The chapel was relatively quiet; Denise Jackson's friends and relations were few and far between and those she'd actually been on speaking terms with at the time of her death could be counted on the fingers of one hand. Literally. Stopping short of the aisle, Jody looked straight ahead and could see two men sitting together at the front, Luke talking to the pastor, and a few people scattered sparsely across the pews. She only recognised one of those random mourners, identifying her as her mother's next-door neighbour, and could tell that one of the men right at the front was Kingsley just by looking at the back of his head.

"I didn't realise Kingsley was going to be here," she quietly told Tyler as they slid into the back row of seats.

"What's he inside for again?" he asked in a whisper, his eyes following her line of sight.

"Burglary." She purposely left out the fact that Kingsley's victim was the very person whose funeral they were attending right now. That was too shameful for her to admit, even to Tyler.

"He probably didn't hurt the victim and that's why he's allowed out for funerals." She nodded, staring at the back of Kingsley's head. "That's probably a police officer sitting next to him."

As if on cue, Kingsley turned around, doing a double take at the pair of them as if he hadn't expected them—even Jody—to be present. Luke, who was apparently done talking to the pastor, also spotted them, but, unlike Kingsley, he actually approached them. Jody gulped, not knowing how to feel at being 'reunited' with the Jackson men. Before she'd made the last minute decision to attend the funeral, she'd honestly never expected to see either of them again.

"Jody, Tyler," he started, stopping in the aisle to Jody's left. "Thanks for coming."

"We almost didn't," she replied coldly, his abandonment of her still fresh in her mind. "No need to thank us. I came here for myself, not for you."

He appeared a little startled by her response but proceeded to nod understandingly. "Jody... I want to expl—"

"I don't want to hear it," she interjected bitterly, holding her hand up.

Luke's attempt to explain himself finally confirmed her long-held suspicion that he had, in fact, been deliberately withholding contact from her, piercing what was left of her heart and crushing that tiny glimmer of hope she'd had that this had all been some sort of misunderstanding. As a consequence, she felt like she'd been Dumped by her 'family' all over again.

"Jodes?" came a whisper from her right, drawing her out of her thoughts and reminding her that Luke was still standing in the aisle.

"It doesn't matter to me anymore," she finished. Luke didn't matter to her anymore.

"But—"

"Did you not hear me?!" she hissed, wary of the strangers sitting in the rows in front of her.

Luke looked helplessly at Tyler, clearly expecting assistance, and it made Jody's blood boil. She turned away from the infuriating man standing next to her, actively trying to keep her emotions in check. How dare he behave like the victim here, as if he was the poor brother trying to get through to his uncooperative sister?

"Don't look at me, mate," Tyler spoke up, surprising Jody with the sheer ire in his voice. "You could've picked the phone up anytime these last few days, let alone months, but you chose not to. This is on you."

After opening and closing his mouth a few times, Luke sighed in defeat and retreated to the dais. As he left Jody's line of sight, she saw Kingsley staring at her, looking like he also wanted to come over and say something, but she mustered up a glare so fierce that he almost instantly turned back around. She'd never seen him look so morose and regretful, not even when he'd been pretending to be a good brother just over a year ago. Unfortunately, she didn't have enough time to figure out what was going on in his mind because the pastor finally began the funeral service.

Singing hymns at Denise Jackson's funeral just seemed wrong. The whole family was criminal; Denise and both of her sons had assaulted their then neighbours, in direct violation of 'thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself', and had gone to prison for it, her eldest son was in prison a second time for burgling her house and had once left his baby sister to burn to death, and the youngest son was a man who callously ignored his little sister who had no other blood family left. Jody was hardly religious but even she could see that the Jacksons belonged in a secular funeral home, not a Godly chapel.

"Would anyone like to say a few words for Denise?"

Jody waited for Luke to answer but he didn't. She was surprised. Even though he wanted to get shot of the family just as much as she did, she'd expected him to give a eulogy; he had been the one to arrange the funeral, after all.

"No one? Alright."

