Natalie wasn't quite awake when she felt someone sit down on her bed next to her. "Ngh- 's early. . go 'way," she mumbled sleepily as she weakly pushed at the person next to her. She'd never been a fan of rising early-had often complained about Cameron's cheery disposition when first waking up-and never appreciated being woken up before she was good and ready.

"Not just yet."

That voice. Natalie's eyes snapped open and she sat up quickly; she nearly slammed into M.W. in the process. "You-"

"Careful," the Mystery Woman said quietly. "Wouldn't wanna wake up big brother, would you?" That's exactly what Natalie wanted to do. But she glanced down and saw the gun casually pointed at her and thought better of it. "I don't want to hurt you, Natalie. I never have. And I won't hurt you now as long as you behave."

"What do you want?" Natalie as proud of the way she managed not to let her voice shake.

"From you? Nothing. From Cameron . . ? Well, that's not really your concern. All you need to know is that I have Johnny's full support." Before Natalie could do more than frown in total disbelief, M.W. held up a coin-Johnny's coin.

"How-?"

"He gave it to me. Or-loaned it, more accurately. So that I could show it to you and Cam, so you'd know that I'm telling you the truth. He figured it might not be enough to convince you, though, so he also told me something that only he could possibly know-something that only the two of you share."

Natalie eyed M.W. skeptically. "What's that?"

"Before he and Cameron pulled off the Time Square trick, before everything in your lie changed forever, the two of you talked about taking a trip together, just the two of you. . Somewhere no one knew the name Cameron Black." The Mystery Woman smiled when Natalie's eyes grew twice their size. "See? But if you still don't believe me-" M.W. produced an earpiece from her pocket and handed it to Natalie. "Ask him yourself."

Natalie hesitated before slipping it into her ear. "Johnny?"

"I know how crazy this all seems, but I need you to trust me. Can you do that, ptichka?"

"I always trust you."

"Okay." She could hear the smile in his voice. "Then trust me. . And do what she says. She won't hurt you."

"As long as she doesn't fight back or get in my way," M.W. clarified. She pulled out a pair of handcuffs. "Now. How 'bout you be a good girl and slip these on? Just so there aren't any heroics tonight?"

Natalie was weakly pressing her hand against her injured shoulder stop the bleeding and her eyes were only half-open when Cameron fell to his knees at her side. He smiled weakly for her when she lazily rolled her head in his direction. "Hey, baby girl. Everything's gonna be fine, alright? Big brother's got everything under control."

"Cam, what's going on? How bad is it?"

"It's-" He was torn between telling his brother the truth and comforting his sister. "It could be worse."

"Yeah. . coul' be dead," Natalie mumbled the joke.

"Not funny, Nat," Cameron chided even as the corner of his mouth turned up. He shucked off his jacket-ignoring the twinge of pain in his shoulder-and wadded it up. He gently moved his sister's hand out of the way so he could press the bundled jacket to the hole in her shoulder. "This is gonna suck," he warned just before pressing down hard. He cringed at the cry of pain that came out of her, but didn't let up. "I know, I know, but I gotta do it."

Natalie nodded jerkily while fresh tears leaked from the corners of her eyes. By then the team had made it to the room and were hovering around them. "I've got 9-1-1 on the way," Dina told them. "I'll go meet them upstairs." Cameron nodded but didn't respond, his attention only on his sister.

Jordan knelt by Natalie's side across from Cameron. "Cam." The tone in his voice had Cameron snapping his head up. "Looks like she got hit with more than just a bullet." Cameron followed Jordan's gaze and saw the knife sticking out of his sister's side.

"Di'nt know. . floor was. . rigged," Natalie told them through gritted teeth. "She dove for the gun-"

"Shhh." Cameron moved one hand to stroke her hair for a moment. "Don't talk right now. You can tell us later. Okay?" She nodded and he caught movement out of the corner of his eye. A quick glance and he saw Jordan's hand in hers. Huh.

