The Revelation

I didn't even

~Fifteen years later

At the NJC

Shane's pov

When our second youngest answered my call, I said, "Lisa sweetheart, I need you to come down to the Center right away." Thankfully, Lisa was home since she only had one class to teach today and that was at 8am.

"Why? Is something wrong?" Lisa asked nervously, hearing the earnestness in my voice.

"We'll talk about it when you get here. Ok, luv?"

"Alright, just give me a little bit to get Jax and Amy ready to go," Lisa said, as I heard her calling her two youngest kids down, the other three were still in school.

"No, don't bring the kids. You can drop them off at the house with Kimberly."

"Why can't I bring the kids?" Lisa was surprised I wouldn't want to see them.

"PLEASE JUST DO AS I SAY FOR ONCE WITHOUT ARGUING, LISA MICHELLE!" I shouted angrily.

Lisa hesitantly responded, "Ok, I'm sorry, Shane. I didn't mean to argue or make you mad."

I sighed loudly, regretting losing my temper with her.

"No, I'm sorry, luv. I shouldn't have yelled at you. I'm just upset but it's not your fault and I didn't mean to take out my frustrations on you. Please get here as soon as you can and I'll explain everything then."

Lisa's pov

"I'm on my way, Shane. Kids, let's go," I yelled, grabbing my keys. Something must be wrong for Shane to be acting the way he was on the phone. I could hear it in his voice.

When I arrived at the Center, Shane greeted me in the lobby then ushered me into his room saying Carrie was there waiting for us.

After giving Carrie a hug, we sat down on Shane's bed and waited for him to explain why he called us here. He paced back and forth a few times, clearly agonizing over what he needed to speak to us about.

"This is really difficult for me to say, girls." Shane continued to pace the floor. I've never seen him look this flustered and unsure of himself before. I could tell by the expression on Carrie's face that he was making her nervous as well.

"Shane, you're really starting to scare us now," I said, grabbing hold of my baby sister's hand for comfort and reassurance. "Please tell us what's going on," I pleaded.

When Shane stopped pacing and looked up at us, I saw the tears in his eyes and knew at that moment our lives were about to change forever. I squeezed Carrie's hand tightly, hearing her inhale sharply in reaction to seeing Shane cry. The last time I remember seeing Shane cry was when he stood before the ethics committee recounting the death of his brother. Oh my God, this is about Mike.

Standing up, I shouted, "It's Mike, isn't it? Something bad happened to him."

Shane broke down before our eyes. Carrie and I rushed to hug him, simultaneously trying to console him and brace ourselves for the bad news we knew was coming.

"Mike passed away last night, girls, from a massive pulmonary embolism," Shane said sadly, shattering our lives in one simple sentence.

"But he just got back from Africa and he was fine. I saw him yesterday, Shane, when you brought him home from the airport." Carrie was in a state of shock. "No, that can't be. I just saw him and he was fine. HE WAS FINE, SHANE!" my baby sister shouted in denial. "He was fine," she whispered softly into Shane's chest, as he enveloped her into his arms. "He was fine," she kept repeating, as she cried her eyes out while being held tightly in our guardian's embrace.