That night, Alex sat at her kitchenette table, holding an ice pack to her face. Her gut churned with despair that neither her broken nose nor other injuries dulled her confused thoughts or swirling emotions over the brothers. She hated herself for being so desperately lonely and terrified of Morgan that she couldn't desert them and save them from her poison. She hated even more seeing them fighting with each other over her. She pushed the ice pack harder to her nose so the pain would distract her, at least temporarily. Footsteps on the outside stairwell alerted her to the brothers' arrival.

"Don't turn on the light," she warned as the brothers entered. She winced when Gabe did just that. "Please turn it off."

Gabe hissed at the sight of Alex's two black eyes, broken nose, bruised cheek, and split and swollen lip. "What happened?"

Cale rushed to her side. "You must go to the healers' place the humans call a hospital."

Alex flinched away from Cale. "Gabe, Cale, please leave. I need to talk to Rile."

Rile shouldered past his brothers and sat at the table. "Beat it, bros."

Gabe hiss-growled in that way Alex found so intimidating. "What happened?"

"Gabe, I screwed up in a major way and I must talk with Rile," Alex said. "I dint mean to undermine you as team leader and Clan Head, but you just can't help me this time. Please don't make me beg you to leave. I will if I have to, but please accept that I wish I could tell you, but I can't, and that I'll be all right."

I am such a liar. I will never be all right again.

Rile flicked his tongue out at his oldest brother.

Cale gripped Gabe's shoulder. "Sounds serious. We'll leave. When can we return, Alex?"

"Tomorrow morning."

Cale looked at her with dismay and Gabe hiss-growled again at Rile's triumphant look.

"Rile will be leaving soon. I need sleep."

"You really should visit that hospital place," Cale said again, clacking his claws in worry.

"Already been there." Alex lied and waved her hand vaguely. "Don't worry, Guardians of the Universe. Go save it again. Don't waste your time on me."

"It's not wasting my time," Cale said with such feeling that Alex looked up at him.

She grinned a small, lopsided grin. "And you're too sweet to say anything else. Please reassure Gabe while I have a tiny talk with Rile."

Once the door closed, Alex took the ice pack off her face. "Earlier today, I said some things that I shouldn't have. Something came alive in me. I made sure it died. Stay away from me. Your brother is smart enough to not use the four letter 'L' word. I won't use it again. I'm the walking dead. I had forgotten but I gave myself a reminder. Hermann has two less men working for him now but the bastard himself escaped. Please, please go away. I want to sleep."

With a little luck and a lot of neglect, the really long kind of sleep.

"You killed two of Hermann's men?" Rile asked.

"No, but I doubt he'll keep paying two men with useless hands," Alex said. "Go on, shoo. Please?"

The last thing I need is someone patching me up.

Rile regarded her. "Stop trying to convince yourself that you're dead. You went after Hermann, took out two of his men, and are very much alive. Sure, Gabe would freak out if he knew you went after Hermann's men alone, but that'll be our secret. Let's go out for something to eat and drink. I want more martinis."

"No. There's only a throbbing pain where my heart used to be. Please go away and let me sleep." Alex put the ice pack back on her face.

"Fine. Go to bed."

"As soon as you leave."

Rile stood up. "Why wait? Go to bed." He leaned over her. "You can't stand up because you were shot."

"I wish. It would hurt less." Alex glared up at him. "Fire truck you. What part of 'go away' don't you understand?"

"The part where I leave a person who's been stabbed alone in her apartment. Off to the hospital with you." He took her arm.

Alex threw it off. "I'm not going. There was a study in a New York City hospital that showed as long as the knife didn't hit the bowel, patients were fine lying on stretchers in the hallways. I'm lying on my bed. I'll crawl there. Off with you. Pretty please with sugar on top."

"American humans eat too much sugar.I'll tell Gabe and Cale and we'll carry you there."

"I'll injure myself worse fighting you three." Alex lit her hand. "Get out. You want to spend the night on my kitchen floor?"

"You couldn't hit me. I'll wait until you pass out."

"I'll wake up when you try to carry me and blast you senseless." Alex's head drooped toward the kitchenette table. "Pest. I really want to go to bed. Please, please leave me alone. I'll pack it with gauze and sleep. Gabe didn't make me beg him to leave, will you?"

Will he make sure I pack it or will he believe me and I can leave it open so I can bleed out? It's not a bad death, really. No Morgan, no prying doctors to test and probe me.

Rile placed his hand on her shoulder. "Truce. Promise to go to the hospital if you're worse later."

Alex's eyes fluttered half shut. "Okay. Going to bed." She pushed away from the table gingerly.

Rile stabilized her as she gained her feet, wincing. Holding her side, Alex limped to the bedroom, Rile hovering over her. Once Alex lowered herself into bed, he handed her the gauze. Sharp eyes watched as she raised her shirt and jammed the white mass into the bloody wound. Rile taped it into place. Alex let her shirt drop and eased back onto the bed. She felt around for her sobbing pillow and buriedher face in it when she found it. Rile flipped the covers over her.

"Thanks. Remember I don't love you or anyone or anything," Alex mumbled. "Out now. Your brothers need you."