"Cameron." Gunter's raspy voice along with the firm hand on his back made him turn to look at the old stunt designer. "We should probably get 'er upstairs. Don' think a stretcher'll be able to make it down 'ere." Cam moved to pick his sister up but Gunter's hand moved to his shoulder and squeezed a bit. "Electrocuted, drunk and now shot? An' you think you can carry 'er up those stairs? I think not, son. Move aside. I've got 'er." Reluctantly, Cameron shifted over and let the older man scoop her up. Natalie whimpered and Gunter shushed her gently. "I've got ya, sweetheart. I've got ya."

For some reason, Cameron didn't move to join them. Jordan paused by the doorway to look back at him. "Cam? You good, man?"

"Yeah, I, uh. . I just need a minute." Jordan nodded then disappeared behind the wall as he followed after Gunter and Natalie. "John. . Still there?"

"Of course. How bad is it?" He knew Johnny needed an answer, and now that Natalie was out of the room, he could give him one. Cameron sighed as he settled on the floor next to the puddle of his little sister's blood. ". . . Bad, John. It's bad."

The next day, Kay greeted him as he stepped out of the elevator and walked onto the floor of the FBI offices. "How's your sister?" she asked immediately.

"Alive," he answered roughly as he walked. Kay's look of concerned brought him to a stop with a heavy sigh. "Cuts on her wrist and a dislocated thumb from getting out of the handcuffs M.W. apparently used on her to keep her in her room, along with about ten stitches in her side from the knife and dozens more in her shoulder after surgery. Luckily they've got her on the good stuff, so she'll be out of it for a while, won't feel too much pain."

Kay nodded with a look of sympathy. "Were you able to talk to her?"

He shook his head and started walking again. "Not much. Like I said, she's out of it. . . Mostly she just asked for Johnny. ." He was the one she always asked for when she was hurt or sick or scared. "Best I could do was call him and let them talk on the phone for a bit. . She fell asleep." Cam smiled a bit at that. "The team's on rotation now at the hospital till I can be with her."

"You could have stayed with her, Cam. I've got this."

"No. No, I have to be here, Kay. For John and for Natalie. After everything she's done to my family, I wanna make sure she pays, for all of it."

M.W. removed her contact lens and looked at him expectantly. Johnathan sat forward and looked at her closely. .

"Nope. Still nothing." He could see the shock and disappointment in her eyes, and didn't let it show how much he enjoyed it. "Even if I did remember you. . Even if we had this connection back when we were kids. . Do you really think I'd want anything to do with you now? Forget about framing me for murder; you shot my sister."

M.W. sat back in her chair and shrugged. "She got in my way. If it makes any difference, I wasn't aiming for her. I wanted to shoot the automaton before it could throw any more of its little knives, but she got on top of me. . I mean, I guess I could have just let her get stabbed again, but that didn't seem like the best option."

Johnathan's expression remained stony. "Right, because shooting her was so much better," he deadpanned.

"It was a clean shot, through-and-through. I'm sure Cameron told you I didn't hit anything too important. The gunshot she could survive, but she wouldn't have been so lucky if she'd been turned into a human pincushion."

He gave her a dry, humorless smirk. "So, what you're saying is I should be thanking you." His tone dripped with sarcasm, now.

The Mystery Woman shrugged and tried to look innocent; it didn't work. "I'm not saying that. . Though I wouldn't mind hearing a thank you." She moved her hands in a vague gesture, as much as she could with the handcuffs. "I never wanted to hurt Natalie, but she got in the way. I told you both I couldn't be held responsible for what happened if she did. I have to say, though. . Tackling a known murderer and wrestling her for a gun? That's bold." She actually sounded impressed. "I'm guessing little Nattie got that from you-"

"Don't-"

"-because she certainly didn't get it from Cameron. I mean, he never even tried to fight me-"

"That's enough!" Johnathan slammed his hands on the table to punctuate his yell. "You don't get to talk about them like that. Especially Natalie." Before she could say another word, he left the room. He needed time to collect himself before she could provoke him any further.

