Going To War


"So moral of the story… you killed someone?" Punk asked, he and AJ sitting across from JC as he looked at them and sighed.

"I… it was self-defence. I didn't go out that night intending to murder someone. I was a kid. I wanted to help your mom, he attacked me, it was instinct to hit him."

"What'd you do with the body?" AJ asked curiously.

"I… dumped it. It was found. Nothing traced back to us." JC said.

"It's just secret after secret with you." Punk shook his head.

"I didn't tell you because I didn't have to. There was no need for you to know. Your mother never told you either, you wanna hate her?"

"She's dead." Punk said, "If she wasn't, yeah I'd be pretty pissed." Punk nodded, "And anyway, what's this got to do with Jean taking the baby? So her and mom were friends and they stopped speaking, it happens… doesn't mean she has to go take her daughter's baby."

"Jean… felt like what happened that night was mine and your mother's fault. She started being horrible to Vanessa. Saying that we'd brought her into our world. What that's supposed to mean I don't know. She was just bitter after that, especially when she found out that I dumped the body instead of phoning the cops." He said.

"Why didn't you call the cops?" AJ asked, "Say it was self-defence, an accident?"

"Because the house we were in was like a fucking jackpot to cops. Underage drinking, drugs, all that fun stuff." He said, "And I didn't want your mom involved in anything. She was pregnant. She didn't need that shit."

"So you've just lived with that on your mind this entire time?" Punk asked him, "You're a murderer."

"I'm not a murderer. It was self-defence. That guy, whoever he was, he would have raped Jean. And I kept thinking, it could have been anyone. Could have been your mom. It's what he deserved." He said, "You'd do the same, I believe." He said as Punk just sighed and looked across at him.

"I still don't get why this would trigger Jean into taking the baby from Anna and Dean." AJ said.

"I'm not saying it has, but… there's a connection. Jean was rich and afforded things that me and your mom weren't. She wasn't used to life like we were. She wanted your mom to get rid of me and go join in her college and be rich together. Your mom wasn't up for it." JC said, "Maybe that left a bitter taste in her mouth, I don't know."

"This is a bit drastic just for a broken friendship." AJ said, "Taking your daughter's baby from her."

"Well I wouldn't assume she likes the thought of Anna and Dean together." JC shrugged.

"Yeah." Punk nodded, "And Anna did say that the last time she came to visit she said about Anna leaving Dean and coming to New York. That that's where her children should be." Punk said.

"How are Dean and Anna holding up?" JC asked.

"How'd you think?" Punk asked as JC nodded, "Not good." He shook his head, "And they can't do anything for a few weeks until we take it to court." Punk said.

"So did… Jean and Vanessa just stop talking after that night?" AJ asked, curious to know more.

"Pretty much." JC nodded, "She'd visit Vanessa, tell her to leave me, that she'd be better off without me. That she was only trying to look out for her." JC shrugged, "But Vanessa wasn't having it and just told her to stop. She was there when Phil was born. Didn't say much. And then a few months later she left to go to college and they just never spoke again." JC shrugged, "As far as I know."


"Boys! Come get your lunch." Vanessa called into the garden, watching as her sons came running towards her, pushing each other to get to the door first as she smiled.

"What we having? What we having?" Dean asked, climbing up the steps and into the kitchen, just 4 years old whilst Phil, 6, toddled behind.

"Sandwiches. This isn't a hotel." She reminded them, "Share these chips too if you like." She told them, throwing over a bag of chips for them.

"Uh do we have any strawberry juice boxes? I don't like the apple." Punk groaned, climbing up onto the chair, brushing his messy dark hair out of his face whilst Dean sat across, the brightest blonde hair and blue eyes.

"I'll swap." Dean said, sliding over his strawberry juice box as Punk slid over his apple.

"Look at you two being nice." Vanessa smiled.

"Hey, we're always nice, mommy." Dean said as Vanessa smiled and nodded.

"Of course you are." Vanessa nodded, turning around to the kitchen counter and opening up the mail from the morning. She'd come to terms with the fact she was very much a single mother with an ex who liked to float around every now and then, when he wasn't in prison of course.

She saw the usual letter from JC with the prison stamp on the top, shaking her head and tossing it straight into the trash. He wasn't in for serious things, it was usually a few months at a time for drug related crimes, but their relationship hadn't been the same since they had Dean. It was off and on, bad and good, only now… it seemed to be more bad than ever.

