"Don't worry, I called Nathan. He should be here soon," Eric said, running his fingers gingerly along the bruise, careful not to make any real contact. "I could kill that little bastard," he said tightly.

"Nathan?" she asked, trying to lighten the mood. Thankfully it worked. Eric rolled his eyes. "No, not Nathan."

"It's over," she said, hoping he'd let it go. She didn't want to think about tonight or what could have happened if things had gone differently.

Eric stood up and busied himself with cleaning up his dinner mess rather than respond to her. "When Nathan gets here you're taking your pills," he informed her.

She snorted then winced when pain shot through her temple. "Pain medication doesn't work for me," she argued, pressing the tips of her fingers against her temple in hopes that the pressure would soothe the pain. It didn't.

"They'll help you sleep," Eric pointed out, positioning the television so that it once again faced the bed. Joe didn't bother telling him that the glare from the television was hurting her eyes. That would just make him more determined to force the pain pills down her throat and she was not taking them.

They didn't work for her so she didn't see the point in taking them. Besides if she took them then she wouldn't be allowed to return to work tomorrow. Not that she thought anything would happen, but if anything did she could get in trouble for having narcotics in her system.

"No, they won't and I'm not taking them and that's final," she said as firmly as she could manage without pain and turned over onto her side to face away from the television. A few seconds later she could have kissed Eric when he shut off the bedroom light. Some of the pain shooting through her skull faded. Not that she would tell him.

When she felt him climb onto the bed and settle next to her she sighed contently and closed her eyes, more than willing to spend the next three or four hours struggling to fall asleep as long as Eric was with her. Just knowing he was okay helped ease some of her discomfort.

He placed his hand on her blanket clad hip and gave it a gentle squeeze. "Yes, you are."

"No, I'm not," she said in the same stern voice.

"We'll see."

"No, we won't," she promised him, snuggling back against his body.

"I just left in the middle of a date," Nathan suddenly announced, "so you better believe you're taking the pills even if we have to hold you down and shove a tube down your throat!"

Joe rolled over to glare at Nathan as he stalked into the room, loosening his tie. She narrowed her eyes on him. "You wouldn't dare."

Chapter 11

"We didn't kill her, did we?" Nathan asked nervously as he glanced down at Joe.

Eric shifted her in his arms, careful to keep her arms pinned against her sides as he raised one hand to check her carotid artery. "Strong and steady. She's just out," he said, gently pulling away from her so he could lay her on the bed. As he got to his feet Nathan pulled the covers up and tucked her in.

"Thanks for getting the pills," Eric said, rubbing his sore shoulder. She'd put up a hell of a fight. It wasn't because the pills were a waste of time and wouldn't work like she'd claimed the entire time they'd wrestled with her to make her take the damn things. No, the reason that she damn near kneed him in the balls was very simple. She thought she was going to work tomorrow.

Not f**king happening.

She had fifteen stitches in her head for f**k sake and needed to rest, but would she listen to either one of them? Not a chance. She actually pointed out that the injury was on her forehead and wouldn't interfere with her doing her job or lifting a patient.

Joe was too damn stubborn and this little incident just showed him that she needed to get the hell out of the field. She was a young, beautiful woman and it was just so wrong on so many levels that this job was her life.

He knew she'd fight him every inch of the way, but once he had her off the rig for good she'd thank him. She needed to start enjoying her life and he knew she wouldn't allow herself to do that as long as she worked on the ambulance. Once he found her something else to do he knew it would only be a matter of time before she realized it was the best thing for her.

"Mom's going to wring our necks," Nathan unnecessarily pointed out.

It pretty much went without saying that their mother would throttle them when she found out that they kept this from her. The woman truly believed that they were incapable of taking care of themselves when they were sick. It didn't matter that two of them were EMT's with more medical experience than her, she was their mother plain and simple and only she could take care of them.

Eric looked over at his brother and grimaced. The man's obviously tailored suit was now a mass of wrinkles thanks to the ten minute wrestling match Joe insisted upon before they could get her to take the damn pills. In the end they'd been forced to shove the pills in her mouth, clamp a hand over her mouth to stop her from spitting them out again, and pinch her nose shut until she swallowed them.

"You might want to throw your suit in the dryer before you go back to your date," Eric pointed out, fighting back a yawn. Today had been too damn long.

Nate shrugged out of his coat and tossed it on the chair in the corner. "It's already late and I'd rather not have to get dressed and come back here in four hours to do this all over again when she wakes up."

Eric didn't think ten o'clock was too late to go back and finish his date, but if the man was offering to stay and help with the next wrestling match then he wasn't going to be stupid enough to point it out. He was however curious.

