AN: I wanted to thank you guys so much for all your great reviews! They are really encouraging! On the down side, they make me really want to write and post the next chapters, even though I should be doing more productive things like studying for finals and such...oh well. I can multitask. Just so you guys have an idea of where this story is going: I'll be developing characters (there's still one Jack hasn't met yet!) and introducing some more plot points for the next couple of chapters. Around chapter 5, we'll get our first hint towards the nature of Jack and Bobby's relationship, and around chapter 7, the real action will start (unless, of course, I do some drastic reworking in the future). This is turning into quite the epic! Also, I'll be developing an original character in a few chapters. I promise you it's not a Mary Sue, and it's no one's girlfriend...it's not even female. It's Chad from chapter 1, and he'll have a role to play yet in the story, so keep reading and reviewing! Thanks again!

"So...where to?"

Jack looked up, oblivious to the fact that he'd zoned out, staring through the window with no interest as his mind wandered. He noticed that Bobby was stopped at a stop sign, showing no intention of continuing out onto the road, and was staring at Jack with an odd expression on his face. "Huh?"

Bobby laughed, although he sounded slightly annoyed. "Where am I taking you? I'm not a mind reader, I don't just know where you wanna go."

Jack chuckled nervously, twisting his hands in his lap. Shit, now what? "Umm," he mumbled, looking to the left and the right frantically. "Go...go that way." He pointed left, towards a large apartment complex he could see in the distance. He'd have Bobby drop him off there.

"That way, huh?" Bobby laughed again, pulling out into the intersection. "It doesn't even sound like you know where you're going."

Yeah, sounds that way, doesn't it? Jack thought, laughing awkwardly. His eyes wandered to the window again, watching the bleak Detroit landscape pass by as a cold drizzle started to fall. He hated nights like these, too warm to snow, but cold enough to make the rain absolutely miserable.

"Now where?" Bobby had stopped the car again, and was looking at Jack with the same peculiar look on his face. Jack shifted uncomfortably in his seat, stretching to find the apartment complex, trying to guess the quickest route.

"Umm...left, again," he said, his voice giving away his uncertainty. Bobby smirked.

"You sure?" he asked, turning sideways in his seat to get a better look at Jack. "You don't sound too sure about that."

"What is this, a fuckin' interrogation?" Jack spat angrily. His already tense mood was starting to worsen; he wasn't looking forward to sleeping in the rain. "I know how to get to my own house, thanks."

"I thought you were stayin' at a friend's place?" Bobby asked, and Jack suddenly hated the arrogance in his voice. "Change your mind?"

"Well, yeah...fuck." Jack was squirming now, keeping his eyes locked on the apartments in the distance, away from Bobby. "Now that I have a ride...I don't have to walk...so yeah, I can...you know...go home..."

"Okay, okay," Bobby chuckled, turning left. Instead of letting them sink into another uncomfortable silence, however, Bobby continued the conversation. "So who are you rooming with? Friends? Band mates? Complete strangers?"

"Umm…" Shit, Jack thought, frantically trying to develop a believable story. "Strangers. Yeah, complete strangers. I...uh...found an ad in the paper, looking for a roommate, so, you know."

"Hmm, I see." Bobby still sounded too smug for Jack's liking. "And your band gets a lot of gigs? Is that how you pay the rent? I don't think I've ever seen your band play before tonight."

"Yeah, well, we don't play a lot in this area," Jack said, refusing to meet Bobby's gaze as he looked over. "We do a lot of...out of town shows. Right, turn right," Jack added as he saw the complex approaching quickly out his window.

"Okay," Bobby said, sounding entirely unconvinced. "So what's the address?"

Jack felt his throat starting to close up as they approached the apartments, a combination of Bobby's questioning, his still throbbing headache, the events of the night, and the forlorn realization that he would have to spend the night sleeping on a deserted porch or under a bench to keep himself dry catching up to him. "Um, it's right...it's right up here. In that building over there."

"What building?" Bobby asked, shifting to look closer out the window. "What's the address? Maybe I know it."

Jack was getting desperate. He looked to his left, out Bobby's window, and saw a smaller building, perhaps another apartment complex, closer to them. "Stop. We're here."

"What?" Bobby asked, stopping, still looking out the window, perplexed. "Where?"

"Right there," Jack motioned to the building with a nod of his head, already reaching for the door handle. "Thanks for the ride. I'll..."

"Wait, wait," Bobby shook his head, reaching for Jack's arm, but Jack was already moving out of the car. "You live there?"

"Yeah," Jack said hurriedly. He leaned on the car, sticking his head in for another moment, letting the rain, which was starting to fall harder, soak the back of his jacket. "Thanks again. Bye."

