A Guardian Angel

Chapter 22.6

Finn & Jake

Everything was quiet in the house, Marshall and Fionna were asleep in the family room downstairs, their parents had yet to come home, but called saying they'd be in shortly. The only light on aside from his own was the one in Jake's room. Finn glanced over at it as he lay on his bed, his door open just a fraction enough to see out into the hall. Finn stared at the door across from his feeling a jumble of emotions, honestly he didn't know what to feel, more than anything the one thing on his mind was if Jake broke his promise…he really really hoped he didn't. Then again his brother had always had an issue with right and wrong. Even if it was wrong but felt morally right Jake didn't have a problem doing something horrible. Big things like really hurting someone, almost killing them, little things like stealing food or an old woman's purse, the older boy had done it all, everything but taking another human life.

Jake lay on his bed staring at the ceiling and feeling his cell phone buzz he glanced down at it smiling at the video message.

"Jake, I missed you today. The kids at the daycare are a real handful. I know you like visiting your parents and I hope to meet them someday, like how I hope you wish to meet mine. :] I love you!" Lady smiled at the camera and blew him a kiss, she had gone home to visit her family in South Korea and he missed her a lot, it was rare that he got a message from her and hearing her voice made him smile. Closing the phone Jake went back to thinking, and in his thoughts he couldn't help but remember the first time he and Finn met.

O0o0o0

It was a hot summer afternoon, children were playing in the yard and the sounds of their happy screams could be heard, and Jake sat quietly in the tree, it was his refuge for the time being. It had been another two weeks and from past experience Jake knew that another kid would be coming into the house soon. He wondered like all the other children did about his parents, were they alive? What were they like? Who were they? The tanned boy often wondered about them, he wasn't the oldest child here but that didn't stop the others from singling him out, especially after his foster parents began to. He'd never noticed it before they brought it up. He was too dark to be white, and too pale to be black, his foster parents called him oreo, a representation of his mixed heritage. He'd thought about running away, it'd be a better existence than the constant shuffling from foster home to foster home.

"OREO!"

The sudden sound of his foster mother's caught his attention and jumping from the branch he'd been resting on the 13 year old made his way into the house.

"Where in the world have you been? I've been calling you." The older woman snapped.

"Well maybe if you call me by my name and not that stupid nick name I'd listen to you." Watching the woman's face color red in anger was by far the best treat, though the hard smack in the back of the head made him think twice whether it was worth it or not.

"Boy you'd best watch your mouth, don't you even dare start smarting off, now apologize to your mama."

"She's not my mother, she's my foster mother."

"Why you-

"Frank don't worry about it, either way, We want you to show Finn here the ropes around here, teach him the rules, your foster father's gotta drive me to work." She said collecting her purse. "Understood?"

"Yes Mrs. Mayes."

"Good, Frank'll be back in thirty." She said walking from the house, her husband following leaving the boy with the bear hat behind.

"Finn was it?"

"Yeah."

"How old are you?"

"I just turned 10."Finn said looking around and taking in all of the house that he could see.

"Nice, here's the routine, wake up, brush teeth and wash face, school, come home, chores, homework, play time, dinner, and bed, that easy." Jake said as he turned and walked up the stairs beckoning Finn to follow. "You'll be sleeping in this room, it's the only room with a bed open right now. Boys bunk with boys and girls with girls, there's no mixing. Any questions?" Jake asked as he grabbed Finns bag and tossed it on the bed across from his.

"If this is your room where's all your stuff?" Finn asked watching as Jake flopped on the bed and kicked his feet up.

"It's not gonna be my room for much longer. I'm getting outta here. I'm not staying in this place."

"Oh…why?"

"Because I'm gonna go find my family that's why." He said watching as Finn sat on the bed.

"Okay." Jake watched as the small boy got settled putting his bag at the end of his bed and taking his hat off revealing his blonde hair.

"Dude you need a haircut." Jake said as Finn shook his head.

"Nah, my hairs been a lot longer before."

"Yeah but Mr. Mayes will nag about it, so keep your hat on or something…"

"Alright…You know I've never had any foster brothers before. Can we be friends?" Finn asked looking around.

"Sure."

"So…when are you leaving?" the blonde asked turning back to face Jake who shrugged gazing out the window.

"I have to meet a few friends next week so not before then."

"Ok…Can I come too?" hearing this Jake turned to face him quickly.

"What? I'm not bringing along a kid."

"I'm no kid! I'm 9…10! I just turned 10!"Finn said angrily glowering at the teen before him.

"Yeah well you're still a kid." Jake said now ignoring Finn who was fuming.

"Shut up! You're just a jerk!"

"Takes one to know one." Jake said walking from the room and leaving the angry boy behind. He wasn't going to do this again, every time he got attached to one of the foster kids they were adopted or moved, it always happened, every single time. He couldn't do it again it wasn't worth it, it was never worth it.