"I'm working tonight so guess where you guys are going?" Vanessa asked them, turning around.

"Oh no we aren't going to crazy Jan's are we?" Punk asked, referring to their neighbour who sometimes looked after the boys when Vanessa worked night shift at the hospital. She hadn't let the boys come in the way of getting the career she wanted.

"Stop calling her that." Vanessa laughed as Punk shrugged, "She's not crazy."

"She's a little crazy." Dean mumbled.

"She's fun." Vanessa said, "But yes, after dinner you're going, and she'll take you to school in the morning. I'll see you after." She told them.

"You work so much." Punk said, resting his head down on the table whilst eating his sandwich, "Don't you need a break?"

"Yeah." Dean chimed in as Vanessa smiled. There was one thing for sure, they made her laugh and kept her going.

"That's what happens when you have kids and a house." Vanessa said, "You have to work for it."

"Does everyone fix people like you?" Dean asked.

"Hey, I wish I could fix people." Vanessa admitted, "No, everyone has different jobs." She nodded, listening as there was a knock at the door.

"Oh, who is that?" Punk asked.

"I don't know." Vanessa said, "Stay here. No food fighting." She said, walking out of the kitchen and down the hallway, opening up the front door, raising her eyebrows as she saw the ex-best friend she hadn't seen in five years.

"Jean?" Vanessa shook her head.

"Hey." Jean nodded.

"Hi." Vanessa shook her head.

"I wasn't sure you still lived here." Jean admitted.

"What? Thought I'd be living in a four bedroom mansion?" Vanessa chuckled.

"I didn't say that." Jean said as Vanessa opened the door wider.

"Come in." Vanessa nodded as Jean stepped into the house, walking through into the living room as Vanessa followed, "What are you doing here?"

"I work here now. In the city." Jean said, "And I… I was passing by and I just thought about my best friend who used to live here." She shrugged.

"Best friend." Vanessa smiled a little, "That's rich." She nodded, "So you got that journalism degree then?"

"Yeah." Jean nodded, "Didn't come easy." She said as Vanessa looked across at her, "And you?"

"I'm a nurse." Vanessa nodded, desperate to say it because she knew Jean wasn't expecting it.

"You are?" Jean raised her eyebrows, "That's great."

"Mhm." Vanessa nodded.

"Where is Phil? He'll be so big now." Jean smiled.

"They're in the kitchen having lunch." Vanessa said.

"They?" Jean asked.

"Yeah, I had another baby after Phil. Dean." Vanessa said, "Just a year and a half between them."

"Oh, wow." Jean nodded, "I had a baby." She said as Vanessa looked at her, "A girl. She's three. Anna. Married too." Anna smiled as Vanessa just nodded.

"Congratulations." Vanessa nodded, "All figured out, huh?"

"Well." Jean smiled modestly, "Where is… JC?" She wondered as Vanessa looked at her.

"He is in prison." Vanessa said as Jean just nodded slowly, "I bet you love that."

"What?" Jean shook her head, "Of course I don't. You're still under the illusion that I want to see all this happen to you. That I want you to be on your own. No. That was never it. I just wanted to give you advice, if you listened, maybe JC wouldn't have been your problem." She said, "Does he live here? Does he… does he see the boys?"

"What does it matter to you?" Vanessa asked.

"All I ever did was try and protect you from him." Jean said.

"I didn't need protecting." Vanessa said, "You were just like everyone else. You didn't like where he came from, the mistakes he made, and you thought you knew what I wanted, and what was best for me, without even asking me." She said as Jean shook her head.

"Look where he is and where you are. This is what I wanted you to avoid, Vanessa." Jean said, "He's a murderer, for crying out loud." She whispered.

"No he is not." Vanessa spat, "He defended himself and we were both protecting you that night, may I remind you." She hissed.

"Yeah and I didn't need anyone to kill anyone." Jean said.

"Really? Are we really doing this? Is this why you came to see me?" Vanessa asked.

"No. I came because I thought things could be different. I thought maybe you'd have forgotten about JC, came to your senses, but you're still here defending him, even when he's in prison."

"Because I love him. What part of that don't you get?" Vanessa shook her head.

