Author's Note: Hello! This was inspired through some PM's regarding Valerie E Mackin's story "Awkward Moments." She did a fantastic job with a prompt but it got me inspired. And then I read Rhanon Brodie's story "Hands On" and was definitely decided I needed more hurt/comfort from the MacManus brothers. I mean, who wouldn't want the boys taking care of them. (It would have helped me when I sprained both my ankles over the past summer!) So, thank you ladies!

Hope you enjoy. And maybe enjoy enough to leave a little note at the end!

Well, at least it's a nice night out, I thought miserably as I sat huddled and shivering against a brick wall on a dirty street in South Boston. I wasn't sure how I'd managed to trip over that damn cat that darted out of the alleyway in front of me. But I did know that this wasn't how I was planning for my night to go.

After my job-between-jobs, I came home to change and eat dinner before meeting my boys at McGinty's. The twins had come into my store nearly three months ago and had not left my life since. And they were persistent, I'd give them that. Murphy claimed he saw me first, but that hadn't stopped Connor, and before I knew it, I was seeing both MacManuses at the same time, sometimes literally and sometimes figuratively. One day I'd be hanging out with both boys and the next I'd be alone with Connor or Murphy on some outing that would inevitably lead back to my place or theirs for some very satisfying, and occasionally exhausting, extra circulars. Now don't get me wrong. The boys know how to treat a woman – in bed and out of it – but every now and then the pig-headed Irishmen forget that I am my own woman and have been taking care of myself way before I met them. Hence why I was making my way from my apartment to the pub to meet them, instead of letting them escort me.

So, here we are back at the beginning. With me sitting on the ground somewhere between McGinty's and my apartment, trying to breathe through the pain that made me close to puking when I attempt to stand. Why did almost every time I'd try and make a point, it'd always backfire?

"Why'd both of us have t'come? Don't think the lass'd be too appreciative of us showin' up when she said she'd meet us there?"

" 'Cause it's a surprise. Show her we care an' all that shit."

Of course, I sighed. Who else would be the first people I'd run into after my little tumble. Suppose the only thing I could be thankful for is that they didn't see it.

"She doesn't like surprises, Connor."

That part was true. I was not a fan of them. The last time one of them had attempted to surprise me was when Murphy came by work to walk me home after a closing shift. He'd wrapped his arms around me while my back was turned, and I'd been so startled that I elbowed him in the face, giving him a black eye. A fact which Connor loved to remind his brother of.

"Still hurtin' over that wee slap our lass gave ye, Murph?"

There was a slight scuffle as I watched Murphy shove his brother as they unknowingly continued toward me.

"Fuck you. Fer a second there I thought she'd go after my dick next the way she was grippin' them scissors."

"Not true. I like that part of you, Murph."

Both men froze in surprise, their identical blue eyes dropping to mine. Shifting, I looked up at them as innocently as I could muster.

"Yours too, Connor."

The twins continued to stare at me in stunned silence before they burst into action and rushed over. Connor dropped to one side of me, Murphy to the other, and they began to talk at once.

"Th'fuck?!"

"What in Christ's name happened?!"

"Are ye all right?!"

"Umm…"

Connor cupped my chin in his hand and turned my head toward him while Murphy's hands carefully moved over me. "Who did this to ye, lass?"

I could feel myself turn red and was thankful for the poor lighting in the neighborhood for once. "No one."

Connor's faced hardened slightly. "Ye lyin' t'me, lass?"

I shook my head nervously and shifted my ass on the ground, trying not to jar my ankle that was sending shooting pain up my leg. Both Connor and Murphy were both very protective, but Connor took his role as protector very seriously. I mean, he was always the first to give the occasional creeper on me at the bar a swift kick in the ass.

"Want t'tell me what happened, then?" he asked softly.

"So's we can find out whose ass we need ta beat fer hurtin' ye," Murphy added helpfully.

I turned to Murphy to see him with his back to me and crouched over my bad foot, looking at it inquisitively. He glanced over his shoulder and my breath involuntarily caught at the apologetic look he was shooting me.

"Sorry, girl. This might hurt, but I got t'check," he said before prodding at my ankle carefully.

My body stiffened and I whimpered at the pain, one hand clawing at the ground while the other reached up to dig into Connor's shoulder. A strong arm wrapped around my ribs and pulled my upper body back into his own as I panted and shook from his brother's light touches on the swollen joint.

"Don't think ye broke it, but ye did a number on it. Prolly a bad sprain."

"How do you know?" I huffed out.

Murphy's answering smile actually made me forget the pain for a second, and Connor's quiet chuckle in my ear made my stomach do a pleasant twist that had nothing to do with the pain-related nausea.

