Mad World

Summary: Liz confronts Cam about what he said to Jake. Sequel to Cruel Like You and Unsteady

Cam's eyes rolled as soon as he and his mother were left alone. "I've already dealt with Josslyn telling me off, I don't need it from you too." He practically whined, eyes still full of anger.

Liz fixed him with a look. "Tough, because you're going to have to deal with it." She told him coolly, going over to sit on the couch, moving books and notebooks to the coffee table. "What you said to your little brother was awful."

The young man scoffed. "What I told him was the truth. He was going to find out anyway." He replied stubbornly, not moving from his standing position.

"The detectives don't know that yet, Cameron. It's still being investigated. And even if what we suspect is true, there were better ways to tell Jake. You told your twelve year old brother that his father had murdered Franco in cold blood and watched him bleed to death. And all because Jake wanted to know if he could go see his father." His mother told him, voice firm and dangerous.

Cam glared at her. "You can't tell me you're okay with pretending everything is hunky dory after what Jason did!"

Liz stood up then and walked closer to her son. "You know, at first I was really angry and convinced that Jason was the one who took Franco away from us. I mean, he had hated him for years, because of his past. It seemed an easy conclusion to jump to. Especially because he was there, in the studio. But people have brought up some good points to me recently and as much as Jason hated Franco, I don't think he'd take him away like that. Not when it would break Jake's heart." She didn't bring up her confrontation with Peter or the suspicions it had given her. Seeing his behavior today made it clear that she couldn't. Not if she didn't want her son doing something stupid and dangerous. She had help on her side to figure out what was going on, and that was exactly what she was going to do.

Meanwhile, upstairs in Jake's bedroom, Josslyn sat with him on his bed, watching him draw. "You doing okay, kid?" She asked him gently, nudging him with her knee. She looked at him out of the curtain of her wavy golden hair, seeing his red rimmed eyes.

The boy gave a shrug of one skinny shoulder. "I guess so." He murmured softly, continuing to draw for a few moments. Then, he stopped and turned his head to look up at Josslyn. "I know Cam is hurting too, but I don't get why he's taking it out on me or why he wants to believe the worst of my dad. Isn't there something called, 'innocent until proven guilty'?"

The blonde sighed. "There is. Of course there is. What Cam said was totally out of line, and hopefully he'll realize that. Your whole family has been through a lot. Sometimes, when things happen, we don't deal with them in the best way." She thought of Oscar and how after his death, she'd become like a ghost. How after she'd taken up journaling to get her feelings about it out, she'd wrote all of the time instead of lived her life to the fullest. Of course, she'd gotten better and put the journal away. Hopefully there'd come a point of time when Cam let go of this anger and aggression and healed properly.

"He's just so angry all the time now." Jake whispered. "Aiden and I just want our brother back."

Josslyn smiled sadly and wrapped an arm around him comfortingly. "Me too, Jake. Me too."

Cam scowled and crossed his arms under his chest. "Great." He practically snarled, practically shaking with rage. "You think the sun shine's up St. Jason's ass too."

Liz shook her head negatively. "Cameron, I know I must be part of why you're so intent on believing the worst of Jason, and I'm sorry about that. I was so blinded by my grief and I needed someone to blame. Jason seemed like an obvious choice. I can see now that you were listening. "You're allowed to be hurt and angry. You're allowed to have your own opinion. But you can't treat other people badly for not agreeing with you. You know, Jake was crying outside on the porch swing when I got home?"

Guilt tugged at Cam's heart and he felt bile rise in his throat at the mention of his little brother. The last thing he ever wanted to do was to hurt someone and here, he had. And not just anyone, one of the most important people in his life. "Is he okay now?" He wondered.

"Better than he was." She told him. "Of course, I'm sure it would help if you apologized to him."

His shoulders slumped at that. "What if he doesn't want to forgive me?" He questioned, the anger finally out of his voice. Everything about him screamed remorse now. His posture, the guilt ridden expression on his face, the way he spoke.

Liz sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "That's a chance you'll have to take, Cameron. Every action has a consequence. Anything can happen, but you won't know until you try. And if he doesn't forgive you, you'll have to deal with it and let him come to everything at his own terms."

"I don't want to be this person, mom." Cam told her. "I don't want to hurt people like I did today. But I'm just so angry all the time."

She nodded. "I know you don't, honey. That's why we're going to get you into therapy. It's obviously something you could've used for awhile. I guess with Franco's illness and everything going on at the hospital, I was too busy to notice. But we'll fix that, okay?"

His lips curved up slightly. "Okay." He answered softly. "I like that idea."

Cam went upstairs to go talk to his brother while his mother went to the kitchen to order pizza. He hesitated outside of Jake and Aiden's bedroom door, shutting his eyes and taking in some deep, cleansing breaths to steel himself. Then, he opened the door to see Josslyn sitting on the bed. The girl brought her finger to her lips, shushing him quietly before pointing down at her lap where Jake's head rested, fast asleep.

She carefully shifted Jake off her lap and got off the bed, being sure not to wake him. Then, she walked over to Cam and followed him from the room. She allowed Cam to pull her into the room across from Jake and Aiden's-Cam's bedroom, and sat on the bed, wondering what her friend was up to.

He shifted uncomfortably before taking a seat beside of her. "I just wanted to say sorry for how I behaved today." He told her. "I know I was behaving like a dick, and I really regret it now. Nothing can excuse it, but mom is going to enroll me in therapy so I can get over my anger and aggression. I've never wanted to hurt anyone like I did today."

Josslyn nodded. "That's good, Cam. At least it's a step in the right direction."

"The thing is, I don't even know how to make it up to Jake. I don't know how to make him believe that I didn't want to hurt him." Cam confessed.

The blonde smiled and reached out to squeeze his arm. "Take him out to do something he enjoys like go to the art gallery, then take him out to get some of his favorite food. Tell him everything you told me. Jake loves you more than anything, Cameron. He told me when you and Liz were downstairs talking that you've been so angry all the time. He and Aiden have really missed you. They just want you back." With that, she nudged his shoulder with her own before heading downstairs, feeling hopeful that Cam really would get better.

The End

A/N: So this ended more hopeful than today's episode actually did. Also more hopeful than I'm sure tomorrow's episode will when we get the canon Liz and Cam confrontation.