guess who's back?

Me!

This is the second to last chapter. We're almost done.

Enjoy!

"Race, it's bleeding again." Albert said, feeling the liquid pour out of his brother's forehead. He took Race's hat and applied it to the wound, pressing down.

Race hissed, "Albert, I don't know what you're doing, but whatever it is, it hurts."

"I'm trying to stop the bleeding. I really wish that they would find us already, so that you can go to the hospital."

"You do realize, you'd be going to the hospital, too."

"Yeah, well, my head isn't gushing blood."

Race hissed. "Ow, ow, ow. I have blood in my eye."

"Ew. That's gross."

"I just want the blood out of my eyeball."

Albert applied more pressure,

"Albert, stop, that hurts." Race said.

"It'll hurt more if I don't do this."

Race sighed. Albert was right.

"When do you think they'll get here?" He asked.

"Soon, I hope." Albert responded.

"Do you think they'll ever get here?"

"I hope so."

The police had sectioned off an area in Central Park.

When Jack got there, every officer he could see was digging. From what he had been told, Race and Albert were able to call 911, and the emergency services were able to get a satellite GPS location. It wasn't exact, but they had it down to a 100 foot radius.

Jack was nervous. He knew his boys were here somewhere. He hoped they were still alive.

"Are you Mr. Kelly?" A young sergeant walked up to him.

"Yes."

"I'm Technical Sergeant David Jacobs," Jack shook his hand, "I'm going to give you a short briefing about what we're doing."

"Of course."

"We have multiple different teams that are going to be digging up the ground, and as soon as we find the coffin, we will get you over there, so the boys can see you as soon as possible."

"Thank you."

"We do have an ambulance at the ready, because we will have to take both boys to the hospital to get them checked out."

"Okay."

"Am I correct in thinking that you will ride in the ambulance with them?'

"Absolutely."

"While we are digging, if you could stay out of the way, it would quicken the work."

"Of course."

"Thank you." David jogged over to his team.

Jack watched from behind the police tape.

He said a silent prayer for his boys.

He rarely ever prayed.

Specs had no clue what was going on. Jack had suddenly left, leaving him in charge. He had texted Jack multiple times, only for Jack to tell him to "Call Medda" or "Call Katherine" or "Call Spot."

So Specs did.

He called all three.

Spot was stuck in traffic, Katherine was in a press meeting, and Medda said she was on her way.

Jack normally would say why he was gone.

But this time, Jack had dissappeared before half the boys were fully awake.

Heck, Buttons was still fast asleep.

Romeo was crying, due to Jack snapping at him before he left.

Jojo was nowhere to be seen.

Crutchie was on the verge of a panic attack, because Race had disappeared.

And Specs had to make sure no one got hurt.

And he had to wake up Buttons.

And he had to fix breakfast.

And he had to calm everyone down.

And he had college applications to fill out, AP classes to study for, and midterms coming up.

He wished he could have just had a somewhat normal senior year.

Breath, he told himself, Just breath.

He went to the cupboard and pulled out five bowls. Cereal it was. Specs himself was no cook, that was Jack. And sometimes Buttons.

There was a knock at the door. He went to go answer it.

"Medda!" He was so relieved to see her.

"Hey, baby, Katherine called me, her meetings almost over, she'll be here soon." Medda walked inside and removed her coat, "I brought donuts."

"Thank you, Medda, you're a lifesaver."

"No problem, sweet, go get your brothers for me."

Specs gave Medda a quick hug before running off to wake up Buttons.

Jojo was crying. He had grown closer to Race in the past few months.

And now Race was gone.

The two brothers who he was closest to were gone.

Jojo was sitting in Race and Albert's room, crying.

He had Race's blanket wrapped around him and he was clutching Albert's pillow. He was sitting on the bean bag that had always been Albert's favorite.

Sniffling, he surveyed the room. There was the Green Day poster that Albert had begged for. There was the lamp that Race had broken three times. There was the Lego Death Star that Albert had given Race for his birthday. It was still only partially assembled. Race wouldn't finish it unless Albert was there with him.

