t w e n t y - t h r e e

____________

THE NEXT three hours seem to go by like days, the Roberts family, now joined by Gale and their friends, all sitting in the waiting room for news.

Alex remained silent, simply crying more than any of her friends had ever seen her do.

Eli watched each of the other families in the waiting room, wondering if they felt the same as he did.

Ross wanted to focus on making sure everyone else was okay, so he spent the hours getting water and calling Sidney, Mark, and Zoe.

Finally, just when Alex thought she'd run out of tears, the doctor returns. "Hi."

"Hi, how is she?"

"It appears her injury caused a small tear in her heart, which explains the severe bleeding. She's lucky we got to her when we did. The surgery went almost smoothly, but it appears she hit her head at some point during the attack, and she is now in a comatose state. It's touch and go at this point."

"What?"

"She's alive?" Alex looks up, wiping her face.

"Yes."

"But she's in a coma," Ross furrows his eyebrows.

"Yes. If you'd like, you can see her. Only family though."

"Yeah, I'm her dad and these are her siblings," he grabs their hands, leading them down the hall.

Upon entering the room, the three feel a sense of grief wash over them at just how dead she already looked.

Jamie was always the one person in the family who always looked full of life. She was all smiles, sparkling eyes and rosy cheeks to balance out the gloomy disposition of her siblings and father.

Now, she was only one step up from a corpse, pale and unresponsive, the only signs of life being the steady beep of the heart monitor.

"We lost her for a bit during the surgery, but she bounced back quickly."

"Good. And you have no idea when or if she's gonna wake up?" Ross questions.

"Not really. Comas aren't an exact science. We saw bleeding at the back of her head so we performed a CT scan after the surgery. Luckily, she's not bleeding in her brain, but the injury was hard enough to put her in this state. She could wake up in five minutes, five days-"

"Months?"

"Possibly, but not likely," she assures.

"But possible," Eli sighs. "What do you think her odds are?"

"It could be anything. She may-"

"I'm asking what you, her doctor, think her odds of surviving are."

"She lost a lot of blood. And she lost her pulse for several minutes. She may wake up or she may not. That's not up to me. We've done all we can."

"Can we go? I don't want to see her like this anymore," Alex crosses her arms.

"Yeah, let's go," Ross wraps his arms around the two, leading them back to the waiting room.

Everyone looks up expectantly, deflating at their solemn expressions.

"She's in a coma. Whoever this is, they got her pretty good," Ross explains. "We should all get some rest."

_____

After spending the entire night sobbing herself to sleep, Alex gets up the next morning, getting ready with a newfound determination.

She goes into the living room to see Eli staring blankly at the wall as Ross pours him some coffee, eyebags giving away his lack of sleep.

The rest of their friends remain in the living room, also reeling from their near (and still possible) tragic loss.

No one really knew what to say to them. The Hosses weren't exactly the affectionate type, but there was one thing they would live and die for and that's each other. It didn't matter how angry they made one another, if someone messed with them, everyone would be up to bat for revenge.

"Afternoon," Alex weakly greets everyone. "Can you pour me a cup?"

"It's not decaf," Ross alerts.

"I know," she nods, eyes still void of anything. "I need energy if we're gonna figure out who's after us."

He obliges, heart breaking at her values dissolving right in front of him. "Jamie's still not up yet."

"She was out too long," Eli blankly remarks. "She's not gonna wake up."

"Eli," Tara gasps.

"What? It's the truth. You all wanna be hopeful and shit? That's fine, but count me out."

Ross just sighs, recognizing this hostile, overly pessimistic version of his son from a mile away. "This detective, he said he knows a way to catch this guy?"

"Yeah. He wants us to meet him at the station around 5."

"We're gonna find him," Sam swears.

"Oh, we definitely will," she grins. "Jamie said something right before she passed out."

"What'd she say?" Mindy raises her eyebrows.

"Something about the killer... And the word chance."

"Does that mean anything to any of you?" Ross questions.

"Do you think it's something the killer said to her?" Chad asks.

"Maybe. Maybe she knew who the killer was."

"How would she know?" Ethan sits up. "You guys said they ran out before you could catch him."

"Jamie's always been pretty good about seeing things we don't. She's creative."

"But the doctor said she hit her head pretty bad."

"It's worth looking into," Alex shrugs. "Did she say anything to you guys before she left?"

"No, we were asleep."

"I was at Danny's."

"Nope."

"What would she even be doing over there?"

"Okay, when we go to the station, I'll tell Kirby to get the building to release the apartments buzzed in last night and a list of people who live and work there."

