Disclaimer: as chapter one, so please do not keep making me write it out. This is for fun and not for profit!

WARNINGS: POSSIBLE MILD BAD LANGUAGE.

All reviews, and constructive criticism, gratefully received – but no flaming please; and I will try to update regularly.

'Thoughts'

"Speech"

Summary: Lexie's itching to take a swing at Finn's dad, but Jack can't let her... JGxOFC

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PIECES OF THE HEART

Chapter Ten

In the other room; tensions were still running high. "You wouldn't do a damn thing to me – you 'sharey carey' kind are all like her" Gary chuckled derisively as he nodded at Rainbow "too keen to hug each other – you wouldn't raise a hand to me; you sure as hell wouldn't call the cops on me!"

"Is that what you think?" Lexie smiled spitefully at him "shows what you know; which isn't much apparently. See, I'm not a psychiatrist like Doctor Gallagher here – I don't want to 'understand' you...I don't 'care' about you. I just want to ensure your son is happy. Something you don't care about; but I would do whatever was necessary to make that happen – if that meant breaking your nose...hey, I'm up for the challenge!"

She shook her head at him "all this stuff of yours, like changing your name to Blaze, was just to get round her" she gestured at Rainbow "to make her believe you understood what she wanted; you set her up to be the bad guy too, didn't you? You made Finnian believe that she was brow beating you into getting rid of your late wife's things, when it was really you, wasn't it?" Gary glared, but Rainbow nodded.

"Yeah, you can talk the tough talk, bitch – but I doubt you'd follow through..." he growled.

Lexie just rolled her eyes "you think?" the man nodded, arms folded as he rocked back in his chair "well, let me give you a little FYI, eh? I've got a cousin whose nearly 6' 4" and I busted his nose like cracking a nut when we were kids; and he was still bigger than me even then. He's real scared of me these days. I worked long and hard to earn my 'Queen Bitch' title; so you shouldn't say bitch like it's a bad thing, because it isn't in my book. I grew up on a very rough housing estate – like the Projects you people have here in the US; my mum kept me straight, made it clear I would die a long slow death if I happened to wander onto the law breaking path. But it didn't mean I didn't know how to look out for myself, friends and family." She shrugged "drug dealing, suicides, rapes, burglaries, muggings and murders were so common that we didn't even bother calling the cops – we dealt with it ourselves."

Lexie gave them a look that left them in no doubt what she meant by that "I learnt to box to keep myself safe, men don't expect a woman to have a mean right hook and south paw upper cut that could shatter teeth. I can also use a butterfly knife better than anyone I know – I also learnt that anything can be used as weapon if you stab someone hard enough with it...especially screwdrivers, but even a spoon."

Jack looked up at her in total surprise, and Nora and Veronica shared a stunned look next door; none of them would've pegged her for such a bruiser. Lexie merely stared Gary down "now, bearing all that in mind do you honestly think I won't defend a little boy, huh?" She sneered at the man "what I did to my cousin, I can do to you too; in fact I can do a hell of a lot worse - I would've already, if not for this..." she raised her arm a little so Gary could see where Jack was still hanging resolutely on to her.

The other man lost a lot of his swagger as he blanched at Lexie's words, but blustered on regardless "I'm not scared of you! I got rights!"

"Yeah? Well so has your son!" she sank reluctantly back into her chair, turning her icy gaze on Jack "let-me-go."

"Promise you won't hurt him first..." Jack murmured calmly; he saw Gary pale even further when he realised that even the doctor believed that she would hurt him.

Lexie flicked a murderous look at the father, who physically moved back, but then nodded – albeit very reluctantly. Jack paused for a moment and then released her wrist, but watched her closely. She wasn't just angry at Gary Buchanan; she was raging – and that wasn't good; it also meant this went deeper than her just being angry about the circumstances surrounding Finn.

"Now, Rainbow – tell me why he hates his son so much." Lexie was taking deep breaths to try and calm down, but it wasn't really working too well. Her fists were still clenched so tightly, Jack reckoned that her fingernails had to be cutting in to her palms.

Rainbow was horrified at Gary's reaction; his attitude until today had been verbal bullying more than anything else – which she'd put down to him not being able to release his inner anger. But now she really wondered if he would've actually hit her; so she was thankful for Lexie's intervention and more than happy to help her.

She nodded "Finnian was at a friend's house the night his mother died. It was only a couple of blocks from their house, and his father wanted him to walk home so his mother could get cooking for the dinner party they were going to be having.

