Disclaimer: I don't own Four Brothers, but the plot and original characters are mine.

Chapter 4:

A week after their outing on a hot, lazy Sunday morning, Megan lay in her bed, thinking about everything. She had her time alone with the Mercer boys soon after the night at the skating rink because Gran had wanted to take Jack out and get to know him, one-on-one. Thankfully, Gran had called her before dragging Jack to the mall so that she, Bobby, Jerry and Angel could intercept and save Jack the pain of having an old lady pick out his clothing. Sure, they all loved Gran, but she didn't have the same sense of style that Evelyn had.

Then, a few days after the shopping outing, the boys pulled Jack aside, giving Megan time to call all her friends back home. Bobby, Jerry and Angel taught him how to defend himself from bullies. It was only later, when Megan found out, that she made Jack swear never to resort to that unless it was absolutely necessary. He quickly complied, mostly because he didn't want to upset her. It was clear to Megan that Jack was still scared that she might beat the crap out of him when he was least expecting it. Megan sighed. She wished she could help him. She wished she could do something for him, but there wasn't very much anyone could do other then sit around and wait for him to talk. You couldn't exactly force something like that out of anyone.

Bobby had sure tried though. Megan knew he was told a little but wouldn't tell anyone what he had heard. He said Jack was in a whole different league then the rest and we had to wait and deal with it only when Jack was ready to. Megan only hoped and prayed that Bobby was overreacting, and Jack's problems weren't as intense as Bobby thought them to be. But either way, she braced herself for the worst to come out at any time.

Megan yawned and climbed out of her over-sized bed. She quickly made the bed and picked up the towel she had left by her door last night. Before heading into the bathroom, she checked Jack's room. After seeing that it was deserted, she knocked on the bathroom door only to get no response. Megan shrugged and went in, to find Jack sitting on the floor with tears coursing down his face and blood running down his arm.

"Jack!" Megan cried, dropping her towel automatically pulling a first aid kit out from the cabinet under the sink. "Sweetie, what happen?" she asked as she moved to roll up his sleeve, but Jack pulled away, hiding his arm from her.

"Jack, please, let me help," Megan begged, her eyes beginning to water.

"No," Jack rasped.

"Why not?" Megan asked as her eyes zeroed in on the garbage can and saw one of her disposable razors all bloodied and half hidden under another piece of trash. "God, Jack. Why didn't you come to me?" she asked, at a loss for words.

"You're always busy. I didn't want to bug you," Jack started. Megan stared at him in disbelief for what felt like an eternity before he started talking again, trying to explain. "I came here and there was no new pain, only the old pain, haunting me where ever I went. So I made new pain so make the old go away," he said innocently. Megan's tears spilled over. It was clear to her that Jack didn't know that what he was doing was bad.

"Jack, oh Jackie. This isn't okay. You can't do this to yourself," Megan whispered. "Please let me see," she pleaded.

"No," Jack said indignantly. For someone who didn't know he was doing something bad, he sure was insistent that no one see it, Megan thought as she let out a sigh of annoyance.

"Jack, please, please just let me see. Let me see everything. Let me see what that monster did to you so I can help you get better," Megan coaxed. She hoped Jack would comply.

"I can't," Jack whispered, "He'll come and hurt me."

"No," Megan said roughly, pushing back the onslaught of fresh tears, "He'll never hurt you again. If he even so much as looks at you ever again I'll kill him," she swore. She saw the uncertainty in Jack eyes. "Jack, you're my friend. I would never hurt you and I would do anything to help you. The same goes with Bobby, Jerry and Angel. They know where you come from and they don't like seeing you hurt like this. Please let us help," Megan asked again.

Jack nodded as she slowly pulled off his bloodied nightshirt to reveal a myriad of bruises, scars, and cuts, the ones on his biceps still bleeding as they had just been made. "Jesus fucking Christ," Megan swore. "God, that's why you wouldn't let me see the scratch Bree left on you your first day. Hell, Bree didn't' even scratch you, did she?" she asked as she looked at his shoulder, to see sickly yellow-green bruises instead of faded claw marks. A few bruises were still purple and blue, lingering from his last beating before being moved to Megan and Gran's house.