Days passed and Jake continued to ignore the blonde boy who occupied their room, weeks had passed and he'd been too nervous to go on with his escape plan. Just because he'd been focused on his plan to escape didn't mean he'd zoned everything else out, even though he'd been ignoring the blonde it didn't mean he didn't notice when he'd be quieter than usual or come in with random bruises. Finally curiosity became too much for Jake to handle and after his fourteenth birthday he questioned the hat wearing child when he came in cradling his arm.

"Finn, come here." Jake said motioning for the boy to come. It had gotten cooler out and instead of his usual blue shirt he was wearing some ungodly hideous pink sweater that he recognized from his foster mother's closet.

"What?" the boy asked reproachfully.

"Dude just come here." Jake said pulling him over by his arm watching as he winced as he pushed up the sleeve.

"Ow don't touch it!" Jake stared at his arm, it was bruised on both sides, the last time he'd seen an arm like that was when one of the foster children had fractured it after falling out of a tree.

"What happened to you?" he asked releasing Finn's arm fearing that he was hurting him more.

"Nothing! I'm fine!"

"Finn tell me the truth." He didn't understand this feeling in his chest, why did he care? Why did he have such an urgency to figure out what was wrong with this kid?

"It was just an accident okay!" Finn said almost desperately. He felt like a caged animal, like a cornered creature and this kid who didn't care, the one who called himself his friend but treated him like a stranger, now he was concerned? Now he cared?

"Dude your arm looks broken, what happened?" Jake watched as Finn's determined face crumbled.

"He told me not to tell." He said quietly as Jake stared in ever growing concern.

"Who?" Instead of answering Finn looked towards the door and mere moments later their oldest foster brother walked in, their foster parents birth son.

"Finn get over here! I told you to wash those dishes!" The 16 year old growled standing at the door way.

"That's bull because I did the dishes. What do you want Marcus?" Jake snapped. "And who the heck said you could come into my room?" he said standing up to glare at the older boy.

Finn watched as the tension steadily built up between the two until finally the older boy left turning and walking down the hall as Jake slammed the door shut. Turning he sat on the bed Finn was sitting on.

"Let me see your arm." He said softly watching as Finn looked to the door again. "Hey, don't worry about him, now let me see it." Turning away from the door Finn pushed up the sleeve of the pink sweater this time willingly revealing his bruised arm. Jake touched it gently poking and prodding the blonde who winced. "Can you bend it?"

"Yeah, it just hurts a lot."

"Ok, I don't think it's broken, it could be fractured so go easy with it." Jake said standing and walking over to his bed leaning over to the other side and grabbing his already packed backpack.

"So…" Finn said quietly. "You're leaving tonight?" he asked looking down at the ground.

"Yeah." Jake said now reaching for Finn's bag. "You wanna come with me?" Almost immediately the blonde's head whipped up and blue eyes met brown ones.

"Really?!"

"Yeah, you're my foster brother…and Marcus isn't, the guy's a jerk. So if he's been like this to you the whole time, I can't leave you here with him. So if I'm taking you with me that makes us brothers." Jake said packing Finn's few belongings into the bag. "Brother's don't leave brothers behind."

"Okay! Where are we going?"

"I'll find us a place, don't worry about it. A friend of mine's family just went on vacation so their place'll be empty for the next week. As long as we keep moving around they'll never find us." Jake said simply as he shouldered his backpack and handed Finn his as the boy smiled. "And take that stupid pink sweater off, you can have my blue one." He said watching as Finn pulled the sweater over his head and accepted the hoodie zipping it up and pulling the hood over his head.

"Alright I'm ready, you?" Finn asked.

"Let's go." Jake said opening the door.

O0o0o0

The sound of knocking woke Jake from his memories and turning his head he looked at the clock, it was almost 2 in the morning.

"Yeah?" the door opened and he watched as Finn opened the door and entered flopping on the foot of the bed.

"Jake? Can I ask you something? The blonde asked watching as his brother's eyes were once again shut as he leaned back supporting his head with his arms.

"You already did Finn but sure, what's up?" Now Finn was quiet as he worded what he wanted to say in his head, his brother continued to lay silently waiting for him to speak.

"That guy who Attacked Fionna and Marsh, you knew him?" The way Finn had said it Jake knew it was more of a statement than a question but decided to answer anyways.

"Yeah man I knew him, but he's from the past, I don't do that junk anymore." Jake said his eyes still shut having a feeling of where Finn was going with this. the blonde shifted in the bed now facing his brother.

"Fionna said he had a knife."

"Yeah? I didn't notice." Maybe this would ease his brother's mind…or not…

"Jake you can't fool me I know when you're lying." Finn said watching as Jake opened his eyes to stare at him.

"I know what you want to ask so why don't you just say it?" Jake asked sounding meaner than he'd intended to.

"I'm not sure I want to know the answer." Hearing this Jake blinked in shock, he'd thought that he killed him?

