"You been crying, little fairy?" Bobby asked as he entered Jacks bedroom. He was the only one of the brothers that was allowed to come into the younger brothers bedroom. Jack hadn't ever thrown the others out; it was just one of those unspoken things. The youngest Mercer never had anything that was his before he came to Evelyn less than a year earlier.

"Leave it alone man." Jack murmured put away his guitar and he rolled up a cigarette.

"You know Ma don't like you doing that shit sweetheart." Bobby still wasn't able to talk about his mother in the past sense. That would mean she was really gone.

"I know that. That's why I need it. I feel like my heart is beating out of my chest…can't calm down…to weird in Ma's room?" Jack whispered as he lit up and breathed the smoke into his lungs.

"Way to weird." Bobby chewed his lip and sat down on the bed next to his little brother. "Move over." He nudged him. Jack moved his legs so that Bobby could have some more space. No one calmed him down like Bobby did. He might be a pain in the ass most of the time, but he took his role as the big brother and Jack's anchor, aside from their mother, very seriously.

"When did you get that guitar?" Bobby asked. He'd been away for a while, playing hockey, and last time he checked, Jack didn't have that guitar last time he was there, and it was the type of guitar that caught your attention. It was an eye catcher. It had a deep red body with black tribal patterns on it.

"It's not mine." Jack murmured, "Ma said she had it in the cellar…would be a waste to let it dust down…"

"Who did it belong to?"

"It's engraved with Jack H. M. Darley…"

"Someone who's related to Billy then…" Bobby concluded.

"He probably knows…I'll ask him tomorrow."

"Good to be home, Bobby?" Jerry asked, "You two look awfully comfortable there." It wasn't like the other brothers hadn't noticed how close Bobby and Jack had become since Jack arrived a few months before.

"Yeah, wish it was for another reason though."

"We all do…one god thing came out of it though…."

"Like what?" Bobby asked, honestly curious, "Hey were do you think you're going?!" he shouted at Angel, who was about to sneak down the stairs.

"It's getting a little hot in here. I'm 'a go get some fresh air."

Bobby hollered in laughter, Jerry just smirked and Jack giggled in amusement. "You can smell that ass from down the street!"

"She's got a boyfriend." Jerry said.

"She got a boyfriend! She's got hard dick in her right now, and the last thing she's gonna be thinking about is your black ass!"

"Why are you doing this to me? I'm not going to see that girl!"

"Yeah right! You're such a doormat Angel! Sofi's just like her sister and every Mercer that has been through those girls are men enough not to put up with those bitches!"

"What do you mean 'every Mercer? As far as I know, there is only the four of us!"

"Billy."

"Who the hell is Billy?"

"Our big-brother." Jerry said. "Ma had a biological child. He bounced before we came along. He's got a son at Jacks age."

"You're shitting me!" Angel spat, "This fucker hasn't been around for at least fifteen years and he shows up like this! He probably just wants Ma's money!"

"I doubt it," Bobby said, " -the guy is loaded, drives a custom Mustang 69…"

"Don't give him a hard time Angel…I talked to Camille – she remembers him from back when she was at school…something real bad happened to that guy…Maureen said he was in a coma for almost two weeks…"

"So what happened?" Jack asked.

"Camille saw him get back to the house when she was little, pretty much drenched in blood from the waist down…." None of the brothers were naïve enough not to know what Jerry was implying.

"You serious?" Angel asked.

"I don't know. It's what Camille remembers. Ma's friends were tight lipped about why he was in the hospital. Said something about not being their story to tell."

"Damn, I get why he hightailed Detroit…" Bobby trailed off. "He's coming for dinner tomorrow. Tag's coming too."

"Who's Tag?"

"Murtagh Darley – his son."

"The kid got his mothers name?"

"Billy's is Mercer Darley – they just use Darley." Jerry added. "They kept in touch with Ma– it's not like he didn't ever call…besides, I'm looking forward to seeing how Bobby handles being someone little brother." Jerry chuckled.

"Shut up man!" Bobby snapped, making Jack giggle.

"Right…I'm 's head out."

"Be careful Angel – her new man is a trigger happy hothead!" Jack called after his brother.

~*~

Billy didn't bother to knock as he walked into his mothers house. He heard yelling from the inside. A female one that sounded strangely familiar and someone that probably was Bobby.

"I don't understand! I don't speak Spanish! Do I look like I speak Spanish?" Bobby snapped. "I'm sorry! I'm confused."

"I hate you Bobby I really do!" Sofi yelled. "You are such a basta-eeeek!" she screeched as she saw Murtagh, then the tall blonde man coming in behind him. Billy 'oofed' as he got pounced on by a flurry mass of dark hair. "Billy!!!" Sofi squealed and kissed his all over his face, "You're home! Oh my god you've gotten so tall – were you always this tall? – your hair is blonde again – ohmyohmyohmy GOD!"

"Uh, nice to see you to Sofi-san." Billy murmured and plucked a hair out of his mouth.

"You two know each other?" Angel asked as he came down the stairs.

"Hey – I'm Billy."

"So I gathered…"

"Billy used to date my sister – and he baby-sat me when I was little – I swear; no one sings lullabies like Billy!" she squealed excitedly and bounced on the ground.

"Honey, please." Billy said with a pained frown on his face.

"Oh sorry – I forgot." She blushed and lowered her voice. "Oh I gotta go help Jackie!"

Bobby and Angel stared at him in amazement, "How the hell did you do that?"

Billy arched a brow as he hung his jacket on the silent servant, "Do what?"

"Make her talk in a normal frequency!" Bobby said.

"I asked her to. She's a girl, not some guy you yell at. Yell at her and she yells back, be polite, she'll be polite. It's not brain surgery." Billy said as he walked into the sitting room, "It look exactly the same. Not a damn thing has changed."

"So…how long since you been here?"

"About eight years…damn time runs by." he dropped by to see his mother after he retired from the scene and to leave some stuff.

"Sure it does…so what you been up to all these years?"

Billy sat down in the couch, sighing as his body sank down in the familiar cushions, "working."

"And how far does that take you?" Angel asked, not happy about that a guy he didn't know was so affectionate with his girlfriend. Besides, Angel was a marine, and he bothered to come home once in a while, even though he was in the country for no more than two or three weeks at the time.

"Used to take me around the world, but I like it in Boston, so I stayed. Didn't like the attention. I prefer to be behind the scenes, so to speak. How does the marines work for you?" he asked.

"Uh, just fine." Angel still wasn't sure about this guy. There was something off about him. Angel shook his head, maybe it was just that he was different than the guys he was used to hanging out with – different from his brothers. Billy wasn't loud or even the slightest arrogant. He had a silent authority, much like their mother, only more commanding. That was the thing that was unsettling Angel. The man was a father, a natural caretaker. Wherever he worked, he was probably in a high position, in charge. In a house full of testosterone, Billy was the oldest, he was a leader and the change of the dynamics in the house unsettled the second youngest Mercer brother.

~*~