Isabelle walked into the living room, tugging on Jack's short t-shirt and pulling up the boxers that hung much too low on her waist. Evelyn was sitting on the couch reading the newspaper, the morning news playing in the background. Accidentally, Isabelle stepped on a loose floor board. It creaked causing her to look up from her paper and over at Isabelle.
"Good morning, Isabelle," Evelyn said politely. She waved her over, patting the side of the couch next to her with her free hand. "Come take a seat over here."
Taking the seat, Isabelle smiled self-consciously. She looked down at her bare legs, completely self-conscious of her bruises that were exposed. She folded her arms on top of her knees, trying to cover as much as she could.
"I don't understand how you could protect that man," Evelyn said, honestly.
"Because he's the only family I have left," she replied.
"Well, that's just not true." Evelyn folded her newspaper and turned towards Isabelle, a sincerely sweet look upon her face. "The minute you walked through that door you were instantly family. Everyone here feels that way. Bobby protects you like you're his little sister, and so will Jeremiah and Angel, after they meet you tomorrow. And Jack, well, you only have to look at him to see how he feels about you."
Isabelle smiled and looked away. It was a bit embarrassing having Evelyn tell her all of this, but it was also comforting. She did feel like she had a family here.
"Your boys are coming home tomorrow?" Isabelle asked.
"Yes," she said, proudly. "Jeremiah just had a baby, my first granddaughter. Angel said he'd try to make it as well, but who knows with him. He's more reliable than Bobby, but not by much."
"Speaking of Bobby, where are he and Jack?" Isabelle asked.
"They went to go get some of your stuff."
"Miss Evelyn, I don't think that that was such a good idea," she said. She sat up on the edge of the seat and looked over at her. "My father, he's still home. Them being there-"
"It's a better idea than having you go there. Everything will be fine, I promise."
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"Bobby, I don't know if this is such a good idea," Jack said, looking out the car window. "Last night Isabelle sounded like she knew something was going to go down today. She made it seem like she didn't want us to do anything to him."
"You gonna listen to your girl or are you gonna do what you know this bastard deserves?" Bobby asked, angrily.
"It's not that simple."
"Izzy's scared as shit, right now, Jack, she ain't in no condition to make decisions."
"Is that it, or do you feel some need to solve everything?"
"You're her fuckin' boyfriend, little brother, you should be just as angry as I am."
"I am angry. I wanna kill her fuckin' father, you have no idea how much. But if this were to get back to Belle, it would hurt her in a way that you have no idea about."
"Jack, you know what, be a pussy and go home. But I ain't letting him get away with it," Bobby said. He opened the car door and got out. Standing by Jack's side he glanced over at his brother. "You comin' or what?"
Jack sighed and opened the door, quickly getting out. He and Bobby walked up the pathway to Isabelle's house, Jack lagging behind slightly. He wanted to get revenge on the guy, wanted to make him pay for ever hurting Isabelle. However, what Isabelle said the night before kept replaying in his head. Logically, he knew she was right but he also knew the minute he walked into the house and everything started to go down, he would no longer have any control over what he did. Jack was afraid of what he, himself, could do.
Sticking one hand into his pocket, Bobby knocked on the door with the free one. Jack stood off to the side, deciding that if Mr. Leary saw the both of them right away he would be better prepared to fight them off. A surprise attack from Jack would be effective. The door slowly swung open and Mr. Leary stood there in a drunken stupor. He went to slam the door shut in Bobby's face, but he stuck his hand out, holding it open and forcing his way in, Jack right behind him.
"Get the fuck out of my house before I call the cops," Mr. Leary said.
"Why the fuck should we listen to you? Did you listen to Isabelle when she told you to get out of her fuckin' room? Or when she told you to get the fuck off of her?" Bobby asked, angrily. He pushed Mr. Leary against the wall, knocking a picture off of it as he slammed into it. "Nah, I don't think so."
"I made mistakes," Mr. Leary said.
"You made mistakes?" Jack asked. He walked over to him, anger spewing from his eyes. "A mistake is forgetting to show up to her ballet recital or forgetting that she had a damn birthday coming up. Going into her room at night and forcing yourself on her is not a fuckin' mistake! You are the fuckin' scum of the earth and you will know what it feels like to have somebody forced on you every night when you land in prison for what you've done."
Bobby looked over at his brother. He was surprised that Jack could act like that, he had never heard him utter one unkind word in his life. Even when they fought he maintained decency to him. Jack was vicious now, an animalistic anger to him in his eyes, Bobby was afraid of what he could do.
"Jack, relax," Bobby whispered.
Jack didn't hear him as he walked over to Mr. Leary and grabbed him by the shirt, pulling him out of Bobby's grasp. He pushed him against the wall, slamming him so hard that he was sure there would be an indent.
"How the fuck could you do that to your own daughter?" Jack asked. He punched him square in the jaw, so much for not leaving marks. "How the hell could you do that?"
Bobby pulled Jack off of the man and pushed him aside. He went over to Mr. Leary, who was bleeding from the busted lip that Jack just gave him, and smirked mischievously.
"You've seen what my baby brother is capable of, although I am sure had I let him he could have done much worse," Bobby started. "But you see, he's the pacifist of the family and I'm the certifiable psycho who wouldn't even blink if I were to hurt you so badly that you wouldn't be able walk on your own ever again. Which is a very likely situation considering you hurt one of the family. You see, Jackie boy here is in love with Isabelle and I've adapted to her quite well, she's like my little sister and nobody, I mean NOBODY, messes with a Mercer, whether by name or by association, and gets away with it."
"What are you gonna do?" Mr. Leary asked.
Bobby looked over at Jack, who was waiting anxiously for another shot at him. Bobby started to feel guilty brining Jack into this, he hated violence, had experienced too much of it in his past, and Bobby knew that if Jack would feel badly later for what he had done, even if the man deserved it.
