Disclaimer: We own nothing but the plot and the characters not assosciated with TSL.

A/N: Well, me and xfilesguy123 got to chatting and we decided that if we don't start seeing some reviews, we will be forced to pull the plug on this story. So you better review!

Carey and Cody had been sitting in the stuffy waiting room for six hours and they were both anxious to hear some news from Zack's doctor. Carey was looking at her watch constantly. Cody just stared at the hallway Zack's room was in.

"Why is it taking so long? Did something go wrong?" Cody asked his mom in desperation.

"It's okay, Cody. It's only been six and a half hours. You heard the nurse. She said that the bullet was deep. They probably just had a harder time getting it out than they thought they would." Carey's voice was calm as to not worry her son, but deep inside she was screaming. The nurse said six hours and that deadline had passed thirty minutes ago.

Then Carey saw a movement out of the corner of her eye. She looked over and saw Cody standing up and he was staring at someone. Carey looked at who Cody was staring at. To her relief it was a doctor.

"Hello. I'm Dr. Gendich. I was a surgeon working on your son," said the doctor, holding out his hand.

His smile made Carey feel a little better and she let out a sigh of relief, but she still needed to ask the dreaded question. "Is my son okay?"

"Yes, he's fine. Though that bullet was quite a booger to get out. He's resting now, but you can see him if you'd like.

Neither Martin needed to be told twice. They made their way down the hallway and stepped into Zack's room. Carey walked straight to the bed and began rubbing Zack's hair with her fingers. But Cody lingered in the doorway. He wondered if the doctor was lying to him. Zack didn't look fine at all. His skin was paler than Cody had ever seen before and there was that tube sticking out of his mouth. But the thing that bothered Cody the most was all the tubes and wires coming off Zack in various places and the machines they were connected to. He didn't like all of the beeping noises they made, but worst of all, he couldn't imagine how much he would hate it if he didn't hear those beeping noises.

"Aren't you going to come in?" Cody looked away from Zack and up to his mother.

"Yeah. I was just waiting for you to finish so you could have some privacy."

"Oh it's okay. You can come in. I don't need any privacy right now."

Cody walked over to Zack's bed and looked down. Zack looked even worse up close. "Actually, mom, do you think I could be alone with Zack for a minute?"

Carey was startled for a minute, but agreed. She left the room stopping once to glance back at her sleeping son.

Once Cody was sure Carey was gone, he dragged a chair that was sitting in the corner of the room over to Zack's bed. "Hey Zack. You scared the hell out of me. I thought you were going to die! When I saw those janitors and then Mr. Harlan, don't get me wrong, I was sad, but when I saw you..." Cody couldn't finish his sentence. "Look, I just want you to wake up."

As if Zack had heard his brother's words, his eyes fluttered open. As he began breathing by himself, he started choking on the tube. Cody yelled for help so fast, that the tube was out of Zack's mouth in a matter of seconds. When the doctors were gone, Cody said, "Oh, Zack. You're awake!"

Zack's voice sounded a little groggy but he had no problem saying, "You wake up every morning and you don't see me getting excited." Zack smiled.

"Ha ha, very funny. Do you feel all right? Is there any pain?"

"If I say no will you leave me alone?" There was Zack's smile again.

"Zack. I'm serious."

"So am I."

Cody had been happy that Zack was sounding like his usual self before, but now he was getting downright annoyed. "Come on. Tell me the truth. Are you in any pain?"

"Yeah. A little. But it's not too bad. You don't have to worry about me." Zack yawned.

"You're tired. You better get some sleep." Cody leaned down and hugged his twin. "I love you, Zack."

"I love you too, geek boy." Cody didn't even have a chance to respond to that before Zack's eyelids closed and he drifted into sleep. He quietly walked out of the room to meet his mom in the waiting room. To his surprise, Max was there, and she was holding a vase with an assortment of orange flowers in it.

When Max saw Cody approaching she said, "I got these for Zack. I know orange is his favorite color, and I'm sure he'd rather look at these than anything in his room."

"Yeah. I'm sure he would."

"Is he awake?"

"No. He just fell asleep." Cody saw Max's face had fallen so he added, "You can still go see him if you want."

At that, Max's eyes lit up and after Cody told her what room he was in, she practically ran to his room. When she arrived, Zack was sleeping just like Cody had said so she placed the flowers on the windowsill. Then she sat down in the chair next to his bed.

"Hey Zack. It's Max. I know you're sleeping but I feel really bad about what happened. I just needed to see you." Max stared at Zack for a second. She wanted Zack to wake up. "I wish I knew what happened. People are saying these guys in suits shot you, but why would they do that. You're just a kid. I bet you know what happened."

