"Lance I can't..."

"You have to. You can't stay here any longer. Come with me."

"I can't leave him." Rachel turned from Lance and went to walk back toward JC.

"Just for a few hours," Lance reached out and grabbed Rachel's arm, turning her back toward him. "I promise. We'll go home. You can shower. We'll grab something to eat. You can sleep for a couple hours. I promise I will bring you back."

Rachel shook her head. "I can't leave him alone..."

"He won't be alone," Karen stepped up to the siblings. She took Rachel's hand in hers and squeezed it. "I'll be here with him the whole time. I downloaded a new book I think he'd love. I'm gonna read it out loud to him. I know you don't want to leave him Rachel, but you can't go on like this. You need to take care of yourself. Go home. Get some sleep. JC wouldn't want you to do this."

"Don't use him against me." The bark had no bite.

"You can't do this, Rachel," Lance spoke again. "You haven't eaten in days. I know you haven't slept in even longer. You're wearing yourself out. I don't even know how you still able to function. You're living off coffee. You're ready to collapse. You're gonna find yourself admitted to the hospital. When that happens, you won't be able to be in here with him."

"Rachel, I promise you. He won't be alone. I'm here. Roy will be here. I'm gonna be here all night okay?" Karen spoke to Rachel softly. The woman wouldn't meet her eyes, she just stared beyond her at the hospital bed where JC lay. The ventilator was finally gone, along with all its tubes. He was finally strong enough to breath on his own. Now it was a waiting game. "I will call you the moment anything changes. I promise you."

"I don't know..."

"Honey," Roy stepped over to his wife and spoke to Rachel. "We know this is hard for you. Don't do this to yourself. Let us take over. Let Lance take you home. Let him take care of you. You've been taking care of JC from the moment he got here."

"But," Rachel looked at JC's father with her eyes full of tears.

"I know," Roy pulled Rachel into a fatherly hug. When she sobbed against him, he tightened his hold. "Let us take care of you," he whispered to the woman he considered another daughter. He was relieved when she nodded. "Good." He pulled back and met her gaze. "If he would see you like this when he wakes up, he would rip us a new one for not making sure you took care of yourself." He smiled and his heart lightened seeing Rachel smile.

"You wouldn't do that to us, would you?" Karen asked.

"No," Rachel laughed softly, wiping her eyes with her fingers. "I really don't want to leave him..."

"We know," Karen said squeezing her hands. "I am so happy that JC has found someone like you who loves him as much as you do. Who sees the real him. Who would disregard what's best for them in order to make sure he's taken care of."

The tears fell again at Karen's words. "You'll call me if..." she didn't even finish the sentence before Karen was nodding.

"Immediately." Karen promised.

Rachel walked around Karen and Roy back to JC's side. She took his hand in hers and held it tightly as the door shut behind her leaving her alone with JC. "I don't want to leave you. I know in my head I need to go home but my heart... it's telling me to stay. To not leave you. I feel like the moment I walk out that door something is going to happen. I feel like you know I'm here and that you need me to be here. I was overpowered. You know how your parents can be." She rested her hand on his head and rubbed her thumb back and forth across his temple. Leaning down she pressed her forehead lightly on his and closed her eyes. "I'll be back first thing in the morning." She lifted her head and placed a kiss on his forehead. "I love you."

"Ready?" Lance asked when his sister came out of JC's room. His heart clenched at the heartbroken look on her face. He hated doing this, but he had to. Rachel was on the verge of collapsing if she didn't get food and rest.

"No."

"It will be okay." Lance hugged her and watched as she said goodbye to JC's parents. Then he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and walked her down the hallway to the doors that left the ICU wing. "It's just for today."

"A lot can happen in a day."

"Yes... and that includes you collapsing if you don't eat. Streamlining coffee doesn't count either. You don't even like coffee!"

"I know. I hate it." Rachel said as they excited the hospital and headed toward the parking structure where Lance had parked. The Los Angeles sun was unforgiving and Rachel flinched against the brightness.

"Then why are you drinking it?"

"Because Mountain Dew is frowned upon at seven in the morning."