Jojo let out a sob.

He didn't know if they were ever going to come back here. He didn't know if they were ever going to finish that Death Star. Albert had saved up for years, just to buy that thing.

Only for him to be separated from his best friend one week after giving it to him.

Jojo tried wiping his eyes, but it was useless. Tears were flowing out like a river. He couldn't stop it.

"Jojo!" Medda had appeared in the doorway. "Baby, come here." She walked over and wrapped him in a hug. He buried his face into her shoulder and sobbed.

"Sh. It's okay, baby, it's okay."

No. No it wasn't okay. His brothers had been cruelly taken from him and he didn't know where they were. He needed them. He needed them more than anything in the world.

"Come on, baby, let's go downstairs." Jojo let the pillow be pried from his grasp, and felt the blanket fall off of his shoulders. He let Medda guide him out of the room.

"Let's go see if your brothers saved you some donuts."

Jack had been watching them dig for hours. He was growing anxious. It was almost noon and they still hadn't found the boys.

"Hey, I think I got something!" One of the younger troopers, who Jack assumed was a rookie, shouted. Jack looked up. Could it be? One of the officers whispered something into the trooper's ear. "Oh. Um. False Alarm. It's just a really big rock."

Jack almost cried.

He started praying again.

He prayed that Albert and Race were safe.

He prayed that the boys back home were okay.

He prayed that the family would be able to reunite in time for Christmas.

He prayed that Jojo would speak again.

He prayed that the police would find his boys.

He prayed that the people behind the police tape would stop staring.

"Mr. Kelly! Get over here!"

Jack bolted. "What is it?"

"We think we found the coffin." David said. Jack's heart skipped a beat. Sure enough, to troopers where pulling out a long, wooden coffin, that Jack was sure he would be able to fit in.

David knocked on the coffin, "Anthony, Albert, are you in there?"

"Hello?" A voice replied from inside.

"Anthony or Albert?" David repeated.

"Yeah."

"Are both of you in there?"

"Yes." Jack's heart jumped.

"Okay. We're going to try and undo this lock."

"Okay."

Jack held his breath. David and his team weren't able to pick the lock, so they concluded that they were going to have to chop it off. Jack watched in silence as David's team took bolt cutters to the extremely cheap bike lock used.

The lock snapped off. David thrust the lid open, and the two boys inside sat up.

"Jack?" Albert whispered, barely loud enough to here.

Jack's voice cracked, "Yeah, buddy?"

"Jack!" Albert cried, and thrust himself into Jack's arms. Race followed in suit. The three of them sunk to the ground, crying.

"I love you, Jackie."

"Please don't leave us."

"I missed you."

"I wanna go home, Jackie."

"Sh, it's okay, guys," Jack responded, "I ain't ever leaving you to again." He kissed both of their heads.

"I wanna go home." Albert said.

"I know, Al, but we gotta go to the hospital first."

"Noooo..." Albert mumbled.

Jack stood up, bringing the two boys with him. With one boy one each side, he walked to the ambulance.

The EMTs got to work patching up Race's forehead, and cleaning the cuts on Albert's back. They let the boys stay next to Jack and each other. They didn't force the three to separate.

And the three of them didn't want too.

When Spot finally reached the house, Medda and Katherine had taken over. Medda was holding a sobbing Jojo, and Katherine was in the living room playing a board game with the other boys, except Specs. The two had let Specs continue working on his college applications.

Medda had called Spot while he was stuck in traffic, asking him if he could pick up lunch for the boys. So he brought three whole boxes of pizza. One pepperoni, one cheese, and one Hawaiian. Buttons was wierd and liked pinapple on pizza. Spot never understood why.

The boys all crowded around a dining room table, and scarfed down the pizza. Spot had never seen them look so stressed.

"Hey, Jojo, are you okay?" He asked. The boy nodded.

"He's been crying all morning." Medda whispered. Jojo simply finished his slice and ran upstairs.

"He must really miss those two." Spot said.

Medda nodded solemnly.

