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Jennifer emerged from the shower, her skin scrubbed and clean, dressed in a pair of sweats Brian had lent her. "Thanks," she smiled lightly, sitting next to him on the bed.

"No problem," Brian said softly, turning to look at her. He took her hand in his, rubbing the soft skin, his expression growing concerned when she started to cry. "Jenny..."

"Is it possible to be sick of crying?" Jennifer interrupted him, her eyes firmly fixed on her hands. "I feel like I have to have done it enough at this point...I mean...how much can one person cry, or hurt..."

"What did he do to you?" Brian asked, tears filling his eyes when Jennifer's hand jumped in his as if she'd been shocked. "He did hurt you, didn't he."

"He didn't mean to..." Jennifer whispered, wiping at the tears on her face. "He said he just loved me..."

Brian sighed and pulled Jennifer to him, his heart breaking when her arms went around his neck as she sobbed. "Jenny, what did he do..."

"I can't..." she shook her head against his neck, holding onto him tight.

"Jennifer," Brian pulled away from her slightly so he could look into her eyes, his blue eyes wide and sincere. "You can tell me, you know you can trust me."

Jennifer shook her head stubbornly and looked away, frowning at the soothing feeling of Brian's hand stroking her back. So misleading, such false hope, a touch like that... "I can't say it." If she didn't say it, it didn't happen. Or so she would convince herself. "We need to get back to Nicky..."

"Jenny, you're like a sister to me, you know you can tell me anything, right?" Brian tried again, unused to feeling so hopeless. What had Kevin done...

"Not this," Jennifer whispered, and pushed his arms away, standing up. "We need to get back to the hospital."

"You need some sleep, Jenny," Brian argued, frowning when she started walking towards the door anyway. "Jennifer, what good will you be to Nick if you're sick too?"

"What good am I to Nick anyway?" Jennifer shot back, shaking her head. After what had happened...Nick would never touch her again...she was sure of that. "We have to get back there."

Brian's brow wrinkled as he contemplated what Jennifer meant, but he quickly dropped the thought as she disappeared into the hallway. You'd think, when she was running on as little sleep as she was, she would move a little slower, he grumbled, grabbing his coat as he followed her out the door.



"Who are you calling, Alex?" Kevin walked into the waiting room to see AJ and Howie huddled over a cellphone in the corner, and he quickly joined them, looking at the phone questioningly.

"Nobody," AJ closed the phone with a snap, glaring at Kevin. "Are you going to go talk to Nick?" He looked the older man up and down, noting with a frown his flushed cheeks, untucked shirt, belt misbuckled.

"Yeah," Kevin nodded, before looking at Howie. "You ok?"

Howie almost laughed at Kevin's question, but he just shrugged and pointed to Nick's room. "Go, man, time's wasting."

Kevin walked to Nick's room, pushing open the door slowly. "Hi," he said softly, seeing Nick's mother sitting by his bedside, his hand tightly clasped in hers.

"Oh, Kevin," Jane Carter stood up and went to hug the man. When the rest of the group had shown up without him, she'd wondered what had happened to him. "Nick will be glad to see you," she squeezed Kevin's hand tight before leaving the room, closing the door behind her.

"Are you glad to see me?" Kevin said softly, turning his gaze to Nick. He sat down in the chair recently vacated by his mother, shaking his head as he took in the mass of machines keeping his younger brother alive. "Damn, Nicky, I swear, I never meant to hurt you like this..." he took Nick's hand in his, his brow wrinkling when he felt how cold his skin was. "I do love you, don't you know that, Nick? We need you, all of us do...I don't want you to die."

He sat in silence for a while, thinking about how strange things had gotten...how messed up... "See, I told you never to touch her." He sighed and squeezed Nick's hand, shaking his head. "If only you'd listened to me...none of this would ever have happened."

Kevin bit his lip and smiled wryly, remembering how good he'd felt buried deep inside of Jennifer just moments before, her body the sweetest, most perfect heaven he'd ever known. "Jenny Lynn is mine, you know. I told you that a long time ago...why did you have to try to change that?" He chuckled softly, and patted Nick's hand. "They say you can hear me, that you know what's going on. How's this for what's going on, Nicky?" He stood up and leaned over Nick, his mouth in the younger man's ear, his breath ruffling his blond hair with his chilling words. "While you're in here, enjoying your little coma, I'm fucking your girlfriend."

He stood up straight and grinned, an evil, wicked grin. "You're not gonna die now, are you, Nicky. She loves you, Nick, she really does. But you're in here....and I'm not. Without you around, she'll be mine, forever."

Kevin's eyes narrowed as he thought he saw Nick's eyelids flicker, but he shook his head, laughing at his own gullibility. "I know, you don't really hear me. Doesn't matter, either way, Nick, Jenny Lynn is mine, and always will be. I'd just rather you didn't die, that's all, I really do like having you around.." He bent down and kissed the younger man's cheek quickly before leaving the room, closing the door behind him.

They'd told him to talk to Nick, and he'd done just that.

No problem in having some fun with it, now, was there.