Witness Protection

Disclaimer: I don't own Kickin' It, or any other Disney Channel show. They belong to their respective producers/writers/companies.

A/N:

Chapter 25 (Family Matters)

Walking along the beach, Jack was enjoying the soft sand between his toes, and the water rushing up to wash his feet. The air was warm and as pleasant as the rippling water. His hands were in the pockets of his jean shorts, and he was wearing a sandy brown shirt that he thought went well with the beach. The wind blew through his hair, providing a very pleasant chill to his cheeks.

He looked to his left as Eddie came up beside him, also wearing shorts and an orange t-shirt. Though, he was wearing sandals, unlike Jack. Apparently there were times where you couldn't trust bare feet on the beach without the risk of stepping on something. Milton and Jerry were also on the beach a little ways behind them, they were busy making some sort of sand castle. "Have you ever been out on a beach before, Jack?" If he had, he couldn't recall it. He'd love to share this experience with Kim, but she was hanging with Ciara today. After the whole bout with Rico, the two needed to talk in private. Family matters, it seemed.

"No, never have. You?" He saw his friend's expression fall for a moment. Eddie looked up to the sky and lifted his shoulders.

"Sometimes Dad would take us out to the beach, but it's been a couple years. Debbie loved it." Talking about his sister had to be a rough subject, so Jack didn't want to approach a tense subject without some amount of care. Debbie was turning ten this year. Eddie thumbed his nose and scoffed once. "You know, her birthday was the twenty-fifth." His eyes widened and he quickly turned to Eddie. The realization that Debbie was spending her birthday in captivity was unsettling, but what could they do about it really?

"You didn't say anything."

"What difference would it have made if I did? She's still a hostage, and I do hope she's okay." Jack smiled and pat Eddie's shoulder, he hoped to reassure him that his sister would be okay. While he didn't know if that was true, it was still a good idea to hope for it. "Even if I do come close to seeing her, or Dad, I'm still going to feel like I failed them both."

"Why?"

"Because I should have been there for them, Jack." Eddie pulled away and crossed his arms. He turned and glared ferociously at the ocean. Jack's lips fell back into a frown and his forehead creased above his eyebrows. "I should have been protecting them. Isn't that what learning martial arts is supposed to do? Teach you self defense to protect yourself and everyone you care about?"

"Yes. Or that's part of it…They'll be okay, Eddie. You didn't know what was going to happen, so you couldn't control it. What you're doing now, what we're all doing right now, is fighting for them."

"We should be looking for them. I could care less about all these famous people…if something happened to them…" He could see the tears in his friend's eyes, Eddie was struggling just to keep them in. Eddie sniffled and closed his eyes. "If I lost them, I don't know what I would do. Dad, Debbie, they're…they're more important to me than any of these people that could die…besides, the Black Dragons haven't even started anything yet!"

"I know Eddie. I know…" He heard someone shuffling around in the sand and looked back to see Milton and Jerry walking up. They were just as forlorn appearing as Eddie was. "It's hard to decide…no question about it, family is more important and crucial than anyone else, but we can't just ignore the millions of lives out there at stake."

"He's right," Jerry added. "I should know, Dad's all I got. Sure I have all these cousins and uncles, but when it all comes down to it…here all I have is Dad. My cousins, mom's siblings, and some of Dad's siblings that aren't living off in Chicago, they'll visit from time to time. You saw them in that one tournament, but I know they're all safe. I check on them sometimes, none of them are nearly as important as my Papi…and he's more important than any of the celebrities out there that might die, but they have families too. They have those same loved ones that count on and depend on them. It wouldn't be right to weigh and compare the importance of their lives and the importance of our own relatives…"

Eddie looked over to Jerry with a subtle smile, and Milton quickly agreed. "As much as I know my Uncle's never around, I would hate it if he were caught up in this mess." Milton folded his arms and turned his eyes towards the ground. "Uncle Tyler is an alcoholic by night that works a dead end job, always depressed because of Aunt Lola's death, but he's still family. Those celebrities are the same, some of them are pretty crappy, but they're still family to someone, and they can't be ignored…"

"Chances are Rudy is with our relatives right now," Jack tapped his chin and started walking along the coast. The others followed after him. He was determined to save both, not putting anyone as more or less equal than the other. "He's probably taking care of them, making sure they're okay. He knows our relatives well enough and wouldn't let anything happen to them." As he thought on their families, he stopped moving and glanced over his shoulder at Milton. "I thought your father was still alive. Who was that weird guy that wanted to pull you from the dojo before I came along?"

