Someone was here.

In a fight or flight panic, Alex threw the bedroom door closed and locked it as her heart raced. She was the poster child for an Eminem song at the moment - her palms were sweaty, knees weak, and arms were heavy. Her eyes darted around the room, trying to find something, anything, she could use to protect herself. If only her room had an emergency escape or a window that opened - she would have seriously considered jumping.

Meanwhile, the man entered the condo and closed the door behind him. Suddenly, there was a loud slam of a door that took him by surprise. Dropping a brown paper bag on the table, he glanced down the hallway, confused. The only door closed was Alex's bedroom door. Why the hell would someone be in there, much less slamming the door shut?

Anxious to get answers, he briskly walked down the short hallway. He tried the doorknob - it was locked, so there was clearly someone on the other side.

Could it be an intruder? The thought crossed his mind momentarily, but he quickly dismissed it. Criminals weren't known for locking themselves in bedrooms when they encountered someone.

On the other side, Alex was on the verge of a full blown panic attack. She could hear her heartbeat in her ears, deafening the sounds around her, but she heard clear as day when someone tried to open the door.

This was it - she had no choice. She gripped her bedside lamp with both hands, holding it like a batter ready to swing.

Not knowing what else to do, he knocked on the door. "Hello?"

Alex paused for a moment - that voice didn't sound like the usual gruff, drunken tone of her father. Still gripping the lamp like her life depended on it, she convinced herself that her mind was playing tricks on her. She squared her feet like a batter ready to go, knowing full well that her dad could undo the lock any second now.

After nobody answered, he decided to take an educated guess…one he hoped in his gut wasn't true.

"Alex?"

Her stance softened at hearing the voice. It wasn't her father. That she was certain of now. She lowered the lamp, still gripping it in one hand as a security measure, but she took a step closer to the door.

"Will?"

Both thankful and frightened that it was, in fact, his sister, he tried the doorknob again. "Yeah, it's me. Let me in, kid." His mind was swirling with every worst case scenario possible right now - why was Alex back in this place? Had Jay sent her back to live here? Had their dad done something to her? He tried the doorknob again, clearly anxious for answers.

Resting the lamp on her nearby desk, she opened the door, revealing her relieved eyes that quickly became hidden behind her well-guarded walls.

"What are you doing here?" she asked bluntly, trying to push down the intense fear she had been feeling. The sudden transition from so many emotions in a short period today was taking a toll on her.

"I'm dropping off Dad's meds," he explained quickly. "More importantly, what are you doing here? Where's Jay?" He peered into the bedroom as if searching for his brother but knowing full well that he wasn't there.

Alex turned to grab her suitcase and she put on her messenger bag. "He's not here," she said, offering no additional details about it. "I need to get going." She motioned for him to move out of her way.

But he didn't budge. His curious eyes picked up on the discarded lamp by the door - a long way from its usual place beside her bed. He knew exactly what that meant, but he tucked it away in his mind for the time being.

"We need to talk about this, Alex."

Alex huffed. "We don't need to talk about anything. Now move so I can leave." She took a step closer, about ready to use her shoulder to push him out of the way if he didn't willingly move. "I need to go now," she said. A hint of fear slipped through on the last word - a sense of urgency, of panic. Will didn't want to put her through even more trauma, and he also knew it was in their best interest to get the hell out of dodge before their father got back, so he obliged and moved aside.

"Here, let me take that," he motioned to the large suitcase she was rolling behind her.

"I'm fine," she muttered as she walked, all but running for the front door.

Will ran a hand through his hair. The kid was as stubborn and independent as ever, but something was clearly off.

They managed to get into the elevator without another word. Will hit the button for the lobby and they began their descent down from the upper floor. Alex watched the numbers go down to avoid looking at her brother, who was burning a hole in her from all the staring.

Suddenly, there was a loud and aggressive jolt, throwing both of them off their axis as the lights flickered and the dim emergency lights came on. Alex felt her heart race yet again when she realized they were no longer moving.

"What happened?!" she blurted out.

Will, well versed in keeping calm during an emergency, replied, "I think we're stuck, but it's okay, don't worry. I'll call for help." He gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze before she tried to brush him off.

Fifteen long minutes had already passed and they were still stuck. They'd said it could be up to an hour before the firefighters got it back up and running.

Alex had managed to get her breathing under control as she slid down the back wall and sat down, finally too exhausted to keep standing. If she was going to die here, at least she was with the doctor brother who might try to save her when this elevator went plummeting into the basement.

Following her lead, Will took a seat in the other corner, both facing the door.

"Maybe this is the universe saying you should talk to me about what's going on," Will joked, rolling his head over to give her a telling look.

Alex's only reply was to roll her suitcase in between them and position it so they could no longer see one another.

And there they sat - two siblings stuck inside an elevator, separated by the only belongings she had left.

Five…ten…fifteen minutes passed with nothing but a chorus of frustrated sighs as nothing happened and no updates came through.

Suddenly, Alex's phone rang and she jumped, the ringtone breaking the cloud of silence. "Shit," she muttered. It was Jay. Well so much for her plan to sneak out and back in before he noticed. She silently weighed her options as it continued to ring.

"You going to get that?" Will asked out of boredom.

Alex ignored him, trying to quickly run through the pros and cons of answering or ignoring it. By the time she'd managed to decide to answer, the call had reached voicemail. But lucky for her, Jay was persistent as fuck, so he immediately called again.

"Oh my god, just answer it!" Will said, annoyed at the stupid, incessant ringtone.

"Shut up!" she snapped before taking a deep breath and holding the phone up to her ear. "Hello?"

