The roar of the Harley shattered the still silence of the Detroit winter's night as it slid to a stop in front of the last house on the street. Stephany took off her helmet and sat back, shivering with pleasure as the calluses on Jack's hands rubbed the bare skin where her jacket had ridden up. She could feel his breath ruffling her hair and his warm, solid form pressed close behind her. She hadn't felt so incredible in years.

"It looks just like I remember," she muttered, half to herself and half to no one. The humble brick house stood as stout and strong as ever, a perfect rectangle aside from parlor area enclosed by windows in the front. And of course the roof which was triangular. Her eyes landed on the second story bay window and held there, beginning to sting again. That had been Ms. Evie's window.

Stephany sniffed loudly and wiped her eyes before dismounting the bike and setting the kickstand. Jack hopped off after her and put an assuring hand on her back. She glanced up at him to give a smile in return, but his gaze was fixed on the bay window on the second floor and his eyes were looking red again. Thankfully, Bobby and Jerry chose that moment to pull in behind her. Jack managed to tear his eyes away from the window so they could both get their things from Bobby's trunk (it didn't all fit in the Harley saddlebags, particularly the guitars).

Stephany grunted as she waded her upper body into the depths of Bobby's cargo hold. Her guitar had slid nearly to the back and she practically had to lie down in the trunk to reach it. Jack certainly wasn't complaining. Her jacket and top underneath slid up her back, giving him a lovely view of the impressive tattoo there. It must have been new, because Jack knew every inch of that body better than he knew his own and it hadn't been there the last time he checked. It was an eagle with wings outstretched as it soared against a star spangled backdrop. The detail was incredible, the tattoo in general very nice. She must have paid a fortune for it. Knowing Steph and her extreme patriotism, she would have spared no expense to become a walking billboard for America.

"This is new," he said, stroking the design with his index finger.

She reached back around behind her to touch it, her fingers brushing his. "Not really," she said as she continued to strain in the back of Bobby's car. "I got it on 9/11 a few years ago. I get it added to every year. Wait till I show you some of the others I got." He could hear the grin in her voice. The girl loved tattoos, and he looked forward to seeing them.

With a mighty groan and a solid heave, the guitar case finally yanked free of Bobby's nasty car. Stephany slung her two other bags over her shoulder and trudged on up toward the house as Jack fumbled with his.

"Nice to be home," Bobby said as Jerry stepped out of his bright shiny Volvo and the three followed Steph to the door.

"So, shit, Bobby, what've you been up to?" Jack asked.

"I'm a freaking college professor, Jack," Bobby snapped. "What do you think I've been doin?"

"I doubt that," Jack mumbled.

"Same old Bobby," Jerry exclaimed, ascending the steps toward the foyer and sticking a key into the lock.

"So what about you?" Bobby turned to Jack and Stephany knew what was coming before it was said. Bobby was predictable when it came to insults. "You still suckin a little cock left and right or what?"

"Uh, I'm gonna take 'Or What' for a thousand, Alex," Stephany said, raising her eyebrows at the two.

"Fucker," Jack mumbled again while Jerry and Bobby laughed. Stephany and Jack couldn't help but smile at the warm fuzziness of family floating around the cold Detroit air. They felt so great just to have everyone back together again that Bobby's gay jokes suddenly didn't have as much bite as they used to.

Jerry was working on the second door when a rich voice sounded from the corner, making Stephany jump a little. "Ya'll ain't right, leaving me out here in the cold like this." Jerry flicked on the light and there was Angel, well dressed as usual, minus the black pouf on top of his head.

"Yo, little brother! You asshole!" Bobby shouted.

"You ought to be ashamed!" cried Jerry at the same time, but Bobby overpowered him.

"I missed my plane," Angel said with regret, but Bobby was already wrapping him up in a big brother bear hug.

"Yeah, you missed our mother's funeral too, jarhead!"

"What's up boy?" Jerry said with an equally large hug.

"Shaved off the afro, huh?" Jack remarked as he got his own Angel hug with a chuckle. Stephany was grinning from ear to ear, all the love in the room making her all kinds of tingly. Brotherhood sure was a powerful thing. "I haven't seen you in forever."

"Yeah, I know." Angel looked at his little brother, unable to stop smiling. It was just so damn good to see everybody again.

"Did you get your teeth whitened?" Jack pricked, leaning in close to peer at Angel's way-too-pearly whites.

"Man, shut up, Jackie-poo," Angel retorted, but there was no venom in his voice, just annoyed affection.

Finally it was Steph's turn. "They look good, man," she said as she wrapped her arms around his waist.

"Hey, pretty lady," he chuckled and kissed her soundly on the lips. Jack bristled, but that only made her laugh harder.

