Okay. Time for a disclaimer. I own none of the talented wonderful men in this story. If I did... Well I wouldn't just be writing about it that's for sure! Officially this is a Dean/OC/Roman story.

I can't apologize enough for how long this has taken to get out. I have no excuse, just the fact that life gets in the way. I hope I still got some of you guys reading this one, and thanks for all of the support still coming my way despite the delays!


When Leecie woke up, she was surprised to find that she could open her eyes. Other than the glaring light making her wince, she immediately noticed the intense pain in the left side of her belly. She tried to sit up only to be blinded with pain. Falling back, she let out a storm of curses and punched at the bed, managing to hit something hard that made her cry out again. Her knuckles felt like they were broken, unbearable searing rushes of agony shooting down her entire hand.

"Damn, calm down firecracker!"

Leecie flinched in shock and her eyes opened to find Jon reaching out to her in worry. The look on his face was a mix of misplaced amusement and frightening worry.

"J-Jon?" she asked, grimacing at the soreness of her throat.

"Yeah babe, I'm here," he murmured, his eyes going soft, "Joe is too. Downstairs. He's in catering with your mom and Rose. Your dad went to get you some stuff from your house. How ya feeling?"

She couldn't describe her pain in words so she screwed up her face and made an exaggerated pouting look. That earned a hearty laugh and big smile from the Ohioan.

"Even in pain you're adorable Leec," he murmured, then frowned slightly, "Do you need anything? I can get the nurse to bring meds, or get Joe, or-"

"Sit with me?" she asked softly, then pointed to a cup on the stand, "Is that water for me?"

"Oh, shit, yeah. Here," he said, scrambling for the cup and sitting next to her, hip barely on the bed as if afraid to get close to her.

She eyed him as she drank the cool water, moaning slightly at the relief to her scratchy, dry throat, then reached out. When his hand slid into hers, she pulled him closer.

"I don't wanna-"

"You're not gonna hurt me. I need you close," she murmured softly, trying to keep the distress from her voice.

It was great to wake up to a friendly face such as Jon's, but the memories were coming back. Chuck had come into her home, pointed a gun at Rose, shot her. Jon let out a noise and pulled his hand away softly.

"You got some claws there babe. Tell me what you're thinking about."

Parting her lips, she sat there for a moment. Her words wouldn't categorize correctly in her head; Only the word 'hate' stood out. She ran with it.

"I hate that son of a bitch. He shot me... but, that's not the worst part."

"What, Le-"

"He could have shot Rose. Jon, he put the fucking gun to her head! He held her and called her insurance to get me to agree to what he wanted! That no good piece of shit threatened my daughter!"

Jon flinched and she jerked her hands up, wiping away the tears running down her cheeks.

"I don't think he really meant to shoot me. But if he so easily accidentally shot me, he could have done that to her. Jon. I almost lost my baby girl. To her father. I can't- I don't even understand this! He was pissed about me coming for child support. God that fucker! I told Joe it was a bad idea, but I never knew he'd do this. I wanna punch his face in!"

"Whoa baby girl, gotta tone it down. Rose is coming up."

Leecie looked up in surprise at Joe's voice, wiped more tears away, and her face pinched tightly as she saw him holding flowers.

"I- I can't-"

Slowly and carefully Jon leaned over the space between them on bed and wrapped an arm behind her uninjured side.

"You don't have to talk Leecie. You can just cry, or sit in silence, or whatever you need. We're here for you. But Rose is going to need you too."

She nodded mutely and sniffled, trying to get her appearance composed before Rose come in.

Joe took the chair on her other side as Jon pulled away and held her hand softly.

"Your parents have been looking after her. We just got here last night. We had to finish the show before we could go, but we got some time to be off with you," Joe murmured.

"I have to leave Friday morning," Jon said.

His voice was calm but his eyes told another story. He seemed irritated. As he let out a rough breath, she could tell her assumption was right.

"It's stupid. Not even three whole damn days. There should be some sort of leave policy for this," he muttered.

"We're not family or spouses," Joe explained softly.

Jon shook his head, his reddish blonde curls cascading across his forehead and eyes, as he stalked around the room. Once the door opened though, he stilled and sat in his previous spot again.

"Mama, you're awake!" Rose cried.

Amanda went to stop Rose but Leecie raised her arms and waved the smaller red head in. Needing no other invitation, Rose barreled up into the bed and leaped onto Leecie's good side, by Joe, and was wrapped up tightly.

"Hi sweetie," Leecie said, voice strained with holding back tears.

Rose said nothing but she could feel the tears against her shoulder, then Rose started shaking. Her sobs became audible and it broke her mom's heart.

"I- I was so scared mama."

"It's okay. He's with the cops now. He won't be back baby," Leecie assured her.

"No mama! You didn't wake up!"

Leecie looked up in confusion and then thoughts over everything that had been said.

"How long was I out?" she asked.

