Good morning guys! I'm so happy that I got so many reviews yesterday! Thank you guy so much for continuing to read this hell of a life for our boys. I'm sorry I torture them, but I'm glad you guys love to read my stories.
Please keep sending requests and questions! I love them so much! I had so much fun with the last one-shot I wrote so if you want to see a scene in your head come to life, send me the scene and the characters in a review or PM me and I'll see what I can do. Thank you!
For all requests in my other stories, (Fanz4life for Working With What We Got) I love the ideas. I will fit them in! Thank you so so much!
Now, for all of my lovely reviewers who have been asking for more scenes like this, enjoy!
Katherine all but ran through the hospital. She couldn't believe that Jack had waited this long to tell her that one of her boys was hurt. When she made it to the door, she stopped, collecting herself for a moment, before calmly pushing the door open. Then she smiled at what she saw inside.
Spot sat at the top of the bed, completely passed out. One of his legs dangled from the mattress, while the other was folded under Racetrack's head. Next to the injured boy, Crutchie lay, curled up at his side, completely asleep. And in the corner of the room, a pencil and paper in his hand, sat Jack Kelly.
Katherine smiled sadly at him before she walked over to him, sitting on the arm rest of the chair he occupied. She gently wrapped her arms around the boy, leaning on him as she looked upon his latest drawing. "You could just take a picture you know." She smirked as she saw he'd been drawing the scene in front of them.
Jack looked up at her and gave her a sad excuse for a smile before he looked back at his paper. "Where's the fun in that?" He asked as she leaned down to give him a gentle kiss on the cheek. "Besides," He laughed, "Spot will only let me draw pictures of him. That way he can deny 'em."
Katherine smile and then looked back at the three boys on the bed. She sighed. "Is he ok?" She asked, quietly.
The small smile that had been on Jack's face fell, like it had never even been there. "Doctors say that he's real lucky he got here when he did. A few minutes later and... he wouldn't be ok..." Jack said, gravely, looking over at the boy he'd almost lost the night before.
Katherine nodded and held her boyfriend tighter as she noticed him starting to get lost in his own head. Then something occurred to her. "Are you okay, Jack?" She asked, hoping her boy wasn't blaming himself for what had happened, whatever it had been that happened. Jack hadn't told her. All she knew was that Race was hurt.
Jack almost lied. He opened his mouth tell her that he was fine. But he couldn't take his eyes off of his oldest friend. His eyes filled with tears as flashes of the previous night passed through his mind. Race's screams on the other side of the phone, his friend on the ground, not able to breathe, the blood on his own shirt as he watched Race being rolled away on a stretcher. Then he finally spoke, "I don't know, Ace..." He muttered. "I almost lost him..." Jack threw his drawing on the table sitting next to him and his head fell into his hands.
"Oh Jack," Katherine sighed as she started rubbing her boyfriend's back. "It's ok. He's gonna be alright." She tried to soothe. She kissed the back of his head and leaned her body against his back. "This isn't your fault."
"I couldn't stop it, Ace." Jack shook his head and wiped away the tears that had started falling before he looked up. "I promised him I wouldn't let it happen again. He's been through this too many times and he doesn't deserve that!" He whispered, not wanting to wake up the three boys on the bed.
Katherine didn't know what Race had been through. She didn't know what had happened to him before or now. But she knew she had to tell Jack something. That this wasn't his fault. "Jack, I know that Race won't blame you for whatever happened to him. He's strong and he knows better than that."
"What kind of a brother am I if I can't protect my boys?" Jack's voice was quiet. It shook as he thought about all the things that had happened to the kids that he lived to protect. "I let them take half of my brothers to the Refuge." He started, his voice still deep. "I couldn't stop JoJo from being shoved into a locker by some football players or Albert from being locked in a basement for days or Specs from getting his glasses snapped in half by some jerk on the street or Crutchie from being dragged away by his bum leg and beaten with his own damn crutch..." Jack sighed. "I didn't think he'd make it, Katherine. And then this happens to Race again and I'm wonderin' why this is all happenin'." He let some tears fall. "They raped him. And they didn't even feel sorry about it. And I couldn't stop him from bein' almost beaten ta death by a jealous husband!"
