Jack is close to dragged out of the hospital, kicking and yelling insults towards both his parents and the assisting hospital staff in the process. The only thing that keeps him from inflicting lasting damage is the threat of being drugged 'for his own good', which catches him off guard. He didn't think his reaction would prompt such a serious threat.
While he contemplates the chances that he'll get the drugs and be able to stay at the hospital with Pitch he's caught off guard and shoved into the family's dark blue four door sedan. He can't quite remember the last time they rode in this car. His parents were sober enough to remind him or drunk and stupid enough to endanger him with it. Therein, before he is able to fight back, he's buckled down by Will who glares daggers of parental anger and embarrassment at him.
He disregards them, there is too much choler in his heart for him to care about William. The car moves with a hurried lurch forward, both parents too humiliated of their son's immature resistance to stay any longer. They aren't out of the hospital parking lot when Katherine starts her tirade.
"Had you just told us and taken things slowly this wouldn't have happened!" Katherine yells, not bothering with telling Jack about how childish he was. "This is exactly why Pitch isn't good for you!"
Jack knows she isn't drunk but her words cut him in a familiar way, it tears him open to hear her speak. "You aren't concerned with what's good for me, don't even act like you are." Mary, seated beside her younger brother, is unwittingly the sole reason he hasn't begun screaming back. "All you're concerned with is yourself."
Katherine gasps, shaken by his lack of respect. "Jack, I'm your mother!"
Jack's head tilts and his eyes narrow in her direction. "You keep on saying that as of late. What does that mean? Is that some 'get out of morals free' card for you to whip out whenever you want?"
"Jack,-"
"You being my mother is not an excuse to be..." Jack bites his tongue, avoiding saying 'a bitch', "as you are now." He gives Mary a reassuring glance and then embraces her, putting a warm hand on her shoulder. Seeing her reminded him that when he got home, he'd have his work cut out for him. Now, he has to deal with his parents and their currently stalwart denouncement of Pitch and him. He's now fighting to keep something he's taken for granted for a long time. Home? Not only would he have to catch up with work and tests, now Mary's emotional state was compromised.
What did Mary retain of the incident? Was she scarred or afraid of him, or anyone else for that matter? What really happened while he was out like a light on the Bennett family's living room floor?
"Jack," Katherine glowers at him in the overhead mirror, mastering her voice and being as straightforward as she can. "Pitch inspires you to reckless and destructive behavior, as your mother it is my duty to make sure you aren't influenced by people like that."
Jack had to admit that momentarily, Katherine was threatening. Her voice carried a level of self-respect and maturity that he didn't believe she was capable of anymore. It didn't stop him from rebelling against her. "And the devil said," Jack rolled his eyes, his voice a furious groan. 'Worry not! I'm here to save your soul.'."
"Jack," Katherine loses it again and her voice breaks in a screeching, provoked way. Like an eagle driving for prey. "This is exactly what I'm talking about. You're rebelling against me for no reason!"
"I'm rebelling against you because you're full of it and you know you're full of it. The only reason you aren't letting me see Pitch is because he's better then the both of you!"
"Jack, we'll talk about this when we get home." Katherine finishes the argument by refusing to answer anymore, he throws her an unseen pointed glare.
"Yes, I do believe we will."
Jack refuses to just take this lying down, there will be a tooth and nail fight about this if he has anything to say about it. The way he sees it, if the tables were turned somehow and Pitch was something he should have known about, his parents would be just fine with never telling him. It was the fact that they found out that Pitch was providing for him, loving him and helping him escape his parents' rule that peeved them.
He wasn't under their control anymore; he had a 'significant other', a potential future separated from his parents and that was threatening to them. He could sympathize; if Mary came home and said she had a boyfriend who was older then her and repeated Jack's situation, he'd be steamed.
Doesn't mean he'll just let the matter rest though.
When they arrive home it makes Jack nostalgic again for the days when he was much younger, before his parents made drunken fools of themselves.
He could see himself, no older then nine, running up to the front door and pushing it open while his pregnant mother waddled through, Will following closely behind with arms overloaded with groceries, pampers and different types of necessities. Jack remembers feeling so helpful and sweet...
He indulges these memories by unbuckling Mary, carrying her in his arms as he did every so often and storming up the steps and into the house, not bothering with holding the door for Katherine and William.
He only stops his march to ask Mary if she wants to spend the day with him upstairs. When the answer is yes and his parents come through the door, he's in his room and ignoring their cries of his name.
