I agree with you Anon, I would have loved to see something like this in the movie. I also like the whole "we against the world" angle and I try to use it in a way so that it dosen't become cheesy, I was a bit unsure about the handholding over Bobby's bed, but I think it worked, as they didn't speak, just took each others hands. Like a promise without words. I also think it was important to show Angel and Jerry's reluctance to involve Jack, because going after Sweet is not the same thing as pouring gas over people, especially as they are doing it without Bobby. He's their little brother, the urge to protect him like I imagine they have done since he first came to them is deeply ingrained in all of them, especially since he's been through a lot already. And they know that Bobby would have been against Jack taking an active part in the revenge. That said they didn't have much of a choice since Sweet is going after them either way. I don't own four brothers, just my own twisted mind.

Walking outside in the cold cleared his head. He walked with determined strides down the street and didn't stop until he reached a payphone. Casting a wary look behind him he entered the booth, taking a deep breath before lifting the phone and dialing the number he had memorized.

The phone rang several times before the nurse in charge reached it. Lifting it to her ear she hoped against hope it wasn't some enraged family member threatening to sue the hospital, again. It had already happened once today and she didn't think she could take anymore. She adopted the formal and pleasant tone she had perfected during her first two years there.

"Henry Ford hospital, how may I help you?"

It was quiet for a few seconds and she was about to repeat the question when a hoarse voice spoke.

"I'm calling about Bobby Mercer"

The nurse closed her eyes in defeat. The Mercer's again. She wondered faintly if the stray grey hair she noticed while using the bathroom during her lunch hour really had been there yesterday.

"Yes, well are you a family member? We can only divulge information about our patients if that is the case. Please state your name and relation"

"So he is a patient of yours then?"

The nurses brow furrowed in confusion, a warning bell making it's presence known.

"Sir, I have to ask you again for your name, like I said we cannot divulge any information about a patient, or if they are a patient here, if your not family"

"I heard he's more dead than alive, can you verify that?"

"Sir" The nurse struggled to keep calm "If you don't say your name and relation this conversation is over" She warned.

"Tell me, do you keep a close eye on him? He's been shot right? Did they catch the one who did it?"

Something about the the way he spoke stopped the nurse from hanging up, realizing that this was important.

"Your name sir"

"Oh there's no need for names. I was just wondering about the state of the oldest Mercer. It would be a shame if he were to clock out before his time"

The sinister chuckle made the nurses eyes widen and a shiver raced down her spine. She was losing control of the conversation quickly, realizing that the unknown man was dominating it completely. In a final attempt to retake control she steeled her voice, attempting to sound like the conversation didn't faze her.

"I can assure you sir that we have the outmost security here at Henry Ford hospital, no one is in any danger while in our care"

"Is that so?" The man sounded surprised, a surprise she knew he was faking. He was about to drop something on her, she just knew it. She straightened her spine, as if he could see her. She waited and he didn't disappoint.

"If your security is as tight as you say, why is one of your security guards unconscious in the basement?"

Click. The nurse stared at the now silent phone in horror.

A gloved hand placed the phone back in the cradle slowly, letting his hand rest there for a few seconds as he stared at the snow falling slowly outside the booth. Turning around Jack opened the door and exited, walking back the same way he came.

Three hours earlier...

"What about Bobby, someone need to watch over him. Sweet might play us, or scratch that, he is going to play us. While we're busy at the meet, and that is if he's even going to go for it, he's going to send someone here to finish the job. Someone has to stay here" Jerry stated, hoping against hope that Jack would volunteer to stay behind, for his own safety.

"We need all three of us if this is going to work" Angel shook his head conflicted.

"Do we know someone..." Jerry cut himself off.

They were unwilling to involve more people in this. There were some they trusted, but it was too risky at this point to involve more players.

They stood in silence until Jack spoke, their heads turning to him.

"I have a plan"

Nurse Baker had explained the situation to the guards she had called for and they were sweeping the basement while she was speaking with her boss in his office.

"He asked for the state of a patient named Bobby Mercer several times, then threatened him. I think we need to take this seriously"

"Nurse Baker, I'm sure you are aware that there are a lot of people calling here all hours on the day to spout off whataver crazy ideas they have, we can't lock down the entire hospital because of one call"

"And the security guard? He's still missing?"

"He might have gone for a cup of coffee"

There was a knock on the door and thw two security guards entered, their expressions grim.

"We found him, he's in the ER now. Looks like just a concussion, he got lucky"

Nurse Baker stared at her Boss whose face had turned pale. He turned to the guards and took a deep breath.

"Increase the sucurity at the doors, call in a few more heads to do rounds, I want to see a functioning schedule on my desk in half an hour"

The guards nodded and turned to leave when nurse Baker cleared her throat. Her Boss sighed and spoke again.

