The ambulance pulled up to the hospital and the paramedics jumped out rushing the gurney carrying Justin in through the emergency room entrance. Brian followed behind at a slower pace.

As he entered the hospital he saw Jennifer frantically trying to get some information from the front desk. "They're bringing him in now," Brian heard the lady behind the counter say. "Thank God," Jennifer responded. She turned and for an instant she locked eyes with Brian. He felt her accusations sear into his soul. His eyes dropped to the floor and he walked down the hall to a lonely bench, away from everyone one else.

Sitting down, he took his cell phone out of his pocket.

"Brian! You almost missed me," Michael said. "What's up?" He was in the concourse between the airport and the plane that would take him to Portland.

"Mikey."

Michael froze. Never had he heard Brian sound so broken; so raw. Not even when they were kids and his dad had beat the shit out of him.

"Brian? What is it? What's wrong?"

"It's Justin," Brian started, then words seem to fail him.

"Justin what?"

"He… He was attacked… a bat…"

Michael dropped the carry-on he held in his hand. "Where are you?"

"I need you…."

"Where are you?" Michael asked again, picking up his bag and turning to run back into the airport.

"The hospital."

"Sit tight, I'm on my way."

Brian sat and stared at the white wall across from him. He thought of the last time he had been there to the hospital. It was the night Gus was born; the same night he had met Justin. He remembered running through the hall; he, Justin and Mikey; laughing and happy; excited to see his son; high on life. Now that seemed like a lifetime ago.

He had no concept of time. Hours passed that seemed like days. At some point he was aware of Michael at his side, but had no memory of his arrival. Later he would remember someone, probably Michael, putting a cup of water in his hand and encouraging him to drink it. But mainly he just remembered white. Everything was white, and so bright it glared.

"Brian, come on, let's clean you up," Michael said.

Brian allowed himself to be lead down the hall to the bathroom. Michael wet a paper towel and began wiping the blood from Brian's face and hands. He pulled the bloody scarf from Brian's neck and moved to toss it in the trash.

"No."

It was the first word Brian had uttered since Michael had arrived.

"Okay," Michael said, folding it up and slipping it into Brian's coat pocket. "There," he said, wiping the rest of the blood from Brian's neck. "Everyone is sitting with Jennifer down the hall while we wait for the doctors to tell us something. Do you want to walk down there?"

Brian shook his head. He didn't want to see their eyes, their silent accusations.

"Okay, we'll go back and sit in the hall then."

In the waiting room, Jennifer sat wringing her hands with Debbie at her side trying to offer comfort. Emmett, Lindsay and Melanie had gathered there too. Justin had been in surgery for over an hour already.

"What's taking so long?" Jennifer asked.

"I'll go see if I can get any information," Lindsay offered.

She hadn't been gone long when Daphne walked in still wearing her prom dress. She went straight to Jennifer, throwing her arms around Justin's mother and burying her face in Jennifer's bosom.

Lindsay came back in. "They said he'll probably be in surgery for another hour or so. They couldn't tell me anything more."

"Thanks for checking," Jennifer said.

Daphne sat back, wiping her eyes. "Where's Brian?" she asked looking around.

"He's sitting down the hall," Lindsay answered. "Michael's with him."

"I need to see him," Daphne said.

"Out the door to your left, then your right," Lindsay said.

Brian had no idea how much time had passed. Michael was with him, most of the time anyway. Occasionally Michael would walk down to where the others were to see if there was any news. Brian on the other hand simply sat staring at the wall. He was aware of Daphne sitting on his other side, trying to tell him it wasn't his fault. He knew better than that. It was his fault. Of course he was the one to blame.

"He's out of surgery." Lindsay had walked down to give them the news. "The doctor is going to come talk to us soon. I thought you'd want to know."

Michael and Daphne nodded and murmured their thanks.

Daphne took Brian's hand. "Come on, let's go down."

"No."

Daphne stood. "Okay, how about if I go then I'll come tell you what the doctor said?"