"Let's get our asses inside, it's cold out here!" she yelled, shoving her way through everyone and scurrying inside. The boys followed suit, only to have all five of them freeze and the earlier feeling of warmth and reunion disappeared as they gazed around at Evelyn's home. What used to be such a loving and inviting place was suddenly nothing but an empty shell. Its caretaker, its heart wasn't there, and Steph got the saddest feeling that it knew it. There was no delicious scent of dinner waiting on the table, no music playing in the background and no Evie, waiting to welcome them home with open arms and sparkling eyes. The tears that rose to her eyes were so familiar by that point that she barely felt them. She just let them flow, standing in the tiny space with four silent men who radiated stillness and cold despair. Angel and Jerry removed their caps as if Evie really had been standing there saying, "Hat's off inside, boys. Have some respect."

Stephany said nothing, but stood silently with tears leaking from her eyes that were trained on the stairs in front of her. She could feel the boys shifting around behind her, looking this way and that, surveying their home that they hadn't seen in years, and she knew they were thinking the same thing she was. Oh how she wished it hadn't taken death to bring them back here.

"I'm gonna get me something to eat," Angel said softly, brushing past her as he shattered the heavy silence. The boys began to move off, Jerry went into the living room and Angel made for the kitchen, but Stephany stood frozen, unable to shake the thick shell of hopelessness forming around her as a waterfall fell from her face. "Are ya'll hungry?" Angel asked. Stephany tried to shake her head, but nothing happened.

"No," Bobby mumbled. "I'm gonna get some sleep. Jack, ya'll take your old room, alright? Angel, take yours. I'm gonna sleep in Mom's room."

Stephany barely registered when someone came to stand close behind her. It was the rough hand sliding beneath her shirt to stroke her eagle tattoo that finally snapped her out of her trance. She whipped around, guitar case ready to knock the shit out of whoever dared touch her so intimately. At the last moment, she recognized Jack's baby blues and pulled back. The guitar case still smacked against his thigh, and he buckled with a hiss of air between his teeth.

"Oh, Jack I'm so sorry!" Stephany cried around her hands covering her mouth in horror.

"Don't worry about it," he groaned, grinning even as he rubbed his thigh and scrunched his face together in pain. "Come on." And he led the way up the stairs and into tiny little room with the tiny little bed he used to call his own. Steph glanced at the whiteboard hanging on the wall between Jack's room and Evies. She caught a glimpse of the words 'Thanksgiving' and 'Family' scrawled messily in blue marker. Hastily she turned her attention to Jack's room as her eyes began to sting once again.

It looked just the way it had the last time she saw it. The walls were still decked with dark posters, the shelves still sloppily stocked with childish things. Sheets of music poked out at odd intervals, the occasional action figure with limbs bent and supernatural angles lay forgotten where they'd been stuck after being played with for the last time. Over there was an opened condom packet. Gross. Over there was what looked to be some math homework with a large red 'F' in the left hand corner. At least it wasn't nearly as messy as he used to keep it.

Jack swiped the condom packet off the shelf with a sheepish smile and tossed it in the trash before tumbling onto the bed, his guitar case and bag clattering to the floor. Stephany set her things down a bit more gently and immediately began pawing through her bag to find some more comfortable clothes.

Jack watched with approving eyes as she turned her back to him and slid the zipper on her jacket down slowly, looking seductively back at him over her shoulder with a coy smile. The spaghetti strap top went next, sliding up her body like fine silk and she like a serpent, smooth and fluid. With each inch the top rose, art was revealed. Some new, some he knew as well as the back of his hand like the tiny, stylized wolf face on her right shoulder blade. The eagle and flag were the biggest though they weren't the only ones, and every piece was spectacularly done. She must have paid a fortune for them.

The top dropped to the floor, her studded belt following soon after with a soft clinking of its metal parts. He could imagine the way her hands looked, deft fingers steadily unhooking the button and sliding down the zipper of her dark grey acid wash jeans. In a sensual motion she shimmied the jeans down around her hips where they too dropped to the ground. Sweetly, languidly she raised her hands high above her head and stretched, arching her back like a cat as she rose up on her tip toes and stepped out her jeans, kicking off her shoes as she went.

Then it was just her standing there in just her lacy white underthings and he wanted nothing more at that moment than for her to turn around and face him. But she didn't. Instead she bent over at the waist and scooped up her t-shirt and faded X-Men boxer shorts and in an instant she was covered, her body hidden from him by the baggy old clothing. Only then did she turn and give a knowing, teasing smile. She looked so relaxed, so at home in his old band shirt in his old room in his old house that for a moment he forgot the reason he was there and it was just like old times. Before she up and left in the middle of the night, before it would be years until he would see her again, before heartbreak and before…

…before Ma…

He found himself unable to even think it, but the mood and sensation of belonging, of home was effectively snuffed out.

