CHAPTER 4

OMG!It's being ages since my last update! I'm sooooo sorry guys, but I'm very busy at the moment...college, work, college, family, college, friends and COLLEGE!!!! My gosh...studying is exhausting!!!!

Finally I had a free morning and I thought to update this fiction...I know I know...it was time! ^_^ I thank you all for the patience you showed me!!! You guys rock!

And now, on with the chapter!!! Enjoy it!

Albert and Jet watched horrified as their little brother slided slowly to the floor. They were frozen on the spot, not being able to process the scene in front of them. Their bodies were anchored to the ground while their minds were screaming at them to move and help Joe. Having finally processed the situation, they both rushed to their fallen brother.

“JOE”

With lightening speed they crossed the distance between them and Joe, halting only when they were kneeling beside the prone figure of their younger sibling. Jet gently removed the hand Joe still had on his stomach and gasped at what he saw. With trembling fingers he started to probe the angry injury on his little brother's abdomen.

“Albert...this is a stab wound! Somebody stabbed him!” he told Albert with fear and anger mixed in his voice. “My God...there so much blood...I...”

“ Jet, he needs to go to the hospital! Hurry, go start the car, we have to get him help, and fast!” Albert's firm tone made his younger brother run immediately to his task. The oldest brother was in his commander mode at the moment, but inside he was scared to death for Joe. Shaking his head, he focused on slowing down the bleeding. He took off his sweater and placed it under Joe's shirt, so that it was kept in place on the wound, before taking his brother in his arms to carry him to the car. He forced himself not to think on the dead weight in his hold, he couldn't break now. His brother needed him to be strong. With this resolution in mind he quickly made his way to the car.

The brothers broke every speed limit to reach the hospital as soon as possible. Once in front of the emergency's entrance they started to yell for help. Two nurses and a doctor rushed toward them and they immediately placed the unconscious youth on a stretcher.

“Come on, he's bleeding heavily from a stab wound on his abdomen. Prep immediately room 3. I want 2 units of 0 neg ready! Hurry, hurry, hurry!!!”

Albert and Jet tried to follow their brothers but were stopped by a nurse who told them that they couldn't go in the emergency room. Reluctantly, the brothers went to the waiting room, both their thoughts were on the young blond who was fighting for his life.

After two hours of waiting, the brothers were approached by a young doctor.

“Are you two family of Joe Shimamura?” asked politely the doctor.

“Yes, we're his older brothers! How's he?” answered Albert.

“Your brother is a lucky boy to be still alive. The stab did a lot of damage and he lost a lot of blood. Fortunately, the knife did not damaged nothing vital and we managed to close the wound nicely. You brought him here just in time, if he had lost any more blood we would have lost him. Right now your brother is in the ICU. We're monitoring him closely for any signs of fever, but we are optimistic. In a couple of days we think we'll be able to move him out of the Intensive Care.”

The brothers nodded at the doctor, both thanking heaven that their brother was still alive and was going to recover soon.

“Can we see him doctor?” The only thing Jet wanted at the moment was to personally check on Joe and make sure that his little brother was still with them.

The doctor looked at both brothers and saw the deep concern on each pair of eyes. He nodded and told the brothers the number of Joe's room.

The plastic chairs they were sitting on weren't making the waiting very comfortable for the two brothers. It had being 2 long hours since they entered Joe's room and neither of them had talked since then. They sat in silence, occasionally shifting their position on the hard surface of the chair. It was Jet that interrupter both their train of thoughts.

“Who could have done this to him, Albert? Who could have stabbed him and let him bleed to death? And what for?”

Jet couldn't understand how Joe ended up with a wound like that. Hell, he didn't understand how he ended up wounded in the first place.

Albert had tried hard to think about possible causes for his brother's current situation, but came up with nothing. Although he remember Joe's behaviour the day they found him asleep when they returned home early. That evening Joe acted strangely as if he was trying to hide something. Maybe there was a connection between that behaviour and the attack on Joe. But if there was something troubling Joe, why didn't he come to talk to one of them? Albert had so many questions swimming in his head and the only one who could answer them lay unconscious on the bed in front of him.

“I don't know Jet. We'll know something as soon as little brother wakes up! I want to know the answers to that questions myself!”

“Well whoever did this I'm gonna make sure that he pays dearly. I gonna catch this SOB and throw him in jail for the rest of his life!”

Albert sighed at his younger brother's word. He understood Jet's anger because he was thinking the same thing, but for now all his attention was on Joe.

That's when a slight movement caught his eyes. Joe's fingers were curling around the white fabric of the sheets and his blond head was slightly moving. Joe was about to wake up.

(A/N: Now I could finish this now, you know wait a little more...but I won't do it! I haven't updated in ages so you guys have the right to read a longer chapter this time!!! XD)

“Jet! I think he's waking up!” Albert said nearing the bed.

Joe slowly opened his eyes. All was spinning wildly making him dizzy. He closed again his eyes trying to stop the movement and after a few moments he tried to open them again. He blinked a couple of time trying to focus on his surroundings. That wasn't his room.

“Hey” A voice from his left interrupted his musing. He slowly shifted his head toward the voice and came to stare at the worried faces oh his older brothers. He frowned trying to make sense of the scene.

“Albert...Jet...where...where am I?” He asked confused clearing his parched throat, grateful when a glass of water was pressed to his lips. He took a few sips moaning slightly as he swallowed the liquid.

“You're at the hospital” answered Jet gently.

Joe blinked a couple of times a looked around the room. It was obvious that it was an hospital room. He was confused. He didn't remember what happened.

“At the hospital? Why? What happened?” he asked puzzled.