As Johnathan, Gunter and Jordan walked back to the car, heading back to the Archive to regroup, Johnathan stopped. "There's a pit stop we need to make first."

The other two men exchanged a look before Jordan spoke up. "Dude. Kay say we needed to get back, like, ASAP. We don't wanna push our luck with the agent who's trying to help us get your out for good, Johnny."

Johnathan rolled his eyes behind his shades. "Yeah, I get that, and that's great and all but you two seem to be forgetting that while everyone's working on this deception, Natalie's alone in a hospital. I'm surprised we haven't gotten a call about her fighting nurses."

"Well, they do have her pretty drugged up," Jordan reminded him.

"She was pretty out of it, last I saw her," Gunter agreed. He would know, too, being the last one to be with her before this whole mess started.

Of course, none of this did anything to soothe the anxious need to check up on his sister. "Guys. Come on. Ten minutes, tops, that's all I'm asking for." Johnathan wanted a great deal more than that, but he knew that if they pulled this off, he'd have all the time in the world with his sister. For now, the ten minutes would have to do. It didn't take much more than a quiet 'please' to push them over the edge of agreement. Soon Johnathan was at the door of Natalie's hospital room.

The nurse who was just leaving after checking up on her told him that she was still groggy and likely wouldn't track the conversation very well. That didn't matter to him. All that mattered was seeing her, and more importantly, her seeing him.

Natalie was pulling at her sling when he walked in and he quickly moved in to catch her hand when he realized she was trying to pull it off. "Ah ah ah. You leave that alone," he told her sternly. "They didn't put that on you just for the fun of it."

That got him a tired eye roll. "Comin' from the guy who r'fused t'go to the hosp'tal after gettin' shot," she mumbled. "Bull'tproof vest b'damned."

Johnathan smiled a little and leaned in. "Wrong brother, ptichka."

Natalie frowned, then her eyes went wide with realization. She glanced over to the door before whispering, "Did you break out, Johnny?"

He grinned and shook his head. "No. We caught M.W, remember? That means as soon as this is over, I'm out for good. They just had to get me out a little early to help tie up a few loose ends."

Her confusion was evident, but she nodded slowly, even though Johnathan was pretty sure she hadn't processed all of that. "Oh."

"I have to get back soon, but I wanted to check on you first. How're you feeling?"

"My head's all. . . fuzzy. And I can't really. . move my arm." Natalie weakly wiggled the fingers of the hand sticking out of her sling. "Kinda feel floaty."

Johnathan nodded and lightly held her hand. "Well, you enjoy that while it lasts, because you're gonna feel it plenty once you get off the IV. Trust me." He'd never been shot before, but he and Cameron had certainly had their fair share of terrible injuries. More than their fair share, really.

"Mmmhm," Natalie hummed. "Johnny. ."

"Yeah, ptichka." Her slim fingers curled around his and he felt something inside him relax for the first time since he'd been arrested. He had a brief flashback to a much smaller Natalie lying in bed sick and half-asleep, her little fingers curling around two of his because it was all they could wrap around.

She blinked slowly then smiled tiredly. ". . I forgot."

"That's okay," he told her quietly. He reached up with his free hand to brush through her dark hair a few times. "Why don't you get some rest, see if it comes back to your later? I'll come back with Cam to pick you up tonight."

Her eyes were already drooping shut before she responded with a sleepy, "'kay."

Always so easy. He almost laughed at the thought of what Cameron would say to that. It was ironic that between the two of them, Cameron had always been more of the 'fun parent', so much more lenient with her, and yet he'd never quite connected with Natalie the way Johnathan had. It was fine with him, though. He liked being the favorite brother. Johnathan leaned forward and kissed her forehead. "Uvidimsya skoro, ptichka," he whispered. See you soon. One more deception. That was all that stood between him and being with his family again.

This was more of a Natalie-centric chapter, but it felt necessary. I should have this last episode wrapped up in the next chapter-MAYBE two. After that. . I get to REALLY play, since Deception got cancelled.