Jack cut Kim off with a kiss.

Kim was frozen in her place. Her eyes remained wide open and her arms by her side.

What the hell is he doing? Or... What the hell am I doing? I've been wanting this for so long and now I'm just standing here so awkwardly! DO SOMETHING!

As Kim started to reciprocate the kiss, things got heated pretty fast. Before she knew it, Jack was laying on top of her on his couch. Her hands lingered across his back, beginning to pull up his shirt when...

"AA-CHOO!"

"Becka! Shh..."

Jack quickly stood up and looked around.
"Alright you can come out now. I know you're there."

Kim peered over the top of the couch, slightly hiding. Out from underneath the table cloth, came Jake, Mindy, and Becka.

"Hope you enjoyed the show, you little punks!" Jack exclaimed. "You know you guys should consider this thing called getting lives so that way you don't have to focus on mine!"

"Kinda hard not to focus on your life when you make out with girls on our family couch." Jake pointed out. "But relax, we'll go to our rooms now. Oh, and Kim? Don't worry. We'll just pretend like we didn't see you..."

Ugh.. Busted.

The three of them went up to their rooms as Jack tried to avoid eye contact with Kim. She got up from the couch and started walking towards him.

"Uhh... Jack?"

You could cut the tension with a knife and Jack's awkward stance wasn't making it any better. Kim took a couple more steps toward him and brushed his long brown hair out of his face. They gazed into each other's eyes before kissing once more. Jack's back against the wall as he grazed his hands all over Kim's lovely body and tangled his fingers in her long flowing hair. It lasted a mere minute before they detached themselves once again.

"Kim.. I uhh..."

"Ugh, why must you ruin the moment by talking.." Kim interrupted. "We both know that's not what we want to be doing."

"Ha, yeah I guess you're right. But remember, I have three mangy mutts right upstairs that's already going to make our lives a living hell based on what they saw.."

"I guess..." Kim sighed. "Alright fine, I could use a shower anyways, it's getting late."

Kim started to walk upstairs when..

"Oh shit!" She exclaimed. "I totally don't have any clothes! Those bastard cops didn't let me grab anything!"

"Damn... Well, you still have that spare toothbrush you were using at the hospital, right?"

"Yeah."

"Great. So you could use that and to sleep, you can just wear one of my T-shirts."

"Oh, umm... Okay. Thanks Jack."

"No problem. I'm just going to the drug store to get that pain medication that you need." He said, grabbing his longboard. "See you in a bit!"

Once he left, Kim grabbed the gauze that the nurse gave her for the wounds and walked upstairs to the bathroom. She avoided looking into the mirror after taking off the bandages she already had on. They hurt enough without looking at them. As the cool water flowed on Kim's skin, she felt a sensation of relief. That is, until it touched her wounds. The stinging sensation was strong enough to make Kim cringe and clench her fists. She wavered her fingers over the area in pain. It was still quite open with no sign of it scabbing over. Then again it hadn't been long since... the incident. Kim snapped out of her thoughts and continued to bathe, trying her best to avoid the right side of her stomach. When done, she grabbed a clean towel and headed to Jack's room.

She locked the door and stepped in front of a full body mirror, dropping the towel. Across her wrists were the dozens of cuts, the oldest ones closest to her hands. Along her front stomach and thighs were bruises, mostly fresh from the three days beforehand. Kim turned very slowly and gazed her eyes upon the newest addition to her body. The four stab wounds.

Kim examined the smallest three, which were in fact scabbing over unlike she felt. They weren't that deep and didn't contribute much pain. They all surrounded the biggest one. The one that was not scabbed over yet. The one that was by far the deepest and most painful. The one that made her blackout.

Kim snapped out of it and wrapped the bandage around her side. She wiped away a tear that fell down her cheek as she made her way to Jack's closet. She picked a shirt with an acoustic guitar on it, due to her love for music. After putting it on, she looked in the mirror. It covered everything important for sure, but she was iffy about her legs showing so she decided to look in his drawer to see what else she could find. She spotted some pajama pants that were covered in skulls and put them on. They looked similar to the ones she wore besides it being so big.

She went back downstairs to see that Jack was still gone, but Jake and Mindy were there watching TV.

"Oh." *snickers* "Hey Kim." Jake muttered.

"Ugh, stop being such a jerk, Jake!" Mindy scolded. "Hi Kim. Nice PJs! Very edgy..."

Guess Jack hasn't worn this stuff in awhile...

"Thanks. Hey, umm... About earlier.."

