JACKIE POV

I am lying in my dark bedroom, all of the curtains and blinds are closed with the TV on very quietly in the background. I am just staring up at the ceiling, not really paying much attention to anything other than my mind numbing boredom that I cannot seem to escape despite my best efforts. I just want to see the sunlight, that's all I ask. It has been a week since my "death" and no one has seen any sign of my Dad coming out of hiding and all I can do is busy myself working out and training until nightfall, when even then I am told to stay far away from anywhere my Dad may be.

I can hear Tim coming before I hear his knock at my door, the second his knuckles fall on the hard wood I answer him, "come in!" He lets himself in and settles down next to me. I roll over and put my hands on his chest and rest my head on him. He is the only thing keeping me sane while I'm all cooped up.

"Hey, Jackie. Thought you may need some company." I smile at him just as he returns the gesture.

"You've very sweet, Tim. You know me all to well." Tim and I have been spending a lot of time together lately, Bruce doesn't exactly like it, but he hasn't stopped us, though there is an open door policy now when Tim and I are together. Not like we would do anything yet, and not like Bruce is likely to be waltzing about his large estate throughout the day to check on us.

"Jackie, what do you think love is? What do you think it feels like?" I jump at the noise and then realize what he is asking me. My Dad always taught me that love is something that develops slowly and gradually, love had barely crossed my mind. It had barely been a month since Tim and I started seeing each other and it seems soon to be thinking that it is actually love. And I'm only 15, what do I know about love, and how do I answer this without hurting Tim… By telling the truth of course.

"I think that love is something that you feel when you cannot imagine your life without someone. When you picture your future, they're there without a shred of doubt in your mind. What do you think?"

"I think I may be falling in love with you, Jackie." I look up into his eyes and can see his sincerity and all my ideas about love fall short to what I can see in his eyes.

"Maybe love is something you can fall into really quickly and out of the blue over someone really special… Tim I care about you a lot, I just don't know. It's really soon and with my-" He puts a hand to my lips gently and I stop talking.

"Jackie, you don't have to say it back right now, I will wait. I didn't say it to you to hear it back, I said it so I am certain that you know how I feel." He smiles and I smile back and exhale a deep breath I didn't even know I was holding.

"Tim, don't get me wrong, I care about you a lot, I'd be devastated if something happened to you, just love is a big word and I'm not ready to say it yet." He nods and smiles at me again assuring me that it really is okay that I didn't say it back.

"Like I said, I will wait as long as I have to." We go back to watching the movie and nothing else is said on the subject. I think this is why Tim and I work so well together, we are both really open and okay to be that way. Nothing hurts our feelings because we are both to philosophical and studious to let petty things bother us. It is all a case that needs solving. That is probably thanks to Bruce, and I am grateful for it. Not being too emotional is an easier way of going through life.

ACE POV

It has been a week since Jackie's death hit the news and I really don't know what to make of Jack's reaction at all. He is normally always the guy with the plan. He is put together and has a job to do, and this entire week he has been different. After the day he found out about it he has not said one word, not even a mumble since. He has mostly been hiding in his room, I've only seen him a few times and he looks grim, like any moment a big crack will split down his face from chin to forehead and he will just crumble into nothing. I don't like it. Sad Jack, I can handle, angry Jack I can do that too. Nothingness, blank, destroyed Jack, I am lost on what to do about. How do you comfort someone after that? This isn't a normal person losing their daughter, this is Jack, he isn't exactly right upstairs in the first place, and some street grub took just about the only stable part of him and stabbed it with a knife a dozen times or so.

I continue to work on the meal he won't eat. I pop the toast out of the toaster and put grape jelly on it and grab a glass of milk that expired a few days ago but still smells all right. I start to head up the stairs and hesitate in front of his door. Come on Ace, it sucks, but you have to at least give it a try. I knock twice then let myself in and walk over to him. He is holding his head in his hands at his desk, staring straight ahead at the gray cement wall holding a framed picture of Jackie and Him at Christmas last year. Just where I left him. I pick up the barely touched plate from yesterday and put the new plate down in its place. He doesn't even look at me. I sigh, "You should eat something Jack, at least drink the milk or something. You'll die up here if you don't soon."

"What?" He looks at me puzzled. At least there is a sense of life in him.

"You should eat something."

"Why?" He doesn't have much fight in him, I can tell he has barely slept. He looks like hell.

"Because you'll die if you don't. Eat something."

He sort of chuckles in a dry cracked voice, "What do I have left, Ace?"

"Yourself, me?"

"But not her." I can't stand it anymore, she was my niece, I loved her to. I'm not being sucked into a black hole.

"You still have her, she wouldn't want you to die. Now eat something."

"Ace...I'll eat if you promise me something." I hesitate before responding. I know he means it, he will eat if I make the promise. But I have no clue what he will ask. He will probably just starve to death up here if I don't promise…

"Anything."

"I need you to leave. You and all the rest of the guys, leave for good." I immediately start shaking my head no.

"I wont leave you now, not like this. No way." I already can feel the more rational side of my head telling me that this is my chance. That I've wanted him to send me away for years, finally to be told that despite him needing me I can leave. But the part of me that always wins is fighting me on that. The big brother in me that knows that Jack is in there and he needs my help.

"You'll have to chase me out. I'm not leaving you here alone. If something happened to you while I was gone, then what?"

"Don't make me chase you out, Ace." He turns to look at me and his eyes tell me what I should do. I should leave. No matter how much I love him, no matter what I do, I can't change him now. And with that thought in mind, I turn away from him and walk down the stairs.

I shut the door to the run down warehouse behind me and I lock it and throw the key as far as I can. It lands far enough away that I can't hear a noise when it hits the ground. I glance up at his window one more time and I have a gut wrenching feeling that I'll never see my brother alive again.