Disclaimer: One again I own nothing. Suing will get you nowhere.

"You sure you don't want to play?" Jerry waving a stick in front of my face.

I pushed it back and shook my head. "I'm smart enough to know better. Plus who else would be the voice of reason? And I think I'm the only one that can be trusted with mending injuries."

Angel grabbed a beer he had set down in the snow. Snow, nature's refrigerator. "Yeah well just try not to distract Jack so much, don't want to get him killed out there."

I glared at Angel taking his beer before he got a chance to drink it. "Get a grip Angel. I'm not distracting anyone."

Jerry had skated back to his brothers that were watching a group advancing towards them ready for a game against the famous Mercer's. Angel looked behind him and nodded to Bobby that he would be there in a second. "Lucia. Don't mess around. I know Jackie's not gay. Bobby does too he just likes busting him. I also know about him and you."

I raised an eyebrow. "What about him and me?"

"Last night. I saw outside the window."

"You were spying on us?" Jeeze that was really comforting.

"Don't flatter yourself. I was looking out the window and saw it." He stretched his arms back getting ready to go play. "You know he was scared shitless to see you. I don't know what happened but you should get it straightened out."

Before I could say anything, he skated away. Crap. Not only did he see us but he knew I was mad. Even Angel would have caught up on the way I tried shaking off Jack all yesterday. I groaned. If Angel told Bobby, it was all over. Bobby would kill us all. I'd be killed for acting like a slut. Jack would be killed for laying a hand on Rob's little sister. Angel would be killed for not telling him immediately and for bringing La Vida Loca into the house. Then he's kill La Vida Loca just for the hell of it.

I watched as Bobby scored a goal and tripped one of the other plays with his stick. The guys played rough. Bobby wasn't the only one that could play but he played hardest. Jerry and Angel skating on either side of some poor unsuspecting kid and bombarded him. I never said the others didn't play hard. Bobby just played hardest. We were kicking ass. There was no way the other team would win but Bobby never showed mercy. I saw Jerry show down and grab into his back pocket.

"Stop touching your ass Jer. I'll start calling you Jack if you keep it up." Bobby slid past him knocking over a guy with a buzz cut.

"It's my phone man!" Jerry spoke quickly and looked anxious about something. He slid his phone back into his pocket and followed Bobby as he slammed the puck into the net. The game was over.

I looked over at the equipment bag, glad I didn't have to take anything out of the first aid. I loved watching hockey. It was aggressive, everyone slamming each other and the excitement rising. I just got nervous when I watched these guys play. I knew them personally and I knew things could get out of hand and someone would end up with a blade in the face. I stretched my arms and was welcomed by ice in the face. Jack had stopped short spraying me with the ice. He had discarded the jacket and he had his zip half undone.

I wiped my face and growled at him. "Nice, real sweet of you."

"Always." He smiled and grabbed a beer by my foot.

"Cracker Jack! My little sister's actually getting better at hockey." Bobby tackled his little brother.

Naturally, it turned into a dog pile and I was at the bottom. "Guys, how about we all get off me?" I struggled pulling my hand from underneath Jack.

He was looking at me smiling. "So, come here often?"

I stuck my tongue out at him; yes I was the queen of maturity. He stuck his tongue out right back at me. I saw the tongue stud I fondly remembered. Okay good thing I didn't think out loud.

"Very funny. Now everyone needs to get up because I've got a beer bottle under me and I think it shattered from the weight of four mammoths on top of me." I squirmed under Jack then thought better of it.

I could hear Jerry's voice above everyone else. He must have been on top. "Did she just call us fat?"

Angel pretended to cry and put on the worst soprano voice I had ever heard. "Oh mah god! Girl called me fat!"

I raised a hand up to hit him but only managed to punch Bobby. "Fuck, Lucia. I didn't say anything. And since when did you get brass knuckles?"

I groaned and leaned my head back. We were not moving anytime soon. They found this funny and I knew Jerry could carry on with this forever. "They're not brass knuckles. They're my rings Bobby. Cheaper than brass knuckles and you're less likely to get arrested for wearing too many rings."

Jack laughed then grunted and Bobby slammed him harder into me. Jack released a hand that had been plastered to my back. "Fuck." I looked over at his arm. One of the bottles shattered and there was a large piece of glass sticking through the sleeve of his zip up. Blood was streaming down coloring the grey fabric. It didn't look serious but still, it had to hurt.

I lifted my head up so I wouldn't scream in Jack's ear. "MEDIC!"

The guys scrambled off and I smiled to myself. I made that up when we had all been younger. If someone was getting killed in what was supposed to be a fair fight it was over. If there was blood at all it was all over and it was time to make sure there was no serious injury.

Jack hadn't moved but shook his head at me. "It's not serious."

