1:11 AM

Drew didn't know what to do or who to talk to. His sister was giving up and he couldn't change her mind. He hadn't even had a moment to himself with their mom on his case every 5 minutes, organising flights to get here for their eldest daughter.

He soon found a wall to lean on, his forehead placed on the cool painted concrete, his palm out too as he held up his body using the solid structure.

"Thought I'd find you hugging a wall somewhere around here." Rick chuckled, softly as he leant beside his partner. When Drew didn't give him anything in return, the ex army ranger sighed. "Have you spoken to Lori?" He asked.

Since asking to sign a DNR, Lori had refused to see anyone with the exception of Scott Clemmens. Whilst everyone had been trying their best to persuade her not to make this drastic decision now, Scott had simply bypassed the matter for the time being and chose to focus on keeping her company.

Drew shook his head. "No. What can I say? She's made up her mind." Drew shrugged.

Rick didn't know the answer, he didn't know what he could say to make the situation better for the siblings. He wanted to though. "Maybe you should go and be with her." Rick shrugged. "I know your sister and as proud as she is, she wants you there, she just doesn't want to admit it."

Rick was probably more or less spot on.

He had known Lori for years, before he had come to terms with his sexuality and whilst he and Lori had found themselves behind the summer house in the Alister's family home one summer and after making things a little awkward it had made their friendship stronger. It was throughout the friendship he learnt that the Alister's all seemed to have the same traits, especially those that kept them from admitting they were wrong or needed help.

"She doesn't want me there." Drew argued.

Whilst Rick couldn't help roll his eyes all he could think about was dragging the Alister towards the room. He had been about to argue his case when Drew's phone began to chime.

"Is that your mom?" Rick asked, noticing the frown on his partner's face as he continued to read the message in front of him.

Drew shook his head before looking up. "It's Liam." He stated simply.

Liam Alister was the oldest Alister and was a corporate lawyer in their hometown. Whilst Lori and Drew relocated with the Army- albeit 50 miles away, Danielle and Liam decided that they would stay back home and start their lives there. Liam had been engaged for the last three years to childhood lover Lisa Sherri. However, Danielle was still studying to become a Veterinary Surgeon and had yet to find the 'man of her dreams', not that the brothers were complaining at all.

"What did he say?" Rick asked.

Drew didn't answer and instead, sighed. "Looks like this is going to be one hell of a family reunion."

1:54AM

"So when is he coming?" Rick asked. He knew the Alister's hometown was 50 miles east of San Antonio, which was more or less and hour and a half away. "Are they coming tonight?"

Drew nodded. "They'll be here within the hour, more or less." He shrugged. With his forefingers, he pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a sigh. Lori was not going to be impressed.

Rick knew not to press any further and instead continued to walk beside the man through the hospital corridors.

It had only been when they made the turn towards the nurses station they found themselves face to face with TC and Jordan.

"Oi, TC," Drew called over the room, gaining a few glares from his colleagues.

Rick could see this wasn't going to end well at all and knew that Drew needed to calm down before he did something that he was going to regret. "Come on Dream now's not the time." He tried to convince him as he reached to pull back the doctor from approaching his 'friend'.

"Look. She told me not to say anything." TC tried to defend. He had been friends with Lori for the past 10 years and was not going to jeopardise that, it may have been the wrong thing to do in hindsight but unfortunately he valued his and Lori's friendship far too much.

TC had known Lori ever since he joined her battalion on a tour in Iraq, they had bled together, fought together and shed tears together.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Drew demanded as he lunged forward and slammed TC's body against the wall. "She's my sister, I deserved to know!" He screamed, his face inching closer and closer to TC's.

"It wasn't my place." TC gritted his teeth as he turned away from the rising voice, Drew's hands still gripped tightly on the darker blue scrubs.

Whilst Drew was stronger than TC, TC had the aggression to match and with that, he shoved the Alister away from him, hoping he would give up. But that wasn't about to happen as Drew lunged forward again, only to have TC side step and move out of the way. Shifting himself into a better position, TC threw the first punch which landed straight in Drew's eye.

"STOP!" A voice bellowed.

With Jordan and Topher reaching forward to pull TC back, Kenny and Rick tried to control Drew by mirroring their actions.

"You both fighting is not helping Dr Alister" Ragosa spoke up, hoping to defuse the situation before someone ended up with a broken nose.

TC had been the first one to take a step back, his palm rubbing against his chin as he did so.

Wiping his eye, Drew noticed that the impact had caused a laceration but before he had time to go and sort himself out, his phone began to chime. It looked like the Alister's were going to sort this out, once and for all.

2:35AM.

The sound of sheets shifting woke Scott up from where he managed to fall asleep on the uncomfortable chair that had been provided by the hospital.

Rubbing his own eyes, he caught sight of Lori Alister waking up. He had been sat here for god knows how long and had signed off work to do so. "Hey there." He spoke, softly.

"Hey" The small voice replied with a slight yawn. She had spent most of the time sleeping after her earlier turn and she was sure she was going to regret it if she couldn't sleep later. "You're still here?" She questioned as she took note of the time as she leant across to check her cell.

Scott nodded as he sat up in the chair. "I signed off. Thought you'd like someone here when you woke up." He shrugged, nonchalantly.

Lori nodded. Her palms finding their way across her face. "I've screwed this one up, well and truly now. Haven't I?" She cried.

"Everyone's just in shock at the minute." Scott tried to reason as he moved to sit beside her on the bed. He understood that Lori had upset quite a few people with her revelation but at the same time, the woman was sick and all anyone could do was persuade her to think a little more logically about her next decisions. "They just want you to get better, I mean, they're still getting used to this."

"And I'm not?" Lori challenged. "I've been living with this for the best part of a year, shouldn't it be me who has to get used to this? Not Drew, not Rick, not TC and definitely not anyone else."

Whilst Scott understood Lori's point, he just couldn't fathom her decision. "Yeah, you're right but there's things you can do. You can get better, there's surgeries, drugs. There's options."

Lori just shook her head, she wanted to get better but she had tried. "I've been through all this Scott. I've been through this."

"But not with your family beside you." A voice spoke up, alerting the pair.

Whilst Scott bounced up from where he sat on the bed, Lori stayed open mouthed with shock as her eyes continued to widen.

"Liam? Mom? What the hell are you doing here?" She gasped, quickly. She had been aware that her mom had been informed about her current condition but she wasn't aware that they were going to travel 50 miles West to see her.

"My darling" Karen Alister cried as she rushed towards her eldest daughter, enveloping her into a hug. "You should be sleeping and resting."

Lori ignored her mother's fussing, it wasn't something she needed right now. "Mom, stop. I'm serious. What are you doing here?" She soon noticed her closest friends file into the room, one of which was TC who had blatantly ignored her upon her decision to sign the DNR.

When no one answered her, she looked to the eldest Alister, Liam, hoping for an answer.

"I heard my baby sister needed some sense knocking into her." He chuckled, lightly as he moved further into the room until he found himself in the spot Scott Clemmens had just vacated. "Why didn't you tell us?" He asked, carefully, his hand reaching out for her to hold.

In all honesty, Lori couldn't give them an answer that they wanted to hear. "I thought I could deal with it on my own." She shrugged.

It had been at that point that Drew also joined his siblings and sat on the other side of the hospital bed.

"Lauren. Don't" Liam warned, he barely ever called her by her actual name, it had been that weird she visibly stiffened at the address.

"We're all going to help you get through this." Drew stated, finally speaking up. "Isn't that right?" He asked, eyeing the others in the room. Their mom, Rick, Liam, T, Topher and even Jordan nodded in chorus.