Disclaimer: yada yada don't own yada yada…

Author's Note: Sorry for the delay in writing, got behind in schoolwork, then had finals, but I'm home now, and for the time being jobless so I'll try to update a little more rapidly now. I already know where the next chapter is going so that should help…

This chapter started out as my artistic response to the Virginia Tech massacre, and ended up tying in nicely with an idea I've had for a while but had no beginning for. I love it when things work like that… Anyway, Enjoy! And review, because reviews make me happy, and I will write more if I'm encouraged! ;)

I looked away
Then I look back at you
You try to say
The things that you can't undo
If I had my way
I'd never get over you
Today's the day
I pray that we make it through

Make it through the fall
Make it through it all

And I don't wanna fall to pieces
I just want to sit and stare at you
I don't want to talk about it
And I don't want a conversation
I just want to cry in front of you
I don't want to talk about it
Cuz I'm in Love With you

You're the only one,
I'd be with till the end
When I come undone
You bring me back again
Back under the stars
Back into your arms

Wanna know who you are
Wanna know where to start
I wanna know what this means

Wanna know how you feel
Wanna know what is real
I wanna know everything, everything

From: Fall to Pieces – Avril Lavigne

"March 30th."

Jack's first thought when he heard someone mention the date was the fact that he'd been dating Cal for two months now. But that seemed really short to him. Had it really only been two months?

God, he was such a loser… sitting around band practice thinking about his girlfriend. How sad and stereotypical could he be?!

They guys were all sitting around now. Practice never officially ended, it just kind of faded away after about two hours. Jack stayed to one side of the ratty old couch, hoping Alex was smart enough to stay on the other side of the couch, if not all the way at the other side of the room. Someone had turned on the tv which, being in the garage, only got three channels. All three channels were playing the same three pieces of footage. After a few minutes Jack found himself actually paying attention because there was nothing better to think about. But as he listened, he started leaning forward to pay closer attention. The images on the screen started looking awfully familiar. Then the words flashing at the bottom of the screen sparked his memory, and at the same time caused a sort of panic in him. Someone had been killed on a campus! Cal's campus!

Suddenly he was focused very intently on the fuzzy images. They'd said the victim was male, they'd showed an old picture of him… And no one else had been hurt, just this guy. The "bad guys" had gotten away, but Jack didn't care. He slapped the arm of the guy sitting next to him.

"Let me use your phone man."

The boy was half stoned and confusedly handed over the device. Jack pounded Cal's number into the keypad and tapped his fingers on the side of the couch more violently with each ring that passed without answer. When it finally went over to voicemail he clapped the thing shut angrily before thinking to look down at the time. It was almost time for her to be there anyway. But would she really come pick him up after something like that happened?

Tossing the phone back to its owner, Jack stood up. Even if all he could do was pace the floor it felt better than sitting and doing nothing. But he didn't have to pace long before he caught a glimpse of the comfortingly familiar rust bucket of a car pull up to the curb outside. Snatching up his guitar, Jack tossed it over his shoulder as he tore through the door. She was walking up the lawn… she hadn't come anywhere near Alex in two months. If she was risking that, she was definitely freaking out over what happened at the school.

"You ok Chick?" he called out immediately when he saw her. She nodded her head, but not strongly. It didn't take him long to make it over to her. He gave her a quick kiss because he'd wanted one for reassurance. But that's not what she needed so he let her wrap her arms around his neck and snaked his own arms around her back. There were so many things he wanted to blurt out, most of them questions, but as he felt the poor girl shaking against him he decided that for now silence was the best option. He tightened his hold on her a little and waited a little while longer before pulling back to try to look at her. She was nervy and wouldn't look up at him, but she wouldn't leave his touch either. He finally whispered, "Let's go to my place, ok?" She nodded and obediently got in the passengers seat when he opened the door for her.

Before they'd even pulled away from the curb he could tell she was starting to really freak out again. He reached over and took her hand, bringing the back of it up to his lips for a kiss. "You're alright Chick." She sighed and there was a shudder to it. She was on the verge tears, though she was doing a good job hiding the emotion from her face.

The rest of the short ride was completely silent. Neither of them had even bothered to turn on the radio. They silently got out of the vehicle and Jack stepped back to walk behind his girl. His left hand, holding the car keys, was also pressed gently to the small of her back. He reached over her shoulder to open the door and closed it tightly behind them, never letting her out of his reach. She stepped into the kitchen calmly, but he saw her stumble back a little with a gasp while he was taking his jacket off. Looking up he spied one of his big brothers at the sink.