"Finn…I- I didn't kill him, why would you think I would?" Jake asked sitting up and staring at his brother.

"I don't know you have this twisted sense of right and wrong and-

"But I've never killed someone!" the older boy interjected pushing himself up as Finn continued looking worried.

"You almost did! Jake I just- Sometimes…Knowing what you're capable of scares me sometimes. Especially when I know you're angry." The blonde said pleadingly.

"Finn, are you more scared that I could have possibly killed someone? Or are you more afraid that I could have broken my promise?"

"The promise man!" Finn said almost desperately. "It's always been about the promise! I can't lose you!" Jake stared at his brother in shock.

"Finn…I'm not going anywhere, I'm not gonna lose myself, not again I promise, I still promise, I haven't broken a promise to you ever and I won't start now so trust that." Jake said softly. "I've never given you a reason not to trust me Finn, never."

"I know but I worry." Finn said flopping backwards on the bed.

"Finn…man you shouldn't waste time worrying about stuff, sometimes it'll happen sometimes it'll happen to someone else or sometimes it'll just plain never happen, don't worry about it if it's out of your control." He said watching as Finn rolled over and stared at the wall as he lay on his stomach. "Finn…Finn…come on answer me." Jake said now nudging him and watching as Finn reluctantly cracked a grin.

"Ok. I trust you I really do, honest. But I am scared you'll lose it someday." The blonde said quietly feeling as Jake's hand knocked off his hat ruffling his hair.

"Finn you don't get it, as long as you're with me I'll never lose it man. I know I gotta take care of you, I'll always have to because brothers take care of each other. That's our unwritten rule ya know, I take care of you and make sure we're fed and you keep me out of trouble." Jake said moving so he lay across the bed like his brother and flinging his arm over his shoulder. "Even though we've got Mom and Dad, even though they saved us from what we would have been, we'll always rely on each other Finn, we'll always have each other's backs and you know it. That's just how we are Man, it's how we'll always be ok?"

"Ok."

"You trust me?"

"Always."

"Good. Don't need you doubting me man, have faith in your big brother sheesh." Jake said with a pout as Finn laughed though after a moment grew serious.

"What did you do to him though?" Finn asked warily, curiosity getting the best of him.

"I used his own knife on him enough to hurt him, enough to scare him but not enough to kill him. I told him that if he ever touches what's mine or any of my family again that I'd kill him, and while I won't do it myself I know enough guys who could so it's not an empty threat, and he knows that." Finn could hear the seriousness in his brother's voice.

"Okay, that's not so bad…But you're not getting the Blood Hounds…"

"Back together again? No, that's history, it's in the past and not coming back."

"Okay, good."

"Go to bed Finn, I'm gonna go to bed, I'm tired." Jake said pushing Finn as he stretched.

"Alrighty then…I'll see you in the morning." Finn said standing and walking to the door.

"Yup see you in the morning." Jake said tossing Finn's hat to him and watching as the blonde exited the room. Flicking off his side lamp his room was engulfed in darkness and just as he closed his eyes the sound of his phone caught his attention. Reaching over he checked the screen and with a sigh he shut his phone off ignoring the text and quickly falling asleep refusing to let his mind wonder.

I got a review last chapter from someone who was complaining that my story was too long with 25 chapters...a review of chapter 1. If they even made it this far here's a message for them:

I like to write, I'm an imaginative thinker with the ability to put thought into words and have it come out into something completely amazing, some people can't do that. I like long stories and when I write while I cater to my reviewers and readers, mostly I cater to myself. If you don't like long stories that's not my fault, every single one of my stories except for oneshots are all over 100,000 words. I'm not changing that because it's who I am, but I'm not going to end it because you're small minded and think it's too long. Sorry dude, deal with it, If I want a 100 chapter story and have the ability to make it so you'd better bet your ass I'm gonna do it. I have enough crap to deal with in my own life to bother with anyone who acts negatively towards me or my writings. I have too much emotion and feeling and vivid detail in my story to confine it to a short several chapters. I have too much respect for my potential and my writing to disgrace it with a pathetic attempt.

Every chapter I've read dozens of times until I make it perfect and it's exactly as I want it, it's a labor of love.

I slave over this story even while I'm homeless, and working to support my disabled family, while I'm failing college so I can have money to feed my family and so maybe sometime soon I can have a place to live and a room I can call my own. But after all I'm sorry my story's not coming up to your standards now being 26 chapters long and not done yet, jeeze I really should pay attention to your wants of my story length…wait did I just say MY STORY? Yeah that sounds right, MY STORY! Why should the length of a story affect how good it is? Harry potter was amazing and it was 7 books long! The outsiders was amazing and it was only 1 book. Maybe this'll be a book one day? Who knows! So Shut up and deal with it you Lazy reader! :P

Sorry for my rant :-: I'm finished

-Nik PS I'll respond to reviews of the last few chapters in the next chapter.