"And I want two of the guards to stand watch outside the room of a patient named Bobby Mercer, threats have been uttered against him by the same man, is that clear?"

The guards nodded again and left.

"It would look very bad for us if this came out, and especially if a patient were to be harmed inside our hospital"

Nurse Baker refrained from rolling her eyes and simply nodded, deciding to let Mr Mercer's doctor inform his brothers of the recent events.

The brothers were sitting around Bobby's bedside when the doctor came to inform them of the added protection, as one had implied a wish to see Mr Mercer harmed more than he already was. Like expected they immediatley demanded to know what were being done to ensure the safety of their brother. Facing down the three brothers he cursed nurse Baker for making him do this. He noted with surprise that the youngest brother was coherent again.

"Mr Mercer, you, you should have called for me when you woke up"

Jack stared at him for a few seconds, an unreadable look on his face. Just as the doctor started to fidget uncomfortable he stated with a quiet voice.

"I wasn't asleep"

The doctor sighed.

"Of course not, but we need to talk about this and I want you to consider..."

"The only thing we need to talk about is the threat against my brother" Jack cut him off.

"Of course" He knew he wouldn't get any further with this right now "Like I said, we have additional security at the doors and two guards will stand outside Bobby's room at all times. I assure you we are taking this very seriously since he, whoever he is, is prone to violence, as one of our guards can attest to"

"How is he?" Jerry asked.

"Conscious" The doctor shrugged "I can't tell you much as I hope you understand" Even though he knew they didn't care about hospital regulations "but I can tell you that he didn't see who attacked him as he came from behind, he received a hard blow to the head and he was out"

Angel looked at Jack who didn't react.

Please, please let them drop it and not insist on meeting the guard himself, the doctor chanted, as that was the only reason he told them that, since he didn't want them to go and harrass the poor guard for information.

"Is there any chance we can see him just shortly..."

The doctor cut Angel off with a shake of his head.

"No. I'm sorry but you can't. First of all this is police business, and second he's injured"

Angel nodded, looking forlorn.

The doctor turned to leave and was shocked when a hand landed on his shoulder halting him. The hand shook slightly and he turned to meet the eyes of the youngest brother, Jack. He could feel the young mans uncertainty in touching him, and understood it's importance.

"Please" Jack's voice cracked "Please tell me you'll do everything you can to make sure my brother is safe"

Seeing the tears in the blue eyes the doctors old hardened heart softened and he placed a gentle hand on the one on his shoulder, taking note of the flinch Jack gave off as their skin touched.

"I promise you that your brother is safe with us, we will take good care of him, don't you worry"

Jack slid his hand away, the unfamiliar touch as unwanted as necessary.

"Thank you" He whispered "I'm just, I'm so tired..." He trailed off, a look of guilt plain on his face, as if he wasn't allowed to feel anything when his brother lay in a hospital bed in the same room, seriously injured.

The doctor reacted at once. He looked into Jack's eyes closely and saw the pain, the hurt and the all consuming agony that rested there. He lifted a hand but slowly pulled it back when Jack tensed again.

"Maybe you should go home for a while, maybe sleep for a bit"

Jack shook his head slowly, shoulders sagging.

"I can't" He whispered "my brother needs me here"

"Your no good to your brother in this condition Jack, you need to take better care of yourself, you got shot too" The doctors voice was gentle and calm.

"There's no one there, it's better here"

"Jackie? You want us to go home with you?" Jerry's voice was worried.

The doctor gave an approving nod to Jack's brothers, showing what a wise decision that would be. Still, Jack resisted.

"No I'm fine, Bobby needs us right now and..." his voice broke.

"Hey" Angel put an arm around his shoulder and the doctor backed away "we'll go with you. You need us too, I'm sorry we didn't think of it sooner" He rubbed his free hand over his eyes in a gesture meant to look contrite.

"It's okay Angel you don't have to worry" Jack almost whispered

"I think it would be a good idea to take Jack home and make sure he gets some rest, and you too" The doctor pointed out.

Angel and Jerry nodded while Jack looked unsettled.

"Jack, we need to be here for Bobby when he wakes up, we can't do that if we can't stand on our feet" Jerry cut in, coming to stand on his other side.

Jack's shoulder slumped even more as he let out a defeated sigh.

"Okay. But not until the guards get here"

"That sounds reasonable" The doctor nodded his agreement, secretly thrilled that they had agreed "I'll let you know".

When the doctor left the brothers remained silent for a minute before Angel spoke.

"Nice work Jackie"

An hour later the doctor returned with two big looking men, Scott and Motown. Angel raised an eyebrow at this but didn't ask. While Angel and Motown were locked in what seemed to be a staring contest Jerry asked if they could have a few minutes alone with Bobby before they left, and they were soon alone again.