"I will!" she announced, the words leaving her mouth before she even realised that she was speaking. In an instant, all eyes in the chapel turned towards her but she was only interested in one pair in particular.

"Are you sure?" Tyler questioned in a concerned tone. "You don't have anything planned."

Jody nodded at him before standing up, telling the pastor that she wanted to say a few words. The pastor, seemingly a little confused, wordlessly summoned her to the dais. As she strode up to the front of the chapel, Jody felt her nerves light up and wondered if this was such a good idea after all. However, when she stood at the front and faced everyone, observing Tyler's supportive smile and Luke and Kingsley's shocked profiles, she relaxed, knowing that this was the right call.

"Uhh... hi," she began, making eye contact with the random mourners. "Some of you might not know me but... Denise was my mother." She took a deep breath, steadying herself. "I'm not going to stand up here and lie to you. Denise wasn't a good person and she was an even worse mother. I've got no nice memories or stories to tell you about her; I've been in care since I was eight—I'll be fifteen this year—and last month was the first time I saw her in person in about five years. She ignored me for most of those years and only spoke to me a few times after my social worker told her that I almost burnt to death in my gran's old flat." She chanced a glance at Kingsley who seemed to be looking down in shame. Hmm, that was a first.

"No... Denise was the type of mother who let her overbearing son lock her daughter in her room for days on end. She was the type who dunked her daughter's head into an overflowing bathtub when she was angry with her"—one of the female mourners gasped—"and let her sons do the same. She was the type who called her daughter an accident, to her face, almost every single day for years. She was the type who, up until her last days, thought that saying nasty things to each other was what family was all about."

Jody paused, letting herself look at the coffin at the centre of the dais for the first time. The idea of her mother lying in there, lifeless, was surreal; she'd always been a ruthless upstart, always spoiling for a fight. It even seemed a little unfair that Denise couldn't defend herself as her daughter spurted on about her crimes. Looking back at the mourners, Jody recalled her last conversation with Denise, her eyes stinging with long overdue tears. Finally. She almost laughed in relief as the tears and emotion she'd been waiting on for days came to the surface.

"But the last thing she ever said to me wasn't 'you're an accident' or any of the other horrible things she'd said to me before... her last words to me were 'I do love you, babes'," she continued, choking those last few words out as fat, hot tears poured down her cheeks. "Those—I'm sorry"—she sniffed, trying to compose herself, aware that everyone had their eyes solely on her—"Those words will never erase all of the bad things she's done to me but, hopefully, they'll allow me to let go of all the anger I've ever felt towards her, and finally move on with my life." She stepped away from the lectern, hastily wiping away her blinding tears. "Umm, thanks."

The pastor stepped forward, gently patting Jody on the back. "Thank you...?"

"Jody," she supplied, her blurry vision clearing to reveal Tyler standing in front of the dais.

"Jody, for your enlightening words," the pastor finished as Jody got off the dais and allowed Tyler to walk her back to their seats. She didn't need him to do that—she was never the damsel in distress type and was usually too proud to accept any help, even from him—but she appreciated the gesture all the same.

As the pastor moved onto the next part of the service, Jody rested her head on Tyler's shoulder and he, in turn, placed his arm around her back, pulling her in. Throughout the rest of the service, Luke and Kingsley didn't look back at her again.

.:. QK .:.

Following the 'farewell', the pastor led the pallbearers and mourners outside to the cemetery. Jody watched on as the pallbearers—Luke being one of them—prepared to lower the coffin into the ground. She turned to Tyler, immensely grateful for his unwavering support. She didn't realise she was perhaps gazing at him in a lovestruck manner until his eyes found hers and he lightly asked her 'what?'.

"Nothing," she answered, blushing. She was at her mother's funeral, for God's sake! "Just... thanks for coming here with me."

"It was either me or Ryan," he quipped before wincing. "Sorry."