"Ang, what are you doing here?"

The man kept his glare on the girl as he replied to his brother's question. "I'm on leave for a couple weeks. What are you doin' bringin' girls home while Mom's at work?"

Jack just shrugged and watched Cal pass through the kitchen into the dining room to sit at the table. She chose to face the brothers, but she wasn't really looking at them. Jack opened the fridge, looking for something that might help the situation but Angel was realizing he hadn't quite gotten his point across.

"She can't be here right now Jackie, send her home."

The younger brother shot a glare at the older before moving to a cupboard and pulling out a glass to fill with water.

"I mean it, get her out of here."

"What's your problem man?"

Angel shoved his little brother around so that he'd look at him. "She can't be here right now Jackie."

Realizing what his brother was saying, Jack pulled back a little. "What the fuck did you do Ang?"

"Nothing. None of your business, just get her out of here alright."

"No." He turned to finish filling the glass of water. "She's scared shitless right now, she's not going anywhere."

They both migrated into the dining room. Jack set the glass of water in front of Cal, but she was staring at the tabletop and didn't move. He moved to touch her arm but stopped as his brother, having moved to the side of the table between the couple, commanded, "Hey girly, you gotta go."

"Shut the fuck up Angel," Jack shouted.

"Hey, I'm trying to protect her as much as you are Jackie…"

"You're such a fucking liar."

"How do you figure that? I'm in trouble and I'm sending her away before she gets involved."

"If you were really in that much trouble you'd tell me what was happening so I'd have reason to make her go. Obviously you're not in that much trouble."

Angel was stunned that his little brother was able to read him that well. "Fine, I just don't want her here then."

Jack was about to retort with a "sucks to be you" style comment but Cal, who had buried her face in her arms, beat him with a response he didn't understand.

"I'm not going to tattle on you Angel."

"I don't believe you," the grown black man childishly threw back.

Cal rolled her head to the side in order to look up at her opponent. "Even if I were going to, wouldn't it make more sense to keep me here so you could at least try to intimidate me into not telling?"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Jack was totally lost.

Still staring down the older brother Cal asked, "Are you telling him, or am I?"

"Neither."

With a smirk the girl then turned to her boyfriend. "Your brother was one of the guys that attacked the kid at the college."

"What!? Ang, what the fuck?"

"Hey, I just went to rough him up a bit. He owed us all some money, and was startin' shit with some of the other guys so they decided to scare him a little. But then he had to go and try to fight back and this one dude pulled a gun…"

Cal had sat back in her chair and shuddered as the scene started replaying in her head.

"Chick…" Jack was exasperatedly trying to piece this all together, "Where do you fit into all this?"

"That kid was in one of my classes. We were assigned a project as a pair and we were sitting at a table in the Commons trying to plan it out when they all showed up." She wasn't looking up again. She was scared by what had happened but for some reason she didn't seem to be afraid to fight with Angel about it.

Suddenly Jack found himself punching his brother across the face.

"Hey, watch it kid," the older man warned, but Jack just glared at him.

"What the fuck is wrong with you. Are you really stupid enough to go to a crowded campus and beat the shit out of someone, IN BROAD DAYLIGHT, and right in front of a bunch of other students? YOU KNOW HER ANG, Why the fuck would you do that to her OR yourself?"

"I didn't recognize her at first," he defended, "And then when I did, I guess I just figured she wasn't hangin' with you any more."

Jack fell into the chair he'd been leaning on. Everything was making sense, but it all pissed him off. He knew now why Cal had been so shaken up. She'd known the kid, been sitting there watching the fight… and she'd known one of the attackers. One of the attackers was her boyfriend's STUPID brother. Angel was freaked out because he didn't want Cal to have the chance to tell the cops about him. But Cal had been right about keeping her here so she couldn't go to the cops on her own.

Before he could manage to say anything Cal got up and tried to walk out. Jack stood up to stop her. Looking up at his brother he finally stated "She's staying."

"Are you seriously choosing a girl over your own brother?" Angel asked, astonished.

At the same time Cal blurted out "Jack, I don't wanna cause any problems."

"You're not going to cause problems Chick," he said, wrapping his arm around her, "And I'm saving your ass Angel, whether you see it that way or not. If she's here she definitely less likely to talk to the cops, although I'm pretty sure she was telling the truth when she told you she wasn't going to say anything anyway."

