The lights in the hospital suddenly seemed to mock the McManus with their brightness. Anyone in the near vicinity seen smiling was viewed as itching for a fight. Several times Mary had to break into hysterics to keep the boys in their seats. When their Da had gone into cardiac arrest, they could do not but fear the worst. But Jasmine Arroyo and Liliana Bancroft were attending him; Mary seemed soothed by this. When questioned she told her brothers,

"This hospital is halfway between south Boston and the docks. We get injuries of every kind from people of every kind. And in the time that they've been working here, Jay and Lili haven't lost a single patient. " She took great solace in the fact that they were seeing to her father's wounds. If it were any other doctor she would be a nervous wreck, having waited a good few hours already. But Mary knew he was in very capable hands, so she sat and waited. After nearly pacing a hole in the holes and seeing it did not in fact further the process, her brothers dejectedly sat on either side of her. Connor protectively wrapped an arm around her. She leaned against him glad that he had taken to her so fast, she was scared he wouldn't like her, or he wouldn't accept her. Murphy she learned was just not good with people, that little escaped in her Da's room proved that.

"Murphy?" she asked quietly

He looked at her and shifted over so he could look at her directly.

"What were you doing in the room?" At his confused look she added, "Jasmine?"

He actually flushed, all the color drained from his face. He licked his dry lips.

Connor turned to look at him fully, and raised his eyebrows in expectancy.

Murphy cleared his throat, "Well, uh…" he looked up and saw his two siblings looking at him. He realized that even if his father lived, he'd be going back to Ireland; these two are all he had, if he couldn't share with them, what did he have? "Ya'r my family, and I love ya', the both of ya'. Now try to be patient and understand. Fer me."

He tried to explain to them the feeling of loss he'd been experiencing. Connor looked astounded when he learned how his brother felt. And Mary only nodded her head in understanding.

"…I honestly don' know what I'm feeling right now. All I know is when I'm around her; I get this uncontrollable burning in me heart. Me stomach flips, and me mind is foggy. I can't think straight, she makes me feel things I've only ever read about….and tha' was cause me ex made me read those trashy novels girls religiously moon over." He shook his head; "I don't know what's goin' on in me head."

Connor looked away thoughtfully and mused. Much of what Murphy was saying had been on his mind and in his heart as well. He looked up when Mary nudged him in the ribs.

"Sorry wha' was that?" He asked

" I said, 'do ya feel the same?' "

He looked to Murphy and then to Mary, how did she know that? His mouth was open slightly and his brows were knit together. "How…"

" Ya Boys are twins, did ya' forget that? If one o' ya' is feeling something chances are the other is too. Ya'r look just confirmed it." She looked at Murphy now, "Now it sounds to me, like you boys, are lonely." She turned to Connor, "when was the las' time you had a girl?" He searched his memory. It had been a while since he'd enjoyed female companionship.

"Murph, sounds to me like yer biological clock is tickin' like this" She stomped her foot against the linoleum.

" So ya think I just need to get laid?" He asked confused

"No love. You need a wife. How many nameless faceless women have you taken to yer bed? How many stayed the next day? How Many girlfriend have ya had that lasted more than a month?"

He looked away ashamed. He didn't want to demean himself by answering. He knew that he had tendencies to get tired of girls quickly. He couldn't help it; he was restless.

She turned to Connor, "Same to you. You may be more silent with yer feelin's but that don' mean they're not there. When was the last tie ya were even interested in a girl?"

It was Connors turn to look away. In truth he had never had a girlfriend really. He'd of course had his share of women. But he never liked any to keep around for while. They were momentary distractions. Murphy had more tolerance if they satisfied him enough. Connor remembered being duly impressed when Murphy had a girlfriend for three weeks. That was the record. They had never come close to meeting it again, let alone breaking it. Mary was right; the loneliness was starting to bother them.

"So what? We need to go out and get married?" Connor asked

"Well, we all know Murphy has a thing for the good Dr.Arroyo. But what about you, any pursuits?"

He nodded slightly. "let me guess," Mary asked, "Liliana?"

They both looked amazed yet again.

"Oh boys," she sighed," When will you learn? Look, if Murphy likes Jasmine, which by the way is expected, then its kind of inferred that you'd like Lili, which is another natural match by the by."

"Why is that?" Connor Asked

"Well, for Murphy because she is the wild one. She's perfect for him. She's a lady in the street; she'd be quiet and submissive. Ya see her, she just an average girl ya'd never look twice at. But I'd put money on how freaky she'd be behind closed doors."

Murphy felt himself heat at the prospect.

"And fer you Connor, because I'm guessing you take the wild ones to bed?" He blushed but nodded his head. "You've never been with a lady that's why. She got a natural air about her; she's simplistic. I bet you like the city. Going out to bars and dancing and eating out." He nodded again getting used to her telling him things about himself. "See so does she."

