AN: Again, I don't own the Black Donnellys. And just so everyone knows, I've finally gotten us all caught up so now it's actually taking place during the show.

And thanks to little miss michelle, Nelle07, XNegAttentionX, Smiji for the reviews. Everything will be answered in due time.

"Lots of things had changed when Brigit finally graduated from college and moved back home: Jenny was a widow (not that Jenny knew it), Jimmy owned a bar and had a major drug problem, Tommy was in art school, and she was engaged.

"When she and Kevin first got together, she had been scared of what people would say since two month before, she had brought Brian home and then all of a sudden, she was with a new man. The thing about our neighborhood though is that everyone saw what was between those two, even when they were kids. We all just waited around for them to figure it out, just like we were waiting for Tommy and Jenny to finally figure it out. So no one judged Brigit when she came home without her Boston-bred boyfriend to be with Kevin.

"No one cared how it happened, just that it did happen. Everyone was even happier when Kevin finally got around to asking her to marry him. So when he did it on the Christmas of her senior year in college, we were relieved that he'd finally done it... you see, he'd been wantin' to do it for almost a year. 'Course with Kevin, nothing is ever that simple. He'd lost the first ring in a poker game. The second ring he bet away and the third finally made it onto her finger.

"Things seemed a lot less simple when she came home in the summer of 2005, gettin' a job at a local hospital, when all this started..."

Brigit Murphy pushed the door open to the Firecracker Lounge and then through the crowd of people, paying her respects to Patty on her way towards Kevin.

She looked around, seeing Jimmy behind the bar, Sean talking to a girl, and Joey walking away – rather quickly – from Jenny and Tommy in the back. She suppressed a giggle as Tommy called after Joey, probably because Joey had the knack of saying something sexual to any and every girl he could... even her.

She said hi to Frankie before sitting down across from Kevin, smiling.

"Tommy doesn't look too happy, what's up his ass?"
Kevin took a sip of his beer, "He knows I owe three grand."
"Three grand?" Brigit laughed, "Don't you owe, like, six?"
"Yeah, but he doesn't know that."
She raised an eyebrow, "Not yet, but you know he'll find out eventually and you'll be in deep shit when he does."
He shrugged it off, "Nothing I can't handle."

She rolled her eyes and took a sip of his beer, ignoring the look he gave her because of it.

Brigit's head jerked when she heard three loud bangs and then Jimmy yell, "Hey, no bangin' on the machines!"

Sure enough, somehow a huge fight broke out, with every Donnelly involved. Brigit knew not to get involved, it was a brotherly thing. Jimmy starts something, Kevin and Sean jump in to help until Tommy breaks it up. 'Course Tommy just joined in this time.

Then all of a sudden, they were gone. Most girls would be angry, their boyfriends leaving them behind but Brigit knew better. Most girls didn't date a Donnelly. To a Donnelly, Donnellys were at the top of the list – family above all and Brigit understood and respected that.

All that said, she ran out of that bar as quick as she could which could have been quicker if she wasn't so tired. If cops showed up and saw her, she'd be the first they would question. Everyone knew she was Kevin's girlfriend.

So she went home... she figured she'd catch up on her sleep since she'd gotten off work about an hour and a half earlier. If Kevin wanted to see her, he knew where to find her. He'd show up eventually.

She smiled when her cell phone went off. Typical Kevin – he was checking up on her, making sure she made it out all right. Then he made his excuse to go after she heard Sean in the background, saying he'd gotten the cab. Brigit knew better than to ask questions.

Brigit went to work without a visit or another call from Kevin.

"Brigit didn't know it yet but when she called down to the nurses' station later that night, there'd be a phone call waiting for her.

"She expected it to be Kevin but wasn't too surprised to hear Tommy's voice instead. What surprised her was Tommy's tone... she knew something was up.

"She told me later that the phone fell straight from her hand when she heard about Sean and she didn't speak until he was finally brought up to his room from the ER. Sean wouldn't have been under her care but when the other nurses saw the name 'Donnelly' on the chart, they broke the rules and switched with Brigit so she could watch over Sean and the rest of his family. All Brigit had to do in return was finally let them meet Kevin, which she had no problem doing.

"And when Sean was finally brought up, despite the bandages on his face, Brigit never felt so relieved in all her life. She was just happy all the Donnellys were alive..."

Throughout the night, each of the Donnelly brothers drifted in and out of the waiting room. Kevin being the only constant, always watching over his mother. Jimmy could never stick around during a crisis, he just wasn't good at these kinds of things. And eventually, Jenny showed up bearing food and then Huey bearing condolences.

But what struck Brigit the most was that Jimmy didn't come back when he did his usual trip for beer – there wasn't a problem solved in Jimmy's life without a beer in his system – and then Kevin and Tommy disappeared too.

But when Jenny ran out of the waiting room, Brigit knew it was to Tommy. Brigit felt she shouldn't interrupt but she knew Kevin was with him so eventually, she followed Jenny out to the elevators.

"Stay and eat your sandwich... please," Jenny nodded her head back towards the waiting room.
Brigit furrowed her brows, "What's going on? Kevin, where are you going?"

Tommy answered Jenny but Brigit paid no attention to their conversation, only focusing on Kevin.

He didn't say anything but his look said everything Brigit needed to know. The doors of the elevator closed and Jenny hit them, obviously wishing them to open and bring Tommy back.

Brigit put her arm around Jenny, pulling her close and trying to comfort her as she walked her back into the waiting room.

"Jenny, this is a brother thing, don't worry. Tommy wouldn't do anything without thinking it through. They'll be home safe and sound real soon."

Brigit didn't know if it was true but it felt better to think and say. She knew Jenny's relationship with Tommy was completely different than hers with Kevin but she had an idea of what Jenny was feeling.

Brigit sat Jenny down next to Mrs. Donnelly, who took over comforting Jenny, thinking she was worrying about Sean.

Brigit sent them an apologetic look as she went back to work, trying ignore her imagination of what Tommy and Kevin could be doing.

"You see, Brigit knew Tommy wouldn't ever put Kevin in danger but even so, she hoped Tommy wouldn't put himself in danger. She knew Tommy was the glue that kept the Donnellys together.

"But there was another thing she was absolutely sure of and that was no matter what they did, no matter what happened, she would stand by them. They were family in their own special ways and so she would love them no matter what.

"Family above all, right?"