Story is set before, during and after the movie. I'm not sure how close to the movie it will run, but it will be close enough. Please enjoy and review.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything from the movie, only my own thoughts, characters and ideas.
Bobby woke up happy that morning; it was the morning that Jack arrived. His possible new little brother, maybe. The guys never knew if anyone of the foster kids that came would stay for long. He and his two younger brothers were still there, because Evelyn Mercer had adopted them. They were so screwed up that no one else wanted them. She gave them a second chance and now it was this kid, Jack's, chance.
Bobby went downstairs; he could see the social worker and a small, dirty, blonde haired boy about 9 years old, standing just inside the door talking to Evelyn. She turned to see Bobby coming down the stairs, "Marcus you remember my son Bobby?" She waved for him to come downstairs.
He came down, Evelyn was speaking to Jack, "This is the last and oldest of my sons, this is Bobby."
Jack stared up at him; Bobby thought for a second, "You like ice cream?"
Jack nodded slightly
"Good, let's go get some. Ok with you mom?"
"Go ahead with Bobby if you want Jack." Jack followed Bobby into the kitchen.
They sat in the kitchen for about thirty minutes before Evelyn came in.
"He sure did talk a lot this time. So what's up?"
"Nothing, he was just filling me in on some details that I needed to know."
"Ma I hate to leave you, but the guys and I already made arrangements to play hockey today. Not many days left of vacation and we have to get as much playing in as possible before the guys go back to school." Bobby had just gotten out of school the previous year, but hung around working on his hockey career.
Evelyn looked up at him from the table, "Would you mind taking Jack, he should meet some of the kids in the neighborhood. He will be starting at his new school after the vacation is over."
Bobby gave Jack the once over, "Mom you know how we play, he is kind of small. He might get hurt."
Evelyn was happy to see him having those protective feelings for Jack already, "Please take him with you. He needs to get outside; I'm guessing he hasn't been out in awhile."
Jack just sat there looking between the two of them and in a tiny voice said, "I would like to see how you play."
They were both shocked by his voice, Bobby recovered first, "Ok squirt, let's go. Ma we'll be home by dinner."
Evelyn watched Bobby get Jack all bundled up for the cold weather.
Bobby and Jack headed toward the rink, Bobby noticed him having a problem with the gear, "Here, let me take that." He took Jack's stick and some of the pads Evelyn made him bring.
As they were walking Bobby spoke, "You're going to notice that none of the other guys are going to be wearing these." He held up the pads, "But if you will feel more comfortable wearing them, at first, be my guest. I guarantee that no one will make fun of you." Bobby had a look on his face that Jack wouldn't ever forget.
They got to the rink, there were a lot of guys there, but it didn't take long to find Jerry and Angel.
Angel smiled, "You brought little brother, good were short a man. Everyone is playing with four."
Jack was looking at the guys on the ice, hearing what Angel said, "I have never played before."
He looked genuinely scared and he was playing with the zipper on his coat.
"You don't have to play if you don't want." Jack nodded at Bobby and sat down on the bench.
"We can play a man down, we have done it before. We use hard skating and fast sticks." Bobby was already lacing up his skates.
The guys headed out on the ice, Jerry pulled Bobby over to him, "I see Steve got a new player, not to big; pretty small if you ask me." The two of them couldn't help but laugh.
They all started to play, hard, as usual. After the game they noticed Steve having an argument with his new player, all of a sudden the new guy smacked Steve across the face and started to storm off. The guys were all laughing at him. Steve ran over to the guy, who had made it to the Mercer side of the rink, he grabbed the guy and swung him around, the ball cap he was wearing fell off and hair, the ball cap was hiding, spilled out. Angel was on his feet, "Damn, that's a girl, she hit hard." He rubbed his shoulder.
Jerry started walking over to Steve and the girl, he heard them arguing, "I told you not to do that!" Steve was yelling.
"You don't own me, if I want to look at other guys, I will!" She pulled away from him, "I am sick of you trotting me around like you prize pony! You're a son of a bitch!"
"Well you want to ogled him, there he is!" He pointed toward Bobby.
Jerry turned and looked at Bobby; he never really liked a lot of attention off the ice, but on the ice was ok.
"You fuckin' jerk, Steve! I don't want to see you again and if you come by my place with a sob story I will have my father beat the shit out of you, got it!"