Stephany saw his face go from elated and warm to dark and frozen in less than a heartbeat. She sighed heavily and hung her head. She knew what he was thinking, what he was feeling. She was feeling it too. Quietly she padded from the room and stood against the wall beside the firmly closed bathroom door. Bobby must've been in there, so she crossed her arms and waited. She didn't have to wait long before the door opened and a red faced Bobby emerged, sniffing and dabbing his eyes with a finger. If it was anyone other than Bobby on any other occasion she might have teased him, but Bobby never cried unless there was something worth shedding tears over so all she said was, "You alright, Bobby?"

He didn't even notice her until a feather-soft voice asked him if he was alright. His first instinct was to snap that no, he was not freaking alright, but it was Steph and Steph didn't deserve that. He looked down at her with those grey eyes that stood out against dark makeup expecting to find her usual steel. Little Stephany, usually so hard and edgy with her spiked jewelry and tattoos, looked so soft with eyes more akin to clouds than metal and filled with nothing but understanding and concern. He had never loved her more than he did in that moment.

He said nothing, giving her a gentle pat on the shoulder and a forced smile before he moved past her to Jack's room and she made for the room he just left.

"You been cryin in here, you little fairy?" he teased weakly, sitting on the floor with his back against Jack's bed while the boy plucked notes on his old acoustic.

"Leave it alone, man," Jack mumbled, setting his guitar gently on the floor. Bobby heard a rustling of paper and knew that he was rolling up another cigarette. Steph wouldn't be too happy about that.

"Ugh, Jack, do you have to do that in here?" she snapped from the doorway. His only reply was a nod and a snarky smile as he lit the stick and put it in his mouth.

Stephany always hated it when Jack smoked. She knew it was going to kill him one day, but aside from that it just smelled bad. With a groan she plopped down on the bed with her back to the wall and her feet resting on Bobby's shoulders. She tickled his earlobes with her sock-covered toes hoping for a laugh, but he only shrugged and demanded of Jack, "You still makin a lot of racket on that freakin thing?"

"Yeah, still makin a lot of racket," he murmured with a soft smile. "Is it weird in Mom's room?"

"Oh, man," Bobby groaned, leaning his head back. "Way too weird. It's crazy. I mean, everything's exactly the same. She didn't change nothing in this house."

"Did she ever, Bobby?" Stephany asked. "It's looked the same since I first came here." Bobby and Jack responded with soft chuckles.

A figure in the doorway caught her eye and she turned to find Jerry standing there with a grin on his face. "Look at ya'll," he said.

"What?" demanded Bobby.

"Nothing. I'm just happy to see you, man. Happy to see my brothers, that's all. And sister," he added with a grin at Stephany's indignant pout.

"We're happy to see you too Jerry," she said softly.

"I guess I'll stop by the grocery store and grab a turkey or something," Jerry said. That's right, tomorrow was Thanksgiving. "Have Thanksgiving dinner. Let's at least act like a real family."

"We are a real family," insisted Stephany.

Jack said nothing, regarding the three of them with a distant look with his cigarette in hand.

"Mom would like that," said Jerry. She would. Stephany thought she really would.

Just then Angel came tromping around the corner, dressed for an evening out in his best jeans, clean white shoes and a neat cap.

"Where do you think you're going?" Jerry asked him.

"It's a little heavy in here, Imma just go outside and get me a little air."

Before he'd even finished, the room exploded in laughter, Bobby's being the loudest as he tossed his head back. Just as sure as Angel could sniff that girl out from a mile away, his family could sniff out his lies even better. It had only been a matter of time before decided to go get her.

"You're full of shit, man!" he cried. "You can smell that ass from down the street, huh?"

"What are you talkin about?" Angel demanded.

"What do you mean, 'what'? Come on, 'what'? Man, you know exactly what we talkin about with La Vida Loca."

"Ain't nobody goin to get no La Vida Loca nothing!" Angel insisted a little bit to vehemently.

"She got a boyfriend," Jerry reasoned.

"She got a boyfriend," Bobby echoed. "She got hard dick in her right now, she's screamin somebody else's name and the last thing she's doin is thinkin about your black ass. Leave it alone, man," he snapped. Jack, being the dumb boy he was, laughed his ragged little head off, scrunching his toes and drawing his knees up with the force of it. Stephany eyed him warily, as if he'd gone off the deep end.

"I can't believe ya'll are coming at me with this crazy junk, man."

"She's nothing but trouble."

"I'm standing here telling ya'll right now, I'm not going to see that girl, and I'm not!" Angel shouted before turning on his heel and stomping away, swiping a hand at them as he did.

Stephany shook her head and chuckled. Oh, Angel and his dramatics. The warm, squishy surface beneath her feet began to move as Bobby stood.

