Author's Note: Just an epilogue to wrap this up! Thanks for reading!

Five Days Later:

"How are the Concussion Twins," Gustavo asked as he walked in the large meeting room, glancing over at the already seated boys and pausing. "You both look terrible."

"Thanks a lot," Carlos said, sliding down in his seat. He kinda' thought the huge bruise on his forehead was cool, especially since he'd gotten it trying to help James escape.

James rubbed at one of his knuckles and said nothing.

"Could you not start with insults today?" Kendall snapped. "Why are we in the meeting room?"

"And where's Kelly?" Logan asked suspiciously.

"She's out doing girly Christmas-y things," Gustavo said blithely. Kendall and Logan exchanged a puzzled glance. "And we're in the meeting room because...we're MEETING. Moving on: Griffin isn't too happy that you four keep refusing publicity over this whole hero thing. PUBLICITY is your lifeblood in this business and I know ma dawgs are idiots and need things explained to them, so here it is: YOU NEED GOOD PUBLICITY!"

Kendall nodded. "Yeah, well, we're willing to make some appearances in January. We actually liked singing in the Verizon store."

"Yeah, and they liked our music," Carlos spoke up. "We could do that again."

"What about you two?" Gustavo looked pointedly at Logan and James, who were zoned out. James was tearing at a hangnail as if it had done him some wrong. Logan looked up, realized everyone was staring at James and gently put a hand on his friend's.

"You know we're going to have to clean that and bandage it when we get home."

James sighed and stuck his finger in his mouth to get the blood off. Then he threw a very pointed, disgruntled look at Kendall.

"I know; I'm working on it," Kendall said tensely and then turned back to Gustavo to translate. "James wants to head back to the apartment. Can we go?"

"So, what- he doesn't even speak anymore?" Gustavo said, throwing out his hands dramatically. "That's going to go over great when you start doing appearances again."

"Can't you just give him a break?" Logan said, frowning.

"Look. None of us want to be here right now," Kendall said tensely. "'The Concussion Twins' are still having headaches and nightmares and James is still dealing with a lot of pain-"

"Kendall!" James gritted out between his teeth.

Kendall held up his hands in a surrendering motion.

Gustavo looked contrite, which was a bit weird, honestly. "You're right, of course. But it's not my job to be kind and thoughtful-"

"Which is good since you suck at it," Logan pointed out. The other boys nodded.

"Agreed," the big man said, "but ma job is to control the musical acquisitions and make sure they are making MONEY for this STUDIO. Now, I know what you went through was upsetting but-"

"But?" Kendall was suddenly on his feet. "Yeah, you don't get to finish that sentence because YOU weren't there, were you? You have no idea what it was like watching your friends get hurt ONE by ONE and having to use a GUN to stop POLICE from killing them! And all the blood..."

"It's okay, man," Logan was there, putting a hand on Kendall's back as he ran out of words to say. Kendall bent, putting his hands on his knees as he tried to center himself again. Once he seemed calmer, Logan took over.

"We only came today because we're contractually obligated to attend band meetings. Personally, I think we need to be at home. It's Christmas Eve, Gustavo, and we all feel like crap."

Gustavo gave him an inscrutable look. "Okay, what I hear you saying is that you're not ready to do publicity yet, even though journalists keep calling and wanting an interview or a picture OR a scoop and they're foaming at the mouth for information about how James was shot and how he's recovering. Basically, anything about James-"

"FINE!" James grabbed his crutches and stood. The others held their breath. "They want to know so much, tell them being held hostage was terrifying and horrifying and it SUCKED. Tell them I got shot because I was dumb and then I had to watch my best friends get hurt because of me, and which was even worse." James shifted his weight between the crutches. "And now, people keep calling me a hero when all I did was screw up. I was stupid and went in without a plan and my best friends nearly died trying to rescue me. They're the heroes!" He pointed with one crutch and started to lose his balance but Kendall had a hand ready to help him.

"James..." Kendall said quietly but stopped as James shrugged his hand off and crutch-walked to the other side of the room.

"Why does everyone want to keep talking about it?" he said miserably, facing away from his friends. Carlos followed him, moving around the crutches to duck his head into James' chest and give him a hug.

