Alright my darlings, this is a short chapter that exists only to lead into the next bit which will be five years on because want Jack to be at least 15 for his next set of super fun happy adventures!
Erm...disclaimers apply as always, language, talk of abuse, etc, i dont own any of the brothers (but i shaaalll) and please R+R.
i apologise for the lateness in my updates lately ive just been mad busy and battling writers block, he's a tricky little SOB but the next chapter should be pretty decent cos i have a zillion and one idea's and no real urge to actually like, sleep, ever!
Dedicatedto all my reviewers who wanted to see Jack have things go decent in his life, but still be all scrwed up, lol!
xx
Jack was sitting at the small child sized table, his face blank. The other kids around him played happily, the lilting sounds of theuir laughter, thier games, filling the air.He was watching them with an odd look in his eyes. He looked afraid, but in the way a beaten dog would look afraid of its master, fearful of a beating but aware he could easily defend himself. He didn't play with any of the toys that had been laid out, he simply sat, quietly, calmly.
"You see why we're concerned?" the bespectacled African American doctor turned to Evelyn.
"Doctor Wood, Jack was only allowed out of his room a few days ago…and you've said yourself that given what he's been through it's likely he wont interact well with other kids his age" Evelyn pointed out.
Wood nodded "Yes, I said he wouldn't interact well. Jack isn't interacting at all"
He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose "Miss Mercer was Jack social when he first came to you?" the doctor asked.
"Not at all" Evelyn told him "He barely spoke to me or the other boys. At first. After a few weeks he came out of his shell, once he was comfortable around us, we introduced him to the neighbourhood kids, started sending him to school…he has a lot of friends now" Evelyn explained.
"I'm sure he does, but I'm still concerned about his reactions to strangers" Wood sighed.
"Doctor you know what happened to him, yes? That almost every stranger who has come into his life has hurt or abused him in some way?" Evelyn raised an eyebrow.
"Yes, of course I do" Wood said back, not angrily, simple replying.
"Well it's been my experience, Doctor, that kids who suffer at the hands of strangers are more often than not, wary of strangers" Evelyn gave him a wry grin "besides, Jack doesn't play with toys and those kids in there and the sorts of kids he usually hangs out with" Evelyn shrugged.
"Yes I understand he spends most of his time with his brothers, who are all sixteen?" Wood asked.
"Near enough. He feels safe with them" She answered the question Wood had been about to ask.
"I think he needs more friends his own age" Wood stated.
"As I just told you, he has friends his own age" Evelyn repeated.
"Then why wont he engage with any of the kids in the room" Wood nodded in the direction of the daycare/observation room.
"Do any of those kids come from a neighbourhood like ours?" Evelyn asked "Because I don't want to play the whole 'wrong side of the tracks' down town versus up town debacle, but the fact is, Jack doesn't see himself as having anything in common with those kids, not just because of what he's suffered through, but because of where he's from. Look I know you're going to tell me he has this problem and that trauma. We already know he has attachment disorders, that he has night terrors, that he sleep walks, he has his outbursts" Evelyn listed "he has deep emotional scars, severe emotional trauma…we have known for three years, nothing you're telling me is news" she shook her head "We deal with it. When can I take him home?"
"Well Harris is his physician, I only look after his mind" Wood told her a little snottily "Given his recovery though…probably a few days" he told her. "Look Miss Mercer, I'm just telling you…his 'deep emotional scars'? they could very easily come back to haunt him in time"
"And where is Doctor Harris?" Evelyn asked, nodding in acknowledgment of his prediction.
"I'm here" Harris called out brightly "I said I would be here and here I am, I got held up in the ER" Harris pulled a 'what are you going to do?' face.
"When can he leave?" Evelyn cut straight to the chase. Jack had been in the hospital for weeks and she was itching to get him home.
Harris smiled kindly at her "Today" he stated.
"Already!" Evelyn smiled.
"He's already way stronger than anyone thought he would be at this point, besides I think if I don't release him you and those boys are gonna bust him out!" Harris gave a shrug "I can have the paper work sorted out by lunchtime and you can take him home" he cut off abruptly as Evelyn grabbed him and hugged him tight.
"Thank you" she whispered, tears of happiness rolling down her face "Thank you!"
"So the twins are gone?" Jack, bundled up in his thickest jacket, scarf and woolly hat was sitting in the front seat, looking like he was simply a ball of clothes with a face.