Spot swore he heard a few sobs.

Race had cried when he and Albert had to go to different hospital rooms. He had desperately clung onto his brother, only for Jack to gently pry the two apart.

He wanted Jack to be here too. But instead, Jack was getting the car.

Race hated this hospital. He had never wanted to come back.

But, lo and behold, here he was. Back in this stupid hospital with nurses and doctors and machines and everything.

Albert's room was across the hall. If Race craned his neck right, he could see Albert through the windows. Albert could see him, too.

He also hated when the nurse would just inject a needle into you without saying so first.

And he hated the drowsy feeling that came after the nurse injected him.

And he hated being sedated.

Albert saw Race through pass out. And he saw a nurse draw the curtain of Race's room, blocking off his view.

"Race..."

The doctor continued bandaging his torso. Albert had never realized how pale he was until today. Or how skinny he was.

Which might be why the plain soup that the doctor gave him tasted amazing.

Albert had never been one to enjoy soup.

But here he was, slurping up this soup like there was no tomorrow. Before long, he had finished the soul and was on his way to the waiting room. He passed by Race's room and tried to peer past the curtains.

Albert ran to Jack as soon as he saw him. He had missed him so much.

Jack pressed a kiss to his head. "Slow down, buddy," he chuckled, "We don't want you crashing into anything."

Albert snuggled into Jack. He never wanted to leave Jack's or Race's side ever again.

Roughly an hour after Albert came out, Race stumbled into the lobby, a bandage over his forehead. Albert ran up and wrapped his brother in a hug.

"I don't know how I feel about the terrible two being back together." Jack joked.

"Har har." Albert teased.

"Alright suckers," Jack said, "Let's go home."

The trio walked back to the car, Jack supporting both of them. Mainly, because Race was still drowsy from the sedation medicine, and Albert was very tired and weak. The two crawled into the back seat and snuggled against each other.

Both closed their eyes, and dozed off.

Crutchie had heard the front door open. He had heard Buttons cry "Albert!" He had seen Specs run into the doorway of the living room and gasp.

But nothing had prepared him for what he saw when he limped into the living room.

Albert was standing with Buttons in his arms, Race's arm wrapped around him, and Specs wrapping all of them in one giant hug.

Katherine was filming.

Crutchie was certain Spot was crying.

Jack was standing back with tears in his eyes.

"ALBERT!" Romeo shouted as he ran past Crutchie. Albert kneeled down, and opened his arms for the second little one to join the hug. Romeo almost knocked him over.

Crutchie let out a small sob. "Albert!" He cried, limping over to join the throng. He felt Albert kiss the top of his head, and pull him into the hug. "You came home."

"Of course, I did, Crutchie. I never wanted to leave you guys." Albert responded.

"So you're the boy who all the fuss was about, huh?" Katherine teased.

"Wh-who're you?" Albert asked.

"She's Jack's girlfriend!" Race said quickly. Jack and Katherine blushed.

Albert gasped, "Jack has a girlfriend? I honestly thought Romeo would beat him!" Jack shoved the back of his head. "And who are you?" He asked Medda.

"I'm Medda. I fostered Race for a few weeks following the incident."

"Oh." Albert gave the group another squeeze.

"Okay, guys," Jack spoke up, "I know you all want to squeeze Albert to death, but it is well past bedtime. So off you hope!"

The boys dispersed to their bedrooms, leaving Albert and Race still on the ground.

Spot walked up to the two, "I swear, if you two ever pull a stunt like that again I'll, I'll-"

"You'll do what?" Race teased.

Spot started crying, he pulled the two boys into a hug, "Don't you two ever do that again."

Albert snickered, "Is Spot Conlon crying?"

"The mighty King of Brooklyn?" Race added, "Nah."

"Spot? Crying?" Albert continued.

"Impossible!" Race laughed.

"You two better shut it, or I will soak you." Spot threatened, letting go. "Take care of those two idiots, Jack."

"I will." Jack replied.

Medda cleared her throat, "Albert, Race, there's one more brother you haven't seen yet."

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Pegz