"Now I will finish what I started. You should have never gotten involved," the gunman sneered as he steadied his automatic weapon. "Good-bye."

Jason closed his eyes, waiting for the last sound that he would ever hear. He felt Adam's hand grab his arm with enormous strength.

BANG!

Expecting to feel pain, Jason braced himself for the inevitable fatal shot. But the only thing he heard was the agonized cry of the gunman, who fell to the ground just a few feet from him. At first, Jason did not know what to think, but then he made out the familiar face of Nathan.

"I had to... protect my sister. I ... got her... into this and I was going... to get her out of it," Nathan sputtered then he fell to the ground not far from the gunman. Jason ran over to the gunman and retrieved his weapon. He turned the man over and felt for a pulse, but Nathan had shot their assailant dead. Then he made his way to Christine, who was still huddled on the ground in a panic.

"Christine? Are you all right?" Jason asked quietly.

It was if Jason's voice brought her back to reality. "Are we still alive? What happened? What happened?"

"Nathan shot him. He saved our lives," Jason replied quietly. "Where were you shot at?"

"Nathan? Nathan did it. He is alive! Where is he?" She asked. Jason pointed to Nathan, who was barely moving around on the ground. Christine immediately started to get up. Her wounded leg shot sharp pains up her side, but she did not care. She had to see Nathan. She nearly crawled to his side and started to look after him. Jason took off his shirt and tore it into long pieces. He took a few pieces over to Christine.

"Here use these on the wounds, including the one on your leg. I will take care of Adam and Chuck," Jason called out. Christine followed his directions. "Just do your best since it is still dark."

Jason then turned his attention to the direction of his brother. He ran over and knelt beside his younger brother, who was still doubled over.

"Adam, are you okay?" Jason asked. He was worried about the gunshot. If help did not come soon, Adam could bleed to death.

"It just stings really bad. I guess my sweat is running across it," Adam said as he clenched his teeth. "But I will be fine, check on Chuck."

"I will check on Chuck in a minute. I know that you were shot and we need to keep you from bleeding to death before help gets here."

"Shot? I haven't been shot!"

"What do you mean? I saw you fall when the shots rang out?"

"Christine pulled me down. I just split my stitches open again and they sting like bloody murder! Go and check on Chuck. I will be fine," Adam called out. Nothing in his life had stung like this, but he knew that he was going to be fine. He was worried about Chuck. Jason ran over to the last place that they saw Chuck. Catching a glimpse of a figure about 10 feet down the hill, Jason ran over to the body.

"Chuck! Were you shot?" Jason asked as he knelt down to check on Chuck.

"They got me in the shoulder, but I will be fine," Chuck answered. "I was just afraid to move until you came down here."

Jason felt relieved that no one, except Nathan had suffered any serious injuries. He helped Chuck get up so he could be with the rest of the group. Sirens could be heard in the distance. It was a welcome sound to all ears. When the deputies rolled into the driveway and shouted out, Jason called out for help. Soon the squad was there to treat all of the victims. The first to be hauled out was Nathan. Nathan was shot once in the stomach and in the collarbone area. Since he was the most serious, they transported him first with Christine by his side. She smiled at Jason from the back of the squad and mouthed the word, "thanks". Then the door closed and they were off for St. Mary's. Then Chuck was loaded. The paramedics had stabilized his shoulder. Smiling at Jason, he pointed with his good hand towards an attractive auxiliary sheriff deputy that would be riding with him to the hospital to wait for his parents. Jason knew that Chuck was in good hands. Then they brought Adam down. At about that time, Carl pulled into the driveway. Frantic, he ran up to the group. Seeing Jason first, he quickly hugged his older son.

'Thank God you are all right! You should have waited!" Carl said looking at his son.

"Would you have waited if it was you?" Jason asked. His father looked at him quizzically.

"First of all, I am an adult," Carl started in. But then he paused for a minute. "No, I would not have waited. But we will talk about this later. How is Adam?"

"He just busted his stitches open. They are going to patch it for us and then I told them that I would take him to the hospital to have them stitch him back up," Jason replied. His father nodded in agreement.