William comes to the bottom of his steps, to give chase, but Katherine intervenes and a short argument both brings the fight to a head and a ceasefire. Mary plays in the corner of the room while they talk while Jack stands to the left of the door, sure that his parents can't see him.
He considers throwing his broken snowman clock at him but a small voice in his head tells him that the clock is too high in sentimental value to just hurl into harm's way. Plus, not breaking down and giving into violence gives him more of a moral high-ground and judging by the terms of the ceasefire that Katherine negotiated with his father, he'd need that.
Katherine and William leave him be, for now, and Jack takes that chance to be thankful for the moment; Mary is with him and Pitch, though not in the best position, isn't in prison or anything too dangerous.
Now was time to face the devils at home. Mary played with her toys in the corner, building a tall tower with building blocks and being very, very careful.
"Hey, munchkin." Jack said, sitting down on the side of the bed closest to her.
"Hey." Jack knew she had always been a quiet young girl, seeing the other children in her grade misbehave and yell had made him very appreciative of it, but her voice now was too quiet.
"What's wrong?" He opens his arms to her and she falls into him, turning into a sobbing, red-faced mess before he can react.
It takes a while to calm her down and she doesn't say anything while she's crying, she just cries. Jack feels pain when she refuses to speak but he won't force her to say anything she doesn't feel comfortable sharing.
If that's nothing or everything, he's okay with it because he knows the need to turn things inward and deal with it under the surface, while only letting out the little parts that hurt too much to stomach. Mary could be just as introverted as he is.
The one thing he can do is be what she needs and if she needs him to be a sponge for her tears, he'll do his best. Minutes pass, Mary's cries die down for a while but no words are exchanged yet. Jack picks her up, cradling and humming to her. She curls up, her arms looped around him while he babies her and as more minutes pass it becomes unclear who is consoling who.
When Mary pushes against his chest, he releases her with a smile.
"Thank you."
That wasn't what he was expecting to hear but he nods in welcome nonetheless.
"B-back at Jamie's house, the hospital people..."
"Doctors."
"Yeah, the doctors, they brought you out on one of those hospital beds you carry."
"A stretcher." Jack's holds down a depressed sigh, Mary must have seen that and assumed the worst. He can't even imagine how much he frightened her; did she think him dead? More then likely..."I'm fine, munchkin."
"I tried to touch you but they said not to because they didn't know if you were okay or anything yet," Mary shifts the weight in her feet from side to side, as she did every so often when explaining herself. Her hands are behind her back and her eyes, big and bright most of the time, are dulled and downcast."I yelled for you to wake up but you didn't, so I got scared."
"Oh, Mary..." Jack reaches out for her and they hug again. In that moment when he was trying to rebuild his friendship with Jamie he was only thinking of himself, thinking of how easy life would be for him to have Jamie back on his side. He didn't think of what would happen if it was a trap and what else could go wrong in the process.
When Mary separates herself from him, smiling again, she goes back to playing with her toys.
"I waited 'til we got inside to hug you because you looked really mad..."
"Oh, you saw that."
Mary nods and glances up at Jack, "Are we gonna see Mister Pitch again soon?"
She always had that alien habit of shocking him with how quick and smart she was, finding the perfect way to address the elephant in the room without causing too much damage. Getting past his blooming pride, "Maybe, maybe not. I'm thinking of a way to get us back to Mister Pitch's house."
As it stood though, it didn't seem like that was happening any time soon. Their only way of transportation was illegal for him to use thanks to the lack of a driver's license. Pitch was still in the hospital and...
At that moment a great idea came upon him and he smiled at Mary, "But I might, I might."
Mary smiled wide and bounced in place, begging to know what the idea was. By the time Jack was done explaining the details of his plan Mary's eyes went wide with glee and shock. "No way, that reminds me of something I learned in school. About 'yin and yang'."
"Yeah I couldn't stop seeing it either but for right now we gotta lay low and not let mom and dad find out. You can do that right?"
Mary nods and returns to playing, then Jack cracks his knuckles, sets up him laptop and gets to work.
That night, Jack supervises Mary's every move after she leaves his room. Everything from choosing her clothing for bed to tucking her in is done by him. His main reason being that, as of now, he can't see his parents as being capable of doing it without either filling Mary's head with stupidity or doing it at all.
