Today was it, today was the day that Jason was finally coming home, and to say that the Roscoe's were nervous was an understatement of epic proportions. Apart from Sandy, the last time any of them had seen Jason had been the day at the hospital, when he was dangerously thin and when his illness was at its worst.

To think that he was coming back, only four short weeks later, apparently fully cured seemed impossible to imagine, after all, he had been so lost, so close to death's door, that it was surely not possible for him to be the boy he had once been.

And yes they had all been told countless times by not only Sandy, but Lindsey and Doctor Mackenzie that Jason wouldn't be fully recovered, that he would still have bad days and there was a chance he may relapse, but he would mentally be in a much healthier place and ready to voluntarily take the next step towards fully recovering, but it didn't make it any easier for the four brothers to imagine.

The progress Jason had made in his four weeks was the best that they'd get, and with regular counselling sessions from both Lola and Mackenzie, Jason would hopefully be fully recovered, his eating disorder and depression nothing more than a distant memory.

As the five members of the family heard the front door being opened, they couldn't help but stiffen, scared at the sight that they'd be met with and wondering just what would come of this. Robbie tried to swallow down his anxiousness, hoping the sick feeling in the pit of his stomach was due to nerves and nothing, and that he wouldn't have to act on it, more scared than he should be at seeing his twin brother once more.

It was almost impossible for him to contain himself when Jason entered the room, Sandy's hand pressed lightly on the small of his back in an attempt to keep him calm. He hadn't seen Jason in so long, had practically ached for his brother's presence in the twenty eight days that they'd been separated for, but he had kind of expected Jason to be very much like the person he had been in his final few weeks before being sectioned.

But in just a few seconds, Robbie saw that this couldn't be further from the case. His brother's face was no longer sunken in and was also of a healthy colour, and Jason had finally began to fill out his clothes once more, though there'd still be much more for him to do, after all, you couldn't just gain all the weight that you'd been steadily losing for four months in just one.

And yeah he was still thin, and it wasn't perfect, but it was a lot more than Robbie had been expecting and he was definitely surprised by the difference in his brother. It wasn't just the weight gain that silenced Robbie, but the look in Jason's eyes.

Before, they had always been shielded from the others, hiding anything and everything he could from his family and everyone else who bothered to look closer, though occasionally a flash of anger or desperation would shine through the cracks, showing just how lost and desperate Jason was. Now though, Jason seemed to be a lot more open.

There was a sense of nervousness that was obvious to see in his whole form, though that was to be expected what with the current situation, but apart from that, Jason seemed to be completely at ease.

He was no longer holding himself defensively, his arms lay by his sides, instead of being folded to protect himself, and his eyes were no longer shielded, his emotions easy to see by everyone who looked for long enough. Robbie didn't fully relax though, because although Jason seemed fine and much more like himself than he had done in weeks, this was the first time he had seen his brother in almost a month, and only a minute in his company was not nearly long enough to make a sure judgement on his current mental state.

Sandy motioned for Jason to taking a seat, bouncing on the balls of her feet as the awkward atmosphere in the room practically doubled. The house was silent as everyone tried to wrack their brains, with no idea on what to say, after all, what could they say?

What topics were safe to talk about and what were no go areas?

Were they meant to say something first or was Jason going to be the one to speak up?

Were they meant to talk about his time in treatment, probe him with questions about his experience or steer well away in case it triggered something?

The Roscoe's were at a loss, all praying that someone else would be the first to speak up, though it was evident that no-one felt comfortable doing so.

"Tea! That's what we need, everyone want a cup," Sandy finally exclaimed, breaking the awkward silence as she backed into the kitchen, hoping that given a few minutes to calm down, and with something to do with her hands, she'd finally think of something that she could say.

The car journey from the hospital back to the house had been just as awkward, she had asked Jason how he was doing, as well as telling him about Lindsey and Joe's wedding being pushed back, though apart from that, there had been little else.

At least they had had the radio on to stop the journey from being too unbearable, right now though, as the whole family were crowded into one enclosed space, waiting for someone to speak up, well it was pretty much like hell.

"Come on Sandy," the blond hissed to herself, chucking teabags in every cup with unnecessary force. "You can do this, just stay calm and be in control." Sandy knew she had to do this, because if she couldn't make Jason's home a safe place for him, there was no telling what he may do next. He needed a safe place and she was damned if she wasn't going to provide it for him.

