JACOB - FOUR DAYS LATER

He's finally able to leave the infirmary, so I take him to my room to get him some proper clothes. You couldn't clean the windows with the rags he was wearing - not enough material left to them, really. There was barely enough to cover him decently. Unable to help my grin as he comes back into the room now dressed in a pair of my jeans and a black hoodie, both hanging off him badly, I hear the amusement I'm unable to hide when I speak. "We need to get you some clothes of your own."

"It's okay, whatever you have is fine."

Shaking my head and moving to him I quickly help cuff the pants up so he can at least walk without stepping on them, before doing my best to situate the hoodie in such a way it stays up on his shoulders. "It's okay for right now, but you can't spend all day trying to keep your clothes up. Besides you need stuff of your own anyways, we'll just have to get you a few different sizes is all so that when you gain some weight back and start feeling better you won't have to worry about out growing what you have before you have something else to replace it with."

Fidgeting uneasily and not daring to meet my eyes he shakes his head just enough for me to notice. "You don't have to do that, I'm used to wearing whatever my mast-whatever I'm supposed to. I don't want to cause anymore trouble then I already did."

"You're no trouble." Standing and pushing his hair back from where it's hanging over his eyes, I try my best to meet his gaze without forcing it. "Believe me you haven't brought any of us any trouble by helping you, okay? Jax, now he's going to have a fucking world of trouble when my parents and grandparents get through with him, but as for us, we're fine and we're all glad you're here and safe now."

"He's going to punish me when he gets me back."

"No he's not. Because one, he is never, ever touching you again. Two, you are not his pet anymore, you live here with us and that means you don't belong to anyone but yourself. And three, he even tries to come near you before my fathers handle him and I'll kill him my damn self."

Mouth twitching into the barest hint of a smile, he shakes his head a bit more firmly this time. "You're too nice to kill anyone."

"You'd be surprised what I can do when someone I care about is in danger." Reaching out and gently touching the light bruise on his cheek with my finger I can't help the next words that come out of my mouth unchecked. "He's gonna pay for what he did, I swear it."

"Just nice to be somewhere good, even if it only is for a little bit. I'm glad I met you."

"I'm glad too, but it's not just for a little bit that you're here. I don't know how I'll manage to convince you that you're safe from him, but I eventually will even if I have to tell you ten times a day, every day, for the rest of my life."

"That's a long time."

"I'm hardheaded like that. I may have gotten my dad's looks, but as my older sister will tell you I definitely have my father's stubbornness and at times spiteful streak."

"I don't think you could be spiteful anymore than you could hurt anyone."

"No one I care about, however I can assure you that does not include Jax."

Biting his lip and looking to be thinking something over he finally, reluctantly voices what's on his mind. "Then maybe if it's okay I could be your pet. You could mark me as yours and then I could stay with you."

"Mark you?"

"Brand me, like Lord Jax did. You could cover up his brand with a tattoo and then brand me somewhere else. I won't fight or be bad I swear, and if you knock me out I won't squirm or mess it up."

Utterly horrified by his easy take on such a matter, it takes me a good minute to find my voice. "I am NOT branding you. Oh my god, what the hell did he- okay no, no, no, no. Listen to me, you are not going to be my pet, and you sure as hell are not getting branded." Sighing at his sudden crestfallen expression, I don't get a chance to continue before he's again trying to make his plea.

"I'd be a good pet, I promise. I wouldn't ever run off or cause any trouble." Seeming desperate now, his last offer again makes me more than a little sick to my stomach as well as furious. "And I'm good at mating, I'll do whatever you want me to and won't complain, you can use me whenever or however you want and I won't fight, honest." Okay, change of plans, death is way, WAY too good for Jax. He will wish for death by the time I'm done with him now.

