4. This cant be happening

Cassie sat silently in the cold and stark room beneath the hospital. She could help but think she shouldn't be here; they shouldn't be here.

Sitting in wordless agony before the steel table and the harsh white light that hummed overhead, illuminating the face she loved so much. she couldn't help but believe that this was all some rule joke. That any moment, the man before her would spring up and laugh. She'd be angry with him, but she got over it. Anything to hear his voice and feel his touch. Anything to not be here in this moment.

William's face looked like he was sleeping. Cassie knew he wasn't, though. Blue eyes flitted about the room, its walls lined with small silver doors, each one opened to a roll-out table unit. Soon the love of her life would be behind one of those doors, alone in the dark.

Cassie stood up and approached the body.

Oliver had left her alone and promised to keep everyone out. She didn't want to be comforted; she didn't want those empty words that would bring no haven from the hurt. Saying things would be alright ...things would never be okay. Once you've known the taste of love in your life, the idea of living without it is hollow and bitter. It's barren and bleak, much like the heart in her chest. Cassie could feel herself shutting away behind walls of bitterness.

Her hands trembled as they reached out, taking the giant cold hand from under the sheet. William's knuckles were bruised, fair skin stained, and ragged; he must have fought with the burglar. Of course, he would; that's who he was; he would protect their home.

The young woman lifted the battered flesh to her face, holding the cold hand against her tear-soaked cheek. Letting her free hand thread through the dead man's platinum blonde locks. William's hair was always so soft, like spun silk. Cassie smiled now, thinking of all the times she'd seen him standing in the bathroom and clicking his tongue in distaste. He'd always threaten to dye it some shocking color. She'd laugh and offer to do it for him. He never did, though. The museum wouldn't have appreciated it, she supposed. The most he ever got away with was trying different facial hair.

Cassie folded her lover's hand over his still chest and leaned down to kiss his cold blue lips. She couldn't hold it anymore, she'd been entirely silent since she arrived, but she couldn't anymore. The agony was bubbling in her chest and breaking through. Cassie let out a strangled cry and fell to her knees, clutching the side of the table. It felt like the room was too hot and too cold all at the same time.

"no.no no, no.. no-no. Please, no, please, if this is a dream, I want to wake up now. Please wake me up. Wake me up! " she cried so hard she couldn't breathe.

Cassie let go of the table, folding in on herself, her glasses tumbling off her face as she sobbed. The blonde pounded her fists against the concrete floor, begging, pleading that God would listen. Just listen and let this not be true.

Outside in the hall, Francis Boswell stood staring at the tile floor. He had heard what had happened and rushed down. For a while, he and Oliver just stood in silence, holding hands. William had been a good friend to him, almost like a son over time. Cassie, too, had become like a daughter to him and Oliver. Francis understood Cassie needed to be alone with the one she loved, so he didn't object when Oliver told him to wait. When the shouting and screaming started inside, Oliver nearly jumped out of his skin. 

Francis didn't wait for his partner to be okay with him this time. The older man ran in after the sound and found the slim woman howling and beating the floor. Praying in broken words, wholly lost to the world around her.

Oliver was quick at the man's heels and found him trying to lift the thrashing hysterical girl from the floor. He quickly helped grab one of the sobbing girls' arms to heft her to her feet. This quickly proved impossible, and Francis lifted the woman in his arms, stroking her hair and speaking softly. The older man gave his partner a look of sorrow as he carried Cassie out into the hall.

Meanwhile,

Luke had been at work when the first call from his frantic-soon-to-be wife came. He tried to dismiss her worries. Felicia tended to become overly anxious at times, especially after a long night of work at the hospital. Maybe William was drunk playing Call of Duty or any shenanigans his elder brother could often get up to without proper supervision. Yet Luke couldn't shake the feeling something wasn't right. Then on the second call, Felicia wouldn't stop crying and told him to come to the hospital. 

He hung up his lab coat and told Randal he was leaving. He was surprised when the brunette and his wife insisted on following.

They were cousins technically, only by marriage, but not all that close. Still, the family was family, and even if his brother didn't get along with the man, they would defend each other against anyone else.

I'm so sorry; I'm so sorry ." Felicia shouted, running into his arms. Victoria was quickly behind her sister with a similarly grim look.

Luke should have known if Vicky hadn't cussed him out immediately, things would have been severe. He just stood there with his hands in his pockets, looking for all the world like a schoolboy about to enter the principal's office.

"Felicia, what happened? " He asked, but he didn't want to know. In his haste to leave, he appeared in Conrad's office. To let the liaison realize he was going ng the facility, but the soldier wasn't there. This wouldn't have been so curious under any other circumstances, but something about the dark office made the hairs on the back of his neck raise. If something happened to William, Cassie....who was Conrad's sister, would have felt compelled enough to leave despite the pair's strained relationship. It must be wrong... awful.

The look on Felicia's face was enough to say it without words. She told him to meet her at the back entrance and not the ER.

