At Last!For some reason it's been IMPOSSIBLE to load this, but its all good now!And this chapter is also delayed by the bane of any wirters existence the dreaded Block!
Disclaimers apply as is the norm and again, thanks to all my reviewers, sorry its taken so long, thanks for being patient with me while i came this '' close to throwing my laptop out of the window and becoming a hermit!
Thanks for people saying they hoped i feel better too, thats so sweet of you all!
I'll try to post the next part as soon as i can, i hated that this took so long to get posted!So R+R!
Carl had been a paramedic for twelve years and he'd seem some pretty awful stuff, but of everything he had seen, of the bloody, mangled bodies of car crash victims, the blackened curled skin of people stuck in fires, even of the grasping, scratched from fighting hands of teen rape victims of all of that he knew, from the second he walked into the house of Amelia Keenan that what he saw in there would be one of the ones to haunt him.
A dark haired woman was kneeling beside the motionless body of a small boy, sobbing and wailing as she tried to perform CPR.
The boys skin was greyish white, his lips where blue, and a layer of sweat covered his skin. There where bruises and cuts on his hands and face, all of them obviously recent, some that even looked like uniform slices. The woman was screaming at them to help as Carl and his partner Alice ran to the boy's side.
"What happened?" Carl asked the woman, gently but firmly pushing her aside.
"Oh God…I…I think they gave him heroin!" the woman wept, "He's only ten years old" she told them.
Carl felt sick as Alice lifted the boys hand and let it drop lifelessly "No reflexive response" she told him.
"What's his name?" Carl asked the woman.
"Jack" the woman cried.
As Alice leaned into Jack's face to yell his name, trying to wake him up, Carl looked around the wrecked kitchen "Is any one else in the house hurt?" he asked the sobbing woman.
"There's a bunch of people in the den getting high" the woman managed to put a lot of anger behind the words "I called the cops already"
"I have a pulse but it's threadie as hell" Alice told him "We gotta get him in" she rose to get the stretcher.
"Ma'am, what's your name?" Carl asked as he placed a mask over Jack's mouth and nose and began squeezing the bag to give him more oxygen.
"I'm Maria" she seemed to be gaining control of herself "I'm his social worker, I was asked to stop by and check on him and I found him like this" she explained as Alice returned with the stretcher.
There was a whoop and the red and blue of police sirens flashed in the windows.
Alice and Carl carefully loaded Jack onto the stretcher "I radioed for another rig for the people in there, one or two of look like they might be ODing" Alice told Carl as two officers jogged into the house.
"Whaddya got?" one of the officers asked.
"Ten year old male suspected heroin overdose" Carl told him.
"Jesus" the cop asked.
"Signs of abuse too, you might want to talk to the partiers in the den" Alice spat angrily, hurriedly taping gauze onto the worst of Jack's wounds.
"Son of a bitch" the other cop snarled, reaching for his cuffs as he stormed into the den.
"We'll get him to the hospital, there's another rig en route, some of them in there don't look too good" Alice explained as she and Carl ran past the cop and out to their own ambulance.
Maria climbed in the back after them and the ambulance sped off, leaving the cops at the scene.
One of them walked into the now empty kitchen and surveyed the mess. He heard an oddly scratchy noise, like the sound of a spider in a matchbox.
He walked over to where the boy had been lying and crouched beside the phone which still lay on the ground. The noise was coming from the phone and as he got closer he realised that it was a voice on the other end. Without touching the phone he leaned close enough to hear better heard a woman, shrieking into the phone, begging to be told what was going on.
Bobby and his brothers stared through the observation at Jack, who, as he had for the last four days, lay motionless in the hospital bed, a tube in his throat helping him to breath as his body wasn't strong enough to do it alone. Evelyn was curled up on a seat in the room, her eyes half closed, although she would never sleep as long as Jack was still potentially ill.
Jack was almost as white as the sheets he lay on, his eyes dark and heavily shadowed. His lips where dry and cracked where the tube had rubbed them, his head had been wrapped in a bandage after x-rays had shown a fracture to the back of his skull. His broken arm was encased in a thick plaster cast, his other wounds cleaned and bandaged. His chest seemed unnaturally bulky, due to the layer of bandages wrapped around his ribs, several of which had been broken. One had punctured a lung and caused, according to the doctors, permanent scarring to the organ. There was a good chance Jack would need to use an inhaler sometimes, when he came out of the hospital. He had yet to wake up, and for several hours, the day before, the doctors had been talking about the possibility of permanent damage to his system.