But Finnian stayed later than he should've done and his mother went to get him in their car because she was in a big hurry. She was telling him off, looking over to the backseat where he was, when she ran a stop sign and got hit by a truck – she was DOA at the scene. Plus it also meant that the important clients didn't get the dinner party they'd been promised and, despite the tragic circumstances that caused it, they decided to take their business to another restaurant."

Lexie nodded "go on – so what's the bottom line, Rainbow?"

The other woman sighed "Blaze hates Finnian because he feels he's to blame for his mother's death, and thereby the loss of a lucrative catering contract."

Lexie turned incredulous blue eyes on Gary "so, to recap, and do stop me if I go wrong – you hate your son for being in a car accident that killed your wife? But not, apparently, because your wife died – but because she was therefore unable to have a dinner party to impress people who might invest in your business?"

"Hey! My business puts food on the table and a roof over our heads, so don't you look down on me!"

Lexie ignored him and looked at Rainbow "was Finnian hurt in the crash?"

The other woman nodded "oh yes; he was in hospital for about a week. You see the front of the car took the full force of the impact; his mother was killed instantly, but yes he was hurt too.

Finnian was strapped into the back seat. So while he would've seen his mother killed, probably; he would've remained largely unhurt." She thought for a moment "I think Blaze said he had a concussion, a fractured arm and a broken leg."

Lexie took a deep breath and stood up; Jack's hand reached for her, snagging her wrist once more, but she shook her head at him "Jack, I have to go or I'm going to kill him and not even you will stop me." Her voice was so deathly calm, so resolute, that Jack nodded and released her.

"Perhaps this wasn't a good idea..." he murmured.

She gazed darkly at him "you think?"

She turned on her heel and left the room. Jack noted that she had her head high, and shoulders back; her whole posture was stiff and unrelenting. He knew then with absolute certainty there was a whole back story there; something had damaged her in the past...and it had been pretty nasty whatever it was.

0-0-0-0-0

Veronica left the two way room the same time as Lexie left the other one; she found her in the corridor. Taking deep breaths and, seemingly, trying hard not to hyperventilate.

She touched the other woman's shoulder "you alright?"

Lexie turned to her; though her eyes showed she was struggling not to either cry or break something, her voice was amazingly calm. "He hates his son because he feels he was the reason his wife died and was unable to carry out an important dinner party. He threatened to hit me; he threatened to hit his girlfriend..."

She took a deep shuddering breath "I know people like that exist, I know better than most...but dear Lord, I never thought I'd have to meet another one myself." She looked directly at Veronica "tell Jack I've gone to see Finn alright? I'll probably take him and Deeogee outside and work with them for a bit."

Veronica nodded silently as Lexie headed towards the little boy who'd lost so much and who'd, apparently, not had that much to start with – a loving mother and a devoted dog; now all he had was the dog...

Lexie looked at the ceiling and tried to make the tears that were swimming in her eyes drain back into her tear ducts – the thought of trying something so dumb made her laugh brokenly, and the tears spill down her cheeks anyway.

0-0-0-0-0

Jack found her an hour later; she was sat cross legged on the green, her back against the leg of the wooden seats there – she had Finn on her lap and Deeogee with his head resting on her knee, fast asleep. Jack hung back and watched them...

"Will I be staying much longer?" The small boy asked anxiously.

"Do you want to?" Lexie smiled at him.

"Yeah, I like it here; I wish I could stay forever."

"Well, tell Doctor Gallagher; I'm sure he can pull some strings for a bit longer..."

"He's the boss; they have to do what he says, right?" Finn nodded in answer to his own question.

Lexie smiled "ah but Jack has his own boss too – chain of command see; it's a bummer."

"Bummer" Finn agreed. The boy settled back against Lexie and within minutes he was asleep just like his dog.

Jack made his way over "how's he doing?" he murmured.

Lexie looked up and smiled ruefully "better than me" she muttered "I'd apologise, but it wasn't like I didn't warn you. Did you manage to ensure Buchanan doesn't sue?"

Jack shook his head "I didn't need to as he won't do any such thing – you were good to bring it out that he was the problem, not Rainbow." He looked out across the green "I'll don't think she'll be hanging around much longer either; today opened her eyes to a lot too."

Lexie sighed "it would've anyway, the first time he hit her – the only question would've been whether she was dumb enough to then fall for the ensuing apologies and tearful begging for forgiveness, or whether she'd have told him to take a hike..."

Jack looked at her "which did you do?"

Lexie gave him a sharp look "and you say I'm scary?"

Jack shrugged "you were far too angry with him when he went to hit Rainbow, and then threatened to do the same to you. It wasn't just righteous indignation, it was pure rage."

