Ah, sorry for the late update! I honestly didn't mean to take so long in getting this up... but what can ya do right?

To The Fans: Anyway, thank all of you who took the time out to review the first chapter! I'm very pleased to here that you are enjoying what I have so far, and hopefully you will all keep enjoying it. And if you're anything like me, than you love the brotherly arguments and fights and such with the Mercer boy's! (especially Jack cause he and Bobby are me favorite characters)

Enjoy!

Chapter Two:

Bobby Mercer jerked awake with a snort. His eyelids slid open to meet darkness, and with a groan he rolled out of bed. The young man winced when he realized that he shouldn't have slept with his arms behind his head because of the ache that was now emanating from them.

He yawned loudly and looked over to the bright red letters of his alarm clock. "3:47?" he scowled. The eldest Mercer brother became conscious to the fact that he'd missed dinner and could no longer ignore the grumbling coming from his stomach.

The young man stretched and left his room in search of food, and in less than a minute he was standing in the illuminating late from the fridge.

Bobby picked things out and moved them to the counter so he could decide which he was in the mood for. "Pizza… left over chicken…" he mumbled to himself. He came upon a mystery container and opened it with curiosity.

"Good god, what is that?" Bobby plugged his nose to get the rancid smell away from his nostrils. He held the container at arms length until he reached the garbage can. "I'm a slob, but that is just wrong." 'Looks like tomorrow is gonna be a fun ole' day for Angel Mercer, first duty: cleaning the fridge.' Bobby sat back in a chair and ate a bit of everything, minus whatever the hell was in that container that was now culminating in the garbage bin.

Thirty minutes later, Bobby was satisfied that his midnight craving had been tamed and did a quick cleanup. An idea sparked in h is mind and he decided he'd go check on his brother's, so he headed upstairs.

Angel's room was first, the door slightly ajar. Bobby quietly pushed it open and grinned when his eyes landed on a snoring Angel. He was lying on his back, mouth opened wide with one arm hanging off the bed and the other hand in the waistband of his sweats.

"Where's a camera when you need one…" Bobby muttered at the horrible timing. The elder had half a nerve to go get a cup of warm water for old time's sake, but decided that tonight didn't seem like a good time for anyone. He let this opportunity slide, but promised himself that if he was given the opportunity in the near future, he'd be back.

He left his second youngest brother's room and headed past Jeremiah's room, knowing from past experiences that he would not be finding him there. Jer was hardly ever home before he left and Bobby highly doubted that had changed in his leave of absence.

When he came to Jack's door, he observed the Led Zeppelin poster covering a large portion of the door and rolled his eyes. He grabbed the doorknob and turned the sleek gold metal, and entered. He was always astounded by how many clothes Jack managed to have one the floor at one time, and Bobby couldn't help but to wonder if Jack even knew what the floor looked like when it was clean.

Bobby would never admit it out loud, and would sure as hell deny it if he was accused, but he was glad that Jack had a routine the rarely changed unless it was beyond his control.

"That's my boy," Bobby whispered as he eyed a couple of dishes sitting on the cluttered desk sitting in the corner of the room. He'd have to make Jack clean some of his crap up tomorrow after he got off from school. "No wonder the kid has to do his homework in the living room."

The young man's attention finally settled on the youngest Mercer child. Jack was on his stomach with his head titled towards the door, no shit, and only one holy sock covering his left foot. Bobby fought to keep in his laughter at this 'kodak moment'. "I really need to get a damn camera," he whined.

"B'bby?" the sleepy slur came from the bed.

Bobby was sure he'd come close to throwing up his heart. "Holy shit Jackie! Don't scare me like that!"

"S'ry," came the almost unintelligible apology. "What are you doin' in here?" Jack asked as he sat up with a yawn and let his feet dangle over the edge of the bed.

Bobby wondered if he should lie to Jack. "I'm just checkin' up on the fairy," Bobby told him and ignored the glare his baby brother gave him in return. After all, he was too busy staring at Jack's skinny form. Raising a curious eyebrow he asked, "New bruises?"

"What are you talking about?" Jack asked and self-consciously wrapped his thin bed-sheet around his naked chest, covering the few dark patches that had accumulated there.

"I've already seen them Jack, there's no point in covering em' back up," Bobby made clear. "Where'd you get those anyway?"

"You know I'm clumsy," Jack defended as he pushed a blond tendril out of his eyes.

"Jackie," Bobby warned.

Jack's eyes narrowed and he lifted a finger to point at the door. "Get out," he ordered.

