Author's Note: Thank ya'll so much for reading! I'm trying to update as fast as I can. I appreciate everyone's feedback. Thank you for reviewing! I appreciate it so much, and it helps me out a great deal!

Special thanks to Bloodsuckers37 for reading and helping me get the medical 'stuff' right, and correcting my myriad of mistakes.

Bad to Worse

Chapter 9- The Aftermath

10:14 AM Room 201

The Eppes brothers had been placed in the same room. Alan sat in the middle so that he would have easy access to both of his sons. It looked like Charlie was going to be the first one to wake up. He was squirming, as if he was having a nightmare, so Alan took his son's hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze in the hopes of comforting him.

"Don?" Charlie asked without opening his eyes.

"Sorry, you only get me."

Charlie opened his eyes when he realized Don wasn't there.

"Sorry, I thought you were Don. Where's Don?" Charlie said turning his head towards his father.

"It's okay."

"Mmm, my head hurts."

"I bet it does, from what I heard, you hit your head pretty hard when you fell. You should feel lucky."

"Why?" Charlie asked looking unsure.

"The bullet only damaged some muscle, nothing major."

"That's nice," Charlie said trying to doze back off. "Where's Don?"

"He's over there," Alan said pointing to Don.

Charlie opened his eyes to look at Don, who was resting peacefully. Charlie could see that the IV and chest tube had been replaced, including the nasal cannula.

"What happened to him?" Charlie said rising up.

"The bullet broke a rib, which punctured his lung. The doctors had to put the chest tube back in. It also turned out that your brother was dehydrated too. Don't worry; the doctor said that he should be okay."

Charlie settled back down.

"I'm tired."

"I'll leave you alone then. You need to rest."

Soon Charlie was asleep again. It was soon after Charlie went to sleep; Don started showing signs of waking up. Alan moved his chair closer to his older son. Alan took his hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. Don slowly opened his eyes and turned his head to face his father.

"Not again," Don said looking at his surroundings.

"Unfortunately, yes. How do you feel?"

"Sore, I got shot at point blank range."

"At least your vest stopped the bullet."

"What happened?"

"To you?"

"Yeah."

"Well, the impact broke a rib, which punctured your lung again. The doctor had to put the chest tube back in. You were also dehydrated."

Don closed his eyes and nodded. He opened his eyes again when he thought about Charlie.

"How's Charlie?"

Alan pointed at Charlie, so Don could see for himself. Charlie was resting peacefully.

"The bullet didn't do anything serious."

Don put his hand over his eyes.

"This is my fault."

"No its not, you had no control over what O'Brian was doing or going to do."

"How is O'Brian anyways?"

"He's dead; he was shot directly in the heart."

"I must have good aim," Don said smiling.

There was an awkward moment of silence.

"I take it that you're still mad at me," Don said breaking the silence.

"I don't know. I'm happy you killed that man and saved lives, but then you also got shot yourself."

A soft knock interrupted the conversation. A young female doctor walked in.

"Good morning Mr.Eppes, I'm Dr.Cecil; I was working on you in the ER. You look a lot better than when I first saw you. How do you feel?" the doctor said coming in the room and standing next to Don's bed.

"Sore," was all Don could say.

"That's normal, and you'll probably be sore for a couple of days. You tore most of your stitches, so we had to put them back in."

"How long until I can leave?"

"Well, it depends on how fast your lung heals. Since your lung didn't collapse completely, it should be about a few days at the least. I wish I could give you a more definite answer."

"Can I walk?" Don said sitting up.

"Not far, for right now, just to the bathroom."

"Good," Don said swinging his legs over the side of the bed.

Dr.Cecil saw what Don was trying to do, so she stepped in and helped him. Don used her to help him stand up. After a moment of vertigo, he walked slowly to the bathroom that was near the closet. A few moments later Don walked back to his bed, and Dr.Cecil helped get him settled. The little walk exhausted Don, and he was asleep shortly after Dr.Cecil left. Dr. Cecil checked the chest tube and Don's lungs. After she was done, she checked on Charlie and left.

6:03 PM Room 201

Alan sat there between his sons as they slept. After hunting for awhile, he had found the TV remote for the TV on the wall. The volume had been turned down, not to disturb anyone. By then the evening news was on. The Eppes brothers were restless, and they were both awake by the time the weather came on. There were several stories, including an escaped monkey at the zoo, but one story caught everyone's attention.

"Speaking of escapees, Chris O'Brian has been caught and killed. Chris O'Brian was the man responsible for last week's shooting and he had escaped from LA Memorial. The police said that O'Brian came back and took several people hostage. 2 people were killed and 2 people were injured during the situation. The FBI said that an agent was responsible for taking O'Brian out. The FBI also said that the agent was the agent critically wounded in last weeks shooting. Wow, that agent must have been superman. As it turns out, superman is coming back to LA…"

The Eppes were silent as they stared at the TV screen. Alan looked at the floor, knowing what could have happened. Charlie was the first one to break the silence.

"That's twice Don," Charlie said sitting up.

"Yeah, that's nice," Don said sarcastically.

There was a long silence as everyone was thinking about O'Brian and what could have happened. The silence was broken by Alan's stomach growling.

"Its okay dad, go eat." Don said.

"Are you sure?"

Alan finally made up his mind, and walked to the door.

"Does anybody want anything from the cafeteria?"

"No," the brothers said in unison.

Alan smiled and left.

3 days later

Finally, Don got lucky. His lung had healed and was being discharged. Charlie had been discharged the day before. Charlie and Don were waiting at the door for their father to bring the car up. When Alan got there, Charlie headed straight for the front seat.

"I don't think so Charlie," Don said as the aide wheeled him to the car.

"What do you mean," Charlie said opening the door.

"I'm older and I was hurt worse than you so I get the front seat."

"If you sit in the back, you can stretch out."

"Get in the back," Don said motioning for Charlie to move.

Hesitating, Charlie got in the back seat. The aide helped Don into the car and left.

"By the way, dad, where is my truck?"

Alan sat there, not knowing how to break the bad news.

"Well, it's been impounded by the police as evidence. If you get it back, it's going to need a new windshield and front seat."

"You gotta be kidding," Don said as they drove off.

The End.

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