried so hard to hide, that called to his protective side. Sighing he moved a chair close to the bed and sat down noticing that Michael had done the same thing. This was going to be a long night.