Although I could hear voices, everything was pitch black. I wanted to move, but there was still a tightness in my chest and the back of my head was stinging.

Shit. I’m dead.

I didn’t even get to marry The Rock and have Gerard Butler’s children. Hey sue me, a woman has to have her options. Between my lamenting of unfinished business, I heard voices.

The voices belonged to God and one of the saints. They were trying to come up with a judgment for me. There goes living on fluffy clouds with winged angels.

I was going to hell.

No, maybe I was already there. The voices belonged to the devil and one of his assistants. They were debating on when I was gonna burn, for my sins.

“He’s not my brother!” I yelled. My body shot upright and my eyes were filled with brightness. White walls. Bland chairs. Two startled men.

Kevin walked towards the door, “I’ll get a doctor.” He said, exiting the room.

“I hope you weren’t saying that about me. I mean, I know I’ve been a bit distant, but I still love you and consider myself your brother.”

At the moment all I could do was groan, shooting into sitting position didn’t go well with my chest. It was sore and I felt like someone was sitting on it. “No…of course I wasn’t talking about you. I was just having a really bad dream.” I still looked around disoriented. “What am I doing here? What happened?”

Running a hand through his sandy blonde hair, he took a seat. He looked so professional in his white doctors coat, with his name inscribed on it’s pocket. “Kevin says ya’ll were attending a domestic violence call. You guys were able to control the guy with the bat, but the woman went crazy. She came out with a gun and shot two…” he swallowed hard before continuing, “…rounds…one hit you in the chest.”

Holy shit.

I have a hole in my chest.

I pulled down the gown as far as I could to see if there was a hole between my boobs. But there was nothing, but, a big purple mark the size of an orange. Phew.

“Yeah, he said you guys put on vests when you stopped for coffee. Shit…excuse my French…I mean…shoot Sophia are you trying to give us a heart attack. I don’t know why dad let you be a cop.”

“Because it wasn’t his choice Brian.” I snapped.

“WHERE IS SHE?” The aggressive voice boomed from the hallway. Brian and I rolled our eyes at the same time and grinned as we saw Alex appear in the door way. “Holy fuck, are you serious. You got shot at? Where is that no good partner of yours. He’s supposed to keep a close eye on you.”

I rolled my eyes again. Although, I have to admit that I was quite flattered, that he was having a moment over me. “Oh shut up! It’s not his duty to watch over me. Anyway, you have no idea how it happened.”

Kevin and the doctor stepped into the room.

“Hey it’s not my fault that woman went nuts!” Kevin responded, giving Alex a serious look. Tension filled the room as soon as my partner stepped foot inside. He stood by the door, and Alex took a protective stance on the opposite side of the bed. Both took turns glaring at each other, looking like two bucks about to butt heads.

Brian and I focused on the doctor, and let the other two go on with their evil eye competition. According to Dr. Burns, the vest had saved me. I wasn’t sure to be thankful to the vest. It did keep the bullet from piercing me, but not from pelting the crap out of my chest. As for the stinging in my head, well I had a small gash…to small to shave the area and give me stitches.

THANK GOD!

The doctor let me know my release papers were at the nurses station and I was free to go. A couple of minutes later I walked out of the room with clean clothes on. The captain had given me the rest of the morning off, but expected me back on duty the following night. So understanding.

I met Brian at the desk to sign out. He was still looking a bit beat up. Lately, all my brothers looked a bit beat. What the hell was happening to all of us? In the span of two years everything had gone haywire and we were slowly drifting apart. Or should I say they were drifting apart, because I tended to be the one that everyone confided in.

I was like a priest taking in confessions that I couldn’t share with anyone else.

Somehow I kept thinking that leaving the two hostile men in the waiting room, around the corner was a really bad idea. I was trying to get the nurses attention, but she was busy blabbing on the phone. Brian perked up and I followed when we heard the elevated voices.

We saw nothing.

“The tension you cause between those two men is…astonishing.” Brian commented.

When I opened my mouth to answer, the sound of glass shattering cut me off. The sound was followed by chairs grating the tile floors. Then Kevin and Alex flew across the hallway, hands at each others throats. They crashed into the wall, bounced off and landed on the floor.

There was a lot of cussing. Arms punching. Legs failing. And rolling around. They took turns pinning each other to the ground and letting each other have it in the face.

“Christ! Would you two stop acting like children. We are in a public place…in a hospital for the love of God. The one I WORK in! This is embarrassing.” Brian was going on and on. And I have to admit, I did feel bad for him. He does work here, he’s bound to hear about this as long as he’s employed here.

I tried to get close, but an arm missed my face by an inch. “Holy shit! Would you two idiots stop it. Alex…this is where your brother works…get up stop hitting him. Why are you guys fighting in the first place.” my words were going unheard, instead they kept rolling further away from me.

