Brizee got off the plane and walked through the airport and looked around and went to the rental car desk and got a car and went to the car and put her bags in it and got in it and headed through town. She drove to the one person who would help her. She pulled up in front of the house and got out and went up to the door and rang the doorbell. The door opened and there stood Brian, her brother.

        “Briz!” Brian said pulling her in and hugging her. She rested her head on his shoulder and hugged him back.

        “You have to help me, B,” Brizee said.

        “I will, Mom told me what happened,” Brian said.

        “If he finds me, he’ll kill me,” Brizee said.

        “He won’t get near you or find you, I’ll make sure of it, Howie is working on it, Nick and AJ are on their way here,” Brian said.

        “Brian, he’ll figure out that I came to you,” Brizee said. Brian hugged her.

        “That’s why you won’t be here, and Tommy won’t let anyone past him,” Brian said.

        “Where will I be?” Brizee asked.

        “At Nick’s, he’s got the house with the security gate and fence and the last place he’ll expect you to go since the last thing he knew was that you and Nick hated each other,” Brian said. Brizee hugged him.

        “I love you,” Brizee said.

        “I love you, too, sis, you know I would do anything to keep you safe,” Brian said.

        “I know,” Brizee said. Howie, Nick, and AJ came in. Brizee hugged AJ and Howie before hugging Nick.

        “Isn’t this cozy,” a voice said from the door. They looked and saw Jared standing there. Nick, AJ, Howie, and Brian stood in front of Brizee.

        “Stay away from my sister,” Brian said.

        “I don’t think so, move out of the way,” Jared said holding a gun at them. Howie, AJ, and Brian moved towards him and Jared ran at them and knocked them out with the gun and Nick stood in front of Brizee. 

        “Move it, Blondie,” Jared said pointing the gun at him.

        “No way,” Nick said.

        “Your choice,” Jared said and fired the gun and the bullet hit Nick in the head and he fell. Brizee screamed as Jared grabbed her and pulled her the door and threw her into the car and took off.

Brian came to and looked around and saw Brizee gone. He saw Nick on the floor with blood running out of his head.

        “Nick!” Brian said crawling to him and checking him.

        “Nick, hold on, don’t leave us!” Brian said. He got out his cell phone and called 911. Howie and AJ came to and saw Nick.

        “Nicky!” Howie said moving over to him.

        “Don’t move him, he’s still alive,” Brian said.

        “Oh god, we can’t lose him!” AJ said.

        “He got Brizee, he must have shot Nick to get him to move, he got shot trying to protect her,” Brian said.

        “We should have done something else to get him!” AJ said. Brian sat there.

        “I failed her,” Brian said.

        “Brian, we’ll find her, but we have to save Nick, we could lose him,” Howie said. The police and ambulance arrived and loaded Nick up.

        “You guys ride with him, we’ll ask you after you three have been checked out,” an officer said.

        “We’re fine, you have to find my sister,” Brian said.

        “Do you have a picture?” he asked. Brian handed him one. He gave it to another officer and talked with him.

        “Mr. Littrell, what can you tell me about all this?” the officer asked.

        “My sister’s boyfriend has been abusive towards her,  she knew if she left him, he would kill her, he is so obsessed with her that she can’t leave the house without him, she can’t even go to my parent’s house for anything, she can’t talk to anyone besides him, if she doesn’t do what he says, he’ll beat her up, she came down here to get away from him but he followed her and me, Howie, and AJ tried to jump him but he knocked us out with the gun and he shot Nick because he was protecting my sister, you have to find her before he kills her,” Brian said.

        “Brian, come on,” Howie said. They went to the hospital and waited for word on Nick. Jane, Bob, Ginger, Aaron, Angel, BJ, and Leslie came in. Jane hugged Brian.

        “I don’t blame any of you, Brian, Nick confessed to me, Leslie, and BJ that he would do anything for you and Brizee, he told us that he’s in love with her,” Jane said.

        “We can’t lose him, Jane, he’s my best friend, my little ‘bro’, my Frack, where would I be without him,” Brian said.

        “Where would any of us be, he’s my first born, no one can lose him,” Jane said.

        “Carter?” a doctor asked.

        “I’m Bob Carter, Nick’s father,” Bob said.

        “I’m Jane Carter, his mother, how is he?” Jane asked.

        “He’s in a coma, and he’s on life support, there is a possibility that he won’t make it,” the doctor said.

        “Oh god,” Jane said covering her face. BJ hugged her mother. Aaron hugged Leslie and Angel as they cried softly. Brian, Howie, and AJ sat down.

        “Brian,” BJ said. Brian looked up and saw Brizee standing there with a police officer. He ran to her and hugged her. She cried as she hugged him.

        “Thank god!” Brian said.

        “Jared is dead, he fired at us and we returned fire,” the officer with Brizee said.