"Between the two o' us, lass, we've been in enough scrapes t'know the difference between somethin' broken an' somethin' sprained." He placed a kiss to the side of my head before carefully leaning me against my wall so they could both look at me. "Now, ye want t'tell us what happened?"

I felt myself start to flush again and looked down at my feet.

"Definitely a 'what'."

"Come again?"

"I tripped over a fucking cat, all right?"

Connor sat back on his heels and Murphy's head tipped to the side. They looked at me before turning to each other and breaking out into laughter.

Now I could really feel my face go red as the boys laughed at me. "Shut up! It ain't funny. Fucker came out of nowhere. And now I can't even fucking stand up."

Their laughter started to die down at that admission. Connor cleared his throat awkwardly and smoothed my hair away from my face. "Sorry, lass. We shouldn'ta laughed at ye. Ye try an' stand at all?"

I glared at the blond twin. "No, Connor. I just decided to stay put because it's such a lovely night."

Murphy chuckled lightly. "'Tis a bit warm out, isn't it?"

I turned my glare on him. He just smiled back. "Assholes," I muttered.

Connor's smirk matched his brother's. "Come on. Let's get ye up. Take ye to the hospital," he said, moving to crouch at my side.

"No. You know I don't have the money for that."

"He's right, girl. We should get ye checked out," Murphy insisted, mirroring his brother's position on my other side and draping my arm over his shoulders.

"I can't go. Please don't make me."

The boys shared a look before Connor sighed, rubbing a hand through his hair. "Can ye move yer foot at all?"

I looked down at my bum foot, surprised I actually managed to keep my flats on when I tripped, and frowned. Attempting a small wiggling of my toes was just uncomfortable, so I attempted to flex my foot next. I sucked in a sharp breath at the pain that came with it and barely felt Murphy tightening his arm around my back.

"Well, if Murph says nothin' feels broken an' ye can move it a bit, I guess we can wait. Take ye home an' wrap ye up. But if that shit gets worse, yer goin'. Got it?"

I nodded once. "Thank you."

Connor glanced at Murphy and nodded, wrapping one arm around my back before putting the arm not draped over his brother's shoulders over his own. "All right. On yer feet, lass."

I tightened my arms around the twins and the next thing I knew, they were lifting me off the ground to set me on my feet. Wobbling a little, I tried to get some footing and clung tighter to their shoulders.

"Easy, girl. We got ye," Murphy said, squeezing my hand on his shoulder. "Just try a couple o' steps first."

I nodded to myself more than anything. The boys stepped closer to me and forward a bit, letting me use them as support as I took a shuffling step forward. And it hurt like hell. Biting my lip, I tried again with less successful results. This time, I accidently put my full weight on my injured foot and I gasped in pain, stumbling into Murphy, whose arms immediately came around me.

"Guess that 'twas a bad idea," he muttered.

"I'm fine," I insisted, using his impressively broad shoulders to right myself. Of course, that just brought to mind images of other times I'd be clinging to him in a similar way and I couldn't help the whimper that escaped me. Murphy looked down at me and a smirk slowly pulled at his lips. I could feel a hand start to slide down my back, making my breathing hitch.

"Murph!"

"Aye?" Murphy glanced at Connor, who did not look happy.

"Give 'er here. Ye can do that later."

Murphy's smirk widened. "An' ye wouldn'ta been thinkin' the same thing, would ye, dear brudder?"

Connor's eyes narrowed. I knew how insatiable the MacManus brothers could be; Connor didn't need to say anything. I watched his hands clench and unclench, and could tell he was itching to smack his brother upside the head.

"All right, I give up," I said, attempting to push away from Murphy. "I'm going to Doc's with or without you guys." I took two stumbling steps before I let out a squeal of surprise as I felt myself being scooped up into a pair of arms.

"Nope. The deal was, lass, that ye go home an' rest or 'twas the hospital fer ye," Connor declared, hoisting me higher into his arms, one around my shoulders, the other under my knees.

"Well, let's hurry the fuck up, then. I don't have all day." I wrapped an arm around his neck as he turned toward my apartment. "Are you gonna carry my fat ass the entire way home?" I asked as we walked with Murphy on his brother's right side.

Connor raised an eyebrow but Murphy answered. "Ye hardly have a 'fat ass,' as it were, sweetheart. Ye've got some o' the most fuckin' beautiful curves I ever seen."

I could feel myself blush and tried to hide my face against Connor's neck. In relation to their insatiability, the boys were also constantly correcting me on my views of my body. Needless to say, their demonstrations of their claims were always enjoyable.