She smiled, supposing that he was apologising for making a joke at a funeral. "I mean it. If it wasn't for you, Mike and May-Li, I would've stayed at home and missed out on my chance to say goodbye." She turned back to the procession to see that the coffin was being lowered into the ground. "You were right," she confessed, digging into the pocket of her jacket and pulling out the photo she'd tried to burn two days prior. "She was practically haunting me because I sort of didn't want to let go. I guess I didn't want to stop being angry at her just in case I... started missing her."

Her eyes watered up again as she looked at the photo. She hadn't torn it back when Tyler had left it to her in the garden—it hadn't seemed right—and now she understood why. This photo didn't belong to her, or to Luke, or to Kingsley. It belonged to the one who'd had it taken in the first place in an effort to preserve the image of her perfect family. That perfect family didn't exist—it never had—and nor did Denise Jackson, not anymore, so it was only fitting that the photo should remain with her.

Walking towards the edge of the freshly dug grave, Jody threw the photo on top of the coffin and stood there as a wave of relief washed over her. In a way, Denise's death had set her free; her death signalled the end of the failure that was the Jackson family, allowing those who remained to go their separate ways. She stepped back a little as unshed tears spilt out of her eyes.

"It's okay to miss her, you know," she heard Tyler say as he joined her in front of the grave. "You did love her, once."

"I think I still do," she divulged, her voice trembling. "A little bit, deep down in my heart, you know?" She knew she sounded so soppy but she hoped that he would let it slide just this once.

"Yeah, I know," he responded softly, sweeping her up in a hug. She continued to cry her eyes out as he held her, feeling as if she'd reached some sort of milestone. She was officially an orphan, now.

"Miss Jackson?"

Jody almost jumped, reluctantly pulling away from Tyler to see her mother's neighbour standing next to them.

"It's Miss Gray," she corrected, a tad irritated at being interrupted. Couldn't the old crone see that she was busy?

"Oh, sorry. Your brothers are Jacksons so I thought"—she seemed to realise that she'd interrupted something as Tyler made himself scarce—"never mind. Sorry to interrupt but I just wanted to tell you how sorry I am. If I realised that Denise was abusing you, I would've done something to help you."

Jody instantly felt guilty for inwardly cursing the woman. "It's okay," she said, attempting to smile. "That was a long time ago. When you saw me visit her, the worst she did was call me a few names."

"Oh," the woman let out, appearing somewhat relieved. "Still, I'm sorry. No one should have to go through what you did." She patted Jody on the back before looking at her watch. "Goodbye, Miss Gray."

"Err, bye," Jody replied as the woman walked off, turning to go and find Tyler when Kingsley approached her with his accompanying officer in tow.

"Gray?" he almost spat, an angry expression on his face.

Jody recoiled at his attitude, relieved that he was in handcuffs. "Hello to you, too, Kingsley!" she sniped in return, crossing her arms.

"What's Gray ever done for us?!" he asked, letting out a hollow laugh. "Look around! He's not even here!"

"Well, what have any of you ever done for me, Kingsley?!" she retorted, anger rising in her. "Besides breaking my heart a million times, of course!"

Kingsley stepped forward then, looking like he was going to try to intimidate her like he used to when she was little, when the officer placed a hand on his chest and gently pushed him back. "No physical contact, Jackson!" he warned. "Behave or we leave now!"

"Yeah, yeah, alright," Kingsley muttered dismissively. Luke and Tyler both joined the fray, the latter coming straight to Jody's side.

"Nice to see you, Kingsley," Tyler greeted flatly. Kingsley didn't respond, clenching his fists.

"Why are you letting him talk to my sister?" Luke questioned the officer. "She almost died because of him!" Jody exchanged a look with Tyler. Why was Luke showing concern for her now when he hadn't bothered to reach out to her in months?

"I wasn't aware of that but thanks for letting me know," the officer answered, escorting a smouldering Kingsley away.

Luke turned to the pair of teenagers. "Are you coming to the wake?"

"We can't; Tyler's got an exam this afternoon," Jody responded truthfully. Tyler had a history exam at one and if they didn't leave soonish, he'd miss it.