        “He won’t hurt you anymore,” Brian said.

        “How’s Nick?” Brizee asked.

        “He’s in a coma and on life support, they don’t know if he’ll make it,” Brian said.

        “Oh god!” Brizee cried as she broke down crying.

        “Brizee, go to him, let him know you are okay, maybe he’ll come back to us,” Jane said coming up to her.

        “Jane, I’m so sorry,” Brizee said. Jane hugged her.

        “It’s not your fault, honey, he was trying to protect you, he told me, BJ, and Leslie that he would do anything for you and Brian,” Jane said.

        “Mom,” BJ said.

        “And he said he’s in love with you,” Jane said.

        “I have to go to him,” Brizee said.

        “Room 112,” Bob said. Brizee went to the room and looked and saw him and started sobbing. She went to the bedside and took Nick’s hand in hers.

        “Nick, it’s me, I’m here, I’m okay, Jared is dead, the cops killed him, you have to come back to us, your family is here, Brian, Howie, AJ, and me, we all need you to come  back to us, I need you to come back, your mom told me you’re in love with me, Nick, I feel the same way, please come back,” Brizee said kissing his hand. The doctor came in and saw her.

        “Excuse me, ma’am, family only,” the doctor said.

        “I’m sorry, his parents asked me to come in here, my name is Brizee Littrell, Nick got shot trying to save me from my boyfriend who was trying to kill me,” Brizee said.

        “If his family is okay with you being here, then you can,” the doctor said.

        “Is he going to make it?” Brizee asked.

        “It’s too soon to say,” the doctor said.

        “Please do what you can, he has a lot of people who love him,” Brizee said. The doctor put his hand on her shoulder and smiled.

        “We are doing everything we can, we will do everything we can,” the doctor said. He left the room. Brizee sat down by Nick’s bedside.

        “Come back to us, Nick,” Brizee said.

Three weeks went by. Brizee hadn’t left Nick’s bedside. Finally Brian made her go home and change and rest. Brian sat there talking to Nick when he noticed something. He pushed the nurses button. Nick opened his eyes and looked around. The doctor came in and unhooked the life support.

        “Welcome back, Mr. Carter,” the doctor said examining him.

        “What happened?” Nick asked.

        “You were shot in the head, you were in a coma and on life support for three weeks,” the doctor said.

        “Oh god, Brizee, where is she, is she okay?” Nick asked. Brian smiled.

        “She’s fine, Nick, he got her after he shot you and the police found them and there was a shootout and Jared was killed, Brizee is fine, she’s been here since she got here and I made her go home and rest and change,” Brian said.

        “Can I see her?” Nick asked.

        “When she comes back, Nick,” Brian said. Nick sighed.

        “I just want to tell her how I feel about her,” Nick said. Brian smiled.

        “Nick, she knows you’re in love with her, your mom told her, she feels the same way,” Brian said.

        “She does?” Nick asked.

        “Yes, she does,” Brian said. Nick smiled and laid back against the pillows.

That night, Nick was asleep. Brian was sitting there reading a magazine when Brizee came in.

        “I guess I was tired, I fell asleep and lost track of time,” Brizee said.

        “It’s okay, sis, you weren’t getting much sleep here anyways,” Brian said. 

        “Wait, his life support is off, oh god, he’s going to be okay,” Brizee said. Nick opened his eyes.

        “Yeah, I’m fine,” Nick said. Brizee spun around and grinned and hugged him.

        “I was so scared, I thought you were dead after he shot you but when the cops told me you were here, I was relieved but Brian said you were in a coma and it was possible that you weren’t going to wake up, that got me scared again,” Brizee said. Nick smiled and held her close to him.

        “I had to, I couldn’t leave you or the guys or my family,” Nick said.

        “Nick, we need to talk,” Brizee said.

        “Brian told me everything, do we still need to,” Nick said. Brizee smiled and kissed him. Brian smiled and left the room and closed the door and saw Jane and Bob walking down the hall. They saw him.

        “Brian, everything okay?” Jane asked.

        “Yeah, just giving Briz and Nick private time,” Brian said. Jane smiled.

        “They’re together,” Jane said.

        “I think so, they know how they feel about each other and she kissed him, so looks that way,” Brian said. Jane looked in the window and saw Brizee lying on the bed beside Nick and both asleep.

        “They are asleep,” Jane said. She snuck into the room and went to the bedside. Nick woke up and saw her.

        “Hey Mama,” Nick said.

        “Hi honey, glad you awake,” Jane whispered.

        “I couldn’t leave you guys,” Nick whispered.

        “I knew Briz could bring you back to us, I knew her voice would bring you out of it, knowing she was safe,” Jane said. Nick smiled and kissed Brizee’s forehead and Jane covered them up and kissed Nick’s forehead and left the room.