Disclaimer: None of this belongs to me and I make no money with it.

Summary: Jack, Alex, life.

Date: Dec. 17th, before Questioning (Timeline: http :/ shiruy. livejournal. com/ 3602. html)

Edited: 29.11.2010

13. Misfortune

"Hey."

Jack looked up from where she was reading on the living room couch and smiled at him. "Hey, Alex. How was school?"

"Okay." He shrugged his backpack off and kicked his shoes off, leaving them where they fell for now. He'd put them away later. "We had a pop quiz in math."

Jack threw her magazine down on the couch table and leaned back. "Oh? How did it go?"

He frowned as he walked over to slump down next to her, letting his head fall onto the backrest. "Guess," he sighed.

She grimaced in sympathy. "Aww, sweetie, don't worry." She slipped an arm around his shoulders, ignoring the way he tensed up for a moment, and shook him a little. "I know you have a lot to catch up on right now, but you're a smart kid. A few more weeks and you'll be fine."

Alex snorted disbelievingly and leaned into her side. "The headmaster wants to talk to you."

"Oh," Jack blinked, taken aback. "Why?"

The teen shrugged. "My grades, I guess. And my long absences."

His caretaker frowned. "But we explained all that. You gave them the doctor's note, right?"

"Of course I did," he rolled his eyes. "But, as Tom has pointed out before, when I came back I didn't look sick so much as sunburned and beat up all to hell. So maybe they didn't believe that suspiciously convenient doctor's note I gave them."

"Don't be such a sarcastic smartass," Jack chuckled and gave him a playful slap to the back of his head.

He grinned and poked her in the side. "Hey, sarcasm and smartass-ery is what I thrive on. They're the only things left that bring any joy to my life."

"Ha!" She returned his poke two-fold, making him flinch away. "And here I thought that X-box thing you want for Christmas could bring you some joy, but I guess I was mistaken."

He straightened up, suddenly all ears. "You're getting me an X-box?"

She grinned mysteriously. "Well, maybe I was thinking about it, but now... I dunno."

"Jaaack!" He pouted and started tickling her in earnest, making her shriek and try to bat his hands away. He grinned and only increased his efforts.

"Alex! Stop! Ahahaha- stop it!" She managed to catch one of his hands and suddenly the tables were turned, with her poking his sides right back.

He couldn't stop chuckling as they fought back and forth, trying to pin each other's limbs down. He loved spending time with Jack like this, just being silly together and having fun like she really was his big sister.

"A-ha!" Jack exclaimed as she succeeded in trapping his arm in the bend of her knee, the both of them barely able to move anymore without pitching them both off the couch. She still had a hand free though while he needed his only remaining one to hold one of her's at bay, and of course she used this opportunity mercilessy.

"Ah! No! Ja-HACK! Hahaha! No-hohooo! Stop!" He squirmed desperately, trying to fight her off, but she just laughed in delight and tickled him all the harder.

In desperation he tried to wrench himself away and that was finally too much for their balance and they both fell off. Unfortunately, Alex was entirely unprepared for the way his tailbone hit the floor and he yelped, his laughter abruptly cut off.

Jack noticed immediately and stopped laughing too. "Alex? You alright?"

He grimaced and waved her off, rubbing his back with the other hand while he sat up. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Just hit my tailbone."

She crawled closer, a worried look on her face. "Damn, sorry. Does it hurt a lot?"

Alex rolled his eyes, more exasperated than in pain already anyway. "I'm fine, Jack. Just a bruised tailbone, no broken bones or anything, I promise."

She half-pouted, half-frowned. "You always promise that and then it turns out you ran around with a broken toe for a week."

He clambered back up on the couch and threw his hands up. "I was ten! And I really thought it was just bruised or something."

She stood up and smoothed out her rumpled clothes while she talked to him, "I just wish you were more careful and tell me when you're hurt somehow. It's my job to make sure you're okay."

He grinned half-heartedly. "Gee, way to make living with me sound like a chore."

She sat down next to him and pulled him back against her side, giving him an affectionate squeeze. "That's not what I meant and you know it, mister. I just worry about you with all the trouble you constantly get in."

"It's not like I do it on purpose," he objected. "This stuff just kinda happens."

Jack raised an eyebrow at him. "The way that incident with the crane, the boat and the police station just 'kinda happened'?"

"Okay," he grimaced contritely. "That was a moment of untold rashness and stupidity. But I promise I won't ever do anything as public and dumb as that on purpose ever again."

His caretaker shook her head at him, grinning a little. "See that you don't. You give me enough gray hairs as it is."