"You will be happy to know that they not only got Windell, but his brother as well. They got them off guard at Windell's house," Carl added. "It seems that those boxes hold the key to many operations that the state department has been looking into for years. I don't think that Windell is going to be teaching anymore."

Jason smiled at that thought. "Good, no one will be hurt at the hands of those two every again."

"But they are still just a small part of the big picture. We just hope that it is the beginning of a long list of arrests to be made," Carl said as he patted his son on the back. "And to think that my sons started it all."

After Adam had been released, the Kramers checked in on Chuck. The doctors said that he would be fine. The bullet had passed through a fleshy area of the shoulder and it was a clean bullet wound. They would be bandaging Chuck up and sending him home to rest. As for Nathan, he was taken into surgery the minute he was brought to the hospital. Adam saw Christine sitting in the waiting room; her leg was bandaged up from the gunshot wound. Walking over, the three Kramer men inquired about both of their conditions.

"I am fine. They just cleaned the wound. I guess the bullet just grazed me. I was lucky and the baby is fine. Nathan is in surgery right now. The bullet is lodged by his liver and went through part of his colon. They are just going to cut that part of the colon off and remove the bullet. He will be out in a few days," Christine said with a wry smile.

"Did you get a hold of your step-father?" Carl asked. He did not want her to be all alone at this time.

"Yes, he is on his way. One of the nurses is contacted a social worker. I spoke to her on the phone and she is going to try to contact my Aunt Linda. She was my mother's sister and she always said that if I needed a place to stay, to just call. She liked Nathan too. I think that would be best considering the circumstances," Christine answered, patting her stomach area. "I know that what Nathan did was wrong, but he saved our lives up there. I went along with this plan too so I should have to accept some responsibility. He was just desperate to support all of us since Dad sort of is out of the picture and I didn't want to go into foster care or something."

"You should have said something. We could have helped you," Adam said, reaching out to hug he gently. Christine started to cry a little. She could not believe that through everything that she had put the Kramers through, they would still care about her well being.

"I am sorry for all of the pain I have caused you and your family. I hope that your girlfriend gives you a second chance and I promise, I will let the town know that you are not the father," Christine said with a sniffle.

"They probably already know," Carl said with a smile. Nothing was secret in a small town like Emerald Beach.

The group must have thought the same thing as they each chuckled at Carl's comment. "Please excuse me a minute, I am going to call your mother. The last time I talked to her was before they took Adam back for his stitches." Carl walked over the vacant public phone, leaving the boys with Christine.

Christine at first looked awkward with being with the two brothers. She had caused them so much trouble. She used to enjoy that, but now she felt horrible about it.

"Jason, I am sorry about causing trouble between you and Adam. When I was little, I know that I caused many fights, but I was young. I also want to thank you saving my life and my daughter's life," She said with a smile. "I am not the best person, but I know when I owe something and I owe you both everything."

At first, Jason was taken back by her statement. "We are older now and things are different. But it was Nathan that saved us in the end."

"Jason, if we would have stayed in that house and if you guys had not done a little investigating, I would have been dead," Christine replied, holing her hand out. "Truce?"

Jason grabbed her hand with a smile. "Truce."

"Adam, you are the best friend that I ever had. I will always care about you and I hope you remember me if things with Alyssa don't go too well," Christine said with a grin. She was beautiful, but Adam just did not feel the same about her. He loved her as a friend, nothing more. 'I do plan to name my daughter after you because you are the only father figure that she has known so to say."

"Uh?" Adam answered. His face turned pale.

"I thought that she could use a godfather. I hope that you will accept the challenge. I have been sitting here, trying to think of a female name that is like Adam, and it hit me. Amanda. I am going to call her Amanda," Christine said proudly. Adam and Jason both grinned at each other. Jason patted his younger brother on the back.

"I guess I could handle that one," Adam said. "So that means that Jason is going to be an uncle so to speak after all." The group all laughed for a minute, joking with each other about the future.

"I think her middle name will be after my mother," Christine said. Just then a lady in a flowered dress walked up to the group of teenagers.

"Are you Christine Michaels?" she asked.

"Yes," Christine replied.

"My name is Amelia Strong. I have contacted your aunt and she making plans to come down here as soon as she can get a flight out of Sacramento. We need to go and discuss some things. Do you have the time?"