Brian turned his head, making eye contact with someone for the first time since receiving Jennifer's glare, and nodded slightly; then he returned his gaze back to the wall.

To Michael it seemed like hours before she returned. He wanted to go hear what the doctors were saying, but couldn't leave Brian; not when he was so broken. Finally Daphne returned.

She sat down on the other side of Brian. "They had to drill a hole in his skull to keep the pressure from building up. They inserted a shunt there to drain the fluids." She paused, taking a breath. Brian continued to look straight ahead.

"He's in a coma, and they said they won't know much else until he wakes up."

"… If he wakes up," Brian said.

The three sat in silence for a moment then Michael spoke up. "I'm going to walk down and see Mom. Daphne will you stay here with him?"

Daphne nodded.

She leaned her head against Brian's shoulder as Michael walked away. "We have to think positive, Brian. He has to be okay. He'll be okay, won't he? Say he'll be okay." She started crying as her emotions took her over. "Say he'll be okay." Brian slipped his arm around her and cradled her to him. "Please, say he'll be okay." He sat there rocking her back and forth as she cried.

More time passed, minutes, hours, Brian didn't know. Michael came back down the hall. "Brian? Everyone is going home to get some rest. Mom is going to stay here with Jennifer for a while. Do you want me to give you a ride home?"

Brian shook his head.

"Daphne? Do you need a ride?"

Daphne looked up at him. She had calmed down but tears still streamed down her cheeks. "No, I want to stay here."

"Okay," Michael started to sit down.

"Is Emmett still here?" Brian asked.

"He's getting ready to leave."

"Have him take you to get my jeep. It's still in the parking garage. Get it, and then go by the loft and bring me a change of clothes." Brian looked up at Michael. "Please."

"Yeah, sure. I'll be back after a while." Michael took the offered keys from Brian's hand and rushed off to catch Emmett before he left.

"Of course, sweetie. I'll be happy to take you," Emmett said when Michael caught up with him. "Come on."

They walked out to Emmett's car and made the short trip to the hotel. When they entered the parking garage at the hotel, Emmett asked, "What level did he park on?"

"I'm not sure. I guess I should have asked."

"No worry. We'll find it."

They began looking from side to side at the parked cars while Emmett drove slowly through the garage. Finally Michael spotted the jeep. "There it is. Up there on the right. See it?"

"Yep." Emmett pulled up behind the black jeep and stopped.

"Well, thanks Emmett."

"Oh my god, Michael. Look over there." Emmett was staring out the window in the other direction.

"What?"

"All that blood. Oh my god. That is Justin's blood, Michael. This is where it happened." Emmett opened the car door and jumped out, walking over to where the pavement was covered in dark syrupy blood.

"Emmett, what are you doing?" Michael said, following him over.

"We need to clean this up. We can't just leave this here." Emmett was looking around trying to find something he could use.

"We better not, it might still be a crime scene. The police may still need to find evidence."

"No. If they did they would have the yellow tape up. Everyone's gone, and they just left his blood here. We need to clean it up, Michael." Emmett was almost frantic.

"Okay, but how? With what?"

"I don't know." Emmett began walking back to his car. "Maybe I have something in the trunk."

"Emmett, I'm sure the hotel has a janitor or something. I think we should leave it for them."

"But it's the weekend. What if no one get to it before Monday?" He was rummaging through the trunk of his car. "We can't just leave Justin's blood here."

"Emmett. Stop. We don't have anything to clean it up with. Come on, you should go home and get some rest."

Emmett closed the trunk, not finding anything to use. "Yeah, I suppose you're right. But still…" It just didn't seem right.

Michael opened the car door for his friend and closed it behind him once Emmett got in. "I'll see you later."

"Okay. If you hear any news on Justin, please call me." Emmett didn't tell Michael of his plans to go get some towels and a couple of jugs of water. He would come back and clean up the blood. He just couldn't bear to think of it being left like that.

Michael nodded and watched him drive off. He walked over to the jeep and got in. He wanted to get back up to the hospital and Brian.