Taking a deep breath and forcing myself to remain calm for my new companion's sake however, I make certain to carefully keep the anger and horror out of my tone when I finally manage to respond. "We don't have pets here, kalleimat. You can't be my pet because my family doesn't believe in that practice and I certainly don't, for people or animals. Come here." Leading him to the bed, I get him situated on the edge of it before kneeling down so I can at least see some of his face, which he is determined to keep aimed at the floor now. "Listen, you are not a pet anymore, okay? You don't have to belong to anyone, and you certainly don't have to do anything with anyone that is going to cause you pain or upset you."

"If I'm not a pet here though then why would you let me stay?"

"Because you need somewhere safe to stay and someone to help you get better. Besides, just because you can't be my pet doesn't mean we can't be friends."

"Friends?"

"Yes, if you want we can be friends and I'll keep helping you and looking out for you as long as you want me to. You don't have to do anything to be my friend, you just have to be you, okay?" Seeing his mouth again quirk into the barest hint of a smile, I can't help my next teasing remark. "Well look at that, almost got a smile out of you. Careful now or pretty soon someone might think you're actually happy."

Mouth twitching again and actually giving a soft snort of amusement, his response has me suddenly grinning as well. "Wouldn't want that."

"Oh of course not, then you'd be expected to talk to people, maybe go outside and get some sun and fresh air, never mind actually eating something."

"Trying, just not used to eating much."

"It's okay, we'll get your appetite going. We'll also make certain to remove or cover up the brand that Jax gave you as well. I'd wager my fathers have already seen it and are just waiting until you get your strength back before tending to it. But we will make sure it's no longer visible."

"Still wouldn't be upset if you wanted me to belong to you."

"But I would, I don't want you to feel obligated to stay with me or do what I say, that's not the kind of person I am or was raised to be. If you want to stay here after you're well I'd really like that, but I want it to be your choice not because I'm making you. Understand?"

"Kind of."

"We'll work on it."

"What's kalleimat mean?"

"What?" Surprised by the rather odd question, it takes me a minute to understand just what he's asking even as he repeats it. "Oh uh, it's just something Dad calls Papa, I think he told me once it means something like 'most precious' in older Eltarian dialect. Why do you ask?"

Assuming it's likely because he's heard it used by Dad over the past few days I'm completely floored by his actual response. "Cuz it's what you called me a minute ago. I just never heard it before and wasn't sure what it meant."

"I what? When did I-" Pausing as I recall actually using the term despite not really meaning to, I however let it go figuring as far as slips of the tongue go it was hardly the worst I could have made. "Oh, sorry, I honestly didn't even realize I did it."

"It's okay, no one ever called me something nice like that before. What is that other language your fathers keep speaking? Is that like older Eltarian too?"

"No, they speak a few different languages, my dad way more than Papa, but what you've probably heard is either Earth English or Triforian. When Dad gets upset he usually resorts to English no matter what planet we're on, unless he doesn't want us to know what he and Papa are saying then he switches to something else like Triforian as he and Papa are fluent in it, but the rest of us not so much."

"You speak it too?"

"I grew up primarily on Earth as did my oldest sister so we're both fluent in it. My two younger siblings know it well but usually use Eltarian since they grew up here. If I slip into it without thinking just say something as sometimes I forget not everyone in the house speaks it."

"Can you say something in it now?"

Unable to help my amusement at the request I give it a moment's thought before quickly stating the first thing I can think of in English.

Looking truly fascinated it doesn't take him long to question what I'd said.

"I said you have very nice eyes and shouldn't hide them behind your bangs."

Smiling and shaking his head, he flushes quickly but only grins wider as I state something else in the-to him- foreign language. "Now what did you say?"

"I said we should go see what's for dinner before my siblings get to the table and we're both left hungry."

"Maybe I should wait before going with you. I can eat later."

"We're not formal here" I assure him, already taking his hand and urging him up and toward the door. "I promise no one will expect you to be formal or use proper dining behavior, none of us do unless entertaining and the only one we're entertaining right now is you, so if you don't mind us forgoing formality we don't mind if you do."

