Jem sat down beside Kate, holding her hand as the nurse inserted an IV into her arm full of fluids. They had sat a large heated blanket over her to help her retain heat and changed her into a pair of sweats with a sweatshirt. "You gonna be okay?" Doug asked sitting down on the opposite side of her.

"I'll be alright," he answered softly, holding Kate's right hand.

"I'll be back in later to check on her," the nurse whispered before shutting the door behind her. Doug stood up to look out of the window and watched as drizzle ran down the dark windows. It was four in the morning and he was tired. He had been running all across town with Jem and he had "work" to do at the gravel pit the next morning, but he couldn't leave his brother alone.

"Too bad we didn't get a chance ta ask who hired them."

"Guess shooting them in the chest and head on sight didn't help, huh?" Jem asked. Doug smiled broadly and turned to face his friend. That was just Jem's way. He didn't save time for asking questions. They had been together long enough for Doug to understand that he was never going to change his ways. He knew that Jem wouldn't change his way with Kate either. She had an effect on him he hadn't seen before. She made him softer. It was still surreal for him to watch his violent best friend tone back.

"Na, not really, but I knew you couldn't resist. I'm not mad at ya." Doug's eyes watched as Jem gently rubbed his hand along Kate's. She stirred slightly and started to moan a few words. Jem stood up on his feet and hunched over her.

"Kate?" he asked repeatedly, squeezing her hand a few times. He pushed imaginary hairs back on her forehead with his free hand and continued speaking her name.

"J-Jem?" she asked, her eyes squinted open. "It's fuckin' bright in here," she mumbled holding a hand up to cover her eyes.

"Doug, get the lights." He flicked them off and Kate opened her eyes wider to see Jem's chain dangling inches from her face. A smiled played on her lips and she touched it with her fingertips before looking up into the fierce blue eyes that she had missed for so long. His lips touched her forehead, causing her to smile even wider. "I was so fuckin' worried about you. Doug told me what I happened an' I thought I was gonna lose it." He sat down in the chair and didn't release her hand.

"Do ya know who hired the guys?" Doug asked, taking his seat on her other side. "Did ya catch any name or hear anything?" She swallowed and looked at the both of them. She had no idea how they would react to hearing that their leader, Fergie, was the one who sent them out. With a lot of courage she nodded and stared at the hospital tag on her left wrist.

"Fergie," her voice croaked. Jem slammed his right fist on the armrest of his chair. It caused her to jump. "He was hoping I would skip town. He thinks I am gonna be bad business coming back into the picture around here. Screwing up his life in more than one way," she spoke looking at Jem's face. He was twisted with anger. The rose from his chair and stood to look out of the window.

"That mother fucker," he growled, his fists balled at his sides. "That. Mother. Fucker." Doug stood up to follow Jem. He held his hands up as he approached Jem. There was no telling if Jem was going to lash out and Doug knew he was way too tired to wrestle a pissed off James Coughlin.

"Hey, we gotta look into it, Jem. Maybe it was a misunderstandin' or…"

"I went and talked to that fuckin' asshole," he screamed, turning to face Doug. "I told 'im about her bein' back in town, Doug." He cowered back away from Jem and folded his arms across his chest. "He's afraid I'm gonna get thrown back in Walpole or get too tied up in her-" The anger from the last 10 years was catching up to him with his newfound anger at Fergie. "Like that shit's gonna happen. You fuckin' left me out high an' dry an' I wanna fuckin' know why," he yelled, storming over to her bedside. "Call me your love of your life an' bail like that. What the fuck's wrong with you?" Tears swelled in her eyes as he spoke.

"Jem, leave her alone," Doug ordered, putting his hands on Jem's shoulders. "She just woke the fuck up an' you're already bein' a douche. Leave her alone an' sit down." He slowly planted himself in his chair and cross his arms over his chest. He straightened in his chair and glowered at her as she wiped tears off of her face.

"You an' me?" He pointed to her than back at himself. "Never a-fuckin'-gain. Never. Fergie don't have shit ta worry about. This shit is done. I saved your ass and now I'm here ta say, good bye. I am actually gonna say it unlike your rude ass." Jem pulled down his black track suit jacket and pointed at her again. "Good-fuckin'-bye," he spat before leaving the room in a hurry. A nurse stood at the doorway, watching him walk down the hallway in a fury. Doug sat speechless as Kate cried silently. She held her face, letting her shoulders heave, her throat was burning from the emotions she felt. Doug patted her leg gently.

"Jus' let him calm down, alright? He's been a real mess ever since he got locked up. An' then with you just leavin' like that… it's messed with him pretty bad, Kate. He was ready to marry you an' then I had to go tell him that you had packed up and left town. Talk about crazy. I've never seen him act that way. He punched out three guards, threw a chair through a window, screamin', cussin'. He spent 30 days in isolation because of it." She felt herself cry harder listening to the story and held her hands up.

"Please don't tell me anymore, Doug," she mumbled, opening her wet eyes to look at him. "I already feel horrible. It wasn't like it was my choice to leave. I didn't have a choice. My dad made me go. He monitored every single thing I did to ensure I never spoke to him again. He didn't even want me to represent this state. He wanted me as far away from Jem as possible."

"I tried ta tell him what happened. He didn't want to hear it." She shut her eyes and leaned back against the mattress. "I'm gonna let you rest and go try to calm his belligerent ass down, okay?" She gave him the tiniest of nods as he left the room to hunt down the wicked angry Irishman. He found Jem outside the hospital walking in circles puffing on a cigarette like a freight train. Puffs of smoke were flying out of his mouth. "What in the hell is goin' on with you?" Jem stopped in his place and threw the cigarette down to the ground.