"What do ye think, Connor?"

"Aye. That ye would, lass."

"Aye," Murphy agreed, leaning over to drop a kiss to the top of my head, making me lean back the best I could to look at him.

"So no more talk o' yer 'fat ass,' else I'll drop ye right here," Connor ordered.

"You wouldn't." He loosened his arms a bit, mimicking dropping me and I couldn't help but scream and cling to him tighter. "Connor!"

The boys started to laugh as Connor tightened his arms around me again. "Don't worry, lass. I wouldn't actually drop ye."

I reached up to flick his ear, making him yelp. "You better not. Then you'll really be taking me to the hospital." Murphy chuckled at his twin's discomfort and I attempted to swipe at him. "Shut up, Murphy."

The boys continued to tease me and each other the rest of the way to my apartment. Unfortunately, I couldn't do much to retaliate other than flick at Connor's ear or smack his shoulder and attempt to smack Murphy, who always stayed just out of my reach. I may enjoy the hell out of being with the Irishmen, but that didn't mean they didn't deserve a smack upside the head every now and then. Especially, when Murphy had to dig my keys out of my pocket and took the opportunity to feel me up a bit, which was a little awkward being held in Connor's arms like I was.

"Murph, just get the fuckin' door, fer Christ's sake! I need t'set the lass down."

"Lord's fuckin' name," Murphy mumbled with a smirk as he opened my apartment for us.

"Was that a comment about my weight, Connor?" I asked as we stepped inside, Connor heading straight for my bedroom.

"Absolutely not," he replied in an attempted soothing voice. "Need t'get yer foot wrapped an' iced 'fore it gets worse." He set me down at the foot of my bed and crouched down to carefully slip off my shoes. "An' ye need t'stop sayin' that shit. Yer fuckin' perfect. Me 'n' Murph wouldn't keep comin' 'round if ye weren't. Okay?"

I bit my lip and looked down at the clear blue eyes looking up at me.

"I just think I'm –"

Connor lurched forward and pressed his lips to mine, cutting me off mid-protest. I let out a moan as he deepened the kiss and gripped his arms to steady myself. A throat clearing from the doorway made me pull away from him to find Murphy standing there with an amused expression on his handsome face. The dark-haired twin had shed his coat and boots, and was holding an ice pack in one hand and an ACE bandage in the other, apparently having raided my first aid stash.

"What was that 'bout waitin' 'til later, Connor?"

Connor shrugged, squeezing my knees before standing. "The lass is thinkin' she's no good fer us again. Needed t'shut her up somehow," he said, shrugging out of his pea coat.

Murphy rolled his eyes before helping me out of my own jacket and handing it off to his brother. "Bullshit. If we didn't want t'keep ye, ye think we'd carry yer ass home?"

I looked between the two of them and bit my lip again, twisting my fingers together. "I don't know."

Murphy sighed and leaned down to fist a hand in my hair, tilting my head back. Taking advantage of my gasp, he caught me in a kiss that was more intense than his brother's, immediately sweeping his tongue into my mouth and twining it with my own.

Of course, I felt myself going boneless against him, wrapping both arms around his shoulders. The boys knew how to kiss, without a doubt. Very rarely did they need much else to persuade me of something, and they knew it. But Murphy (and I would never tell either of them this because I would never hear the end of it) had the ability to render me stupid and agreeable to anything when he wanted to.

Drawing back, he placed a final light kiss on my lips and brushed his fingertips against my cheek. "What 'bout now?"

"Umm…No?"

He smirked. Connor chuckled as he came back into the room. When did he leave?

"Exactly. Come on. Let's get ye comfortable, girl."

"Okay," I replied, still a little dazed.

"Great job, Murph. Ye broke her," Connor said, pulling some comfortable pajamas for me from my dresser as Murphy started helping me with my jeans.

"Fuck off. I did not," he protested, carefully pulling my jeans down my legs and over my ankles one at a time. "Mind yer foot there."

By the time the boys got me changed, I was exhausted from the effort. Connor wrapped my ankle and Murphy propped it up on extra pillows with the ice pack on top. A half hour later, I was resting with my back to Connor's chest, his legs on either side of me, and Murphy's head in my lap, his arm draped over my knees.

As we watched TV, I felt warm and comfortable. Despite the annoying pain dampened slightly by pain killers, I sighed happily, squeezing Connor's thigh and running my fingers through Murphy's hair. In response, I got a kiss to my temple and a tightened hold around my legs. At that point, I decided no matter how often they deserved to be smacked upside the heads; there was nowhere else I'd rather be.