That night, Jack went over to Rachel's apartment as soon as he was sure Shawn was in bed.
"Hey, Rach?"
Rachel went over to the stereo and pressed pause on her Goo Goo Dolls CD. "How's he holding up?"
"I'd be less worried if he were crying, or he'd tried to punch me, or he was playing Nirvana at full volume or something, but he just…sits there."
Jack sat down on the couch, and Rachel put her arm around him.
"How are you holding up?"
"I dunno, I guess I'm the lucky one. I didn't have to go through all the pain. I just didn't even know him."
"Maybe not like Shawn did, but you still went through a lot."
"I mean, the son of a bitch couldn't even die without hurting him. But he, he had this box, with each of our names on it. Mine had a clipping from my high school newspaper when I went to the national science fair. I don't even know how he got it. You know, it's, um It's just that I'm trying real hard not to get in the way of Shawn's grief. I've always thought of Chet as this monster and none of his interactions with me did anything to disprove it, but now there was this whole other side of him that only Shawn could see. I'll just, I'll never know my real dad."
"I know, Jack, but you just can't keep this inside."
"Yes, I can."
Jack started crying, and Rachel wrapped her arms around him. "It's okay, it's okay."