Letting me lead him without much stalling, he at least seems at ease enough to offer up something I'm rather pleased to hear, "Jacob, just so you know, even if I do have to go back I really like being here with you and I really like spending time with you and being friends."

"I'm glad, but I promise you're not going back to him, never again kalleimat."

Suddenly stopping just outside the dinning room doors he gives me a grin. "You did it again."

"Did what?" Unreasonably happy to see him momentarily happy I honestly don't care what I did to cause it so long as it got such a pleased reaction.

"Called me that word."

"What wo- oh." I did call him that again, why the hell did I do that? Shaking my head and realizing it honestly doesn't matter so long as it made him happy, I give up on figuring it out for the moment. "I guess I did. Come on, let's go eat."

We reach the dining room, which is alive with the noise that is the rest of my family. He hesitates and starts to cower. "Jacob-"

"They're noisy, but they won't hurt you. I promise."

His trust in me is clearly shaken and he flinches as Papa laughs loudly at something my siblings have done. Slowly, he lets me pull him to the door. Not surprisingly, Daddy sees me first. "Hello, Jacob. Have you brought your new friend with you?"

"Yes, Daddy, but he's a little skittish."

I pull him into the room and I see the rage flash on Mara Jane's and Papa's faces. I know that they aren't angry at him, but how he was treated, but my guest clearly takes their anger as disapproval. "I can just eat later - or not - or whatever."

Daddy gets up slowly and just as slowly approaches us, hands out to show that they're empty. "You are more than welcome to eat with us. They aren't angry at you. They're furious about how you were treated."

Grace slowly joins us. "Come on. You can sit between me and Jacob if that will help. I'm Grace. What's your name?"

I've asked him that question before and he just looked confused so I let it go. He gives her the same puzzled look. "What do you mean? My name or what my master calls me?"

"Well, what would you prefer?"

He shrugs, eyes falling to the floor again. "Whatever you want is fine. Master called me several things, depending on his mood. Most often, when he was angry, he'd call me Zedd." The entire room freezes, staring at the boy.

Grace finds her voice first. "I don't think we'll be doing that. What is your name?"

"Hunter." His voice is nearly a whisper, clearly certain that he's messed up somehow, but also obviously unsure how. "I'm sorry. Whatever I did wrong, just tell me and I won't do it again, I promise."

Daddy is obviously struggling to control himself. "You haven't done anything wrong, Hunter. Jax did. You aren't in trouble. Come sit and eat. Everything's all right."

Grace and I gently pull the still frightened boy over to the table and sit him between us. Quickly, the rest of the family passes his plate around and fills it before returning it to him. "Go ahead and eat, Hunter."

When he finally moves, we all stare as he grabs the plate, brings it up to his mouth and shoves food in his mouth with his fingers. He only eats about a third of what he's been given and sets the plate down, licking his fingers.

"So I see it's going to take a bit more doing than teaching him how to hold a spoon correctly like with you, huh brat." The comment given softly in English and to Dad as I know he sometimes teases and refers to him as 'brat' when joking or like now uneasy I think, Uncle Dar looks at my friend in worry.

"Yeah, I think it's going to be just a tad more basic when starting out" he agrees, before looking to Papa in worry. "Zedd?"

Before Papa can even think of a response, I watch as Hunter quickly snaps to focus suddenly dropping from his chair to cower on the floor.

"What-"

"He thought you were addressing him, love." Standing and moving from his spot at the end of the table, even as he signals for Dad to wait and allow him a chance to try, Papa moves slowly, crouching down to be more on level even as I do the same to try to keep him from bolting. "It's okay, young one. He wasn't commanding or addressing you. He was asking my opinion on- something."

"Said my name."

"No, he didn't. He said my name." Sighing as this only gets more shaking and cowering, I watch as Papa gently places a finger under his chin urging him to look up at least enough to see his expression isn't one of malice. "Do you know who I am?"