Bobby opened his mouth to say something else, to protest, but Jack slammed the door, quickly jogging around the front of the car, across the street, and up the stairs to the rundown building without giving a second glance back to the vehicle or the man inside. He felt his eyes starting to well up, not understanding why. He'd slept on the street before, in the rain, in the snow...why was this time any different?

Jack reached out towards the doorknob, planning on waiting inside until Bobby was gone and then trying to find a relatively dry place to spend the night. However, his plans were thwarted when he attempted to pull the door open, finding that the building was locked.

"No," he whispered hoarsely, trying to yank the door open again with no avail. "No, no, no, no..."

Leaning forward to rest his forehead on the door, Jack considered his options. He could keep pretending, saying that he told Bobby the wrong place, that it all looks the same in the dark, or that he locked his keys inside and would wait for someone else to let him in...but he knew Bobby wouldn't buy it. He could ask Bobby to take him back to Chad's place, but he really didn't feel like walking in on Chad and the blonde girl with the kind of night he'd had.

When he turned around, part of him was relieved that the car was still there, Bobby sitting inside, watching his every move. He wiped his eyes, sniffled a little, took a deep breath, and started walking back to the car. He hadn't wanted to leave, anyway...he just hadn't wanted Bobby to find out his living situation...or absence of one, in this case.

Jack pulled the car door open, refusing to meet Bobby's eyes with his own red-rimmed gaze. He slid in, sinking down in the seat, trying to disappear, and rubbed his arms with his hands in vain. He was shivering now, and he knew he must look pathetic to Bobby: soaking wet, shivering, with red eyes and a runny nose. Absolutely pathetic.

"So," Bobby began, and Jack almost flinched. He expected Bobby's voice to sound at least a little more sympathetic. "You wanna tell me why you lied?"

"Not really," Jack whispered, still rubbing his arms. "What does it matter, anyway?"

"It matters because I'm not gonna leave you to sleep in the rain out on the street!" Bobby suddenly raised his voice, and Jack scooted closer to the car door. He didn't like it when people yelled. "Jesus, kid, do you want to spend the night in the rain?"

"No," Jack replied, voice still low. "I don't really have a choice, though, do I?"

Bobby shifted in his seat so that he was facing Jack again. "Look...my mom has cycled the most fucked up foster kids that Detroit has to offer through her home." He paused, chuckling. "I should know, I'm fuck up numero uno. I was so bad she couldn't find anyone to adopt me. Mom says she kept me because I was her favorite, but...well, I'm not stupid."

Jack, for the first time all night, realized that he didn't have to worry about Bobby taking pity on him. From the sound of it, Bobby had gone through his fair share of hard times as well.

"My point is," Bobby continued, trying to catch Jack's eye, thought Jack still refused to look at him, "that Evelyn Mercer is the sweetest woman in the goddamn world, and you'll have a place to stay in her home if you need it. Any abandoned kid, any kid left out on the street...well, she takes it as a personal responsibility to help as many of 'em as she can."

"I don't need anyone's help," was Jack's stubborn reply. "And I'm not a goddamn kid that can't take care of himself."

"Okay, listen to me." Bobby was suddenly angry, and Jack started to lose some of his resolve. "You gotta learn right now that not every person who offers to help you is offering you fuckin' charity, or pities you, or feels sorry for you. You hafta be fuckin' grateful for what you can get, what's offered to you, or you'll spend your entire life in someone's doorstep hoping you don't shot, or in jail hoping you don't get killed."

"Bobby," Jack turned to face him, now feeling like he had to apologize, to make up for being stubborn, for being angry, but couldn't think of anything to say. He settled for, "Why are you doing this?"

"What? Trying to help?" Bobby asked incredulously.

Jack rested his temple against the headrest, feeling extremely exhausted. "Yeah. Helping. All of it. Talking to me in the bar, giving me a ride, inviting me to stay in your house...why? I could be some crazy psycho, some gang member, a serial killer. You met me...what, two hours ago? And you already trust me enough to offer me a room in your home. Why?"

Bobby sighed, losing his anger at the sight of Jack's confusion and weariness. "Well, you're the one who got into my car. Jack, I can take care of myself. Spending so many years out on the streets, in and out of homes, in and out of trouble...I'd like to think I got enough street smarts to keep me alive. I don't need to trust you," he grinned, "I just need to make sure you're not gonna kill me when I look away. And judging from the looks of you...well, I'm not too concerned."

Jack grinned as well, tiredly, but a grin none the less. "But you do trust me."

Bobby shrugged. "Maybe. You trust me."