Bobby shook his head softly and moved to sit on the bed, where he folded his arms across his broad chest and sat quietly. "I'm waiting."

"Can we not do this now? I have school in the morning," Jack whined. The blond twisted his body away and lifted both feet to the bed where he allowed himself to lay back down.

"Actually, I was thinking that maybe you could skip tomorrow and we could ya know… hang out."

Jack looked up at Bobby and frowned. "What did ma say to you about me that has you wanting to waste your precious time on me?"

The elder clenched his teeth and rubbed a carefully hand over his stubble. "Did it ever occur to you that since I've been gone for six months I might have actually missed my baby brother?"

Jack snorted and shook his head. "Nah, it never occurred to me."

Bobby growled from deep within his throat before turning and glaring at Jack. "You're a spoiled little shit you know that?"

The blond huffed and pushed Bobby as hard as he could, actually managing push him from the beds surface. "What the hell even possessed you to come home Bobby? We were just fine without you here; I was just fine without you here! Why did you have to come back?" By that time, Jack was screaming it and had awoken both Evelyn and Angel who were standing with the 'oh so confused' look plastering their faces.

"Oh quit being a fucking drama queen Fairy!" Bobby screamed back to the teenager as he loomed over him. "I didn't leave for shits and giggles and no matter what you say I'm not leaving! So crawl back into your little fucking shell and try to take it like a man!"

Jack fought hard to mask the hurt that was undoubtedly mirroring across his face right now. He quickly became silent and looked to the floor, zoning out as he did so.

"Bobby," Evelyn breathed in shock as she moved to hold Jack's forearms in her hands. "You can't be snapping at him like that! You know how he gets when he's confronted like that."

Bobby clenched his teeth in frustration. He knew that he shouldn't have freaked out at Jack, the look on the kids face showed that he wasn't rightfully there anymore, he'd retreated to that part of him that hardly anyone could reach, the part that was hard to hurt.

"Jack hunny, look at me," Evelyn coaxed, lifting his chin with her finger so he was looking directly at her. "Jack, look at me."

Jack suddenly blinked and looked to his mother with confusion set in his eyes. "I'm tired," he breathed as she took him into her arms and hugged him.

"I know you are Jackie. Go one and get into bed alright? We'll all see you in the morning," Evelyn told him before grabbing Bobby's arm and pulling both him and Angel from the room. "Angel, you go on back to bed too. Bobby and I are going to have a little chat downstairs."

Bobby followed obediently, knowing that his mother was going to lecture him about how he couldn't act the same with Jack as he did with Jeremiah and Angel. "Mom, I didn't mean to go postal… it just got out of hand."

"Bobby, I know you worry and I know he doesn't like to talk about it, but you have to remember that Jack is a very private person. If you keep pushing him like you did tonight, you could be making him eve more despondent."

"I'm sorry Ma," Bobby whispered and looked away from her.

Evelyn smiled softly and took his cheeks in both of her hands. "I tried being straight forward with him. Remember how that turned out?"

Bobby winced at the memories of Jack crying and running to his room, the one place that could give him the solitude he needed to come out of the damn trance he put himself in whenever there was a problem. "Yeah Ma, I remember."

With curiosity Bobby looked his mother in the eye and asked, "How bad was it when I was gone Ma?"

A few muscles in Evelyn's face jumped as she thought back to how Jack had reacted. "It was bad Bobby, but we all got through it. And thank God you're alright."

"Is that when Jackie's attitude started getting worse?" Bobby asked, hoping to find the source of his brother's newly found outbursts.

Evelyn nodded softly. "That's why I thought you could knock some sense into your younger brother. Get him to see that everything is going to be okay, and that he doesn't need to run away from his life."

The older Mercer son nodded and hugged Evelyn. "I told him it was okay to skip school tomorrow. I'm gonna take him out, and we're going to have a little discussion about what's all going on."

"Maybe that's not such a good idea. After tonight, I don't know if he can handle it without…"

"Ma, we have to get to the bottom of whatever is going one with him. He's a teenager and the puberty bug has bit him in that ass," Bobby explained with a shake of his head.

Evelyn didn't look convinced but nodded her permission anyway. "Just be gentle with him Bobby. Sometimes I wonder if he's more delicate than glass."

Bobby chuckled softly. "Ma, you really do make him sound like a fairy."

Bobby laughed even harder when his mother slapped him in the back of the head and ordered him back to bed.

TBC... Yeah okay, so this was mostly uneventful, but stick with me and we'll be heading up to the angst soon!