Disclaimer: I do not own Blue Bloods I only own my own ideas.
A/N: To everyone who has taken the time to read, favorite, follow or review this story thank you. I can not express in words how happy it makes me. I hope you all enjoy this latest chapter.
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Motivation
Chapter 2
Danny and Joe looked at Jamie with frowned eyebrows and the smiles that graced their face's moments before had vanished. Danny found his voice first, "Are you kidding me, what's wrong?" Danny replied no longer in his stupor, now in almost full-fledged anger. "You basically just vanished for three months. I mean come on you didn't call or answer your phone. So kid what is going on?" Jamie knew that the apartment was dark and there was no chance of them being able to make out many facial expressions, but still he found the ground interesting just like when he was young.
A tired Joe could see that Jamie was avoiding eye contact since they arrived. As a result he knew this was getting them nowhere so he spoke up, "What I think Danny is trying to say is, it is great to see you everything is fine back home everyone is just worried about you". Jamie could not help but smile at Joe's statement and when he finally looked up he saw through the dim light his two brothers in jeans and dark blue t-shirts. Noticing the light glow of Jamie's eyes Joe knew he had gained Jamie's attention so he said," Hey Jamie where is the light switch it is so dark in here I might trip and smash face first into something".
Instead of replying Jamie just moved around the dimly lit room and hit the light switch. "Now that's better now we can.." Joe was cut short however because as Jamie turned around the two brothers were greeted by Jamie's face. "Jamie, what happened?" Joe shouted all tiredness in his voice replaced by brotherly concern. As he moved closer to his brother so he could inspect the damage up close.
Jamie immediately started to fidget for he hated the attention. However, immediately grabbed Jamie to hold him still and said," What happened?" while he held a set glare. That Jamie knew from experience, would not be broken until Danny got his answer. However, Jamie could also see the brotherly concern that was evident in his eyes.
"Guys its nothing."
"Nothing? Jamie you were clearly in a fight you have a really bad shiner on your right eye, and wait are those pajamas? Jamie it is not even seven o'clock and you were sleeping what is going on." Danny replied as he took in the appearance of his kid brother dressed in plaid green pajama pants and a long sleeve grey t-shirt with obvious dark circles under his non bruised eye.
"Can we just drop it?" Jamie replied while trying not to reveal anything to his brothers. All the while thinking," Why do they have to be the detectives?"
"No we can't just drop it, Jamie just tell us what is going on. I mean come on, we haven't heard your voice or seen you in over two months, and when we come here to visit you are nowhere to be found. Where were you? Also what do you not eat you look like you lost twenty pounds." Danny finished all worked up as he glares at his brother with his arms crossed across his chest waiting for an answer.
Jamie knew that this was a battle that he was not going to win so he momentarily placed his hands on his head and then crossed his arms in defiance before saying, "Fine, if you must know I got it while playing basketball. Now can we please move on? I haven't seen you guys in like forever" While inwardly Jamie was thinking, "Please let them buy this story and drop it so I don't have to keep lying to them anymore. I know the truth would only upset them and possibly disappoint them."
"We can do that. Do you think you could show your brothers around catch a bite maybe." Joe replied before Danny could interject and shove his foot in his mouth.
"Of course, I just have to call someone to cancel a plan and change but then we can go." Jamie replied with smile and joy evident in his eyes.
"Alright is it okay if we wait in here your neighbors don't really like us." Joe asked with a sheepish grin. As inwardly Joe thought," I just want to look around and make sure the kid is okay. Besides it's not a flat lie his neighbors don't like us."
Joe was relieved when he saw Jamie smile and heard him say," Sure, I'll be right back." As he inwardly thought," Better make it quick, unless I want my brothers destroying this place looking for information like they did before."