"I ain't gonna do nothing," Bobby replied, letting him go. Mr. Leary fell down onto the floor.
"Bobby, what the fuck?" Jack exploded. "You're just gonna let him go?"
"Jack, shut up!" he yelled. He turned back to Mr. Leary and glared down at him. "You're never going to mention our little meeting to anyone, as far as you're concerned it never happened. If anyone asks you about the bruises or the busted lip you got shit faced and got into a bar fight. You are to never have any contact with Isabelle ever again. And if you break any of these terms, I will come here and without so much as a second thought I will kill you. I don't even know why I am giving your sorry excuse for a life a second chance, but I am."
"Come on, Bo-"
"Jack, go grab Isabelle's things," he instructed.
"Bobby, why don't you go get her stuff and let me watch him?"
"Now, Jack."
Hesitantly, Jack walked over to the staircase and ran up to Isabelle's room. He ran over to her closet and opened it, noticing a suitcase inside. He grabbed it and noticed how heavy it was. He threw it onto the bed and opened it up, seeing that she had already packed things into it.
"Clever girl," he whispered. Jack quickly zippered it up and ran back down the stairs, seeing Bobby hovering over Mr. Leary. "I got it."
"Good, let's go."
Bobby turned away from the man, ready to leave the house, Jack upset at his decision. He was about to walk out the door but turned back towards the man. He opened his mouth as if he was about to say something but instead kicked him hard in the ribs and spat on him.
"I didn't get any hits in," he explained.
Jack stood there amazed at Bobby's simple explanation to it. Grabbing Jack by the shirt he pulled him out of the house and down the pathway. The both of them quickly ran into the car and drove way.
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It was nearly four and Isabelle was starting to worry. Jack and Bobby still hadn't returned yet and she knew that the two of them were up to something. As walked into the kitchen, sitting down at the table across from Evelyn who sat there cutting something.
"I would extend the offer for you to help except in honesty I am afraid to give you a knife right now in the state you're in," Evelyn joked.
"I'm just worried about Jack and Bobby, they're not exactly the most rational of people," Isabelle said, looking over at her. "I don't want anything bad to happen to either one of them."
"Don't worry, they'll be fine. My boys know how to handle themselves," she assured her.
Isabelle smiled softly and heard the slam of a car door. She instantly stood up and walked into the living room. Out the window she could see Jack and Bobby walking up the path. She ran over to the door as they walked through it, Evelyn walking into the living as well. Jack looked downtrodden as he walked over to Isabelle, dropped her suitcase onto the floor and wrapped his arms around her. She returned the gesture and slowly pulled away from him so that she could peer up into his eyes.
"What's wrong, Jack?" Isabelle asked. She placed her hands on either side of his face and smiled unsurely. "Are you okay?"
"Izzy, take Jack upstairs, he ain't feelin' so well," Bobby instructed.
"Okay," she replied. She went to grab her bag, but Jack took it from her, resting his hand over hers for a moment. She noticed the broken, red skin on his knuckles and wanted to run her fingers across them and ask him what happened, but could sense that is wasn't a good idea to ask him in front of Evelyn. "Come on, Jack, let's go upstairs."
Isabelle grabbed his other hand and pulled him along with her. Bobby looked over at his mother, an expression of guilt on his face and plopped down onto the couch. He ran his hand along his chin and shook his head softly.
"Ma, I never saw him like that before," Bobby admitted. "He was angry, vicious. He wasn't Jack anymore."
Upstairs, Isabelle was running a hand towel under cool water. She shut the faucet off and turned towards Jack, who sat on the closed lid of the toilet. Kneeling down in front of him she pressed it to his hand gently. The dried blood on his knuckles came off easily, but they were swollen and the mere touch of the material hurt.
"Jack, what happened?" Isabelle asked. She threw the cloth onto the edge of the sink and looked up at him, placing a hand on his knee. "Are you okay?"
"I could've killed him," Jack whispered, staring down at the ground. He was barely blinking and his eyes had a spacey look to them that Isabelle had never seen before. "I would have if Bobby didn't pull me away from. He even knew it."
"My father?"
"No," he said quickly, shaking his head and looking up at her. He placed his hand on the bruise by her eye, frowning. "He is not your father. No man like that could possibly be your father. No one who could do that could be a father to any child."
Jack was on the brink of tears, the water welling up in his eyes. Isabelle placed her hand against his cheek and gently ran her thumb along his skin. Jack looked over at her, ashamed at what he had done and quickly pulled her up to him so that he could hold her against him, needing to feel her warmth in his arms. Wanting to keep someone of her goodness within himself.
"Jack, whatever you did, it's going to be okay," she whispered. She hugged him back tightly and soothing ran his hand against his back.
"I was just like him, Belle. I lost control," he said.
"You will never be like your foster father. There is no way I could love you and believe in you so much if there was even the slightest chance you could turn out like him," she said, shaking her head. "You are Evelyn Mercer's son, you are just like her. I am not going to end up like my parents and you're not going to end like yours. We both know better than that. When I look into your eyes, I see an innocent boy just trying to get by, what I do not see is a cruel emotionless man and I never will."
"I don't understand."
"You don't have to, Jack," she replied. She kissed his forehead softly and then pulled away so for the second time that night she could peer into his blue eyes that were clouded with pain. "You just have to believe me."
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Thank you:
Bigamericanflirt
As well as anyone else who may have read this past chapter.
A/N:It may or may not take a little bit longer to put up the next chapter. My Microsoft word went all screwy (what a great choice of a word) and unless I can buy and reinstall it tomorrow I might not be able to get the next chapter up until next weekend. Hopefully all goes as planned and it will be fixed by tomorrow otherwise, sorry!