Katherine gasped as he heard the real story of what had happened. That torture shouldn't happen to anyone. Race especially. She shook her head and rested held Jack tighter. "Jack you are the best brother any of these boys could ask for." She promised. She remembered everything she'd seen him do for his boys. She remembered when Jack had worked overtime for a week because Henry had gotten sick and needed warmer clothes and some meds. She remembered when Elmer had twists his ankle on the way to Jacobi's and without a second thought, Jack had scooped him up and carried him the rest of the way there. She remembered when Sniper had been shivering in the snow a few days ago and Jack had given up his jacket for him and almost frozen himself so that his brother could be warm. "Jack, you got a job and you work so hard so that you and Crutchie can live in an apartment. So that he won't be put in another foster home that will hurt him because of his leg. You constantly give up your jacket for him and your food and your water. Damn it Jack, you gave up your childhood for him!"
Jack shook his head. It wasn't enough. It never would be. But Katherine wasn't finished. "Jack, you've protected Race as best you could." She said, sternly. "You think I don't notice when he sits as close to you as possible on the days he gets quieter? Or when he gets up out of no where and walks into the bathroom and you follow him to make sure he's ok? And you think I don't notice when he comes back out with puffy eyes and a terrified look on his face?" She asked, whispering harshly right in his ear. "Jack, I know that you met Race when he was six. I know he wasn't doing well when you found him. Cold, uneducated, too small for his age, out on the streets with nothing to protect him. He was starving and you think that it's your responsibility to protect him from the world."
"It is!" Jack whispered. "When I met him... he asked me if I was there ta hurt him. I told him... I promised him that I'd protect him. No matter what. And I couldn't do it!" He cried. "I couldn't protect him from... from Oscar or Snyder or Tiffany or..." Jack shook his head. "Or Drake." The name sent a shiver down his spine. "He's my little brother. Him and Crutchie and my boys are my little brothers. It's my job to make sure they get to just be kids. To protect them from the world. And I failed."
Katherine held her boyfriend as he cried. She kissed the back of his head and held him close. "I'm so sorry, Jack." She whispered.
Race's head hurt as he stirred. His eyes fluttered open and he looked up to see Spot Conlon, the great leader of Brooklyn, completely asleep as he lay on his lap. The beaten boy smiled and then looked down at his other brother. Crutchie's head was on his shoulder and his broken arm was slung around the younger boy's shoulders. He pressed a soft kiss to Crutchie's hair before he looked around the room. He smiled as his little brother snuggled up to him more but then his eyes fell upon the two people in the corner.
He saw Jack quietly sobbing with his head in his hands. He saw Katherine leaning against his back, trying to comfort him. And then Race's heart broke. Because if he knew anything right then, it was that those tears were for him, because of him. And it hurt.
Katherine looked up to see Race watching them. "Racetrack!" She sighed in relief as quietly as she could and walked over to him, grabbing Jack's hand and dragging him there with her. "Hey, Race." She smiled as she made her way to the boy's right, placing a hand on his free arm.
Jack quickly wipe the tears from his face with the back of his hand. "Hey, Racer. How ya feelin'?" He asked in an even tone.
Race rolled his eyes. "I'm fine, Jack. All thanks ta you. You saved me. Got me outta there." He assured the older boy. "Thank you, Jack. For givin' up everything so's we could have the life we have." He said, gently.
Jack smiled. "I'm sorry, Race." He whispered. "I'm sorry ya went through what you went through-"
"It ain't your fault, Jack." Race swore. "It ain't no ones fault but the people who did it." He promised, grasping Jack's hand without moving Katherine's off his arm. The woman leaned down and kissed his cheek and Race smiled.
"I'm so glad you're okay." She whispered in his ear.
"Me too." Race agreed, smirking up at her. "I don't know what Jackie boy would do if he didn't have me around."
Jack actually laughed at that. That may as well have been the first time he'd heard his friend crack a joke in two days. And it felt good to hear. "You're right, Racer." He nodded, squeezing the boy's hand in his. "It's a fine life as long as I got you boys in it." Then Jack turned to Katherine. "And you, Ace." She pressed another kiss to his cheek and he blushed.
Race nodded and smiled up at him. Then he looked around at Spot and Crutchie and repeats the words. "A fine life." He agreed.
There it was. The last chapter of this story. I know, it's sad. But the next one just gets so much worse. I'm sorry. If you're excited for the next one, or the one that I talked about last time, the one where Race gets actually tortured, let me know in the reviews!
I'm currently working on the next chapter of Woring With What We Got and Still Callin' You Baby, so if you're waiting on those thank you so much! I'll have them up as soon as I finish them! In the mean time, please feel free to go read some of my one-shots, shoot me some more requests or ideas, and review some of my previous stories. All are greatly appreciated!
As always, thanks for reading! Make sure to tell me what you liked, what you didn't, what you'd change or what you'd improve by leaving me a review! Thanks so much for reading this story up till the very end! Love ya fansies! See ya next story! (The Spider's Revenge)