"Can one of you please say something," Jay pleaded but still he received no response. They had been sitting on the couch for three minutes still in shock from the new that Jay had just thrown at them. His mother was currently wracking her brain trying to figure out whether she had heard him correctly. As she pulled closer to the realization that she had the tears started to form and all she could do was shake her head in confusion. Will had a similar expression for the first minute and a half before he finally understood; his refusal to talk was purely out of anger.

"This is what I'm meant to do," Jay tried to explain himself. It was never going to be about convincing them because he knew they never were going to be an accepted life decision.

"You have to go and get shot at and bombed," Will let out a laugh at the idiocy he heard. His brother was "meant" to go put his life on the line and probably get killed in the processes.

"I need to go and protect my country."

"What about college, you were going to go to college," His mother cried. She was still in her state of shock but could understand the conversation that was happening.

"Come on Mom," Jay scoffed, "You know I have never been good in school, that's Will's specialty."

"You are smart Jay," She shot back.

"This is what I want to do Mom, please try to understand but I heard this calling."

"You're calling, come on Jay you could get killed out there," Will argued.

"I knew the risks when I signed up, and this will benefit our family," he added.

"How, how is this going to benefit us," His mother asked through her sobs. Will was holding her hand trying to calm her as his anger rose.

"Mom, I can send money back to help."

"Honey, we are fine."

"We aren't though Mom; I see the bills I'm not stupid."

"Jay; baby, you don't have to worry about those," She stood up and walked over to him.

"You work doubles to keep us afloat, you're exhausted I can see it; I do need to worry." He looked at her, wiping a tear that was starting to fall down her face. "Dad isn't helping, and you are overworked, you need help."

"So, get a job here," Will yelled.

"Will…"

"No, get a job here, stay here and help, why do you need to risk your life to help us?" Jay sighed and let go of his mother's hand, pacing the room trying to think of what to say.

"Listen; I didn't come here to convince you, what's done is done and this is what I want." Truth be told he was scared just like them, but it just made sense to him and though it may have made them angry now he knew they would forgive him and understand it was his life and his decisions. That; however, wasn't going to be much later because now Will was gone and Jay could hear the screen door slam shut from the kitchen. "Mom," He turned to her, but she waved a hand up.

"I need a minute," She cried before walking upstairs. He collapsed on the couch and let out a big sigh, it was like he had expected, ripping the band-aid off only things got a little messy and he wasn't sure when they would pass over.

After about three hours his mother returned and they sat and had a long discussion, just the two of them. At first, she had told him that she hated how he hadn't talked to her first but that she understood and that no matter what she still loved him, and she would pray for his safety every day. She had given him a long hug, it was as if she thought that if she didn't let him go, in logic, he would have to stay. After the talk she returned to her routine of dinner and told Jay that his next job was to find Will. That wasn't difficult because Jay knew Will like the back of his hand. Every time their father would upset him or he was just having a bad day, Will always found solace in one place. Jay made the trek to the park where he used to take Will, he would spend hours teaching Jay how to throw a football there or even have running competitions that always ended in disagreements over who had won.

Jay found Will in his spot, a small clearing that was away from the park that they had found once while running away from Pat. Will hadn't even noticed his brother walk up, but he had a feeling that he was bound to show up sooner or later. His knees were pulled up to his chest and Jay could see the puffiness and red rims of his eyes.

"Go away Jay," Will didn't even turn to meet his brother's eye, instead he looked at the trees in front of him.

"You don't mean that," Jay laughed. He sat down next to Will who still refused to make eye contact.

"What does it matter, I'm just preparing myself for when you leave."

"You're pouting, come on Will don't be like that."

"Don't be like what Jay, angry," He yelled. "I'm entitled to my feelings," he grumbled.

"I know you are, and I know you're mad but Will I'm not leaving forever."

"Oh, so you know that for sure," Will argued. "My bad I didn't know I was talking to Mr. Invincible."

"I know I'm not bullet proof, listen I can't change what I did and honestly I don't want to."

"Whatever."

"You don't have to be happy about it," Jay sighed, "but I am only here for a little while longer and I would like to hang out with you before I go."

"I don't want you to," A break in his voice gave away his vulnerability over the matter.

"I know but you are going to be just fine."

"You won't be there when the big things happen."

"Sure, I will," Jay laughed, "Just not physically but I'll be thinking about ya."

"Who is going to protect Mom and I from Dad?"

"You are plenty capable; he's hammered most of the time anyway you can easily take him on."

"This is gonna suck," Will flicked a few tears away.

"I know but you can write to me and I will call when I can, and I get leave once in a while so I can come home."

"I'm gonna really miss you."

"I'll miss you too but its gonna be okay," Jay promised. It wasn't often that they Halstead boys showed affection; growing up Pat would tell them that showing emotion was a sign of weakness but that didn't stop them. Jay and Will sat for a moment before getting up and Jay pulling Will into a hug which made Will laugh a little.

"Dad would have quite a few things to say about this."

"Telling us that we are weak good for nothing sons," Jay imitated his father, "nothing we haven't heard before," He scoffed.

"Are you going to tell him?"

"If he ever comes home… sure." He roped his arm over his brother's shoulder and pulled him close. "But that's another day, right now Mom is waiting for us, come on." They walked home as if any regular time, the thought of Jay going off to way still weighed heavy on both their minds but as Jay had said before he had only a little while longer with them, so they had to make the best of it. Jay would tell his father three days later and get the reaction he expected, laughter and name calling. Pat would tell him that he was going to die and that he was stupid for ever believing that this was a good idea. Will wanted to yell but Jay stopped him letting their father walk away but not before he told Jay, "good riddance." That was the last time Jay saw his father before his time was up at home, the weeks flew by and his mother and Will stood crying as he walked away from them at the airport to go fight for their country.

Hi all, sorry this took so long; honestly between work, writer's block and sleep I was having a hard time trying to finish this. I hope you enjoy this little insight of the Halstead brothers; the next chapter will be present day so hopefully I can get that out soon. Let me know what you think and also, I'm sorry if there are a crazy amount of mistakes, I'm tired, I'm lazy, and I really wanted to get this chapter out for you.