"Sure, I have a lot of time," Christine remarked. Then she turned to the boys. "I will call you when I get settled... as a friend."

Adam nodded in agreement and watched as Christine walked with the social worker to the nurse's station and then to the cafeteria.

"This is going to be interesting," Jason remarked, crossing his arms with a coy smile.

"What?"

"My little brother is going to be a new goddaddy. That means diaper changing, feedings and..." Jason said, but he was cut off by Adam.

"That is for the real mommy and the uncle. This goddaddy will take over once that stage is over!" Adam said with a chuckle. "Then it will be car shows, surfing, rock concerts..."

Jason just rolled his eyes, as Adam's list grew longer by the second. Soon their father joined them and they returned home for a good meal and a nice warm and safe bed.

In the following days, all of Raymond's men were now jailed after being released from the hospital except for the one who died. Nathan was cleared of the death in the name of self-defense. However, he was placed on probation for his part in the whole plan since Christine was a minor. After his recovery, he went to live with Christine and her aunt in Sacramento and enrolled in a community college as part of his probation agreement. He was going to finish his nursing degree and serve community service hours helping out at a runaway teen center.

After getting plenty of rest, the next day Adam called Alyssa to meet him out at their favorite place at the lake. Jason, along with Kara, drove him out to Orchard Lake since their mother did not think it was a good idea that he drive while the stitches were still fresh.

"Good luck little brother," Jason said as he left Adam with a cell phone and his secret surprise. But Jason did not go far. He simply circled around and took up his usual spot across the lake where he could keep an eye on Adam, much to Kara's dismay.

"I don't want to leave him out here alone. What if he had a seizure or something?" Jason would always comment, so Kara decided to just enjoy the sun as it was settling in for its night slumber.

Within five minutes, the familiar Cherokee came into sight. Adam met it and helped Alyssa get into her wheelchair.

"Okay, she is there, let's go," Kara said, but Jason did not budge. With a sigh, she sat back down.

Adam placed Alyssa where he wanted her and helped her put the brakes on the wheelchair.

"I know that this has been a rough time for us and I wanted to let you know again, how I feel about you," Adam said. Then he reached behind a bush and pulled out a guitar.

"I learned this song a while back and even though it is not my style, it said everything that I feel about you," Adam said. Instantly, Adam started to play the familiar chords of the song, "Everything I Do, I Do it for You" by Bryan Adams. He sang every word and Alyssa watched as if she was hypnotized by his voice.

Jason was in shock. "I didn't know that he still played that thing! I didn't know that he could sing that well either." Kara was also shocked, but decided to make the most of her boyfriend's spying. She gently hugged him.

After Adam had finished the song, he looked at Alyssa. Tears streamed down her face as she motioned him to come closer. Adam laid the guitar down and knelt beside her.

"I never stopped loving you Adam," Alyssa said, holding his chin up. Then she kissed him. It seemed like forever, but Adam had never been so happy. He had the love of his life back. "Are you going to sing me another one?"

Adam smiled as he walked over and pulled out the portable CD stereo. "No, I think my lips are needed for something more important. I will leave the singing up to Jon Bon Jovi." With that, he pushed play and the familiar tunes that they had once shared as reminders of their love filled the air.

"Can you believe that! When are they going to come up for air!" Jason called out. But Kara quickly turned his face towards hers and kissed him gently on the lips.

"Well, I THINK that you need to take some romance lessons from your little brother if you ask me?" Kara said with a teasing voice.

"WHAT! I have been dating you for how long and I NEED to take lessons from Adam?" Jason snorted. Then what Kara was getting at suddenly hit him.

"Well I can't sing, but I can do something better," Jason said, getting close to Kara's face. He was a sucker for those blue eyes.

"And what is that, may I ask?" Kara replied in a playful voice.

Jason leaned in and sweetly kissed her.

"That was nice," She replied again. "How did you learn that?"

"Years of experience from a great kisser," Jason answered.

"And who may that be?" Kara retorted in a sly manner.

"Some beautiful blue eyed blond," Jason said, kissing her again.

"Do you think that Adam is going to stick to this type of music now?"