A/N: hey everyone, enjoy this chapter. Please note I do not own any of these characters except for Jackie. Please keep your paws off of her! Hope you like!
Jackie was sleeping on the old couch in Mimi's old apartment. Collins and Mark were sleeping on the floor and Mimi was sleeping in her old bed. For some reason Jackie couldn't fall asleep. She pulled the old wool blanket closer to her body and turned to her side. Her eyes were desperately trying to close but Jackie's mind forbid it. She sat up and looked around at the room. Everyone was deeply asleep. Mark was even smiling as he slept. Jackie smiled slightly. She then slowly took off the blanket and put her feet on the cold, hard ground. She got up and quietly walked across the floor and out of the apartment. She walked up the small flight of stairs that led to Rogers loft. Jackie pressed her ear against the door and heard Roger softly playing notes on his guitar. She slid onto the ground and listened.
He then began to sing a soft song "Your eyes, as we said our goodbyes. Can't get them out of my mind, and I find I can't hide from your eyes. The ones that took me by surprise the night you came into my life. Where there's moonlight I see your eyes." Jackie closed her eyes and took in the beautiful words Roger sang for his love, Mimi. She then got up and brushed the dust of her jeans. She looked at the handle of the loft and slowly reached out for it. Opening the door ever so quietly, she peeked into the apartment and saw Roger lying back on the couch, holding his guitar. She opened the door all the way reveling herself to her brother. Roger looked at Jackie with wide, green eyes. Jackie walked in slowly and shut the door behind her. Roger placed his guitar on the couch and stat up straight. Jackie walked over to where Roger was sitting.
" Hey." Jackie said warily.
" Hey." Roger responded softly. Jackie then sat down in the big armchair, right next to Roger. Jackie ran her finger through her hair and looked at the ground.
" Roger, I…I don't want to fight with you." She said, still looking at the floor. Roger nodded.
" I don't want to either. You're my sister and I really care about you." Roger said trying to make eye contact with Jackie. Jackie hesitated for a moment, and then slowly made contact with her brother. He was the same old Roger who played with her when they were younger. He was the same caring Roger that protected her from their father's ruthless beatings. The same big brother she missed so dearly after all these years. Jackie kept her tears hidden, but under her deep green eyes, the tears were tearing at her soul. Jackie kept a straight face and continued to talk.
" I…I missed you" she said softly. " And I want to know why you never came back for me. You didn't keep you promise, Roger. I waited for you in that house with them." She said not wanting to call those ruthless people her parents. " I couldn't leave like you. I was trapped with them for all those years!" Jackie finished her last sentence with a fierce tone. She felt as though her whole body had lightened when she told Roger what she had kept inside for the past years. Roger shook his head as he looked at Jackie. He had a sad, sorry expression and held a look of deep sorrow in his green eyes.
" I know I disappointed you. You can't imagine how many times I thought about coming back and taking you to live with me." He said in a hollow tone. " After awhile, I thought that if I did come back, that maybe you would have changed. I thought that there could be a chance that they changed you forever. Then I started to get into drugs." Roger said wincing. "Getting high every night, passing out on the couch. The drugs eased the pain they caused me. The pain they caused you." He said in a low whisper.
" Then my HIV test came back, and I went into depression. Then I lost April, my old girlfriend, and I knew I had to go into rehab. Mark and Collins helped me get through it and I was drug free for a year. I always thought about you when I had my fits though, how you made me promise that we would never be like them. You helped me get through it Jackie." Roger said looking at Jackie with a sad expression. Jackie took in Roger's word and replayed them in her head.
" He did care," she thought. Jackie's smiled slightly and looked at Roger again. " So, after all the time you were out of rehab, why didn't you come for me then?" she asked him.
" Jackie, you got to understand that I felt like crap for breaking our promise. I knew that you would be disappointed if you knew I was HIV positive." He replied.
" You were just going to let me think you were ok for all these years, then one day out of the blue you die from AIDS?" she asked with her eyes wide open. Roger sunk back into the couch, not knowing what to say to his sister. Jackie leaned back into the big armchair and let out a deep breath. She then pulled out a pack of cigarettes and a pack of matches and lit up." Smoke?" she said offering him one. Roger nodded his head and took one of the cigarettes.
" Hey, are these my smokes?" he asked Jackie. Jackie merely shrugged her shoulders and took a deep breath of her cigarette. Roger laughed to himself and smiled at his sister. "Your a piece of work, Jackie Davis." He said taking a breath from his cigarette.
" Yup, and your nothing but the same old Roger Davis." She said looking up at him from the armchair. Roger shrugged his shoulder and finished his cigarette. Jackie finished hers and followed Roger to the outside of the loft. There, they put their finished cigarettes in a bucket full of other dead cigarettes. Jackie looked at the view of the city lights.
" Roger, you better make up with Mimi." Jackie said. "You two are pretty pathetic without each other." Roger chuckled and smiled at his sister.
" Yea we are pretty pathetic aren't we?" Roger replied. " But you can't expect much from couple of Bohemians." Jackie raised her eyebrow.
" Yea, but then again you were always pathetic." Jackie said to him. Roger looked at her and let out a sarcastic laugh.
" Oh, so I'm the pathetic one am I?" Roger said. Jackie nodded and headed back into the apartment. She then sat down on the ripped up couch. Roger followed and sat next to her.
" I like your song, the one about Mimi." Jackie said, as she watched Roger reach for his guitar.
" Thanks, it took way more then a couple of days to make. Believe me, I had to go through shit to get the words right." Roger said, strumming the guitar lightly. Jackie relaxed her eyes and listened to the beautiful music Roger played. Her eyes then began slowly drop. Her soul was at peace as she began to drift to sleep next to Roger.
" Love ya big brother." She said softly, as her eyes closed completely. Roger stopped playing the guitar and looked down at Jackie.
" Love ya too sis." Roger said in a whisper.
A/N: Ok, I really put a lot of work into this chapter so I hope you like it. The next chapters will be moving at a faster pace after this since all the conflicts between Roger and Jackie are settled. PLEASE R&R!