"N-no. Sorry, my lord."

"I'm Lord Zedd. I don't know if you know anything about the history associated with my name, but at one time I came very close to ruling a good portion of the galaxy you're in as well as several others. My name is well known, though unfortunately not for very good reasons. I've tried over years to make amends for some of the pain and atrocities I've inflicted during my time as a general for the Evil Alliance, however some aren't so quick to forgive or forget."

"Zedd you can't excuse what Jax did with your own past. This isn't your fault, it's not been done out of retribution or revenge, its spite, jealousy, and hate, plain and simple." About to agree with Uncle Dar, I however don't get the chance as Papa continues softly.

"It doesn't matter the reason, I'm still a part of the fault. Listen, the one who hurt you, he is - much to my shame - my brother. We do not get along and he has made his disdain for me increasingly clear over the past few years, from accusing me of kidnapping and forcing a bond with my mate, to attacking my two oldest children. Chances are when he called you by my name, he did so after some altercation we had or something involving my business or family. I'm sorry, child. I can't begin to apologize enough for the part I unintentionally played in this. However I will make certain he's punished for it and that you are kept safe."

"I promise he can't get you here" I assure him once more, my own hand finding his back.

"Jacob maybe you should take him to get cleaned up and go rest for a bit. I'm sure he's still tired, and getting upset on a full stomach isn't going to help."

Nodding at Aunt Pina's suggestion I carefully urge him up and guide him back towards the doors.

"Once he's resting come back and I'll make you something to eat."

Nodding at Dad's order, knowing if I skip another meal he's not going to be pleased, and very likely isn't going to let me keep watch over my guest without his help at that point, I agree without protest. "Okay, once he's asleep."

It takes longer than I anticipated to get him settled. He still didn't seem comfortable with the idea of a bath, nor did he seem to wish to do more than wash his face and hands quickly in the sink before I got him to lay down in my bed rather than the room I'm trying to get set up for him, still he at least seemed to fall asleep fairly quickly once reassured Papa wasn't going to kill him.

Heading back downstairs and to the kitchen, knowing the dining room is likely cleared and cleaned by now, I stop short however as I can clearly hear a rather heated conversation going on just behind the door.

"Because it's not the same!"

"It's not same situation, however the way it needs to be dealt with is, Zedd!"

"Thomas, you cannot possibly compare that creature to you, or what you went through! When I rescued you you were a frightened mess, but still functional enough that I could help you. You KNEW that what those creatures were doing to you was wrong, you couldn't physically stop them at the time, but you didn't accept the fact that they had any right to molest or try and rape you!" What?

"Zedd, if you hadn't gotten there when you did they would have raped me, all fucking three of them and honestly I probably would have given up trying at that point. I was so close to becoming nothing more than what that boy is, and you know it! We both read the fucking medical files, we both know if you hadn't gotten there when you did-" Oh my god. "Zedd, I know his mindset is different than mine was, okay. I get that. But whether he believes he deserves to be treated like that or not isn't the issue. That we can fix with time. However before we can fix that line of thinking, we have to focus on keeping him alive long enough to get there."

"And you propose to do that how?"

"I don't know. The same way you all did with me. He's going to cower, and freak out, and cry, and have utter panic attacks that we will very likely have to knock him out for, but we just deal with it, the same damn way you all dealt with me."

"The difference is, I'm not bonded to him, love. With you, I could know when something was wrong, I could feel what you needed, even before we knew about the bond, I just knew, we don't have that cheat with him, never mind if he does get better. I mean, what are we going to do with him?"

"I don't know, but we can't just abandon him."

"I'm not talking about abandoning him, I'm just saying, Trey has more experience with this sort of thing." Wait, what?! Still reeling over what I've just heard concerning my dad's past, it takes me a moment to catch up to this new bit of information.

"We can't keep shipping all our problems off to Trey."