"There should be doctors in there with him right now, they should be fixing him" Bobby muttered wearily.
"You heard what they said man, its up to him to wake up" Jerry said in the tone of some one who had said the words before.
"But there's got to be more they can be doing, right? I mean he's just a little kid and they're expecting him to get over all of this without any help" Angel asked.
"Look at all that stuff they got him hooked up to, that's gotta be helping him some" Jerry pointed out.
"I'm gonna kill that bitch" Bobby said quietly.
"I heard they got her in a room down stairs 'cause she OD'd herself when she was poisoning Jack. We could probably smother her in her sleep" Angel sniffed.
"How would that help?" Jerry sighed.
"She'd be dead and I'd feel all warm and fuzzy inside" Bobby said blankly.
"No, you wouldn't, because Jack wouldn't be any better" Jerry stated "What we gotta do is stay here, be here, for our brother"
"Don't go all saintly on us Jerry, not now" Angel snapped, but without much conviction.
"I'm just saying it wont help any if we go doing something stupid…hell if we did end the bitch, we'd end up in prison or somewhere and when Jack wakes up we wont be there for him like he needs us to be" Jerry said.
Bobby seemed about to speak, hesitated, then continued "He has Ma" he said very quietly, his tone making it clear he didn't like it even as he said it.
"Yeah, 'cause Ma could single handedly fix him after this" Jerry scoffed.
"She managed it with us" Angel pointed out.
"Jackie's not like us" Jerry said quietly "He's been through different things, he's not tough like we are"
"He's plenty tough" Bobby frowned.
"Yeah, but we've seen how he gets…he's all screwed up in his head and as near as I've ever seen only Ma, or us, can calm him down when he loses it…I love Ma but she couldn't handle him all by her self" Jerry told them.
Reluctantly, Angel and Bobby agreed. "So we just…let her be?" Angel asked.
"Jackie getting better is more important than that junkie bitch" Jerry growled.
The doctor who had been tending to Jack since the boy arrived at the hospital came up behind the boys. "You plotting revenge?" he asked in jest.
The four boys turned and stared at him and the smile faded from his face. "Kidding, guys" he held up his hands as if in surrender.
"How is he today?" Angel sighed.
"Actually the tests are looking good, he was fighting the machine this morning" the doctor told them.
"What does that mean?" Bobby frowned.
"That my friends, means your little brother's body can breath on its own, we can take the tube out" he smiled at them.
"Will he wake up?" Jerry asked.
"That, I cant tell you. Maybe he will…the fact that he's breathing on his own, is a very good sign, it means his body's getting stronger. Most cases like this, the patient wakes up not long after we take em off the vent"
"You see ten year olds forcibly over dosed on heroin a lot Doc?" Bobby asked sarcastically.
The doctor ducked his head in apology and headed into the room, the brothers Mercer following.
"The nurse said you where gonna take him off the vent today!" Evelyn said as she wearily climbed to her feet.
Her boys moved to her side and helped her as the doctor pulled on a pair of rubber gloves "That I am Miss Mercer, your boy here is quite the little fighter, I'm going to take the tube out of his throat and let him breathe unassisted. This is good because it means his body is recovering, and at the same time, lets him get stronger" he gave her a kindly smile.
The doctor, whose name was Higgins leaned over Jack and gently removed the tape that held the tube in place. He waited for Jack to breathe in, then as Jack exhaled, pulled the tube out smoothly.
Jack didn't stir, but the machines registering his heart beat didn't start shrieking either, so the Mercers let out individual sigh's of relief.
Higgins used a small torch to check Jacks eyes "Pupils are equal and responsive" he said happily "That means he's basically just sleeping…but it's a very very deep sleep. He will wake up, just, in his own time" he assured them "Now I really have to suggest that you all go home, get some sleep. There are doctors and nurses here who can take care of him, you all need rest" he said sympathetically.
"I'm not leaving" Jerry said and his brothers nodded in agreement.
"No, he's right, you all need your sleep, you need to go back to school, I need to see to the other kids" Evelyn stated, but from her tone it was clear she didn't like it.
