Chapter 11: Hope

*Junior*

"Who sent you," I yell at the man who is currently tied to the ceiling by chains. One of his eyes is swollen shut and the rest of his face has multiple cuts and bruises. After a month, I have finally found one of the men that is responsible for the shooting that put my oldest niece in the hospital.

"F*ck you," he hisses out, spitting blood in my direction. This earns him a punch to his stomach.

"This isn't working," I sigh. "I guess it's time to switch tactics. Roy, get the jumper cables."

Roy, one of my men, grabs the cables and connects them to the battery.

"Go ahead and give him a little shock," I tell him, narrowing my eyes at the douche who shot up a group of kids. Roy does as I said and the man starts to yell and scream. He stops after I wave my hand at him.

"This could all stop if you just told me what I want to know," I tsk at him. He is still spasming and clenching his teeth, so I give him a minute to get his body back in control.

"You're going to kill me either way," he says through clenched teeth.

"Exactly, so you could have just saved yourself a whole lot of pain if you would have just told me what I wanted to know. Now, I'll ask you one more time. Who sent you," I reply to him.

"Leroy Moretti," he finally says.

"See, that wasn't so hard now was it," I say and he glares at me.

I look at Roy and tell him to put him out of his misery. I hear a single gunshot go off as I make my way out of the basement. I'm coming for you Moretti, so you better be ready.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*Jaxon*

It's been a month since the failed mission and Mea still hasn't woken up. The doctors took her out of the medically induced coma, but she has yet to wake up. Everyone has been like zombies this past month and Aunt Ariel shut down the school indefinitely. Students are still doing schoolwork, but it is being done from their homes.

Mom has been in obsessive mode lately where all she does is cook, clean, and fuss over her children. Dad has been trying to keep it together, but he is struggling. Everyone else has been trying to establish some normalcy back into their lives but it is apparent that nobody is okay.

I'm sitting on the little couch in Mea's hospital room watching NCIS when Junior walks in.

"Hey Uncle Greg, any news yet," I purposely call him by his name because I know it bothers him.

"First off, don't call me Greg," he says with disgust, "second off, yes I have some news."

This makes me perk up a bit because we finally have something.

"Really? Do we know who hired the guys who did the shooting," I ask him urgently.

"Yeah and I'm getting a team together to check it out," he tells me.

I nod and say, "Good, we can finally get these b*stards, excuse my language."

He laughs at me and says, "Mar isn't around to reprimand you so I won't tell if you don't."

I laugh at his craziness but immediately stop when the monitor starts to beep.

"What's going on," Junior says with confusion and concern.

"I don't know," I tell him standing up. "Go get a nurse."

He rushes out of the room and comes back a minute later with a nurse.

"Is everything okay," I ask her panicked.

She checks a few things before turning to us, saying, "It looks like she may be starting to wake up. You can try talking to her a bit. We sometimes see that patients respond to hearing loved ones."

I look at her with excitement and thank her.

"Mea, if you can hear me, I really need you to wake up," I tell her, grabbing her hand and squeezing it.

"I'm gonna go call everyone and tell them what's going on," Junior says before leaving the room.

"Come back to us sissy. We really need you," I tell her, squeezing her hand again.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*Meanna*

I can hear voices telling me to wake up, but my body is not responding to my commands. I want to listen to them but I just can't. I have been going in and out of consciousness, but not fully awake.

"I miss you, sissy. Mommy and daddy are sad all the time, so we need you to wake up from your nap," Xahlia says.

"Dad says it's time to go home, Lia," Elijah says.

I succumb to the darkness.

"Hi honey, we miss you so much. Please come back to us," I hear my mom say.

The darkness takes over again.

"I love you so much, baby. I need you to open those beautiful eyes of yours," Jake says.

Darkness once again.

"Mea, if you can hear me, I really need you to wake up," I hear Jax say. I feel him grab my hand and squeeze it.

I will my hand to squeeze back, but it does not listen to me.

"I'm gonna go call everyone and tell them what's going on," I hear my uncle say before I hear a door close.

"Come back to us, sissy. We really need you," I hear my brother once again.

He squeezes my hand again and by some miracle, my body responds by squeezing his hand back.

I hear him gasp before he starts talking to me urgently.

"Can you hear me? Squeeze my hand again if you can hear me!"

It takes me a minute, but I finally squeeze his hand again.

Someone enters the room and Jax talks to them.

"I think she's waking up," he tells them excitedly.

"Really? How do you know," Jen asks with just as much excitement.

"She squeezed my hand! Multiple times!"

Jenna squeals and I squeeze her hand once she grabs my other hand, making her squeal louder.

"Wake up babes, we really need to hear your voice. It's been so long," she says.

I hear a few more people come in before darkness takes over again.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*Meanna*

I open my eyes and I almost panic when I see that it is dark, but then I see light coming from the bottom of the door that is across the room. I groan and move around a little, which makes whoever is in the room rush to my side.

"Hey sis, how are you feeling," Jax asks me, looking at me with concern etched on his face.

"Like I've been hit by a missile," I say, my voice raspy. "Can you get me some water?"

He goes over to the bedside table and grabs a water bottle sitting there.

"Thank you," I say after guzzling down the whole thing.

"You're welcome," he says, bending down to kiss my forehead.

"What happened?"

"I'll explain everything after you get checked out by the doctor. I'm gonna go get the nurse on duty."

I nod at him and wait for him to come back. I try to remember what happened but some things are a little fuzzy. I guess I'll just have to wait for that explanation.