"That was actually my uncle. He's a little…odd…" Milton rubbed his neck and averted his eyes. "He likes people thinking he's my dad, it's mostly all about him really…"

"I see." Then it meant all the more to him what Milton had said in regards to family, that no matter what, family was crucial. For those of them who still had their relatives safe somewhere, it would be devastating to lose them. Kim still wanted to see her father in Australia, and of course, she'd be tormented if something happened to him. He could see Milton the same way if he lost his uncle. "You're all pretty lucky still, you know that?" They stared at him as if he had a separate head. "You still have good ties with your family."

"Your family is perfect," Jerry laughed half-heartedly while Jack slowly shook his head. His family was far from perfect. Granted they weren't as tragic as some of the others, but all of his family members were at the end of their ropes. "You still have both of your parents, and a full set of living grandparents. Hell, I think you all of your great grandparents are still alive!" He flinched and slowly closed his hands. This wasn't a topic he wanted to discuss, but everyone else was opening up. It would only be fair for him to do the same, wouldn't it?

"Not nearly, Jerry. Not even close." He turned to face the others. They were stiff and silent, and looking as though they just opened Pandora's Box. "First off you met my cousin once already, that should give you a hint of what my family's like…" He was doing his best to remain calm, but there was a bit of a snarky tone threatening to rise up. "Grandpa Vincent is the only one of my grandparents still alive, he's the one that trained me, trained my cousin, and trained Bobby Wasabi. I only have one set of great-grandparents left alive, they're in their late nineties, and they were shoved into a nursing home because Mom and Dad were always fighting over taking care of them. They're already taking care of Grandpa Vincent, and he's not even the grandparent that is their children. His parents died long ago."

"Jack, I didn't-"

"It's fine." Grandpa Vincent was a baby born in a Nazi death camp in World War two, his father died in that camp, but both he and his mother were rescued. Growing up, he had to fight to be strong, and he trained his children the same way. His daughter, Jack's mother, actually beat Bobby Wasabi in a few matches. "Did you know Mom would probably have been the famous one instead of Bobby? She was a strong fighter, but she gave up martial arts to start a family. She was really young when she had my older brother."

"You had a brother?" Milton stammered his question while the other two stared on shocked at Jack. He'd never told them anything about his life, about his family, and he really didn't want to. There was too much to say.

"Yes, and a little sister too…Nathan was born in '93, Mom was just nineteen at the time. Rachel was born in '99. Back in 2006 we went to this lake house where Dad took Nathan and Rachel on a boat ride…" He started to choke on his words as a painful memory started to return. His friends tried to say for him not to continue, realizing that he was struggling, but he strengthened himself. "Rachel hadn't learned to swim yet, and Nathan wasn't the best. Mom and I were still at the house…but their boat flipped over on all three of them…" That lake was extremely deep, and their father had forgotten lifejackets. He breathed in slowly and closed his eyes. "Nathan pulled my father out first, he was unconscious, then he went back under for Rachel…neither of them came back up."

"Oh my god…" Milton put his hands over his mouth as Eddie slowly turned away, clenching his eyes shut. Jerry reached over and put his hand on Jack's shoulder. "Jack, I'm so sorry."

"It's fine…" After that event, his parents fought constantly over every little thing. They fought over whether or not to take care of her father, they argued over taking care of Vincent yet the mom wouldn't take care of his dad's grandparents. They argued over whether or not it was the father's fault what happened to their children. Jack pressed his lips tight and looked out beyond the volleyball court behind them. Ciara and Kim were making their way onto the beach in the distance. "Mom and Dad are on the verge of filing for divorce…but they're both important to me. They all are…"

Why couldn't they be a family? That's what he wondered. That appeared to be the issue with Oliver's parents as well. Oliver had a younger brother somewhere. The parents had often argued and were divorced long before the whole ordeal with the Stewart family abduction. They'd been told the dad had the custody of Oliver's brother, and at some point of time, father and son moved far away.

"I guess divorce should be something we'd be used to in this world. It sucks when people can't work together." He started to say something, but was cut off instantly when Ciara and Kim made it to the group.

"We need to go, now," Ciara exclaimed, "We have to get to Prairie." Concern swept him away and everyone started to focus on her. "There's no time to waste. I just got a call from Aunt Mary, she said Serena and her siblings are trying to hold off this crazy guy that's attacking them. She has help, since she's a police officer, but they're losing for god sake! We need to go!"

"Okay, I got it!" They broke off into a run, not taking a second to ask questions. In a situation like this, it needed full attention.

Everyone's got some crap going on, and in the next few chapters we'll be venturing into where my novel takes place, lots of stuff to learn from there. We'll be seeing Matata and the Zulu Warriors, bad yes, but not the worst thing to befallen Prairie. So, what did you think of all the stuff you learned in regards to the characters' families, including Jack's?