"Fuck school" Bobby snapped.
"Bobby!" Evelyn snapped.
"Ma I aint leavin him" Bobby told her.
"How bout we take it in shifts?" Angel asked "We each stay one night then get some sleep, go to school, switch it up so one of us is always here and the others can get some rest"
"I'll go first" Bobby shrugged.
"No" Evelyn said.
"Ma you haven't slept in four days" Jerry pointed out.
"Have any of you?" Evelyn reminded them.
"It's different with us Ma, we're young and virile" Jerry gave her a small smile.
Evelyn rubbed exhaustedly at her eyes "Fine" she muttered "I gotta go pick up the others from the neighbours" she stated.
She walked over to the bed and leaned over Jack, kissing his forehead lovingly. "I'm gonna go away from a little while Jackie, but I'll be back soon, I swear" she whispered.
She gave Bobby a hug and thanked the doctor, leaving with Angel and Jerry. When they where gone, Bobby sat in the seat Evelyn had been occupying, smiling gently at the flowery smell of her perfume that clung to the blanket one of the nurses had given her at one point. Bobby rose from the chair and walked over to Jack, laying the blanket over his eerily still form.
In a moment of sudden panic, Bobby leaned forward and gently lay his head on Jack's scrawny chest, listening for his heart beat. He heard the soft, rhythmic thump-thump and drew back, pulling the seat closer to the bed so that he could hold Jack's hand. He sat like that for hours, not moving, simply watching Jack's chest rise and fall, watching him surviving.
After a long, long time, Bobby reached forward and stroked a stray lock of dark blonde hair from Jack's forehead, smiling at the still baby like softness of Jack's skin. Anger welled up inside him so strong and sudden that he let go of Jack's hand and latched both of his hands onto the safety rail around Jack's bed, squeezing the metal tubing, putting all the rage he felt into his grip. Tears fell from his eyes, tears he would never let his brothers see as he stared at Jack's frail, damaged form and gripped the rail. His hands tightening and tightening until it came down to the rail giving way under his hands, or Bobby breaking something. He let go suddenly and shoved himself backwards, panting as if he had run a mile. He rose from the chair again, his hands aching, and walked into the small, en suite bathroom just behind him in the private room. Letting the door close behind him Bobby ran cold water over his hands for half an hour while he let himself cry. When his hands where shaking but all but numb, he splashed the water on his face and met his own eye in the mirror "compose yourself" he said, imitating the voice of Nelson, one of the slightly more decent foster dads he had had before he came to Evelyn.
Nelson had been a Marine for years before he was discharged and believed in using military regulations for discipline. Despite his brutality though, he had genuinely cared for the kids under his care, believing that by being harsh, by causing them some pain, he was teaching them about survival, not just harming them because he was a drunk, or just a spiteful bastard. He had taught Bobby that it was a mistake to let your family see you weakened, by anything, and Bobby had taken it to heart. He splashed more water on his face and wiped himself dry with a towel, blowing air out between pursed lips as he continued to meet his own gaze, like a diver preparing for a deep descent.
Any body watching him would have been able to see him physically rebuild his composure. The shudders that had run through his back and shoulders as he wept simply ceased and he hunched in the prepared boxers stance that was his natural stance. His face hardened, his eyes gleaming with their bright, angry light, the angry, grim mask he so often wore sliding back into place under his skin. He sniffed once, rolled his shoulders and neck to work out the tension and stepped back into the room.
Jack's bed was empty.
Bobby physically stepped backwards in shock, blinking at the rumpled sheets on the bed. He opened his mouth but no sound came out as every bad dream he had had since he heard Jack had an aunt seemed to come true before his very eyes. He half stepped into the room scamming it with expert eyes and realised that the machine registering Jack's heart beat with a soft beeping, had not gone off the rails, its alarms shrieking wildly. Which meant Jack wasn't very far away.
Bobby went to move forward again but he remembered a story Jack had told them about how when he was small he would hide under his bed from his father, and all he would ever be able to see where his fathers heavy work boots pacing toward the bed before he was dragged out into the light, into- Bobby cut the memory off and very slowly, lowered himself into a crouch.
