"Yo Harley, you got a phone call!" Aunt Julie shouted from the first floor of their apartment. Harley moaned and dragged herself out of her royal blue bed and reached for the cordless phone by her bedside. Picking it up, she muttered, "Hello?"

"Harls, it's Jerry. We need you to come home." He sounded worried. It must have been really important. It was ten o'clock in L.A and it meant that it was midnight out in Detroit. This definitely peaked her interest. "Why? What's going on? I know I missed Thanksgiving and –" She was cut off.

"That's not it. Evelyn's dead and Jackie's in the hospital. We need you to come home and take care of him for a while." Jerry must have been out his mind and off in another world if he thought that she would help that good for nothing asshole after what he did.

FLASHBACK

Jack stumbled around the house, giggling and laughing. It was the last night she'd ever spend in the Mercer house and after hanging with the boys she had come to call brothers, she decided to sit out on the porch and look up at the sky. Harley found him on the porch, unable to get into the house on his own. He was tweaking again, making this the fourth time that she had to take care of him. Shushing him, she pushed him up the stairs and into his room. Evelyn was down in the basement doing laundry. Bobby and Angel would tear Jack a new one if they found out he was using again. Jack fell onto his bed and pulled Harley down with him. He giggled again and blinked.

"Harley, you're such a good kid. I don't know what I'd do without you." He slurred as he pulled her into a sloppy hug. He never used to be like this. It all began when he started hanging with those sketchy musicians at school. Harley pushed him away and propped him up on a pillow.

"You'd probably die out on the porch." She muttered, not meaning for him to hear it. But he did. His eyes narrowed and he glared at her. "You sound…exactly like Bobby and Angel. Always so self-righteous, little Harley October. Always telling me that I'm going nowhere with my music." He sneered.

"Don't call me that. You know how much I hate it when people call me that. You know that's what Marcus called me." She spat, remembering what her stepfather called her before he was taken away to jail for molesting her. Evelyn took her in and Harley had been living there ever since.

"You don't like anyone calling you anything. No 'Sweet Heart' or 'Honey'. I think its cause you're a tease. That's why you were sent away. You deserved everything your father did to you." And with that, he fell asleep. Tears formed in Harley's eyes at what he said. Never had he brought up before because he knew how much it hurt.

She stood up and walked out of his room, shutting the door and shutting him out of her life forever. She went to the room she shared with Angel and pulled out the purple duffel bag she showed up at the Mercer house with so long ago. Angel woke up and rubbed his bleary eyes. "Harls, what are you doing? Is it Jackie again?" he asked, sitting up.

"He just called me Harley October, that's all. It's fine. I'm going to stay with my Aunt out in California. She flew in yesterday and wanted me to stay with her for a while. She didn't even know my mom had me. So she wants to get to know me. I already talked about this to Evelyn." She lied so she didn't let it slip that she was upset over what Jack said.

"Oh, well we're gonna miss you. And you're gonna have to call us everyday and tell us how you're doing, okay?" He pulled her into a hug and ruffled her hair affectionately. Angel had always been her favorite Mercer brother. She had to room with him so she got to know the real Angel apart from the tough one outside of the house.

She hoisted her duffel bag on her back and walked down the hall towards Bobby's room. She set the bag down and knocked lightly, opening the door to find him talking to Jerry. "Hey there, Toby. I guess you're coming to tell us you're leaving?" Bobby pulled her into the room and sat her on his bed. She nodded her head and laid her head on Bobby's shoulder.

"You know, you can always come back here if you want to. We're always gonna be here for you. Angel, Jerry, even Cracker Jack, and me." Harley stood up when she heard a car park outside of the house. Stepping out of the room, she grabbed her duffel bag and went down the stairs to where Evelyn and her Aunt Julie were talking.

"You ready to go?" Her aunt asked her. Harley nodded, taking one last look around the house before hugging Evelyn and heading outside of the house. She didn't want to change her mind and end up staying. She climbed into the car and didn't look back as she and her Aunt drove away.

Jack woke up the next day and threw up in the trashcan Harley had placed next to his bed. He groaned, remembering everything he said to her last night. Standing up, he went to Angel's room to find Harley but she wasn't there. Her bed was all cleared out and made nicely. Her little nick-nacks weren't on the dresser. Jack ran down the stairs and into the kitchen where Jerry, Angel, and Bobby were all sitting and eating breakfast.

"Where's Harley?" he shouted, his hair was mussed and he had yet to shower. His eyes were bloodshot and it gave off the tale-tell sign that he had been using last night. Angel stood up and said, "She's gone. She went to California with her aunt."

FLASHBACK

"Just give him a chance. He's changed after Mom died. He's not the dickhead he once was." Jerry pleaded. Harley hated when he did that. Put on that sweet and innocent voice and it made her do anything he wanted. He used it all the time when he didn't want to get caught sneaking out.

"Fine. But if he so much as complains once, I'm gone." And Harley hung up the phone. She sighed, running a hand through her black and green hair. This was gonna be fun.