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Sandy had been gone for a minute maximum when Jason tried to calm himself, the stares from his brothers and Lindsey occasionally breaking away from him, though they'd always look back after just a few seconds, like they were waiting for him to crack.

Lindsey was ready to open her mouth, to go and excuse herself to help Sandy, leaving the five brothers alone in time that they no doubt needed, though before she could say anything, Jason had taken a deep, calming breath, the fear in his eyes dissipating as he looked at his family, ready to start talking.

"I'm sorry," he started, and although his voice was quiet, it held a steadiness and confidence that hadn't been present in quite a while, and just served to further highlight how much good being in recovery had seemingly done for Jason.

Him being the first one to man up was a surprise to all, and Lindsey saw both Robbie and Ziggy's heads shoot up so they could squarely look at their brother, not willing to miss a single word.

"I treated you all so awfully and I don't know if I'll ever be able to get you to forgive me, but I just want to let you all know that I can't believe some of the things I did to you. I lied, I fought against you and I did some pretty twisted things, looking back on it, I don't even know what my thought pattern was to get me to that place.

"It was like something had taken over me, like it wasn't me doing all those horrible things, but something else, and I didn't even realise how bad it was till it was too late. I'll completely understand if you just all stood and left, because if it were me in your positions, I sure as hell wouldn't forgive myself, wouldn't want anything to do with me actually, but you guys just have to understand how sorry I am and if I could, I would do anything to go back and stop that from ever happening."

The living room was silent after Jason's impassioned speech, and though Lindsey wished she could say something to put Jason's mind at rest, she knew it wasn't her place.

Sure, she was part of the family, but when something of this severity happened, you couldn't help but be an outsider. Jason's brothers needed to make the decision on whether to forgive Jason or not, and whilst Lindsey truly believed they'd make the right choice, she couldn't help but wish that they'd be slightly quicker in voicing it.

"Of course we're going to forgive you J, hell there's nothing to forgive in my mind," Joe said finally, taking the lead as the eldest brother, as the others nodded by his side, in full agreement. "Now come here mate, we missed you you know?"

As Joe spoke, he hauled Jason up from his seat and pulled him into a tight hug, showing in that moment just how much he had missed his younger brother. It not only soothed Joe, secured him that Jason was finally back home and truly on the mend, but also put Jason's mind at rest, because he had been petrified that his family would turn their backs on him, would refuse to talk to him after everything he had done, all the harm he had caused, but that hadn't happened.

Instead they had all united to show Jason that they would all be there for him, and Jason had never been so grateful to have the family he did. He felt his arms being pulled away from Joe, as the others crowded into the hug, and he couldn't help but laugh at the actions of his family, once again they were surprising him as they went against what was expected, but in the best ways possible.

Jason wasn't the only one almost moved to tears however, as Sandy was shocked to the core by the sight she was met with when she re-entered from the kitchen. Lindsey met her eye from where she was still sat by the sofas, not wanting to intrude on the brotherly moment more than she had to.

"They're going to be okay Sandy. All of them." And for once, Sandy truly believed that.

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"So I miss anything interesting?" Jason asked as he and Robbie made their way through the village, just an hour after he had returned home. His time back in the house that he had grown to love hadn't been particularly draining, though Jason had found his mind wandering as the family still continued to talk about the upcoming family session with Doctor Mackenzie.

He'd managed to excuse himself easily enough, leaving the house with Robbie to go see Doug and talk to him about taking up some of his old shifts at the deli, though there was no telling how easy that would be.

After all, Doug was one of the few people who was fully aware of Jason's sectioning (he had to be, with being his boss and all), though this meant he may be more likely to not offer the job back. Jason sorely hoped that this wouldn't be the case, he had loved working at the deli and really enjoyed his friendship with the older man. If that was to end, well it would be yet another thing he would have to thank his illness for.

"Not a lot," Robbie shrugged, wracking his brain for anything of merit, but it was true, there really had been anything of interest that had happened over recent weeks. "Dan Turner had one of his 'legendary' parties last week, so there's been obviously quite a lot of fall out from that, you know, the usual drunken, cheating crap. But no murders, kidnappings or psychos on the l- Oh my God, I'm sorry mate," Robbie said, guilt crashing down as he saw the minute wince run through Jason at his last comment.