Jack was huddled under the hospital bed, clutching Evelyn's blanket to him, his eyes wide open but unseeing. Bobby remembered the 'thousand yard stare' cursing as he saw that the emptiness in Jack's eyes was deeper than it had ever been.
"Jackie?" Bobby called gently, moving awkwardly forward in his crouch.
Jack was rocking slowly back and forth, his breath loud and rasping some what. "Jackie boy it's Bobby" Bobby said softly, "I'm gonna come a little closer, alright?"
Jackie didn't respond but Bobby, watching his brothers eyes very closely, saw them flicker ever so slightly. "Alright then little man, here I come" Bobby sing songed and edge forward again until he was beside the bed, only a few feet away from Jack.
Sitting cross legged, Bobby peered under the bed at his brother.
"Hey kiddo, how you feeling?" Bobby forced himself to make his town conversational.
Jack's eyes stayed distant but he whispered hoarsely "My chest hurts"
Bobby dropped his own eyes for a second as they brimmed with tears of elation at the sounds of Jack's voice. "Yeah?" he asked still gazing at the floor "Well you know you got pretty beat up there Jackie…you know what ya did?" he managed to look up.
"No?" Jack asked curiously, his voice faint.
"Ya died on us kid, a bunch of times, they had to…" Bobby raised his hands, miming defibrillator paddles "tzz, zap you!" he marvelled at his own ability to hold back his emotion as he told Jack about how he had arrested several times in the ER.
"I did that?" Jack asked in amazement.
"Yeah ya little loon" Bobby forced a laugh into his voice watching as the corners of Jack's mouth flickered upwards in a fleeting glimpse of a smile.
"You cant laugh at it, we where laughin at you, you looked like that worm we electrocuted that time, ya remember?" Bobby asked, seeing the faintest hint of warm recollection dart into Jack's eyes like a scared deer.
"It exploded" Jack said seriously "I don't feel good but I'm not exploded" he pointed out.
"Still looked like a worm" Bobby shrugged.
"Well you look like an ass" Jack whispered back, finally glancing at Bobby "A baboon ass"
"Yeah well, you look like Tinkerbell, blondie" Bobby shot back smiling.
"Well you look like Smee" Jack whispered, his rocking motion slowing.
"Well you look like Princess Tiger Lily" Bobby smarmed.
"Princess Tiger Lily could fight, you look like Wendy" Jack gave a near silent giggle.
"Well, you look like…uh, La Vida Loca!" Bobby tried.
"You look like her fat ass mom" Jack threw back almost instantly.
"You look like a fart"
"You got fart breath"
"You got shit breath" Bobby pulled tongues at his brother.
"You are shit breath" Jack flipped him off with his good hand.
There was light in his eyes now, but they where still haunted as he looked at Bobby.
"You're shit on my shoe" Bobby returned with a double bird flip.
"You wish you where shit on my shoe, you're a amoeba living on a piece of shit that aint even good enough for me to step in" Jack raided an eyebrow at Bobby who burst out laughing, knowing when he was beat.
Jack didn't laugh but he gave small, nervous smiles as Bobby recovered himself.
"You scared us kid" Bobby told Jack, growing suddenly serious.
"They scared me" Jack whimpered.
He crawled forward suddenly, ignoring the IV's that ripped from his arms, the heart monitor that shrieked as the tab was pulled from his chest. Bobby leaned under the bed and grabbed Jack even as the child crawled, pulling him into the gentlest bear hug he could manage, wary of Jack's fragile state.
He felt Jack tense in his arms as if an electrical bolt had run through him as the door behind them opened with an audible click.
"Oh, he's awake?" the voice of a female nurse exclaimed "I'll go get the doctor" she left hurriedly.
"Bobby" Jack gasped, his voice gone high and fearful.
"Jackie its okay, they're not bad people, they're only gonna help you out" Bobby reassured him.
He stood easily, his stomach roiling at how light Jack was. The kid had never exactly been weighty to begin with but now Bobby felt as is he was lifting a bag of twigs. "First order of business Cracker Jack we're getting you some fucking cheeseburgers" Bobby stated simply as he sank back into his original seat, with Jack in his arms.
"I want curlie fries" Jack told him, relaxing instantly in his brothers arms, laying his head on Bobby's chest.
