A/N: I'm sorry for the slow updates. Thank you all so much for the reviews, and for sticking by this story! See the first chapter for the disclaimer. I hope you enjoy this one, and please review. :)

Chapter Thirty Eight

Erin opened the door to her little brother's apartment, finding him asleep on the couch. She hesitated briefly before entering, wondering if there was any particular reason he was so tired. The TV was on in front of him, and his cell phone was on the coffee table, vibrating softly.

Danny was calling him.

Erin picked up the phone and walked away with it, answering with, "hey."

"Oh, sorry, Sis," Danny said on the other end. "I thought I was callin' Jamie."

"You are. He's sleeping."

"Oh, okay. I was just calling to check in with him. He had his fitness test today."

Erin nodded, understanding why Jamie had fallen asleep on the couch. "Not sure how fit he is if he fell asleep right after," she said softly.

"He's been in the gym, too. I don't know if he went in today or not, but I know he's been working hard."

"Yeah," she breathed.

"And, anyway, what are you doing over there?"

"We were gonna have dinner at his place tonight. I brought stuff to make for him."

"Mac and cheese, huh?"

Erin smiled slightly. "It is his favorite."

"Alright, well, I'll let you go then so you can cook. I'll talk to you later."

"Okay. Later, Danny." She hung up Jamie's phone, setting about in the kitchen.

She didn't notice when Jamie woke up, only when he came up behind her in the kitchen. "Anything I can help you with?" he asked, causing her to jump slightly.

"You can grab plates and get the table ready," she replied. "This is almost done."

"Okay." He did as she had asked, and she put the food out for them to help themselves.

As soon as both were settled with dinner on their plates, she asked, "are you feeling okay?"

"I'm fine," he replied.

"Are you sure?"

He shrugged. "A little out of shape from riding a desk, but I did some boxing this morning, too."

She nodded.

"Big sister worried?" he asked, looking at her as he took a bite of food.

"I'm concerned," she said.

"Same thing."

She shrugged slightly. "It's my job, as your big sister."

"I thought that was why people got married. To have someone else worry about them for their family."

"That's not it, and you know it."

He smiled.

"So, how's desk duty?" she changed the subject.

"I forgot how much I hate dealing with the public's phone calls," he told her. "I mean, I don't mind the people who call for legitimate reasons. But the people that call because the librarian is refusing to let them check out a book until they pay their overdue book fine…"

Erin laughed softly.

"I would hate to be a 911 dispatcher," he concluded.

"I don't think you'll have to worry about that any time soon," she replied.

"Me neither. But I'd still hate to do it." Jamie started telling a story about a friend of his in the dispatcher's office, and the stupid phone calls made to 911 every year. And Erin smiled and laughed, all the while thinking about her younger brother.

Jamie had been through hell. No denying that. But she could see he was making gains toward getting better. He was going to be okay, despite everything.

"Stop looking at me like that," he told her.

"Like what?" she replied.

"That, 'I'm so proud of my baby brother' look."

"I'm just… happy you'll be okay."

Jamie shrugged. "Had no choice. If I wasn't, you'd all keep nagging me."

Erin smiled. "True."

He smiled back.