"Tom I'm warning you…" Brenda started as she crossed her arms in front of her

"I know, I know, your name is Brenda and that is all that I will call you, right?" Tom said as he mocked Brenda's attitude towards him.

"You got that right, finally," Brenda answered with a hint of sarcasm.

"Now, darling do you think I'll ever really get it right?" Tom bantered back as he crossed his arms in front of him and leaned against the doorway.

"One could only hope," Brenda answered and rolled her eyes in exasperation.

"Seriously, when was the last time you got some target practice?" Tom asked as he smoothly made the transition to lighthearted banter to a serious subject.

"Before or after I trained my gun on you the other day?" Brenda asked, obviously still ticked at him.

"Brenda, you tried to shoot him, again? How many times does this make it?" Julia asked, her voice raised.

"Well what was I supposed to do when he enters my home like he's a burglar or something? Besides I was already on edge after I got that threat on Sara's life."

"You didn't have to try to shoot him, where would that leave you then?" Probably free and on my own Brenda thought. No, she would be lost without him. He was the one who kept them going, kept them fighting. She, and everyone she loved would be dead by now without his quick thinking and maneuverability skills.

"I was acting on impulse, you usually like it when I do." Brenda said in her own defense, but almost ashamed that she had done it. Almost. Tom was still an annoying pain in her side.

"In life threatening situations, yes, but not when you are trying to kill my husband." Oh and it wasn't life threatening when I thought someone was entering my house to kill me? Never mind, she hasn't been on that side of fear for awhile, she's probably forgotten what it feels like. Better nick pick about something else.

"Maybe you should have let me in on your marriage to Tom here when you got married, which was when exactly?"

"Ladies calm down. Brenda have you handled your gun lately? You may need it tonight." Tom asked point blank sensing a sibling rivalry argument brewing.

"Whoa!! Slow down and give a guy a chance to understand what the hell everyone is talking about. Tom do you take anything seriously? This seems to me a life or death situation and if I heard you correctly you were trying to flirt with my wife in front of me and your own dear wife. Why doesn't Brenda know the two of you were married about, what? 17 years ago? Julia why would you marry a guy who double crossed you, and who's side are you on anyways, Tom because that has me confused. The demented side, Brenda and Julia's side, or your own side? Brenda, when, where, and how do you know how to use a gun? I thought you couldn't stand the sight of them." Sonny raged, having enough of trying to follow the odd conversation around him. Snippets of conversation were flying so fast by his head he was so confused an d irritated. It was like he wasn't even in the room. How could all three of them stand to be in the same room together? Because it was hard to tell if there was like or dislike in the room. Maybe it was the tension that had been built up between them over the years, he wasn't sure but he wanted in on it.

"I thought you explained everything to him, isn't that what you have wanted to do from the beginning?" Tom asked Brenda, ignoring that Sonny was even there. Brenda was supposed to fill in her husband, not him. If it were up to him Sonny would have been gone long ago.

"Seventeen years ago? You left me in the dark for Seventeen years? I did explain what I could to Sonny before you barged in, now could you please leave so I can finish?" Please?? I am in no mood to be annoyed right now.

"Not a chance of getting rid of me so easily darling, you should know that by now. What he doesn't know now, he'll learn on the way, we're running out of time. There wasn't any need to tell you about the wedding. You didn't like me and Julia and I didn't feel like explaining ourselves to you."

"You better plan on explaining sometime soon. I want to know everything, like why I wasn't allowed to go to my own sister's wedding?"

"Not now Brenda," Julia put in.

"Did anyone hear me?" Sonny asked exasperated that no one had answered any of his questions yet. They sat here argueing when lives were at stake, what was with that? Brenda stood for that?

"Yes, we heard you. We just don't have time for questions right now. Tom, I had some target practice the night before you decided to storm my house to come here." Brenda answered Sonny and remembered the question long ago asked by Tom. It was time to get serious about tonight again if they wanted things to get done.

"Wait a minute. No time for my questions but you have time to argue with each other?" Sonny asked as he put his hands on Brenda's shoulders and turned her around so that she was facing him. He wanted answers and didn't want her to get sidetracked by whoever would throw out another insane comment.

"Honey, it's how we work. It keeps us on edge. Keeps us thinking so we'll be able to figure out our next moves," Brenda answered, knowing that probably sounded as crazy as the words being thrown around room to him. But it was true, they figured out their best plans while arguing. The three of them had strange dynamics, and there it wasn't probably any use in trying to explain it.

"Which are?" Sonny asked, wondering what kind of moves, no what kind of danger she was putting herself in.

"To strike back when they least expect it."

"And that's tonight?"

"Correct."

"No, it's not. I'm getting you out of here before then."

"The hell you are." Tom broke in. Brenda was the key to get everything to work and he wasn't going to let some outsider decide what she was or wasn't going to do. Her husband or not, Tom didn't give a damn.

"She's my wife, I'm not letting her stay here and be killed."

"She won't be killed, we won't let it happen."

"And how do you plan to do that? You seem to fly by the seat of your pants most of the time. At least at home I have bodyguards to protect her."

"And those bodyguards did such a wonderful job with Sara."

"They're being dealt with. That won't happen again."

"You bet it won't happen again, I won't let it happen. This is my fight Sonny. There's nothing you can say or do to convince me to abandon it." Brenda interjected into the fight between the two men, her eyes flashing with determination.