Chapter 13

Jamie sat on the loveseat in the sunroom with his left leg propped up across an ottoman. He'd been ousted from the kitchen after returning from church, his first outing since being discharged from the hospital. He had strict orders to get off his feet, which he normally wouldn't complain about. He'd rather sit and watch football on Sunday afternoon anyway, except that he'd been doing a whole lot of nothing lately. He was over it, but decided to pick his battles, especially where his father and grandfather were concerned.

Sadly, there wasn't much relaxing to be had at the moment. Jamie grimaced as another scorer got through the Jets defense. He longed for a beer to ease the emotional pain this game was causing him, but the prescriptions he was on meant alcohol was off limits. Damn it.

His bulky brace was secured over his khakis and would be present for a while longer, how long would be up to the specialist when he saw him this week. It had been good to get out of the house. And today was only the second day he spent any considerable amount of time downstairs, although that was not by choice. There was no question he needed the rest when he got home to Bay Ridge, to sleep off the effects of the concussion, the bronchitis and all of the other aches and pains he'd been dealt as a result of the crash. Just as his father had predicted, Henry Nightingale had taken over and oversaw his convalescence with the same precision he used when running the department. One look at his leg and crutches, shaved and stitched head and the barking sound of his cough sent the old man into hyperdrive. Somehow he had even secured an appointment with his knee guy the very same night Jamie was admitted to the hospital.

But he had to give Pop credit, his world famous chicken soup had him feeling better in no time. And the wide array of comfort foods he cooked for him over three days were sure to fatten him up if he didn't manage to eventually get out of bed and move, even if it was with the help of some troublesome crutches. On his third day home, when he was feeling better, and despite the fight his grandfather put up, Jamie was able to convince him that he wouldn't break if he left his room and ventured downstairs.

Joe walked into the sunroom and took a spot on the couch closest to his brother. He took a long drink from his bottle, cringing when he looked at the television. "Why are you still watching this? It's painful. Put another game on."

"I've been through worse this week," Jamie snorted, unable to peel his eyes away from the massacre in Miami.

"True that, whatever it is you're talking about. What's the score now?" Danny asked as he strode into the room and took up the other end of the couch. He followed Joe's lead and snuck out of the kitchen before Linda assigned him another dinner-related chore. She still had plenty of help from the rest of the family and figured he wouldn't be missed. Linda even had the boys busy, but not with any kitchen duties. She had them playing handheld video games at the kitchen table to spare her brother-in-law from the million questions they wanted to ask about Uncle Jamie's accident and to keep them from staring at his new hairstyle - there would be enough of that at the table.

"Ooof, it's never-ending," Danny said, when he spotted it himself. "So how's the noggin?" he directed at Jamie.

"Better. The headaches are easing up," Jamie advised. He glanced away from the TV and eyed his brothers as they lounged on the sofa and quietly drank their beers. He decided it was a good time to get the answers he'd been longing for with both his father and grandfather occupied in the other room. He hadn't seen Danny since they got back and he had only seen Joe when he was able to stop by for quick visits after work. Jamie suspected his wardens were shielding his brothers from discussing the accident with him. There was no better time to ask questions than now with both of them here. And he was fine now…mostly.

"So you guys never told me how you found me."

"That's 'cause Pop forbid us from bringing anything up during your first few days at home," Joe answered.

"Gramps thought your brain might explode or something," Danny snorted.

Jamie rolled his eyes. He knew it.

"Well, he could barely get out of bed, Danny," Joe said, defending the older man and Jamie.

"I'm feeling better and I want to know," Jamie demanded. He could guess where they started their search, but he was tired of wondering about it all.

"Good old fashioned detective work, kid. We got hits on your bankcard and started with security video at the gas station. We saw how Reynolds accosted you and went from there," Danny said, confirming Jamie's suspicions.

"Yeah, he'd been hanging around the place harassing people for money that night," Joe added.

Jamie thought back to the encounter. He teetered between wishing he'd handled himself better, although he didn't know how, to just completely stumped on how denying Jesse Reynolds a few bucks turned into the guy wanting to kill him. "Why?"

"Because he was a broke ass punk," Danny spat. He still had the urge to wring the man's neck.

"No, I mean why did he need to take it that far? He seriously wanted to kill me and not just by running me off the highway. All for a few bucks?" Jamie said, remembering the gun Reynolds fired at him. He still didn't know what to think. Maybe he shouldn't ask questions and just be grateful he was here with his family.