I should have known he was too smart to trust me. Whyisn't he smart enough to run from me?

"Yeah, yeah." Rile left the bedroom door open as he stalked to his apartment.

*****

Rile slammed open the apartment door, startling Gabe and Cale.

"Alex was stabbed by Hermann's men and refuses to go to the hospital. The best I could manage was to let her pack it with gauze before she went to bed and make her promise to go to the hospital later if she's worse. She threatened to injure herself if we forced her to go. Let's go up there and take turns checking on her."

Without waiting for an answer, Rile turned around and stomped up the stairs.

"What in the name of the Portal Guardian did you say to her to make her do this?" Gabe demanded of Rile's back as he followed him up the stairs.

"This is not my fault," Rile said. "As much as you like to blame me. You're the one making her worse."

"This isn't the time for you two to argue," Cale said from his lowermost position on the steps. "Alex is hurt and we must convince her to go to the hospital."

At the top landing, Rile said, "Cale, give me your key."

"Move aside," Gabe said. "I have one."

Rile hissed at him but shifted enough so that Gabe could squeeze by him to reach the door. Once the lock clicked open, Rile shoved past Gabe.

"Rile," Cale said as his oldest brother opened his mouth to stop Rile. "Put aside your pride and let Gabe take point. He has the best chance of awakening Alex without being blasted. You and I will stay at the bedroom door as backup." He placed his hand on Rile's forearm. "Quiet backup."

Gabe walked to the bedroom doorway and gazed inside for a long moment. When he disappeared inside, Rile walked to the doorway, Cale at his heels. Gabe sat carefully on the edge of the bed and waited. When Alex didn't move, he slid under the covers and waited again. He nudged up close to her and went still. This time Alex mumbled and stirred. Gabe stroked her hair.

"Alex," he whispered.

She mumbled.

"Alex, you're hurt. Time to go to the hospital."

"No!" Alex's eyes flew open.

"Perfect eldest moron strikes again," Rile said to Cale.

Gabe stroked her hair again. "It's all right. The human healer, the doctor, will just take a look. Won't take long."

Alex shook her head and her eyelids drooped. "Too tired. Stay here. With you."

"You've been knifed. You could die. You must go."

"His idiocy never fails to amaze me." Rile shook his head. "Watch."

"Die with you." Alex curled up against him and closed her eyes. "Good death. Not alone."

"See?" Rile elbowed Cale, who hissed softly at him.

"I'll carry you." Gabe scooped her up and swung his legs over the edge of the bed.

Alex cried out in pain and pushed against him. "Stop! Get out! I'll die alone!"

Gabe shut his eyes against the weak, sparkling blast that Alex threw against him but didn't release her. "Calm down. It's okay. We'll go together."

"Not going at all." Alex elbowed Gabe's gut hard enough that he doubled over and she slithered free of his grasp. She hit the floor with a gasp. "Let me die in peace."

Cale crawled over to her. He laid his head on the ground, his muzzle to her nose. "Death is not peace, Alex, unless you accept the Creator of All."

"Ugh, theology." Alex closed her eyes. "Cale can take me to the hospital."

"What?" Rile demanded.

"Why Cale?" Gabe asked.

"He knows about peace," Alex replied, eyes still closed. "Even if theology is as painful as this knife wound. No carrying me."

Cale came to his knees on Alex's uninjured side. He lifted her arm around his neck. "Ready?"

"As I'll ever be." She looked at him. "On three?"

Cale nodded and counted. Alex groaned as she gained her feet and leaned heavily on Cale.

"Don't wait up for us," Alex said. "We'll be forever in the ED."

"I'll be waiting," Rile said.

"And myself," Gabe said.

"Only losers care about something like me," Alex replied. "Go to bed. Please. Cale can brief you on everything."

*****

Alex insisted that she and Cale sit at the curb for the taxi to take them to the hospital. The orange tabby that Alex fed in preparation to trap, neuter, and release, rubbed against Alex's back and meowed.

"Tell me about peace." Alex held her side and the cat sniffed her with suspicion.

Cale frowned at the blood soaking through Alex's T-shirt. "The Creator of All has extended His peace to us."

 "What does it cost?" Alex peered down the street, bending at the waist to staunch the bleeding.

 "Nothing." Cale said. "And everything."

Alex groaned. "Don't be mysterious. What do I have to do? Some sort of sacrifice? Atonement? Penance?"

"No, the Creator of All paid the sacrifice."

"That's weird. The god paid the sacrifice?"

"Yes, and it's yours for the taking."

"Here comes the taxi," Alex said. "Will you please stand up and flag it down?"

Cale sighed but did so. He held out his hand for the taxi and it pulled up to the curb. Cale knelt and looped Alex's arm on her uninjured side around his neck and stood up carefully. The tabby dashed off in fright. Cale opened the taxi door and helped Alex inside. He entered the taxi on the other side.

"Charity Hospital," Cale said.

When the taxi driver rolled his eyes, Alex said, "Show him the money."

Cale dug in his pocket and held up a wad of bills. The driver hit the meter and took off.

"You can lean on me," Cale said.

"It's best if nice guys like you don't touch people like me too long. Our filth rubs off."