"Could always pour it over your Cheerios."

"That's the most disgusting thing I've heard."

Lance laughed as he hit the key fob to unlock his car. With Rachel in the passenger seat, he pulled away from the hospital. "He's going to be fine." He told his sister when he saw her wipe away a tear.

"Maybe."

"Don't be like that," Lance looked over at her when he stopped at a red light. The traffic was light given the early morning hour. He knew it would soon get crazy as the morning rush hour started. "You've heard the doctor. He said JC's doing good. He's finally off the ventilator. He's strong enough to breath on his own."

"Then why isn't he awake?"

"I don't know," Lance sighed. It was something that was perplexing the doctors as well but they still remained positive. "But he will."

When they arrived back at Lance's house, Rachel felt lost; like she had no purpose. At the hospital, she knew she had to talk. She had to hold JC's hand and plead with him to wake up. She was able to take a washcloth and wash his face every day. With the ventilator and the tubes gone, yesterday she had gotten permission to shave his face. It had been slightly nerve wracking. She had never shaved a man's face, but she was tired of looking at the unkempt whiskers. With Roy's guidance, she was able to remove all the facial hair and nearly wept at the sight of JC's bare face; hadn't been able to stop herself from pressing her cheek against his. Now there was nothing for her to do but think.

"Go shower." Lance came up behind her, giving her a nudge. "Better yet, go soak in the tub."

"Use the one in our room," Michael said. "Turn the jets on."

"Yeah," Lance turned toward her. "Use ours. It's so much better. It's amazing. It's one of the reasons we bought this house. Soak in the tub, then crawl in to bed and sleep."

"I think there are some bath oils in the cabinet too. They aren't manly smelling either." Michael gave a slight chuckle. "There is also Epsom Salt."

Rachel shook her head. "I should just take a shower. I have a lot to do."

Lance looked at Michael before looking back at his sister. "Like what?"

"Things."

"Like?"

"Call the police department and get an update. I know they've been calling me. See if I can go back to the house. Find someone..." she swallowed roughly. "The house needs to be cleaned. My voicemail is full. I have hundreds of emails to go through. I have to contact the people with Jesus Christ Superstar. My car is still at the house. I need to get it. I need to find his wallet and phone. He didn't have any personal effects on him at the hospital. They must be at the house."

"None of that matters at the moment," Lance said. "I took you from the hospital so you could take care of yourself. Eat, shower, and sleep. Everything else can wait."

"Lance..."

"I will call the detective in charge of JC's case and find out what I can. About the house, the clean up, and anything else. I can also go through your voicemails. I will write down everything that you need to take care of and delete the ones who don't have to worry about. I'll even go through your emails and prioritize them. I'll do anything. Just please go take a bath, hell a shower, just afterward, crawl in to bed and sleep. Please." He pleaded.

"Alright," Rachel relented. "I need my phone though. In case..."

"I will wake you immediately if Karen calls. I promise."

"Okay," Rachel handed her phone to Lance and went down the hallway. She only meant to sit down on the bed for a few minutes before heading in to the shower. The next thing she knew, Lance was shaking her shoulder. "What? JC?" She sat up quickly.

"I didn't mean to scare you," Lance said. "JC's fine. I spoke with Karen about an hour ago. No change. I made dinner. Come and eat."

"What?" Rachel asked, confused. She looked out the window, frowning. "What time is it?"

"Seven." Lance informed her. "I came to check on you earlier and you were sleeping. Didn't even get in the shower. Didn't have the heart to wake you, so I just covered you with a blanket and let you sleep. How are you feeling?"

"Tired. Confused. Lost."

"You're exhausted. Which proves I was right in getting you out of the hospital. If you didn't need to eat, I would have let you sleep. Probably would have slept all night. Come on. Let's eat."

"What are we having?"

"Granddaddy's chili."

"You have the recipe?" Rachel asked turning to look back at her brother as they walked down the hallway. "I ask him all the time and he never gives it to me."

"Told you I was his favorite." Lance teased. "It was extenuating circumstances. Once I told him it was for you, he gave it up without a hitch."