She sighed "I took option number one and went on to deeply regret it. I only sent him packing when he threatened my brother. In my defence he was my first boyfriend and I was only nineteen."

Jack shook his head "nineteen's no age to be dealing with a situation like that. Anyway you don't need a defence – you weren't at fault."

Lexie shrugged "funny; but even now, after all these years, I still don't believe that. I still believe I am what he drummed into me - fat, ugly and stupid and that no man will ever want me. I have serious self esteem issues I know" she waved away Jack's words before he said them.

"Well, at least you acknowledge it – of course addressing them would be better. What did your family think?"

"When I finally told them they said it only confirmed what they'd already guessed. Zack, Byron and their two best friends spent a week looking for him – I dread to think what would've happened if they'd found him but, thank God, he'd gone on a soccer holiday to Germany with his brother-in-law."

She shook her head "mind you I lived in fear for ages that they might bump into him in town, or somewhere; that bastard had caused enough trouble, I didn't want them doing prison time for his sorry arse."

"About the karma thing...?" Jack asked, thinking it would better to change the subject as it was obvious she was reliving it all.

"Oh I bluffed it" she smiled "I've a got a mate in the UK that's into all that stuff. Her house has been feng shuied to within an inch of its foundations. She's got tons of books on reincarnation and karma; and has regularly bored me almost to, literal, death with lectures about the subjects. The rest of it I made up..."

She frowned "or at least I thought I had, but Rainbow believed every word...weird. Still, Melody will find it amusing."

"Another hippy name change?" Jack grinned.

"No" Lexie laughed "actually that's her real first name. Her mother's choice apparently – she's got two sisters; one's called Harmony and the other's called Lyric. Their mum was a music teacher you see; I'd have to argue that music was her religion."

"He's got a maternal grandmother" Jack nodded at the dozing finn "his father's agreed to send him and the dog there; if she agrees too, of course."

"Do you think she will?" Lexie looked almost pathetically hopeful.

"I've already telephoned and the answer's yes; but on one condition..."

"Which is?"

"That you go and visit – apparently anyone who gives her ex son-in-law a hard time is a hero to her. She also wants you to keep working with Finn and Deeogee if possible. I said I'd ask."

Lexie shook her head "you know you didn't have to; if it means these two get a good life, I'll do whatever. What made the father back down? I can't believe it was anything I said."

"You'd be right" Jack nodded "Veronica came in and threatened him with child welfare. He has a restaurant to think about – what would it say about him if his child was taken into care? Worse, if he killed himself? He realised then it would reflect very badly on him and could therefore badly affect his business. That put a whole different spin on things."

Lexie rolled her eyes "oh I just bet it did." She looked down at the young boy "you know I would've seen if I could foster him if he had gone into care – I couldn't imagine this guy going into the system, and what about the dog? Nope, I would've had to intervene..." She shook her head and smiled ruefully "patron saint of lost causes my brother calls me; champion of the underdog. I'm not sure whether that's a good or bad thing."

Jack smiled "definitely good; very good in this case – these two need each other. Split them up and you have two seriously damaged individuals...wouldn't bode well for either of them for the future."

"Do you think his father will maintain contact?"

"Nope" Jack shook his head "I think once the boy and his dog goes to the grandmother he will swiftly drop the two of them...unless it benefits him to claim them. Otherwise I think in nine years time, at his graduation, there'll be an empty seat where his father should be."

"To be honest I don't think it'd be a loss to either of them if the man were to leave and never come back" Lexie frowned.

"That's sad, don't you think?" Jack asked "having an attitude that means people dislike you intensely."

"Oh I think he likes it; I think Blaze, Gary, whatever you want to call him – and the names I'd pick are not repeatable – enjoys the way he is. He likes to think he's tough, a real S.O.B; when of course he's just yet another self absorbed prat."

"Oh and there I thought you had a crush on him...but it seems you don't like him." Jack chuckled "I mean don't hold back, really tell me what you think of him."

Lexie grinned, grabbed his shirt to pull him towards her and, cupping her hand to his ear, began to whisper. Jack smirked and then roared with laughter "Alexandra! Who knew you'd know such terrible language!"

Lexie grinned mischievously "stick with me Jack, there's a lot I could teach you."

He's eyes softened as he smiled "I don't doubt that for one moment, Lexie, not one."

It wasn't so much what he said as the way he said it that made her blush furiously, Lexie would later tell her brother. Was she really that rude all the time that it was almost expected?

Zack merely shook his head at how clueless his little sister could be about the feelings of men where she was concerned...