A nurse stood at the other end, and before they could roll over her. She tipped a bucket over them, water spilled onto the twosome and all over the floor. Both men gasped for air, as they felt what must have been ice cold water hit them and they let each other go.

Brian did the sign of the cross and walked over to a panting Alex. “You are a disgrace…it’s embarrassing to be related to you!” he huffed and stormed off…almost slipping on the water.

I bit my lip, knowing that those words had cut my Alex. No one tended to say anything nice to him anymore. Not even me.

The two men were sitting on opposite sides, leaning against the walls. They were panting and feeling to see what was busted or bleeding. “I can’t believe you two, especially you Kevin.”

Without waiting for a reaction from either one of them, I scurried into the elevator to reach Brian. There was something I needed to talk to him about. When the doors slid open, Brian was barely unlocking his office.

“Hey. I didn’t get a chance to thank you for going upstairs to see me.”

“I’m your brother Sophia and I care about what happens to you.”

“Then in that case, you will tell me what the hell is bothering you lately. If I AM your little sister and you LOVE me like you say. Then, you can tell me what the hell is going on. Why you are so damn distant. Why it seems like you are pushing us away…”

There was no stopping me now. I was on a roll, and I wasn’t sure I was going off on the right person. Really. What had Brian ever done to me?

“Sophia…please go home you need to get some rest. You just got shot at.”

“NO! Not till you tell me what the hell is going on. I thought you trusted me.”

Brian turned his back on me, and I knew immediately there was something really wrong. “I didn’t mean to do it…” was all he muttered.

I decided to calm down and try to use a more nurturing approach. I clasped my hand over his arm, and turned him around to face me. He looked so pained and helpless. “Brian…please tell me what’s wrong?”

“Look I can’t right now. I have to go make a report on what just happened with your immature brother and your new suitor.”

I couldn’t help the scrunching of my nose, with the word he used. “He is so not interested in me like that.” Of course, just the thought sent a hot rush through my body. “Don’t change the subject on me.”

Brian’s eyes moved to the open door, “Hey honey.” he forced a smile.

“Hey there, I was just about to knock. Hi Sophia…” she walked over and embraced me. Leighanne is such a huggable person. I think it’s cause she’s a mommy and so used to giving hugs. “I heard about Alex and your partner getting down in the waiting room. Alex is so immature sometimes. Anyways, they need you honey.” she walked over and planted a kiss on Brian’s cheek.

Unsatisfied with the conclusion to our conversation, I let out a sigh and hugged my brother. He wrapped his arms tightly around me and gave me one of his angelic smiles. “Be careful…we will talk some other time. I promise.”

I gave him a nod and waved at Leighanne and exited the room. Hospitals are so big, yet they feel so stuffy and unwelcoming. It might be the plain white walls. Annoying monitor sounds. Occasional child’s cry. Or the penetrating smell of disinfectants that makes it so unwelcoming. Whatever it is…I hate them.

On my quest to find the exit, I had decided that I would visit Alex later in the day and see if he knew something I didn’t. There was a pretty good chance he had no clue, but it was worth a try.

I felt relief as I exited the glass sliding doors. I took a deep breath of fresh morning air. It was still dark out and there was a nippy chill in the air.

“Hey!” the masculine voice, broke me from my stride.

“I thought you were gone.” I responded, making way over to Kevin to examine his bruises more closely. When I got closer, I was taken aback by the amount of damage Alex had done. My mouth fell open, and my hands flew to his face. “Holy shit!” I muttered, running a finger over the large bump over his cheek.

He licked his busted lip, and I couldn’t help my eyes from staring at the gesture. Clearing my throat, I looked back up at him. Only to find his green eyes boring into mine, and I found myself tempted to lean in and kiss him.

“I’m ok…” he shrugged. “…your brother is a bit too jealous of me. And…I’m not even sure why.”

I knew damn well why. But there was no way, I could confide in Kevin. Not yet. “He’s just overprotective.”

“It’s not like there’s anything…” his eyes were back on me. I swallowed the nervous knot in my throat, as I watched him lean towards me.

Letting out a nervous breath, I finished his sentence. “Between us…” I whispered, feeling the heat of his breath on my lips.

Just as I began to close my eyes to welcome his mouth upon mine. A loud clank, followed by cursing made us both jump back.

“Fuck…shit…motherfucker!” Alex, was in a fit. Kicking his door and socking the air. “Son of a bitch…cocksucker.”

I bit down on my lip hard, before mustering the courage to say his name. “Alex…?”

He stopped the cursing and kicking as soon as he heard my voice. His head snapped to attention and he looked up at me. His mouth was twisted into an angry pout, and his brows were furrowed in a menacing glare. Without another word, he flung the door open, hopped in and burned rubber out of the emergency driveway.

Shit. He had seen the almost kiss…that I was slightly disappointed, didn’t happen.