"Why?" Murphy asked grimacing

"I don' know, but Jay hates it. She's always wants to go out to picnics where there's nature. That's why she wants to go to Ireland so bad, the green rolling hills. She wants to get married there." Mary looked at the amazed look on Murphy's face. He said quietly, "So do I."

"I believe gentlemen, the dictionary defines this as fate." She said looking at both of them.

They all sat in silence after that. Each contemplating their own thoughts. Mary wondering about their Da, and each boy thinking on his respective love life, or lack there of. Finally Murphy shook his head,

"Bullshit. Fuck that."

"Language please boys." Jay tiredly said as she and Lili trudged over to the trio.

They were wearing blue scrubs and they looked terrible. Lili was nearly swaying and Jay was unconsciously righting her. Their eyelids drooped and their voice held a haggard tone to it.

"How is he?" Murphy took Jay by the elbow by the arm and led her to a seat. She slouched and threw her arm over her face, openly leaving her mouth exposed.

Connor got up for Lili; she gave a small smile and took it happily. She leaned her head against Jasmine and they sat in silence for a few seconds. Thinking they fell asleep Mary was going to raise her voice and ask again, but before she could there was a silencing finger on her lips. Mary jumped slightly at the unperceived movement from Lili.

"Just give us a minute will you?"

So the three were silent for no more than thirty minutes. After which Jasmine sat forward and rubbed her face, Lili scratched her head and cleaned sleep fro her eyes.

"Okay," Jay's voice was husky from the very short nap. "Yer Da is resting. He went into cardiac arrest, we couldn't get t he blood pressure down fast enough, and it was too much for his heart. We came quickly enough to help…"she trailed off and tried to awaken her sleeping mind.

"What-how did you help?" Connor asked

Lili, who was still leaning against jay, sat up and put her face in her hands. "When someone goes into cardiac arrest, its when there's a sudden cessation of normal heart functions, it blocks proper circulation. So to help we would have to" she cleared her throat, "hook him up to a machine to help pump his heart until he's strong enough to do it on his own."

At the look on the children's face this was not the good news they were hoping to hear. At seeing they really couldn't help, Jay slowly stood up, and when Lili didn't join her willing, jay reached adown and pulled her to her feet. She nodded to the McManus' in turn and made her way slowly to the locker room.

They slowly made their way down the hall way and through a set of swinging doors. Turning left they entered the locker room and quickly spun their combinations. They each pulled out sets of clothes.

"So. That was long." Lili said tiredly

"Yep."

Lili looked over at her sister. No amount of blood could make her more of a sister. Biological technicalities be damned, Jasmine was her sister. She watched loving as she changes, when she pulled off her scrub top, she wore a tank top that stopped near the bottom of her ribs. It was black like all her other clothes. Jasmine turned to get her black t-shirt. Lili had to stop her self from gasping out loud. There were some nasty looking scars on her back. And a tattoo, it looked almost home made, but it couldn't have been, it was too well done. It was on the back of her neck. It was three black lines, the first looked almost like a J, the second, which was the shortest line, looked like that, a line; and the third was a longer version of the first. Jasmine pulled her hair up I a messy bun exposing her neck. Now being able to fully see it, Lili recognized this as the Japanese symbol for the word 'River'. Lili wondered where she got it. They had been together non-stop (so as not to be alone) since the …incident…and she would have remembered if she got a tattoo.

" Hey, can I ask you a question?"

Jasmine paused in pulling on her tight black t-shirt. "You can ask me anything, you know that." Her gaze on Lili was questioning and confused. Lili looked away. Should she ask about it?

"When-" her voice broke and tears formed in her eyes. "When….he…took you…into the back room…when it was your turn...what…."she trailed off unable to finish.

Jasmine's eyes grew hard. When they were taken, the man had liked them both for different reasons. He like d to make Lili scream, and she drew her strength form Jasmine. So every once and a while, he would go to the basement, and pull one of them out. Jasmine would hear Lili scream, she would run to the stairs and bang on the door and scream, but it never helped or did anything. When he pulled Jasmine out, he would talk to her sometimes. He would ask her questions about herself, and analyze her answers. Her Name was Jasmine Bryne Arroyo. Jasmines father was Mexican and her Mother was European. They met while her father was touring with the military and her mother was seeing different countries.

Her mother liked the belief of fate naming things. So when jasmine was born, she took outside and told her," name yourself." Jasmine looked around at the world, and reached out, she pulled a jasmine flower from her mother hair, holding it she slept. Whenever she would cry, her mother gave the flower to her and it would calm her down. So her mother named her jasmine. Bryne was a river in Donegal, Ireland. It was the river where she dropped her scarf, she followed it and it ran her into Jasmines father. Arroyo was her father's name. All this seemed to intrigue him. He would call her pet names like 'flower child'. He thought a river was very good symbol for her, she could be calm and rather soothing, but at then again she could be raging and swiftly flowing, and if you don't mind your self, you'd be swept away.

