This chapter was rough to write.
If you follow me on Tumblr then you know I am not a fan of this chapter. I made it slightly more tolerable then my first draft, but it is still not my favorite.

But I hope you enjoy it anyway!

~TH~

Race felt frozen in place. What was he supposed to do? Jack was… convulsing. Shaking the bed, trying to rip out tubes. Screaming voiclessly because a giant tube was shoved down his throat!

He heard commotion in the hall. Someone was coming. Thank heavens somebody was coming! But before doctors could reach the room Charlie had thrown himself towards the bed, taking his brother's hand.

"Heya, Jacky," the boy said softly. Too softly. Race could barely hear him over the shrieking monitors.

Jack's eyes flew to his brothers before widening. Race could see Jack tightly wrap his fingers around the offered hand. Charlie seemed to squeeze it.

The doctors had stopped in the doorway, the alarms shutting off on their own. They watched along with the two boys to make sure everything was under control.

"It's been awhile, huh?" the young boy continued, seemingly oblivious to everyone but the boy in the bed.

Jack gave a short nod, tears glistening in his eyes.

"Yeah, well, you're hurt real bad, but we're gonna have a lot of time to catch up later. So just try to sleep, k? We'll talk when ya feel better."

The older boy didn't respond, but his eyes drifted closed, almost as if on command. The noise of soft footsteps filled the room as the doctors left.

Race watched as Charlie began to stroke Jack's hair, whispering to him. He thought the boy might even be crying.

A hand lightly fell onto his arm, and Race looked up. Spot jerked his head towards the door, signalling that they should leave. Race nodded following him out. He wanted to stay and be with Jack, but the brothers deserved some privacy.

The hallway had resumed it's quiet routine. Spot directed him to a small open room with lots of chairs, a TV playing quietly from the ceiling and scattered books and magazines. "Are you good?"

Race nodded, feeling the closest to 'good' that he had felt in a considerable time. "The, the doctor said he should be okay. It'll just… take awhile."

Spot nodded. He didn't say anything, but Race could see the relief in his eyes. Spot had always secretly been a big softy.

"Race, baby, could you come with me for a minute? I need to talk to you." Medda smiled from the doorway.

Spot offered him a half smile before motioning for him to go. Almost compulsively, Race through his arms around his brother. AFter getting over the brief shock, Spot returned the hug. "Y'know I love ya Tyler."

"Yeah, 'n I love you too."

Race allowed himself to smile as he followed Medda out.

~N~

Race sat down beside Medda in the small conference room. Lydia sat across from them.

"Race, you remember Jack's social worker?"

He nodded.

"Well, Tyler,"IShe began, "I was just telling your mother about Jack. It's obvious that he can't go back to where he was staying before."

That was for sure. Jack should never have to even see that Spider again. Ever.

"And we'd rather not send him back to the group home he was previously in, there were… issues there. It wouldn't be a safe environment to return to. There's other homes around the state we could send him to,"

"You want to send him away from the city?" Race felt himself begin to panic. He couldn't lose Jack. Not after everything that had happened! And Jack wouldn't leave Charlie. Not again. "And to a group home? But you just said it wasn't safe for him!"

"I know, baby, that's why I offered to take him in."

Medda's words caused Race to abruptly turn to look at her, eyes wide.

"Like, adopt him?"

Lydia gave a hesitant nod. "He'd be fostered. And because of his… history, things would probably be a little different, at least at first. It helps that Medda is already an established foster parent with a good record."

"So Jack would be my brother?"

"That's right, Tyler," Medda smiled, "he'd be your brother."

"What about Charlie?" He blurted out, not even intending to. It had been meant as simply a thought. But it was true. Jack needed his biological brother just as much as Race needed his foster brothers.

Medda cocked her head slightly, "Charlie?" RIght she probably hadn't met him yet.

"H-he's Jack's brother. They've been separated for awhile now and they…Don't… Like it." He finished feeling childish. All day he had felt so small. So childish. Maybe he was still in shock.

"Well," Lydia started slowly, "it's not common to keep siblings together-"

"But I'm sure we could figure something out. So long as I'm willing to take them both, there shouldn't be too much of a problem, right?" Medda seemed almost passive agressive in her statements, giving a condescending, tight lipped, smile.

The social worker nodded with a large probably fake smile. "Yes, I'm sure we can work something out."

A knock interrupted them and the door opened without bidding. Spot stuck his head in the door, keeping his voice low, he turned to Tyler. "Jack's awake and askin' for ya, Race. You need to come. Now."

Race didn't wait for permission before hurrying out of the room.

He practically fell into Jack's room. Sure he had been glared at by a few nurses but something was wrong and he needed to be there.

Jack was awake. It shouldn't have surprised him as much as it did. Jack's eyes were wild and he was fighting off Crutchie, trying to rise from the bed. There was a notepad on the table with "RACE?" written boldly across the page.

"Hey, uh, Jack, I'm right here. I'm fine. But you need to lay back down, okay?" His voice came out stronger than he had expected.

It took a moment, but Jack's eyes finally focused on Race and he immediately relaxed. With a nod from Charlie, Race made his way over to the bed, tentatively taking Jack's hand.

"Yeah, Jacky, I'm here."

The boy on the bed squeezed his hand tightly, tears shining in his eyes.

"Yeah, I'm okay. But you need to get better, okay?"

Jack gave a tiny nod, still latched to Race's hand. Charlie took Jack's other hand and all three boys finally relaxed. Spot was smiling from the doorway.

Yeah, he really liked the idea of Jack being his brother. He basically already was.

~TH~

Seeeee, I can end not completely depressing!

Be sure to let me know what you think!

I couldn't remember if Race would know that Charlie's name was Crutchie so I just had him use Charlie the entire time.

Also if Race acted kind of young or oblivious just blame it on shock, okay?

And yes, I know my hospital procedures were not perfect. Oh well.

Next we get to peek in on Katherine and Davey!

Till then!

Stay safe and God bless,
Jamie