Well, it's been awhile, but here we go, another chapter. I'd just like to say that I haven't at all forgotten what happened in the last chapter with Jack and the drug dealer…I'm just not telling you yet.  My disclaimer now is that I haven't gotten the chance to rent or buy the movie yet, so I'm still working on a memory of a single viewing that's now several months past. My apologies for the delay and for the moments when Jack and Bobby seem out of character, and my sincere thanks to everyone who reviewed. Hope you enjoy.

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He was wandering downtown when Bobby spotted him. He caught the glimpse of a leather coat turning a corner and pulled off to the side of the road, double parking an old pickup that didn't look like it was going anywhere soon. He got out of the car, locked it behind him and heading around the same corned he had seen Jack turn. There he was, a few feet from a bus stop, looking uncertain and maybe not completely steady on his feet. Bobby came up next to him slowly and quietly, and kept his hands out and down and his best approximation of non-threatening when Jack turned his head to see him there. But Jack only turned his head back to staring at the bus stop.

"You're at the wrong stop if you're heading home," he said.

Jack nodded and wrung his hands, which Bobby only raised an eyebrow to see were shaking.

"How'd you find me?" Jack still wasn't looking at him.

"I've been driving around for damn near three hours. How'd I find you? Ma told me to take care of it or she wasn't going to feed me shit." Bobby stuck his hands in his pockets and stared with Jack at the bus stop. There was an older man sitting on the bench, clutching a cane between withered hands. They stared for a while, until a bus came and took the old man away. Jack and Bobby watched him go, and then Jack went and filled his place on the bench. Bobby came up behind him and leaned against the bench, staring in the opposite direction.

"You got a plan?" he asked, and saw Jack shrug out of the corner of his eye.

"Not really."

"Ok," he said, and settled himself in where he was leaning. He'd been hungry for three hours. He figured he could do a few more.

A few more buses came and went, and for a while a younger looking woman sat next to Jack and Bobby thought about flirting, but she was gone before he had thought of anything even remotely witty to say.

"Are you high?" he finally asked, because he couldn't think of anything to say to Jack either, and blunt had always been his strong suit.

Jack clutched his hands to keep the tremors down and shook his head. "No."

"Ok," he said again, and again a bus stopped, opened its doors and pulled away disappointed. "Do you know where your birth certificate is?"

Jack turned his head towards him, and Bobby turned his head as well to catch a small frown working its way over Jack's features.

"My birth certificate?"

"Ma was wondering if you knew."

"Doesn't Johnson have it?"

"I wouldn't be asking you if he did."

Jack shrugged, and Bobby rolled his eyes even though Jack wouldn't see it. He was getting tired of the game.

"Alright, Jackie, enough of this; it's dark and I'm cold. I'm going to go get the car. Get your fare ready," and Bobby left the bench and the bus stop and walked back around the corner and got in the car. The pickup sat as dejected as it was when he had first parked it in. He turned the car on and let it warm up, half expecting Jack to have disappeared again by the time he got to the bus stop, but he pulled up to the bus stop and looked out the passenger side window and Jack was still there, still non-responsive. He stared down at his shoes for awhile before getting up from the bench and opening the door.

"I don't have any money," he said, still not looking Bobby in the eye.

"No shit," Bobby said. "Fifty fucking busses go by and you think I don't know you don't got any money? Get in the damn car."

Jack slid into the seat and pulled the door shut after him quietly. He clutched his hands together and Bobby stared at them with him for awhile.

"You think if I take the long way home you can stop that shit?"

Jack shook his head.

"Alright, then you think if I take the long way home you can think of a reason to give Ma why they're doing that?"

Jack shook his head. "I'm not high."

"Yeah, you said that already."

They road in silence for a while, then Jack said, "That bag, the one from before…"

Bobby snorted. "Jerry flushed it."

"Are you sure?" he asked, "because if I could just have a little, maybe my hands will stop shaking."

"I'm sure." Bobby said and took a corner perhaps a bit more sharply than needed. "You're not doing shit like that in Ma's house. Eat something when we get there; you'll feel better."

"I'm not hungry."

"You're kidding me. You haven't eaten anything, shit, since I been here."

Jack shrugged again, and Bobby pulled the car up in front of the Mercer house and turned it off. "Let's go," he said, and came around the car while Jack got out and followed him up the sidewalk and into the house.

Evelyn was sitting on the couch when they came in, knitting and listening to the radio. She looked up and nodded a bit, then put her needles away. "It's about time you boys got here. Now I can go to bed." She stood and looked at them expectantly. "Well?"

Bobby looked like he wanted to say something, but swallowed it and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. "Night, Ma."

She smiled at Bobby and moved past him to give a Jack a pat on the shoulder as she turned to go upstairs. "Goodnight, Jack."

He watched her go and then turned to find Bobby scowling at him.

"Now look, I have to make my own dinner."

Jack was about to shrug again but Bobby shot a hand out and pressed down on his shoulder. "Save it. I've had all the non-verbal answers I can take from you today. Let's go see what we can find in the fridge."