The doctor standing in the doorway was frowning deeply, staring down at the clipboard in his hands. He didn't see my brothers glaring icily at him from my bedside.

The monitor beeping in tune with my heartbeat sped up.

"Poisoned? Who... Why?" Was all I could really manage to get out. Tobias brushed his fingers through my hair easily, smiling down at me before stalking towards the doctor.

My hair wasn't tangled. If it was tangled then Tobias's would've caught a knot. That meant they must've brushed my hair while I was asleep

How thoughtful.

If only they found a way to brush my teeth. The taste in my mouth was enough to put the taste of two-week old Thai food to shame.

"We don't know yet. We've sent men to look over the security tapes of the day before you fainted." Zion said, drawing my attention back towards me.

He probably didn't want me to see Tobias dragging the doctor into the hall by the collar of his white coat.

Too late, buddy.

But oh well. Might as well let him have his peace of mind.

"I didn't eat anything out of the normal. I didn't meet anyone strange. How was I poisoned?" I asked, tapping my chin.

"I don't know, but we're going to figure it out." Damian's tone of voice was chilly. I knew if I didn't know him I'd be scared of him.

Damian might kill people for a living but he was also a complete teddy bear.

"No, think about it logically and with a lot less emotion. There was no way for a fast acting poison to be slipped into my food or drinks. This was most likely a slow acting poison. You're going to want to make your men search farther back than the security tapes from the day before." I explained my thoughts.

Tobias was super paranoid about being poisoned, so he watched our food obsessively. There was no way someone was getting into our food supply without our noticing. Anyway, I hadn't tasted anything wrong with my food. Plus, if the would-be-assassin had access to our food, I wouldn't be the one they were concerned with. Not with my powerful and scary big brothers in the same room.

Tobias entered the room long enough to hear the last bit of my speech. He seemed to agree, if his nodding was anything to go by.

"When dealing with cases like this, poisoning cases that is, nurses have to check for needle marks and none were found." Tobias leaned forward as he spoke. His lips brushed across my forehead, his hand cupping the entire side of my face. He moved away and then leaned on the wall to the left of my bed, so I could turn and look at him.

"Not needles and not food. Huh. I'm honestly kind of flattered they put this much thought into this." I muttered. Sinclair muttered something that definitely wasn't english while rubbing a hand over his face while Damian's lips twitched with what I knew was the need to laugh.

"Only you, darling." Zion smiled incredulously.

I messed with a crinkle in my blanket, fingers trembling against my will. As calm as I was trying to be, it was a rather frightening thing to know someone tried to kill me.

"Does that mean it could happen again?" I asked, voice quiet. It was the closest I'd come to sounding timid while with my brothers and I was pretty sure they were more than a little taken aback by the sound.

Damian's lips curled again, this time not fighting laughter but to form a snarl. I'd rarely seen my youngest brother that angry.

I mean, sure, while he was killing people he was angry but that was more irritation that they ruined his new shoes (he complained for days) than actual anger. And there was more maniacal glee than rage.

"Never." Was all he said. That was all it took for my nervous shakes to vanish.

I smiled up at him, causing his snarl to soften into something warm and slightly awed. He kissed the top of my head, lingering there for a minute to smooth my hair down with a hand once more, before bouncing back with a large smile on his face. I'd gotten the impression I'd done something important but couldn't figure out what.

"Excuse me?" Someone entered the room, head popping in before the rest of their body followed. It was a doctor. This guy seemed to have learned from the last one to watch what he said because he stood there, nervously fidgeting, for a long minute before flipping through some papers on his clipboard.

"Is there anything we can help you with?" Zion didn't sound pleased. The doctor audibly gulped, almost loosing his grip on his clipboard. Either we were so scary that his hands were shaking really bad or his hands were really sweaty.

Ew. Hand sweat.

Gag.

"I'm Dr. Melendez, I'm here to take Ms. Gemma to her C.A.T scan?" Dr. Melendez said, though it came out as more of a question than a statement. I pursed my lips. I'd never had a C.A.T scan before but I'd heard that they were strange.

Well, I was never one to turn down a new experience.

