The Messinger Sisters

All three of the Mercers and the three Messingers went to work repairing the Mercer home. The shoot out had damaged it a lot, more than they'd realized before. But no one slept there anymore.

Angel slept at Sofi's, Jerry and Jules had their own homes to go to, Andi stayed with Jules at her house, and Bobby and Bella stayed at the Messinger home.

Christmas was approaching quicker than any of them liked to think about, especially Bobby and Bella.

Every night, both were kept up for hours on end, hearing the screams of Jay and Jack as they called to their older siblings. This night was no different except that they were together in the kitchen, drinking Jack Daniels.

"What do you think they smiled for at the end?" Bella asked. It was known to all the Messingers and Mercers that Jack and Jayden had both smiled before dieing.

"Probably saw Ma and your dad or somethin'. Or realized they were moving on to heaven and leaving this shit behind," Bobby decided, starring at the amber liquid. "Jack drinks Jack. Jack drinks Jack," He mumbled under his breath.

"What was that?"

"Last time I was drinking this stuff was at the bar, the night before we met you guys at the store. Jack was already drunk and was singing about Jack drinking Jack," Bobby smiled faintly. "Then I made fun of him again for being gay," He lost the smile. "As usual."

"I've heard you do that, Bobby. It was an affection kinda thing. Just like me callin' Jay Pixie was affection."

"Yeah, but it pissed him off so bad. I kept doing it though."

"I bet if you had stopped, he'da thought something was wrong with you," Bella decided. “You really think they’re in heaven?”

“I know it. If anyone deserves that place, they do,” Bobby stated firmly.

They never could tell anyone how it happened, but the next day, when Andi came to see them, they were laying in Bella's bed, legs tangled together, clothes strewn about the room.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The next thing Jayden Messinger and Jack Mercer saw was a brilliant white light.

"If this is heaven, send me back," Jay mumbled, closing her eyes again.

"I'm with you," She heard Jack respond.

"Jack!" She bolted up in bed. Then promptly fell back down, slight pain shooting through her.

"Hey Jay. I was wondering how long before you woke up," Jack was sitting up in his bed, so Jay pushed the little button to move hers up.

"Charlie?"

"Oh good, you're awake. We were concerned after Jack woke up and you didn't for another two hours," Jewel's husband, Charlie, smiled at her. Charlie was a nurse so that must mean they were in a hospital.

"Explain. What the fuck is going on?"

"Do you remember being shot?"

"Vividly. The last thing I remember was Bella telling me not to die on her. Shit! Bella! Where are they?"

"Relax, Jayden, or they'll make me sedate you. Now, after you were shot, you technically died. Both of you did. Jack was dead for about 3 minutes, until they got him in the ambulance. You were gone slightly longer than that, about 5 minutes. They were able to bring you both back in the ambulances. You've been in a coma for about 3 weeks. Christmas is just a couple days away.

"Before you ask, no, you're sisters won't be here soon. Only Jules and Jerry still know the two of you are alive. They both thought it best that no one knew you made it until after Sweet was gone. From there, I have no idea why they haven't told the others. I assume the two of them will be here soon though. I called Jules not too long ago to tell her Jack was awake."

"Jayden!" As if his words had summoned her, Jules stood in the doorway, Jerry just behind her. Immediately, Jules was at her beside, hugging her tightly. Out of the corner of her eye, Jay could see Jerry hugging Jack. Then they switched and Jerry hugged Jay as Jules hugged Jack.

"Charlie, when can we go home? You know I hate hospitals," Jayden spoke up after Jerry let go of her.

"Let me get the doctor and we'll see," Charlie walked out of the room.

"Why don't the others know we're alive?" Jack asked immediately.

"Well, it's never seemed like a good time. And for a while we didn't want to tell them because the doctor wasn't sure you were gonna wake up," Jerry explained.

"And you'll be interested to know this," Jules nudged Jay's good shoulder. "Bobby and Bella are together now. Happened about a week and a half ago. Apparently they were drinking Jack Daniels, and the alcohol took over from there. You were right, they just needed a push."

"Straight into a bed," Jerry added, snickering. This caused Jay and Jack to laugh and that began a coughing fit. Water was pushed into Jay's hand and she drank it down, careful not to choke on it.

"Miss Messinger, it is very good to see you awake," The doctor walked in. "My name is Dr. Keeley. How are you feeling?"