Flashback
It was a Friday evening right before Jamie started his summer vacation at the end of junior year of high school and he had been acting "odd" as his brothers had put it the day before. So when he arrived home after his last final for the day and headed up to his room, so he could change out of his school uniform he was too tired to notice that as he was heading up the stairs there was a blur of two people leaving his room. Although, when he entered his room the exhaustion he felt was overcome by furry. For his brothers had had ransacked his bedroom and left him with the aftermath. His pristine room now looked like a disaster zone. The covers were torn off of his bed, all the papers that were on his desk were now on the floor. Additionally, his bed had been moved as evidenced by the set in marks visible in the carpet of where the bed used to be. Finally to make matters worse all of his folded clothes were now accompanying his papers on the floor. Jamie immediately went and pounded on Joe's door and yelled, "Joe open up I know you two are in there." When the door opened Joe dressed in Jeans and a grey t-shirt said with an all knowing grin," Jamie hey what's up?" "Joe are you kidding me right now you guys tore apart my room and you have the guts to ask me what is up. Seriously I know that Danny and you are cops but I never in a million years thought you would disrespect my personal space and search no sorry destroy my room!" Jamie shouted as he stood in front of his brothers still in his dress shirt school tie and khaki pants.
Before Joe had a chance to respond a voice from behind Jamie said, "What is going on up here?" Jamie turned around to see his father with a concerned look on his face thinking that something was horribly wrong.
Danny chose this moment to step forward and try to explain the situation so he said," Dad it's nothing just some sibling discussion."
"Are you kidding me, a sibling discussion I could hear you guys crystal clear in the kitchen. Seeing that Danny and Joe were not going to say anything he redirected his question to Jaime who sighed and said," they destroyed my room."
Seeing that this was a discussion for his sons to have Frank said, "You two may not live here anymore, but I thought your mother and I raised you to respect each other's privacy and personal space. " Before he walked away.
End Flashback
As soon as the bathroom door closed, Joe and Danny set straight to work looking for clues as to what was going on with their brother. Although, the search was quickly halted since Jamie had his apartment so clean that there was no paperwork anywhere in the apartment and all of his drawers were locked. Danny was about to try to pick one of the locks when he heard the sound of the toilet flushing. Instead, they decided to go sit down on the couch. On their way to the couch they noticed something odd with Jamie's apartment all of the furniture had a dust that was untouched like the place had not been lived in. Danny expressed both of their thoughts by saying, "Why on earth does this place look staged?" "I have no idea. I mean we both know Jamie has always been neat and tidy but all this dust and the locks?" Joe said as he turned around to see the whole apartment noticing the six locks on the door as well." Wait is it just me or is it odd there are so many locks on his door?"
Danny did not have a chance to reply for he heard the bathroom door turning. So the thought was temporarily dropped and both brothers ran to the couch.
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In the bathroom, Jamie quickly got dressed. He then turned on the water to make sure the phone call he was going to make would be muffled. Thankfully, Spencer answered on the first ring.
"Jamie everything alright?" Spencer asked in a clearly worried tone.
"Yeah I am fine, I just wanted to let you know you don't need to come over after all."
"Jamie the doctors said, that you need someone with you I should already be there."
"I know look I don't have long but I am not alone my brothers decided to surprise me. I will call you when they leave or at least text you."
"Alright" Spencer replied seconds later he heard the line go dead.
Jamie ended the call turned off the water and exited the bathroom. Upon entering the living room he saw his brothers sitting on his couch flipping channels. "So do you want to get food or tour the city first?"
"I am pretty hungry let go get something to eat." Danny replied.
"Of course you are." Joe replied with a smile. The familiarity of this conversation caused Jamie to smile and say," Alright there's a great diner I think you will love just a few blocks from here you guys ready to go?" Danny just nodded as Joe pat Jamie's shoulder and said," Lead the way." However, thankfully Jamie was able to control his actions and not jump five feet in the air at the unexpected contact. Although, he knew if he spoke his brothers would know there was more going on. So he just walked out of the apartment with Danny and Joe right behind him only stopping to lock the door. All the while thinking, "Why do I have to be so skittish these are my brothers they would never hurt me, but they will question me all night if they catch on something is going on. Come on Jamie get it together."
