After an hour, of which Roxy, saw not a minute go by, Jessie stopped at her booth.

"Can I get you anything else, Doc?"

Roxy looked at her watch, it was almost half past eleven and she was starting to get angry. She shot a furtive glance at her phone making sure she had no message from Ryan.

"Another lemonade and a tuna sandwich would be perfect right about now."

"Fries or chips with the sandwich?"

"Chips and a mixed salad on the side with ranch dressing."

"You bet. I'll have Maurice get on that right away."

"Hey," said Jessie as she returned from placing Roxy's order in the kitchen and bumping into Jamie who was entering the café.

"Hi."

"If you order quickly, you could just manage to grab a bite with your sister."

"With Beth? Ugh, I'll pass," said Jamie grimacing.

Jessie frowned. "Roxy."

"Roxy's here?"

"Uh huh. Third booth on the left. What do you want to order?"

"Club sandwich, no fries, no chips."

Jessie nodded as she wrote it down on her notepad and ushered back to the kitchen.

Jamie inhaled and straightened his suit before strolling to where Jessie had said Roxy was sitting.

Roxy lifted her head from her laptop as she got a whiff of the all too familiar expensive Tom Ford aftershave. The mix of sandalwood, rosewood, and vanilla was a dead giveaway as to who was a few feet away from her. He had never learned the saying 'less is more' and he could have done with much less of that aroma, especially at the price of almost 300 USD for 2 ounces.

He watched her eye him as he slid along the bench and settled in front of her.

"And here is thought they had chained you to your office chair," said Roxy as she pulled the screen of her laptop down, shutting it, more than thrilled to give her brother her undivided attention.

Jamie clasped his hands together uneasily and rested them on the tabletop.

"I've been extremely busy, I really wanted to come to the hospital, but never got a chance to. I did call every day to see how you were doing," replied Jamie trying to defend his lack of presence.

"How grand of you."

"It's true."

"The hospital is on your way home from work, Jamie, unless you've relocated your sleeping quarters to your office, which I highly doubt."

She felt content seeing him swallow uncomfortably.

"Remember Jamie, you can't lie if your life depended on it. I can read you like an open book. Don't believe for one second that I'm going to believe the narrative everyone else buys."

"Roxy, I…"

She raised a hand up to silence him and gave him a mean look before shifting her attention out the window.

She saw him scoot away toward the end of the bench from the corner of her eye and whipped her head around just as he stood.

"Sit down, Jamie!" she said in a harsh disciplinary tone of voice that he knew she could have and made him travel back in time when he was kid, and she was in charge.

He looked around the café at the other patrons.

"Jeez," said Roxy, "seriously, that's what you're worried about? What people might hear or think? You've always worried about appearances; why I ever imagined you had changed is beyond me."

She narrowed her eyes. "I said, sit down and I meant it. I'm more than happy to make a scene, I don't give a rat's ass as to what people will think. Your choice."

He sighed and sat back down.

"You know I've been conscious for almost two weeks now and I keep playing everything that happened over and over in my head, and I've come to the conclusion that something doesn't add up. I need you to tell me what I'm missing."

"I don't know. I wasn't there," said Jamie as he shrugged.

"Exactly," said Roxy as she leaned over the table and dug her dark eyes in his. "They went after every single member of our family and the ranch, but you…" she tilted her head to the side, not cutting the eye contact, "you remained untouched and unharmed. There wasn't even a single attempt in getting to you. You don't find that odd?"

"I'm the Attorney General, I guess they thought it was wise to stay clear of my office, there are armed guards."

"That would be a convenient answer, but these guys were good, they could have easily shot you in the head, through the window, from the building across the street, no questions asked, not even breaking a sweat."

"Look, Roxy, I get that you want answers, and you want whoever planned this attack, but I can't help you."

Roxy leaned back against the bench cushion. "You want to know what I think?"

"Sure," replied Jamie rubbing his hands together nervously, which Roxy very easily picked up on.

That was the advantage of years of treating patients. There were the obvious symptoms, then the eventual lab or imaging results that needed to be interpreted, but sometimes body language was just as telling, especially when patients weren't entirely honest. It was time to make two diagnosis and see which one this patient was going to need a treatment for.

"There are two ways of seeing this. One, you orchestrated this yourself. Two, someone that owes you did this, making sure that you were spared."

"I didn't do this. I'm not a murderer," said Jamie in protest.

Roxy sneered. "Well, we all know that's not true… you did kill that journalist, but who's counting."

"That was an accident, I wasn't thinking straight."

"Getting a girl knocked up because the condom broke, that is an accident. You knew exactly what you were doing."

He shifted uneasily in his chair.

"If you didn't do it, then it's someone close to you, so you'd better start making a list Jamie, because Attorney General or not, when I'm able to stand again on my legs and use them, I'm coming for you. It would be a pity to bury another brother."

Before Jamie could reply Jessie showed up with a tray and their orders.

"Oh Jessie, I'm sorry," said Jamie, "I just got a call, something important needs my attention, can you make my order to go?"

Jessie placed Roxy's plate and lemonade glass down in front of her, before walking away with Jamie's meal.

As Jamie, who had stood from his spot, was within Roxy's arm reach, she stopped him with her hand on his forearm.

"I told you Jamie, don't come looking for me. I will shatter you like the fragile porcelain puppet that you are."

The minute she removed her hand, Jamie scuffled away.

Roxy tilted her head back and looked out the window. She was narrowing down on the diagnosis and relentless as she was, she wasn't going to back down, until the cancer that Jamie was harvesting was neutralized!

In the afternoon, once they were back on the ranch and Ryan was back in the arena with the others, Roxy sat down with her father on the porch of the lodge.

"Are you sure?"

"Dad, I can feel it in my bones. You can't tell me this hasn't crossed your mind."

"You're right, I can't tell you that."

"He's distant and he has been for some time now."

"It's my fault, I should have told him he was adopted."

"Don't do that. Don't find excuses for him, like you've always done. He's not a child anymore, he's a grown man. Being angry, hurt, and disappointed that he found out the way he did, I get that, but people get over that especially when you know the entire story behind it. This is an entirely different ballgame, and you know, just as well as I do that, he is easy manipulated and naive. As long as it's what he wants to hear, he'll believe it."

"I'll start digging around."

John stood and walked over to the railing. "If you're right, what do you want to do about it?"

"You promised me that you would get the bastards that did this to us if I woke up. I held my end of the promise, now, it's your turn; I want whoever it is dead, I don't care how or by whose hands. What you decide to do with Jamie, that is up to you, he's already dead to me."

John turned around, leaned against the railing, and placed his hands in his jean pockets as he looked at his broken, vindictive, and unforgiving first-born. This was a version of Roxy that afflicted him and that he despised, and he blamed Jamie for it. Someone had to pay for the attacks, but Jamie would pay for this.

John stepped over to Roxy, placed his hand firmly on her shoulder and squeezed it. "Ok, honey. I'll take care of it."