"Maybe if we ask again..."

AJ shook his head at Howie's suggestion. "We've been asking for the past hour D. They'll tell us the same thing. They'll say we have to wait for the doctor."

"Then where the hell is he?"

"Nick--"

"No Alex. We've been waiting here and we still don't know shit!" Nick turned around, facing his three friends. "We deserve to know something! I can't believe they'll just leave us here all worried and--"

"Are you family of Mr. Richardson?"

Brian was the first one to stand up and walk over to where the doctor was. "I'm his cousin and we're all his friends. How is he?"

"I'm Dr. Fowler and I'm in charge of Mr. Richardson's condition. He's just gotten out of surgery. I couldn't tell you yet."

"What happened?"

The man turned around and looked at Howie. "He was shot in the head. The bullet grazed his brow and his temporal plate. He's lucky he's still alive."

Nick gasped. "Oh, god." He placed his hand on his mouth, trying to fight back the tears. When the agents had said Kevin had been shot, Nick had thought that it was something minor. A shot in the arm or shoulder. Anything along those lines but not this. Not this.

AJ leaned against the wall, looking at the ceiling. Shot in the head. The only thought that kept running through his mind was that. Shot in the head. Kevin had been shot in the head. The same man that tried to correct AJ's vocabulary until he turned eighteen. The same man that had drunk until stupor with him after Amanda left him. His friend, his big brother.

"Oh my God." Brian crocked out. He shut his eyes close. His cousin... The man he had known all his life had almost died. Opening his eyes, his vision blurred with tears, he looked at the doctor. "Is he going to be alright?"

"It's still too early to tell, but he's gotten through surgery. That's a good indication."

The air left Howie's lungs in a second. It just couldn't be real. The four of them couldn't be going through this. It had to be some kind of dream-like state. Drawing a shaky breath, it took a lot of Howie to be able to ask, "can we see him?"

"He's still in recovery. He'll be taken to a room in about an hour. I'll make sure they let you know. I suggest you to call his parents. His condition is still critical."

Even in the stupor and desolation the four of them were in, it was a common knowledge that it wouldn't be so easy to do as requested. Looking at each other, neither of them had an idea of how to handle this. Brian started biting his lower lip. "They are... they aren't in the best terms as of right now. I don't think they'll..."

"I still advice you to call them."

Brian nodded. There wasn't much he could do. The doctor didn't know how things were. He just didn't know.

"I'm sorry, but I gotta leave." He gave them a sad smile. "I'll ask a nurse to let you know when you can see your friend."

The four of them nodded and didn't relax until the doctor had left.

"Oh god." Howie plopped down onto a chair. Running his fingers through his disheveled hair, he looked at his three brothers. "What do we do?"

Nick sighed softly. He didn't know what to do. "Do you think we should call them?"

AJ was asking himself the very same thing. He turned around to look at Brian. They would have to discuss about it. If anything, they had to talk about that.

Brian shook his head. "No. They'll say the same thing."

"Brian--"

"No Howie." He sighed. "Maybe later, but not now."

Nick rested his head against the back of the chair. It was going to be long night.

*****

It was an hour and a half later that they were able to see Kevin. Standing in front of the room 1019 in ICU, they looked at each other.

Brian opened the door and as soon as they entered, the four of them gasped. Kevin was lying down on the bed, looking pale and so much smaller than his usual tall form. The only sound in the room was the beeping of the heart monitor and the movement of the respirator.

Taking a seat by Kevin's side, Brian took his cousin's hand in his and looked at Kevin's face. His hair was shaved down, a bandage around his scalp. Tears started making their way down his cheeks. Kevin had been shot. Kevin had been shot and had barely made it.

AJ leaned against the wall, his glasses in his hands. His head hanging low, he closed his eyes shut. When had been the last time he had been this afraid? AJ couldn't remember. The amount of pain he was suffering, the asphyxiating feeling that everything was so very wrong, was about to consume him. Kevin was hurt and there wasn't anything either of them could do.

