Sean O'Connor walked into the hospital he had been told Brian was in. Walking down the hall, he felt an odd sense of deja vu come over him from what had happened seven years before. He had gone to see Brian everyday during the four months that he had been in the hospital, even though all his brother did was stare into space as if there was no one there; as if there was nothing left of his soul.

The tall blond haired man stumbled in his walk down the hall as he remembered the emotionless, almost dead blue eyes; that were a match to his own. Sean took a deep breath and kept walking, determined that he was going to see Brian. He knew what had happened to make Brian break again, and he couldn't believe that his own father could treat his eldest son the way he did; like Brian was his toy, a toy that he could do anything he wanted to.

The images of what had happened to Brian when he was seventeen and Sean was thirteen came back to him, and he had to repress the urge to vomit all over the sterile white walls of the hospital as he continued to walk down the corridor. He walked to the nurses desk and was about to ask where he could find Brian when the nurse looked up at him, and smiled saying, "You must be related to Brian O'Connor, you look so much like him."

Sean smiled, and nodded. "Yes ma'am do you know where I could find my brother?" He asked, his voice sweet, yet carrying a tone of authority and command, so that the nurse nodded right away.

"Brian is in room 315 down the hall and to the right. You can't miss it, there is a big black man and a big Italian guarding the door." She smiled as she thought back to when she had gone to check on his vitals and the men had grilled her until she convinced them that she was just the man's nurse. "Poor lad, what happened to him was terrible." She added as an after thought and Sean just nodded solemnly, already turning to go to his brother.

"Thank you for your help ma'am." Sean said and heard her say 'your welcome,' but didn't pay much attention to her as he walked determined toward the room that was his brothers, needing to see him and see how much damage his father had done this time.

Sean turned the corner in the hall, and saw a big bald man, that must have been the Italian the nurse was talking about. He walked over to the man and tried to go in the room when the man grabbed his wrist and pulled him back, a scowl on his face.

Sean let a feral growl pass through his lips and sneered down at the hand that had his wrist in a shackle like grip. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" Sean asked, his voice low and strained from keeping his temper in and not decking the big Italian man.

"Who are you?" The man growled back at him.

"I'm-" Sean started to say, but was cut off by a voice that he knew so well but hadn't heard in years.

"Sean?" Rome asked, floored that the man was there. He walked up and gave him a 'manly' hug, squeezing the younger man tight, before letting him go. "It's a good thing that you came, Bullet ain't doing so hot, I think it's worse than it was before." Rome's voice had turned sorrowful as soon as he had started to tell Sean about Brian.

"Wait, you're Sean O'Connor?" Dom asked, and when Sean nodded, the big man looked at him sheepishly and said, "Sorry 'bout that, but I don't want Arizona getting hurt anymore than he already is." Sean nodded, studying the big man for a minute and then smiling, though it was filled with sorrow about Brian.

"You must be Dom, by the way Brian described you, I thought you might be bigger." Sean said and all three of them laughed, and Sean stuck out his hand to shake Dom's. "It's good that Brian had you and Rome looking after him, he deserves better than what he's been through." Sean said quietly and Dom nodded, knowing exactly what the younger man was talking about.

Sean gave Dom a nod and walked past the bigger man into Brian's room, without saying another word to him. Dom looked at Rome with a curious look and Rome said; "Sean ain't much of a talker, bro. We never used to be able to shut him up, but after he saw what happened to Brian when he was thirteen, the only person he really talks to is Brian." Dom nodded, knowing what Rome meant.

Sean walked into Brian's room, and gasped at how familiar the whole scene was. Brian was strapped to a hospital bed, his eyes staring straight at the ceiling, only wearing a pair of hospital issue scrub bottoms. As Sean walked closer to his brother, he could see the fine sheen of sweat that glistened over Brian's body. His heart lurched when he remembered the first time he had walked into his brother's room seven years ago, and how he had wished that something like that would never happen to his old brother, his protector, ever again.
Thirteen-year-old Sean O'Connor walked into the hospital room where Brian was being held. His little hands were trembling, as he walked to his brother's bedside. He gasped when he saw his father sitting on the other side, the man had a maniacal glint in his eyes and a sadistic smile on his face. Tears watered in his eyes as he watched his father lick his lips, looking pointedly at Brian, and when he was walking out of the room, Sean heard him mutter something about, the bitch getting what he had coming to him.

Sean walked closer to his brother's bed and gasped at how different he looked, even after only having been in the hospital for two days. His brother's eyes were empty, his face clenched in fear and anguish, and he was unmoving. The man that was lying before him was nothing like the lively and fun older brother that he knew, but then again, who would be the same after something like that had happened to them?

Sean licked his suddenly dry lips and sat down in the chair beside Brian's hospital bed. He fit his smaller hand into his older brother's larger one, and held onto it for dear life. If he lost Brian, he didn't know what he would do, or what his father would do to him. He knew that Brian had always taken the blame for everything, knowing what his father was like, and protecting his younger brother as best as he could. But Brian couldn't protect him from seeing Brian raped by the man that was supposed to be their father. Their father was supposed to take care of them, not hurt them as he did, and Brian knew that, but he had never told anyone what had happened to him, for fear of being split from his brother if they were put into foster homes.

Sean did the same thing he had done all those years ago, and laced his now bigger hand in with his brother's. He had been told that Brian had flinched away from every touch, but his brother hadn't moved when he put his hand in his. He wondered if that was a good sign; that Brian knew he was family and that he could trust him. He squeezed his older brother's hand and sat down in the chair beside the bed.

"Hey Bri, I know you can hear me, because you could hear me the last time you were like this. I know this is kind of lame, but Bri, you need to beat this thing. Dad's dead and there is no way that he can hurt either of us anymore. I know that Rome and that big man, Dom, I think his name was; made sure that you were safe and that no one could get to you. I thought that man was going to take off my arm if he didn't verify that I was your brother with Rome.

"You need to beat his influence over you. You did it once before Bri, you can do it again. I can't have you being all silent and depressing like this for four months like you were the last time, it almost killed me then, and I think it just might finish the job this time. I know that where you are in your mind right now seems like a safer place to be, but it's not Bri. You know how long it took and how much physical therapy you have to go through last time you were like this, and it was hard watching you like that. You are a strong man Brian O'Connor and I can't stand to see you all defeated like this, none of us can. I called Aunt Jamie and I thought she was going to pass out when she heard what had happened and how you were.

" Listen Brian, I love you, and I need you; so I don't mean to be all sappy, but you need to find your way back." Sean's voice cracked and tears snaked rivers down his cheeks, making him look younger than he really was. He looked down, and put his face into his free hand. Sean jumped when he felt a slight pressure on his hand, and looked down to see Brian's eyes close and then crack open and look at him.

"I love you too Sean." He whispered and Sean almost jumped for joy. "Is he really dead?" Brian asked and Sean let his breath go in a whoosh.

"Yeah Bri, he gone, and he can never hurt you again. I swear to god, he can't. Even if he was alive I think Rome, Dom and I would hunt him down and run over him a few times." Brian laughed a little bit and Sean beamed at his older brother.

A/N: So what did you think? Thank you for all the reviews I love to get them. Please Review... My sadistic muses and I will love you forever...

Take Care

Ana