"Alex, that's crazy."

"You just now figured out I'm crazy? That makes you the slow one." Alex shifted against the door. "Or since you're the priest, the unobservant one."

"I apprenticed with the priest for one dry season. Why does that make me unobservant?"

"Priests have to be unobservant to worship God in a world like this. Or maybe Olam is a whole lot better than Earth."

"Why would the presence of evil negate the existence of God? It only proves it all the more," Cale answered, puzzled. "If there is evil, the converse, good, must exist."

Alex rested her forehead against the cool glass of the taxi window. "Good one. That leaves us with God can't do anything about evil or doesn't care to."

 "Or He's waiting for the right time to do something about it," Cale said.

  "Are we there yet?" Alex demanded of the driver. "Extra twenty bucks if you hurry."

 The taxi sped through a yellow light.

 "Guess our driver doesn't want to listen to theology," Alex said. "Funny that."

"You said you wanted to hear about peace and I'm telling you," Cale said. "You want peace? Accept it from the Creator of All. Accept His sacrifice. Accept that He loves you and follow Him, in spite of suffering. He's the only one who can redeem it. Why suffer needlessly?"

"I'll listen to more later," Alex said. "That's the best I can do right now." She looked out the window.

*****

At the Charity emergency department intake desk, Cale said, "Please hurry, she's been stabbed."

Alex uncovered her side and showed her bloody hand and shirt. "He's my brother," she told the aide. "Can he stay with me?"

They were ushered into the nurse's triage. Cale obediently filled out the forms as Alex wanted, using her old address and old temp job when she had first met them. The nurse took Alex's blood pressure and pulse with stone faced efficiency.

"The guy's name is Morgan." Alex showed the nurse her wound. "He must have followed me home from the bar after I told him to get lost. He jumped me near my apartment. Cale heard me screaming and he ran off when Cale came out."

"Your vital signs are strong and stable. We'll need x-rays of your abdomen, as well as your face," the nurse said. "Put on this gown. The phlebotomist will be in for your blood work."

"Thank you." Alex waited for the nurse to leave and whispered, "Always be nice to medical personnel. They have a choice of needle size."

  Cale grinned at her. "I'll step out so you can change."

A female phlebotomist bustled up and knocked on the door frame. Alex opened the curtain and Cale followed her in. He watched with interest as she drew blood. He had to wait when Alex was taken for x-rays. When she returned, she crawled onto the exam table and curled up on her uninjured side. A doctor in rumpled scrubs entered, looking at a thin laptop.

 "Assault, knife wound in abdomen, facial trauma," he read off the screen. "Extremely odd metallic object in your chest seen on x-ray."

 "Hello to you too, male in scrubs, on duty, and no manners," said Alex.

 He looked up from his laptop. "Sorry, Ms. Arceneaux. How are you feeling?"

"Don't apologize. Just my sense of humor. You're overworked and under-slept. Please do what you need to do quickly. This is my brother, Cale. You can say anything in front of him"

"What is that in your chest?"

"Phase three clinical trial." The words flowed out of Alex in that uncharacteristic manner whenever medical issues surfaced. "I have the papers at home somewhere. Please don't worry about it. I have regular follow ups with the researchers."

The doctor scrutinized her, but he wasn't experienced enough to read her. He finally nodded. "I'll order a shot of pain meds and then we'll set your nose."

 "Sounds like fun," Alex said without enthusiasm.

 "May I examine you now?"

 "Sounds like a lot less fun." When the doctor and Cale looked at her, Alex grumbled, "Go ahead."

The doctor was quick and thorough. Alex refrained from slapping or blasting the doctor by reminding herself that he was a professional and that she had asked for his help by walking into the ED.

 "I'll review your x-rays now. May I discuss them with your brother? You might not remember what I say because of the pain meds."

"Sure. He has a better memory anyway." Alex waved her hand.

 "I'll send in the nurse with the pain meds." The doctor motioned to Cale and they left together.

            *****

The doctor pointed at x-rays on his laptop screen. Cale watched even though he didn't understand.

 "Not only does your sister have a broken nose, but both cheeks and her jaw show old fractures." The doctor tapped and another x-ray popped up. "This is an old pelvic fracture." He traced a line on the white shadow on the black background. "What happened to your sister?"

Cale stared at the black and white picture. "I found my sister only a few weeks ago," he said with sincerity. "I think that this Morgan was not someone who followed her home from a bar. I think he's abused her before."

The doctor nodded. "She has old cigarette burns on her skin, consistent with past abuse. You be careful with this Morgan. Call the police. Next time he may not scare off. Next time he might decide to kill his prey's protector. Do you understand?"

 "I understand," Cale said. "How much can you help Alex?"

 "I'll set the nose and stitch the knife wound, but she must file a police report."

 "I'll try to convince her," Cale said and ignored the Star Wars quote that popped in his head that there was no 'try'.

*****

A/N
Gabe and Rile pushed Alex too far and this is her way to protect herself.

Now what will they do?

Can Cale fix this?

Dedicated to my newest reader sandyn101

Whose book Undercover Royals is polished and ready for the Wattys2018 [or so I tell her]