"Yeah, their aunt took em to Alaska!" Evelyn told him.
"But I thought Alaska was a million miles away?" Jack asked.
"They wanted to go, but it's okay because they arranged it so their mom went too, she figures life up there will be easier to handle, so she wont relapse again…at least that's the theory" Evelyn shrugged.
"What about Li?" Jack was peering out of the window curiously as Evelyn drove.
"He's going in two weeks, found a family for him yesterday!" Evelyn smiled.
"Good, I didn't like him he was a jerk" Jack scoffed.
Evelyn chuckled "Hey don't say that too him though! Be nice until he leaves, okay?" she gently scolded "And he's been asking and worrying about you, so he's not that big a jerk"
"Alright" he shrugged.
They where nearing the Mercer house and Jack began to bounce in his seat, eager to get home.
As Evelyn pulled the car into the drive way, Jack threw the door open and bolted from his seat charging toward the door. Laughing, Evelyn ran after him, locking the car hurriedly, resolving to get his suitcase of belongings from Amelia's house and from the hospital, later on. He ran up the porch steps but she caught up with him "Sh!" she grinned "They don't know I'm bringing you back today!"
Jack matched her grin and stepped back as she unlocked the door and let her self in, yelling a casual hello.
"Ma, do you know where my old skates are?" came Jerry's distracted response "Cos I thought they where in my room but they're not"
Smiling conspiratorially at Jack, Evelyn shouted back, "Maybe their under the stairs, come down here and look. I'll be in the kitchen with Jack" she took Jack's hand and started to walk.
"No they wouldn't be under the stairs I – What!" Jerry yelled suddenly.
There was a thump from the den and another from the bathroom and the sounds of scuffling from the attic bedrooms.
Evelyn giggled, lifting Jack onto the counter and helping him wriggle quickly out of his coat and hat, tossing them aside as everyone charged into the kitchen.
Angel, soaking wet and wrapped in a towel some how got there first, pulling Jack into a hug. "We didn't know you where coming home!" he laughed as Jack lovingly pushed him away, complaining about the water.
"Dr Harris signed him out especially" Evelyn beamed.
There came another thump and Bobby and Jerry raced each other into the room.
"He tackled me from the fourth step Ma" Bobby said off handedly as he walked over and swept Jack up in a big hug.
Jerry lifted Jack out of Bobby's arms and gave him held him close "He went down like a little bitch" he whispered in Jack's ear.
"Hi sweetie!" Diane grinned, giving Jack a quick, nervous hug.
"Hey man" Li shrugged, trying to play casual but clearly happy to see Jack.
"Hi everybody" Jack smiled, his voice still a little gruff from the intubation weeks earlier.
"Oh my god" Diane squealed a little girlishly.
"Sh!" Bobby hissed.
"What is it?" Evelyn asked.
"Maria just dropped something off before that she needs you to look at is all" Jerry told her, motioning to a thick envelope on the counter "Hey Jackie man, sorry we don't have anything organised for your homecoming" he frowned apologetically "How about we all make a fucking huge ass cake" he grinned.
"Language" Evelyn called automatically, picking up the envelope.
"A Freaking huge cake then?" Jerry rolled his eyes.
"Hey we all bought you some…little…you know, things" Diane said sheepishly, nudging Li "Go get em"
Rolling his eyes, Li ran out of the room while Evelyn tore open the envelope and removed the contents, reading the hand written cover note that came with it.
Li ran back in, awkwardly hefting a large bag.
"Give him his stuff I gotta go get dressed" Angel smiled, jogging away.
"Alright" Bobby knelt beside the bag "These are from everyone all together but we all got you separate stuff too" He held a brand new pair of ice skates aloft, grinning at the delighted grin on Jack's face.
"This came from Angel" Bobby held up a pair of boxing gloves "He wants you to start sparring with him" he put the gloves next to the boots as Jack looked on in glee.
"This is so cool!" Jack grinned.
"All for you buddy" Jerry smiled "This was from me" Jerry grinned as Bobby removed a large, hard back note book "It's like…a scrap book or a notebook or whatever, I mean I know you like drawing and stuff and keeping stuff outta magazines…you can keep it all in here" he tried to play it off a Jack's face lit up.
"Wow!" the kid grinned.
"My one is sort of lame" Li shrugged as Bobby handed Jack a stack of video's "Its just some rock concerts, they're pretty funny though" he smiled shyly.
