This is a longer chapter (obviously) but I think the rest will run somewhere between this length and the first one. Enjoy!

Totally unnecessary disclaimer: I don't own this shit, but neither do you, so HA!!

Bobby paced in the hospital waiting room, glaring around at the world. They'd been here for hours, but it seemed more like days. I fuckin' hate hospitals, he thought, fighting the urge to start breaking shit just to relieve the tension. He had way too many memories of hospitals. Angel, Jerry and he had spent a lot of time here because of fights that got out of control. Jack had been here too, but for different things. Drugs, suicide attempts, a violent beating that might have also included a rape.

Bobby shuddered and forced those thoughts out of his head. Jack had looked so horrible after that. He hadn't woken up for weeks. And when he finally did, Jack had just stared dully at nothing for a few more weeks.

He felt like such a pussy, but he hoped that this girl didn't look like that when she woke up. He wasn't ready to look at his little brother's face again, to see his eyes flat with pain. Bobby closed his eyes and leaned his forehead against the cold window before him as a memory washed over him. Realizing Jack was gone, gunshots, his name being screamed, panic making it high and desperate. Bobby gasped as he heard Jack's screams again, the echo of his foolish pride and his failure to protect his baby brother.

"Bobby." He jerked and turned around to face Angel and a young guy that must have been the doctor. Yep, looking closer, Bobby could see a badge that said, "Dr. Kyle Masters, M.D."

"How is she?" he demanded, taking a paper cup of hot coffee from Angel.

"She'll pull through," the doctor said, gesturing for them to sit down. "Someone beat her pretty bad, maybe even raped her but it's difficult to say. There are several cuts on her arms that I believe might be self-inflicted. Her tox screen shows marijuana, tobacco, pain killers, and alcohol. Her lungs are very weak, but whether that's because of her cold or tobacco use can't really be shown right now. She's got a very bad cold and she's massively undernourished. How long has she been this way?" the man asked.

Bobby shrugged. "Doc, we don't even know her name," Bobby told him. "She just showed up in a cab, passed out and lookin' half dead."

The doctor looked worried. "Do you have any idea who she could be?" he asked.

Angel and Bobby shared a look and Angel cleared his throat. "She looks like our younger brother," he said finally. "We think she might be his daughter."

"Can you call your brother and get him to come see?" the doctor asked, hope stirring in his eyes.

"No," Bobby said shortly. "He died thirteen years ago."

The doctor flushed in embarrassment. "I'm sorry," he said. "I've moved her into a private room. I suggest you go in there and wait with her since she was obviously looking for someone related to her. I'll show you the way."

The doctor left them in a dim room. The girl was lying in the bed nearest the window. She had curled into a ball on her side, clutching the blankets around her in a death grip. The hospital gown revealed arms and a back that were covered in cuts and bruises.

Bobby felt anger surge through her. He knew that Jack would never have hit his kid or taken up with anyone who would. But someone had beat the living fuck out of this girl. He had sworn off violence over a decade ago, but the sight of the girl's tortured body made him want to find the fucker responsible and kill him with his bare hands.

They took chairs between the bed and the window so that the girl would see them sitting there when she woke up. Settling back in the cushioned chairs, they started to wait.

- - - -

Her whole body felt like it was on fire. Pain shot up her arms and throbbed across her back. Groaning, she opened her eyes. Swearing loudly, she buried her face in a pillow as sunlight stabbed at her eyes.

"Jesus, you trying to give me a heart attack?" a voice demanded loudly nearby.

She jumped, nearly falling ass-backwards off the narrow bed as she scrabbled away from the man sitting in next to her. She froze as she saw the black man sitting next to him.

"It's you," she whispered, relief flooding through her, loosening the tense knots in her muscles. "Thank God I got to you." She felt suddenly weak and would've hit the floor if the white guy hadn't reached out and grabbed her. She winced as his hands closed over bruises, but her pain was secondary to the happiness she felt. "Bobby?" she asked weakly. He nodded, smiling down at her. She looked at the other guy. He was too burly to be Jerry. "Angel?" He nodded, giving her a wide grin that showed off shiny white teeth. "Thank God," she murmured again, feeling her eyelids getting heavy.

"Hey baby, stick with me a minute," Bobby said, sitting on the bed next to her and taking her face gently in his hands. "What's your name honey, tell me and you can go back to sleep."

She smiled gently. "I'm Evy," she whispered. "Dad named me after Gramma. I can't wait to see them."

She fell asleep before she could see the shock and sadness in their eyes.

- - - -

"Evy?" Jerry said, staring incredulously at his brothers.

"Evy," Bobby stated.

"And she doesn't know they're dead?"

"Nope."

"And she had a pharmacy and liquor store in her blood?"