By now, Randal and Liz were behind him, both holding hands, unsure of what was happening, but neither felt like what was coming would be good.

"Luke, it's. It's your brother," Felicia choked out, "Someone... someone broke in and .." she clung to his shirt, crying; she couldn't do it. She couldn't tell him.

" Where is William.. is he alright? " Luke looked up at Victoria, who hardened her features and looked away. " Victoria .. where is my brother? " he swallowed thickly. Somehow he knew he wasn't going to like the answer.

She looked at the ground. "I'm sorry .." that was all she could say.

Liz pressed her face into her husband's shoulder, suppressing a sob. Randal squeezed the taller man's shoulder wordless for a moment.

Victoria sighed and wrapped her arms tight around herself. " If you follow me, I'll take you down there ."

They all knew what "there'' was.

Luke left Felicia with Liz and Randal. He and Randy shared a look; he was doing his best to be the strong one for his wife and everyone else.

The younger Bailey walked down the hall toward the morgue. His heavy footsteps echoed in the silence; it felt so unreal. This had to be some elaborate prank, like when he was eleven, and William pretended to cut off his hand in the garbage disposal. He'd been so scared he'd peed his pants thinking a kitchen appliance had mutilated his big brother. William felt pretty guilty he had scared him so badly. This had to be a joke; it just had to be.

When he neared the room, he saw Cassie propped up in a chair, looking catatonic. The woman's hands were a bloody mess; Francis spoke to her in hushed tones, cleaning her up while Oliver sat nearby rubbing the young girl's back.

This wasn't a joke.

When Oliver saw him, he stood up and took a deep breath. He told him as best he could what had happened. Luke felt numb; it didn't seem real. " I want to see him."

They let him in, shutting the door behind him, hoping there wouldn't be a repeat as there had been with Cassie. Oliver and Francis nearly got the woman under control. If a man Luke's size lost it, there would be nothing they could do.

Thankfully, that didn't seem to be the case. Luke stood inside the doorway, looking into the spot-lit center of the industrial room. Under that light was a body pale and fragile looking atop a metal table. The light was so bright it muddled the features of the pale corpse, glaring at the identity from afar. 

Luke clenched his fists, one step, then two ...three. He counted it out in his head until he stood at the table's edge, his shadow casting over the body. He clenched his jaw, looking down; he couldn't hold his gaze long before turning his face to the ceiling and squeezing his eyes shut as if the darkness behind his lids would erase the truth before him. He took a ragged breath before looking down, his hands smoothing down the sides of his brother's face. 

" No.... not my brother," He choked slightly, biting his bottom lip and trying to shake away the tears. 

He could almost see the elders smile in his mind's eyes. He remembered when his father died how William hugged him and said it was okay to cry, just that once, and just with big brother. A rare moment when the elder brother was more mature. Luke was only 15 at the time, and that moment stuck with him, no matter how they fought, no matter how different they were. He knew his brother loved him more than anything.

He bent down, pressing his forehead to his brother's, holding the cold face in his palms. The tears came in silent streams that shook his muscular frame. He wept and stroked his brother's face. Trying to remember every feature, the ones so like his own but with the gentle laugh lines on his cheeks, the smile lines in the corner of his eyes. His eyes...he wouldn't get to see his eyes. The way the man smiled like a maniac, and those eyes glittered. Perhaps that was the cruelest of all.

All he wanted was to see his brother smile one more time. If he could have one more day, you get what you get. Even when you are not ready to let go. What he wouldn't give any let go.

William had always seemed so untouchable; he would get in fights when they were young and get bloody and beaten and smile and say things like, " Yes, this is nothing, Luke; you should see the other guy. The awesome me so beat his ass! "  It was usually because of him, because someone made fun of him when he was little, and, like always, big brother would take care of it. That's who Will was; he wasn't just some egotistical jerk people thought he was; that bravado was just confidence and joy gone wild. He was like a knight, always there for good. His brother was a good man.

" I love you, Brother," he whispered against William's forehead. When Luke straightened up, he took a deep breath and looked down at the man before him. He took the white sheet in his hands and drew it up over his brother's face.  His heart was breaking; the man he thought would never die. Was gone.  

When Luke walked out, he passed quietly to a secluded hall area. His back hit the wall with a thud as he slid to the floor, drawing his knees up to his chest and resting his head on his crossed arms.

He heard the footsteps approaching, assuming it was Felicia. Maybe, Randy, the truth was, would have welcomed either right now. He didn't expect a thick, accented woman's voice above him.

"Luke, I have a proposition for you. You..want your brother back, yes? " 

Ice-blue eyes meet smiling brown ones.

The answer was clear, even if it would damn him. This wasn't just about him and his pain. Luke knew when he saw Cassie that this had destroyed her and she wouldn't survive this pain, and someone else would lose a sibling.

" Yes. I do, Eva. I do. "