______

"Hi, I'm Detective Bailey, I'm on this case," he shakes Ross's hand.

Ross smiles politely, but sizes him up immediately, not trusting his demeanor. Especially for a man who supposedly lost his daughter two nights ago.

"Hello, I'm-"

"Detective Hoss, I've heard of you. I'm sorry about Jamie."

"Thank you. Sorry about your daughter as well," he responds.

"I'll be right back in a few but the gist of the plan is that we're gonna trace one of the killer's calls," he walks off.

"Seems like the last apartment who buzzed in was 17B, belonging to Gia Martinez," Kirby explains.

"Gia," Alex narrows her eyes, connecting the dots.

"What? You think she did it?"

"No, but we do know her."

"Harry Potter, right?" Eli points out. "She's the one that rejected Ethan."

"I thought it wasn't a rejection," Ethan gasps.

"It wasn't," Chad assures.

"It was," Eli deadpans, his patience running low.

"I know why Jamie was there last night," Alex rolls her eyes, Tara and Mindy catching on quickly.

"Oh, shit."

"Someone fill me in."

"Can you two pretend you're not cops for a second?"

"Sure."

"I'm not a cop."

"Gia, she's got like a life's supply of prescriptions," Alex explains. "Her bestseller: Xanax."

"AKA Jamie's candy of choice," Eli tilts his head, and Ross jaw clenches in disappointment.

"She better wake up so I can kill her," Alex frowns.

"Okay, I get it, you're angry," Sam grabs her shoulders. "But we can't find this killer by being mad at Jamie."

"You're right," she sighs.

"Chance," Eli furrows his eyebrows. "Frankie."

"Who is Frankie?" Kirby questions.

"This creepy frat guy who tried something with Tara at the party the other day. Eli and Chad kinda fought with him."

"Sam tased him," Tara adds.

"That I did," she admits, finger raised.

"Nice," Ross deadpans.

"What?"

"His last name is Chance. I took that summer class at Blackmore with him, right before I started at Columbia. His name is Frankie Chance."

"Would Jamie know that?"

"They're in the same business class."

"Oh shit," Chad stands.

"Let's pay a visit to OKB," Tara smirks.

"Wait, we have Bailey's plan in like five minutes."

"Okay, Alex, Dad, we'll go to Kappa, you guys do the phone thing. One of us is gonna find the killer today," Eli asserts, walking towards the exit.

"Where are they going?" Bailey questions, after entering the room.

"Chasing a lead. Let's go to the park."

______

"You punched a frat guy?" Ross questions Eli as they walk up the steps of the house.

"He deserved it," Eli shrugs.

"It's true," Alex agrees.

"And you really think it could be him?"

"Anything's possible, right?" he knocks.

The door opens to reveal exactly who they were looking for, now sporting a black eye.

"Purple is not your color, my friend," Eli mocks, a cocky smile on his face.

"You want a part two of the other night? No tasers this time."

"No need for violence, we just have some questions," Alex steps forward.

"I suggest you let us in," Ross flashes his badge, and the boy rolls his eyes.

"You've gotta be fucking kidding me," he moves out of the way, letting them inside. "You're gonna arrest me for a party fight?"

"I'm not arresting anyone."

"Frankie, where were you last night?"

"I was... Why are you asking?"

"You realize there's a murderer on campus, right?"

"Oh, yeah, they killed your hot friend. Quinn, right? Shame."

"Oh my God," Alex mutters.

"Okay, since you don't seem to understand, I'm gonna make this very clear," Ross smiles, but the tone of his voice is enough to frighten the frat boy. "My daughter, Jamie, who was at your party the other day, was almost murdered last night. And the last thing she said before slipping into a coma was your last name."

Frankie's eyes widen impossibly larger in shock, looking to Eli and Alex in confirmation that this wasn't some joke.

"So I'm gonna ask you again. Where were you last night?"

"I was at lacrosse conditioning. The coach and my teammates can all vouch for me. I'm... I'm sorry about Jamie," he explains, the slightest bit of sympathy in his voice.

"Yeah, thanks," Eli sarcastically responds.

"Let's just go-" Alex sighs, right before her phone rings, showing Sam's name.

"Hey, did you guys get anything?" she leads them out the door, putting the phone on speaker.

"I accept your apology for invading my house and harassing me!" Frankie shouts at them as they walk away, earning a middle finger from both Alex and Eli.

"The killer's at Gale's house."

"What?"

"They traced the call to her apartment. Meet us there, maybe you'll get there before us," she instructs, panic evident in her tone.