As long as it wasn't a lumbar puncture. Those things hurt like a mother-trucker. And this is the author talking from experience here.

Never do a lumbar puncture. It's a five inch needle going straight into your spine while you're laying/sitting in fetal position so doctors can take your spinal fluid and test it. It hurts.

Anywho, Sinclair stepped to the farthest side of the room with the doctor trotting behind him obediently. My elder brother was probably going to scare the poor man more than he already was. I pitied the guy.

"I think I'm going to go grab some food. What do you want, Gem?" Damian asked, his phone in one hand while he tapped something out. I thought about it for a second.

Waffles sounded good, but so did pasta. Who am I kidding, pasta always sounded good. But Chinese... Ooh, Chinese. Yep, okay, decision made.

"I want a burger." I blurted. I blamed the McDonald's commercial silently showcasing their newest artery clogging meat patty that I wasn't even sure was real meat.

My brain said Chinese, my mouth said McDonalds. This had to be part of some evil conspiracy or something.

"One burger for one princess coming up. The rest of you can order in." Damian laughed before skipping from the room. I chuckled, coughing when the air went down the wrong pipe.

Has that happened to anyone else?

Well, it caused a commotion. Sinclair shoved the doctor in my direction, the man stumbling over his feet so as not to face-plant, and Tobias's hands fluttering as he tried to find some way to help. Zion stood anxiously to the side, only moving to step out of Dr. Melendez's way.

"Dudes, I'm fine. Chill." I said, recovering what was left of my dignity.

"Are you sure? Does anything hurt? Can you breathe properly?" Tobias asked, one hand on the side of my face and forcing me to look him in the eyes, the other hand gripping the spot my pulse was at in my wrist. I think it reassured him that I was fine so I let him.

"I'm sure, nothing hurts, and I can breathe fine. Stop being a worry-wart." I poked his cheek in the hopes he would stop fussing if he knew my annoying-big-brother powers were in working condition.

"I'm sorry, sweetheart, but you gave us a good spook. We're going to mother hen you for a while." Sinclair chuckled at my dismayed look. Oh no. How could I be a rebellious almost-teenager if they were mother henning me?

Wait, what rebellious acts did I unknowingly plan?

Did I even want to rebel?

Was it even considered a rebellion if my family partook in illegal actions daily?

Scratch all of the above, where was my burger?

But, anyways, I did suppose rebelling sounded like a nice idea for a boring afternoon. Could spice up life. But not the point.

"I would suggest Gemma staying another night for observation, and then being permitted to leave. If all of her tests come back normal, that is." The doctor spoke above the beginnings of my asking about said burgers whereabouts.

Don't judge. You try being asleep for five days and not being hungry.

Zion wrapped an arm around me, using the doctor speaking as a distraction to sneak on the bed with me. I giggled into my fist, shuffling over to make room for him. Tobias looked down at us with a smile, then rolled his eyes and continued listening to the medical nonsense coming from the doctor.

After a while, my head started to pound again and I turned into Zion's chest to try and get away from the light. He started stroking my back, lulling me into a deep sleep. Hadn't I slept enough? Why was I still so exhausted?

Like, I got why, but ugh. What a pain.

"Z?" I muttered, yawning. He hummed down at me, shifting so that he could look at me.

"Yeah, bubba?" Zion's voice was quiet. I then realized that the entire room was silent, other than hushed breathing coming from close by. Apparently one or more of my brothers had ushered the doctor along. Typical.

"You smell like a hospital. It's revolting." I grumbled.

Zion's chest moved as he laughed, heaving up and down in a way that jostled me from my comfortable position. I whined and smooshed my hand against his shoulder, attempting to hold him down so I could get my pillow back. He gasped as he tried to stop moving, but it didn't work very well.

It took a few seconds for him to regain control of his spasms. I then laid my head back down on his shoulder, where it smelled least like a hospital. I shoved my face into his neck, grateful his faint cologne masked the smell entirely. I could still taste it whenever I opened my mouth, but I was picking my battles.

"Love you, Z." I mumbled, then finally fell asleep.

Of course I didn't know that the first time I told my brother I loved him, I'd be in a hospital bed with him about to doze off right under me. But who said I was one for normal circumstances?