"No," Jack murmured. Megan just shook her head and took out the first aid kid, cleaning off his self-inflicted cuts and putting band-aids over the worst of them. She then looked at some of the nastier old cuts to see what she could do for him. Megan didn't seem to be too disturbed by what she saw until she reached the burn on the small of his back. She touched it gently with cool fingers and in response he hissed in pain. It didn't become a blister, it just turned into a large, angry scab.

"Poor baby," Megan whispered as she took a small towel from the rack and soaked it in cold water to cover the scab with, trying to cool the never ending burn that plagued Jack. "There's some scar reduction stuff in here I'm gonna try on you. The rest, well it's a little late to ice this shit, but if you want ice or something, I could go get," Megan offered. Jack just shook his head as Megan gently applied the cream, arching his back as she worked, trying to ease the pain that he felt.

Once Megan was finished, she asked, "Are there anymore?" Jack nodded and stripped down to his boxers showing the marks on his legs. They weren't as bad as his torso, but they still made her gasp loudly. "Jack," was all she managed to say as she carefully and gently did all she could for her new friend's battered legs.

When she was all finished she face Jack and held his blue-green eyes with her own brown ones. "Jack, I'm telling you right now, there's not going to be anymore pain because I'm gonna help you get rid of it. Or at least get past it. And you wanna know why?" Megan asked. Jack nodded slowly, figuring it was the correct response. "Because you're too good for this. Because all you deserve is love and care, not pain and suffering. Because this bastard thought that he was right for doing this to you, but really he couldn't have been anymore wrong. You don't need to make new pain to make the old pain go away.

"People do love and care about you, like me, Gran, Bobby, Jerry and Angel. Hell, Bobby's told Evelyn all about you and she loves you even though she doesn't even know you yet. You have so many people who care about you now, so you don't need pain. You just have to let us in and once you do, we're going to fix you, Jack," Megan said pointedly.

"What if it's too late to fix me?" Jack asked woefully, his eyes wide with vulnerability.

"It's never too late to get yourself fixed, Jack," Megan said shaking her head. "You might find yourself fixing yourself as you get older, changing yourself for better of for worse. But now, you need to learn how to do that, and we can teach you," she finished, trying to show her love and care for him through her words and her eyes.

"Thank you," Jack said after a few moments of hesitation.

"So no more of this cutting?" Megan asked, praying he would agree.

"No more," Jack said nodding his head.

"Good," she said as she stood up. Jack stood up as well and allowed Megan to give him a hug. She took care to not hit any of his cuts and bruises, as she knew where they were after cleaning him up not five minutes before.

"Jack, go get dressed. I'll clean up in here and Gran will never know anything happened," Megan said as she wiped the tears out of her eyes.

"You mean you're not tellin'?" Jack asked incredulously.

"What made you think I would?" Megan asked as she threw the garbage into the little can and pulled the small plastic bag out of the can so she could hide it in one of the bigger black bags that would be taken away later in the day.

"I dunno," Jack said with a slight shrug.

"Well, I had no plans of it," Megan said as she made to leave the bathroom to toss the offensive object she was still holding. "I'm no tattle tale," she said patting Jack lightly on his bare chest as she passed by him.

Megan heard Jack go into his room to get dressed as she quickly made her way down stairs. She rushed outside and untied the black bag that was sitting on the curb, waiting to be taken away. She stowed her and Jack's addition into the black bag and retied it, running back into the house without anyone seeing her.

Megan walked back into the now empty third floor bathroom and turned on the water. As she stepped in the shower, all she could hope was that the rest of the day wouldn't be as dramatic as the morning had been.

A/N: Poor Jack…

Love and Luck,

Gaby