Still pissed off Angel muttered "whatever man," and stormed out of the room. He made sure to punch the door frame, making a scene in an attempt to make his little brother feel bad about what he was doing. Most days it would have worked too, but with this girl around Jackie-poo put on his best "tough guy" act. He'd probably apologize as soon as the girl was gone, but still… Angel wasn't quite sure he liked the whole situation. The girl seemed like bad news to him.

Little did he know that his techniques of inducing regret, having not worked on his brother, worked quite well on the poor girlfriend who'd been caught in the middle of the situation. She turned to watch apologetically as he left the room, and then stared down at her feet.

"Don't listen to him, he's an ass." Jack went to stroke her arm and she jumped a little. He used to apologize for doing that, but now he was kind of used to it and it didn't faze him as much. It still bothered him, of course, but he wasn't the cause of it and he was sick of apologizing for touching her. He took her hand again and led her through the living room to the front porch. He figured if Angel was home then Sofi was either there or on her way, and knowing their habits Jack wanted to be as far away as possible.

Sitting, he pulled Cal down onto his lap sideways. He was almost cradling her in his arms now and she laughed softly, amused at how quickly he was able to switch gears. He just looked at her for a few seconds before he couldn't take it any more and plunged into a kiss. His hands slipped up her shirt, but he could feel her smile and start to laugh. She grabbed his wrists to stop him and he balled up his fists.

"God, I hate it when you do that." He muttered.

"I don't have time Jack," she regretfully reminded him.

He nodded. "You want me to come with you tonight?"

"It's up to you," she shrugged, focusing more intently on playing with his hair than on the conversation. But she noticed when he was didn't respond. "What are you thinking about?"

He almost smiled, but what he was going to say was depressing enough to kill any happiness he got from her curiosity. "A few things…"

"Like?"

"How my brother almost got you killed today…" She rolled her eyes, and he admitted that it was a bit of an exaggeration, but not much. Then he went on, adding "and how you're father's probably not even going to acknowledge what happened."

"It doesn't matter."

"It does matter." He accidentally raised his voice, but calmed down quickly. He was good at that around her.

"I want to work Jack. If I don't work I'm just going to sit around thinking about what happened and I don't want to do that." He was nodding before she even finished her sentence. He opened his mouth to speak but Angel flung open the living room window to frantically talk to his brother.

"Send her home Jackie."

"What the fuck Angel…"

"Jackie, I'm in trouble, send her home."

The younger brother finally understood why there was urgency to the situation. Sighing he stood up, Cal having already started back into the house. She pretty much needed to leave anyway. When they reached her car she finally turned around to say goodbye. He kissed her before she could. It was the kind of unexpected kiss that made her wrap her arms round his neck as she fell against him. He loved that he could have that effect on her. When they parted he whispered "I hate my brother."

She laughed a little. "It's not that big a deal Jack."

"It is! None of that should have happened in front of you at the school today, and it's my brother's fault."

"Well, not entirely…"

"And now you're defending him… you always do that for people."

Stunned she blushed and backed away as she thought about that.

"Sorry," he pulled her closer again and decided to change the subject a little. "I'm gonna try to come by tonight."

She rolled her eyes but nodded.

"You gonna be alright Chick?"

"I'm fine Jack," he very obviously didn't believe her, but she added "I promise."

Finally he let go of her and let her get into the car. Unfortunately he had to admit that his girlfriend would be safer with her abusive father than his brother would be with anyone coming after him. Reluctantly he turned back toward the house, only glancing back over his shoulder once as the girl drove away.

………………………………………………………………………………………

Leaning on the railing of the fire escape Cal took a deep drag from her cigarette. It was Friday night. Jack hadn't shown up the night before, hadn't called, hadn't showed up that night. His girlfriend was hoping he'd show up soon so she could kick his ass. Actually, that's what she'd been hoping the night before… now she was just hoping he hadn't done something stupid like getting himself killed.

Just after she finished this thought for the hundredth time, almost as if on cue, she heard the back doors being yanked on. Wide eyed with curiosity she leaned farther over the railing in a sad attempt to peer around the corner of the alley. As she did, Jack walked around, instantly noticing her. He kept walking forward, his eyes locked on her, but he was sucking on his lip and looking very apologetic. She met his gaze for a while, but couldn't hold it for long. He was about to speak when another voice echoed from around the corner.

"Who the fuck's there?"

Jack darted behind a dumpster and Cal to the shadows close to the building. The girl's father stumbled drunkenly around the corner and looked around for a while until he was satisfied that the potential intruder was gone. The older man disappeared back around the corner, freeing the young people from their separate corners.

