Disclaimer: I don't own anything from four brothers (im working on it though)except any OC's I bring in…

A/N: this is a lot lighter than other ff's and definitely lighter than the movie, but what can I say? I'm a sucker for bad boy/good girl combinations. So if you want something different, don't read this.

Bobby Mercer quietly opened the door to his house and slowly clicked it shut behind him. It was nearly two in the morning and he knew his mother would literally kick his ass if she caught him sneaking in so late.

Evelyn Mercer knew better than to put her sons on a strict curfew, but they knew better than to come in past one, even if they technically didn't live in the house anymore.

Bobby crept up the stairs slowly, wincing whenever a step creaked from the pressure of his boots. At the top of the stairs, he stooped and slid his worker boots off, carrying them with him as he tip-toed to his old bedroom.

Just as his fingers had curled around the cold doorknob to his room, Evelyn's door swung open and he cringed. "Hey, Ma." He sighed.

She pulled her thick robe around her and knotted the rope at her waist, walking forward with a stern expression on her face and her arms crossed. Bobby was sure she was going to reprimand him for sneaking in late, or possibly for not even telling her that he was out of jail.

"You could have told me you were coming." She said, breaking into a smile and taking his face into her hands. She kissed his head and he smiled and hugged her, hiding his yawn.

"I just need a place to stay for a while, Ma. Just until I get on my feet again." He said, before she could say anything else.

"Well, of course you can stay here, Bobby. You know that." Evelyn said, smiling fondly at her oldest son. "Now get to bed, you're getting up early to help your brother with the yard. I haven't been able to tend to it lately; too many cases to work on."

"Sure, Mom, no problem." Bobby allowed himself to yawn now, and Evelyn kissed his head again before retreating back into her own dark bedroom.

Bobby pushed his bedroom door open and kicked it closed behind him, dropping his shoes on the floor as he tripped over to his bed in the corner and fell onto it. Only moments after his head hit the pillow was he deep in sleep.

Bobby woke up the next morning around eleven and changed into an old pair of jeans and a long-sleeved t-shirt before trudging down the soft carpeted stairs and down the small hallway to the kitchen. His younger brother, Jack, was sitting on a stool at the counter in the kitchen, reading a section in the newspaper as he scooped cereal into his mouth. He heard footsteps and turned his head.

When Jack saw Bobby, he jumped out of his stool. "Jesus, Bobby." He said, sounding winded like he had been scared by a ghost or something.

"Hey, fairy." Bobby smiled, walking forward and giving Jack a slap-on-the-back hug. Jack slapped him back and shook his head.

"You get out on good behavior or something?" He asked with a smile, sliding back onto his stool and picking his spoon up.

Bobby glared at him as he walked to the refrigerator and opened it. "You have milk on your chin." He said flatly and Jack wiped his chin with his shirt sleeve.

"How long you staying this time?" Jack asked, spooning more Cap'n Crunch into his mouth.

"I don't know yet, Jackie." Bobby sighed, pouring orange juice into an empty glass. He took a big sip and swallowed it. "So what's wrong with the yard?"

Jack blinked at Bobby, then swung his head and looked out the kitchen window to the back yard. Bobby followed his gaze and saw the dead flowers and long reed-like grass that had grown in out of neglect.

"Mom hasn't had a lot of time to garden lately." Jack shrugged, not seeming too bothered by it. "She's got some case about a girl with turret's who was discarded by her parents on the doorstep of the adoption center. You know how she gets." He explained and Bobby nodded knowingly, finishing off the orange juice and wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

"Ma wants us to take care of that today." Bobby said and Jack's shoulder slumped.

"But I was going to go by Ricky's today." He said, speaking of a music store in town.

"We'll go there later. Go brush your teeth and meet me out back." Bobby ordered and Jack leaned over the counter to drop his empty bowl in the sink before jumping off the stool. Bobby ruffled his messy dirty blond hair as he passed him. "Maybe we'll get you a hair cut, too." He called as Jack bounded up the stairs.

Both brothers stared at the tiny, unruly yard like they were about to tackle Mount Everest.

"This won't take long, will it?" Jack asked, rolling his shoulders under his shirt to get it to settle correctly on his back.

Bobby clapped him on the shoulder. "Not if you work quickly."

While Bobby mowed the lawn with an old-fashioned roll mower, Jack weeded the garden. He pulled dead flowers out of the dry dirt and poured new soil with special fertilizer that was stored in the garage onto the garden beds. Evelyn had bought a few flowers early that morning and left them on the back stoop.

Bobby paused from his mowing and smiled as Jack lifted two tulips from their black plastic holder and set them carefully in the small hole he dug up.

"You're pretty good in the garden, Jackie. Your boyfriend teach you that?" Bobby asked with a grin. Jack turned and threw dirt at him, rolling his eyes.

"Will you ever stop with the gay jokes?" He asked, like Bobby was an immature kid and he was a proper adult.

"Just keep working," Bobby laughed, pushing the mower forward again.

They finished around one o'clock and were speeding in Evelyn's station wagon by one fifteen. On days that her boys would need the car, Evelyn would gladly take the bus to work because the bus stop was only a few blocks over. Bobby wouldn't let Jack drive, no matter how much he tried to convince him that he was a good driver.

After a few moments, Jack sat up in his seat from where he had been hunched over. "Hey, hey, Bobby, Ricky's is the other direction." He looked at Bobby, his eyes wide. "Where are we going?"

