Brian and Nick were in the den. Nick was moving better but not on his own so Brian continued to be Nick's better half. They wandered out to the kitchen as Ciara took the second tray of cookies out of the oven.

"I was wondering when you two would show." She laughed. "Nick, how's your back?"

"Getting better, thanks." He smiled in appreciation.

"Have a seat you two. You can try the cookies out for me." Ciara said as she set a plate of cookies down on the breakfast bar and poured a few glasses of milk for them.

"These are delicious, Ciara. How did you get them so chewy?" Nick asked after he ate a few cookies.

"Yeah, they're wonderful." Brian replied.

"One of the few good things my mom taught me was how to make a good chocolate chip cookie." She smiled for them and continued to make cookies until AJ and Howie returned a half hour later.

"Ciara? It's Mac." Ciara's phone rang a little after nine that morning as she and AJ were waking up.

"Mac? What's up?" she asked. Mac was a paramedic and a friend of hers and Rachel's who came over from time to time to help with the yard work.

"Rachel okay?" Mac asked. She mouthed over to AJ that she would be a few minutes as he got up and went to the bathroom.

"What do you mean?" Ciara asked as she got up to make the bed with her free hand. Mac told her what had happened overnight. When he was done, Ciara thanked him for calling and hung up the phone, looking for a moment over at the picture of her and Rachel together at a Richard Marx concert. She went over to the bathroom door and knocked on it. AJ was brushing his teeth.

"Rach had a bad night. I need to go check on her. I'll meet you downstairs?" she asked. AJ responded by nodding.

---

"Rach?" Ciara knocked softly on the door before opening it. She saw Rachel wrapped in Kevin's arms and knew that Rachel would be all right.

---

Ciara went down to the kitchen and made some coffee.

"How's Kevin like his coffee?" she asked as Howie and AJ sauntered in.

"Uh black and with a teaspoon of sugar." Howie replied.

"Where is he?" AJ asked.

"Taking care of Rachel for me." Ciara replied. She made both AJ and Kevin a cup of coffee and poured some for Howie as well before taking Kevin's up to Rachel's room. When she knocked again, Kevin opened the door.

"Hi Ciara." He whispered.

"Hi. I thought you could use this. She'll be out pretty much most of the day. I've got a monitor if you want. You can listen for her from any room of the house. With everything she and I have been through, the monitor comes in handy." She explained. When she was bedridden because of the kidney problems, Rachel had bought a baby monitor so that she or anyone else who was over could hear if Ciara needed them for anything from whereever they were.

"Nah. I promised her I'd stay. She was pretty much out of it earlier and she sobbed pretty hard. She must have really had a rough night last night. I just wish I could do more." Kevin replied.

"Yeah, she had a rough one last night. A mutual friend called me to let me know. Hence the suggestion for the monitor. I usually put the CD player on for her when this happens. It helps her sleep better. Can I bring you anything? Breakfast? A book?" Ciara offered.

"Thanks, but I'm all right." Kevin insisted.

"Okay then. Thanks for being here for her." Ciara kissed him on the cheek and turned to leave.

"Could you please explain to Brian what's going on. I don't want him to think that anything happened between her and I." Kevin asked.

"Sure, not a problem. And I'll have one of the guys bring you up a tray of breakfast and such." Ciara replied before returning to the kitchen.

She helped AJ make breakfast for everyone and then shooed all of the guys out of the kitchen so that she could do some baking. She ended up sending AJ and Howie to the store for more ingredients because she wanted to make a few batches of cookies and a cake. She made sure she wrote down the directions to the grocery store for AJ and Howie before sending them on their way.

"You okay?" AJ asked once they were behind closed doors. He handed her a tissue.

"Yeah… I'm just tired. I'm going to go change. You okay?" she replied. AJ nodded.

"Once they were both ready for bed, Ciara turned off the lights and crawled into AJ's waiting arms.

"C… we're leaving." Bobby woke up his sister the next morning. Ciara looked at the clock. It was just before five am.

"Thanks for coming to see me." Ciara hugged the twins, "I'll see you soon." She told them. They left as quietly as they entered. Ciara didn't know why, but she started to cry softly. AJ heard her and pulled her closer to him and wrapped his arms tighter around her.

"Hey now, no tears. They're safe and will be fine with Jarod and his family." AJ whispered in her ear.

"I know… I just miss them already." She replied. She turned around and buried her face into his chest as they both fell back to sleep.

---

Rachel returned to a quiet house. She checked on Nick and then went to take a shower.

Kevin heard her hesitate at his door as she walked by. He hadn't slept well all night. He had a feeling something was wrong with her and couldn't explain it. He believed he was just being silly.