That plus it allows him to get a feel of where he and his parents stand and seeing as how they don't even leave their room to confront him, he'd say everything was still in his favor.
When she hits the hay, he begins his hunt for information: What happened at the Bennett home while he was out like a light? The first few internet searches come up with most of the things he doesn't want to hear; Jamie's father, Jonathan (or in some cases Johnathan) Bennett died to a bullet wound, fired by Jamie in self-defense.
It's startling to think that Jamie killed someone. Though he was the 'schoolyard bully' for a majority of Jack's childhood and teenage years and sure, growing up he made his vague and menacing threats even more frightening and realistic but when it came down to it Jack wouldn't pin Jamie for a killer, even if it was in self-defense.
Jack didn't think he was the most moral of human beings or the one person on Earth who should decide who lives and dies, but after finding out that Jonathan had molested and beaten Jamie on multiple occasions, he can't find any emotion or sympathy for the dead man. 'Good riddance' is the only thing coming to mind.
Too curious to let his discoveries end there, he researches more, discovering things he wouldn't have guessed; First off, Sophie, a girl he can only just remember being the little blonde ball of joy and energy that usually bounced in Jamie's general direction, had grown up now. As of the end of the incident, she's been profiting off of it; appearing on every talk show and radio station she possibly could. He can't get a moment's rest without seeing or hearing Sophie come into the picture in some way; she's really ruling her fifteen minutes.
Jamie, despite being in the center of the whole charade and the main focus point of everyone's real attention, managed to stay out of the spotlight. There was little to no information about his current whereabouts or emotional state; the only thing Jack could find was that he dropped out of Burgess local high school and moved a little out of the way. The article he was reading quoted 'I have to get a little ways away, to clear my head a bit.'
Jack takes a deep breath and leans back into the pillows of his bed, exhaling as they conform to his weight. It was good to hear that Jamie was getting the time away that he needed, it all seemed just a little bittersweet though, was Jamie at least seeing some of Sophie's collected money for the incident?
'Well, he moved away so I would assume...'
In spite of everything that happened he considered calling. It would've been just to check up and tell Jamie that there was nearly no ill will, even less so now that he knew about Jonathan, but he didn't have his phone number. Plus, it'll just make things between them more complicated then they already are.
Unable to find anything else on the situation, he falls asleep shortly after catching up with schoolwork, at around four in the morning.
Jack wakes up and begins his morning, which he can't believe is falling on a Sunday because it throws a huge wrench in his plans, by stretching by his bed and preparing himself for either an all-out argument or a very, very tense situation.
A loose sweatshirt and knee high jean shorts on he stumbles downstairs, all other members of the family are awake and look up at him from their half finished breakfasts. Jack pays them no mind and they don't interfere, so he continues on with his day, parents be damned.
Of course, after getting his own plate he sits down, across from his parents and next to Mary on the couch in front of the television. Come to find his parents were nice enough to make him a plate, filled to the brim with all the things he didn't like, including scrambled eggs and grits. As he eats the bacon and plans on feigning fullness, William breaks the silence.
"Your school called." William says over his food, not looking up.
"Oh yeah? What'd they say?" Jack isn't sure if his tone is giving off a level of hate equal to what he's feeling but doesn't bother to check.
"They asked if you needed more time off."
"No." Jack answers immediately, not wanting his plan to be ruined. "I'm fine."
"You sure?"
William's voice carries a level of caring that Jack has to think about; he isn't sure whether Will cares or it just faking it for brownie points. Reaching a conclusion that he'd much rather not find out, he keeps his voice in an apathetic drone. "Yeah, I'm fine."
Finishing breakfast and putting his still loaded plate in the kitchen, earning a sideways look from his mother who wants to confront him but doesn't want to fight him, he goes back upstairs and prepares to waste the rest of the Sunday away on the internet and schoolwork.
Monday rolls around and Jack is packed and ready to go at the crack of dawn. He makes Mary's breakfast early and is quiet as a mouse as he slips into her room to find she's been up the whole night, vibrating with excitement of the thought of seeing Pitch again.
"Alright," He kisses Mary's forehead and hugs her tight, beaming with happiness himself. "I'm heading out. Breakfast is in the kitchen, sweet sausages and waffles like you like them."
"Be careful." Mary smiles at him and wishes him farewell.
Fully charged cellphone in his back-pocket and school book shoved haphazardly into his bag, he heads to school without incident.
Today, he was going to see Pitch.
