The sickeningly bright lights prodded her eyes open. Jamie blinked, adjusting her sight to the strange environment. The stifling scent of sanitizer and antiseptics greeted her nose. The metal structures beneath the foreign bed squeaked as Jamie propped herself up into an almost seated position. The stir had woke Liam, who had been peacefully sleeping on the armchair beside Jamie.

Liam sprung up and engulfed his sister in a hug. He buried his head into her neck and sighed. His familiar breath was warm and comforting against her cold exterior. She broke off the hug wanting to know what had happened, but before she could question him, she saw a policeman standing at the door of the room. Then her memories came crashing down. Those men were probably dead, and it was all her fault. She was a coward and for that, she could never forgive herself.

Before she let the sadness take over her, she observed the policemen he remained silent, raised his chin slightly above himself and focused his attention straight ahead, almost as if he was on guard. His presence piqued her curiosity, but her caution forbade her from asking who he was.

"Liam what day is it? H-how did I get here?" Jamie asked wanting to know how long she had been unconscious for.

"It's Saturday, the fourth. They brought you in here about two in the morning."

Before Jamie could ask Liam who brought her here, two women entered the room, both wearing scrubs.

"Afternoon Ms. Evans, I'm Dr. Carter and I've just been running some tests on you, I'm glad you're up, mostly because I couldn't take one more minute of Liam breathing down my neck," she laughed.

"I wasn't breathing down your neck, Linda, I was merely ensuring that you had run all the necessary tests Jamie needed and enquiring if you've gotten any results back," Liam defended.

"Liam we've been working together for about six years now, I would think you would be assured of my competence by now, and if you'd have let me finish my previous sentiments, you would know that I had just received Jamie's MRI and CAT scans."

"So are you gonna tell us or not?" Liam questioned impatiently.

"You know Liam, for a nurse, you're awfully impatient. Anyway, back to you dear." Dr. Carter focused on Jamie. She motioned for her assistant nurse to hand her a folder. She pinned up the scans on the board, inviting Liam to take a look.

Jamie couldn't help but feel saddened by the image of her brother analyzing the scans. It was because of her that Liam could never pursue his dreams of becoming an ER doctor, instead of furthering his degree in bio-medicine, he chose to nurse so that he could pay for Jamie's tertiary education.

"That's great," Liam sighed out in relief.

Doctor Carter smiled. "As indicated by you brother's reaction, you have not sustained any brain related injury or trauma."

"However I can't speak for psychological trauma. . . maybe we should leave you two alone for a moment," Dr. Carter said, the smile disappearing from her face. She and her assistant then exited the room giving Jamie and Liam a small smile before they left.

"Thank god you're okay." His breathy voice spoke. "I'm so sorry about your face though, they tried everything."

"What? My face? What's wrong with it?" She touched her face in horror, only to hear Liam say, "It's the same."

Jamie chuckled at her brother's attempt to make her laugh. She tossed a pillow at Liam only to miss and hit the lamp instead.

"You're pathetic," he mocked.

Slowly his usual lopsided grin disappeared and he spoke. "I'm glad you're safe, you know that right?"

"I know."

"Anyway, how do you feel?" He asked.

"Head hurts a little, but other than that I feel fine," Jamie lied. True her head did hurt, but she was far from fine. How could she be fine? The memories of the night before playing in her mind once more, the guns cocking, the sound of the bullets as they escaped the barrel. Tears started to prick at her eyes.

"Hey, hey what's wrong?" Liam asked noticing the tear gloss over his sisters cobalt eyes.

She didn't respond, mostly because she didn't really know how.

"You remember, don't you?" Liam furrowed his eyebrows in concern. She nodded. Jamie's vulnerability was obvious to him, he wrapped his arms around her once more.

And then there was a knock on the door.

The policeman, who she temporarily forgot about, opened the door. Two men emerged from the doorway. One of whom was tall, handsome, sharply dressed in a suit, he looked to be in his fifties, with a few grey hairs springing up from the sides of his head. Everything about him oozed British sophistication.

