Annalise paused when she heard a commotion outside of Jeffrey's room. It had been two months since the start of her Selection and he still hadn't come around. He was constantly rude and dismissive towards her Selected, and she intended to have a talk with him, but nothing could prepare her for the sight she saw when she entered his room. His room was in disarray and a guard stood on either side of him, pinning his arms behind his back.
"Let go!" Jeffrey yelled as he struggled in their grip, not yet noticing the arrival of his mother.
Rupert stood in front of him, arms crossed, "Not until you calm down, Jeffrey," he said sternly. "This behaviour is appalling, look at what you've done to your room."
"I don't care!" Jeffrey said angrily as he trashed in the grip of the guards. "Get off of me!"
"What is going on in here?" Annalise asked, her voice laced with concern. She stepped forward and Rupert held out a hand to stop her.
"Your son is having a fit, he almost attacked me, luckily the guards intervened." Rupert said as he kept his eyes on Jeffrey.
"Luckily," Annalise said sarcastically, she knew the ways in which Rupert had been abusing her son and was honestly surprised that he hadn't fought back sooner. "Let go of him, let me talk to my son." Annalise said to the guards.
The guards glanced at Rupert who shook his head, "Not until he calms down. Do you know where he keeps his father's knife?"
"Why do you need that?" Annalise asked, frowning at the sight of her son. It hurt to see him in such distress.
"So that he can't hurt himself, Annalise," Rupert said simply.
"He wouldn't do that," Annalise said, then she looked at his son, writhing in the grips of the guards. Two months ago, she didn't think he'd do something like this, either. Her son was changing under Rupert's care and not for the better.
"Just like he wouldn't attack me?" Rupert questioned.
"You probably hit him first, Rupert," Annalise said angrily. "Tell them to let go." She hated that she was powerless to stop them, everyone in the palace was clearly under Rupert's command.
"Not until he calms down," Rupert repeated.
Annalise sighed as she waited. It took about five minutes, but eventually Jeffrey went limp in the grip of the guards and his breathing evened out.
"Release him," Rupert ordered the guards. The guards let go of Jeffrey who promptly fell to his knees.
"Leave us," Annalise said firmly to Rupert.
"Make sure you get the knife from him," Rupert said, then left the room.
"You as well," Annalise said to the guards.
"We'll be right outside if you need us, Your Majesty," one of the guards said. Annalise nodded as she knelt in front of Jeffrey. Instead of standing up like she expected him to, he sat on the floor and pulled his knees to his chest.
"What happened, Jeffrey?" Annalise asked softly.
"I don't know…" Jeffrey trailed off. "I just got tired of everything."
"So, you trashed your room?" Annalise asked.
Jeffrey nodded, "Uncle Rupert must have heard the noise because he came in, so I threw something at him, then he told me to stop so I kept throwing things around, then he punched me, and I went to punch him back and that's when the guards grabbed me."
"Jeffrey…" Annalise said softly. "Are you okay?"
Jeffrey shrugged, "When do we go to court?"
"In a few days, my lawyer's going to prep you tomorrow, but I do want your father's knife," Annalise said firmly. "I'll give it back to you in a few days."
Jeffrey frowned as he stood up. He walked to his nightstand and opened the bottom drawer. He grabbed the knife and handed it to his mother. Annalise sighed, she hadn't wanted to take her son's knife from him, but if his behaviour was this erratic then maybe it was best that he didn't have it for a few days.
"Thank you, Jeffrey," Annalise said. She wrapped an arm around her son and pulled him for a hug which he didn't return.
"I'm tired, I think I'm gonna take a nap," Jeffrey said quietly.
Annalise nodded as she ran a hand through Jeffrey's hair, "I think that's a good idea. I'll have the maids come clean your room when you wake up."
"Okay," Jeffrey said.
"Are you hurt at all?" Annalise asked.
"No," Jeffrey lied. He yawned then rubbed his eyes.
"Go take a nap, we'll talk more later." Annalise said as she rubbed her son's shoulder. She frowned, she wished that he'd tell her the truth. But it didn't matter, soon he'd be out of Rupert's clutches.
"Fine," Jeffrey said. He climbed into bed and got settled under his blankets. Annalise tucked him in then kissed him on the head. She brought Jeffrey's knife to her room, and placed it in her nightstand, not trusting Rupert to give it back to her son.
Jerry was on a walk in the gardens when he stumbled upon the young princes. Callum was following Jeffrey around, but the teen didn't seem to want to spend any time with his younger brother.
"Come on, Jeffrey!" Callum whined. "You said you'd play with me."
Jeffrey rolled his eyes, "I said I might play with you, I never said that I would."
"You never spend time with me anymore, you're always too busy with Uncle Rupert. We don't have to play we could watch a movie or something…" Callum trailed off, desperate to spend time with the older boy.
"Did you ever think that I don't want to spend time with you? You're so fucking annoying and clingy!" Jeffrey snapped as he shoved Callum roughly, causing the boy to take a few steps back.
"Whoa, hey," Jerry said as he approached the two boys, he wasn't going to get involved but Jeffrey had taken things too far. "That's not very nice."
"Does it look like I care?" Jeffrey asked angrily. "Seriously, what's with you Selected thinking you can tell me or Callum what to do? You're not my dad so you can fuck off too."
"Watch the language," Jerry said sternly, he had never had to deal with this kind of behaviour from his own son, so he felt a little out of his depth. Jeffrey was right, of course, he wasn't the kid's father, but that didn't mean he was going to let the teen get away with speaking like that. "Callum, why don't you let me talk to your brother?"
