Minho wasn't sure what he was expecting, he knew Emily would be hooked up to all kinds of tubes and monitors, but he wasn't expecting her to look so broken.

He had walked into the room with Jorge and froze. His heart stopped and then his breathing was snatched, and not in a good way. He clamped his jaw so hard his head started to hurt. He looked away blinking hard.

She had a tube in her mouth that was strapped around her head, the tube went down her throat helping her breath. She had heart monitors and all kind of other monitors attached to her. She had horrible road rash on the one side of her face, a giant cut above her one eye, both eyes were black and bruised and swollen. She had a bandage wrapped around her head. There was a blanket pulled up over her body and her arms were placed over top, all kinds of tubes and IV's inserted into her veins, one had clear liquid and medicine and whatever was keeping her sedated slowly dripping into one. And blood going into another one, she must have lost quite a bit to need more. Her other arm was in a cast.

Minho winced. He had no right to complain about his injuries. His eyes prickles with tears. He clenched his jaw even more and his hands forms fists. Teresa did this and she thought she could play the victim? That girl was as jacked as her mother and Ben. There was no way he'd forgive her for what she did. And no way this was an accident.

"Minho?"

Minho blinked and looked around. Jorge had gone over to the bed and had her limp hand. He was looking at Minho with concern.

"Ya...ya...I'm...I'm okay. Just wasn't expecting this. Didn't know what to expect really... but this...is a lot."

"It is." Jorge nodded kindly.

"Is she in pain?" He asked quietly. He slowly crept forwards, almost scared he would wake her up or hurt her more.

"No, she's sedated and on a lot of pain meds."

Minho just nodded. He swallowed hard, his throat feeling really tight. He slowly sat, perched at the edge of her bed. He just sat and watched her. He could see her chest rising and lowering slowly in rhythmic timed breathing. And if he looked carefully he could see the pulse in her neck. Those were the only things that clued him to her being alive.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry Emmy. I couldn't protect you!" He whispered. He slowly brushed his fingers across her forehead, sweeping a strand of hair off her face.

"Minho-"

Minho crumpled forwards, placing his stitched forehead down on the bed beside Emily's head, still carful of all her wires and monitors and sobbed. Again.

He felt entirely helpless and useless. He would absolutely take her place. He would take all her pain and suffering onto himself. He also felt incredibly selfish, and wished she would just wake up. He needed her. He couldn't do it without her. He would be so lost without her. She was his joy and peace. She was his strength and courage. If she was gone he was done.

His body shook as gut wrenching sobs wracked his body. He felt someone pull him into a tight embrace; they didn't say anything, they didn't give him empty promises or try to tell him it would be okay. Jorge just held him tight and let him sob.

"I can't lose her Jorge. I can't!"

"I know son. I know. Me too." Jorge whispered through his own tears.

Minho stayed as long as he possibly could. He stayed beside her bed the rest of the night and into the next day. He got texts from Frypan, Winston and Nick. All asking about Emily. He got up at one point and went to visit Newt.

He didn't have as many tubes and wires, and he was breathing with just a small tube under his nose, but his leg was heavily bandaged and propped up. Newt was also unresponsive to the things around him, but Minho sat in a chair beside the bed, Sonya beside him.

"Hey." Minho said quietly.

"Hi." She said dully.

"Dumb question, but how ya doing?"

She snorted. "My brother...twin...my other half...won't ever walk properly again and my best friend...my soul sister is fighting for her life. I'm doing fucken fantastic Minho." She snarked. She took a breath and asked in a more gentle tone, "how are you doing?"

Minho snorted in derision, he was exhausted, sore, scared, emotionally drained, angry, felt guilty, hungry...

"About the same."

Sonya hummed, her exhausted eyes glued to her brother.

"Have you seen Em?"

She shook her head. "No...I've been too scared..."

Minho stood up and took her hand, Sonya didn't protest. She let him led her out of Newt's room and to the next room. She hesitated and sucked in a sharp breath.

"Ya..." Minho agreed quietly.

Sonya slapped a hand over her mouth when she stepped into the room. Minho was used to her broken state at this point he walked in and sat down on the bed. His hip close to hers.

"She's not gonna bite, come on." Minho tried to inject his laid back sense of humor into his voice, but it just sounded flat.