"Why does any person commit a crime and hurt another person?" Joe asked hypothetically. There could be a million reasons and sometimes there were none. Either way, it never made sense.

"Because he was an angry entitled piece of crap? Because he had no soul?" Danny said. He didn't ask those questions. He believed that sometimes people were just bad. Period.

"Who knows, Jamie. Wondering about the why will only drive you crazy," Joe said. He knew that from experience. "Anyway, we went to his place and he had his truck parked out in the open. We saw the blue paint on the truck that matched yours," Joe continued.

"We got a warrant and found your things in his truck and in his house," Danny added.

"But not before we found the gun which landed him in the back of Adler's squad car real quick," Joe chimed in.

Then he smirked at Danny. "You'd be proud, Jamie. Your big brother interrogated him without killing him. Actually, now that I think about it, I don't think you yelled," Joe said with a hint of wonder.

"No, that was mainly you, you hot head," Danny snorted.

"No, wait, you did yell," Joe confirmed as he recalled the end of the interrogation.

"Did not!" Danny argued. The way he remembered it, he was calm, cool and collected on the outside, but itching to punch the perp on the inside. Sure, he quietly threatened to make him disappear, but he behaved. Demarcus still didn't believe him when he told him he'd kept it together in the box. He might have to ask Adler for the video to prove it.

"I told you I'm not a hot head," Joe argued before turning back to Jamie. "So anyway, he told us where it happened-"

Jamie bit his lower lip, sadly realizing he'd become one of their cop stories. At least it had happy ending, he thought.

This right here was what always made him doubt a career in law. But over the last three days, with all of the time he had to think, he decided he needed to see law school out. He couldn't quit now.

"More or less," Danny interrupted.

"But if you wouldn't have called us when you did, Jay, it would have taken us longer to find you," Joe finished.

"You did good kid. You seriously looked like crap," Danny said.

Jamie snorted. Leave it to Danny to mix a compliment with a jab, although in this case, it was just the plain truth.

"Guess I'm lucky my brothers are detectives," Jamie smiled. But he hoped they knew he meant it. "Thank you."

"Anytime any day, bro," Joe said and smiled. He was still reeling from that day. Joe didn't know what he would have done if he lost Jamie.

"Yeah," Danny nodded. He wasn't great at sharing his feelings and maybe he and Jamie didn't get along as well as they should, but he was still and would always be his brother. Maybe it was time he made more of an effort with him.

"You got any plans to replace your car, Jamie?" Danny inquired.

"I don't know," Jamie sighed. He hadn't started to think about that yet. It wasn't like he'd be able to drive all that soon anyway. "I guess I can manage without one in Boston for a while. And I can always take the train to and from. Although, Sydney offered to come back to New York to drive me back up before the semester starts."

"Tell her it's ok, you got your ride," Joe assured him.

"I do?" Jamie asked.

"You do. I'll drive you back up," Joe declared. A road trip to safely deliver his brother to Boston might be fun. It would also make him feel better about seeing him off again.

"You don't have to do that," Jamie argued. "Sydney already offered."

"No, I don't, but I want to. Anyway, you're going back to an empty apartment. Not gonna get much done stocking it if you're still hobbling around on a bum knee. Gramps will have a conniption if you don't have any food to eat," Joe reasoned.

Jamie smiled. He wasn't wrong about gramps, but getting Joe up to Boston for a few days would be fun.

Then came the shocker. "I'll go too."

Both Jamie and Joe looked at their older brother in disbelief.

"You will?" Jamie asked.

"Yeah," Danny said. He paused and frowned at their expressions. "What's the look for?" Danny wondered out loud.

"I mean, you've never been up to Boston before," Jamie said, leaving out the other part he was thinking - to visit me.

"And you got work. You never miss work," Joe pointed out. Linda was the one to force him to take time off for the family.

"So do you," Danny argued. He didn't get the big deal.

"I use my days, Danny. When's the last time you took time off without being forced to by Linda?" Joe asked.

Danny frowned but couldn't think of an answer. "So what? It's about time I get to see what your life up in Boston is all about. Plus, I hear it's a pretty great city." This was him making an effort.

Jamie traded smiles with Joe, then shrugged and looked at Danny. "Uh, well, ok. Sounds like a plan."

"So it's settled," Danny said. He then went back to his beer and thankfully, the start of the four o'clock game.

"Reagan boys road trip," Joe snorted and followed his brother's example.

"Sounds good," Danny sighed.

Jamie smiled. "Yeah, it does."

That's all for this one. Thank you to everyone who reviewed!