"Is everything okay?" he asked, sitting on the edge of the bed to pull off his socks and pants while Nathan did the same on the chair.

"With what?" Nathan asked, yanking off his shoes.

"With Caitlyn," Eric said, wondering if his brother was already starting to pull away from the woman. The man had a nasty habit of dumping women that in Eric's opinion were damn near perfect for his brother.

"Nothing's wrong. She's great."

So were the other women that had come and gone out of his brother's life over the past ten years, but tonight wasn't the night to bring up the sad expression on his brother's face. Tonight he was exhausted.

"I'm going to take a quick shower," Eric said, grabbing a pair of fresh boxer briefs from Joe's bureau. He ignored Nathan's amused expression and went to bathroom where he took a long hot shower. It helped relax his muscles, but it did nothing to calm his nerves.

The only thing that helped was seeing Joe safely curled up in bed sleeping. He wasn't too surprised to discover Nathan lying on top of Joe's old sleeping bag on the floor. Although none of them had a problem sleeping in the same bed together since it had been a necessity on more than one family outing when they were kids, however none of those experiences had ended well for Nathan.

Odd things just seemed to happen to Nathan when the three of them shared a bed. Most of the time he'd end up falling off the bed, but on more than one occasion he'd ended up with a few minor injuries like a bump on the head, a knee to the groin, a few broken fingers and a broken nose. They were accidents no matter what Nathan claimed, but they were still unsettling.

Even last October when they'd gone up to Maine for a weekend and been forced to share a tent hadn't ended well for Nathan. How the poor bastard ended up being shoved out of the pup tent into the rain, he still didn't know. Not that he had cared at the time since he'd been happily snuggled up with a very warm Joe.

He carefully crawled into bed with Joe and pulled her into his arms. She immediately relaxed back into his arms and let out a content little sigh.

"How long do you think they'll keep her on light duty for?" Nathan whispered.

Eric sighed heavily. "Normally they'd probably keep her on light duty for a week, but knowing how stubborn she is, she'll probably manage to get back to work in a few days."

"I still can't believe a mental patient attacked a cop and went for his gun. You're both lucky that he didn't get it free," Nathan pointed out. Eric's arms tightened around Joe. They had been lucky, but it had been close, very close. When he spoke to Nathan earlier on the phone he left off the little fact that the patient had managed to switch the safety off just seconds before Joe's little stunt.

Joe's little groan had him loosening his hold and pressing a kiss to the top of her head. He had to figure a way to get Joe the hell off the truck before something bad happened.

"Nathan?"

"Yeah?"

"Are you still looking for a secretary?" he asked, glad that it was too dark for his brother to see the calculating expression on his face.

Nathan sighed heavily. "Yeah, business is really taking off and I could use a hand in the office to free up some of my time. Why? Do you know someone?" he asked, sounding eager.

Eric couldn't help but smile. This was going to be too easy. He knew how much Nathan's internet company meant to him. He'd built it from the ground up when he was barely sixteen years old. It was his baby, his pride and joy and he knew the man was nervous about letting anyone near it.

This was perfect. Joe needed a new job and Nathan needed someone he trusted. He mentally congratulated himself on his fast work. This was going to be easier than he thought.

"Joe," he simply said.

"Joe, what? Is she awake?" Nathan asked. Eric heard the telltale sound of the sleeping bag zipper being pulled down and wasn't too surprised to find Nathan standing next to the bed, peering down at Joe nervously. The man clearly wanted to make sure Joe was okay and what better way to do that then to give her a safe job?

Too f**king easy.

"She's fine."

"Oh," was Nathan's obviously confused response.

"I meant you should hire Joe."

There was a heavy pause before Nathan snorted his reply. "No way. No f**king way in hell. Not happening."

"What the hell do you mean 'no way'?" Eric demanded, shifting Joe out his arms so that he could sit up and properly glare at his brother.

Nathan simply turned his back on him and returned to the safety of his sleeping bag. "Just what I said. There's no way in hell that I'm hiring Joe. Besides, she has a job already. A good job I might add."

"Why the hell wouldn't you hire Joe?" Eric demanded, unable to stop himself from feeling insulted on her behalf. "She's a good worker, never late, and she works her ass off."

"She's also stubborn, pushy, and would laugh her ass off the first time I asked her to do something," Nathan pointed out.

Eric opened his mouth to argue, but then closed it, realizing that he was right. Nathan would probably fire Joe's ass within the first hour. Joe was a great EMT and never argued or copped an attitude with one of their supervisors, but she'd have a hard time taking orders from a pushover like Nathan.