Bobby had a flash to the night he, Angel and Jerry had officially 'sworn' Jack into the family. It had been a situation not unlike this, after a local creep had gotten a grip of Jack, Jack had, bluntly, freaked out and wrecked the Mercer house. That night he had been woken by terrible night terrors and after Evelyn had calmed him the brothers had sworn to protect Jack no matter what. Jack had fallen asleep in Bobby's arms that night. Something about having Jack close to him, having his little brother where he could see him, felt right, natural to Bobby, as he knew it did to Angel, to Jerry.
The door opened again and that same bolt of fear ran through Jack's body.
"It's alright, this is doctor Higgins" Bobby murmured to Jack.
"Hi there" Higgins stayed by the door, smiling kindly at Jack, "You mind if I come in and take a look at your arms?" he nodded to the bloody wounds on Jack's arms from the ripped out IV's and held a small bag of medical supplied up for Jack to see "It's just band aids and clean wipes" he promised.
Internally, Bobby applauded the doctor for how he was acting. Instead of just barging in he was giving Jack the control, putting him at ease.
Jack looked up at Bobby who raised his eyebrows at him, letting him know it was his choice. Jack nodded at Bobby and Bobby looked up "You can come in Doc" he gave the man a tight smile.
"Thanks Jack" the doctor smiled again. Holding the small bag in one hand, and holding his other hand out to the side, showing it was empty, Higgins walked into the room. He pulled the second chair around so that he sat opposite Jack and Bobby.
Jack was shaking in Bobby's arms.
"Can I see your arm?" Higgins asked politely.
Bobby knew it took a lot for Jack to let this strange man touch him, but he reached out his arm slowly, taking deep breaths "Jackie breath normal buddy" Bobby said to calm him.
Higgins pulled on a pair of rubber gloves and very slowly, reached for Jack's arm. When he touched Jack's skin the boy flinched like he'd been burned and Higgins held his hands up "Sorry Jack" he said quietly.
Jack reached his arm back out and Higgins took a sterilised wet wipe from his pack. He took Jack's wrist in one hand, not so tightly that Jack couldn't take his hand back if he chose too. He wiped gently at the small, ragged punctures and tears in Jack's skin where the IV needles had ripped out.
Jack hissed in pain and lay his head on Bobby's chest. "I called your mom" Higgins told them as he began wiping with a new cloth "She screamed into that phone so loud she almost burst my ear drum" he joked "She's on her way over" he smiled.
"Thanks doc" Bobby said quietly.
"No problem. Hey Jack?" Higgins asked "You know when I'm finished with your arm here? Could I take a look at your head? And at your back and your chest? I want to make sure your organs aren't trying to stage a rebellion, mine did once now I'm hollower than the Tin Man" he gave Jack another grin, to which Jack raised a brow.
"I guess you're too old for my jokes huh?" Higgins asked seriously.
"I would be too old if I was five" Jack rasped.
"Yeah you probably would…so how about it, can I make sure you're still ticking? And uh, how about I look at your throat too, see if I cant do anything about that voice ya got?" he asked.
Jack gave a noncommittal shrug but it meant yes.
When his arm was dealt with, Jack let Higgins examine his throat and head. Higgins removed the bandages that had encased Jack's head and discarded them, pressing his fingers t the back of Jack's skull and nodding happily. "Now's the hard part kiddo, your back and chest are real bruised up, so I'm gonna say right now, I'm sorry if I hurt you when I'm examining you, I don't mean too, its just necessary" Higgins gave Jack an apologetic frown.
Bobby sat Jack on the bed and helped Higgins to remove the hospital pyjamas he wore. Higgins removed the layer of bandages which hadn't really done more than act as cushioning and Bobby bit back a hiss at the ugly, purple-black bruises that decorated Jack's body.
Higgins, very gently, pressed his hands to the bruises, checking for anything loose or chipped. Jack's face was screwed up in pain as Higgins asked him to raise on arm so he could reach a particular spot. "Well, you are one lucky little so an so! You where hurt buddy, real hurt but you're doing just fine now!" Higgins gave Jack a warm, friendly smile. "So here's what I'm gonna do, I'm gonna have a nurse come in here with some fresh new PJ's for ya, and then we're gonna get you settled back in your bed, then while I go out and get you some real food, non of this hospital mulched cardboard crap, a friend of mine is going to come and talk to you, ok?" Higgins asked and again, Bobby had to internally compliment the guy.