Steve nodded, "That's fine with me bitch, just make sure you watch your back!" Steve started to walk away.
"Like I'm supposed to be afraid of you!" She stormed off.
Bobby went over to Steve, "So what was that all about?"
Steve turned toward him, "We've been dating for a couple of weeks and she was being difficult. I told her that I wanted a kiss and she smacked me; then she told me I was being a jerk. Well you heard the rest of it; hell everyone heard the rest of it."
"What was the shit about there he is look?"
"Oh, she made a comment about how you played and your muscles. She wanted to know who you and your brothers were, I kind of flipped." Steve actually looked like he was getting angry at the thought of it.
"When you don't know how to keep your women happy, what do you expect?"
Steve punched him in the back of the head. Bobby turned around and started to pummel him. Angel told Jack to stay there and he and Jerry took off across the ice to join the fight. After they were done and everyone was headed back over to the bench, they noticed Jack wasn't there, "Shit, where did he go!" Yelled Bobby, "Get your gear and let's go find him."
"Mom is going to kill us." Jerry was panicked.
They went running, split up and went to search for Jack.
After an hour of searching the guys met up outside the house. When they got there they heard music and laughter, "What's up in there?"
They all went into the house and saw Evelyn dancing in the kitchen. They looked at each other and went in the kitchen. They saw Evelyn humming and dancing with the music, Jack was sitting on the counter licking a spoon and the girl from the rink standing next to Jack.
"Hey ma, we're home." Jerry said over the music.
"Where have you been? What happened to keeping an eye on Jack?" She said turning the music down.
"We sort of got into an argument with Steve and his buddies, we told him to stay where he was. It's not our fault if he didn't listen…" Bobby said getting annoyed.
"Don't use that tone with me Bobby Mercer, I taught you better."
"Sorry Ma. How did he get here, we looked every where for him?"
Jack spoke quietly, "Lisa found me and brought me home." Bobby glared at him
"Why are you looking at him like that? He ran because you guys scared him. I found him wandering around; he was lost and didn't know where he lived. When he told me he lived with Evelyn Mercer, I knew where to bring him. Your mom asked me if I wanted to help make cookies and here we are." She smiled defiantly at Bobby.
Bobby glared at her, "And you are?"
She put her hand out, "Lisa Marshall and your Bobby Mercer, hot head."
Evelyn spoke up, "Bobby, you don't know how long Jack would have been out there and where he would have gone if he hadn't found Lisa." She put her hand on his shoulder, he began to calm down.
"Thank you for bringing our brother home." He walked toward her, Jack tightened as he approached.
Lisa turned and put her arm around him, "He's not going to hurt you, he was just worried about you. People sometimes yell when they worry."
Jack nodded and Bobby could tell he was calming down; he slid off of the counter, "I'm sorry I made you worry." Then he went over to Evelyn, "Can I take a bath?"
"Of course, come on I'll make sure you have a lot of bubbles." She smiled at Jack, "Nice to meet you Lisa. If you want to wait, I would love it if you would stay for dinner."
"Of course, but is it ok if I call my dad and tell him where I'm going to be?"
"Go ahead, sweetie. Boys be nice while I'm gone. I will only be upstairs, so I will hear everything." She gave the all a serious look and went upstairs with Jack.
Lisa walked over to the phone and dialed. All the guys went into the living room, except Bobby he sat down at the table.
"Dad, is it ok if I eat at a friend's house tonight? The Mercers'. Yes, you know Evelyn, you met her when we moved in. No dad, they aren't bad guys. Didn't you tell me that you did that too? Yes, home right after. Yes, dad. Love you too, see you in the morning." She hung up and jumped when she turned around to see Bobby sitting at the bar.
"So where's your mother?" Bobby asked not looking up.
"She died when I was young, it's been dad and I ever since."
"You said you would see him in the morning, why?"
"Aren't we getting a little nosy, Mercer?" She sat down across the bar from him.
He looked up at her and couldn't help but smile, she was good-looking. Dark brown hair, light brown eyes and an average face.
She blushed and smiled back, she wasn't used to this much attention, "Ok you win. He works nights, so I will see him in the morning. He just asked me to have one of you walk me home."
"He doesn't trust us, does he?"
"He's heard some stories about the Mercer boys and he worries about me, but he met your mom and he respects her for taking in troubled boys. So there won't be any problems."
Bobby stood up, "I could start dinner to surprise mom." He was staring into the cabinet, "But what should I make?"