Why did he always have to fuck it up? He and Jason were doing so much better than he would have thought possible considering the nature of their last meeting. In the weeks that Jason had been... away for, Robbie had spent his time worrying, genuinely scared this his once close relationship with his twin had completely broken down and was unfixable.

The fact that they had so quickly slotted back into their usual places after just a little time together was a miracle in itself, but Robbie didn't know how much more strain it could put up with, though him making stupid, thoughtless comments didn't help in the slightest.

"No, no it's okay Rob, you didn't mean it like that," Jason reassured him, shooting him a small smile, though the action didn't decrease any of Robbie's guilt in the slightest, if anything it made him feel worse, because here he was, feeling terrible, when Jason had already gone to hell and back, yet was still a bigger person than him.

"Honestly Robbie, stop beating yourself up about it, I know you didn't mean it like that okay?" Jason tried again, placing a hand on his twin's shoulders and forcing Robbie to look at him, so he could see the genuineness in his eyes. "These past few months have been crap for us all, and I can't believe I put you all through what I did, but you forgave me. You're forgetting about all those fights we had and you're not holding a grudge about those vile things I said to you, and if you can do that, then I'm pretty sure I can look past a joke of all things."

"You sure?" Robbie asked, half expecting the monster that was the diabulimia and depression to take over Jason once more, though all he could see was regret and hope in his brother's eyes, and there was something so familiar, something that had been missing just before he had been sectioned, but had now returned to his brother's eyes that Robbie couldn't help but believe that this was it, that Jason, his Jason was back.

"I wouldn't say it if I weren't," Jason said with sincerity, taking a step back from the brunette when he saw the Robbie was truly taking his words on board. "Can we just forget all this, I mean we got out of the house to talk about other things, and we haven't really done anything but."

"Yeah, course we can J," Robbie nodded, moving in step with his brother as they turned another corner, only a couple of minutes away from the deli now. "So what you want to talk bout?"

"I see I'm doing all the work here," Jason teased, rolling his eyes as he tried to think of something to say, biting his lip nervously as the one question that had been on his mind all day came to the forefront once more. Knowing there was no better time to ask it, Jason steeled his nerves and turned to Robbie, hoping he wouldn't be as transparent as he appeared. "How's Holly been?"

Robbie sighed, knowing instantly why Jason had asked that question, because despite his best efforts to play it cool, Robbie knew when Jason was nervous about something, especially when it was girl related, and he was definitely nervous about Holly and her current situation. Mainly, whether she was still single or not.

"You're still into her aren't you?" he asked, hoping that he could at least get a scale on Jason's current feelings before he did or said something that could potentially hurt his brother.

"Is that really surprising?" Jason asked, arching a brow and turning to face Robbie square on once more, shooting him a look. "At Pine Lodge, I had a lot of time to think and I did a lot of thinking about Holly and our whole... situation. I know I hurt her when I dumped her in front of everyone, believe me I know, but I was so scared at that point. I was losing complete control and I just didn't know what to do anymore, so I lashed out at her and Ruby.

"It was one of the stupidest things I did and if I could take back what I did and said I would without a second thought, cause I love her Robbie, and I need to fix what I did. I don't know if we'll ever get back to what we were, not after what I did, but I want her and Ruby back in my life.

"After all there was a time when they were my two closest friends, they proved time and time again that they truly cared for me and who knows where I'd be today if it wasn't for them. If they aren't ready to accept my friendship, I want to at least apologise and make things right between us, I couldn't cope if I didn't do that at least.

"I've missed them both so much, more than I thought possible. Like I never thought I'd have a relationship like I did with either of them, and I just hope that I can fix that. But I want to ask you first, I mean, I know you're not particularly close to either of them, but do you think there's a chance of either of them forgiving me?"

"Why don't you ask them yourself?" Robbie asked, sailing straight past Jason's last comment, because although he doubted his brother would have a problem with him forming a close bond with the two girls, Robbie didn't want to be seen as elbowing himself into Jason's life.

He nodded behind Jason and the teen whirled around, instantly spotting both Ruby and Holly walking towards them, though they hadn't yet spotted the twins. Jason remained rooted to the spot as Holly looked his way, eyes widening as she spotted Jason, and catching Ruby's arm, so the older girl would also pause.

For a second, no-one did anything, the four teens stood at opposite ends of the small pathway, waiting for someone to make the next move.

And you'll just have to wait till next time to see how that goes! As always leave a review if you so wish and I'll see you all next time