"Again, I'm not saying that, just- look neither of us has handled pets before, especially ones as clearly as abused as he is. Trey has. He's rescued several over the years and as you know treats them very, very well. In all the time we've both known him I have never seen any of his pets cower from him or be anything but utterly spoiled and lavished with attention."

"I just don't think that will work in this particular situation. Jacob's protectiveness over him aside, I think it would do more harm than good to send him away so soon." Oh you're damn right it would! The hell he's going anywhere!

"You really think we can help him?"

"I think we should try. If it comes down to it and he's unhappy here or not thriving, then we can look into contacting Trey, maybe even have him visit so he can assess the situation and give us some advice. Look, I know your frusterated and furious, so am I. And no, him being here right now isn't exactly helping me suppress the fact that I was almost him-"

"You had a nightmare last night. You haven't had those in years."

"Zedd-"

"No, you can deny it if you want, but I know that cry of panic, the same as I know what you were dreaming about when you wake up clutching your throat and unable to breathe."

"The difference is I can wake up from my nightmare. It's been years, upon years since he forced himself on me, and I am well aware he cannot ever get to me again. Hunter doesn't have that luxury."

I knew that Daddy had been abused when he had gone to rehab all those years ago, but I didn't know this. Trying to decide whether or not to confront them about what I've just heard, I push the door open, startling them both. Daddy recovers first. "That took longer than I thought."

"He won't take a bath or shower and I had a hell of a time convincing him that he was allowed to sleep in the bed."

Papa looks suddenly alert. "What bed is he in?"

"Mine, since his room isn't set up yet." Daddy hurries about, getting me a plate that I really have no appetite for.

"It's probably for the best right now, Zedd. Hunter is starting to associate Jacob with safety, so the fact that the room is saturated in his scent should have a calming effect until he has his own room that will have his own scent to it. Particularly when, like now, Jacob isn't immediately there to calm him if necessary." He shoots a look at Papa that I'm betting I can guess the meaning of with what I just overheard.

"But that's no guarantee either" Papa protests.

Daddy's tone becomes more firm. "It will help, believe me."

"Then where will Jacob sleep?"

I open my mouth to answer, but Daddy beats me to it. "We'll get the cot out of the infirmary and set it up in the room." He turns his attention to me. "Eat, son."

I grab a quick bite before I speak up. "If he's sleeping well, I don't want to chance waking him up by setting up the cot."

They both look at me speculatively. "And what do you suggest?"

Papa starts to say something, but is stopped by Daddy. "Well, what if I grab one of the sleeping bags and sleep on the floor? I can manage with that for tonight and if it'll be more than one night, I'll get out one of the air mattresses to put under it."

For some reason, Papa looks relieved as Daddy nods. "That will work for tonight."

Quickly, I finish the food before me, deal with my dishes and head out of the room. In minutes, I have the sleeping bag set up and ready. I change my clothes and am just about to get comfortable when a soft whimper from the bed gets my attention. Before I can take more than a step, Hunter yelps in fear and I gently shush him, not wanting him to worry anyone else. I talk softly to him as I stroke his hair, reassuring him that he's safe and nobody is going to hurt him. I hear the door open, but keep my focus on the trembling mass before me.

I barely hear Daddy speak. "Talk to him in English, Jacob."

"What?"

"Use English." I shoot him a puzzled look, but do as he says. In less than a minute, Hunter settles back down into a peaceful sleep. I look at Dad, amazed.

"How did that work? He doesn't understand English."

"The same way that Eltarian works to pull me out of a flashback. The people that hurt me spoke English, so Eltarian helps me realize faster that it isn't real. Even when I didn't understand it, it helped a lot so I thought English might do the same for him." There's so much I want to ask him now, based on this new information combined with what I overheard in the kitchen. Before I can say anything, though, he shakes his head. "Tuck him back in, Jacob and go to bed. I'll see you in the morning."

He leaves quickly, shutting the door behind him. I do as he said, but lay awake for a long time, thinking about all the new information and my new friend.