______

They don't make it there before the Carpenters, just pulling up as the paramedics begin wheeling Gale out of the building.

"Shit," Eli shouts, hitting the roof of the car in frustration.

"Gale- Is she gonna be okay?"

"We can't be sure yet. Who are you?"

"The closest thing she's got to family. What hospital is she going to?" Ross questions.

"Mount Sinai."

"Okay," Alex sighs. "We'll just follow them."

"Where's Sam and Tara?" Eli perks up, right when the sisters come running out.

"What the hell happened?" he gives Tara a short hug, which makes Ross spare Alex a look of confusion.

She simply smirks, hugging Sam and Tara right after.

"When we got here, the killer already stabbed her. And we tried to shoot them, but they moved so fast," Sam shakes her head, tears still flowing down her cheeks.

"It's alright," Ross touches her shoulder. "Let's go to the hospital."

"Where's everyone else?" Alex frowns.

"They're still at the park, we just drove away as soon as the call traced back to Gale's."

"Wait. You don't have a car," Eli points out.

"Uh, yeah, we took Bailey's," Tara shrugs.

"You stole a cop car?" Alex raises an eyebrow.

"Please don't lecture us right now."

"I was actually going to applaud you."

"I am also very impressed," Eli gives them both a high five.

"Okay, so all of your friends were at the park with Kirby and the cop I don't trust-" Ross starts.

"Yeah, he gives me a weird vibe too," Alex agrees.

"Very odd vibe," Eli nods.

"And we were with Frankie, so who attacked Gale?" Ross furrows his eyebrows.

_____

Eventually, everyone meets the group in Gale's lobby, resolve breaking down by the second.

At that point, it felt like they were rats in a maze, forced to hit every dead end as the killer laughs at them from above.

Finally, Danny interrupts their solemn silence by running into the building, out of breath.

"Hey, I got here as fast as I could."

"Did you?" Tara questions.

"I'm scared, you guys," Mindy mumbles. "I really don't want to get hurt again."

"Neither do I," Chad admits, Alex squeezing his arm to give some comfort.

"I don't want you getting hurt again either."

"I know, I know," Chad leans against her shoulder, Tara doing the same.

"So what's the plan here?" Eli questions, and everyone turns to Alex.

For the first time in forever, she just stares back, wide-eyed and embarrassed as she realizes she didn't have a single idea.

"I don't- I don't know."

"We'll figure it out, sweetheart," Ross wraps an arm around her.

"Maybe he gets to win this time," Sam blurts, earning several confused looks. "He wants to punish me. Me. So maybe I let him. I'll just give myself up. If this is what I have to do to keep you safe, it's worth it."

"Hey, no," Alex shakes her head, standing up as well.

"Yeah, we're not doing that, Sam," Tara stands. "You went back to Woodsboro to protect me. Every single day, you make the decision to protect me. None of us would even be alive if it weren't for you. You have to let us protect you this time."

"No."

"Yes. We're a team, remember?"

"Actually, we're a family," Mindy corrects.

"The most dysfunctional to ever exist," Eli agrees.

"Let's go! Super Seven! Come on," Chad puts his hand out, Mindy putting hers ontop.

"Super Seven."

"Super what?" Danny raises his eyebrows.

"It's an us thing."

"He's gonna keep coming after us."

"Maybe that's a good thing," Ross suggests.

"Isn't there somewhere safe that we could just hole up in?"

"No, he's gonna keep finding us," Eli shakes his head.

"But maybe Dad's right, we can use that," Alex looks up. "He's gonna find us anyway, so why don't we turn things in our favor?"

"You call Bailey, I'll call Kirby," Ross pulls out his phone, dialing the agent's number.

Quickly, both pick up, briefly explaining what they plan to do.

"I'm getting my ass chewed out for not dropping the case and you want me to do what?"

"We want to lure him to a secure location and trap him inside."

"And then what?"

"We execute him."

"Can't take all of us," Eli shrugs.

"Are you gonna help us?"

"I'm in," Kirby assures.

"Let's kill this son of a bitch," Bailey agrees. "Bow I'm stuck here, but Gale gave us the key cards to the theater. It's got heavy surveillance and security cameras, but we can use that against them."

"I'll meet you guys there," Kirby says before hanging up.

"Remember, travel in public. The more people around you, the less chance he has to take a shot at you before you get there."

"Please tell me that doesn't mean what I think it does," Alex groans.

"To the subway we go," Eli teases.

"I hate you," she rolls her eyes.

"Come on, the station's right outside."

_____

a/n: dearest apologies for falling off the face of the earth, but we are back on track