"I know that but I was slowly forgetting how to breathe." I let him help me up and took a better look at his arm. I grabbed the piece and quickly extracted it. Jack didn't wince but he made a face at me. I wasn't exactly the gentlest person but Jack didn't need to be babied.

Bobby was pulling off his skates on the bench and sticking them into the bag. He threw the first aid kit over to me. "Mend her up, Luce. We're starting back." With that he swung the bag over his shoulder and walked back up to the street.

I rolled back Jack's sleeve to see the cut more clearly. It was too high up so I had to force him to unzip the sweatshirt all the way. I watched him grin and mentally kicked myself for staring at his body while he took it off. He was still bleeding around where the glass had been but it was slowing down. It wasn't too deep so that was always good. I got the little bottle of peroxide and splashed it on him. It fizzled a little getting rid of anything that might have gotten on the cut. There weren't any Band-Aids in the kit big enough to cover the cut without using at least four. I wrapped gauze around his arm trying to pretend I wasn't tracing the muscles in his arm. I didn't have tape so I just pulled the gauze hard and made a little knot to keep it form unraveling. I began to pull his sleeve back down when I saw some ink on his arm. I lifted the sleeve further and saw a single red rose resting on his arm. I traced the stem and noticed the detail in the petals. I saw three names. Evelyn, Jasmine and Lucia. I looked up at Jack in utter confusion.

He looked back at me and pulled the sleeve down. "We need to talk at some point."

I could feel my eyes widen. "Yeah now would be a good time."

"No." He just shook his head. "Not now we'll talk later. After dinner."

"Jack!" I threw my hands up waiting for my brain to think of something intelligent to say.

"Exactly. You don't know how to respond and I don't know what I should say right now. So it's better if we talk after." Jack slid out of his skates and pulled don his sneakers. He stuffed them in his bag and threw my kit in too.

I was still standing there wasting for my brilliant sarcasm or debating skills to pop back into action. I gave in to defeat and started walking up the street. Damn tattoos confusing me.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOooOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

I walked into the kitchen still apprehensive about this whole idea. I grabbed hold of Bobby's arm making him face me. Damn, he looked like shit. "Bobby are you sure you want me here? I mean it should just be the four of you. I mean Jerry's here and Camille and the kids are at home. Angel sent Sofi out for the night and I feel like I'm intruding."

Bobby shook his head letting himself smile a bit. "Luce, you're family. Ma wanted you to have Thanksgiving with here and I know why. She didn't want you to spend your holiday alone. We don't want you to either. We're honoring mom's wishes the same. We're making sure you're not alone and we're spending the holidays together like a real family again." He gave me a tight hug and I could almost hear him break. "We're back kiddo. Things are going to be different. We're going to sort this shit out. I'm sorry we weren't around more. For mom and for you."

It hurt to hear him say that. It was true I had cursed them all for leaving me behind but it wasn't their fault. They made the choice to get out of here. It was the right choice. So why didn't I go?

I hugged Bobby harder than I had before. I didn't want him to feel bad for my mistakes. I had been the baby of the group I was lucky they let me hang around with them at all. I had other friends but the guys meant so much to me. My brother was always my entire world. I looked up to him and to his friends so much. They got carried away with me sometimes. Like scaring away a few of the boys who asked me out. I was pretty much the little sister. And instead of one big brother I had five. Five, very violent, very protective big brothers.

I helped set out the dishes and glasses while everyone slipped past me with glasses and over loaded plates of food. We all sat down but there was an empty place at the head of the table. We all glanced at it trying to make sure no one else saw. It was a very empty table without Evelyn.

Bobby bowed his head and we held hands. Bobby was at the opposite end from where Evelyn would have sat. I was to his right standing next to Jack. Jerry was standing across from Jack and Angel was next to him.

Bobby began prayer and I felt his hand and Jack's hand tighten their grip on mine. "Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, thank you for this day. Thank you for this food we're about to receive and thank you for bringing us together. Amen."

We all whispered amen and sat down passing plates and bowls around. We ate mostly in silence, everyone looking at the chair for a few moments at a time.

I could see Evelyn sitting in her chair looking at me.

"It's okay Lucia, things will be okay. I just need you to be there for my boys. They remember you; you can reach them the same way I did." I watched as she winked at me. "Jackie missed you. You were good for him. He smiled a lot when you were around." She put on a face that held a mix of disappointment and sadness. "Just don't let them get carried away. I know how they are and how badly they want to find out who got me. Don't let them go to far." Her face turned into one of mock sternness. "And don't have sex with Jackie on the couch."

I looked down at my mashed potatoes and felt a tear fall down my cheek. I brought my hand up to wipe it away but Jack saw and brushed it off with his fingertips. I knew I missed him. As much as I tried staying mad at him I knew it wasn't going to work. I waited too long for him to come home.