"Like it's too fucking bright white in this room. It needs more color," Jay answered bluntly, earning snickers from the other three in the room. "What? He asked, I answered."

"Physically, how do you feel?" The doctor amended.

Jay sat back and thought about that for a minute. "Like I have chemicals in my system that I really don't want there. I can't fell any pain, if that's what you're asking. What did you put me on?"

"You're on a morphine drip. When we release you, you'll be given pain killers to take and I expect you to take them."

"Don't worry, Doc. I'll make sure she does," Jack assured the man.

"Traitor," Jayden hissed at him.

"She doesn't like pills either. She prefers herbal medicines," Jules explained to Dr. Keeley.

"I'm afraid you will have to be on the chemical pain killers, Miss Messinger. I do not trust that the herbs you use will have the same effects as the pills," He turned to her.

"I'm sure they won't either. I won't have any nasty side effects to worry about with my herbs," Jay pouted.

"Jayden Kay, you have to go on the pills. Don't argue with me."

"Pulling out my middle name, Jules? Damn," Both Jules and Jay knew she'd agree to the pills. It wasn't often Jules or Bella used any of their sisters' middle names but when they did, they'd have no argument. "Fine, whatever, Doc," She sighed.

"Good. Now, the two of you can be released tomorrow, provided you come in for physical therapy three times a week and keep up with your medications. Also, both of you will need to use crutches or a cane for a while due to the shots to your legs. Miss Messinger, I want you to stay completely off your right ankle as much as you possibly can. A bullet shattered the bones and you've got quite a bit of metal in there right now. Mr. Mercer, I don't want you to try walking much at all. You got hit in your right hip and shattered part of the hip joint. There's a lot of metal in you as well. Other than that, you should both be fine to leave tomorrow," The doctor explained.

"Why not tonight?" Jack asked.

"Because we want to keep you over night to make sure you're completely stable," Came the answer. ”You are mostly healed right now, though. While you were in the comas, your bodies healed quite a bit otherwise I’d want you staying longer. Anything else?"

Silence for a moment, then Jack asked quietly, "Will I be able to play my guitar again?"

"It'll take a lot of work on your part, Mr. Mercer, but I don't see why you wouldn't be able to," Jack's face lit up as did Jay's.

“Doctor, what about the shot to my chest? What was the damage there?” Jay asked.

“Well, you weren’t quite as lucky as Jack in that respect. The bullet to his chest went just past his ribs and landed in his shoulder blade. Yours, however, grazed your left lung. You may experience difficulty breathing for the next couple of days, however, your lung is mostly healed now as I stated before.”

"Jules, I'm hungry," Jay turned to her sister after the doctor left.

"I'll be back in a few minutes. Arby's okay with all of you?" She asked everyone. There were nods around the room and she left.

"So, Jerry, what happened?" Jack asked.

"First do you remember the whole argument before the shooting started?" He asked. They both nodded. "Good. Well, Jay, you were right about Fowler. He was dirty and he killed Greene. He handed Ma to Sweet 'cause she filed a police report about my business. Apparently, your dad got caught in the crossfire because he went down to the station with her. Sweet ordered the hit on them both. Anyway once we found all that out, Andi and Jules stayed with my wife Camille and the girls and Charlie and Sam. Angel took care of Fowler. Tricked him into thinkin' he was wired, got him to admit he killed Greene, and then Fowler ended up getting shot by other officers. Ya'll have to ask him for the better story. Then I went to make a deal with Sweet, now his cop was outta the way. Told him I'd give him the insurance money from Ma if he'd call off the hits on the rest of us. He was never gonna go for it though, so we came up with a new plan. We gave the money to his mistreated workers. Then Bella drove Bobby up to where we was and Sweet and Bobby went at it. Street fight on the ice. Bobby knocked Sweet out and then the workers dumped him into the water."

"Wait, water?" Jack asked.

"Yeah. We were on the lake. Anyway, then we was takin in for questioning by the cops but they got nothin on us," Jerry finished the story.

Jules came in a bit later with hot Arby's food for the four of them. "Told 'em everything didn't ya?"

"They asked, I told," Jerry shrugged.

Jack and Jay were both released from the hospital the next day, as promised. Jules drove them to the Messinger home while Jerry went to see everyone else where they were finishing up work on the Mercer home.

Author’s note: I never did like the fact that Jack died. It struck me as kinda pointless, so I couldn’t let him die this time. :) There will be more soon, I promise.