"Motown? What the fuck is up with that?" Angel wondered.

Jerry shrugged while Jack continued to stare out the window, his thoughts a mile away. He turned and sat down in the chair next to Bobby's bed while Angel and Jerry did the same. Jerry would call Sweet and offer the 400 000 dollars in exchange for their freedom. That part of the plan had been Jerry's, now they just needed to agree on the rest, which was easier said than done, but they needed to make a move before Sweet did, time was slipping away from them.

"Hey. You alright?"

Jack looked up at Jerry's question and tried to make an indifferent shrug, his shoulder stopping him. He gritted his teeth against the pain. He needed to take care of that, and soon.

"I'm fine"

"About before. We know it was hard on you"

Jack knew that Jerry was refering to the talk with the doctor. The touching, and the open vulnerability he never showed anyone but his family. It had been hard, and it had taken a lot from him, but he had done it, because it was for Bobby. It's no more than he would have done for you... A voice in his head whispered.

"It dosen't matter" His voice was flat, emotionless.

"Jack. Talk to us" Angel tried.

And he wanted to. He wanted to so badly. He wanted to tell them he was sorry, that he was so sorry that Bobby had been shot protecting him, sorry that he was a fuck up, sorry that he would never be anything other than this. He wanted to let them comfort him as they had before, make everything alright, but most of all he wanted Bobby to wake up and comfort him, Bobby to tell him everything would be alright, like he always had. But that wasn't going to happen now, and Jack realized that even though he had fought with his brothers many times, and tried to assure them that he to could be like them, that they didn't need to protect him all the time, he had no ground to stand on. He felt like he was falling and no one was there to catch him, the person who always had was unable to now. He focused his eyes on Bobby's pale face, and there it was, the hate, the anger, the uncontrollable urge to damage. Strangely enough he felt calmer, despite the fire raging in his blood, he felt more focused. It was clear. His purpose was clear. Nothing mattered except this. He wanted to tell Angel and Jerry, but it hurt to speak, and he had never been good at talking, but there was something he wanted to say.

"You know I love you guys"

You alright? You sure? You know I love you man...

The tension hung in the air. The other brothers worry for the youngest only increasing.

"You know we love you" Jerry stated, Angel nodding beside him, his eyes never leaving Jack's face.

Jack nodded meeting their eyes.

"We need the weapons from the house, I know where Bobby hid them"

They accepted the change in subject with a mental note in both their heads that they needed to talk more about this later, before it was to late.

"We'll go there, go over the rest of the plan, and make the call to Sweet" Angel stated.

It was time to go, but no one moved, reluctant to leave Bobby behind even with the extra protection.

"It'll be fine, the guards are here and thanks to your phonecall they are extra careful" The ever logical Jerry nodded at Jack.

Jack knew he was right. The staff was on alert, and when the brothers left the doctor wouldn't think it was strange after their little scene earlier. They had quickly come to realize that if they suddenly left their brother it would seem very strange, and so Jack had improvised the scene with the doctor when the oppurtunity presented itself, his brothers quickly following suit.

Jack leaned over Bobby's bed and placed his head against his chest, closing his eyes. I promise you...

Angel took one of Bobby's hands in his and Jerry moved to Jack's side of the bed to do the same. They didn't move until Jack slowly straightened up, his eyes resting on Bobby's face, before he slowly stood up until he was no longer touching the bed. Angel and Jerry did the same, slowly letting go of Bobby's hands. Jack took one last look at Bobby's still face before moving to the door, his brothers following him. He paused at the door, his hand on the knob, before he turned it and walked out into the bland looking hallway, his brothers behind him. Standing there he took a deep breath and put on the empty expression he had worn so many times in the past. Jerry and Angel stood beside him and when they saw the guards take their position outside Bobby's door they walked away.

I don't know if I'll be able to update before christmas as I have a lot going on now, but I'll do my best, and I probably can't even wait :) Just in case, merry christmas! Have anyone figured out who gave the guard a concussion? At the time I only thought of it as a milestone, but I'm thinking of bringing it up again maybe, we'll see. And I'm trying to show a new side to Jack, one I'm sure he has used before he came to the Mercer's, at least in some kind of way. A very manipulate side, and of course, his newly found dark side. I'm moving into it gradually though. He might become more desperate and dark as we get closer to the meet. I think that to survive what Jack did as a child you have to learn a lot, for survival. I actually think that Jack is very smart, he has to be, or he would have been dead ( I do not hear those of you telling me that he actually died in the movie after a guy threw a snowball at him lalalala, it was an honest mistake!) Anyway. Part of the plan is in motion and the guys are on the move. Oh, you want to know what the plan is? I have no freaking clue. I'm winging it. Mercer style.