"Do I get to come up?"

The girl took another long drag from her cigarette before silently turning and angrily kicking the latch that allowed the ladder to lower. It made a lot of noise clattering to the ground and Jack hesitated before actually climbing up. As soon as his feet touched the grated floor he started his apology.

"I know I'm a dick. I should have called last night and told you I wasn't coming. I got … tied up… Angel needed my help and I forgot all about what I'd said until this morning and Mom had stuff she needed me to take care of…" He shut up long enough to watch her take another drag. Her back was to him as she continued leaning on the railing, so he decided to walk up and trap her between his arms. He also managed to snatch the cigarette from between her fingers and let it hang between his own lips. This pissed the girl off, but not enough to make her turn around to get it back. "Alright," her boyfriend started up again, "So how do I make you forgive me?"

"You don't. You have to wait until I want to forgive you."

But even as she said this she was leaning back against him. He offered her the cigarette back, but she declined. Crushing it against the railing he quickly tossed it over so he could wrap both of his arms around his girl. Unfortunately she hissed a little in pain as he squeezed her ribs.

"Jesus Chick…" He kissed her temple and didn't bother saying any more. She kept her head leaned forward a little, probably anticipating a few angry words or a scolding. When none came she finally slowly, in increments, turned to face Jack. She leaned on the railing again and looked up at him. "I warned you I was going to fuck up."

That made her smile a little. She reached forward to pull him into a kiss. When she let him go he gave a short laugh and said "That was way easier than I thought it was going to be."

She playfully shoved him. "Shut up, I'm still mad at you." But then she tugged at his arm and walked back into the apartment.

Soon enough they were settled on the couch with their backs against one another. They sat like this all the time, usually Cal doing homework and Jack playing with his guitar. Tonight Jack still played but Cal just leaned back and enjoyed it. She messed with her video camera a little, turning it on and setting it on the coffee table facing the couple. This had become part of their routine as well. Jack had complained the first few times trying to argue that what they did wasn't worth taping. She argued otherwise and won because she claimed she could use the footage for class projects.

Jack started playing "The Kill," a song he knew she would sing along to. With each part of the song she sang stronger.

"… …"

Her head leaned back against her boyfriend's shoulder as they solidly finished the song. It didn't take long for Jack to then put aside his guitar and turn to take Cal in his arms.

"I'm still mad at you," she muttered, but she didn't sound very convincing.

"I'm still sorry," he mentioned, "But he's my brother Chick, and we had to take care of things."

"That's why I didn't say anything before"

"Don't…"

"I didn't do anything…"

"Don't make me feel any guiltier."

"I…" she sighed, "Sorry, I didn't mean it to sound like that. Just… I was worried…"

"I know, and I'm going to do my best to never let it happen again."

She nodded and snuggled back against him, trying not to cringe as his hold on her tightened.

"What did you do?"

The question made her cringe almost as much as the bruise. "It's nothing Jack."

"I wanna see it." She hesitated, but before she could complain he punctuated his statement with "Please."

Sitting up she pulled her shirt over her head and faced her boyfriend. His calloused fingers played along the ugly red and purple mark but then he made her lie back with a deep kiss. With one hand he reached over to turn off the video camera while the other hand gently stroked her face.

"You can't keep this up Chick."

She rubbed her face with her hands and groaned. "Good God, shut up! It's just a bruise, how do you know I didn't run into the edge of a table or something?"

"Because you would have told me about something like that."

"I'm not leaving."

"I know," Jack sighed in defeat. "But," he perked up a little and pointed at her. "Mom wants you to come over for Easter dinner, and you have no excuse for not coming because Easter is on Sunday and you don't work on Sundays."

Cal could barely suppress a smile as she listened to her boyfriend complete that sentence without taking a breath. Raising an eyebrow she finally responded. "Your mother doesn't want me to come for dinner Jack, she wants to interrogate me to find out what we're doing."

Jack had cheered up considerably and quickly kissed his girl. "Don't worry, she'll blame me for all the bad stuff anyway."

Cal returned the kiss and began fingering the hem of his shirt. "You know, I don't quite think it's fair that I'm shirtless and you're not."

Without a second though Jack ripped off his shirt and leaned back over her. "Better?"

Finally she allowed herself to smile. "Much." Her fingers traced up his body, almost causing his eyes to roll back in his head before he lowered himself to kiss her neck.

He knew it was bad to stop thinking about her problems every time she turned him on, but he couldn't help it… God he loved her…