"If you have tuna, cream soup and some sort of noodle, you could make tuna casserole."
Bobby looked and found everything she said to find, "Are you going to help or sit and watch?"
"I'll sit and watch."
Bobby turned and looked at her, shocked, "You'll what?"
She giggled, "Ok, I suppose I could help. So Mercer is everything I hear about you guys true?" She asked while they started dinner.
"Probably, we aren't saints that's why mom adopted us."
"Is she planning on adopting Jack, he seems like a nice kid. You scare him."
"I know, I don't mean to." He turned away from her to drain the noodles.
"You've been hurt before, I can see it in your eyes." She touched his shoulder.
He turned to look at her and she saw the same look she had seen earlier but softer, "We have all been hurt, in many ways, but we handle it."
Lisa put her hand on his shoulder, while she looked in his eyes, "You shouldn't have to do it alone. If you ever need someone to talk to I'm a good listener."
"Ok, but this pan is hot." He was holding the pan of noodles. She moved so he could put the noodles in the casserole dish, mix it and put it in the oven. When he was finished he went to the sink to wash is hands and winced. She grabbed his wrists, "Did you burn them?" She rubbed his hands softly. He was so surprised by her concern, he tried to pull away. She saw the redness before he pulled away, "You burned your hands."
"I've had worse, it doesn't even hurt."
She looked at him again, "Does Evelyn have a first aid kit?"
"In the cabinet, what kind of person would she be if she had three boys and didn't have a first aid kit?"
Lisa got the kit and told him to sit down. He did, he figured there was no reason to fight with her. She sat down next to him and took his hand, gently applied burn cream and a bandage. Then took his other hand, starting to do the same when Bobby spoke, "So is what Steve told me true?"
"That he's an asshole, yes that's true." She giggled.
He smiled, "I know that, but I'm talking about what he said that you said about me?"
"Yes, nice muscles, excellent at hockey and ….."
"So what did you do?" She was interrupted by Evelyn's voice.
Lisa noticed that the bandage what already on, but she was still holding Bobby's hand. She let it go and started packing up the first aid kit.
"Nothing to worry about, I just burned my hands a little on a pot, but Lisa fixed it. See..," he flipped his hands over so she could see his palms, "We started supper for you, and it's in the oven."
Evelyn grabbed her chest, smiling, "Will miracles never cease. My Bobby made dinner without being asked." She turned to Lisa who blushed the second their eyes met, "Did you call your dad, honey?"
"Yes Evelyn, he said it was ok as long as one of the guys walked me home, he has to work tonight."
"That's ok; I think Bobby can handle that. Ok, Bobby?"
"Ok ma. I'm going to watch the game, if it's ok?"
"You go ahead. Thank you for starting dinner."
He smiled at both of them and went to join his brothers.
Evelyn went over to Lisa, "Come on honey, let's go sit outside for a minute you look a little warm."
That made her cheeks turn a darker shade of red, "Ok." She followed Evelyn onto the back steps.
Evelyn sat down and patted the space next to her, "So you like my Bobby, don't you?"
Lisa stammered, "Well, um, maybe, um I guess so."
"I have never, in all my years he has been with me, seen him let anyone touch him like you were in the kitchen. Maybe myself and, sometimes, his brothers, but no one else." She looked at Lisa, who was concentrating on the traffic she could see on the street. Evelyn touched her shoulder, Lisa turned and looked at her, "Bobby is stubborn, has a violent temper, does a lot to get in trouble and he will do anything he can get away with. He has been hurt deeply in his life, physically and emotionally, he has built a wall up around himself that sometimes I can't break through."
"Evelyn, I don't mean to interrupt you, but why are you telling me this?"
Evelyn put her hand on Lisa's, "I am telling you because if you truly have feelings for him you need to know what to expect from him. You saw his emotions change in the kitchen earlier. He tries to be gentle but sometimes he doesn't know how. Now I am not saying he hasn't had girlfriends, I didn't like many of them, but I don't think he cared about them or if he even knew how to. So be careful, if you do have feelings for him and plan to try to explore them, take it slow and don't back him into a corner. Ok?"
Lisa nodded, "Ok Evelyn, but I don't know if he even likes me."
"Let's get two things straight, One, please, if you feel comfortable, call me ma and two, I know my son, he had feeling for you but I don't think he knows it yet."