When dinner was over I stayed to clean up. Jerry headed home while Angel went to go pick up La Vida Loca.

Note to self: When she gets here remember her name is Sofi. Do not call her La Vida Loca.

Bobby was heading out to go 'check up' on some old friends. In other words he was going to a strip club for a while. Jack was still here helping me with the dishes. He had starting singing and all I did was smile. Bobby was good as hockey, Angel was good at fucking, Jerry was good at the family thing and Jack was a singer. He had gone to New York to start a band. The tattoo on his right forearm proclaimed 'Spares'. He told me it had been the name of his first band, which hadn't lasted as long as he thought. He couldn't bring himself to get it removed so it stayed a memoriam.

I put the last glass in the cupboard and felt Jack come up behind me. "Need help?"

I turned around pretty much into him. "No, but I figured we could talk now." I leaned myself against the counter. Jack was a bit close for me to think entirely straight.

He nodded up and hopped me onto the counter so he had me cornered. "Yes we do."

I waited a few moments staring at him. "Well?"

"Where should I start? I'm bad at explaining myself."

"I know that. How about what happened in New York."

He seemed to like the fact I found somewhere for him to start. "Well New York was busy. It was everything I thought it would be. Hustle and never ending nights. Clubs galore and lots of people looking to form bands. That's when Spares formed. Don't ask about the name, I don't even remember why or who came up with it. We were together for a little over a year then it just stopped working. So I was in bands here and there went through a couple of jobs and landed a pretty decent job teaching guitar." He paused. "That's pretty much it. I know it doesn't sound like much and it really isn't."

I nodded. "What about graduation?"

I saw him hesitate. "What about graduation?"

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

He ran a hand back through his hair and sighed. "I was scared shitless. You meant a lot to me. More than I realized, but I had to get out of here. I was too scared to tell you sooner. If I had told you sooner it would have been too hard for me to leave? What was I going to do? Say goodbye and make you miserable during graduation? No, I didn't want to do that to you."

"Why didn't you ask me?" I barely got the words out.

"Ask you what?"

"Why didn't you ask me to come with you Jack? If I meant so much to you why didn't you take me with you?"

He looked at me blankly. "You're serious? Lucia, baby, I didn't even know what I was getting into. Why would I bring you down with me? I figured you'd go on to college or something. You always had the potential. You could have done what you wanted." He looked angry. "Why didn't you do something with yourself?"

I bit my lip, my chest was burning. "Why didn't I do something? Let me think Jack. I never had the chance. Every time I turned around someone I knew was dead. I saw everyone dropping and I was scared of leaving." I shook my head. I was shaking, damn. I needed to breathe. I was not going to lose it now. "I had my reasons jack. Just like you. This was home for me." I let out a bitter laugh. "And for some reason I held the stupid idea that you'd come back. I thought-no, not thought-I hoped you'd come back for me. I was praying that you would remember me and come back and get me out of here. I was never afraid with you Jack. I've been trying to distance myself from you for so long. Every time Evelyn talked about you I did my best to change the subject." I held my head in my hands. My chest was pounding with frustration.

Jack got on his knees to look at me. His eyes were green and bright tears. He was crying? Now I felt ten times worse. "Mom told me about you. Every time I called she'd tell me about you. She asked me if I was coming to visit. Always asked me if I had talked to you. I never stopped thinking about you. In New York I saw things that reminded me of you. Everything I wanted you to see. I stopped myself from coming to get you a dozen times. I just kept telling myself it was better this way. That you were going to make something of yourself. You didn't need me dragging you down."

I slid off the counter and kneeled next to him on the floor. I kissed him long and hard. Not a sloppy make out just a good old fashion kiss. But it was better than anything I could imagine. I held either side of his face with my hands. "You're a stupid, stupid man Jackson Mercer." I kissed him again feeling those butterflies in my stomach that appeared every time I kissed him. "Damn."

He leaned his head on mind holding my waist. "What?"

"I think I'm in love with you."

Jack looked straight into my eyes pulling me closer to him. I could feel his warmth and I felt safe when he held me like that. "I never stopped loving you Lucia. I'm pretty sure I'm in love with you. And I hope you can forgive and take back this stupid man."

A/N: Just a little side note, I fixed a few little things in Chapter 3 I meant to fix before I loaded it. Nothing but just a few reworded sentences and little things, oh and wonderful side notes from Lucia's head.

Reviews and Flames are welcome.

Thanks to:

XNegAttentionX: Yeah this is year two of PSATs getting ready for the wonderful joy of the SATs soon. But thanks for the reviews as always. And yeah I figured I'd put part of the background in.