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A few minutes later, the three brothers were seated in a corner booth of a fifties style diner. The first way the look was completed was with the classic black and white checkered floor. Another way, the style came together was with the jukebox in the corner. Finally, the look was completed with white tabletops and red colored seats. At the diner and conversation turned to all that had happened in everyone's life. Jamie for a majority of the meal managed to keep all of the attention off of his life and just sat back and listened to stories about the family. However, when Danny said," Oh and the best story of all that I have for you would be the one we actually just wrapped up a few weeks before coming to visit you. "
"Alright, what's the story?" Jamie asked intrigued that the story would most likely be about Danny's kids.
"Oh I thought you would never ask." Danny replied with a grin.
"So last Monday morning our Sargent sent us out to help Detectives from another precinct on a bust that required our investigative expertise."
"Oh come on now stop bragging and get to the story." Joe replied while inwardly thinking, "if he doesn't start soon this story will be longer than the actual case although at the rate Danny could elaborate it still could be."
"So anyway, the assignment was boring, it was toll jumping you know like all the stories I have told you a hundred times before." After Jamie quietly nodded while inwardly thinking, "Please don't let this story be about murder. I really do like my brother's stories but I do not like to hear about murder."
Danny was about to continue his story when all of a sudden he was cut off by their waitress who said with a smile, "Alright enjoy." As she placed all of the food on the table and then walked away. For a few seconds it was silent as everyone ate. Then after a few mouthfuls of food Danny said," So as I was saying, as we were headed to our car to leave, a young woman came up to us and said," Please help me."
"We immediately asked her what was wrong, she then proceeded to tell us that she had a stalker." At the mention of that word Jamie had to do his best to keep his composure for that word was almost like a knife to his heart. He must not have kept his composure completely because he heard Joe saying," No worries kid this is a good story." After seeing Jamie what Danny took as a nod he continued, " So any ways after speaking with this girl who was only a little older than you we learned her stalker was close by so we looked into the case. Long story short we learned that her stalker was a cute harmless little black Labrador puppy. Upon finding the culprit we returned and said, "We found your stalker but we can't arrest him. At seeing the puzzled look we informed her that her stalker was a dog. The girls face lit up into a huge smile when she saw Joe was holding the puppy. She then informed us that she loved animals and wanted to keep the dog and that its name would be Shadow. The dog's new owner left with Shadow after thanking us for all our help. Now see wasn't that a Good story." Danny said as he dove back into his meal not looking up to make eye contact.
Jamie just looked down and played with his food, lost in his own thoughts. Since the story of the stalker Danny told Jamie reminded him too much of what had happened to him. Jamie calmly stood up from the table and said, "I will be right back." Because he could feel his façade slipping and knew that if he stayed any long his brothers would no longer see the happy go lucky college kid but instead would see a scared and broken brother. Once Jamie had gotten to the bathroom he started to splash cold water on his face in an attempt to keep his memories at bay. Which he was able to do at least for now however he could not turn off his thoughts," I can't believe they would use this case as a story for all to hear. Although if he were honest with himself, he had to admit that after hearing that dreaded word he had tuned out his brother because he wanted no part of this story hour. In fact, he wondered if his brothers sometimes forgot that these were actual lives they were talking about. He also had to admit that besides the story almost blowing his disguise, it also confirmed to him that his family would be disappointed in him and maybe go as far as to say he disgraced the Reagan name. This may seem like a leap to someone who does not personally know the Reagan's but he knew if Danny told the story to one it was told to all. He also knew that in the past that was what Sunday dinner conversation was all about. Therefore confirming to Jamie that he had made the right choice. For if his family could laugh at and tell stories about a stranger then there was no way they would understand or sympathize with what had happened to him. In fact, he would most likely land up the butt of some joke for the rest of time. As Jamie turned off the water he decided he was right his family could never know the truth and he would work his hardest to make that his reality because he knew he could not take disappointing his family.
