Disclaimer: The Mercer brothers are still not mine, but Eric is.

A/N: Omg, this is turning out longer than I thought it would be! It's going to be four parts, not three parts, so no one be too disappointed! Lol. Anyway, I've had a really hectic night, so hopefully this will make me feel better. A convict was found near our house when he was on the run from the police, so it was very interesting. No one got hurt, except for a cop was shot dead when he pulled this illegal alien over. They eventually found him in a parking lot two driveways away from our apartment complex. Scary stuff… Anyway, I'm fine, my mom is fine, and I'm ready to update. Enjoy!

"Wouldn't you love somebody to love?

You'd better find somebody to love…"

"Eric Smith." Bobby muttered as he drove down the road. "I knew his brother, John. That was a few years ago, though…"

Jerry leaned forward in his seat. "Wasn't that the kid that kept threatening you?" he asked.

"Yeah." Bobby answered, shocking Angel. "Remember all of those notes that he gave me, Jer? I tried to hide them, but Ma kept finding them? Well, I might as well tell the whole story now…

"John and I were in the same class in our freshman year of high school. This was before either you or Jack were here, Angel. Anyway, the two of us never really got along. We had similar personalities and we would always clash, but we never fought. Then, one day, I walked in on him and another kid talking in hushed tones. The kid was giving him money, and I overheard him say that he would give him the drugs on the weekend. I guess he sold drugs to a lot of people. That's when he realized that I was there. When I saw the pure hatred on his face, I just ran without looking back.

"That's when the threatening notes began. They all said pretty much the same thing: If I told anyone about what I had overheard, he would kill me. I tried to hide them from Ma because I didn't want to worry her, but I guess she found them later. I never really kept tabs on them, which now I'm glad about. The only one I showed the notes to was Jerry.

"This went on for about two months, and I didn't say anything. Then, one day, I guess the pressure of the situation got to him and he snapped because he suddenly began to fight with me after school. He got a few hits on me, and I had to do something to defend myself since he was bigger than I was. I threw a couple punches back, but not many because I knew that I would get into more trouble if I really fought back. I didn't want that to happen, because I didn't want Ma on my ass. Anyway, I could barely stand by the time the teachers got there, but before they could separate us, he grabbed me and slammed me hard into the locker behind me. I think that was about the time I blacked out, right, Jer?"

Jerry nodded from the back seat, and Angel and Jack were shocked. They had always looked up to Bobby as being the leader, strong and invincible. Now, he was saying that another kid got the best of him?

"When I woke up, I was in Ma's car on the way to the hospital." Bobby continued. "Jerry was with us, even though he should have been staying in school. I had to stay in the emergency room for the whole night so that they could make sure that I didn't have any serious damage."

"One of the scariest nights of my life…" Jerry muttered, shaking his head.

The oldest Mercer laughed a little. "Ma and Jerry stayed with me of course." Bobby went on. "I would wake up in the middle of the night continuously because something hurt, and Jerry would be sleeping in one of the chairs while Ma would be awake, ready to comfort me back into sleep. It was a very long night for all of us. I remember Jer telling me later that he thought I was going to die."

"I was twelve, man!" Jerry protested in defense. "What would you be thinking if you saw your older brother, who you thought was invincible, lying unconscious in a hospital bed?"

"Anyway, it turned out that nothing was seriously wrong with me." Bobby explained. "I had no internal damage, and I could be released whenever Ma said so. The thing I was happy about was that John had needed a doctor as well since I ended up breaking his nose and he broke a couple fingers since he punched my book instead of me. It just turned out that I was in worse shape than he was.

"But when I woke up late in the morning the next day, Ma wasn't there. Jerry told me that she had to leave because the school called, telling her that they were going to expel John… and me.

"I was obviously horrified. I'd been expelled from schools before, but I had made a promise to Ma, telling her that I wouldn't be kicked out of this one. So, Jerry got my clothes for me and we escaped from the hospital, heading toward the school as fast as we could. I couldn't believe that we hadn't gotten caught. If the school was any farther away from the hospital than it is, than we probably would have. But when we got to the school parking lot, we saw that Ma's car was already there.

"Jerry and I rushed into the school and went to the office, seeing that Ma was already talking to the principal. She was horrified to see me out of the hospital to say the least, but she continued to argue with the principal to try to convince him that he shouldn't expel me. He was convinced that he should, but then Ma pulled out the notes, the one with the threats on them that I had been trying to hide, and she showed them to the principal. After that, he finally forced the situation with the drugs out of me and he finally made the decision that he would only expel John and not me. I guess now Eric thinks that it was my fault and I should have been expelled, and he's going to use you to get back at me."

Jack nodded slowly, his expression scared. He couldn't believe that Eric's older brother had hurt Bobby so much…

Bobby smiled at him in a reassuring way. "Jackie, listen to me." he said. "I promise you now, that is not going to happen. Understand me? "

The youngest Mercer was startled when he heard his words. For some reason, unknown to him, he believed them…

Jerry was confused as Bobby passed the street that they lived on. "Uh, Bobby," he muttered, looking behind him, "you missed the-!"

"We're not going home, Jer." Bobby interrupted, his face set into a stony expression. "We're going somewhere else first. There's someone we have to pay a visit to."

"You don't mean…" Angel began slowly.

"Yes, Angel. I mean it." Bobby said. "We're going to the Smith's."

xxxxxxxxxx

Eric opened the door when the doorbell rang, and he was shocked when he saw Bobby with Jack next to him. "What do you want, Mercer?" he asked in a spiteful way.

The oldest Mercer looked like he could reach out and hit him, but he contained his anger. "I heard that you were messing with my little brother so you could get back at me." Bobby answered. "Do you want to get back at me, Eric? Well, then get back at me and leave my brother the hell alone!"

Eric was about to reply, but he turned around when footsteps came toward them and a larger person appeared in the doorway. Jack gasped and shrunk back behind Bobby, but he felt slightly better when his older brother placed his hand sturdily on his shoulder.

The person standing in the doorway was bigger than even Bobby, and he had a look of pure hatred on his face when he saw the oldest Mercer. His nose was crooked, as if it had been broken… "What the hell do you want?" he demanded.

Bobby didn't seem to be fazed by him at all, but he tightened his hand on Jack's shoulder when he felt him begin to shake. "Your brother has been trying to get back at me through my brother, John." he replied coolly. "I'm sayin' now that that's not happenin'! I'm here to settle this."

John laughed, which caused Jack to whimper. "You want to fight me, Mercer?" he asked between laughs. "Don't you remember what happened last time? I kicked you sorry ass!"

A vein throbbed in Bobby's temple, but he retained his anger. "That was your first mistake." he answered cockily. "All right. You wanna' settle your revenge on me? Fine. When? Where?"

John thought for a minute. "The courts. Tonight. Nine sharp." he replied. "My brother and I will meet ya' there."

"Fair enough." Bobby said, causing Jack to cling to his arm. "I'll meet you there. Let's go, Jackie."

Jack glanced back at the two people standing in the doorway, cringing under Eric's grin. As he watched the two Mercers climb into their car and start it, Eric turned to look at his older brother. "Can I bring a couple people along?" he asked.

John smirked as he nodded. "Yeah." he answered, looking at the back of Bobby's head as he drove off. "You can bring some people with."

A/N: Sounds like trouble to me! Sorry I took a little longer to update, but as I said, last night was hectic. Anyway, I will repeat, I'm fine. So, hopefully I can update the FINAL chapter a little sooner. I swear, this time, it IS the last chapter. I'm going to make it that way. Then, we'll move on to "A Night Alone". Thanks, guys!