Author's Note: Whew. It's been a pretty good week so far, though I've had my fair share of work to get done. I've been consistently working 40 hours each week and I've just launched my new book review blog and have been working on moving things over from the old one. (Btw, I'm doing a giveaway on the site for two awesome books, so you should check it out. The link is on my profile.)
These next few weeks promise to be good for me. My dad comes in for a visit this weekend, the next weekend I'm going to Houston for Teen Book Con (Will any of y'all be there?), and the weekend after that is my 21st birthday! *does happy dance*

Chapter 26- Bastard

"Darling, don't give me shit
'Cause I know that you're full of it.
You're full of shit.
You're full of shit."
~Shit Song: Kate Nash~

Al was practically bouncing on her toes as she walked through the street with the others. She had joked that they looked like a ragtag (and particularly paranoid) gang as the six of them made their way down the street. David's arm was wrapped tightly around her waist; the two of them taking the rear while the others took point. Lily and Collin held hands with each other and the adult on either side of them. Even though she was excited to be out of her home and breathing in the fresh air, she kept a wary eye out for any sign of danger, just as her companions did. Lily and Collin seemed to be able to sense the anxiety of the adults that surrounded them. They were nearly completely silent as they took the familiar path to the Jacobs home. It reminded Al of how quiet they had been when they first showed up at her home. It had taken them a while to get comfortable, but now it seemed unnatural that one of them wasn't squealing or telling some wild story that they had pieced together from real life and the bedtime stories Racetrack gave them nearly every night.

"Aren't you glad to see your parents?" she prompted her husband as he glanced behind them for the third time in under a minute. She playfully poked him in the side and said in a whisper, "Acting suspicious draws more attention to yourself than it conceals you."

"I'd rather be obvious and catch the sneak attack than sneaky and dead," David answered dryly. "And of course I'm glad to see them."

Al saw Jack give Lily's hand a squeeze and she pressed herself closer to him.

It didn't take long for them to reach the Jacobs apartment. They took the stairs up to their floor and almost as soon as David touched the door, it flew open and let out an over-excited Esther Jacobs. She flew out the door and showered everyone with a flurry of kisses. Collin and Lily immediately scrambled behind Jack, and Esther nearly died of excitement when she laid eyes on them.

"Are these the little darlings you brought with you, Jack?" she asked, her eyes shining. "Oh you two are simply beautiful." She beamed and then seemed to recover her manners, graciously inviting the group into her home. They all filed in and Collin stayed glued to the back of Jack's legs, but Lily seemed to gain a little more courage. She still held tightly to Jack's hand as she stepped out from behind him.

"Are you our grandmother?" she asked tentatively.

"Not exactly-" Racetrack started to say, clearly ready to explain that she was technically his great aunt, but Esther cut him off.

"Oh hush, boy," she snapped at him. She turned back to Lily. "Of course I am," she answered sweetly. Lily smiled and retreated back behind her Papa. The moment the girl stopped looking, Esther shot Race a dirty look to which he responded by throwing both hands up in the air, palms forward, in the universal sign of surrender.

Just then, Mayer entered the room and immediately made his way over to his son and daughter-in-law. He slapped his son on the back before moving to Al and grabbing her face, laughing about how good it was to see the mother of his grandchild. He planted a strong kiss on her forehead.

Al laughed, "It hasn't been that long, Meyer."

"Nonsense. It's always good to see my girl." He moved on to Jack while the others took their seats in the living room. Esther managed to coax the children into following her into the kitchen to help her set the table and such, but only once she promised they would get a treat for being her little helpers. Once that offer was out on the table, the two were in the kitchen like a shot.

It was about at that moment that Sarah came in, still pinning her hair up. "Sorry," she said around a mouthful of pins. "Lost track of time." It was hardly recognizable as English, but Al was quite adept at understanding her friend when her mouth was full of hairpins. Sarah turned to pin her hair up in a nearby mirror while Meyer questioned David on his work.

It was at that point that the baby started to kick and Al reached for her brother. He had been trying his best to feel the baby kick the last week or so, but hadn't quite managed it just yet. It seemed the baby always stopped at just the moment he reached her. Jack didn't respond to her touch and she went to nudge him harder when she saw what was occupying his full attention. He was entirely riveted on Sarah.

Al didn't know whether to be ecstatic over what she as seeing or to start preparing for the apocalypse.

She grabbed Jack's hand and laid it on her belly. One kick to his palm had Jack's focus redirected. He turned and sucked in a breath.

"He's so strong," he said breathlessly.

"Maybe she," David corrected. He desperately wanted a little girl.