Callum sighed, "Fine." he said with a pout. He took off in the direction of the palace and Jeffrey glared at Jerry.
"Is everything okay, Jeffrey?" Jerry asked. "I know things probably haven't been easy on you since your uncle took custody of you."
Jeffrey crossed his arms, "Everything's fine," he said flatly. "And even if it wasn't, what makes you think I'd talk to you?"
Jerry opened his mouth to speak, then closed it, figuring that he wasn't going to get very far with the teen, but it was worth a shot. "Look, Jeffrey you can fight this Selection as much as you want to, but the reality is that your mother is going to marry one of us, and one of us is going to be your stepfather. I know it might feel like we're trying to replace your dad, but we're not, I promise you. No one can do that. Would it really kill you to give us a chance?"
Jeffrey scowled and crossed his arms, "It would, yeah. Just leave me alone." With that the teen turned and walked off.
Jerry sighed and ran a hand through his hair, he knew Annalise had enough to deal with, but something just didn't sit right with Jeffrey's attitude, and he wanted to talk to the boy's mother about it. He knew Jeffrey was dealing with a lot, but it wasn't an excuse to explode at everyone.
Jerry spotted Annalise in the hallway and approached her, going over what he was going to say in his head.
"Can I talk to you?" Jerry asked. "It's about Jeffrey."
Annalise nodded, "Of course," she said and she was instantly concerned. She knew her son's behaviour had been erratic lately and she just hoped that he hadn't gone off on one of the Selected.
"Jeffrey, well, how do I put this lightly?" Jerry said as he tried to think of the right words to explain the boy's behaviour. "He has a bit of an attitude problem."
Annalise sighed, "You're not the first one to bring this to my attention but thank you for telling me."
"Is everything okay with him?" Jerry asked.
Annalise shook her head, "Rupert's been mistreating him, I think he misses being in my custody, oh and Noah caught him high. He's out of control and there's nothing I can really do about it."
"I'm really sorry, Annalise," Jerry said. "When do you go to court?"
"In a couple days, my lawyer is prepping Jeffrey tomorrow," Annalise replied.
"I'm sure you'll win, Rupert had no right to take your son away like that, is there anything I can do to help?"
Annalise sighed and shook her head, "Not really, I mean, I appreciate all of you keeping an eye on the boys, I wouldn't be able to do it by myself."
"Of course, one of us is going to be their stepfather, we might as well start taking that seriously now." Jerry said as he placed a hand on her shoulder. "Do you think he'll get better once he's out of Rupert's care?"
"I hope so," Annalise said and gave him a small smile. "Thank you, for talking to me about all of this, I really appreciate it."
"Anytime, Annalise." Jerry said.
"But, just promise me you won't give up on Jeffrey, he's great, really, he's just going through a lot." Annalise said as they started to walk down the hall.
"It can't be easy for him, all of us being here," Jerry said.
Annalise nodded, "What does your son Cal think about all of this? The Selection, I mean."
"Honestly? I think he's excited for me, he's the one who encouraged me to do this." Jerry said as he offered Annalise his arm, which she took with a smile. "I think he just wants me to be happy."
"That's good, I'm glad your son's being mature about all of this," Annalise said.
"A little jealous, are we?" Jerry teased.
Annalise chuckled, "Maybe a little. Are you in the mood for some ice cream?"
"I always have room for ice cream," Jerry replied with a smile. Annalise and Jerry made their way to the kitchen where they each helped themselves to their favourite flavour of ice cream.
"You know, I never thought I'd get in when I applied, I thought it was such a long shot, and I must say I'm really glad I did," Jerry said as he scooped out a spoonful of ice cream.
Annalise smiled, "I'm glad you got in too, though the Selection is quite the way to make your way back into the dating pool."
Jerry smiled sheepishly, "It is, I know it's a long shot, but I figured I have as much of a chance as anyone here."
"You're all great in your own ways," Annalise said. "So, what made you want to become a florist?"
"I've always had a love for flowers and plants," Jerry replied with a smile. "If you didn't become Queen, what do you think you would have done?"
Annalise thought for a moment, "I probably would still be working on the farm, I was a seven, after all. But I think if I could be anything I would be a community organizer, I love being able to give back in my role as Queen."
"I can see that, you do great work, Annalise, I really mean it." Jerry said with a kind smile.
"I don't do nearly as much as I'd like to, Rupert suppresses a lot of my ideas as Darren had done. They don't understand that they need to be taking better care of their people, people will only live in squalor for so long before they rise up."
"Do you think that's why there's been so much unrest lately?" Jerry asked.
Annalise nodded, "The people aren't happy, it's obvious."
"I think if you were regent instead of Rupert things would be a lot better for everyone," Jerry said.
Annalise smiled, "Thank you, but Darren named his brother in his will, there's nothing I can do."
"I know, but still, you make an excellent queen, to see you with true power would be a real sight."
"Maybe they'll force Rupert to step down after the trial?" Annalise thought out loud.
"Are you nervous? About the trial?" Jerry asked as he reached for Annalise's hand.
Annalise nodded as she held onto Jerry's hand, "A little, I'm more concerned about what Rupert will do if he wins. He told me if I fought this, I'd never see Jeffrey again, but I couldn't just take this sitting down."
"That's understandable, I don't know what I'd do if someone took away Cal," Jerry agreed. "We're all rooting for you."
"Thank you, I really appreciate all the support you guys have shown me." Annalise said with a smile. "Anyway, I need to go check on my moody teenager, I'll see you around." Annalise leaned in and kissed Jerry on the cheek. He smiled to himself as she made her way out of the kitchen.