Just then the door opened and a nurse stepped in. "I'm sorry, ma'am, but you're going to have to leave. Visiting hours are over."

"Bye, Zack." Max stood up and left, returning to the waiting room and said goodbye to Carey and Cody. Then she left for home.

……….

Tommy Santini knew the shit was about to hit the fan. Two federal agents were dead along with Roger Harlan. And there was a thirteen-year-old boy in the hospital. The boss was going to have Tommy's head on a platter. Tommy let out a deep breath and walked into the nightclub that was one of the Caprenza family's main businesses in Boston. Tommy was not directly related to the Caprenza family at all. The owner of the club, Vinny Dante, was though. Tommy worked primarily for him. He had his own crew that did whatever dirty work Vinny had for them. Tommy had sent two of his best men to kill Harlan. He had never thought they would also end up killing two federal agents. Sonny was counting some money at a bar when Tommy walked up to him.

"Hi, Vinny," said Tommy, sighing. Vinny stopped counting and looked at Tommy.

"I take it you know that your boys made the news today," growled Vinny. Tommy nodded.

"They fucked up. Pure and simple," explained Tommy.

"There's nothing pure and simple about it. The FBI are going to come down on us like a fucking anvil. A young boy is in the hospital because of those two." Vinny never raised his voice. He didn't have to. All his men feared and respected him. Vinny telling them they messed up was scary enough. At a moments notice he could have them killed. Tommy was half expecting for someone to come behind and blow his brains out. It didn't matter that he was Vinny's nephew. There was no excuse for messing up a hit on a federal witness.

"You deal with the problem yourself, Tommy. I'm not cleaning up this mess. You make sure that boy never talks." Tommy raised an eyebrow.

"You want me to order a hit on a thirteen-year-old boy?"

"That boy is going to become a federal witness once he recovers. It's either that or you kill Richie and Mikey." Tommy leaned against the bar. He closed his eyes.

"I've done a lot of bad things in my life. But I'm not prepared to order my men to kill a young boy." Vinny put a hand on his nephew's shoulder.

"It's either that or you kill your own guys." Tommy gave his uncle a look of disgust.

"It hurts us all, Tommy. But it has to be done." Tommy shook his head. Vinny sighed.

"OK, look. I'll have some of my guys do it. They're cold blooded. They'd kill a five-year-old if I asked them to. But if the FBI even start to dig around your place, I want Richie and Mikey taken care of." Tommy nodded. Vinny patted his nephew on the cheek. Tommy sighed and walked off, cursing the fact that he had been dragged into a very serious indictment.

……...

Scott sat in the hospital waiting room, passing by the hours as the Martin's personal bodyguard. Some top agents from DC had been called in. With Scott on babysitting duty, that left his team under the command of some pencil pusher from DC. It made Scott sick to think about it. He looked up as two DC feds walked up to him.

"Hey, babysitter, how's the kid?" asked one of them.

"Blow me," replied Scott.

"Hey, you're talking to a veteran. Show some respect," exclaimed the other fed.

"You blow me too. Kid's sleeping. Don't wake him," groaned Scott.

"I'm not waiting around. I'm finding the guys who killed our witness and I'm taking them down," said the first fed.

"The kid just had surgery to remove a bullet from his stomach. Show some fucking compassion," growled Scott.

"Stay out of this. This is no longer your case," snapped the first fed.

"But the kid is. You're not going near him right now," said Scott, getting in front of the two feds as they headed for Zack's room.

"Get out of my way," said the first fed.

"Make me," threatened Scott. If those two feds questioned Zack, they'd be ruthless. Kid would end up in a shrink's office. If Zack was going to talk to anyone, it was going to be Scott.

"Don't push me," said the first fed.

"Don't make me push you," said Scott. The fed narrowed his eyes.

"I'm going to your supervisor. I'll have your badge by the end of the day," said the first fed. He and his partner walked off.

"Prick," mumbled Scott. He noticed Cody Martin was leaning against a wall nearby.

"Yes," said Scott.

"What did Zack witness?" asked Cody.

"The murder of that teacher and those two feds," replied Scott.

"Why is the FBI so interested in it?" asked Cody.

"Two of our agents got killed. That's major."

"Why was Mr. Harlan killed?"

"I'm not at liberty to discuss that." Scott walked back towards his seat.

"You're here to protect my brother. Why?"

"I can't tell you that so don't even bother asking."

"Someone tried to murder my brother today. You can at least tell me why." Scott glared at Cody.

"Don't push me, kid. I can't discuss federal matters with you." Cody let out a huff and stormed off. Scott sighed and sat back down. What else could go wrong with this case?

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