"Thanks Li" Jack said, genuinely happy.
"Diane you want to explain about yours?" Bobby grinned up at her.
"Yeah…um…its cheap and old and out of tune but I can teach you to use it and tune it and everything and hey maybe you can write songs in that book Jerry gave you and stuff?" She showed Jack the battered guitar.
"Diane!" Jack exclaimed "All of you! This stuff is amazing!" he smiled at them.
"This is mine" Bobby handed him a small box "it's…what I gave you when you went away but better"
Jack looked at Evelyn's back and mouthed 'a knife?' to Bobby who nodded and put his finger to his lips in a 'don't say a word' gesture.
"This one is mine" Evelyn handed Jack one of the sheets of paper she had been reading through "I just signed it"
Frowning slightly, Jack took the paper and began to read it. His frown turned into a look of confusion which gave way to a look of delight "Is this-?" he looked up at Evelyn.
"Yes, that's what it is, its It!" Evelyn was smiling manically "You all knew?" she turned to the other kids who nodded enthusiastically.
"Maria told us" Jerry smiled "She said with what happened, she just pushed it through, her boyfriend helped her out…" he shrugged.
"Adoption papers!" Jack yelled. "Ma these are adoption papers! I'm yours now!" his eyes where shiny with tears.
"No one can take you away" Evelyn pulled him into a long hug "Not ever, you are mine now"
"I'm adopted!" Jack yelled almost in her ear "No one can come get me!" he hugged everyone including Angel who came back into the kitchen, dried and dressed.
"He knows?" Angel asked returning the hug "It's official now little brother, we can officially rag on you, we can beat you up, make you do all our chores, and there aint a damn thing you can do about it!" he laughed.
Jack was grinning from ear to ear, tears rolling down his cheeks. "I don't want to do anything about it, I don't care what you do!" he all but leapt into Evelyn's arms, burying his face in the crook between her shoulder and neck.
Evelyn hugged him back , her own eyes teary. "I love you mom" he whispered.
Smiling, she whispered back "I love you Jackie"
"Hey! Hey Jackie Boy!" some one was yelling at Jack as he walked down the corridor on the way to Hockey practice, "Jaaaaackieeee!" the yeller dragged it out, making a joke of it.
Sighing, Jack turned around to face the yeller "What do you want Martin?" he asked as Martin, taller than Jack, blonde haired, looking oilier than a slick.
"Where you goin Jackie?" Martin sneered as he oozed up to Jack.
"Hockey practice" Jack stated "And you're making me late so…" he shrugged.
"I need a favour" Martin asked.
"What?" Jack rolled his eyes.
"Mr Bonasera took a game boy game away from me today, put it in his right pants pocket. It's my brothers game and he'll kick my ass if I don't give him it back" Martin shrugged.
"Twenty bucks" Jack said automatically.
"Seriously?" Martin stared at him.
"Bonasera doesn't alwaysbuy into my cute kid routine if I get caught, pay up" Jack stated.
"I can give you ten now" Martin frowned.
"Fine" Jack rolled his eyes.
He pulled Martin with him to the end of the corridor, pressing his back to the wall briefly. "What are we doing?" Martin asked.
"This time of day, Bonasera is always in the office, he'll be coming out…now" Jack said the word and a tall, dark man in a rumpled suit strode out of the office, briefcase in hand.
Jack pushed Martin away and slipped out into the corridor, staring at the floor as he half jogged until his journey brought him to the teacher. Jack bumped into the man hard enough that he fell back wards and landed on his rump with a grunt of pain, throwing an accusing, petulant look at the teacher.
Bonasera, in a uniquely good mood crouched down and took Jack's hand, helping him to his feet. "You alright?" he asked.
"Yes sir" Jack nodded "Sorry" he wrinkled his nose, playing the cute card.
"You're that Mercer kid aren't you?" Bonasera asked "You been back at school what, three months?"
"Yessir" Jack nodded, shoving his hands in his pockets ands scuffing his shoes as if he was shy.
"How you liking it? Everybody treating you right, no one hassling you?" the teacher asked gruffly.
"It's fine" Jack shrugged.
"You want to give back what you just took out of my pocket?" Bonasera sniffed.
Jack dropped the act and stared directly at the man "I don't know what you mean sir" he lied.
"Turn out your pockets" Bonasera told him.