"Ok" Jack said quietly.
Higgins left and sure enough a nurse brought the new pyjamas, let Bobby help Jack change, settled Jack in his bed, then walked out. Almost as soon as she left a woman with long, curly brown hair entered the room.
"Hi!" she said brightly "I'm Megan, I'm…I'm some one you can talk to" she smiled and Bobby immediately called her for a police appointed child psychiatrist sent to get Jack's statement. She had a bag with her and he was betting there where those stupid ass rag dolls in there. "The doctor told me you don't seem to want to be away from Bobby so I'm just gonna let him stay, I want you to be comfortable" she beamed at them.
"So Jack, do you remember the very first night you where taken away from you daddy?" Megan asked bluntly.
Jack blinked at her, then nodded slowly, almost as if amused by her. "You probably talked to somebody like me that night, some one who had" she reached into her back and pulled out the dolls Bobby had already known where there "dollies like this?" she asked.
Jack shot a cynical look at Bobby that made Bobby sad, because Jack was ten years old and cynicism should have been years away.
"Yes" Jack answered "And I talked to them since then too, in evaluations" he explained.
"And those times, you told that person what your daddy and those other men did?" Megan was still smiling and it was beginning to irritate Bobby. "Yes ma'am" Jack said and Bobby could hear the edge in his voice and immediately tensed in his chair.
"Well, would you like to tell me about, what happened at Amelia's house?" Megan took a pen and notebook from her back and Bobby stared open mouthed. She was clearly an amateur .
Jack blinked again "They where all doing drugs" he said and Bobby alone heard the unspoken 'duh' in Jack's tone.
"mhmm and what about Vern, would you like to tell me about Vern?" Megan looked dead at Jack, meeting his eyes and gazing at him with a sort of, aggressive sincerity.
Jack blinked and dropped his own gaze, the blood draining from his eyes, his whole body tensing like a cat coiled to strike "No I wouldn't" he said raggedly.
"Try for me Jack, this is important" Megan tried to sound sympathetic but her voice came out in a condescending whine.
"I don't know anything he was friends with Amelia and he helped her stick that needle in me" Jack said.
"Is that all? Because Amelia told me that Vern was up in your room and that you where screaming" Megan again, tried and failed at sympathy
Bobby gripped his chair as rage boiled through him at this news. He glared at the oblivious Megan.
"Did Vern touch you Jack? Would you like to show me on the dolly where Vern hurt you?" she placed one of the dolls in front of Jack and when he didn't move, she made a mistake.
She reached out and took hold of his arm to move it toward the doll.
Jack erupted in the way Bobby had known he would. But this, he saw immediately, was different. Normally when Jack had an outburst he attacked things, smashing plates, windows, wrecking objects. But this time, Jack leapt, like a pouncing cat at Megan, some how despite his lack of any real mass hitting her with enough momentum to drive her down to the ground.
Bobby blinked in shock as he ran around the bed. Jack, in between swearing in Megan's face using words Bobby hadn't even known Jack knew, was actually growling at her, bearing his teeth and snarling like an enraged animal. Megan was screaming and flailing uselessly as Jack pulled at her hair and Bobby realised he couldn't pull Jack off without hurting him but decided he could apologise later. He wrapped one arm around Jack and scooped him up with more difficulty than he expected, but he got the kid up. Jack twisted this way and that and some how he was able to turn and bite Bobby's hand, hard, sharp teeth sinking into Bobby's skin. Bobby yelled and let go of Jack, recoiling his hand the way he would had it been a snapping dog and Jack fell to the floor running out of the room. Bobby ran after him as Jack sprinted down the corridor but up ahead the elevator doors hummed open and Evelyn Mercer stepped out, Angel and Jerry at her side.
Jack halted dead in his tracks and it was as if a shadow was lifted from him.
He ran toward Evelyn wordlessly and she dropped to her knees, sobbing. Jack reached her and flung himself into her arms, hugging her tightly as if for dear life and all but disappeared under her hug and the thick coat she wore. Bobby couldn't help but smile at the sight, and even as Jack's heart wrenching sobs filled the air, Bobby shared a knowing look with his brothers. Jackie was going to be okay.