Part II

Brian held his younger sister in his arms and murmured words of comfort. His eyes were trained on his traitorous best friend who was leaning guiltily against the door. Brian couldn’t believe he had trusted Jim all these years! How could I have been so wrong about him? Brian asked himself, tightening his protective hold on his sister.

Trixie’s sobs were abating now and she was able to find her voice. "Oh, Brian," she started weakly, "it was so awful!"

Brian shot daggers across the room at Jim and Jim actually cringed at the violence behind that look.

"I know, Trixie," Brian crooned in his best doctor-to-be soothing tone. "I’m here now, you’ll be okay.

Trixie looked up into the eyes of her serious big brother and her eyes filled with fresh tears. "I was SO scared!" she cried.

Brian again murmured words of comfort to his sister but his face grew red with the restrained anger he was experiencing.

Jim wanted to explain to Brian that the situation was not as it seemed. "Brian, you need to know what happened," he started quietly from across the room.

"Jim, if you value our friendship at all, I suggest you don’t speak another word," Brian said in a deathly quiet tone.

Brian moved his sister away from his chest so he could better look into her tear-stained face. "Trixie, did he hurt you?" he asked urgently.

Before Trixie could answer there was another pounding on the door directly behind Jim that made him jump violently.

Trixie and Jim shared a surprised look across the room at another unexpected visitor.

"Trixie, I know you’re in there, let me in!" boomed a male voice from the other side of the door.

Trixie and Jim were both completely confused by this turn of events. "Mart?" Trixie questioned aloud and moved away from Brian to open the door, still wrapped in the large towel.

Mart took one look at his sister’s puffy eyes and wet cheeks and jumped inside the room.

"My god, Trixie, what happened to you?!" he demanded.

"Mart, what are you doing in New York?" Trixie demanded at the same time.

Mart took his sister’s face in his hands and gently wiped away her tears. He slowly took in her slightly-clad appearance.

"Trixie," he started quietly, "why are you standing in only a towel?" Mart’s gaze shifted over to Jim’s nearby semi-clad form. "And why is Jim standing here without a shirt or socks on?" He was starting to think that something nefarious had occurred before he arrived. Then, his eyes met Brian’s stormy expression and he became really angry.

With lightly reigned, indignant anger, Mart turned to Jim and asked him quietly, "Jim, why does Brian look like he wants to practice forensic science on your far-deceased corpse?"

Trixie was worried that all of the alpha-male tempers were going to explode in her little dormroom. Jim took a deep breath and gazed steadily at Mart, trying to come up with the right words to explain what had actually occurred.

Jim was just about to answer the Belden brothers when a dainty knock danced upon the door. Jim and Trixie shared another confused expression.

"Hello, anyone in there?" a female voice called tentatively.

"Di?" Jim was really confused as to what was going on but he quickly opened the door to a very worried Diana Lynch. She stepped inside the deathly quiet room, nervously biting her lip at the tension suffocating in the air.

"Trixie, I’m sorry, I tried to stop Mart from barging in, but he jumped out of the car before we even stopped moving!" Di started plaintively, beseeching her friend to understand.

Trixie was very confused as to why Mart and Di were now standing in her dormroom when they weren’t even supposed to be in the state of New York!

"It’s okay, Di," Trixie answered feebly, very tired by all of the emotions that she had experienced in the last ten minutes. She automatically tightened the loosening towel around her and moved to sit heavily upon her bed. Jim yearned to move over and sit with her but he realized that action would be very foolish with her angry brothers in the room.

Brian took that moment to turn and advance on Jim. He stood right in Jim’s face and demanded, "Explain yourself, Frayne."

Mart moved over by the young men while Di went to sit on the bed with Trixie, giving her a big side-hug.

"Yeah, Jim, what’s going on here?" asked Mart, less harshly than his older brother. Mart knew his near-twin well enough to know that nothing Jim had done had made her upset. His instincts told him that something had made Trixie upset, though.

"It’s really not what you think, Brian," Jim started, then corrected his phrasing. "Well, it is partially what you are thinking but…"

"You took advantage of my SISTER?" demanded Brian, his usual calm demeanor being replaced by a flash of temper.

"No, I swear to you, I didn’t do anything that Trixie didn’t want," Jim answered.

Brian moved so that his forehead was literally against Jim’s. "Yeah, I’ll bet she WANTED it, but was she ready for it?"

Jim looked right into his friend’s eyes and prayed for him to understand.

"Brian, will you knock it off, please?" Trixie cried pathetically from across the room and broke down into sobs again.

"Brian, don’t you see that you are upsetting Trixie further," demanded Mart by his brother’s side. "We have no clue what really happened but you aren’t improving the situation in the least by your actions!"

At that moment, a quick knock sounded at the door and Dan immediately entered.

Trixie, completely stupefied by the appearance of yet one more unexpected Bobwhite, asked through her tears, "Dan, what are you doing here?"

Dan stopped dead in his tracks and took in the scene. His eyes moved from the angry face-off of Brian and Jim literally in each other’s faces, Jim only half-clad, and Trixie’s tearful face as she sat on her bed in a towel, with Di’s comforting arm about her. Di exchanged a bewildered but concerned look with Dan.

"Whoa," Dan started slowly, "what exactly is going on here? Trixie, why have you been crying?And Brian, why are you in Jim’s face like that? And Jim, why aren’t you or Trixie dressed?"

Brian inched back slightly from Jim to yell at Dan, "That’s what we are trying to find out!" He look back at Jim with a scowl and continued loudly, "I got home early this morning from the hospital to find Trixie’s number on the caller ID but no message on the machine. When I called Trixie’s apartment, a very sleepy Jim answered the phone!"

"What?" Dan was astounded, "I know you told Mart you were on your way over to Trixie’s apartment and that he should join you, but I didn’t know the reason why!"

Jim turned towards Dan and tried to explain again. "Dan, it’s not really what you are all thinking!"

"I guess the rest of your clothes just magically fell off your body and you were knocked unconscious to be lying in my sister’s bed?" demanded Brian, his tone increasing more in volume with every word.

Jim’s temper was starting to get the best of him. "Brian, will you just shut up and let me tell you what happened?" he yelled back.

"Don’t you tell my brother to shut up!" yelled Mart, advancing towards Jim.

"You don’t need to tell me what happened, we can guess for ourselves!" shouted Brian at the same time.

"Will you all just STOP IT?!" screamed Trixie simultaneously, now on her feet with tears streaming down her face.

A piercing whistle cut through the tension in the room and everyone stopped and looked to the door.

There stood Honey inside the open door, fingers still at her lips and multiple suitcases at her feet.