It had indeed been a hard night for Rachel. The patient she was in charge of had died and while she was on her way home from the assignment, she witnessed a head on collision in which three children were killed. It ripped her heart out as she had tried to help save the children's lives, but couldn't. She knew she'd have to report to the Psych department before she would get her next assignment. She stripped out of her clothes and tried to drown her tears in the shower. Praying that she wouldn't wake anyone else up in the process.

Kevin heard Rachel step into her shower. Man how he had wanted to join her in it, but he knew it was too soon.

After twenty minutes, Kevin became worried. He went to check on her. He had no problem getting into her room, she left it unlocked.

"Rachel?" he asked. As he closed the door, he found her terrycloth robe on a chair and went to her bathroom door. He heard her sobbing. "Rachel?" he asked again. When she didn't answer, he put the robe down, grabbed the towel from the bar on the shower door and opened the shower door. He found Rachel crouched down, sobbing, as the water beat at her back.

Kevin turned off the shower and covered her tiny frame with the towel. Her whole body shook as she continued to sob. Kevin didn't say anything as he scooped her up and took her out of the shower.

Rachel let him dry her off and put her robe on her before he put her to bed. When he went to get out of her bed to sit in the overstuffed chair next to it, she managed to speak.

"Please, don't go. Stay here with me. I need you to hold me, Kevin." She said in a soft voice.

"I won't go anywhere." Kevin told her and got back under the covers with her. He held her and brushed her hair back away from her face as she sobbed. He gave her a few light kisses on the top of her head from time to time as she slowly cried herself to sleep.

---

"I think that I'm going to call it a night. The boys and I will be heading home in the morning. It's been fun." Jarod explained.

"I think I'll walk you up." Ciara said. She gave AJ a look.

"Yeah, me too." AJ said. "Goodnight guys." AJ, Ciara, and Jarod all said to the rest of the guys.

"Well that was suttle." Jarod stated when the three of them got upstairs. He couldn't help but laugh.

"What was suttle?" AJ asked.

"The look she gave you. You remember that look. After all, you came up here with us." Jarod pointed out.

"What look?" Ciara asked. She and AJ really weren't sure what he was talking about.

"You're `AJ, I'm queen' look." Jarod continued to laugh.

"Can I help it if she's got me wrapped around her little finger?" AJ shrugged, holding back a chuckle. He was being truthful and he didn't mind a bit that he was wrapped around her little finger, although he wouldn't mind being wrapped around her other body parts as well.

"She's got you wrapped period. Okay you two, but the time you get up in the morning, we'll be gone. AJ, take care of my sister and we'll see you both in Boston." Jarod and AJ hugged.

"See ya man. Take it easy." AJ replied.

"And you, young lady… have I told you how proud I am of you lately?" Jarod asked.

"You don't have to. I know you are as I am of you. You'll let me know if you need any help with the boys. I mean it. Any help whatsoever." Ciara shook her finger at her brother.

"Hey… AJ's the one you've got wrapped…" Jarod teased her as he pulled her into a hug. "I promise I will. I love you. Take good care of AJ like I know you will. Nite nite froggy." He kissed her on her forehead. She started to cry.

"Now I know why you called me that. Daddy use to. You said it was because of the way my voice sounded when I got off the ventilator but I knew back then that there was more to it." She explained. AJ rubbed her back as Jarod held her in his arms for a few minutes.

"Do you remember why dad called you froggy?" he asked. She shook her head. "He called you froggy because when you had come home from pre-school one day before Halloween, you told everyone that you were going to be a frog for Halloween and that you wanted dad to be the princess. He called you froggy ever since." Jarod gave her the explanation.

"Thanks Jarod. You always made me feel normal and special at the same time and you just did it again. Good night big brother. I love you too." She said. AJ tugged on her hand lightly as she let him lead her to her room.

AJ took her into his lap and wouldn't let her up so that he could bury his head in her back.

"AJ, it's not that bad!" Ciara replied.

"You haven't been in here listening to Jarod tell them everything." AJ laughed.

"Oh no… what has he told them?" Ciara began to wonder.

"I particularly like how the two of you were outside playing one morning when the school bus went by and decided to get on it because you wanted to see Jarod because Ciara missed her big brother and wanted to go to school to be just like him." Nick said as he tried not to laugh.

"Oh my gosh… I was so upset… I stood in the middle of the hallway and screamed because they wouldn't go find you Jarod. And Alex just stood off to the side and said `you'd better get Jarod, she can do this for hours'." Ciara said as she AJ chimed in at the end. They both laughed hysterically.

"He wasn't kidding. I was out at lunch and one of my friends came over to me and said that he thought he heard you screaming in the hall for me. I went running to the principal's office and there you were. You two always got into trouble together. Always." Jarod said when the laughter died down.

"Hey, sometimes you helped. Remember when we were at the zoo with daddy for the day and he told you to keep an eye on us while he went to the bathroom and you were flirting with some girl." Ciara mentioned.

"Oh no." Jarod replied.