Beside him was a man who captured Jamie's attention immediately. Equally as tall and twice as handsome, stood a man dressed in a simple grey t-shirt that was half tucked into his slightly worn out jeans. The bags under his soft blue eyes highlighted his exhaustion. Jamie noticed the dog tags that swung around his neck. She continued to stare at him until her gaze broke when she noticed him looking back.

"Good to see you again Mr. Evans." The older gentleman greeted Liam.

"And you Ms. Evans, glad to see you're up and well." He now addressed Jamie in his posh accent. "I'm Agent Freeman with Mi5 and my associate here is Agent Reigner with the FBI." Both of them followed protocol and flashed their badges at Jamie.

There was a moment of silence before Agent Freeman began speaking again. "Ms. Evans, last night Agent Reigner found your body collapsed behind a dumpster at a high profile crime scene and we wanted to ask you a few questions."

Jamie took a deep breath in and tried to rid herself from the guilt that was swarming within her, sure she was technically 'innocent', but is a coward ever really innocent?

Jamie nodded.

"What were you doing at the alley last night," Agent Freeman asked, while Agent Reigner looked over Jamie as if he were analyzing every expression.

Agent Freeman's question caught Jamie off guard. She had thought they would immediately ask her about the Brennan's, instead she felt like she was now a suspect.

Her breath hitched slightly, but she tried to gather her emotions.

"I know it looks sketchy, but I had nothing to do with the murder of those two men," Jamie started trying to sound as calm as she possibly could.

"I had missed the the 12:30 bus so I decided to walk home. And just as I was about to approach the alley, some man approached me and grabbed me. He said to leave. . . I didn't listen. He was obviously intoxicated and I thought he was on some sort of rampage, so I ignored him. . ."

Jamie closed her eyes remembering more of the night before's events. "And then I saw them, the Brennan's- there were tree of them. They surrounded the policemen. I tried calling for help, but my phone was dead. I know I should of run away and called for help, but I was too scared of being seen-" All the composure Jamie had manage to muster went out the door as she said those last words.

"They're dead, aren't they?" Jamie shook her head slightly and tried to shake the tears that threatened her eyes.

"I know I didn't pull the trigger, but I might as well of. It was my cowardice that stood in the way of those men still being alive today." A single tear rolled down her cheek.

Before Liam could reach out to try and comfort Jamie, Agent Reigner placed a calloused palm on her slightly exposed shoulder, but immediately retracted it realizing the contact made.

"Ma'am, we know you didn't kill the policemen. My team along with MI5 have been tailing them for a months, we know everything about them, including all their affiliates, so rest assured your innocence is known. . . and as for your so called cowardice ma'am. Better a coward than a fool, if you presented yourself that night you would be dead and we wouldn't be able to ask you for your help."

"My help?"

Agent Freeman began to speak, "Even though those policemen died that night, it wasn't in vain. Because of the brothers' detour we managed to arrest the three of them. And that's where you come in. The Brennan's have been linked to several cases, but all the evidence is circumstantial at this point. We need a reliable witness testimony to ensure that those men will be put behind bars for a very long time."

"So you want me to testify?" Jamie asked bluntly.

"Well, yes ma'am, but the choice is yours as to whether or not you wish to go through with it," Agent Reigner answered.

"Yes. If it means those bastards are put in jail for the rest of their sorry lives, I'll do it without hesitation." Vehement anger ignited within her.

Agent Reigner's eyebrow's slightly lifted in a 'taken aback' sort of look.

"Jamie-- No. You can't do this. I mean. These are the Brennans you're talking about. They had the last witnesses killed. I can't lose you." Liam looked at the Agents in front of him, "Give her some time to think about it. She is not in the right mind now."

"That is understandable." Agent Freeman stated.

"Liam, I am sure this is what I want to do in fact I've never been surer of anything."

"Jamie pl--" Liam got cut off by agent Reigner.

"Your brother is right. This is a big decision and you should take some time to think about it, there's my number, contact me when you make you've made up your mind after giving it more thought," Agent Reigner interrupted, a stoic expression plastered across his face, which seemed to be his go-to look.

"I hope to hear from you soon, ma'am," Agent Reigner said as he escorted Agent Freeman out.

Word Count: 1 688
Status: Re-written and Edited
Re-written on: 9 July 2017
Last Edit: 24 July 2017

Critiqued by: jgfairytales