Her junior year of school had ended. Without school, she basically spent all her time in the hospital with Michael, waiting and hoping that he'd wake up.

           Her hopes had been answered. She didn't have to wait long because he woke up only a week after school ended. She was the first one to see him awake.

           She had been drawing as she sat beside his bed in a chair. Then she heard his voice say her name.

           She looked up in surprise with wide eyes. He blinked his eyes open tiredly and she stared at him for a split second before she lunged herself at him.

          "Michael," she exclaimed as she hugged him tightly while tears burned her eyes. She had missed him for so long. "I've missed you so much."

"Missed me?" he furrowed his eyebrows as he wrapped his arms around her to return the hug but found his arms felt so weak he couldn't sustain it for long. "But why am I here? How long have I been here, Brynn?"

"You don't remember?" she asked as she pulled away.

"I wouldn't be asking if I did," he replied and her eyes turned downwards sadly.

"Brynn," he grabbed her hand. "What happened?"

"Well, it happened to both of us..." she started.

"What did?"

_____

Michael had no recollection of the shooting whereas it echoed in her mind everyday. But she wouldn't have wanted him to remember like she did. It was more peaceful if he didn't remember.

It took a month for Michael to recover from waking up from his coma as he had to do physical therapy. But something that had changed with Michael from the brain trauma is that he got angry quite easily. He was like a fuse waiting to explode.

He never got angry with her but with everyone else. Mostly it was triggered by insults by people like Kiefer (who was dating Kristina) or by their mother who Michael felt like he was being controlled.

The recovery was difficult for Michael and, sometimes, he felt like a different person. But she had her twin back and that heavy weight was lifted from her chest.

Even though Michael was never angry with her, things had changed between them. Since she still had the memory of the shooting she was content to live inside the confines of her room drawing whereas Michael wanted to actually live.

Usually he didn't say anything about her want to stay at the house, but tonight he did. Michael planned to go meet Kristina at Jake's (a bar) and he wanted her to come with him. At first, she had denied him before he lectured her.

"You spend all your time drawing life but you don't actually live," Michael said. "I know that you remember the shooting and I don't. But you can't let that stop you."

She ended up going. Kristina was so ecstatic that she arrived.

"Oh my god. You got her to come," Kristina smiled before she grabbed her hand to pull her into the small crowd. "Before you decide to inevitably leave, you are dancing."

Brynn looked back at Michael with wide eyes. He chuckled in amusement as Kristina pulled her into the dancing crowd. Eventually, she did dance and it was fun. She had a wide smile on her face.

But then a guy ruined it when he groped her ass.

"Don't touch me," she glared at him.

"Come on," he smirked. "It'll be fun."

"She said no asshole," Kristina defended.

He went to grab her again but she smacked his hand away, "I said don't touch me."

He shook his head with a small glare as he muttered, "Brain damaged freak."

"What did you call my sister?" Michael stepped forward.

"You heard me," the guy said.

Michael went to attack the guy but Brynn placed a hand on his arm, "Don't. There's no use getting in trouble for something we can have somebody else do."

"What do you mean?" Michael asked.

"Come on," she pulled on his hand and he followed along with Kristina outside.

Brynn had brought her bodyguard, Henry. He was on the younger side and utterly loyal. She failed to notice his eyes light up whenever he saw her.

"What are you going to do?" Kristina asked.

She didn't answer as she got Henry to follow them back inside.

"You see him?" she pointed the guy that groped her. "He grabbed me. I want you to give him a black eye."

Henry moved automatically into action, "Consider it done."

They watched as Henry pushed through the crowd with his tall figure before he punched the guy that grabbed her. He fell to the ground unconscious with one punch.

"I cannot believe you just did that," Kristina stared in awe.

"See?" Brynn smiled as she looked at Michael who had an amazed smile on his face; Brynn had always been smarter, the mastermind. "No trouble."

_____

But there was trouble. There had been talk around Port Charles what happened at Jake's. She was reprimanded for sneaking out with Michael to go to a party by her mother but now she was receiving a lecture by her father and her uncle.

"What makes you think that you could use your bodyguard as a weapon for violence?" Sonny lectured as she sat in his office.

"A guy grabbed me," she crossed her arms. "So I took care of it."

"Okay," Jason lectured. "But you're not the judge, Brynn. You don't get to decide a sentence."

"And you are seventeen," Sonny pointed out. "You're my daughter. You do not take care of anything."

"Well, I did," she pointed out and Sonny couldn't help but shake his head with a small smile before he sighed.

"I'm sure this lowlife deserved it, sweetheart," Sonny said. "But your bodyguard is only there to be your guard. And you certainly do not give him orders."

"Fine," she pouted.

Brynn didn't see what was so wrong. She took care of a problem. It was what her father did all of the time as a mob boss. And what she did was so minuscule compared to what he did to people.