"Yep."

"And what the fuck are we suppose to do with her?"

"Fuck if I know, Jerry."

Sitting back in his chair, Jerry looked at the girl in front of them. He too had a moment of shock when he saw Jack's face on that white pillow, but he could see the differences now. Her face was a little thinner, more angular. Her eyes were slightly tilted and framed by long black lashes. Her nose was more slender, but she looked so much like he had when they'd first seen him. Bobby had said that her eyes were the same as Jack's, that mysterious greenish gold that changed at a moment's notice.

Evy moaned suddenly and shifted on the bed, her arm reaching out weakly, grasping for something. "Daddy," she whispered, her face contorting slightly in sadness. "Daddy." She was pleading, begging Jack to reach out and take her hand in his. Jerry and the others had to fight back tears as they all remembered the day he died, the sound of his desperate pleading, the last breath he'd struggled for while they stood there helpless.

She quieted after a moment and her face relaxed. The brothers just watched her, strangely fascinated by this quiet girl. "Do you realize that it's been thirteen years to the day?" Bobby said suddenly. The others thought about it and shock ranged over their faces.

"That's just fucking creepy," Angel said, getting up and staring out the window at the cloudy sky.

Evy gasped and her breathing started to race. They turned toward her, concerned as she started to thrash slightly on the bed. "No," she muttered weakly. "No, no. Leave me alone."

"Evy," Bobby said, grabbing her hand. She clutched his larger hand and her thrashing increased.

"No," she cried. "No!"

Jerry and Bobby, held her thrashing body, trying to calm her while Angel yelled for a doctor. "No!" she screamed at the top of her lungs, her eyes flying open, wide in horror. She started fighting against them, kicking and flailing, trying to free herself from them. Angel grabbed her suddenly, pinning her shaking body to his chest, burying her face in his shoulder as he hugged her tightly. He'd done this for Jack when he's first come to live with them. Would Evy remind them of her father every time she moved?

"S'okay, baby," he whispered, running his fingers through sweat-dampened hair. "S' gonna be okay."

She stopped fighting and clamped her arms around his thick body as she started to sob weakly into his chest. "He's dead, isn't he?" she whispered suddenly. Angel's arms tightened around her as tears filled his eyes. It felt like he was holding a doll or something. She was so thin that he could feel all the bumps on her spine.

"Yeah baby," Bobby said, his voice thick and shaky. "I'm sorry, but he's gone."

Evy's sobs became stronger and Angel rocked her gently, his tear-filled eyes locked on his brothers, both of whom were crying quietly themselves. Bobby had his head buried in his hands and Jerry was rocking slightly in his chair, staring blankly at the wall as tears rolled down his cheeks.

After a while, Evy cried herself out and lay back down. Her eyes were dull as she stared blankly out the window at the snow that was falling lightly now.

When Dr. Masters came in and checked on her, he frowned and motioned for Bobby to follow him.

"Mr. Mercer," he began. "There is very little we can do for her now. Her fever's broken and the antibiotics are taking care of the cold very quickly. I believe that she's sinking into a depression." He took a deep breath. "I think you and your brothers should consider committing her."

Bobby hissed angrily. "Are you saying that you're ready to release her?" Bobby asked, fighting back his anger.

Masters hesitated. "Yes, but as I said-"

"Fine," Bobby interrupted. "Get the paperwork started. We'll take her home as soon as you say we can."

"Mr. Mercer," the doctor said, shock evident on his face. "Have you listened to anything I've said? Evy needs to be watched, she needs someone to have an eye on her all the time until we can be sure that she won't try to hurt herself. This girl is very unbalanced and you really aren't-"

But what exactly Bobby was or wasn't became moot at that point. He grabbed the doctor's coat and slammed him against the wall. "I'm taking my niece home," he said quietly. "And you better be glad that the years have taught me a little self control or you'd be spending the night in your own fucking ICU. Got me?" Masters nodded quickly. "Good. Now go start the fucking paperwork. She's leaving this place tomorrow."

Turning around, Bobby was surprised to see Evy standing in the doorway. Her face was expressionless, but the look in her eyes was painfully familiar. They were wide and filled with horror. Jackie's eyes had been like that whenever anyone fought around him.

"Are you always violent like that?" she asked. Bobby was worried by how thin her voice sounded.

"No," he answered, shame rising in him. "I swore off violence a long time ago. I just cracked a little there."

She nodded and gave him a small smile. "Then I guess maybe you can protect me after all," she said softly. "Like you did for my dad all those years." Evy turned away and went back to bed, leaving Bobby standing in the hallway wondering if he'd ever dare tell her that Jack was dead because they hadn't protected him.

Please review. I'll love you forever and send you naked pictures of Garrett Hedlund ;)