"Knew I was his favorite." Rachel tucked her arm through Lance's and laid her head on his shoulder as they walked into the kitchen. A soup pot sat on the stove, the burner on low. Three bowls were stacked on top of each other next to the stove. Michael stood at the island slicing a loaf of French bread and piling it on to a plate.

Walking to the stove, she lifted the wooden spoon from the spoon rest and stirred the chili in the pot. The smells sent her back to Mississippi and spending time at her grandparents' house when the weather finally turned cool. Using the ladle, she filled her bowl and sat it down on the island. Opening up the ream of saltine crackers, she crushed some of them, piling them in her bowl. After sneaking a piece of bread, she went to the table and sat down.

"I've been smelling this all day," Lance said as he fixed himself a bowl and sat at the table with his sister. He groaned when Michael sat the plate of bread down in the center of the table. "Why did you bring that over here? Now I'm gonna end up eating all of it."

"Watching your weight?" Rachel teased.

"I am getting married in seven months," Lance pointed out.

"Where are the cameras?" Rachel asked. Lance and Michael were getting married in December. They had decided to make their wedding a TV special. It was set to air in February. She had already been included in a lot of scenes.

"We're not filming at the moment. Not with what happened. We halted the process."

"Isn't that going to mess with the production schedule?"

Lance shrugged. "It will work out. It's not like Michael and I are going out making wedding decisions. Don't worry about it. You have enough on your plate." The conversation fell silent as they ate. Lance shared a look with Michael when Rachel got up to get a second helping. It wasn't until she was almost done with that bowl did he speak again. "I talked with Detective Campbell with the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department. He's the detective handling JC's case. They need you to go in and give your statement."

"I told the officer on scene everything that happened."

"I know, but you need to do it again." Lance explained. "I'll take you there tomorrow morning."

Rachel shook her head. "No. I need to get back to JC tomorrow."

"You can't put this off. You need to tell them what happened so they can move forward with prosecuting Addison."

"They have Matt's statement and Jimmy's. They were there. They saw the same thing I did."

"Rachel," Lance sighed. "Do you want Addison to get away with this? Then you need to cooperate," he said when she shook her head. "It won't take that long. As soon as you're done, we'll go to the hospital."

"Is Addison in jail?"

Lance shook his head. "She posted bail yesterday."

"What?" Rachel whispered, staring at her brother. "Should I be worried? Do we need security at the hospital?"

"I asked the same questions to Detective Campbell. He feels that you and JC aren't in any danger. But I contacted hospital security and gave them an update. They are going to up their security. JC's safe right now because he's in the ICU. No one can just walk in to that unit. You're safe when you're there. You're also safe here. She can't get you here. If you're worried, we can get you a body guard."

"This is crazy," Rachel whispered, pushing her bowl away. "A body guard. For me!"

"I'm more worried about you than JC."

"Yeah. She tried to kill you." Michael said. "She's not gonna go after JC. It's you she wants to harm."

"Your house has been released," Lance continued. "Detective Campbell gave me a few companies. I got one who was able to come immediately. I went over there earlier. Let them in and waited while they finished. It's all cleaned." He didn't mention how the scene had been fodder for nightmares. The smell had hit him immediately when he opened the front door. When he saw the blood stains on the floor - the pool where JC had laid, the foot prints, the smears, the soiled towels - he wanted to run from the house and throw up. "We can go there tomorrow. We'll hit the police station and the house. I went through your voicemail. There was a lot from people just wanting to know what's going on. There are a few people who needed to be returned. It took awhile, but I got through your email. I sent everything to Eric." Eric was JC's manager.

"What? Why?"

"Because the last thing you need to do is be on the phone talking about cancelations and rescheduling or anything else. Let Eric handle everything. It's time he earns what JC pays him. You can concentrate on JC now and not work."

When they finished eating, Rachel tried to help clean up, but both Lance and Michael shooed her away. She went back to her room and decided to take a bath. Going into the en suite, she started the water putting it on as hot as she could stand. She leaned against the counter waiting for the tub to fill and wished she had grabbed her phone from Lance. JC needed to wake up soon. She didn't know what she would do if he didn't