"I gotta get some sleep," he mumbled.

"Me too," Jerry agreed. "I gotta get back home. See you guys tomorrow." And he was gone.

Bobby paused by the door, turning back to look at them. When he glanced at her she saw something in his eyes. A glint of…something that she'd never seen there before, and it puzzled her. "It's really great to have you guys back. Good night," he said softly and seriously with a tired smile before disappearing into Evie's room. It was the most serious thing he'd ever said to her, and she had to admit she kind of liked it. Too bad it took Ma's death to bring that side out of him, if only for a little while.

"Night, Bobby," she called after him. Tucking her knees up to her chest, she rested her chin on top of them and wrapped her arms around her legs.

"I am too, you know," Jack's voice, soft and husky sounded from behind her.

"Am what?" she asked.

"Glad to see you."

She turned to look at him, tears again springing to her eyes but she blinked them back. "I'm glad to see you too, Jackie. I—I love you." she stammered. It'd been a long time since she'd said those words to anyone. Jack's reaction always varied, though the one thing he never did was say it back. Stephany had never worried about that until now, never needed the words to tell her what she already knew but as she watched his face darken at her words she knew those days were over. There would always be a hint of doubt on both sides that no words could ever truly erase.

"Then tell me why you weren't here," he practically growled at her, his eyes flashing as he extinguished his cigarette and flicked the butt across the room.

Stephany shut her eyes tight, a shield against the waterfall she'd become today. Memories flashed behind her lids in a dizzying montage as excruciating as it was brief. "I had a good one, Jackie. Can't you just trust me on that?" she found herself saying.

"Not anymore. I don't think I can trust you with anything. Who's to say you won't just disappear in the middle of the night the next time the urge hits you?"

The bed shifted under her with a soft creak and she opened her eyes, unfazed when she found his face inches from hers. His blue eyes flashed like lightning in a rainstorm, his anger buffeting her like the gale that accompanied it. She became bamboo, bending under the force of it but refusing to break.

"Only me, but you've already said you don't trust me so I don't expect you to believe it," she murmured. "I can't ask you to forgive me, I can't ask for your trust again after what I put you through. But I can ask you this: What do you want?"

"I don't know yet," he said looking fixedly at his blanket.

"Ok," Stephany said, finding the blanket just as interesting as Jack did.

She didn't have long to marvel at its interestingness, for in the next second her head was grabbed urgently but gently by wide strong hands and capable lips captured hers in a kiss so sweet and dire it made her teeth ache. She twisted into him, her hands gripping his waist as her lips parted and she tasted tar and other chemicals that made her want to gag but it'd been so long since they'd been this close that she sucked it up and pressed closer.

"I wish I could just hate you and be done with it."

And the building passion of the moment came to such an abrupt halt she could have sworn she heard the screeching of tires on pavement. Stephany pushed away from him, doing her best to hide the true depth of her despair. If he wanted to hate her, she could hardly blame him and she would do her best to let him go gracefully.

"Do you really want to hate me Jackie?" she asked in a voice barely above a whisper, her eyes fixed on the blanket once more. The hope she'd been unwilling to allow herself to feel crashed down on her, having snuck up on her without her permission. She had just begun to heal, the deep wound in her soul just beginning to stitch itself back up when he'd exploded back into her life just long enough to tear her apart again. Life really sucked.

"It would be easier," Jack mused. "But I can't. I wanted you to come back too much. The part that wants to hate you is smaller than the part that just wants to kiss you so silly you won't be able to leave."

Against her better judgment the hope returned, a bird with warm wings fluttering inside her chest. She glanced up at him and thrilled at his smile. She found herself unable to keep his infectious good mood out.

She smiled back, leaning forward as she spoke. "And I hope that bigger part of you remembers that that's all he's gonna be getting, if he gets it at all."

Jack rolled his eyes. "He does." Steph didn't put out. She always said she was saving herself for marriage. Jack wasn't too happy about it—ok, scratch that. Sometimes it downright infuriated him, but—and he couldn't believe he was saying this, it just sounded so…mature…ugh—he cared about her and didn't want to lose what he had by pushing too far.

"I would be glad to give that bigger half what he wants, but he's going to have to brush his teeth first. He tastes like an ash tray." Stephany quipped.

Jack grumbled, but got up anyway. Another thing he remembered about Stephany was her distaste for cigarettes. He brushed his teeth quickly, but she was already asleep when he returned, snuggled under his blankets and snoring lightly with her platinum hair falling over her face and shoulders wildly. He smiled softly and crawled into the bed beside her, throwing the blanket over them both and wrapping his arms around her. His last thought before he lost consciousness was that he wasn't ever letting go again.

How was that? Sorry if the canon characters are off, I'm trying to stick to them as much as I can. Anyhow, reviews are love!