"Ya ...ya..." Sonya gulped, he could see her hands shaking, "it's just... overwhelming. Seeing her so broken."

"Trust me. I know." Minho sighed. He was holding her limp hand, the one covered in all kinds of tubes and IV's. Minho gently picked up her hand and brought it to his lips. He brushed his lips over her knuckles.

"She's still there, she's still fighting..." He whispered, it was more to encourage himself than anything else.

Minho, Sonya, Gally and Thomas rotated between the rooms for the next 2 days. Thomas stayed with Minho and they would swap with Sonya and Gally. That was they weren't breaking the two visitors rule and someone was always with them. When the nurses came to do their checks they would run to the bathroom and grab more coffee. Thomas would leave when Jorge came. And when his parents came back after many meetings with lawyers and police stations and child social services, his mom finally put her foot down.

"Come on. Come home Min, take a shower, your still covered in blood. Have a nap, eat some food. Then you can come back." Mom had to physically take his hand and pull him out of the room.

"But-"

"No. You need to take care of yourself. The others are going home too. They will be doing the same thing. If she wakes up and sees you like this, she's going to feel guilty because you didn't take care of yourself."

"But-"

"Buts are for sitting young man. Now come home. Shower. Sleep. Bark misses you. Jorge is here, she's in the best possible care. Your grandpa also has wicked guards stationed at every entrance to the hospital and at the doors to the ICU. Ben and the Paige's aren't getting anywhere near her."

Minho finally relented after hearing that and followed his parents. After a long hot shower, which he could now feel the aches and pains. The adrenaline was long gone now. He frowned looking in the mirror, he had a few solid bruises now on his face, the stitches in his forehead and the split lip it was quite the look. His body was sore, and he groaned as he sat down on his bed and then flopped. A full football game followed by a fist fight and then sleeping in a hospital chair, he was definitely sore.

Minho was asleep within minutes.

~•~

Everyone was sitting at a big table, the Lee's, Isaac's, Jorge and the Doctors, a few of Sam Isaac's legal team that were working on Emily's case and a few of the police officers who have been involved with the case since the beginning. The doctors were discussing Newt at the moment.

"We have moved Emily and Newt from critical care to stable. They are doing well. Newt is being removed from the medication that's keeping him sedated. He will be awake within a few hours to a day."

Minho saw the Isaac's deflate in relief. The doctor nodded and talked a bit more about Newt and how he was doing. The doctor sighed and then turned to the Lee's and Jorge.

"Now, as for Emily, she's responding to the treatments as well, as far as we can see on screen. It's slow going, but clearing the critical stage is good. We will keep her in the medical coma for now, until we know for sure her lung is working on its own and the body is adapting to the synthetic one." The doctor explained. "We also need to to know that the surgery worked to stop the internal bleeding, when she wakes up she'll be moving which could rip the stitches and damage herself."

"This is good." Grandpa said.

"Yes it's wonderful news." The doctor agreed.

There was a laps in the conversation. Sam sighed and leaned back in his chair, he ran his hands down his face. He inhaled and then exhaled slowly and leaned forwards. "Okay, time to switch gears, I would ask that Sonya and Minho leave, but they are just as involved in this so, I'm assuming if we asked you to leave you would refuse and cause a scene?"

"Yes." Minho and Sonya said at the same time. 

Sam nodded like he already knew the answer. "All right. Steve, what do you have for us?" 

Steve cleared his throat and pulled a huge file out and laid it on the table. "So, Benjamin Archer. He has been apprehended and left in the drunk tank to dry out. Any more alcohol in his system he would have died. He tried fighting the cops that arrested him. He was screaming threats and kinds of things, not a far stretch to go from that to what he did the other night. Now..." 

He pulled out some pictures and passed then to Sam. He flipped through them and passed them along. Sonya leaned over when Minho got a hold of them, all the pictures of the scene of Emily and Newt, the damaged water fountain. The street light and all the other damage to property, the damaged car. Minho stomach twisted, he was shocked no one else was hurt that night with Ben behind the wheel. 

"Do you want to press charges?" Steve asked. 

"Yes." Jorge said immediately. 

"Sam? Nettie? He was the one who hit Newt." 

"Yes." Newt's mom said quietly as his dad nodded. 

"Good, we will get that going right away. Mr Lee...you are 18, considered an adult..."