Jack ignored him. "Oh, there he goes again!" He looked up at Al and the grin on his face warmed her to the core. Her brother's approval was something she prized most dearly and seeing him practically fall apart over the baby in her womb was enough to bring her to tears. She blinked back those tears and cleared her throat, hoping no one noticed her sudden emotion.

David's hand found hers and gave it a quick squeeze. He would notice. She intertwined her fingers with his and squeezed back.

"How long is it now?" Meyer asked excitedly.

Al grinned. She would be hard pressed to believe that Meyer didn't already know the answer to that. David's parents were so eager to meet their very first grandchild that she wouldn't be surprised if they had a countdown on their calendar. She humored him anyway, "Genie says it could be any day now, but she thinks next week is most likely."

"Oh, I can't wait," Sarah said as she seated herself near her father, intentionally choosing the spot furthest from Jack.

"Have you come to a decision on a name yet?" Meyer questioned. "Names are very important, you know. They can define a person."

"Unless they chose a different name," Jack pointed out with a smirk. "Like most of us have."

Meyer smiled and nodded. "While that may be true, your name can still define you. What you speak over another person can affect them for the rest of their life. A name is no different."

"We still can't agree on any names," David answered his father's original question. The couple had heard Meyer's speech on the importance of choosing the perfect name more times than they could count. Al knew it particularly irked David and wasn't surprised that he was quick to interrupt his father with the answer. If they let him, Meyer would be more than willing to lecture straight through dessert. The older man meant well, but he certainly did have a love for making his voice heard.

Perhaps that's why he and Jack got on so well. After all, they shared a similar passion there.

"I like the name Peter for a boy, you know, as in Peter Pan. I always did love that story. David prefers the name William, but I think it sounds stiff and boring."

"What about girl names?" Meyer questioned.

"David likes Melissa, wants to name her after me." Al was more than certain her tone and expression said exactly what she thought of that idea. "I can't think of one."

"I like Melissa," Jack pointed out, giving her a solid poke in the side.

"Well you're not naming my baby."

"What about Abigail, dear?" Esther asked as she entered the room, still wiping her hands on the front of her apron. "She was King David's first wife and renowned for her wisdom."

"I'm not naming my child after my namesake's first wife," David said with a grimace.

"I have to second my husband on that one," Al answered with a bit of a laugh. "Though it is quite a lovely name."

Esther gave a shrug. "Either way, dinner is ready."

They all gathered around the table. It was a bit of a tight squeeze with all of them there, but it was a pleasant discomfort. Al couldn't help but enjoy the closeness of her family, even if it was a bit cramped.

"Where's Les?" David asked as they all settled in. It required a bit of shuffling to get everyone in their designated places, but there was still an empty seat, even with all nine of them surrounding the small table.

"He's supposed to be here," Meyer said, checking his watch. "Probably running a bit late."

"It's not like him to miss out on food," Al quipped.

"Oh, he's probably still with those newsie boys. He's hardly ever at home anymore."

"It's a lot of work, running a group as rowdy as that," Racetrack pointed out from where he was situated between Sarah and the empty seat. "Even if you're not the one in charge."

"Takes an army," Jack agreed.

"Takes half the group," David added.

"Well enough newsboy talk. Let's have your father say the blessing and we can start eating, with or without Les."

Of course, it was at that moment that the aforementioned youngest Jacobs sibling came crashing through the door. "I'm here! Don't start without me!" He practically yelled as he tripped over his own feet in his rush to get to the table as quickly as possible.

"Whoa, Les, calm it down," Jack laughed as he threw out his arm just in time to keep the boy from slamming right into Lily's chair. "We haven't started just yet. There's no rush."

He all but dropped into the chair between Jack and Race. The blessing was said and the food passed around just then, so the first few minutes of the meal were passed in silence. Everyone seemed to be more than eager to fill their stomachs, but Les seemed particularly ravenous and it didn't go unnoticed when he pulled a fourth roll from the basket.

"You seem particularly famished today, Les," Sarah commented with a bit a smile.

"It's been a long day."

"Oh?" his mother asked as she set down the glass she had just taken a sip from. "What happened?"

"Nothing in particular," he answered with a bit of a shrug. "It was just long."

It was kind of sad how oblivious Mr. and Mrs. Jacobs were, Al thought, not for the first time. It was long ago that they all had decided that they just couldn't handle what went on in the lives of their children and the newsies. It was better for everyone if they were left in the dark on most things unless it was absolutely necessary that it be otherwise. That way, Esther wouldn't worry so much and Meyer wouldn't go on one of his long rants about how he hadn't raised his children to court danger so often and that they ought to avoid it much more avidly.