Jack lowered his eyes with a slight nod. "Yeah...look, Bobby, I have trust issues. I don't..." he took a deep breath. "I can't...some things happened. And I have problems...trusting people. But...not you. I trust you. I met you two hours ago, and I trust you. I don't...I don't get it." Jack looked back up at Bobby. "You can't tell me you don't feel something...weird...about tonight. Something's off, and you know it."

Bobby just stared at Jack for a moment, as if searching for something, then suddenly turned around in his seat and threw the car into drive. "Come on, let's just go. I want to fuckin' go home and go to bed. You're not stayin' in this shit hole."

"Bobby..."

"One night, Jack." Bobby didn't look away from the road as he pulled out and turned around. "Eat a home cooked meal, sleep in a warm bed, and then if you want, you can leave in the morning. What could possibly be wrong with that?"

Jack just shook his head, turning around and leaning back against the seat. As much as he wanted to take Bobby up on the offer, as much as he trusted Bobby, he didn't know if he could suddenly trust this Evelyn woman without even meeting her. His previous foster home situation had been...well, he'd run away, hadn't he? The idea of a foster home gave Jack a sick feeling in his stomach and a shaky feeling in the rest of his body. But Bobby...she was Bobby's mother, wasn't she? Bobby didn't seem like the kind of person that would take shit for very long...not like he had...

"I knew you were homeless."

Jack looked back up at Bobby, whose eyes were still fixed on the road. "What?"

"I knew you were homeless, before we got here, before you even got in the car," he said, sounding like he had trouble believing the words that were coming out of his mouth. "I just...knew it. I don't fuckin' know how or why, I just did."

"Like I knew you played hockey," Jack nodded, wishing Bobby would look at him. "Like I knew they called you the Michigan Mauler."

"Yeah, like that," Bobby said, nodding as well. "And...when I called you Cracker Jack. I don't know...it felt...like I had called you that before."

"Yeah," Jack was suddenly more awake. "Yeah. Everything was so...familiar." He paused, thinking back through the night's events. "Names. Did you get any random names that just...seemed to pop into your head for no reason?"

Bobby hesitated. "This is so fuckin' weird," he mumbled, shaking his head, as if to get rid of his thoughts. "Chad. Do you know anyone named Chad?"

Jack grinned stupidly. "My bassist."

"More like your boyfriend from the looks of that smile," Bobby snorted. "Ya little fairy."

"Oh, shut up," Jack retorted without anger. "My turn. Who are Amelia and Daniela?"

"Wow," Bobby said, surprised. "Random. Those are Jerry's kids..."

"And his wife?"

Bobby finally looked at him, and Jack couldn't tell if the look in his eyes was from amazement or skepticism. "Camille."

Jack beamed. "I knew that, too. And Sofi?"

Bobby cracked a grin. "Ah, La Vida Loca. Angel's little Latina piece of ass." Jack gave Bobby a confused look at the new name. "Oh, Angel, my brother. A Marine, he's in Iraq."

"Oh," Jack nodded. "Okay...one more. Who's Victor Sweet?"

Suddenly, Jack's upper body flew forward as Bobby slammed on the breaks, tires spinning a little from the wet road. Thank God for seatbelts, Jack thought, otherwise he might have been through the windshield and facedown on the pavement by now.

"Where the fuck did you hear that name?" Bobby asked viciously, and Jack was startled by his sudden change of mood. Jack backed up a little, as far as he could until he felt the cold window, damp with condensation, on his back.

"I...I just thought of it, randomly," he stuttered, Bobby's fiery gaze making him nervous. "Just like...like Jerry's kids, and Sofi, and..."

"You stay the fuck away from him, you hear me?" Bobby pushed his finger into Jack's chest, and Jack flinched at the contact. "Do you hear me?"

"O-okay," Jack squirmed away from Bobby, not knowing how to react. "Fine. Whatever. I don't even fuckin' know who that is."

"Fine, just..." Bobby relaxed a little, leaning back into the seat, letting off the breaks and continuing down the road again. "He's not good news, Jack. I don't want you getting fucked around in his shit."

"I never said I was." Jack was slightly annoyed that Bobby had gotten so angry. Things were going so well... "You seemed to be pretty interested in his shit tonight."

"This isn't about me, Jack," Bobby warned. "Wait...how did you know...?"

"The coat guy, right?" Jack asked, and Bobby nodded once. "Yeah, I thought so. Just a feeling." He didn't want to mention that the feeling had been the one to make him pass out, the one that had made him dream of pain and snow while lying on the bar floor.

"Well, it doesn't matter, okay?" Bobby said. "Just stay away from him."

"What are you, my big brother or something?"