Luke seemed to understand that Tyler not being able to attend the wake meant that Jody wouldn't be able to either. He nodded, about to say something but apparently thinking better of it after glancing warily at Tyler.

"I'll go and call Mike so he can pick us up," Tyler excused himself, obviously sensing that Luke wanted him out of the way. Jody considered stopping him—she didn't want him to leave—but ultimately let him go.

"What did you do that for?!" she interrogated. "Whatever you have to say to me, you can say in front of Tyler."

"Sorry, I just..." Luke trailed off, glancing at Tyler who was standing off to the side. "He's obviously really protective of you and I didn't want him to take anything I'm about to say the wrong way."

"And what are you about to say?"

"That I made a mistake. That I didn't treat my little sister the way she deserves... My uni friends, they're—"

"Not here," she cut in, holding her arms out. Luke had been by himself during the entire service. "Are they really worth it at all if not even one of them is here for you today?"

"They don't know that I'm here," he admitted sheepishly. "They think Mum died ages ago."

She scoffed. Even she didn't lie about that. What lies had he told his mates about her? That she was a goody two shoes? A girly girl? Or that she didn't even exist? "So you're pretending to be someone else?"

"Jody, I"—he scratched the back of his head—"I'm glad you have people like Mike, May-Li and Tyler watching your back."

At the mention of her best friend, she sought him out to see that he was still standing near the cemetery exit, patiently waiting for her. She remembered his upcoming exam and the potential cramming time he'd given up just to come here with her despite her insisting that he didn't have to. Finally, she could agree with something Luke was saying.

"So am I," she stated, turning back to her mother's youngest son. "When Mum hurt me for the last time, I finally realised that I don't need any of you."

"Jo—"

"No," she interjected in an almost whisper, sadly shaking her head. She felt like she was coming to the long overdue end of a chapter. "Have a nice life far far away from both me and our idiot brother, Luke."

Steeling herself, Jody spun on her heel and walked towards the exit, ignoring Luke's calls. That part of her life was well and truly over.

.:. QK .:.

After they dropped Tyler off at school with twenty minutes to spare, Mike and Jody returned to Ashdene Ridge to find several kids loitering around in the lobby.

Floss, having no tact at all, marched up to Jody and straight up asked if she'd cried a lot. Mike shooed her off before the other younger ones could join in and bombard Jody with more uncomfortable questions. He quickly cleared the lobby before ducking into his office.

Just then, Ryan strode into the lobby, a pompous expression on his face.

"So, the criminal's been buried then?" he taunted, smirking.

Rather than speechlessly withstanding his abuse like she had last time, Jody saw red and stomped towards Ryan, landing a punch squarely on his nose. He cried out and clutched his nose as the others came flooding into the lobby like they'd been snooping on them, some visibly shocked but some hiding smiles behind their hands.

"My mum may have been an ex-convict," she stated as Mike popped his head around the office door, gaping at Ryan's nose. "But she was my mum. No one else has the right to say anything about her, especially not you!"

"Go Jody!" someone cheered but she couldn't tell who which was just as well because Mike looked livid.

Jody smirked back at Ryan before walking to the stairs, stopping next to the lounge door as May-Li exited it. "I know, I know. Grounded forever for causing three nosebleeds within like two weeks." She redirected her gaze towards Ryan. "But definitely worth it."

A/N: Do your worst, extreme Ryan lovers. He was a nasty piece of work right up until his penultimate episode and I am not afraid to point that out. I mean, all of the kids in the DG are horrible to others at some point, Jody included, but they're usually already upset or angry when they hurt others whereas Ryan says awful things out of nowhere for no reason. I fully believe he'd say something like this to a bereaved fellow child in care, especially the child of an ex convict.

Also, I'm not saying that violence is the solution to bullying (which is exactly what Ryan is, like it or not) but sometimes people really need a good slap/punch/kick.

Thanks to CharlieSMarts12 for the review and the kind words! I thought you'd stopped reading this.