It had become quite clear that they would never be able to convince David's parents that they could handle themselves and that they were willing to take the consequences if something proved otherwise.

For this reason, they did their best to hide as much as they could from Esther and Meyer. Now that Les was the only newsboy in the group, he was the one who ended up getting hurt most often- at least that was how it had been before this whole fiasco with Racetrack had begun. He had gotten into the habit of going to Al and David's apartment first after he had gotten in a fight. That way she could tend to his wounds and decide whether or not he was passable to go home and face his parents. If not, he would stay the night with his brother and sister-in-law. Of course, Sarah also tended to him, but usually those were ones he was certain he could sneak past his parents in the first place.

Either way, their main goal was to never give their parents quite the scare they had received the last time David had come home with a knife wound in his shoulder and bruises littering his face and arms. That had terrified them out of their wits. She could only imagine what they would have done if they had seen her in the aftermath of that fight . . . or either of them immediately after they had been jumped by Quick Fist's goons earlier that year. They probably wouldn't have ever let even Al out of their sight after that.

Al tried to make eye contact with her younger brother-in-law, intending to make a face at him and maybe even silently question whether it was Brooklyn giving him trouble. However, he didn't look up at her, even when she coughed discreetly, and seemed to be avoiding eye contact with her too. After a few moments of concern, she chastised herself internally. After all, he was probably just tired and she was making up the whole avoidance bit.

On the other hand, she didn't have to make up the fact that Jack and Sarah were avidly avoiding each other's eyes. Or, more accurately, Sarah was avoiding eye contact while Jack watched her intently, only abruptly turning his head every time she glanced his way.

Things went on this way through most of the meal. Meyer talked about his plans for retiring while Esther asked questions about David's job and Al's baby. It wasn't until Jack was in the middle of explaining everything he'd had to do to go from starting off as a ranch hand to running one that the fight broke out.

"-An' he hated me. I could never figure out why. I tried my hardest and worked my ass off -'scuse me, Mrs. Jacobs- an' he still did everything he could to get me in trouble. But when he left, I got his job, 'cause-"

Sarah's chair screeched loudly and startled nearly everyone at the table as she stood abruptly. "What do you think?" she said in a shrill, somewhat strained voice. "Time for dessert, don't ya think, Papa?"

"Sarah, don't be rude," Esther said in a hushed tone, though everyone could still hear her. "Jack was in the middle of-"

"Oh yes," she cut her mother off. "Let's all wait for Jack to get finished. Let's just put everything in our lives on hold for this one cowboy an' hope he follows through. Hope it's not a waste of time. After all, Jack's strong suit isn't exactly following through."

With that, she spun on her heel and stomped out of the room, heading down the hall. A moment later, the window slammed shut and it was more than clear that she had escaped to the roof.

"If you'll excuse me . . ." Jack pushed his plate away and stood, immediately following Sarah out the window.

Al and David shared a look. There was no telling where this would go. Their siblings were each forces to be reckoned with . . . and Sarah wasn't the type to back down any longer. She had let Jack walk all over her once-she had been in love and eager to please- but now she was angry and ready to butt heads. She wouldn't let him leave here unscathed a second time.

"Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned," Meyer quoted the familiar phrase with a bit of a chortle.

In her attempt to get away from everyone and reach the roof as quickly as possible, Sarah had managed to trip up over the barrier between the fire escape and the floor of the roof, causing her to land hard on her knees and graze the skin on her hands. It didn't do much damage at all, but it was enough to start the waterworks. It only took seconds for the sobbing to start. She might have stayed like that, crying on the ground, if she hadn't heard Jack call out as he neared the top of the fire escape.

"Sarah?"

She jumped to her feet and tried to stop crying, but there wasn't much to be done about the tears. They just kept coming. She couldn't make it stop.

"Go away, Jack!"

She retreated to the far end of the building and wiped at her face with the back of her hands, cursing herself for being unable to stop her crying- cursing Jack for following her up there.

The crunch of his footsteps on the gravelly flooring of the roof told her he wasn't obeying her instructions. In that moment, all she wanted to do was push him off the roof and be rid of him for good. He stepped hesitantly and she was glad of it. He was wary of her in that moment and she wanted it to last. She wanted him to keep his distance, to know just how much she wanted him to stay away from her.

"Sarah, I know we've had some problems in the past, but I was kinda hopin' this time we could have a fresh start. Ya know, get to know each other all over again an' maybe this time things wouldn't go so wrong."