Howie walked over to the end of the bed. He placed his hands on the edge of board, resting his weight. It just seemed impossible for him to believe something like this could happen to any of them. It wasn't that he was proud person, but he knew most people always thought stuff like this can happen to anyone but them. He had been one of those people.

Sitting on the other side of Kevin's bed, Nick rested his elbows on his knees. He buried his face in his hands and tried his best to breath. It was like he just couldn't get air into his lungs. His teeth were shattering against each other. Nick could feel his whole body trembling. Kevin had almost died and the thought alone seemed to kill him.

They didn't say anything, they just heard Kevin's steady heartbeat and his continue breathing.

*****

Nick sighed softly as he closed the door behind him. Brian was inside with Kevin, AJ and Howie had left about ten minutes ago to get some coffee. He rubbed his face with his hands. Light was already coming through the windows as he checked out his watch. Six thirty already.

Six thirty?, he asked himself. Was it only seven hours ago that we got back to the hotel and went to sleep? He shook his head. It feels like a lifetime. In only seven hours, his life had changed completely.

"Mr. Carter?"

Nick looked up and tried to recognize the face.

"Det. Soplin?"

The woman nodded. "Yes, I was hoping I could talk with you." Her eyes darted to the closed door on his side before looking back at him. "That is, if I'm not interrupting."

Nick shook his head. "No, no... Brian's inside. I just came out for some air."

"My partner and I have been trying to find some clues about your friend's attack." She saw Nick flinching and gave him a sad smile. "I'm sorry to bring this up..."

Nick waved it off. "It's ok. I... I didn't think about that. Do you have any idea who did it?"

"Not so far, no. I'm afraid it was nothing planned, but just an assault. A robber trying to steal a wallet maybe. Mr. Richardson was found with no ID on him, so that let us to believe so." She sighed softly, rubbing the bridge of her nose. "I'm sorry we don't have more information on it."

"No, hmm..." Nick took a deep breath. Just a robber... just a guy trying to get Kevin's wallet and Kevin had to end up shot. That was just... it didn't even sound real. He could feel tears picking in the back of his eyes and Nick started rubbing his forehead, his hands covering his face. When he felt calm again, Nick looked at her. "Thanks. Thank you for what you did." He paused. "Thanks."

Det. Soplin nodded once again. "I'm sorry," she said softly. "For everything." Giving him another small smile, she left.

Nick rested his weight against the wall as he saw her turning around the corner, going for the elevator. It couldn't be truth. Somehow, Nick had thought there was someone behind it. Like in the movies. It was some master plan to hurt Kevin. It just couldn't be an accident. It couldn't be Kevin being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"Nick?"

Looking up, he came face to face with AJ and Howie.

"You ok?" Asked Howie, tilting his head to the side as he handed him a cup of coffee.

Nick shook his head. He was anything but fine. "The detective just left. She said... she said it was probably a robbery. That Kevin was mugged."

"Shit," AJ cursed, hitting the wall with his hand. Both Howie and Nick jumped, turning to look at him. AJ just shook his head, not wanting to talk about it.

"Guys?" Brian walked out of the room, closing the door softly behind him. "What the hell was that noise?"

"Nothing Rok." AJ shrugged. "That detective woman came a while ago, talked with Nick here and told him Kevin was mugged. Just as simple as that."

"Oh god," Brian sighed, leaning against the door. Mugged? They had five security guards, one for each of them, and Kevin was mugged in New York?

"We better go inside." Howie said, running his finger over the edge of the styrofoam cup. "We're doing no good just standing here, in the middle of the hallway and worrying over what already happened."

"You're right," Brian said softly. He looked at his friends and took a deep breath. "We just gotta... we just gotta..." Brian found himself with no words and no plan. He didn't know what to do. He knew they couldn't stress over the incident, since that wasn't going to change anything. Still, Brian had no idea what to do.

"We gotta go inside and just look after Kevin," AJ spoke up, trying to find some sanity in the insanity that had become their life as of the moment. "That's all we gotta do. That's what Kevin would have done."

Brian nodded. "Yeah, that's what we're gonna do." And he knew AJ was right. There wasn't much left for either of them to do, but they could do that. They could at least do that.