AN: It's been a while--finals, work, summer classes. I should update again soon, I'm just behind on all my stories right now. My summer break starts in just over a week. Yea!

AN2: I'm just too lazy to keep checking to see if the editor deleted spaces between words when I post new chapters. I absolutely hate it when that happens, but I figure it's a losing battle and hope it's not too annoying to read. Sorry:-P

Saturday was Jackie's birthday. I went out before work on Friday night and bought him the most expensive guitar I could afford without going completely broke until my next paycheck. Normally I'm not much for parties and presents on birthdays, but just the fact that my baby brother actually lived long enough to turn twenty struck something deep inside—namely, my wallet.

I knew better than to reward him for getting shot, since the little nitwit would probably go do it every year just to see me act like a sucker. Still, it wasn't every day something scared me, and Jack almost dying scared me half to death.

When the kid first showed up, I didn't figure I'd get too attached. I mean, it wasn't like kids hadn't come and gone like crazy through Ma's house before she finally adopted the four of us and we took up all the room she had. By the time Jack got there I was eighteen and had bucked for my freedom for years. I was playing minor league hockey then and on the side I made as much money as I could, legally or illegally, in the hopes of getting my own place soon.

I didn't plan on sticking around.

Then I got into some trouble, went on probation, couldn't get my shit together enough to move out of Ma's house, and the damn kid just sort of—grew on me.

It wasn't like Angel. Angel didn't worship me, he respected me like only a younger brother could. He followed me around so he could learn to act like me. Jack eventually started following me around for no good reason at all. I'd turn around and he'd be standing there, looking up at me. Scared the fuck outta me a couple times, let me tell ya. Kid knew how to walk real quiet so people wouldn't even know he was there.

By the time Jack turned ten he'd mellowed a little. He met some kid at school named Mike and the two of them hung out together a lot with me baby-sitting them in the afternoons.

That went on for about a year or so.

Mike was a good kid. He wasn't particularly loud, but he liked to go out and do things, as opposed to staying inside all the time. He roped Jackie into going out into the neighborhood to play with the other kids. Jack didn't make any other real friends, but Ma said it was good for him to get exposed to new people so he'd develop what she called 'coping skills.'

I woke up with a serious hangover one afternoon to their excited chatter. I'd crashed on the couch most of the day, having come in, completely trashed, some time after Ma left for work that morning.

She used to smack me over the head if she saw me sleeping a hard night off on the couch. Scolded me to beat the band even after I turned twenty one.

"Hurry up, Jack! They're gonna pick teams and we won't be on one! Hurry up!" Mike urged from the door.

"I can't find my skates," Jack called back. I could hear him digging through the closet near the front door.

I slowly rolled off the couch, getting my feet under me and taking it one step at a time. I felt like snapping at them to shut up, but I figured I'd get to rest sooner if I helped shove them out the door as fast as possible.

"I can't find my skates anywhere, Bobby," Jackie complained when he caught sight of me. He picked up an old pair of Jerry's and checked the tags before discarding them.

I eyed his uncovered mop of dirty blonde hair and his bare hands. He wore nothing but jeans and an oversized Lions sweatshirt, a hand-me-down from Angel. I made an unintelligible noise of disapproval.

"Go on ahead, Mike. He'll catch up," I said, walking back into the living room, heading for a pile of winter clothes on one of the armchairs, discarded the day before, after the four of us got back from playing hockey at the rink. Without any prompting, Jack followed close behind me.

"You can't play worth a damn if you're freezing your ass off, Jackie. Now help me find your coat," I grumbled, my tone clearly telling him not to give me any crap.

He still didn't talk much, but from time to time he and Angel got into shouting matches over stupid stuff. Sometimes he'd whine when I ordered him around, forgetting that, unlike Jerry or Angel, I had no problem pinning him down on the floor for as long as necessary.

Jerry would argue with me sometimes, and so would Angel, but Jackie knew better.

He searched with me, finding a windbreaker about his size. I jammed a hat on his head, over his hair, ears, and eyes.

"Bobby," he complained, pushing it up so he could see before pulling the jacket over his head.

"Here, put these on or you'll get your fingers smashed," I lectured curtly, handing him the smallest pair of heavy leather gloves I could find.

He obeyed, pulling them on while I wrapped a scarf around his neck, purposely almost smothering him with it when I wrapped it around his mouth and nose.

I went back out with him to the closet, but no matter how we searched we couldn't find his skates. Finally I made him try on a pair of my old ones. They were the first pair I'd ever owned. I'd received them as a 'welcome home' present from Ma the day she adopted me. Jackie knew how much they meant to me.

"They fit, but I can't wear these," he said, pulling his boots back on.

All I wanted to do was go back to sleep, so I waved off his protest, taking a moment to straighten his too-big jacket.

"It's fine, just take them and get going. All your little friends are waiting over at the rink and you're taking forever like a little girl, you freaking fairy."

He picked them up, tying the laces and throwing them over one shoulder. "Thanks, Bobby," he said breathlessly, running out the door.

"Don't you come back without them, Jack! I'll skin you alive!" I called after him, already on my way back to the couch to collapse.