Sarah stayed silent, still madly wiping at her tears and doing her best to keep from sniffling. There wasn't even the slightest chance that he hadn't noticed her tears, but at least he hadn't commented on them yet.

"C'mon Sarah, at least look at me. At least let me see your face."

She turned around and let all of the fury and all of anger she'd tried to keep hidden these last few years show on her face. She was almost pleased when she saw Jack flinch as he searched her eyes. He took a hesitant step forward and then another, as if he were testing the waters, unsure of how close he would be able to get without having her lash out at him.

"When did we get like this?" he asked quietly.

Sarah let out a strangled laugh. "When did we get like this?! How you even have the nerve to ask that question, I have no idea." She threw her hands up in the air and added, "Oh yeah, because you're an asshole!"

She turned away and Jack grabbed her arm.

"Sarah-"

She hissed through clenched teeth. "Don't. Touch. Me."

Jack pulled away as if his hand had been burnt. "What the hell is going on with you?"

"Of course! How could I have forgotten? Jack Kelly can't see far enough past his own nose to notice when he hurts other people!" She kept her back turned to him as she mocked. "After all, the whole world revolves around him. The idiot breaks my fucking heart and my parents all but fall at his feet when he walks in the door."

"I broke your heart?" Jack questions quietly, like the possibility had never occurred to him.

The statement only proved to make Sarah angrier. She spun around, spitting venom with her eyes as well as her words. "Don't flatter yourself. It wasn't hard to do then. It's much more difficult now."

"I never meant to-"

"I don't give a damn what you meant! Don't you get that? We're done. I'd be happy if I never saw your face again."

Jack drew back as if he'd been slapped, but then his face hardened. She saw him transform from being remorseful to being nearly as angry as she was in a matter of seconds, and she hated him all the more for it.

"We were children," he pointed out. "You seem to have somehow forgotten that in all your angah."

"We were old enough to fall in love," Sarah answered darkly. "We were old enough to have to fight for ourselves and worry about whether our siblings were going to come home in one piece or not."

"So what? We still had our whole lives ahead of us. I wasn't going to be tied down here because of anyone or anything. I hated this city! You knew that."

"You were gone before you got on that train, Jack. You were gone long before then."

"What does that even mean?!" It was his turn to throw his hands up in the air. "Just because you've decided to become this bitter old spinster doesn't mean you have to drag everyone else down with you."

Sarah sputtered, her anger clouding her ability to even come up with a worthy retort. "You're a bastard, Jack."

"Well at least I've managed to do something with my life since then! What have you done, Sarah? Sit in your home, twiddling your thumbs, until you had the chance to lash back at me in the way you think I deserve?" Jack snarled, closing the distance between them. "You're just the same as when I left you. You haven't changed a bit. Still living with your parents and your little brother. What's the matter? Couldn't find a man? Couldn't find one who would take you?"

Sarah slapped him with all the force she could harness. He stumbled backward as more tears clouded her vision. It felt as if he had twisted a knife in her stomach.

"How dare you?!" she seethed. She took a few steps back. She didn't recognize this man anymore. "Dammit, Jack. I worshipped you. And I hate myself for that. I hate myself for letting you crush me the way you did. . . I cried for weeks after you left. You and I may not have been together then, but if you had asked, I wouldn't have thought twice about hopping on that train with you. I would have joined you without reservation." She shook her head in disgust and the man who stood before her. "I would have done anything for you and you left us all without a word."

She stepped away and looked out over the skyline, mostly so she wouldn't have to look at him anymore, but also because she was beginning to calm down and she wanted to make sure what she said next was perfectly coherent. "I was still in love with you then. I was still in love with you for months, even years, after you left. But you know what? That taught me something. It taught me that nothing was worth the pain you put me through. I'll never let anyone hurt me like that again. Especially not you. And don't you dare act like you know me or why I do what I do -or even what I'm doing with my life- because you don't. You've never known me. You knew what you wanted me to be."

She turned back to look at him and felt a twinge of satisfaction as she saw that he was still reeling from the force of her words. She gave him a cold look. "Now get the fuck off of my roof." Then she added, almost as an afterthought, "And do your best to stay out of my life while you're at it."

When she turned back toward the skyline, silence hung in the air tensely as minutes rolled by and neither of them moved. Sarah refused to turn back toward him and sate her curiosity about how he was taking her little monologue. Finally, the crunch of his footsteps told her he was obeying. He made his way to the fire escape and slowly made his way back down to the family that waited for him.

Sarah waited until she heard the window close behind him before she crumbled. She sank to her knees and let the tears flow freely this time.