He often told her when he had her tied to the chair and he was making his plans for his next victim, about how he liked to brand his property. He liked everyone to know what was his, but he thought it gaudy to have something like a name. He was an artist; he liked beauty. So one day he held and tied her down, and gave her a tattoo that 'suited' her. After that…. she shivered. He found Jasmine to be beautiful. When they were down in the basement, while Liliana slept, Jasmine would put food crumbs in her bedding and on her face. Liliana would be covered in bugs and scabies, and scratch them. She nearly tore up her pretty face. He never liked her for that, so his ministrations were directed toward Jasmine.

What happened in that room was a nightmare. She and Liliana never spoke of it. That was the only thing they didn't know about each other, what happened in that room stayed in that room. Jasmine was more than ashamed of the things he made her do. He played sick games, and did terrible things to innocent people. It disgusted Jasmine that she played a part in that. The things she had to endure…. she never wanted anyone to know about them. She didn't tell Lili, and she didn't tell the police. Because of the bites and how weak she was, Lili stayed in the hospital while Jasmine often stopped in to help the investigation. But when they asked her to testify what he did to her, what he made her do in that room. She couldn't. And from her weakness, he was the death penalty. Right at that moment he was sitting pretty in a maximum-security prison. He had leave to get on the Internet, and the library. Jasmine never told Lili. How could she? Lili thought him dead, so she moved on. She has a life, and whenever Jasmine gets down about her nightmares and strange phobias, Lili tries to soothe her by telling her it's over. He's dead. That only upset her more. Lili thought that since he was gone there was no harm in sharing experiences. Lili even still refuses to tell Jasmine about her own time the room, but she was curious about jasmine's.

When Lili asked about her time, her heart froze. She couldn't tell her. So instead Jasmine stiffly and exasperatedly replied, "We've talked about this Lils. What happened….it never happened." She gave her a pointed look. "understand?"

Lili nodded and looked own at her feet. "Where'd you get that tattoo?" she asked when Jasmine had finally finished changing.

"At a parlor."

"When? I can't remember when we-"

" 'We' didn't. I went when you were in the hospital, remember my I-wanna-be-a-bad-girl phase."

Lili giggled, "Yeah, that was embarrassing."

"Hey!" Jasmine playfully punched her arm.

They walked back out to the waiting room but found it empty.

"Wonder where they all went?" lili asked to no one in particular.

"Mary and her brothers went to see the Da." Jay supplied

"How do you know?"

Jay nodded over to the hall where their father's room was located; there stood a couple of interns giggling at whatever the brothers told them. Murphy put his arm on the wall behind one and leaned in close to her face. She flushed and looked away not really turning him but trying to play coy. He saw through this, and ran his knuckle across her cheek and then placed a gossamer kiss upon it. Connor was working well with his too. Lili rolled her eyes and Jasmine scoffed disgusted.

They made there way over. The interns looked over to see two beautiful women. One wearing a half tank top and cargo pants. All black, the other one wearing jeans and half tank top as well. They didn't seem anything special so the girls continued on with their flirtations.

Jasmine cleared her throat and stood with her arms crossed and her back straight. She towered over the intern. Lili casually leaned back against the doorway.

"If you are quite finished, you can go make a star bucks run."

The intern looked intimidated, she cowered slightly but didn't want to loose face in front of Murphy, so she gave Jay attitude.

"Who the fuck are you!" her voice on quivered slightly

"I'm the bitch that's about to kick your skinny ass, unless you put one foot in front of the other and take your self to star bucks!"

"What!" the other girl came to her friend's aid. Stepping around Connor she made her way toward Jasmine, then she saw her bag and read the Nametag. Realizing they could loose all their credit with just one word from her she rushed in between them.

"What would you like?"

"Two strawberry fruit smoothies." Lili just as casually said

The girl grabbed her sputtering friend and tried to explain to her on the way.

"Hey I could use some coffee," Murphy said facing Jasmine

"Yeah? Maybe you should've put that out there while you making out with my intern."

"Awww," Murphy reached out to stroke her cheek. "Jealous of her?"

"I pity her," she said smacking his hand and walking away into his Da's room.

Connor laughed and Lili just smirked. He sputtered in confusion. Lili walked over and gave him a pat on his shoulder. "You didn't expect o get by on your charm forever did you? Now that she knows what you're playing, she's out to win the game."

With that she walked into the room. He just looked to Connor who was still laughing at him. He walked over to him and put a hand on his shoulder, "Way to go…Playa'!"