Danger: Damaged
Summary: AU: Young Jackson Mathers had always known his place when he lived with his mother, but once removed from that place he didn't know where he belonged, till he met his father. :Bobby is Jack's Father!
A/N: I haven't seen this done before so I figured why not. This is an alternate universe and it will be a start of a new series that I am starting. I shall give you the ages as they stand.
Bobby: 24: adopted by Evelyn at 17
Jerry: 18: adopted by Evelyn at 13
Angel: 15: adopted by Evelyn at 12
Jack: 7
NOW ON WITH THE STORY!
He knew this was all he was worth. Scraps of food and servant work. At his young age of seven, Jackson Mathers began to doubt himself completely; his mother's beatings and verbal lashings were taking their toll on him. Even as he was cleaning the bathroom one day he caught sight of something in the mirror out of the corner of his eye. He looked up and in the mirror was a horribly disfigured creature. Scared out of his wits he fell to the ground in a defensive position. When nothing hit him or cursed at him in that small length of time Jack opened his eyes, slowly. He glanced around the small bathroom and noticed that nothing was in there with him. But, he wondered where that haunting image in the mirror had come from.
Gripping a hold of the sink, tight in his grip, Jack stood up and glanced at the mirror. Looking back at him from the mirror was the creature again. He turned around quickly, trying to spot it in the small room, only there was nothing behind him. He turned back towards the mirror and realized that the reflection in it was his own. He was the creature in the mirror. His once thick and wild hair was now tattered and greasy. His skin was mottled by cuts and bruises and the bones of his body were painfully obvious.
He remembered his mother's words as she beat him the night before and his own reactions.
" You've brought this all on yourself, Jackson. It's because you look so much like him, you are exactly like your father. That's why I've got to do this baby. Just have to add a few spots of color and you'll be mommy's good little boy again. I'll love you then." She hit him again and again and again.
" I'm sorry, Mommy. Please stop! I promise! I'll try to be less like Daddy... I promise. Mommy! Please!" Jack remembered that he had tried pleading with her, but his mother just continued hitting him till he blacked out. And this morning he woke up and was bombarded with lists of things for him to do and have finished before she got back home.
As he looked into the mirror he found himself staring at his disfigured face, entranced. This was the moment when Jack began to believe his Mother's rants. How could anyone love something that looked like him? He curled up in the corner of the bathroom and covered himself with the tattered towel he tried to dream of the happy times he had with his mother before the devil that came with a label came into their lives.
~Danger: Damaged~
Awakening at the slightest of touch. Jack felt himself being lifted up into someones arms. He blinked trying to clear his eyes from sleep. Just by looking at the blurry ceiling he knew they hadn't left the bathroom yet, but who would be carrying him. He turned his head to the left a little bit and saw it was his mommy. Jack smiled at her, but her face was set as if in stone. She then lowered him down into something hard and filled with some kind of cold and wet liquid in it.
Coming to his senses Jack shot up as the cold liquid caressed his skin, only to be pushed back down into the liquid. He could see the shower curtain to his left and knew he had to be in the bathtub and the liquid must be water, but he wondered why it was so cold.
He looked up at his mother. She was crying. Her tears were falling into the water as she held him down. The water was up to his ears now.
" Mommy? Why are you crying?" Jack was scared. He couldn't understand what was going on or why his mommy was crying. " Mommy? Let m... me up p...please, it's co..cold."
The water was brushing over Jack's eyes. He began to panic while his mommy showed no sign that she would let him up. She was going to hold him under, he realized. He began to thrash, kick, he managed to sit up and even scream, but water flowed into his mouth, choking him in mid scream when his mother pushed him down again.
His mother decided holding him down with her hands was useless as Jack managed to sit up and take a gasping breath. She climbed into the bathtub with him. She sat on his legs and held him down under the water with her body. He struggled against her hold, trying not to loose his breath he worked hard for, but it wasn't long before he felt himself get light-headed and he had to let go of that breath. With his vision blackening around the edges and tunneling, he made a wish before everything faded to black.
~Danger: Damaged~
In all of her years of working for Social Services, Evelyn Mercer didn't know what to do about the case that had just hit her desk only hours ago. Normally when given a case like this the first thing she always did was read over the history and then find out if there were any living family members that the child could be placed with and that was what she did. She had found someone, the only last family member that young Jackson Robert Mathers had. She just didn't know how she would go about contacting this person. Usually she would go with the direct approach and call that person, but with this she felt as if she couldn't do it, but a little boy was counting on her so she had too.
She picked up the phone and dialed a number that was quite familiar to herself and waited for someone to pick up the phone.
" Hello?"
" Bobby?"
~Danger: Damaged~
He didn't know how long he sat there in silence in his car outside his Ma's office, but he knew it was long enough he decided. Though he never expected his Ma to land something like this on him when he told her to have a nice day this morning. He, Robert Kieran Mercer, had a seven year old son.
Bobby pulled himself out of his car and began to walk into the office where his Ma was waiting for him by the door.
" Ma." That one word said it all.
" Oh, Bobby." Usually his Ma had all the answers, but this time she just didn't. " Come with me Bobby." She lead him back to her office and closed her door.
" Ma, how am I possibly this kids father?"
" Besides your name being on his birth certificate, you mean." She replied. " We'll be getting a blood test to be sure as soon as possible."
" There's something else you're not telling me Ma, what is it?" Bobby urged his Ma to tell him what was going on. All she had told him over the phone was that he possibly had a son and that she needed him to come down to her office to speak with him.
" He's in the hospital, Bobby. He's been in a coma for the last four days."
" What? Who put him in the hospital? What happened?" Concern was evident on Bobby's face.
" His mother, Nicole Harris tried to drown him in the bathtub at their home on the 14th of August. The doctors at the St. Lukes Hospital say they have found clear signs of abuse, Bobby. They believe it has been going on for a few years based on the faded scars shown upon his person."
" I want to see him Ma."
" Bobby..." She started, but Bobby stood up as if to leave.
" I want to see my son." He voice left no room for debate and she knew it would be ridiculous to even argue that this little boy might not be his son.
Bobby just turned around to leave, his hand an inch away from grasping the doorknob. " You don't even know his name, Bobby."
" Ma..." He whispered, pleading.
" It's Jackson, Jackson Robert Mathers."
A/N: Alright this is the first installment of my new series, the Danger series. I hoped at least liked the idea of Bobby being Jack's father. Look out for the next installment of the Danger Series called: After The Dark.
-Fiona12690