"It's noon, Wednesday," Amanda replied quietly, "You gave us all quite the scare Lee."

She frowned and held Rose tighter, pressing a kiss to the bright red curls.

"I would never leave you sweetie," Leecie murmured.

Rose said nothing, only held on tighter to her mom and Leecie fought through the pain to keep her close. Joe leaned over and rubbed the small girl's back. The emotions in the room were palpable for each person.

"Anyone tell the doc she's awake?" Jon asked suddenly.

"Uh, no, actually," Joe said with a weak chuckle.

Jon shook his head with a small grin and hopped from his chair.

"Be right back."

It was the next day that she was released with antibiotics and pain medicine, plus a strict guideline of what she could and couldn't do around the house. While she was a little wary of being back in the place that Chuck had shot her, she was calmed by the fact Joe and Jon were going to stay and Rose was being taken to her parents' home for a couple of days.

"You don't have to stay," She told the duo for the tenth time since they'd gotten to her house.

"Mm," Jon hmmed through his popcorn next to her, "But we want to. Where better two spend our days off than with you?"

She hesitated and turned to Joe.

"You could be home with Joelle an-"

He smirked and wrapped his arm around her shoulder, drawing her in carefully to kiss the top of her head.

"She's spending time with her mother and her family that came down again. Plus, you need me more. There won't be another time that I'll get to take part in taking care of you like this," he said, then his eyes narrowed, "There better not be, anyway."

"Oh, if anything like this happens again you can bet the fucker that does it will be six feet under before the cops can find him," Jon commented.

Leecie bit her lip in joy at the warm protective waves rolling off the both of them. In very small increments she moved her body so her legs were resting across Jon's lap as her back leaned against Joe's side. When Jon's hand landed on her thigh, she quickly picked it up and held it tight. He shot her a smile and his thumb started running over her uninjured knuckles.

She'd broken two fingers on her right hand and now they were splinted and taped together to keep them in place to heal properly. She'd gotten lucky considering she'd been shot. The bullet only splintered into three pieces and they removed all three. No organs were hit as it was too far to the side but she still had to take it easy during the healing process. She had dissolvable stitches and gauze covering the wound that she had to be careful not to remove before Friday night and then cover back up right away after a shower.

"You asleep?" Joe asked quietly.

Leecie shook her head and said, "No, just thinking about everything."

"It's a lot to take in. But now, now he can't fuck with you anymore," Jon replied, squeezing her hand once.

"If he gets sentenced," she sighed, rolling her eyes up to look at the ceiling.

The small cracks among the white paint felt similar to her life, slowly but surely cracking and spreading apart until it would be too much.

"He will," Joe commented, sliding his hand from the back of the couch onto her arm, "There's too much evidence on him not to."

"I- I hope so," she murmured, swallowing thickly.

Tears prickled at her eyes and she tried to hold back the sob bubbling up in her chest.

"I don't- don't think I could handle him coming near her ever again," she whispered hoarsely.

"Oh baby girl."

As she broke down, she felt her legs be lowered carefully and both men gently pressed her between them. Even their loving touch couldn't stop the ache building in her chest. It was all too much. Even if he got ten years, that wasn't enough. If she knew him as well as she did, he could come after them again. Ten years was nothing. He'd barely be in his mid-thirties. The possibilies were endless and horrifying.

"Let's go lay down. You need to rest baby," Joe rumbled.

"No, I-"

"Shh," Jon cut her off.

As Joe picked her up, she latched onto him and rested her head against his shoulder, watery eyes meeting Jon's concerned behind them.

"You're so tough firecraker, you have to let it out. We're here for you," Jon murmured, reaching over Joe's shoulder to caress her cheek as they walked.

"I'm sorry I'm so lame," She mumbled.

The Ohioan let out a snorting laugh and said, "Lame? Babe, you took a bullet for your child. Makes you the coolest, most bad ass woman I've ever known."

A flush came to her cheeks at that and she finally felt a smile pull at her lips.

"There's that beautiful smile," Jon cooed softly.

"I need you to lay back carefully," Joe said, interrupting her thoughts.

She leaned into his hands and let him direct her onto the bed. Her eyes darted between the two as their shirts came off, unable to stop from appreciating the view for a moment, and then they were sandwiching her again.

"Get some sleep," Jon instructed.

"We've got you baby girl. We're not going anywhere for a while," Joe added.

Some of the pain lifted from her chest and she warily leaned up, much to the guys' distress. Her fingers slid into Joe's hair and she pulled him into a soft kiss, which he thankfully returned, but then he forced her back.

"You need to be careful," he murmured, brushing his nose against hers.

"I know, I just- thank you both, so much."

When he pulled away, Jon leaned in with a look of puppy dog-like excitement on his face.

"My turn?"

Thankful for the laugh, she nodded and accepted his kiss happily. Her eyes fluttered sleepily as she let herself relax into the bed, enjoying the warmth of their bodies pressed against hers. She couldn't even get out a good night before she was out.