"Yes. He hit first, I would have just walked away, but he also went after Emily, I don't start fights." 

Steve nodded. Then he finally turned to Jorge, with a look of trepidation.

"Now. There was a different driver who hit Emily. A Miss Teresa Paige."

"I'm pressing charges anyways." 

"We can certainly do that. With the day and age of technology there is enough video proof on social media. And it was easy enough to find."

"What? There's video of that bi-"

"Sonya!" Nettie scolded. 

"That BITCH," Sonya spat, "Hitting her? Lock her away, and let her rot. Let them both rot away." 

"Agreed." Minho said crossing his arms. 

"Well...as you know we picked her up at her house, we brought her in for questioning. She has a believable story...with photo proof." 

"Excuse me? A believable story about what?" Jorge asked, Minho could see him trying very hard to keep his cool. 

"The screen shots Minho provided with her texts saying her boyfriend, Benjamin Archer, has been abusive and controlling, she provided our officers photo proof of the bruises left by him and some pretty explicit text messages." 

"What does that have to do with pressing charges. She was drunk and hit my goddaughter with a car, Steve." 

"I understand, and those charges will be laid, but I'm saying trying to continue to court, proving that she was involved with the the on going case you have open with the Paige's. She may be cohoused and threatened into some of the accusations." 

"Bull shit." 

Heads turned to Sonya again. She looked up from the pictures and tossed them down on the table, pictures of Teresa with bruises in various spots on her body. 

"Sonya! Your language!" Her mom scolded again. 

"This one?" She pointed to a picture of a pretty solid black eye with a time stamp. "Monday? From 4 weeks ago? That was the day the sports teams got pictures taken for year book, I would know, because I helped  the year book editor edit the shucken pictures. Give me a few minutes and I can prove she had no such bruise." She pulled her phone out and sent a quick text and laid her phone on the table. "No amount of make up can cover a bruise like that. If it was real. And its easy to make a real looking bruise if you have the right make up. She's a lying manipulating little witch. And she got you." 

Steve was looking at her with curiosity, and then clenched his jaw and nodded. "Well if there is contradicting evidence then there might be a case, but as of right now, her story stands, and its innocent until proven guilty." Steve said, but then added, "Unfortunately." 

"Sonya, please send me anything you find." Her dad said. 

Sonya nodded. 

"What about all the times she was attacked at school?" Minho asked, "there is photo proof of that, and the threats and the notes and all the reported bullying!" 

"It'll compiled in the file." Sam nodded.

"It took a bit of...persuasion, and reasoning with Director Janson, but we have his files of reported bullying." His dad added. 

"Good. Now what about the black truck that stalked her for a month and then almost killed us?" Minho asked. 

"We connected that to Ava Paige. She rented the truck. But we still don't know who the driver was, but the truck was finally connected to Ava." 

"I gave dad the video and Emily called 911, so you should have that on file." 

"Yes, son, don't worry-"

"No, I'm going to worry until that family and the psycho boyfriend are all behind bars and can't hurt her again." Minho could feel his temper rising, he was frustrated with how slow this process was. "She has been hit by two vehicles already this year, a near death experience on the highway. She has been stalked, hit, slapped, attacked, almost kidnaped, sexually assaulted, bullied...and now this!" Minho had stood up and was yelling now, he could feel the blood pumping through his veins, his muscles tensed. He needed out of the room, he needed to go hit something, he needed to run...to do something. "This is the slowest possible process. You all need to do a better job of keeping her safe. Wanna know what the 911 dispatch said to us when we called? Your on a bike, just drive faster...thanks for your shucken help. We go to the school for help, and we get blown off, it takes her being kidnaped, sexually assaulted and beaten up for you and the damn school to do something. Do something faster! And now...because nothing was done, she's fighting for her life and now another person fell victim to them. What's it going to take? A dead body? Do better!" 

He spun on his heel and stormed over to the door. 

"Where are you going?" His dad's deep voice cut through his anger. 

Minho paused at the door, still with his back to the room, "For a run before I put my fist through a wall." He spat, his back stiff and straight. 

"I'm coming." Sonya said getting up. 

Together they left the room and for good measure Sonya slammed the door. 

"Nice." Minho muttered. Sonya smirked and winked. 

"Come on Slugger, lets go burn off some steam." 

~•~