"Shut up, Jackie." Bobby said flatly, parking poorly on the side of the road, one wheel pushed up over the curb. Jack shook his head but didn't argue; he knew that when Bobby wanted to do something, there was nothing anybody could do to stop him.

Jack started to get out of the car but Bobby slammed his door shut and shook his head. "Stay here,"

"But—"

"Just stay here." Bobby insisted before walking up onto the sidewalk and yanking the door to a store open. Jack sat in the car, his knee jiggling as he bit on the side of his thumb, waiting for the sound of shots or shouts or anything to show that Bobby was getting what he wanted.

Jack reached into his back pocket and pulled a small tin case the size of a cigarette pack out. He opened it and pulled out an already-made joint and a lighter. As Jack light the joint, he looked over his shoulder out the back window of the car, checking to see if anyone who might cause trouble for Bobby was coming. Strangely, the streets and sidewalks were completely empty.

Jack faced forward again and blew smoke out of his mouth, his leg jiggling more violently now. This was how it had always been; Jack had always been forced to stay out of the bigger situations, the dangerous ones, while his older brothers dove in head on. Jack knew they were protecting him in their own twisted way, but he could handle fighting and guns and weapons. He had been around them nearly his entire life and he knew perfectly well how to protect himself.

Bobby walked straight through the movie store and headed towards the back. Mark Efrels saw Bobby with the familiar determined look on his face and jumped over the counter where he had been helping a customer.

"Bobby, you shouldn't be here." He said quickly, darting in front of Bobby and blocking the doorway that led to the back.

Bobby didn't even look at him as he shoved Mark out of the way.

"Bobby, he's not here. He's not here!" Mark shouted at Bobby's back as he twisted the doorknob and pushed the door open. Inside were two men, surrounded by smoke as they played a game of poker.

The two men looked up, and one of them smirked. "Bobby, nice to see you back in town." He said smugly.

Bobby glared at him. "Shut the fuck up, Roger, you know why I'm here." He said coldly.

The other man, glanced at Carl Roger and then at Bobby's hard face, and pushed his chair away from the table, wanting to get away but also not wanting his friend to think he was ditching him.

"What?" Roger asked, pushing his cards together and holding them in one hand as he leaned his chair back casually, pompously. "You up for a little Texas Hold 'Em?"

Bobby reached behind his back and pulled a sleek, silver gun out of the back waistband of his jeans, holding it carelessly in his hand.

"We could make this hard, Roger—you know how I like it—but I'm giving you the chance to make it easy…enough." He said, with a shrug and a half smile. Bobby wasn't blind to the flash of fear in the man's cold gray eyes, but he didn't think for a second that Carl Roger would back down. Especially when there were eye witnesses to see his white flag waving.

Carl stood up, smiling a little. "Come on, Bobby, we've known each other long enough for me to know you would never actually shoot me." He said, sliding his hands into his pants pockets and puffing on the cigar in his mouth.

Bobby gritted his teeth, the gun still waving around and making the man in the corner flinch. "You're probably right, I mean, I take my baby out whenever I'm in good company." He said sarcastically. Bobby wasn't in the mood for games, but he could let Carl gain a little confidence before knocking it all out of him.

"Bobby, Bobby, Bobby," Carl said, shaking his head and gripping the back of the wooden chair he had recently located with his hands. "You really shouldn't mess around with me; you don't know what's been going on around here since you left."

Bobby didn't smile. He was finally sick of Carl and his smugness. "All I want is my money; you give me that and I'll walk away and you won't have a scratch on your porcelain skin."

Carl's smile faded. "Bobby, you know I don't have that kind of money." He said, sounding scared now.

Bobby's eyebrows raised and he glanced around the room, shrugging. "Did you gamble it all away, because I think I remember setting you up for a good five grand."

Carl licked his lips nervously. "Bobby, I can get the money…but I just…I need time." He said quickly, tensing as Bobby crossed the room in two strides, knocked the table out of the way easily, sending cards and pokey chips flying, and grabbed Carl's throat, thrusting him against the wall.

"You give me the money by tomorrow or your dead, Roger. You hear me? You're dead." Bobby squeezed the man's throat and then let go, standing back and rubbing his nose. "Or I could get my baby brother in here right now and have him search your pockets—I know how much both of you would like that."

Bobby stalked out of the room, stuffing his gun back behind his jacket, without a second glance around the room. When he walked through the movie store, Mark didn't say anything, just pretended not to see him.

When Jack saw Bobby come out onto the sidewalk and walk to the car, he sat up straighter, blowing smoke out of his mouth. He looked over at Bobby as he slid into his seat and slammed the door shut behind him.

"You get what you want?" Jack asked, licking his dry lips.

Bobby cracked his neck as he started the car up again. "Not yet, but I will." He glanced at Jack and his eyes flicked to the joint. "Like you aren't fucked up enough, fairy." He said, pulling out of the poor parking spot.

A/N I don't really know what that means, lol, but everyone does it and they usually say something about the story so i figured i'd give it a try.

ummm don't ask about the title, cause i don't know why i named it that except i have a few ideas about it being explained later in the story...i'll try and take awhile to get to the main plot because no books get straight to the point, because it would be like 2 pages long. but i dunno, ive tried that before and its mighty difficult, i won't lie.

this is the first four brothers fanfic i've done and i havent seen the movie in a while tear tear but im working on it. don't be too mean, because really, if you hate it that much, there's no point in flaming me. if its bad it shouldnt be worth your time.

okay this A/N thing is pretty shnazy...