"Hey Alex. How are things?" Jay asked, showing no signs of anger. She immediately felt her shoulders relax - maybe he hadn't arrived home to find her missing after all. She could totally still play this off.

"Things are fine," she replied nonchalantly, lowering the volume on her phone to try and keep Will from overhearing.

"I'm going to head out soon to get our food. You still like Pad Thai, right?" he asked, trying to sound casual about it, but wanting to confirm that one thing he knew about her hadn't changed.

"Yeah, that's fine."

"You talking to Jay?" Will suddenly asked as he rolled the suitcase aside. Alex shot him the look of death.

"Will? He came over to visit?" Jay was now confused. His brother typically would let him know when he was coming over, even if it was short notice.

Just then, as if a perfect storm, someone came through the elevator intercom, "Well folks, the fire department said it'll only be about fifteen more minutes, so just hang tight and we'll have you out in no time."

"Fire department? You want to fill me in on what's going on?!" Jay's mind was swirling with all worst case scenarios.

Alex sighed heavily and threw her head back against the wall in frustration. After another grunt, she suddenly had an idea and put Jay on speaker phone, so Will could hear.

She quickly explained, "I realized that I didn't have all my crap from Dad's place, so I asked Will to bring me over and get it. And now we're stuck in the stupid elevator on our way down. Anything else?"

She glared at Will, whose eyebrows were near his hairline in surprise at what she'd said. Her eyes narrowed, silently challenging him to contradict her.

"Will? Is that true?" Jay asked reflexively, always erring on the side of caution when it came to any "truth" Alex said. It was strange that Will hadn't told him he was doing this…

Will's mind went into overdrive. Clearly Jay didn't have any idea what she was up to - but at the same time, he had sensed that there was something else going on in her head, but he couldn't put his finger on it yet. In a few seconds, he played out all of his options before finally settling on one. It might not be the best one, but it was the one he was going with.

He stared Alex right in the eyes as he replied, "Yeah, that's right. Sorry I didn't let you know ahead of time. Alex said you were busy at work, so I didn't want to bother you. Figured it'd be a quick trip, but then, you know, the elevator had other plans."

Completely shocked that Will played along with her lie, Alex had to do a double take. Had he finally taken her side for once and helped her?

Jay nodded, feeling reassured. While he didn't like that Alex left without telling him, he was glad she had the sense to call Will. "I'll head over there to pick you guys up." After a short pause, he added sternly, "And Alex, we need to talk about you leaving the apartment without telling me."

Alex didn't bother to hold back her groan. "Whatever."

"Great," Jay replied, used to her sarcasm by now. "I'll see you guys soon." And with that, Jay hung up.

Alex stared at her lock screen for a moment before rolling her suitcase back between them to cut off her brother's lingering glare.

"Alex, you know I don't like to lie to Jay and we shouldn't be."

Alex pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, knowing full well he had a point but she didn't care. Lying was how she'd made it through the last few years - it was survival. "So why did you do it?"

He shrugged. "I figured you could use a break. You've been through the wringer lately."

Now that wasn't the answer she was expecting. She wouldn't admit it out loud, but the comment actually felt nice, validating almost, that someone was recognizing she'd been through hell and back.

For a moment, she almost said thank you, feeling a moment of vulnerability, but she put back up her sarcastic wall. "So now you're going to hold this over my head? Blackmail me or something?" Because recent years had led her to always assume the worst intentions.

"No, it's not like that."

Alex didn't reply anything and they sat in silence for a while before Will spoke up again. "I was hoping you'd tell me the real reason you went back to Dad's."

He let the wish float out there, knowing he needed to be comfortable in the silence for a while to not pressure her. A great trick he'd learned from Dr. Charles.

Alex scoffed at the question at first with no intention of replying. However, the continued silence closed in on her and let her mind run with the wave of feelings…of him finally doing something to help her, seeing that she'd been through a bunch of shit. It softened her exterior ever so slightly. And the fact that he wasn't able to see her added another layer to her vulnerability coming to the surface. She didn't feel exposed. It was like she could momentarily let the wall down without him knowing.

She gripped her knees tighter and rocked back and forth for a bit. Her mind kept taking her back to the emotional distress she felt at Jay's house just an hour ago, the sadness that had consumed her. She swallowed, trying to push it down, but this time, it stayed on the surface. Without thinking it through more, she spoke quietly, practically a whisper, but easily audible in these close quarters. "I wanted to get Mom's photo album and cookbook."

And there it was. The real reason she'd been hellbent to go back. The fact that she'd finally opened up, even if just a little, justified lying to Jay about it. While her means were flawed in coming back, he couldn't blame her for the reasons. Losing their mom had taken a toll on all of them, but he knew it had to be the hardest for Alex. He internally beat himself up for not thinking about this earlier. He and Jay had a few cherished items from their mother, but they each had them in their possession at their respective places. Alex hadn't been given the same option when she was ripped from her unsafe home just a few weeks ago.

"I miss her everyday," Will replied honestly, soaking up the true emotional moment.

Alex rested her forehead on her knees. "Me too," she confessed.

Before Will could reply and try to keep the moment moving forward, the elevator suddenly roared to life and began descending again. It was like the noise had jolted Alex back to reality.

"Oh thank god," Alex replied, quickly getting to her feet, her guarded walls back in their usual place.

Will stood up as well, giving his sister one last glance, as if trying to leave the door open for more communication, but when he saw her jaw firmly set and eyes staring at the numbers again, he knew it was of no use.

However, this still went into the win column for him. He was one step closer to breaking through that hard, exterior shell she carried around.

It was worth it.

A/N: Thank you SO much for your feedback and ideas - I absolutely loved reading them and hearing from so many of you. I hope you like the direction that this ended up going :)