“You don't remember? You came home bleeding from a stab wound before passing out on the floor. You had surgery to fix the damage. You lost a lot of blood, thank God we've bring you here as quick as we could. As for what happened...well we wished you could enlightened us little brother!” replied Albert. During the explanation he moved his hand to affectionately brusha lock of hair off Joe’s forehead, before letting it rest on top of his baby brother's head.

Joe concentrated on Albert's words and remembered what happened. He remember Jack, the beating and, most frightening, the cold blade of the knife penetrating his flesh while his warm blood slowly poured out of the wound. He remembered the hurt as he made his way home and finally his passing out in front of his shocked brothers and he shuddered at the memory. His thoughts were interrupted by Albert's voice.

“Joe! Who did this to you?” Albert had noticed the shudder his baby brother had a few seconds before. He knew that Joe knew his aggressor and he wanted answers. He wanted justice. His pale blue eyes locked on his blond brother's red ones and he saw fear and hope in them. Fear of whoever had hurt him and hope that his brothers were going to right things. Albert softened his gaze trying to reassured the frightened boy and encouraging to open up to them.

Looking into his brother's eyes, Joe took the strength to answer Albert's question. He knew that now he could no longer hiding the problem from them. It had become to big to deal with it alone. The teen took a long breath before starting to tell his brothers the truth.

“They were three...college students I think. They “leader” is called Jack...he...he's being after me for a while now...”

“A while? How long Joe?” asked Jet.

“Mmh...a couple of month give or take.”

“Why didn't you tell us? We could have helped you!” cried Jet. He couldn't believe that Joe had hide it from them. How could he have not noticed that his younger brother was troubled? 'Dammit' thought Jet 'I should have paid him more attention...he HAS been a little strange this last few month, but I thought it was nothing...guess I was wrong!' Jet felt guilty for not noticing his younger sibling's problem. He felt a hand rest on his shoulder, it was Albert's. His big brother was supporting him. He looked over at the silver haired man and he saw the same guilt, but in the meantime he saw determination to catch the bastard that hurt Joe and he felt the same way. This Jack was going to pay dearly for having injured their little brother.

Joe did not watch at the two older man and missed the guilty look they both had. He continued his explanation, his eyes locked on the ceiling.

“I didn't want to worry you...I thought I could handled it, but I never thought it would go this way!” he took another long shuddering breath before continuing. “Jack wanted to take his revenge. Four months ago he beat up some of my friends, sending one of them to the hospital and I reported him to the school board since they were too afraid to do that themselves. I knew what college Jack frequented because all the students in my class knew him. Apparently he liked pestering the boys from my school. As soon as I reported him, the school board investigated things and they discovered that Jack was behind all of the aggressions that took place in the school. They expelled him from the school and his father disowned him as soon as he heard of his son's behaviour and expulsion. I don't know how, but he discovered that I was the one that “framed” him and two months ago he started tormenting me. This time, though, it was different. He wasn't alone. He bring two of his friends to help him. They took me in an alley and they hold me while he punched me a couple of time, and then he..he took out a knife and...and...he STABBED me...Oh my God...it hurt so much...I...”

Joe couldn't go on. He didn't noticed that he had started to cry. All the emotions he had bottled up inside of him exploded, letting him unable to stop the constant flow of tears that was pouring from his eyes and down his cheeks. Joe tried to brush them off his the back of his hand but there were too many. He then began to sob letting out all of his anguish. He suddenly felt himself being engulfed in a strong, but gentle and protective hug. He felt hands calming him and a soft voice whispering words of comfort.

The brothers listened to Joe's story holding their breath. They sat there stunned watching their brother relive the traumatizing experience. As soon as Joe started to sob brokenly on the bed, Jet bent down and embraced his little brother, giving him all the support he needed while Albert started to stroke Joe's hair again. Jet kept whispering to his brother in an attempt to calm him.

“Shh...shh Joe, it's all right little brother, you're safe now. It's all over.”

Joe shook his head “No..Jack..he said this was only a warning...next time...”

“Shh Joe. Don't worry there won't be a next time, because I'm gonna stop him! I'm going to put him in jail for the rest of his life. Don't you worry. We'll make it all right!”

said Jet with firm determination. He wasn't going to let this Jack hurt his brother again, not on his watch!

“But...” Joe was still frightened, Jack's threat was still echoing in his ears.

“No buts Joe. Jet's right. We'll deal with this Jack. You have nothing to worry about. He'll never hurt you again! Now, why don't you sleep for a while? You're still weak and you need rest to recovery” Albert dried his brother's tears before ruffling his long hair. “Jet and I will be here when you'll wake up!”

Joe looked groggily at his two brothers. He knew he was going to be asleep in a matter of seconds but there was one thing he needed to do before he could let sleep claim him.

“Albert...Jet...thanks and sorry for worrying you...” said that the teen fall asleep, sure that his big brothers were going to protect him.

Albert and Jet looked at the now sleeping Joe with a smile on their faces. Joe's recovery was the first of their priority, but it seemed that their little brother was going to be okay. The two settle down to watch again over their young sibling, happy that all was good...at least for now.

Joe finally confessed his problem to his big brothers. What will happen now that Albert and Jet know the truth about Joe's attack? And what about Joe's recovery? And what about Jack? Stay tuned! XD

Ok guy...that was it! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Now there are only a couple more chapters to end the story. XD I don't know when I'm going to update, but don't fret!!! I promise I'll update as soon as possible.

So till next chapter, I'd like to know what do you think on this new chapter, so please R-E-V-I-E-W!!! XD C'mon, give this girl a little love with some comments! XD