~You could offer the world, baby,

But I'll take this instead,

Yeah, yeah, yeah~

A week into his new job, Niall still didn't feel settled. There was so much to do all the time. And there was no way that he could possibly go back to school in another three weeks. By now, he was already unenrolled. The university was beginning to get a bit pissed off with him, but there was no time to worry about that now!

All of Niall's free time was spent trying to come up with treatment plans for the patients he had - the number of which was steadily growing, since Wendy thought he could handle it. Maybe he could. Maybe he was headed down the same route as the last person in his position. The point was that by the time Connor's next session rolled around, Niall had a plan - to talk about Evelyn.

The man had opened up the most when talking about his younger sister. And that was a way that Niall could get under his skin.

Once he entered the room and sat down, Niall made it clear that she was the topic of conversation for the day. "So, Evelyn. If it's alright with you, I'd like to discuss her some more. It'll get your brain away from everything else, I think."

"Okay," Connor said, bouncing his good foot up and down.

"So, she's 6 years younger than you, correct?" He asked, realizing that that was the age gap between him and his own brother. Niall knew he was going to need therapy of his own after this experience.

"Yes."

Niall cleared his throat. "What were the circumstances leading you to taking care of her?"

Connor rolled his eyes, seeming hostile towards the therapist. "My parents were gone? You want their medical history?"

"I'm just trying to understand everything, Connor. Please stop attacking me," It was getting kind of old. Always the same thing with him.

"They left her with me when she was six and ran off with each other. We lived with our grandparents until I graduated high school. Where's the other guy anyways? I haven't asked you that."

"He's on vacation." A simple lie. Didn't mean anything.

"Long vacation," Connor leaned forward in his chair, frowning slightly as his leg moved, and as usual - he didn't feel it.

Niall cleared his throat. "And she's going to law school in the fall, correct?"

Connor backed off of the subject of Kyle and focused once again on his sister. "Yep. Because it doesn't make sense. How could a jury say I'm guilty when I've never done anything bad before! There's no need for me to join a gang and be violent."

"We're talking about Evelyn, not your innocence," Niall pleaded. He was really trying here - but Connor was a broken record.

The conversation continued for a while after that, with Niall trying to gently steer it where he wanted. But people don't like to be pushed around, it turns out. And it was going to take a lot of work to get through to Connor Rodes and stopped the paralysis from claiming his whole body.

---

Christmas passed, and so did the start of the spring semester, the start of which was marked by nothing except Niall having a mental breakdown while watching The Office and looked over Connor's case. Always that one. No one else plagued him like this man did. In fact, he was finding it rather easy and fun to deal with all of the other inmates. His patient load was almost up to what Kyle's was before his brain went for a run without the body attached.

Niall only knew what day it was based on who he would be seeing that day. That's why, when he saw a girl who looked strikingly similar to the man who took all of his time up, he knew it must be Tuesday. Because that was Connor's lucky day. A good therapy session with the underqualified Niall Horan and then visitor's hour with his lovely sister Evelyn. And since Niall was leaving early for a doctor's appointment - that's what he'd told Gary, but he was really going to go take a nap - this was the first time he was to meet her.

And it seemed like she knew who she was talking too, as evidenced by her surprised look when the two of them locked eyes. "You're a little too young to be a therapist, buddy."

"Believe me, I didn't ask for this," Niall said, smiling softly. "Evelyn Rodes, right? You look like your brother."

"We get that a lot," She sighed, stuffing her earbuds back into her bag. "I actually need to talk to you, so could you wait a moment before running off?"

"Sure," Niall tightened his backpack straps and crossed his arms defensively, hoping that she wouldn't attack him for doing something wrong.

Evelyn threw a piece of long brown hair over her shoulder. "You know, maybe it's good you're on his case. We're from Ireland too."

"No way," Niall looked her up and down, but didn't see it. Or hear it, for that matter.

"My brother moved here to make more money, and then he was arrested, but asked to stay here. God knows why. None of this probably would've happened back there. But I've gotten a job here and am going to school. He told you that, right?"

"Uh huh," His head was spinning with the details he was learning, trying to sort them into buckets of information that he would need to access later.

"He's always been there for me. Even from jail, he told me everything I needed to do to get settled here. Made some calls so I could be close to him. He's a good man. And there's no reason he should be sitting in that jail cell right now. No reason. My brother didn't kill those travelers. He loves me too much to jeopardize never seeing me again like that."

"Evelyn, it's not my job to say whether he's not innocent or not," Niall begged, wanting to be free of this case. "I'm just a therapist."

"And Connor appreciates everything that you've done for him!" Evelyn was screaming, pleading with him not to leave. "You have to believe that he's innocent!"

"It doesn't matter what I believe," He tells her again as she pulls a scrap of paper out of her bag with her phone number on it. "I won't need this, Evelyn."

"Please take it," Her hand was outstretched. It would be so easy to reach up and take it.

Niall furrowed his eyebrows. "No, I mean. Your number's in his file."

"Oh."

---

Calling in sick to Wal-Mart was a personal decision, and something he had been doing a lot as of recently. The new job gave him more money, and frankly he preferred to sit in bed and feel depressed compared to doing manual labor while the ever-rotating cast of coworkers complained about their lives to him.

He never allowed himself to sleep if he didn't go into work - had to keep up that healthy four hours a night schedule. But maybe, he would crash out tonight. Pour too much Nyquil down his throat and turn the overhead fan on. That was self-care.

But as he poured the sleep agent into a shot glass, Niall's phone rang in the bedroom. Denise had gone into labor, and Greg wanted his little brother there to welcome his nephew into the world. Well, the self care was a bad idea anyways.

Theo was ready to pop out quickly, it seemed, since everyone was abuzz when Niall arrived with a box of chocolates and balloons. Driving two miles out of his way to avoid the Wal-Mart where he worked and stop at Albertson's seemed like a good idea, but since the baby was already born and he'd missed it, maybe it wasn't.

There weren't many people there in the middle of the night. Denise's mum. Greg and Niall's mum and dad. And Niall, of course. Greg recounted all the details to him, and the excitement flowing through everyone in the room perked him up. There was a new life in this world - with his brother's blood in it! And by default, his own!

When it finally came time for Niall to get to hold the little sucker, he felt the magic. The hyperawareness - the scratchy chair he sat on, scraping his elbows as he held them in perfect baby-holding position. The puff of hair atop the infant's head, and the nose! Ah, so Greg-like and perfect.

"I love him so much," Greg beamed with the pride of a new father.

Niall smiled, feeling the same sentiments, although probably to a lesser extent. But he would definitely protect this kid to the ends of the earth. No matter what. And then he realized that Connor had to have had the same feeling about his sibling - raising and caring for her.

Why would he risk it?

His heart sank as he held his nephew and realized that Connor Rodes was an innocent man. But the justice system would never see it that way. So it was finally time for some drastic measures, and yes, some action.