"It's okay," Carlos whispered.

Kendall sighed. James was dealing with a lot, including the fact that he didn't even look like himself. His left eye was blackened and still swollen, while the right side of his face was turning spectacular colors, which James, of course, hated. The bullet wound and bruises kept him on pain meds and often, he seemed off-balance and unsteady still from the effects of his concussion. But those injuries seemed far easier to deal with than the loss of James' confidence and self-worth.

"I get it," Gustavo finally said. "I give up. You four get what you want: no publicity over this. That's why there aren't any journalists here, even though they were actually BEGGING to get to see this moment. And Griffin isn't here, either. So it's just you four...and me. But I'm going to leave now, so this can just be your moment."

The boys exchanged confused glances.

"Gustavo, you're really not making sense," Kendall pointed out.

"In just a moment, it will make perfect sense. There's someone who really wants to see you again."

Logan gasped and all the boys turned to look at him, so they missed the moment when Miranda, Daniel and Taylor Hadley stepped into the room.

Logan pointed to get them to turn around. "Look," he whispered.

James had to get Carlos out of his way before he could turn and take in who was standing there. His gaze first went to Daniel and his stomach swooped in response. Pinpricks of sweat broke out all over him.

"It's okay, Jamie," Kendall said from beside him, putting a hand on his very tense back.

"You know who that is, right?" Carlos said with excitement, looking up at James.

"James?" a sweet voice said, quavering with emotion- a very familiar voice. James blinked and forced his eyes to find the small, brunette woman beside Daniel. She was thin and well-dressed, a beautiful woman who was looking at him with so much emotion that tears coated his eyes instantly.

He took a few awkward steps with his crutches. "Miranda?"

"Yes!" she smiled and walked forward, lifting her hands to put them on both sides of his face. "Yes, James...you saved my life."

James felt her joy radiate into his heart. "I..." he didn't know what to say.

Daniel stepped up, bringing Taylor with him. "I know the whole story now and I can't thank you enough for what you did. All of you," he looked over at the other boys to include them. "None of us would be here if it weren't for you."

"Oh, yes," Miranda said, stepping back to see the other boys. "Kendall?"

Kendall stepped forward, smiling somewhat shyly. Miranda reached out to take his hand. "You helped me so much with your kind words."

Daniel spoke up next, "And he took charge when everything went to hell at PJs. Kendall kept a very level head in a terrifying situation."

"He's good at that," Carlos said. "Hi, I'm Carlos."

"Oh- Carlos! Thank you for helping me."

"I didn't do much," Carlos said, shrugging before turning to his friend. "And this is Logan."

"Hello, Logan," she said, "and thank you. If it hadn't been for you...none of us would be here today."

Logan gave her a sweet, embarrassed smile. "It's good to meet you, finally."

"You, all of you, have a fan for life. But you, James," she turned her attention back to him. "You dropped everything to help me. You found more help when we needed it and you risked your life to get the phone to Daniel." James was shaking his head, but she stopped him by placing a hand on his chest. "James..."

He had to fight his instincts and make himself look her in the eyes. It seemed like she could see directly into his heart. "I screwed up," he whispered, "so much."

She looked at him with such love that he could hardly stand it. "You're focusing on the wrong part, James. I had no hope; they were going to kill me and Taylor and Daniel. And you, you beautiful boy, you stood up for me. You and your friends fought and risked everything for someone you'd never even met. I can never thank you enough."

James found his arms full. Carefully, he put his arms around Miranda as his friends took the crutches. She had called him beautiful, and he felt that she meant it differently than most people did. When he gazed into her eyes, it was possible to push away all the doubts and the self-hate and just be glad that he'd helped her at all, and this family.

"Thank you," he whispered. Looking around, he saw that his friends were smiling and looking teary-eyed as well.

"James," she said with one more hug, "I don't know how to properly thank you."

"I do," he said, suddenly feeling light-hearted.

Miranda pulled back to look at him, curious at his tone. Gently, he put his hands on her shoulders and smiled. "Next time, call Kendall."

They shared a rueful grin as everyone laughed.

A/N: This was so much fun to write. I'm going to miss it...