"I can't believe her."

"Jem," Doug spoke quietly and grabbed his friend by the shoulders. "You know what you did wasn't right. I know how you are. Ya get angry about one little thing and suddenly you're pissed about everythin' else. You need to get up there and apologize. She needs you right now. Ya gonna let her sit up there unguarded an' shit?" He shook his head and looked up at the hospital building. "You go up there and be the man I know you are, Jem." He clapped his hands down on his shoulders and released. "I'm gonna get the fuck outta here though. I got work in a few hours. I'll talk to you later." Jem gave a stiff nod to Doug while he walked out to his car. He trudged back up the steps slowly and stood outside of her room, trying to find the words in his head that he could use to make everything alright between them. He wanted her to know that he still loved her. He didn't want to lose her. … That it was his fault for getting arrested. He wanted to tell her how often he thought of her. And how he had still had the picture of her from high school. So many things to say and not a place to start. His shoulders heaved as he sighed. He walked in the room to find her asleep. The nurse brought a finger to her lips.

"I just gave her some medicine to put her to sleep for a bit. She was pretty upset," the nurse breathed as she walked by Jem. His full something pull at his heart. She had been through a rough night and he had made it worse. He laid down on the couch by the window and drifted off to sleep.

When he woke up he felt every day of 29. He stretched his muscles and yawned loudly. The couch was uncomfortable and stiff. He almost felt like he was back Walpole. Kate was sitting up silently in bed, watching him, her eyes in a sort of daze. "You alright?" he asked through another yawn as he pulled his jacket back on.

"Yeah, they just gave me some more meds," she answered, still emotionless.

"Your accent's gone," he stated before sitting down at her side.

"That's what happens when you're gone for 10 years. Habits fade."

"I always thought it sounded hot comin' from you." The corners of her mouth moved slightly as she looked down at her hands. She lost the accent sometime in the middle of college. A lot of her professors told her if she was serious about pursuing a career in politics that her accent would have to go away. It took her almost a year to lose it.

"Anything you'd like to say?" she asked, bringing her face back to a serious gaze. Sorry was always the hardest words for him to say. The Jem she knew before Walpole struggled through it, but could eventually say. Jem rubbed his fingers over his ring before looking into her eyes. She folded her arms and raised an eyebrow.

"I'm sorry." The words stumbled out of his mouth like a foreign language. Kate almost wished she had a tape recorder on her to tape the words for future reference. "You have no idea what I went through in that place, Kate. You have no fuckin' idea." She ran a hand through her hair and leaned back. "Then, seein' you on t.v. It just hurt. You seemed so okay with what happened. It just pissed me off." She nodded and pulled the blanket up over her body farther.

"Thank you. I appreciate your apology. I know it's hard for you to say… I know how you are." She deeply curious about what he was going to do about Fergie. "What do you plan on doing about Fergie?" He shrugged his shoulders.

"Planned on pretendin' like nothin' happened. I'll just act like I had no idea who did it and see what happens." She nodded and smoothed out the blanket nervously. There was a huge elephant in the room between them. They had things to talk about and it was going to get more awkward they pushed it away.

"I didn't leave you on purpose," she started, looking into his eyes. He stared at hers for a second and looked down at his feet. "You know that, right? It ate away at me every day. I just…" she felt her stomach tighten. "We're both in totally different places now. I can't be married to a guy who robs for a living."

"Didn't have an issue with that before," he spoke, looking up out of the hospital room into the hallway before looking into her eyes. He was getting annoyed again, but took a second to think before talking. It was a lot harder than it seemed. If there was one thing Jem wanted to be doing, it was anything besides having the conversation he is in the middle of having.

"Yeah, that was before I became a politician, Jem."

"How the fuck did you come about that? I thought you were all into helping people and wanted to do something in a hospital." She shrugged her shoulders. "Oh, no, daddy probably made this decision for you, right?"

"Jem. Shut up," she warned. "You can't be mad that my dad protected me, that's just foolish."

"Yeah, it's real fuckin' foolish to love someone and leave them. You knew exactly who and what I was when you got with me. Don't play any fuckin' games right now. You were all about it until I was sent off to prison."

"I had no idea when you were getting out, Jem. My dad heard the word prison and we were packed up to leave the next day. Doug came by to tell me and my dad shut the door in his face. I didn't know anything." He shook his head. "I wasn't going to wait around for you forever, Jem." She was angry that he didn't have the maturity to be civil about the conversation or situation. If he had truly loved her he would have let her go freely, knowing that was the best choice for her. Jem issues parting with things he claimed were his.

"That's what you're supposed to fuckin' do when you care about somebody, Kate. Are you fuckin' kiddin' me?"

"I hoped you were going to change eventually. I soon learned that had I not left I would have turned into the women you hate so much. The needy, pathetic, wasted, cracked out bitches that live in that piece of shit town."

"I'm not ever goin' ta change," he rumbled, rising to his feet to grab his jacket off of the couch.

"And that scares me a lot, Jem. I love you. I love you more than anything in this world, but you're just too dangerous." He turned to face her and pulled his jacket on.

"Yeah, I just saved your goddamn life and I am too dangerous. I get it." He pulled the chain and pendant off from around his neck and put it on the end of her bed. "Enjoy your fuckin' life," he spat before walking out of the room. She was angry. She picked the pendant up in her hands and laid it down on her lap as tears began to slide down her cheeks…