Jack regretted the words as soon as they left his mouth. He throat suddenly closed up, his eyes welling with tears again, and he had no idea why. He swallowed thickly, trying to will the moisture from his eyes. Bobby would think he was a pussy if he saw him tearing up for no reason...

But when Jack looked over at Bobby, it seemed as if something about his statement had struck a nerve with Bobby as well. He was gripping the steering wheel so tight that Jack could see his knuckles turning white; on the contrary, his eyes appeared softer, his brow furrowed seemingly in bewilderment.

They stayed silent for what was probably only five minutes, but seemed like hours to Jack. He had finally gotten rid of the tears, although he was sure that his red eyes and runny nose made him appear all of five years old either way. He felt shaky and weak, like someone had ripped out a vital piece of him, something very important...

"I know you're sixteen, so you can give up the nineteen bullshit right now." Bobby's voice was rough when he spoke again. "And I have one more question. One more name."

Jack nodded. "Shoot."

"John Davis. Who's that?"

No. Jack's breath caught in his throat, gasping audibly as he dropped his head into his hands. Bobby turned to look at him, startled.

"What?" he asked, looking at Jack's hunched form. "Are you okay?"

Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck...

"No one," Jack croaked out, not lifting his head. He couldn't believe it...

"Really? Because..." Bobby hesitated, "because when I thought...I got this feeling that..."

"Like the feeling I get when I think of Victor Sweet," Jack finished for him. Bobby nodded.

"Yeah. Probably."

They drove in silence the rest of the way to the Mercer home, Bobby reluctant to bring up something else that would startle Jack, and Jack too shaken to bring up anything else at all. It had caught him so completely off guard. That was a name he never expected...never wanted... to hear again. How could Bobby know?

"Okay," Bobby said, shifting the car into park. Jack blinked, noticing that they were stopped in front of a relatively decent looking brick house. "Here we are."

Jack nodded, taking off his seatbelt and pushing the door open. He stepped outside, hunching his shoulders against the cold rain as he shut the door, following Bobby up to the front porch. He stopped on the top step, suddenly hesitant to go inside. John Davis' name had thrown him for a loop, and now, entering another foster home...even on his own will...seemed like a ridiculous thing to do.

"Jack?" Bobby asked, his voice softer than Jack had heard all night. "Come on. Let's go."

"I..." Jack stumbled with the words he wanted to say, tempted to back away from the house and just run. "I...I don't know..."

"Fuck, nothing's gonna happen," Bobby said, and Jack didn't know if he should take that as simple reassurance or as a promise. "Let's go. It's cold."

Jack nodded, taking a deep breath and stepping onto the porch. Something deep inside told him that Bobby wouldn't let anything happen.

pwrhungryjr: I'm glad you like it so far! It's okay if you don't quite understand what's going on yet, I'll be providing some explanations in the chapters to come. For now, I'm just working on plot and character development. Thanks for reading!

Sparks Diamond: Glad you enjoyed this chapter! The next update will be sooner than later, I hope!

Stefanie: Thank you very much! I'm really glad you like it. As for the confusion, don't worry. More hints and explanations will be dropped in the upcoming chapters!

Eva Deanna: I hope chapter 3 was updated soon enough! Winter break is quickly approaching, which means I will have a lot more time to write and many more chances to update. I like to get a new chapter written before I post another, but if I don't have enough time, I'll post to keep the peoples happy! As for Jack getting water thrown on him...that was just one of those little details that plagued me from the beginning of the story that I had to include or else I'd go crazy. Anyone else get those? (shrug) Maybe it's just me. I'm definitely having the most fun writing Bobby's character.

pen: Thank you so much. That is seriously the best compliment someone can give, because I work so hard on in-character development. The next update should be soon, hopefully!

Ebz: Eragon Movie Countdown: 11 days! I'm glad you're starting to understand, and don't worry, I'll work very hard at adding some hints and some explanations to the next few chapters.

Ophelia Hyde: Aww, thanks babe! (I have some bad habits of my own) A diamond in the rough...wow, what a compliment! Thank you! As for your guess...well, I can't really tell you! Sorry! I will say this, though...that fact that this story is "AU" says more than you might think. Next update coming soon!

Rogue21493: Jack is okay! For now...(insert evil laughter here). I'm such an angst whore, please forgive me. Thanks for reading, update coming soon!

xXJackxXmy3rdXclassXrockXStarX: Wow, apologies if I didn't type that name right, it's quite long...I like it though! Thank you very much, I'm glad you're liking it. I'm trying to keep the details at a reasonable level, as I tend to get lost in detail sometimes and kill the plot. We'll see how it goes...Thanks again!