Fuchsia laid motionless on her stomach. Her now fading pink curls laid messily atop the pillow. Her tear stained cheeks and tired eyes were enough to break her Mother’s heart alone. Keri gently smoothed the bandage across the middle of Fuchsia’s back. She pulled a soft blanket over Fuchsia and said, “you are lucky the bullet only grazed your skin. I have cleaned your cuts and stitched you up.” She placed a hand on Fuchsia’s shoulder and gently patted her out of concern. She walked to the side of the bed where Fuchsia had her head turned and could see her face more clearly. Her eyes glistened, having formed a convex meniscus of tears, like a dam it threatened to break. She slid her hand on to Fuchsia’s hand and squeezed lightly. Fuchsia closed her eyes, the tears finally released but she remained silent and unmoved. Keri felt her chest squeeze at the pang of rejection. She began to pull her hand away but Fuchsia quickly grabbed it. Although her eyes were still shut and she was silent, Keri knew Fuchsia wanted her to stay.

Keri sat down on the edge of the bed and wiped the tears away from Fuchsia’s face. How long had it been since she had seen her cry? How long had it been since she had comforted her? She gently stroked Fuchsia’s hair until she believed she was asleep. Keri looked at her child, to whom she had been so cold for so many years. Her ignorance and stubbornness had hurt her so much, and yet her child risked her life to protect her. The bullet came close to hitting her spine and that could have resulted in her being paralyzed, or even death. She leaned forward and kissed Fuchsia’s head and whispered, “I’m so sorry for hurting you all these years! I love you daughter!” Keri stood up and slowly left the room unaware of the few tears that ran down Fuchsia's face.

***

Keri tiredly walked into the dining room and she looked up to see Sina sitting at the table. They were all exhausted, needed to rest, and heal before they discussed what to do next. The drive to the beach house was long and painful. Bren and Fuchsia were both injured and needed treatment, but both were adamant about not wanting to leave Jax. Sina ultimately had to make the final decision. Fuchsia and Bren were both angry but she knew she had to get them to safety and set the situation with Jax aside.

Sina looked up and asked, “how is she?”

Keri swallowed back tears, regained her composure, and said, “her injuries are not severe. She will have scarring, but otherwise she is going to be fine physically.”

Sina brushed a hand through her hair and said, “are you worried about how she is going to handle all this?”

Keri placed her tired head in her hands and nodded as she was unable to speak. She let herself cry, both tears for her past regrets as well as the present situation.

Sina rhythmically tapped her metal fingers on the table trying to think of what to say. She had never been one to handle emotional situations well. She sighed and said, “Fuchsia is the strongest person I know. She just needs some time to rest!”

Keri uncovered her face and said, “I know she is strong, but I am so worried about her! Strong people can only be strong for so long before they start to break. What has she been keeping inside? I should have been there for her this whole time. I am her mother and I have failed her!”

Sina flexed her hand and dropped it to the table. “Keri, I know you had trouble accepting Fuchsia. She has always hoped that one day you could see her for who she really is and mend your relationship. She has never stopped loving you! I also can assure you that she has not been alone. Dr. Collins and his son were there for Fuchsia when she was a teenager. I am sure you know how close she was to them.

Keri wiped tears away and said, “it was difficult for both of us when she was little. I worked all the time and I pushed for her to be self-sufficient and independent at a young age because I couldn’t always be with her. I didn’t realize I was pushing her away and hurting her! I was always jealous of how close Dr. Collins and his son were with Fuchsia but I never tried to interfere. I am grateful that she had them!”

Sina reached across the table, placed a hand on Keri’s shoulder and said, “she has had Bren, Jax and I as her supportive family and now she has her Mother too! She will be ok, trust me!”

Keri placed her hand on Sina’s and said, “thank you, Sina! I needed to hear that!”

Sina slowly pulled her hand back and said, “I am worried about Bren. Do you think his eyes will heal?”

Keri sat up straight and said, “honestly, he will likely have impaired vision in his right eye, but his left eye is severely damaged.”

She shifted uncomfortably in her seat and said, “I am going to have to get Fuchsia up later so she and I can work on his right eye. We need to remove the metal and glass fragments from his cornea. I also know that she will want to evaluate his left eye and see if there is anything she can do.”

Sina shifted her hand to her head, “he is not going to handle any of this well!” She pushed her chair back and stood up while saying, “I’m going to check on him.”

Keri leaned back and nodded but nearly fell out of her chair when Nix jumped into her lap. She was a bit shocked by the cat's arrival.

Sina walked over and petted the cat on the head, it hissed at her as it tried to bite at her metal hands. She laughed a little and said, “it will do you no good to try that on me! Keri, this little troublemaker is called Nix. He is Fuchsia’s cat.”

Keri reached out and carefully touched the cat’s head, followed it’s arching back to it’s tail as it purred. “She said this cat looks a little like one Fuchsia tried to bring home when she was little. I had to make her get rid of it because we couldn’t give it the attention it needed.”

Sina smiled and said, “Fuchsia loves Nix!” Then she headed back towards the room where Bren was sleeping.

She carefully pushed the door open and peaked in. Bren was laying on his back, his eyes had been cleaned and bandaged. She approached him quietly in case he was still sleeping but before she made it to the bed he said, “Sina you suck at being quiet.”

Sina leaned over and touched her cheek to his forehead to check for fever. He carefully pushed her away and said, “I’m fine. How is Fuchsia?”

Sina plopped down on the chair beside the bed and said, “her injuries weren’t severe, Keri patched her up and she is resting now. You need to do the same!”

Bren tried to sit up, but between his inability to see and the painful cuts it was difficult. Mr. Creso’s men had used some sort of specialized bullets that obliterated the bulletproof car and caused a lethal shower of glass and metal to fall. If Sina had not arrived when she did they would have all been killed.

Bren tried to stabilize himself on the bed as he asked, “ Sina, tell me the truth, how bad are my eyes?”

Sina let out a heavy sigh. “Keri says that you should regain some vision in your right eye but your left eye was severely damaged. But we will know more once Fuchsia looks at them later.”

Bren let his hands fall to his side, “What are we going to do? We need to be able to rescue Jax! I don’t want to leave him there for long. Who knows what they are doing to him. I promised him I would get him back!”

Sina walked over, wrapped her arms around him and said, “we will get him back!”