"Yeah, and you told us to sit over next to the monkeys and you went after that girl." AJ added.

"Oh boy, we all got in trouble that night." Jarod laughed as he remembered that incident.

"You chick magnet you!" Ciara teased her big brother.

"How did you manage to put up with these two? Because if they were like that when they were younger, God only knows what kind of trouble those two are going to get into nowadays." Kevin wondered aloud.

"Back then, it wasn't putting up with them. I was protecting them. I learned a lot back then before dad died. When dad couldn't be around, I was the protector, the one that took care of them when they weren't with AJ's mom. One of the things I learned is that family is always there for you no matter what. The only regret I have from after dad died is that mom wouldn't let AJ or his mom see us and we couldn't see them. I wasn't allowed to even mention AJ and his mom. I believed AJ could help Ciara and he has, he brought my sister back to me. The one I knew when I was still a kid myself." Jarod looked away from the group.

"Hey now… no looking back at what could have been, all right?" Ciara went over to her brother. "We didn't turn out too bad. I'm getting more and more of my memory back everyday. We are still a family and now, we've added to it." Ciara said and pointed to all of the guys. "Right guys?" she asked them.

"Right." They all replied. Jarod managed a smile.

"Oh, hi Brian." Ciara replied. Brian sat down next to her. "So what do you think of the area around here?"

"Nice and peaceful. Quiet. Reserved. And it's beautiful." He admitted.

"But?" she asked.

"But, I think I've lost my chance with Rachel." Brian told her.

"I don't think you truly ever had one, Bri." Ciara told him.

"She's really drawn to Kevin, Brian. I can't explain it. She and I truly haven't had a chance to talk in depth since we all met at the studios in Times Square, just be happy for Kevin and her. You'll find someone someday." Ciara tried to sound positive.

"I know that. I do… so, did AJ behave himself tonight?" Brian asked, changing the subject.

"Yes he did. He even handled the inquisition from Eddie and Bobby pretty well." Ciara laughed.

"That's cool. Oh, speaking of your brothers… the rest of us guys sorta invited Jarod and the rest of your family to our Boston shows in June. I hope that was all right." Brian told her.

"The kids will love it Brian. Thank you." Ciara sipped her tea. "How's Nick doing? Better?"

"Yeah, he's just really embarrassed about falling down the stairs the other day. He'll be fine."

"Hey you two… what are you doing out here? Conspiring against the rest of us?" Howie teased as he entered the kitchen.

"Not exactly. Hey Howie." Ciara replied.

"Do you know that your brother is out there right now telling us stories of you and AJ from when you were the twins' age?" Howie questioned.

"Lord help us." Ciara giggled. "I'd better get out there and help AJ handle the ribbing." She said.

"Wait… Ciara… thanks for the words." Brian stopped Ciara from getting up by placing his hand on hers.

"You're welcome Brian. Anytime." She replied and gave him a smile before leaving the room.

"Brian… what are you doing? She's Bone's man… leave her be." Howie warned.

"I'm not doing anything. Just finding out where I stood with Rachel." Brian replied. He and Howie followed Ciara into the other room.

As Ciara made herself some tea, she paged Rachel's cell phone and left the number so that Rachel would call back. She did.

"How'd it go?" Rachel asked her immediately.

"My brothers are very nosy." Ciara tried not to laugh as she remembered the events of the evening.

"What do you mean?" Rachel asked.

"They asked a lot of questions and were very blunt and asked us if we were on a date."

"Well?" Rachel asked.

"AJ says we were." Ciara told her.

"Did he kiss you?" Rachel asked.

"Yes, right in front of the boys."

"And?" Rachel prodded.

"And what… it was nice and it annoyed the boys. Besides, it's not like he and I haven't kissed before." Ciara explained.

"Okay, just checking." Rachel replied.

"Anything new there?"

"Nope, but you gotta help me. How do I explain to Brian that I'm not interested in him in anything more than a friend?" Rachel asked.

"You haven't said anything yet? What are you waiting for? A light bulb?" Ciara asked.

"I don't want to hurt his feelings, I just really, really wanna see if there is anything between me and Kevin and where it may end up." Rachel replied.

"What are you going to do next week when I leave for three days and all the guys are here? You're going to have to tell Brian and the sooner, the better."

"I know. Look, I've got to go, one of my patients need me. Don't stay up all night writing, okay?" Rachel asked.

"Not if AJ can help it, I won't. Good night." Ciara said and hung up the phone. She finished making her tea and sat at the breakfast bar sipping it slowly and replaying the night's events.

Ciara smiled as she remembered the events that occurred earlier in the evening. She laughed as she remembered how protective her younger brothers seemed as they questioned AJ about every little thing.

"Penny for your thoughts." Brian asked Ciara as he had entered the kitchen to get something to drink and noticed that she was deep in thought.