"No" Jack gave him a polite grin, his tone calm and pleasant.
"Am I gonna have to search you?" Bonasera coked his head.
"Sir, you lay a single hand on me and I'll scream so loud the whole world will come running" Jack's smile never fell, his tone never changed.
Bonasera raised an eye brow at him. "I'll be watching you Mercer. I know about all you and your brothers. I ever see you pullin any of the stunts your brothers did, there's gonna be some trouble" he said warningly.
"I really don't understand sir" Jack coked his head to one side "I'd better go or I'm gonna be late for practice" he smiled and walked casually away.
Out side the school, Martin ran to catch up with Jack. "Did you get it?" he asked hurriedly.
"Course I did, now give me my money" Jack stated.
Martin fished out a crumpled ten dollar bill and pushed it into Jack's hand. Jack checked the note and gave a shrug, handing Martin the game.
"How'd you do that man, I was watching for it and I didn't even see it!" Martin asked.
"It's easy" Jack shrugged again and rolled his shoulders to shift his back pack"And now I'm fucking late so get out of here" Jack gave Martin a shove.
"Thanks Jackie boy" Martin said, using that same wheedling tone now that his favour was done.
Jack caught Martins collar as the boy walked away and dragged him backwards.
"Hey!" Martin yelped.
"If you say my name like that again I will make you regret it" Jack said coolly.
"Alright" Martin licked his lips nervously "Sorry man" he whispered.
Jack gave him a blank look and released him, sending him away.
"Mother fucker making me late" he muttered to himself, running for the rink.
"COME ON MERCER GET THE LEAD OUT!" the coach yelled from the side of the rink as Jack narrowly avoided being tackled by a boy much larger than him.
"I AM!" Jack yelled back, banging his hockey stick on the ice angrily.
"Fucking pansy" the tacklingkid said as he skated by Jack.
Jack growled and tightened his hands around his stick, waiting for the puck to be shot back to him. When one of his team mates passed the puck his way Jack made a bee line for the opposite teams goal, his still new and sharp skates gliding over the ice. He ducked under another tackle and made a shot at the goal whooping to himself as he saw the puck slide past the goalie.
Some one rammed into him in an intentionally late tackle and Jack grunted as he fell on the arm he had had broken only a few months before. He shouldn't have been skating on the arm, but he had lied to the coach about how serious it was. The other kids knew though, especially Chuck, who had tackled him. Chuck had even asked how serious a break it was.
Jack climbed to his feet, skating after Chuck with single minded intent. As he got close he swung his hockey stick at Chuck's legs from behind. Chuck screamed and fell, rolling to see who had struck him as Jack shook his hockey gloves off, yanked off his helmet and dove on the kid.
Chuck started shouting but Jack quickly silenced him with a punch to the mouth as Chuck reached up and began to fight back. Chuck managed to roll on top of Jack, throwing a wild punch that connected through sheer luck.
Jack growled and dug a knee into Chuck's side awkwardly, ignoring the shouts that where coming from the other kids.
"What the hell!" Came the coaches voice and Jack felt a hand grip his collar and drag him out from under Chuck as another coach yanked Chuck to his feet.
"Who started this!" The coach barked.
"The little orphan psycho attacked me!" Chuck squealed.
Jack booked for him again, stumbling slightly as the coach yanked him backwards "Calm it down Mercer!" the man snapped.
" he came in on a tackle late on purpose" Jack snapped.
"What you think you're Bobby all of a sudden?" the coach asked "go get changed and go home Jack, Chuck you too, you both need to learn some discipline, so detention on Friday after school both of you, be there or you don't play on the weekend" he released Jack giving him a gentle but pointed push toward the edge of the ice.
Chuck started to plea his case but Jack shrugged and skated away, scooping up his equipment as he went.
Chuck eventually followed, whining the whole way.
"What is up with that kid!" the assistant coach asked his senior.
"He's all fucked up in his head, bad shit happened to him, he's been different since he came back to school" the coach told the younger man, shooing all the other kids back to the game.
"Different how?"
"Like you just saw, more aggressive, angrier…its sad really, he was a sweet kid up until a few months ago. What ever that last thing to happen was…it broke something inside of him. He'll probably end up like his brothers, with a juvie record longer than I am tall" the coach shook his head, watching Jack as the boy walked toward the changing rooms. He sniffed, squinting thoughtfully "What a fucking waste"