"Don't worry about it." Mindy interrupted.

"Yeah, we're used to it. Remember the incident with Victoria, Mindy? Ha! Priceless..." Jake laughed.

"Jake!" Mindy looked over to Kim. "Ignore him. He doesn't know what he's talking about."

"Pssh. Yeah, sureee... Because when we walked in on Victoria half naked and Jack in nothing but a towel, it was purely innocent..." He said, sarcastically.

Kim stood there in shock as Mindy whacked Jake with the TV remote.

"You idiot!" She yelled. "C'mon Kim, we can hang out in my room."

Mindy took Kim's hand and lead her back upstairs. She slammed and locked the door behind her before sitting on her bed. Kim joined her, trying to think of what to say. Before she could think of anything, Mindy spoke.

"I'm sorry about Jake. He can be a real piece of work. It's nothing personal, he just doesn't like having to share Jack with anyone else besides me and Becka. He already feels left out due to the house being 60% girls, but now he has to deal with his big bro falling in love. Can't be easy..."

I never realized how Jake must have felt. It's just that he's been so supportive until now. Until... He saw me and Jack on the couch...

"That story with Victoria... Was it true?"

Mindy looked down at her closed book. "Yes. It is."

She looked back up at Kim, who looked at the floor in disbelief.

"I don't know that many details," Mindy continued. "But I do know that Victoria spent a couple nights here."

"How? What about your mom?" Kim asked. "Did she let her stay the night?"

"God no! Our mom would never approve!" Her face sank a little bit. "But then again she's never here."

Kim looked confused, so Mindy continued.

"After Becka was born, our mom decided to kickstart her career and go global. Impressive, but a lot of work. Whenever she says she'll be out of town for a few days, it's code for 'I'll see you in six months!'. The three of us are all raising Becka to the best of our abilities. She just started kindergarten this year so things got a little easier, and it's right next to Jake and I's Middle school so we just drop her off right before we head off to class. Jack uses the money that mom sends to buy what we need and Jake takes turns with me when it comes to chores. It was hard, but we got used to it."

"What about your dad?" Kim asked.

"He passed away when mom was pregnant with Becka."

"So... Becka doesn't really know either of her parents..?"

"No."

Kim and Mindy heard the front door open.

"Jack must be home." Mindy started to walk towards the door when she faced Kim again. "Listen, don't feel bad for us or anything. We've adjusted and it's a lot easier now. Everything's good."

Mindy unlocked the door and headed downstairs. Kim sat there for a minute, but then followed. Jack was holding the meds that Kim needed for her pain. She decided to take them right away, so she could have a goodnight's rest.

"You'll feel better before you know it." Jack reassured. "Hey, where's Becka?"

"She's asleep." Mindy answered.

"And that's where I'm going, too." Said Jake. "Night peoples! Peace!"

Kim started making her way to the couch when Mindy stopped her.

"Jack! I'm assuming she's going to be here for awhile. She cannot keep sleeping on the couch!"

"Fine. She can stay in my room."

Mindy gave him a look.

"What?!" Jack asked.

"Uh uh! Nope! She is NOT staying in your room!"

"Then where is she gonna sleep?"

Mindy smiled. "Glad you asked, big bro. Kim is staying with me."

"With you? Since when?"

"Since we bonded after Jake was being a jerk."

"What'd he do now..?"

"Not important. What's important is for you to get a shower and for Kim to get some rest. There is school tomorrow afterall..."

Jack studied her, then looked back over to Kim. "You okay bunking with Mindy, tonight?"

"Yeah, totally!" Kim smiled.

"Great. Then let's head upstairs. Goodnight Jack!"

Jack gave Kim an "Are you sure?" look.

"I'll be fine, Jack." Kim reassured. She kissed him on the cheek. "Goodnight.."

Back Upstairs...

"I'm so glad I took mom's Queen sized bed." Mindy said, proud. She looked over at Kim. "You okay? You seem distracted."

"Yeah I'm good.."

Mindy rolled on her side. "Okay. See you in the morning, roomie!"

Kim stared into the darkness, letting her thoughts overpower her.

I can't stop thinking about what Jake said. About Victoria. I mean of course Jack has had other girls, I was naive to think that I was the only one. With that being said.

Why does Victoria sound vaguely familiar...?

Damn it feels good to be back. This is personally my favorite chapter. Usually when I write, my head gets blocked about halfway through. But this time I knew exactly what I wanted to say! Lol, anyways.. Hope you enjoyed!

~Charity