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Meanwhile, at the corner booth, once Jamie was out of earshot Joe took the opportunity to talk to his brother, "Danny what do you think is going on."
"I don't know if you think about it he could have just not been cleaning his apartment and it could have come with so many locks."
"True but did you notice that he evaded the question of where he was. Danny come on he only told us how he got a black eye."
"Yeah I caught that to but so far he is acting like Jamie. You and I both now Jamie is not one to talk about himself I say until he gives us something unexplained by his exclamation or what we see that concerns us we let it go."
"Alright." Joe replied as his phone rang.
"Reagan."
"Joe did you find Jamie?" The voice of a worried father asked.
"Yeah dad we found him, it was just a case of bad timing he is fine." After Joe finished speaking he could hear the sigh of relief Frank released over the phone upon learning his youngest was alright.
"So then why hasn't he called."
"Dad I don't know. To be honest, I haven't seen him with a cell phone. Hold on dad here he is." Joe replied as he handed his phone to Jamie who just arrived back at the table.
"Hello?"
"Son it is so good to hear your voice. How are you?"
"Dad I am fine how are you?"
"I am good but I got to ask why on earth have you not answered your phone or replied to any of the emails we sent you? Jamie you had us worried sick." Frank replied anger evident in his tone of voice.
"Dad I am sorry I just broke my phone and got really busy I haven't had a chance to get a new one yet. As for the emails I am not sure why but I never got any replies I promise you I will get a new phone first thing tomorrow and also have the schools it department look at the laptop." Jamie replied as he inwardly thought," Please believe this for the truth is so unbelievable you will think I am telling you a story. The truth being, my phone was disconnected and I was given a preprogrammed burner phone with three local numbers and my emails were protected so I can only send messages but all replies were blocked and deleted as soon as anyone hit reply and send in case someone tried to hack my account. Also now that Jamie thought about it he knew the truth would raise too many questions especially in a family of cops making his lifelong secret even harder to hide even if this was barely a fraction of what was going on. With his family he knew they would not stop until they knew everything."
Jamie's inward thoughts were cut off when he heard his father sigh an obvious sign he was relieved or questioning the story. Frank then said, "Jamison in the future please do not wait so long to take care of all of this. I know you are busy, but you still need to keep in touch. Also in the future if you are sending emails and it gets to two without a reply call."
"Alright and dad I love you."
"Love you to son." Frank replied and then a second later, he heard the dial tone.
The rest of the evening went well after finishing up their meal, Jamie showed his brothers all of his favorite sites all over Boston. As they were headed back to his brothers' hotel he inwardly thought, "I left one thing out but, I couldn't show them the quaint street with the bakery on it. That spot just brings up to many bad memories that I know I would not be able to keep at bay." Needless to say, no one really slept for they were too busy hanging out and catching up. The next day his brothers packed up the car because they had to leave. Before they left though Danny and Joe both while giving there brother a hug goodbye said," It was great to see you but don't make it so long before you come visit alright, and stay in touch or else we will come knock down your door."
Jamie laughed and replied, "I will have a safe trip back." As he inwardly thought," I know that is no joke as much as they tried to make it sound like a joke they will actually come and do it. Oh well it was still great to see them even if they have horrible timing although, a night awake did mean, I will not fall into a coma. It also did nothing to rest my mind and body as the doctor had ordered. So now I have a headache that feels like it will split my head in half. So much for taking it easy last night, oh well guess I will have to start that today." All the while making a mental note to watch his headache as he headed inside to take a nap. Since thankfully today he had no classes and his phone and email would be put back to normal. Before taking a nap he changed out of his jeans and sweatshirt into his pajama pants and t-shirt. He then made sure his phone was on for he knew that his family would not take kindly to his phone still going unanswered at least this way if he missed there call they would get his voice mail and be able to leave a message.