"I don't get any of it. He just brings you down. He did from day one when I tried to warn you." She said, "You could have had so much more than this life-"

"What is it with you? I… I love my life here, with my sons, in my job. Not everything has to be about success and money and wealth. So what I can't take my kids to the cinema because I'm broke sometimes… I stick on a DVD, draw the curtains and put popcorn in the microwave." She said, "It's fun, you should try it." She said as Jean just rolled her eyes.

"It's not about money-"

"It's always been about money with you." Vanessa nodded, "That's why you never liked JC."

"I never liked him because he was a dirty junkie who didn't deserve you." Jean said as Vanessa folded her arms, "I don't know what he has over you, why you always have to defend him-"

"He has nothing over me." Vanessa scoffed, "It's just none of your business anymore. So if this is all you have to say then… just leave." She nodded, "I'm not doing this all over again."

"Don't you want your sons to have a better life? I couldn't imagine my daughter having to grow up with a dead beat dad, a confused mom, in such a… a small space." She looked around.

"Well God help your daughter because she'll have a shock when she goes into the real world. Just like you did that night. That night we saved your ass-"

"I didn't ask for that." Jean rolled her eyes.

"Shut up." Vanessa said, "My sons are fine. They're happy, they have clothes on their back, food in their mouths every day. That's all I ever care about, nothing else matters to me. Not money and materials and success." She said as Jean just sighed.

"Well God help them." Jean shook her head.

"I clawed your eyes once, don't make me do it again. Vanessa shook her head as Jean stared at her.

"Mommy." Dean entered the living room holding his juice box, "Hello, can you open my juice box, please." Dean said, wandering over to his mother and the stranger in their living room.

Jean looked over at Dean and smiled. He was cute for sure, and she had no doubt that Vanessa raised them right, but she was just brought up in different ways.

"Yeah." Vanessa smiled, taking the juice box from Dean as he stood, his little short self beside her, placing his hands behind his back, staring at Jean who just smiled to him, "Ok, here you go baby." She said, piercing the straw through the box and handing it to Dean, "Careful, don't spill any."

"Ok, thank you." Dean nodded, taking his box and walking back out of the living room.

"He's cute." Jean nodded.

"Yeah, he is." Vanessa nodded, "And you're leaving." She said as Jean just shook her head.

"I can't believe you've still been selling yourself this short. Any guy out there would be lucky to have you. A good guy who can provide and love you, way better than that idiot in prison." Jean said, walking out of the living room as Vanessa followed.

"Just stay out of my business. This friendship ended a long time ago." Vanessa said as Jean just nodded.

"I thought maybe you'd have come to your senses." Jean said, "My daughter won't ever have to worry about the things your sons will have to worry about."

"Good for your daughter." Vanessa said, swinging the door closed on her face, shaking her head and walking down the hallway back into the kitchen, "Hey, you guys finished." She smiled to her sons, "High fives." She nodded, placing her hand up as both of them high fived her, "Yeah." She smiled as they laughed.


"So this could be her pure and simply just… thinking she's protecting Skyler from Dean and Anna… that their life isn't good enough for her?" AJ shrugged.

"I can't slap her but can you?" Punk asked his wife seriously as AJ just nodded.

"I wish." She said.

"Vanessa would have speared her through a wall if she was here." JC shook his head.

"I will tear her apart on that stand, don't worry." AJ nodded, "We just really need to be here for Dean and Anna right now. I can't imagine how they're feeling right now. It's unimaginable." She said, "And when court comes, I don't care what her reason is, she's not getting what she wants here." AJ shook her head as Punk nodded.

"And don't think you're off the hook." Punk looked at his father, "Mister self-defence." He scoffed as JC just made a face.

"It was. And it was in the past. Jean won't bring that up since she was part of it and she was there. That's why I didn't think it was relevant to tell you."

"We still deserved to know about something like that." Punk said.

"Boy, a lot of things happened back then you don't know about. Things you don't need to know about." He warned, "It doesn't matter right now, we need to focus on getting this baby back where she belongs." He said as AJ nodded in agreement.

"He's right." AJ said, "That's our only focus. She doesn't stand a chance. I don't care who she pays to get false evidence, false blood work from… she's not gonna win." She shook her head. She'd never taken a personal case, but she knew that she'd give it her all to get their niece back where she belonged with her parents, regardless of Jean's reasonings and the history behind it. She'd crossed a line that never should have been crossed with them.


A/N: Let me know what you think!